Trial run, SP & Addison's Mommy

This morning she came to me asking for her costume for tonight. I thought, sure why not do a trial run. Well, she loved it and wore it for about an hour. Yes, I plan on at least brushing her hair tonight!

We got home from being out of town to find our Secret Pal gift had arrived!! As usual it was full of great goodies for Malia and a little treat for Annslee as well. The soft pumpkin is so cute and full of little goblins to play with. I love the SP card..too cute!! Thank you so much SP!!!

We also received a treat from Nicki (Addison's Mommy). I had admired her hair bow hangers on her blog and she sweetly made one for each of the girls. She even included a birthday goodie for Annslee : ) She was one of the first bloggers I read when we chose Vietnam. Her commitment to the integrity of adoptions in Vietnam is unbelievable. If you are adopting from VN you must read her other blog

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!

Two "alternate" costumes & note to my SP

On Sunday we went to Boo at the Zoo and had a blast. Annslee had suddenly decided she wanted to be a pirate and I told her that was great..she could be anything she wanted 364 days a year but on Hall*oween she was going to be Tink*erbell as we already had it purchased and she has been talking about it for 2 months : )

Well, I asked her what she wanted to wear to the Zoo and she grabbed her cat ears. Aunt Beth gave her a really cute leopard skirt for her birthday and since we had the ears and tail...all I needed was some face paint. We got dressed, grabbed her baby clouded leopard and headed to the Zoo. Uncle Jason showed up with Jake and Zoe and he was dressed as a pirate...guess who grabbed his sword and became a Pirate Leopard! I cannot look at this picture without laughing b/c she is so serious about her sword skills as she protects her baby leopard : )

There were several "characters" there so we thought this was a good trial run for our trip to Dis*ney next month. The funniest thing was when the ladies were dancing and invited people out to dance with them...Annslee jumped at the chance and shook her booty. She is blurry in the picture b/c she just couldn't be still

She got a lot of candy and other treats, ate quite a bit of it, rode the carousel backwards and had a great "spooky" time.

On Monday night we went to gymnastics for their Hall*oween party. She grabbed her pirate gear and we were off! I didn't have a sword or a real costume but we made due. I was quick enough to take ONE picture of her with the patch and earring on!


We got to gymnastics and she walked the plank and tried the parrallel bars with her hook...then she ditched it all so she could run wild!!

*Secret Buddy...we did receive your wonderful package...I need to take a pic and post my thanks : )

A trip to Big Orange country

On Saturday we went to Daddy's old stompin ground and walked around. It was gameday but we were on campus really early so we beat the crowds : ) At the bookstore she found this chair she loved and then rescued a stuffed dog from the back. She found him on a cart and put a belt on him for a leash and took him around the store introducing him to everyone. We noticed he has a bad leg and think he was probably returned to the store but Annslee loved him and now he is ours!

We heard the band practicing and walked over to watch. She LOVED watching and listening. She particularly enjoyed the baton twirling




It was a fun day hanging out on campus. We didn't go to the game (a little late for Annslee) but watched it on TV...WOW...exciting!!


We wanted a picture with Daddy in front of his dorm but she wanted to make faces instead...but she finally gave us a smile : )





















*we also went to the park and Boo at the Zoo on Sunday...coming soon : ) Oh, and the jumper is from Cracker Bar*rel...I am sure they have your local team there!

Pumpkin Painting

We did our second annual pumpkin painting tonight and of course she loved it. She likes to mix all the paint together so it mainly turns out brown. At least this year she didn't wear the same shirt 3 days in a row and she isn't drooling as much LOL


Here she is last year... I can't believe how big she looks now.... *sigh

I was trying to get her to say all the colors but all I got was purple, then a big oooooo eyes,and "Anns" blue (which also sounds like oooo)

*Oh, and I saw the Southern accent comments about me..ha ha...Southern but not country (and yes there is a big difference)

Swimming in corn, picking pumpkins & being silly

Last Saturday we took Grandaddy with us to the pumpkin patch and we all had a great time. The weather is still really warm but we tried to get in to the autumn mood anyway : )

This year they added something new and while I thought it was a crazy idea, Annslee thought it was great!


