Vacation

We just returned from our family vacation in Florida. We had a great visit with Tutu and Papou. The kids loved our 3 trips to Cocoa Beach, swimming in the pool, going to downtown Disney and seeing Maria's family as well as Susan and Grace. I still need to develop the throw away camera photos, but here are a few that I took and some from Cocoa Beach that Maria took.

Cocoa Beach

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Emma & Cousin Evan in SF

Flat Stanley Made it to Scotland!

Another One Gone!

Telling Tutu all about losing her 4th tooth

Joe & Emma

Emma lost her fourth tooth yesterday. She had been wiggling it for a couple of days and finally she yanked it out with some encouragement from Chris. I sat in the other room with my eyes closed and my hands over my ears. As Emma says, "loose teeth give Mom the freaks!"

A Girl and Her Doll

Emma had her 7-year-old photo taken this morning. It was tough to choose the best one!

Holland Beach, Holland, MI

Flat Stanley's California Adventure!

Flat Stanley arrived home safely after visiting great Aunt Donnalei and great Uncle George Sumner is San Rafael and Ed & Sara Blum in San Diego. While in California he spent a lot of time outside. He marched in a neighborhood parade, visited Coronado Island, swam in the Pacific Ocean, rode a cable car, saw dolphins and whales, and played in George's art studio. Emma and Chris are off to San Rafael next Thursday and upon Flat Stanley's recommendation she will pack shorts, tee-shirts, sun glasses, flip flops, and plenty of sunscreen.

What My Kids are Reading

My friends keep asking me what my kids are reading these days and so I have decided that I will post a reading update every so often. What are Emma & Joe reading? Joe is reading "Whose Shoe?" by Margaret Miller. This is a wonderful book that Aunt Katheryn gave to him a couple of years ago. He now points to the words and reads aloud. This is clearly a combination of memorization and picture cues, but hey, it works for us! Emma is reading through the Frog and Toad series. This is a great option for her because they are chapter books that have basic words and the humor is pitched to her level. Finally, this week we began reading out loud "Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone." We are only on chapter 2 but the whole family is excited to learn more about young Harry and his awful relatives.

Joe's choice this summer

Emma choice this summer
Family reading this summer

C.H.U.M.

Joe's hippotherapy program was featured in the State News today. The 16-month-old mentioned in the article is Joe, he was her youngest rider. The first year was tough, he cried a lot, but we saw so much progress with building strength, balance and verbal skills that we continued. We were also encouraged by older accomplished riders who were very glad to have started early. Now Joe loves to ride the horses and we think that it is probably the most helpful therapy for him. Click HERE to read the article. Click HERE to visit the C.H.U.M. webpage.

In the garden and out the door

Flat Stanley at the Atlanta Zoo

Flat Stanley has made it to the Atlanta Zoo! Like all of the Frilingos clan, he is strangely drawn to Flamingos. Flat Stanley has been very busy these days visiting friends and family in Rome, NY, Wakefield, MA, Brockton, MA, Newton, MA, Orlando, FL, Florence, Italy, and now Atlanta, GA. This guy gets around! When not singing in the choir with Great Aunt Faith, watching giraffes with cousin Paul, fixing wires with Uncle Pete on the roof of a house, eating gelatto with Anna & Chris Celenza, watching Uncle Paul and Aunt Lucille fold laundry, or going to Disney with Tutu & Papou, Flat Stanley plans for his next adventure. Aunt Beth & Uncle Tim are taking him to Scotland and then reuniting him with Emma in San Rafael, California at Grand TuTus 90th birthday party! Is it wrong to be jealous of a paper doll?

Walgreens Rocks

My family in Boston is not a big fan of Walgreens because of too many incidents to name at the infamous 4-corners Walgreen's. Even though I too have had a major meltdown in the pharmacy line (think Dad in hospice and Amy without meds), but from this point forward I will support the company. Click here to see why Walgreens rocks. Hats off to the Dad who made a difference.

Everything Possible

For the past four years I have sung Joe the same lullaby that I sang to Emma that my Dad sang to me. I don't know the official title, but I always called it "baby's boat" because that begins the first line. Occasionally, I will sing a second tune, but this song has been Joe's favorite. Over the past week as I have begun to sing him to sleep he will put his hand up and say "No, mama, no baby's boats." When I reply, "what shall I sing?" He says something that sounds like "shoes" but is in fact "choose." This is similar to what Emma used to call the lullaby "Everything Possible" by folksinger Fred Small. She would ask me to sing "you can choose." I love that they have both landed on this song and that they both found this one word to claim it for themselves. And what is it that my son would like to hear sung to him at the end of every day?

"You can be anybody you want to be, you can love whomever you will. You can travel to any country where your heart leads, and know I will love you still. You can live by yourself, you can gather friends around, you can choose one special one. And the only measure of your words and your deeds, will be the love you leave behind when your done."

Vicki Forman, who writes under the name, Special Needs Mama, has posted another thoughtful essay on Literarymama.com. To read here excellent column click here.

The Toothless Wonder!

Emma lost her fourth tooth today!

Philip brought Ning and Cece to visit for the day. It was the first time that the kids met. What a great day.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Suggestions for Book Club

It is my turn to choose the next book for the "No Time to Read" Bookclub. My month is the August meeting, but since all of East Lansing and MSU will be reading "Lay That Trumpet in our Hands" for One Book One Community I will pick for September. I am looking for suggestions. Has anyone read anything really great to discuss this summer? The list of what we have read in the the post below.

