Summer Fun!

Final day of swim lessons is here and I really think she will miss it. Her biggest accomplishment is going under by herself to get diving rings off the bottom!!! We are so proud of her and she is very proud of herself : )

Here she is right before lessons giving Mama some attitude when I wanted to take her picture....

She is waiting "patiently" to be told she can get in the pool...I love that little grin on her face

The cousins (my two sisters and their kiddos) came to swim the other day and she loved it!

Mia also came for a dip in the pool this week. Notice Annslee had to sport her new snorkel gear in the pool : )

A whole year already??!!

Yep...this blog has been around one year!! I started it after we had been home with Annslee for 8 months and I felt I had 'outgrown' my babyjellybeans site. I really planned on shutting all of it down but I had many family and friends request (more like insist) that I keep posting pics of Miss Annslee so they could keep up with her. I didn't realize in the beginning how big the bloggy world was. Over the last year I have met such wonderful people and watched how we all support each other through this journey. I started out reading the blogs from our China travel group and then was linked to other families who had also been to China or were experiencing the now very long wait to meet their little ones. Once we decided to go to Vietnam for our next sweetie I found out that there are many Vietnam family blogs as well (mainly thanks to Nicki who has a very extensive VN blogroll) Now my China buddy Jia and her family are heading to Taiwan for their newest additions so I had to start looking at some Taiwan familes like sweet Kobi as well. I even have a few non adoption related ones like my friend Maggie who is just fun to read. I need to update my friends list so you can see more of them too. I wish I could meet more of you in person but I feel so blessed to know all of you!!

Apparently Annslee was doing flips over it too...ha ha



A few people have asked about Malia so I thought I would give a little update. I usually do all that on her website (there is a link on here) simply because we will get a CD of it for her to keep like we did with Annslee. We have been logged in now for a little over 3 months. As you may know from reading that journal we got our 171H last November so we should have been logged in sometime in January but there were meetings in Vietnam and one thing led to another...so here we are. Our agency has only received one referral so far (on July 2nd) but they are hopeful more are on the way soon. The earliest we would get a referral is mid August but it could be much later. Unlike it was with China, we will have no warning that it is coming so you can all be surprised with us : )
Yes, we are very busy with Miss Annslee but are also very anxious to have our second child home. I know there is always the argument about whether it is easier the second time around..believe me, waiting stinks no matter how many kidlets you already have keeping you busy. The wait is different this time though. I haven't shopped (gasp...) like I did waiting for Annslee. By this time in the wait for her I had tons of clothes, toys, etc... I have bought exactly 3 things for Malia and they all involve Annslee. She has a big sister/little sister frame (hmm...does that even count?), a bib announcing her love for Annslee and matching St. Pat shirts for next year (packed away so no photo)




I did help the Easter Bunny pick out some things just for her at Easter so maybe that will help me feel less guilty ; ) The pig was b/c we think she will be born in the year of the pig and the cross reads:

Before you were conceived I wanted you. Before you were born I loved you. Before you were here for an hour I would die for you. This is the miracle of life. ~ Maureen Hawkins



So here I am a year later with almost 26,000 hits on my blog meter...thanks for hanging in with us!! Oh, and go over and give your congrats to JiaLi's family. She is Annslee's Qichun sister and now they are heading to Vietnam too for their sixth blessing!

July playgroup & Mia at last!

Today we had our FCC playgroup for the month at the park to feed the ducks. Annslee was really excited because Mia was coming and the girls hadn't seen each other in almost a month. She said Mia (or her version.... Mmmmm) over and over on the way to the park. We got there and they weren't there yet but luckily Kim was there with Ben and Evy so we got out of the car and headed for the ducks. However, all the kids had to go potty and there were no bathrooms so we did what we had to do...yep, Annslee went pee pee outside for the first time. It was so funny because she does the Chinese squat ALL the time but when she really needed to I had to show her how. Of course now she may want to do it all the time outside ; )

Mia did arrive and the chase was on!!

