Pearls from the river

We are alive and DANCING!

2010-06-07T22:20:00.012-04:00

I know, major blogger slack! And I can't even come up with some good excuses. The girls had their dance recitals this weekend. They did such a good job. Lily danced a jazz number to "We are Family" and Lia did a ballet routine to "Butterfly Kisses." I'll try to get the video up here but for now you'll have to settle with photos.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-04-28T21:49:00.003-04:00

Catching up

2010-04-16T21:51:00.012-04:00

Oh my goodness, I'm so behind on my blogging. We celebrated Passover, Easter, had Spring Break (didn't go anywhere but it was still a nice break), had a visit with some of the cousins and started gymnastics. Just going to post some pics so you can visualize everything we've done lately.

Coloring Easter eggs

Ready to hunt for Easter eggs

In action

More action

Bunny cake made by Nai Nai (mmmmm!)

At the park during Spring break

Bubble fun with the cousins

Lia on the beam

Lily on the beam

Poor Doggie

2010-03-25T20:53:00.010-04:00

First of all, let me give you a little background on how "Doggie" came to be. I always thought it was cute when kids had a favorite stuffed animal or blanket. Well, when we got Lily at 10 months, she wasn't attached to anything. I tried giving her special blankies and tons of stuffed animals but she never "clicked" with any of them. Fast forward a year and a half, our dear friends from Lily's travel group came to visit us and brought Lily a stuffed dog. And "Doggie" was the chosen one. It was instant love. This truly was the first stuffed animal she "loved." I even got an "extra" one just in case something horrific happened to him. Here is a photo of the day Lily got "Doggie."
This photo cracks me up because he looks nothing like this now after years of love.

Even at 7 yrs old, Doggie is still number 1, although Lily can sleep without him if he gets misplaced every now and again (thank the Lord). Well, tonight after Daddy took the girls up to bed, I noticed "Doggie" curled up on the floor in our family room so I thought I would throw him up to Lily from the first floor (we have a 2-story entry way) to her on the 2nd floor. I was never very good at softball and this is where he landed.

Needless to say, Lily was quite upset (actually hysterical) that her "Doggie" was suspended 20 feet in the air, way out of arm's reach (and I couldn't control my tears from laughter so that didn't help the situation). Daddy ended up saving the day by poking him with a broomstick until he was free to fall to the ground and into Lily's loving arms again.

Finally, a taste of Spring!

2010-03-07T20:59:00.005-05:00

Frosty

2010-02-20T19:29:00.008-05:00

So sorry for the lack of blogging lately. I'll blame it on frozen fingers. OMG, I can't wait until Spring. I swear the older I get the longer these winters seem. We did manage to have a little fun during the last significant snowfall. But enough is enough!

Go COLTS!

2010-01-31T22:46:00.005-05:00

Superbowl, here we come!

Split personality

2010-01-23T23:06:00.004-05:00

Seriously, this girl can be the sweetest thing one day and then a complete opposite the next. I took photos to prove it (you can even see the dates!)

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-20T21:31:00.001-05:00

Snow fun

2010-01-16T20:30:00.008-05:00

We had a good little snowstorm last week and the girls could not wait to get out in it. I was also itchin' to try out my new camera. :) I need to figure out how to make the snow not look so grey.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-06T08:32:00.003-05:00

Christmas 2009 photo recap

2010-01-04T20:18:00.008-05:00

Lily is 7!!!!

2009-12-25T21:28:00.009-05:00

I can't believe our baby girl is 7 years old today. I feel bad that she has to share her birthday with Christmas, but we do our best to try to separate it for her. There are definitely no complaints on her end. So, we must be doing a good job so far.

Happy Birthday Lily Rene Jiayan!!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-12-23T07:20:00.001-05:00

Santa pics throughout the years

2009-12-18T17:51:00.011-05:00

We take the girls to the same mall every year for their Santa photos. They always have the best Santa there. And I swear it's been the same Santa for the last 4 years. Check him out!

Lily (with Mommy and Daddy) in 2004 (we got her in 2003, but didn't torture her that first year like we did here)

A step closer for Lily in 2005

Lily, the brave big sister and Lia who was just not sure in 2006

Lily is finally quite comfy and Lia is NOT in 2007

Lily and Lia, both fairly content in 2008

They actually were both very excited in 2009 (just not a great shot of either girl)

Happy Hanukkah!!

2009-12-13T21:32:00.004-05:00

My Little Pony party

2009-11-24T09:12:00.004-05:00

We had a very small birthday party for Lia this year. We just had the grandparents over for dinner and some birthday cake. Lia enjoyed decorating the house with her ponies and hanging streamers. She was quite excited to be the birthday girl.

Happy Birthday Lia! The BIG 4!!!

2009-11-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to our sweet, sassy, spunky, so-very-affectionate (when she wants to be), stubborn, sneaky, giggly, smart and incredibly cute daughter! We love you more than words can say.

This is Lia's "BIG EYES" pose as she calls it

Enjoying the November weather

2009-11-15T12:23:00.007-05:00

The weather has been gorgeous lately, definitely not your typical Indiana November. We'll take it for as long as we can.

Happy Halloween from our little insects!

2009-11-01T08:50:00.004-05:00

Lily's Gotcha Day #6!

2009-10-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

It's hard to believe that 6 years ago Lily Rene Jiayan was placed in our arms at the White Rose Hotel in Wuhan, Hubei Province in China. It really does just seem like yesterday.

I cry everytime I see this photo!

Our first family photo

Pumpkins and hayrides

2009-10-25T19:14:00.009-04:00

We took the girls to a pumpkin patch today. We went on a hayride which the girls loved and then we let them pick out pumpkins. It was a gorgeous fun-filled day today.

