Pictures....finally!!!

I found the camera cord! Paul had it in his bookbag.......

First, a sweet pic drawn by my sweet boy....This is a family picture and notice the heart on my dress. J says that is his sister in my belly. I was impressed by his ability to draw hearts!

J runs like the wind! This was practice #3. He was doing much better!

The meltdown pictures are down further.

J is pouting at the soccer field. Begin meltdown...

The caption would read, "I want that girl's ball!"

Meltdown continues.... :)
J is all smiles as he heads off to PreK!

J and his teacher, Ms. Mac

Jitters? NO not me!

I have to admit I had the first day jitters. Just like the kids, I was nervous about the first day of school. It turned out that most of my worries were unseen! I seem to have a nice bunch of kids, at least it appears that way so far. Of course, they might still be on their best behavior since it is only day 2 of school. As long as I don't the get the cruddy attitude problems I had last year, I will be happy.
Today went smoothly as well, and it was only 78 degrees in my room this morning (it got warmer in the PM). J and Paul did their PreK interview at school and all went well. He goes again Thursday and Friday for shorter time and then does his full afternoon next week. I hope all goes smoothly with him being at my school. I was a teacher's kid so I know how it can be. He is uber-excited. He carried his Spiderman bookbag in today and looked so cute and litttle nest to the huge bookbag. I have some pictures that Paul took but alas, I still cannot find the dang cord!
Anyhow, looks like the weather will remain on the cooler side this week. Prayer does work ladies and gentlemen! :)

Devastated

Let me preface my story. Last year I had a student. I will not share her real name. Let's call her Holly. Holly is an Asian-American girl who was adopted at age 2 1/2 by her wonderful parents. When she was adopted, she had a surgery to fix her cleft palate. Her parents are the most wonderful people. Dad is a minister, the whole family is devoted to being the best Christians they can be. Holly is the sweetest little girl I have ever met (and i have met LOTS of kids) She has the most positive attitude, the most nurturing spirit and always befriended those who needed a friend. You couldn't think a better child to be your student. Ok, When Holly was about 4, she began to show signs of fatigue and such and was diagnosed with a heart problem. Most children with this type of problem (I forget the name but basically, if she is over exerted, her heart can stop!) only get this defect from a parent and will live about as long as the parent/relative who has the disease. Well, the family went to China in search of her relatives. THey searched high and low, through several towns and never found a relative. To show what type of family they are, while they were there, they worked/ministered in the orphanage where Holly was adopted. So every few months, Holly's heart is evaluated for size. It is very enlarged for her tiny body. The key was to wait until she grew to put in a difribulator to shock her heart if ever it would stop. Meanwhile, she could not be in the heat for too long, no phys ed classes, no recess, no field trips--all too risky for her heart. Despite her illness, her family goes on missions every summer, spreading the Christian message to places like Mexico and low income places in the USA. Well, I talked to her mom in July and found out that indeed, her heart had shown more growth and they did her surgery in June and she came through with shining colors. Good News!
Well, her mom told me that while in the hospital, they found out that her blood platelets are low and that she was having a bone marrow biopsy to determine what was the issue. Just when they thought they could breath a sigh of relief, thye find out that they may have another problem.
I found out today the Holly has blood cancer. She needs a bone marrow transplant. The more devastating news is that the best type of donor would be a living blood relative. An Asian could also be a possible donor but they really need a blood relative. So their church is raising money to send Holly's dad to China to search AGAIN for Holly's realtives. Chances are slim that they would find one. Holly doesn't know yet, that she is very sick, but is very tired all of the time. She thinks it has to do with her heart surgery. It does not look good for this little girl and even if she did know, I think she would just be as positive as she always is.
My heart is very, very sad. I cried, asking why this has to happen to her. Please pray for her and her family. If you only new what wonderful, loving people they are, you would understand why this is so devastating. This sweet young lady needs your prayers so add her to your list please. We at school are just so sad too. My coworker taught Holly for two years and was a part of her life when she traveled to China and has been through a lot with her family. We are all just hoping that a miracle occurs and that the Lord will guide them to find someone with Holly's match for bone marrow.

Missing cord...

