Where have we been?

Our last post was July 31! I am not sure what I was doing other than chasing the family around and trying to keep my head above water. It was a lot of fun, that's for sure. I am a hardware transition here with computers and cameras, so I will try to get some pictures posted of the happenings of 2009 soon... maybe a "Year in Review" sort of post. Until then, I just wanted to get a couple of things up here so I can share it with family that is looking for updates on the girls.

I finally fixed my scanner. I was motivated to do so because Lana's drawings have just went through some amazing transition. Where she previously doodled and then experimented with drawing simple faces, now she has more more recognizable drawings with many different techniques. In the past, I have sometimes talked her through some drawings... if she asked how to make a turtle then I might tell her to draw a big circle for the body then add a head, tail, and legs. It is also important to note that she did not receive any help on these drawings and was self-directed. I post two of her drawings from this past week.

The first drawing are "bugs" that she drew... some are happy and some are angry. She seems to enjoy drawing and then deciding what it was after the drawing is complete... instead of drawing a specific object.

The next drawing did not scan as well as I liked, but I love the "person" in the drawing. She even has toes!

It is so amazing to see Lana and all her friends develop! I love how they are all so imaginative! It is a blessing to learn from these children.

Typing before writing!

Okay, I should have guessed this would be the case with how common computers are now. I can see definite progression with Lana in terms of reading skills: she loves to make up stories and finish the sentences in her books based on memory. As for writing, I haven't spent much time with her practicing this but I just let her draw all of the time. About a month ago, she was playing one of the computer games she likes and she asked me, "where is the 'n'?" I realized that she was playing on the computer when she asked this so I came to see what she was doing. She was typing her name in the prompt! As I got closer, she found the letter 'n' and then finish her name typing the letter 'a' a few too many times. This week, I saw her doing it again. She plays with the case, too. It's funny because she always starts out with lower case and then wants to make the other letters upper case. I am impressed with her typing her name before she can write it!

Back on Track

Well, I just wanted to comment briefly on my running status. As many of you remember that I started running last July with a goal of running a 5k for the first time ever.
http://rempesretreat.blogspot.com/2008/07/new-challenge-for-amanda.html
As many of you know, I was blessed with pregnancy and had to put that goal on hold. I just wanted to let you all know that I am back! After my c-section on May 20, I receive clearance from the doc to start exercising again. So I started July 6, about a year exactly from when I started running last year! I am happy to say that I was able to accelerate my training program and last night I ran 30 minutes straight without stopping! I believe I had just reached this goal last year when I learned I was pregnant! This is a major accomplishment for me as I was never a good runner (always tried to run too fast and couldn'tbreath properly) even though I've biked and hiked and done aerobics. I am on my way to my first 5k!!!