More about the Hubei Honeys 2009 Reunion

2009-10-16T16:06:00.012-04:00

Oh, we had such a great time last weekend in Columbus. Ten out of 12 families that we traveled with made it. That is just an incredible turn-out. We have been lucky enough that we have actually seen most of this group over the past 6 years at our adoption agency's annual reunions. But we haven't all been together like that since we were in China getting our girls. And there was one family we hadn't seen since our trip so that was awesome to get to visit with them. We had families from Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. It was also so neat to be able to meet all of the new siblings. Out of our 12 original families, 7 of us went back to China for another daughter (although one of them turned out to be a brother - what a pleasant surprise!) And there are a couple of bio babies too that have joined our families! Also, a few of our families had older kiddos as well (both adopted and bio.)

So, here's how our weekend went. We drove to Columbus, Ohio on Friday. We were one of the later arriving families. So, we grabbed dinner at the hotel while the group was at the mall eating, and then went up to our room. We had a block of rooms at the hotel, so we just propped our door open so we could hear when the group got back. I had a feeling we would be able to tell when they arrived, LOL. After lots of greetings and hugs, we all went to the pool to let the kids swim. They had a blast. We finally went to bed around 11 pm which is about 3 hours later than our girls' normal bedtime.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then we all went to the Columbus Zoo. Wow, it was fantastic! We aren't used to such a spectacular zoo. It was so much fun and the weather was great. After the zoo, we went back to the hotel and had a catered pizza dinner with everyone in the hotel's meeting room. That was really nice because the adults could catch up with the kids played. We shared videos and photos from our trips.

And the next morning we had breakfast and said our good-byes. I, for one, and hoping this can be a annual thing, but we'll have to see how all of the "distance" travellers feel.

And onto the photos!!

Lia was zonked. This was when we were leaving the zoo.

The Hubei girls with their siblings.

Then and now

2009-10-12T10:11:00.003-04:00

We got together with Lily's travel group last weekend. I'll blog in more detail later. But I wanted to share these photos right away.

Guangdong, China 11/4/2003
From left to right, starting on the top:
Tea (barely getting in the shot), Lily, Kiana, Ella, Zoe
Grace, Calla, TaraKate (not at the reunion), Savannah, Lauren, Faith

Columbus, Ohio 10/10/2009
From left to right, starting at the top:
Tea, Lily, Kiana, Ella, Zoe
Grace, Calla, Savannah, Lauren, Faith

Wordless Wednesday

2009-10-07T07:12:00.003-04:00

The tooth fairy came, woohoo!

2009-10-03T21:54:00.008-04:00

Lily finally lost her first tooth (at 6 years and 9 1/2 months). Although technically she lost 2 teeth and even more technically, she didn't lose them, I had them extracted. Her permanent tooth started to erupt behind her baby tooth so there was no way that sucker was going to fall out on it's own. And while she was numb, we just pulled the other one too since I'm 100% sure it's going to happen again.

Lily did very well for the procedure. A little nitrous oxide goes a long way. Plus she's very comfortable with staff I work with. She complained about some gum pain on the way home, but I got her a milk shake and she was good to go.

She put her teeth in a hanging pillow thingy on her door knob. And this morning I heard her exclaiming, "I'm rich, I'm rich!" The tooth fairy left her TEN $1 bills.

My girls

2009-10-01T23:04:00.003-04:00

Just a couple of cute pics of my girls.

We're still here!

2009-09-18T14:56:00.016-04:00

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, we've been busy with school, work and then soccer on the weekends. Even though we've been so busy, I don't feel like I have much "blogworthy" stuff to talk about. We have done a couple of fun things. We went to St. Louis for AJ's family reunion. The girls loved staying in a hotel and swimming in the pool. Then we had some awesome Dim Sum the next morning with Nei Nei and Ye Ye (AJ's parents). I hardly took any pics while we were there except of the girls swimming. We hadn't seen AJ's cousins and Aunt's and Uncle's for a long time so it was great to see them and introduce the girls to everyone.

I know this photo looks bad, but Lia loves to put her face in the water. Guess someone is ready for some swimming lessons!

Lily is enjoying first grade and doing very well. She got an A+ in spelling and an A in math on her first progress report and then an O (for Outstanding) for her conduct. I asked her the other day how she continues to bring home perfect behavior scores everyday. She told me everyone else in her class talks to each other and gets docked behavior points. And she continued to tell me that she didn't have to worry about getting in trouble because when she talks, she just talks in her head, LOL!

We also took the girls to a wedding last weekend. They had a blast. This was Lia's first wedding. They were in awe of the bride (especially when she showed up in a carriage being pulled by a white horse!), it was really cute watching them.

Being silly before the wedding!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-09-02T08:51:00.001-04:00

Gotcha Day #3!

2009-08-28T08:45:00.013-04:00

Three years ago today, a 9 month old baby girl named Yangxi Dong Dong (aka Lia Jade Yangxi) was placed in her Daddy's arms at the Guangdong Civil Affairs Office in Guangdong China. And across the world her Mommy and big sister waited anxiously for the Skype video call so they could meet her.

Well, actually we were asleep until Daddy called us since it was about 4:00 am our time. It was the best wake-up call I have ever received. I was so excited to see those big brown eyes staring at me through the computer. Of course, I was a blubbering mess. And it was such a relief to know that her Daddy finally had her and she was safe.

Happy 3rd Gotcha Day Lia Jade! We love you to pieces!

