Field Trips Galore

Last week I had the pleasure of going to a local science museum with Max and his class. I was responsible for 5 boys. That was hilarious as they all wanted to run in different directions it seemed. Ugg! We had a great time nonetheless. (I can say that now that I have survived. Hee, hee!) I am probably seen as a mean person though because they (mostly one child) wanted to go on a spinning ride right after lunch. Not happening on my watch. Sorry; but, I am not having one of them puke. I can guarantee it would have happened too because they practically inhaled their lunches. I think we were the first group out of the lunch room. I waved bye to the other moms as we raced past onto our next adventure. Thank you to my hubby for working from home that day and keeping an eye on the girls so that I could go. I really do enjoy being able to do these things with the kiddos.


Oh, oh...I forgot to mention the bus ride back to the school. First, the driver could not find a way to get back on the freeway because of some of the ramps being closed. We seemed to be stuck in the area forever! Plus, I was kind of thinking it would be relatively quiet from all the excitement of the day. Not so much! My friend, her daughter, and another girl were sitting in the seat in front of Max, his friend, and myself. My friend and I were sitting on the edge of the seats with fear that we would eventually be pushed out. The two girls and the two boys were playing around so much, torturing one another. We were getting the biggest kick out of them. I asked my friend if she could get her daughter under control and she asked me to tell Max to stop flirting. :)



Today I had the opportunity to go with Sydney to a local greenhouse and small museum with her class. Thank you to Sydney's teacher for allowing Veronica to go along with us. It went really well. We saw some interesting things that I do not recall ever seeing before such as a two headed cow. (I might have just blocked that one out of my memory.) I loved this plant called a sensitive plant. It curls up when you touch it. How cool! The children smelled cinnamon, some plant related to pepper, and saw a vanilla tree, amongst many other things. Sydney's favorite area was the desert plants. My grandma would be thrilled as she and I used to have a lot of cactus plants when I was growing up.

Below are some pictures of our recent field trips.


















I love this picture for some reason. It just cracks me up that the dinosaur and Max are both looking the same direction. It is was unplanned and just cute.
















Max had a ton of fun playing with the others around him on the bus.

















Sydney is looking all cute at the greenhouse.




















Sydney did NOT like the smell of the plant related to pepper. Love this face!


















I was able to get a picture of Veronica smiling all cute before she turned cranky. She woke up this morning at 5:20! When I got out of the shower, I heard voices. Unfortunately, I had accidentally hit my snooze button instead of turning the alarm off. I am guessing that is what woke her up. She could not get back to sleep. :(

















Veronica liked the two headed cow.

Another "Veronica Moment"

I know, I know. Four posts in one day. Please feel free to stop reading at any point. :) I was cuddling with Veronica in bed tonight...for about five seconds. She said something like "I'm all done." All done? Really? So soon? Apparently, I was taking too long thinking about it because next thing I hear is "Get out." Really? Did my 3 year old just tell me to get out? I started tickling her and asked her who her mommy is because apparently she needs to teach this little girl some manners. Ha! Oh, my!!!!

As a disclaimer, the three blogs about the kiddos were not done with any specific order in mind. They were just done as they came to me. You know how kids can be so competitive. I thought I better have the disclaimer in "writing".

Sydney- our wonderful big girl

Sydney had her first big, big girl gymnastics class today. She is moving up and loving it that she gets to practice more and more difficult things. Her class is getting longer and longer. She went from 40 minute classes when she was little and is now up to an hour and 10 minutes. Will I be one of those moms who spends the entire day at the gym while their little athlete trains? Only time will tell. :) We are very proud of her and I am thrilled that she has fun doing it. We will stop when she stops having fun!

She is, also, growing in her ability to read. When I taught kindergarten, one of my very favorite things to see was the children's growth in the areas of writing and reading. To see them go from scribbles and making up their own words to actually writing and reading words was amazing to say the least. Now, being able to watch my own children do this is a thrill. Sydney has taken off this year. We can now take turns reading pages just as we do with Max. I am not saying she is ready for her first novel or that she can do it without help; but, she is really trying and doing pretty darn good. I know she will flourish this summer.

