My husband is a GENIUS!

This old lady is having trouble lifting two wheelchairs and a weighted walker in and out of our big van when I go anywhere with the kids by myself.  So Ethan and I went to a medical supply store this weekend to try out ramps. The aluminum one weighs FORTY-SIX pounds, and then I would have to wrestle it through the side aisle in the van. Definitely NOT an improvement.

We've come to the conclusion that we are going to have to have a lift.  But a lift doesn't happen in a weekend.  We will need to seek funding for one (they are very expensive -- hopefully insurance will help!) and then it will need to be ordered and professionally installed. In the meantime I was desperate to have SOMETHING to help me get the equipment into the van.  

Last night Ethan took the boys outside with him to work on a project.  Look what he did!

This is for pushing ONLY the chairs up - no kids in them, and is a temporary fix until we can get a ramp, but wow.  It surely saved my back today!  If anyone else is in a similar situation here is what he did.

 

He used two, 2" x 6" boards and trimmed the corners to fit in our bumper.  Also note the cord.  He drilled holes and put a knotted cord through the top part and the bottom part so even I can get the boards properly spaced to hold the wheels.

 

 

This man knows me well, so he built outside "guards" so I don't run the wheels off the boards.

They are lightweight, and flat enough to stash UNDER the seats.

I'm so thankful for this, and my kids will be too.  It means we will get to go out to fun places more often!  If you think of it please be praying that we eventually find what we need in a lift.  Thanks!

Yes! Isaac still plays basketball!

I know that Isaac has a fan club out there who has been wondering if he still plays basketball.  YES!  He still plays with the Cincinnati Dragons as player #5 and is loving it!

 

The Dragons have had more games this season than in the previous one, and have played in tournaments in Indiana and Ohio, and coming up soon in Kentucky.

Isaac LOVES playing ball.  He has made some friends and overcome his shyness a bit with these guys.  We're thankful that he has this opportunity.

f o u N d - an adoption story

My children were invited to be a part of this video that was the senior project of a friend.  She is a Communications major who interned with Dr. Mary Staat at the Cincinnati Children's International Adoption Center and this video was donated to them for their use.  I am privileged to know many of these great kids. Their stories are all true.  Enjoy!

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival 2015

We were able to connect with a local chapter of FCC - Families with Children from China - to join in a group celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival.  This is also referred to as the Moon Festival.  It is a major celebration in China, and one that we've adapted (we don't worship the moon here, rather its creator!) and remember with our children from China each year.

In the past we had a simple family celebration at home, ate a Chinese meal at the picnic table, read a book about the holiday and gazed at the moon.  This year we had a full out autumn party with a large group of families at Shaw Farms.

The first thing we did was check out the animals.  There were goats, pigs. chickens, ducks, horses, calves, alpacas, etc. and our kids never tire of looking at them.

And Pat took the tractor out to plow for awhile....

Once we busted everyone out of jail, it was time for the hay ride.

I'm always impressed when a business takes the time to consider those who are differently-abled and prepare for them.  These guys didn't miss a beat.  They pitched out a couple bales of the straw, got the ramps then decided Isaac was lightweight enough that it was easier just to pick him up, chair and all, and put him on the back of the wagon.  Big kudos to SHAW FARMS for their great staff!

Hay ride!

It began to sprinkle rain when the hay ride was over, so we ducked in a barn and sat on straw bales to listen to a live blue grass music band.  Yeah, not very Chinese, but the kids enjoyed it anyway.  At one point the singer invited them to dance, so four of them stood up and did a little jig.

Dinner was fried chicken, sandwiches and chips.  There were various desserts, but the one MUST HAVE was there - MOON CAKES, handmade by someone in the group.  A Moon Cake is the special food of Mid-Autumn Festival. Moon cakes come in various flavors according to the region of Asia in which they are made.  We've had them with fruits, meats, egg yolks, lotus bean paste, etc. The version that was made for this event tasted like fig newton cookies to me!

 One thing that moon cakes all have in common is they are round, symbolizing the reunion of a family.  I've heard the Moon Festival likened unto the equivalent of Chinese Thanksgiving. These days people give moon cakes to demonstrate their wish to family and friends for a long and happy life.  During dinner teenagers read us the story of the holiday - in English and in Mandarin!  What a treat for our boys!

Group games followed dinner and included Tug of War, a potato toss and sack races.

We went one more round to see the animals then called it a day.  Many thanks to the FCC chapter, we had a great time!

First Day of Co-op

We are attending a different homeschool co-op this year -- for several reasons.  One of the biggies was our schedule. With two mornings tied up with therapies, our old co-op required taking yet a third day away from home in the middle of the week to allow the kids to attend.  In one way the week is easier now because we can go from Monday morning therapy quickly into an afternoon co-op.  In another way it makes Monday a REALLY long day.  Today was our first day.

