OMG - She Cut her Hair

Yesterday, I dropped Maddie off for a hair appointment. She told me she wanted to have a bit of the 'volume' taken out and a trim. (We both have VERY THICK hair) I had planned to stay with her while she had the cut, but I had to pick up James from the train station. Josie, Janina and I headed downtown, got James and returned to the salon. I went into the salon to pay the bill and nearly walked past my own daughter!





This is the shortest Maddie's hair has been in about 6 years. She had just about 7 inches of length taken off. If she didn't look so beautiful, I think I would have cried. She looks so grown up now ! And, (I had to remind myself...) she is old enough to decide what to do with her own hair. I'm glad it turned out so nice...


Josie expresses her approval!!

A Look at the Future - A Hard Hat Tour

Yesterday we participated in a "hard hat" tour of Maddie's new High School. The entire family, including Dave & Janina, laced up boots and donned the lovely headgear to explore the site. This school is going to be AWESOME !! State-of-the-Art EVERYTHING !! It is the first High School to be built by the Archdiocese of Arlington in over 20 years.

We started out with a short introduction by Sister Mary Jordan, who will be the Principal of the new school. We were then led on a tour by the Project Manager. The school is 4 stories, with a theater, two level gymnasium, band room, chapel, 10,000 volume library, computer labs, biology labs and an interactive class room below the chapel. I am so thankful that Maddie will attend this school. Fourteen years ago, I never dreamed we would be this fortunate. I have to give proper credit and thanks to my wonderful husband who has had amazing discipline in saving for both our girls education. Because of him, both our girls will have the opportunity to benefit from everything a great education provides.

Here are some shots of our tour:


Sister Mary Jordan gives an overview in the library/ Shot of the entrance from inside the lobby



The chapel (taken from the third floor) / Fourth floor corridor


The chapel from the second floor


James & Josie explore the theater


The cafeteria - it overlooks a wooded area, the football stadium to the left and the baseball field to the right.


The gymnasium 'sky box'


The view from one of the English classrooms


A view of part of the facade/entrance of the school


Maddie and Janina LOVE the headgear !


Josie was a bit cranky, but James & Dave enjoyed the tour


Janina, Sr. Mary Jordan & Maddie at the end of the tour

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Ayer participó en un "casco" gira de nuevo Maddie's High School. La familia entera, incluida Dave & Janina, laced y botas hasta la hermosa donned sombrerería para explorar el sitio. Esta escuela va a ser AWESOME! State-of-the-art TODO! Es la primera escuela secundaria para ser construido por la Arquidiócesis de Arlington en más de 20 años.

Comenzamos con una breve introducción de la Hermana Mary Jordan, quien será el principal de la nueva escuela. Nos llevaron luego a una gira por el Gestor del Proyecto. La escuela es de 4 pisos, con un teatro, dos niveles gimnasio, salón, capilla, biblioteca de 10000 volúmenes, laboratorios de computación, laboratorios de biología y una sala de clase interactivo por debajo de la capilla. Estoy tan agradecida que Maddie asistirá a esta escuela. Catorce años atrás, yo nunca he soñado que sería esta suerte. Tengo que dar crédito adecuado y gracias a mi maravilloso esposo que ha tenido la disciplina en asombroso ahorro para nuestros educación de las niñas. Debido a él, nuestros dos niñas tendrán la oportunidad de beneficiarse de todo lo que una gran educación proporciona.

Hopscotch

Our friend, Dave, is visiting from California. Dave usually visits us this time of year and we always have fun. Today, while James was teaching Junior Achievement classes at Maddie's school, Dave & I had the opportunity to play hopscotch with Josie. There is a reason why all kids love Dave - he is always game for a game!





Here's Dave & Josie playing together - in other words, Josie telling Dave how to play !!







Once Josie was satisfied that Dave knew what he was doing, they paused to check out some of the caterpillars on the front steps:










In other news:
Janina seems to be adjusting well to being here in the U.S. She is able to chat with her parents and friends on-line every night so I think that helps with any homesickness she might be experiencing. On Tuesday, Janina and the other exchange students took a trip to Mount Vernon.

On Wednesday & Thursday, Janina was a huge help to me as I shuttled Maddie and her a few of her teammates to their soccer games. I'm pleased to report that Maddie's team won both games (5-3 and 4-0) and Maddie scored a goal in Thursday's game!! Yeah Maddie!! Go Crusaders!!