We love you Sydney and look forward to watching you grow even more. You are a beautiful young lady...inside and out. You truly are a princess.

Max- a wonderful role model

Let's start with the note that came home from school Monday. Oh, no...a note from the teacher. Thank God, our oldest son is not a trouble maker. He truly is a great kid. Luckily, I had not yanked it out of the envelope and started reading it out loud. The note was to inform us that he had earned an award at school and he would be presented with it after mass today (Wednesday). We were not to tell him as it was going to be a surprise for him. We are so very proud of him because there is a lot of criteria to be met before a child can be awarded with this. So, of course, I cannot find the list of criteria right now. I will post it some other time if it ever comes out of hiding. :)

Max was not the only one who was surprised today because it turns out that they were handing out awards/medals for the mythology test that they had taken back in February too. I did not expect that today. Now, this was purely an elective to do. The children who chose to do this had extra reading homework...a huge packet all about mythology and one or two meetings with the teacher who was in charge of it all. Max was reluctant to do this; but, we convinced him to give it a try. I am so glad that he did it. He loves the stuff now. After the big test, he reread the packet again at least once. He is big time into the Percy Jackson series now with his dad. Ron has always enjoyed mythology. I am glad Max took after him and not me. I, personally, could not stand the stuff in school; but, I did enjoy reading it with Max. The children were awarded in one of four ways, a recognition award, a bronze medal, a silver medal, or a gold medal. This momma is proud to say "MAX GOT A SILVER MEDAL!!!!" which means he only missed one or two questions on the test. Yippee!!!!

Max is a wonderful role model for his younger sibs and we couldn't be prouder of him!!!!

Veronica- such a little cutie

This blog would fall under that title from before..."Moments to Remember". I wish I could remember all the adorable little things our children have done; but, I have the worst memory known to man-kind. With this blog, I will be able to remember them a little better. So, honestly, although I am happy to share this stuff with you, this one is mostly for Veronica when she is older and for myself. (I hope we will have a way to view this in the future.)

So, anyways, yesterday Veronica accidentally dropped mustard on our carpet (ugg!); but, I just could not be upset. In her little voice I heard, "I did it on purpose." I started to chuckle. She really meant to say that she had done it by accident. Our Little Sweet Stuff got her big words mixed up. I guess we will have the stain to remember this incident. :)

Then, while at mass this morning, she got this really sad look on her face and asked, "When will Jesus come alive again?" Easter can be such a confusing time for little people. Just think how faith can be confusing for us adults at times. Can you imagine a little person's mind trying to grasp it all? I am wondering if she thinks Jesus should physically be walking around with us right now. She has been struggling with this for a couple of days now. I have explained that Jesus is up in Heaven with God right now and that he will come again; but, we just do not know when.

Oh, Veronica, we love you so much! You are such a little joy and blessing!!!!

Moments to Remember

I just love it when the kiddos are all playing well together. No fighting. No teasing. Simply enjoying being together and playing. I am making dinner (OK, so right now, I am actually blogging. Dinner is in the oven.) and I can hear the children playing "Red light. Green light." I just had to smile when I hear little Veronica's voice..."ellow light" Too cute!

Just as I am typing this, things start to go bad. I hear "wedgie war". Uh...NO!!!! I nipped that one in the bud. Now, they are up here "lifting weights" using canned goods and containers of kitty litter.

Oh, these are the moments to remember!

Introducing...our newest addition...

Wei Hua Shan

Weinan City, Shaanxi Province, China

birthday- 1/21/08

We have RA!!!!!

Hi everyone - I don't have time for a long, windy update (lucky you!) but wanted to let everyone know that we received a call Monday that we have our Referral Acceptance from the CCAA! They said we should be planning to travel in late June/early July to go pick up Lil Bubba! We are so excited we can hardly believe it happened. Thank God! We've been patient and now it is starting to come around.

Julie and I spent Tuesday evening filling out ever more government paperwork - just when we thought we were done, there are a whole new pile of forms - I-800, DS-230, I864W, etc. Anyways, we'll be able to share more details of our son including photos so stay tuned!

