Happy Birthday Jadyn Mei Shu

Today is Jadyn's 7th birthday.  Where does the time go?  I'm so happy that she is our daughter. She has brought so much laughter to our family.  Jadyn is a crazy child.  She loves to be silly & giggle.  Her smile is infectious.  It lights up the room. 

Jadyn, I hope you have a WONDERFUL birthday today. We love you so much. 

Happy Birthday Bill!

Wishing my wonderful husband a Very Happy Birthday today!  I love you Bill! 

Finally....Christmas Pictures

So, we tried getting family pictures taken a few weeks ago.  Actually a month or more ago. We went to the beach.  The session was a gift from family. I was so excited. We've never done beach photos before.  And I've always wanted beach photos.  It was a chore getting us all ready & driving an hour south to get to the beach.  Of course, it was cold that day (for FL) and I planned on white t-shirts.  So that is what we wore.  The session was quick. Bill felt we were rushed.  We had to suggest photos to be taken.  The photographer took 141 photos (she said).  I viewed some of them on her view finder and they looked okay.  Well about 10 days later we get the CD of 105 photos.  They were edited.  And they were not good.  They were blurry, grainy, we looked green.  Her lens was dirty and you could see spots all over the photos.  I was so upset.  So, the photos I planned on using for our Christmas card, were no good.

Now, probably 5 weeks later, and we still have not taken any Christmas photos. I like to get them out early. And every year something happens and I'm rushing to get them done.  Well tonight, around 4:30, I got the little girls from their friends house, asked Tiff to stop doing homework, and I got them dressed.  Ethan of course had no clue what we were doing.

We spent about 15 minutes in our backyard.  Bill snapped away.  111 photos.  Then I told the girls they could go back & play.

We have some good shots of the kids. We even got some big smiles from Ethan.  I'm so happy.  Now it's time to upload them and get the card ready to mail.  Hopefully my family will receive them before Christmas. :-)

Here are a few that did not make it to the card.  But they are still precious.

My Beautiful Children

Life sure is busy, as usual.  I do love how busy we are, but some days I would love a day of rest.  I guess that will come when the house is empty. And then, I'm told, I will miss the busyness of life now. 

So anyway, here are some pictures of our precious kids.  There are not many (if any) of Tiffani.  She has not been home much. 

Our 3 blessings from China

Ethan LOVES his Elmo slippers

Little Man is climbing on everything. He got up on our kitchen table chairs.

Our little boy

My sweetness

The girls & I were going to see Christmas lights in our neighborhood. We were very happy that it was cold.

The girls went caroling at a retirement home with their Daisy Troop

Abby thought this was a good way to do her reading homework.

Black Friday Crazy!

Yes, we are crazy. But this has turned into a tradition.  And this year, we thought we would go Thursday night.  Don't ask me where my energy came from.  :-)  My brother, sister, Tiffani & her boyfriend Brooks came along.  We started laughing when we arrived at Toys R Us.  the line was insane!  We waited 2 hours 20 min just to get inside.  Then I picked up a few things, and found the end of the check out line.  Tiff, Brooks & Daniel would find things on my list while I sat in line.  We waited almost 2 hours to check out.  Even though it was a long night/morning, we still had fun.  Just one more memory for us.  :-)

Tiff & Mom waiting outside of Toys R Us

Tiff & Brooks taking a break from waiting in line

Uncle Daniel & Tiff

Tiff & Brooks

Celebrating Jadyn

Jadyn's birthday is Dec 15.  But we chose to celebrate early with family.  She was so excited.  Her aunt (my sister) made her special cake.  It was yummy! 

Thankful for Family

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Family.  We hope you did too. 

Bowling

The girls had fun at the bowling birthday party.  Jadyn was really stressed out about it though.  The last time they bowled, Jadyn kept crossing the foul line.  Well, Jadyn is our perfectionist, so she wanted to bowl perfectly.  We told her that it did not matter, that she was there to have fun.

Well, Miss Jadyn never crossed the foul line. She even got a spare one time.  She did great.  Abby did good too.  It's so funny to watch them throw the ball and then walk away. 

