Why Break With Tradition?!

It's time for the annual First Day of School post. And for the "First Time In Forever," you all get the added treat of updated peeks at my gorgeous gang. I know, it's been a while since you've seen their faces 'round these parts o' the blogosphere!

{You are more than welcome for THAT ear-worm... 

it's blasting in the kitchen right now and I succumbed. 

I am weak. I admit it. And now I'm laughing at you

because you are hearing Ana in your head just like I am.}

Anyhoo.

Our "bonus daughter" had a VERY momentous First Day yesterday. She returned to us late Friday night from summer at home with her family in Beijing. She's still a bit jet-lagged and trying not to be anxious about all the SAT prep work she has ahead of her and layered on top of her Honors course load. In spite of it all, she made it to the bus on time and is officially a SENIOR!!!!!!

Today, we sent our LadyBug back to the public school bright and early. For those not following me on F@cebook, she came home in January to do cyber-schooling after some health issues that made the public school pace and routine pretty hard to manage. It was a great season of refreshment and retreat for her and she is confident that she is ready to handle her JUNIOR year. Seriously, how did this sneak up on me like this?

Next to head out the door was Li'l Empress. This girly of ours was so ready for her new school year to start. She's super excited to be in the upstairs of her building - it's a milestone that all the rising third graders wildly anticipate in our little school community. Yes, I said it. THIRD. GRADE.

After Li'l Empress climbed happily on her bus, Mei Mei and I ran inside to finish getting ready for the morning. Then we were OFF to the elementary school for their annual Back To School Celebration. It's always so fun to meet the new teachers, say hi! to the old teachers, and catch up with friends after the long summer apart. I'm particularly thrilled that Li'l Empress is going to be with her sweet little buddy "S" again this year. She's a sweet friend and so very encouraging and kind to all her classmates. It goes a LOOOOONG way for my girl to have that security and confidence in her friendships.

As soon as Li'l Empress' class was escorted into the building to start the day, my little Mei Mei fell apart in a puddle of tears. She kept saying over and over, "I miss my sissen" and wiping her tears with her Beebee. She was a soggy mess by the time we got to the van. It was decided that a little pit stop at the local Chick-Fil-A was in order, to cheer our spirits and distract both of us from missing our Li'l Empress.

Then, suddenly, it was time. Yes, that's right, the day has arrived. Mei Mei began her first day of PRE-SCHOOL today. Oh, my heart. This girl was a STITCH to listen to once I told her it was time to get ready for her drive to school. Giggling to herself while I dressed her. Wiggling in her seat trying to eat lunch. Covering her mouth in "OH!'s" of anticipation and looking over my shoulder on the 5 minute drive to see if we were "dere yet?"

Until we walked into the building. Upon which time she started muttering under her breath, "I not want go pee-kool, Momma" over and over like some tribal chant. I exercised HERCULEAN effort to not crack up and to take her anxiety as seriously as she wanted me to, but man, it was hard. SUCH a HOOT.

Oh, and yes, Yes, that IS in fact the very same dress that Li'l Empress wore on her very first day of pre-school. I'm totally a sap like that and I am so excited that she chose it from the line-up. And that I'm still smarter than my kids most of the time to make her THINK she chose it. Yeah. I still got it, baby!

I hung out with her for about 20 minutes, chatting with the teachers and helping her feel comfortable. It was fun to point out to her all the things that Li'l Empress enjoyed when she was a student there. Once she was sufficiently distracted and feeling comfortable, I headed out and the teachers reported that she only cried for about five minutes. And I didn't cry at all. :)

It sure helped to have her little buddy in the classroom - he's the youngest son of the director from our adoption agency AND LadyBug babysat for him and his big brother all summer long. Here she is watching for his car to pull up to the drop-off door. Both his mom and I got the story later that they held hands when they walked together and that he is her new "bess fren." So cute!!!!!

When we headed back to pick her up at the end of the afternoon, her very first words to us were "I had SUPER! FUN! today! Mom!" She had all kinds of great stories to share and pretty much was wiped out and ready for bed by 6:30.

