A Day in the Life

I updated it by myself! :)

2008-11-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

Check out the new blog (that I updated all by myself!!) and see an updated picture of our sweet Aaron! :)

Click here

Halloween pictures up!

2008-11-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

Still working on getting you guys over to the new site. Head over now to see Allison as a lovely butterfly! :)

click here

I'm still learning my way around iweb, but it sure is fun! Scott has to help me with it every time I want to upload, but soon I'll learn how to do it myself and update all the time like I used to! Yeah!

TAKE NOTE!!!

2008-10-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

I know, I said the last post would be THE last post, but I had to write at least one more time on here to tell you that the link to our new website has changed. This change will allow you to make comments, which I'm excited about since comments are so much fun!

SO, just click on the link below and save it to your favorites and then you'll be able to visit AND make comments. Yeah!

I still have a LOT to do to make the site how I want it, but hang in there with me!

Go HERE and see a new post! :)

Have a great rest of the week!
Laurie

The POT IS BOILING!! China here we come!

2008-10-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

This will be my final post from this website. We are going to use iweb for our next blog, and I hope you'll all join us over there today for our BIG NEWS!!! I promise to write more later- all I know is that we're hoping to head to China in early December. Praise God! :)

Now, head on over to see pictures of our darling boy Aaron. When you get to the page, click on "Our son Aaron" to open up the page for today! :)

A Watched Pot

2008-10-23T07:08:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm tired of watching the pot, so I decided to update the blog with some new Omaha pictures. :) I decided this at 9:00 AM but just remembered that I hadn't actually posted it and it's 5:00 PM. Oops!

I would call Vala's the "mother of all pumpkin patches". In fact, I don't even remember seeing a lot of pumpkins- it was more like a HUGE fall festival of fun. After looking through my pictures I realized that I needed to take a few of the surroundings and not just close ups of my kiddo- sorry. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that it was a really cool place! Or, go to Omaha next fall! :)

I have a lot of pictures from this day, so it'll take me a few days to get through them all.

Happy Thursday, everyone!

Heading out of the hotel and to the pumpkin patch. Daddy always makes the ride fun!

First we visited the park where Daddy played as a child. He couldn't wait to take her up in his favorite rocket, only to find out it had been barred up so you couldn't get in it. Ah, the 70's, where nothing was really safe. I sometimes miss those days! :)

The good witch!

"Here's a flower for YOU!" Is anyone else's child OBSESSED with flower/weed picking????

Reading a sign about the bunnies. Love how her little finger is pointing to the words! The sign told her not to put her hands over the fence because the bunnies might bite. It was cute to see her scared little face after she read the sign.

We spotted Cinderella (not sure what she was doing at the pumpkin patch, but okay), and you can see the anticipation in Allison's face as she waits her turn to say hello.

This is our child's nervousness showing through.

The nerves give way to excitement as she runs to meet Cinderella!

Okay, I'm no Cinderella, but no one's PAYING me to be her either! Allison could care less- she thought she'd met the REAL princess and was happy to have her picture taken.

More Omaha fun!

2008-10-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

One thing on our list of things to do in Omaha was to visit Boys' Town. We didn't have time to take the official tour, but we did learn a lot from the kind lady at the gift shop, who told us all about the grounds, the programs, etc. We toured the grounds and supported the mission by purchasing a few things at the shop. :)

On Saturday night we visited our friends Matt and Heather. Their family was in our travel group from 2006, and Heather and I have grown very close over the past couple of years. We turned in our dossiers for our 2nd adoptions on the same day, but they received their referral a month earlier, so they are headed to China THIS WEEK!! If someone came to visit me a week before I went to China I'd be a basket case. Not Heather! Her house was spotless (and I have a feeling it's like that every day, not just when visitors come!), she had prepared a yummy meal, and she had activities for the girls to do. Seriously, this is one organized woman! Claire (their 3 year old) was a bit under the weather, and Allison was a bit cranky from lack of sleep, but they got along great and had a fun time anyway. Thanks to Heather's older kids being fantastic helpers, the adults were actually able to have some nice conversation throughout the evening. We enjoyed their hospitality so much and can't wait to return for some more! :)

My next post (unless something exciting happens tomorrow, PLEASE let something exciting happen tomorrow!!) will be from our awesome time at Vala's, a pumpkin patch in Omaha. I can't really call it a "patch", though. It was more like, well, there's just no way to describe how HUGE and wonderful it was!! We could have spent the weekend there and still not done everything. Stay tuned for pictures!

The Omaha Zoo

2008-10-21T06:54:00.000-07:00

We had a ball at the Omaha Zoo on Saturday! We noticed upon our arrival that weather.com was a bit off on its prediction for the day. We were going to be very chilly! Allison was fine, but Scott and I had to purchase jackets right away. :) Our favorite spots at the zoo were the penguins, the really cool aquarium, the tigers and the butterfly house.

Before walking into the butterfly house we were given some rules to follow. One of the rules was to not reach out for the butterflies- you might hurt them. I didn't notice until we were about halfway through the house, but Allison was holding her hands behind her back the whole time. When we got out I asked her about it and she said, "I didn't want to hurt any of the butterflies, so I kept my hands behind my back!" :)

I guess Allison wasn't as excited about our trip? :)

Allison and Mommy enjoying the aquarium

Allison asked us to "act like fish". I really have to give Daddy the prize here for the best fish! :)

Allison is having a talk with the penguins

We're inside the butterfly house. If you look closely you can see Allison in the background with her hands behind her back. :)

Daddy asked us to make scary faces. Grrrr!

Oh my- she sure had fun playing on the lions!

Sweet face, huh?

Allison's first "recital"!

2008-10-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

We are back home after a FABULOUS weekend away. Now, you might think fabulous means that we went somewhere exotic. Nope. Fabulous to me means going ANYWHERE, just getting away, spending time together, doing fun things, etc. I am very easy to please. Our getaway this weekend was to.... OMAHA!! No, we didn't just close our eyes and point to the map. :) Scott was born in Omaha, we have friends in Omaha, they have a great zoo in Omaha... the list goes on. We had a blast!! I will be posting about our adventures all week, as soon as I can figure out what's wrong with Scott's camera and why it's not downloading the pictures correctly. Grrr!! So, in the meantime, here are some pictures and videos from Allison's dance "recital" last week. Enjoy!

Taking the Weekend Off!

2008-10-17T09:56:00.001-07:00

The other day Scott told me that my blog has been "less than interesting" this past week and that maybe we needed to do something fun so I'd have something to write about. Ha! SO, we are going away for the weekend. Away from computers, away from blogging, away from waiting on news about Aaron- just away!

I promise when I return I'll have ballet pictures and hopefully some new pictures from a fun weekend away. See you then!

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch!

2008-10-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday! We had such a fun morning with our friends, Cat and Morgan. We headed out to a local pumpkin patch we'd heard a lot about. Turns out it's really famous for the activities it has available on the weekends. Oh well- we still had lots of fun with the girls, and with temps in the high 50's, I was in HEAVEN!! After playing at the patch we headed to lunch at St. Louis Bread, or Panera, depending on where you live, and it was oh so yummy, as usual!

I love the story of how Cat and I became friends. She was Allison's first swimming teacher when we took the Mommy and Me class at the Y last year. She taught the class while demonstrating everything on her own daughter, which I thought was really neat. As is so often the case I found myself thinking, she seems like such a neat person, but I have no idea how to become her friend. Making friends was so much easier when I was younger. I didn't have so many insecurities. Or I did but I didn't let them get in the way. Turns out God had a plan for us, as he placed us at the Borders store at the mall on the same morning a few weeks after swim class had ended. We began talking, discovered we were both Christians, and there you go- we became friends. Recently we've gotten our husbands together and they seem to hit it off too, so it's nice. :)

Right now my little angel should be napping or resting, but instead I hear the sweet little pitter patter of feet running back and forth from room to room. Obviously NOT sleeping OR resting. Hmmmm. Tonight is the final ballet/tap class, and parents can watch, take pictures, etc. SO, look for a new post tomorrow with ballerina pictures. Until then!

Getting Allison and Morgan to pose at the same time proved quite difficult, but I tried!

It was tough to get her off the swing to look around some more! This girl and swings- she could go for hours!

How cute is THIS? I told Cat I should be paid for this picture! :)

Allison and Mommy peeking through the bus

How 'bout them pumpkins? :)

Be Patient, Be Patient, Don't be in such a hurry...

2008-10-15T14:41:00.000-07:00

These are lyrics to a song I learned when I was a very little girl, that I still sing sometimes today. Here's the whole song...

Be patient, be patient, don't be in such a hurry
When you get impatient, you only start to worry
Remember, remember, that God is patient too
And think of all the times when others had to wait for you

This little song helps when you're in a long line at the post office or when a friend is late meeting you for lunch. It's not helping me out too much as I wait to hear word on if I've been officially accepted to adopt again from China. The general consensus was that we would hear something this week. That consensus has changed due to an email we received from our agency today, explaining that the CCAA (big wigs in China) is a bit behind due to being on vacation, and to please have patience waiting for RA's to be delivered. SO, that sounds like nothing will be happening this week and it really gave us NO idea as to when they might come. Just that they will come. Eventually. Meanwhile Aaron is getting older every day and living under the care of nannies in an orphanage. Not exactly what I'm wanting for him. I want him home, with us, being loved on all the time! I'll keep you posted on any progress. You never know, we could still hear something in the near future, but for now, I'm not holding my breath. :(

I couldn't JUST write this icky news, so here's an old picture of Allison just for fun! :)

Stylin'!

2008-10-14T09:34:00.001-07:00

No new news around here, although I sure wish there WERE! We are expecting to hear about our final approval to adopt Aaron any day now, so every time the phone rings I jump! So, don't call me! Ha! Scott is designing us a new blog, and as soon as we hear news about Aaron and are able to post his pictures, we'll start that new blog. I'll post the link to it on THIS blog so you can all follow us over there. I'm PRAYING I can make that announcement on Thursday- just my guess as to when we'll hear some news. For now, I'm holding you over with a picture of Allison before church this weekend. Nana loves her a good children's boutique! Thanks, Nana!! :)

WARNING: Proud Mama Post Ahead!

2008-10-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

I've been saving my money to buy a program called "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Days!", but I think I'll spend it on books instead. Yesterday I found Allison in the middle of her room, which was covered in these little beginner reader books that I was planning on introducing her to in the near future. She looked really interested in them, so we headed to the couch to read one. I suggested she read it (although up till now she'd only sounded out words and was not able to string them together), but she said, "Let's take turns. You read one page and then I'll read one." I said, "Okay, you start." I never got to read. She, very slowly, read the book to me. Daddy missed the moment, so this morning I called him into her room and handed her another new book from the collection. She sat on the floor in front of us and read us the book. We were giddy!! :)

Wordless Wednesday

2008-10-08T07:25:00.001-07:00

Nothing in particular..

2008-10-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

When you blog almost every day you really hear about it when you go three days without updating. Sorry 'bout that. Our everyday lives have fallen into quite the routine, thus fewer pictures are being taken. I can only take so many swimming, dancing, and preschool pictures, and those events are taking up a lot of our time these days. Loving it all though!

I do have a few random pictures to share and a cute video. The first one needs a bit of an explanation. Allison is VERY into writing these days, and the other day she was going back and forth between her table (where she writes and does crafts) and my "office", where I "work", showing me all of her little words and sentences. At one point she brings me the one you see in the picture. I was struggling to make any sense out of it, but finally I made some weird guess based on what I saw. She laughed and said, "No, silly! It's He is Risen!" OH, I didn't know to read it backwards. Those of you out there who have experience with this, is it normal for kids to write backwards? Should I be concerned or just keep reminding her to write left to right? I figure she'll be fine if the thing she's writing about is the gift of eternal life, right? :) After a few minutes she comes back with the 2nd sheet and yells, "INDEED!" I was crying. I know, I'm a sap, but come on! That piece of paper will be saved in her time capsule!

Indeed He is, little one!

During rest time (what a joke!) I was in my own room resting. When I came out, this was the scene. :)

Another "rest time" photo. The thing that's special? She's in her brother's room. :)

And the video- cracks me up! She was reading to Shay Shay, but you'll hear her get caught up in a sentence and have a hard time getting out of it. So funny! I was trying so hard not to laugh at her, but it was tough.

Give me an I, Give me a Can't, Give me an I Can't Sleep!

2008-10-04T19:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight Scott went to check on Allison (who was supposed to be sleeping) and came back laughing, telling me to get the camera. I said, "Why, what is she doing?" He said he went in there and said, "Goodnight, Allison", and she said, "K!" He thought she meant okay, so he said, "Okay, goodnight." She said, "No, K!" She was in her bed trying to make different letters with her body, and she was trying to tell him that she was in the letter K. OH MY GOSH! I guess when you're not really tired and it's too dark to read you have to make up a game to amuse yourself. Of course I grabbed the camera. She gave me an I, an L, a T, and an X. I have a feeling this will turn into a nightly ritual!

Favorites for a Friday

2008-10-03T13:47:00.001-07:00

Since I have nothing new to say (never stopped me from talking before!) I thought I'd post some favorite pictures from the past. Enjoy!

A few stories for the day...

The other day in the car, out of nowhere, Allison asks, "Who lives in Asia?" Uh, uh, uh, lots of people. Just kidding- that's not what I said. I gave a decent answer and made sure to include her brother, of course. Then she said, "Do we live in North America?" I said, "Yes, we do." Then she says, "Well then, who lives in South America?" I'm like, heck if I know. Where is this all coming from? Did she not get the memo that I do NOT do geography? Wait till your dad comes home and ask him! :)

"Mommy, I have to poopy!" I said, "Okay" and met her in the bathroom. She proceeds to show me her panties and says, "See, there's just a LITTLE poopy on there. It's no big deal, really."

Yesterday for lunch I served lima beans and peas, mixed together. I walked into another room after serving her lunch and I hear her yell, "I'm not going to eat the lima beans, okay?" Later when I checked on how she was doing with lunch, I didn't see any lima beans. I was so excited. I said, "Oh, Allison, you ate all your lima beans?" She said, "No I didn't. I didn't want them on my plate so I put them over here. They were all on the table, in a nice little line, kind of hidden behind her glass. Silly Mommy!

I love this picture of my brother holding Allison for the 1st time. :) He was a hit with her from the very start!

Allison is getting to know her daddy. Not so sure about facial hair.

Love this cuddle shot!

This was taken the week she turned one. She was working on "telling" me she was ONE!

Our first trip to the train station to welcome Nana and Papaw! Is she relaxed in that stroller or what?

A busy week- LOVING it!! :)

2008-09-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

This week is jam packed with activities and fun times! Between swim class, park dates, school and MOPS, this week is proving to be a busy and fun time for Allison and me. The weather is in the 60's, making it an even more wonderful week for yours truly. :)

Thanks for asking how school went for Allison and for ME! I did just fine. Teared up a bit on the way to the car, but then I was fine. I listened to some 80's music on the radio, turned up really loud, the whole way home. It was a wonderful break from nursery rhymes!! Allison had a wonderful experience and was full of stories in the car. I arrived a bit early and watched through the glass for a bit. She was busy with her new friends and teachers and didn't even notice me. I was thrilled and can't wait to take her back tomorrow for more good times.

Thought I'd provide a couple of stories along with today's post.

