Baby Girl is 8

 Gymnastics cake for my baby girl. Happy 8th!

Her love is gymnastics. She is such a spunky girl with a tender heart. So blessed!

fine motor activities

 Calvin cutting

 We put glue on his hands and then he got to peel it off

 put food coloring in baking soda, he loved to watch it fizz (great fine motor skill activity if you use an eye dropper)

 Valentine's Card for his teacher. We used a toilet paper roll and put it in paint to make the hearts

Cornstarch and water makes this oobleck. Calvin loved this too. It is a solid in the bowl then turns into a liquid when you lift it up. As you can see the girls enjoyed playing with it too.

Fine Motor Skills

Easter eggs filled with  a chocolate chip. This is great for Calvin because he has to squeeze the eggs to open them to get his reward. To move onto the next egg with chocolate in it he also has to close the egg. He did awesome with this today and enjoyed it with no tears.

Another fine motor skill activity I found on Pinterest is matching the upper case letters with their lower case letter. I cut out a cardboard circle and labeled the outside with uppercase letters. I then hot clued the lower case letters onto cloth pins and he has to squeeze the cloth pins and match up the 'mommy letter with the baby letter'. Calvin know all his uppercase letters but not his lower case letters so this helps him learn them and works his fingers.

We had parent conferences at his school yesterday and his teacher said he need to work on his lower case letters and recognizing his teens (11-20). She also said she thought he would be ready for Kindergarten in the fall as long as we keep working with him at home and during the summer. His OT said he has shown improvement since Xmas (because I have been working with him at home in the afternoons after nap time). His scissor cutting is getting better ( still some tears when he has to cut) and he usually has tears when we work on lacing cards. I did buy the preschool curriculum for Calvin called Handwriting without Tears. When he doesn't have school on Fridays this is what he works on while I homeschool my older girls.

Meeting our son for the first time....

 February 2011 Bulgaria

He was so tiny and just ate pretzels, drank the bottle of water we gave him and wanted to run up and down the hallway. We tried playing blocks with him (not interested) and tried reading to him (not really interested). The best Valentine's Day, meeting our son. He was 3 months shy of turning 3 years old here. What a handsome little guy. Love you son!

Busy January

 Ice cream cake made by Cakesforamustang.com . Was so delicious.

 My oldest turned 10 last week. She is so beautiful inside and out. Here she is with her new teapot and teacups from my mom. Each year my mom gives the girls a piece of their tea set. I received my first tea set when I got married. We are British so yes we do tea time!

Since January, our middle child has been competing for gymnastics. This past weekend she had a meet. Here are the kids goofing around afterwards.

Christmas

 Christmas in Alabama...we got to go iceskating, bowling, zoo lights and swimming.

 Calvin's 2nd Christmas with us. He loves Thomas the Train. Here he is with his conductor hat, and his trains Christmas morning. Our eldest is in her new robe!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2013.

Holidays and Celebrations

We celebrated our Christmas with Chris' family this past weekend by going skiing. This was Calvin's first time and the girl's second time. They all loved it and did great. Calvin started off with the harness but then he was skiing on his own. He loved it. 

Thanksgiving with cousins and grandparents.
This was Calvin's second Thanksgiving and he seemed to know what to expect with the turkey and spending the night at his grandparents. He just loves his extended family. He is always asking me if he can kiss and hug them. He especially loves his Aunt Carey. He climbed up beside her to watch a movie and eat popcorn one night.

We do notice that when we are around the grandparents and extended family,  Calvin tries to get away with things he knows he shouldn't do. Also his preschool teacher said once we came back from Thanksgiving weekend he was acting a bit insecure at school, following the teacher around all morning. At home his behavior has been 'normal'. No regression, which is what most books on adoption say to keep in mind with the holidays. Routine is important during the holidays and consistency with rules and following through with consequences.
Calvin is doing wonderfully and we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!