Annice and Daniel and Our Little Joys: Angels, Relays, Recitals, Programs, Awards, Picnics, and More...........

I cannot believe that it's been so long since I last posted anything. We have been so busy since the beginning of May that I've hardly had time to breathe. I'm going to try and recap the last 6 -8 weeks in this one post, so hold on tight, there will be a lot of pictures!

ANGELS AMONG US
In late April we participated in Angels Among Us which is an event held at Duke University Hospital and all the money raised goes towards the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke. There is a 5K Run and a Family Fun Walk. You can visit this link to an older Blog Post about our reason for participating in Angels Among Us. Go Team Jogging for Julie!

RELAY FOR LIFE EVENTS
   We participated in 2 Relay for Life Events, one in May and one in June.
   The one in May was about 1 1/2 hours away from our home and it was for a new friend of mine named Brooke. Her husband works with Daniel. She is 30 years old, has a 3 year old, and has just begun her 3rd year of cancer. The cancer is called Adrenocortical Carcinoma (ACC). She is an amazing person with a great, positive attitude and a remarkably strong faith. You can visit this link to learn more about Brooke and her story.
   The one in June was for our Church Team. We Relay for a lot of different people we know and this year I had t-shirts made for the kids that list the people they know that have cancer now, in the past, or have passed on due to cancer. I hope that it will help them put a face to this terrible disease.

RECITALS
Edi plays the piano and the violin. In April she had her piano recital put on by the Academy where she takes. We also went out to eat with my parents that night. In May her piano teacher put on a recital just for her students. Also, in May she had a violin concert at her school where she takes once a week during school.

PROGRAMS
Amelia has had several programs and fun things that happened at Preschool over the past several weeks. The first was when her class put on a circus performance for us over in the Town Hall Meeting Room. Everyone dressed up and they put on an entire Circus. I only got one picture because I videoed the whole thing. I may try to post some video from it later. Also, they had a Mother's Day breakfast the Friday before Mother's Day. On the night of the last day of school they put on a Luau Performance and Graduation. She is moving up to the 4 year old class next year.

AWARDS DAY
Edi had Awards Day at school. She was in 3rd grade this year which in NC means you start getting A, B, C.... grades and you take the EOGs(End Of Grade Tests). She made A/B Honor Roll all year, She was a STAR student(good conduct) all year, Met her AR(Accelerated Reader) Goal all year, Passed the National Physical Fitness test, and raised the most money in her entire school(K-5, 700+ students) for Jump Rope for Heart and for the 4th year in a row. She has been the top money raiser all 4 years in school. She received these awards during the 3rd Grade Awards Program. Then they went back to the classroom for class awards. She was 4th in her class for Accelerated Math and read 3,742 minutes this year in Accelerated Reading. Then they had an ice cream social. The flowers are the plants we planted for her teachers, we also did 5 pots for Amelia's teachers.

CAS PICNIC
In May we joined other adoptive families and soon to be adoptive families from of agency(Christian Adoption Services) for a picnic and fun at Dan Nicholas Park in Salisbury, NC. It was a great day and fun to see old and new faces.

RANDOM FUN OVER THE LAST SEVERAL WEEKS

AT HOME IN THE KIDDIE POOL

PIANO MAN

CHURCH FLOOR WRITING
We are building and adding on to our church and before we put the carpet down everyone was able to write their names and such on the floors.