1. Every once in awhile Allison will ask about her adoption story in one way or another. One thing she's been focusing on lately is her Chinese name. She likes to say, "When I was in China my name was Wei Feng Lu, right?" It's sooo cute the way she says it. The other day she finally asked, "Mommy, why did you and Daddy name me Allison Faith?" Now mind you, I think it's just fine that other folks have incorporated their child's Chinese name into their American name, and I understand and support their choice to do so. We chose not to, however, and the way I explained it to Allison was by telling her that we wanted her name to be given to her by people who truly loved her and would be her mommy and daddy forever! She liked that answer. For those of you not in the adoption community, here is how the naming works.

Wei- a first name given to her by the nannies in the orphanage
Feng- She was brought to the Nanfeng orhpahage, thus the Feng
Lu- the last name of the orphanage director

What was funny about the story was that she then turned to me and asked, "Mommy, what was YOUR name when YOU were adopted?" Uh, Uh, Uh... stammer, stammer, stammer...

2. We've been reading a book lately called China's ABC's (great book- thanks, Nana!), and Allison just loves it. The "C" is for calligraphy, and she keeps asking if she can write like that someday. I say, "Sure!" Well, the other day I saw her writing with a black marker. I asked, "What are you drawing?" She said, "I'm not drawing. I'm doing calligraphy." I said, "Oh, you're writing like the people in China write?" and she said, "No, I'm doing it my own way. I'm doing the St. Louis kind of writing." :)

That's all for now. :)

I've heard from the BTDT crowd that soon I will be VERY sick of all these papers coming home from school, but I sure loved seeing them on this first day. It was just neat to see all they did in such a short time. Of course the teacher in me came out- I went over the work with her and talked with her about each paper. :)

A new game before swim class- pretend to be stuck in the lockers. How cute is that smile?

Just a pic from swim class- still loving it!

Showing off her 1st "homework" assignment. She had to find things around the house that started with "F" for show and share time tomorrow. How I wish I could be a fly on the wall. I had her practice taking each thing out and telling me about it. I'm going to make her hate school before she's 7, aren't I? Ha!! Notice how beat up my kid looks. The rug burn on the chin looks a lot worse than it did the day it happened, and she has some new bite on her neck that's made her look all rashy for 2 days. Poor thing.

School Days, School Days...

2008-09-29T07:24:00.000-07:00

It's official. My baby is in pre-school! The morning went splendidly, although I did not get ONE good picture of her. She was either being silly or not smiling, but oh well. At least I remembered to take the pictures! :) When we walked into her classroom she went right away to a little table and started playing with another girl while I talked to one of her teachers. She had no problem with me leaving, which was great! I pick her up at noon, and I can't wait to find out how she liked her first day!

Meanwhile, it is VERY strange to be here all alone in this VERY quiet house. What WILL I do with myself???

An Apple a Day!

2008-09-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

YUM! YUM! Check out Allison's latest boo-boo- a nice little rug burn under her lip. She rolled off her big ball and fell flat on her face. It'll make for lovely first day of preschool pictures tomorrow!

We wanted to do something fun today and my friend Beth had just been apple picking with Katie so we thought- that would be FUN! And it was! Allison and I had never been apple picking before, or at least I don't remember ever going, so it was new to us. After picking for a little bit Allison started getting very fussy, complaining she was hungry, which she probably was cause it was past lunch time. I said, "Well, if you're hungry you can eat an apple!" At home she has to have the apples peeled (no skin showing!) and cut into slices. I guess she really was hungry cause she bit into that thing and ate it all! Then she was happy as a clam the rest of the trip. :)

Allison and Mommy at the apple orchard

Collecting apples from the bucket

"I can pick one all by myself!"

Picking the leaves off her apple

Mommy and Allison picking apples

Daddy- the master picker! :)

My little budding artist

2008-09-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

No stories today- I think I told enough yesterday. Just a few fun pictures. My little artist has been drawing pictures day in and day out this week. SO much fun to hear her interpretation of each picture. Today I issued Allison a challenge. I told her she could get any ONE thing she wanted out of the dollar bin section at Target if she'd try to write the whole alphabet. She'd never tried that before, so I wasn't sure how she'd do. About 5 minutes later she called me in to show me her alphabet. She was pretty proud of herself. She then said, "I've decided I want something from the dollar store instead. Is that okay?" I said, "SURE!" I was so proud I think I'll let her get TWO things. :)

Allison's first alphabet!

A flower garden

Allison talked to her Nana the other day via ichat, and she wanted to follow it up with a note to her. So sweet! This is for you, Nana!

Drawings have not been limited to paper. This is her "praying mantis in the dust". In my defense, we had just moved the television backwards on the table. :) I started to dust it today and she said, "Don't dust off my praying mantis!", so I promised I'd take a picture of it. The things we do to keep our children happy!

There are many reasons I love my husband- one of them is that he's a good teacher. Instead of just gluing together something of Allison's that broke, he brought her out to the garage with him this morning before work and had her help him with it. Sweet.

Feeling fine, thank you for asking! :)

2008-09-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks to those of you who have asked how Allison is doing. You're so sweet. She is doing just fine. The dentist ended up filling in her tooth, although he said it would only last a matter of weeks. I'm sure if we wanted to go fill it in every month we could, but it was not that big of a chip, so we'll probably just leave it as is and maybe fill it in when we have formal pictures taken? :)

Anyway, she is feeling just fine. Her tooth area never hurt- just the initial fall. She was quite the trooper at the dentist's office- I was very proud of her.

Today we hung out at the mall and then met Daddy for lunch- our typical Wednesday. To show just how typical it is, the other night we went out to dinner and got recognized by the lady who runs the carousel at the mall!! I guess there are worse places you could get recognized from, but still. I guess we really do ride that carousel quite often. We ate at a new bbq place today and I can't imagine going anywhere else on Wednesdays for awhile. It was delicious!!

A few stories/updates:

1. The caterpillars have been released to the wild. The day we bought a nice new container in which they could flourish, they bit the dust, so we told Allison they wanted to go be in nature again so they could make their cocoons. She was just fine with this, telling them, "I'll see you when you're butterflies", as we put them outside.

2. Today we were in a toy store and Allison wanted to buy a Panda. We have WAY too many stuffed animals as it is, so of course I said no. Then she says, "But my panda at home needs a mommy!" I am SUCH a sucker! I'm like- oh, poor little panda doesn't have a mommy, of course we can get this one.

3. My child is turning into quite the negotiator. If I say, "You'll need to eat more of your chicken before you have more whatever", she'll say, "Okay. I will eat 3 more bites and then eat my..."

4. Today when we were trying to decide where to go eat lunch with Daddy, Scott asked her, "Allison, where would you like to eat?" and she said, "I'll give you 3 choices- Red Robin, St. Louis Bread Company or the barbecue place where you put smiley faces on my hand." I think she's heard us play the 3 choices game a little too often.

5. She has the cutest phrase now that pops up quite often. Like today, during lunch she says, "I was thinking that after we finished our lunch we could have a dessert". Or last week when we were shopping she said, "I was thinking that when we were done shopping we could play hide and seek at home" She's really thinking ahead and letting her feelings be heard, which is nice. OH, and playing hide and seek with her is hysterical!! I'll yell, "Ready or not, here I come!" and she'll yell back, "I'm READY!!!" Ha!!

6. My latest stress (which in the scheme of things life hands us is NOT a stress, but go with me) is when toys from upstairs find their way downstairs and vice versa. I have now become the toy nazi. If it's an upstairs toy it stays upstairs. So far so good. It's been a day.

7. It's really the little things that make me smile. Today I told her I wanted to take a picture of her looking so sweet. She said, "How about I stand over here by the beautiful fall decorations?"

8. For the past month or so we have not had any "bathroom issues". She used to tell me she had to go potty or ask me to come with her all the time. All of a sudden, just this week, she's been saying, "Excuse me please, but I have to use the bathroom" and she walks off by herself. YAHOO!!!

9. Today at lunch they didn't have milk (whatever!), so Scott put some water mixed with a tiny bit of Sprite into her cup. She tasted some and said, "Is this pop?" I said, "Well, it's water mixed with a little bit of lemonade- like pop. Do you like it?" (she's never had pop, by the way). She said, "No, I don't. I'm not really old enough to have lemonade pop- just lemonade."

10. We have chocolate kisses out in our candy jars. Yesterday I noticed Allison walking to her room, kind of licking her lips. I said, "What are you eating?" She said, "I'm just teasing!" I said, "No, really, what are you eating?" She said, "A kiss!" I said, "How many did you have?" She said, "Just one". I said, "Allison, really, how many did you have?" and she said, "Well, actually, I had two"

11. In the car the other day she said, "Mommy, when we get home will you put your hair in front of your face, just to be silly?" I said, "Sure". She said, "I'll do it too!" I said, "Okay, what about Daddy?" and she said, "No, Daddy can't do it. His hair is too short. It doesn't have move!"

Okay, that's all for now. My favorite thing to read on other people's blogs is stories about their kiddos, so I figured it was time to post a few of the latest ones in our world.

Thanks to everyone who made fun comments on my 100 things about me post- I really hope some of you will do that post and let me come read it! It really is fun to do!

A Not So Happy Swim Day!

2008-09-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Looks like we won't be waiting until late October to visit the dentist! :(

Today Allison went to her 2nd swimming lesson. GOOD times. She loved it again, and as you'll see from the video was a little less nervous when it came time to jump in. :) After class was not so fun. I decided it was time for ME to use the gym, not just Allison, so I dropped her off in the kiddy care place and went to work out upstairs. When I came back to pick her up she was crying (this is NOT normal for her). I concluded later that she just all of a sudden missed me and wanted to go home, but that took awhile to get out of her.

She was crying REALLY hard when I walked in, and when she saw me she was in a hurry to get to me, and she fell on her face, hard, on the tile floor. Poor thing! When she got up I could see she had a bloody nose, but that was no biggee to stop. On the way home I could see her using her tongue to play with her tooth, so when we got home I checked more closely, and sure enough, she has a nice little chipped tooth. I called the dentist and he's going to look at it this afternoon. Like the title of the blog, just a Day in the Life! :)

I hope you are all having a less eventful Tuesday.

100 things...

2008-09-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

I read a blog today where the author challenged herself to write down 100 things most people wouldn't know about her. I am always up for a challenge, so I thought I'd try. Plus, I haven't taken any pictures the past 2 days. :) I print these pages out as a diary of sorts, so I'm sure this will be fun to look back on several years from now. If you do this on your blog, let me know so I can come read about you. :)

1. The first pet I had, that I can remember, was a dog named Bingo- he died after being sent away to live on a farm.
2. My favorite kind of ice cream is Moose Tracks- lots of chocolate!
3. I have a Masters Degree in Special Education
4. My parents have been married over 45 years
5. The first car I ever bought by myself was a Ford Contour- looking back, it was pretty ugly
6. Right now I drive a blue-gray VW Touareg (yes, I had to look up how to spell it)
7. Once I cheated on a driver's test and was caught. I was in my 30's. I knew better. :)
8. The room I grew up in had red shag carpet in it.
9. We used to use a big rake to "brush up" our shag carpets
10. I used to play basketball- I was the tallest girl on the team, in 5th grade, at 5'4. I am still 5'4. I do not play basketball now.
11. My first kiss was at 15 years old, to my brother's best friend.
12. I love the color taupe
13. I am 4 years older than my husband (he is not my brother's best friend)
14. My spiritual gift is faith
15. I wear my mother's wedding ring as my wedding ring. She got a new one!
16. I love lima beans
17. I gag on peaches!
18. I have a very large fear of flying
19. I have an even larger fear of birds- but most of you know that!
20. I like sheets made of Egyptian cotton
21. I use 3 pillows at night. My husband uses more- I won't say how many more
22. We have a queen bed
23. We are large boned people. :) I'd like a king bed
24. I take one prescription medicine
25. I iron almost everything. And I don't like to iron
26. I met my prince when I was 31
27. I met my daughter when I was 40
28. I will meet my son when I am 43, which I am not YET! :)
29. My favorite feature is my eyes. I get them from my mom
30. My least favorite feature is my stomach. I get it from too much chocolate!
31. I LOVE fall weather.
32. I love to pray, but I hate to pray aloud
33. I have gotten stitches once- I ran into the corner of my grandma's trailer home when I was 2
34. I was born with VERY blonde hair. I now pay for blonde hair
35. One year my husband got me a box of chocolates, and instead of chocolates in the little wrappers, he put pairs of earrings
36. I have suffered, enough to write a book, from generalized anxiety
37. I VERY RARELY suffer anymore
38. I had my first panic attack at age 29. I remember exactly where I was and ALL the details
39. I have one sibling- an older brother- he is a police detective
40. My first apartment was nicknamed "the box". It was TINY. The kitchen had one drawer. It was also brand new and adorable!
41. I have never smoked- anything!
42. I love to type. Sometimes when I'm just thinking I'll be typing out the words in my head
43. My worst nightmare ever was about a fire in my house. I could not run for help. My feet stood still. It was horrible. I was 8.
44. I was really good at dodgeball in elementary school
45. I was really, really bad at math after 7th grade. Once letters came into math I was LOST!
46. I got a D in Spanish and a D in French. I can't "do" foreign language!
47. I taught 7/8 grade English for 12 years. I really liked my job!
48. If there is a fire in the fireplace I have to stay up until it's all gone out
49. I honeymooned in Maine. It was beautiful!
50. I never learned how to dive. Belly flops were my specialty!
51. My favorite flower is the tulip
52. I do not care for massages. They hurt me. You can scratch my back all day, though.
53. One of my favorite memories is being at the Eiffel Tower on their Bastille Day- VERY cool!!
54. My dad is the healthiest person I know. I wish I took after my dad.
55. My brother is also very healthy. I wish I took after my brother.
56. My mom likes cookies and cake. I take after my mom. :)
57. I really like football- watching, not playing
58. One time K-State (my team) beat Nebraska (Scott's team), and he left the house!
59. I went through fertility treatment for three years
60. I am still sad that I will never give birth.
61. I love my daughter more than I ever thought it possible to love someone
62. I have worked with kids in some fashion since I was of employable age
63. I used to be pretty good at tennis. We used to practice on a huge green piece of foam in our basement!
64. I used to have crushes on Sylvester Stallone, Shaun Cassidy, and that guy from Battlestar Galactica- what was his name?
65. I HATE shows like Star Trek
66. I am not a risk taker.
67. I really love The Carpenters. I can sing in her range the best!
68. My mom and I used to watch shows like Magnum P.I. and Dallas religiously!
69. I used to watch soap operas. I haven't in years. I cannot believe Victor Newman is still alive
70. I have called myself the Queen of Good Intentions. I have lots of good ideas. I'm not the best at follow- through.
71. I'm really bad about calling people back.
72. I'm really good at emailing people back.
73. I am intimidated in Williams-Sonoma
74. Today I had a grilled peanut butter sandwich. See #73
75. When I was 15 I went to Europe with a group of kids. I got grounded when I was there for having boys in my room! Innocent, we were all innocent! :)
76. I enjoy public speaking. I get nervous about it, but I enjoy it
77. I love to play cards. My favorite game is canasta. My brother and Dad always beat my mom and me. My husband refuses to play with us!
78. One year the geniuses in the California teaching system appointed me to teach GEOGRAPHY! I can't find my way out of a paper bag, read a map... really, I can't! It was a long year- for me, AND the kids!
79. I actually like job interviews.
80. I could watch You've Got Mail every month.
81. One of my favorite books was She's Come Undone
82. I was never really popular. I always had a friend who was, so I kind of slipped in the group. If they had to vote someone out, it would have been me.
83. My best friends in high school were Cynda and Cheryl. They were both popular! :)
84. I graduated in 1984. Thought that was fun for #84
85. I have ridden a horse once. It took off and I couldn't make it stop. It was scary. I think I was 8 or 9 years old.
86. I don't think Brad and Angelina will last.
87. I used to think it would be fun to be famous. I don't think so anymore
88. I saw Kevin Bacon in concert (yes, he sings, and his music is fun!) in Sausilito.
89. My first concert ever was Donny and Marie.
90. My favorite concert was Chicago. They came to K-State when I was there, and my "I wish he was my boyfriend but he wasn't" friend came up to see the show with me. A GREAT night!
91. I watched the space shuttle disaster from the basement of my dorm. I remember where I was standing.
92. I also watched Matlock and a whole lotta' Cosby from the basement of my dorm
93. I am just now running out of things to say....
94. I miss the close neighborhoods of my youth. I used to know all my neighbors. Not anymore. :(
95. I used to think people who were in their 40's must know everything.
96. I recently learned that you don't have to weigh every time you go to the doctor. You can just say "no thank you".
97. I no longer dread going to the doctor like I used to
98. Laughter really is the best medicine. I've been doing a lot of thinking/worrying lately (mainly about Aaron), and making this list helped me forget about it and laugh a lot
99. It would make me SO happy if even ONE of my readers made a list of their own. It really was fun, and I really would love to read someone else's list.
100. If you are even reading #100, thank you! I hope you had a little bit of fun getting to know me better. :) It's 12:30, so I am going to bed. Good night!

