Welcome to Colleen's web site, version 5.0!

Colleen is an awesome kid who loves to read, do homework (and she isn't even in school yet) and play outside. She is an artist, philosopher and great mathematician. She is a very good photographer, too, who was recently introduced to a digital camera. The photo at the top of the page is a self-portrait.

Her favorite color is pink. She loves to wear dresses, play dress-up and play with dolls. She is all girl. However, she is also tough. She likes to get dirty, jump on the trampouline, rough house, pick up bugs and play soccer. Noone has ever told her not to do these things, so she loves them as well. Her girl idols are her cousins Ashley and Katelyn, who are gorgeous sports jocks. She adores all of her cousins — because she thinks the girls are beautiful and the boys are WILD! But she particularly talks about these two a lot, probably because they embody both of her favorite characteristics!

Currently, the blog below is updated by her parents. However, you should expect entries from her in the very near future.

We hope you also will take time to look at her photo album, which contains pictures that we update on rare occasions. New visitors might be interested in reading about Colleen's birth or her heart surgery, or seeing photos she took of her house.

Colleen's Blog

Monday, January 08, 2007       ( 12:18 PM ) Rosie   A new school! Colleen started at Montessori school today! We are very excited to have this opportunity for her. She was very nervous about doing it, but she fit in right away. We think the program is really going to fit her very well. At Montessori schools, children work at their own pace, with encouragement from the teachers. If I understand correctly, the teachers will let the children sort of "go" in areas they have mastered (for Colleen, that would be reading and writing), but give them little "pushes" in areas that might be new to them - like science or math. Also, there aren't strict divisions of subject areas. Just like in real life, lessons are taught to cover multiple subjects. And there is a lot of real-life activity - like cleaning and organizing - that is incorporated into their curriculum. She'll be wearing a uniform - which I LOVE! And she'll be going to school with some neighbors of ours - Riley and Kira. We are sharing rides with their mom. For now, I'm taking the kids every morning except Thursday and their mom picks them up every day except Thursday. On Thursdays, she takes them and I pick up Colleen. The great part is she gets to be in an all-day program and it costs the same as what we were already paying for child care because our local school only had half-day kindergarten! Woo hoo! The school is also very ethnically diverse, which is kind of unheard of in our suburban school district. I would say her new school is a more accurate reflection of the diversity of the greater Indianapolis area with children from Hispanic, African-American, Asian and Caucasian backgrounds. There are even some children who were born in foreign countries or are the children of immigrants. Her teachers speak several different languages and are also ethnically varied. We really like this and are glad she can now begin to see daily the diversity of people the world has to offer. #

archives: April 2002 June 2002 August 2002 February 2003 May 2003 September 2003 November 2003 December 2003 March 2004 May 2004 February 2005 March 2005 September 2005 January 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 August 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 about this blog: This blog is a diary of the life of our daughter, Colleen. She is awesome and spectacular! favorite links: My mom's site about breast cancer Sesame Street: my first online game site! Math!: This is where my mom and dad get math homework for me