We had our usual week up north with the 30 other family members. We had a great week. The kids did really well, and we did little besides resting and eating and talking. It was a nice easy week.

Josh napping his first day of vacation.

From L to R :Tom and Josh, Evan and Dan, Mallory.

Our only rainy vacation day.

Every year the kids have a talent show, and the kids all perform. Here are all my parents grandkids together. (2 are kind of hiding)

This is what it looks like when 38 people give or take, eat dinner together.

How do you like this mug? Josh fell when he got off balance secondary to a leap by Mallory. He hit our TV cabinet, and I thought he broke his Jaw! The ER said otherwise, and it is just a bad bruise, but look at day 2!

Hi all! We had a good weekend at the Ranch in western MI that we go to sometimes. Josh rode the pony with a great deal of enthusiasm. That may have to do with his brothers and sisters being super excited and very encouraging! We all had fun and several thunderstorms which were timed to as to provide little interference in our plans!

Josh on the play structure.

The cow and goat don't look to pleased do they? The pig was having fun.

Mally getting the pancake treatment from her dad. Josh wanted his turn next!

Erin ready to take off on her trail ride.

Bryan relaxing.

Erin and Mallory glamorous as ever!

My nephew Dan in his new Tee shirt. I asked for an action shot... Pretty good, Dan

Josh Debono, the king of the horse waving at all his adoring public.

Mally warming up for her trail ride. I don't have pictures because I was on the other horse, and did not feel like carrying the camera. She was exceptionally confident and very safe on the trail. I was really impressed.

Little man on his bike. He loves it!

I took this picture just after we got to the ranch. Wow. I love rainbows.

End of the school year!

What a great year. The kids are all well: Bryan has done great with the transition to Our lady of Sorrows. it was quite a move for him, and he was really anxious to start out, but he learned a lot about himself, and is a more confident and solid candidate to start 6th grade next year. Erin is always confident, and she really has done well she is enjoying almost all the aspects of school, and currently is regretting that she has not finished the 3rd Harry Potter book before the end of school. You can tell what summer reading she will be doing, and she will be more than ready for 3rd grade! Mallory is all set to start 1st grade. She will look around OLS next week to get the lay of the land. She is verbal as any kid I have ever met finishing kindergarten. I love her spunky way,(and the fact that she left me a note on my dash this morning to say "I love you". As many lunch napkins as I have written on, I felt like smiling every time it caught my eye as I went about my day. Josh is his usual unflappable self. He gets to move to the 3-4 year old class with his buddies in another week. He had a hearing evaluation which went just fine, and is going to do a little speech over the summer, and start at the "speech" preschool in the fall. I will post pictures next week.

Speech

We had Josh see a speech pathologist in the fall to see if there was anything we could do to help him with speech. We were told he was within range for his age, and in view of his adoption, they thought we should reevaluate in 6-9 months. They made suggestions like preschool and so on which we did. Well... He went back this week, and the speech pathologist feels he needs a 4 morning a week program in the fall. He will be at the early intervention preschool, and get lots of good help. It was a weird day for me. The reason we took him is because we want to make it as easy as possible for him, but I was really surprised at the degree of intervention they felt he needed. He seems to have improved so much, that it was a surprise. I was really comfortable with the speech pathologist, and the other intervention specialist, and they really liked Josh. He charmed them. The speech pathologist has him on her case list insead of putting him in the general pool, and she thinks the teachers she works with will be fighting over him. He goes for his hearing eval with the ent in the middle of next week, and we are going to try to get so me speech therapy over the summer.

Happy family day for us!

Today is the one year aniversary of Josh joining our family. It has been a wonderful year. we have learned so much about each other as individuals, and as a family. When I sit back and think about how far we have come, it makes me really happy. We are very lucky and very blessed. Just look at our little boy! This is Joshua the day we met him. He fell asleep that day and I am sure he felt emotional exhustion like nothing any of us have ever known. He was so sick, and such a little old man then. We were so worried that he would not be ok, or that we were not strong enough. God is good. I just went up stairs to catch him sleeping. Do you believe he difference!?I gave him an extra kiss while I was up there. He had a great day. Yesterday we went out for Pippa ( pizza) and today we had happy family day cake. I want him to know how chosen and special he is...Just as each of my kids is special. I won't say the year has not had it tears and difficulties, but wow what a great year.

We have been busy as I mentioned! Here is a smattering of pictures to keep you all up to speed. Erin made her first communion, and did a great job. Her dress was made by her grandma from fabric her nana brought back from Malta it was beautiful and so was she. We had a big celebration afterward at our house, and everyone seemed to have fun. We recovered easily.

Erin and father Mark.

Erin and Bryan

Erin and Mallory.Don't they look holy?

Here is Josh demonstrating another big deal at our house. Note the big boy pants! He has done really well, but mom and dad have been training too. Now we are better at helping him know when to go.

Check out the new earings. She looks so old between the earings and the new hair cut.

I like this shot of the 2 of them.

I don't think any pictures of Finnigan has been featured on our site! If anyone ever wondered what a Lab Shepard Beagle looks like, Well.... he is a wonderful dog, and even Josh seems to like him now. I laugh when I think about how Josh was so worried about Finn when they first met! Now Josh is ready to open Finn's mouth if he steals any food. Finn is not greedy, but he is an opportunist and you can't blame him for trying to get what is eye level for him.

Easter morning

Here is hamster number 2. Meet Esy. As in Escape artist. She was adopted when peanut butter died. We don't know what happened, but the death occured during the night. There was no foul play. Esy is a rascal. She got her name because she escaped from the box she was traveling home in by chewing through. There was screaming from Erin, and pulling off the road by me, and the appearance of a small rodent in the passenger seat. I think she may just be a nosy back seat driver! fortunately, she is safe and at home in her hamster pad now.

Josh was playing the other day and I took this video. I was messing around with my new cell phone, and realized since I put a memory card it the thing it can record videos. Now if I can get the darn things uploaded, it might be fun. It is clearly cell phone quality. Josh was making "pizzas" with his connect beads. He finished making them, and Mallory baked them for him. You can tell the language is comming along, but he is still working on it. We will have more pictures to post soon, but we have been super busy!