JiangXi girls

Hello? Is this thing on??? B&W Wednesday edition

2011-03-09T12:14:00.004-05:00

Well, I have been really slacking on this blog lately. I can't believe it has been since September that I posted. WOW! We have had quite a busy time and it has finally slacked off a little although spring soccer is going to be starting up soon. So much has gone on, I don't know where to start or what to write about.... I guess I will go with our travel group!

We had a reunion of Olivia's travel group recently and we had a blast. We have always gotten together around February or March to celebrate the union of our family and this year was no different. It always starts with people arriving on Friday night where the girls go swimming. We closed the pool up Friday night. Saturday we would get their photos taken find a fun activity and then gather at our house in the evening for pizza and a birthday party for all the girls since they all have birthdays in January, February and March with the exception of Klaira who has an April birthday. This year was a little different in that they went swimming in the afternoon and then before the party got underway we walked down the street from me and I took their picture. They had fun and it has been amazing to see how they've each changed since 2005. They used to be shy and take a while to warm up to each other but not this time. It was fantastic!

One great thing about this reunion is that Sophia also gets to see someone in her travel group too as we traveled with a family twice. Olivia and Emelia are both from the same orphanage and when it was time to do paperwork again I strong-armed two other families into starting with us. We all got our LIDs together and our daughter's are from the same orphanage. The other family lives in TX so we don't get to see them but we sure miss them. So, when we adopted Sophia, Emelia's family adopted Londyn. Londyn and Sophia are tight. This year when we took pictures I took some of Sophia and Londyn. They are so adorable.

Hopefully I will catch up soon! Look for more B&W pictures on my friend Lisa's blog HERE.

Sophia referral anniversary -- very late {B&W Wednesday}

2010-09-29T21:14:00.002-04:00

Well, I am very late in posting this important milestone and quite frankly I almost forgot it. Had it not been for a fellow Lovebug mom posting on Facebook I would have -- so thanks Laura! September 1st marked the 5 anniversary of seeing our precious Sophia's face. That day was so special to us and my fellow Lovebugs -- our DTC group on Yahoo. We spent one night a week in a chat room getting to know each other and on referral day we spent the morning in there waiting to see who was going to get "THE CALL" first. We used the same agency for both girls and with Olivia our referral was 3 days after everyone else's. While I rejoiced with my fellow Firecrackers, my heart was hurting that we had not been notified. So for Sophia I was quite surprised that our agency was the first to report phone calls being made -- ours was technically second but we were the first to get the info as my travel mate Susan was away from her phone momentarily and had to call back. What a great time we had in chat that morning. We made the trip to the agency so we could see her picture. That evening we met the grandparents for dessert at Dairy Queen after Olivia's gymnastics so they could see their newest granddaughter but they didn't know that {rather they weren't supposed to know}. I found out very recently that my mom (Hi mom!) tricked a 2.5 year old into telling before the big reveal. Sophia fit right into our family. She is loving, caring, beautiful, smart {she recently had her best day of school ever! according to her}, sassy, quiet, introverted and strong-willed. I took a picture of her with her referral picture that I converted to black and white in honor of Black and White Wednesday.

To see more black and white photos, go visit my friend Lisa's blog. She is about ready to travel for her sweet Reagan.

Bethlehem in Black and White

2010-09-22T00:01:00.001-04:00

Now I know y'all are going to be shocked that I actually do have my second post in one week. Man, am I on a roll or what? Here are some of my favorite pics for the black and white portion of my workshop.

To see more black and white photos, go to my friend Lisa's blog.

A Visions Workshop -- Bethlehem

2010-09-20T11:40:00.006-04:00

So, the weekend before last I attended my good friend Lisa's photography workshop. Lisa is a wonderful teacher and I just hope I can make her proud. I have just gotten into editing my photos but I wanted to post a few now. I have one I have converted to black and white that I am saving for Wednesday. ;-) We had lots of great models that day: the beautiful Alicia, Lisa's handsome son Nick, Lisa's BFF Shelly and her gorgeous daughter Delaney, Heather brought her lovely daughters Emily and Hannah, and the biggest surprise the ever fabulous Dita brought her 2 kiddos WonderBoy and Sweetie Pie. The ladies in attendance were awesome! Diana and I flew into town and arrived within minutes of each other. We have a China connection as Sophia and Ruby Mei are from the same orphanage in China. That evening Janet met us for dinner. We had a great night talking and getting to know one another. Saturday morning, we met the last of our little group Bickies (incognito name on her blog) joined us for breakfast where we talked about our cameras and their settings. I know you all are just wanting the pictures so I will quit rambling and post a few. Hopefully I can get some more edited today and tomorrow so I can have another post on Wednesday -- shocking I know!

First day of school......(and B&W Wednesday)

2010-08-11T11:35:00.003-04:00

Well, today is the first day of school for us. My baby is officially in school now. Sophia has a fabulous teacher Mrs. C. She had a pool party 2 weeks ago so the kids could meet her, her assistant Mrs. T and the students in the class. On open house Monday, Sophia went right in to the class and found her spot. She was a little shy but this momma was a tad worried. Yesterday we talked about the first day of school, went to the lake, and watched a movie before bed. While I was cooking supper, Mrs. C. called to talk to Sophia! She told her how much fun they were going to have and what they were going to do today. At open house, we got a folder labeled "Sophia's Homework Folder" but really it had homework for ME! LOL In the folder was a sealed envelope that said "Do not open until the first day of school". Inside there was a letter to Sophia and a poem for me.

Every one has a "first day"
when they feel sad and all alone,
it can be so scary
when you're out on your own.

And I know that a "first day"
can be full of doubts fears,
but they're full of new beginnings.
Take my hankie dry your tears.

You'll find lots of things to do
and you'll probably make new friends.
I promise we'll be together
when the school day ends.

Here comes the teacher
blow your nose and be brave.
Come on now and wipe your eyes,
this is no way to behave.

Well good morning teacher.
We really must beg your pardon.
No, MOMMY doesn't always act this way,
but it's my first day of....KINDERGARTEN!

Olivia is starting 2nd grade this year. She also has a teacher named Mrs. C. She seems really nice and I believe Olivia will do well in her class. Unfortunately, we are over cap size in several 2nd grade classes so they may need to add a teacher. I hope if they do Olivia will get to stay in Mrs. C's class. They have changed the discipline guide that they've had the last several years so I hope this works better for us.

Here are the pictures from today. I used my point and shoot instead of dragging my big camera in today. Sorry there are more pictures of Sophia than Olivia. And since it is Black and White Wednesday at my friend Lisa's blog here, I made one of the pics black and white.

Black and White Wednesday {Robert}

2010-07-21T23:48:00.002-04:00

Well last Friday my nephew and his girlfriend made me a great {ahem} fabulous aunt -- I say fabulous because I am too young and beautiful (ha!) to be a great aunt. Robert Michael (named for both his grandfathers -- yikes I can't believe my younger brother is a grandfather!) was born Friday morning and I have been itching to take his picture. Tonight fed the happy couple (burned my mashed potatoes again -- I was busy snapping away this time) and took some pictures. They just left to take their little one home and I had to edit a picture for black and white Wednesday. This is my first attempt with a baby so little and young. I can't wait to get into editing these photos. Here is a picture of Robert and his momma Monique.

For more black and white Wednesday pics hop over to my friend Lisa's blog!

Sophia's turn......{B&W Wednesday}

2010-06-23T20:54:00.003-04:00

Well, it has been 2 weeks since I last posted but we were on vacation last week. We went to Atlantic Beach, NC and had a great time! I of course decided it was a grand time to get sick (had to go get meds from a Dr there -- so not fun!) but we made do. My mom went with us and I think she enjoyed herself too. We went to the beach, swam in the pool and went on a boat ride to see the lighthouse on Cape Lookout. Sophia(well us too) loved it all. She is taking swim lessons this summer and is doing wonderfully. She is now swimming without floaties (yay!) and she's only had 2 lessons. She is also my girlie girl. I really try not to dress the girls alike as that just increases the "Are they twins?" question but when I bought a dress for Olivia and she begged me for one just like it I couldn't refuse -- it had the twirl factor, ya know. Here is a picture of my girl on the beach in her beloved dress:

For more Black and White pictures, check out my girl Lisa's blog here.

Lexi in B & W {Wednesday}

2010-06-02T17:52:00.004-04:00

I took pictures of my brother's beautiful family a few weeks ago. Here is a picture of his beautiful (and only) daughter. I hope he's ready for when she starts dating. ;-)

See Lisa's blog for more black and white Wednesday entries.

Black and White Wednesday and catch up

2010-05-26T00:15:00.000-04:00

Oh wow has it really been almost 2 months since my last post? Where has the time gone? We are winding down the school year here and are ready for summer. I have so much to catch up with so here I go:

~~Olivia turned 7 in March. I can't believe it. She is such a smart, funny, beautiful little girl. She got glasses in April and loves them.

