Going to school

Here are some recent photos to enjoy. Luke is standing in front of our blooming rhododendrons and hamming it up. Miss Lily performed at a recent Springfield Cardinals game with her gymnastics group and these photos are of her in her team leotard and while performing on the field. The last photo was taken at Jordan Valley Park right in the heart of Springfield. Luke and Lily love to get wet in the fountain and climb the rock formations. Free fun all summer long!

The exciting news is that Luke started going to the same pre-school as Lily this week. We had him all signed on for the Fall but they had a last minute opening so we took it. Luke is in the room with the now 3 year olds and Lily is upstairs with the now 4 year olds. He was all excited about going to school with his sister. Lily is very protective of Luke so she stayed with him for a while the first day to make him feel comfortable. I talked to his teachers today and they both said he is such a sweet boy. One teacher commented that if he is missing sometime when we come to pick him up it is because she has taken him home with her. They had him painting and doing craft projects with glitter and they said it was as if he'd never seen glitter before he was so excited about it. I found glitter in his ear and in various parts of his body and it looks like he had a good time. They said he is following directions well and falls asleep in 2 mins during nap time. They use the same play yard as Lily's class so they get to play outside together. I asked Lily if Luke was playing with other kids today and she said he ran over and gave her a big hug when he saw her. They clearly are attached to each other. At times Lily gets all bent out of shape over something Luke is doing (like standing in front of the tv so she can't see) but she is very protective of him and takes the "big sister" role very seriously. Luke continues to imitate everything she says and does and we call them "Pete" and "Repeat."
Luke had his follow up visit to the doctor and he got a clean bill of health. It was amazing how quickly he recovered from surgery, it didn't slow him down as much as I had hoped. I kept worrying that he would tear out the stitches but apparently, everything is in order.
Tomorrow we are taking the kids to Silver Dollar City for Luke's first visit. I just heard it is supposed to hit 90 degrees so we are starting out early in the morning. It will be interesting to see just how long the kids last. We are taking the red wagon which seats two and I think it will be a necessary item after the heat sets in and we climb a few of those hills!

Yue Jia is getting packed up and ready to leave for China. She will be flying out on the 14th of this month. We hope to do some room rearranging after she is gone and move Logan down to the basement bedroom and move Luke into Logan's room. Maybe everyone will finally sleep in their own beds in their own rooms (ha! not with Miss Lily around!)

Well, the peace and quiet is sure to collapse at any moment but I wanted to post a few new photos for all to enjoy.