If you would like to see our complete adoption travel journal, just click here:

Journey to Lia Jade

Super Soccer Saturday

2009-08-22T16:20:00.018-04:00

Seriously, it was super! We actually got participation out of Lia this year. Woo hoo! This is Lily's 3rd year playing soccer with our local YMCA program and we tried to sign Lia up last year but she wanted nothing to do with it. We gave up after 2 sessions. But, our girl has grown up and really enjoyed herself today. Although, I think the motivating factor was the team snack and drink at the end of practice. We were so happy!

Lily did wonderful as well except when the coach tried to get her to "head" the ball. He tossed it gently to her and she covered up her head with both hands and dropped to her knees. It was hysterical!

Check out that stride!

Lily's a first grader

2009-08-14T21:42:00.009-04:00

Lily started first grade this week. Oh my goodness, I can't believe my baby is in first grade! She was excited but also said she was nervous, which of course broke my heart. We met her teacher and like her as much as Lily does. She has enjoyed her first couple of days but did mention that she hasn't found any friends yet (which of course broke my heart AGAIN). She said she's too shy to ask anyone to play with her at recess so she just walks around. Crap, I just started crying. Why didn't anyone tell me being a mom would be this hard?

Here are a few pics of her before she got on the bus on her first day.

State Fair

2009-08-10T15:23:00.016-04:00

We took the girls to the opening day at the Indiana State Fair last Friday. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. We petted some farm animals, rode ponies for the first time, saw a spectacular Chinese acrobatic show and ate some incredibly unhealthy but yummy food! No, we did not venture out and try the "Chocolate covered bacon" though.

What kind of state fair would it be without learning how to milk a cow!

And while we were getting ready to watch the Chinese acrobat show, some friends of ours from our first travel group to China found us. So, we were able to enjoy the show together. Their daughter, C, and Lily lived as foster sisters for the first 10 months of their lives in Hubei, China. And their youngest daughter, Z, is one year younger than Lia. It was great to see them.

And poor Lia passed out before we even put the minivan in drive.

Downtown fun

2009-07-20T13:01:00.008-04:00

Yes, I know I've been a slacker with my blog. Summer is flying by and we are just trying to keep up. We took the girls downtown Indianapolis a few weeks ago. Lily had been begging to go on a horse and carriage ride since she had seen one a couple of months ago. So, we ventured down to walk the canal, grabbed lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then took the girls on a horse and carriage ride. They were a little timid at first, but they quickly warmed up. Of course the main attraction for Lily was the "poop" bag behind the horse. She thought that was just hysterical. She shares the same potty humor as her Dada.

Goofy girls on the Circle

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-08T17:41:00.002-04:00

Soggy July 4th

2009-07-05T18:34:00.010-04:00

So, it was a little wet during our Fourth of July festivities, but that did not dampen the spirits of our girls. We still had a great time hanging out with the grandparents. We had some delicious brats and hamburgers and then even lit off some of our own fireworks in the rain.

Pepaw and Daddy trying to find a safe spot to let off the Roman candles

Singing in the rain

"Enjoying" the fireworks

Three years ago, today....

2009-06-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

Three years ago today, we got our first glimpse of our second daughter, Lily's sister, Lia Jade Yangxi.

Oh how I love these!!!!

2009-06-23T22:15:00.007-04:00

For all of you other anal moms (or dads) out there, these are the bomb! One end holds a popsicle stick and the other end holds an ice cream cone. And the end result is far few less stains to treat!!! :)

Dripstiks

You can see one in action here....

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-10T07:42:00.001-04:00

Recital weekend

2009-06-07T17:23:00.015-04:00

Wow, what a busy weekend. The girls had their dance recitals today with dress rehearsal and photos on Saturday. Everything worked out perfectly. The girls both put on wonderful performances. This is Lily's 3rd year with this dance company and Lia's first. I just love this dance company because it is very low-key and non-competitive. You might remember my post about the girls' first night of dance this season and how it didn't go so well for Lia... First night of dance. Well, the girl has totally enjoyed herself ever since. Here are a few pics from the weekend.

The Graduate

2009-05-30T17:40:00.002-04:00

Lily is officially a first grader now. I can not believe how quickly this year flew. She has grown so much academically and socially. Actually, maybe even a little bit too much socially, LOL (the girl will not stop talking!) I can't believe I was worried about how she was going to learn to read just a few months ago and now she's reading chapter books. And she just loves it. AJ got her a book light for her bedroom and she reads for a long time before falling asleep every night. She has mean parents that make her go to bed at 8pm, so this was the least we could do.

She didn't have an official graduation ceremony, but her school had a family picnic day. So, AJ, Lia and I were able to celebrate her last day of school with her.

This is her box car she made for the kindergarten race.

Run Lily run

Fun with the parachute

Potato sack race

Lia cheering her sister on

Lily with her teacher and her graduation certificate

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-27T08:00:00.003-04:00

Sisters

2009-05-24T22:19:00.005-04:00

I don't have anything to compare it to(since I don't have a sister), but I think our girls really do get along pretty well. And I just happened to capture it in this photo.

Backyard fun

2009-05-11T20:25:00.009-04:00

We did it. We got the girls a playset for the backyard. They came to install it last Friday and we haven't seen the girls since. Just kidding, but they are totally digging it.

Happy Birthday Dada!

2009-05-05T21:05:00.008-04:00

Not only is today Cinco de Mayo, but it's also AJ's (aka Aaron, aka Dada) birthday!! We celebrated it last weekend with some amazing sushi with AJ's parents, and a delicious cake made by AJ's mom.

Lovin' the sushi boat (Lily thought we were going to be able to bring it home, LOL)

And I interrupt this birthday celebration with a plea of help. I'm obviously having some exposure issues with my new lens. Can any of you photogs out there help me? These were taken on auto and my flash did go off. I can give you more info if you need it.

