More Summer play + P.E.

 Sophia driving her horse and buggy, with cute little cat down below on her phone.

 It actually worked down the hall, and since the walls are already beat up pretty well I 'let it go', but really Sophia was a good driver.

Something that has lacked in my Home school repertoire of subjects is consistent fitness/exercise/expounding of energy in an organized way. AKA: P.E. Yes, our kids run and play like the rest, but we have goals of something more. David took this on himself this summer and about 3-4 times a week has spent anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour in various training/fun things. Sometimes this happens right after dinner, sometimes it happens at the pool. 

Here, they are doing their strength routine inside:  

 Squats, notice Gabrielle scooting through Sophia's legs.

 Gabrielle moved on to book reading, while the others practice 'planks'

 This is a plank with a hand clap

They have had a lot of fun, we are also working on endurance in jogging. 

They hope to run a 3k this winter. We shall see....

Names and Summer Play

 Heather helped the girls with this name sewing project. It turned out Great.

We have LOVED the summer break, the kids are all at home. All day. Together. It has been fabulous to see their creative minds as they figure out what play they will do next. Yes, there is always some sort of tension/argument/fight somewhere in the discussions but this too is good training time. 

 I have had a pretty organized summer schedule which helps them to know what is coming when and then be excited during breaks to return to their 'fort' or 'ice cream shop' or even one time a realty office. At their realty office I would tell them what kind of home I wanted and behind a curtain Bella would draw it (I did not know she was doing this the first time and was amazed as she handed me a picture of a 3 floor house with a double garage, a pool going through the house and a garden, which was exactly what I had asked for). Sophia would look up on her 'computer' the cost and what kind of 'freebies' I get with it, one time I got a free security guard named 'Tobin'. 

This was a fort/book store.

So our house is a daily mess, but so much fun in the making.

Recovering from Illness

My illness, that started out as flu-like and slowly morphed into a severe lung infection/pneumonia/possible TB (!), did indeed create some stress in our family, and taught us a lot (again) about our weakness, His strength. Apparently a lesson we need to learn continually :).

When the time came for me to visit the local hospital (which we have been to many times for various reasons, sometimes just to visit people) I dreaded it. But the docs we were consulting with almost wanted to send me to the capital for tests, something I absolutely did not want to do. In fact my email back was: 'what tests should I do and can we trouble shoot it from here?' Since it was the weekend they agreed.

 First at the hospital you have to register, pay a few cents and say what type of doc you need to see, then you stand in line to see the doc. The line for the doc was loooooong, so we went to a different one, and no wonder his line was short. I told him my situation. His standard Chinese was barely there, he mumbled, and told me that since I no longer had a fever I was fine. I asked him to listen to my lungs, which he barely did. I asked for the tests I wanted and he signed off on them: two types of blood tests/liver function, and a chest x-ray.

(David waiting to pay) 

One of the main reasons David was with me was to help navigate the lines ( I still was pretty weak) and so that I wouldn't pass out at the blood draw (I have only done this 2x in my 20 gazillion times having blood taken, but it is always a possibility). 

Before the tests, you have to go pay for the tests. We waited in line, they told us they needed one other form or name of specific test, so I kept our place in line while David hunted that down. (meanwhile, If I didn't have TB before, I do now, standing in a crowd of sick people. Oops, I am sick too, maybe I am infecting them, I forgot to wear a mask, I forgot antibacterial lotion, this is the only place we use it, oh well).

We decided that David would put my name in line at the x-ray and I would wait for him at the bloodwork center. There was no line at blood work they called my name and by the time David came up the stairs I was done, no passing out. "See, turns out I didn't need you after all." This was said with complete sarcasm because the man knows I need him, I was so thankful he was there. He was thankful he wasn't picking me up off the floor (which he has had to do before).

All tests would be returned in the afternoon, that I could handle on my own... So David and I went home, stopping first at our favorite bakery for a good cup of coffee. 

This is what I saw in line in front of me:

In China (anywhere I guess), pets are like people. This did not surprise me, they walk in the grocery stores sometimes. This little guy was adorable, and very well-behaved.

As I started to feel better, I was able to enjoy a brief respite from rain and sit outside with the fam one Saturday: 

 I finally feel more alive and we enjoy our coffee alfresco

 and our kids...

I am doing much better. It has been about six weeks and I am not sure my lungs are 100% but I am fully functioning. My voice has not quite recovered, I think there maybe some scarring from all the coughing, not sure. 

We are gearing up to start local school and add in our school subjects to begin our full-fledged school year in just a few weeks.

Glimpses of Gabrielle

 When David takes the elder kids swimming, she always wants to go, she knows where the bathing suits are, grabs one, and tries her best to put it on. Imagine the scene at the door when she realizes she is not going! 

Little diva in her heeled shoes. She loves the clickety clack just like her sisters. And can get into everything and anything, even though she understands that she should not.

And big girl has graduated to a stool at restaurants, which still takes lots of training, but she does pretty well. She loves her dumplings and can eat 6-8 at one time.

She is still this little cuddly bug growing up fast, FULL of personality. Her siblings love her (and get frustrated at times when she gets all in their mix), but in general they love and dote on this precious.

Bella's Kindergarten Graduation

We took the TCC team to Bella's graduation performance. It was a crazy mass of people in an extremely hot auditorium. 