You might have noticed that BBE has no First Day pictures. That's because the poor kid got hit with a a nasty tummy bug that kept him up most of last night. Prayers that no one else gets it here would be so appreciated. We have BIG family plans for the holiday weekend and we've been looking forward to them for the whole summer long!

So there you have it. The Traditional First Day wrap up. Thanks for hanging in there for it all. Hopefully soon I will have something incredibly wise and deep and important to write about. Till then, all these cute pictures of my kids make me happy. And it's my blog, so that's all that really matters, right?

Hope your First Days were momentous and memorable too. Here's to a GREAT 2015~2016 school year!!!!!

Here I Lay My Ebeneezer

I had a really cool experience today. The Boss and I took Mei Mei to our local Intermediate Unit location to have an Occupational Therapy assessment performed. Back in June, her speech therapist and I noticed some fine motor skills and a couple processing issues that have been lagging behind. Nothing is super alarming, but when these particular skills are taken in relation or proportion to the progress that she is continuing to make in the other areas of her development, it is worth checking out.

We are preparing to send her to pre-school in the fall and this time of year when her IEP is being renewed, we are especially mindful of all of the areas of development that need our continued attention. The new IEP and the results of this evaluation will also be super useful in determining exactly HOW much she has caught up in the areas that sometimes fly under the radar (ya know, when one is the youngest of 6 kids in a very busy, active household.being made in other areas) and how to get her moving forward in other skills.

The OT also gave us a sensory profile to complete while they worked together at a separate table. (Have you ever filled one of those out?! Oh, man they are so cool. I was really getting into it, thinking about the answers for Mei Mei and then how I'd answer for Li'l Empress. Times like this make me feel like I ought to go back to school and get another degree!)  Anyhoo.... As I was reading the questions and ranging out the answers, I was also listening to Mei Mei interact with the evaluator and giggling at how our girl has grown in the two years since she's been home.

Full interactive conversation.

{Almost} complete sentences.

{Almost} completely understandable to a stranger.

And big dashes of her own little {okay, who am I kidding, HUGE!}

personality thrown in just to keep the evaluator on her toes.

It was pure delight to observe and think on for those moments. I know I'm biased, but the evaluator commented several times about "how much fun" this kid is. Make no mistake, she had to be brought back to task quite a few times and reminded to use her polite kind words to express herself. But she really was so much fun to watch.

I sat there for a few seconds as it was wrapping up, just immersed in gratitude. I'm so thankful for the moments when God stops me in my hustle bustle to show me where we've been and where we are heading. It was so much MORE than the assessment of skills in that moment, it almost felt "holy" - like my very own "Ebenezer."

1 Samuel 7:12 (NIV)

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up

between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, 

saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”

"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"

by Robert Robinson, 1757

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Sorrowing I shall be in spirit,
Till released from flesh and sin,
Yet from what I do inherit,
Here Thy praises I'll begin;
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I've come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood;
How His kindness yet pursues me
Mortal tongue can never tell,
Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me
I cannot proclaim it well.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

O that day when freed from sinning,
I shall see Thy lovely face;
Clothed then in blood washed linen
How I'll sing Thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransomed soul away;
Send thine angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless day.

Family Day {6}

Six years ago today, in a dusty hot Civil Affairs office in Xi'an,

a beautiful squalling baby girl was handed to me.

Six years ago, my arms finally got to embrace

what my heart had been holding for months.

YEARS, if you really know my story.

Six years ago, this lovely, spunky, sensitive, little firecracker

changed me forever as only the gift of life can change.

I'm so grateful for the gift she is to our home. To our family, immediate and extended. I love the way her little mind works, always thinking, always processing. She's intuitive and inquisitive. She's loving and expansive. She's a treasure and it's such an honor to parent her.

It's a beautiful day for our family to look back and remember. It's even more exciting to hug her tight and revel in the forever that stretches ahead of us. We are blessed. Beyond measure, we are blessed.

