The Crew

The Crew
Christina, Matthew, Joshua and Katie Grace XiHua

Monday, June 18, 2012

LOTS O' PICS I HAVEN'T POSTED!

It has been a very busy last couple months of school and summer is already in full swing!  There were several posts of spring events I had hoped to post and never got to it, and then I started to just get SO behind!!  So what I decided to do today, was grab some pics from each event and do a highlights post from the end of the school year!  So, here we go with a lot of pics!!

Joshua's Field Trip to Sea World Orlando - I was his group chaperone - Here we are on the bus, ready to roll!  Joshua and his buddy, Rudi. 



The boys mapping out their day at Sea World!



A HUGE walrus!



The Whale and Dolphin Show!!



Feeding the Seals!



Watching the sharks swim overhead in the walkthrough tube at the giant aquarium was just amazing!  There were so many sharks and other creatures!!



Wait... How did those boys get into the aquarium?????



Matthew's best buddy Elijah.  Matthew is either over at his house or he is over at ours every weekend.  :)  I love those faces in the morning!  They are enjoying the usual favorite breakfast I make on the weekends of eggs and muffins! Yum!  Christmas cups??  oh well!




Time for the Earth Fair at the kids school!  BEES!!! 



Hua Hua fascinated by the owl at the Earth Fair.



Still looking at that little owl! 



Joshua's sweet face holding that baby goose??  I know it wasn't a baby chick or duck.  



Hua Hua getting her face painted at the Earth Fair.  



Joshua got his cast removed!  If you recall, he broke his wrist while Katie Grace Hua Hua was in the hospital having her heart surgery.  



Moving on to Field Day at school!  Katie Grace Hua Hua had a great time following Joshua around to each of his events!



The blindfold roll!  Not sure if you ever spend time in Florida, but Lawd have mercy, it was hot that day!  



Just a cutie patootie picute of Hua Hua!  We were gardening that day.



Cousins Alyssa and Tyler came to visit from Colorado!  They all went to Disney!!  In order: Alyssa (17), Matthew (13), Christina (17), Tyler (22). 



We all went to see The Avengers!!!  It was awesome!!!  Also, my husband, Jacob, celebrated his Birthday in May!!  Happy Birthday Honey!!  I love you!!!  (see I told you I was really behind on some important events!)



Here are the kids and I ready for The Avengers!   We even dressed for the event!!!




Hua Hua had a check up and her heart is doing wonderfully!  The cardio effusion has decreased considerably.  Her oxygen sats are great - 98!  She will remain on the Pulmonary Hypertension medicine for a little while.  



One sentence you will hear from Mis Katie Grace Hua Hua frequently is "I do it!!"  Thankfully she has the sweetest, most patient nurse at the Cardiologist's office who lets her "do it".  Here she is attaching all of her stickers at sensors for her EKG.  



Christina at her Spring Band Concert in which she played Bari Sax.  They did a beautiful job.  Here she is with her boyfriend, (yes, still) Paul.  She just finished her Junior Year. 



Christina has some very EXCITING NEWS at her concert tonight!!!  She was named Head Drum Major for the Marching Band for next year's season!!!  For anyone who does not know what that means, no it is not a majorette who twirls a baton!!  (someone actually thought that is what I meant!!) , she will be leading and conducting the Marching Band!  



Christina also celebrated her 17th Birthday in May!!  Happy Birthday Christina!  She was also honored as the Director of the Academic Ambassadors at school.  Great job!!



Matthew had his Spring Orchestra Concert playing 2nd Seat Violin as a 7th grader.  Next year he will be in 8th grade an will continue playing as he loves this instrument and is doing so well on it.  Normally, we would be well into football training for the summer by now, but he did not make weight this year as he was supposed to move up into a higher age division.  So he/we are sort of bummed about that.  We will have to make plans for some other sports for him like possibly go back to Taekwondo.  He is very athletic and loves to stay active! 



Did I mention how close Hua Hua and daddy have gotten??  They play together all the time now and daddy is a favorite!  Here he is "sleeping" in a bed she made for him on the floor.  :)



Well, with dance, band and leadership, we were driving Christina all over kingdom come.  Soooo, we decided to get her a car!!!  We found a cheap used car.   It is a Hyundai Accent.  I guess cheap is the key word here, although it looks flawless on the outside, it has broken down now already a couple times, ugh!!!!



Last week of school was Memory Book day at Joshua's class.  The kids sang songs and recited poems.  Ms. Kaiser, the BEST teacher EVER, made each child the most amazing memory book.  Page after page of photos, art work, class work all laminated into a big book!!  Can you believe she made those for all of her students??!!!  She is amazing.  



Happy Father's Day to the most awesome daddy ever!!  Hua Hua's favorite, upside down!!!



Joshua loves daddy, too! 