Once we got the bread out we realized there were no ducks but geese and pigeons instead (yuck) The geese were pretty agressive and the pigeons liked flying up in their faces. There were a couple of ducks in the pond so we fed them but the edge was so close and none of us wanted to jump in after one of the kids...

We headed to the playground area and the kids had a great time

No matter where we are Annslee is always picking up rocks and sticks...

Our playgroup turnout was small today but it was such a good time

A ladybug and three little dragonflies

Today we got to meet up with three of my bloggy buddies and their beautiful daughters! I have followed all three of their journeys to Vietnam and back and was thrilled to see their daughters in person at last! We met Susan for lunch a while back but it was while she was waiting to travel. Today she had Lily Ana in a ladybug top she said was just for Annslee..

Here we are with our kiddos: Susan & Lily Ana, Me & Annslee, Kelly & Lucy and Sherri & Gracie .... don't we look like proud mamas : )

The girls did great at lunch and Lily Ana took a little power nap. Kelly got to practice holding two but Lucy was ready to have mama back all to herself. I did get to hold Lily Ana for a minute but Annslee got very upset and tried to push her away and kept pointing at Susan letting me know she needed to go back to her mama (poor Malia)... I am happy to report that later on she did let Daddy hold Lily Ana and said she was "sharing" ha ha

I know hubby makes fun of me for my blogging and what he calls stalking other bloggers..ha ha...but look you do meet such wonderful people that way!!

Little Fish

Annslee has been taking swim lessons this past week (and will all next week) and Mama has been doing them with her...tonight Daddy got to come along. Having someone else in the water with her meant Mamarazzi could take some pictures!

She found these goggles and has insisted on wearing them ever since...hey, all the big kids swim with goggles afterall! Of course since they are cheap and not tight enough they fog up so she can't see where she is going LOL

She had a great time with Daddy!

My little twin

I have a weird habit..it is the way I stand. I have done it my whole life..it is a flamingo like thing. It is with my weight on my left leg and my right foot resting against my knee. I do this when on my laptop at the counter and apparently Annslee noticed ; )

Oh..and happy Friday the 13th : )

Every child must

drink the remaining milk straight from the bowl when the cereal is done. She was enjoying her fruity cheerios (less sugar than fruit loops) and when it was gone I told her to drink the milk in the bowl. She bent her head down and tried to do it that way...guess she has only seen dogs drink from a bowl ; ) So I had to go over and show her how to pick it up to do it the "correct" way...of course she thought it was hilarious and asked for more!




Another childhood must is running through the sprinkler. When we were in Charlotte Aunt Stacy told us to take Dora home with us as it didn't work well with her hose....seems to work fine here


* ok..notice her hair at breakfast...does anyone else's child wake up with a rat's nest in the back of her head every morning??!!

Weekend Wrap-up

I am finally caught up on posts from our long 4th of July weekend. Annslee is still talking about her cousins and everyone at Gigi's house. Aunt Beth taught her the sign for the first letter of all their names and she is walking around doing an M, E, B and R asking about them. Now we are doing the other cousin letters with her since we will see them all at the beach next month. Of course I would prefer her to just say their names but at least it is a start.

Here she is with "M".... they had such a fun time and he is so good about letting her do what she wants, like pretending to push him off the chair as he dramatically fell to the floor ; )





Anyone think she had a good time???




At Gigi's house...ice cream is always on the menu...with LOTS of sprinkles




I wish she got some attention....

Here are the results of our tie dye session with everyone...well, here are the kids anway!

A busy day!

We only see Grandaddy a few times a year (shame on us) but he just recently moved back from Mexico so hopefully we will do better. Annslee always points out that he is Daddy's Daddy...too cute. She is really working hard on figuring out family relationships. We met at Aunt Ann's house and of course headed straight to feed the animals. The other highlight was getting to drive the jeep...Andrew helped steer and you can see two others ran behind to aid...hey, I was taking the pictures (and moving out of the way!!!)

*Be sure and click on the collages to see their crazy faces better : )

Annslee was thrilled to try on cousin Mari's flapper dress....