First Day of School!!

There's been a LOT of firsts for this Gang this summer. And today marks what we hope is the last of the firsts for a little while. It will be nice to settle in to a familiar routine for all of us, but particularly for Li'l Empress and Mei Mei who seem to be having the hardest time (not surprisingly) with all the new stuff going on in our lives.

Last night, Shaggy and Miss A showed up to wish the Gang well on their respective first days. And to meet the newest member of our Gang. Yes, we have a new Gang member. We are welcoming a Chinese exchange student into our home. She came by last night with her parents to meet us and drop off some of her belongings. She moves in today with the rest of her stuff. She's a junior at the local Christian high school and we are all excited about what this relationship will hold for our families. Please pray with us for her transition. It's her first time in an American school, living with an American family, and a big one at that. We want this to be a great positive experience for us all! I'll share more about her as we get her settled, after I ask her permission to do so.

Without further ado, here's all the Gang that headed out the door. ALL three of them by 8 a.m. I might add. Sheesh, that feels really stinkin' early, for all of us!

Today is LadyBug's first day of HIGH SCHOOL!

Yes, my baby girl is a 10th grader.

She was very nervous about the HUGE building

she has to navigate but super excited to see all her

BFF's again. I'm so glad she has so many friends

who will muddle through it with her.

Baby BlueEyes starts middle school today.

I am positive he's going to shock his friends

with how much he's grown over the last three months.

He wasn't nervous at all that I could tell.

I love his confidence!

He was, however, very sad about saying good-bye to these two munchkins.

He kept telling them how much he'd miss them today.

I got a little choked up. He's such a great big brother!

Li'l Empress has been worrying and nervous for three days

about going to school without her big brother.

She did great all morning long, even saying good-bye to him

without tears. Until the bus pulled up.

There's no picture of her waving as she climbed up

because I was peeling her off of me and strongly

encouraging her that she would be safe

with the new driver on the new bus without her brother there.

By the time I met her over at the school for their Welcome Back

festival, she was working on her smile and feeling more settled.

This part of the "first day" is familiar to her now so she was able

to enjoy the hugs from friends that she hadn't seen all summer long.

Her teacher is new to us as a family but has been at their school

for a very long time. And every report I've heard has been a positive one.

We are excited to have her on our "team" for Li'l Empress's journey this year!

And thank you, Jesus, for this precious friend.

This is her little BFF from church and though they aren't

in the same class this year, she's absolutely still a gift from God

for our Li'l Empress. SUCH an encourager - seriously, it chokes me up

how sweet and compassionate she is.

When they were heading into the building in their separate lines,

"Little Miss I" gave Li'l Empress a "thumbs up" and

shouted, "Good luck today!"

How cute is that?

So now The Boss and I are hanging out with Mei Mei and trying to decide what to tackle first. No surprise, after our long holiday weekend with friends, I've got lots of daily tasks on which I should catch up. And tons of pool towels to wash and fold. Hopefully that will keep my mind busy so I don't think about how ridiculously short this summer felt. And how crazy quiet it is in this house right now.

Share your first day links in the comments. With my slower paced day (cuz gosh, when's the last time I only had one kid to take care of?!) I'll come by and say hi!

The Art of Distraction

Li'l Empress very often struggles to express difficult or negative emotions with her words, resorting instead to copious amounts of tears, feelings of anxiety and rejection, and a bit of a "poor me" complex. We've been getting some great help and tools to equip her to grow in this area of her emotional development. And in the process, I have realized that some of my parenting tools are a tad stale. I also have discovered that I don't use "distraction" as a tool often enough. 

Earlier this week, she had come to The Boss and I with a very minor offense and was on the cusp of turning it into a full-blown melt down in which she was being wronged in the very wrongest possible way, from which she would likely never, ever, ever recover. Ever.

Ummm. Yeah. Okay. Really?

