This guy started school yesterday and is now officially a 3rd grader! I don't know how this happened, since I'm only 22, but... :) He had a great day, and he is very happy to have some good friends in his class. He also really enjoyed getting to know his teacher. The highlight? Finding out that he could check TWO books out at a time from the library! Woo hoo!! :)
To recap the summer a bit and say goodbye to sleeping in...oh wait, wrong house...I thought I'd share the highlights!
Caleb went to three day camps this summer. First, attended space camp at our local community college and was really intrigued by all he learned. Then, he went to a wonderful theater and music camp held at our church. It was amazing how much those kids learned in just a week! At the end of the summer, he attended a fencing camp run by one of his fencing instructors. All fencing, all day! It doesn't sound very interesting to me, but he loved it and learned a lot. He has definitely found his thing!
Abby went to her first day camp too! She attended a 1/2 day camp run by our local therapeutic recreation department, and she absolutely loved it! There were only 3 kids with 2 adults, so they got tons of attention! They ended the week with a fun pool party.
While we didn't do a big trip this summer in preparation for our awesome Disney trip in December, we did get away for a few days to Lancaster. Our sweet friends graciously invited us to stay with them, and the kids had such a great time playing. We took the kids to Dutch Wonderland, which is the perfect place for Abby. Caleb may be getting a little old for it, but at least we squeezed out one more trip.
Matt traveled to Atlanta with the youth for a unique missions trip. They learned about various cultures, and even visited a mosque and Hindu temple! The group ran kids' clubs while they were there. It really stretched everyone's thinking and helped them to consider different cultures. He also went to Indiana for their annual youth conference.
Unlike past years, I did not teach any classes for the ESOL department this year. We have one starting next Monday and I taught one over the winter, so we decided to take the summer off. I'll be busy soon though!
Instead, I continued my study of pediatric orthopedics and pulmonary medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia! Abby had her 15th surgery at the beginning of August and did very well. I learn new things every time we have a surgery because something comes up. This time, my focus was on pleural effusion and how to keep my daughter safe from over-zealous residents. Abby has bounced back from this surgery and is now at the same level she was before surgery. She is still on precautions and will be for another 2 weeks, so we have to be careful until then.
In between all of these adventures, we had the typical physical therapy, feeding therapy, speech, and medical appointments. I tried to avoid "the summer slide" by doing learning activities with the kids as often as I could. I can't say we did it every day, but they definitely worked hard. Abby now has about 20 of her kindergarten sight words down pat, as well as recognizing the names of people in her extended family. We are working on sounding out and blending words. Caleb has a good foundation in multiplication now and is doing really well with telling time. He is SUCH an incredible reader and loves to learn new things (just not necessarily the things I'm trying to teach him at the time! Lol!) He is reading 6th grade level books and flying through them, comprehending every little detail. I can't wait to see how he takes off as he transitions in 3rd grade from "learning to read" to "reading to learn."
Farewell, Summer 2015! You were busy, filled with fun, and much too short. Come back soon!!
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