the Journey (tm) to China

Been heck of week

Been a good couple of weeks here.

We all have had a good Easter, everyone is doing great in school. BiXiu, Momma and Daddee are so proud of you to be moving up to the 3 year Old room at school. You were so excited to go. You barely gave dadee a wave good bye as you ran off to grab a bicycle in the recess area. Get ready because you will get to have even more fun for the summer camp there. Its going to be Detective themed--Sher-luck homes and the like :)

SHQ you continue to progress and expand your english and knowledge. You are asking more questions, like what are you doing?, whats that?. You always want to know when we are going to the store with daddy. Aubree still always thinks we are going to go to Target, and SHQ always thinks we are going to go eat. Lately Dadee has been getting very brave and taking you girls to both Sams Club as well as then to HyVee to grocery shop. Daddee cheats a bit by getting a duel seat cart ASAP and strapping the young shoppers in. We have to be extra careful as if we doing stroll down the center of the ailse most of the time one of you will attempt to see how much you can clothes line off the shelves with your hand or just grab random objects and help to distribute them to other places in the store. The only other obstacle is deciding who gets to hold each item we do purchase, since you both want to be very helpful.

More new skills, SHQ you are becoming able to jump on one leg and are openning up to singing a few mandarin songs that you had not since we got you in country. One sounds a lot like the tune , but the other is unique and centers around Baba and Mama. It even has hand and body gestures as we discovering. I really wish we could find the english words on the 'net, but have not yet. Dadee has recorded it for family dvd's.

As I promised heres a few pixs

cheers

Easter!

Easter was lovely! Good time had by all! The kids hunted Easter Eggs Saturday afternoon before it started raining, divided up the booty, and had a good lunch of hamburgers/hotdogs! After a nap, we all colored eggs and learned to play Uno... man do the girls like playing Uno! They're good for about 2 hands and then it kinda gets crazy :)

B was a pro at finding eggs - this was her 2nd year - so she ran with the other girls. SHQ needed a bit of help because she's never done it before so I ran around with her and exclaimed loudly 'look! another egg! look! a baby doll hiding in the lillies! look! a video!'... it was so much fun!

Dadee filmed it all of course... got to have memories to share!

B's b-day continued!

Yesterday was B's birthday... and it was GOOOOOOOOOD!! Little stinker got a new Dora bike and breakfast out... she was in heaven! She also got a Dora Candy Land game and some more new shirts for spring :)

And then she got in trouble.... duh duh DUNT!! Got her new bike taken away and didnt get to go ride it outside... poor pumpkin! If she would just poot - she would feel better and not be so cranky!

My baby girl is 3 years old now! She does 3 by making the OK sign... she cant for the life of her hold down her pinky finger :) Tomorrow marks the start of being in the 3 year old room at pre-school full time. They've been sloooowly transitioning her over for a week now... Mama's got to get use to a whole new set of teachers... and you know how that will go!

B is getting so big! She likes to have her 'story' told to her at night... sometimes multiple times! She doesnt like to go to sleep and will sometimes moan for an hour before Mama has to go back up there :( She's got all of these big huge concepts in her head - she's just scary how smart she is! Playdoh has got to be her favorite next to going outside to play... loves those wagon rides!

She told me today that I had to stop tickling Dadee, help him up off the floor, give him a hug/kiss, and tell him that I was sorry/what I was sorry for. Damn she learns quick!

I love you to bits, my tiny infant baby girl. Please always remember that we all love you so very much!

A pox on the low vision evaluator

Girls,

If you ever remember anything about your mother... please remember that she was PASSIONATE about every thing about you....and with that passion comes disgust of ignorance. With disgust comes cussing and name calling.... no girls, Mama is NOT proud of herself... seeing that Mama gave up cussing for Lent, but God is just gonna have to understand that I must Mama Crank (tm and patent pending!)

I am currently completely disenchanted with the so called 'pre-school low vision' evaluator. Chickster doesnt know diddly about anything! Here's a little taste of what The Mama is cranky about:

1. She wants to come every week for the next 3 weeks to evaluate Shae in Circle Time. She says that Shae is 1% engaged while her peers are 93% engaged. She then wants to come back at in May and evaluate her again for Circle Time to see if there was any improvement.