In a flash of brilliance that I can ONLY attribute to the grace of the LORD ALMIGHTY (Cuz I was feeling far less than brilliant. Ya feel me?) I asked The Boss to stop his job hunting for a moment and do an image search for the infamous Grumpy Cat. Just that quick change of focus and the resulting images was enough to completely overcome any offense she was nursing.

So I had her pick her favorite, grumpiest face. I explained that she spends too much of her day looking like that over the littlest stuff. That THAT face should be reserved for really big stuff. We went on to have a fairly hilarious discussion of what things warrant THAT face. And I had The Boss print her favorite picture of the crabby kitty.

Then I cut apart the pizza box from dinner.

(Don't judge. I ran errands and grocery shopped all afternoon.

You want that I should cook TOO?)

I pulled out the markers, the glue, and the scissors.

There was cutting, gluing, and affixing to an old paint stick.

Took me five minutes.

credit: found on the internet

This side says, "A little LESS of THIS, PLEASE."

And this side says, "A little MORE of THIS, PLEASE."

I've used our new sign about four times in the last two days. She might have to work really hard to fight the smile that the feline provokes in her. But at least she's not fighting with her sister. Or fighting more tears. Oh, thankyoujesus.

So what funny or distracting parenting tool have you found to change the mood in your home? Fill me in here in the comments or write your own story of summer drama and creative interventions and share the link. I'll be sure to come by and learn from your flashes of brilliance, too!

DIY: Shabby Chic Photo Gallery

LadyBug and I have been working (albeit at a decrepit, arthritic snail's pace, I admit) on some inexpensive re-do's in her room to update it and to reflect more of her love of all things vintage. Last fall, she and The Boss turned a solid white, kind of boring bookshelf into great multi-purpose storage for her room.

The first pass of sanding it down.

The finished product.

Pretty, functional and a loooong way toward finishing off her desired look. But we both knew we just weren't done yet. Curtains to replace her former little-girl-esque sheers are STILL not hung. Updated wall hangings have been added slowly over the last 8 months. Storage that is both pretty and functional had already been tackled last summer. I love watching her sense of style unfold and taking our time with this room is proving to be a great way to get to know her better.

There was a huge blank space on the wall above her bed that we just kept meaning to get to. Now that summer is here and both she and The Boss have some extra time on their hands, I put an idea out there for her to consider. She got on board really quickly and we got down to it. I had first seen a similar project using big huge French doors and black and white photos in a DIY design magazines and used the idea of it to inspire LadyBug's creativity after she and I saw something similar on our new favorite DIY show.

My great friend came through with FREE frames to get us going.

What a cutie pie!!!!

After The Boss safely removed all the glass and cleaned up the splinters,

LadyBug painted them both with a light coat of creamy off-white latex

that we already had in storage.

Then LadyBug sanded very strategically and sparingly

to achieve that vintage look she loves.

Shaggy's girlfriend came up for the afternoon

to join in the creative process.

Incidentally, she has her own blog. You should check it out!

Your tummy will thank me, I promise.

The girls flipped the dried and sanded frames over

and used a staple gun to attach chicken wire to the back.

Even BabyBlue Eyes got in on the action.

They used hammers to sink a few of the stubborn staples

and to nestle the ends of the wire more tightly against the frames.

These girls aren't just a pair of pretty faces, my friends!

The Boss hung the frames on the empty wall.

And LadyBug got busy with the clothespins

and cute pics of her BFF's that she's been saving for a while now.

Once she's home from her youth retreat, I'm pretty sure that space

will fill up fast with quotes, more pictures, and other momentos.

I can't wait!

I love the finished look.

It completes that space so perfectly

and is so complementary to the already-existing

cottage-y feel her room has.

BEST of all? This great project only cost us

LESS THAN $20 with materials to spare!!

Now if I could just figure out the curtain dilemma.
But that's another post for another day, my friends.

SO. What crafty things are you doing this summer? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. Feel free to even leave a link and I'll come on by.

