It's almost the end of school here for the kids! Jada just had her PreK graduation, and Joli will finish her first year in public school (2nd grade). I just started my doctoral program this past week, and our house is busy as ever!

Jada just had her preK graduation where I was the "keynote" speaker. It was so much fun, and we are all so proud of Jada! She is a strong reader, and she definitely chooses reading over just about anything else. Jada also finished her gymnastics year and had her final exhibition. She is still taking karate over the summer and has earned her purple belt!

We're so proud of Joli for finishing

her first year

in public school. It was not without

its challenges, but she is so brave for pushing through and of course seeing until the end. In the end, she made some great friends and gained a lot of confidence. Joli also started gymnastics and can now do a headstand, handstand, cartwheels, and backwards rolls. These were really hard for her, and she stuck with it and did great! Joli is also a purple belt now in karate!

Evan, oh, Evan. At two years old, Evan has such a great vocabulary. What I notice about him is that he never gives up on expressing his thought. So, he'll keep repeating a

word or sentence until he gets it just right. His favorite things to do are

to say, "Saaahhhrrryyy!" (sorry) in a really exaggerated voice, crawl up on us and either lay his head on our tummies or crawl on our backs. He loves when his Ate Joli gives him piggy back rides, and he has enjoyed riding his tricycle outside. He is still pretty skinny, but we keep doing our best to get him to eat!

We just arrived home from Camp Sunshine where Jorge handled it solo for the first time! The kids had a really great time, and it was nice for Jorge to be around the Rb community, too. I was in my doctoral program during that time, and it was actually helpful to be able to commit to work when the family was gone.

In May, Joli received her first communion! Grammy and Uncle Ped came up from New York and it was a really special day for her!

Hopefully we'll have more to post! Sorry it's been a while!

And, yes, yet again, it's been a while since we last posted!

Evan just turned 2 years old and had a great birthday! He now is 2 years old and weighs 24 lbs. The doctor is still a little concerned that he is so light (not necessarily short) and we'll consider getting him tested for any food allergies (which we don't think he has) or any digestive problems. He eats a lot, and is extremely smart and on target developmentally.

The weather is a bit soggy (it is April, after all) and we've been stuck inside for longer than we'd like. But, everyone is happy and healthy!

THE FEBRUARY/MARCH UPDATE 2011

I've been terrible about keeping up over here, but I realize how important it is to keep this all updated! We went back, just before Evan's birthday, to read all the great posts from when he was born, and even at his 1st birthday, that I realized we haven't been telling the stories of our family in so long.

Mastectomy recovery has been just fine. I finally feel 80%, which, I hear, is about right. Not sure how much better it gets from here, but I do feel functional and starting to feel stronger each day. I've been working out a lot, and that's helped with my strength and range of motion.

Jorge has been working on a new project called "Bottled" which he has launched as a M-W-F web story, and people have been loving it! "Bottled" is the story of Olivia Chance (named after one of our favorite students, Olivia, and who has the personality of Joli, too).

Joli, as you can read below, has been liking her school more and more. Seems after the winter break, she felt much more comfortable being at school. It was definitely an adjustment going from small class sizes, knowing everyone, being a leader, etc., to a much larger school, not knowing many kids. But, I happened to arrive a few minutes early to the dance and watched her interacting with her friends. She was in heaven! She was so happy, dancing on stage with her buddies, and introducing me to lots of her friends. I couldn't stop smiling! Joli is an orange belt in karate and has a tournament coming up in a few weeks! She has been taking CCD school on Saturdays and will receive her first communion in May. Joli has been doing great in her gymnastics classes, which have helped her to gain physical confidence, particularly around balance. We were practicing headstands this weekend at home, and at first, she couldn't even balance. Now, she's doing it free style in the middle of the living room after only 24 hours! Yay, Jo!!

Jada continues to amaze us with her reading and writing ability. She has been reading independently since she was 3 1/2 years old, and now she just picks up every book and can read it. She usually chooses to sit on a chair and read, even when her cousins or friends are playing. Jada is so inquisitive and always wants to know what and why. Jada LOVES karate and gymnastics, and we can even see her strength when she dances around the living room, bounces into a handstand or cartwheel, or does push ups during commercial breaks. She also is wildly in love with her brother and sister. It hurts her feels so bad when Joli says something like, "I dont care about you." Jada just crumbles. (and, she just got out of bed and came into the living room crying about it... and is reading what I'm typing....)

Evan just turned 2 years old! He loves Thomas the Train (like obsessively). Can count to 10. Sings the entire Thomas the Train song (did I mention he loves it obsessively). Carry on a conversation. He has very quick temper, though, and will most certainly yell at you if he's upset. Evan is also keen on rolling his eyes at you if he's unhappy!

It's hard to believe how fast time is flying by. I feel like it was just yesterday that Evan was in his bassinette sleeping soundly in the bedroom!


Evan with Pops (February 2011)


Grammy and the kids (look at Evan's face! He's cheesin' pretty hard!)

Miss Jo Jo

Oh, how could we forget about ANNABELLE? See, Annabelle is, well, Jada's ringworm. Yes, her ringworm. Annabelle has been with us since the beginning of Feburary (note: it is now March 25th). My sister Grace even wrote a story about Annabelle. She seems to have become one of the family.....

