Happy Thanksgiving

I could not let this week go by without giving my Secret Pal a very,very big thank you. This Christmas Elf is the cutest thing ever!!! I have never heard of this tradition and it is the best---we love it! Thank you Secret Pal for such a perfect gift. News on our adoption: We have 4 classes left to take which if the weather cooperates will be done in 2 weeks. Snow may be the only factor but we are saying prayers it won't. We had a home study last week and we are having one more on Tuesday and then once we get all our paperwork together, we will be ready to progress. Just a few more pieces. Our oldest daughter is trying to grow her bangs out(she's almost there) and she constantly has her hair in a headband and clip. JiaLi asked her to do her hair one morning... Here they are. Thanksgiving this year was great for us. We are so thankful for all our family. Some years not everyone can make it whether it be work(a nurse is in the family), or having to go to the other side of the family. This year all of Jos's family made it. All the cousins were there:) Where JiaLi goes for preschool, the class pictures are not done until the spring. All the other kids had their school photos done in the fall and usually I include them with Christmas gifts. I was going to be patient and wait but I decided to try to take one of JiaLi like I did last year. Here is our start: She has this thing when her picture is being taken of tilting her head--not sure where it came from but Danny used to do it! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We just love this time of year--especially the special anniversary we celebrate of JiaLi coming home!

It's a Halloween Post...

Thought I would warn you with the title. I was going to not post but I decided why not. As I mentioned earlier, for her preschool class, JiaLi dressed like a lion. It is a costume she received for her birthday that will not fit her next year(it barely fit her this year) and to get use out of it, she wanted to wear it to school(this is with no coercion by Mommy). Of course whenever her cousins are over(seen in the next picture), they love to play lion and it ends up on one of them:)We were very excited to have our cousins stop by for some early trick-or-treating. As soon as they arrived, JiaLi ran to her room to get her costume. And here they are ready to go. Danny and Jenise went with their friends this year so it was just these three and our neighbors. It was nice having the three(Daddy was sick this year so Mommy took the kids--it was nice though because the Moms were the ones this year too who took their kids). JiaLi was very excited to catch up with her best buddy while we were out trick-or-treating. And here they are checking out what they received. JiaLi had the most and the reason, we had such a large group and JiaLi waited patiently at each house and because of her wings, got stuck in the doors. Most of the people giving out treats did not understand that she was stuck and continued to load her bag since she was standing with it open. Of course, she made no effort to move or say she was stuck... had there been no candy, believe me she would have communicated!! The rate I've been posting, I thought I would add this photo. This was just a random day and these two decided to play secret agent and dress in their black(dark blue)clothing to be agents.

Pictures from Disney

Well, you wanted pictures, here we go... Don't ever let JiaLi fool you--she LOVES to dance and sing-especially with the big kids:) These photos really are in no certain order. We had such a good time. We went with my DH's brother and one of their best friends. There were 10 kids and 6 adults. While in Epcot we ran into someone working there also from China with a very similar last name as the Qi that JiaLi had and in honor of that she gave JiaLi stickers galore--JiaLi was very proud that they came from someone from China. Jiali's favorite spots were the water areas throughout the parks. Of course, had to ride the tea cups. Not a ride Mommy went on though---no thank you;) Animal Kingdom was actually the first park we went to. Above are the girls in the group and below are the "4" (well, almost 4) year olds. (JiaLi is the only one 4 and one will be 4 in Nov. and the other in Jan.) This year, Auntie Sheri gave each of the kids a $25 gift certificate for Disney. Here is JiaLi with her souvenir:)