One Week....

Last Saturday we went to Athens' Families with Children from China (FCC) Chinese New Year Party.  We met Lily Mei!  I've been following her mother's blog and met on FaceBook.  Finally we got to meet in person.

There were quite a few Chinese children!  At least forty in this photo.  Two hundred people were at the dinner.

Even though Luci had never met any of these children before, she held true to form and made herself the front and center of the photo shoot.

Friday was homeschool skate day at the ice rink.  It's nearly one-and-a-half hours away, so we don't get to go often.  It's always a treat to get to skate.  Luci was being pushed encouraged by JT to skate without her walker.

Luci with her walker.

JT finally got the walker away from Luci and got her to skate a little bit.  Unfortunately, there were only ten minutes left of the 2 1/2 hour skate time.

And for this Saturday, we had another Chinese New Year party with our local FCC group.  I had a nice time (thanks to John for ambushing me with the camera).

Luci with Kate.  Both girls are from the Guizhou Province.  Kate is the only girl we've met besides our adoption-travel group who is from Guizhou.  The girls are from different parts of the province, though.

Quite a different group than the Athens FCC!  I love how Luci is holding her feet.  So glad her shoes are not expensive; the scuff marks don't hurt my wallet.

Alexander showing off his chopstick skills!  So cute, Alexander.

Luci and Kalyn!  They got a little too rambunctious towards the end.

London Bridge has Jack all locked up.

And...
this guy was TEXTING as he drove!!!  Scary man.

Ice Skating

Today was a homeschool ice skate day at Point Mallard's skate rink. Here are some shots.
Love those red cheeks!

Bryan spent a lot of time actually running on the ice. I don't see how he manages that.

The best part of the day? That I got to stay home! John graciously gave me a break today.

Well, maybe he heard the desperation in my voice, since I was begging him to take over for me for a day. I love my children. I really do. I love homeschooling. I really do. But. (and you knew there was a but coming) But the boys wear me down so much! One of the things you get when you homeschool is a constant presence of whatever sibling clash is in your home. If the kids went to a school outside our home, they would be around other kids (and not around me), so there would not be the 14-hour-a-day ragging that they do to each other. The other 8 hours is nighttime, in separate rooms. Thank Goodness for separate rooms!

Gold from China

We just watched the Gold Medal Pairs Ice Skating team, Chen and Zhao from China. Wow! Luci is proud of these folks from her home country, and I quote:

I like her, she wears sparkly clothes.

I guess when you are 5, that is what's important.

Monday Mania

John's on a trip this week. We are keeping busy here! We hope to have the weeds out of the front garden before the rain hits. All three kids worked pretty hard yesterday, but there is still lots more to do.

View from the front porch....Carry on, Children! No, I was not drinking iced tea while they worked.
Skating party with our church group Monday night. JT invited Hannah and Tyler (homeschool buddies) to come, too. Hannah and Luci.

JT, about to crash into the wall. I love this picture.
Luci had fun trying to play the video games without any money. Momma's cheap.
Troy and JT acting up.

At the end, Luci was tired, tired! but didn't want to take her skates off.Bath time!

Ice Skating!

Putting on those skates for the first time....they actually had tiny skates, Luci-size. Another good thing was that children Luci's age skate for free! We were at Point Mallard, the closest skating rink to us. It was homeschool skate day (included a hot dog lunch!). Sonya, I didn't even think about calling you until we were almost there. I'm sorry! someday we will get Luci and Katie Lin together. First time on the ice.
Oops! Good thing Bryan's here.

JT helping
Luci is not scared of much (which can be sort of scary for Mom), and before our skating was over, she made it all the way to the other side. She and Bryan are in the middle of the picture, near those orange cones in the background. Luci is the teeny-tiny speck.

Bryan was a good sport and helped Luci most of the time. I tried to get JT to switch out with him, which he did, but Bryan spent most of the time with Luci.
Wild Man JT
It took all of 5 minutes for Luci to get used to walking and running on her blades.
All by myself!