An Extra Day

YAY, it is February 29th so we get an extra day this year! What did you do with your extra day?

We just hung out with a really silly three year old ~ PERFECT!!



*Connie fixed the link to our fundraiser on our sidebar under Our Vietnam Journey. It has been over there for a year but not working...hmmm, that doesn't do much good. I also added a pic link to candles that we get part of the proceeds for. So go on over and click on both : )

The Blizzard of '08

We received our biggest snowfall this year today ~ exactly 1 inch! We have to make due with what we have so of course we headed outside. The snowflakes were really big so it made for a pretty snowfall but it wasn't a wet snow so we couldn't even make a snowball. Never fear, she found bubbles in the garage so that was our entertainment : )



Can you see the bubble in this photo?







I thought it would be fun to make a snow angel but as you can see, she didn't agree. I know it is hard to see but she is posing with the snow angel she made on the driveway

Getting Sasha onto the swing with her definitely put her back in a good mood. I think this time it was Sasha who did not agree that this was fun.



I just adore our little snowbunny : )

Hop Hop Hop

Today's art project was making a puppet out of a paper bag. She could choose between a rabbit, a frog or a duck ~ she chose the rabbit but that didn't stop her from using the feathers meant for the duck : )

When she held it up for me in the above pic (bottom left) I thought she was finished with it. She had drawn on eyes and a mouth~ silly me, there was glue to be used!

I think it turned out pretty cute ~ just like the artist : )

Every girl needs

an outfit that she really feels GOOD in!!

I put this on her on Valentine's Day and for some reason she just felt extra sassy in it. It is a hand-me-down from her cousin but she didn't seem to mind : )















You all remember this pic ~ yeah, same day~ see what I mean about my sweet and sassy girl!

Simply Beautiful

My friend Debbie sent this to me tonight. She said she loved this picture and wanted to "antique" it a little. I just love it : )

Debbie is one of our China travelmates and Mommy to the beautiful Lily. She just did a video for her daughter and the part in China was so amazing as it brought back so many wonderful memories of us meeting our daughters for the first time over two years ago.

It's all about balance

Here is her reaction to seeing Daddy trying to skate : )


I promise I used to be good at this but I am older now and have further to fall!

She fell a few times but for her, that was part of the fun

We had a fun time watching her learn to skate ~ oh, and us try to remember how : )

THANKS!

Here is a belated thank you to my new Secret Buddy. As you know, Lynn is now home with her daughter so Kimberley matched me with a new SB. We received some great things for Malia and she was sweet enough to remember a 3 year old would be opening the box so things were included for Annslee as well : )

Malia got two really cute outfits and a much needed bib. Annslee spotted the purple outfit and pointed to herself. Sorry honey, I don't think a 12 month will fit you LOL

The box arrived while she was napping so I took it up when she woke up. Yeah, I think you can tell she just awoke : ) She tore right into the box and found the goodies for her. The look on her face when she saw the Princess stickers was priceless! Thank you so much SB!!!!!

Over the last few weeks we have also received some great bows from the bow swap organized by Nancy. They were all so beautiful ~ I only know two of the websites from the givers but thank you to all of you!!

Here she is sporting the beautiful monogrammed one from Isabella's mommy

She wore the blue one from Lily to dance class~ yes, there were two of them but only one is pictured above : )

I think we are getting great use out of the bow holders Addy's Mama made for us : )

Tea Party with Mia

Since Monday was a holiday it meant Mia's mama didn't have to work ~ now this can only mean one thing ~ the girls have to get together!

We had a surprise visitor too ~ Reed came over to meet Annslee : ) He was a little stunned with all the girl craziness going on!

She was trying to show him how to roll a ball back and forth but he just wanted to eat it

Finally it was time to get dressed for tea. They both have Princess Aurora dresses and so we got the "twins" dressed

Aren't they beautiful!!

Annslee decided she needed to say her blessing as the tea arrived : )

The girls loved being at a real tea room and enjoying their tea

A sugar cube on the plate was a real hit with Annslee until Mama took it away lol

This is the face she gave Jenny when asked if she enjoyed her brownie : )

Needless to say the girls thought they were something all dressed up for tea. We got a lot of ooohs and aaaahs over them too. Many asked if they were twins or sisters and we kept saying "just friends" The funniest thing was running into a friend of Jenny's and she said "you must be Annslee" and of course Annslee said "No, Aurora!!" When she is "in character" she insists on being called by her character name ~so we had two Auroras at tea : )

*doctor visit update below~

Dreading tomorrow afternoon *updated*

We saw the pediatrician and her ears look great. She said the drops must have helped because this was the first time she could see her ear drum without "digging" so that was good. Yes, Annslee still screamed and cried. Luckily, daddy showed up and so he got to help with the consoling. She did do the hearing test and that was fine too. The doctor feels that her hearing is not an issue (her receptive skills prove that too) and she does want me to continue with the drops once a week or so. THANK YOU so much to everyone who left a supportive comment or sent a private email. As usual, I got great advice and just some much needed support. I will let you all know how her new preschool goes : )