Happy Birthday!! We love you!

Love,
Your 3 girls!

Couple of funnies from today

2009-05-01T20:20:00.007-04:00

I must share a couple of funny moments I captured with my camera today. I heard the girls giggling uncontrollably on the stairs, so, of course, I had to investigate. They were playing "hair salon". Lily was the stylist and Lia was the client.

And here is Lia surprising us at dinner tonight. First of all she is eating something other than dairy or a carbohydrate (it was spicy garlic chicken!). Secondly, she can use chopsticks like a champ. We have no idea how or when she picked that little skill up.

Finally, some warmer weather

2009-04-25T12:47:00.006-04:00

We finally have had some decent weather here the last two weekends. These pictures are actually from last weekend. We have a couple of great parks very close to us. We're hoping to get the girls a swing set for our backyard too soon, so they can get outside even more.

Love me some piggies

2009-04-19T17:40:00.002-04:00

If you ever start feeling like your daughter is getting too old, just throw some piggies in her hair. And, VOILA, it takes a good year or two off! I wonder if that would work for me. :)

Happy Belated Easter!

2009-04-17T08:00:00.007-04:00

Sorry, I'm a little behind on my blogging. We had a wonderful Easter weekend. My older brother and his family came into town from North Carolina. It was great to see them and their kiddos. The girls had a blast playing with their cousins. We were even able to have an outdoor egg hunt at Memaw and Pepaw's, so that was a lot of fun.

Some pretty cute pics

2009-04-10T21:53:00.007-04:00

I think these came out pretty cute if I must say so myself. I know I'm biased, but I can't help it. The photos were taken at http://www.avonpicturethis.com/.

Spring Break -- Chicago style

2009-04-03T21:49:00.016-04:00

AJ and I decided to take the girls to Chicago for a day/night during our Spring break. And I decided to hand over the reigns and let AJ do a post about our trip (although I was responsible for the photos). He was quite excited to have the opportunity to be a GUEST blogger on my blog, but I keep having to remind him that he is just a "GUEST" so hands off -- start your own blog, honey :)!

“Look Lia…it’s the Serious tower,” said six-year-old Lily as we entered the outskirts of Chicago. “I want to see it too,” said three-year-old Lia looking out the wrong window.

And so it went on our impromptu Spring Break to the windy city.

First, a whirlwind tour of the museum of Science and Industry where the girls learned about everything from the essentials of milking a cow and robot manufacturing to how steam and jet engines work. Their favorite? The same as at the Indianapolis Children’s Museum (the one that’s 20 minutes from our house) – the “idea factory” section where they played in the indoor water trough with plastic shapes. They left soaked but happy.

Next, we headed to Chicago’s China Town area. Overcome with excitement after getting out of the car and starting our walk toward the main street, Lily screamed, “I’m Chinese,” at the top of her lungs drawing attention to the fact that her mother and I, are not. Rather amusing.

China Town is relatively small, but we had a good time looking in the nick knack shops and seeing a few ducks hanging in restaurant windows. We eventually picked a restaurant that had just opened earlier in the week – we were a bit skeptical. Turns out, the food was pretty good and Lily ate her body weight in chicken. Amazingly, Lia actually ate some chicken. Could be because she was hungry, could be because she was among her people and felt obligated.

We headed back to the hotel where we endured a long night of the girls refusing to sleep and Dawn freaking out at 4 a.m. and wanting to switch beds. When I went in and tried to sleep in Lia’s bed, things weren’t much better.

After a long night, we decided the girls were still cute enough to take to the American Girl Store, where we dropped a wad on two dolls. At first Lily wanted the blond haired, blue eyed version. Gotta tell ya, I wasn’t about to let that happen. She still harbors a fascination with the Nordic princess look, but I’m trying to keep reminding her that people who look like her are the most beautiful people in the world. So, I made sure they ended up with the Chinese-looking dolls.

We had already visited the Lego store and walked a bunch up and down Michigan.

We were exhausted and hopped in the car when we got back to the hotel and headed for home. About an hour from home, poor Lia lost her lunch…which really consisted of nothing more than multi-colored fish crackers. It was a beautiful end to a fun couple of days.

Spring has sprung!

2009-03-28T20:43:00.008-04:00

Finally, the girls were able to go outside last weekend and do some "tree planting" -- aka sticking tree branches in the ground and watering them. I'm going to let Dada explain to them why their trees aren't growing. :)

When will it be Summer?

2009-03-25T17:07:00.009-04:00

That is the question I'm having to answer everyday. The girls are dying to go swimming. But unfortunately we've got another couple of months before our neighborhood pool will be open. So, I'm trying to appease them by letting them frolic around in their swimsuits. They even pretend that they're in the pool.

Mama needs to make an appointment for 3 pedi's soon!

Run, run, run!

2009-03-21T21:42:00.005-04:00

Since we live on a wooded lot, there is not much room for running in our backyard. Well, tonight we went to some friends' house for dinner and they have a HUGE backyard. Let's just say it was like letting the animals out of their cages. Oh my goodness! These girls ran and ran and ran! And, yes, they fell asleep seconds after their heads hit the pillows!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

2009-03-17T08:42:00.002-04:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day from my leprechauns to yours!

Fun with the cousins

2009-03-14T19:48:00.005-04:00

Our girls are lucky enough to have one set of cousins that doesn't (I really think this is grammatically correct, even though it sounds crazy??) live too far away. My parents (Memaw and Pepaw) are entertaining my niece and nephew this weekend while my brother and sister-in-law get some much needed rest. So, we went over last night so the kiddos could have some fun hanging out with each other. The girls just love playing with their cousins. And they really do get along well. It's just too bad the other set doesn't live closer :(. BUT, the good thing is that they will be seeing their other cousins soon (Easter weekend!!). And we can't wait!

