More smiles

Lili Mei LOVES going to the pool.  Especially if our good friend Donna comes with us.  Donna took this video for me as we pulled into the parking lot.  Just a glimpse into how Lili Mei is adjusting to her new life, family, and friends.  She has a beautiful smile, and a fun personality, evidenced in this short clip.

Five months!

I can't believe it's summer already.  Just five months ago we were bundled up and freezing at the (near) top of the Great Wall of China!  Yet here we are, going to the pool (when it is not thunderstorming), enjoying lazy days with no school, and dropping off Lauren at summer camp.

We wrapped up most of school in April, but there was one stinkin' history book we needed to get through, and Lauren finished that Friday.  So I told her she was *oficially* done with 7th grade now.  I'm giving her this week and the next two weeks off (since she'll be at camps for two of them), then we'll dive into summer school.  Well--the homeschool version of summer school.  She does Mavis Beacon, Rosetta Stone, and math on the computer.  We might throw in a few other subjects, but we won't actually start 8th grade until probably after Labor Day.  Usually we start mid-August, but are likely traveling at that time, so we'll postpone First Day of School a bit for the first time in 8 years!

The big news is Lauren cut all her hair off.  It is SHORT.  But very cute.  (I don't have a good picture yet)  She loves it, but misses her long curly red hair.  It has been getting progressively shorter since about 2 years ago, I think.  Maybe she'll start growing it out again after the summer....  The other news is that she successfully tested for senior red belt in tae kwon do, so she's only one belt away from black!

Lili Mei has been smiling more lately, and seems to be more comfortable around big groups of people than she was before.  She's letting more of our friends hold her, and even giving some of them hugs when they ask!  Our very dear friends are moving in a few weeks, and I know Lili Mei is going to miss them very much (as are we!!!!!!!).

We had our first amusement park excursion with Lili Mei a few weeks ago.  It was not a hit.  She did not enjoy the one or two rides I took her on, but she did like the carousel.  Every time we'd come back around to where Ba Ba was, she'd wave.  Too cute.  We are going to another BIG amusement park in a few weeks...hopefully we'll have better luck at this one.

Grandpa and Grandmere came to visit around Easter.   That was their first time meeting their new grand-daughter, and they are smitten.  Lili Mei will get to meet one of her great-grandmothers, her aunt and her cousin soon too when we go visit the west coast this summer.

What else....
Oh!  Went to a homeschool conference recently and am now officially a full-fledged stereotypical homeschool mom.  I ...ahem....bought a grain mill and am now grinding my own wheat!  (Delicious pancakes so far, but bread has been a complete failure)  And no, before you ask, I do not wear denim jumpers--well, except for the skit a bunch of us goofy moms did at our co-op end of the year celebration this month. But that's another story for another day....