The Wedding

My niece got married on Saturday and of course Annslee the dancing queen went along. We got there and she sat still for a pretty long time but then it was time to walk around before the wedding began (actually she and Daddy did that during the ceremony too) Luckily there were some fish in a little pond so she made fish faces at them


Of course she had to be involved in everything. First she tried to play with the musicians before the ceremony then she offered to give the photographer some tips. She spent most of the evening dancing, eating and running up and down the hallway between ballrooms. As you can tell, there was a white bow in her hair at the beginning of the evening. Well, it is currently in the bottom of a planter at the hotel where she threw it after yanking it out of her hair...sigh


This may be the only family photo we took and as you can see it was later in the evening and so she was getting pretty tired. She had the two fingers and the pillow so we knew it was almost time to go.



I tried to get a few photos on the steps in the Magnolia Lobby but she was too busy looking around at all the ladies in Red Hats (yes, they had a convention going on) and all the prom couples. I was able to get a few of my beautiful girl : )

Yard sale time with Mia

First of all, thanks to everyone for your congrats on our LID. We are excited to be making progress but know we still have a while to go. Especially thanks to my blogger buddy over at The Seventh Diamond who did a congrats post for me on her blog.

We went to Mia's house to set up for a yard sale. Who knew yard sale set up could be so much fun! We let the girls play while we priced and organized. As usual, they had a great time.

Jenny went to Jack in the Box and got the girls some dinner. We set them up to picnic on the steps and they had some good girl time. I love this photo...looks like some some really funny conversation going on.

The picnic originally started on a rubbermaid tub but was moved to the steps after some milk was spilled. We found some slinkys and the girls thought they were the best toys ever.



Can you say ATTITUDE?? I think Jenny and I may be in trouble some day. Mia's milk was all gone (Annslee had already taken care of hers) and she was letting me know she wanted more. Annslee is obviously not amused that I am taking a photo instead of getting it ; )


I love watching their friendship grow. When we got home from China in Nov. '05 we arrived on Mia's birthday and they had only been home a week themselves. We were so touched that Mia's family came to the airport to meet us and welcome Annslee home. Over the last year and a half they have really gotten close and they play so well together. There are moments of course when sharing becomes and issue..but hey, they are two.

*As a funny sidenote for those who don't know how we met Mia's family. Mia's daddy and I met in our DTC group chat room one night..now there's a story for you! Through chatting online we realized we were only about 20 miles apart and we starting hanging out about 6 months before we got our referrals and then a lot more after that. Jenny and I talked constantly during that last month wondering if we would make the cut off for referrals. We are so blessed to have their friendship.

We have our LID!!

I just got off the phone with our agency and we have a Log In Date of April 16th for our dossier in Vietnam! It doesn't mean anything really....like it did with China... as far as a referral timeline. However, it does mean our dossier has gone through all the steps of approval by the US, our agency and the DIA in Vietnam and they are all stamped approved! Now our dossier has been sent to the officials in Dong Thap Province. This is a province in the Mekong Delta and interestingly enough it is famous for their red headed cranes which are very rare and Annslee's province in China is famous for the yellow crane. Our agency works with two provinces and they feel this is the best option for us at this time considering we are requesting an infant girl. If a child becomes available in HCMC (the other province they work in) then it will be moved. So now we are officially waiting for our referral. Our agency is not giving us any timeline at this point so we have no idea when it will happen. For now, I am just happy to be logged in and officially finished with any paperwork I need to provide.


Because I can't do a post without a picture..here is Malia's big sister taking her dog for a walk.

Cousins in Charlotte

We headed to Charlotte this past weekend and had a great visit with the cousins! When we arrived Friday night Payton and Taylor were at a Rock Star birthday party. We were to arrive for the show and watch them perform. Annslee had other plans..mainly to be on stage with all the "big girls" for the entire night. She had so much fun dancing and singing and the girls were so sweet to let her join in! (As always, click on any photo to enlarge)

After the party we headed home and got the girls in their PJs thinking it was getting close to their bedtime. Again, our plans didn't seem to be theirs and they finally were dragged up to bed around 11 PM. We hated to spoil their fun but knew they would be grumps the next day without at least a little shut eye

On Saturday we went to Taylor's soccer game and then to a little carnival of sorts at their school. Annslee played a few games, jumped in the bouncy thing a lot and even agreed to get her face painted. She picked a purple butterfly and held very still while it was being done. She was very proud of it and pointed it out to anyone who would listen.

A lot of fun was had on the trampoline! Who needs to wait until you put your clothes on before playing...just go on out in your PJs. Payton even taught her how to do flips.


It was Payton's 8th birthday so we got to do some celebrating.

Since her big cousin got Heelys, Annslee naturally wanted to try out Taylor's rollerskates. She actually had pretty good balance on them and really enjoyed Daddy holding her hand and helping her.

We had a great time with all the girls and just wish we could see them more often!

How well do you know Annslee?

I saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun. It was really hard coming up with the minimum number of questions it would allow. I could think of a ton of them but then realized if you didn't live with her you wouldn't know the answer. I know some are "gimmes" and some are going to be really hard for some of you. Have fun and then create your own! Oh, and blogger seems to be having serious issues with photos and the like..so if you get a blank box for the quiz just click on it and it will take you to it or you can just follow this link


Create your own Friend Quiz here

I feel old!