No fingers = no sleep!

2009-03-09T22:01:00.005-04:00

Since my poor baby gave up her fingers, she is having the hardest time going to sleep at night (daylight savings time doesn't help either). I feel so bad for her and am almost ready to take off the band-aid and tell her to have at it. I promise, I won't. I know she will get through this, but it breaks my heart that she HAS to grow up.

How incredibly cute is this (taken right after she came home in Oct 2006)???

I AM STUCK ON BAND-AIDS!

2009-03-07T15:29:00.013-05:00

Why is there a band-aid you ask? Because this simple little first-aid item may have broken Lia of her 3 and a half year long finger-sucking habit! She has not sucked her fingers for 2 night sleeps and 2 naps! And all we had to do was put a band-aid (Barbie, of course) around one of her preferred fingers. She does not want to get it wet, so she won't put it in her mouth. I'm definitely not counting my chickens yet, because she may relapse, but if this is all it takes, I will be beyond thrilled!

I've continually promised her that once she has stopped sucking her fingers, I would paint her nails. So, she got her first manicure yesterday. She was a little grumpy in the picture because she only wanted her fingernails in the shot. So, she refused to smile.

And today, my mom (Memaw) and I took the girls to the local school carnival. They had fun playing the games and walking around. Here are a couple of pics from the festivities. Sorry, this first one is blurry, but check out that arm!

Eww, I really should figure out how to crop part of the background out of this next pic. Sorry. ;)

Opposites

2009-03-03T20:27:00.003-05:00

My healthy eater

My not-so-heathy eater

Melted heart

2009-02-28T08:11:00.003-05:00

My heart melted when I pulled a stack of papers out of Lily's backpack and found this gem.

New and Improved!

2009-02-27T15:44:00.003-05:00

So, what do you think? I got a blog makeover. I love it and owe it all to Tina at The Story of You. Isn't she awesome? I was lucky enough to get to travel with her and her husband when we got Lily. She was such a help during that trip (they were seasoned China travelers and parents -- and we were neither of those) and now she has helped in making my blog FABULOUS! Thank you Tina!

Bouncing, hand painting and a baby goat

2009-02-21T17:26:00.012-05:00

Yep, big goings-on in the good ol' Midwest this weekend. We've had a huge case of cabin fever, so we jumped at the chance to go to a FREE local family fair event today. They had a bounce house, which makes me hold my breath the entire time my girls are in there bouncing -- I always picture horrible mouth-related injuries (I can't help it, I'm a dental hygienist :) ). But both girls came out unscathed with all teeth still in their sockets! Whew!

And there was also some face painting, but my girls chose to have their hands painted instead.

The best part of all was this adorable baby goat. I seriously wanted to take him home and so did AJ (he had visions of never having to cut the grass again!)

Flashback Friday

2009-02-20T21:38:00.003-05:00

Oh, I could soooo cry. Look at how little my baby girls were. This picture was taken about a week after we brought Lia home from China.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-02-18T11:12:00.003-05:00

A few more Disney photos

2009-02-15T17:10:00.011-05:00

During our trip to Disney in December, we had the Disney photographers take some pictures for us with their Disney Photopass service. We were lucky enough to find some other folks to split the cost of the CD with. It was fun because you can add cute little frames and captions to your pics (I know some of them are corny, but it was fun.) We finally got ours in the mail, so I thought I would share a few with you.

See Tinkerbell in their hands!

Check out my award-winning expression of surprise in my face when we saw Stitch. I'm thinking that is Oscar-worthy!

Do you see how excited Lia was to see him???

Hard habit to break

2009-02-02T22:47:00.004-05:00

From one of the first photos that we saw of Lia in China, we knew we had a finger sucker coming home with us.

Luckily, her big sister, Lily, never had any finger, thumb or pacifier habit. Although we did try to force a pacifier on her after our meeting in China simply because we were dreading that 14 hour flight home with a 10 month old. She really didn't take to one and simply didn't need one even on that dreadfully long flight.

Honestly though, it gave me a little peace when I found out that Lia did suck her fingers in her referral information. I was happy to know that she at least had her little fingers to pacify her while laying in her crib waiting for us to come get her.

Now, at almost 3.5 yrs old, I know it's becoming a problem. Although she really has decreased the frequency in which she sucks her fingers, her sleep time equals finger sucking time in her mind. She does know that we don't want her to suck her fingers. But she continues to ask me in her sweet little voice when I put her to bed, "It's okay I suck my fingers just a little?" And I have to look at this....

So, my answer is, "Yes, but just a LITTLE." Luckily, I work for a pediatric dentist, so I should have a discount in her "for sure needed orthodontic treatment" in the future.

Snow Day!

2009-01-28T15:53:00.012-05:00

We had our first significant snowfall of the year. And I'd say 12 inches counts as significant. Lily had no school and we cancelled patients at my work. It's a good thing because there is no way my van could've gotten out of our driveway. Here are a few photos from our fun in the snow.

Time for snow angels!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-01-21T20:53:00.001-05:00

Homework

2009-01-18T18:31:00.006-05:00

We were helping Lily with her Kindergarten homework tonight. Her assignment was to practice writing her spelling words for her upcoming spelling test. She got stumped on whether the d had a frontwards hump or a backwards hump. So, after I made her think about it for a little bit (and she was getting a little frustrated with me), she looked right at me and said, "Maybe Chinese people just don't know how to write. They come to America, how would they know how to write?" I kid you not, I almost fell on the floor from laughing so hard. You think that excuse might work with her teacher??

