John the Shark

John and Mary love to watch their Gymboree videos during the morning school session. They sit surprisingly still and quiet during this time. I love the fact that they sing along with the cute music. It makes them happy;-).

I thought this was so cute of John-John. He was threatening his big brother Casey with a shark attack!!! Casey was pretending to cry with fear of the "big bad shark"....ha ha.
Then John-John jumped in to eat a few victims which included his sister Annie. I am so proud of the way John is swimming with greater strength as the summer comes to a close. Speaking of summer ending, gives me a sad feeling, as we do enjoy playing outside so extremely much. Plus, it is such great exercise for the kids. Casey is doing much better since his cast came off. However, we do tease him just a little about his crocked arm. Just having the cast removed, he is still unable to straighten his arm. So we all sing "Walk like an Egyptian". Thankfully, Casey has a good sense of humor and plays along with the taunting. Hopefully, he will eventually be able to straighten it out. The ATV accident did not stop him from riding as a passenger with little Trish this weekend. They had a blast!!! Here is a picture of an Egyptian;-).

Underwater sea monster....Mary Blueberry;-)

Here we have our own little ornery stinker....Mary Blueberry!!! She has discovered that she can see so much better with goggles under water. Of course, this leaves her siblings at a disadvantage since she can see to attack them underwater!!!! Well, God blessed us with Mary and we are thankful. There is never a dull moment with her. As a matter of fact, she keeps the entire house on the move to keep up with her. It is amazing how strong she is in her arms, shoulders, and back. I have seen her do chin ups on our monkey bars without even using any effort. After watching much of the summer Olympics....I wonder if she would train into a great athlete with her strength and ability to concentrate on what she wants with a passion. She is also blessed with a tiny stature and powerful strength. We are going to put her into gymnastics classes soon. I just know she will do a great job!!!!
AWE!!!! Little Trisha is so beautiful. I took this picture as we went outside to swim on Friday. She is growing up way too fast. I love having her in my Catholic home-school and she loves it, too. Trish is a hard working student. She is learning much this school year and amazing me every day.Happy Christian got his head buzzed today!!! He is such a beautiful little boy!!! He rather threw Duane and I into a shock this soccer season;-(. He announced to us that after playing soccer since age 4 y/o....he wants to play football!!!!! I just couldn't believe it, as he has been main string team member on his soccer team, for three years in a row and has not sat on the side line during this time. I watched him the other day with his soccer ball as he danced with the ball across the yard. My heart was breaking as I watched him so gracefully moving the ball in a little zig-zag pattern. However, I am resigning myself that no matter the sport, he will play with gusto. So his football coach called over the weekend to say he will have practice twice per week and a game every Saturday night after the second week of September. Oh My Goodness!!!! I'll keep you posted. Karissa has decided to continue in soccer this year....yeah!!!! She is playing some real hot ball these days and with a mind set to win. Both Christian and Karissa are very competitive in their sports. So we should have an exciting season this year and I will certainly take some pictures and keep everyone posted on their progress.
Now for my beautiful Arctic Princess!!! She has decided that she is a ballerina and will be trying dance this winter. Yes....she will be registered in Little Trisha's dance school and hopefully with Trish as her student teacher. Trisha is teaching this year again as she did last year. Only she will be teaching the older children's classes. So I am hoping Katie will be in Trisha's class. Trish is such a good dancer and is in a traveling dance group called "Dance Trax". They have won many trophies and travel to various big cities to compete. AWESOME!!! I also want to mention that Katie is very smart with her school work and I believe she will be grade age appropriate during this year. She not only knows the alphabet's names, she knows the phonetic alphabet and can think of words that begin with particular letters. Her math skills are very good as well.

I want to take this opportunity to mention that Katie Aunna was very close to a little girl in Russia by the name of Vika. Little Vika is a couple of years older than Katie. But, during our visit with Katie, Vika came into the playroom to meet us. She is such a delightful little girl and would make a family such a sweet and loyal daughter. I wish with all my heart that we could afford to go and get her. But, unfortunately we are unable to since we just got home three months ago with Katie Aunna. We are truly praying that some one will listen to God's whisper in their heart to take an older child and choose Vika. Like Katie, she is of a very loving and sweet personality with a loyalty seldom found. She is destined to greatness with the right family to call her own. Please, consider Vika and pray for her with us. If you should want more information about her, feel free to contact me and I will get you in touch with the right people!!!! This is a uniquely wonderful little girl.
Katie Aunna wanted to take a picture with she and I. The only problem was that everyone was busy and so I took it of us myself. Katie liked this picture very much;-). My how Katie Aunna loves her Mama. She may have started as a Papa's girl.....but, the closeness she and I have developed is stunningly marvelous. I am so extremely happy God chose us to be her parents. In this photo Mary Blueberry and Annie Bananie are making friends after a big Barbie doll fight. It was quite sweet as Annie and Mary got into their chairs for lunch. We said Grace together and I asked for Jesus to please touch the hearts of my children with love and kindness for one another. When I looked at Mary and Annie who had been throwing Barbie dolls at each other half hour before....I grabbed my camera. Annie said to Mary "I do love you Mary Blueberry" and Mary answered with "I love you too Annie Bananie". SWEET PICTURE!!!!!
Katie Aunna is very sweet with my Yorkie and loves to give her a scratch behind the ears and a kiss to the top of her head.

John-John is working hard for me in school this year. He was working with the stacking blocks and refused to give up when he reached the more difficult level;-).
He asked me here "Is this right?" I just said "Keep trying"!!!
In this shot I got the feeling my Yorkie had her sunglasses on her head and was just a little bit too good for the rest of us around here. My dog is so stuck-up!!!!! Gracie Belle ranks just a little better than everyone else in the house;-).

I have had numerous people ask about the set up for the school here in the house so here I have included some pictures of students all hard at work!!! SHHH....work zone!!!! In this set up I can teach three groups....Jr. High, second grade, and kindergarten. I am thinking that Katie is so smart she will graduate to first grade work by Christmas. If she knew English fully, she would be able to do the work of first grade. I am thinking she will read very soon as she is sounding letters out in simple words. WOOHOO....go Katie Aunna!!!!

I hope this was an enjoyable post and, as time allows, I will continue to add the changes which are occurring with our darling children. They are so much fun and such special young people. The world should eventually, have society members in the children, who will greatly contribute. I am continuing to challenge them to be the best they can be with God's help. So far, I am not disappointed. Many blessings until next time.....