 

In the scene blow I am holding Bella facing forward with her arms out like she is flying. 

 

This was celebrating her three years of Chinese Kindergarten. Some of these students will do a 'middle' year before going on to Elementary school, like Sophia did. We wanted this for Bella, but the week of sign up there was so much going on in our family and we were very distracted so we missed it. We hope to get her into Chinese first grade but it is quite hard, so we will see.

Bella and I are in the front, third from the right, gettin' our groove on.

 This is Bella's best friend, and was at the rehearsal.

This whole event was pure Chinese style spectacular. I actually enjoyed getting to know the moms at all the practices and watching Bella interact with all of her friends. She will miss these kids, we are not sure which ones may be going to her school next year.

Congrats Bella on an amazing three years of local school, it was not always easy, but you persevered and thrived, we are thankful for how the Lord provided for you there.

Back Track: More TCC Team Fun

Here is how we greeted our friends at the airport!

Sophia was a little shy, but warmed up fast.

The reflection is not great, but if you can see, the entourage of 7 foreigners in our small airport, was  a little spectacle. Uncle Travis beams a huge smile for our kiddos.

It was the fourth of July so the older girls put on a little impromptu performance.

 The crew, wore out, watched on.

 We made them get out of their seats and go outside for some fireworks.

they brought these festive wands and bandanas

we even put a sparkler on a little makeshift boat.

A bit later in their stay they went to our friends' village with us.
I love the baby bath. Later our kids pushed him around in the stroller.

And a few days after that, the guys on the team returned to the village for a truly pure minority culture event that will not be elaborated on here...just to say, it was fun, involved animals that did not get hurt and allowed the guys to see what true farmers do during the rainy season.

What is Goin' On?

Free form here...

(the following pictures have little to do with the content of this post and are put in for a fun distraction)

Outside my window...

Sunshine for a few hours today. It has been weeks and weeks of rain. During the break in rain (though clouds loomed)  we made paper boats (wax crayon on all sides), went out to a village, open rice fields, and a very nice flowing river. This is always a FUN activity for all. We saw lots of water buffalo and the rice almost ready to harvest. It did start to rain, but we went on a little walk and enjoyed the valley view as the storm came in. The ride there and back was so bumpy, the kids 'weeeed' and 'oohhed' and 'ahhhed.'

 I said..."who needs Disney rides when you have back roads in China?" to which Tobin promptly replied: "I do."

In my kitchen...

For Coker summer school I adapted a friend's 'kids in the kitchen' curriculum and have tried to get Sophia moving towards independence...this will take a long time, but it is a start. We are loving local school break, and a lot of days she will just jump in there and help our helper chop things or shred cheese, etc. I found a can of cherries about to expire, I have no idea where I bought those...but I made a cherry dump cake. I had to chop my own pineapple for this, but it was still fabulous. This is David's fave right now. I also made this cinnamon roll cake from scratch, that I really loved but it was very sweet. It went over well.

In the School room...

We are in the middle of Coker Summer School. We finished up a few subjects, and do year round on most core stuff. But I added a few things during the lull. Like Poetry! Yep, it's back. We had memorized quite a few poems a few years ago. This is more intro to fun poems and famous poets. We will have a midsummer celebration this Saturday for reciting some CC memory work, poetry, and original stories or a dance, the kids are so excited, Tobin is doing it too! This is all for David, btw, our audience. Plus, mommy will participate with her own recitations. FUN. Added on is some piano, since the girls just started and are doing really well. I may do a single post on our summer schedule and what's old and new, and coming up.

Our school room itself is accented beautifully with the button tree art that they did with the TCC team.

On my night stand...

      Just finished up Stepping Heavenward for the 2nd time. I read it a lot slower this time and underlined new things. I read other books alongside it, but was steadily encourage and convicted as I came back to it. 

     I am in the middle of Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. This book is brilliant and inspiring. It gives thought provoking anecdotes and analogies in its cultural critique and so far has me motivated and reading on. I highly recommend it! To whet your appetite: 

     "A good book is a dangerous thing...it carries within it the possibility...of cracking open the shell of routine that prevents us from seeing the world."  And..." for the first time in human history, most people are doing things that could never interest a child enough to make him want to tag along." I did take these quotes out of context...but dive in and be challenged by the author's perspective. 

     I just started Bruchko and am not that far in. I often 'vet' books to see how age-appropriate they are for our particular children regardless of the recommended age, I am doing that here. It got rave reviews, so I am excited to get into it. 

Exercising...

After a Thailand trip, a team from the U.S., and a whopper of a lung infection that sidelined me for a few weeks, I am re-starting Kettle Bells and running! Well, I ran today at least just to give my recovering lungs a go. Went okay, not full speed for sure. David is leading the kids in PE about 3-4x/week and they are having a blast. They also go swim at least 1x/week (covered/almost indoor so rain doesn't matter). 

 

Planning...

I am in the throes of Homeschool planning our next year. Yes, we do year round and have not stopped, but mainly I am figuring out how to implement some of our goals for next year and start the next level of history and a new CC cycle, with Tobin participating more this go round. I have planned Science, Fine Arts, Geography coinciding with CC, then my own GeoMap for map drawing, looked ahead at math and LA, and am now starting the history plan, which will take the longest!