A Package from Israel??

A while back Robin posted on her blog about a beautiful tea set she was giving away. She said "leave a comment to enter" Of course I left one and much to my surprise~ I won!!! There were 366 comments so I thought I was pretty lucky (it must have been "our" week b/c Annslee won a kite at the CNY celebration that week too) It happened during the week we were stressing out so much about our update for our VN adoption. It could not have come at a better time.

Today the mailman rang the doorbell for me to sign for a package and it was the tea set!! She also sweetly included some stamps for Annslee : )


Thank you so much Robin!!! Annslee is already wanting to do a tea party with it!!

Zoo and Secret Buddy

Late posting it..but on Wednesday we went to the Zoo and the weather was beautiful!! She was kind of tired for some reason so it took a while for her to "warm up" but once she did she was all go!

Here she is when we were looking at the red pandas ~ she had those two fingers in her mouth which means she is tired : )



Gotta love that shirt! It is hard to read but it says "Mommy's Little Sidekick"


She was sticking her tongue out at the monkey so he returned the favor and yes, she found that hillarious
She fell asleep on the way home~ at OUR exit, great!

No problem, after her 5 minute powernap she jumped on her bicycle. She has outgrown her tricycle but can't figure out that a bike actually brakes when you pedal backwards so that will be something she has to work on to make much progress. Don't worry, she will wear a helment when she actually moves very far : )

The day got even better when a package arrived on the doorstep! Thank you soooo much Secret Buddy!!! Annslee tore into the package and was so cute saying "Malia" over and over. She says it with three very distinct syllables "Ma Lee Ah" and she has started saying it all the time ~ so sweet.

Malia got a really cute swimsuit with a coverup and hat and a ladybug jacket. They are 18 month size but look so small (I forget how little that is now) I got a jewelry shoe and cookie cutter (which will be put to good use soon) and Annslee raked in with a princess purse (purple of course), a Po*oh pretending to be a bunny and some Pe*eps! She squealed about all of it and already had some of the candy



Thank you so much SB!!!! We love all of it!

Those Hot Headed Hubei girls

Hey, we have always been told that Hubei people have bad tempers, are stubborn, etc.... Well, I saw this story on Dannye's blog and was not surprised that the couple is from Hubei ; )


BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese bride burned her new husband to death after he got into bed after a drunken argument without washing his feet, state media reported on Wednesday.

“Wang and his wife, Luo, were married on February 2. The couple, however, frequently fought over trivial things while still on their honeymoon,” the official Xinhua news agency quoted a local newspaper as saying.

The couple, from the central province of Hubei, had another fight on the night of March 4, “and in frustration they together drank a bottle of liquor to ease their anger.”

“At about 10 p.m., Luo watched her husband get into bed without cleaning or washing his feet. In a fit of anger and intoxication, she set fire to the sheet he was sleeping in,” the report said.

“When he awoke, the two began fighting before a very drunk Wang collapsed. As fire engulfed the bedroom. Luo escaped to the living room, leaving her other half to burn,” it added.

The woman has been arrested, Xinhua said.

After reading this article (which really isn't funny) I can't help but notice that they still fought AFTER she set the bed on fire..What???

Our Busy Day

We slept in then played at home for a while. Mainly we did her new favorite game of her being the Mama and us being Baby Girl and Baby Boy : ) Later we headed to our Tues art class and then "toured" the gardens.

She has a new thing of sticking her tongue out so a lot of my pictures show that now ; )

She got her hair trimmed and then it was time for lunch and a short nap. After nap she got dressed for dance class. She loves wearing her dance clothes and always acts sassy in them

Come on Daddy~ quit talking to the neighbors, it is time to leave!
After dance class she quickly changed clothes for soccer practice. It was really funny because there is only one other girl on the team and they were soon holding hands. Annslee did not like the drill where one person is the "shark" and tries to get everyone else's soccer ball. She picked hers up and held it saying "NO" lol

She shoots~She scores!!

It is suppose to be really nice tomorrow so we are thinking ZOO!!!

One Child Policy Stays

*photo taken Beijing November 2005 (two days before we met Annslee)

I was hoping for a different outcome but it looks like there will be at least 10 more years of China's one child policy. I pray for the families who will be forced to make unimaginable decisions. Go HERE to read more.

Bye Gigi!

Yesterday we started off by going to church and watching Annslee sing. I love it when the Cherub Choir sings~ so cute!!

