Checking in : )

Daddy had his 20 year high school reunion and we went up a little early to play at the Zoo!


There is a butterfly exhibit and no matter how hard she tried they would not land on her hand

She loves riding the camel : )

It was in the high 90s so running through the water mist felt great

For the first time ever she rode that carousel with me not on with her. Later we looked at the sign and noticed you had to be 42 inches to do that and she is only 38 inches (we are such rebels LOL)

Here she is with Daddy in front of the house he grew up in : )

I sat on a bench at Daddy's elementary school!

Future Blogger alert!

We said bye bye to Daddy and headed to Charlotte. Gigi took us on a train ride downtown and it was so much fun : )

Of course silly hats are always fun!

We are having fun in Charlotte with everyone. A few families with our agency got a call yesterday saying they would not make the Sept. 1st deadline (our phone didn't ring) I am going to call in the morning and hope for an update...keep praying and thinking of us!

Outta here!

Here is Miss A with some of her latest fashion statements...be sure and click on the collages to enlarge them : ) Yes, she is doing her surfer pose in a couple of them LOL





We are heading to Gigi's house for a week and then on to the beach for a week...hope to post while we are gone but no promises : ) It will be nice to see everyone and have something to occupy us as August ticks away toward September 1st.

Here she is as we loaded up the car yesterday

Fun with Friends!

On Monday we met up with some friends at a huge indoor play area. The best way to know it was a success was that we adults had lots of time to chat because the kids were busy off playing with each other : ) Four families came so we had 5 little ones from China and 2 from Korea (two of us are also "waiting families" so hopefully soon we will have one more from Korea and one from Vietnam) Kobe was the only boy but he didn't mind as he totally entertained Annslee and Emma Grace with his silly stunts! Lola, who is 15 months old was the hit with all of us!

We tried to do a group shot with the kids but Lola was not happy about it. I love how Annslee is looking up at Laurie (Lola's mommy) and seems to be asking "hey, are we going to just let her cry?" We did want one with Lola not crying so we had to have the Mommys join in, hence the pic at the top

On Tuesday Mia came to swim. I don't have any pics of Annslee without goggles on b/c she puts them on when we arrive and keeps them on most of the time. The girls had fun swimming and then floating in tubes while we pushed them around~ little spoiled Princesses that they are : )






Since doing "Beach Party" at VBS she can't help but "surf" in most pics I get of her...so silly!

The Lake!

We went to Alabama this weekend for my family reunion. We have been doing it at this lakehouse since before I was born but haven't had it for the last two years so this was Annslee's first one. I remember well watching others with their little ones and knowing someday it would be my turn and it finally was : )

She loved fishing and kept looking under the pier to see if she could see a fish LOL


She was so cute on the pier with her fishing pole

Cousin Isaac received the bulk of her attention and she thought it was great when I put his long hair in a top knot!

This is how humid it was~ my lens fogged up immediately when I tried to get a pic of her on the swing that goes out over the water

Yeah, we didn't do that long as Mama was not loving it and honestly, Daddy wasn't either~ you can't tell in this pic but she is holding on TIGHT!

Hop on Isaac happened each morning. I am amazed at how great a 12 year old boy is with her

Cousin Shelby kindly read her bedtime stories and she loved the attention from a "big girl"


She has only ridden on a boat a few times but she loved it! Eating her cousin Hayden's snacks added to the joy

Everytime we drive by a lake, river, creek we joke "would you swim in that?" and she says "NO" because well, it is not as clean as a pool ~ so we were worried b/c when we mentioned going to the lake she said she was not getting in. She obviously changed her mind! She really wanted this duck to come over to her but she never got much closer (Annslee was pretending to have food and saying 'yum yum' to the duck)

Daddy was helping her fish (I think she has fished more times than he has though)

I have many more pics from the weekend but thought I'd share a few : )

Smooches Secret Buddy!

After she woke up from her nap I took a box upstairs that was addressed to her. I cannot even describe how much she LOVES getting mail. She has been a little under the weather so her voice is hoarse so when she yelled "Oooo La La" it sounded pretty funny : )

Here she is with all her loot!! (a swimsuit, game, cup to paint, ice cream lip gloss, Fan*cy Nan*cy purse and sunglasses)


She loved opening all of it!


