We've moved away from this blog on to our other blog, www.mollymei.blogspot.com

But this one is cool too, it has all the travel history when Mike went to China to get Molly from the orphanage there.  Scroll back to mid-2006.  It's all pretty amazing stuff and his pictures will melt your heart!

Love and more love

Mike, Erin, Katie, Colin and Molly

Happy New Year!

Hope each and every one of you has a health, prosperous and joy filled 2010!

Random Sugar Words

Random Sugar Words is the definition of how my mind works, it jumps from one little tidbit to another, randomly. This post will be about that.

My broken ankle is not healing. I am in more pain now than I have been in several weeks. Is it the weather? (it's been monsoon season here, so damp, etc...) Is it that I am doing more on it than I am supposed to? (probably). Will I need surgery? Maybe? But not until I get home from MI, that's for sure.

Colin has started speech therapy for his stutter. From here forward the stutter will be called his bumpy speech, where it hits a bump or two and gets stuck in his throat. He seems quite comfortable with that explanation, and we have some ideas on how to help him overcome it. We will see the therapist once a week.

Katie and Colin will be homeschooled this year. I am so excited to be doing it. Now we can go to MI without worrying about them missing so much school. On the other hand, Molly will be missing quite a bit of school... not good, but unavoidable. She can't stay here with Mike while I go up to MI.

My mom will be having bypass and a valve replacement in August, i will be traveling with the 3 kids up to MI to be with her and care for her as she recovers. I won't be able to go to the bar - so don't be all pissed when I say no. I am not here for a visit, I am there to be a caregiver to my mother, and to give my brother and SIL a MUCH needed break.

Mike gets to be a bachelor for 4-6 weeks while I am gone. I have no doubt he will fill his downtime with mountain biking and WOW.

So much to be grateful for

I have been trying to keep gratitude in the front of my mind the last couple of weeks.

Thought I would just post it here to share:

The kids are in swim lessons, and doing so well! I can't believe how well Katie is swimming on her own, and Molly & Colin are getting comfortable in the water, learning to kick and put their faces in.

Mikes job is going great. He really seems to enjoy the work he is doing, and the people on the team. It's such a great company.

My mom is doing surprisingly well for someone who needs a shoulder replacement. She fell on Feb. 6th and has been in and out of care facilities while Drs try to figure out what is wrong, what to do, who should do it, who is in charge, etc... She will have it replaced in August.... more than 6 months after the initial injury... LOVE our health care system. (heavy sarcasm...)

Robby is doing FANTASTICALLY in LA. He is so talented and is really getting recognized for it. Check out his website, http://www.robdowsley.com

I'm doing well, really well. I haven't felt this good in about 20 years. My health has improved a great deal. My joints don't ache, my back doesn't hurt, my thyroid isn't whacking me out. I have even started to train for a 5k. Who would have thought.

And we get to see sunsets like this on a regular basis. Of course this helps a great deal in re-charging ones batteries and touching ones soul.

I am SOOOOO lucky!

Oops

I keep meaning to come and post more often, but heck, life is busy right now. Katie is done with school for the 08-09 year, and will start back up again in mid July. Molly has a few more weeks of school to go, and Colin has been working on homeschool stuff still. I will probably do homeschool work with Katie and Colin over the summer, and if it goes well, skip public school altogether.

Mike's job is going well, it is so comforting to feel job security.

New puppy is settling in ok, a little rough still with the peeing and pooping in the house, but she is tiny, and just needs to go out more often. We continue to work with her and hope for the best. Some puppy classes will help with her barking, can't wait to start those!

Robby is doing fantastic. He got repped, which is like an actor getting an agent. The rep will line up with for him, hopefully on a steady basis, since she only reps a few photographers.

I've decided to stop selling Tastefully Simple. I don't want to be away in the evenings for home parties, I want to be home with my family having fun and exploring the neighborhood, swimming, biking, enjoying the neighbors. I have decided to join another direct sales company. I was involved with a direct sales company a few years ago, Arbonne. With the economy taking a turn for the worse, it was hard to sell face cream at 90.00 a jar. But my new company isn't like that at all. I really feel I am in the right company at the right time. And the products are amazing. I have been using them since March and already have experienced significant changes in my health and well-being.

If you want to know more, check out: http://my.waiora.com/videos/company.php?v=the_business

Peace out

Molly Update

Molly's 2nd BAHA processor is finally repaired, and she is back to wearing 2 now, what a difference it makes! She is SOOO excited to put it on in the morning, and doesn't want to pull it off at all. I wonder why she hated just the 1 so much. No matter, now she has 2 and she is thrilled, she ran around last night saying 'Molly 2 BAHA' 'Molly 2 BAHA' with such joy and enthusiasm. I can't wait to hear how her day today goes at school with 2!

Molly is at ASDB for school, Az School for the Deaf and Blind. She learns orally and sign language, which is sooo much fun! Even Katie and Colin are getting into the swing of signing with her, to us, to each other. I am betting within a few months whole conversations will be carried on without a single spoken word. Mike and I better learn quickly or we will be in trouble!

Molly is almost as tall as Colin now, but still weighs a good 12lbs less than him. I think she is probably as strong as he is though, and can hold her own when the fisticuffs come out with them.

I'll post some pictures later on of the weekend, we went to watch the Air Force planes practice for their upcoming spring air shows around the country. It was so much fun! The kids all really enjoyed it, and Mike and I did too! We're a bunch of air geeks!

xoxo - love you all so much
erin

Hi Caren!

Send me some new baby pix please! erinszoo@gmail.com

Things here are awesome. A little hot, but awesome nonetheless. I think it got to 89 here today, thankfully by the end of the week it will be back down to mid 70's.

We are really settling in to the new city. I have become much better at finding my way around. I'm still a little hesitant to go across town without Mike, but it's been fun to explore the east side of Tucson.

Katie is enjoying school. She has made many friends and is really getting alot out of the academic experience. She especially loves art and PE.

Molly is doing amazingly well in school. She goes to ASBD which is AZ School for the Deaf and Blind. She is in a class with 4 other children her age and she has such an amazing teacher. She is learning in an oral environment but is supplemented with ASL so we are learning sign along with her. So much fun!

Colin is wonderful, just such a joyful child. He is home with me all day and we spend our time exploring, playing, and learning.

Mike is grooving at work, finally got the little hiccup of a faulty background check resolved and is really enjoying his work environment, his team, the whole experience.

I'm busy with my moms group, have made loads of friends that I see daily. It feels awesome to be a part of such a wonderful group of moms.

---------------------------