Christmas Blessings...

Last Thursday our Nanjing playgroup got together. As always, everyone had a great time. The kids had a great time playing with each other, and us moms had a great time talking. We ordered pizza, ate Christmas cookies, and enjoyed watching our girls play together. Unfortunately, Miss Millie did not make it this time, but we are all hoping she will make it next month.
These girls are such Blessing to each one of us. Christmas this year is definitely going to be different than last year for each one of our families. As much as I enjoyed being with family, and watching the kids open gifts, at the same time, I was crying on the inside for my daughter that was not here. I remember trying so hard not to think about her and enjoy the moment. My heart ached for Mylee last Christmas. I kept telling myself that next year was going to be so different. Well, next year is FINALLY here, and I simply cannot wait to see all FOUR of my children bounce down the stairs on Christmas morning. I love seeing their faces the moment they see that Santa came and left presents under the tree. I love hearing their excitement as they unwrap gifts. But this year, more than anything I am going to love seeing 4 kids around the tree. I am really looking forward to seeing Christmas through Mylee's eyes.

Below are a few pictures taken when the girls were here last week. Enjoy!


Mylee, Ava, Elsa, and Clara
Our attempt at a picture of 4 of the 5 girls.

On a cooler note, this is what we awakened to Friday morning. As cold and slick as it was, it was beautiful outside. I could not resist taking some pictures. I think this is the first time I have ever seen anything like this. I was in awe. The kids were especially excited. Because of the ice storm, their Christmas break started a day early.

Merry Christmas

Before you click play, remember to turn the music off at the right.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

I'm Back

WOW, it seems like forever since I last blogged. December is such a busy month for us. We have had Christmas parties and get togethers every weekend and they will continue through New Years. It's really nice to spend time with family and friends especially those we don't see very often. But, I am looking forward to a weekend of having nothing planned.

Anyway, this past weekend we got together with Matt's side of the family. Every year we get together. We have a potluck dinner, visit, and Santa even comes with gifts for the kids. Every year I enjoy going there, but this year was a bit more exciting we were able to share our newest addition with everyone. This was also Mylee's first experience with Santa. She was a bit skeptical at first. She watched patiently as the other kids sat on his lap and opened their presents. But once she realized that Santa was giving our candy canes, her patients began to wear a little thin. Mylee LOVES candy, any kind, and will do just about anything to get some. Once she realized candy was involved, she was all about sitting on his lap. Not only was this her first time to sit on Santa's lap, but this was her first gift to unwrap as well. The whole time she was on Santa's lap, she kept peeking into his bag of candy canes. She was so cute. Blake, Emma, and Gabe sat on Santa's lap as well, and you can see from the pictures below, Blake was the most excited about it. Because of the age difference in him and Mylee, Matt and I told him that he will have to sit on Santa's lap every year until Mylee doesn't believe anymore. It took him a minute, but he realized that he would be about 16 and still sitting on Santa's lap. Let's just say that he wasn't all that enthused. He's a pretty good sport about things like that though. I wonder what the chances of getting him to wear festive colors next year???

This whole week I have been studying for my finals. I had my last final today, and it is the one I am most worried about. MATH. I am not a huge fan of math, in fact, I am completely math illiterate. I cannot wait until next semester is over and I have taken my last college math test. I think I may throw a party. Anyway, I have no idea how I did on it, but am looking forward to see what my grades are this semester. And I am definetly looking forward the the next 3 weeks of NO SCHOOL (for me that is)!

Enjoy the pictures, and hopefully I will be able to update more frequently now that I don't have my nose in math and psych books.

Wordless Wednesday

Catching Up

So, it's been awhile since I updated the blog, sorry to those who follow. This past couple of weeks have been super busy. The weekend before Thanksgiving we decided to put up our tree and outside lights since it was going to be so nice. Mylee was mesmerized by the tree. Once it was up, she stood beneath it looking up in amazement. We immediately told her not to touch, so now whenever she or someone else goes near it, she says "don't touch." Blake, Emma, and Gabe had fun decorating the tree as always. Emma and Gabe especially get so excited to hang their ornaments. Each year we buy the kids a new Hallmark ornament, so there are several ornaments on our tree that have specific meaning to each child. As much as I would love to have a "mall tree," I love the fact that every ornament on our tree has specific meaning. We have some from Korea, Hawaii, Disney World, and lots that the kids have made themselves. Someday I may get my "perfect"tree, but for now, I love listening to the kids hang their ornaments and telling the story of each one, and where they came from.


