We interrupt our regularly scheduled program...

for a wonderful advertisement! My friend Heather is once again sending out personalized "Santa Letters" to the little ones this year. These are a fun treat for kiddos to get. If you want to learn more about it, please visit her at:

http://www.santaslittleletters.blogspot.com/

Remember...only 50 days left until Christmas! :-)

Oh, and I'll try to update the blog soon!

Jenn

We now love horses!

I know, shocking to have 2 posts in one week. ;-) Yan had the opportunity to take a short session of horseback riding therapy lessons. She LOVED it! The name of her horse (pony) was "Alladin". She did great learning to guide him right and left. She said "Walk On" to make him go and "Whoa" to make him stop. I'm hoping to get her in continuous lessons, but were not off the waiting list so far. Honestly, the horseback therapy and gymnastics have been the best activities for Yan. I would choose them over certain traditional therapies anyday. They are fun, motivating and a joy for Yan to do. There is never complaining...just excitement at each new accomplishment.

Here are some pics. The little boy in the photo's with Yan is Christian. He was adopted from Russia and just happened to get a class with us. The kids had fun together. Though Yan wanted to hug Christian a lot and well, Christian said, "I just want her to keep her hands off of me". :-)

Fall, Fall, Fall!

I love fall! I love the crisp air, the beautiful colors, the crackling of leaves beneath my feet. God is good, and his creation simply amazes me. Today I took Yan to the Pumpkin Patch. We had a blast, and enjoyed the ride along the way. Here are a few pics!

Okay, so I've been a blogging slacker...

Sorry for the long delay in blog posts. It was a busy summer and an even busier start to fall. We've had some crazy things going on in our family and time just got away from me. I did want to stop in and provide a brief updats.

Emily Yan has been busy. She is still taking gymnastics and has now started therapeutic horseback riding. She LOVES it! During her last session they let the horse trot. She wanted to continue and kept telling the horse "go, go, go". :-) We've had a slow start to our homeschooling year, but finally received the rest of our curriculum. Yan is trying to say so much more, which I love.

Even though it hasn't officially turned "Fall" yet...we were both thrilled to walk in Kmart the other day and find Christmas trees galore! :-) We're planning on putting up the tree the weekend of Halloween. :-) Hee, hee!

I hope you are all well...drop me a line and let me know how you're doing! Jenn

Yan the strong girl!

I'm really attempting to get some better lifestyle habits, including some more exercise. When I've been successful losing weight in the past (okay, about 10 years ago) I was doing heavy duty cardio and strength training. So I decided that I wanted to get some small weights for home. I was hoping to find some used ones, and I did find a little pair (3.5 lbs) at the thrift store. I brought them home and showed Yan. I showed her how to lift them up and do reps up to 10. She's been working on her counting and decided to try on her own. She lifted them up, but by two she was struggling so this is how the counting went: one, two, three, TEN! She promptly set them down. I love her style!

Show Hope!

"Show Hope", formerly "Shoahannah's Hope" is a wonderful organization that was started by the Chapman family to reach out to orphans and families adopting. As most of you know the Chapman's have gone through a rough year after losing their daughter, Maria, last year. God has used this horrific event for good by bringing in funds to start a new home in China for children with special needs. We were able to go to the open house (here, not in China...but boy would that be fun!) for Show Hope last night. Fox news happened to be there and we were in the news story (at the start and end). You can see it here:

http://www.fox17.com/newsroom/top_stories/wztv_vid_679.shtml

Yan loved seeing herself on TV and was shouting and pointing! :-)

A Fabulous Party!

It's been busy around the Cullimore house lately! This weekend we went to a birthday party for our good friend, Zara. Zara's uncle used to own a horse and since she was having a "horse party" he decided to surprise her and bring the horse to the party for rides and "horse talk". To say that this trumps any party that I can throw from this time on is an understatement. Yan did not want to leave the horse's side. She talked/and signed about how she rode the horse for the rest of the day. She even showed Elmo how to ride a horse today. :-) So here are some horse pics...enjoy!