catch up and lots of pictures!!!/jjii8ui9800p/;;;-[[[['[['[-/.;lllllllllll/

The waiting for PT

Throwing the ball with both hands over her head!!

Rolling backwards to get the bean bag out of the basket

And then throwing it over Ms Sara's head to the bucket

the poor baby had to get her last 3 cavities filled - 1 of which was huge!

Another 1 1/2 hours at the dentist!

Thursday we had no appointments so we did the trolley tour of old St Augustine

Here the munchkins are outside the Old Jail with the sheriff!

Here the inmates are weeding

Here a trustee tells us all about the jail

The gallows - and they did have several hangings here!

The girls in the "girls" cell. There are only two cells in the whole jail for women

There were just enough women to cook and clean!

This is the view from the death sentence cell

That would be the gallows!

Here is the solitary cell, It is dark dark dark in there!

Th trustee said they try to limit time inside to less than 2 weeks so the inmate does not go blind.

Here is the kitchen

The sheriff's quarters!

Here is the general prisoner part of the jail, with a life size statue of the sheriff

Here is the St Augustine museum

Victoria playing with the penny squisher machine :)

We also stopped at the Winery :) ;)

It was really hot and they have cooled towels!

In the right corner are some of the steel tanks

The barrel room :) Set up for a wedding

the bottling room

The best part - the taste testing!

After a quick lunch of pizza we hit Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum

Here is the world's largest erector set!

Here we are in the pirate room!

R*pley's was not what we expected, but it is old and the first of its museums, and not at all handicap accessible!!! We had to carry the stroller up and down stairs. :(

Yes, she is a traitor!!

I mean Maggie :)

Friday am we hung around till Dan finished his chiropractor appt

Gerri wanted to do the dance game - and she did!!!

(she is in her bathing suit!)

Danny showed off a bit too!

We spent the whole rest of the day at the water park!!

I finally got Victoria to go down the water slide and then she wouldn't stop!

Lindsey had to cool off every once in a while - Danny would shoot water at her :)

Some eye candy for Lindsey

The girls floating while Danny went down the big slide!

Time to get out to eat!

How cool - the sun peaking around the clouds and the rain in the back ground

It was a really long day and the kids were all very tired!!

I went up to check on the kids before bed and found this:

So I had to go looking for her and found this:

That is Lindsey's bed :) :0

She was sound asleep! I asked her this am about it and she didn't believe me till I showed her the pics :)

summertime contd and testing!!

Sunday morning Gerri decided that she wanted to feed the dogs ALL BY HERSELF!

Victoria came over to watch and give support!

We hung around the house, watched tv and chilled till after Victoria's nap, then headed to the pool

Watch Gerri STAND up and dive into the water!!

We found a perfect table with a great view!

Ah, the things I do for others :)

Hard to believe that Lindsey wanted to get into the pool :) :)

Danny took off and did the slide over and over and over

VERY tired kiddos!

Ah - you will notice that Gerri is still in her bathing suit and NOT smiling!

When it came time to get dried off and dressed I discovered that Gerri's undies and short were soaking wet. When I asked her why she said she didn't know, then I did the mom thing and smelled them - pee!

The bad thing is that the kids put their suits on at the house before we left. So that meant she put the wet clothes into the bag with the dry towels and clothes knowingly!

So everything in the bag smells like pee and the kids were really grossed out.

When I tried to get to the bottom of it she just shut down, wouldn't talk at all and just pouted.

When we got home I discovered that her seat at the table was soaked as was the chair and chair cover.

I tried to get her to talk to me and explain what happened and she just kept saying sorry.

The only thing I can think of is that she did it sometime after lunch when she and Danny were watching a movie while Victoria napped.

We had her take a shower, get her pj's on and go to bed right after dinner.

I tried to tell her that she is a big girl and is responsible for her behaviour.

She was treated like a baby at the orphanage, right down to baby food. We have really tried to get her to behave and act like a big girl, especially with school coming in less than a month.

We have also been working on her talking in sentences, she has the words but has to be reminded to use her them. No matter how we tried to get her to talk she just clammed up.

I told her I was disappointed that she would pee all over herself and her chair and not say anything to mommy or daddy. She said she knew it was wrong and I guess she knew the pool wouldn't have happened.

I know this is the test phase after the honeymoon.

Monday was PT and she was still very moody and pouty.

Even Ms Sara commented on how different she was.

She did all her exercises, but would not look at me or Ms Sara.

Man that girl is SO stubborn!!!! But the good news is that the therapist redid her measurements and not only has she hit her short term goals, but she blew them away and exceeded her long term goals!!!!

I told her we loved her no matter what, but that she needed to be responsible for her actions.

She did finally tell me that she did it while watching tv. When I asked her why didn't she go to the potty which is only in the next room she said she didn't know. I then told her that if she had an accident it would have been different, but to just not want to go into the bathroom was definately a big NO-NO.

She is so unused to being told No that it is SO hard for her to deal with it.

She also does NOT cry, even when VERY upset or hurt.

She holds everything in, bottling it all up. :(

We have really tried to explain to her that we don't know how she feels if she does not tell us.

It is not all sun and roses. :) She very easily tells people that she loves them once she has met them. She really likes to act young, asking to be picked up, talking like a baby, whining alot, being inappropriate, not understanding boundaries.

We are working on consistency and her self confidence.

Hubby and I were just talking about how the "love" feeling isn't quite there yet, especially for him. It is SO different bringing a baby or toddler home versus a 6 year old.

Many families that adopt older children will say "fake it till you feel it" and it is so true. We are getting there as she grows and matures and blossoms. We see little bits of her happy confident self, but not often enough.

She has changed so much physically, now we need to work on her emotional health.

I took out the play station and we hooked up dance revolution - omg! what a riot!

Poor Danny - he has absolutely NO rythym!!