SCHOOL

School has begun. It started later this year so we had exactly 3 months together. I was excited, I thought, for them to be off to school, but when I got home and it was so quiet, I was very sad.

We got Sara to ride her bus for the first day. The traffic at her school is terrible so this was a great thing. She was very excited and rode with friends. She did get a little bus sick sitting in the back, so we may need to make front seat arrangements. Then she called and could not remember her bus number, and then still almost ended up on the wrong bus. Her 6th grade friend made sure she was on the bus and that she got to her first class alright-thanks Brianna! She loves having a locker and just bubbled when she got home. She does love her math class. Sara is in the pink backpack with her back to us about to get on the bus.


I took Ruth to her class since Sara was on her way. Both schools have the same times this year. Ruth does like her two teachers. The gifted program works a little different in 4th grade and she has 2 primary teachers. She did come home sick and told me she was very very hot and her head was pounding. She told me it began right after school when they had the kids waiting in the 103 heat for the rides. I called my nurse friend and she said it sounded like heat exhaustion and she was probably dehydrated. So I woke her up and got her to drink some and she was much better. I guess you would say her first day was overshadowed with the end of the day, but I am sure the rest will be wonderful.

I did attend the Boo Hoo breakfast at elementary school for the moms and dads dropping off their kids. Chocolate chip cookies, juice and coffee. I did a little boo hoo thinking that my baby is getting so grown up and I was NOT the only mom or dad there so there you go.....great idea!!!!!

I still carpool the elementary kids, but only in the morning this year. We do help the other if there is a need, so I may still have a few afternoon pick ups. This year we are not watching children after school, their parents feel they are OK to stay home 45 mins until an older sibling gets home.

Swingset is gone!

The new neighbors on one side have a trampoline. The problem is that it has no net so I will NOT let the girls get on it....mostly because I love them too much to gamble with their health. SO, I gave them the option of keeping our super cool swing set/fort or selling it and getting a trampoline with a net. Now, I would have been OK with either and I gave them 3 wks to decide and they had to agree. They decided on the trampoline and the 6 yr old other neighbor boy got our swing set/fort, which took much sweat, a little blood, and a few tears to move to their house. We had the kids in our pool to keep them out of the way, and at least someone was cool, while we move it then reassembled the fence.....it was only 100+

MISC

Sara is a princess now. We got this dress at our favorite thrift store and she will wear it for the father daughter dance, and maybe for holloween to be a princess.


She also made this halo out of long grass strands and flowers from the yard. She said she learned this in China.









This is Sara's new shirt....it sort of sums up the whole thing - I may be small, but I'm the boss - - aren't all kids?

A NEW TIGER

Sara has had her orientation last week and tonight we went to pick up her schedule. Her friend that lives a few blocks away will ride the bus with her and be in 2 of the same classes. Sara is most excited about the library. We bought her PE t-shirt.

We decided to meet the school nurse, another excitement for Sara. Sara told her that she was an ouchy girl and that the nurse needed to make sure she had lots of bandaids for her.

She explained that she wore glasses and why. I talked to the nurse about Sara's sensitivity to the heat.

Then we got the paper work for the school bus. I think this is causing Sara the most anxiety. This week we are almost on school time-yikes! We have the to bed at 9 down, but not quite to up at 6:15. Maybe the girls will let me sleep in and wake me when they are ready to go to school......not!

Ruth gets her teacher's name on the 22nd and meet the teacher on the 23rd. With her being in the accell class, we know who her teacher is already...she will have one main accell teacher, and a second who teaches a few subjects to them, so basically 2 lead teachers, got it....we don't yet either.

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2

IT IS FINALLY HERE. . . . screamed the girls upstairs as the months of waiting ended and the movie began. We warmed up with singing and dancing to the CD we bought a few days ago. They already knew the words before they saw the movie...great marketing!

Both girls had a friend sleep over and we shopped in the morning for the menu for the party.








After the movie, there was a new Hannah Montana program, also a favorite. Then it was tumbling off the old couch and drawing pictures on the marks a lot board.....

HOT

HOT Summer is here and the furnace is on full blast! So, what do you do when it gets this hot? Not much....too hot. We did find some fun ways to cool off.





As for the cat, she just sleeps in her box all day long, lucky cat!


By the way, the girls named their sea dragon Flower. I have been adding a little more color to the girl's rooms.....you all know I love to paint.


This morning Sara had 5th grade orientation. She will be attending Intermediate School and riding a bus after the first few days. She is so excited and had a great time today. I am not sure how the principal already knows her, maybe because she is so cute. Ruth is excited about going into 4th grade. Her class is the first class to go to her school from K-4th grade....my babies are growing up.

FU girls reunion-Atlanta

This is Sara-10, Mailia-7, and Dani-13. They were friends in Fuzhou, Jiangxi. Sara and Mailia came home at the same time in Nov 6, 2006, and Dani followed ASAP and came home in January 07. This is the first reunion that Dani had with the girls-Malia and Sara got together in March of this year. There was great excitement and it was fun to listen to how much English the girls learned. They did some Chinese, but mostly English.

In this photo, you will also see the girls. Dani is to the right of the baby wearing a white sweatshirt with blue lettering. Sara is in the green long sleeve standing to the right of Dani, and Mailia is in the front in the light green shirt.

This was one of the FIRST photos we have of Sara and thank Gina so much for having taken this when getting her daughter and sharing the photo.

These are the kids as everyone arrived:

Ruth, Dani, Sara, Dani's brother Jonathan , Mailia, Dani's sister Hannah

This is why it took us a little (lot) longer to get home! Thanks to Officer Moore of Alabama for stopping and changing the tire for us!!!!!!!!

