Back to School!

Wow is all I can say!

School has started here in Alabama and we are at it full force. Becca is playing volleyball for the school and Drake is playing pee wee football for the school (Layne is coaching), and I am homeschooling Luke and Alexandra. Our days are full. It has been quite a transisiton from lazy days where no one but Alex needed much of me, to days where I need to spend time with Luke and shuffle kids to activities. I would love to say it has all gone smoothly, but this week we have noticed a bit of regression in Alexandra. Everything she is doing points to needing more attention though, so I am trying to carve out time for more one on one with her as well as teaching her she CAN do things on her own. She did a funny thing yesterday that just screamed "I want to know you see that I need you!" While I was cooking dinner, she went on the patio and shut the door. She started banging on the door like she was locked out, then when it pushed open she pulled it shut again and continued yelling. After a few minutes of this (I was in the middle of cutting raw chicken and could see she was fine and could come in at any time) Luke couldn't take anymore and went to open the door, thinking she really was locked out. She yelled at him and pushed him away and shut the door again and began yelling for me again. It was at this point, I knew the game and knew she needed to know I wanted to help her. It is funny now, but was exhausting yesterday!

The English continues to get better and better and there isn't much she doesn't understand us saying. She still uses a mixture, but wants to say the English words and made the 'f' sound today for the first time. Her newest phrase is "I lub you mucho!" It makes our hearts melt every time! We will do an audiology test to make sure her hearing is ok, but she has some fluid on the ear that we need to dry up before the test so we will have accurate results. (I think we have spent too much time in the pool and in the lake this summer!)

Alex is loving 'school at the house' as she calls it in spanish and loves to do worksheets and cut and glue. Luke is great with wanting to encourage her and help her and I can already see her picking up some of those school readiness skills. Luke is easy to teach as well as he just soaks it all up. The only problem with him will be keeping up with him as he wants to dig deeper and do projects for every subject. (One of the main reasons I am homeschooling him) She is having trouble understanding why we have to wait in line to pick up Drake after school and why we can't 'vamos'! The same goes for when we are driving. When we stop at a red light, she wants us to keep going. We try to explain about the lights, but she grows very impatient! I am guessing she spent enough time driving around in Peru to think no one follows the signs or stops for anything. (ha ha...sorry my Peruvian friends, but you know you all drive CRAZY!)

Becca and Drake continue to wow their friends with their spanish skills and leave everyone wondering what they really said. I wish I could be afly on the wall at school some days...then, on the other hand, maybe not!

Becca is officially in high school now and is loving it, yet is bummed that her summer birthday will make her the last of her class mates to get her driving permit. Layne and I are just fine with that though.

Drake is in 6th grade and is enjoying being the oldest class on the hall this year. They are growing up way too fast!

I know it will be a good school year and the time will fly. It will take being very intentional to stay focused on what is really important and to keep priorities in order. Hope everyone else has a great start to their school year as well!

Where does the time go?

It is hard to believe it is already August. School starts in 2 days and the last couple of weeks have flown by. Doctor appointments, swim team, back to school shopping, constant water hose play in the yard. Summer is coming to a close. Alexandra is settling in and is now falling asleep by herself. Staying asleep all night is a different story, but we are taking it one day at a time. We did have her follow up at the International Adoption Clinic this week. Medically she is still great. (Except for the ear infection that we suspected, but weren't sure about because she had no fever and never complained about it...even when I tugged on it. Ouch!) We will continue to work on her speech and school readiness skills. It is interesting, as people have been speaking to her in spanish this week, she looks at me to interpret for her. I think she is losing the spanish as she is understanding more and more of what we are saying. As badly as we wanted her to keep the spanish, we want her to have English more. Language doesn't seem to come quickly for her, so we are praying down the road the Spanish will be easy to pick up again.

Her spirit continues to amaze us as she haa fun with everything. She loves to dance and listen to music. We can get her to do just about anything if we put it to song! More trips on the boat, dressing up to play, play dates with new friends...there is nothing she doesn't like. Ok, so except for going to the doctor, but who does like that? I have posted pics with this entry of her just being Alex. The green dress she is wearing in 2 of them is a Peruvian dress we bought for her in Peru. The pic with Layne is while we are waiting at the International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham.

She has added so much joy to our already crazy, yet joyous lives. Thank you for allowing us to share our joy with you!