Summer Fun

I know, it's been long time since I've posted anything. All I can say is sorry! We have been relatively busy this summer. Most of our activities have been centered around gymnastics. M is now officially a member of our gym's competition team which means more practice time. She goes 4 days a week for 4 hours at a time. Yes, that is 16 hours a week! So far she is loving it. The extra hours doesn't seem to bother her at all. E is also taking gymnastics classes. She is on our teams pre-competition team and goes 2 days a week for a total of 4 hours (Unfortunately the practice times do not coincide so there 2 days a week I have kids at the gym for over 6 hours.) We had a rocky start with her at the beginning of summer with some very emotional times during class. She gets very "nervous" (those are her words) when she is put into new situations and I think that was what caused her to have breakdowns over little things. It finally took me almost threatening to take her out of gymnastics all together because I don't won't to pay all that money for her to cry during class (had to do this after she spent 45 minutes of crying and having to come out to me 2 times during one class). She responded by saying "NO" and quit crying and went right in and did well for the rest of the class that day. I guess in the long run she really does like it and didn't want to not participate because she has made a drastic change these last couple of weeks. She is no longer crying and is actually doing really well!

During our brief breaks from all the gymnastics, I try to do some fun things with the girls. Wednesdays are our only day where neither girl has any activities so that is the day we go off and do some kind of adventure. We've gone to the zoo, we've seen some movies with friends (UP, Night at the Museum and Ice Age 3), we've visited an animal park and we have some more fun planned for the rest of our summer. We also did a week of M learning her Chinese Duet dance the beginning of June. We've gone on a little vacation to the Biltmore House and the Smokey Mountains. So far our Summer has been fun! Below are a few photos of some of our summer fun.

The girls in front of the Biltmore House in Asheville, NC.

E at the Biltmore.

M at the Biltmore

M riding a horse all by herself for the first time. She loved it! She did this in the Smokey Mountains.

The girls in the Smokey Mountains

We visited the Wagon Trails Animal park and her the girls are feeding the animals in the petting zoo.

E ready for our "Safari Ride" through the animal park. We were able to feed all of the large animals in the park like elk, bison, water buffalo, camels, ostriches, zebras and many more.

M touching the antlers of this large elk.

During all of this fun summer activities, I haven't done much sewing so there are no new photos of any quilting projects. I haven't made any progress on my UFO list either. I spend most of my time being a chauffeur so I'm not home that often so that cuts into my sewing time.

Moving on up...

to Second Grade! Today is M's last day of first grade. She has changed so much since the beginning of the year. Congratulations on doing a Great Job in 1st grade and continued success in your future years of school!!!

First day of School

Last day of School. Notice the new space in her top teeth. She finally lost that tooth that has been hanging on for weeks at school yesterday. We are also growing out her bangs so she's sporting the new shaggy look!

Conversation in the Car

Today while I'm driving around town, out of the blue I was asked the following question by E.

"Do green iguanas poop out the seeds when they eat strawberries?"

Anyone have the answer?

Gymnastics Shows

Last week was the week for all of the end of year Parent Gymnastics Shows. E had two of them since she is technically taking 2 different classes. M had her big show/meet last night. E's show had a little parent participation included. I now know that I'm totally out of shape! I also have a bigger appreciation for all that E can do because it's not easy. Below are some photos of E's different shows.

E does a great handstand!

M's show/meet was last night. Her show was more like a regular meet where each girl did their little routine for each event. They combined the blue team (first year pre-team) and the white team (second year pre-team) together. M was the first in her little group to perform each event and she did great! She remembered all the routines! Below are some photos of M's show. Please excuse the quality of the photos but my camera really isn't the greatest for taking action shots inside the gym.

I'm so proud of both M and E. They are both moving up into the next level of gymnastics. M will now train to compete as a level 5 gymnasts this coming season. This means she will be spending lots of time at the gym this summer (16 hours a week this summer) and fall. It's a huge commitment not only for M but for me. M is excited and really wants to compete so she's prepared for all the time she will be training. E is going to be moving up to the blue team (first level pre-team) this summer. We'll see how well she handles the extra training this summer and go from there. I'm not sure if E is cut out for competitive gymnastics but we will give her the same opportunity as we did M to see if it's something she would like to continue to do.