Here are a few pics we took at the party.  Enjoy!

The girls with the birthday girl

Cute bowling feet

All ready to bowl

Ethan & his friend Josh

Abby

Jadyn

Jadyn happy she did not cross the foul line

Tiff & her boyfriend

They are just too cute!

November is National Adoption Month

In honor of National Adoption month:

Natural Child: Any child who is not artificial. 

Real Parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.

Your Own Child: Any child who is not someone else's child.

Adopted Child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.

Busy Week

This past week has been very busy.  Appointments every day.  I'm exhausted. And I don't see life slowing down any time soon. 

Ethan had an MRI on Thursday.  He has a sacral dimple and we wanted to make sure that all it is is a dimple.  I'm so thankful that yes, it's just a dimple.  The test results turned up negative for anything else. 

I made an appointment with a new dentist this week.  It's been 5 years since I've had a cleaning.  The last time was right before we brought Jadyn home.  So I knew it was time.  I'm so thankful that they said my teeth looked really good, especially since it's been 5 years. 

Thursday marked the 6 year anniversary of us leaving for China to bring Abigail home.  So hard to believe it's been 6 years.  Where does the time go? 

And a big milestone for Tiffani this week.  She has her first official boyfriend.  His name is Brooks.  He's a super nice kid.  I really like him.  They have been friends for a few years so we've had the privilege of getting to know him too.  They are so cute together.  We had a feeling this day would come.  Bill is still not too thrilled.  Only because Tiff is his baby girl and he's not ready for her to grow up.  :-)  

Today the little girls are going to a birthday party at the bowling alley.  I'll take pics and post them later this week.  They have only bowled 1-2 times.  Jadyn is so nervous because she always crosses the foul line.  We told her that it's okay.  You're only going to the party to have fun. 

We are so proud of Jadyn.  At the girls school, they have a reading program called RP.  They choose a book in the library that is in their reading level. Then they read it. When they feel they are comfortable, then they take a little test on it.  Well Jadyn's class made a goal of doing 4 RP tests in Oct.  Whoever does, gets to have lunch with the teacher on Monday.  Well I was told that Jadyn gets to have lunch, and that she took 8 tests.  She is definitely our over achiever.  (this is good). 

We are going to the beach tomorrow to have our family pictures taken. I'm so excited. This will be the first beach photos for us.  I pray the kids cooperate and that we get some awesome shots. 

The kids are now waking up on this nice, brisk, cool morning.  I'm so happy to have a reprieve from the horrible heat. 

Until next time.......

Halloween 2010

I'm honestly glad this night is over.  Halloween is not my favorite time of year.  I do try my best to make it fun for the kids. 

This was Ethan's first Halloween. He does not understand the concept of asking for candy.  In fact, I don't think he's eaten much candy in his life.  (I hope to keep it that way LOL). 

Yesterday (Saturday) we went to our local grocery store and did trick or treat.  The kids had fun. Their cousin Grace went with them. 

Tonight around 6 the kids were ready to go.  I of course took the annual pictures of them in their costumes. I was so happy to see that I got a good photo of all 4.  Smiles & all.  Priceless.

Ethan went to 1 house to trick or treat.  I knew that he would not care if he stayed at home and helped Bill pass out candy.  He was afraid to go to the house, so I had to pick him up.  Then he reached in the bowl and chose his candy (a Butterfinger).  Then he put it right in his bucket.  Good boy!  LOL

One thing that I like about Halloween, and living in a neighborhood full of kids, is when the girls see their friends.  Tiff had 2 friends come over to go trick or treating together.  And Abby & Jadyn saw several of their friends.  They get so excited when they see their friends.  Here are a few photos.

There is one house in our neighborhood that goes over the top with outside decorations.  So of course we had to go there to see what was up.  Well they really did it up.  Walked through their garage (the girls were a little spooked) to get the candy. It was neat. Very kid friendly. 

Like I said, I'm so glad this night is over.  I'm ready to move on to Thanksgiving & Christmas.  That is my favorite time of the year.  :-)

Here are pics of the girls with their loot. 

Until next time.....