Family reunion

The Judd family. We could not all come and missed Elisha and the new baby Kyle, but most of the gang attended, with an extra bonus of Uncle Joe and Aunt Rosa coming for a few days too with their dog Sheba.

Everyone played a little badminton

Grandpa read stories to the children-young and older

Sara loved the fishing and Ruth caught frogs...my nature girls

Karaoke was a little scary....mental note to bring ear plugs next year

On the wildlife safari, the animals came onto the bus for a handout....or a hand

Off to Georgia

We are on our way to Georgia for a Judd family reunion. We will be back in 10 days. At the end of our stay in GA, we will to to Atlanta to meet with two of Sara's friends from the SWI that they grew up in-Mailia is 7 and Dani is 13. Will write more when we return. We are frantically packing since we work under pressure and we are just now packing. Us girls love our new pick suitcases! Don't worry about the animals, we have a dog and house sitter that takes care of everything and our yardman will take care of the yard......if only we could use magic and be in GA instantly instead of a two day drive. Thank god for TV's and Ipods to help parents keep their sanity!

Visitors from afar

We are heading about 1 1/2 hours north for the day to visit some very special friends. Erin flew in with her S. and is staying with Alyson and her three P's in the pod. Erin's S.-- home not quite a year (my how time travels), and Alyson's #3, just home, are also from China. We will also get with Traci who just got her TA-permission from China to come over for her beautiful baby A and will travel very soon. It will be nice to see them again and give them our bags of hand me downs. They have not met Sara yet.

Hangin out

We have been passing time. Taking the girls to the Y to swim, playing in the sprinkler out back and getting the dog neutered-ouch!

We stopped by a local McDonald's...something we do often during the summer, and the real Ronald McDonald's was there!! Sara said thank you in Chinese to him after getting their picture taken, and he spoke Chinese back to her. Apparently he is the real touring Ronald and speaks 8 languages and travels all over the world. How cool!!
I took the girls to the local mall to ride the merry-go-round-Sara's first time. Sara chose her favorite animal the rabbit and Ruth chose her favorite-the horse.




The girls decided to put on a magic show which was too cute and we laughed through most of it. I am sure this is NOT the calling for either of the girls. They did do a cool trick with a dollar bill...besides making it disappear at Wal-mart! They will practice some more for the family reunion next week.


We also revamped both bedrooms. The posters got reorganized, we did a little painting and updating. We also have been shopping for our next cross country trip in a few days. I bought myself a much needed suitcase and got matching ones for the girls....totally girly. We visited a friend and we took the small road around the airport and watched some planes land right over us....a little unnerving!!!!










As you can see, the dog Cooper and cat Puff have called a truce and decided they they will let each other live after all, with just a few misunderstandings, but it is fairly matched because the cat is declawed.

WE ARE HOME!

We are back home.
Due to traffic concerns and RAIN, we did not return until today. We had a great visit with the two of my sisters that live in Katy and Friendswood, and enjoyed our visit staying with my parents. While there, my long time friend of 30++ years, Ruth, and her husband sold and bought a house and the girls and I helped them pack....moving in 15 days!!!! We went to a town by my parents, Kemah, and enjoyed a very hot day. Sara had her first Ferris wheel experience and loved it...Ruth was her usual cool.

Just for fun, we looked at some over the top boats and picked out the one we would like to have....not told Jeff this yet....it is so much fun to dream.



Sara helped my parent's neighbors have a garage sale. Cooper traveled OK and was not 100% good on my parent's carpets....so so sorry! I guess Sara and Cooper are both in the kennel. We ate out a few times and I watched fireworks with my mother from her back yard. The mosquitoes chased everyone else off.


The girls also visited grandpa the day he volunteers at the charity food pantry. My dad helps stock the shelves for families who come in for food

Out of town & looking back

Just a quick note, I am leaving to visit my family in Houston for a week. Jeff has to stay and work. I am sure we will return with many stories, so please stay tuned.

DO YOU SEE HER IN THIS PICTURE-the spark in her eyes that shine so bright today! Today the girls were going through their school work from the year, and I was thinking how much Sara has changed.....how we have all changed and are learning how to be a family of 4. She has learned so much English that no one can believe that she has only been here for 8 months, but she loves to learn and is now beginning to take on her role as older sister. You understand, she was very immature when she came to us, so she has grown in this way too.

Rain, Rain and Bible School

We are still here. The girls attended Bible School and LOVED it. After the first day they asked to go early the next day do they could sing all the songs. We also attended the Church on Sunday and the girls Sunday school, and they LOVED it too. Jeff and I also enjoy the church which is very active in all areas. It is also good that it is only 5 minutes from the house.

The girls enjoyed some cute time playing dress up and swimming at the YMCA.

We have also been very busy staying dry. In case you have been living in a cave, we are having rain like never before. Even the puppy Cooper only gets out of the covered patio for his business and we are letting him inside a little more so he does not get webbed feet and swim away. I am positive that our 2 year drought is now over, and the lakes would be reopened except that now instead of the boat ramps being too short, the water has flooded all the parking lots to the boat ramps and the lakes are closed again, but for the opposite reason!

GREAT Aunt & Uncle

Today Jeff's Sister Laura's daughter Elisha gave birth to a boy....something very rare on both sides of the family......and Kyle and mom are doing well. We understand that Kyle had a lot to say upon birth and quite some time there after....should fit in well with my two daughters who ALWAYS have something to say. We are waiting photos but are confident that he is a cutie. Not sure how Jeff's sister is taking becoming a grandmother.....

Happy Father's Day!

This morning I fixed a special breakfast for Jeff and the girls made some very cute father's day cards. My parents were still in town so I got to spend father's day with my father too. In the evening the family went to our favorite restaurant China King and stuffed ourselves crazy.