Nov. 2012
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Our Chocolate Factory
Isaac and Eli love listening to books on tape. They listened to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at least 15 times. Last week they decided to pretend they had their own chocolate factory. They dug up some dirt and added some water to make the chocolate river. At first there was a stick that was Augustus Gloop stuck in the pipe, Isaac was Willy Wonka and Eli was an oompa-loompa. Then it became more fun to have Eli be Augustus. Watch the video of all the fun the ensued.
Please don't mind the nudity. Eli is potty training. My camera work is bad too, trying to follow the running boys.
Please don't mind the nudity. Eli is potty training. My camera work is bad too, trying to follow the running boys.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Lizards
Long time again since my last post. LIfe is busy and doesn't seem thrilling enough to post about.
One thing that has been happening at our house a lot recently is lizard catching. If you have never visited Florida, then you might not know that lizards are everywhere. Small ones that fit in your palm. Sometimes they get in your house if you leave the door open too long and your choice is to let them die or catch them and free them the outside world again. You could pretty much coin the phrase "you're a true Floridian child if you catch lizards as a pas time."
Prema has discovered the thrill of catching lizards. This month she finally caught her first lizard unassisted. A neighbor boy came and caught 10 + lizards one day for her and Isaac. Since that day Prema spends at least an hour our more a day trying to catch lizards herself. The trouble is that Prema's coordination is not nearly as refined as the other boy and thus many lizards have either lost their tails or died due to traumatic amputation of a limb. The good thing is that lizards' tails grow back, so we don't worry about that. The death of the amputated lizards causes problems because Eli is determined to sit vigil with each one watching it take each last breath until it's death. He will say, "Mom it's still breafing. He not dead yet."
Isaac is also enjoying the challenge and excitement of catching lizards but he can only catch the ones who are in shock after Eli has let them loose. Prema and Isaac will want to keep them in their jar for a few more minutes and so Isaac will then be able to gather them all again back into the jar since they don't move as fast.
Eli likes to take the lizards for rides in his dump trucks.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
New Beginnings
Last week marked new beginnings for our family.
Kyle competed in his first triathlon on Saturday morning. I also did the triathlon, which was my second. Kyle did a great job! He worked really hard for 2 months training. i started about 9 min ahead of him in a different wave. He passed me about 1.5 miles into the run (last leg of race). My biggest goal was to not walk during the run and I was able to accomplish that. We're hoping to both do another one before the end of the season in early October.
Prema started school again on Tuesday. She is now in 3rd grade and thus has new teachers and classmates. She spends the morning with her Language Arts teacher and the afternoon with her math, science and social studies teacher. Her first week with the change she did very well. Both teachers have been extremely accommodating and are really trying hard to keep her time structured and consistent with home so that she feels safe. Hopefully the trend continues. We were very worried she would spiral down hill with all the changes.
Isaac started school this week as well. We are doing a homeschool curriculum this year. We meet once a week with other Classical Conversation families at a church about 5 minutes from our house for 3 hours. During that time a tutor goes over each week's new material for both students and moms, so I stay in the room with Isaac learning myself. Classical education believes in training your brain to memorize during the early years of schooling so Isaac is working on memorizing History (from creation to present), Latin, scripture verses, English grammar, science vocabulary, geography, and math facts. I am responsible for teaching him reading, writing and math on my own time.
Eli has started going to kid's church during mass and went to Tot's class during Isaac's first school day. Eli doesn't jump into new things too quickly. He tends to sit back and observe before he exposes his animated and rough personality. He definitely prefers being home so most of the time he will probably be with Grandma Cullum when Isaac is in school instead of being at the Tot's class. At home Eli is potty training which means most of the time he is naked. He has also started to love playing the ukulele and compose new songs singing about his life and life around him. The naked ukulele player/singer is often performing for the family.
here are some random photos of the family. I'm not up to date yet on uploading so these are a little old.
Kyle competed in his first triathlon on Saturday morning. I also did the triathlon, which was my second. Kyle did a great job! He worked really hard for 2 months training. i started about 9 min ahead of him in a different wave. He passed me about 1.5 miles into the run (last leg of race). My biggest goal was to not walk during the run and I was able to accomplish that. We're hoping to both do another one before the end of the season in early October.
Prema started school again on Tuesday. She is now in 3rd grade and thus has new teachers and classmates. She spends the morning with her Language Arts teacher and the afternoon with her math, science and social studies teacher. Her first week with the change she did very well. Both teachers have been extremely accommodating and are really trying hard to keep her time structured and consistent with home so that she feels safe. Hopefully the trend continues. We were very worried she would spiral down hill with all the changes.