The party hats for Evan's birthday. Yes, they are Thomas the Tank.

This balloon was so awesome -- the first few times. When you hit it, it sings "Happy Birthday". But, for a balloon, I swear this thing has subwoofers. You can hear it from all the way in the other room!

Golden Gate Bridge -- check!

JOLI'S FIRST DANCE

I'm Joli. I'm in the 2nd grade. I just had my first school dance at my school with a DJ, pizza, juice, and kids from the 2nd and 3rd grade. My first school dance was awesome. When I first walked in, it felt like there were a hundred people or more. I found my friends Jenna, Alexis, Mariah, and Brianna. There were all my best friends. First, the DJ put on "Firework" by Katy Perry. Me and my friends stood on the steps of the stage and we were singing and dancing. I wore a polka dot dress that has a turtle neck.

Before the dance, I felt really nervous because I thought no one would dance with me. But, when I got there, there were all my friends running to me. Then, I just left my Mom in the lobby! I didn't even say goodbye to her because I was so excited!

I bought a candy bar with my own money.

That was my first public school dance.

At first I didn't like my school because I missed my old school and my old friends. Now, I am starting to love it! I think I am going to stay there for 3rd grade because I have so many new friends and everyone tells me I should stay. That makes me feel very happy!

Now I have 18 friends or more!

That's why I like staying at my new school. I have a wonderful teacher. She loves to sing. Her name is Miss MacDonald. She was the nicest teacher. When we have pajama day, she wears pajamas. Today was crazy hair day. She even wore all different kinds of ponytails all over her head! She said my hair looked cute. I had three fishtail braids at the bottom and two flat twists on the top. It was really crazy!

That's why I am a little nervous for 3rd grade. I took a 3rd grade test to get ready for 3rd grade. It was pretty hard. I skipped a few pages. My friend Braden is the smartest kid in my class. I am the second smartest, I think. He knows division, multiplication, and all different kinds of things as a second grader. I asked him, "How did you learn all of those smart things?" He said, "I looked in this book that was a math book. It was for 2nd graders who start math. I learned all about it. I am almost done with it right now."

My friend Bella is my best friend I could ever have. When I give her something, she says, "How many of these do you have?" just to make sure it's not my last one. She always gives it back if I say it's my last one. She is a kind friend.

Alex is my very best friend. He has one shiny earring and he is "parent pick up" like me. We are always best friends. I have many more, but that's it for now!

Bye!

Joli

It's been a long time!

Oops... my last post was in September 2010? I guess that's what happens when there are lots of different places to post and share info!

So, in summary (a 4 month summary, I supposed):

• the school year found Jo attending a new school. Even months later, she's not all that excited about it, but she has made a few good friends and is doing very well in school. She took up soccer, gymnastics and karate this past year and has really taken an interest in art. For Christmas, we bought her a small art box and she spends most of her free time drawing or making up stories.
  
• Jada has become even more sassy. For a while, she was loving her long, long hair and wanted to "grow my hair all the way to my butt!" Then, suddenly in January 2011, she decided to cut it all off. Jada went from long hair to short short hair! And, she loves it! It took a while for us to get used to, but the truth is that Jada looks adorable no matter what!
• Evan has become quite the little boy. Over the course of the past few months, he is completely understandable and speaks in well formed sentences. For Christmas, on a whim, we decided to buy him some toy trains. Now, Evan is never without a train! It's the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up and the last thing he plays with before he goes to bed.
  
• For me, I had my mastectomy, finally. I ran another 1/2 marathon in October (after only planning on running 1 this year) and underwent my surgery on November 18, 2010. Today, it's been about 8 weeks since my surgery, and I am feeling much stronger.
• Jorge transitioned fully to his new job, and he is enjoying the autonomy and opportunity to engage both creatively and administratively in his work.
  
• Post-surgery, we really felt the love of friends and family. So many people supported our family -- through cards, make-a-meals when I was sick, and a huge fundraiser by people at my work. So many of our retinoblastoma friends also came through to give much needed support.

Well, it's hard to wrap things up in just a few bullet points, so here are some of the best photos of the past few months. Enjoy!


We had a blizzard just after Christmas that the California crew got to experience! Approximately a foot and a half fell quickly. Even Norhanna got to go into the snow!
Joli and Jada enjoy turning Evan into "Little Miss Sunshine". He doesn't protest at all!

Just before Christmas, Evan and Jorge had a pretty nasty fall outside one night. Jorge was carrying Evan and they slipped on some ice. Jorge fell backwards and Evan hit his head on the pavement. We immediately called Lolo to come over, but the fear was in the waiting time. Jorge couldn't see well outside in the dark and he said that he just saw blood spurting out of Evan's head. It turns out that Evan had two big gashes that we managed to keep together with some ice and a butterfly bandage. Three weeks later, Evan's cut is now just a faint pink scar, but it was definitely scary!

This is me 4 weeks post-op in a "Jada view" angle.


Norhanna loved being with Joli. Every time Nani saw Jo she ran into her lap!
The big snow storm - Evan's first time out. He thought it was cool for about 5 minutes and then begged to go back inside!

Pedro spent Christmas with us this year, and he even got to sit on Santa's lap!


2010 was a good year for us. My resolution -- to blog more here for 2011!