Time for school

Well Drew started preschool last Monday with a slow start. He had been waking up early for the entire past 2 weeks prior to starting, however this day, he did not want to get up. He was sooo crabby. I had to prod him just to move an inch. He couldn't decide what he wanted for breakfast and we were running late anyway, so he stood in the kitchen and started to cry. So, the first day of school pics were NOT what I had anticipated. However, once we got to school he cheered up and was fine when I left. The next day, we took another pic b/c he was in his regular cheery mood, so he cheezed it up big time. Drew has been doing great in school so far, receiving good marks everyday from his teacher. She noted that he was a very good boy and a super listener! Last week, he came home and asked me who could come over to play with him, he was already bored at home with me. I told him everyone was at school or at the babysitters and he said, "no one play with Drew." Too bad his class doesn't last all day, it only goes til 11 a.m. I'll have to find ways to entertain him for the rest of the year.

Drew has his first gymnastics class last Friday. He loved it, to say the least. The first part of it was body conditioning and it wore me out just watching them. I figured he'd be tired by the time they got to the rest of it but he did great. He practiced doing hand stands, cartwheels, and a whole lot of jumping and running too. Everyday since, he asks in the morning if it's flip time. He wants to go everyday now. When we'd watch gymnastics on the Olympics, he'd say, "Drew can do that." We'd just laugh and let him go on.

Bonding time

Last weekend Drew and I went camping with our friends the Lampes. Scott was working so he couldn't go this time. We drove to Sam A Baker state park on that Friday evening and was dark by the time we got there so I missed a few turns on the way. Luckily, it wasn't too bad though. Deer jumped across the road right in front of us before we turned to go into the campground too.

Drew loved this new camping experience. He got to roast marshmallows, even though he didn't like to eat them. They had paved roads and bike trails so we all rode our bikes alot too. The park presented a snake encounter program for the kids that we went to and Drew got to pet a snake, he didn't want to hold it just yet. He also swam in the river like a fish. Thank goodness he's taken a liking to the water! He told us that he wanted to stay 5 times camping, he liked it so much. He also said "babaw sleep here, bed fall down!" and laughed hysterically. I couldn't help but laugh too as he said this when we were going to bed one night. We both enjoyed the snuggle time we got since we had to sleep in the same bed. So after we got home the whole next week, he wanted to sleep in our bed. Yikes, Scott said not to get that started-haha.

Our trip to see the Prescotts

The day after Drew's b'day party, we left bound for Springfield/Branson. We met the Prescotts, a family we traveled with in China. They adopted their son, Luke from Urumqi while we picked up Drew and they also have a 4 yr old daughter Lily who was adopted when we was about a yr old. We met for a late lunch at a nice Japanese steak house that was delicious. After that, we went to their house so we could visit more and the kids could play in their backyard. The kids loved it, as they got to jump on their trampoline, look for bugs and fish in their pond, and play in their treehouse. The next day, they rode with us through the animal park. I don't know who was more excited to see/feed the animals--me or the kids! By the end of it, all four kiddos were standing up, hanging out of our sunroof- thank goodness we had to go slow. We later had lunch at this pizza joint that had indoor go karts and arcade. This was Drew's first time for this and he loved it. John, Luke, and Lily came to our hotel to swim that evening, which all the kids really enjoyed. The next day, we spent in Branson going to the Titanic exhibit, which was really interesting esp with two kids..haha. I also got to go shopping of course at the outlet mall. That evening we went back to Springfield to have dinner at the Prescotts' house. By then, the kids really played well together and played hard too. Wednesday, we went to an animal show in Branson then met the Prescotts at the Branson Belle Showboat for dinner and show. At one point, Drew was sitting beside me and Lily was on my lap with Drew insisting on putting his arm around Lily's neck. It was toooo cute!! After the show, our boys still wanted to play with the kids so they came back to our hotel to swim and say their final goodbyes. We were so used to seeing them everyday, too bad we had to go home.

Drew's 5 !!!!!!