She is so POSH!!

This morning we met friends at the movies then stopped for ice cream. We had a coupon she got from the library for "reading" so many books. Nothing is better than an ice cream cone in the car!!



Thank you so much for everything Secret Buddy. You are right, we are still uncertain about our Vietnam adoption and it is so sweet of you to choose to spoil Annslee instead. Believe me, she loves it!!!

When can we sign her up

for swim team?? Actually I know the answer and it is FOUR. I know I'm her Mommy but seriously, the girl has skills : ) I think the biggest thing is how comfortable she is. She wants her face underwater constantly and can swim pretty fast now. We have always known she was a natural swimmer ~ the first time we took her to a pool at 15 months old she jumped right in. She has been doing it ever since.

Yesterday she learned how to "dive off the block" aka, dive in for a swim meet. Elle Kate was doing it b/c big sister is on the swim team. Annslee loves doing it now! Here she is set to go~

Arms are straight and she is poised to spring~

Ha ha, she did a "tuck jump" instead (that is from gymnastics) and check out the smirk on her face knowing we were expecting a dive ; )

The funniest thing is the concentration on her face each time. This girl is serious!!

After being told by another Hubei Mama we too researched and it seems most of the swimmers and divers on the Chin*ese Oly*mpic team are from Hubei and the training facilities are there. Guess she comes by it naturally : )

Playdate Fun!!!

Today we had our much anticipated playdate with Paige, Elle Kate and Corley! I have known Jennifer (E &C mom) for a while from church (she doesn't have a blog~ tragic) and a few times I heard them mention a Paige in Corley's dance class. I never put it together that it was the same Paige we knew. Finally we did figure it out and decided we all needed to PLAY!!

When we got there Paige and Annslee played for a while. She was so great with Annslee and Miss A loves attention from a "big girl" Here they are signing "I love you" with some silliness : )

Elle Kate and Annslee planned ahead to wear matching swimsuits. I don't really know what kind of poses they are striking but they were pretty funny together all day (Jennifer gave Annslee some ice cream and as you can see she enjoyed it!)

Here is the gang!!

She practiced her underwater flips a lot today ~ I know it is hard to see but here she is in the "hand stand" portion of the flip

and here she is doing the flip part : )

She worked on doing hand stands too...she can get her legs pretty straight for only a second then they go into the splits LOL

They are looking at Paige's dog but what sweetness Missy captured...check out that hand on her leg : )

It was a long day...we were in the pool for almost FIVE hours! Elle Kate is doing a model pose and Annslee is pretending to be asleep (I think she really wanted to be as she fell asleep before we were out of the parking lot)

We had a great time and the most amazing part was how well they all played together. There was very little fussing, whining or fighting...and the sharing was great. Seriously, can't ask for much more.

Go check out Missy's blog to see more pics and read what Paige thinks of Annslee~ so funny and sweet!

Tick Tock~

This morning we went to the park before it got too hot! I asked her to stop so I could snap a picture really fast and I think you can see what she thought of delaying her trip to the swing ; )

Fine, how about this and we can move on!

She hopped on the glider swing and we did that for a while. I got off to take a picture and I think her mood had stayed the same : O

I kept bugging her until I almost got a giggle. The funny thing I noticed is her tan lines in the "creases" of her skin.

She eventually made her way to the "big girl" swing

No trip would be complete without pushing "pretend Malia" (sometimes it is pretend "boy name")

After swinging "tend Malia" needed to be carried for a while : )

We are at T minus 46 days and counting until our hopes for a referral are over. No word on anything as we won't hear until we get "the call" and believe me, you will all hear it then!! I did read an interesting post on VVAI today and I was happy to see our agency mentioned in a very positive light. Keep thinking of us and praying for news for our family and all the other Vietnam families who are currently hanging on to that fraying shred of hope. As you can see, Annslee is very anxious for some good news about being a big sister!!