Trick or Treat!

We've been keeping busy every weekend and so far we've enjoyed going to Sea W*rld the best. They have trick or treating for the kids on weekends and Kylie sure got the hang of it from day one. At first she was very cautious and barely audible and now...she still is! Ha, nothing has changed except for the fact that she is not shy anymore about running up with her bag wide open for treats. She will not say a word unless we remind her to say thank you. The more we go, the more open she is about letting us take her pic with sea creatures and mermaids. The first day we went, she did not crack a smile for photos and now she happily gives us a cheese smile.

Kylie was sick this past week. Her Dad and I missed work due to a fever that lasted four days! We found out on the 3rd day that she had a double ear infection and bronchitis! Poor bean! She is doing much better now thank goodness.

The past few months, I've been staying up late at night surfing the net for items related to my new obsession...digital scrapbooking! I've collected freebie stuff for the past year and just recently decided to give it a whirl! I've had help from my patient hubby! Yes, I said patient hubby:-) He has been very patient teaching me how to use Photoshop and answering the same questions that I've asked again and again. I finally decided to take notes. I admit I was a bad student but I'm loving the results now so I'm getting serious about learning. I've also purchased a software called Fo*to Fusion which I primarily like to make collages with. I decided to share what I've been working on for your viewing pleasure:-)

Our familyThis template is by K&Company

We made an unplanned trip to the pumkin market and Kylie loooooved it! We had to keep up with her as she ran around like a crazy girl yelling "punkeen, punkeen".

Template by ladie sue

I don't remember where I got this template from. This was my first try at digi scrappin and my hubby helped....alot:-)

This layout is a work in progress. This was our second weekend in Sea W*rld. We met up with new friends Matt, Moly & Malone along with other wonderful families who have adopted from Vietnam. I wanted to share the photos of Kylie in full costume for the first time. She was our little angel:-)
Sampler from Digitreats

Finally our sweet Belle! This was taken yesterday. We met up with our wonderful friends the Zanegoods at...you guessed it Sea W*rld.

This pic is for my friend Jeanne who I informed that we needed to go because it was now Kylie's nap time. This was 2-3 min into our car ride.

Geez! It's been almost a month since my last post. We seem to have plans lined up every weekend and work has been super busy for both of us. I haven't downloaded our recent pics off the camera (I know pretty lame). So I'll just leave you with a few until the next time:-) Kylie is 95% potty trained and has been for approx two months now. She is talking quite a bit now and has on occassion put 3, 4 and even 5 words together! She still loves to eat alot, is reserved around people for a while and she sleeps well through the night except for a few rare occassions. She LOVES playdates with friends and I really think she dislikes being an only child.... Kylie will not play by herself yet. There have been a few times where she will play without needing her daddy or I but it only lasts for approx 10 min. Baby steps. Now for some pics...

The Murphy's came to visit and the girls had so much fun together. We traveled with the Murphy's in China to get our Wuwei beauties. It is always a treat to see them and we look forward to spending time with them again real soon.

Our family anniversary day pic

Kylie likes puckering up to blow kisses or to say words like crackers, milk cookies, etc. Too cute! You know you want to try it...go ahead...do it...

Our friend Ellie over for a visit. The girls are great friends and always look forward to playing with each other.

Kylie seems to like all of the dog's including her grandma's dog but she hasn't completely warmed up to our Bruiser. Poor Bruisy.
Oh yes - I almost forgot to mention...not!! The terrible two's are in full swing in our house:-) The moods can be irrational, unconsolable (sp)?, sobbing tantrums. I assumed she was picking up this behavior in school but most people I've talked to including our pediatrician said to me..."welcome to parenthood" Smile:-)

Grooving to the beat part II

Grooving to the beat...

Cocoa Beach - Moon Festival weekend

Our first outing with FCC-CF. It was great meeting new families. It's hard to tell from this picture but Kylie was enjoying her new photography skills

Kylie's first time at the beach

Hand full of sand

Waiting patiently for a dinner table

Daddy putting together a kite for Kylie

Kylie and Natalie. These two had so much fun running up and down the hotel hallway and goofing around on this chair and we enjoyed watching them play
Pizza!!
Piggy back ride

Gotcha Day Anniversary!

A year ago today at 8ish p.m. we were blessed with our beautiful daughter! We celebrated by having a nice quiet dinner at home prepared by our wonderful Chef aka "Daddy". We raised our wine glasses to toast, Kylie joined in by clinking her sippy cup and we reminisced about our grueling scheduled and emotionally charged 20 hr day a year ago today! We also went out for ice cream after dinner and took a few pics to remember our first anniversary. Oh my how how our lives have changed is an understatement to say the least.

Potty training is in full swing and we couldn't be prouder of our girl! I hope I'm not celebrating too soon but this weekend we thought Kylie was frantically trying to get our attention because she had to go...but in fact she came to get us because she had already gone! Yes, this actually happened twice this weekend and this is the first weekend that I decided to give the potty training a go. Our little Ms. Independant is so proud of hersefl as she should be and she is well on her way to training under pants. We are officially off diapers and on to pull ups for her convenience. She also surprised us this evening by putting 5 words together..."tac you mommy and daddy". I'm still not quite sure what she was thanking us for but we were thrilled. So far she has been putting two and at times 3 words together. Conveniently enough they help her get what she wants i.e. "I want more", "more daddy (or substitue for mama), p-e-e-a-s-e" and some other cute ones that are not coming to me at the moment. Another big thrill for me is the fact that she is now calling us mommy and daddy and her manners are no longer prompted by us 'all the time':-)

Our daughter has filled our lives with so much love and joy. We never take for granted how lucky we feel to have such a blessing.

