She's a First Grader!

first day of school
out at the garden

We've started homeschool a little early this year.  We have a trip to the Big Island planned in August and well, I didn't want Rachel starting late......so, early was the other option.  Rachel has been excited about first grade ever since I received the curriculum in the mail.  She thought it was neat that there's a giraffe on her math book. 

Rachel's typical first grade school day goes like this - wake up between 6:30/7:00, get ready for school, come downstairs; get chest therapy/breathing treatments done, eat breakfast, and start school between 8:00/8:30....but no later than 9:00 (on days we're dragging!).  Rach has a packed school day - we say a morning prayer, go over the day/date/days of week/months of year, go check/water our garden (a new ongoing project for school year we started - Rach's responsiblity), Bible study, phonics, reading, spelling, math, science, history, art/music, and exercise.  Rach has history 3 days, week, art at least once a week (usually more b/c she LOVES art/crafts), music at least once a week, and science at least 3 days a week (more if I can come up with plenty of extra activities/experiments to do).  We we have lunch around 11:30/12:00 and end the day around 2:00.

Exercise is a very important part of Rachel's day.  If you read this blog often, you know it's not just something we are doing in school.  Exercise is crucial for the health of Rachel's lungs and putting CF in it's place.  So, for exercise, I've tried to be a little creative.  Two days a week, we go to the lagoons at Ko Olina to swim for 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Rachel really loves this.  We are planning on going snorkeling some to this year.  In addition to the swimming, we are still biking, and plan on taking the dogs for walks/jogs, playing kick-ball, kids exercise dvd's, join a homeschool group that has group exercise on Fridays, and Rach is still doing gymnastics for an hour on Wednesdays/Saturdays. 

Rachel's first week of school has went great.  She's liking it and is doing a fantastic job. 

Here's her first week in pictures:

hard at work
first day of school

Daddy brought her roses
on her first day

her beautiful roses

cookie cake I made for her special day

Rach and Daddy planting seeds

planting her wildflower seeds

so proud of the garden

of course.....you should have known there would  be
 wild Rach pic

"hard at work on something"

she somehow managed to get a lizard in her hand

garden after 12 days

garden after 12 days

garden after 12 days -
picked her first 2 strawberries

we even had school outside one day

Ranger and Daisy learning spelling words

Rachel's first week of first grade.

My Blog

My sweet love.

I started this blog back in August of 2010 with the intentions of reaching out, sharing what works for us/Rachel, sharing how Rachel's clinic appointments go, providing a positive outlook in what can sometimes be a less than desirable situation, sharing how Rachel/we live in spite of CF, etc.  I had one goal in mind when I created my blog and this is my thought; "If one person reads my blog and gets a tip.....then it's served it purpose."

About a week ago, I got an email from a fellow CF mom that I met on Facebook (I actually got to meet with her when Rachel and I went to Arizona.) The email really touched me and it was at that moment that I realized my blog had done it's job. 

Here's the email (names removed) :

Hi Sherry,

I just wanted to send a quick note to say hello. I recently showed my husband your blog to show him pictures of your daughter surfing. He has always been a fan of surfing and loves how surfers support the cf community.  My daughter will definitely be doing a surfing experience day when she is old enough.

Your blog is very inspiring. I love seeing how much fun you have with your daughter! It shows me that you can take care of their cf, but still have a ton of fun, travel, and have fun adventures. I can't wait to do the same with my daughter!

I can't believe that my daughter will be 6 months in a few days. Time really does fly! She has been babbling up a storm lately and really likes hearing the sound of her own voice. She has been doing well with the pulmozyme, but she thinks her neb cup is a toy and tries to eat it the whole time. :) At least she likes it!

Talk soon,
CF mom

Yes it is true.....we have no sense!
Doing chest therapy/breathing treatments.

Nana & Gramps Visit

Rach and I were home about 3 days and then her Nana & Gramps came to visit!  We hung out around the house and ventured off a little bit.  We had a picnic at Ewa Beach, water balloon fight, afternoon tea in Waikiki, watched fireworks from the beach, visited Iolani Palace & Hawaii Plantation Village, ate shave ice at Aoki's, & had a Southern lunch from Kiss My Grits.  Once again, with all this going on Rachel got her treatments in.  I really love it that she/we can put health first and still live an amazing life. 

Nana & Gramps

Ah, beach picnic....a perfect day.

Rach cooling herself.

Rach styled her stuffed animal's hair.
They were having a best hair contest.

After our water balloon fight.

Afternoon tea at
Moana Surfrider in Waikiki.

Painting a craft set from Nana & Gramps.

At Kiss My Grits.

Posing in front of the Hawaiian house
at Hawaii Plantation Village.

Shave ice.....a great way to end a day.