Uhmmm Chickster - Shae has been immersed in English for what... not quite 2 months? Ask yourself this... Would you want to sit and look/listen if YOU DIDNT UNDERSTAND THE WORDS?!?!? Give me a break!! And you want to evaluate her again in May... there is only 1.5 months left of school. My child is brilliant but she's not THAT good!

2. She thinks Shae should wear a hat and sunglasses in the classroom because she squints.

Squints? Squints? Lady...Shae has two things going for her in the Squint Department.... 1. Her eye shape... yah did know she was Chinese... right? or did that fact escape your pea size little brain? And 2. Shae is Chronic Squinter Girl! She's got the cape and everything!!! Shae squints at all light levels - bright on down to low... ask me a few questions before you go off on assumptions... I could tell you LOTS ABOUT MY CHILD.

3. I had to hound the woman for the evaluation report. She didnt even have anything written up and the eval was WEEKS ago.

If the VI lady for Kindergarten is anything like this woman I'm dealing with right now... oh boy is she going to be in trouble!

On a positive note... the Mobility Expert from the Iowa School for the Blind came out and did an eval at pre-school. He said Shae has absolutely no mobility issues that this time! I could have told him that but its nice to hear it from someone that actually knows his business!

Its about Birthday time

Its Springtime!

And that means its almost BiXiu's birthday. With all birthdays, we end up doing a sorta of week extravangasa. We doing things like eat take out, and open a few presents over the course of 2 weekends.. So next week we will go out for breakfast your birthday, then daddy has to go test for his GREEN belt, but that another story.

So for this weekend, Aubree you were given a big bunch of playdoh and playdoh accessories in a huge bucket, as well you were give a box of Kid'Knex. If you have every seen these things, they are like cross between legos and Erector set parts. Some kits even come with googly eyes and feet like a Mr Potato head. We gave you an obliogory(sp?) outfit as well. Finally since you are such a fan of the ambulances and Dr Man for the most part, you were given your very own medical kit. Complete with ear, nose, and throat tools, a Stethoscope, 2 different thermometers(mouth, and ear), and bandages. Of course the batteries forthe ENT tools already have been removed as of this entry for fear of you and your gang going blind.

We passed on the BBQ this time and went straight for the Chinese take out, once a carry-out restaurant could be located that was open. Everything ends after lunch with a nice BandR Ice Cream Cake. Mocha Java is the preferred, but Chocolate Chip or Mint will always do as well. The sugar has a nice sine way effect, so they usually take great naps, but once they get up again for supper its no holds barred.

However, before this all started, you and SHQ were up of course at the crack of dawn despite it being the start of DST, and the cartoons and breakfast out of the way, daddy took both you and SHQ to the pet store to run amok. Daddy managed to keep you both on a short leash(heh! ) and got the much need dog food and kitty superdoooper type catnip stuff.

So again, after the sugar induced stuppor and nap you and SHQ were up and ready to go, as mom had her weekly church routine, daddy took you both in tow to the store(s) for kitchen supplies. It was much for interest this time were the thunderstorms and Tornado warnings and all. After the car was stopped and a good breath, dad would scoop each of you up under his into his arm pit like a football and make a mad dash to the entrances. Managed to keep you both pretty dry in your new spring/fall coats. That is unless either of you managed to take some good splashes in the rolling puddles. Once in the store nothing could be heard except the hussle and bussle of patrons all oblivious of the impending doom of the weather charging around us as sirens blarred for the worst of the weather being a couple of counties away.

You and daddy share something else in common as well. We both have a birthday in a very close proximity to a holiday. Yours being Easter and daddy's of course is Christmas. Even SHQ is similar in that her close holiday is Halloween. Of course even Mommys day is especially celebrated around the world that is its close also close to the ever popular May Day!
This can be good and bad in that parents have a tendency to either feast, of lots of presents at both B-day and holiday to make sure your B-day doesn't get lost in the season, or famine were your special day sorta just blends into the holiday. We as your parent, and daddy's parents before him will always make sure to show you how important your Day. Of course its also your referrel day, and the day before the day mommy and daddy were married, We were make sure everything stays destinct and seperated so everyone has a special day.

Daddy, Momma, and SHQ as well as all the rest of all your family would like to wish your Aubree BiXiu a welcome #3 birthday, and hope you enjoy you graduation into the 3yo room at daycare! We lubs yew!!!
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