Future jogger?

The night before I left on my week-long Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic, members of Christ Church ran in the famous Media 5-miler.  Apparently, the hills are quite tough.  I wouldn't know.  I just ran after this little guy so that he didn't run into the street and get trampled by all the hard-core runners.  We enjoyed the evening at a cook-out and block party that ensued after the race.

Our Teenager

These days, Elias has an appetite that exceeds a teenager.  Some mornings for breakfast he eats a plate of waffles, a hard-boiled egg, and then a cereal bar on the way to school.  In the picture, he ate a whole plate of sliders and fries and munched on some pizza with the rest of the family.  To date, he still weighs 47 pounds...

Addie's Grand Finale

Last week, Adelaide finished her second year of preschool.  Unfortunately for her, she has one more year of preschool as her birthday falls in October after the cut-off date.  I think she had a good year.  I know that she continues to love music and skips and dances around a lot.  I never got too much information about Addie at school other than the fact that the teachers like her.  One day, however, she happened to mention to me that she took rest time in the director's office.  I asked her why and she said because she stole Abby's pillow during rest.  I gather that every once in a while, Adelaide can give you a run for your money at school, but it's rare enough that we just don't hear about it.  Here are some pictures of my girl singing her heart out.  Again, if I can figure out how to post a video of this music, I will try to do so.

Hotter than hades

What do you get when you cross the hottest dayof the summer so far--100 with humidity--and a four year-old girl at her first Phillies game?

It was the Diocese of Pennsylvania's annual Phillies night out and members of churches across the diocese were there to cheer the Phillies on.  Addie and Elias were able to both go this time.  Unfortunately, the Phillies lost --again.

Farm boy needs training

Josiah and I have been enjoying each other's company for three whole days.  His big brother and sister are off enjoying mini-camp and we have been here racing cars and trucks, watering our small garden, making fresh salsa from all the tomatoes we have at home, and taken our first trip to pick-up our CSA.

This spot is less than a mile from our house and we pick-up fresh veggies and the like on Monday afternoons.  The last part of our endeavor was going out and picking a bunch of dill, a bunch of parsley, and a bunch of cilantro.  It's funny, but if you look closely at the first picture Josiah is holding a tractor.  He is really into his cars right now and we take them everywhere.

Now while this child is being exposed to a farm, he has yet to encounter an animal farm and he is over two years old.  He knows with great surety what a cow says, but if you ask him about a pig or a sheep, he will say the same thing--MOOOOOO.  I think it is my civic duty to take this child to meet some farm animals this summer.  Does anybody know where we can go?

Addie's Artistic Endeavors

 "This is my cloud starting to rain.  The rain is starting to fall and the flowers are starting to wave.  The flag is starting to wave.  The lights are starting to go on. The clouds are starting to blow and the hearts are starting to dance.  Turtles are starting to dance.  Everyone runs inside."

It is that time of year; you know, when all the artwork comes home and there is not a smidge of space on the refrigerator or the laundry room walls to hang it.  Add to that situation the existing artwork that has been hanging there and it a conundrum as to handle this with ease.  So, what I did was snapped these few pictures and recycled the whole lot of stuff.  Elias had even more work that came home in his portfolio.  I recycled some of it and we framed a couple of things.  Target now has these great frames where you can swap artwork in and out and it stores the old stuff.  I'm just hoping they won't really notice the barren walls when they arrive home from mini-camp.

This is an old piece of Elias' which I had a hard time throwing away, but it was literally crumbling.

The Godfather Visits

Our newly married godfather blessed us with a visit that was impromptu this week.  Out of the blue, Kyle had some free time and he spend an overnight with us.  He got to do some exciting things like watch a school play, go to Occupational Therapy, and hit the local playgrounds.  But, we also had already gotten tickets for a parish Phillies game.  So, Kyle joined us and we had a great time--even though the Phillies lost--again.

Caught in the Rain

Just an hour after the last day of school, we were playing on the playground and the heavens opened.  There was no shelter except he baby jogger.  Elias went off and jumped in all the puddles--hence not even one picture of the boy enjoying the wet and the cold.

Last Day of Kindergarten

Elias has had an extraordinarily good year in kindergarten.  A small class coupled with a caring teacher, with a background in special education, who also has a son with SPD , has made all the difference for a fruitful adjustment to school and its demands.  The beginning of the year was fraught with an inability to stay seated, endless nailbiting, calling other children names that he thought were descriptive, such as "chubby" but were socially unacceptable.  Now his teacher reports that Elias can accomplish a task, he is reading beautifully, and his mastery of all kinds of ideas and integrating them in the classroom is above and beyond where he began.  Elias seems to have made some friends, too, despite some of his social difficulties like talking at his friends, instead of with them, and living a lot of his life in his imagination.

We just received the 22 page report from the school district for his I.E. P.  I will write later about the recommendations and the steps we will take as we continue on this journey.  For now, a time to pause and give thanks for a wonderful year.  Now if I could only get his working memory to kick-in so that he could follow three step directions such as make your bed, brush your teeth, and get dressed; that would make it a great summer.

Aesop's Fables

Elias was an ant in his school play today.  His kindergarten performed six different Aesop's fables.

Insightful Adelaide

Sunday night we had some friends over.  While the grown-ups were enjoying their homemade strawberry shortcake in the kitchen a fight ensued between Addie and her younger brother.  All I know was that Adam handed me her and in a very angry voice told me to look at Jed's hand.  There were bite marks.  A quick trip up to bed followed.  Lots of tears for an hour while our guests continued to play.  Upon their departure, I went into her room.  I asked her "Do you bite your friends at school?"  She replied, "No."  Then I said, "Well, you know then that you can't bite your friends at home."  She paused and said, "But sometimes it is easier to be nice to my friends who live in different houses than it is to be nice to my friends who live in my house."  I swear I am raising a Johannine theologian.  So true, my dear girl, so true. She then implored me to sing "Jesus tender" and she cried herself to sleep.