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

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}

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

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

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.....

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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....

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!

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

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

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.....

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....

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!

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.