Business Card Luncheon

At Cleveland Chiropractic College, when a student becomes an intern in the Student Clinic, the school hosts a "Business Card Luncheon". At this time, new interns receive their name tags and business cards. It's a day we've all worked really hard to reach! My parents came, along with Libby and my best friend, Suzie. I don't think Libby really understood what it was all about, but I still think it was important for her to see me reach a milestone. My parents, as well as Libby & Roan have sacrificed a lot for me to attend this program. Graduation gets closer every day!

Preschool Graduation

Each year, the kids' preschool hosts an End of Year Program and Graduation. Libby starts Kindergarten in August, so she was part of the Graduation program. Roan insists that he graduated too... to the "Big Kids' Room".

Our Garden

About a month ago, we planted Libby's garden. This is a family affair -- Papa tills, Nana hoes, Libby plants and Roan supervises. Libby works really hard planning this... she gets gardening books from the library, makes sketches and shops for the seeds and plants. She's really good at weeding and watering, too. The best part of our garden is her motivation for doing it. Her plan is to give away most of what we grow "to people who don't have money for food". She's

recruited Papa (former Engineer) to help her set up a table and make a sign for a vegetable stand. Libby is a very empathetic little person; she's always thinking about helping others. Pretty awesome for a 5-year old! We just replaced a bunch of boards on the fence...that's why it looks so patchy...

Libby's Piano Recital

Libby recently had her first piano recital. It was such a nice event; she was so grown up, I cried. She's been working from the "Little Mozarts" piano curriculum, but will soon move on to a more "mature" curriculum. She's great at reading music, but needs some work with rhythm. We laugh that she got my mom's sense of rhythm...we're working to get her past that! She played several duets with her teacher, Ms Ramona.

Update, part 3

So, here's the story with Roan... he has grown and changed so much! Probably the biggest change in Roan is his speech. He's been in speech therapy twice a week since August 2008. At that time, his intelligibility to an unfamiliar listener was just 5%. Today, his intelligibility is 93%! That's remarkable progress, and we're so proud of him! His therapist is astounded at how fast he is coming along. Huge thanks to Kelli Hawk, his therapist at Children's Mercy.

The other major change... he's finally over his dress phase. Thank GOD! He has given up the Snow White and Belle dresses, and just the other day, I threw away (secretly) the princess dress. This is so huge for us! He does prefer nightshirts to PJs, so my mom made some boy sleep shirts in boy-ish fabrics, and it works great. He's still very attached to me, but that gets better each day, too.

We recently got a new swingset. We already had what the kids call their "tree house" that is a multi-level structure with a swing, a rope and a slide. We added this new swingset to the "tree house"; it has 2 standard swings, a monkey bar and... A TIRE SWING! You'd think this tire swing was coated in gold. They love it!

There are a couple things on Roan's wish list right now... he desperately wants a dog and he really wants to take piano lessons. I'm keeping my eye out for the "perfect" dog. He's a big young for piano lessons right now... all in good time.

Update...part 2

My Libby Lu... she officially graduated from preschool a couple of weeks ago. The cap and gown, the tassel...the whole deal! Very exciting. She will go to her preschool's summer program until she starts Kindergarten at Peculiar Elementary in August.

Libby's in the process of losing a tooth. For a 5 year old, this is extremely exciting stuff. This tooth is hanging on, despite the adult tooth coming in behind it. At least she won't have the toothless grin this time around.

Her annual garden is in full swing. She planned it out (lists, pictures drawn out, etc.), and planted it about about a month ago. Anybody who knows Libby can only imagine this garden! It amazes me how she just seems to "know" things without being taught. We've always laughed and called her "Clara" after my grandmother...they're so much alike (in the good ways). It's almost like Clara is whispering in her ear... Anyway, the garden is growing like crazy. We've already picked some green onions. I'll post some pictures soon...

Libby has been in piano lessons for a year. Her piano teacher is Ms Ramona, and we love her! She recently had a recital, which was so awesome! She's quite a talented little gal...again, I'll post pictures soon.

Update...part one

Boy, it's been a long time since I've posted anything! Here's an update:

Sonia: Well, I'm in trimester 7 of 10; that means I'm now an Intern in the Student Clinic. Honestly, it's surreal to finally be here! It's been a long, hard road. Getting up at the crack of dawn every day and getting everyone where they need to be, and me to school by 7:30 a.m. is getting old. Honestly, it got old a long time ago!

Our pet situation has changed. We used to have quite a collection of cats... Sybil passed shortly before moving to KC in 2006. Raymond passed away on New Year's Eve 2007. These were two of the best cats ever. We miss them every day. Libby remembers Sybil (Libby remembers everything!), and the way Sybil would sleep by her bed every night when we still lived in Jefferson City. Fiona went to live with Ted...she does much better as an only cat. Last July, we adopted Stella. She has many extra toes (25 total)and she's a very special cat. We are really lucky to have her. Libby also has two degus named Stanley and Thomas.