Your Mom

"Your Mom" jokes are all the rage here at The Gang's house. Shaggy brought them home with him from his YWAM experience, changing it up to make the "your mom" ending super-hyper spiritual, Christian-ese. They are usually quite funny and creative. However, Li'l Empress hasn't quite gotten the hang of them yet. This happened this morning over breakfast.

Li'l Empress sniffed and grimaced while she asked

"What smells like rotten egg in here?"

Baby BlueEyes (oh-so-lovingly) responded quickly,

"You smell like a rotten egg,"

Just as quickly, Li'l Empress started to shoot back,

"Your MOM.... "

And just as quickly, she trailed off in a whisper, looking around uncertainly,

"... is cute."

Do you think this means that the "think before you speak" message is starting to become the rage, too?

One can hope.

One can always hope.

Miss Particular

The control issues that our Mei Mei experiences affect a lot of our daily life. It's exhausting sometimes, but we're taking the philosophy that we're building trust and confidence. So that if she's feeling uncertain and a choice about something small makes her feel more peaceful and secure in our interactions, we give that latitude.

It's bigger than the old adage "choosing your battles" with this kiddo. It's more about helping her feel that her voice matters and that her feelings count. So that when and if we arrive at a bigger issue where there can be no choice, she feels safe and trusts us. More than any other time in my parenting, I feel as if this kiddo has us on a huge learning curve and we're all kind of finding our way together in this particular lesson.

We know how ridiculous her need for choices can get, we all try to make them non-issues when we can. As I sit her typing this, she's "helping" her big brother put away the dishes and he's cracking up because she insists the forks go in the spoon slot. He's really good-natured about it and he knows he'll have to fix it when she tires of the task. We've come a long way, baby.

Thank goodness for this and for the other light-hearted funny moments that make the learning enjoyable along the way. These are the moments that keep us all sane.

***********************

Yesterday, while The Boss was getting a plate for her strawberries, he was grumbling a little bit about how picky she is and how a bowl would be just as good as a plate, even though all the bigger kids had plates with their berries. He walked back over to the cupboard and pulled out a plate and walked back to Mei Mei.

When he set the plate full of berries on the island for her, he said, "I'm going to change your name to Miss Particular, Mei Mei."

Without skipping a beat, Li'l Empress piped up (in her cheery, eager-to-please voice), "I am gonna keep my name the same, right Daddy?"

There's a First Time for Everything

The mood here this morning started out sunny and happy. As it does many mornings. Everyone was up within minutes of each other and Mei Mei was toddling around giving her morning hugs and kisses to the big siblings.

Suh-weet.... a good start is always appreciated here, as they don't happen as a matter of course.

Then Li'l Empress started the downhill slide with sadness about going to school. Sigh. She was home yesterday with the other gang members while they recovered from a nasty stomach bug. We were kind of on the fence about her showing symptoms so we just kept her home. Backfired into big alligator tears for the first 12 minutes of the day. That was resolved quickly and matter-of-factly (man, you canNOT show this kid too much sympathy for her plight or she miiiiiilks it outta ya!). 

I sent the gang downstairs to start breakfast and got Mei Mei going with a clean diaper and let her pick a shirt to start getting dressed for the day (man, you HAVE to give that kid some "choice" in most of the inconsequential decisions of the day or ya get NOWHERE with the big stuff later!).

I settled Mei Mei at the table with the kids, got them all moving on cereal and excused myself to run up and finish my hair with BBE overseeing the whole process. Sounds easy, right?!

Heh. Nope, it's never that easy.

We still don't know WHAT set her off, but Mei Mei was in full freak out mode by the time I turned off the hair dryer and flew back down the stairs. Poor BBE, this was supposed to be so easy - she was buckled in, eating, and chatting happily with Lil E. What could go wrong over wheat flakes and apples?

WHAT the WHAT?!

That freak out turned into a time-in on the stairs, which escalated and became a THING that drove her mood through the big kids all leaving. Through Mommy's breakfast. Not even her beloved 12 minute short movie of minions broke the mood. Oh, man, I wasn't feeling hopeful about the morning's trajectory. Not that she was still in full freak out, thank goodness. But the mood. OH, the MOOD!!!!!

