Addie The High Schooler

Today while driving to church Theo was looking at some new apartment complexes and commented that he didn't think he would want to live in those apartments when he was in high school. I told him that those apartments were actually meant more for college students. I then told him that you lived at home still in high school. He genuinely seemed grateful for the correction.

Addie then piped up and set 'yes when I grow up I want to be live at home and be a high schooler.' She then continued and said, 'next time you hold that sign up I want to say high schooler not police woman.'  In fairness, a few weeks back when we held up the kids 'beginning of school, I want to be' signs, Addie was a little confused as to what she wanted to be when she grew up. Jack quickly said baseball player. Theo quickly said robot maker. And then Addie finally stumbled upon 'police woman' largely driven, I believe, by a book we had just checked out from the library. So now she has finally decided: when Addie grows up she wants to be a high schooler.  I will remind her of this when she is a high schooler!  Hopefully, she will accomplish this aspiration - probably more realistic than  a baseball player or a robot maker!

Eliot The Umpire

Our kids have gotten really into baseball, lead by Jack's interest. They have even turned our kitchen, living room, dining room circle walkway into a baseball diamond. They aren't allowed to use a ball or run, but that doesn't keep them from swinging and announcing what they outcome of their hit was:

 'Jack Anderson up to plate, a swing, deep into left field, a double!'

Something kind of like that. This morning Jack, Theo, and Addie were playing away when Eliot scooted over. I then heard Theo said, 'oh Eliot you can play too. You can be the umpire!'  Too funny.

Brian Gets Married!

We had so many fun things and visitors over this Summer. In fact, we had so many that it was hard to blog and record all of the fun.  My goal is to get some of these happy memories recorded on this blog before they are distant memories.

The first one is 'Brian gets married!'

On July 28th my younger brother Brian got married to a wonderful girl named Hau. Hau is originally from Vietnam and has been in the US since she was around 18. She is now a paediatric dentist (we wished she lived closer to reap the benefits on that one!). We are thrilled that she is part of our family. Here are some fun pictures to record the day.


All my siblings and siblings-in law from the Abbott side - We are truly blessed:

Brian and Hau

After the Reception at Les Bourgeois:

Brian and Hau and all their nieces and nephews from the Abbott Side (okay honestly, it is 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,9 - only the top two aren't in sequential order!):

The couple at Memorial Union

Eliot with his 'Walker'

Some kids have a walker, others have a sister. 

First Day of Home-School: Pre-School, Kindergarten, 2nd Grade!

The boys started Wednesday morning enrichment a few weeks back, but we started home-school today. It is a totally different feel to have 2 schoolers (Theo isn't doing much, but he thinks of himself as a schooler and Addie is right there as well, trust me!). Here are first day pictures with 'what they want to be when they grow up' signs:

Addie - Pre-School - Police Woman

Theo - Kindergarten - Robot Maker

Jack - 2nd Grade - Baseball Player (and if there was any doubt, it is clear, he has fully integrated into America!)

Wednesday Mornings...A New Adventure

The boys have started going weekly to Wednesday morning school, as our family affectionately calls it. Charles and I decided that the boys would benefit from an enrichment morning with other students their age. Therefore, as of a couple of weeks ago, Jack and Theo have started in Heritage Academy's Enrichment Program. It is just a little four hour a week program designed for home-schoolers. They cover four subjects literature, music, physical education, and science. An added benefit is that they get to be in the same class since kindergarten through second grade are together. Initial signs are that they love it.

Here is a picture of them before they left on their first day:

Half way through the first day we got a call from the school - every parent's nightmare. They told us that Theo had been stung by a wasp, not once, but twice!  They said he was initially very upset but that he was now calm. They said he was showing no allergic reaction and they thought he would likely carry on as normal. However, they wanted to tell us so that we could chose whether to come check on him or not. We thought probably best to just get him at the normal time given that he was calm by the time we got the call.

When I picked Theo up I immediately said 'Theo show me where you got stung. I am so sorry that happened to you'. He quickly told me that it had already healed. He wasn't the slighted phased!  In fact, he is now known as the 'boy who got stung' by all his classmates! Sad as it was that he got stung on his first day away at school, I think overall it was a bonding moment for the class. A few days later we got a letter in the mail from his teacher consoling him and telling him how proud she was of how he rebounded after being stung twice. What a memory!