Heartache

My dear brother learned last week that this leukemia is back again.  A 4th time for those keeping track (initial diagnosis 12/11, relapse #1 12/12, relapse #2 10/13, relapse #3 2/14).  The prognosis is very poor at this point.  Please keep him and our family in your prayers.   For a more lengthy update check out his caring bridge website.

Chen Cousin Photos

 Getting ready to "make" their own chocolate bar

 (It was at nap time and Carson was not interested in this project - 

mainly because it was loud and crowded!)

 Grandma Sandy held Kyle for 3 hours Saturday morning

and watched Lainey, Carson, and Kyle for us the night before.

Thank you! 

5 of the 6 cousins

E - 6, L-4.5, J-4, C-almost 3, S-2.5, K -6 months

I wasn't really intending on taking a cousin line up shot, it just happened.  

I didn't think to add Kyle to the photo until later. Oops!  Sorry little buddy!

Ski Vacation 2014

We went on a quick 3 day, 2 night vacation this week. Quite last minute, I decided it would be fun to try out skiing.  Some friends of ours had taken there kids to a resort in VA and had a blast.  I showed Erik a video of his friend skiing and he was quite certain that he wanted to try that too.  So, lucky boy that he is, actually got to give it a whirl!

We went to RoundTop ski resort in PA.  We met Mike, Sonja, Jamison, and Silas there too.  We spent part of two days skiing.  The first day Erik, Lainey, and I skied while Victor watch the two little boys.  The next day we met up with the rest of the Chen family.  We toured Hershey's center.  We made our own candy bars which was fun.  That night we left the three youngest with Sandy in the hotel room.  (We asked Lainey if she wanted to ski again but she said she wanted to stay with Grandma instead.)

Erik really, really got the hang of skiing the second day.  He'd gone on the chair lift with me the first day but never managed to make it down the (small) mountain without falling.  The second day he was zipping down the mountain, way faster than me.  While he was going fast he still seemed to have fairly good control as he definitely knew where he wanted to go and got there.  He had a blast and so did Victor and I! 

I had only downhill skied once before in my life and never made it onto a chairlift. Haha!  Victor had skied before but it had been 20 years.

The next morning we went tubing and then headed home after lunch.  It was a quick but fun trip! 

My Baby

Kyle is well loved by his older siblings.  They all refer to him as "my baby."  Kyle did learn how to roll over this week which is somewhat of a surprise since he's hardly ever set down.  Ha!

Notable Moments: Kyle

Last night Kyle woke up around 9:30.  I hadn't anticipated he'd be up so early and had pumped just before he woke up.  I went up to nurse him anyway but asked Victor to bring a bottle up too.  After I fed him I handed him over to Victor.  As I headed out of his room I noticed that Kyle was watching me leave.  As soon as I opened the door my sweet baby burst into tears.  He hates being left alone for even a second but that was the first time he'd shown a specific preference for his momma.  After spending a long day at work and barely seeing him it made me smile.  Of course, my sweet baby got what he wanted and I went back and rocked him to sleep.  The baby of the family might just need to be a momma's boy.  Poor Victor just shook his head!

Report Cards

Report cards for 2nd quarter come home yesterday.  I'm so proud of my little buggers!  This year started out a little chaotic with Kyle being born 5 days after Erik started kindergarten and Lainey started pre-k.    At the end of first quarter, Erik still wasn't convinced he liked school.  He was doing very well in reading but was under-performing in math, which has always been one of his strengths (only counted to 39 for his teacher - so REALLY under-performing).  Erik also dislikes writing which the teacher commented on during his first quarter conference.  (Didn't have one this quarter.)

So that was first quarter, a little bit stressful!   I've been volunteering in both kids classrooms every 1-2 weeks during the second quarter.  I like both of their teachers and both kids seem happy in school.  I'm so glad I have made an effort to get in their classrooms on a regular basis (I hire a sitter to watch the little boys) because I get to know the teachers and other kids plus the kids like having me there.

Erik definitely seems happier at school now and his report card reflected that!

Lainey has always loved school.  She eats up homework and loves writing!  She is reading now and is so excited about it.  She can read lots of books with one to two sentences on each page.  She knows almost all of the kindergarten sight words (her pre-k teacher tested her on 25 sight words, she knew 21 on that list).  Her teacher noticed she is reading, along with a few other kids in her class, and has her in a reading group now.  She couldn't be happier about that.

Lainey is very, very quiet and shy.  He teachers have mentioned that to me multiple times and it was mentioned in her report card.  She does talk to other peers on a one-on-one basis but refuses to participate (verbally) in group discussions.  I'm not sure I need to do anything about it at the moment.  She is like that in other activities as well, although certainly not quiet at home or with people she is comfortable around.   (I think her father is likely responsible for this shyness trait.)

Mr. Puzzle!

 Sweet little Carson is back to normal.

He LOVES puzzles! 

He has a set of 4 twelve piece puzzles that 

fit in one box.  He mixes all the pieces together

and does all four puzzles.  Messes them up.  Repeat.

 He also has a couple of 24 piece jigsaw puzzles that 

he does on his own. 

Smart little guy!