~~Her travel group came to town the weekend after her birthday. We have an awesome group and we loved every minute of our "families" visit. Sophia also got to see her Londyn (we traveled with this family twice and Londyn and Sophia are from the same orphanage) and we were able to meet her cute little brother Kai for the first time.

~~Olivia got strep throat on Spring Break. Yuck.

~~Both girls played soccer this spring and loved it!

~~In April, my good friend Lisa came to town on business and as a bonus my fabulous Texan friend Marla came too. They were going to surprise me but since my mom was going to be out of town they wanted to make sure I was able to get a sitter. We went to Felicia's house on Tuesday night of their visit for a "girls night". Missy drove up and we had a fabulous time! While Lisa was in her meetings on Wednesday, Marla and I went to the Kentucky Derby Museum. I have been a Louvallian all my life and I have never been so I thought I what better time to go and than to take my friend. We also found time to squeeze in Pedis. Love ya girls!

~~Sophia graduated from Pre-K this month. She had her field trip to the zoo and school she will attend in August. She's been there many times but it was still a treat for her to ride the school van.

~~Olivia has had the best school year. I cannot say enough good things about her teachers this year. She has a high reading level and her testing scores were phenomenal. She is a math machine teaching herself multication and division. We (the school and us parents) are discussing putting her in 3rd grade reading and math only. She can handle the work and will still be with 2nd graders the majority of the time. She thrives on being challenged so we are trying to figure out what would be best for her. Now if we could just get the talking under control. ;-)

~~We are going to the beach next month and can't wait. My mom is going with us and the girls are super excited.

On to the Black and White Wednesday portion of this post. My brother and his family came over for a photo shoot Sunday and I took a few of Olivia. This is my favorite one of her. She looks so lady-like.
Visit Lisa's blog for more fabulous Black and White Wednesday posts!

Art of Editing

2010-02-27T10:24:00.002-05:00

Well, my good friend Lisa has started teaching classes on Photoshop and the Art of Editing. I have always been a bit envious of her pictures and now I have the chance to learn how she edits them. Yay! She is also going to be teaching a few other classes -- Lightroom and a more advanced Photoshop class. She has 3 classes in March and when she finishes those she will schedule her April classes. You can click on the button below to find out more info....

Pretty roses.....

2010-02-24T13:45:00.002-05:00

Well, it is time again for black and white Wednesday. My darling husband always gives me roses for Valentine's Day. He started the first Valentine's day that were together/married (they are the same since we met in March and were married in September of the same year). Back in the day, they were delivered to me at work but now he just gets them and has them on the table for when I get up in the morning. He has started getting the girls their own flowers but not roses. He bought them tulips that they can plant together. Here are my flowers with just a little bit of color....

Check out Lisa's blog for more Black and White Wednesday.

B&W Wednesday -- Sophia's new love

2010-02-17T20:36:00.002-05:00

Well here it is another week has gone by and it is time for Black & White Wednesday. This is a throwback to Christmas. Sophia has asked for well over a year for a DS. She saw her cousin's DS which is how she knew about them. I was so set against it because I did not/will not have the child that takes their DS everywhere (restaurants, family member's houses). I, however, relented and Santa brought her one for Christmas. I set time limits on them and where and when they can play them. Here she is Christmas morning with her beloved toy:

Please go and see Lisa at The Long Road to China for more Black and White Wednesday pictures. Also she is starting something fantastic if you want to learn more about Photoshop and/or Lightroom.

Our queen...

2010-02-10T23:08:00.003-05:00

Well, last Friday night my niece Bailee was on the court for her school's Basketball Homecoming Queen. My mom, the girls, my niece Alexis, my brother and my sister-in-law went to see if she won queen. She didn't win but she will always be a queen to us. I took a few pictures and decided to make one of them black and white for Lisa's Black and White Wednesday.

To see more Black and Whites go to Lisa's blog HERE.

B&W Wednesday and 6 yrs ago

2010-02-03T14:17:00.003-05:00

Well it is Black & White Wednesday again. I am still learning how to convert but am having fun doing so especially going back through my lightroom and picking out photos I haven't processed before. This is from this past summer. I took the girls for a photoshoot in their pettiskirts. I wish I knew how to add just a little of the pink that was in Olivia's clothes for this shot.

Now for the 6 yrs ago part -- 6 yrs ago yesterday Olivia was placed in my arms. We got to our hotel about 9 pm and we were handed our babies at 9:30. We had only found out about 4 hours (at the airport waiting for flight to Nanchang) before that we were going to be getting them that night instead of in the morning like the original plan. There were 14 sets of anxious and nervous parents. We have a reunion with our travel group every year (usually February or March) and I can't wait to see our group this year. We celebrated her family day on Sunday by going bowling, the bookstore, dinner of her choice and the ice cream parlor for dessert. I can't imagine our lives without this amazing girl!

Recipe Monday time...Updated with pic and a few notes

2010-02-01T12:52:00.006-05:00

It is time again for Recipe Monday that my good friend Colleen of The Nuthouse started. We got several inches of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning so we took the time to stay indoors tried out a new recipe. Mine did not look like the picture in the book -- well it could be because I changed it up a bit LOL. I will put what we did and include the original recipe at the end. I attempted to take a picture of the finished product but it didn't look pretty. It did however taste wonderful! **Pic is now added**

Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 roll (18 oz) of chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough
1/2 cup caramel sauce
4 cups chocolate chip ice cream, softened
Hot Fudge topping (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)
9 maraschino cherries (optional)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 13x9-inch baking pan. Let dough stand at room temperature about 15 minutes.

2.) Spread dough evenly into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake about 18 minutes or until the edges are light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. **Make sure you keep an eye on the cookie. Mine went 22 min per the original recipe and they were a little too hard so I cut the cook time a few minutes.**

3.) Line 8x8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, allowing some to hang over edges of pan. Remove cooled cookie from pan; cut in half crosswise. Place 1cookie half, top side down, in prepared pan, trimming edges to fit, if necessary. Spread 1/4 cup caramel evenly over cookie in pan. Spread ice cream evenly over caramel. Spread remaining caramel over bottom of remaining cookie half; place caramel side down on ice cream. Cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap; freeze at least 2 hours or overnight. **We tried it after 2 hours but overnight works much better!**

4.) Cut into bars and top with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and cherries just before serving, if desired.

Now for the original recipe:

Banana Split Ice Cream Sandwiches

1 roll (18 oz) of chocolate chip refrigerated cookie dough
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup strawberry jam, divided
4 cups strawberry ice cream, softened
Hot Fudge topping (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)
9 maraschino cherries (optional)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 13x9-inch baking pan. Let dough stand at room temperature about 15 minutes.

2.) Combine dough and bananas in large bowl; beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Spread dough evenly into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake about 22 minutes or until the edges are light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

3.) Line 8x8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, allowing some to hang over edges of pan. Remove cooled cookie from pan; cut in half crosswise. Place 1cookie half, top side down, in prepared pan, trimming edges to fit, if necessary. Spread 1/4 cup jam evenly over cookie in pan. Spread ice cream evenly over jam. Spread remaining jam over bottom of remaining cookie half; place jam side down on ice cream. Cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap; freeze at least 2 hours or overnight.

4.) Cut into bars and top with hot fudge sauce, whipped cream and cherries just before serving, if desired.

Black and White Wednesday

2010-01-27T15:05:00.002-05:00

Well I am trying to get better at posting and I think that with Recipe Monday and Black & White Wednesday I might just accomplish my goal! My friend Lisa at The Long Road to China started B&W Wednesday and although I missed last week I knew I could participate this week. My nephew Austin turned 3 this month and I took his birthday pictures and I turned a few of them into black & whites. This one was my favorite....

Recipe Monday

2010-01-25T16:17:00.002-05:00

Well my good friend Colleen started a new thing a few weeks ago called Recipe Monday. I have been a little out of it with some computer issues but am ready to tackle this one today. I made this on Friday night but unfortunately I did not take a picture of the finished dish. So here is my entry:

Cheezy potatoes:

6-7 Potatoes
1/4 c. milk
1/2 stick butter or margarine
1 sm pkg Colby/Monterey Jack cheese (finely shredded)
1 tube Ritz crackers

Spray the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Peel and cut potatoes, rinse and put on the bottom of your dish. Pour in the milk, cut and add the butter around the dish. Sprinkle on the cheese. Bake for about 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees. After, crush the Ritz crackers over the potatoes and bake another 15-20 minutes.

This is a recipe you can halve if you want to. One thing I also like to try with this one is add bacon (either bits or real cooked bacon) just before adding the crackers -- my meat eater of the family loves when I do that!

B & W Wednesday

2010-01-13T17:06:00.002-05:00

My good friend Lisa has started a Black and White Wednesday where you process a picture of yours in B&W. I love black and white pictures but I sure don't know what I am doing. LOL I like this picture but I think Olivia's face looks weird but this is my entry anyway.