Yep, she is literally swimming in corn!! She loved running in it and throwing it in the air too

Even sitting in a bunch of shucked corn she is beautiful : )

She got to pick her own pumpkin and she was very excited about it. As usual she loved milking the cow, swinging and riding the barrel train.

The next morning..after opening her birthday gifts of course...we went to a pumpkin stand down the road and got two big ones to carve. She insisted on getting a little pumpkin for herself and she loved it



Daddy had to run into the store to get some ice and I was trying to occupy her in the car by having her make faces at me....silly girl!

My big girl and some thoughts

As I said, she had her three year check up and she is doing great. Other than speech she is totally on target for her age (no I am NOT caught up in 'what she should be doing' that you read in books) I have meant to brag on her for being such a big girl ~ she has been sleeping without pull ups for a few months now, moved to a big bed (well, when I am not letting her sleep with us), she has become quite a gymnast, goes potty all by herself start to finish, can dress herself, has a very advanced sense of humor (she is really funny) and I am sure other things I can't think of right now. The main thing is she is happy and healthy!

Her birthday is obviously a day we celebrate and she has such a good time. On Sunday morning she awoke around 4 am and I went into her room. She reached for me and I picked her up and whispered Happy Birthday in her ear. She hugged me tight and grinned. I didn't need a camera to remember that moment : ) I am also reminded on this day that there is another family on the other side of the world who are not able to whisper sweet words in her ear and feel her arms around them. I admit I don't think of her birth parents often and I sometimes feel bad about that. I honestly just go through my day as her Mama and in a way "forget" that there were thirteen months of life before us that we know very little about. Obviously I know this fact and it is a very important one but right now it isn't something I think of often. Before anyone comments about this, please understand I am not trying to ignore this fact and am acutely aware of what a huge part of my daughter this is. I am so grateful for the person she is becoming and know we are not the reason for all of it. As Annslee gets older I will let her take the lead and I am sure it will be something we talk of often but for now we just talk about China, airplanes and how much we love her : )

Just because I love then/now pictures...


Third birthday ~ 10/21/07

Second Birthday ~ 10/21/06



Celebrating her being One ~ 1/15/06



Of course you can go to the archives last October to see more of those pictures and her "origninal" website for the first party. Since we missed her first birthday we did it when she was 15 months old : )

Party Time!!

We capped off our birthday 'month' of fun with her party. There were 14 crazy kids running around! We ate cake, played, opened gifts then headed for the pool : )

Last year I had no problems getting great pictures of her with her cake but this year..I think 3 year olds move more quickly LOL

The beauty of an Ariel cake is all the "water" so blue icing was sure to be all over her face! Yes, she was puckered up for a kiss in the last pic and daddy ended up with a blue face too

We loved watching her open her gifts. She would literally hug each one before hugging the giver of the gift. Here she is hugging the game she was given by Amelia : )

I don't have many pool pics but take my word for it, they had a blast!

*I need to thank Mia's mama for providing me with so many great pictures...my camera is not being my friend right now so she graciously took a lot for me.

We had her 3 year check up today and for all you stat rats...she is 36 inches tall and 33 pounds : )

Is it Christmas??

No...but it is a certain three year old's birthday!! This morning I put all her gifts from us in the living room and she came out to be greeted by us saying Happy Birthday to her. This was her face when she saw the gifts : )

Grand daddy kept saying "you are THREE now not TWO" and she thought it was so funny

She really enjoyed opening but loved us asking "whose birthday is it?" and she would say "Anns" over and over and point to each of us saying "not yours"

She ran to show her Ariel fishtank off ~ pointed out that Jafar is 'not nice' ~ let all her Aladdin characters play together and then really enjoyed her 'big' gift of a keyboard

I wish this pic had sound because she is really belting out a tune : )

The party is this afternoon and so of course there will be more to come....plus our pumpkin patch from yesterday : ) We are so blessed to celebrate with this sweet girl!!

