Musical Kids?!?

We seem to be playing that old musical chairs games with the kids the past couple of weeks ...

Last week Drew was in NY at his fraternity conference, so we "only" had 2 kids around most of the week.

He came home Sunday, but not until after Abby headed off to spend the week at Camp Grandma & Grandpa! She was very anxious to go and I'm sure is having the time of her life. So we still only have 2 kids around.

Tomorrow morning I'll meet up with them briefly during Abby's tumbling class, which is closer to where we live than they do but we didn't want her to miss her last class of the summer session.

When they head back, Abby will stay with them and they will also be taking TJ with them, so we'll be down to just 1. Then it is REALLY going to get quiet around here! HA

I'll pick them both up Friday night and we'll get back to "normal" around here, whatever that really means!

Drew's fraternity magazine has a story this quarter on the leadership training session he attended in June, and a nice pic of the group of 10 kids that took part in it, and article. His picture is on page 12, and a quote from him on page 13. This has really offered him some great leadership opportunities, which is really his cup of tea!

To view a PDF file of the article Click here and after it opens, click over to page 12 & 13 to see the 2 pages of about the conference.

Today was Drew's last day of his summer class, so he's glad. Lots of papers to write for Sociology, but now it's over!

Another Summer Week Gone ...

Summer is flying by! The kids will be in school less than a month from now, hard to believe ... Abby to first grade, TJ to 6th grade!

The weather has been so cool for July, almost fall-like. At least the grass is green instead of its normal mid-summer burn out brown! It has been nice enough to enjoy some time at the boat, but last weekend we did take a break from the normal weekend at the marina and we took in a favorite band playing at a local vineyard on Sat night instead.

TJ had a great birthday and ordered up some long-desired goodies with his birthday cash. So now the loot will all start arriving and it will be like a birthday all over again!

Abby has tumbling today on mommy's summer Wednesday vacation day ... and next week is her last class of the 8 week session. I'd like to enroll her for the fall session but it's always tougher to mix evening activities with school and just your normal busy life, and does she need to be running her legs off at age 6? We'll see what the schedule looks like.

Drew is in the air again this morning, headed for NY and the leadership conference for his fraternity. He'll be home on Sunday, so it's a bit longer than the last trip. His 8 week summer class is almost over, and it will be 3 more college credits down.

We have had a tough go with the pets the past couple of weeks ... losing both our 14 year old cat and our 12 year old dog in a short 11 day period, due to health issues and the need to make difficult decisions for them. It has been tough on us, but we have had some good talks with the kids about the good life our pets had with a family, and they are working through it as best as you can hope they would. But it's still tough.

Next week we will be approaching August!

Happy 11th Birthday, TJ!!

Today was the big 1-1 birthday for TJ!

He started off the day by heading off to band camp, which he has absolutely loved doing this week. We took in cupcakes and cookies to share with the group, and they learned how to play "Happy Birthday" for him while he sat on the stage and listened.

It was his choice for dinner tonight and he chose Mexican food, so off we went for enchiladas, soft tacos and more! We were too full to eat his dessert cookie and ice cream when we returned, so we spent some time outside before cutting into the pan of chocolate chip cookie bars.

Beverly tried to call him twice today from China to wish him a happy birthday and missed him both times. But he was happy to hear her voice on the recorder, and then I had a chance to talk with her when she tried my cell phone. She's flying back into Peoria on August 9, so she'll be back in just about 3-1/2 weeks. She will be here with us for the week and then we'll move her into her dorm room at boarding school on August 16.

Summer Band Camp

TJ has been having a fun week at Middle School Band Camp. We are not really a "marching band" school, we are a "concert band" school ... so he's having fun playing his snare drum and expanding his time on the bass and kettle drums, playing games and reconnecting with school friends instead of being outside marching on a hot football field. Good times!

The band director set up a blog with posts and pictures from the first 3 days, and it will be updated for the remaining 2 days, HERE

I'm sure it's a bit of a challenge to mix 5th through 8th graders in one camp, but it sounds like it is working well for everyone. TJ is really having fun playing in a combined age band and not just with the other kids with only 1 year of band experience under their belts!

Tomorrow is TJ's birthday, so I'm sure we will have a few celebration pics!

Article on International Adoption

A bit of our adoption story is featured in the current issue of "Midwestern Family" magazine, on newsstands at least in Central Illinois, and I'm not sure where else outside of this area. It was fun to have the chance to answer some questions about something so near and dear to our hearts! The other family featured is waiting for referral from Ethiopia.

It ended up being a four page spread, and a nice article. Some of the other questions they asked me, but did not include the answers, were about things other people might say when they see a family with an internationally adopted child, and how we respond. I wish they had included that part, but they did a great job in the 4 pages they gave the story. Since it is a subscription based magazine, they don't put the stories on line to read, so unfortunately I can't give you a link to read the story!

A Visit with the Joliet Scotts!

Abby, TJ and I had a fun day visiting with part of the Joliet Scott clan today ... Arloa and Gracie (and their little friend Tommy)!

Ironically, even though we share the same last name ... we are not related. We found each other completely by accident in late 2002 when an adoption agency we had both contacted got us mixed up. They left a message for the other Scott family on my cell phone, calling us by their first names ... and then I saw Arloa post on an adoption board and realized that it was the same people and told her of the error ... and we began emailing shared the rest of the journey together! Our girls are just 23 days apart in age and it was lots of fun to see them together!

We met up partway between Tremont and Joliet at the Children's Discovery Museum in Bloomington, and the kids had a blast. After talking, we realized it has been over 3 years since we met up with both of our families together while on spring break in the Florida Keys (by coincidence) at the same time in 2006!

Here are some pics of the day, a good time was had by all and I'll let them speak for themselves! As always, you can click on the pictures for a full size view. Arloa also put a few pics on her blog, The Joliet Scotts

Two Saturdays and a Sunday!

Two Saturdays and a Sunday ... that's how Abby summed up our weekend with having Friday off for the July 4th holiday! Sounded just right to me. Too bad every week isn't the same!

We had a fun weekend at the boat relaxing, but it was pretty soggy most all of Saturday. I don't think I ever remember a July 4th as cool as it was. There was some low cloud cover that made for some interesting fireworks photos ... almost like an upside down sunset, where the bright fireball was flat on the top from a cloud instead of flat on the bottom from the horizon. Drew took some pics on his phone, will have to see if he has any good ones to share.

Yesterday was gorgeous, so we soaked up some sun. Abby went for a few jet ski rides with daddy and loved every minute. Now today it's back to the real world! But it sure was nice to have two Saturdays and a Sunday this weekend!