Hey, hey, little fishy....

2008-09-19T10:15:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we headed to our rec center twice- once for swimming class and once for dance class. Good times! The swimming class was great. Last year we did the "Mommy and Me" class, which was also fun, but it was more enjoyable for me to watch her be independent and have a teacher show her the ropes without my help. There were 5 kids in her class, and she enjoyed every minute- until the end. Here is where I'll explain the swimming video....

All the kids lined up at the edge of the pool and she described a "game" to them. The "game" was where the teacher would sing some little song and then tag you with the cute little alligator. If she tagged you, you jumped into the water and she dunked you. Everything was peachy until Allison saw how the game worked. As soon as that first kid got dunked she started backing up away from the line, pacing back and forth, VERY worried. I know I should have been compassionate, but it CRACKED ME UP!! I've never seen Allison so nervous before. She looked back at me once and I just said, "It'll be fine", with a smile on my face. When it was her turn, the teacher had to reach a bit to tag her, but she jumped in, got dunked and came up just fine. She wasn't thrilled about it, and I'm not sure she'll do it again now that she gets what's going to happen, but it sure was cute. This video will make me laugh for years to come!

The other video is of her speed singing her ABC's. Just darn cute!

Update: both caterpillars are still living. :)

More and more this is the image I see at "rest time". Hey, whatever works!

How cute is this? Allison with her new little friend, Lauren, at swim class

All the kids lined up. I did want pictures of their faces, but I was the only one there with a camera as it was, so I didn't want to be obnoxious! :)

Getting ready to head out for dance class, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching this time. Allison is still obsessed with picking clover, flowers, weeds, whatever.

RANDOM thoughts and pictures...

2008-09-16T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sixty five and sunny. This, in my opinion, is the BEST weather of all! And it is today. REJOICE!! :) Now, on to my post....

Nothing too exciting has happened this week. Just normal life around here. However, I was very inspired by my blogging buddy Jodee to get my fall decorations out, so I did that yesterday and took a few pictures. Fall is my favorite time of year- the start of school, family b-days, pumpkins, fall festivals and the like. I just love it all!

I felt the need to write about how my angel is not always an angel. I do brag on her an awful lot, I know. But seriously, she really is an angel on most days. HOWEVER, she does have her moments, and I feel the need to come clean with a few of them. This is really for Missy,another blogging buddy , who thinks Allison is too sweet for words. She really is, Missy, but once in awhile I must expose her dark side.

Example 1: She is enjoying the "repeat game", where she repeats everything you say. This is fine if you are in the mood. She will not stop, no matter if you are in the mood or not, so sometimes I'm quiet for long periods of time. What does she do? Follows me and mocks my actions. GRRRRR!

Example 2: Bath time. Usually bath time is nice, no issues. At the end of bath time she is allowed to play with the sprayer, but she is told EVERY time to be careful to keep it in the tub. She ALWAYS keeps it in the tub. Until this week. She takes the sprayer and AFTER hearing the warning proceeds to point it right at me. I am wearing my glasses, so now I can't see, my clothes are wet, water is going all over the floor, and I am trying desperately to turn the water OFF. The worst part? She thought it was funny. She spent the next 30 minutes asking, "Are you still mad?" I think I said yes about 5 times before I said, "Not anymore." Then she says, "Next time I will not point the sprayer at you." NEXT time? Uh, I don't think so. Not for a LONG time! :)

Example 3: Would you like some cheese with that WHINE? Not for long periods of time, and not every day, but oh this child can whine with the best of them. She can also talk back pretty darn well too. Her latest is when I call to her. She'll YELL back, "JUST A MINUTE!" or "I'M BUSY!" We do not tolerate that in our house, but that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

So there you go. That should hold off the "you brag about your child too much" folks for awhile. :)

Okay, the rest of this is really random, so if randomness bugs you, come back another day.

1. I think Squiggly (caterpillar #1) might be dead. The question is- do we just say it was time for him to go back to nature and put him outside, or do we explain the death of a caterpillar to her? I vote for back to nature! You?

2. We are starting to sell Allison's clothing on ebay. If you are looking for little girl clothing, sizes 9 months - 2T, look for a post coming soon to show you how to get to our sales.

3. We have not heard anything new about Aaron, nor do we know when we'll be traveling to China. My best guess is that we'll hear something by the end of this month or in early October that will let us know WHEN we might travel. Stay tuned. Believe me, when we know, you'll know. I can't wait to post his picture. He really is pretty darn cute!

4. My blog will be getting an updated look as soon as we hear about Aaron. YAHOO! I'm working on its design right now, and then of course I'll hire my buddy Danielle to make it all pretty for me! I can't wait! I'm going to add lots of things to it, including a bigger list of blogs I love to read- the list has grown a lot since I first started this one.

5. And lastly, a note about blogging. I have SO much fun updating my blog every day or so. And I really enjoy the comments. They are just fun to read, and they often make me laugh and smile, something we all need to do every day. So thank you!! I appreciate the comments so much, and I love commenting on other people's blogs too! The thing I don't like is when I hear that people have had negative comments left on their blogs- really hurtful, negative comments. I have recently changed a setting on my blog so that I can view comments before they hit my blog. Sure, I'll still see the comment, but at least it won't get any attention, which is what these people want- attention. Some of my friends have done the same, or have not allowed anonymous people to comment. Either way will work to shut down those people out there who enjoy being hurtful.

Okay, on to the pictures- enjoy! :)

Allison asked if I would take a picture of her book and craft "for the blog". I obliged. :)

A couple days ago Allison was writing messages on paper after paper after paper. She finally brought one to me and said, "This is a picture of how I need to tidy up. :)

I know. I take pictures of the weirdest things sometimes, but this cracked me up. Each night she can choose 2 books for us to read. Last night's picks- Jesus and Barbie. All I can say is that I'm the lucky one- she chose ME to read about Jesus. Hearing Scott read the Barbie book was quite humorous! :)

Fall decorations

Someone was very excited to put candy corn into the dish. :)

The Very Hungry CaterpillarS

2008-09-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

Oh, what a day! We had so much fun! Scott decided today would be a good day to visit Hermann, MO, the town we've been meaning to check out for some time now. He knew the Tour De Missouri was going through there today, but he didn't know it was a starting point for leg 6 of the race. The place was packed with people, bikes, camera men, radio and tv stations, etc. We walked around a bit and took a LOT of pictures because my dad is an avid bicyclist and we knew he'd appreciate the photos. :) At lunch time Allison and I ducked in a restaurant while Scott watched the start of the race and took more pictures. NO ONE was in the restaurant (duh!), but five minutes after the race started there was a line out the door to get in. My hubby, he's soooo smart! We enjoyed a lunch and then headed home.

The most exciting part of the day for Allison was when Daddy bravely went into the street not once but twice to pick her up a caterpillar. We found a nearby store and bought a little bin to put them in. Then we added leaves, sticks, grass and a bit of water for them. She "took care of them" all the way home and said, "These are our first pets!" She named them squiggly (the black one) and Bally (the orange one, who was all balled up when she first saw him), and she is very excited to have them in her room. I heard her reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so I went to her room and found her reading the book TO THEM. Come on- how cute is THAT? :) I took pictures and video- I really wanted to remember how special this day was for her. Scott has been researching how to keep them alive. :)

Life is good. :)

She held on to the bin the whole ride home (about an hour) to make sure they were okay.

Reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to her new friends

She returned a few minutes later just to "check on them"

Itty Bitty Ballet and Tap

2008-09-11T17:49:00.000-07:00

The post I promised- enjoy! :)

FINALLY drawing & a visual of our bookworm

2008-09-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

Not that I was worried, but I really wondered if Allison was ever going to get into drawing real things. Just last week she decided that drawing was pretty fun, and now she can't stop. Yeah! I love looking at all her drawings and asking her to tell me about them. I learned a long time ago not to ask, "What's that?" but rather to say, "Tell me more about that" Ha! :) Subtle, but it works.

When I was a kid I LOVED to color. I could do it for hours! So far Allison has only been interested in coloring if I'm doing it with her, and even then she'd want to turn the page every 2 seconds or bully her way over to my page so I couldn't color. That's when you'd see me turn into a 2 year old and go, "Hey, this is my page. Color on your own page." I'll admit it. I sometimes go to the dark side. I don't like to share my coloring page. Sue me!

Anyway, this week Allison started requesting crayons and coloring books, and she'll sit there and color an entire page, or multiple pages by herself. LOVING that because I want her to enjoy it as much as I did when I was little...okay, and still do now. :)

Last night I went to check on Allison before going to bed and caught her with TONS of books in her bed- she was allowed to take in ONE. When Daddy snapped a picture she half-way woke up, turned over and gave him an even cuter shot. Enjoy!

This is a caterpillar on grass with the sky and clouds above him

In the center is Allison inside the Magic House (our local Children's museum), waiting to go outside in the sand. The sun it starting to set outside the house, and there are trees all around.

Some morning coloring time. Caterpillars are very popular these days.

The first picture Daddy took of her surrounded by her books

The picture he took when she flipped over after the flash woke her up. :)

The Loves of my Life!

2008-09-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Before meeting Daddy for lunch today we did some window shopping at the nearby strip mall. Allison chose the stores- Pet-Smart and the Christian Bookstore. Of course we read books in the bookstore, and one she chose was The Bearnstain (sp?) Bears count their blessings. Now mind you, the bear books never mention God, but the lesson was still a good one- to pay attention to what you HAVE (family, a roof over your heads, love, etc.) and to not worry too much about what you don't have (like all the new toys your friends have). I couldn't help but think how all of the B. Bears books we have teach lessons that we as adults could learn from too-like messy rooms, too much junk food, tattling, etc. But I believe the blessings book to be the best one yet. So today I am counting my blessings, and among them are my two very favorite people in the world- my wonderful husband, and my precious daughter, who both bring me more joy than I am deserving of on a daily basis. I love you two SO much! Thank you for making my days and nights so incredibly blessed.

A weekend in pictures- and video :)

2008-09-07T19:28:00.000-07:00

I couldn't pick just one event to blog about tonight, so I decided to do a "weekend in pictures" post. We didn't do anything "special" this weekend. It was very typical, yet fun. The mall on Friday night, the park and church on Saturday, playing at home and the outdoor shopping area on Sunday. Good times. I hope you'll enjoy our weekend pictures. And I hope your weekend was equally relaxing and fun!

Another trip to the Apple store. This time we played an Arthur game, and it was SO much fun! She loved it!

Swinging at the park. Even though it doesn't show her face, I just loved the action shot- and trust me, she was smiling!

This did NOT make me smile! I could write a LOT about how this made me feel, but I try to keep my blog as sunshiny as possible. So I'll just say that in my opinion, a crowded public park is not the place to bring a toy gun. Enough said- moving on.

Today our church had what they call "Celebration Saturday". For a couple of months they have special events going on in the parking lot before and after Saturday church- a way to outreach to the community. Today there was a car show. We walked around a bit, but Allison preferred playing in the jump houses. :)

This morning Daddy introduced Allison to a new activity- magnets! She was in HEAVEN! He set it all up downstairs and then called her down to play. I've had people ask me if Allison is always well put together with matching bows and all. UH, NO, she's not! :)

Tonight Allison felt like making a pretend bed in the living room. She really is a creative little girl. After reading her book she got on her pretend phone and called us for a chat.

This picture is a teaser for a post coming later in the week. I bet you can't wait! Me neither! :) Oh, and for those of you who have BTDT with tap class, answer me this- inside her shoe box were these 2 little bands with black circles on them. What are they for?

This video has no words and nothing is really happening- I just thought it was sweet. She LOVES to play in the center of the shopping area. She calls it adventure land. Cracks us up!

Growing, growing, growing...

2008-09-06T06:49:00.000-07:00

I decided to do a "blast from the past" entry today. After all, we have several thousand pictures of Allison before I started blogging, so it's fun to share old ones once in awhile. This was me cutting Allison's fingernails for the first time, in Guangzhou.

Lately I've been getting a lot of "she's getting so big!" comments, so I thought I'd chart her progress today. At her 3 year check-up (which was in late April), she was 35 inches tall and weighed 27 1/2 lbs. I measured her today and she's now, at 3 years 4 months, 36 1/4 inches tall and 29.6 lbs. SO, it's true- she HAS gotten bigger! :)

More signs that Allison is home!

2008-09-05T10:51:00.001-07:00

"Look, Mommy! I made my books nice and tidy! That's important to do."

"Look! I made a bunch of ice cream sundaes out of my blocks!"

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"Please don't touch the blanket. CeCe is taking a nap."

No quote needed

"Mommy? When I go to Disney World may I dress up like Snow White every day?"

And the biggest sign that Allison is home is the smile on Mommy's face. This is us this morning, heading out to MOPS. She really was excited to go, but you'd never know it by that lovely face she's making. :(

Cracked me up how quickly my house went back to "normal", which is a nice way of saying messy. :) I love the little signs of Allison that were all over the house within 24 hours. Love it!

Today we headed back to church for the new season of MOPS. If you're a regular reader you'll remember that I was the coordinator of the group last year. Well, let me tell you, it was WONDERFUL to go back this year and have ZERO responsibilities. I arrived when it started, as opposed to an hour early. I ate breakfast when it was hot and yummy, as opposed to not eating at all because I rarely sat down. I never looked at the clock, as opposed to checking my cell phone every 10 minutes to see if we were still on schedule to complete everything. I got to know each lady at my table and was able to listen to everyone's stories as opposed to ducking in every so often just to check in on everyone. And last but not least, I was able to walk out with my child when it ended, as opposed to staying an hour to make sure everything was clean, doors were locked, trash was put away and carpets were vacuumed. Leadership is AWESOME, and everyone should take their turn, but it sure was nice to be "just a member" again!