Father's Day happened to coincide with Recital Day.  I don't know if any of you have girls who dance, but recital day is a BIG, LONG, LONG day!  Christina and I were off to Lakeland early in the morning and I just remained there with her for the day.  I stayed for both recitals, taking her for lunch in between.  Jacob brought the kids to the evening performance and we didn't get home until late that evening.  All of the dancers did a wonderful job and we were so proud!



Just a cute face. 



I also missed Mother's Day too on my blog.   So I would like to say, Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mother-in-law, Susan aka Lolli!  Happy Father's Day to awesome Pops!  We love you both! 



Happy Mother's Day to my lovely momma!!!  Happy Father's Day to my wonderful daddy!!!  I love and miss you both and can't wait for our visit home to Colorado this summer to see you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A video of Joshua's class doing a poem.  I'm just giggling at Joshua winking at me!

Friday, June 8, 2012

It's A Girl - The Three Deadliest Words In The World

I saw this film trailer and my heart aches at how the value of a strong, beautiful, apt and necessary half of the human race is seen as something to be discarded.


I look forward to seeing the film when it is fully produced.


http://youtu.be/ISme5-9orR0

I'm so grateful that God hears the cry of those oppressed and sends His favor.  But I have to remember, we are the body.  We are His hands, His feet, His voice.  Our voices will be the way of freedom for those who need, if we let Him guide us. 


Isaiah 61:3
The Year Of The Lord's Favor:


to bestow on them a crown of beauty
    instead of ashes, 
the oil of joy
    instead of mourning, 
and a garment of praise
    instead of a spirit of despair.


Thursday, May 17, 2012

A GIRLS DAY AT DISNEY OVER SPRING BREAK!

Back at the end of March just before Hua Hua's surgery, we had Spring Break.  The boys went to Mobile to visit their grandparents and the girls stayed home with me!  We had a fun girls' week and one of our fun days was going to Epcot for the day!  I haven't had a chance to post the pics from that day until now! 

So, I love that the new blogger set up allows me to post larger pics, but I am SO IRRITATED that I cannot rearrange the order of the pics once I have uploaded them!! UGH!  I tried to drag them and only a couple would drag and then only so far and then some doubled up and wouldn't go farther.  WHY would this not be sophisticated enough to allow us to drag them into order??  Anyway, the pics I posted I had hoped to be in order of our day, but they are all over the place.  Fun anyway!

By the way,  Katie Grace Hua Hua is doing great since her surgery!!  She has been running and playing as if nothing happened.  She is still just a little tender in her chest if you lift her near there, so we are just careful, but otherwise, she has never mentioned any pain.  She has oxygen sats of 98 at her last check up!  She doesn't really care about her incision or mention very often unless it is just matter of fact.  She is doing very well.  Thank you for your prayers and thoughts!!  




1st we started with breakfast at Perkins before we went into Epcot!  Yummy!!!




Hua Hua's favorite friend??  Minnie Mouse!!!!  She was SO excited and we got extra special treatment!!!!  




Minnie Mouse made it clear to me (mom) that we were "good friends" ;-) !!  I work at Disney too.   She jumped up and down and ran over and hugged me and hugged Hua Hua and Christina and made a big scene!!  I know the people were thinking,  "what is that all  about??  Ha Ha!!!  I think Hua Hua was wondering why Minnie loved mama so much too!!



Kisses from Donald Duck!!  He isn't always a grump!  



Christina is certainly not too old to have pics with her favorites too!!  


We went to see the Chinese Acrobats in the China Pavilion!  We loved their show!




They were amazing!  They were a different group than years before.  Many of the guys were the same, but no more little girls.  I miss the little girls, but these women were fantastic.  



Time for a snack!!  Christina's choice!




Mom's Choice!



Sorry, back at breakfast!  (told you I couldn't rearrange the photos!)  She was SO excited about this balloon!  Kept it for weeks!  




Katie Grace's Choice!  



The girls with The Big Cheese!  



On the tram heading into Epcot!  (again with the out of order here, blah!)  She was so excited!!  





When you ride SpaceShip Earth  (the big silver ball that is the trademark ride for Epcot), you can program a story about yourself as the ride happens and at the end they show you in the story.  Here are the girls on that ride.  You can see me holding up Hua Hua!  




A beautiful time to visit Epcot.  The Flower and Garden Festival!!!  




Stopped to see one of my favorite shows at the UK Pavilion.  The World Showcase Players in King Arthur and The Holy Grail! That is Art, Sarah and Karl with the girls!  Very funny show!!! 



My little princess with Sleeping Beauty!  



My grown-up princess with Sleeping Beauty!  





Come give Pluto a hug!!! 



More of the Flower and Garden Festival!  

Many hungry children near the boarder of Myanmar and Thailand-click on photo