New school, art exhibit, the zoo, karate, and taxes!

This has been a busy week and when I realize that I last posted the day before the infamous April 15, it explains a lot. But I think I will start from today and try to work backward, while in extreme pain!

Today was a great day, very busy, but full of important details.

We started the day with a great breakfast from Grandmom's Restaurant, which is conveniently located next door. It was so cloudy and overcast this morning, we all overslept, so really helped to have breakfast prepared for us.

Our first stop was North Hills, the school I have chosen for the girls for next year. It is quite a ways from home, but every time I go, I am so impressed with the students and their impressions of the school. They always have students as volunteers leading future students around the campus. These kids are engaging, very conversational (is that a word?), and extend their hand to shake, smile, and look you in the eye.

We had our pre-admission conference at 9:35.

We met the PE teacher who did our conference. It was supposed to last 30 -45 minutes, but with 2 girls that were full of questions, ours took more like an hour. Then they had a math placement test. Annabel breezed through hers since she guessed at all the answers, because they were word problems.

I thought Grace had been swallowed up in a math black hole because she took 1 1/2 hours!! She told me a few of the problems and I was impressed that she even tried.

They had a special display set up for ESL! Thank goodness! I spoke to the teacher and she said they would be pulling Annabel out for special classes. All I can say is, "FINALLY!"

After three hours, which was supposed to be maybe an hour, we raced home after stopping by a Korean restaurant for lunch for the girls.

The dogs were supposed to get groomed today, but we were 2 hours overdue for that appointment. Thankfully they agreed to take them late. Dip and Clip on Davis is the best about that. Most places require you drop them off early, even though they won't be ready for hours!

So I left the girls to eat their noodles and take a shower while I ran the dogs to the groomer.

From there we went to the Ice House Cultural Center. There was a special "Dia de los Ninos" exhibit and both girls had a piece on display. Grace has had several pieces on display, but it was Annabel's first. AND Annabel WON! BEST OF SHOW!!! I was so excited for her and it was hard for her to conceal her pleasure. She got a nice red ribbon and was only 1 of 2 winners out of 120! It was a clay piece and now she has decided she LOVES working with clay.

At North Hills they had a choice of fine arts; band, choir, art, or theater. I was sure they both would choose art, but when Annabel found out that clay would not be done EVERY day, she chose band. This was pretty funny, because I am not sure she knows what band is, BUT she loves to play like she is playing drums. Grace chose theater, which was also a big surprise, since she has really been quite shy lately. But when she learned it would be like the Christmas Carol we saw, she decided that's what she wanted to do!

After the art show we came home to get ready for our 6 month visit by the social worker for the adoption agency. It has actually been 8 months, but we had some conflicts getting it set up.

Amy, the social worker that did the original home study, was the same who came today. She is so kind and helpful, it really was not as stressful as it could have been.

She was telling me about some recent research, specifically on adoptees from Ethiopia. They have discovered a relationship of the neurotransmitters and the heightened stimulation of older adoptees due to the extensive trauma endured. These are treated with supplements and tremendous improvement seen. I relayed that I was concerned that Annabel was not grieving for her foster parents the way that Grace did, yet I know she must miss them at least as much. After all, they were the only parents she knew for about 8 years. We still have lots to work through and will follow up with some suggestions Amy made.

After that we went to pick up the dogs and it is so nice for them to smell good if even for a little while.

Facing the second surgery, I decided I had to get in better shape. It is really hard to work in working out once I get home, so I took advantage of a special at a gym that included a couple of sessions with a trainer.

When he asked how long it had been since I had worked out regularly, it dawned on me that it was MUCH longer than I had realized. So here I am WAY out of shape and WAY over weight and the trainer started me off with squats and lunges. About half way through i thought about what was missing, WARMING UP!!! I am so sore! Duh!

But I knew I probably still needed to keep moving. The zoo was having a special for members to spotlight the new albino alligators. It was really interesting being at the zoo after dark since most of the animals are nocturnal. It was difficult to see some of them, but kind of scary too. Regardless of the pain level, much less the fear level, we kept on until 9:00!

The last stop was the carousel.

While there, Annabel pointed out a family whose hair was red. She could not understand how someone's hair could be that color! There was also a Chinese family behind us in line. Annabel whispered, rather loudly, "I think they are Chinese". Really??

At karate Thursday night, the girls had sparring.

Maybe parents are not supposed to watch.

I get so nervous when the girls actually have to "fight".

There was one little girls taking her exam for a yellow belt and first up was Grace to spar with her. Grace just wouldn't fight back. She looked terrified! Pretty quickly it was Annabel's turn and she had overcome her fears from the last bout. She went right into it, headstrong, and did a great job of defending herself. I told them I was going to hire a big old boy that could take their punches, to practice with! Annabel was concerned she would hurt him! I LOVE HER SPUNK!

Wednesday was the dreadful tax day, which really wasn't dreadful, since we should get a return due to adding Annabel! But to file your taxes you must have your children's social security numbers. That was why I had applied for Annabel's back in February.

BUT it disappeared. It truly disappeared.

I searched this whole house, going through stacks of mail, adoption papers, magazines, coupons, books, drawers, files, truly everything.

I looked at work. I went through every single thing on my desk and trust me, it was a LOT. It had simply disappeared.

I finally went back to the social security office and got the number.

While putting things back into their files, there was the card. Also my pants that I had lost showed up! I knew if I could take a long enough break from looking that both would be easy to find. I would almost think that someone was just playing mean jokes on me, but guess I not!

Tomorrow, Sunday, is the Earth Day celebration in Oak Cliff. Grace wanted to invite her friend to go with us. I'm glad she did. Last year her friend who went with us ended up joining forces with the class bully and I think she has been very sensitive to extending her hand in friendship again.

If I can withstand the pain, I must stand up and call it a day!