Isaac started school this week as well. We are doing a homeschool curriculum this year. We meet once a week with other Classical Conversation families at a church about 5 minutes from our house for 3 hours. During that time a tutor goes over each week's new material for both students and moms, so I stay in the room with Isaac learning myself. Classical education believes in training your brain to memorize during the early years of schooling so Isaac is working on memorizing History (from creation to present), Latin, scripture verses, English grammar, science vocabulary, geography, and math facts. I am responsible for teaching him reading, writing and math on my own time.
Eli has started going to kid's church during mass and went to Tot's class during Isaac's first school day. Eli doesn't jump into new things too quickly. He tends to sit back and observe before he exposes his animated and rough personality. He definitely prefers being home so most of the time he will probably be with Grandma Cullum when Isaac is in school instead of being at the Tot's class. At home Eli is potty training which means most of the time he is naked. He has also started to love playing the ukulele and compose new songs singing about his life and life around him. The naked ukulele player/singer is often performing for the family.
here are some random photos of the family. I'm not up to date yet on uploading so these are a little old.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Triathlon for Kate Clark
August 2, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
On May 29th 2009 I received some sad news from my family. My cousin Kate had been involved in a freak accident resulting in a severe spinal cord injury. That Friday Kate was volunteering at her son’s school supervising kids during recess. As she passed under the slide a boy jumped off the slide and landed on Kate’s head. After arriving at the hospital the doctors diagnosed a severe spinal cord injury at C4, the very same injury of Christopher Reeves. Kate was paralyzed. That same night Kate endured 5 hours of surgery. Immediately following her surgery doctors could not fully determine Kate’s prognosis. Only time would tell how much mobility and function Kate would regain.
Kate’s story is unfolding as a miracle. I myself am in awe of God’s faithfulness in this situation. The very next day after surgery Kate experienced a “heavy sensation” in all four of her limbs. She was also able to sit and stand twice with assistance from her physical therapists. Kate was progressing so well that she was moved to a rehab hospital one week after the accident (a week sooner than expected). Through the power of prayer, determination on Kate’s part and wonderful therapy, Kate is now able to walk unassisted after only 1 month! Kate still has many small and gross motor skills she is working diligently to regain. Her spirit and faith is strong.
I write asking for you to become a part of Kate’s story. Kate is married with 2 young children. Due to Kate’s injury her family does not have her income to help with family expenses. On July 14th Kate was discharged from the rehab hospital because insurance would no longer cover her stay. Kate’s doctors and therapist have said she will require about one more year of outpatient therapy. Her insurance does not cover outpatient therapy or the medicine she needs to keep the nerve pain under control.
Since Kate’s accident I have offered each time I run, bike and swim as an intercessory for Kate; praying that she too will one day again enjoy those same activities with her family. Now I would like to take one more step in helping Kate. I will be competing in my second triathlon on August 22nd to raise money on Kate’s behalf . I hope that you will be a part of Kate’s journey toward healing by sponsoring me. If you would like to sponsor me please send checks to Kate’s church. Her church has set up a foundation for Kate to receive tax-deductible donations to help cover her medical costs.
Please send checks with “Triathlon for Kate Clark” in the memo portion to:
Church of the Servant
3835 Burton SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546
616-956-7611
In Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness,
Michelle Cullum
Dear Family and Friends,
On May 29th 2009 I received some sad news from my family. My cousin Kate had been involved in a freak accident resulting in a severe spinal cord injury. That Friday Kate was volunteering at her son’s school supervising kids during recess. As she passed under the slide a boy jumped off the slide and landed on Kate’s head. After arriving at the hospital the doctors diagnosed a severe spinal cord injury at C4, the very same injury of Christopher Reeves. Kate was paralyzed. That same night Kate endured 5 hours of surgery. Immediately following her surgery doctors could not fully determine Kate’s prognosis. Only time would tell how much mobility and function Kate would regain.
Kate’s story is unfolding as a miracle. I myself am in awe of God’s faithfulness in this situation. The very next day after surgery Kate experienced a “heavy sensation” in all four of her limbs. She was also able to sit and stand twice with assistance from her physical therapists. Kate was progressing so well that she was moved to a rehab hospital one week after the accident (a week sooner than expected). Through the power of prayer, determination on Kate’s part and wonderful therapy, Kate is now able to walk unassisted after only 1 month! Kate still has many small and gross motor skills she is working diligently to regain. Her spirit and faith is strong.
I write asking for you to become a part of Kate’s story. Kate is married with 2 young children. Due to Kate’s injury her family does not have her income to help with family expenses. On July 14th Kate was discharged from the rehab hospital because insurance would no longer cover her stay. Kate’s doctors and therapist have said she will require about one more year of outpatient therapy. Her insurance does not cover outpatient therapy or the medicine she needs to keep the nerve pain under control.
