O Finlandia!

Our family recently returned from a wonderful trip and work experience (Spencer) in Finland.  I never ever ever thought we'd take our family overseas...but we did it!  I'm not the most faithful blogger (e.g. my last post was Thanksgiving time of last year), but readers, if you are still out there, Finland is worth blogging about!  So, here's my first installment.

Two excited boys at the airport!

We left for Finland two days after school ended.  It was a hectic last week of school!  Spencer had already been there for  3 1/2 weeks, but he returned for a few days to help get us all over there.  He told us to pack shorts and a light jacket.  Well, when we got there, we admired the beautiful tulips and lilacs.  It was definitely tulip and lilac weather--and we quickly found a thrift shop so we could purchase pants and coats.  Brrr!  I don't think that we ever got to see a 70 degree day.  However, we did have some very lovely days that came close.  And, we caught on to the European style of scarf wearing--they come in handy year round over there.

Turkeys!

I have been teaching preschool for Alex's friends this year. It has been SUPER fun for all of us. We have the best kids in the group--and just the right number of them. Today, we had a bit of a crazy day, but at the end we had adorable hats and shirts to show off! Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween

Last year we happened to stop by Kmart right after Halloween. It was a brilliant move. The kids got to pick out some fun costumes at a super discount price. I wish I had remembered to go again this year!
Note: Anna is not pictured because she said she was TOO OLD. :(
However, it was fun to have her help pass out the candy, and she did dress up as Hermione for school.

Alex's Language Sample

Here's an old favorite of ours...Here is the Beehive.
Our baby reminds us all of the time that he is "not a baby! I'm a big boy!" And he's right. He tested this summer with high scores on his language skills. Unfortunately, that means no more services for Alex--not even an IEP is in order. I have mixed feelings about that-but I'm elated at his progress. I didn't think we'd arrive at this point so quickly! Here are some short language samples.

Alex's Language Sample Continued

Here is the Bunny!

Spring pictures

Lost and Found

On Valentine's Day I took my boys to play group and then came home and set my keys on the counter. That was a Monday. On Tuesday, I could not find my keys. I looked around for them some and assumed that they would soon show up. On Wednesday, I hunted up and down and around and under and over and finally Lance reminded me to pray about it. I did. I then went out to lunch with a friend that I am lucky to visit teach (our church asks all the women to visit each other once a month--so each woman is assigned 2 or three people to visit.) We had a great time visiting over some yummy Chinese food. Then, at the end I told her the sad story of my keys. She told me about the time that she had lost her work keys. She remembered coming home from the grocery store and putting things away, but her keys went missing at the time. They were missing for 2 weeks! Then, one day she opened the freezer--and there they were, next to the frozen peas. Well, I got home from our lunch date and decided I'd better look again for my keys. I remembered her story and also remembered that the kids had played with the play-dough they took home from play group as soon as we got home that day. I decided to check in the play-dough cookie cutter bucket--and there they were! Victory! I called my sister to spread my joy and she quipped, "Aren't you glad you didn't save your visiting teaching until the end of the month!"


About two months ago, one of Alex's rechargeable batteries for his cochlear implants came up missing. Our family searched and searched for it. We read the parable of the woman that searches diligently for her coin and then we prayed and searched and searched. No battery. I figured it would turn up eventually. Well, weeks passed and it didn't turn up. Finally, I told Spencer after about 8 weeks that we should just buy another one. I figured it was about $50 for a new one, but that we really needed it. The next day, I got online to order a new one and discovered, to my horror, that that sucker was $213. I called Spencer on the phone and told him that we were finding that battery--that night. So, our family tried again. We prayed again. We tore my room apart. We looked under dressers and beds in the boys room. Then Anna went in my bathroom and....found it! It was on a small counter that was cluttered with lots of tools for our reconstruction project. Hooray for Anna! Hooray for everyday miracles!