NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Thursday marked the beginning of the new school year for us. (Yes, its only the middle of July but we are a year around district). I can't believe that Brian is now in the 3rd grade. He was very excited to go back to school even though he really only had 3 weeks of summer "vacation" since he attended our district's summer advantage program. Angelica is entering her last year of preschool. She is currently attending our district's early childhood special education program five days a week. We are so excited to see what the year brings because she has made so much progress. She has a long way to go to be ready for kindergarten next year but we just take it one day at a time and celebrate each new thing she accomplishes.

Brian is keeping us busy with baseball. Its the first year of player pitch so it means some LONG games (LOTS OF WALKS). The boys get so frustrated because they are not hitting much. They have improved a lot in the last few weeks. They won last night 18-9 and Brian was 3-4. His last at bat he hit a hard pop fly that somehow the kid caught! Either way it was exciting to watch and he was so proud. He has decided not to play fall soccer (his coach is taking a break this season) but will do indoor soccer in the winter with him. We are currently looking into either basketball or swim lessons for the fall.

Angelica is ALMOST out of pull ups (except for night time). She still needs lots of reminders but she is doing so much better. We are very optimistic by her 5th birthday that she will be totally pull up free. Her speech has also improved so much and they are even hearing sentences at school. She has been seizure free for several months now. YEAH!!

We recently took a family vacation to Orlando, FL. We did not see Mickey Mouse as we went to Universal/Islands of Adventure instead. It was fun though as Angelica got to see Dora, Spiderman, Curious George & Barney. Brian hit the "big kid" rides...the Incredible Hulk roller coaster and Dueling Dragons.

We also had lots of fun celebrating with other Colombian families at the 2009 CHI Latin American Reunion. It is such a cool thing to see all these beautiful kids running around and the families who's lives have been changed through international adoption! We had a great turnout and can't wait until next year.

I hope everyone has had a great summer!!