Washington DC Part 2

After a good night's sleep we woke up and started to get ready for our last full day in DC. Surprise, surprise, the kids want to go to Subway again for breakfast. Don't get me wrong, I like Subway, but three meals in a row is a bit much. I have no idea how Jared did it for months on end. After breakfast we hit the Metro and took it to Arlington. We got there just a little after 8:30 before the crowds hit and took the tour that stopped at the Kennedy graves, Tomb of the Unknowns and finally Arlington House. We visited the Kennedy graves and walked up the hill to see the eternal flame. The last time Julie and I were here, Jackie was not.

We then rode to the Tomb of the Unknowns and arrived a few minutes before the changing of the guards. As luck would have it, we were right in front of the inspection of the guard coming on-shift so were fortunate enough to see this ceremony up close.

After the Tomb we visited the markers for the Space Shuttle Astronauts from the Challenger and Columbia crews as well as the Beirut barracks bombing. It is sobering to see these reminders of the sacrifice so many have made for our country and civilization. Back on the tram we decided to pass on Arlington House as Veronica was more or less done with the cemetery and ready to move on.

Back to the Metro and one stop later we were outside the Pentagon. Not a lot to see because of the 10 foot fence and as we walked down the sidewalk we found a memorial to the Pentagon attack on 9/11/01. I was going to take a picture of the building itself until a guard strongly suggested I not take a picture. No problem, I'll just put the camera away. We'd like to see the inside of the Pentagon, but I don't think breaking their rules is the best way to do it. :)

Back on the Metro to Arlington to pick up the 2nd half of our tour bus from yesterday. We hopped on after a frantic walk/run when we saw it pull in to the parking lot and enjoyed the AC for a while.

We got off the bus at the Smithsonian and walked to the Museum of Natural History. The kids really enjoyed this museum as it was more interactive than Air and Space and they didn't have to be as respectful like we did at Arlington. The Hall of Dinosaurs was impressive and we stopped for a quick bite at their cafe. Now we know why the museum is free - they subsidize the exhibits with cafe revenues! By and far this was the most expensive meal of the trip and quite honestly, left me longing for Subway! LOL!

We walked through the Ocean, mankind/evolution, Wild Animals and finally mineral exhibit where we saw the Hope Diamond. Of course, Sydney liked the diamonds, emeralds and rubies while Max wished we were looking at just about anything else! After a few hours in the museum, we decided to hit the bus again and relax a bit. We "finished" the tour and changed to a different bus to start the same tour again - it is one of those "hop on/hop off" deals. We rode it to the White House and got off on a quest for a non-Subway dinner, hopefully featuring some Vindaloo. We found the restaurant but alas, it wasn't open until 5:30 and it was 4:40! We decided to hit the Metro, pick up dinner for the kiddos and I'd come back when they open and get dinner for Julie and I. The kids decided that even they were tired of Subway so we went to Five Guys and picked up burgers, dogs and fries. We went to the hotel room and they started eating while I ordered Indian for Julie and I. I headed out to pick it up and it was delicious! I remembered we were flying Southwest and needed to print our boarding passes so did that. We were a bit concerned that we were B 32-36 and were hoping that we could all sit together. For those who have not flown Southwest, part of their low cost airfare is that it is open seating when the plane boards so there are no assigned seats. Always a gamble and when traveling with a group, an A boarding pass is preferred, but only the first 60 get those. Julie had started the sad task of sorting clothes and getting ready to roll in the morning so vacation was winding down. Max and I read some more of the Percy Jackson book (Book 1 if anyone is interested) and then we all hit the hay. The nice thing about vacations is that we all go to sleep at more or less the same time when we share a hotel room so the extra shut-eye comes in handy.

Dawn brings the final morning in DC and we get ready to roll and go eat breakfast at the hotel's buffet. It was delicious and our waiter was awesome. He gave us containers to take some fruit on the road for the kids and was very personable. Way nicer than the Indian dude at Subway who acted like he'd never seen us even after the 3rd straight visit. ;) We ate our fill and then grabbed our stuff and began the journey home which of course started with the Metro. We rode to Union Station and found the MARC machine to get our train tickets. We had about 45 minutes to spare so Julie and the girls went on a bathroom and Starbucks run while Max and I worked on Percy Jackson. We boarded the train and were headed north to Baltimore! Max and I kept reading (it really is a good series if you are into mythology and stuff) while the girls colored and played. We got off at the BWI stop and worked our way to the shuttle bus to the airport. Our driver was in a rush and scolded us for waiting while the people on the bus got off before we boarded. Oh how I love the east coast - NOT. His quote of the day was "We're on a schedule - get on the bus." Knowing the free shuttle bus is not really on a schedule made it even funnier - "Whatever, dude. We're on vacation."

