9/9/09 The First Day of School- Upland Christian Academy

Today was the boys first day of school at their new school home, Upland Christian Academy!! It was a wonderful morning that started with me arriving at the school at 7am to blow up balloons for the balloon release and then around 7:45am all the families began to arrive and at 8am the praise and worship time began. It was so amazing to be singing praise songs in the court yard of our kids new school with fellow believers surrounding us. It was so special that I actually teared up a bit. This is something Kevin and I have wanted for our kids for a long time but this year was the year all things came together. It was just an amazing time.

Arriving in the courtyard.

Ethan and Mia walking in.

Mommy and her amazing kids! You can kind of see the hair cuts. The school has a hair cut rule so we had to cut both the boys but Ethan's was much more drastic as he had like 4 inches cut off. I think he looks cute-- both boys do!



In the court yard

Mia wanted to stay and go to school too. They actually will have a preschool eventually (through the church) and I would love to enroll her as soon as it is up and running.

y Mia and Owen. The elementary kids wear uniforms (Thank you Lord) but the junior high and high school wear what they want but there is still a strict dress code (no skulls etc.)

And our happy family!!! The boys were so excited and I was sooooo ready for them to start school (since all the neighborhood kids have been in school since August 10 and the boys have been going crazy at home)

My handsome 4th grader!!

My handsome 6th grader!!!

A view from the 2nd floor

Pastor Diego praying for the school! It was so wonderful to pray with this group -- amazing!

Getting ready for the balloon release

And the release

So beautiful

My dorky boys

Owen in his class

I love his teacher Ms. Bronner. She is great and Owen's response at the end of the day was "she is really strict but really fun"- perfect for Owen!

Owen and Kevin saying goodbye

Overall, it was a great morning and I am so happy we chose to place the boys at UCA. It is such a wonderful family and we feel blessed to now be a part of it. I also am so thankful I get to be the school psych at UCA and be able to work there one day a week.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was relaxing and kind of disjointed. Kevin had a DUI checkpoint Friday night and then had to work a shift (not his normal shift) on Sunday so our weekend was kind of broken up so we played it safe and went up to my parents cabin at Lake Arrowhead. The kids and I went up Friday night and then Saturday we went to another lake up there called Lake Gregory which is a fun lake with a water slide and other rental stuff. The kids had a blast. Kevin came up and met us at the lake and then Kevin and my brother Brad headed out to shop for their awesome dinner they prepared that night. It was amazing and I so ate too much but whenever Brad and Kevin cook, you always eat too much. Kev went home that night and then the kids and I came home later Sunday afternoon. Today we got things ready for school as the boys start school this week and then had Kevin's family all over for dinner in the evening. Nice weekend.

The kids and Brad on the board thing we rented.

Ethan- you can kind of see his hair cut but not too well. Ill get better ones soon.

Mia loved playing in the sand and refused to take off her floaty thing-- it was strange but she insisted on having it on all day.

The boys paddling out.

All the boys on the paddle boat. They loved this and road it for a long time.

After we got back the girls bathed and my mom blew dried all their hair.

The girls loved it!!!




Mia and I took a quick trip to pick up sticks today and Mia saw the little Buddah statue thing and was totally interested so I took a couple pics.

Boys start school and we are really busy this week but I will post back to school pics soon. Have a great week!!!

Good/ Crazy Day!!!

Today was an interesting day. This morning at 8am I got the opportunity to present to the staff at my boys new private school (Upland Christian Academy) our new special ed like program. Most of the k-12 staff had heard little things about the program but did not really know or understand it. There had been some grumbling among some teachers mostly because they didn't understand what we were doing. But, after I presented to the teachers I was enthused that they seemed open and asked good questions. I then met with Owen's 4th grade teacher about Owen and what he needs in order to be successful and I was just thrilled about her teaching style as I think it will work well for Owen. I then had about 1 hour to get over to Target to buy all the boys school supplies and after $140 and still needing to buy the boys new bibles, I headed back to the school for our first IEP like meeting. The parents were running late so I had some time to speak with all his high school teachers and the principal and it went really good. All of the teachers were totally interested in working with this kid and were totally willing to make the accommodations necessary. It was just so great to see the teachers being so willing to work this program in order to help these kids. Once the parents arrived the meeting continued to go well and we all went away feeling GREAT!!!! I'm just really happy this program is going to work and that we have buy in from the teachers. That means tons because private schools are not usually willing to work with kids who struggle so this is awesome!

The crazy part is one of my court cases was going to trial tomorrow and was cancelled 2 days ago so it was put on the back burner. I got a call from the dad today and he informed me we were still going to court TOMORROW. So I called the attorney I am working for on this case and they decided that they were not going to trial but were attempting to settle so they were going to go ahead and meet and if it goes to trial then I will be called then. BUT, they need my report by tomorrow morning which I had not even begun since it was on the back burner. So, I got home from my busy day and had to sit down and immediately start my report which after 6 hours I just finished. I have to still fax it over but at least it is done.