Mommy and Daddy LOVE YOU SO MUCH baby girl! Muah!

October 2006 - Our precious baby

September 2007 - Oh my she is our big girl now

Final homestudy complete!

We are excited beyond words to finally have our last homestudy completed as of yesterday by 5:30pm. What a huge difference this HS was compared to the first one 2 yrs ago where I dusted off base boards and literally wiped down the walls. Nope not this time...I barely mopped the floors as I was too busy keeping Kylie entertained as we waited for our wonderful little friend Ellie to arrive for a playdate. I felt at ease and we were eager parents waiting to bore our case worker to death about all of Kylie's milestones. Kylie just moved to the 2yr old classroom in day care and potty training is a big focus in this class. In her first week, I was told that Kylie is ready for pull-ups! Can I get an oh yeah!! Also, Kylie is talking tons. She repeats at least one word from our sentences and she is putting together two and at times 3 words together. Kylie can be really silly and loves to laugh. We are in love with our little angel and we are continually thankful for our little blessing. She also loves to swim and I've taken the liberty to present our first video thanks to blogger's latest update. I have not taken the time to get acquainted with other softwares that allow for video so this new feature is a + +. Enjoy watching our little fish.

Birthday pics

Our dear sweet princess is now 2 yrs old! We celebrated her birthday with a pool party at our house. We had lots of family and friends over (approx 50 ppl which included 16 kids). Everyone was really excited about celebrating this special occassion with us. We are truly blessed to have a loving family and wonderful friends. It was definitely Kylie's day. She did not take a nap that day (down right scary) and she went swimming at least three different times throughout the day. With that much activity I really thought we would see new levels of crankiness. Low and behold this little tot had a great spirit, at times she was cautious around new people and she loved showing off her swimming skills. At 8:45pm she was still not ready for bed! Thank goodness for warm milk and books, she did not protest about having to stay in bed and she was out like a light within 10 minutes. Whew!


The Birthday Girl!

Notice the D*ra stickers on her leg? Don't even think about asking her to take them off. I did and it wasn't pretty. I'm learning to pick my battles. I never thought I would be trying to compromise with a feisty 2 yr old. Stickers are compliments of our friends Robin & Natalie. Thanks guys!
Great friends united through the wonderful world of adoption. Jeanne, Krista & Lily should have been in this picture! They were just a few feet away watching us pose for this pic.
Our little fish

Proud mommy

Yummy food

No toy was left untouched in Kylie's room. Of course, Kylie suddenly had a renewed interest in her toys again!

I'm still not sure if Kylie really blew out the candles.

Proud parents

Yum, yum, yum, yum...delicioso!

My sweet niece helping Kylie with her gift. These sunglasses came with a cute swimsuit set.

We only opened gifts upon request. We felt that it would be too overwhelming for Kylie. Judging from this pic it would have taken a very long time to get through most of them. They were really paying close attention to detail!

Did I mention we have a sweet angel?

Pool fun with her cousin Cole

Our fearless dare devil jumping into the pool

Daniel, his dad and Kylie. Daniel's mom and I have been friends since we were young kids, oh... 30+ years give or take- Yikes!

I love watching Kylie laugh and having lots of fun.

And last but certainly not the least our great friends Mer, (left) and Lizzy (right) These ladies were amazing and helped us keep this shindig together. They helped with everything from prepping the food and getting the food out ready for guests, to cleaning everything and anything, assisting and greeting our guests to finally taking all of the pictures featured here and then some! If it were not for them, I would not have a single picture to post or share the memories with Kylie. I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Mer and Lizette for all of your help! I love you guys!! You are the best!!

Here is what I've been up to lately...

At first I was excited to meet the "red guy" then I couldn't figure out why he decided to stand so close to daddy and me...

N-o-o-o-o....

Hey he is pretty cool after all - we gave each other bumps and then "Elm*" went "night-night" ("Elm*" went on a break but we told Kylie he had to go to take nap.

"Blue cheese"

It's a tough job being me...

I really enjoy water play every Wednesday at school with my friends...

I also enjoy gymnastics every Saturday morning with my buddies

I love the occassional ice cream treats!
Being goofy with mommy and daddy... Trying to stay out of trouble...

I wrapped up my safestart swimming lessons...

This floating thing is a piece of cake.

Speaking of cakes, I've attended birthday parties practically every weekend.

Showing off my swimming skillzzz....

and surfing style.

Showing off my fashion sense...

Trying to keep a low profile...

For some reason everyone kept stopping to comment how adorable I was. Maybe they won't see me anymore if I scrunch my face:-)

Mommy and Daddy are planning my birthday party. I will be 2 yrs old this coming Saturday. I can't wait to see my family and friends. Stay tune for my birthday photos on the next post! Love, Kylie