My pretty Sophia

2010-01-11T18:00:00.005-05:00

Sophia turned 5 a month ago and she seems to have just grown up on me overnight. She is a sweet, stubborn, beautiful little girl. She is such a girly girl too. She is ready to start kindergarten but mommy -- not so much. She likes to lay in bed and "practice my reading" as she says but can't read anything yet. I am tempted to start teaching her but am afraid of teaching her before she's ready. I hope she loves to read as much as Olivia and I do.

I am still alive....

2009-12-09T21:15:00.003-05:00

Wow! I can't believe it has been over 3 months since my last post. I have been so very busy -- not to mention sick for the last week. I went to Philly last month and had a great time with friends! We laughed until early morning and I was sad when it was time to go to the airport to come home. This group of ladies (Lisa, Marla, Ivy, Colleen, Gail, Steffie and Dita) are wonderful and I am truly blessed to have met each one of you!

We celebrated Sophia's Family Day last month. I can't believe she has been home 4 yrs now. On Friday she will be 5! How did that happen?!?! She is blessed to share her birthday (and name!) with a girl from her school. They have truly become inseparable over the last 1.5 yr. She had a party a couple of weeks ago and we will have family over on Saturday.

This picture is for my girls! You know who you are! ;-)

Chicago!

2009-09-02T15:20:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I had the great pleasure of attending Debbie's (aka Pixel Fairy Princess) workshop in Chicago. It was great!!! There were 10 of us in the workshop and we all had a great time. I got to meet some fabulous ladies -- Colleen (who was in my Feb 2005 DTC group), Steffie (whose blog I have followed for some time), Gail (whose blog I've been following for a few months) plus some new people (Kerry, Leslie, Sheri, Missi, Angie and Julie). Most have children from China which we bonded together in a big way Saturday evening but we also had photography in common. Thanks ladies for a wonderful first trip to Chicago!!

4 Years Ago

2009-09-01T22:22:00.003-04:00

4 Years ago today we saw our beautiful Sophia's face for the first time. She had round chubby cheeks and lots of hair. Normally I take a picture of her holding her referral picture but with school and all time just got away from me. I will take some tomorrow though. In the meantime, I will post a picture of her from the beach this summer and one of her referral pictures.

Epcot

2009-08-14T23:13:00.004-04:00

I have been hounded err I mean scolded for not putting up some Disney pics so here are a few from Epcot. I still have to edit my Magic Kingdom and beach pics.....

Oh wow.....

2009-08-12T22:08:00.002-04:00

Has it really been over a month since I've posted? I probably don't have any readers left. Well, we have been very busy for the last month but I should be posting more soon. We had quite a busy July and so far in August. Missy came in town the week before we left for vacation and we all got together for dinner one evening. It was great to see Marla, Felicia and Missy. We also got to meet Missy's mom and her beautiful sister Paige. Larry (Leslie's husband) came to have dinner with us before heading back to the hospital to be with Leslie. I hope you are feeling stronger every day Leslie.

We went to Florida on vacation. We went to Epcot, Magic Kingdom, the beach, and visited with my dad while we were there. The girls loved going to Disney. Unfortunately we did not get to see all of Magic Kingdom as it started raining about 4:30 and did not stop. Oh well there is always next time. On the way down and back we stopped in to see Debbie and her family. Debbie fed us lunch on the way back and it was great. Thank you so much!!

Now for August -- Let's see....we had another bloggy dinner and this time it was Marla, Leslie, Gin, Felicia and Lisa as she was in town on business. It was great seeing everyone and their families. Gin had her beautiful new daughter Kerry Lu with her. Olivia and Adalyn bonded. Ava, Ella, Lily were as beautiful as ever. Dalton was being a great big brother and well Jake is quite a handsome young man. I think Ella might have a little competition on her hands if Olivia is around them too much. ;-)Sophia was being Sophia and pretty much keeping to herself. School also started this week. We are on day 2 and so far everything has been great. Olivia LOVES her new teacher -- well actually she has 2 this year and loves them both. They have a combined class and are co-teaching. Olivia made the switch from gymnastics to cheerleading this summer and loves it. She is going to try soccer next month. I hope she likes it.

Potato picking pics....

2009-07-08T22:56:00.002-04:00

For your viewing pleasure, some potato picking pics. I did not do much editing on them as they are more snapshot and I wanted to "keep them real" as Lisa did a few weeks ago although hers were much better than mine. LOL

Wow!

2009-07-08T12:19:00.004-04:00

Has it really been one month since I've blogged? I can't believe it! We have had a busy month here and we have less than 5 weeks before school starts. They started off with Chinese Culture Camp, 2 family reunions on the same weekend (one Sat and one Sun), Olivia had Vacation Bible School (loved it!), Father's Day, dentist appointments (yuck!) and my mom's birthday. For mom's birthday, I picked up my niece and we went shopping and out to dinner with the family minus David. I was supposed to have my photo workshop but it was moved to the fall. I was really looking forward to it since we gave up the agency picnic to go BUT the fall is going to be so much better weather wise plus we will be able to have some of the lovely fall foliage (and it is going to be moved to the 'Ville instead of Lexington). Since I wasn't going to the workshop, we had my family over to celebrate mom's birthday. We swam, cooked out and the guys played a few rounds of corn hole on the new corn hole boards we got David for Father's Day. All in all we had a great June.

Now that July is upon us, we had some really cool weather the last week. I actually had the air off and the windows open -- that just doesn't happen in July here in KY. Now we are back up in the 80s/90s and can use the pool again. We had an adult only night last Friday where we went to dinner with some friends and to their house for adult conversation. I love my kids but it was so nice to go out to dinner with friends and be able to carry on a conversation with out having to say "Sit down", "Eat your supper", "Use your indoor voice, please" a hundred times! We have a few more things lined up for the rest of the summer and can't wait to go on vacation to Florida. It will be the first time the girls have been to Florida and we will be seeing my dad. Our plan is to go to Disney 2 days while we are there and then go to the Gulf coast for a few days. It will be the first time we've been to Disney with the girls so wish us luck! Also, last night the girls went on their first ever potato picking event in my in-laws garden. They had so much fun but Olivia admitted it was hard work!

I will post some more pics of the potato picking and swimming soon. I have to "rescue them" from Lightroom! I am almost to my 200th post and I think I am going to do a giveaway so stay tuned.

Photo session at "the Doors"

2009-06-06T22:11:00.002-04:00

When we had our Bloggy dinner in the 'Ville in April, Felicia took us to a place in Anchorage that was way cool. It had these wooden doors and neat rock walls and I have been itching to go back. I had hoped that we would go last week when Missy came back to town but sadly she couldn't make it. Olivia's last day of school was Wednesday and it rained all day Thursday so Friday came and we headed out for the day not really knowing where we were going to go but knew it was going to include a photo shoot. We ended up going to lunch with my mom (Hi Nini!) and we were in the area of "the doors" so we went. I have some photos edited but several more I need to work on. I would have loved to have taken more but someone needed to go to the restroom even though she had just gone at the restaurant. My mom has been asking me when she is going to get to see these photos so I will post a few. I hope Lisa comes to town again so she can do a photo shoot at the doors while you have some good light although she can rock it with a flash now!

My baby brother and his family....

2009-06-04T22:29:00.002-04:00

I took some pictures for my baby brother and his family over the weekend. I spent all day Tuesday editing them. Of course no photo shoot is complete without a few with my girls in there too. My sister in law's sister wants me to take photos of her and her boyfriend. I hope to do them this weekend but we will have to find a different location as my favorite father in law actually CUT his hay today and they really wanted that background. Silly me thinking that the rain would stop him but sadly it didn't. I think I have a business name thanks to my wonderful mentor but I have to wait to actually talk to her before I announce it! Also my Canon Rebel XTi is still for sale.

Selling my Rebel XTi....

2009-05-28T16:06:00.003-04:00

Well, I have decided to sell my Rebel XTi as well as an additional lens and the other stuff I have bought that doesn't work on my new camera. I have original box, the manual, software, 2 batteries w/charger, a wired shutter release and also a wireless one. The lenses I am selling with the camera are the 18-55mm kit lens and the 75-300mm zoom lens. E-mail me at oliviaandsophia@gmail.com if you are interested. This has been a fabulous camera and I would love to see it go to a good home than to sit in the closet collecting dust!

So excited!!!

