Getting ready for school

The first day of school is in 5 short days!

Today we visited each of the kids' schools...
FOUR to be exact!

Yes...each of the kids will be in a different school.
So four kids, four buses and four schools.
Hopefully I'll manage to get it straight
{after a week or two!}

First up was meet the teacher day for Maura in her 2nd grade classroom at Sellersville Elementary School:

The school mascot is a shark (in case you haven't caught on :)

Next up was meet the teacher day for Audra in her Kindergarten classroom at West Rockhill Elementary School:

She brought along the most amazing book her preschool hearing teacher made for her.  It has pictures of the school including: classrooms, cafeteria, playground and all her teachers.  We have been able to slowly introduce her to her new school all summer long.  And today the pictures came to life for her!

Audra will spend the morning in the Life Skills classroom which has 6 kids from kindergarten to 2nd grade.  Then she'll eat lunch with the 1st grade class (since we only have half day kindergarten in Pennsylvania).  For the afternoon she will be included in the regular kindergarten classroom, mostly for socialization since all the classwork will be much too advanced for her.  She will have a 1:1 aid with her all day long to keep her on task, engaged and safe as well as help her with the potty and visits to the nurse for medicine, water flushes in her G-tube, etc.

Then I took Riley to meet his new case manager and 1:1 aide at Pennridge High School:

He's going to do amazingly well this year...I just know it!

He has worked hard and come so far throughout his school years.

He has been the luckiest kid in the whole school district in my opinion...

because he had the same wonderful 1:1 aid with him every day of school from kindergarten until the end of 8th grade.  That is practically unheard of.  But what a blessing!  She is for sure a big part of the reason he has done so well in school.  And in a miraculous twist of fate Riley's fabulous former 1:1 aid has been assigned to be Audra's 1:1 aid in kindergarten this year!!!

...but really that topic deserves a post of it's own :)

And finally...we attended back to school night for Aidan at Pennridge Central Middle School.  We followed his daily schedule and met all of his teachers.  He is going to love middle school...not for the school part but for the social part!  Middle school has so much more freedom than elementary school...and the kids are looked upon as more mature.  Hopefully he can live up to that!  He is such a social kid, I hope he quickly catches on to the responsibility part when it comes to school work and homework.

Summer Summary

Summer is almost over, how is that possible?!
School starts next week!!

With our move this summer {and so much time devoted to unpacking, organizing and home improvement projects} I felt like we didn't get to experience as much as we usually do while school is out, but here are a few of our summer highlights...

Audra got big girl glasses

Aidan went to Hockey camp

Maura went to Vacation Bible School (with Charlotte)

Maura got her haircut

before and after...

We went to the Splashpad

With some gentle coaxing from her sister,
(and maybe a nudge or two)
Audra got a little closer to the water this time!

Riley's turned 14

And plenty of naps...

{for EVERYONE...not just Audra}

Not quite sure how Riley managed to fall asleep like this?!?

Two new nieces!!

Yesterday brought the blessing of not one...

but two new nieces!

One we've been waiting the traditional nine months to finally meet,

and the other...

we've probably got about a nine month wait to finally meet in person.

New Niece #1

My sister Kristy and her husband welcomed Teagan Mary into the world at 3:00 yesterday afternoon.

And I was blessed to be present in the delivery room along with my mom to witness her arrival.

She arrived a few weeks early, and a bit tiny, but healthy and beautiful!

New Niece #2

Yesterday morning Tim and Dawn submitted their Letter of Intent to adopt another precious daughter from China...a sister for Charlotte.

She is 5 years old and a little beauty too!

I'll share her picture once it's allowed (they need to be a little further in the process), but trust me...she's as sweet and adorable as can be.

Their paper pregnancy is just beginning, there's so much work to be done to bring her home.

They are hoping to travel to China in the spring.

A day back in time

We received free tickets for the PA Renaissance Fair from the wonderful organization that blessed us with grant money for Audra's adoption...

Brittany's Hope Foundation

I had never been to the Ren Faire before so I wasn't sure what to expect,

but the kids loved it!

It was a super hot day, but we managed the heat with lots of cold drinks and resting in little spots of shade.  Riley who is NOT an outdoor kind of kid actually had the most fun.  I think he was outside longer that day than he has been the entire summer so far!  

Audra's eyes got huge when she spotted the big pickles on a stick,
and our pickle lovin girl just had to have one!

It was seriously as big as her head!

Enjoying one of the many shows:

comedy, magicians, acrobats,

we loved them all.

You can see how flushed, hot and sweaty everyone is looking.

Man-powered rides...

Aidan and Maura wanted to ride over and over,

but boy did I feel bad for the poor guy giving them the ride!

Aidan tried this ride where you "fly" on a horse and use a pole to try to get the rings from the dragon...

It's a blurry picture but you can see that he manged to get the rings with his pole.

Sword fighting lessons on the human chess board...

Riley was so excited about this event.  And he took it very seriously!

Hot but fun,

and Riley is already looking forward to next year!

Cousinfest

My brother and his family were visiting from North Carolina for the past week and we packed some serious fun into our time together.

My kids love when their cousins come to visit,

they literally count down the days until they get here for months!

Sleepovers, crafts, outings...every day is an adventure...

Group Selfie at the mall

Maura with cousin Hanah and Aunt Brandie (aka Aunt Brownie)

Cousins at the pool

Maura, Audra, Brianna, Riley, Tatum, Aidan and Lexy

My girls with their Aunt Brownie

Riley and Lexy

Aidan (above) and Lexy (below)

Cousins eating "dirt"

Brianna, Aidan, and Lexy

Family board games

(Me, Aunt Brownie, Hanah, Aidan, half of Audra, Uncle Steve, Brianna, and Maura)

 Cookie Creations

Jumping fun at Rebounderz

Maura, Brianna, an Lexy

(with a Riley photobomb!)

Photo booth fun

Uncle Steve won Audra this Olaf stuffed animal in a claw machine.

I think it took quite a few tries before he finally won it,

but turns out it's an official Disney Store Olaf!

Not the cheap carnival type of stuffed animal I usually win.

Claw machines are so addicting!

An afternoon at the movies

The kids saw Shaun the Sheep and the adults saw Vacation

Audra ended up in the adult movie with us,

but don't worry...

I took off her glasses, removed her hearing aids,

and packed her lap full of popcorn and candy,

which kept her happy, entertained and quiet :)

Thank goodness there was only one other couple in the theater besides us...

I am sure they thought poorly of us for bringing our little one to such a movie.

But she couldn't see or hear the movie so I didn't feel bad.

Rita's Water Ice