Congrats, Drew!

We found out today that Drew was named to the Honors Chorus, which is selected by the Illinois Music Educators Association. This is the 2nd consecutive year he has earned that designation, and it means he will perform with the Honors Chorus during the IMEA Convention. Honors Chorus represents approximately the top 2% of voices in the state as determined from vocal scores at tryouts a few weeks ago. He received the highest vocal score in the District, and will be part of the IMEA All State Concert in Peoria in February ... on my birthday. I can't think of a better gift for mom than to see her guy sing with the best high school vocalists in Illinois!

Four Years Ago Today!

Four years ago today was one of the happiest days of my life ... equal to the day my two sons were known to me, and the day I was married ... it was the day we received Abby's referral and finally knew we had a daughter!

I waited for the call all morning. One of the families in our group got her call, and then it was over an hour before our phone rang. But it finally did.

My hand shook as I wrote down the information. Girl. Guo Kui Yan. Born January 24, 2003. She's 9 mos old! Zhuzhou Children's Social Welfare Institute, Zhuzhou City, Hunan.

Now today she's sitting on the family room floor in her cute little princess pj's and sorting through the Halloween candy that is still left but she's not allowed to eat at 9:30 in the morning.

Enjoy the slide show of the first 3 pics we saw of Abby, taken when she was about 5 months old ... compared with 3 recent pics. That little baldy has grown a beautiful mane!

Happy Halloween!

Our little goblins had a great time today and tonight ... Abby's pre-k class went trick-or-treating to a nearby nursing home, and as soon as I got home tonight, the kids were chomping at the bit to get in costume and get the candy hunt underway! It ended up being a nice evening and we stayed out for quite awhile. Enjoy our photo show of the pumpkins we carved last night ... Abby had a blast with that, and even Calvin (the cat) got into his costume for a picture. Can't really see it ... but the boys bought him a green polo shirt! :-)

Visit to Carthage College

The boys didn't have school on Friday so Mitch and I took the day off work and we drove up to Kenosha, WI for a campus visit at Carthage College. It was about a 4 hour drive, and it was a pretty day ... nice to visit on a day when classes were in session as we toured buildings and we had a chance to interact with some faculty from the Music Department.

It is a beautiful campus, and sits on the shore of Lake Michigan. Lots of nice facilities and dorm rooms that are lakefront views. We had an orientation, then a student took a small group of us around campus for about an hour-long tour of all the buildings. The music classes are held in a building adjacent to the chapel and it looks like a lot of opportunities exist in Music Education right now ... as we have been told at other college visits, Music Ed is a teacher shortage area, and the odds of getting a teaching job when completing a degree are good. The Music Dept at Carthage told us they place 100% of their students at graduation and have a few more job openings for students to interview for than they have students to interview.

We have an interesting family connection to the school ... Drew's great-grandparents both went to Carthage College in the mid-1920's when it was located in Carthage, IL. There are still some places where Carthage, IL is recognized on the new campus after it moved to WI in the 1960's ... including the name of the school, some memorial plaques, and the "kissing rock" which was moved from IL to WI when the school moved.

We spent the night in Kenosha and checked out a bit of the city, then when driving back today we stopped in Lake Geneva for lunch. We had a neat encounter with an Asian woman who ran a shop there ... she had some items from China that drew me in and while I was purchasing something, Abby took a liking to a fancy hair scrunchie and showed it to me, telling me how pretty it was. The lady asked if Abby was Chinese and if she was adopted, and we talked a bit. As we were leaving the store she ran after us and gave the scrunchie to Abby as a gift. It was a sweet gesture, and I think she enjoyed seeing Abby and talking a bit about her adoption and our trip to China.

Drew now has 2 great schools where he has been accepted (Carthage College and Eureka College) and will have some interesting things to think about as he prepares to enter the next phase of life after high school ...

Pumpkin Patch Time!

I took the kids to a local pumpkin farm today ... hard to believe we were out there on Oct 20 in short sleeves on a sunny, 82 degree day! It was very windy, though, as you can tell from Abby's hair in all the pics! We had lots of fun and picked out 4 big pumpkins for carving. Each kiddo picked out just the perfect one for their own, and mom picked out one too! After that we went to meet Mitch at the boat to help him finish winterizing and getting the boat ready to be put away for the winter. Seemed more like a day to go boating than to be putting it away ... but surely this nice weather has to give way to fall SOON!

New Pics of Abby

Jenny of Simply Charming Photography took these great shots of Abby yesterday at daycare ... it looks like Abby had as much fun as Jenny did!

Ready for the Dance!

THS Homecoming!

Drew has had a fun homecoming week, and it has been fun to tag along as the parent of a senior!

After working on the senior float all week and helping decorate the gym for tonight's dance ... it was time for Drew to have some fun. Thursday evening was the community pep rally, and all seniors participating in fall sports and activities were recognized. Drew was recognized for his particpation in marching band, madrigals and student council. We were called out onto the field during one of his introductions and the kids were given the mic to announce their parents, talk about how long they had been involved with the sport/activity, and what their future plans were. I actually got through it with no mama tears (ha) ... and then after he handed off the mic to the next person, he turned and gave me a flower and a hug. Mama was still doing good until he said "Aren't you going to cry?" and then mama didn't do so good. HA

After those recognitions, the homecoming court was introduced. It was so special to hear his introduction and see him join a small group of his peers for the court. He was not named king, but it was still a very special thing to see him involved with.

Friday afternoon was the homecoming parade, and Drew got to ride perched in the back of his car, chauffered by dad, for the court. Their senior float won first place in the parade and it was really neat. TJ and Abby loved the way it was "raining" candy. There is always a lot of candy thrown, but I have never seen as much as this year! The kids filled up the big bowl I use to serve Halloween candy, and then some.

Friday night was the game, and Drew's last time to be part of the THS marching band. I watched the halftime show and enjoyed it, instead of watching it through the camera lens as usual. But I did do a quick digital camera video of the very end of the halftime show, with the school song. It's so hard to believe that we won't see Drew out there anymore in the Turks uniform. It has been a great experience for him.

Drew was out the door at 8am this morning to finish dance preparations for student council. Tonight is the dance, and he is going with a group of friends. Their homecoming theme is a Hollywood type thing, so parents are invited to the school as the kids are arriving for the dance and our role is that of the paparazzi ... so I may have some pics of that later.

Overall, a fun week and one of very special memories for Drew!

(Drew's final time on the field as a THS band member!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtoUsmgRfWo

Happy 18th Birthday, Drew!

We had a fun day on the river celebrating Drew's 18th birthday with a couple of his friends on Saturday ... it was hot and good to be moving! TJ and Abby really enjoyed having the girls around. After the boat ride we had a nice Chinese dinner. Fun day with the kids and so hard to believe Drew is 18!

He has a big week now with homecoming activities, and he spent a lot of time helping TJ with a geography project for school ... more pics to come!

A Better Band Video ...

This is a much better video clip of the band that what I posted from my own camera, check out "Thriller" by Michael Jackson ..

http://turkbands.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-about-little-thriller.html