I can't believe my baby sister is celebrating the Big 3-0 today! If she is 30 then that makes me.... well, a lot older than that. I remember when my mom announced she was pregnant with her and I was so embarrassed. I was in the 5th grade and all my friend's parents were finished having babies. Of course I thought my mom was way to old to still be having babies...she was 34 at the time. Then I turn around and bring my first baby home at 39. I am sure if my mom were still with us she would point that out to me as she scooped up her grand daughter. Just as the moment Dana was born I "claimed" her as my own and was so happy my ancient mom was still having babies : )

Annslee is showing Aunt Dana how a pirate says "AARRG"

Fingerpainting Is Fun!!!

She has been asking for the paints for a couple of days so I finally said ok. I got out the art mat, the smock and the wet wipes and needed none of them. She was the neatest fingerpainter I have ever seen. She would dip her pinky into one color and then after she was finished ask for a tissue to wipe it off before going to the next color. I finally talked her into using two fingers..I know, Mama asking her to be messy..am I crazy!!


Hey Mama..I'm TWO!!


As usual she took her task very seriously and spent over an hour working on this masterpiece.

Sesame Street was on in the living room and "Journey to Ernie" came on. Usually we both must cover our eyes with two hands, just like Big Bird does. Luckily she remembered she had paint on one and settled for using one hand..and yes, she always peeks : P

A dog wearing purple

What more could a girl ask for? Our little American Eskimo, Sasha, was groomed yesterday and my friend rightly guessed a purple bandana for her. Of course Annslee was thrilled and has been pointing saying "purple" over and over to Sasha. Tonight she caught her in the kitchen and gave her big hugs. As you can see, the dog was not that thrilled about all the loving in the beginning but soon warmed up to it. Maybe she was remembering the french fry Annslee gave her under the table...a HUGE no no in our house. Oh, and yes, Annslee is wearing heels. She tried to put them on Sasha but even with the memory of the french fry still so fresh, Sasha refused to participate. Donna over at Double Happiness is doing her FFFF (Family FotoFun Friday) Challenge and it was Pets this time..easy one for us!

Easter Festivities

She had a great time coloring eggs for Easter. I thought she was going to break a few taking them in and out but luckily she didn't. We even got to use all the colors and not just purple! I was just glad we found a use for the coffee cups that came with our dinnerware..they are WAY too small for coffee.

She stayed occupied while Daddy grilled our dinner. She took her work very seriously. The first photo in this collage cracks me up!

The Easter Bunny came!! She came out of the bedroom and got her first glance of all her goodies. She kept telling us that the "big" bunny was not coming but the "little" one was..the one she petted at Honeysuckle Farms ; ) He seemed a little safer I guess.

Annslee's basket was a Backyardigans jackpot! She already had a Pablo so Uniqua and Tyrone (her favorite) were brought. We made a basket for Malia too but Annslee has already claimed the pig as hers. We are thinking Malia will be born in the Year of the Pig but she may be a dog. If she is, her big sister will be very jealous as she already says she is sharing being a dog with daddy. (for the record she was born in the Year of the Monkey)




We then got dressed and headed to church. She would not pose for a photo in her dress so this is the best I could do. We got there a little early so daddy read her a book called "Being Bossy" hmmm...



The cousins came over for lunch and while we waited for it to be ready we did an egg hunt in our very small front yard. As you can see from this photo she does not like dirt being on her eggs. She found this one in the flower pot and was not putting it in her basket until I got the dirt off!

It is so much fun when all the kids are together ...and so loud too ; )

She likes to find eggs but then she "re-hides" them. I found her over by the neighbor's swing and she had dumped her eggs out on the ground beside her

We had a great holiday and we are so blessed to have our sweet girl in our lives. Next year we will have two little blessings.

Oh, and my friend Tracy is in Vietnam and met her son today. Go take a look..he is beautiful!

HAPPY EASTER

More Egg Hunts

We went to her old daycare and she got to hunt eggs with her friends. You will notice a look of fear or anxiety on her face in a lot of the pictures. This is because the Easter Bunny was close by and she was keeping a watchful eye on that rabbit. Of course when it was time to go back inside she blew the bunny huge goodbye kisses. She is always happy to say bye bye to the bunny!






Then today we went to the CHI Egg Hunt..it was COLD!! She still had a good time and saw some of our travelmate friends too. She didn't get many eggs this time because it wasn't broken down into age groups but she did get a Prize Egg : )

Honeysuckle Farms

Last Sunday we spent the better part of the afternoon at Honeysuckle Farms and Annslee had a blast. There was a lot to do but of course she wanted to hang out with the animals most of the time. She fed the goats (A LOT), milked a "fake" cow, petted bunnies and chickens and once her cousin showed up they chased a chicken all over the place. I wish I'd brought the video camera!

**As always click on the collages to make them easier to see


She is becoming an expert egg hunter but we forgot to bring her basket. No problem they had a purple one for sale so guess what we own now??

Over here Daddy...this is where the good ones are!



That other chicken was fun to chase but I can pet this little one






Hey little bunny.... we are always amazed at how gentle she is with animals : )


Here she is feeding the goats...I love the absolute joy in these pictures. She really was laughing out loud as they took the food from her hands

When I looked at this one I noticed her feet are off the ground...Yes, she was that excited!!

Hey, our Sunday night tradition... ICE CREAM!! On the way there she said she wanted brown ice cream and apparently she liked the chocolate because she took my spoon and bowl too...

If you want to check out the last time we were at Honeysuckle Farms you can go to my 10/8/06 post

Then and now

Mama and Annslee at the FCC Easter Egg Hunt 2006





Here we are this year!



Annslee and Mia in Spring 2006




And here they are again this year in matching outfits!