Today, the girls all met at a local mall and enjoyed an hour or two of shopping. Ecuador's currency is the US dollar, so the girls were all very savvy about their spending. Again, I just have to comment about how lovely all the girls are. They are so sweet and funny. I'm learning that language is not the only way to communicate - smiles, hugs, laughs and flying hand gestures seem to get all our thoughts across that barrier!

We are really enjoying our time with a full house of friends!

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Para la familia de Janina: ¡Gracias mucho por su email! ¡Amamos verdad a su hija! ¡Ella es una señora joven maravillosa!

Janina parece estar ajustando bien a está aquí en los EEUU. Ella puede charlar con sus padres y amigos en línea cada noche tan yo pienso que eso ayuda con cualquier morriña ella quizás esté experimentando. El martes, Janina y los otros estudiantes del cambio hicieron un viaje para Montar Vernon.

El miércoles & el jueves, Janina fue una ayuda inmensa a mí como yo shuttled Maddie y ella algunos de sus compañeros de equipo a sus juegos del fútbol. ¡Soy complacido para informar que el equipo de Maddie ganó ambos juegos (5-3 y 4-0) y Maddie rayó un objetivo en el juego del jueves!! ¡Sí Maddie!! ¡Vaya a Cruzados!!

Hoy, las chicas todo encontrado en un paseo local y disfrutó de una hora o dos de compras. La moneda de Ecuador es el dólar de EEUU, así que las chicas fueron todo muy práctico acerca de su gasto. Otra vez, yo acabo de tener que comentar acerca de cuán encantadoras todas las chicas son. Ellos son tan dulces y graciosos. ¡Aprendo que ese idioma no es la única manera de comunicar - las sonrisas, los abrazos, las risas y los gestos voladores de mano parecen conseguir todos nuestros pensamientos a través de esa barrera!

Janina Arrives!! DAY ONE

Janina has finally arrived ! James and I, along with other parents, picked up our visitors at 8PM at Reagan National Airport in DC. The girls were all in good spirits as they made their way to baggage claim. Once everyone was loaded into the vans, we began the hour-long ride to our church activity center, where other host families waited to meet the girls.

One funny moment that I have to share… as we drove south on the highway we passed a shopping mall. The girls (we had 8 in our vehicle) were all chatting away in Spanish - not a word of it understood by James and me - when there was a hush in the van and they all (at once) screamed “MACYS !!!”. I just burst out laughing. I guess some things about teen-aged girls are universal… shopping, talking about boys, and shopping!!

The girls are all stunningly beautiful with lovely manners - their parents have so much to be proud of…

After getting settled in, Maddie and Janina got ready for school the next morning and we all were in bed by 11PM. The girls were up at 6:30 AM. Thankfully, there was a half-day at school. I picked the girls up at 11:30 AM and we headed home. Maddie and Janina were kind enough to look after Josie while I ran a few errands. After that, we all went shopping.



After the girls looked around town for a while, Janina was able to join Maddie's tennis group for an hour & a half of play. Maddie says that Janina is a fantastic tennis player. Both girls seemed to have had a wonderful time. After a quick dinner we all sat down while Janina showed us a CD of her family photos... beautiful photos of her older sister and parents, her aunts, uncles and cousins, her best friends and her lovely hometown of Quito, Ecuador.






We are so thankful to have a lovely young lady sharing our home for the coming weeks.



Para La Familia De Janina:

(excuse por favor cualquier error en mi traducción, yo están utilizando un traductor en línea)

¡Janina finalmente ha llegado! James e I, junto con otros padres, tomaron a nuestros visitantes en los 8PM en el aeropuerto nacional de Reagan en la C.C.. Las muchachas estaban todas en alcoholes el bueno pues hicieron su manera a la demanda del bagaje. Una vez que cada uno fuera cargado en las furgonetas, comenzamos el paseo hora-largo a nuestro centro de la actividad de la iglesia, donde otras familias del anfitrión esperaron para satisfacer a las muchachas.

Un momento divertido que tengo que compartir... mientras que condujimos al sur en la carretera pasamos una alameda de compras. Las muchachas (teníamos 8 en nuestro vehículo) eran todas que charlaban lejos en español - no una palabra de él entendía por James y mí - cuando había un silencio en la furgoneta y ellos todo el (inmediatamente)"MACYS gritado!!!". Acabo de estallar fuera de reír. ¡Conjeturo que algunas cosas sobre muchachas adolescente-envejecidas son... compras universales, muchachos que hablan, y el hacer compras!!