I don't think anyone in MOPS leadership reads my blog, but just in case, WELL DONE, LADIES!! You all did a fantastic job, and if there was anything that didn't go exactly as you'd planned, no one noticed! I'm already looking forward to the next meeting!

After MOPS Allison and I went to get our "once a month after MOPS" happy meal. Thankfully she is pretty turned off by the Star Wars characters, so I didn't have to save the silly toys. Yes, I say toys, because yes, I get a happy meal too. You're never too old for a happy meal, I say!

She's HOME! :)

2008-09-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Annoying trumpet sounds are blaring throughout the house. A little high-pitched voice is calling, "Mommy, look at this, Mommy, watch me, Mommy, come here!", books are strewn throughout the house, stuffed animals are having a tea party on the couch.... Life is back to "normal" around here, and we are thrilled.

Nana, Papaw and Allison arrived today at about 2:30 PM, and everyone was SO excited!! It felt like we'd been apart for months! OUr hugs went on forever, and she just kept looking at me, smiling, and saying, "I'm back! Are you excited I'm home?" It was just precious! We spent some time looking over all the treasures she'd made, opening a little welcome home gift bag, and having a snack. Then we ALL took LONG naps. :) Of course I let Allison nap with me in my bed- I didn't want to be away from her yet. :)

She is still, at almost 9:00, running around upstairs, talking WAY too loudly, and just having a LOT of fun with everyone. I'm going upstairs now to join in the fun, but I wanted to update the blog and let everyone know that she is home safe and sound and VERY HAPPY!! :)

More Home Improvements!

2008-09-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

I am still in shock over all we accomplished this weekend! We did manage to throw in some fun shopping and eating out along the way, but for the most part, we've been working all weekend. We're both tired and sore, but it's been SO worth it!

Prior to having Allison, my favorite thing to do was make scrapbooks. I started in the mid-90's and have over 30 albums. After I got married I spent 2 years being a Creative Memories consultant. I LOVED it! It's such a great creative outlet, plus it provides an opportunity to get together with other gals and talk, eat, look at pictures and share creative ideas. Since having Allison in my life I've taken MANY more pictures, but unfortunately most of them are still in their little folders, NOT in albums. This is something that's been bothering me for 2 1/2 years!! The main issue isn't time. I'm a believer that you can find time for things that are important to you. The main issue was space. There just wasn't anywhere in the house where I could spread everything out and work. But now there is! YAHOO!!

A few months ago we made the decision to begin finishing our basement. Since we have a ranch house, our basement is pretty big, and we looked forward to adding the additional rooms to our home. Then Aaron came along. Scratch the basement- we're going to China instead. Believe me, I'd MUCH rather add a child to our family than have a finished basement, but it would mean we'd need to get creative with the space we had. The first thing we did was buy a big piece of carpet and make one side of the basement into a guest room/play room. The play room used to be upstairs, but you can see from the last post that it is no longer a play room. :) Allison loves playing down here, and although our guest room is not "finished", it works. I found a small area around where the future bathroom will be built that would make a good work space for me, and this weekend I got organized and am now ready to scrap again. I can't wait!! Tomorrow Scott is bringing home his label maker so I can replace my little titles on masking tape with cool labels. Yeah!

Our other weekend project was to turn our dining room, that is rarely used, into a little office space for me so the breakfast table, that SHOULD be used, can serve its purpose instead of being the catch all area for every piece of paper that comes through the house! Can anyone relate? UGH! We had a GREAT time at The Container Store today, getting all sort of boxes, bins and containers to organize our stuff. I got to work right away making a fun little space for me at my "desk". Just so you know, I DO have pictures of both my kids at my desk, but since I'm not allowed to show Aaron's face yet, I took it down for the picture. :(

Tomorrow I'll be doing after project clean- up, and then Wednesday my parents will bring Allison home (FINALLY!!) and stay through the weekend. I can't wait! Only 2 more sleeps till I can hold my sweetie again!!

I meant to take before/after pictures, but I forgot to take the true before picture. SO, just imagine more mess and more disorganization. This picture was taken 1/2 way through. :)

Now there's no excuse- time to get to work!

I love my little work space. I'm sure it will never look this clean again. Those of you who scrapbook know it's a messy hobby!

My new "office" I'm in heaven!

Ta-Da!

2008-08-31T16:54:00.000-07:00

What a day! Scott and I both worked hard on our "without Allison for the weekend" projects. First thing this morning Scott's buddy Jeff came over to assist with the preparation and installation of the molding and trim for Aaron's room. I spent the morning working on organizing an area in our basement to be used for scrapbooking- pictures of that to come tomorrow.

Did you know that thousands of dollars worth of equipment are necessary for this kind of project? Neither did I! Thankfully, between a few buddies, we only had to buy a few things in order to get the job done. The guys worked SO hard and were finished before lunch. WOW! We still have some touch up painting to do, but I'm feeling really good about what got done today.

SO, how do you like the bedding? It might not be everyone's style, but I think it looks pretty sharp. I wanted something different- not just baby boy blue, and I was thrilled to find this bedding online last month. I plan on buying a few accent pieces to compliment the colors and possibly a few Asian-inspired prints. What you see in the picture is the quilt and the dust ruffle for the crib. We also have a valance (thanks, Mom!) to hang later. I won't be buying any more of the bedding because I don't want it to be FILLED with the theme- I like the subtle look much more.

Okay, I'm off to rest a bit and then work on my scrapbook area. FYI- our baby girl is having a ball in KC, keeping busy doing fun things with her Nana and Papaw. I can't believe I have to go THREE more sleeps without her. I miss her SO much, but thankfully the ichat is making me feel like we're closer. I guess this morning she woke up and said, "I wish Mommy was on the computer". YEAH!! So this morning we read books to each other and gave virtual hugs and kisses. That really helped me get through my day. I look forward to our goodnight books and kisses tonight too! :) I miss you, sweetie!!

Last night Scott finishes painting the crown and chair rail

The first of the crown molding is going up!

Silly boys!

The project is now in full swing!

Crown is finished- time for chair rail

The "finished" look!

A close up of the quilt!

Painting 101

2008-08-30T17:06:00.000-07:00

Today I painted a room- all by myself. Now, this may not be a big deal to most of you, but me and manual labor- we don't really work well together. So this was kind of a big deal for me. :) I've painted rooms before, but I've always worked alongside someone. Today I was all alone. Scott was in the garage most of the day, preparing the moldings that will go up in the room tomorrow. We are both VERY tired, but I wanted to show you some pictures of my progress today.

First, though, let me share some lessons about painting. You might even learn something you didn't know before!

1. If you think the paint is too dark when you first put it on, it IS. It will only get darker with time. Take it back and get the color you really want.

2. If you're lucky, your husband will do this for you and you'll use the too dark color on the bottom instead of the top of the walls. Perfect!

3. Pay attention to what step of the ladder you are on when painting. Otherwise you're likely to take one step down when you really should take two steps down, and you might fall. Not that this has happened to ME, mind you, but it's a good lesson. :)

4. It might be a pain to do, but install crown molding when you paint a room. That way you don't have to be careful when doing the top edging!

5. When using brown paint over yellow, it will look purple. Don't panic. It really will look like brown when you're done.

6. Don't shy away from a color just because of its name. I HATE mushrooms, but this mushroom color is pretty nice.

7. Don't plan on doing too much typing after you paint. Your fingers will be so tired and sore. You'll make a LOT of mistakes if you try to blog right after painting!

8. And lastly, although you'll miss her like crazy, it's MUCH easier to paint a room in a day when you do not have your 3 year old in the house with you. Thanks, Mom and Dad!

Check back tomorrow (if home decorating is interesting to you) to see the finished room, complete with a couple pieces of furniture and bedding for our new little boy!

Scott measures where the chair rail will go

Prepped and ready to paint!

Hmmm, that color looks too dark for our top color. Scott runs back to Lowe's

I begin to paint the too dark color on the bottom instead. It works!

It's getting there....

I LOVE taking the tape off! I like how this is turning out!

LAST WALL!! Goodbye yellow playroom, hello Aaron's bedroom!

It was wonderful to not worry about mistakes by the ceiling. I can't wait to have crown molding tomorrow!

My job here is done! The paint is still wet, but I was excited to take an "all done" picture. I can't remember the last time I did physical labor from sun up to sundown. I really don't enjoy painting, but I sure do enjoy the end result, and when you're doing it for someone you love and cannot wait to meet, it really isn't so bad! :) Tomorrow Scott will work with his friend on the moldings while I work on setting up my scrapbook area- I'll post some before and after pictures of that too! Goodnight!

A First

2008-08-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight Allison is at her Nana and Papaw's (my parents) house while I am in St. Louis. We drove to KC together on Wednesday and I came back to St. Louis today, leaving her there to spend an extended weekend with her grandparents. I have only been away from Allison on 2 separate overnights, so this is a HUGE thing for me. Not so much for her, she'll be fine. But for me- HUGE! My mom has always wanted to spend some extended time with Allison, and we thought this was a good time to do it- kind of a trial run for what it will be like to be apart for 2 weeks when we travel to China this winter.

I made sure I said my goodbyes with a smile on, but I was bawling before I got to the car. I kept looking in the back seat on the way home, so sad to see it empty. This tells me a couple of things. First of all, I really, really love my child and enjoy spending every day with her. And secondly, I really need to work on my OWN separation anxiety. It really should be okay, and is actually pretty healthy, to have time away from your children every now and then. Or so I keep telling myself. Scott and I have LOTS of little projects to do around the house this weekend- a major one is to paint Aaron's room and to put up crown molding and a chair rail. I'll post some pictures of the progress. We received his bedding this week, so I can show you what it looks like with the paint and the completed furniture in a couple of days. Fun times!

What's making this time away a bit more do-able is ichat. What a GREAT function of the Apple computer. We tested it out with Daddy when he was back here and we were in KC. Thank goodness we converted my parents to Apple a couple years ago! At first Allison was sad to see Daddy because he wasn't "in person", but once she talked to him a bit and he read her a book, she was ALL OVER IT! Tonight we both talked to her and read to her, and she was so happy! I know she'll have a fun weekend with Nana and Papaw, but man, I miss her already. I did wait until the computer turned off before I started crying again. I was strong! :)

Mommy and Allison take a break on the road to have a little fun at McDonalds!

Allison and Papaw cross the road to enter Barnes and Noble, where she quickly suckered Nana into buying her FIVE new books!

Allison reads Daddy a book via ichat

I was SO happy to see my baby tonight, even if it was just through the computer. I LOVE technology!

Allison, are you cleaning your room?

2008-08-26T16:55:00.001-07:00

My child no longer wants/needs her normal nap. For the past few months I have watched those most wonderful 1-3 PM naps slip away from me. If you have a preschooler in the house you may be going through the same transition, and I'm guessing you are as sad about it as I am. Oh sure, I can now take her anywhere, at anytime and not worry about when she needs to take a nap. Sure, it means two more lovely, wonderful hours with my child that I didn't used to have. But let's face it- I NEEDED THAT NAP TIME MORE THAN SHE DID! :) We usually shoot for a rest time of some sort in the afternoon, but even that gets cut much shorter than I'd like with her proclaiming, " I just needed a short rest. I'm ready to play again!"

What happens if she doesn't sleep at all? Last night was a great example. At about 5:30 I asked her to pick up her room before dinner. I checked on her a couple of times and she was just laying in there, reading a book. I reminded her that she needed to clean her room (check out how messy it was- oh my!) before dinner. About 5 minutes later I looked at Scott and said, "It's way too quiet in there." He checked on her and then told me to bring my camera. As expected, she was O U T! I woke her up after 5 minutes because I did NOT want her up until 10:00 AGAIN!

My baby is growing up. :(

Tree "climbing"

2008-08-25T13:26:00.000-07:00

For quite some time now Allison has been wanting to climb a tree. I can't remember off hand what character in what book climbs a tree, but it's been on her mind. Yesterday we took a little day trip to a small town about 1/2 hour from us. It didn't have as much to offer as we'd hoped (most stores closed on Sunday), but we did find a nice park, so Allison was in heaven! They had the coolest play area, but of course she was more content picking "wildflowers", or clover to the rest of us. That clover in her hands actually made it all the way home and into a cup filled with water. The kid is serious about her flowers! :)

While playing in "the forest" she decided she wanted to climb this huge tree. The closest branch was about 10 feet high, but that didn't stop her from trying. Daddy offered to help her climb a more manageable tree, and Mommy stood back to get pictures of her first tree "climb". Simple pleasures. They are wonderful, aren't they?

On an unrelated but really important note, Scott and I met with a cranial facial specialist this morning. Until a few weeks ago I never knew such a specialty existed. Now I feel like an expert. Well, I at least got all of my 13 questions answered. :) It felt very strange to schedule a surgery for a child you've never met, but we did. This way it's on the books and if we want to change it we can. The doctors and nurses we talked to were all wonderful, and we both felt very comfortable turning the care of our little boy over to their capable hands. An hour and a half later we picked up Allison from Katie's house (thanks Beth!) and went out to lunch. I will most likely spend the next few days processing all the information we received and wishing, praying, and hoping that we'll learn soon when we can get to China and bring him HOME!

LOVING her clover hunt

"But there's no way to climb it!"

Thanks, Daddy!

Up, up I go!

Branch hanging is fun!

Sticking the landing! :)

Saturday- after the blood

2008-08-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

Obviously our day improved after the bloody nose incident. :) After eating at Red Robin we came home for rest time. Allison actually took a nap, which was great since we just put her to bed at 10:15! After nap we headed to church, which is always awesome! Today Allison learned more about Jonah and the Whale, one of her favorite Bible stories. One of the teachers said, "Allison told us she has TWO Jonah books at home!" It makes me wonder what all she tells people when we aren't around. Hmmmm. She does have TWO Jonah books, so it's not like she's fibbing, but it still makes me wonder what stories she tells. One of the challenges put before us during the sermon was to pretend to cc Jesus on all your emails, pretend he's on the conference call line every time you make a phone call, and to basically invite Him into every area of your life in an attempt to be more like Him. Like I said, church is always awesome! :) So, Jesus, welcome to my blog! :)

After church we headed back out to the shopping area. We walked around quite a bit and then put our names in to eat dinner at the restaurant there. Yes, I know, we already went out to lunch. We need to cut back on eating out. But anyway, we had fun people watching, window shopping (we bought nothing!), and riding the train. Our name was not called until after 8:00, so we had a LATE dinner, but it was wonderful. Allison was a trooper the whole time, and like always, she charmed our wait staff and used her wonderful manners. The kid knew what she would order (cheese pizza and fruit) before we even got to the restaurant. Sure, she's ordered that the last 2 times we've been there, but still. She amazes me with her memory. She could probably order for me too, since I've gotten the same thing all 3 times I've been! :) I'm SO boring!!

We were also able to see the beautiful glow of the hot air balloons. VERY cool! Of course by then we were starving, so we just kind of looked, said wow, and checked AGAIN to see if our table was ready. While eating we heard the fireworks, but Allison said earlier she didn't want to see them, so we knew we weren't going to be watching them anyway. All in all it was a GREAT day. We look forward to shopping when there are fewer people there and the temperatures are in the 70's, not the 90's. :) Oh, AND when I have money to spend. :)

Dancing to some cool jazz in the center of the shopping area

Stylin'!