While you're here, does anyone have any suggestions on how to improve on Lily's pencil grasp? We just can't seem to help her get it. I'm amazed she can write as well as she does with such a crazy grasp.

What stinks?

2009-01-14T20:51:00.005-05:00

Seriously, this stunk. Lily received this odoriferous gift from her Uncle Scott and Aunt Kelli (don't forget about paybacks, guys!) Actually, it was a cute little kit. Lily was able to make her own perfume. There were recipes she had to follow. The ingredients included lily of the valley, peppermint, heliotrope, jasmine and apple. She was supposed to add a certain number of drops from a pipette of different scents to create a "special" fragrance. Of course, she had to sample the fragrances when she was finished making them with a couple of dabs on her neck and wrist. Holy moly, she reeked! I couldn't wait for bath time. Nevertheless, she and Dada had a great time doing it.

Dancing Queens

2009-01-12T21:03:00.009-05:00

Yep, the girls started dance lessons tonight. Lily has taken 2 sessions with this same dance studio over the last couple of years, but this was Lia's first time. Needless to say, we were a little worried. We tried YMCA soccer in the fall with Lia, and that was a no-go for her. She refused to do ANYTHING, unless we were holding her hand. So, we gave up on that soon after it started.

Well, at least there was no kicking or screaming. Lia willingly (actually, excitedly) went into the dance studio and even posed for some pics for me. But, she was just not into doing what everyone else was doing. We could see her from a window. The teachers tried to engage her, but she is sooooo stubborn and just kept putting her fingers in her mouth and hanging out. At least she wasn't nasty or anything. They did get her to do a few things, so overall, we are happy with the first session. And then, when she came out, she came running to us saying, "That was so much fun!" She could've fooled us. We think she'll get into soon. We're not giving up yet, LOL!

Lily loved it. She's such a pro now.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-01-07T21:34:00.002-05:00

One of those days!

2009-01-02T19:44:00.010-05:00

Today was one of those days that I would just like to forget. While I usually love my work schedule (Tues, Wed, Thurs) and home with my girls on Mondays and Fridays, I sooooo wanted to be at work today (or anywhere besides home.) Actually our entire Christmas break has been quite trying on both AJ and me as parents. I'm not sure if Lily is going through a stage (at 6 yrs), or Lia is going through a stage (at 3 yrs) or both of them are going through stages, or they've simply spent too much quality time together over break (including Disney), or I'm just losing it, but OH MY GOD today was the worst day I've EVER had with my girls! I finally called AJ at work at 4:07 pm in tears and said he better come home now because I was about to lose it. There was so much bickering, whining, crying, talking back, not listening blah, blah, blah -- I just couldn't take it any more. I finally went up to my bedroom so I could try to calm down and not do anything I might regret. I guess I'm lucky this is my first parental break-down in over 5 years (unfortunately with 2 girls, there's surely plenty more to come.) It definitely wasn't one of my glory days as a Mama, but AJ and I had a talk tonight and we're going to try to make sure days like these don't happen again.

After such a disaster of a day, I caught this Kodak moment right before we put the girls to bed. Why can't it be like this 24/7?
Oh, how I love my babies!

Christmas highlights!

2008-12-28T21:01:00.012-05:00

Wow, it all came and went in such a blur. Obviously our Disney trip played a major part in the craziness as well. It's not surprising though, since the following is a list of our family December celebrations:

December 5 (AJ's mom's "Nai Nai's" birthday)

December 16 (our wedding anniversary -- 13 years this year!)

Hanukkah (December 21 for 8 days)

December 23 (my birthday)

December 25 (Lily's birthday)

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. The girls got too many presents as usual, but thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Unfortunately we didn't get to see my brothers and their families this season, but we did get to spend a lot of quality time with both sets of grandparents. I totally failed on taking pictures though, I think I was a little "pictured out" from Disney. Sorry, but here are a few. Annual "at the top of the stairs" Chirstmas picture!

She really did loooove this guitar (despite the long face), and it's all we have heard for the last several days!!! Thanks Memaw and Pepaw -- I think the guitar (ca-tar, per Lia) may be making a visit to your house soon!

My baby is 6 years old!

2008-12-25T16:11:00.001-05:00

Waaah, I can't believe Lily is 6 now. It seems like just yesterday we were trying to teach her how to crawl in a hotel in China. She was 10 mos old when we got her. I just can't believe how grown up she is now. She even pointed out that she was now "2 hands old." I'm sure you're curious what that means (so we're we btw.) So, she showed us what she meant by holding up 2 hands (6 fingers now!) She said she can no longer show us how old she is on one hand since she's only got 5 fingers. Too cute!

We had a small family party for her on Christmas Eve. Lily's actually birthday is Christmas day, but we wanted to let her have her own special day the day before.

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-12-23T21:54:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to share my awesome birthday gifts from AJ. I was totally surprised. I've always had AJ's old computers (he seems to upgrade fairly regularly.) And now, I have my very own computer!!! Plus, he got me a new wireless printer/scanner!

I also got another Yixing clay teapot for my collection from my in-laws and a Kohl's gift certificate from my parents. It was a great birthday!

Happy Hanukkah!

2008-12-21T20:59:00.007-05:00

We celebrated the first night of Hanukkah with AJ's parents tonight with some pizza. Nai Nai and Ye Ye had some little gifts for the girls too. Lily was the one to light the first candle. I think it's the first born son that is supposed to do it, but since that's not an option with us, she is next in line. :)

Last day at Disney -- Breakfast with the Princesses!

