So Many Wonderful Things.

Great news in the Richards house... 1-Last night at 10:06 pm my second niece was born. I am so excited. I feel like my sister has been pregnant forever. She told me back in July that she was expecting but because this winter has felt so long, her pregnancy felt twice as long. But now Miss Hanna Gael is here. She is beautiful. She looks just like her big sister Ava. I have only seen pictures because well 1) I am sick again and 2) She is an hour away and not convient to get to since I have two kids of my own. My plan is to get up there next Friday since Katie has off from school. Mom is there now getting tons of pictures so I will be sharing them when I get them. 2-Shaylan will be entering Kindergarten in the fall. Because of her speech concerns I was not sure if she would be ready. I talked to the Child Study team in the district and the psychologist told me to register her and they would do the screening to see where she stood. Yesterday we went for the screening and the psychologist did the test. When we sat down to talk she told me that Shaylan is more than ready for Kindergarten. I was thrilled to hear that. She said that her articulation was a concern but she would discuss it with the director to see if we needed to have her evaluated. She thinks maybe once we get her hearing cleared that the articulation will clear itself. We are still going through with the speech therapy that our friend is doing and that may be all she needs. I was able to get Shaylan an appt for this Friday to see the ENT instead of next Friday. Hopefully we can get the tubes put back in soon and see how she does. I did find out that her adenoids are enlarged but I want to see what the ENT has to say about that. I only heard from my Aunt who is a nurse and was able to retrieve the radiology report on Shaylan. I am just thrilled to know that Shaylan will be going to Kindergarten. We just have a few more letters to learn and a few more other things to learn and she will be in perfect shape. 3-We had Katies conference last week and she is doing great. The teacher could not say enough good about her. She just loves having Katie in her class and all the kids have accepted her. She has a few close friends and gets along with everyone. Her academics are right on and the teacher is very impressed with her reading. Katie loves to read and she does it all the time. She loves to read to us and there are times when we actually have to tell her to put a book down because she is not allowing us to get things done. She is great. Math seems to be her favorite subject which I am happy to hear because it was my worst. 4-Last week was the car design judging for awana’s grand prix at my church. Katie won second prize for design. She got a trophy and a certificate. Her car is painted like a cheetah but of course being in Katies fashion it is pink and purple. She came up with the design herself because she knows that cheetahs are the fastest animal and she believes her car is going to be the fastest in the race. She did the painting of the body and the spots and I added the detail. Jeff has it all souped up with super smooth wheels and the right weight. So maybe this Sunday she will win another trophy for winning the race. We will see. I know she is excited just to win the design. I dont think she will care if she wins the actual race. 5-A few weeks ago, a couple of team players from the Philadelphia Phantoms visited Katies school. Because they saw such a positive attitude towards reading they awarded each student a ticket to a game. They also gave a discount to the families so we can attend as well. They are lower level seats and the students get a present from the team. We are all going and can not wait. We are also going to a Kixx soccer game at the end of this month with our church. Katie earned a free ticket for playing salao soccer. My family is going to be busy for the next couple of weekends. This weekend we have a birthday party for a girl in Katies class at this place called Pump It Up. The whole place is like a big bounce house. I cant wait to go and see it. I am also looking forward to meeting some of the other parents in Katies class. We have also had some bummer things happen. We have all been sick again. Both my kids had head colds that lead to ear infections. Jeff was sick with it and now I have another sinus infection. I called the doctors office and they are calling in a prescription for me. I am glad because as of now we have no insurance. We are waiting for the cobra information to come in so we can sign up for that. Hopefully it is soon and hopefully they will back cover the doctors visits we have had in the last few weeks. I sure hope so because there were a few and I would hate to have to pay them. So that is what has been happening in our world for the last week. More pictures to come of Hanna and of Katies car!