Dance and Scouts

It's hard to believe we are well into fall. Where has the time gone? The boys have been busy camping with the boys scouts, including one week at scout camp, white water rafting, beach camping on Assateague Island, and they will soon be visiting the Naval Academy in Annapolis. In the photos below, the boys were ready to head out the door for a week of summer camp. They were clean and well rested before they left. I wish I had a picture from when they came home...

By September school was in full swing. The boys began playing intramural football with some of the other local home school boys. I know they both like it even though they are sore for few days each week and walk with a limp on occasion. Stay tuned for football photos soon.

Not to leave Lily without something to do we were fortunate to have a couple of the big sisters of those football players offer to teach ballet. Lily was SO excited! She couldn't wait to buy her tights and leotard. I don't know how many times I heard her ask if it was time for dance class. Here she is on the first day of dance...September 19, 2010.

"Come on Mom! It's time to go!"

Dance class was a success! Lily is still going strong and loving her dance class with all her friends. It's so cute when she shows us her little routines and she spins around the house.

Fall also brought changes in the scout troop. Nate and Drew had been working very hard on earning quite a few merit badges which were given out at the fall court of honor.

Way to go boys!

One last item of business for Nate to take care of at the end of the court of honor was the official handing over of SPL duties to the newly elected troop member. Nate has a look of relief on his face, don't you think? Now he is ready to tackle his Eagle Scout project. Good job Nate!

It's time for me to download pictures from our trip to the farm and Halloween. Check back later!

Labor Day Weekend

Wow! We had a busy weekend! Scott was off of work on Friday for a Family Day and the boys and I hadn't started school yet so....we took full advantage of our 4 day weekend. Friday morning Scott and I took Lilymei to get her passport photo taken. I forgot that she needed to have sleeves for the photo so we had to take a quick trip to the Dededo Mall in search of a short sleeve shirt. Once we had the shirt in hand (actually 2 shirts, 2 for $8.00) we had the passport photo taken and then headed off to the Department of Revenue & Taxation to have Lilymei's passport application reviewed and mailed off. Luckily, Friday was one of the 3 days of the week that the passport office accepts applications so we were good to go, after the supervisor agreed to try to mail it off without a social security number. Apparently, a foreign born child on Guam must apply and receive a passport before they can apply for a social security number. Scott asked the question of "Why? What if we never want to leave the island?". It's just policy for internationally adopted children. I don't care as long as we can get both the US passport AND the social security number without any problems!

Friday afternoon the base held their annual Labor Day Fun Fest with free food, games for the kids, a water slide, and raffle prizes. Drew was in full Cub Scout uniform handing out free popcorn for the first hour or two. Nate was making his rounds with a few Boy Scout friends and listening to the DJ. Lilymei didn't know what to think with all the people and the loud music but she perked right up when a little friend of hers brought her a whirly-bird to hold on to.

Saturday morning the boys were up bright and early; mowed their 5 lawns and then Nate headed to the Boy Scout House to work on some merit badges with the scouts. Scott and Drew, along with our friend, Mike, headed down to Tarague Beach for the USO camp out. They got the tent set up while I picked up Nate and the 3 of us headed down to the beach for the cookout. Lilymei ate well but after dinner she did NOT want to put her feet down in the sand. She enjoyed watching the waves and the guys playing beach volleyball but she was not going to get sandy. Lilymei and I headed for home at dusk and let the boys eat s'mores and listen to the karaoke all night.

Sunday after church we packed up the car and headed to the Hyatt hotel for a relaxing overnight stay. Lilymei loved the water again~yeah! We enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Al Dente, and had a wonderful night of sleep. The beds at the Hyatt Guam are soooo comfortable. Most of the hotels on Guam have the traditional Japanese bed (hard!) but not the Hyatt, thank goodness! Monday morning, Labor Day, we had a leisurely buffet breakfast at La Mirenda and then we headed out to the Hyatt Beach. We took advantage of the "water toys" and rented a paddle boat for a little morning fun. Lilymei was so relaxed she fell asleep shortly after we got started.....
We opted for a late check-out so we could have a bit more time in the pool and then have the opportunity to shower before heading for home. Drew has been driving us "crazy" asking to ride the SLINGSHOT. I had ridden this ride a couple of months ago with my friend, Natalee. Just to keep our sanity we pulled out of the Hyatt parking lot and right into the Slingshot parking lot. Drew was so excited. Nate agreed to ride with him.


The ride was short~about 60 seconds but the boys had a blast! One of these days I'll get Scott on there with me. I know Drew is planning to ride it again too!

Today we had EDIS (Educational & Developmental Intervention Services) come out to the house to evaluate Lilymei. She is delayed in her motor skills and communication development (we knew that). Next week we are hoping to meet with the speech therapist and the pediatric physical therapist. Once they evaluate Lilymei and write up their reports we are hoping to begin therapy. We can expect therapy to begin in 4 weeks, hopefully less. Right now we are to work with Lilymei, not to try to walk, but to get her to master crawling (she started "real" crawling just this Saturday) and to use her left hand more. We also need to keep her on the floor and help her to stretch to reach toys, etc to improve her balance. She is still wobbly and holds her arm out to catch herself from falling. They also suggested having her reach up overhead to strengthen her muscles and to put toys on the couch/chairs for her to reach for. We also need to keep a diary of the words that she can speak.

We are still waiting to hear back the results from Lilymei's CT scan. Now that the holiday is past I expect we will hear something before the end of the week. Tomorrow morning we are meeting with the audiologist to check Lilymei's hearing. We will post once we know any more details!

Scouts move up in rank!

It was a thrilling week in the world of scouting. Nate and Drew were both promoted to the next rank in the boy scouts and cub scouts. The boys are having a great time with scouting and Nate is getting ready for summer camp on Guam. Drew is preparing for a trip to the rock climbing wall and a summer of planned activity. We are proud of all the hard work they have both put into the program.

On the adoption front we have received some travel plan coordination, but are still waiting on our Travel Approval (TA). We are probably still looking at going to pick up Lilymei sometime in September. The Olympics can't come quick enough for us!

December 2007

December was a whirlwind! Here Nate has received his "Scout" rank in Boy Scouts and is pinning the parents pin on Jean. Gram visited for 3 weeks and while she was here we ran a 5K, spent time in Japan and enjoyed the Christmas Holiday.
Somehow Nate had another Birthday #12! He keeps sneaking them in on us, boy do we feel old!
Nate enjoyed New Years eve the most with his all night Xbox party with the boy scouts. Drew has volunteered to head the party up next year.
We hope you have enjoyed our YEAR IN REVIEW. Please stop by often and leave comments on how we are doing. Happy New Year from the O's!