Summer has arrived!

I'm behind again on my posting and I pretty much don't have any excuses except for the fact that I'm plum' exhausted! Last week was the last week of school so we had award ceremonies, PK graduations for Anna Grace and Kai, a teenager now going into high school (yikes!), a big ole Cars birthday party for our sweetie that turned 4, family in from out of town and a trip to the Urgent Care Center for a staple in the head of a certain little boy, to finish off the week!

Amanda is done with middle school (yaaay!!) and will be a freshman in high school next year. That's almost hard to believe. Where has time gone? I remember this blonde, curley-haired, baby girl toddling around my feet in what seems to have been only a few months ago. Wrong! She's going to be 14 in August and no longer that chubby faced little girl who loved to crawl onto her Mama's lap. Before our eyes, she's quickly turned into a beautiful, smart, young lady who is into music, the TV shows Pysch and House, and gabbing on the phone with her girlfriends. I pray daily for God to give me guidance and wisdom as we enter the true teenage years and for Him to fill her to the brim with His Holy Spirit, that she remain Godly, pure and kind and to always ask herself "What would Jesus do?" whenever she is put into any situation that may not be in her best interest. We are very proud of our big girl and I am honored to call myself her mother.

Kai and Anna Grace had their 1st year pre-school graduation last week also. Oh my! What cutie patooties. Kai got a different haircut to commemorate the ocassion. He reminds me so much now of how he looked when he came home from China. Sorry. I digress. Back to the graduation.

I almost lost it as they marched in with their adorable caps and hanging tassles. Ayi and Po-Po joined us at the ceremony. Amanda was pretty bummed she couldn't be there because she had finals that morning. Both Scott and I were just bursting with pride as our little ones proudly sang to the room filled with beaming parents. I'll try and post video clips in the next couple days.

Next year they'll be in their 2nd year of PK (together in the same class again) and then Kai moves onto kindergarten and Anna Grace stays for one more year of PK. They've come such a long way. My heart swells with pride and joy when I think about all of their accomplishments this past year. I also want to thank their marvelous teacher and speech therapists, whom without they wouldn't be nearly as advanced as they are today. We are indeed blessed.

This all means that summer is now officially here and my time with AJ alone, which I've been loving, is over. At least for the next couple of months. The good part is that Amanda and I have many beach trips planned for the kids, lots of swimming in the pool at home and just plain being lazy and enjoying family time. Part of the summer plans include having another family reunion for the long 4th of July weekend. This time at Miami Beach! I can't wait!

Ok. Back to last week. Kai's 4th birthday party was this past Saturday. He loved, loved, loved having his Cars party, complete with a Cars cake, Cars balloons, Cars decorations and Cars gifts, including a racetrack rug that his Ayi & Shu-Shu gave him that has been a humongous hit! A boy could never have too many cars!

Of course, the night ended with the typical "let's wrestle with Daddy" match!

All of his buddies from school, along with family from both near and far, gathered for a pool party and bar-b-que at the house. We had an awesome time! I think he was in the pool for almost 3 hours straight. The weather was perfect and we couldn't have asked for a more fun day!

Sunday morning, all 9 family members that had stayed at the house packed up and headed back to their homes while Scott and I cleaned up the remains of the celebration. Since it was late, we had missed our regular morning mass at our church, so we agreed to head up to my sister's town and attend the 5:00 p.m. mass there.

At about 3:30 we started getting the kids ready. Scott had Kai in the shower who would not stand still after being warned at least 5 times that he was going to slip. Sure enough! He slipped! Poor little guy ended up getting a staple in his scalp in order to close the 1.5" gash he acquired from his silliness in the shower. So, there went the pool/beach plans for the week. Next Monday we head back to the Urgent Care Center to have the staple removed.

OUCH!!!

That's pretty much it in a nutshell. I must say though, that there's non-stop action here with three toddlers. a teenager, a busy Mama, a hard-working Daddy and our God at the center of it all!