2008-12-20T22:54:00.011-05:00

Today was our last day at Disney and we definitely saved the best for last. We had a wonderful breakfast with the Disney princesses at the Akershus Storybook dining at Epcot before we headed home. The food was great (although, how can you really screw up scrambled eggs, LOL??) and the girls were in such awe of all of the princesses and their beauty and kindness.

Disney Diary Day 4 -- Animal Kingdom and pool fun

2008-12-19T17:17:00.011-05:00

We took it pretty easy today and only went to Animal Kingdom for a few hours. We watched the live Lion King show, went on the safari ride, and ate lunch. Honestly, we are getting a little "Disney'd" out. We decided to come back to our hotel and let the girls swim the rest of the afternoon. They loved it. Mama and Dada sat in our lounge chairs and sipped strawberry daiquiris. It was wonderful. We will grab a quick bite to eat tonight and then come back to the room to pack. We have breakfast scheduled with the princesses tomorrow and will head back home tomorrow evening. We are not looking forward to the frigid temps. :( It has been 80 and sunny every day here. We could not have asked for better weather.

Disney Diary Day 3 -- Hollywood Studios and dinner with Pooh

2008-12-18T21:15:00.001-05:00

Summary: Disney Hollywood Studios (Toy Story Mania was awesome!), back to Magic Kingdom to have dinner with Winnie the Pooh and friends, then early bedtime for all! Enjoy the pics! Sorry there are so many.

Disney Diary Day 2 -- Magic Kingdom

2008-12-17T23:50:00.001-05:00

Sorry, pics only. Too tired to write, LOL!

Disney Diary Day 1

2008-12-16T19:58:00.014-05:00

We made it to Disney World. We are pooped and it's only 8:00 pm. The girls are already zonked out. We had an incredibly easy trip here. The new Indy airport was awesome and very efficient. Our flight here was just as wonderful and our Disney transportation to our resort was quick and painless as well. Our resort, Pop Century is really cool. It's one of the value resorts so the rooms aren't extravagant at all, but the grounds, lobby and food court are very nice and clean. This seems to be the perfect place for our first trip to Disney.

As tired as the girls were all day (we got them up at 4:30 AM!!), they were still pretty good (a little whiny, but not bad). They kept busy snacking and coloring on the airplane. Once we got here and settled in to our room, we tried to get Lia to take a nap, but that was not happening, so we just decided to head to our first WDW park -- Epcot! We took things slow with a very non-threatening ride for our first one -- Nemo (we actually rode in clam shells, LOL!) and the girls seemed to really like it. We did a few more simple rides/shows just to get the girls acclimated to the Disney attractions. Then, I really thought we blew it. We did the Imagination ride with Figment (which I looooved as a child), well, it has changed and there was one VERY STARTLING part that scared the crap out of me and unfortunately, Lily. She was scared to death, and started crying hysterically as soon as we got off the ride. I was afraid we had lost her for the rest of the trip. But, after a little pep talk that a little scariness can be fun, we think we got her back and she may go on some more rides!

We enjoyed touring the China section at Epcot and got to see an amazing Chinese acrobatic show. We had dinner at the Nine Dragons restaurant there and it was so-so (great ambiance, but not so great food). After dinner we headed back to our resort for a quick swim in the kiddie pool. It was too cool for mama and dada, but the girls had a blast.

One of our resort pools

The girls catching water drops at Epcot

The girls and Mama at Epcot

The girls at the Temple of Heaven :)

Chinese acrobats -- WOW!

Dada, Buddha and girls

Evening dip in the pool

Mom, the dental hygienist

2008-12-12T20:42:00.006-05:00

What my girls might look like if their mom wasn't a dental hygienist, LOL!

Check out that "bling" tooth!

Tagged again!

2008-12-11T21:48:00.005-05:00

Okay, Nancy and Casey, this is for you. But you need to leave me alone after this. I've got to pack for Disney, LOL!

I've been tagged again for 8 things meme:

8 Favorite TV shows:

1. Desperate Housewives

2. New Adventures of Old Christine

3. Worst Week

4. Two and a half Men

5. Americas Funniest Home Videos

6. Mickey Mouse Club House (keeps Lia entertained!)

7. Saturday Night Live

8. Oprah

8 Things I look forward to:

1. Weekends

2. Vacations -- especially Disney next week!

3. Picking my girls up after work

4. Hearing Lily read new words

5. New Gymboree lines

6. A snow day with no school or work

7. Dressing my girls in their Matilda Jane

8. Summer

8 Things I did yesterday:

1. Got my hair cut, colored and highlighted

2. Picked up Lily's b-day cupcakes for daycare

3. Wrapped the girls' teachers' Christmas gifts

4. Tanned (needed to get a little color before our Disney trip)

5. Picked up suitcases from my parents for our trip

6. Got my drivers licence renewed -- did you know you can't smile for your picture any more??? :(

7. Got Christmas stamps for our Christmas cards (which will be going out late this year, BTW!)

8. Picked up Lia's prescription eczema cream at the pharmacy

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. Sakura -- Japanese (sushi)

2. Cazuelas -- Mexican

3. Chic Filet

4. Claddaugh Irish Pub

5. Shen Yang (dim sum)

6. Mediterranean Grill (Greek)

7. McDonalds (makes my girls happy)

8. Tegry Bistro (sushi again!)

Taggin' these friends:

Donna
Shannon
Dana
Jen

Wordless Wednesday

2008-12-10T16:45:00.002-05:00

One week from today...