After talking with Steffie Sunday she suggested I have Annslee's pediatrician look at her ears again. We have done this in the past and her ears bleed each time because the wax is so dry. If you don't already know this, Asians tend to have really dry wax in their ears and lots of it. Her receptive skills are so high we have never really worried about her hearing but Steffie suggested that the blockage may be preventing her from "hearing herself" Anyway, because of her speech issues and upon Steffie's suggestion because of going through it with Sophia, we are going in to have them irrigated tomorrow. At any appointment when her doctor (who we LOVE) even picks up the thing to look in her ears Annslee goes nuts. I mean full out screaming and crying!!! It is awful as I have to literally sit her in my lap and pin her head against my chest so she can take a look. Have I mentioned she is really strong and weighs 34 pounds, so it is no easy task. On top of that she is crying and screaming "No Mama" the entire time~ we both end up in tears.

For the past day or so I have been putting drops in her ears to soften the wax and that has been a nightmare as she crys and fights me the whole time. Tonight I merely mentioned the doctor looking in her ears tomorrow and she screamed "No Mama, Annslee No" over and over with giant tears rolling.

Anyway, I say all of this to ask that you think of us tomorrow afternoon and prayers would be great too. I know this is for her own good but as her Mama it breaks my heart : (

This picture kind of tells the story of the conversation with Steffie ~ Annslee started putting her hands over her ears and crying b/c we were all too loud as we tried to get their picture~ poor Sophia is very concerned about her too



*I also have a friend having tests done tomorrow for a spot on her chest ~ I would rather not mention her name here but please send up prayers for her. God knows who she is : )

Four Blogging Mamas and their kids of course !

Last night Annslee and I headed to Gwen's house to meet Steffie who was in town. We were also happy to see that Pam made it so we could meet them too. Nikki, I wish you had been there : ) It was a great time and the kids had a blast. Thanks Gwen!!!

Here are the hot mamas!! I mean, it was 70 degrees outside so we really were LOL So glad the weather we had gave Stef a break from hers.

Our attempt at getting a pic of the kids wasn't as easy as it was for the Mamas. Here is the best one I got (they mainly were upset that we were blocking Do*ra on the TV)





Here is Emmie ~ she is just as beautiful in person. Oh, and check out the "hugger's" shirt~ it is our new adoption fundraiser LOL

The girls got all dressed up but getting a group shot didn't get any easier

I think she has the Pirate thing down !

Chasing was a game that went on for a while. I know I only have pics of the young ones but Annslee had fun playing with Gwen's older boys too (they were so great with the little ones) She and Elijah played for a long time. She was putting spells on him and turning him into various things : )

All of the children are so beautiful and meeting Steffie for the first time was a huge treat. She gave me some great advice on Annslee's speech and yes, we have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday so I will keep you all posted. I have already said how beautiful Emmie is and that little Sophia is stunning!! She has the sweetest little face and loves her big sister so much. Meeting Pam and seeing Ethan and Hannah in person was wonderful. They have such a calm disposition (well, what I witnessed anyway) and Ethan does well being the lone little boy with all the Princesses : )I think you all know what a wonderful Mama Gwen is and seeing how Maggie has blossomed is just more evidence. If that isn't enough then watching Emily laugh out loud and witnessing how well her older boys play with the girls is even more proof. We had a great time and Gwen needs to be careful inviting Annslee over to swim this summer because we will show up !!

*These pictures in no way do justice to the fun and fellowship we had. Hopefully one of the other Mamarazzis got some more good ones they can send my way !

An unexpected playdate

We had talked about going to see Clifford today but weren't really sure we wanted to endure the crowd especially after the eye poking CG incident LOL I got a call from my friend Tara wanting to do something this morning so we went to see that dog afterall. Annslee LOVED him but Tara's son Aidan wasn't so sure about him ~hence no pic of them : )

We then ran over to the mall and ate at the food court ~ they were such good eaters we treated them to ice cream!

I think they enjoyed it!

No trip to the mall is complete without a visit to the play area. Annslee loved balancing on this ladybug. At one point Aidan came over and pushed her off and she was NOT happy about it. I told her that she is a year older than he is and she needs to be patient and set a good example by NOT pushing back~

I don't think she liked my idea ~ yeah, all of you who talk about how happy and smiley and sweet she always is....well, take a look at that face! (that is Tara in the background laughing at our crazy kids)

As you can see her sassy attitude didn't slow her down a bit!

*We saw quite a few adoptive families today. That in itself is not very unusual but it was interesting that we (Annslee and I ) were the "minority". Most of the adoptive families we see have children from China but today we met 3 families with S. Korean children and one with a son from Japan. Maybe it is because Aidan is from S. Korea so we were "attracting" those families LOL