A little late, but Happy 6th Birthday!

I'm behind - I know! Please forgive!

But here it is! Pictures from Joy's 6th Birthday on July 23rd!

We rented Little Gym for 2 hours and the kids got to run and play on the equipment and try their skills (with the watchful eyes of 2 teachers) on the balance beam, the uneven bars and a bunch of other things! It was a great time, and Joy, while not sure why all this fuss was being made about her, was more than glad to soak it up! The only thing she really didn't like much was being wrapped in the parachute (they twist it up around her in the middle, then everyone pulls and she pops out, and up - she liked the ending better than the beginning!).

Thanks to all who came!


With my mother, who turned 81 the day before Joy turned 6.

Is It Really Almost July? That Means It's Been 6 Months Home!

I can hardly believe how fast the days have flown around here! I know, I've read other families' blogs and heard them say - it goes by so fast - but when you've been waiting for SO long for this, you secretly just don't believe them. Now, I do! It does fly by! I find myself missing the little girl who didn't understand quite so much English and we acted out whatever it was that we needed to say. I miss the girl who was mesmerized by The Wonder Pets, not asking to watch Hannah Montana! And I miss the days of eating chicken wings and raamen noodles for lunch!

But not really! :)

Joy has grown SO much in the last month, it is just incredible. In every way possible! Not only is her hair longer and she's over 2 inches taller, but her comprehension and ability to say what she means has just bloomed! She's really very clear about how she feels, what she wants, and what she wants you to do as well. We've had the most amazing conversations! I'm just in awe of her wit and her intelligence.

One of the most surprising things is her humor. Now that she can say what she means, it turns out that she's funny! She can make puns now in English, and jokes. She loves to catch me using a word that has 2 meanings and then ask me, with a sly smile, why I said it wrong. She knows it's right - she just likes to show me she's smarter than I am! It's so funny sometimes!

She has so much energy! When she hasn't moved enough during her day full of dance, gymnastics and swimming, she will ask to "run with Katrina". That means, take Katrina's throw toy outside to the golf course and race her back to me or Daddy. She's getting faster everyday! Then, all of a sudden, she'll sit down in the grass and announce, "I'm tired now." And then she'll ask me to carry her upstairs to bed. Ha!

We spent some time in Galveston with family from New Orleans and North Carolina. Joy was SO funny - the first day, she acted like she couldn't speak much at all, and generally stood around with her mouth open, listening and watching these strange people. By the time we left, she was talking up a storm! As one of my cousins said, if she wanted to get a word in edgewise with this group, she was going to have to start talking. And she did!

There's so much more - I know I'm leaving out important milestones here, but I want to get this posted. Here are some pictures:

Joy loves musicals and she's seen almost our entire video library, including "West Side Story". She loves the song, "I want to be in America", which she would sing at random moments for a while. When we were in Steamboat, she started saying, "I belong to America." I couldn't resist getting a picture of her with Ben smiling at her. She does indeed belong here!


Watergun Fight with Dad!! It must be summertime!


Showing off her Gymnastics medal with big sister Courtney



Not too sure about the red tutu at her dance recital.


With Daddy and Baby Garrett, my cousin's adorable little boy. Joy heard my cousin call him "Master Garrett" (she's from New Orleans - she can't help it!) and now when she sees a picture of him, she says, "That's Master Garrett!"



"Mama, carry me!"

You're Never Too Young for Shakespeare!

Last night, we took Joy to see her big brother play the role of Theseus (The Duke) in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream" at his high school. I wasn't too sure we'd be able to stay for the entire thing. In fact, I was convinced we wouldn't make it past the first 10 minutes, so I had our seats changed so that we could slip out if we needed to. We also went in 2 cars, so that Tim could stay and see the whole play if we left.

Ha! Little did I know that Shakespeare could hold the attention of a 5 year old!

She sat on my lap the whole time (except when she was trying to escape and go sit on the front row). She was mostly enraptured! It was fun to watch!

I didn't tell her much about the story. I only said that it was a play, it would be dark where we were sitting, and there would be lots of talking and no singing. And that she'd have to be very quiet and if I said we were leaving, she couldn't whine. About 5 minutes into the play, she turns to me and whispers in my ear, "They are talking and talking and talking. Too many words."

But then that scene changed, and the lovers appeared. She was watching everything they did. She would turn and ask, "why is she mad" or "why is she sad" and I'd say, just watch. I couldn't really explain in the middle of things.

When Puck appeared and began climbing on the trapeze they had set up for her (the character was played by a girl), Joy was just frozen watching her! And the fairies came out and all the lights changed. And they sang a song - she looked at me and smiled this big smile, like, see? I knew there would be singing even though you told me there wouldn't be!

She made it all the way through the first half and then wanted to go see where all the actors went backstage.

She did a great job through the second half too! When the two girls fought onstage (Hermia and Helena for those of your following the plot), Joy hid her face in my shoulder. But that was the part she talked about (and talked about, and talked about) all the way home! She wanted to know why they were fighting. I tried to explain they were mad & they were jealous, and that's why we don't hit people when we're mad, which is something she likes to do.

I don't think the play helped my cause though! What she seemed to see was that it was exciting and the audience reacted to it.

The other thing Joy talked about all the way home was why did Zach marry a different girl from Heather, his girlfriend??

She was really quite upset about that!

Well, Heather was playing Titania, the Fairy Queen and Zach was Theseus, so they didn't even have any scenes together. When Zach came out in the last scene with the girl playing the Duchess dressed in white, Joy was upset that it wasn't Heather. I tried to explain that it was all pretend! I thought it was funny that Joy wasn't bothered by Heather as Titania sitting with Bottom (with his Donkey head) - she thought that was just funny!

So, even though we had a tired little girl this morning, she had a great time and really enjoyed getting to see her big brother on the stage. She also got to play on the set after the play, thanks to Mr. Von. She even got to sit on the trapeze!

Oh one more cute thing - when she was on the set, she picked up the fake flower that Puck and Oberon had used to put the love potion on the eyes of the lovers and Titania. She was quite disappointed that it wasn't real. When I said that on stage, we use pretend things, she asked if it was pretend magic too. I said, yes it was. So she said, pretty sure of herself, that there was a flower somewhere with the right magic in it, and they should use that flower the next time!

here's a picture that doesn't really show how nice the set looked



I also wanted to post a few pictures of Joy in her new raincoat. It's been raining here the last few days and she's gotten to wear it, and her rain boots. This picture also shows that she's not afraid of Scarpia, who is barking! We're getting ready to go for a walk, and he's ready to go!




One More picture - think she's comfortable with Katrina too?
Katrina is asleep on Joy's stomach, while Joy watches cartoons upside down, her favorite position!

Lots of Energy!

Here are some pictures of Joy and her new scooter and bike! Thanks to some wonderful friends who had outgrown their bike, Joy has a new way to burn off some energy! Now, if we could only get her to ride it for 12 hours a day! lol