(To be fair, this time span only covered about 90 minutes of fast paced busy activity but it felt like 9 hours by the time I got all the kids off to school and Mei Mei settled enough to open the door for speech therapy.)

Then, mercifully, she put her mood on hold for sweet Miss Lauri. They had a lovely, productive session of PlayDoh time together. But as soon as Miss Lauri walked out that door, the dark cloud of MOOD resettled on her face.

So I did something that I've never ever done before. Not ever, in almost 20 years of parenting.

I bundled us both up, pulled out the dolly stroller and took Mei Mei on a long brisk walk. Nothing unusal about that, right?

EXCEPT. It was very cold. VERY breezy. And it was raining. Spitting, I believe they say in some parts.

Yeah. Me. Hater of all things cold. And all weather wet.

I didn't even care that my toes (and likely hers!) were numb with the cold. Or that it would take all afternoon for that stroller to dry out from the dampness.

There's a first time for everything.

It worked. Her mood shifted. She chattered and laughed and fussed like a little mother hen over her baby doll. And smiled. She smiled all the way around the neighborhood circle and all the way home.

We returned home, happily, to hot soup, more chattering, and finally some quiet snuggles in the rocking chair before nap time.

Sweet, sweet nap time.

It's Perfect!

So I've been looking for a while. Knowing what I wanted, digging through retail sites, wasting far too much time on Am@zon and e-b@y trying to find what I knew existed in my head and must SOMEHOW, SOMEWHERE exist in real life. I could see it in my mind's eye. I knew it had to be out there and I was determined to find it.

What was it for which I was searching, you ask?

Why, the perfect family ornament, of course.

I was going crazy... crazy enough to start thinking about making my own. Really. Like I have the time or the energy or the resources to start ANOTHER project this month. Heh. Like I have the time to sit and search for hours, googling key word after key word. Oh, whatEVER.

In my defense, I think the 10,000 viewings of Despicable Me

has turned my logic skills to mush this month.

In my defense of the said 10,000 viewings,

it's the only thing that distracts Mei Mei completely

and totally from her pain and activity limitations.

There. I feel better. All those disclaimers and explanations....

Apparently, sleep deprivation messes with my ability to be succinct, too.

I slapped myself out of my delirium and put the word out to my very-connected F@cebook friends.Yes, I harnessed the power of social media for my own gain. Dude. I'm so 2013.

I knew it had to be something like this one, which I found the year after Li'l Empress came home. You know, back when we thought (ha!) we might be done building up our gang's population. I do love it. After all, it is perfect for our folk-art style decor but it's dated wrongly (she came home in 2008 and it's dated 2009). But it had to be different. And again, so far that different existed in my head but I was looking for it in "hard copy."

So, on the advice of several of those friends,

I turned to Etsy. I mean really. What CAN'T you find at Etsy?

Just a few clicks is all it took. A link here and a link there.

I found it. It's perfect. And I love it.

This is The Gang's un-officially official Forever Family ornament.

2013. The year that The Gang is {finally} all here. Home. Forever.

The Gang's All Here. And it's literally "set in stone."

And I love it.

If you like it, go check out Rosi's Place.

Tell her The Gang's Momma sent you. Check out all the beautiful stone work.

I'm certain you will find at least one or two things you will love.

Why don't you head over there now and look.

Come on back and leave me a comment about your faves!

For my friends who prefer to support businesses

that are run by adoption-hearted folks,

I'm thrilled to tell you that Rosi has two beautiful

children adopted internationally.

**(I was not paid or given any discount for the review of this product.

I simply am happy with my purchase and wish to share a great resource with you all.

And I might still be a little delirious, as I'm hearing minions in my head almost daily now.

And yes, I'm very aware that this is a lot of fuss and bother about a little ornament.

Again. I'm a tad delirious. Go with it. It's working for me for now.)