2009-05-24T15:40:00.003-04:00

The wonderful Pixel Fairy Princess had a lot of giveaways this week and it was so much fun to participate. I was awarded (as were many others) one of her Lightroom presets called The Dude. On Thursday, she had a photo challenge with a the prize being a free workshop. Part of the challenge was that we had to use one of her presets and I used The Dude -- I have others but used that one as I hadn't used it before. Other people voted on the pictures and you couldn't vote for yourself, Debbie or Launna. Well I found out this morning that I tied with another lady and Debbie awarded BOTH of us a workshop. I am so excited and can't wait to take it. I am already registered for the KY workshop and I think now I am going to be in Chicago in August for the one I won -- Happy Birthday to me! I checked out the flight info and think we will be able to swing it -- arriving about 11:30 on Friday and leaving about 6:00 on Sunday. I will be able to meet some fellow bloggers and one fellow Lovebug Colleen! Now for the photo I submitted:

A picture heavy post

2009-05-18T18:30:00.003-04:00

We finally had some great weather yesterday so the girls and I did a photo shoot. We used my favorite in-laws hayfield and barn as a back drop.

My Grandmother turned 90......

2009-05-17T22:39:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday my Grandmother turned 90! We had a dinner for her at Huber's which is where we celebrated her 80th birthday too. David and I did not get to stay for all of it as his truck driving championship was the same day and we had to go to the banquet to see if he won. Well he did not win but he did come in second again.
The Birthday girl:

My niece Alexis:

My nephew Luke:

My neice and nephew Bailee and Josh:

My step-greatniece Diamond:

Sophia and Olivia in one of Daddy's trucks:

Sophia and Grandpa (David's dad) sharing a secret:

PFP is doing a workshop in KY

2009-05-12T11:32:00.003-04:00

I am so excited The Pixel Fairy Princess is coming to KY for one of her workshops. The workshop is going to be in Lexington the weekend of June 26th to June 28th. I am so thrilled to be taking this workshop as I feel I can continue to learn what she taught me in Austin plus more -- especially using the flash the right way! It is my hope that I learn enough that I might be able to turn this hobby of mine into something more. Visit her website for more information about the workshops.

Just some Derby pics...

2009-05-08T16:33:00.002-04:00

What a Derby!

2009-05-03T00:23:00.002-04:00

We went to a Derby party at our good friends house. We had 14 kids and 12 adults and I don't know who had more fun! The adults had food, drinks (Bourbon Slush), betting on races and corn hole games and the kids had food, bike riding and swimming even though it was cool here today -- I think the high hit 60! We knew that the only way we'd get them to be quiet about going swimming is to just let them get in and see for themselves how cold it was. The pool water was 69 and Liv said it was cold. Sophia was the last one out. I had to make her get out. I do have a few pictures of that but I will have to edit them tomorrow er later today and hopefully get them posted soon. Unfortunately the swimming is all I have pictures of. I was in charge of the desserts as it was told to me this week that my desserts are the only reason they keep me in the group. LOL I made Peanut Butter Balls which I got the recipe from this lovely lady. I also made a "Run for the Roses" pie, chocolate chip cookies and a queso dip. While we didn't bet the winner we came out with a little money -- we won one race and we did bet on the second place horse but boy do I wish I'd put $2 on that long shot horse that won!

Pictures.....

2009-04-30T22:31:00.002-04:00

David is on vacation this week and Monday's weather was was gorgeous so we went down to the river and ate outside at Captain's Quarters. The food was great and of course I took my camera. ;-)

Bloggers meet....

2009-04-20T08:53:00.003-04:00

I had the awesome pleasure of meeting some bloggers that I follow. Most of them are here local and although a few of us have kids about the same age we had never met in person.
In attendance we had:
Gin who got her LOA for a little Jiangxi beauty
Leslie from My Girls who has 2 beautiful girls
Me
Marla from Legos and TuTus whose Adalyn is just a sweet spitfire.
Felicia from The Fleur-de-lis Cottage whose Ava is such a sweetheart.
Missy from Live Big and Laugh Often whose pictures of her sister Paige are gorgeous and who drove up to meet us
Lisa from The Long Road to China whose pictures are as awesome as she is. Lisa was in town on business and we thought what better time for us to meet.

We had such an awesome time and the girls ask when they will see their new friends again. Missy and I had hoped to do a photo shoot Friday but unfortunately she woke up with a bad headache and decided to drive home. Hope you are feeling better Missy!

After the storms.....

2009-04-13T20:20:00.000-04:00

McNeely Lake

2009-04-05T21:47:00.002-04:00

I took the girls to a park that has a lake for a short photo shoot. I have been having issues tonight with LR so I only have a few edited...

I love these girls

2009-04-03T22:23:00.002-04:00

I am really trying new things with my camera and trying to get the hang of it especially taking indoor photos where I don't have much natural light. I find I am having to bump up the ISO (at least 1600) to get a decent picture. I am going to post a few pics I took this afternoon. Also, Olivia has strep throat again! Ugh!

Just a couple of pics from this evening....

2009-04-01T22:10:00.002-04:00

I took the girls out side this evening for some photos. I am still a little confused on getting Olivia's eyes where she isn't squinting -- she does that when she smiles and on not having shadows on one side of their face. I used my reflector and that helped some with Sophia but Olivia.....sigh.....

6 yr well check up and a question (again!)

2009-03-31T22:32:00.002-04:00

Olivia turned 6 earlier this month and today was her 6 yr old check up. She was actually supposed to have it earlier in the month but since she had strep throat I had to reschedule it. She is very healthy but tiny. She is in the 3rd percentile weighing 32 pounds and 41.5 inches tall. Her doctor is quite please with how she is progressing. Currently she is still in a 5 pt harness car seat. I know that most of her Kindergarten class and most of the other Kindergarteners at her school are in booster seats. I asked her doctor today about moving her because at her growth rate (1 to 2 pounds per year) she could likely not hit 40 pounds (which is what most of the booster seats I've looked at start pound-wise) until middle school and could you imagine what that would do for her self-esteem. He said there were some booster seats that start at 30 pounds but the thought of transitioning her scares me as I know she is safest in the 5 pt harness. So I have been thinking of getting a booster seat and letting her in that once she starts first grade in August as I especially want to keep her in the 5 pt until we get back from vacation in late July. Actually if I want to keep her in the 5 pt I would need to get a new car seat as this one is just over 5 yrs old. Thoughts?

An update to my previous post

2009-03-27T21:36:00.003-04:00

First of all I want to thank all of you for your kind words. It really makes me feel better to know that I was not being over-sensitive. Second I wanted to report that I did talk to the teacher this morning and she knew about the incident yesterday and that she sent a note home to this child's parents. She was unaware of the first incident and said she would say something as it is a policy not to hand out invitations at school unless everyone was invited. She understood my position and my concerns. While I was in the carpool line waiting for Olivia to get buckled in I thanked her teacher for talking to me this morning. She told me that she talked to the class today about how hurtful inviting some to a party and not others was. She also told me that she got a note back from the parents from yesterday's incident and they had no clue what she handed out but it was not an invitation to a party as they don't have one scheduled. She also told me that she was going to send a note home to all the parents the first day back from Spring Break gently reminding them about the inviting all or none rule.

Thanks for everything y'all!

Why do people do this?

2009-03-26T21:23:00.006-04:00

As everyone knows Olivia is in Kindergarten this year. It has brought some trials especially now that birthday times are here as the kids turn 6. Olivia is a very observant girl. She knows when things are not as equal to everyone. I purposely did not invite her classmates to her party for a couple of reasons: 1) It was at a place where I would have had to pay for each individual and honestly we just couldn't afford that as she had 10 non-school friends coming and there are 23 in her school class so we are talking 33 kids. 2) Kindergarten is different than her preschool because there is a carpool line in K where I had to take her to her preschool class where I was able to get to know the moms and kids so I just felt a little uncomfortable inviting kids whose parents I didn't know.

Recently 2 of the girls in her class have had birthday parties and only gave invitations to some of the class (both boys and girls). I think if it is a case where these kids went to preschool together then the parent should have made an effort to call the parent of the kid they wanted to invite or sent them an invitation in the mail instead of having either their child or the teacher hand them out. As it is, they hurt other kids feelings (MY KID!)by inviting only some of the class and not all. If Olivia's feeling were hurt, I am sure she was not alone as she tends to let things roll and not let anything get to her but this was different. Tonight was the 2nd time in the last few weeks that she has cried about it.

I feel that when kids are this age it does hurt when you aren't invited to a party when others in the class are. If I had invited one person to a party I would invite them all with the exception of if it was an all girl/boy party as long as but I would have invited all the girls/boys in the class. So now a question to my readers, do you invite all the class or just part of it? Am I just being overly sensitive?

Beautiful weather, beautiful girls...

2009-03-22T20:41:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we had some beautiful weather. We took the girls to waterfront park to play and of course for me to take some pictures. Once we got there Sophia did not want to cooperate for individual pictures but did take a few with Olivia. After we were done there we went across the river for supper. A great time was had by all.....

New cookbook!