Mylee's first glimpse of the tree


The kids hanging their ornaments


Thanksgiving was full of family this year. Matt and I have been married for 13 1/2 years, and for the very first time I got to spend Thanksgiving with his maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. His grandparents usually went to Texas during the winter, but for the first time this year, they have decided to stay in Indiana. We were very excited and thankful to be with them this year. We also spent the evening with Matt's paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We spent the evening cyphering through the "Black Friday" ads making our lists of the places we were going to go to.

So yes, I was one of the crazy people that got up in the middle of the night (3:00 a.m.) to venture out for a bargain. My mother in law picked me up at 3:30 a.m. and we were off. We met my sister in law around 4, and we shopped, shopped, and shopped until almost 7:00 p.m. Needless to say, we were exhausted, and still are. I am still trying to catch up on sleep. Regardless of the lack of sleep, we had a great time. Sorry, no time to take pictures of the lines and lines of shoppers, we may have missed something.

On Saturday, Emma's dance class performed in the Festival of Trees again this year. She was in two dances this year. The dance was tap and it was to "Frosty The Snowman." The second was ballet and it was to "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies." She did such a great job and they all looked so cute in their costumes (I made them so I am a bit bias).

Enjoy the update and pictures, I am hoping to update more frequently once this semester is over (December 12). I have finals next week, so I don't know how much I will be posting.

An Early Birthday

Emma will celebrate her 7th birthday on December 11 and all she wanted was to go to the American Girl store in Chicago. So, Matt, Blake, Emma and I made a day out of it. This was Blake and Emma's first time in Chicago so they were both elated. I dropped Matt and Blake off at the Museum of Science and Industry and Emma and I headed down to Michigan Ave. We parked several blocks away from AG, so as we were walking down Michigan Ave and Emma spotted the store, she was giggling and jumping up and down. She was so excited. Once inside, she knew right away which doll she wanted. I thought she would pick a doll with blonde hair, but she surprised me and picked a doll with way brown hair, blue eyes, and freckles just like her. Emma was in awe of the store. Ag is two stories of dolls, dolls, and more dolls. It has it's own hair salon, doll hospital, photo studio, cafe, and restaurant. We did visit the hair salon so that the doll could get her ears pierced. Yes, you read that right, the doll was taken into a back room so she could get her ears pierced.


Bottom line is Emma had a fantastic time and I am hoping she will always remember going to Chicago to pick out her first AG doll with me. It was alot of fun spending that time alone with Emma, she is such a beautiful, caring, fun little girl.



Matt, Blake, Emma and I met back up at the Lego store before going to dinner at Ed Debevics. Matt and I had eaten there before and really wanted to take Blake. It is a really fun diner where the waiters and waitresses are deliberately rude to the customers. We did not tell the kids that this is what it was, we just wanted to see how long it would take for them to figure it out. Emma figured it out pretty much from the beginning when the waitress threw the straws at her. Blake on the other hand took a little bit longer to figure it out (poor kid). Anyway, they both had quite a bit of fun with our waitress and she even brought Emma a sundae for her birthday.

I also want to add that for lunch Emma and I met up with Melanie and her daughter Olivia. Melanie traveled to China last Thanksgiving to her her beautiful daughter Addison and was kind enough to take pictures of Mylee for us. Melanie and I have communicating with each other for over a year now and I was so excited that she and her daughter were able to meet us for lunch. We talked as if we had known each other for years and Emma and Olivia got along great as well. It was so nice to finally meet Melanie and I cannot wait to meet Addi soon too.

Helping to Spread the Word

Stephanie over at Ni Hao Y'all with the help from some other blogger buddies have created a fabulous site to help educate and advocate for special needs children in China. Stephanie is an adoptive mom to 4, yes 4 special needs children from China. And to top that off, she has 4, yes 4 biological children. With 8 kids I cannot imagine how she found the time to put together such a resourceful site.

Stephanie is an inspiration to me and many other adoptive parents. She is an amazing woman who God has chosen to dedicate a part of herself, a part of her heart to making a difference. Not only is she helping to make a difference in the life of a child, but she is also making a difference in the life of the family that child will enter. Mylee has only been home with us for 6 months, but I cannot imagine our family without her. She is a beautiful, smart, spunky addition to our family that I thank God for every day.

If you have ever thought about, or know someone who has thought about opening their heart to adoption, please check out No Hands But Ours, it is a great site with an abundance of information on different types of SN, letters from adoptive parents, agencies, and much more.