Memorial Day Parade

Here is the gang at the parade on Monday. We had perfect weather over the long weekend. Daddy and Danny were complaining about it being too hot and then I reminded them how cold we were in November at the Veteran's Day parade--Mommy LOVES warmth:) Of course, Daddy worked Veteran's Day and could not appreciate what Mommy was saying;) Prior to the start of the parade, we walked to a Dunkin' Donuts for coffee for Mommy and Daddy and when Daddy found out they have kid coolattas(have no idea how to spell), he splurged and got them each one. We usually have the kids share but they each got there own:) When we got the flags for the little ones, they were told to make sure they wave them when the soldiers and the bands went by. JiaLi took that job very seriously and waved her flag for all who were in the parade. And here is the group that Dan is in. It's the Middle School Marching Band--so stinkin' cute. We are so lucky to have such a great program--the kids get their lessons right at school each day. The car ride home was not long enough for JiaLi to fall asleep but as you can see she was close;)

School Program

Here is Edward all dressed-up to attend the Memorial Day Program at his school on Friday morning. The kids made hats and necklaces in school on Thursday to wear to the program Friday. Edward now goes to school in the afternoon so I was bummed he could not sit with his class--they could not all make it. His teacher was really sweet and invited him to sit with the morning class and unfortunately there was only one girl from his afternoon class that attended and his shyness kicked in and he wanted to be back with Mommy. He did still sing along with the Kindergarten kids when they sang though:) The monkey in JiaLi kicked in...of course she said, "but Mommy, now I can see." Joseph is in first grade at the same school and I was going crazy the entire program trying to find him. Luckily when they were done, one of the teachers(Jenise's first grade teacher) saw that I was looking for him and let me know where he was. Here she is with Joseph. I just love her:) She is also my neighbor a few houses down from us and the sad thing is I don't know if I ever would have met her if Jenise didn't have her for a teacher. We live on a busy road that is not kid friendly and we tend to hang out in yards instead of streets. At the end, TAPS was played by an individual on the trumpet and JiaLi got so serious and just gazed at the Flag. So sweet! We had such a nice day today...more to come:)

Hula Hooping

JiaLi has been trying to learn the hula hoop:) As you can see a few weeks ago, she used the hula hoop by turning her whole body in a circle and hence losing her balance;) Last weekend, the big kids decided to time themselves using the hula hoop giving JiaLi a chance to see how it's really done. Here she is today:)

Thank You and How We Can All Help

Today, JCICS did make their announcement for “A Child’s Right Campaign for Vietnam”. You will see on their web site specific instructions for contacting your local state representative. As many of you know, our good friends over at Ladybugs and Dragonflies are adopting from Vietnam. Click here to get to the web site-- that gives specific instructions and dates--we can all help. Secret Buddy, I want to thank you for the wonderful gifts this time. JiaLi is modeling our child's new froggie backpack and she is so excited for our new baby to use this to "play school" with her:) I have to apologize for the quality of the photo above. It does not do the gift justice at all. In the middle is a beautiful notepad that is such a perfect size for our home and perfect for notes too. Such a great idea for a gift and then we have a new child's cup which we are definitely going to need and those are a container of Jelly beans to the left---hence Miss Thing trying to take a look at the flavors;) Next is a beautiful card. Click on the card to read the saying. Thank you so much Secret Buddy!! JiaLi had a sleepover with her cousin this weekend and to help pass time, they had a bubble bath together. Here is JiaLi in the tub:) I will post more soon about what is happening with us in our adoption. I just want to take a few more steps.

The Kidney Walk

Here are the kids in The Bean Team group. We had the Kidney Walk Sunday and the last few years it has been either rainy or overcast. This year the weather was PERFECT. We could not have had a nicer day! The whole team was started in honor of a good friend of my DH who has had a Kidney Transplant. He is our third child's godfather and we are so thankful. Now with our friend Molly having Kidney problems, we have even more reason to walk. (not that we didn't have reason but it's so different when it's someone you know.) This year the team had over 70 members to it. They have come such a long way. No, these are not swords but boys will be boys and when the girls saw what the boys were doing, of course, they had to follow course. Here is JiaLi with her cousin--my sister's family and Joe's brother's family also participate in the walk. Uncle Jeff providing JiaLi with a better view. Our friends always take individual family photos of all the families that participate and they get one large photo of everyone. Here is our partial family photo. Hanging with cousins. A large part of our motivation is our friend Molly. JiaLi wore this necklace that I placed together very last minute. So last minute that I had to use a black and white photo because my color cartridge for my photo printer was out. Just wanted to let you know we were thinking about you Molly. JiaLi did not tolerate wearing the necklace the whole day and I hung it on our stroller. I was amazed how many people came to take a closer look while it was on the stroller--lots of prayers were there:) Next year, hopefully I'll be more organized!

More from Mother's Day

With our upcoming weekend, I knew that if I didn't post now, these would never get posted. Here is my Dad on Mother's Day telling a story about the watch that he is holding. All the grandchildren were listening attentively. He started with a year in 1800 that ended with the number "8" and progressed through other years such as 1928,1958 with the year being the year that the watch was passed to the next generation. Since this year is 2008 and with my Dad's dad and grandfather passing on fairly young(my Dad is much healthier), my Dad did not think he would make it to the next time a year would end with an "8" which will be 2018.(Grrrr..) He passed it on to Daniel. What a day. The 11th was also my parents 40th wedding anniversary so my Mom was beyond emotional. I need now to take the time to record each of the specific years my Dad said the watch was passed down. After that was done and we had brunch, they were outside trying to beat Pepee at a game of knockout. More photos from Joe's Mom's house. There were a total of 6 dogs at the house:) Had to post this. The only time I can get a bow in JiaLi's hair is if she has a ponytail. Here she is wearing only a bow:) I am so thankful that both Joe and I have our parents still with us and that some of our children did get to experience their great grandparents. We are also lucky to get along with each others families so well and I am also thankful for that. Secret Buddy--thank you--I will post my gifts in the next post(I just need to download the photos.) You are the best:)

Saturday

Before posting more about our Sunday, I thought I would post some of our Saturday. We began at 7:45 a.m. with Edward's soccer game. Yes, the kids are drinking hot chocolate---it was cold!! Edward, however, had a smile on the whole time. JiaLi and Joseph were happy to have an open area near the field to play some football;) This is JiaLi hiking the ball to Joseph and running to catch. Next was Joseph's baseball game. This age is great--the coaches pitch and they don't keep score or stats. The kids were bundled up in blankets that were shared with them by other friends who were at the game. Joseph had very cold hands by the end of the game. JiaLi taking a break:) Next Jenise's soccer game. Daddy is playing "where's JiaLi?" It never fails...there is always bound to be some kind of dog at her game. Jenise played goalie the first half and then played on the field the second half--which was great because her first game, she played goalie the whole game. She has only had 2 games so far because of all our rainy Saturdays. Her game was so nice--we were so much more comfortable and the SUN was out:) Danny also had a game but his baseball game was not until 7:30 and with our crazy Sunday, I wanted the little ones to get some sleep. Jenise went to the game to keep Daddy company--she is the one who actually does watch the other kids games instead of looking for something else to do. Daddy did not bring the camera and to make-up for no Danny pictures, I am posting a then and now of Danny:) The first photo is me taking a picture of a picture--I was going to scan but we don't have one:) It is splotchy but it gives you the idea of how blonde his hair was. Kind of funny, both my DH and I have dark hair and when he was a baby we were always jokingly asked "where did he come from?"