Family Day {5}

I can hardly believe it but here we are we are celebrating the awesome milestone of Li'l Empress joining our family five years ago today!

Five.Years.

Wow.

Here's a look back at the joyful! exuberant! "little fiery one!" that is our girl...

Getting to know her Daddy.

Charming her Daddy is more like it!

Such! a! BIG! personality!

Soaking in all the last rays of summer...

Such a little fashionista.

(It would just be wrong to call her a ham here...)

Proud to participate in her

first "Eagles Spirit Day" as a new Kindergartner.

And today. 6 years old. Thriving in her first grade class.

Learning how to be an excellent big sister.

And still charming her Daddy with her beautiful smile.

Happy Five Year Family Day, Li'l Empress.

You are a treasure and a gift to our whole family.

Your sunshiny spirit and joyful manner brightens everyone's day

and we love that you LIVE! BIG! and LOVE! BIG!

with your whole heart.

We are so thankful God brought you to this home,

to this family, FOREVER!

We LOVE you!

And They're OFF!

Wow, what a crazy, busy, erratic and irregular summer it has been around here.... in case you couldn't tell by my abject disregard for my little corner of the blogosphere, this summer kicked Momma's hiney. Transitioning to life as a gang of 8. Significant life-stage changes for a couple of the kids. Entering new developmental stages for a couple of the kids. Understanding and uncovering medical issues, with the added weight of an unexpected diagnoses. All these things combined together to make this a summer to which I am only too happy to wave the bye-bye.

I told my sister the other day, I think this might be the first school year in a long, long time (if ever?) to which I was looking forward with anticipation and gratitude. The exertion of external forces on our routine, our productivity, and our attitudes will be good for all of us. HEH. NOT that I will ever convince a certain 17-year old of that fact, but really, it's time. About 2 weeks past time, if I'm being totally honest.

So. This morning, I sent off my SENIOR, my FRESHMAN, my 6TH GRADER, and my all-day-for-the-first-time-ever FIRST GRADER!

  I realized after the first two pics that there was a big

fingerprint on my lens. Ugh.

She was so excited to get on the bus and see her friends,

that she almost forgot to stop for the picture!

After the bus pulled away, I ran in to brush my teeth and The Boss helped finish dressing Mei Mei. We drove quickly over to the elementary building for the "Welcome Back" party on the lawn.

It was so fun to see BBE's friend, V, and introduce her to Mei Mei.

She's becoming quite a lovely young lady.

BBE is pretty excited that they'll be in the same homeroom this year.

I finally found Li'l Empress through the massive crowd, where I discovered that she'd already hooked up with her VERY! BEST! FRIEND! from church. These girls have been buddies for a while now and the fact that they are now in the same school and the same class every day was cause for MUCH! EXCITEMENT! and JOY! on Li'l E's part. And cause for much relief and gratitude on Momma's part. The transition to full-day, no naps, no break from the hearing aid, and so on has been a bit of a prayer concern of mine for a few weeks now and I'm so grateful that God answered the prayer for both Li'l E and for me in this way. I sure hope that teacher is ready for TWO! LITTLE! GIRLS! on DAILY! DOSES! OF! EXCLAMATION! POINTS!

How cute are these two?!

I'm so excited to watch their friendship grow!

Mei Mei is currently hosting a little tea party at her table next to my computer, talking to her teapot and her dolly while I type this out. So far, so good. She hasn't totally noticed that she's all alone with me yet. She's pretty good at keeping herself occupied with books and puzzles and toys most mornings, so I'm pretty sure the reality of the quiet house won't hit for a few days. And with three teens in the house, she's gotten pretty used to hugs adn kisses good-bye around here. I'm hoping that the busy pace of our kids' lives has set her up for a smoother transition than I prepared for.... I'd like to be over-prepared for once in my life for something big and meaningful!

So, that's our first morning - they're OFF and I'm ready for a second cup of coffee. How was your first morning?! Leave a comment and tell me all about it!