Since Kate’s accident I have offered each time I run, bike and swim as an intercessory for Kate; praying that she too will one day again enjoy those same activities with her family. Now I would like to take one more step in helping Kate. I will be competing in my second triathlon on August 22nd to raise money on Kate’s behalf . I hope that you will be a part of Kate’s journey toward healing by sponsoring me. If you would like to sponsor me please send checks to Kate’s church. Her church has set up a foundation for Kate to receive tax-deductible donations to help cover her medical costs.
Please send checks with “Triathlon for Kate Clark” in the memo portion to:
Church of the Servant
3835 Burton SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546
616-956-7611
In Thanksgiving for God’s Goodness,
Michelle Cullum
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Waiting for Kyle
It is 5:35 p.m. and it is that time of day where sometimes each minute passes so slowly. I feel like I can't make it too many more minutes with the kids. So as each minute slowly ticks we are blaring some music. Isaac is wearing a Bob the Builder hat and Bob the Builder apron dancing on one side of me. Eli is naked and wearing a green safari hat dancing on the other side of me. Prema is waiting for me to check how well she scrubbed the kitchen floor.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
TOO TOO BUSY
And yet again a lot of time has passed since I have update this blog. I will try and post a quick update here in hopes to spur some more writing in the NEAR future.
let's see...
Isaac is now 4 years old. He is blowing us away with his interest in so many many things, an outstanding memory, his ability to hold in depth conversations, and his AMAZING insights into life. It is so much fun to listen to him explain how he "sees" life.
Some examples are: He thinks all adopted kids are Deaf because he knows Prema and another girl Tiana are both Deaf and adopted. Last night in a conversation about the use of the word "pastor" he thinks that Fr. Mike will soon not be the pastor at our church because his hair is turning grey. He once listed all of his favorite baseball teams which coincidentally were the names of every team he could remember at the time.
Every morning Isaac asks if the Rays baseball team won. He has to be first and always win or he will will have a meltdown. Everything is a competition. He LOVED his first experience of VBS. He didn't enjoy his first trip to Disney World because he got scared at just about everything since he hates all of the evil/ scary characters and events.
Eli is now 2 years old. The poor dude has been sick A LOT so most of the time his moodiness has been worse. He loves to sing and dance and whenever he is in a good mood you will find him performing for anyone who will watch. You will often hear him using either a grumbly/ deep/ rough voice with facial expressions to match or a very sweet soft spoken voice as he cuddles up to someone. He still loves to copy just about anything Isaac is doing. It has also been fun to watch him attempt to sign with Prema. He will move his lips and wave his hands in the air whenever he is trying to "hold a conversation" with her.
Prema is doing pretty well. She is now in summer school 4 days a week and on the Fridays she is attending a Deaf summer camp. She absolutely LOVED her first trip to Disney World. We have been excited to see her Jump rope for the first time. She has now acquired all the large motor skills she needs to function in school so she will no longer be receiving PT.
let's see...
Isaac is now 4 years old. He is blowing us away with his interest in so many many things, an outstanding memory, his ability to hold in depth conversations, and his AMAZING insights into life. It is so much fun to listen to him explain how he "sees" life.
Some examples are: He thinks all adopted kids are Deaf because he knows Prema and another girl Tiana are both Deaf and adopted. Last night in a conversation about the use of the word "pastor" he thinks that Fr. Mike will soon not be the pastor at our church because his hair is turning grey. He once listed all of his favorite baseball teams which coincidentally were the names of every team he could remember at the time.
Every morning Isaac asks if the Rays baseball team won. He has to be first and always win or he will will have a meltdown. Everything is a competition. He LOVED his first experience of VBS. He didn't enjoy his first trip to Disney World because he got scared at just about everything since he hates all of the evil/ scary characters and events.
Eli is now 2 years old. The poor dude has been sick A LOT so most of the time his moodiness has been worse. He loves to sing and dance and whenever he is in a good mood you will find him performing for anyone who will watch. You will often hear him using either a grumbly/ deep/ rough voice with facial expressions to match or a very sweet soft spoken voice as he cuddles up to someone. He still loves to copy just about anything Isaac is doing. It has also been fun to watch him attempt to sign with Prema. He will move his lips and wave his hands in the air whenever he is trying to "hold a conversation" with her.
Prema is doing pretty well. She is now in summer school 4 days a week and on the Fridays she is attending a Deaf summer camp. She absolutely LOVED her first trip to Disney World. We have been excited to see her Jump rope for the first time. She has now acquired all the large motor skills she needs to function in school so she will no longer be receiving PT.
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