2009-03-18T17:47:00.004-04:00

Well, I have been in a cooking rut lately and needed some new recipes. A DTC/Agency/Bloggy friend did a fundraiser for one of her daughters to go overseas this summer with a group called people to people. Laurie's daughter Jordan asked for recipes so she could make a cookbook to sell and raise funds for her trip. I submitted a recipe (actually I had intended to send a few more but sadly I only sent one) and so did a bunch of others. Well, Laurie sent me the cookbook the other day and it is fantastic! I tried a recipe (Parmesan Chicken)tonight that my family loved submitted by Anne a DTC/Bloggy friend. If you are in the need for a cookbook and would like to help a fellow adoptive mom (actually her daughter) raise funds, check out her blog.

More from today...

2009-03-17T22:53:00.001-04:00

Sophia

2009-03-17T18:52:00.002-04:00

We had a beautiful day here today so Sophia and I went to the park for some photos. Here are 2 pictures from today.....

I am officially done with winter and all that comes with it!

2009-03-09T15:36:00.003-04:00

I am through with winter! Olivia woke up with a fever (again!) on Saturday morning and complaining about her throat hurting. Just what we needed ON HER BIRTHDAY!! She was to meet her travel group friends for their annual photo shoot and reunion party. I advised the parents and they wanted her to join them. She acted fine but the fever hung around. Although she didn't have a fever this morning I kept her home from school and took her to the doctor. She had a rash on her stomach and yes you guessed it she has strep! UGH!! 2 more times before July 1st and the ole' tonsils come out.

I will post about the reunion tonight! We had a fabulous time and the girls really enjoyed it!

Fountain

2009-02-26T22:07:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of a fountain in Austin that I took Saturday night. Unfortunately we got there too late and barely had time to set up to take this picture.

Whew!

2009-02-24T13:57:00.005-05:00

I had a fantastic weekend meeting some great people. I got to meet a great DTC/bloggy friend (Marla) for the first time. It was wonderful to finally meet her. I got to meet another blogger (Kim) and her friend (Bagel -- her name on Kim's blog)as well as another adoptive mom (Jody) and another fellow learner (Lizabeth). Learning from Debbie was great! I just hope I am able to retain all the information given to me! Princess in Training and Prince Charming were amazing! Those kids sure know how to work the camera! Jody's husband brought their 3 kids (Zachary, Cooper and Gracie) and were equally photogenic! We went on location to a park for some afternoon photos and a restaurant for the sunset. The restaurant chosen for the sunset photos was absolutely perfect!

2 Firecrackers and Lovebugs to meet FINALLY!

2009-02-19T15:10:00.005-05:00

In 24 hours from now, I will be arriving in Dallas/Ft Worth meeting this fabulous lady! It is a day I have been looking forward to for a month and a half now! She and I will be meeting after "talking" online for almost 6 years. I can't wait to meet her and the fabulous 4 J's. We are looking forward to taking the photo workshop Saturday and Sunday given by this great photographer. We both got new cameras last summer and are eagerly wanting to learn how to use them better. See you tomorrow my friend!

A new pic...

2009-02-10T20:44:00.004-05:00

I am really trying to get out of Auto mode on my camera. Some are good and some are not. I am also trying an editing program out although I have no idea what I'm doing!
Taken at the FCC CNY:

A pic taken tonight:

Pictures from yesterday

2009-02-04T09:44:00.003-05:00

I wanted to add some pictures from yesterday. The first three were taken in Manual and the last in Auto. The first looks a little blurry. Can't wait to take the photo workshop in 17 days so I can take pictures like her! She took fabulous pictures before the workshop but they are even better now!

Can't believe it has been 5 years....

2009-02-03T22:12:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it has been 5 years since our lovely Olivia joined our family. Technically it was 5 years ago yesterday that we actually got her but since we got our babies at 9:30 pm and had to do the adoption part the next morning our family celebrates the adoption day as Family Day. Today she went to school after being out ALL week plus Monday of this week due to the snow and ice. After school, we took her (and Sophia of course) to Build A Bear. She picked a pink bear with hearts on it. For dinner, she chose to go to Olive Garden and for dessert we had ice cream. Yes it is freezing outside (-5 with the wind chill) and snowing again but I sucked it up and we had ice cream. Olivia was such a peanut then and she still is. I can remember calling her peanut so much in China that I had to stop for fear that she would think that was her name. LOL I don't know how she stays so little because the girl can eat. A friend says that Olivia is on the Adkins diet as most of what she eats is meats!

She is such a joy (most days) and smart. She loves gymnastics, school and her family. She is reading now and learning math and money in school. Funny tidbit about money - she can tell you the person on each dollar bill that is currently in circulation. It all started just after we got home with Sophia so she was not quite 3 yet and we went to the store with my mom. She was with my mom and wanted to hold the money while mom checked out using the self checkers. Well, ever the inquisitive child, she asked who that was on the bill so mom told her it was Andrew Jackson and that he was on the $20 bill. Many months after that if she saw a $20 bill she would pipe up and say Andrew Jackson. So we have since taught her all the people on the bills. She loves that she can identify money in this way.
***Yes I have photos from today but it is late and I have to download them still. I did get a chance to get out of Auto on the camera and I hope the pics turn out as good as I think they did!

Snow and ice

2009-01-29T10:18:00.002-05:00

Well, school has been out since Tuesday and it doesn't look like they'll have it tomorrow either. We got a small amount of snow on Monday night and by Tuesday morning it was ice/freezing rain on top of the snow. So unfortunately there was no playing in the snow. Yesterday morning we lost power and phone service. The power was out about 14 hours and the phone is still out but thankfully we do have DSL.

Sickness Update

2009-01-20T23:31:00.002-05:00

Well, I am feeling much better. I commented to my sister-in-law last week that I haven't had to deal with the throw-up with either girl but tonight that changed. Sophia apparently threw up on the way home from Olivia's gymnastics but didn't say anything. She was more upset that she got it all over her shirt than the actual act. Once we got in the house, I showed both girls what to do should they feel the need to throw up and my girl can do that like a champ. She did it twice in the commode. Hopefully that is all she has. It has been several hours now and no repeat but I don't want to get ahead of myself. I think this might be a long night......

Sickness

2009-01-19T10:47:00.002-05:00

Well, the stomach bug hit our house over the weekend and thankfully it was just me that was on the receiving end. David is feeling it a little on one end but went to work any way. What a trooper! We went out to dinner Saturday night and bam! it hit me. I spent most of Saturday night in the bathroom. Yesterday I felt a ton better but not enough to brave eating. I was so thristy Saturday night/Sunday morning but was scared to drink anything for fear that it would be coming back up soon. I am so praying that the girls do not get it. My brother's family all got it but I am hoping it started and stopped with me!

She does it again.......

2009-01-13T10:29:00.002-05:00

Marla has done it again! She has given me a fresh new look and I love it!! Now I just need to take a new photo of the girls for the header. I can't wait to finally meet her next month! February 20th I will be flying to Dallas and from there she and I will be driving to Austin for the weekend for a fabulous photo workshop. 38 more days!!!!

So excited!!!

2009-01-09T16:07:00.004-05:00

I am so excited I can't stand it! My darling husband has agreed to let me go to Texas to a photo workshop by The Pixel Fairy Princess where I will also FINALLY get to meet my bestest DTC/Bloggy friend Marla! It is going to be the best since I get to meet someone in real life that I have been "talking to" for over 5 years and I will get to learn more about my camera all in the same weekend!

Christmas 2008 is now a thing of the past....

2008-12-28T21:19:00.004-05:00

We had a great Christmas. It started on Sunday evening making and decorating the Christmas cookies at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Olivia really got into it this year.
Then on Christmas Eve we got up and went to Grandma and Grandpa's for breakfast and gifts. Olivia and Sophia each got a school desk which were a huge hit! They also got a markers, tape dispenser (I was tired of them using all my tape!), stapler, 3 hole punch and construction paper. They have had a ball with all of them. Once we got home from G-ma and G-pa's, they got to open a gift from us. It had new pj's and a dry erase board (it has a blank side and a side to practice writing words). Normally we would have my family here on Christmas Eve but since my dad wasn't leaving FL until then we waited to have my family over until Friday. My mom, my nephew Josh and his girlfriend came over for dinner anyway. After dinner, we went to church and Derek and Adam came over. (Derek and Adam are David's step-children from his first marriage.) Finally, Christmas Eve has come to a close.

Christmas morning we had donuts as requested by Olivia. After breakfast, we opened gifts. Olivia got a new bike and helmet, Pixos and a Panda bear from Santa and clothes, books and movies from us and a snowcone maker from Sophia. Sophia got the Cherry Blossom Market, V-Motion game and a baby doll from Santa along with clothes, books and movies from us and a book to go with the Tag Reading system she got for her birthday from Olivia. The book Olivia got her was.....Olivia -- imagine that! After that we went to David's extended family lunch. The kid's got gifts and we sang/acted out the 12 days of Christmas based on your birth month. Sophia didn't want to participate but I think a fun time was had by all.