We got in the airport and checked in with no issues at all and had some extra time before our flight. The plane was delayed coming from Boston so we were delayed getting out, but no biggie. We eventually got on the plane and were fortunate enough to find seats in the next to last row that we could all sit together (3 x 2). The flight home was uneventful, which is the way we like them. We loaded into the Durango and were off to Sunbury to pick up the Odyssey that we had dropped of for service Monday before we left. It needed its 100,000 mile service so cha-ching! A timing belt, water pump, plugs, transmission and more. Never ends, does it? ;) It has been a great van and we want to keep it humming so it is a fair investment. Dinner and starting laundry were the order of the day when we got home. Vacation is certainly over. :(

Saturday brought more laundry and the first mowing of the year. The tractor was just returned this week from its Spring service - more cha-ching. Like my Brother in Law said - "Nothing runs like a Deere and nothing costs as much as a Deere when it is time to fix it." Truer words could not be said as we needed a spindle for the front wheel and more misc things that I'm not handy enough to fix on my own.

On a side note, nothing in the mail from USCIS but we did see they cashed our check for the amendment to our home study, so that is a hopeful sign. Also, Julie has determined that we need umbrella strollers for China for Veronica and Lil Bubba. 3 days in DC and Julie's arm is uber-sore. Veronica won't let me carry her so poor Julie has her on her hip and in her arms most of the time. Pretty lazy for a 3 year old. :)

The work week is starting and we're hoping the next trip will be to China - though it may end up being Montreal for the F1 race in June. We're getting concerned about reading blogs where there seems to be little advance notice for travel so dropped our agency an email to get their perspective. I like to plan things out and 5 days travel notice isn't going to cut it for a 2 week stint to China to pick up our son. Let's hope these reports are all out of the ordinary and that we don't have a few day mad-scramble/dash to get everything collected. That said, we're considering putting a suitcase out to start throwing things in that we'll need when we think of them. Have a good one and thanks for reading this diatribe!

While we wait....

While we are waiting for our TA from China, we decided we'd take a few days to go to Washington DC and see the sights. We are having a terrific time and the weather couldn't be nicer - upper 70s and mid 80s though that is supposed to change tomorrow night when a cold front rolls in. We have seen SO much stuff and the kids (and grown ups!) are wiped out.

We started off yesterday leaving the house at 5:45AM (yep o'dark thirty!) to catch an 8AM flight. The flight was an adventure as an inner-city school was taking a trip to DC and based on the reaction to a smooth takeoff, flight and landing, it was the first time in a plane for many of the students. We landed in Baltimore and there were some issues with the baggage handling, but we eventually got our stuff. We keep telling ourselves that this is a little practice run for our upcoming trip to China (minus the foreign country, time change, etc.) LOL! Those are all details - we can pretend, right? :) Luckily, the kids are very seasoned travelers so we just need to get them into the groove. Anyways, back to Baltimore, we took the train to DC and had fun watching the Acela (AMTRAK's bullet train) whizz by. Once in Union Station we worked our way to the Metro and bought passes for the four oldest - Veronica is still free! We rode the Metro and transferred to another line and came out right across the street from our hotel.

We didn't want to waste a day so set out for fun. Back on the Metro we rode it to the Smithsonian stop and came out right on the National Mall. The kids were totally digging the view of the Capital building, Washington Monument and in the far distance, Lincoln Memorial. Julie and the kids rode the carousel in front of the Smithsonian Castle so we were off to a good start. Our goal was the Air and Space Museum - and judging by the crowds, we were not the only ones.