Let's be brutally honest.  Going someplace new can be intimidating for us.  Some people don't know how to react to our children and their special needs.  We aren't always embraced cause let's face it.  We don't look "normal," we move slower, we may require an extra explanation (or two), Miss A does quite a bit of her communicating in sign language, and Pat doesn't totally "get" the English language yet.  We were upfront with our needs when we registered, and our new co-op was very accepting of us.  We were happy to find cheerful, friendly faces today, and the special needs were really not a big deal.   The kids all seemed to like their new classes too.

The three younger kids are in a lapbook class about Native Americans (great way to learn some American history!) and a class about holidays.  THIS is marvelous!

Our biological kids grew up with the holidays and learned over the years why we celebrate each one.  Our kids from China haven't had the benefit of  these lifelong traditions, and I know I haven't always done such a great job explaining the history of them.

Today we studied about President's Day, and specifically George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.  The teacher had the classroom looking festive with red, white and blue balloons.  She gave a short history lesson about both presidents, then there was a craft with the silhouette of the two presidents on it.  Each child began a 2016 calendar on which each holiday, as well as family birthdays are written.  At the end of the semester they will have a calendar for next year labeled with these special days as well as the holidays they studied. The class ended with cupcakes, candles and singing Happy Birthday!  Yeah, they can hardly wait for next week!

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World

We officially began our school year this week and are using the Five In A Row curriculum.  If you aren't familiar with it,  FIAR concentrates on a specific classic children's book which is read each day of the school week - thus Five in a Row.  Allowing for therapy and co-op in our schedule we are actually only doing our unit study 3-4 days a week so most of our "rows" will be a couple of weeks long.  In addition to this unit study I work with each child daily in English, Reading, Writing and Math.  The girls also have speech, occupational, and physical therapy.

The first book for our unit study was "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World."

The first thing we did was to make "suitcases" and passports.

 In the book a girl wants to make an apple pie and sets out to get FRESH ingredients.  She gathers wheat from Italy, eggs from France ( a chicken actually)  milk from England (a cow) cinnamon from Sri Lanka, etc.  It was a fun story that the kids enjoyed a lot!  We put story disks on our large world map for each of the countries that were visited.

 And since the kids knew nothing about wheat we tasted some wheat berries and then ground some into flour.

Apparently my camera got wheat "dust" on it!

 We used the flour to make an apple crisp. 

While it was cooking we watched a YouTube video about harvesting wheat by a couple of different methods:  with a tractor and threshing by hand.  Our apple crisp finished baking and was so yummy that I totally forgot to take a picture until Abigail was down to her last bite!

YUM!

The second day began with apple pancakes, then we made diagrams of the life cycle of an apple.

We found that Reading Rainbow has an episode featuring our book, so that was a must to watch.  A chef in this episode made a lasagne using rice instead of noodles.  So with my kids (and their love affair with rice) OF COURSE we had to give it a try.  Off we went to the market to buy our fresh ingredients.

I LOVE the Caroline's Cart!

We also made sausage stuffed apples for dinner.

On our third day after reading How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World we also read Ten Apples Up On Top just for fun - and a little more exposure to beginning math concepts.

We began a "FoldNLearn" which is like a lapbook. You can get these free printables by subscribing to the Five in a Row Blog.

We made a paper flag of and watched a video tour of Italy, which is where our book character went to get wheat.  My kids LOVE pizza, so when it was mentioned of course we HAD to have some!  Caramel apples for snack time.

And while not a part of the Five in a Row curriculum, I'm thrilled to report that Isaac read THREE beginning readers to me today!  Yessssssssssssssssss!  He loves to read in Chinese, but this is huge for him to read English!

YouTube is a great place to find things to add interest to your FIAR studies.  I found this playlist that tours the various countries mentioned in the story, as well as covering some other concepts like the life cycle of the apple.  Playlist here

On our fourth and last day of this week (we were off for Labor Day Monday) we video toured France, listened to their national anthem a couple of times, made a French flag and did our FoldNLearn page.  Isaac is especially interested in why the country chose the colors that it did and always asks about its meaning.

This "row" was continued into the next week where we learned about England

Sri Lanka whose flag is very difficult to make!

And Jamaica.

We listened to reggae music while we did our FoldNLearn.

Inside Jen's FoldNLearn

And on to our third week where we had just a couple of days to spend on our unit studies.  The highlight of the week was a visit to an apple orchard to pick apples.  The farm we went to had small trees with the apples low enough that even my kids with mobility issues were able to pick.

 And back at the house the following day we ended our unit with "visiting" Vermont and making an apple pie.

What a fun few weeks of learning!!