We have been working on our homeschooling a bit more around here lately, because we know that we will miss a month or so when the kids come home. Julianna is learning how to use the computer, she is working on her mouse skills currently, and she has finally gotten the knack of using it with just one hand, and can even click without using her right finger, but sometimes she clicks and slides the mouse at the same time, Ooops! I found a used I Spy CD Rom recently for $3, and since we love the books I thought it would be fun to have, and we love it, it has fun rhymes and you have to search for very tricky items on this spooky old mansion, it is great! Julianna is having a blast with it, and it will definitely keep her busy for our upcoming long plane ride. I also got Carmen Sandiego, I love these CD's so even though it is a bit above her age group she can still learn from it, and we will reuse it when she gets older too, very cool and very cheap!
I have been working on organizing and tidying up things we will take to donate, and things we will travel with, medicines and other little goodies. I have been purchasing a little things here, and there to help break up the big expense, and we have fun new toys and travel games, good snacks, and lots of stickers and crafty things to do. I have recently been up for hours reading a blog by a mom who has adopted many times, from all age groups, and she has the most wonderful tips on things to bring(and not bring)and what to pack, and a packing list that is amazing, I am using her list as our template, and so far have lots of things ready, I hate to be rushed at the last minute getting things I could have readied weeks before. Julianna has contributed a lot to the donation items with a bunch of her ponies and pony clothes, and some barbies she no longer plays with. She has also helped me to sort out clothes of hers that we can donate to AHOPE, and a few items she wants to keep to dress her babies and bears in.
Speaking of clothes, Julianna is a huge clothes horse, my goodness, she has so many clothes it is amazing, I have selected clothes to give to a few friends with real little ones or girls on the way, and a bunch will go to a consignment shop and make me some money that I can spend in the consignment shop. Some items are going to our church where we will have a dresser full of items that people can take if they need clothes or their baby needs an emergency change(this is my idea since I have so many nice things!) Lots of larger items we will have to see of Amelia Birtukan will be able to fit since she is a lean and leggy 4 1/2 year old, but probably only a size $T, so my niece Bree will likely get some nice 3T things for the summer and fall. But boy are my closets empty, and poor Gabriel Bethlehem, he does not have much yet, but I have found him some nice things in 2T and 24 months, many things on clearance for $3 or less, so a good deal. Our happiest purchase though is we bought all of the kids matching Tshirts, product (red), and they are so cute, with Africa in a lovely printed fabric with all of the current (red) words written on it, and discove(red) in bold letters, we purchased these a while back because we could not resist having a set for them. Hopefully when we come home we will be able to take some great pics of the kids together in their matching shirts, I cannot wait.
Well it seems I am very giddy today, I am off to channel my energy into something else, BYE! J
PS for those of you who might have been worried, Jon is better but still tired and a bit run down, and Cricket is doing very well, but a bit sore from having an abscessed gland rupture, but with lots of TLC from mommy this weekend she is recovering, and will be fine, and I got an offer from my vet to become a vet tech since I did such a good job, pat on my back! HEE HEE. J.