Guess who came to town??

Grand daddy made a special trip from North Carolina just for my birthday!!! We had a lot of fun drawing and making faces for Mama.


After some play time we headed to dinner and they brought me a cake!! I was a little excited about that.

Chocolate on your face is always fun!

I mean seriously, it is funny...and then I give everyone big chocolate kisses!




I could really get used to this birthday thing. I wasn't really good about using my 'inside voice' at the restaurant and grand daddy even pretended to shush me but I was more concerned about the chocolate on his head..see, I am not into facial hair so I only give him kisses where he has no hair

After all that we went to the mall and rode the carousel...I reminded him to hang on tight!

Of course I had to bungee jump before we left....I was practicing my Tin*ker Bell moves : ) This time the guy running it was making me go really high and I had my arms out like wings. Others around couldn't believe how brave I was. Mama took a video but blog*ger is being mean and won't let her upload it! Oh well, heading to the pumpkin patch tomorrow!!

Let the fun begin...or continue : )

The mailman came yesterday and brought a couple of packages to our door. When Annslee saw them she cheered....uh oh...what are we going to do when her birthday is over and the packages are boring again?


Today's fun included a gift from JiaLi and it is beautiful. It was handmade by her mom and it will look so nice in her "big girl" room. Michelle is so talented, generous, wonderful...I could go on and on. We are so blessed to have them as friends. I can't believe it was almost two years ago when we first met JiaLi's daddy in China and couldn't believe he was there by himself (Mama was home with the other four kidlets) and wondered how he would handle it alone. Well, he helped us most of the time since he was a pro! One of our favorite memories was how when it was time to go out for the day we would all pack half our rooms into a diaper bag and Joe would come down to the lobby with JiaLi in one arm, a bottle in his other hand and a diaper in his back pocket! ha ha

When she was opening the gift daddy told her it was from her friend JiaLi so she is doing her 'friend' sign



I wanted her to hold it up for me to see but the best I got was this crazy smile ~ at least the picture isn't upside down : )

The other package was from Aunt Beth (daddy's sister) in Richmond. She has two boys and obviously loves shopping for girly clothes. The leopard skirt and tights are so sassy! As you can see, Annslee really loved the sweater!



GiGi sent a gift to her as well the last time daddy went to Charlotte. We will be watching these movies over and over I am sure.

Can you say spoiled?? Oh, and of course her birthday isn't even here yet...just wait until Sunday!! Thanks everyone for making her feel so special : )

Finally...

Well, after a year of hoping and praying...she is finally getting speech therapy. She goes four days a week and I am hopeful progress will be made quickly. After she was evaluated the speech therapist told me in the 25 years she has done this she has never seen a child with scores like hers (she is around the 15 month old level in expressive and the 4.5 year old level in receptive). I know Annslee is frustrated and so are we. I feel so badly when I watch her try to interact with other children and adults and they have no idea what she is trying to tell them. Adults are kind enough to try and go along but children don't know to do that and so they just walk off. I realize it doesn't hurt her feelings yet but it hurts me for her. She is such a social butterfly but her lack of expressive language is beginning to be a huge barrier for her and I am glad we are on the road to helping her. I know I need to stop being her interpreter but it is so difficult when I know what she is trying to say or what she is signing.

Did I mention I am crazy about this girl?!




Dannye, I told you she loves the Eeyore you sent! In the collage below the story goes something like this.... "Poor Eeyore, he is sad b/c his tail came off ~ here is a hammer I will fix it ~yep, it is fixed ~ Eeyore, smooch smooch"



I have been meaning to post about the Wheeler Family for a while and they really need all the prayers they can get. I do not know them personally but I cannot imagine the pain they are in not knowing what is happening with their daughter in Guatemala. Please visit their blog and give them some support.