Las muchachas son todas imponentemente hermosas con maneras encantadoras - sus padres tienen tanto ser orgullosos de...

Después de conseguir colocado adentro, Maddie y Janina conseguido listos para la escuela la mañana y nosotros siguientes toda estaban en cama por el 11PM. Las muchachas estaban para arriba en 6:30. Agradecidamente, había un de medio día en la escuela. Tomé a muchachas en 11:30 y dirigimos a casa. Maddie y Janina eran bastante buenos ocuparse de Josie mientras que funcioné algunas diligencias. Después de eso, todos fuimos a hacer compras.

Después de las muchachas miraba alrededor de la ciudad por un rato, Janina podía ensamblar al grupo del tenis de Maddie para una hora y una mitad del juego. Maddie dice que Janina es un jugador fantástico del tenis. Ambas muchachas se parecían haber tenido un rato maravilloso. Después de una cena rápida nosotros todo el sentado abajo mientras que Janina nos demostró un CD de sus fotos de la familia... fotos hermosas de su más viejos hermana y padres, sus tías, tíos y primos, sus mejores amigos y su ciudad natal encantadora de Quito, Ecuador.

Somos tan agradecidos tener una señora joven encantadora el compartir de nuestro hogar para las semanas que vienen.

Springtime is Here

Finally, we can get our hands into some dirt !! Josie and I started our Spring planting today and we actually got quite a bit accomplished. Tomatoes for Dad, pretty flowers for Maddie and a beautiful painted flower pot for Mommy.



While Josie was painting the flower pot, she demanded that I get Grandmom on the phone... "Let's see if she likes the painting". Josie is still not connecting the dots on the fact that Grandmom can't see over the phone. Oh, well. I guess the intention is sweet enough. She talks about her grandparents (both maternal and paternal) everyday. We have photos of all of them at eye level for her in the family room and the 'fridge.

Here is the little darling concentrating on her artwork and gardening earlier today...













I hope all of you have as much fun digging in the dirt as we have !! Happy Spring!

Meet Janina

We are so very excited to introduce Janina to our friends & family. Janina is an exchange student from Ecuador who will be staying with us from April 21-May 9th. Janina will be traveling with 11 other classmates and two of the sisters who teach at her school in Quito.

Janina is 14 years old and has an older sister. She has been to the US before, having visited Miami, New York & Orlando. We are hoping she isn't too bored in our little town, but we have plans to show her as many sights as she can handle. I'll be posting most of our outings here, so that her parents and family back in Quito can see how she is doing.

Maddie and Josie are very excited. James, on the other hand, is just hrumphing about being even MORE outnumbered here at home. Thank God we have Carson, the other male in our household, for him to commiserate with!!!

30 Pounds of Fury

So, here she is - in all her glory! Josie had her 3 year old Check-up today. I am thrilled to report that she is doing fantastic! In the past year she has grown 2.5 inches, gained 3 pounds and a few ounces and increased head circumference by 2 cm. Yeah Josie, Way to Grow!!

Her actual stats are: 36 inches tall, 30 pounds and 48 cm head circumference. Doctor says she is very advanced in her speech and her knowledge of basic preschool stuff - colors, shapes, numbers, letters, etc. She was able to perform (with some prodding) the basic functions the Doctor asked of her... Can you jump? Can you tell me what colors are on this sheet? Can you name one of your friends? What is your first name? What is your last name? How old are you?

Funny thing was, when asked "How old are you?" Josie answered "Eight" , which of course, is her favorite number. And there I was telling the doctor what a smart kid I thought she was... Oh well.

I asked all the questions I had been saving up... mostly about how much/how long she might need to be in preschool. I have Josie registered for preschool starting in the Fall. I haven't found out yet if she was put into the Tuesday/Thursday or the M/W/F class. The doctor felt that the most important thing about preschool is learning how to socialize and to work in a group. So she said either class should work fine for Josie.





The ONE THING the doctor couldn't tell me was HOW to make Josie keep her pants on!!! This child is driving me crazy with her unwillingness to stay clothed !!! Yesterday, I put her pants on 5 times... 5 Times!!! Any suggestions on this issue would be greatly appreciated! Until next time....