Proud to be an American!

The whole 1st grade at M's school put on a Patriotic concert for their families. It was very touching to see all the kids show pride for their country. Below is our proud American.

a little snippet of one of the songs

The Graduate!

E is no longer a Preschooler! She had her Preschool Graduation last week. All the kids did a great job singing some songs, reciting some material and giving thanks to their families. It's kind of sad that now I will be entering a new phase of having all School age children. I have been driving to this preschool for 4 years now (M for 2 and E for 2) and now it's over. E is very ready for Kindergarten and I'm looking forward to seeing all that she acoomplishes this coming fall.

And Now Introducing the Graduate!

Can she Make it to the top?

E at the bottom of the rope in gymnastics.

Halfway up!

She did it!!!

This year in gymnastics E has had her ups and downs. She really is doing very well on her skills but was having some problems with controlling her emotional side or otherwise crying over little things. Once E starts to cry she has a very hard time stopping and would usually end up crying for the rest of the class. We were almost ready to not let her move up to the next level because we weren't sure she could handle the pressure. E is a perfectionist and she got very frustrated with herself if she wasn't able to do something. If the coach told her to keep her legs straight after a skill she would start to cry. If she couldn't jump as high as the other girls, she would cry and so on. I finally asked her if she liked gymnastics (didn't want her to think she had to do it because her sister is very involved in gymnastics) and she said "Yes, I love it." After a heart to heart talk with her, and after I told her that it was ok that she couldn't do something and I didn't care, she started to change. She also brought up her size (E is the smallest in the class and she is very aware that she is a lot smaller than all of her peers) and I had to explain to her that in the long run, her being small is actually a huge advantage for her in gymnastics. Also letting her know that she was actually doing some skills better than her older sister did at the same age boosted her confidence. The past month she has made a huge improvement and hasn't cried one time. Because of her improved positive attitude she has finally overcome her fears and climbed to the top of the rope. Once she made it to the top and she was so proud of herself. Now all she wants to do is climb that rope. Due to her improved attitude she is also going to be moving up to the pre-team this summer for the gym. She wants to do it now so we will let her try. She knows that she has to control her crying in order to be on the team and she said "I will not cry". Her coach just loves her even through all the crying and thinks she has the skills to be on the team. She too agrees that she thinks she has made a 180 in class and thinks she will do ok this summer. I'll keep you updated on how well she deals with everything.

LWB Art Auction

Update: The final bid on the quilt and wish book was $464.99.

Today is the beginning of the LWB Art Auction. Love Without Boundaries is a great organization that helps fund surgeries and other medical needs to children in China. A family that traveled with us when we adopted M has a second daughter that benefited from Heart Surgery that was funded by LWB's Art Auction, so every year I try to make a quilt and donate it to the auction. This year I was only able to finish one quilt. Keep an eye out for the below quilt during the auction:




All the squares represent each of the 50 States and Washington, DC. I hope the quilt brings in lots of money during this auction.

Sickness

M has been ill with strep for the past 5 days! It started as a cold that went on about a week and then she started to run a fever. On Saturday this fever started and didn't go away by Monday so we took her to the Pediatrician. I was thinking that maybe she had broncitis or something because of all the coughing she was doing but it turns out she had Strep and is now taking her first ever antibiotic. She made it 7 years without being on any kind of medication (other than tylenol). She has been home from School for 2 days and I'm so ready for her to go back today. I'm hoping when she wakes up this morning that she no longer has a fever so she can go back to school. Yesterday she was a little stir crazy (and was starting to drive Momma a little nuts!). I thought she was on the mend yesterday because her fever was gone for most of the day (the motrin worked well) but last evening she had a temp of 103.2 again. The motrin brought it down immediately again but I'm hoping this morning it's normal. I'm also hoping no one else in the family comes down with Strep (including me!).

