Meili's First Haircut

It was time. We are sad to see some of the length go, but not to see the mullet go with it. She did really well and let me cut it. I think she looks cute as a button!

Side view.

Another sassy pose.

The back. The thumb is in, she's getting tired.

She's not going to last much longer.

Yep. She wants her momma. The photo shoot is over. Off for some cuddle time.

1st Haircut In Progress

Seriously Mom, it's time for this mullet to go.

Time out for some...

Peek-a-Boo

Cheesy Smile

Falcon of the Month!

Our Xanderbonie is Falcon of the Month of May for Kindergarten. Here he is by his place of honor in the school's cafeteria. Way to go, Xander!

T's Violin Concert

Taylor is doing great playing the violin in orchestra this year. He has made some great friends too. The music program seems to be really strong at his high school (choke). I was blown away when they played Cold Play's, 'Viva La Vida.' It was awesome!

Cong Cong and La La

I thought about giving this post the title, 'When Two Blogs Collide' as I'm sure for a split second, a few of you might wonder whose blog you are looking at when you scroll through the photos. I finally got the opportunity to meet long-time blog friend, Lisa and her wonderful family at the happiest place on earth. I still can't believe that while we were agonizing about the wait on this side of the world, our daughters were growing up together in an orphanage on the other side of it. I hope that we will be able to keep in touch through the years!

Me, Meili, Ava and Lisa

Ian and Noah
Moms and Girls

LaLa and CongCong-together again!

I think here they are wondering when we are going to put the cameras

away already and get on with some rides...

Our Wild Animals-only lost two of them and had one shed blood through the entire day!

Meili and Ava with Jeff

The moms and the kids.

The Office

This room is done for now, even though we haven't really done anything to it. In fact, the curtains were there when we moved in. I guess you can see what's really important to me by looking at this photo-my kids, Jesus and Michael Jackson. Maybe I should get a picture of my husband up there somewhere...

Crown moulding brings peace to my soul as does the fact that the mess on the bookshelf and under the desk are not readily visible to passersby.

Our First Brace Face

Before getting them on...

...and after. He was only sore for a day. Mine hurt for a week!
Audrey will have hers on before the end of the year. Only three more to go after that!

Our First Dental Housecall

It was 5:30 pm tonight when Noah started complaining of a toothache. We didn't have a dentist set up here in FL yet so I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do until I remembered that our home teachers (from church) were coming over in 30 minutes and that one of them is a dentist-score! He quite graciously agreed to have a look at Noah and let us know if it was an emergency or not and I just happened to have a pair of latex gloves left over from all the the post adoption 'samples' that we've had to collect recently. :)

on the dining room table no less!
Thank you, Dr. Hunt. You now have 7 new patients!!!

Noah is a Wolf!

We got son #1 through his Eagle just in time to start from scratch in Cub Scouting with son #2. Good thing we enjoy it! Love Noah's face in this one...

Pinning his mom, who finally got smart and started

wearing something with a collar to pack meetings!

The hug part of the ceremony gets harder to come by as they grow...;(

He's official!

Donuts with Dad

My two favorite brown-eyed boys!

Bullet Catch Up

• Three months today since we moved to Florida and I can finally say that it is starting to feel like home. Things one would usually take for granted, like getting to Costco without GPS, finding the right light switch for the right light on the first try, etc. are starting to come together. Feels good to find some sort of normal again.


• Taylor got braces on yesterday. We're too cheap to spring for clear ones so he has a full metal mouth. I told him that if I could do it in my 30s, then he could do it in his teens. Sounded like a fair deal to him. They really don't look too bad and he'll have them on less than two years if he wears his rubber bands, etc. 1 kid down, 4 more to go!


• Noah was the student of the month in his class for January! The school recognizes kids for demonstrating a specific character trait each month and Noah was chosen for Generosity. He's an all-around good kid, particularly good at seeing a problem and solving it and if that means sharing something that he has, he's all over it. I wonder if having 4 siblings has anything to do with it...:) Noah just had his first pinewood derby in cub scouts. He didn't win, but had a good time making his car that looked like sponge bob.