As of July 15, Drew turned 5. We rented a huge blow up water slide for the kids to play on. Drew and Riley loved this thing. Drew got scared and intimidated when all the kids got here and started playing on it though. He doesn't like crowds of kids just yet, he' d rather have a small group or one on one interaction. We also had to get the spiderman slip n'slide out too for the little ones.

The week before the party, Drew asked every day when his birthday was (as it was on Tues and the party was on Sat.) Therefore, he thought or wished that he had 2 birthdays and turned 5 yrs old then 6 yrs old at the party. Whenever someone asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he'd reply, "spiderman presents." So... low and behold, that's what he got. He now has virtually most of everything with spiderman on it. We even got him a spiderman bicycle with training wheels of course. He now rides it around the block in the evenings and loves it. He thinks he is such a big boy now, just like brother Riley. The only thing now, he can't wait to turn 6!! He's growing up soooo fast already.....

Summer of fun

There's so much to blog about and catch everyone up on about Drew and our family. He is doing really good as before, still eating every fruit and vegetable in sight, talking up a storm these days. He's practically lost all of his Mandarin and speaks only in English now. He won't answer anyone who speaks to him in Chinese but only in English as well. Drew still loves to go fishing, matter of fact he won the kid's fishing derby he was in in June. He caught a 6.9 lb rainbow trout to take the lead. He received a new fishing rod/reel, tackle box , and duffle bag. He beat hundreds of other kids in this tournament, though he truly didn't realize just what a feat it was at the time! The fish was so big Drew was scared of it. We're getting it mounted so that he won't forget this big day. Here are a few pics with his prize winning fish.

We took the kids plus my niece and a friend to the waterpark earlier this summer too. Drew was not too excited about this at first. Finally after lunch he loosened up and got in the water freely to play and asked to go in the lazy river again and again. He wouldn't go down the waterslides but he would act as if he was swimming in the ankle deep part of the wave pool. This was good enough we thought.

We celebrated 4th of July over at the river house, eating lots of food, playing in the river and shooting fireworks. Drew loved the sparklers that he could hold, though he had grabbed hold of a punk/lighter and burned his finger. I'm not sure if he had seen big fireworks before or not, as he didn't make too much of a fuss over them though he did like watching them. The pics of him and Riley doing fireworks at home somehow ended up above this post as well as pics of us at the river.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Six Flags with our friends and their little girl. Drew was happy to see the Looney Tune characters up close, especially Scooby Doo who was there. He actually rode a few roller coasters/type rides but didn't really like them. He rode the new Tony Hawk spinning roller coaster with Riley, Chloe and Felisa but said he didn't want to ride it again. The day was hot but the lines for the rides weren't that bad. It actually rained us out of the park at the end of the day so we headed back home sooner than planned. The pic is of their fake tatoos they had to have before leaving.

We also visited our local children's museum here in town. Yes, we have this here in our very small rural town matter of fact. It is called the Bootheel Youth Museum and is visited by hundreds year round. One of the pics is of Riley, Drew, Chloe and Sadie standing in front of the animal furs hanging on a display. Another is of the town grocery store that they liked to play in. The third is the big sized bubble maker.

School dayz

Well Drew went to preschool all last week and even stayed til the end of the day 2:45 four of the five days. He said he liked it and had fun. All he could talk about was Mrs Traci and he even mentioned a classmate's name too. Last Friday I had to pick him up early from the Bootheel Youth Museum from their field trip and when I got there, he was running around holding hands with two girls who are twins. He had one on each hand and laughing. I wish I'd had my camera to take that cute pic. We later teased him about this and he knew what we were talking about, and he just smiled big and giggled. This summer school lasts the month of June only and regular session starts back in Aug. By that time we think Drew will be an "old pro" at going to school and getting into that routine. Drew is starting to interact more with his classmates now too, according to his teacher. He is a very sociable kid and so we figured it wouldn't take too long, he just has to get used to them.

I took Drew and a friend Chloe to see Kung Fu Panda yesterday. He was sooo excited and kept asking where Kung Fu was during all the previews before it started. If you ask him about the movie he'll tell you about Po and Tai Lung fighting, it's so cute to see. Now he keeps asking for money to go buy the DVD. We already are planning on that, just waiting til it comes out.
Oh yes, he also wants all the figures from McDonald's from the movie too. He's got two pandas and another character so far.