SO excited to meet a princess with a real crown. Okay, so it was just Miss Missouri, but to Allison, she was a princess! Awhile after meeting her she said, "I've been thinking. Maybe we could send her a present- you know, to thank her for meeting us. I could put stars and crowns on a card and send it to her." And I thought I had tomorrow planned. Now I'll be adding "make a card for Miss MO" to my list of things to do. Life is good. :)

The beautiful glow of the hot air balloons

Saturday- before the blood

2008-08-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

No worries, the blood was minor. On to the post. :) This morning a big outdoor shopping area by our house had its grand opening. We've been really excited about this opening because, well, we like to shop! :) Our city (Lake St. Louis) is full of places to shop, but if you're looking for Talbots, Gymboree, and the like, you have to travel about 15-20 miles to get there. This new shopping area is about a mile from our house- YAHOO!! We strolled over there last month to see how it was coming along, and it took us less than 15 minutes. I was sooo excited!

Anyway, we headed over at about 10:00, and all the parking places were already filled. YEAH!! Seriously, I didn't even care because I want the stores to do well so other stores will come fill in the vacant spots and fun restaurants will want to set up shop on the 4 pads waiting for them. SO, bring on the customers! We had fun walking around, but it was HOT and HUMID- ick! While waiting in line to eat at the one restaurant there already, Allison started screaming. I'm like- OH MY!! Nothing was happening around her, so I had no idea why she was screaming. Then she turned and ran to me- bloody nose. Her 2nd in 2 days. Poor thing- it was all over her shirt (this upset her much more than it upset me) and she just looked so pitiful. Obviously we punted lunch at that place, but after going home to clean up we headed out to try again. Here's the funny part of the story (no, the bloody nose was NOT funny!)

If we're clueless about where we want to go eat and we don't really care, we'll ask Allison and take her lead. Here was the conversation today...

Scott: "Allison, what kind of food would you like to eat today?"

Allison: "Nothing"

Scott: "You don't want anything to eat?"

Allison: "Well, it's a SURPRISE!"

Scott: "Well, if it's a surprise, how will I know where to go?"

Allison: "I'll show you!"

Sure enough, the kid navigates us to Red Robin. At each turn she tells us right left, or straight, and we end up in front of Red Robin. Unbelievable! Of course I was the MOST impressed because the GPS is my best friend. Without it I am LOST. I guess I can throw it away now and just ask my 3 year old which way to go! And yes, we did eat at Red Robin- how could we NOT? :)

I will post again tonight after we've gone back to the shopping area for the evening festivities. Stay tuned!

This morning I could not find Allison. I went into her room and I could hear her, but I seriously could not find her. She was under her bed. This is a first. She was reading down there cause it was "a deep, dark cave"

Seriously, how cute is this?

Meeting a cute duck outside a shop called Puddle Ducks- a children's boutique

More smiles with the duck. After leaving she kept repeating, "He was just in a costume, right? Right?"

A Rainy Day

2008-08-22T13:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was rainy, off and on, so we had an inside day. I really, really like playing with Allison, but I took the opportunity yesterday to catch up on my ironing, so she played alone most of the day. Every once in awhile I'd take her picture cause she was just so cute. And the video. Man, I love taking videos of her. Those of you out there who blog but don't do videos, please try it sometime. I think you can see so much more of a kid's personality when you see them on video tape, and the kids LOVE to see themselves in action too! We got a book from the library last month called On Top of Spaghetti, and it had a really silly song sung throughout the book. Allison is singing her favorite part. :)

Proud of her painting. She told me it's a piggy bank with two quarters and a penny going into it. :)

Posing with her bunny, CeCe, while both wearing princess t-shirts.

What better place to trace letters than in the middle of the hallway?

Putting together animal puzzles and giving me the sweetest look.

Reading before bedtime

Back with my friend Owen!

2008-08-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

We finally got Allison a play date with her buddy Owen, and boy did they have fun! They played soooo nicely together the entire time. I didn't hear my name once- it was wonderful!! :) They talked most of the time, actually playing together, not just alongside one another. I told Owen's mommy that I want him to come over every day! :)

Ahhh, how cute is that? At one point Owen told a ghost story and Allison said, "Oh, that's scary! Owen, will you protect me?" He said, "Yes", and they hugged again. :)

Sharing a book

Just playing

Blurry picture, but look at my child's expression! Looks like a 16 year old expression to me. I am NOT ready for this!

One of Allison and Owen's first play date.Owen was practically running, and Allison had yet to show us a decent crawl. Ha!

The Magic House delivers- AGAIN!

2008-08-18T13:30:00.000-07:00

The Magic House is a wonderful childrens' museum located in Kirkwood, MO, about 30 minutes from our house. We've been several times, and it never gets old- there is always something new to do and discover. Allison has her list of "must do's" that she rattles off when we first walk in. "I want to fish, work the puzzle, play in the sand, and paint" We took care of those things first, then headed outside to the BIG sand area, where she dug for buried treasure for about an hour. The last two times she's been, it's been just with Daddy, so it was fun to come along this time and see all the fun new things there were to do. The museum is expanding and will be bigger and better next year. I can't wait!

Before leaving the house, Scott finished painting Allison's changing table from white to black and a chair from green to black in order to match the decor we'll have in Aaron's bedroom. I LOVE the finished product. All that's left to paint is the crib- and the room, of course. :) Once I order the quilt for his room I'll give you a sneak peak at the new bedding next to the furniture. Things are coming along. Now all we really need is permission to travel to China.

Sleek, huh?

Daddy works hard to get Aaron's room ready

Daddy and Allison play in the circle of friends at the museum

Making a beautiful watercolor picture

Righty tight, lefty loose!

Allison's favorite activity at the Magic House- fishing! Look at that concentration!

Serving us drinks in the pretend pizza parlor. Oh waitress, oh waitress!

Sitting in the canoe in the Lewis and Clark exhibition

Prior to arriving at the museum, we ate at Taco Bell and met 2 families who were headed to the museum after lunch also. The 3 girls introduced themselves and chatted throughout lunch, so when they met up at the museum they acted like old friends. It was sooo cute!

Not a great picture of Allison, but we cracked up when she said, "Here fishy, eat some steak!"

This was the coolest exhibit!! The room from the Goodnight Moon book was displayed in such a fun, creative way. Allison was making the moon go into and out of the sky.

Finally, we hit the HUGE sand area. Allison kept saying, "We're at the beach! We're at the beach!" Once home, she said, "Mommy, why did they call it a beach if there wasn't any water?" I tried to explain that it wasn't really a beach- they just tried to make it look like one since we don't have an ocean where we live in Missouri. She thought about it awhile and then said, in a very excited voice, "But... we have a RIVER!!" We cross the MO river a few times a week, so she's very aware that we have a BIG river by us! :)

A display of all her buried treasures. I said we should bury them for other kids to find. Scott said we should take them home. We took them home. Today I've been cursing the floor every few minutes as my bare feet walk across sharp rocks and shells. I think we should have buried them! :)

Sure enough, all the fun tired her out.

"It's Katie night! It's Katie night!"

2008-08-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

Once a month we babysit Katie so her parents can have date night. They do the same for us once a month, and everyone wins!! The couples get one night out a month without having to pay a babysitter, and the girls are guaranteed two nights a month of FUN! Saturday night the girls played in the playroom and then had some dinner. After dinner we headed to our neighborhood park for bubble blowing, swinging, sliding, and the like. Once home we had ice cream sundaes and settled in to watch a Veggie Tales movie about Jonah. A good time was had by everyone!!

The first two pictures were taken earlier in the day when we were out window shopping for big girl beds. Allison will need a new one as her converted crib will go back to being a real crib soon. :) She absolutely LOVES playing around with and having her picture taken by the big horses outside P.F. Changs- a restaurant we STILL haven't eaten in yet! There's a fountain right next to the horses, so of course we make lots of wishes and throw lots of coins in there every time.

We spent this afternoon at The Magic House, a local childrens' museum in town. Pictures coming soon!

Fountain fun!

I love this action shot of her running under the horse.

This is the first time I've used our new stroller with 2 kids in it. I really, really like it, and both girls loved it too. I tried to imagine it with a little boy in the front! :)

How cute is Katie? I just LOVED this picture of her. The lighting was great, and of course she makes a beautiful subject!

The girls enjoying their ice cream sundaes!

Watching the Jonah movie. Notice Allison HAD to have her Jonah book out so she could compare the pictures in the book to what was happening in the movie. She cracks me up!

A Fun Friday!

2008-08-15T17:40:00.000-07:00

Fridays are always fun, but they are doubly fun when Daddy takes the day off! Our goal was to get some work done around the house, and boy did we!! Our landscaping really needed some TLC, so we spent a few hours this morning with some heavy duty power tools! Good times! After our hard work we headed over to The Meadows, a new outdoor shopping area that will be opening soon near our house. One of the restaurants opened early, so we had a yummy lunch there before walking around, peering into all the new shops to see how things were coming along.

Daddy took some pictures of Allison and me- pictures that quickly went from serious to silly. I loved all her expressions of laughter and joy!

Tonight I was reminded once again (as I am several times a day) why I love books. Allison REALLY gets into the stories in her books. The latest story she's loving is in one of the Francis books we checked out from the library. I loved the Francis books (especially the tea set one) when I was a kid, and I'm glad to see Allison enjoying them too. Anyway, tonight she acted out as scene where Francis runs away- where to? Underneath the dining room table. It was soooo funny to see her acting it all out, even calling Daddy from underneath the table to see how things were going. She has a great imagination, but also loves to act out what she sees on tv or reads in books. I love it!!

Play Date Fun!

2008-08-13T10:55:00.000-07:00

Today Allison had a little play date with her friend Madison. Madison's mommy is Martha, my buddy from MOPS last year. The girls are almost exactly a year apart, and they did a great job playing together. We destroyed a couple of rooms before we left, but a good time was had by all. We look forward to playing with them again soon!

The other 2 pictures are from last night- I just loved the way she was sitting with her Daddy, telling him all about her day. Then she got up to draw a little garden for us. I asked her if she could draw a picture of her family, but I had to settle for the garden. Hey, at least she moved beyond, "I just want to make hand-prints!" You take what you can get!

Of course the first question out of Allison's mouth was, "Where are your books?"

They had a blast being ghosts and scaring us!

Two Cinderella costumes? What more could 2 little girls ask for?

They (well, really Martha and I) made little crafts before ending our date

Allison telling Daddy all about her day

Drawing a flower garden - I had to capture the cute little tippy toes! :)

Going for the Gold!

2008-08-12T15:39:00.000-07:00

Our nightly routine has turned into 7PM-midnight- watch Olympics. I can't stop. Watching the mens' US gymnastics last night was so much fun! Allison had to grab her mat and beam when watching the girls the previous night. What a hoot! She is NOT a 3 year old prodigy, that's for sure! :)

She fell face first into the mat and became quite distraught for the rest of the evening. I wish she was one of those kids who wanted comfort after being injured, but instead she wants to be left alone, and she gets downright nasty if you pay attention to her. I always feel like a bad parent, not helping her or tending to her little injuries (especially if we're in public), but I know her, and I know to leave her alone! Daddy added insult to injury by taking pictures of her in her pain, but I must admit, the pictures are pretty darn cute. She eventually recovered, but she did have a fat lip until later the next day. Ah, the price of training for the 2024 Olympics! :)

In one video you'll see her having a blast, and in the other you'll see her falling on her face. Enjoy! :)

Okay, I just went back and watched that video, and I really do appear quite unsympathetic. I didn't realize she hit her face until later. We both thought the bang was her leg, not her lip. Poor thing. Now I feel really bad for her! :(

Her floor routine- 9.0!

In action!

Mounting the beam- what technique!

After the fall- how sad is that face?

After she recovered and got back into her normal happy self, she presented us with "An Olympics Picnic" Having a three year old is so much fun!

An afternoon in St. Charles

2008-08-10T15:26:00.000-07:00

This morning after church (that by the way we can never seem to get to on time because for 30 years I went to church at 9:30, and our church here starts at 9:15, and I just cannot seem to get it together and remember that!) we headed down to St. Charles, a darling town I've highlighted many times in this blog. Allison couldn't name where we were because she only LOVES it during the Christmas season, when it's all decorated and lit up, and Dickens characters roam the streets. We had to convince her it really was St. Charles! Daddy decided to do an impromptu photo shoot by some pretty flowers.

He took over 70 pictures to get a few that were cute enough to share. Allison will sometimes pose, but more often than not, she will do the opposite of what you ask her to do. I am always sweating by the end of these little shoots, and if I'm being honest, I'm usually a bit ticked at her for not cooperating and ticked at Scott for wanting "just one more like that". AHHGGGHHH!! But afterwards, we went to my new favorite St. Charles restaurant, Lewis and Clark, so all was good with the world!

I finally got to sit down and watch some of the Olympics today, and they were great! It really doesn't matter what the event is- I just get excited because these athletes worked SO hard to get where they are, and I just have to respect that! Well, I don't really respect most of the NBA players and won't be watching them, but that's another story! We watched swimming, and I thought- it would take me at least 5 minutes to get 1/2 lap in, and these guys (we watched the guys) were back and forth SEVERAL times in 2 minutes. WOW!!

Then came the part that depressed me- a special on Dara Torres. This lady really is incredible, but do they have to keep saying- "And she's....... FORTY ONE... as if to indicate that that means someone is WAY PAST their prime and shouldn't even be IN a pool, let alone competing. For someone who hit 41 almost two years ago, this is downright depressing. Can anyone relate?

Okay, I'm off to watch some Wiggles with my child. Does anyone else find these guys terribly annoying????

What a guilty look- she's getting ready to pick the flowers, even though she knows you're not really supposed to. :)

SO posed, but oh well. Still a decent picture of us together!

Allison with the 3 purple flowers she held on to all afternoon

Scrolling pictures on Daddy's new ipod

We noticed today that she's really outgrowing the stroller we got her while in China.

Loving The Olympics!

2008-08-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I haven't watched anything since the Opening Ceremonies, but we've taped a lot, and I'm hoping to get some time to watch some of it tomorrow. We've had a busy, fun weekend, including date night tonight. Yahoo! :) I've been lame about taking pictures this week, but I grabbed the camera when Allison started interacting with the performers Friday night. She ran to get her drum so she could drum along with the AMAZING drummers, and when the kids came out carrying the flag, she had to run to put on her "costume" too! Then she danced along with the men doing amazing dances/drawings. It was a joy to watch her, and she would keep saying, "They are in China, where I was born and where Aaron is now!" I must admit that although I'm VERY proud to be an American (I know, I can hear Lee Greenwood too!), I am also very proud to have a daughter from a country so rich in history, culture, and tradition.

Some Random Shots and stories

2008-08-06T05:25:00.001-07:00

The past week has been rather "normal" around our house, which has been nice. I gathered a few random shots to share. I am quite sure our life on a reality tv show would bore viewers to tears in about 10 minutes. Okay, maybe 5. But for us, it's a great life, a life we very rarely find boring. :)

A few stories:

Last weekend at church Allison made a prayer chain. The names on her prayer chain were Mommy, Daddy, Aaron, and Claire. I first gave a sigh of relief that I was on it, then thought it was very sweet for her to add Aaron (her real brother) and Claire (one of her China sisters). VERY sweet. Each night we've been praying for the people on the chain. I ask her to pray for one name and then I cover the rest. The first night she chose Aaron, and when it came her turn to pray she said, "Dear God, thank you for a wonderful day (all her prayers begin this way). and please, ummmm, please bless all the people in China." I looked up as if to say, "Sorry for the tall order tonight, God!" :)

Yesterday we were talking about our trip to Disney World (planned for October '09), and Allison was reminding me how old she'll be when we go, and how we're going NEXT year so she'll be tall enough to ride more of the rides. Then she thinks a bit and says, "Can Aaron come too?" She's really starting to see him as part of our family and thinking of how he'll fit into all our daily plans. I love it! She also told me this week that she missed him and wished he could come home today. Me too, honey. Me too.

