Reunions and Weeki Wachee

I'm posting pictures from the last couple of days. We had our long awaited reunion with one family that was part of our adoption travel group. The McDonalds, Patrick, Jennifer and little Elizabeth although I don't think I can call her little Elizabeth any longer. She has grown and is taller than Kelly but Kelly can still take her in the weight department. Elizabeth reminds me of Molly, tall and lean... I was in awe watching her, amazed at the changes from not even a year ago, that I was not focused on taking good pictures and it shows. My pictures turned out to be less than stellar.. I hope the McDonalds got better shots. Regardless I am humbled by the bond that I feel with the McDonalds and all the others in our China travel group. A group of people from all over this country that, by alot of bumps along a roller coaster ride of trying to build a family, end up together and now share an incredible experience that continues to play such an important part in our lives. Our daughters stories will be told with these folks being a big part of it.


Kelly is fussing because, well, she fusses but also she was coming down with an ear infection, fever and sore throat. And she was jealous of Elizabeth. And she was probably hungry... And.... etc.... later this night we were in urgent care getting scripts for her cold. AND this was after Molly was in urgent care that morning with the same. I love vacations....


You want to know whats crazy about this shot. Jennifer is holding Kelly. Those of us that know Kelly get it.


I loved watching Molly and Elizabeth together. I think they recognized kindred spirits in each other. The same energy.

Until we meet again......

And now some pics from....

Florida Fun

Florida vacation pictures! Having Fun!











I love this picture. Kelly standing ready with fork in hand. Anything edible lands itself on the beach she'll be ready!



Will post more soon!

Christmas First's

This year marks many first Christmas moments for K. Ah, the Christmas season. The season of joy, happiness and of giving. Peace on Earth, goodwill toward man...

For some of us it's old hat to be sitting on Santa's lap...



The wonder and magic in a child's face..... (Santa - stuck between naughty and nice)



The Merriment, Joy and wonder of the moment.

(Please note Santa is clutching his heart... I swear I heard him mutter, My God what was that...)



Let's not let this moment pass (without trying again with Daddy's help) so that we will remember it forever.....



Of course there are some moments that aren't so Christmas scary.



Opening the Advent Calendar stocked full of chocolate has become a nice end of night Christmas tradition.


No problem here and don't need Daddy's help.

Merry Christmas - May you have a magical unforgettable Holiday!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving, it's not...

Warning: I'm climbing up on my soapbox. By the way, how big were soapboxes back in the day that anyone with anything to say thought this would be the handy way of getting one's point across?

I digress.

About 2 weeks ago, while driving along, I switched the radio to a favorite channel and what do you think I heard???? Christmas music! Not a Christmas song for every 5 songs in between the regular pop hits, but Christmas tunes all the time, 24 hours a day. I have a real, and let me stress real, pet peeve about the Christmas hoopla before Thanksgiving. I want to honor Thanksgiving. We have much to be truly thankful for such as bringing our daughter home from China, and, how about my sister not getting seriously injured when her car (her brand new car) was hit by someone running a red light. Or, especially in these times, the job we still have, the roof over our head, and the food on our table.

Let us not sweep Thanksgiving under a pile of Black Friday ads and the 20lbs of catalogs you pull from your mailbox with covers screaming at you that you only have so many days to order that special gift for it to ship in time for Christmas!!! Hurry!!!! Hurry!!! You don't want to miss out on this deal!

With all that being said and with the phenomenal weather we've been having lately.... guess what I did last night???? Yes, me.... go ahead and guess......


Yes, I went to see this! Our zoo has a fantastic display of Christmas lights. How could I not go, Hubby's parents called and invited us, the weather was good for a night's stroll and it was so beautiful.


Look at that blue. So blue and icy looking.


K was taking it all in. Her first big Christmas light display! She was equally enamored with the ducks in the lake.


M played with the local wildlife.

So, in closing.. I am very thankful I went last night and will leave you with this short video. If I don't post again before Thursday, Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!

Halloween and New Additions!

We had a wonderful Halloween. M was Frankenstein for trick or treat night, an indian for the school Harvest festival, and K wore M's first Halloween costume and was a bear. When M wore the bear costume she was 4 months old. K is wearing the bear costume at 16 mths old.


Bear with candy and a pumpkin!

I need help opening my candy!!!!


Indian girl!


Frankenstein with our owl cave! Daddy, Bear and Auntie D are in the background!


M's Pumpkin!


Lit up on Trick/Treat night! M receive way too much candy and we actually had some leftover which, I think, is a first for our neighborhood. We get around 200+ kids and are usually worried that we will have enough to make it through the night. We are taking our leftover candy to a local dentist that will buy it back ($1 per lb) and then send it all overseas to our troops. If you want to unload the sugar you can look for a dentist in your area here: http://www.halloweencandybuyback.com/index.html

In other news, we have added to our family. Meet Guinea Pig 1 - to be named later....



And Guinea pig 2.... to be named later also.



And then I have these guys plus 6 more of their friends.



Anyone who knows me gets that I'm crazy about crows. I read a story about a woman who took unshelled peanuts on her daily walks. As crows would fly overhead she would throw the peanuts up in the sky to them. After time they would be waiting for her and would accompany her on her morning strolls.

I thought I'd give it a try realizing that it could take some time. It took 3-4 days. The first day that I heard them cawing in our neighborhood I went out into our backyard and as they flew over I threw peanuts up at them. I saw one of them turn its head and look.

The next day my hubby told me that they showed up in our backyard trees. When I saw one later in my neighbors tree I went out and pitch a few peanuts in our backyard.

This morning all eight of them were in my tree outside the kitchen window cawing. I grabbed a handful of peanuts, went outside and as I was throwing them in the yard the crows never got spooked. They just waited until I went in and started eating. By the way I thought they would crack open the shells and eat the peanut inside but they swallow them whole. You can see this guy gobbling up his peanut, shell and all..

My mornings are now filled with not only getting breakfast for K and M but for Guinea 1 and 2 and Crows 1-8.

How fitting on Halloween weekend to have a murder of crows come for breakfast!

Hope you all had a wonderful, magical, spooky, sugar-filled fun Halloween!

Last Weekend, part 2 - Young's Dairy

If you missed Last Weekend, Part 1 - Glen Helen, scroll below this post.

Young's Dairy Farm is an annual fall must do in our family. We usually get our pumpkins here and have our first tasting of pumpkin and cinnamon ice cream.


No matter how cold it is out we must have our ice cream.


Even me!


This guy was fun to look at and even let me pet him but he kept trying to eat my blanket!


M loves to feed farm animals. She could spend her whole day doing just this!


Or this..... thankfully she isn't old enough to be driving just yet!

The 20th of this month marked our 3 month anniversary of having K in our lives. So much has changed with this little girl in this short amount of time. She has become much more relaxed in her surroundings and we are learning more and more about her with each day.

For example, we didn't know she was an expert pumpkin picker outer.


I see it! Over there, that's the one!!


Follow me, I'll show you....


Perfect pumpkin!


And a perfect day!