2008-12-09T12:04:00.005-05:00

We'll be hangin' with the Mouse! This will be the girls' first trip to Disney World. I haven't been in 20 or so years. Actually, I think Epcot had just opened the last time I went. And AJ has never been. I can't get over how much planning is involved. We have our meals scheduled with Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale, Winnie the Pooh and of course the Princesses. Gotta get packing. Stay tuned for updates from the Happiest Place on Earth!!

Wordless Wednesday

2008-12-03T21:52:00.004-05:00

Scattergories

2008-12-02T20:18:00.002-05:00

I saw this on my friend Nancy's blog last week, so I figured I'd give it a try. It was fun, you should try it.

SCATTERGORIES. ..it's harder than it looks! Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things…nothing made up! You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

What is your name: Dawn
Boy name: David
4 letter word: Doll
Girl name: Dana
Occupation: Dental Hygienist
A color: dusty rose
Something you wear: diaper (well, not me, LOL)
Beverage: Diet Pepsi
Food: Doritos
Something found in a bathroom: Diarrhea (sorry)
A place: Destin
Reason for being late: Diarrhea (sorry, couldn’t resist)
Something you shout: Don’t hit your sister!

How about you??

Do YOU believe?

2008-11-29T20:34:00.013-05:00

I am so saddened by a comment Lily made to me the other day. She said that kids at her school were saying that Santa is not real because you can't see him (she will be 6 years old on Christmas, BTW). Luckily, she didn't point blank ask me if this was the case or not, because I'm not sure how I would've answered it. Somehow, I dodged the bullet and was able to change the subject without her noticing. So, I was off to find a copy of The Polar Express to help her keep believing. We set the girls up in front of our big screen television in the basement tonight with the lights turned off. They also had popcorn, chocolate milk and a comfy blankie for the big viewing. They loved it. Actually, so did we. I hope we can at least get a couple of more years of believing out of her.

The BEST big sister ever!

2008-11-26T08:00:00.004-05:00

This is just one of the many reasons that Lily is the BEST big sister!
Lia is going to kill me for this one day! :)

Tag, I'm it!

2008-11-25T08:55:00.000-05:00

I've officially been "tagged" for the first time. I'm not exactly sure what that means, but I think I'm supposed to follow some directions from Casey and make a few other friends do the same.

Here's what I'm supposed to do:

The Rules:
1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open it to page 56
3. Find the 5th sentence
4.Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with instructions
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book or the most intellectual - Pick the CLOSEST

Now, the funny thing is that I just started reading again (seriously, it's been since college). And it's the infamous Twilight series. Unfortunately, my Twilight book is upstairs on my nightstand and NOT the closest one to me.

The closest one is the book AJ read to Lily last night, "Pirates Past Noon -- Magic Tree House #4. Here is the sentence: "They grew bigger and bigger until they spread out like a huge green cape." Sorry, I'm sure you would've rather heard a romantic quote from Edward, LOL.

Anyway, I'm tagging Shannon, Perrin and Jen!

and the party goes on!

2008-11-24T14:55:00.012-05:00

Since we will be taking the girls to Disney World in a few weeks, we decided to scale down both of their birthdays this year. We let them take cupcakes to school and then are just doing the small family party. We celebrated Lia's birthday with her grandparents this past weekend. Here are a few pics from the festivities.

Here are the party-goers (minus Mama and Dada). Left to right: YeYe, Nai Nai, Memaw and Pepaw.

And a couple of shots of the girls thoroughly enjoying the cake!

And we can't forget PRESENTS!

Happy Birthday sweet Lia!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Lia!

2008-11-18T17:39:00.011-05:00

Lia Jade Yangxi is 3 today!!! Since today was a work/school day, we sent some cupcakes for Lia to share with her friends at daycare.

I sent a camera for her teachers to take some pictures for us. To our surprise, they let Lily come down from her class for the party. I thought that was so sweet. Although our health-conscious oldest daughter refused a cupcake since she had just had Oreo's in her class. What other 5.5 year-old would do that??? Not her sister, that's for sure!!!

We will also be celebrating with the grandparents this weekend. I'll be sure to post more pics after that shindig.

Here comes Santa Claus!

2008-11-17T16:52:00.005-05:00

We took the girls for their annual sitting on Santa's lap picture. As usual, Lia was her stoic self and refused to acknowledge Santa or the photographer. Go figure! And, Lily, of course talked up a storm telling the big jolly guy every single toy she wanted for Christmas. We finally had to drag her away.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-11-12T11:33:00.004-05:00

Well, I thought my girls were getting bigger......

2008-11-10T19:27:00.009-05:00

until I discovered them sitting comfortably together in this standard-sized laundry basket also containing a sofa pillow and down blanket watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!!

And I also had to share this picture that I took couple of weeks ago showing off some of their new Matilda Jane duds! They were purposefully trying NOT to smile for me.

Here we go -- my first blog entry!

2008-11-07T20:14:00.000-05:00

I'm officially blogging! Unfortunately, I'm a horrible writer, but I have been known to take a cute picture or two of our girls. I'll try to get AJ to do some witty writing for you occasionally, but for the most part, you're stuck with me and my camera.

So my first entry is not too boring, I thought I would start off sharing pictures of both girls' recent Gotcha Day anniversaries. For those not familiar with "adoption" lingo, Gotcha Day is the day each of our girls was placed on our arms. We recently celebrated Lia's 2nd Gotcha Day (August 28) and Lily's 5th (October 27).

We took Lia to Build-a-Bear (and Lily got to build one too, of course). Lia picked a monkey and dressed her in her favorite color purple.

And Lily picked a panda and dressed her in a pink princess outfit.

And for Lily's 5th Gotcha Day, we took the girls to the local indoor playground. It wasn't near as exciting as our previous celebrations but she and Lia enjoyed themselves.