She spent her time waiting to sing by playing with make believe goggles and sitting on the choir helper's lap : )

After nap we went to the park ~ yeah, she really did have a nap before we went. She joined in a game of hide-n-seek with two other kids there and had a great time. She kept saying "hi-see" over and over when we got back in the car

Later that night she wanted to be fed like a baby by Gigi and Zoe joined in! She does this a lot with us and we love doing it. We missed that first year of bottle feeding so it is really sweet when she wants us to do this.

Gigi thought it would be funny to sit in Daddy's lap~ Annslee did NOT think it was funny. She threw a fit and pushed Gigi off HER Daddy!! (poor Malia)

No worries...she and Gigi made up fine : )

*Gigi left this morning and we miss her already!!!!

Snow and a Princess Party

This morning we awoke to over 3 inches of snow!!! We went out for a few minutes (literally) and then she was ready to come back in. We didn't even build a snowman but we did get ready and go to a Princess party : )



The party was at a little tea room and it was so much fun. Cinder*ella was there and she basically did the whole party. I see another 4 year old party there in our future!

Cinder*ella reminded them to raise their pinky when they sip their tea~ notice she has both raised : )



They also did makeup and nails and Annslee was very serious about this. Of course all her color choices were purple : )

A group of beautiful Princesses

*This is her Easter dress but I thought I'd get two uses out of it...you will see it again : )

Sometimes I wish I were THREE!!

Her day started off with speech therapy and then we went to her school to wait for Gigi to arrive. She stood by the door and cheered when she saw her car pull up. She then held her hand and refused to let go as she told everyone who would listen "My Gigi"


We picked her up from school and after nap she and Gigi made cupcakes

Hey mom, why don't we ever bake so I can do this more often??

Gigi even gave her a "lesson" on how to get the most batter off

Two girls on the phone!

After dinner she iced them and put on the sprinkles

Anyone want a chocolate kiss??

It is snowing pretty hard right now so Gigi may be here all week! YAY!

Guess who is here??

I think Annslee just experienced her perfect evening!! Gigi came in today for a planned visit because it is Grandparent's Day at Annslee's school tomorrow. Yeah, she drove 7 hours to have a snack with her girl : ) Of course she brought her dog Zoe along for the ride. Oh, and it gets better ~ Mia stayed with us for a few hours while her Mommy did some things. Yeah, Annslee could not have asked for a better night!!

I think it is obvious she loves Zoe!!

She and Mia read for a while and then tried on their bunny glasses

They yelled to me "we are asleep" and that was my cue to come up with the camera : )

Seriously, can't you all look at the camera for me? Hey, I didn't even promise Annslee ice cream for this smile! (those of you in playgroup totally get that one LOL)

Gigi really helped entertain the wild girls!

*Daddy is really sick now~ fingers and toes still crossed that Annslee avoids this (oh, and Gigi too!!)

GiGi gets this one

Today's art project was painting a giant bird ~ and I mean it was huge. At first she didn't want to get the paint on her hands (silly girl) but eventually dug right in

I have to say, when she is working on an art project she has a very serious face. I love the last one with her tongue sticking out : )

This bird will be going home with GiGi who is coming to visit!!! She likes birds and well, we really don't. Sorry, I think they are nasty and loud : ( Plus, it is really big and I know GiGi will have the perfect spot to display it!


Displaying her work! Yes, she has blue teeth from a lollipop she got at the doctor's office. I have been feeling bad for a few days and it just keeps getting worse. The diagnosis ~ Bronchitis and Pharyngitis with the added bonus of a fever of 103. I wish I'd had a camera in the doctor's office to catch her face as I was getting 2 shots. She grimmaced, put her hand over her face and kept saying "No Mama" then she sweetly came over to pat my hand : ) GiGi is coming on Thursday and we cannot be sick so pray she or Daddy don't get my funk!







*As a side note, we got there late so there were only two other mom's there with their kids. One of them was Mar*tina Mc*Bride and no we did not get a pic with her b/c she was there to enjoy her own time with her daughter.Hey, she didn't ask for my pic either LOL If I had spoken to her (other than saying "of course" when she asked if her daughter Ava could borrow Annslee's purple marker) then I would have let her know how much her song "In My Daught*er's Eyes" made me cry about a hundred times driving down the road as we waited for Annslee's referral and for her to come home. Who am I kidding ~ it still makes me cry!

Beautiful day

It was 60 degrees today and will be 70 tomorrow! Of course we had to go play outside with our beautiful girl : )

This is the backside of a very sad girl. She kept going over to the fence and even tried to "pick" the lock. She is so ready for the pool!

She thought sliding down on her back was fun and the static it created in her hair was hillarious!

Welcome March ~ we are ready for Spring!!

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 : )