Just Her

As we approach the six month's home mark with Livi, I will just say things are going very well.  Life isn't without its struggles and second guesses, but what we have is one strong little girl who tries soooo hard at everything she does.  School is going okay, but we know how hard it really is for her.  She is being tutored and Title 1'd to death, but the highlight tonight, for me, was when she recognized 90% of her alphabet letters.  Everyone who encountered this little survivor while we were in China said what a smart cookie she is, and we know she is...she is processing and converting and learning, yet every.single.day, she has a smile on her face.  Her teacher says she has no frustrations at all, just smiles away...what more can we ask for.  It'll all come, in His time, at her pace...

For now though, she's hangin on for dear life!

Another First {First Grade x 2}

I woke the girls softly this morning at 7:15am and told them it was time!  They both slowly got up and awake and then the chaos ensued.  They wanted to get dressed right away, not waiting for breakfast or potty break or anything.  The new “Twinkle Toes” had to go on their feet before they even touched the ground!  It was the perfect start to the day; I only hope the whole day goes so well.  We had a scare; Abigail ran a high fever the last two days and of course, she has strep throat.  The doctor said no school, but once I got home last night, she was feeling much better and the fever had broken.  Soooo, three doses of antibiotic later; she got on the bus with a kiss and a wave. 

Olivia was her usual self, giddy and excited, while Abigail was “nervous”.  We got to meet both of their teachers last night and I think things will go very well for both of them!  Our prayers are for Olivia to comprehend all that she is about to learn.  We know she is catching on to the language, our concern is she doesn’t know what she is talking about. So, again, praying she will have understanding.  Abigail is very bright, she loves to read and she can only be a help to her sister in those areas.  Her Kindergarten teacher invited her to come read to her new class this year, they allow that; how cool is that? 

P.S. To quote Abigail, school was "AWESOME"!!!!

What's Been Going On?

I hate to admit I’m not the blogger that I want to be.  I want to keep a record of life with my girls (and my guys), but life interferes with my wittiness and time to actually think about something to say that might make a memory. 

Things have been going “okay” with Olivia.  She is truly a great little girl, and she is a trooper.  We have to keep reminding ourselves who she is and where she came from just a short time ago, and not let frustration take over. 

We need to rely more on God and not so much on each other, because that just doesn’t work.  Livi wants nothing to do with her Chinese language, only wants to speak English and so wants to be like her sister.  Her English has come along very well, especially when we remember she has only been here for four months!!!  She comprehends a lot of what we say, some not so much, but we usually get our point across.  Where she struggles is basic stuff like the alphabet and colors, things we take for granted.  I didn’t even realize she didn’t know her colors until just recently.  She knows them in Chinese!  So, we have tried to work with her more on that kind of thing and I am really looking forward to her going to school NEXT WEEK.  They have more tools than I do to help her overcome what she doesn’t know. 

Abigail continues to be the bossy big little sister.  Some days, they get along great, others, not so much…typical sisters I guess!  We are encouraging Olivia to be her own person, not try and copy Abigail so much…more baby steps.

We have had a pretty fun summer, I’ve been able to take off most Fridays and do things with the girls; plus we had a wonderful vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina a few short weeks ago!  We had never been there and now that we have…well, we may never go anywhere else!  It was a great time! 

We sold our boat (sniff sniff), which we’ve had for 12 years, kind of on a whim…thought we’d post it and see if we got any bites, and whoa, it took all of 12 hours.  So, to make up for it, we’ve done a lot of swimming at friend’s houses and enjoyed every minute of that.  Both girls are fish and really do well in the water…

Here we are, in all our glory!

So that’s the quick update from Ohio.  Next up, school starts…

 

Another First

We have a very nice boat that has become a thorn in our sides over the years. 

Having said that, we finally uncovered it and took it out for the 2011 maiden voyage yesterday. 

 It was a beautiful day by any standards, 90 degrees and the lake water was perfect. 

Olivia knew we were going "boating" but she didn't have a clue what that meant! 

Oh but when she figured it out..she had a blast! 

 She didn't like watching the boys tube as much as swimming

BUT when the girls got to tube with the boys, they both liked that VERY much!

It was an exhausting day as you can see below from the view of the back seat of the truck, but oh so fun!

Fourth of July - Independence Day

We had a wonderful, busy weekend; gotta love three (and 1/2) day weekends! 

The girls spent 8 hours in our friends pool on Sunday, we are so blessed and thankful for that gift of friendship! 

Then we capped it all off with a visit to watch fireworks {even though it was late on a work night, the joy in watching their faces as they watched the fireworks was worth all the tiredness today}

(I can say that because its early in the day, check with me later on that opinion).  Enjoy!!

The girls were watching Mulan II on daddy's laptop while we patiently waited for dusk. 

Can you hear the ooohs and aaaahs? 

 Extraordinary!



I need to blog, I need to blog, I need to blog...

So much has been going on that I'd like to share, I just haven't had the energy to sit down and formulate my thoughts.  Things are going very well with Olivia, she continues to expand her language and her comprehension of what we are saying is awesome!  She has been going to an early intervention "school" from 9-12 every day, just to help her assimilate better.  They have a field trip every Friday, which is very cool for her.  She got to go to the library and the Akron Zoo so far.  This week is the McKinley Museum.  She is finding her way in the family, bit by bit.  She still imitates EV.ERY.THING. Abigail says and does a lot of the time, which at times can be very annoying.  We have to step back and remember that she is learning and just wants to fit in. 

I took a day off last Friday and it was all about the girls!  First we went to the mall and had Olivia's ears pierced {she didn't bat an eye}.  Then a trip to Build-a-Bear was in order, they both picked out new animals and appropriately dressed them. First time for Olivia and she had a ball...then we went to Panera for lunch and off to the grocery store and home...but wait!  Abigail had the option of getting her ears pierced when Olivia did, and she declined.  It scared her!  Well, of course, after we are miles away from the mall, Princess changes her mind.  Being the good mommy, I take her back, we wait a bit and she too gets her ears pierced {she balled like a baby}.  In the end, she recovered nicely, her "little ear" looks adorable pierced and we went home to show daddy what we were up to!  They've both been very good about cleaning and turning them!

 

Fathers Day turned out to be a nice day.  We had the family over for some ribs on the grill and all the girls (3 cousins + my two) played very well together.  All were full and exhausted by days end!

See here it is another week gone by...oy vey.  I'll be back!

Updates on Olivia

Olivia has made huge leaps and bounds in many areas since we've been home and I feel the need to document some of them:

1. She can ride a bike (which she could not do AT ALL when we came home)
2. She can say I Love You in English (sometimes to everyone she meets)
3. She is seeming to prefer English over Chinese right now (which makes us very sad) and is saying MANY things in English, sometimes too fast for us to catch it!
4. She wants to grow her hair long like "sister's"
5. She loves school
6. She loves to do anything "Sister" does
7. She loves to swim and is FEARLESS...scary, huh?
8. She goes full tilt until bedtime, no down time for this girl
9. Her sullenness (is that a word?) is getting less and less
10. We love her very much.