LWB Art Auction

For the past 4-5 years I have donated quilts to the Love Without Boundaries Art Auction. LWB is a great organization that provides medical and other services to Children in China. Friends of ours youngest daughter, received a much needed heart surgery funded by LWB. Today this little girl is full of energy and keeps her Mom and Dad very busy. This year I didn't make as many quilts as I have in the past due to not having as much time now since the girls are a little older. My sewing time isn't as great since now I'm never home because of all the driving around to the various activities that they are involved in and waiting around until they are finished. I did manage to finish up one quilt that I actually started for last years auction but wasn't able to complete it on time. I only finished it last week too so it's nothing like waiting until the last minute to complete something when you had a whole year to work on it! This is a US State quilt. All the squares in the quilt represent the 50 states and Washington, DC. There is one extra block of patriotic type fabric too because I needed 4 stars for the corners of the quilt. There is also a wish book that goes with the quilt that describes each of the states and the fabric chosen for that state (the wish book was made by another one of my on-line quilting friends). I hope the quilt and wish book bring in lots of money so that another little boy/girl can be healed by receiving a much needed heart surgery.

Closeup of the quilt

I finally completely finished a UFO too! YEA!!!!

What begins with W....

a watermelon, waffle, water, window, wig and a wagon!

Each week in E's preschool they learn a different letter. E already knows all of the alphabet so the teacher told her she could draw things that start with the letter W on the back of her practice writing paper. This is what she brought home.

Dance Competition

M's Chinese dance class performed their Chili Pepper dance at the Regional Pittsburgh Showstopper dance Competition on March 7. They did a wonderful job especially since none of the girls have ever danced in a competition before and also this was only the 3rd time they have performed their dance in public. Their group won 3rd place in the Under 8 small Group Recreational dance category. Not too bad!!! Way to Go!! M's dance school was the only other dance school that performed a folkloric type of dance so it was also a great arena to schowcase traditional Chinese Dance.

A beautiful group of Chili Pepper dancers!!

Happy 5th Birthday E!!!!

Today E is turning 5! It's hard to believe that my baby is now five and no longer a little baby! Today is a low key day for her but tomorrow is her big party. She is having a party at her Gymnastics gym and all of her friends from school and the neighborhood will be there. Below are some photos of E through the years.

E right after placement in China. She was 8 1/2 months old

E starting to walk at 10 1/2 months old. Yes she was that young and that tiny ! She's always been my girl who is on the go and into everything!

E at 18 months old

E at 2 1/2 years old. I don't have many professional photos up to this point because she refused to sit for a photo shoot prior to this one.

E's 3 year old Preschool photo.

E at almost 5.

Today E is still very active and has a great imagination. She's a very bright little girl who on a daily basis keeps surprising us with what she says and talks about. She is even full of advice for her big sister, like "If you want something, just cry. That's what I do" (she actually said this in front of us!) Today if you ask E what she wants to be when she grows up, she'll tell you a Scientist. Pretty ambitious for a 5 year old, but I have no doubt that she'll be doing something in the Science field when she's adult. I even envision her being a doctor (she is constantly looking at a Human Body book and asking me all about the photos). I'm looking forward to experiencing all that this special little girl does during her life!

I've Failed

My attempt at posting a picture a day has failed! I will try to play catchup for all the days that

I've missed, but not sure if I can continue to post a photo a day. It was a great idea but the extra time it takes to do this, just isn't available. I will do my best to keep posting photos but I can't guarantee that it will be daily.

On Saturday, I spent the most of the day sewing at my little guild's UFO Sewing day. I got a lot accomplished and I actually finished another one of my UFO's that I have listed. I finished piecing the top for the Tobacco Roads quilt. I think it turned out OK. Now there's another one to add to the "to be quilted" pile. I also made great strides in finishing up the Shadow of the Bear Quilt top. Only one more side to sew on and that top will be in the finished pile. Below are photos of the Tobacco Roads quilt and another photo of the Trading Patches quilt.

Tobacco Roads Quilt (photo 13)

Larger view of the Trading Patches quilt (photo 14)