Audrey Turns 12!

I think that when all is said and done, this blog will be 50% griping about the adoption wait and the other 50% will be spent griping about how quickly my children are growing up. Here we go again! Audrey-girl turned 12 today and it's hard to believe how quickly time is flying by. She is turning into quite a remarkable young woman and we are proud and blessed to be her parents.

Swears that she likes the character of Jacob and does not have anything close to a crush on Taylor What's-His-Name...Sure.

She was kind enough to let her little brothers participate in the games at her party.

Our first pool party!

Happy Birthday Audrey-We love you!!!

Date With Noah

I love report card time around here! The kids come home from school with certificates for meals at some great places and Matt and I take turns taking them out for a parent date. This quarter, Noah and I got to go to California Pizza Kitchen. Good food and a great time with my boy!

Bouton Grandchild #12

We moved to the other side of the country so quickly after coming home from China that Meili hasn't really had the opportunity to get to know her grandparents. It was great to have Matt's parents come and spend a week with us for Spring Break. I warned them that Meili might not give them the time of day for several days while she warmed up to them, but she ended up playing peek-a-boo with them in the car on the way home from the airport and let them feed her dinner while sitting on their laps the first night. She is still very wary of strangers, but is quite a fan of grandparents!

Another Florida Adventure

Happy 9th Birthday, Noah!

Lucky Noah got to celebrate his birthday a few days early because Papa Bill and Grandma Debbie were in town. We spent the day at Epcot and came home to cake and presents.

Happy Birthday to my favorite 9 year-old boy!

Easter 2010

I didn't realize until it was too late that there was a fingerprint from a certain little someone on the camera lens, but here are some photos anyway to document the day.

For a first time egg-hunter, she got the idea pretty quick!

Oh, that boy.

Happy Easter 2010!

Guess WHO Came Over For a Playdate???

That's Meili in the pink, but who could that China cutie in green be?

Any guesses?
How about if she's posing with her Momma? (Typical Meili Photo Cooperation)

It's TATE!!!

We met up with Lisa back in June of 2006 in her neck of the woods when we were just barely logged in and couldn't have conceived of the wait that we were in for in our wildest nightmares. Almost 4 LOOONG years later, so cool to sit back and chat with someone who was along for the same wild (but worth it!) ride, this time WITH OUR GIRLS! Tate is even cuter in person if that's possible and Lisa seems like she's been at this motherhood thing for years. Nice to see the process come full circle.

Lisa, thanks for carving some blog-friend time out of your family time for us.

Hopefully, we can do it again next year!

Shoe Girl

Always playing in someone else's shoes...

Quick Drive to the Beach

We are really enjoying that when we have a lazy afternoon and need something to do, we can throw the kids in the car and head to the beach. It is a pretty drive and fun to let the kids pick up sea shells and watch the dolphins swim for a little bit.

Meili enjoying another burrito...

Love that the GPS makes it look like we are driving on water.

We are definitely not in the desert anymore!

There's a Reason for the Mismatched Outfit...

Poor baby girl was diagnosed with Giardia earlier this month. I had asked two different pediatricians about testing her since coming home 7 months ago but both didn't feel it was necessary since she exhibited no symptoms. At our last appointment I felt like I needed to push the issue and told the dr. that all of the kids adopted from Meili's orphanage had tested positive (which may or may not be true.) The dr. finally agreed to test her and was floored when she called me herself with the results. I was floored by how hard the meds have been on her little system. We are consistently doing laundry and end up at the bottom of her drawer most days because of the diaper blow-outs. Even her socks end up needing to be changed. (TMI-sorry) Thankfully, Meili has finished the course of antibiotics and will be retested soon. Hopefully, she will be parasite free!

Big Brother

It's so sweet to see these two together. While we waited for Meili, I often wondered how Xander would do once dethroned as the baby of the house after his 6+ year reign, but I don't worry about it anymore. They are good pals. Sometimes, Xander will read to Meili in my bed in the morning if he has a few spare minutes before he leaves for school and Meili just soaks up the attention.

I'm one lucky momma!

21 Months Old