The day after Christmas was spent lounging around and waiting for my family to come over. My dad did make it over about 1:30ish and he came with a project. He and Olivia (Sophia got uninterested real quick) spent some quality time together making chocolate covered peanut butter crackers. Olivia had a blast and it was nice to see my dad taking an interest in the girls. I have another post for another day on that subject. My brother and his family (and my mom) came over for dinner and gift exchanging. A fun time was had here as well.

Yes, I have pictures of all of these events and will post them soon. My laptop is in the shop being repaired and I hope it gets back soon. I soooo miss my laptop.

I really, really hate this time of the year.....

2008-12-19T18:50:00.003-05:00

Well, I finally have one better then the other one gets it! Ugh! Since November 1st we are on our 5th round of antibiotic -- 3 for Olivia and 2 for Sophia. Today Sophia was great. She went to gymnastics and then we went to an International Adoption playgroup sponsored by a local church and as the play time went on she started hanging on me and not wanting to play. We went to lunch with our friends and while we were waiting to order she climbed into my lap. I laid my cheek on her head and I thought she felt like she had a fever. Well, since Olivia and Kaden had strep and she had been around both I called the doctor. They called in an antibiotic for her. Ugh, I am ready for April!

I'm beginning to hate winter....

2008-12-17T17:30:00.003-05:00

I am beginning to hate winter and all it brings with it. Olivia had a snow day yesterday and is home today and tomorrow with yet another bout of strep throat! This is her third one since November 1st. Ugh! She slept a lot yesterday but I didn't think too much about it since we had a busy weekend and I just presumed she was trying to catch up. Then my MIL called to tell me that our nephew had strep throat and he was around the girls on Sunday so when Olivia had a temp of 100.8 at 1:30 am I knew what was coming. Thankfully Kaden and my girls go to the same pediatricians office so they called in a script for her and I didn't have to take her in. She is feeling better but has not totally gotten rid of her fever so no school for her tomorrow. And boy is it COLD here! Is it April yet??

The hair story

2008-12-11T21:10:00.005-05:00

Well, as I said a couple of posts ago I went to Gatlinburg for a long weekend. A fun time was had by all. My SIL got a nice pair of houseshoes made out for Kotex with Santas on them!
Now for the hair.....Olivia has just recently been allowed access to her scissors any time she wanted them. Apparently they were absconded by a certain little (now 4!) girl. On Sunday we went to the grocery when I got home, came back gave the girls a bath, got them ready for bed and said the prayer in Sophia's room as is our routine. When I combed her hair after her bath I thought something was different about her hair but just assumed that either she had a lot of new growth or her hair was breaking because of the pony that goes in the top of her hair. Well, I was in Olivia's room having some time with her before bed and David yells for me to come into Sophia's room. Between her chest and bed were the missing scissors and a lot of hair. David was hoping the hair was from a doll but I knew the truth -- Sophia had cut her hair. She cut it right from the front. You really can't tell too much but because I know I can tell.

Happy 4th Birthday Sophia!

2008-12-11T11:43:00.003-05:00

Today my baby turned 4! Sophia is a spunky little girl that can have an attitude at times. She is also so loving and caring. She's had a few sleep issues but we think they are resolved. This weekend she got some scissors and cut her hair -- I will do another post about that! Anyway, Happy birthday baby girl! We love you!! BTW -- yes she had a cupcake for breakfast! Daddy works more of a 2nd shift so we didn't want him to miss out on the cake/candle thing!

New look...

2008-12-04T09:12:00.003-05:00

I have to give props to my girl Marla for my new look! She does a wonderful job on my blog. Thanks girl!

Well, I am about to head out for a girls weekend with my wonderful MIL and her family. We are headed to Gatlinburg for some shopping, fun and destressing! I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures for blackmail later. LOL Have a great weekend everyone!

Gymnastics

2008-12-03T22:57:00.004-05:00

Olivia had her first gymnastics meet last month and did great! Her favorite is the bars but was better at the beam for this meet. She had a mishap last week during practice and fell off the beam. She hit one arm and the inside of one leg near her private area which had a nice little bruise. Here are a few pics.

5 Years Ago......

2008-11-19T17:18:00.005-05:00

Five years ago today we got the call that would forever change our lives. Suzanne (a family coordinator at our agency) called me at work. Just as I was e-mailing a fellow travelmate that I guess we would not be getting our calls that day and that it was hard to bear as most of our February Firecrackers DTC group had already gotten their calls (Hi Marla!!) two days prior so we were about crazy with wonder when ours was going to come. Just as I was telling S that I knew it was all in God's timing but tell that to my heart the phone rang at work and I heard the receptionist say "May I tell her who is calling? Just a moment." I quickly typed "I'm on the call now!" to S. It was our agency telling me we had a beautiful daughter who was 7.5 months old and in the Jiangxi Province. I tried to call David and my BFF (at the time) and got neither. I finally got both of them and we made our trek to our agency to see our daughter for the first time. She was a tiny peanut and still is today. She is now 5.5 and enjoying Kindergarten.

At what age??

2008-11-18T13:56:00.005-05:00

Question for all who have nieces and nephews that are adult age -- At what age do you stop buying Christmas gifts (actually mine prefer money) for them? I have a nephew that is now 20 years old and of course I will be giving him something this year but I am curious as to what everyone else does. Leave me a comment and give me your opinions.

Tagged.....

2008-11-06T14:52:00.003-05:00

I have been tagged my my friend Marla at Life With 4 Js to tell 8 interesting things about myself. I don't remember what I have told before but here goes nothin':

1.) I am the oldest of 3 siblings. I have 2 younger brothers.

2.) For the first time since turning 13 I got a birthday card from my dad this year. He usually forgets but he has no excuse now since I gave him a calendar with all the family birthday's on it for Christmas last year. LOL

3.) I love to take pictures and would love to take a photography class to learn more about my camera. I once worked in the Sear's Portrait Studio.

4.) Unlike Marla, I hate coffee. I love the smell of it especially while its brewing but I can't stand the taste of it. Also, the coffee aisle is our favorite!

5.) I got braces when I was 23 years old - on my youngest brother's 18th birthday.

6.) I loved school especially math. I used to keep ALL of my old school papers and am now keeping all of Olivia's. Is there a 12 step program for that? LOL

7.) We live next to my in-laws who happen to be the best in-laws any girl could ask for and I'm not just saying that because they read the blog. LOL

8.) I am really good with remembering numbers - birthday's, phone number's etc. My friends used to just call me when they need a number because they knew I'd remember it!

Well, that's 8. I am supposed to tag 8 people but I know this has gone around so if you haven't done it and want to participate leave me a comment so I can check yours out.

3 years ago today.....

2008-11-01T13:02:00.003-04:00

.....this lovely girl was placed in our arms! It is hard to believe that 3 years has gone by. Sophia is a funny, smart, beautiful little girl that loves her family, gymnastics and sports. Some things about Sophia:

She's counting to 20 skipping 15 just like her big sister!
She loves to color and she is actually quite good for her age.
She loves her Leapster and has learned so much.
She is really starting to play with baby dolls all the time.
She has quite a temper at times.
She is currently 36 pounds and is about 40 inches tall.
She is working on writing her letters. Her teachers are commenting about how good she is. Of course I think having a sister in Kindergarten is helping a ton with this.

We are hoping to go out tonight to celebrate her Family Day but that might have to be on hold. Olivia started getting a fever last night and complained of a tummy ache. She still had the fever this morning so we went to the doctor and came away with a positive strep culture and a precription. She still has a fever and if it doesn't go away soon we won't be going out tonight. I had planned on taking the girls to a local forest/park today for a photo shoot but with Olivia being sick we decided to put that on hold. I am hoping that Sophia doesn't get sick too as she slept in Olivia's room for the first time last night. Even sleeping with Olivia didn't help the coming into our room. She still came in there about 5:44 this morning. I hope I will have some pictures of Sophia from today to post later tonight but for now enjoy these two -- one from Family Day in 2005 and the other from the end of September.

Happy Halloween!!

2008-10-31T15:08:00.004-04:00

I hope everyone has a very happy halloween! My girls will (most likely) not be going out tonight but don't worry they have plenty of halloween candy! We went to the zoo earlier this month and our church had a fall festival complete with Trunk or Treat. Going door to door with my kids is just not something I am very comfortable with. It is different these days than they were when I was a young kid. Also, we do not live in a subdivision so I would have to drive to one somewhere. Olivia has only gone out once and that was in 2004. I did go to a friend's neighborhood (no longer friends) then but in 2005 we were in China getting Sophia. My kids are so scared of a lot of the decorations and costumes that it is way easier to stay home. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post -- Sophia's family day!

Miss O's first report card....

2008-10-22T17:47:00.002-04:00

Miss Olivia got her first report card this week. She did very well. She knows all 80 of the Kindergarten sight words, can count to 100 by 1s and 10s, knows her shapes, can do a pattern and many other things. We have a conference on the 6th and I can't wait to see what the teacher says. I know one thing she is going to say -- she needs to talk less! Olivia is really close to reading. She has read a few small (easy) books. I am so very proud of her!