I had grand plans to make a post today about J's new soccer adventures, including pictures. Nothing is funnier that seeing 4 year olds play soccer. It is like a swarm of bees surrounding a soccer ball. I have to say that he did not do well the first week. He cried that he couldn't use this little girl's shiney pink soccer ball. He threw a complete fit. I wanted to either (a) kill him, or (b) crawl in hole! Instead, we told him to cut it out and when he chose to still melt down, he got punished. We have lovely pictures of the whole ordeal ( I know, I am a bad mom- taking pics of my kid's meltdown) BUT I cannot find the cord to put the pics on the computer. It is not where I left it..... Hense, my post is pictureless.
I do have to say that J has done MUCH better the past two weeks on the field. Looking at his behavior when he played tee-ball, I think I need to find him a sport that is less of a team sport until he matures a little bit. We did a lot of talking about his actions at soccer and he really did well the past two weeks with minimal pouting. I think starting PreK will really help him with being around other kids and having to share. (Can you imagine how his poor little world will change when baby girl arrives??)
Speaking of PreK, he starts this week. They do a gradual entry and since I will be teaching, Paul gets the fun of taking him to the classes. J is super excited. I cannot believe my baby is goingto "real" school. Seems like yesterday he was born.......

I hope to find the camera cord today. When I do, I will post the pics. I also have some super cute pictures that J has made. He is really into drawing these days. He certainly did not get his art talent from me. His pictures are better than I could ever do!

So tired...

This has been a really long week. I started back at school and was out each night doing various things. We had our "Meet the Teacher" night, had my birthday dinner, and then last night Paul and I went to order J's new furniture---bunk beds! Needless to say, I am pooped. Not to mention the heat. It was a nice week, in the low 80's but my classroom was about 85 degrees. Still hot! I hope that after a good night's sleep, I will feel better.
No big plans for the weekend. J has soccer and then off to do errands. Might hit the pool Sunday.

I wanted to thank my sister for the adorable "baby girl" outfits she bought. I am so used to the monotony of buying boy clothes and she found the most adorable dresses and outfits. She is an awesome aunt to J and I know she is already in love with baby girl!

J' s new furniture will be here in about a month and so we need to paint. He is moving (his choice) to the former computer room. We thought it would be special for him to get the new furniture and baby girl can use his furniture. He is excited to pass on his furniture to the baby!

B-day and Back to Work

Paul and I enjoyed a lovely afternoon yesterday in Havre de Grace, Md and had a wonderful time. HdG is a quaint little town right on the water and it was so nice out...temps in the low 80's, low humidity, blue sky.....gorgeous! and we were alone! We ate lunch in peace and those of you with kids know that when you are out in a restaurant with kids, there is no peace! Then we walked the main "drag" and shopped at the quaint little stores. There were a lot of antique stores that also sold old toys from the 70's and 80's. Pretty cool! We topped it off with an ice cream from Bomboys, a yummy place to buy icecream and homemade candy. It was s nice way to celebrate my upcoming B-day.

Speaking of B-days, I will literally be working all day. I have a meeting all day for work and then I have the school "Meet and Greet" your teacher night so I will be at school all evening! Great huh? I am dreading work already, not because I am feeling lazy, but mainly because of the heat. No A/C really bites (for lack of a better word). I dread the heat so much. J is already being whiney today about me going to work tomorrow although, he will start PreK at my school in 2 weeks. Plus, waking up at 5 AM is going ot be super hard. Not that I get to sleep in now, but 6:30is better than 7! (For those of you who don't know, J is an early riser. Never has slept late. Ever. Not even till 8AM. Ever. and he RARELY leaves me alone enought to sleep in when he wakes up.) As you are all in dream land at 5 AM tomorrow, think of me! Think cool thoughts for B-more and hope that we all at my school can withstand the heat. Especially me, the pregnant one! :)

Zoo Trip

My friend Christy and I took the kids to Plumpton Park Zoo today. Stupid me, I took more animal pictures than kid s pics. As usual, J and Anna were very excited about the trip and were acting goofy. The zoo is pretty primitive but is also an animal rescue. They take in exotic animals that stupid people think they can take care of like cute little monkeys, large snakes and marmosets. They also had a bear, tiger, a giraffe and bison. Pretty neat. It is really cool becasue you can buy feed for the animals and feed the goats, sheep, donkeys and llamas. Of course, J was too afraid to do any of the feeding so he just watched. You can pet the animals too so I got some cool close up shots. I truly think J's favorite part was the park where they had a playground.

J and Anna being silly.

Some cute little rescued monkey that was eating an apple. He couldn't have weighed more than 2 lbs.
Isn't this the cutest frog????

This is a little donkey that was so eager for our attention that I kept petting him becasue I felt guilty. He was cute too, although he was a stinky little thing.

and THIS is the cutest! There were about 6 little baby goats. I have never seen a baby goat before and they couldn't have been cuter! Some were snuggled together sleeping. Of course they will be not be as cute in a few months when they grow up!

It was a fun day! IT was a nice place to visit for a few hours without killing your whole day!