My favorite word is Mommy. Really, it is. I spent many years wishing someone would call me Mommy. When Allison first said Mama I thought I would melt, and when it turned into Mommy I was sad that she left the Mama stage but happy to hear Mommy. Now, after a couple years of being called Mommy, it is no longer my favorite word (it really is, but for dramatic purposes I'm saying it's not). I think teaching manners is coming back to bite me in the.... Allison was getting into this habit of starting her sentences with "I need...." or "I want..." I taught her, "Allison, you need to start your sentences like this.."Mommy, may I please have..." or "Mommy, I need...." WHY, oh WHY did I do this? Now, and I'm not kidding you here, she starts EVERY SINGLE SENTENCE with Mommy. And each time I have to say, "Yes?" before she'll continue the sentence. It's EXHAUSTING!! I said, "Allison, you don't have to say Mommy every single time. You can just talk to me." Her response? "No, I can't. I have to say Mommy first. I do." Last weekend when we got in the car I got out a piece of paper and a pen. I said to Scott, "I'm going to count the number of times she says Mommy until we get to our destination. I recorded the time on the clock so I could see how long our trip was and how many times Mommy was said. ZERO!! ZERO!! At the end of the trip I threw my arms up! Then we realized, she was eating her snack. No time to talk. No time to ask questions. Only time to eat. Perhaps I've found my answer!! :)

Like I said earlier, nothing for reality tv, but it's sure fun for us! :)

A morning routine- coming to our bedroom to lay on our big pillows and read

Does she look comfy or what?

The first outfit I purchased for our baby boy

In less than 3 weeks I can go from one outfit to THIS! :)

Last weekend we had "movie night" so we could finally watch Finding Nemo, which has been requested for quite some time. She was equipped with popcorn (in a special bag Daddy picked up!), M&M's, blankets, and her 2 Nemo books, that she referenced throughout the show. Ten minutes before the end of the show she said, "Can I just go to bed now?" In her defense, it was 10:15 PM!

Just a shot I can never refuse taking. :)

St. Louis Children's Museum

2008-08-04T05:55:00.000-07:00

IF you are ever in the St. Louis area, this place should be on your "must see" list. Before traveling to KC, Scott's sister came to town, and we ventured downtown to the museum. I got caught up in preparing for KC and forgot to post the pictures, which will not do the museum justice. We had SO much fun, adults and kiddo alike. It's too hard to describe, so I'm just going to post pictures. Enjoy! And come for a visit- we'll take you here!!

Here are some shots at the interior of this place- WAY cool!

Here are some shots of us just playing around inside the museum. The last one is us looking down at Daddy (he's in between the trees in an orange shirt) after we climbed up Cinderella's castle. It felt like the Great Wall, seriously. The steps were so steep, and I had to carry Allison down because it was NOT built with safety in mind.

Here are some shots of Allison climbing through a structure in the deep, dark cave. First Aunt Jenny encourages her to climb through, then Mommy tells her it will be fine and to keep going. You can see that she really enjoyed climbing through all by herself. Is that a great smile or what? :)

Give me a B, Give me an O, Give me a Y! It's a BOY!

2008-08-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Scott, Allison and I would like to formally announce the addition of a beautiful little boy to our family!

In mid-June Scott and I applied to the Waiting Children program with our agency - AWAA. In late June we were accepted into the program, and on July 12th we accepted a referral. To say it's been crazy around our house these past few weeks would be an understatement.

Just the Facts (in case you're not into reading the long narrative that follows):

Chinese name: Only to be shared upon receiving referral acceptance
Name we've given him: Aaron Scott
Age: 16 months
Province: Guangdong
Resides: In orphanage
Special Need: repaired cleft lip/un-repaired cleft palate
Personality- outgoing, loves to eat, likes music, likes to be teased by adults, likes colorful toys that make noise, active
Mommy's favorite features: BIG, beautiful brown eyes, big lips, and chubby cheeks! We cannot share pictures publicly until receiving referral acceptance

I promised some folks the long version of the story, so here goes....

A year ago July 12th, our paperwork for our 2nd adoption was logged in with the CCAA. We were prepared to wait 2-3 years for our 2nd child to arrive, but the wait time kept growing and growing every month, making it likely we'd be waiting 5 or 6 years before adding to our family. I can handle waiting. I mean, I didn't get married until I was 32. I can wait. However, I began to get nervous that variables beyond our control could get in the way of us adopting again, and together, Scott and I began to research other options. No option seemed to be "the" option, so I prayed. I prayed for some guidance. Should we stay on the path we're on? Is there a path we haven't considered that we should? In the week following my prayer I had 4 individuals come into my life with stories that would leave me KNOWING that God was offering us a new plan. I will ALWAYS remember the words of Heather, Kate, Tina, and Andrea, and how they touched me and led us to make the decision to apply for the Waiting Children program. These ladies are all very strong Christian women, and I have no doubt that God put them in my life that week to encourage me.

I was told that since we did not put a gender preference on our form, we could be contacted sooner than later. I thought that meant that maybe we'd be called within a year or so. I could handle that. A year sounded really good. However, God had another plan in mind. Two weeks after being accepted into the program, we got a call to review a child's file. I was SHOCKED and quite frankly, not ready. I felt confused and hurried, and in the end, we declined the referral, which is just fine to do in this program, but still leaves you with some rather conflicted feelings.

The very next day our agency called again. This time I felt more prepared and ready to review a file. I said a prayer prior to the email arriving and asked that God give me some clear direction about what to do. Either way was okay, but I wanted to FEEL something, not just be numb, as I felt the day before. Well, as usual, He answered my prayer. I opened the picture and started crying. I knew this was my child. I sent the file to Scott, and he was on board with me. Here's where the story gets interesting- in case you were bored up until now. :)

Time of agency call: 1:00 PM

*Coincidentally, Scott and I had doctor appointments that day at 3:00 (to update our home study). We were also scheduled to babysit that night at 5:30.

After viewing the file, I called the agency back and said, "We're in love. What do we do?" She just laughed and then explained the process to me. I already knew exactly how the process worked, but since my mind was working in major overtime, it was probably good to hear it all again. Basically, we could choose to take his medical information to our doctor and THEN call to accept him (knowing that another family could accept him before we called back), or we could "lock in the file", which would mean another family could not view his file. It also meant that we were agreeing to proceed with his adoption. COME ON! NO ONE has labor this quickly!

*picture the scene- crazy woman on the phone (me, not the sweet agency lady), who has NOT showered but has a doctor appointment in about an hour. Three year old child, also not cleaned up and ready, is running around the house, begging for my attention as I'm deciding whether or not she's going to have this precious little boy become her brother. Potential new father is at work, waiting for me to call him back with what the plan is....

I told her, "I'm calling Scott. I will call you back in one minute." I called Scott and said, "Okay, you have 30 seconds to make this life altering decision. Do you want to lock in his file?" I have goosebumps just typing this. He says, "What do you think?" I'm like- I'm not THINKING- I'm in LABOR!! I told him that I already fell in love and I want him to be ours. He says, "I'm on board. Lock it in." I hang up and call the agency back to tell them to lock it in. She then tells me that usually I'd have 48 hours to see a doctor with his medical information, fill out the necessary forms online, and write a one page letter talking about the care we're going to give this child, but since it was Friday, they'd like to have the materials in by 5:00. UH, not gonna happen. They are in Virginia, where it would be 5:00 when it's 4:00 to us. It is now about 2:00. After we discuss how this probably can't happen, she tells me that a gal will be working on processing paperwork tomorrow until 10:00 AM, and if we have everything in by 10:00, it'll be okay. After 10:00? His file would be open for another family.

At 2:15 I realize that I'm not going to get to shower before leaving for the doctor, and I also realize that I cannot handle this situation with child in tow. It's time to call for a BIG favor. I call Beth, who I'm supposed to babysit for in a few hours and say, "I need help, and I need it now. Can you come get Allison in 20 minutes and take her with you tonight?" Being the awesome friend that she is, she says yes and not only shows up within 20 minutes, but transfers our car seat into her car for me cause I'm a sweaty, crazy lunatic by now. She does all this having NO idea what is going on with me. :)

Scott and I meet at the doctors office at 3:00, have our appointments, and visit with our doctor about our little boy. We then go out (him, looking very nice coming from work, me looking like a wreck) to eat to celebrate! After dinner we head to Barnes and Noble to read all we can about cleft lip/cleft palate. It was quite a night!! We picked up Allison before her bedtime and went home to work on our paperwork. The next day, on the 1 year anniversary of our LID, we sent in our electronic acceptance to our agency. It was sent to China that evening.

Two weeks later, this past Tuesday, we received pre-approval, which means China has received our letter of intent to adopt this child and will begin processing our adoption. The next step is to wait for our referral acceptance, which means China has approved us to adopt this child and our agency can begin making travel plans for us. That acceptance can take anywhere between 1-4 months, but the trend is leaning toward 3 months, so we will just have to wait and see.

In the meantime, we have purchased a double stroller, chosen a nursery theme for a boy's nursery, moved most of the playroom down to the basement so the current playroom can become Allison's bedroom, researched the booster seat Allison will get so the little one can have her car seat, and bought more clothes than anyone SHOULD buy without knowing the exact size of a child. :) All of this has been done with extreme joy! Those of you who know me know that I have NO idea what to do with a little boy. I am ALL ABOUT princesses and painting nails and having tea parties and buying dresses. I have a LOT to learn! :)

I will of course keep the blog updated with any future developments. Thank you so much to those of you who already knew this whole story and have supported and congratulated us these past few weeks. We know that Aaron will be coming home to an extended family and a group of friends who will love him as they love his sister, and who will pray for us to be the best parents we can be.

Whew- my fingers are tired. Have a great weekend! :)

Last KC post...

2008-08-01T05:35:00.001-07:00

We had some really fun plans for Saturday in Kansas City. There was to be a dragon boat festival on The Plaza along with some Chinese cultural events. However, the forecast was calling for 95 degrees and high humidity- NOT my idea of a good time. So we opted to spend the day at the mall instead. I can't remember the last time I spent FOUR and a HALF hours at a mall. Yes, Allison and I go often, but just for an hour or two at the most. One of the reasons it took so long for us to shop around was the way this mall (Oak Park) is designed. If you have a stroller to takes you twice as long to get anywhere because instead of just walking the "halls", you have to go up and down carpeted ramps everywhere. It was quite tiring. My other pet peeve about the mall is people who don't MOVE OVER for you. Let me rant for a minute. WE WALK ON THE RIGHT SIDE IN AMERICA!! When did this stop being taught to people? When you are passing someone, you move to the RIGHT! It's like people have no clue about this little rule and they just keep walking straight at you, or they move to the left. So then you're stuck doing the little dance with people- this way, then that way. Believe me, I could write a book on my pet peeves (I have a lot), but I'm really trying to stay more positive in my life and see the beauty instead of the things that drive me nuts, but every once in awhile I just have to gripe a bit! :) Thanks for listening. Now, on with the day....

We spent some time on the carousel and in the play area before heading to Rain Forest Cafe for lunch. I really do enjoy the atmosphere there. It's just fun to see all the animals come to life, and the sounds are pretty cool, I must admit. I do have issues with that place, but since I've already complained about something, I'll skip it. We had a wonderful lunch and then headed over to the highlight of the mall trip- making animals at Build a Bear- SO FUN!! Allison chose an animal from the start, but upon seeing Claire's cute choice of a bunny, she changed her mind and went with the bunny instead. They even dressed them alike- darling! Thanks, Heather, for the wonderful gift of CeCe. She sleeps with Allison every night now. In fact, last night, when I commented on how cute CeCe looked, she said, "Heather noticed the bunny had beautiful eyelashes!" Ha!

Allison and Claire compare the bling they made the previous night. GIRLY GIRLS!! :)

Claire is getting ready to stuff her bunny at Build a Bear!

Allison, literally jumping for joy, while making her bunny! The lady asked if it was her first time since she was squealing with joy at every step. I said, "No, she's done this a few times. She's just easy to please!" :)

I LOVE this picture. Look at their concentration as they attempt to dress their new furry friends.

Cool shot of Claire working on dressing her bunny.

Once back at Nana's house, Allison finds some pretend lettuce to feed her bunny. How cute is THAT?

Weekend fun - from KC

2008-07-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

On Friday we all (Allison, me, Heather and her girls) visited a place called Wonderscope. It's a children's hands-on museum located in an old elementary school. Each room holds a different theme (shopping, nature, medicine, science, art), and it's all for kids! The girls had so much fun, and I think Hanna (almost a teenager) had a great time too! The girls were so involved in the activities that Heather and I actually had opportunities to finish our own sentences. If you're a mom to a preschooler you know that this is often difficult to do!

After Wonderscope we grabbed lunch at an Italian place where the girls could try out their new little animal chopsticks we bought at the museum. Good times! We planned on napping afterwards but instead decided to do some shopping- back at The Legends where I'd been Tuesday morning. It was just as fun this time around! That evening we headed back to their hotel for more crafts and some swimming. It was a very full, very fun day!

Claire picks out some fruit at the pretend grocery store.

Allison models her new dress in the production room.

The girls do some painting in the art studio

Allison coerces Hanna into reading her a book about ants. God bless you, Hanna!

The girls got some cute chopsticks at Wonderscope. Claire was a total pro! Allison? She went for the fork immediately!

We were amazed at how making paper clip necklaces entranced both our children. They could have done it for hours! Check out those looks of concentration!

The evening ended with some fun swim time in the hotel pool. The best picture is of Heather will all the kids, but I promised not to use it (friendship being more important than a great picture!), so here's a shot of Claire showing off her swimming talents to Allison.

Thursday held a LOT of fun in KC

2008-07-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

Our Thursday plans in KC fell through, but I came up with a Plan B quickly, and we had SO much fun! We headed out to a place called the Deanna Rose Petting Farm (a favorite place of mine for years!), and boy did Allison have a great time. This is her 3rd or 4th trip there, but it's different every time because there is so much to do. You pick and choose different things each time. You might recall some earlier pictures of her feeding baby goats or playing with cow bells. The highlights on this trip included fishing (I even put worms on hooks for her- ICK!!!), and riding a BIG horse!

That evening my China travel buddy Heather and her 2 girls, Hanna and Claire (Claire is just a few weeks younger than Allison) came for a weekend visit from Omaha, so we met them at their hotel and did some arts and crafts and got re-acquainted. I have a feeling that if we'd had the room next door (as opposed to us being at my parents' house) we would have been up all night talking. It was so great to see Heather again, and her daughters are just delightful!! Enjoy the pictures!

Allison could have played in the sand for hours. She was in heaven!

Getting instructions on how to hold on tightly- and boy did she! Look at the size of that horse!

I was glad to see the guide checking on her periodically. It was tough to watch from afar!

