What A Face

Patch of Sunflowers

Here is the "cake" we made for a cake auction at our Church. Jenise called it a "Patch of Sunflowers". Glad we brought it--it didn't get the lowest bid;)

A Photo A Day

It's been a long time since blogging but as I look back, I love the memories because my scrapbooking is WAY behind. I thought I would try to set a doable goal. I am not much of a talker but love posting photos. So my new goal is to post one picture a day and on days that I miss, the next post will have that many more photos. I've seen other blogs that do this and I thought it was a neat idea:) Here goes...

Choosing the Christmas Tree

Each year for Christmas we alternate the kids and let one of them choose our Christmas tree, and each year we forget who chose the tree the previous Christmas. I am documentig here to make it official, this year Edward chose our tree and next year it will be JiaLi's turn. Edward was so cute--he was our speediest chooser yet. He saw two trees and made a comment that one of them was too small and too wide but as soon as he saw this tree(which was the other of the two trees), he said "this is my tree." His mind was made up. We got the tree two weekends ago and finally decorated Saturday. Danny and Jenise are at the same school this year and they each had a chorus concert last Tuesday. We had our adoption class last Tuesday evening during their concert and since we did miss one class in November, we wanted to make sure we did not miss again.(We cannot miss more than two.) Luckily Gramma and Papa were able to bring them and not only did they bring them to the concert but they also brought them out for dinner. Thank you Gramma and Papa!!! We are thankful too that our local Cable channel recorded their show and we will be able to watch it on our local channel this week or next week:) The rest of the pictures are the kids decorating the tree and posing with the finished product at the end. Their pose was all them--nothing to do with Mommy or Daddy. If you click on it, you can see their expressions even better.

The Big 40

Here they are--my hubby and his twin. This October they turned the big 40 and my sister-in-law(his brother's wife) and I held a surprise party. The weekend we held it was a weekend that we usually hold our Halloween party. (We held our Halloween party a week later this year.) Soooo, my husband knew something was up. My Mom had had surgery so I told him that my Mom had thought she would be better but she still can't drive and would not be able to babysit so maybe we can go out as a family. Then a few days later, I told him that I had been talking to Amy and she wanted to try to have us go out together since it was such a big birthday;) So, he wasn't quite sure what was happening. That Saturday, Edward had a birthday party and I was stressing out while I was there because I was supposed to meet Amy at the restaurant to decorate right in the middle his party. Thankfully one of the Moms at the party offered to give Edward a ride home(people are so nice). Well, this would have been fine if when I said good bye to Edward I didn't tell him I was going to go decorate for Daddy's party. While I was there decorating, I returned home and Joe told me that JiaLi commented that "we were having a surprise"(now I said nothing to her--her ears are just too good) and then Edward said to him "yeah and Mommy is there right now decorating." Arghhhh....oh well, it was still good because he had no idea where we were going or who would be there. He enjoyed it:) We are so lucky that Uncle Pete with a lot of coercing agreed to sing some Irish folk music. Everyone there enjoyed it and it was so great for the kids to see Uncle Pete in action. (yes, he has a twin too) The remainder of the pictures are in no special order. I was mad at myself, a lot of the photos from the evening came out blurry. I know, I overpost JiaLi but had to include this one of her wrapped in her new blanket from her Auntie. I was hoping we could replace her green torn up one...not yet. AND we are so excited for Annslee having her new brother with her:) YAY!!! He is such a cutie and we are so excited for you!!!

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:)