• One week from Saturday, Meili gets to reunite with LaLa! I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it! We are meeting Lisa and her family at Disneyworld. Lisa and I have been blog friends for 4+ years so it will be awesome to finally meet her in person. The huge layer of icing on the cake is that our daughters knew each other in China!


• Speaking of the little empress...the terrible twos are here with a vengeance. Attachment parenting gets a little tricky when you are trying to derail meltdowns and tantrums that are not attachment related. We have spent the last 6 months teaching Meili what it means to have a mommy and a daddy. She likes having a mom and a dad but she isn't too thrilled to learn that they are in charge, not her!


• I'm pretty sure that I saw my first gator yesterday. I saw the eyes and a flagellating tail out in the middle of the lake when I was walking. It was hard to get a good look at it but there's really nothing else it could have been. Yippee. The wildlife fun never stops here. There's 'something' burrowing in our front yard. The hole is so big and deep that whatever 'it' is probably is under the foundation of the house. 'It' could be a turtle but is probably an armadillo. Matt says he thinks the hole was dug by wild cats. (?!) I've already seen 4 snakes and it's still the dead of winter (for here.) Summer should be a real kick in the pants...:(

Noah is a Terrific Kid!

He was recognized this month at school for exhibiting the characteristic of Generosity. He is definitely a generous kid and we are blessed and proud to be his parents!

20 Months Old and 6 Months Home!

I haven't taken too many pictures of Meili recently. I'll have to do something about that! Here she is this morning after thoroughly enjoying some cream cheese. (The bagel was just a delivery mechanism...)

The highchair cover was in the wash. I don't have an excuse for the lack of a bib.
Cute, even when she's messy!

Later in the day, we went to the park across the street. This is her 'I'm going to sit here and look nervous until I adjust to my new surroundings' face.

She's pointing to the camera here and asking to see the 'baby' on it. It would be a whole lot easier if she would let me get one good shot of the 'baby' first. :)

Distracted by a squirrel.

Better turn the camera off and let her see the 'baby.'

The most momentous thing to report this month is that Meili finally broke the 20 pound mark and is officially on the growth chart for weight albeit at a whopping 3rd percentile! This means no more monthly weight checks and no more 'heroic measures' in padding her calorie intake. Wahoo!

Twilight Party

Audrey and I hosted a Mother/Daughter Twilight Trivia party last weekend and had a great time with friends. Here we are after finishing our 'Italiano.' Nice to know that we can seat 12 around the ping pong table!

The Moms.
And the Mother/Daughter pairs:

C and co. won the trivia game
and went home with the coveted 'Golden Onion!'


A & L

A & M

C & M

Me and My Girl

What a fun evening! Thanks to everyone that came!

Florida State Fair

In Utah, the kids had school off for Pioneer Day. In AZ, it was the Rodeo and here in FL there is a school holiday for the fair. I couldn't convince the kids that actually attending the fair was optional so off we went. We didn't plan to do any rides but I knew we would have to do this one as soon as I saw it. It takes me back to my childhood.

Noah in the lead.

Audrey racing her friend.
The Mom's Race-Yep, I lost.

Cookie decorating.

Brushing the very patient cow.

The food at any fair is always interesting. In the south, they take it to the next level. Do you see the sign for 'FRIED BUTTER' and 'FRIED PEPSI' in there? Crazy.

I let the kids pick one item. They chose a fried Snicker bar and split it 5 ways (I picked up lunch for them on the way home.) I smelled it-not worth the calories to actually eat it!

You can see here that Meili was done with the fair. It was noon and she was overdue for her nap. She actually did us all quite a favor. We left right after this picture was taken. Shortly after we got home, a tornado came through the fair and took out a few of the large tents. We heard that it was chaos and several people had to be hospitalized. Thanks for the meltdown, Meili!Fried Snicker Bar