At the end of the ride they stop so moms and dads can take pictures. Check out that smile- one happy little girl! Worth the $3, I think! :)

We ducked into the little one room schoolhouse to get out of the heat. I can't wait till she goes to "real school"

"Look, Mommy! I made an uppercase and lowercase F with my chalk!"

It was so fun for the girls to play together again. Heather brought tons of arts and crafts for them to do. They both enjoyed coloring this little wooden picture frame.

The girls made little flower bouquets made from foam stickies. What a cute idea! Allison gave half of hers to Nana and the other half to Daddy. Hanna helped the girls make adorable flowers- what a great big sister she is! It looks like Allison is really hogging the flowers, but I promise we divided them up evenly in the end. :)

As the evening winded down, at about 10:00, the girls enjoyed a fun snack. Hanna gave them both little nylon backpacks all decorated with their names on it and everything- what a GREAT gift. Inside were tons of little activities and snacks. Seriously- this family is SO thoughtful!!

Ice Cream, bowling, and my brown-eyed girl

2008-07-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

We had a really fun Wednesday in Kansas City. We met my friend Lisa and her 2 year old daughter, Teryn, at a place called The Legends- a BIG outdoor shopping area. I cannot believe I didn't take pictures of Lisa and Teryn- what was I thinking??? The only pictures I took were of my child, joining the field trip group to learn more about dinosaurs. I think she just would have gone right in with them if I hadn't stopped her. How cute does she look in the middle of all those yellow shirts? She was listening intently as the guide taught the kids about different types of dinosaurs. She was fascinated! We had a great time with them, just shopping, talking, and eating, of course.

Later that night we headed out for ice cream (AGAIN!), and Allison enjoyed a cone, which is a rare treat. I'm the mommy that gets the cup for my kid, NOT the cone! Nana had to continually lick the cone so it wouldn't drip all over, but I don't think she minded doing it. It was yummy ice cream!

I've determined, after several attempts, that kids really aren't ready for bowling until at least four years of age. :) I really do have fun when I take Allison, but she's really just too little. We started out with normal lanes, but after several gutter balls, we ordered the bumpers. Leave it to my child to get a gutter ball WITH the bumpers- you've got to work hard to make that happen! And how cute are those little bowling shoes? I just had to get a shot!

Stay tuned for more pictures from Kansas City tomorrow!

Oh, I wanted to post a couple of stories too...

1. background information- we've been reading a book where fowl is mentioned. I've told Allison that's like chicken. Okay, so today we were at the mall (YES, AGAIN!), and we were sharing our usual Panda Express meal (orange chicken, rice, and crab rangoon), when Allison says, "Mommy, can you please pass me some more fowl?" My friend looked at me and said, "Did she just ask for more fowl?" We were both cracking up!

2. To date, Allison has not asked a lot about her heritage. She knows she was born in China, and we've read several books on adoption, but so far she hasn't really inquired about being born to someone besides me. She has compared our skin color and commented on how it's different. She's also asked a few times what color she is, to which I've replied that she's kind of light brown. Today when we were shopping her little mind was working overtime. First she asked what color she was. Then she asked what color her eyes were. Then she asked, "Mommy, where did you get your green eyes?" I knew what was coming. I told her I got them from Nana- that Nana has green eyes and she gave them to me. Then she said it, "Where did I get my brown eyes?" I almost cried, right there in the store. Instead I'm crying right now. Geez, pull it together, Laurie! I really wanted to tell her they came from me. I wish they did. They are really pretty eyes. I told her the mommy she had when she was in China gave them to her, and that they must have been really beautiful eyes because hers were so pretty, and I left it at that. She was fine with that answer, thank goodness. I know I couldn't have handled any more at that time. But I know her. She will be processing that and will have follow-up questions before I'm ready for them. You can read 100 books on how to respond to these types of questions- how to help your child understand their adoption, but in the end, your heart just talks. All I can do is pray that God will help me find the right words.

Home Sweet Home

2008-07-27T19:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight we arrived home after a one week trip to KC to visit family and friends. I had SO much fun, and so did Allison. We were able to see several friends and do lots of super fun things! It will take me a few days to post the pictures, so come back every day if you want to see all the neat things we did and meet some of Allison's friends. :)

The first day we just hung out, went to the mall with Nana, and fun stuff like that. Then on Tuesday morning we met up with our friends Kate and Elle. We had a blast swimming at a really cool pool and then had a yummy Applebees lunch.

I'm way too tired to put sayings underneath the pictures, so...

Picture 1- heading out of St. Louis. We've got Shay Shay, our thumb, and a great movie on the DVD player. Life is good!
Picture 2- hanging out with my friend Elle at the pool!
Picture 3- playing with medals at the restaurant- was she excited or what???

Stay tuned for more pictures tomorrow night!

A Fun Little Challenge

2008-07-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

I noticed that this is my 222nd post. Does anyone remember that show, Room 222? Or maybe I'm just ancient. But anyway, I remember it and thought it was the neatest show. But anyway, since I'm not downloading pictures until I get home I decided to do a little ditty I saw on another blog. Please join me and try it yourself. It's not as easy as it looks!!

You have to respond to the question with only one word. I can't answer ANY question with one word, you all know that, so this will be tough!

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? alone (have to add that it's because I'm out of town!) Look, cheating on question #2!!
3. Your hair? sweaty
4. Your mother? asleep
5. Your father? asleep
6. Your favorite thing? family
7. Your dream last night? dogs
8. Your favorite drink? Diet Coke (does that count as one word?)
9. Your dream/goal? health
10. The room you’re in? computer
11. Your friends? thoughtful
12. Your fear? bugs
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? vacation!
14. Where were you last night? bowling!
15. What you’re not? shy
16. Muffins? Chocolate chip
17. One of your wish list items? clothes
18. Where you grew up? Kansas
19. The last thing you did? ate
20. What are you wishing? sleep
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pets? none
23. Your computer? MAC
24. Your life? good
25. Your mood? fun
26. Missing someone? hubby
27. Your car? smooth
28. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
29. Favorite store? PBK
30. Your summer? HUMID
31. Loves? kids
32. Your favorite word? mommy
33. Last time you laughed? hour
34. Last time you cried? ?

Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City here we come!

2008-07-19T18:19:00.000-07:00

Allison and I are headed out to Kansas City in the morning. We'll be spending the week with family and friends, just playing and having fun! I promise to take lots of fun pictures to share when we return. I hope everyone reading this has a fantastic week and that you'll check in next week for some updates! :)

A Look Back

2008-07-17T18:48:00.000-07:00

This week I've been thinking a lot about babies in China, so I thought I'd take a look back at our baby when she lived in China. This was a picture (among several) that was taken with the camera we sent to her foster family prior to traveling. You can see she's holding a pillow with our lovely image on it. We didn't get the pillow returned to us- I hope that's because her foster mother wanted to remember who her new parents were. :) I think of that woman often, as it was obvious that Allison came to us well cared for.

I'm going to go upstairs now and video tape my little angel doing her Lady and the Tramp impression when she's supposed to be sleeping. Bark, bark, bark! Bark, bark, bark!! :)

Ready to go!

2008-07-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

We headed out this morning to Katie's house to swim and play in the backyard. Breakfast at our house takes FOREVER (cause I let her watch Curious George while she eats), so this morning I gave her a poptart and o.j. for the road, hoping we could get there before 9:00. I looked back at her on the way there and just had to pull over for a picture. That face just cracked me up!

Story to share:

Allison talks a lot about what she can do at certain ages. I think it started when I told her cousin J.J. would be able to drive now that she's 16. Anyway, the other day in the grocery store, as we're checking out (that's when she always seems to come up with her most interesting thoughts!) she asks, "Mommy, what can I do when I'm 45?" Trying not to laugh at the randomness of the age, I said, "Well, I guess at 45 you can do just about whatever you want to do." She smiled big and said, "When I'm 45 I'm going to go on a SAFARI!!' I said, "Sounds fun- have a good time" She asked if I could go with her, but at 84, I'm guessing I might pass on the safari trip. Sorry kid. :)

Geez Louise!

2008-07-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

We interrupt this regularly nice, sweet blog for an ugly little service announcement. I feel strongly that if you do something stupid you should share your stupidity with others to prevent them from doing the same stupid thing. Now, we all KNOW not to hold a HUGE relish jar by the lid, but fess up, you've done it! Well, the other night I obviously didn't quite get the lid on all the way- look at that mess! Scott couldn't believe I took pictures of it or that I would post the pictures to share, but really, I'm among friends. I feel safe. :)

After I cleaned up the mess we headed out to Chuck E. Cheese, one of my least favorite places on the planet. Allison had earned a special reward with her behavior program, and she chose Chuck E. Cheese. Really, it should be a fun place, and it can be. But we need to go on a weekday afternoon, not an evening. It seems to be the place where people come, drop off their 8 children, then kick back and relax at a table, leaving me, and the other 3 parents that are actually monitoring their kids, to take care of everyone. Some would say "Just take care of your own child and don't worry about the other kids". Neat thought, but when unsupervised kids are pushing my kid around, I kind of have to get involved. I think we'll be taking this lovely establishment off our list of places to go when we earn a reward. This mom just can't handle it. :)

I promise to be back soon with some fun pictures and some good stories too, but I thought the relish "incident" could hold you over. And by the way, who likes relish? ICK!! I couldn't have spilled something like chocolate pudding, nooooo, I have to spill nasty relish!!

Leaving Ohio

2008-07-10T12:05:00.000-07:00

This will be my last installment of Ohio pictures. I know, I'll miss them too! Allison is already asking when we can go back! On Saturday afternoon we enjoyed hanging out at the local festival in town. The girls had a blast on the rides, and I enjoyed eating a funnel cake- you kind of HAVE to do that once a year, don't you? Well, I do! :)

They won little prizes after they played some games, and one prize was a trumpet that made the most annoying, I mean lovely, sound. Both girls were so excited to play their trumpets as we checked out the arts and crafts booths. I think Kaylei's Daddy may have already "lost" her trumpet, but because Allison has been asking for a trumpet for MONTHS, I'm sure hers won't get lost for quite awhile. It's loud folks- really loud! It wouldn't be so bad if it actually sounded like a trumpet, but no, it's just a high pitched nasty squeaky toy.

While we walked around the festival grounds we were able to listen to the entertainment warm up for the evening show- starring Bucky Covington- from American Idol. I thought he sounded GREAT, and if I was without child I would have stayed for the show. He sounded better than he ever did on Idol, that's for sure. It takes very little (VERY little!) to get me star struck, so it was kind of exciting. :)

On a side note, I always get people asking where I find the time to update my blog so often. Maybe I'm doing it a different way or my computer is fast or whatever, I don't know, but it really takes me almost no time at all. As soon as Allison goes down for rest time I download pictures from whatever we did that day or the day before (it might be a sickness to take this many pictures, but I have fun doing it) which takes about 3 minutes. Then I write a little ditty about the pictures (I type quickly, so that takes about 3 minutes too), and then I upload the pictures. This takes anywhere between 2-10 minutes, depending on Bloggers mood. I usually click to download the pictures and then go upstairs to do some little chore and come back later to publish the post. So all in all, it takes less than 10 minutes every day to do this blog. Like anything in life, we make time for what's important to us. My house is not the cleanest, I am not the prettiest or best dressed, and I have a to-do list that never seems to get done. But documenting my daughter's life is a priority to me right now, so I find 10 minutes a day to do it. So, there's my answer and I'm stickin' to it. :)

More memories from Ohio

2008-07-09T09:54:00.001-07:00

On Saturday morning we had some time to kill, so Becky took us to a historical site near their house. It was SO beautiful there, with SUCH tall trees- they were amazing. Allison enjoyed walking around, picking up sticks (magic wands), investigating the insides of damaged trees, and just enjoying nature. Scott took some really cool pictures looking up into one of the trees. He's such a great photographer!

Tomorrow's post will show you little girls having fun at the local festival in town- AND, you'll get to see a past American Idol contestant up close and personal. You're coming back tomorrow, aren't you? :)

Dance, Dance, Dance

2008-07-08T06:11:00.000-07:00

This may be one of those "you had to be there" set of pictures, but it was SO fun to watch all our girls dancing together on the dance mat. These are the only shots of all 4 girls that I got, and believe me, we bribed them. "You can have a chip if you come dance!" I just love their expressions-they really are trying to follow along with the steps. And the one with the 3 little girls, seeing just the tops of their heads, is just so cute.

It's moments like this where I wish they'd form travel groups by location- that way we could have our girls grow up living close together. That would be great!

Stay tuned tomorrow for more memories from Ohio! :)

A Weekend to Remember!

2008-07-07T06:44:00.001-07:00

This weekend we traveled to Ohio to visit a family from our China travel group. Despite a shaky beginning (traffic back up in St. Louis, a potty accident in the car seat - ewwww!!!!, and very heavy rains), we arrived safely at Darrin and Becky's door at 1:00 AM. Great way to start your visit with someone-keep them up until after midnight to greet you!! The fun officially started the next morning with Allison and Kaylei getting to know each other a bit. It was rainy off and on, so we kept our play inside for the morning. In the afternoon another family in our travel group came over, and then there were 4 little ones running around playing with each other. They were all dressed in their red, white and blue attire and just looked SO sweet together. The weather broke for a bit and we were able to play outside on Kaylei's new swingset. FUN TIMES!!

Between our 2 cameras we took over 400 pictures, can you believe it? Sure you can! Most of them are of the backs of heads as we tried desperately to get pictures of all the girls looking at us at the same time. Not gonna happen, my friends! But we did end up with enough for a few days of blogging. This is the first installment of pictures. It will probably take me 3-4 days to get through the pictures I want to share, so come back a few times this week to check out new pictures of our adventures in Ohio.

Gridlock in St. Louis. This was not due to weekend traffic but to a bridge closing that forced everyone to take another path- OUR path! Luckily, my husband is a brilliant navigator, and he got us out of town by outer roads.

"Come on, Allison! Let me show you around our house!"

Kaylei introduces Allison to a fun new game!

In the afternoon, Faith and Molly came over to join us in the fun! Faith enjoyed the slide a LOT!

"They have a BEAUTIFUL garden", Allison kept saying. She was right- they DO have a beautiful garden!!

Molly also enjoyed the slide. She was SOOOOO good with the 3 younger kids- she loved pushing them on the swings- it was so cute!

Kaylei would have stayed on the swing through dinner and breakfast the next morning, I'm sure! :)

Come on! Look at that face!! :)

The rains brought us inside, where we made some fun 4th of July crafts. Each of the moms brought a craft to share, so we kept the girls (okay, OURSELVES!) very busy! Molly was concentrating very hard!

Allison works on tying the ribbon on her wand.

Just 'cause

2008-07-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

WHAT A SMILE!! :)

Having fun with our new bubble blower

We played with sidewalk paint this morning, can you tell? I love her little footsies!

I noticed that I hadn't updated my blog in a few days, so I found some pictures to throw on here. :) We are headed out tomorrow for the long weekend- to Ohio!! What fun! I love little (and big!) vacations. We're headed out to visit a family we met when in China. On Friday another family from our China travels will arrive, so we'll get to hang out together for the day. I can't wait! We've already put together a little craft to do when we're there and today Allison suggested taking a special snack along with us to share, so we took care of that too.