Cute shirts!

2008-10-16T10:31:00.004-04:00

My girls are having a photo session with their friends and in trying to find a "photo theme" one family had shirts given to them that we decided to go with they are cute. Well our shirts arrived today and I am so happy with them! All the girls are going to have different bow and thread color for their name. I ordered them from Mollygram on ebay. She is great to work with and very fast!

Another great new look......

2008-10-15T15:49:00.002-04:00

I have another great look courtesy of my great friend Marla. She loves to experiment and I love to let her! Thanks Marla!! And if this works, she will have taught me how to do the linky thing! Yay!

A new issue.....

2008-10-15T11:45:00.003-04:00

There is something going on in my sweet Sophia's head that I wish I knew what it was. She has been waking up in the middle of the night for about a month and a half maybe longer. She would go back to bed but she heard some friends talking about sleeping in their parents room if it stormed and so she wanted to do that. So I agreed that if it rained/stormed she could sleep in my floor. Well she is coming in our room every night and most nights I don't even know she's there. She sleeps on the floor between my side of the bed and the dresser. I tried putting down a blanket so she would have something softer to sleep on but she put it back on the cedar chest it had been on before. What is it about sleeping on the hard floor in my room she likes so much? She has also still clingy at drop-off for school. She hold onto my leg and doesn't want to stay but if I leave the room she is fine. I don't know if it is a separation anxiety she's going through or what. My MIL picked Sophia up at school last Wednesday and when she got home she kind of cried, hugged me hard and said "Mommy, I missed you so much."

Are you a chatter box?

2008-10-12T18:08:00.005-04:00

Olivia is and has always been quite the talker. She started talking at about 15 months old and has not stopped. She has gotten in trouble a few times in school this year for talking. At first I was upset about it but someone said at least she is making herself known. She said I don't think the teachers know who my child is as he is so quiet. Anyway, I saw this shirt that said chatter box on it at Gap and it made me think of Olivia so I bought it for her. She has worn it to school a few times. I saw Olivia's teacher at the school's fall festival and she asked me if Olivia told me what happened one time she wore this shirt. I said no and was quite cautious about what I was going to hear. Well, apparently they had an assembly with an author that lives here and the author saw her shirt. So she asked Olivia if she was a chatter box and guess what Olivia's answer was......It was "No, I'm Chinese." I thought this was so cute! Oh how I love this girl!

Introducing Lucas James

2008-09-25T10:41:00.004-04:00

My (baby) brother and sister-in-law welcomed a beautiful new baby boy into the world at 7:52 last night. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 21" long. He has an 8 yo very proud big sister and a 20.5 month old big brother. He is such a cutie and I can't wait to see this little person grow up.

Power Update!

2008-09-17T16:19:00.003-04:00

Well, the girls have been out of school all week so far but it looks like they got the last 2 schools up and running today as they HAVE school tomorrow! Yay! They started with 5 schools out on Monday and as of last night only had 2 out. The neighboring county still has about 49 schools without power and are closed the rest of the week. They still have about 152,000 homes in the dark -- several of our friends included. I hope everyone is having a great week!

Our weekend and Ike

2008-09-15T16:23:00.003-04:00

We had a wonderful weekend in Nashville. We ate dinner at the Rainforest Cafe Friday night and shopped in Opry Mills. We found a great Chinese store there and bought the girls new outfits for Chinese New Year. Olivia can't get any taller or hers won't fit come February! Saturday we went to the Country Music Hall of Fame, walked downtown and ate a late lunch/early supper. After taking a nap, we went to the Opryland Hotel and took their little river cruise. Sunday we ate breakfast and drove home.

On the drive home, we experienced some rain and lots of high winds. We had 65-75 mph winds here and once we arrived home found out we were powerless. Our power was out for about 3.5 hours. Apparently our county still has some schools without power as school is cancelled again tomorrow. Our neighboring county has 100 schools without power and 301,00 customers in the dark. This does not bode well with the Ryder Cup starting there tomorrow! They expect it to take 10-14 days to restore the power to every one.

15 Years together....

2008-09-11T21:47:00.003-04:00

David and I celebrated our 15th anniversary yesterday. I can't believe it has been 15years already. We have had our ups and downs (mostly up) over the years but who would have guessed that getting married after meeting 6 months prior that we'd have lasted this long. LOL He is the love of my life and I can't image what my life would have been like without him in it. We are going to Nashville, TN tomorrow for a few days and the girls are staying with the grandparents. Here are 2 pics from that day:

Sophia's first day of school

2008-09-11T17:00:00.004-04:00

Sophia had her first day of school last month. She loves her teachers even though she does not have her beloved Tanner in her class this year -- she moved up to young 4s and he is in the 3 yo class. Next year, Tanner and Sophia will be together again as we are going to request they be together in the Pre-K classes. She has started clinging to me when we get to class but is fine once I leave. She has never been like this and I hope it passes soon!

Welcome to my new look.....

2008-09-11T10:44:00.007-04:00

.....thanks to my DTC and Bloggy buddy Marla at Life With 4 J's. She wanted to try her hand at making over a blog and I was her willing guinea pig uh I mean participant. I think she has done a wonderful job! Now if she could just teach me how to link within the post I'd be good to go! Thanks for all your hard work Marla! I love the new look!!

Thank you all!

2008-09-04T14:49:00.004-04:00

I just wanted to extend my heartfelt thanks to all the sweet comments on the passing of our beloved dog Snowball. We are doing better but we still miss him and expect to see him every time we get home.

I have a couple of posts I need to do -- like Sophia's first day of school and her referral day. We have Olivia's travel group coming here Saturday to go to the zoo and one of the families is spending tomorrow night with us. I haven't told the girls yet but I know that Liv will be excited that Em (her "sister") is spending the night and Sophia will be equally excited that L (her "sister") will be here too along with their other sister B. This wonderful family is a family that we were blessed to travel with both times. We can't wait!

Rest In Peace.......

2008-09-01T08:15:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was a hard day. Snowball woke up and was not acting well and spitting up tiny amounts of blood. We decided that he was suffering and that we were going to have him put to sleep so he wouldn't suffer any longer. I called my mom so she could stay with the girls. Once she got here, I got in the truck with Snowball and waited on David to say goodbye to our crying girls. As he was saying goodbye, Snowball died in my lap. Lots of crying ensued by all and we decided to go to the vet anyway because he was still spasming and his heart was beating -- very slowly. By the time we got to the vet, he had stopped the spasms and we decided not to let them look at him and came home. The ground is so hard here as we have not had much rain all summer so we have not burried him yet but will be doing so today.

A terrible night...

2008-08-30T15:37:00.003-04:00

Last night was horrible. We went out to dinner with some friends, went to the airport to welcome a FCC family home and then went for ice cream -- that was the good part. The drive home was horrible. Olivia has a hard time not talking and using an indoor voice especially in a car. At home it doesn't bother me as much but the car, well it is just extremely loud and gives me a headache and last night was no exception. After being asked several times to quiet down, I made Olivia give me her beloved Taggie for the remainder of the ride home and night. Well, she did not like that and told me that she was not going to be my kid anymore and in Olivia fashion she kept repeating it over and over and over.....well you get the picture. I basically kept quiet (and quietly crying) for the rest of the ride home. We were about to turn onto our street and she said it one more time and I lost it. I said that if she wasn't going to be my kid then I wasn't going to be her mommy anymore. Yes, I know it was not the right thing to say and I feel awful for saying it but I had to show her how words you don't mean can hurt people. She went in her room when she got home just crying and crying and I felt awful because I caused the crying. I got Sophia ready for and put her in bed before tackling Olivia and this issue we were having. I went into Liv's room and got some pj's out and changed her. We then talked about how we both said things that we didn't mean and how I would ALWAYS be her mommy. I think there may be some underlying issue there but I didn't press it last night. I just held her, talked to her about our words and how they hurt, and about how we need to use our indoor voices in both the house and the car. Today has been great.....so far!

Today is my day!

2008-08-27T12:26:00.004-04:00

Well, today is my birthday -- one I have not been looking forward to. My husband and mother did this to me:

I want to give a BIG THANK YOU to my dear friend Marla at http://lifewith4js.blogspot.com/ (why can't I get this link thing to work?!) for my birthday present! She sent me some cookies from Harry and David for my birthday. She is such a dear friend and I am so glad we met 5 years ago on our adoption quests. One of these days I am going to meet her in person! Thanks my dear friend! Talk to you tonight!

Update on Snowball

2008-08-22T11:23:00.002-04:00

Well, I just got back from the vet - again. The news is not good. They did an ultrasound on his heart this morning and have determined that he is now in Advanced Heart Failure and decreasing rapidly. I asked about how much time we would have with him and he said probably 6 months or so. They called in a script to help his coughing and are keeping him on the other 2 meds he's been taking. I am going to miss my boy......

School can wear you out......

