Road Trip!

Hey all! The kids and I went to my parents house in Mississippi over Spring Break. Joe stayed behind to work, but we did fantastic! The kids are seasoned travellers now! Little to no fighting or complaining. They watched DVD's, (mostly "Wow Wow Wubbzy") and ate snacks. We left in the afternoon on a Wednesday night and did about 5 hours of driving, stayed at a hotel in Sikeston, MO to swim and rest for the night. Then picked back up the driving around 8 am Thursday morning. We drove until 4 pm and we were there! The kids enjoyed seeing their grandparents and my niece, Christina made the trip from Alabama by herself as well! It was so great to see her! Evie took to her immediatly and the two girls played their Nintendo DS's together.


We loved the 75-80 degree weather there and Evie took time to sunbathe on the cement.



So, you know those big, fat, fuzzy bees? Forever I always thought (most of us do) that they are bumblebees or can sting you. They are much fatter and act like a bee.. but It's a type of bug.. Evie was nervous of them when we first got there.. they were flittering about everywhere because of all of the trees and flowers, but my Dad quickly educated her about it not having a stinger and not to worry about them.. and from that moment on, she never did. Christina didn't believe him so he posed a challenge for her.. he would prove it didn't have a stinger if she could catch one in his hat.. something he said was impossible.. they are too fast! She caught one.. but injured his wing a little so we're not sure he made it.. still, it was cool to see him up close with NO stinger and no way to bite.. just a big furry bee looking thing. Still can't find one online anywhere to show you or get a name.. but here's the picture I took of him on one of the flowers that Dad was holding..
By the way.. Evie picked him up freely with no qualms, as well as caught a lizard that nipped her and she just pulled him off and kept playing with him LOL


Evan enjoyed playing in the dirt...


And here are the rest of the pictures that we took with my camera.








Miss you guys already!

Evie kickin' butt again!

Hey all!!
Well.. I know that I had mentioned in an earlier post that Evie had switched taeqwondo schools last summer... long story.. Anyway, they had let her keep her current belt rank (4th) in the new school but Evie had trouble keeping up with all of the new moves.. turns out even the white belts at this new school were ten times more advanced than the camo belts in her old school.. so we made the decision to demote her back to white belt. It was for the best because she is learning the techniques and has power and conviction behind what she does.. plus she is learning WAY more steps and respect.
Evie FINALLY graduated a few weekends ago to a yellow belt (2nd rank). She has never been so proud! She EARNED this belt, that's for sure! We keep telling her.. "it's not a race to get to black belt", (it was scheduled at the last school whether you were ready or not). So she knows that she's not gonna get that promotion until it's perfect! It makes her try even harder!

Here are some pics from graduation.

BE MINE!

Hello all!
Evie had her Valentine's Day Party today at school and I volunteered to help and I took pics!
I hope everyone has a "sweet" day!

American Heart/American Stroke Association:

American Heart/American Stroke Association:

Click on this link to sponsor Evie in the "Jump Rope for Heart" Event!

I'll Tumble For Ya!

Evan's first somersaults! He's "on a roll!"

A much needed reunion with friends!

Some of our dearest friends are here visiting for the month of January from China!
(Our Austrailian/American friends)!

The kids and I met Alyssa and her kiddos Alex and Sebastien at the mall today for a playdate and lunch. Evie and Alex immediatly embraced! Alex brought Evie a beautiful pearl bracelet from the Pearl Islands, China.
Evan and Sebastien gravitated to each other often in the play area, even though they haven't seen each other for over a year! It was sweet to see them all playing as if time had never passed. *sigh* It was fantastic for me to see Alyssa as well!

Here are some cute pictures of their day together!










We hope to see you guys alot more before you leave!

Update on Evan Wevan

Hey all!
It's been a while since I have posted an update on Evan's development. He's been doing speech and developmental therapy for about 4 months now and is really catching up!!!
He is about 30 months old (2 1/2 years)
On receptive language, he is right there with the 2 1/2 and 3 year olds.. that's understanding functions of objects, points to pictures when names, follows 2 step commands, understands big vs. little, in, out etc.
As far as colors, letters, shapes and numbers, he is meeting standards of 3 1/2 - 4 year olds. (Those are his PASSION)

On Speech, he is with the 3 year olds, uses all of the beginning and ending sounds pretty intelligibly.

On Expressive Language, he's more at the 24 months area... he names pictures and usues one word to desribe or ask for something.
he calls himself and others by their name, but is not using 1st person pronouns (me, mine, I) (although he sometimes says, "I'm sad"... he doesn't answer simple questions, not attempting to relate experiences, not using 2 word negative phrases such as "no want" or "no go", not using plurals by adding s, not speaking 3-4 word utterances..
Those are all typical of 2 to 2 1/2 years old. So he's getting VERY close to being on target..
So it's pretty obvious that expressive language is the area that we are working on.
In all other areas he really seems ahead so we are less worried than we were 4 months ago when he couldn't even recognize or tell us what a "ball" was. Amazing what 4 months can do!

He goes to a speech/language therapist now on Mondays as well at Carle Therapy so I'll continue to keep you posted!