whew!

I am not even going to attempt to do a catch up post......

We are ending August and beginning September!!!! Wow! We have Celebrated Miss Quinn Anne's 1 year Gotcha Day! Amazing. I think one of the more difficult years of my life (hence the disappearance.)

Quinn is doing great. She is a very happy, extremely easygoing little girl. Her vocabulary is amazing. She speaks in complete sentences pretty much all the time. She understands everything we say to her. We can give her complex directions and she can follow them. She makes her needs and wants very well known. She has attached and bonded amazingly well to our family....especially since she wanted nothing to do with any of them for several weeks!! She has a healthy dislike of strangers. She sleeps well, she eats well, and she has been discharged from her endocrinologist. She is 75th percentile for height but still below the 25th in weight, so we are working on beefing her up. Her overall growth, physically, socially, and emotionally in a year are amazing!  All in all a storybook international adoption.  Hee :)    Then there is Mama.  We won't write about her. It has been a challenging year.

On to other topics......

So....I now have a FRESHMAN. GAH.  My little blondie is now considered a high schooler!! Boo Hoo!!! I have to like.....seriously homeschool (disregard that last sentence.)

We start our co-op in a week. I was supposed to start my bible study in a week, but got put on a wait list (grrr.) Mitchell's gymnastics is in full swing (it never ended.) Mason and Jack are playing Upward Football. Regan is moving up to a more competitive baton level. And Mason is also playing on a homeschool basketball team. So....pretty much we are never home.

Oh....and AWANA, of course. Although only Ron and Jack are doing that this year.

Kate. Well, Kate is Kate. She had a whole bunch of dental work done on her teeth (again) this summer. I am hoping it helps her. I will be so glad when these baby teeth are gone and I just PRAY her adult teeth are strong and healthy!!! She is getting along fine with Quinn now. Rarely is there ever any hitting, pushing, or biting. Kate qualified to be in the preschool offered by Chardon Schools, but we decided to decline the offer. They do not have experience working with internationally adopted children (which they admitted) and they did not seem to factor in any of her special issues....such as prematurity or her trauma/fear issues. So, we have decided for now to just continue to keep Kate at home where she feels the safest. She is coming along. I have definitely noticed improvement in her speech this summer. She is trying to speak in complete sentences more often, and she is asking questions to make her wants or needs known. She is also responding to questions with verbal answers that are correct and on topic. She does still have episodes of screaming, crying, and hitting. But I am pleased with the other things I have just described. She also has stopped throwing food and rarely throws her dishes off the table (like pretty much never.)  She totally dresses and undresses herself and puts shoes on and off. And she has been completely potty trained for at least 6 months if not a bit more. She does wear a diaper to bed, but I suppose that is more my laziness than her. I WISH so much that there would be a resource for a premature, institutionalized, internationally adopted baby. But I suppose there are just too many variables. Like I have no clue how premature. I have no clue the level of care. And I have no clue where she was before we got her.....I just assume institution. But for all I know a nanny had her the whole time because of her prematurity.  Anyway....as I said. Kate is Kate.  And I thank God every single day that He gave her to me. I adore her.

We are looking forward to a new year and the routine a school year brings.