2008-08-19T12:55:00.003-04:00

Cooking supper last week (day 3 of school) I walked into the living room and this is what I found:

She is loving school. She got her name in the "excellent can" yesterday and was so excited! I am not exactly sure what that is but it means she got to pick some candy out of the candy box and she thought of her mommy when she picked as she got one of my favorites -- banana Laffy Taffy -- just for me! Oh how I love this girl!

Where did my baby go? (and other stuff)

2008-08-14T21:51:00.002-04:00

Sophia has just gone and grown up on me this summer. She is now 3.5 and is doing different things at this age than Olivia did. There is even one thing that she's doing that Olivia can't do. Sophia is swinging all by herself. She can get started and it is her favorite thing to do. Olivia was 4.25 yo before she figured this out. She can also snap her fingers and she is actually quite good at it. This is the thing that Olivia can't do and although she does try hard she just can't get it down. Sophia has really been missing Olivia since she's started school but in just over a week it will be her turn.

Olivia had another good day at school. She is very proud of the fact that she didn't get any "sticks" which makes mommy happy too. Sticks is the new discipline thing for this year. Last year they gave red, yellow or green stamps/cards but this year have changed. Today they had PE and that must have worn her out because she fell asleep on the couch while I made dinner tonight. Poor little thing.

I wanted to give an update on our dog. Snowball was diagnosed with a heart murmur and the medicine is helping some. I took him back last week and they did a chest x-ray for which I got the results yesterday. They are now telling me he has early heart failure. From what I have read that this is fairly treatable but my main concern is that it is cutting off his air supply when he does go into his "episodes" which are still happening more than I like. There is something pushing his trachea up and cutting off his oxygen. We have an appointment to take him tomorrow to see what all our options are. The vet said he may give him another medication on top of the ones he's already taking.

Second day complete

2008-08-13T16:12:00.002-04:00

Well, Olivia's second day of school is complete. There is a carpool drop-off which is something she is not used to. A 5th grader helped her to class and she had a great day. The teachers assistant that brought her to the car made a comment that made me proud. She said they are all fighting over Olivia and wanting her in their class. I said "oh really?" and she said yes she is the sweetest little girl. Of course, I knew that but it was nice to hear from someone she's only seen for 2 days.

Officially a Kindergartener

2008-08-12T10:54:00.004-04:00

Well, it is official -- Olivia is a Kindergartener! She was a little apprehensive this morning but did wonderfully. She had her favorite (well one of her favorites) cinnamon rolls for breakfast. It was a toss up between the cinnamon rolls and sausage (with eggs) and the cinnamon rolls won. She walked in like a big girl, found her cubby, put up her back pack and lunch. Then she found her name and sat down. She and another girl named Gracie shared a puzzle while waiting for class to start. Mommy didn't cry but Daddy got tears in his eyes. Here are a few pics for y'all:

The school supplies......

The backpack and matching lunchbox.....

The dress we wanted to wear but had to take back.....

The dress we are now wearing on the first day.....

Outside the classroom.......

In class working a puzzle........

Then and now.....

2008-08-06T15:50:00.005-04:00

I thought it might be fun to show then and now pictures of Olivia and Samantha. The then was taken in June 2005 and the now was taken in July 2008.

Then:Now:

Trip pictures....

2008-08-04T09:32:00.003-04:00

Here are a few of my favorite trip pictures......

Home again!!

2008-08-03T09:21:00.002-04:00

We are home again. We all missed Daddy and he missed us. We did have some fun in Philly and we did get to visit with some friends we hadn't seen in a few years. Our week in review:

Sunday: We left our house in the afternoon and started our way through Ohio. We were able to meet my dear agency and DTC buddy Laurie and her family for dinner. Jenna, Hannah and Jordan were awesome. I wish we'd have had more time to visit with them but it was getting late and we wanted to make it through Ohio that night.

Monday: We made it to Philly. Driving in Philly was an experience but we finally made it to the hotel! Mom needed to pick up some prescriptions so we walked the 4 or 5 blocks to Walgreens. Well they had some printer issues and it took over an hour and a half to get her meds. While she waited on her scripts the girls and I walked down to Chinatown. I was a little disappointed. They were doing some sort of construction on the main road and many of the shops were closed because they didn't have any power. Bummer.

Tuesday: Mom had some training classes so the girls and I did a little swimming. After mom got back from class, we drove over to the Jersey shore -- Atlantic City! No, we did not go into the casinos! While the Boardwalk and the beach was nice we were a little shocked by the surrounding areas that you had to walk through to get to the Boardwalk.

Wednesday: The girls and I visited the Liberty Bell and a few things around there. We then ventured back into NJ and went to Chuck E Cheese's. We were able to meet our travelmate Lisa and her daughters Samantha and Sydnie. Samantha and Olivia were roommates in the orphanage. They hadn't seen each other in 3 years and picked up just where they left off. Sydnie was adopted the same time Sophia was and it was great to meet her. We had a great 3 hours visiting them and playing! Olivia is generally the smallest/shortest in the group but Samantha is even shorter than Olivia! She is a cute, tiny girl! After we got back to the hotel, I took the girls down to the pool and let them swim for a while.

Thursday: I packed up our stuff and we just did some walking around, met mom for lunch and went back to the hotel to take naps. We checked out of the hotel and took off for home. We tried several places to get a hotel room to no avail. We ended up driving much further than we planned but were thankful to have found a room.

Friday: We left our hotel in OH and drove to Columbus. We stopped at a couple of scrapbooking places and left to meet another travelmate for lunch. We met Susan and Tootie (her nickname on her blog) for lunch and had a great time catching up. We are hoping the M family can come to our groups next outting which is in September at the Zoo. It was amazing to see Olivia and Tootie interact with each other. I think it has been about 2 years since they've seen each other and they were so cute together. As much as Olivia is short, Tootie is tall. I was amazed at how much taller T was than Olivia -- probably close to 5.5 inches taller! I wish I could share pictures but privacy is important to Susan as her pics are password protected but let me just say the pics are cute of them interacting. After we left Susan and Tootie, we headed for home.

That was our week in a nut shell. Check back for pics soon.

Another sweetie arrives home...

2008-07-26T22:55:00.003-04:00

Well, I love going to the airport to welcome new arrivals from China and this one was extra special. My very dear friend T traveled to China without her hubby and 2 older girls. She was gone 16 very long days and is thankfully home safe and sound with her new daughter L. She is so adorable and has the CUTEST dimples! It almost makes me want to adopt again (that feeling will be gone in about 2 weeks) but we feel our family is complete. They waited 29 months for their referral and left exactly one month after her referral. With Olivia we waited 9 months for her referral and 10 weeks after referral to travel. With Sophia we got her referral in 6.5 months and traveled 8 weeks later. It saddens me deeply that the wait has gotten so long and if you'd have told me 2.5 years ago that the wait would be this long I would have told you that you were nuts. Never in a million years would I have thought it would be this long. To those waiting, please know our prayers are with you all.

The girls and I are off tomorrow on a "vacation" with my mom. We are going to Philly and will get to meet with several different travel mates - 2 from Olivia's and 1 from Sophia's. We are so excited to see these families. One from Olivia's group is someone that she shared a room with in the orphanage and their cribs were beside each other/end to end to each other. I don't exactly know what I was thinking when I agreed to this trip after being home only one week from our vacation but we will go and have some fun. We are talking like we might go over to the Jersey shore one night to see the beach there. I am hoping to take my laptop and camera cord so I can post pictures but I don't know yet if that will happen since the hotel rooms are not wi-fi nor is it free access.

One of my favorite pics...

2008-07-25T21:03:00.002-04:00

Our first "baby"......

2008-07-25T12:49:00.003-04:00

Our first "baby" is sick. He has been diagnosed as having a heart murmur and fluid around his heart. He is on medication and is doing better. One of the medications he is on is a diuretic which of course makes him want to pee all the time. One of the places he has taken to use as his "place to pee" is MY bed! Oh the laundry this has created. Hopefully he will be on the mend and can do away with that medicine soon.

2006 - 2008.....

2008-07-22T15:13:00.003-04:00

I thought it might be fun to see how the girls have changed in the last 2 years. The first picture was taken in July 2006 and was published in the Love's Journey 2 book. The second is last years picture and the last is this years picture. I can't believe how much they've changed. I can't believe that 3 weeks from today Olivia will have her first day of Kindergarten. Yikes!

Home from Myrtle Beach

2008-07-20T13:42:00.003-04:00

Well, we are home from the beach! We had a great time relaxing, swimming, hanging out at the beach and playing putt-putt. Olivia has really loved swimming this year. She can now do a cannonball and swim from one side of the pool to the other without assistance. Sophia is enjoying the water too. I am afraid I am going to have to get her some private swim lessons as this group session did not really teach her much as there were (in my opinion) too many kids in the class for her to get much individual instruction. She is trying her version of the cannonball and is having so much fun. I know all you really want is to see pictures so here are a few: