October 2008 Archives

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Well it's been a busy fall so far. All three of the children are in school. Anji goes to preschool 3 times a week. Jhon-Fredy is in all day kindergarten and Carol is now in 1st grade.. All are doing well and seem to enjoy it...Anji especially likes to 'dress for success' and can't wait to show her teacher her dress when she walks in.She comes home singing songs and with armloads of of 'work' that she colored, painted or drew that day. Telling us all the stories about her day.

We were a little worried about Jhon-Fredy when he first started. Mostly for the fact that it was going to be a big adjustment moving from home structure to going to school all day...every day...5 days a week. But he didn't skip a beat. He does well in the classroom and has even gotten student of the day once.

Carol...well Carol is very determined. She is an insatiable reader. For 'fun' she likes to sit and do worksheets/workbooks...go figure. But I can't tell you how amazingly fast she picks stuff up.

All this keeps Donna pretty busy and on the run during the days. We thought that when Anji started school Donna would have a chance to get some errands done while Anji was at school...but it just seems that every week something comes up and that time gets filled with something else. But I know I'm preaching to the choir.

For the most part tho things have been pretty uneventful - I just can't believe its November now. The time just flies. We did take the kids to the doctor's last weekend for their flu shots. Pretty funny story there. Carol and Anji...well let's just say they really weren't looking forward to going. While Jhon-Fredy was walking around like Mr. Tough Guy saying "it won't hurt". Anji screamed the whole way there while Carol just whimpered in her car seat. When got there we walked in and when it came to our turn Anji went first. Even though we were in Greenfield I'm pretty sure they heard her all the way downtown when she screamed. Carol actually did really well. Didn't cry or whine. But Jhon-Fredy was hilarious. He came into the room and started talking out loud - playcalling the whole situation (he does that when he gets nervous)..."Ok there's the nurse...there's Papi...I'm just gonna get up on Papi's lap now..." then when he looked over at the tray where the syringe was he said "Oooh...this isn't going to be good..." but when I tried to hold him he said "I don't need to be held!" stuck out his arm and got his shot. No problem. On the way home Anji said "The doctor gave me a mean shot!".

As I write this the kids are right outside the window raking the leaves. Last night was Halloween and they had a blast. Anji kept running up to people's houses singing happy birthday and blowing out their candles/jack-o-lanterns then clapping and saying "Yay!". Here's pics of them from last night:


  

Also, Anji has really gotten into singing. She now does this thing where it's 'Showtime' and she starts to yell "I NEED A MICROPHONE! I NEED A MICROPHONE!". Then, whoever is available (or even if your not) has to go up to her room with her and we all sit on Anji's bed while Anji gets on Carol's bed (a.k.a. The stage) and sings to you. Here's a bootleg clip at one of her concerts - enjoy:

I am not sure where to begin. It was an amazing 3 months and I am still trying to recover from it all.

Summer started with our trip to Kennywood Park on Memorial Day. I am not sure the kids had any idea what to expect and they really were overwhelmed by it all. We decided to start off in kiddyland but had to walk through all the big rides to get there. I saw the big merry-go-round and thought that would be a great first ride. So we got in line and Jhon-Fredy and Anji ran to get on a horse that would go up and down and I turned around and saw Carol looking a bit scared. She didn't want a horse that went up and down and climbed up a stationary one and was holding on for dear life. Here are some pictures of "the first ride".

We headed to kiddyland and after a ride or two they all couldn't wait to get on the next one. They had so much fun. Scott was determined to get them on a big ride, so we decided on the log jammer but didn't tell/show them the large hill that they would come down. I got Anji an ice cream while they rode the ride and she ate the whole thing!

It was a great day for us and we decided to make that our Memorial Day event every year.

Next we had Carol and Anji's birthday party at our house. Carol turned 7 and Anji turned 3. They wanted a Dora cake since we call Carol Dora and Anji Boots. It was a beautiful beginning of June day and the kids had a blast.

A week later on June 15th we boarded a plane and headed to Savannah to visit Grandpa and Grandma Krebs and Aunt Mary. They rented a beach house on Tybee Island and we spent a wonderful week together. The children LOVED the ocean and Anji would yell at the waves and shake her finger when they knocked her down. I don't think I ever sat down because they didn't want to get out of the water. They also enjoyed walking up 175 steps to the top of the lighthouse. Well Anji made it the first two flights and I carried her the rest of the way up and back down.

10 days after we got home, we packed up the car and headed east to Ocean City New Jersey. There we met up with my sister and husband and 2 kids. They have a beach house and our kids got to spend some time with their cousins. We had fun at the beach, riding bikes, walking the boardwalk and just running around the house. Here is a picture of Anji on the back of Scott's bike and Carol and her cousin Mark. They got along great.

So now it was the 2nd week of July and we finally were able to spend some time playing at home. They loved playing in the back yard and of course going to the swimming pool. They had their first watermelon and they all loved it.

On July 26th, we celebrated our one year of being a family. We decided to spend the day together and see the sites of downtown Pittsburgh. We started off at PPG Place that had the water coming out of the sidewalk. They laughed so hard and couldn't believe we let them run through it with their clothes on. Little did they know I brought a change of clothes for them. Then we headed up the incline to the top of Mt. Washington which overlooks all of downtown. I don't think we could wipe the smiles off their faces as we went up the mountain. After that we went to a place called Station Square. They had a huge fountain that had "dancing water" to music. They all love to dance. We then ate outside at Joe's Crab Shack and then headed home to treat them to ice cream. It was a very memorable day and a great family day.

Our next Big event was Grandpa's and Grandma's 50th Wedding Anniversary party in August here in Pittsburgh. It started off on a Friday night with a wonderful dinner and a chance to see family we have not seen in a while. We had family from Georgia, Florida, Virginia, California, New York and Pennsylvania. On Saturday we had a big picnic at Keystone State Park. I wish we could do this every year. It was so much fun.

So then I had about 10 days to get them ready for school. Carol is now in 1st grade, Jhon-Fredy is in all day Kindergarten and Anji goes to preschool on M-W-F mornings. They all are doing very well and I have the only 3 year old who has a melt down when she has to LEAVE preschool. Here is a picture of Carol and Jhon-Fredy on their first black and gold day!

I think I covered most of the summer. I have now saved the best for last. Here is a video of our summer starting with Jhon-Fredy's birthday in April. Enjoy and sorry it took so long to update everyone.