S.E.A.B.R.O.O.K.

With the beginning of our school year looming, we chose to take one last hiatus to Seabrook Island. With the sun high in the sky and the ocean glistening while waves crashed continuously, we made our through the sand and enjoyed three days of nothing but swimming, eating, playing and catching up with friends.

Skimboarding was a hit with the "bigs".....

there were some injuries for these guys and that had us moms thinking a different sport would be good:)

Thankfully, the "littles" were quite content to keep busy in the sand or on a boogie board.....

Maddox took in a lot of quality time with her friend Julia.....

and when she wasn't busy with Julia, she was napping poolside or beachside.....difficult life :)

The "bigs"....

and the "littles" minus one.

Another great week at Seabrook....oh, how we will think of these good times when our noses are pressed inside school books this week!

First Day of School for MK

Today was a much anticipated day for MK! For MONTHS she has asked, "Now, is today when I get to go to Ms. Cathy's class?" And my response has been, "No, we have to go to China first and then you can go to Ms. Cathy's class...." or "After we go to the beach you can go to Ms. Cathy's class...." or "First you have to go to ballet camp and then you can go to Ms. Cathy's..."

Last night before bed, we picked out her special outfit for her special day.....and we packed up her lunch just as she asked.....and we prayed for her first day at school.....and she said, "I think I will need to get up super early so that I am not late to Ms. Cathy's class!"....oh, no, being late for Ms. Cathy would not be good.

And so the time arrived, with all children in tow along with their many electronic devices for pics, and we made our first walk into school for the 2011-2012 school year.....and MK FINALLY is in Ms. Cathy's Pre-K class....

This pic says it all....she was soooo very excited to arrive. There were no tears. No looking back. Pure joy!

She was given a few instructions on her morning routine.....

and then came the big hug and welcome from Ms. Cathy! You see, Cathy played a role in MK's coming home. She and her family will always be dear to us. It was Cathy who held my hand when I miscarried the first time - we barely knew one another, little did we know what God's plan was. It was Cathy that just happened to mention her husband's cousin who was born with a cleft lip and palate - I didn't even know what this was until this conversation. It is always Cathy who comes to my rescue with scripture to read. It was Cathy who cared for our little Finley when we traveled to get MK - she even set Fin up with his own little lamp in our garage. Cathy is just one of those people that everyone should have in their lives, truly one of a kind! So glad to see MK in her class and we are looking forward to a great pre-k year!

Dedication

Surrounded by the people who love her the most, Maddox Ren was dedicated at our evening church service on Sunday. She was all smiles!

The service was so sweet. And to make it sweeter, two other families with children from China AND who are in our group of ten that meets frequently, were a part of the service as well - so wish I had taken a picture!

Five months of forever.

Maddox is happy. Giggly. Shy. Sweet. Jealous. Affectionate. Comfortable.

Maddox loves to dance. Climb. Feed her baby. Swing. Swim. Read books. Go outside.

Maddox can feed herself. Put clothes on and take them off, even if they are not hers :) Go up and down stairs. Jump. Do puzzles. Go to sleep on her own.

Maddox says "no, no!" "ball" "milk" "hi" "hello" "bye" "ma ma" "wow" "oh no" "uh oh" "quack quack" "meow"

She receives speech therapy once a week in our home and we will increase this to two times a week in September. She will not go peacefully into a nursery setting so we are taking baby steps to get her used to this environment. She did make the 20lb mark this past week - yay! And, we know this because she was sick - boo! All better now though.

Our adjustment to a family of six has been quite comical. Often, we find ourselves still saying "Table for 5" or "We have 3 children." And of course it has been five months and we STILL don't get the diaper bag packed accordingly - it either has diapers/wipes OR it has snacks, never does it have all of the above :) MK is doing great in her role of big sister. Her biggest challenge is the behavior of her little sister - little sister, as sweet as she is, can be a jealous little soul and she will push or hit MK. We continue to work through this. Thankfully, MK just takes it all in stride and doesn't retaliate. The boys are the boys - older, helpful, silly, fun and they LOVE having two sisters. They will go from playing baseball together to playing a board game with MK to watching Barney with Maddox. Ryan and I are just taking it all in - loving these days with our fab four!

Boys Will Be Boys

Today our family was reunited under one roof again. After a much anticipated trip to camp for the boys and a great week in the mountains with Gran and Pop for MK, we all came together again. What a wonderful feeling to hear the stories and the laughter and the songs and see the crafts they all worked on throughout the week. It has most definitely not been a dull day in our home:)

Some memories for our boys first overnight camp:

• "Uh, mom, you probably want to wash these.....I have had them on now for three days!"
• One boy went to camp with seven clean pair of undies and came home with seven clean pair of undies....
• Both boys saw the "camp bear" - yikes!
• Calvin Ball, Sock Wars, Pillow Polo, Water Slide Kickball, Four Square, Tribal Council
• The BLOB
• One boy jammed his finger playing basketball. We asked him if he was ready to come home when that happened and he said, "Home? I wasn't thinking about home, I was just thinking about how fast I could get to the infirmary!"
• One boy was telling a story of how during his "rest" time, he and his cabin mates went out to look for the bear. I asked, "Rest time? Shouldn't you have been resting? Did they not make you stay in your cabin?" His response was, "Well, our counselor liked to sleep during rest time so he didn't see us." Oh.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the mountain, MK indulged herself while in the company of my parents. I checked in one day and my mom said, "Well, she had a Coke tonight before bed - that is what she asked for." She also got her favorite Pop Tarts. And cereal. And she painted rocks. And colored. And picked flowers. And did school work. And went shopping for none other than her favorite Barbie movie.

Needless to say, all went well and they were all exhausted.....

Gotta love a girl who enjoys helping out with the laundry!

Happy birthday to my mom! My dad, my sister + BIL, my brother + SIL and our combined nine kiddos were all together under one roof for the weekend! The scene was a rare and beautiful sight.

Little Kemp. The youngest of the nine. What a handsome blessing he is.

A day at the pool, a day of games, a day of playing in the rain be it on the playground or by the pool. No worries. These guys loved their time together.

Our two MKs! Mason-Kate and Mary-Kate.

To look at their faces, one would not guess that these guys were cheering the rain on.

Later, the sun came out and the balloon wars began. MK found her job and took it very seriously.

All too soon, our weekend ended and our family went their separate ways.

After waiting for a year, and after anticipating their camp adventure ALL summer long, the time finally arrived. The boys were so excited to be given the opportunity to spend a week away at Camp Ridgecrest for Boys. Me, well, when we dropped them off, I felt not one bit of worry whatsoever. About four hours later, the reality set in - I won't talk to them for one.whole.week. That is FOREVER in this mommy's world! My mind was put to rest when I logged onto the camp website and viewed photos from the boys' first day of camp and read the blog - from the looks of things, all is well with my guys! Can't wait to hear all about their fun!