On another note, forgot to include a post from last week. We are now the owners of rabbits after seeing Austin's, we decided that the kids would love to have them. Riley has asked many times in the past for one anyway. So we bought 4 and 1 died the next day. They are the cutest things though. Drew runs out to check on them everyday. Scott built a big cage for them too so they are doing great. Hmm... now what other animals can we get to add to our zoo?....

More "firsts" for Drew

Last week as usual, we were still quite busy. Drew got his first haircut, finally. His hair was over his ears! Everyone kept asking when he was going to get a haircut, it was getting bad. So my hairdresser, Nick cut it for free. He gave me my first haircut too so it was only natural that he cut Drew's too. I took pics of this as well and will post them soon. Drew was very quiet sitting in the chair, never talked or moved. He of course wanted Riley to get his hair cut too, if he had to do it. He always sure to try and get Riley to do the same as he has to do, such as going to bed, etc. So anyway, Drew looks so cute with his new do'. After this, we went to the movies, which was also a first for him. He looked at the screen and said, "big DVD". He still can't wait to see KungFu Panda , and still doesn't understand that we just can't go buy the DVD to watch here yet. The next day was Drew's first day to actually go "swimming". He got in and waded around, then later agreed to get into a little floatie boat that wouldn't tip over. He loved for us to push him around in this. He thought he was a big boy. He later got brave and tried to sit on this shark floatie which he fell off of and went under but Scott was there to pull him back up. He didn't like this so he didn't want to get back on after this accident, who could blame him?
We believe it won't take long for him to be swimming around this summer, as this was only the first day that he'd been in an outside pool and he was quite brave. He knows that his cousin Taylor is going to teach him how to swim and he is looking forward to it.

Last night at his friend Chloe's, Drew learned how to swing himself around or flip over the rings on her swingset. He was so proud of himself and he came and dragged me out to show me his new trick. He later got mad when he couldn't do this on our swingset at home because the rings are different. I told him that I'd show him how to do it and he was ok then.

So yesterday was his first day at summer preschool. I took him late in the day and he was fine to go but he didn't want me leaving. He "caught" me trying to leave and he kept saying, "Kimber, quit!" So finally Mrs. Traci just dragged him away crying as I left. However, after calling to check on him, I found out he quit crying as soona s I walked out and was fine. He got restless about an hour or so later and was asking for me so I went to get him. He had a paper with stickers on it and a beaded necklace with a smiley face sun on it. He immediately asked about the Spiderman DVD that I'd promised him if he'd be good at school,etc. He doesn't forget anything.... Right now he is at school again. He didn't cry at all and wasn't nearly as clingy as yesterday. Maybe we're making progress! So since he's not here, I have time to blog and clean his room-hhaa. He will get ESL tutoring this summer after his preschool class too. Hopefully he can stay focused long enough for the teacher. The other night while watchin E.T. for the 3rd night in a row, Drew said,"mama, two E.T., why?" He said it twice before I realized what he'd said. He continues to ask many questions such as, "what are ya doing?" He wants an answer for everything. He was getting the cat inside last night and he said, "get in there". He'd heard us say that before at other times, but then I hadn't said a word so he came up with that all on his own.
Speaking of the cat, he continues to love on them both everyday. The laid back cat now hisses and growls at him almost immediately now when he tries to pick her up and the other cat now is more easy going--who would've thought... He also loves on Katie, our dog everyday even though she bit him on the forehead about 3 weeks ago. Luckily this had healed up wonderfully, even though it looked horrendous.

Finally.... some pics!!!

Here are a few pics of Drew since we've been home. He has the best time riding on his 4-wheeler and playing on his new swingset babaw put together for him and Riley. Scott has him saying "peace out" and making hand gestures too. This is the funniest to hear! He's already getting that Southern drawl'---hahha

Drew's first fish was a good sized blue gill. Here he is taking his first lessons from his uncle Mark.