Finally Grandaddy arrived and she ran to greet him! Later he and Mari tickled her feet on the couch....she would laugh even after they stopped...silly girl.

We ate lunch and she looked out the window and saw a horse in the barn. We told her we could go pet it later. By the time we headed up there it had gone out into the field..this is the face she had when she thought she wouldn't get to see it. No worries....it came back around for some loving



After our visit there we went to see the rest of the crew and karaoke broke out. As you can see she enjoyed her time on the mic belting out "Daddy, dadddyyyyy" She has some serious stage presence too...

Yes, that is chocolate ice cream on her shirt...I had a change of clothes with me...but hey, we were with family....

Our Hubei Honeys!

We got to see Molly! We had only seen them once since China and the daddies weren't able to make it so this time we all were there. We got to know each other in our Yahoo group and then of course shared a moment few get to enjoy together as we received our children in a room on the other side of the world. It was so wonderful having them in our travel group and of course we were thrilled to see them over the holiday weekend.

When we arrived the girls ran for each other and gave a big HUG!!!

They played, ate, played, ate snacks and played some more....

They have a red couch so of course a "red couch photo" was needed ; )

As we were getting ready to leave they ran for Molly's bed and pretended to be asleep, then they would "wake up" with a surprised look on their face (Molly's is particularly funny) Then they put the blanket over their heads and we would rip it off so that explains the bottom photo ; )
We have a travel group reunion in Atlanta next spring but we plan to see Molly and family before then!

Independence Day

Happy 4th of July!!!!! Annslee really enjoyed her holiday..swimming, playing with cousins and doing fireworks!








She wasn't angry here...just intently eating her goldfish : )


You can click on this one to see their sweet expressions...cousins are the best



She got bit by something...here she is with her swollen bottom lip..hey, no lip plumper needed...

I know the bottom two photos are kind of blurry and the light is bad but they definitely capture the joy she found in the fireworks!

Is there a doctor in the house or a deer nextdoor?

We love our pediatrician! Doctor Johnson is so wonderful and really loves the kids. She never makes Annslee get "on the table" and always lets her sit in her lap and play on her laptop while we chat. I never feel rushed and she always puts me at ease. Even with all this, Annslee does scream when we first go back because she knows she will be weighed and measured and she cannot stand that part. Hey, I don't blame her! At 32 months old she weighs 32 pounds and is 34.75 inches tall. For all you stat rats that puts her in the 75th percentile for weight and the 18th percentile for height. At her two year checkup she was in the 78th for weight and 10th for height so she is starting to "even out" it looks like : )



We went so she could get a written recommendation for speech therapy since apparently our Early Childhood Intervention cannot seem to get their act together. I could rant on and on about their ridiculous screening process but suffice it to say we will probably not receive any help until she turns 3 and the school system takes over. Mama bear is not happy but my hands are tied. Anyway, hopefully she will suddenly catch up on her own and we will no longer need to worry about this...hey, she is such a prodigy in every other area afterall : )

Here she is with her favorite doctor

Here is what we saw in the neighbor's yard the other morning.....

Her masterpiece

As promised...here she is in her tie dye shirt. It turned out really cute : ) She is so proud of it too...she even slept in it last night. She keeps pointing to it saying "Anns" letting us know she made it.
The second picture is her hugging herself during the "I love you " song on the Barney CD. I just love it when she does that!

She can always use some dog kisses (yuck) I tell her all the time "not on the mouth" but she obviously doesn't listen . I will admit it makes for some cute pictures

The celebrations begin!

Our neighbor's had a Pre 4th of July get together and of course we were invited..well, actually AnnaMarie invited Annslee..but she couldn't go alone LOL

I brought cupcakes and obviously Annslee really enjoyed it...at least the icing!

A lot of water fun was there and that was definitely right up her alley. She went down the slide, played in the pool and did the slip-n-slide. She and AJ also fought over who got to hold the hose but gave each other some hugs and kisses too

Another highlight was tie dying some shirts. She was a huge help and loved squeezing the dye onto the shirt. We chose purple, green and blue (all of our fav colors) We are washing it today and I will post the final result : )