No Time to Read Book List--so far

• October 06 "Evidence of Things Unseen"
• November 06 "Digging to America" by Ann Tyler
• December 06 "Lying Awake" by Mark Salzman
  
• January 07 "The Sea" by John Banville
• February 07 "A Girl Named Zippy" by Haven Kimmel
• March 07 "A Sudden Country" Karen Fisher
• April 07 "The Bastard of Istanbul" by Elif Shafak
• May 07 "Water for Elephants" by Sarah Gruen
• June 07 "The Whispering Season" by Ivan Doig
• July 07 "Restless," by William Boyd
• August 07 "Lay that Trumpet in Our Hands" by Susan Carol McCarthy

Beach Day Trip

Today we drove to Saugatuck on the westcoast of Michigan for a day at the beach. The Lake Michigan water was freezing but that didn't stop Emma and Joe from swimming!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Rock On!

I am honored to be chosen by Braska Bear as worthy of a "Rocking Girl" blog award. I don't know the exact rules of the award but judging from Braska's blog it looks like I need to tag 5 more people. There are so many blogs out there that I love to read and that deserve this award. I am giving this award to the five rocking gals for the following rocking blogs:

Chanelle and Tristan

My Life with Gabriel

Day upon Day of This Wandering

Where There's a Will

Dylan Update

Detroit Zoo

Today we visited the Detroit Zoo. It was a beautiful day and the kids loved walking around the zoo. The highlight was watching the giraffes. Emma worked on a giraffe research project this year and she was very excited to finally see them up close. We also had a good time in the arctic circle of life glass tunnel where we watched a polar bear swimming around us and above our heads.

Flat Stanley & Lost Tooth

Today Emma received her first Flat Stanley response letter from Aunt Faith in Rome, NY. Flat Stanley was very busy during his stay. He enjoyed walking, swimming, and singing with the choir. If you have not received a Flat Stanley letter from Emma and you would be willing to host him at your house, please let me know. She is hoping to send him all over the country and to some cities around the world. The other big news is that Emma lost her third tooth at YMCA camp.

Flat Stanley wearing swim trunks and a hat during his visit to Rome, NY

Third lost tooth

Emma & Joe

Rollerskating

Free MySpace slideshows, photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday Emma!

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Last Day of Six

Today is the last day of Emma being six-years-old. She spent the day at Camp Pa-Wa-Pi dressed as a pirate for the final day of Treasure Island Week. Next week is the World of Super Heroes at camp and the world with seven-year-old Emma in our home! I think she looks a lot like cousin Heather in this photo.

Smile

Joe says, "read this book it will make you smile!" You can order it from Amazon or directly from Woodbine House Publishers at a reduced rate. The link to Woodbine House in on the right under T21.

Seeing the Light

Deseret News published a great article about T21 and the publication of Gifts. Click here to read the article. Some of my blog buddies have written essays in this book. This month Barnes and Noble is featuring Gifts as recommended reading. Check it out at your local B&N!

What a difference a day and a cake can make

Chris before Father's Day tackling our endless piles of paperwork.

Chris (in the same spot) on Father's Day with an ice cream cake!

Dinner

Emma & Joe sang to us at dinner tonight. Emma sang a song from YMCA camp Pa-Wa-Pi and Joe sang his favorite "Oh Susannah!" Emma is at the end of her first of six weeks of daycamp and Joe is about to start summer session at Heartwood. He will go to Heartwood M-Th from 7:30 AM (when the bus picks him up) to 12:30 PM. Joe is also transitioning from the Blue Room to the Orange Room at Spartan Child Development Center. He only goes there on Tue/Thr afternoons, but it is still an important place for our family.

Emma cracking herself up

Joe with humus and mujadara

serious Joe

WNL

We received word today that all of Joe's screenings have come back within normal limits! It is so good to have the leukemia test behind us for another year and to know that his thyroid is stable with the meds. I'm not sure if we need to repeat the Celiac Disease screening--anyone know? In other news, I forgot to take photos at Chris's tenure party or before we went out last night for our eight-year anniversary. Oh well, everything doesn't need to be photo documented.

Joe & Aaron

Aaron & Joe not thrilled to be riding together

Aaron

Joe objecting to something

Joe and Aaron had a playdate this morning at the pool. Today wasn't a good day for the pals. Joe spent his time jumping in th pool and Aaron pretended he was fishing with the noodles. They could not be convinced to play together. In fact, they were glad to say goodbye to each other.

Party at our house

Tomorrow is our big party to celebrate Chris's promotion to associate professor with tenure. We spent the day shopping, cleaning, organizing and decorating. At the end of the day the kids made a big banner in honor of Chris.

Joe & Emma make a banner for Chris

Bloodwork

This morning we took Joe to the clinic to have his annual leukemia test, his 3-month hypothyroid test, and a test for celiac disease. In the past the nurses at this particular clinic have been able to find Joe's veins and draw his blood. Not today. Chris held Joe on his lap, I held Joe's legs and 2 nurses poked at both arms but could not reach the vein. After about 15 minutes of Joe screaming "no, no, no" we told the nurses to stop trying, Joe refused the stickers (that's my boy), and we left. This kid has gone through so much in 4 years and it breaks my heart to hold him down for yet another medical intervention--especially one that doesn't accomplish anything. Now we have to try again at another clinic, but frankly, we are running out of places to go. Plus he and Emma have their annual physical with Dr. Takagishi this afternoon. That means shots and the finger poke. What a day.