Max and Sydney were having a ball looking at all of the planes, space ships and everything in between. The museum was as impressive as I remember it from our 8th grade field trip to Washington DC. We walked around for over 2 hours and then hit the gift shop. Wow, they have just about everything there! We picked out some stuff and then hit the Smithsonian Castle. It was pretty cool and seemed to have a bit of everything from all of the museums. By now, we were all slowing way down so we decided to call it a day. Back to the Metro and then microwave meals in the hotel room before bed at 7PM. (Told you we were whipped!)

Everyone started stirring around 6:30 and we were off on another day of adventure. Today's plan is to ride a double-decker bus and see Washington and then get off where we want to explore more. Back to the Metro (see a theme here yet?!) and one transfer later we're back in Union Station. We find the bus, but the driver wasn't paying attention in their team meeting and charged us for a very expensive river cruise instead of the bus tour we wanted. Long story short, 30 minutes and a few trips into Union Station we had it all sorted out - the wrong charge was voided (we'll see if our card statement agrees) and had the right tickets. We really enjoyed getting to see the city from 13 feet high and were frequently reminded that we were glad we didn't drive! Traffic was crazy!

We got off near the Lincoln Memorial and the kids enjoyed seeing the "giant man" (Lincoln). We then walked along the Vietnam and Korean Memorials - very sobering, especially if you people watch and hear talk of "...looking for my uncle's name...." or "...I can't remember all of the guys last names..." It really brings it home and makes it real. We then stopped for ice cream, which ended up being lunch, before we walked the length of the reflecting pool to the World War II memorial. Very, very impressive memorial. We then started walking towards where we thought we could get back on our bus, but we were wrong. We ended up walking all the way back to the Smithsonian Metro stop (looking back, it is a very long walk, especially with 3 little ones!). We then went back to the hotel for some swimming, always popular with the kids, before heading out to see the White House and dinner. Sadly, dinner plans changed from yummy Indian - the place we walked to was lunch only - to Subway. Quite a let down to go from Vindaloo dreams to Italian BMT, but c'est la vie. Dinner was in the hotel room while everyone winds down from the day.

Tomorrow looks like it'll be Arlington and possibly the Pentagon before we head back to the Museums and whatever else strikes our fancy. Thursday night and Friday morning are not supposed to be good weather, so who knows what we'll do?

On a blogging specific note, I've given up trying to get the pictures to show up where I want. They should be in the text where the event pictured was written about, but blogger doesn't seem to agree. ;)

Easter fun at church

I know, I know...two posts back to back in one day. I am trying to blog while I have a moment. The next few days are going to be full of getting all three sick kiddos better and getting ready for the Easter holiday. (Yes, Dear Family, we will be doing all we can to get the germs out before your visit!)


Here are some cute pictures from the Easter party at church last Saturday. Although things did not go as planned, the kids do have happy memories I believe. Let's just say, the egg hunt got a little chaotic. The older kids ended up hunting eggs where the middle aged group should have hunted and the middle aged group ended up finding all the little kids' eggs. It was a huge mess by the time I got outside with Veronica. You can imagine the little faces when there were no eggs to be found. :(

I am going to brag about my kiddos here for a moment because I was so extremely proud of them. I had asked Sydney who was one of the middle kiddos to share a couple of her eggs with the daughters of a friend of mine and with Veronica. Next thing I know, she was going around to all the little ones trying to share with them too. Max who was in the older group but stayed where he was suppose to hunt was more than willing to give up A LOT of his eggs so that the little ones could have some to hunt too. He still walked away with a ton as you can see in the picture; but, the majority of that will be shared with his sisters and parents too. :) So, Our Dear Children...thank you for being so wonderful. We love you more than you will ever know...to infinity and beyond! To my sister, Janet, thank you for being the extra set of hands I needed that day since Ron had to work unfortunately. He missed all the fun! On a side note, we do not blame anyone at all for the mix up with the egg hunt. It was just one of those things.

Art Show

Every year the school holds an art show. It is fun to walk around the school and see all the neat projects the children have made. All of their art work is wonderful (not being biased here at all); but, we have only picked two per school aged child to put on here. Veronica is very excited about the idea of being able to show us her stuff next year when she is in school too. She got to see one of her future preschool teachers while we were walking around that evening. Exciting stuff!