Pics and things

Is it really the end of July? Every month seems to be flying by. I know I'm always saying the same thing but that is exactly what it feels like.

I'd like to say a quick congratulations to Don and Be who are finally home with their beautiful china doll. We look forward to meeting Joanna Mei very soon. By the looks of it you guys are already giving her the tour around town.

Congrats to Tammy for jumping in the Sean band wagon to spend time with family. It has been and continues to be an awesome experience for us. I know it won't be long before Caris becomes the world traveler with all of the traveling you guys do already. I hope that means you will frequent FL more often:-) We will definitely come meet you and will probably wear out our welcome mat at the Bonita Springs Estate, lol!

Barb - I am so thrilled to hear that you continue to follow our journey. The girls are growing up so fast. I loved seeing the reunion pics and Emily is beautiful! I use the Foto Fusion software as it is by far the easiest program to use for the simple layouts. It does not require a learning curve. I'll send you the link soon. Thanks for posting to let me know you are checking in:-)

Now for some pics:

I love this pic of Kylie with her Daddy. She adores him and so do I:-)

Our big girl!

Future blogger:-) Kylie has now successfully learned how to navigate the right handed mouse although she is left handed. We may eventually purchase a left handed mouse.

**Can one of you bloggers out there help me figure out how to enter double spaces in between paragraphs? I've tried several options and nothing seems to work. Thanks!**

Weekend outings

Wow, I didn’t mean to wait so long before my next post. We have been incredibly busy enjoying quality time with our family and friends. We are having a fantastic summer and we don’t want it to end.

Last weekend we attended Lily Keefer’s 3 yr old birthday party. Geez Krista can you believe you are the mom to a 3yr old?!?! The theme was Strawberry Shortcake and the decorations were oozing SS all over. It was beautiful and Ms. Shortcake herself made an appearance. Kylie had a blast and kept inviting SS to her house. It turns out Kylie wants everyone to come to her house now. It’s her new thing. The party was all beautifully planned and executed. Great job Dave & Krista! It was also my niece’s 4th birthday. She lives in Tampa and we were sorry to have to miss it. Happy Birthday Ani! We love you!!

This past weekend, Kylie got to enjoy Saturday afternoon with Jeanne and Ellie for lunch then the Orlando Art Museum for a little culture and story time. Sean and I enjoyed a nice quiet lunch and we were able to breeze thru some errands. What a huge difference when you don’t have to strap in a sassy 3yr old each time. Then around 5pm Kylie came home and in turn we got to watch Ellie and Sagan so that their parents can enjoy a nice relaxing dinner. Sean of course cooked up a delicious meal which the girls ate every bit followed by an ice cream treat with their choice of sprinkles. Sunday we met the Zanegoods at Aqua-tica in the morning and then we met the Keefer’s at Ep*cot in the afternoon. My new “extra” day off a week, Sean and I try to catch a movie.

Kylie’s favorite things to say:
“That’s my favit” (favorite)
“What’s that? what’s that? what’s that???”
“I need to” We’ll ask why did you do that and she’ll say “I need to”
“You come to my house”
“I no wanna nap”
“I no wanna rest”
“I no wanna sleep”
“I no wanna quiet time”

And she shrugs her shoulders…a lot. Very entertaining our little one…she knows way too much. Also, not that there was ever any doubt but we do not need to get her hearing checked. She can hear us just fine…trust me. She hears Sean and I whispering to each other or she must have somewhere along the way learned to read lips. She has mastered the art of selective listening. Oh and we can no longer say things to people in front of her, about her. She completely understands EVERYTHING we say and it has come back to haunt me. My little girl is growing up way too fast…

Sean is enjoying being a stay at home dad for the summer. I believe that the one on one attention Kylie is getting from her Daddy have both helped develop her vocabulary and it has spoiled her rotten! Kylie enjoys her cooking lessons with her Daddy and I do believe she can crack an egg better than I can – lol! DH on the other hand enjoys adult conversation now more than ever! Ha, ha! He is a loving and wonderfully attentive father. There are a few and “interesting” employment opportunities presenting themselves but we are not ready to give up our summer vacation just yet…or are we…?? Stay tuned.

Going to bed now. It's late, I'm tired and blogger is not cooperating with me tonight. I'll post more pics later.

Holiday weekend

We had a fun filled holiday weekend. My SIL & family spent the 4th with us.

We went to Sea W*rld in the morning where Kylie and her cousin Ani had lots of fun. After nap time the girls showed off their swimming skills in the pool. The girls had a great time and played well together. Saturday morning we met up with family and friends for a little fun in the sun and water play for the kids. Judging by this pic I think Kylie had a nice time:-)

Saturday night Sean, Kylie and I went back to Sea W*rld in the evening. It was great to see the shows in the evening. After one of the shows we came across loud funky music and "mermaids & mermen" in an area usually dedicated to pearl diving. We were delighted in Kylie's excitement in interacting with the swimmers and dancing to the beat of the music. It is tough to tell from these pictures I placed into a collage but I thought I post them to give an idea of what it looked like. I took lots of video and they all turned out pretty dark and blurry - ugh!Sunday is such a blur. We are enjoying our summer and Kylie & I love having her Daddy around. It feels like summer is flying by way to fast. Kylie will be 3yrs old next month and I still can't believe how fast time is going by.

Playing the violin

Kylie joined her friend Ellie for Violin lessons last week. Kylie seemed to really enjoy it so she is getting the opportunity to join Ellie again today. Here is a little video our friend Jeanne took of the girls practicing some notes. Enjoy!

Two years ago this month we received the most exciting news from China. We had been blessed with the most beautiful baby girl. I recall asking our case worker "is this the call" and she said "yes". She went on to give me the details as I nervously wrote down every word. That is until she got to the part of were Kylie was from. "She is from Gansu"....Me - Gan what? Where is that?? I was prepared for her to be from any other part of China, I had done my homework. But no blog or no one ever mentioned Gansu. Little did we know how fortunate we would be to visit a part of China that most people will never get a chance to see. It was an incredible place full of beautiful tall mountains on the border line of Mongolia. The tall mountains where in the colors and shades of teracotta and rust. This was no Beijing. Looking back this place was no Guangzhou. It was different and it was our daughter's home. What an incredible experience. Fast forward two years and no matter how many times people told us having a child would change our lives forever, you have no idea exactly what that means until you go through it. Sean and I looked at Kylie's picture together for the first time and tears of joy ran down my face. I still get very emotional when I look at Kylie's referral pic. Sean and I could not have planned nor prepared for the most beautiful, smart, happy, well behaved and sassy girl. We love you Kylie and you fill our lives with so much pride and joy.