Here is a picture that Natalie drew the other day and a picture of her from our recent trip to the zoo on September 25th!

Fast Forward

That is what I feel like our lives have been for months. But ever so slowly I feel like I am getting a handle on things. I hope to publish some updates from the summer and pictures as well as give you an update about the new school year and our continued busy lives!

Smiles

So many things I could write about, but decided to share from my day at work. As I was working with a lady, I asked her what she would do if she saw someone choking. In all seriousness, she told me she would would do the hemlock on the person. Later I was with another woman who asked the nurse as we passed by when she would she get her orange crate mattress. (For those of you not in health care, it is supposed to be an egg crate mattress. Any way they made me smile today!

The good mommy

Every night Natalie and I pray together. The other day, I had less patience that I should have had with her. As we were praying, I asked the Lord to help me to be "a good mommy." After we said Amen, Natalie looked into my eyes and said, "Mommy, you don't have to pray that, because you are already a good mommy!"
Ahhh, how I am humbled. I love that child!

The Brick Peddler

Let's see if I can do this :)

Kindergarten

I was speaking to someone the other day and mentioned my blog. I told the person that I hadn't written on it for awhile and in fact I thought it has been some time in May. I was surprised when I saw that it was in April that I wrote my last post. Yikes! We have been busy and I need to go back and update some of the things we have been up to!
Thursday night I met with Natalie's teacher to discuss her end of the year test scores. They test reading and writing together and math is tested separately. To make a long story short, Natalie scored right at grade level. She has a lot of 6 year olds in her class and even one child who is 7. I was amazed when I went to her school on Friday to see a program, how much bigger than Natalie a lot of the children were. So when I consider that she has been speaking English for only a little over 2 years, that most of the children are older (she will be 6 in July) and that they have had exposure to English, preK classes and teaching DVDs and TV, well, I am just incredibly proud of my little girl. We worked very hard, especially the first 6 months. There were days when I thought she would never recognize all of her letters, count beyond 10 and learn all 33 sight words, but learn she did and she has flourished.
Friday they did a program and I am going to do my best to upload the little segment where she sang her specific part. I have had that song running through my head for weeks!!
School does not officially end until this Thursday, but I have no doubt that putting her in kindergarten was the best decision.