So, busy day but a good day. Tomorrow is Owen's orientation where he gets to meet his teacher and then on Tuesday Ethan has his orientation for junior high and then on Wednesday, the boys officially start their new school. I'm really excited about this and the boys are as well. Ethan said to me at dinner tonight "mom, I like that you are really involved in my school. I wouldn't want to be a kid whose parents just drop them off and no one knows them." I thought that was sweet and I am so happy to be involved. I always have been involved in the kids school but when Mia came home from China it became really difficult because the boys school had just implemented a no sibling policy and I would have to get someone to watch Mia every time I went to work in one of their classes. With the whole bonding thing that was not possible so the involvement diminished. I'm just so thankful that I am able to now not only volunteer but help the school with my abilities. Just real happy about this.

Anyway, hope all is well. I will post hair cut pics soon. The boys look so cute!

Christy :)

The Birthday That Never Ends!!!!

It seemed as if we celebrated Ethan's birthday like 4 times but this was the final family celebration at our house on Sunday night. It was just family and it was really low key.

Owen arranged and lit all the candles and had to carry the cake out. A little freaked with the huge torch but he did fine.

Checking out the cake

Leading the wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday

And blowing!!

On another note, tomorrow is hair cutting day for the boys-- yaaaaaaaa!!! There is a dress and hair code at the boys school next year so I will post tomorrow night the afters-- I cant wait to see it short again.

I got a wild hair to clean my closet today and have a huge mound of clothes to give away. My Sunday school class has dibs and then its going to charity. Anyway, busy busy busy but all is well!

Ethan and Owen's Birthday Sleepover

Ethan and Owens birthdays are 1 month to the day apart (Owen July 25 and Ethan August 25) and we have always done separate parties for them but this year we decided to do their parties together. It was a great decision as they have a lot of mutual friends and we were able to kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak. The boys invited 17 of their friends and all 17 came--wow lots of boys! We started at our house and then walked to the park down the street for pizza and lazer tag. The lazer tag did not start until 7:30pm so they played mostly in the dark and they loved it. After lazer tag we came back to our house and had cake, presents and then swimming, hockey, bikes and whatever they wanted to do. The boys spent the night in our back yard in a huge tent (which was a great plan to keep them out of the house)and the fun was still going at 2am. They tell me that they fell asleep around 3am and were up promptly around 7am so I think we will have 17 tired boys. This morning they played and ate and swam and just acted like boys. Really fun party!!!

This is the barriers they set up for the lazer tag.

Miss Mia had a blast as well


The boys eating pizza

There are a ton of fires burning in southern California so the sky is just beautiful against the sunset.

The kids with their guns

Silly boys

Trying to look way too cool!

Again, way too cool!

Uncle Brad and Ethan

Owen and Mia

Bass Lake and Yosemite

Before I begin I must mention to those who are not on facebook, that Mia was put under general anesthesia this morning at 6am to fill the 14 cavities in her teeth. It is just crazy how she ended up with 14 cavities but we are on a rigorous regimen now and we will keep those nasty cavities at bay from now on!!!! She went under easily and had a tough time waking up but she did fine. She was under for about 1 hour 45 minutes and took a long time to wake up. Once awake, she was really groggy and could not even walk for a long time. Very uncoordinated and fussy today but tonight she was much better. Thanks for all the prayers out there and she is doing great!!!!

We just got back last night from Bass Lake and Yosemite. It was a great time with my family. I did not realize it until once we were there, but I totally forgot my nice camera so all I had was my little camera and it was almost dead. I do believe if my head was not attached to my body that I would forget it as well. I am just clueless and needless to say I have very few pictures- ugggg!!!! Here are the ones I got:

Boys on the back of the boat hanging on for dear life while their father attempts to knock them off!

Like I said before, my camera was almost dead when I pulled it out of my purse so I had to spare pictures. Sadly, I forgot to bring the camera on the speed boat day and did not get a picture of the boys wake boarding. They both got up really easily and was able to totally wake board. I was so proud of them. One picture I am happy we did not get was the picture of me wake boarding. I did however wake board three times and had the sorest muscles ever the next day--ugg!

Family picture in Yosemite-- one of my favorite places on earth!!!

The whole crew posing for the traditional Yosemite pic. My parents have been bringing us to Yosemite since we were little kids.

Totally cute picture of the kids-- love it!!!

All the kids showing their souvenirs from the gift shop in Yosemite.

Mia hanging with John Muir

Mia and Savannah in the cave

Mia playing with her little stuffed mountain lion and the squirrel

We went rock scrambling and Mia actually climbed a bunch of rocks and did a great job. She had one fall and scraped her belly but overall she did great!

Owen climbing a rock

Cassie, Owen and Nathan

Cassie, Savannah and Mia

Papa and his girls!!!