She only gets to watch the DVD in the car when we go on long trips, so she's already picking out what movies she's going to take with her. :) I know we'll have a good time, and I'll for sure be taking lots of pictures to share. I hope everyone reading this has a fantastic 4th of July weekend! Look for an update on Monday or Tuesday of next week! :)

Darling, even in the dark

2008-06-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you're getting tired of me telling you that once again we went to the mall, but we have so much fun there! Friday night we picked up Daddy from work and headed to our favorite mall, the one with the Apple store in it. Daddy could get lost for hours in there, but we only give him about 30 minutes before nudging him to move along. :)

The picture is of Allison at Daddy's work, getting ready to go. I cannot stop buying clothes- for her, not for myself. This summer there have been soooo many cute things that I just have not been able to pass up. Somebody stop me!! She has a little pair of pink shorts on under the shirt, but I don't think you can see them. Oh well.

The video looks like nothing, but it's pretty precious. On the way back from the mall (it was past 9:00, so we were a little punchy- we get punchy quite early!), Daddy started being silly Daddy, making up names for the 7 dwarfs. Well, Allison got the giggles, and it was so cute. If you ask me there is nothing more beautiful than the laughter of a child. Enjoy! :)

Friday fun at the mall

2008-06-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

Our morning weather was a bit unpredictable, so we decided to head out to the mall, where things are always bright and sunny, right? :) I decided to take some pictures to show our very routine, yet fun, time at the mall.

I also have a funny story to share- it's about poop, so if you can't handle it, don't read on.... Allison is a pretty "regular" kid when it comes to her bathroom trips, but once in awhile she has what we term "a bad poopy". I usually chalk it up to something she doesn't usually eat or eating too much of something not so good for her. She's learned this too- that sometimes bad food makes her have bad poopies. Anyway, the other day she had a bad poopy soon after she'd had some Smarties candy, something she's eaten maybe once before. I said, "Hmmm, I wonder if it was those Smarties that made your poopy bad." She thought about it and then said, 'No, I don't think it was the Smarties, Mommy. I think it might have been those lima beans." She's no dummy, folks! :)

Our first stop is always Borders, where Allison leads me to the kid section and we read, read, read!

Our next stop is the play area, where today Allison enjoyed having it all to herself! :)

Checking out the pet store next to the play area is where we head after our play time

Today we decided to add on some more play time, but first, the best part of the day- snack time!

As soon as the clock strikes 10:00 we cruise over to the carousel. Today it was the 2nd level and a horse she named "Boingy"

Next Mom gets to have some fun by stopping by the Old Navy store to see if there are any deals. I almost always find something!

Before meeting Daddy for lunch at CPK (yes, twice in one week if you're paying attention) we played in Pottery Barn for Kids. I love how she totally matched this adorable bedding. :)

A Photography Challenge

2008-06-25T12:14:00.000-07:00

A blog I read frequently is called classy chaos and the author posted a photography challenge that I accepted today- that is- take a picture from above- a head shot. I loved how this turned out and can't wait for her to post another challenge. :)

Friends

2008-06-24T15:50:00.000-07:00

Today was "play with Katie" day, and Allison woke up ready to go to the mall. it was 7:30, so I had to stall for a little bit, but we did go early to walk around before meeting up with Katie and Beth. Pottery Barn Kids had a story time, so we hung out for that. My child was the only one who sat in her little chair the whole time, answering the ladies questions and appearing interested. Go figure- not that she likes books or anything. The other kids were much more interested in the kitchen and other toys located right by the story circle (hello, do the PBK people know anything about kids?) but fun was had by all.

The girls then had a blast playing house in the front of the store where my dream bed for Allison is located. We've told her she can have the dream bed (she calls it a sleep over bed- it's a trundle) if she'll stop sucking her thumb for good. At the rate we're going, the bed will be out of style by the time she earns it. But anyway, it's just so fun to watch the girls play. Katie has always played the mommy role, where Allison is more the baby. Katie had so much fun tucking Allison in, and Allison loved her role too- well, until Katie thought Shay Shay should be taken from Allison to be placed in the stroller. Don't mess with Shay Shay, I tell ya! Allison's claws come out! :)

We then did our normal routine- carousel, play area, shop in a couple kids stores. I found 2 swimsuits on sale at The Children's Place- yahoo! I was getting tired of the same 2 suits she had, which look exactly the same- ha!

Then Beth treated us to lunch at CPK- YUM!!! I get the same thing EVERY time (the garlic chicken pizza- well, minus the onions and garlic- I'm SO picky!), and it was delicious once again. I love our mall dates with our best buddies. Daddy is on his way home now to grill us some burgers- YAHOO again! SO, I'd better get upstairs and get the sides going. :)

Missouri Botanical Gardens

2008-06-23T11:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend we headed out to visit the Botanical Gardens and LOVED it! There was so much to see, but we took in just a fraction and called it a day. It was over 90 degrees, and we wanted to leave happy, so we didn't make too long of a trip out of it. But it really was neat. They had a large play area for kids, and we spent most of our time there, although Allison really enjoyed looking at all the gardens, flowers, and sculptures. There were also a few weddings going on! We actually got to watch a bride walk down the path with her dad. That was neat! After seeing that, Allison told us she wanted to get married. She said, "I want there to be balloons and a princess cake." :) I'm sure her groom will have no problem with that!

Later in the evening I said, "You may go play in the playroom for a little bit and then it will be time to get ready for bed." About 5 minutes later Scott says, "Bring your camera- come look!" He had found her on her bedroom floor- guess the visit to the gardens wore her out? :)

These days I spend most of my time just laughing at my child. She really is a funny little girl. The way she talks and the words she puts together just kill me. Last night we were eating dinner and she said, "Okay, I'd like to ask you a question. The question I'd like to ask is..." I can't even remember what she asked. We probably didn't hear it because we were laughing at the way she approached it. I also hear myself in her EVERY DAY! We were out at a restaurant, and when I tried to help her out of the booth she was making it very difficult, just being squirmy and all. When she finally got down she said, "Oh, CRYMANY!" I cracked up. I guess I could be saying worse things when I'm frustrated with her? :) But it made the moment funny instead of frustrating, and I just love that. Yesterday she was reading her Bernstain Bears book about a family going on a picnic. Whenever I read it I try to point out things about the characters, how they might be feeling or whatever. Well, last night I heard her reading it to herself and she said, "Look at the Mommy. She's like, confused or something!" I need to stop saying like all the time. :)

Okay, that's all for now. After our morning trip to the park and our time in the pool, I'm like, really tired, so I'm going to go rest a bit. Have a great, like, Monday! :)

Trying pictures again

2008-06-22T09:52:00.001-07:00

Back to "normal"

2008-06-21T21:44:00.000-07:00

After passing some sickness around the house this week, we are getting back to whatever normal is. Yeah! I haven't taken any pictures the past few days, but I found some I liked that I hadn't posted yet, so I thought I'd throw those on here just to hold you (Nana) over until I did a "real" post tomorrow with some pictures from our visit to the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

The first pictures are just of Allison being cute before we headed out to dinner. She has a new look- isn't it cute? She crosses her arms and has this "Yea, whatcha gonna do about it?" look on her face. It's so funny! She does it just to crack us up- she's not mad or anything. :) Then there's one of her enjoying the pool and one of her being oh so unhappy that she kind of dunked herself on accident. Nice mom, huh? Taking a picture of her unhappy daughter. :)

The Pool is Ready!

2008-06-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening we headed to The Galleria (a fancy word for a fancy mall) to meet a friend of mine from high school and her family at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I hadn't seen my friend in about 4 years, and I'd never met her family, so it was quite the treat. We all had a great time. You never think when you're in high school that someday your kids would be reading to one another. It was a bit surreal, but wonderful! Halfway through dinner I noticed that Allison was hot. It felt like fever to me, but she sure wasn't acting sick at all. We were at the restaurant for 2 1/2 hours, and when I put Allison in the car I said, "Now she's REALLY hot". I took her temperature once we got home- 102 in one ear, 104 in the other. OUCH! It was bedtime, so we drugged her up, gave her some extra love, and put her to bed. I went in every 1/2 hour or so until I knew she'd cooled off a bit. The next day she was up and down with it again, so we laid low for the day. The next day (today) we were supposed to do fun stuff with my friend and her family, but I didn't feel right about taking Allison anywhere with a fever OR getting my friend's kiddos sick. BIG BUMMER!! She was without fever most of the day today, but right before nap I took it again, and it was still over 100. Hopefully by tonight it will be all gone and we can get outside and enjoy the great weather!

For the most part, Allison has been VERY chipper the past few days. We took a little time to enjoy our brand new little back porch pool. I LOVE IT!! Allison was in heaven and wanted to play in it all night. We were out in it a little bit today too, and I'm guessing we'll spend much of our summer in it. Thank you Daddy for our pool! :)

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-14T19:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Dad,

Tomorrow I know I will get caught up in honoring my daughter's daddy, so tonight I wanted to take the time to honor you! I know the last 42 years of being my dad haven't always been easy, but I hope you'll agree that you've done a pretty darn good job! Your children are far from perfect, but the qualities we both possess today are in large part to your influence, and I want to thank you...

For..

Most importantly, taking me to church and often MAKING me go to church. Even though some Sundays I think we were there for 5 hours (at least it seemed so), I am very thankful now that you made it a top priority in our family.

Placing value on my education. I'm not all that bright, but I'm not stupid either. When someone says to me, "I'll pay for your education as long as you keep going to school", I'm going as far as I can go. The fact that I can support myself by doing something I love (although it's VERY nice now to be supported by my husband so I can stay home to raise Allison) is an incredible gift, and I have always appreciated it.

Taking us on fun vacations when we were little, and more importantly, taking me on a GREAT vacation when I was an adult. It was life changing for us, and I am thankful for that time with you.

Being a living example of what a growing Christian is supposed to look like. You don't proclaim to "know it all", but the things you do to grow in your faith inspire me.

For hugging me when we say hello and goodbye. My "Love Language"- I know you've read that book, is touch, so that is important to me!

Being my friend.

I hope you enjoy a fabulous Father's Day! I'll miss seeing you, but you will be in my thoughts.

I love you,
Laur

Random...

2008-06-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

"And any man of mine will say it fits just right when last year's suit is just a little too tight..."

This is what we in our house refer to as "The Money Shot!" LOVE THAT SMILE!!

I swear, this child has 1,000 faces. This was taken as we were on our way out the door for skating class. I just love her special little necklace she wears and how she has to have Shay Shay and a book WHENEVER we leave the house. I also LOVE her outfit. I had to shop in the boy section for a red shirt. I mean, I love pink and green with the best of them, but sometimes I like red/navy/black too- try finding those colors in the toddler girl section.

Skating really was a good time again. I just love watching her make progress. She moves like a very, very slow snail, but she moves. Then they bring out the bubbles, and you can see that she moves faster for that! So we know that she CAN move faster than a snail's pace when she wants to. :)

Sprinkler Fun 2007/2008

2008-06-10T11:51:00.000-07:00

I LOVE our sprinkler ball! It is so much fun and it reminds me of summer days when I was a kid, when we played in our sprinklers all day long. These days I don't care much for summer, but on lazy days like today, where Allison and I can just hang out and play in the water, I like it quite a bit. I decided to go back and put some pictures of last year's fun next to this year. I can't believe how much she's grown, although I'm guessing the watermelon suit from last year would fit her just fine this year! Anyway, I hope you enjoy our pictures of water fun! :)

My 200th Post!

2008-06-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

Blogger has informed me that this is my 200th post. How about that? Pretty amazing, huh? :)

Anyway, these are pictures from last night, when Allison spent the evening with Katie. Beth, Katie's mom, took some great pictures, so I thought I'd share. Looks like the girls had a wonderful time, as usual! Mommy and Daddy had a fun time too! We ate out at California Pizza Kitchen (YUM!) and then saw the movie Kung Fu Panda, which was really, really, cute!

A PINKALICIOUS good time!

2008-06-04T10:25:00.000-07:00

Today's post was inspired by the oh so fun book, Pinkalicious!! :)

I LOVE having a little girl!! Allison's favorite book right now is called Pinkalicious- a story about a little girl who eats so many pink cupcakes that she turns pink! It's a "must read" if you don't already have it for your little girl. Anyway, I decided that since today was rainy and icky (the reason the mommy and her little girl make cupcakes in the book), we'd head to the store to get everything necessary to make some really yummy pinkalicious cupcakes!

We had SO much fun with every step of the process. Allison LOVES being in the kitchen, and I really do enjoy having her help me. It's okay if we make a mess, it's okay if a little too much of something gets in the bowl, it's okay if the cupcake tins get filled just a little too high. It's all okay! :)

I LOVE having a little girl! :)

More About Me! :)

2008-06-03T21:07:00.000-07:00

I read these Q and A's on someone else's site and thought it was fun- remember, my blog is a diary, so bear with me as I talk about myself a little and put pictures of my child on hold. If you do these Q and A's on your blog, let me know so i can come read about you!

What I was doing 10 years ago today: I was honeymooning in Camden, Maine, LOVING my new role as WIFE! :)

5 things on my to-do list today:

1. Bathe child
2. Take said child to get her 3 year pictures taken
3. Address envelopes to send pictures to said child's family and friends

Really, my list is VERY long, but this is about all I actually got DONE!

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

1. HIre a really good financial advisor
2. Pay off debt, house, etc.
3. Give to our church so they could add the space we need to hold everyone!
4. Pay off some head official in China to get our baby NOW instead of 5 years from now (just kiddin!)
5. Enjoy a shopping spree
6. Work on NOT letting my billion dollars go to my head! :)

Bad habits:

1. overeating
2. talking too much
3. worrying
4. overeating
5. watching too much tv.
6 overeating
Hmmm, is there a theme here? :)

Places I’ve lived:

Iowa (4 years), Kansas (27 years), Michigan (2 year), California (4 years),Kansas again (2 years) and Missouri (2 years)

5 jobs I’ve had:

day care worker
ice cream scooper (lasted a day!)
telemarketer (I was GOOD- see "talks too much" above)
teacher
Mommy

Favorite Person Outside Family:

That's a tough one, so I'll just say that my closest buddy these days is my friend Beth.

Quirks about me:

I have NO sense of direction- NONE- can't even figure out which way to go when I walk out of a store in the mall. It's BAD!
I HATE bugs, especially June bugs- I need the lights to be turned off if I'm coming home in the dark because I cannot stand to see them or, God forbid, have them get ON ME!
I never eat ice cream or cereal out of a normal bowl- I use different cups. And I never eat ice cream with a normal spoon- I hate the metal on the ice cream- ick!
I'm a VERY picky eater- nothing with chunks (onions, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, etc.) I also won't eat anything berry (ras, straw, blue, etc.)

Any regrets in life:

That I wasn't more active in high school, that I gained back weight (100 times, I'm sure) after losing it, that I wasn't closer to my dad until adulthood, that I didn't try new things and take risks more.... I'm sure there are more, but not too many! :)

Favorite charity/cause:

My church.
Compassion International- we've sponsored the same child since the first year we were married. She was 6 then. She just turned 16. WOW!!

Favorite Blog recently:

There are so many great ones out there that inspire or just make me laugh. The funniest one I've been reading lately is Classy Chaos. She is hysterical!

Something you can’t get enough of:

Being with my child/taking pictures!

Worst job you would pay NOT to have:

My answer could be different on any given day (there are a LOT of bad jobs), but for today I'll say a police officer. I'd be scared every single second!

Guilty pleasure:

Reruns of Friends, blogging

If you HAD to spend $1000 on yourself, how would you spend it?

I'd buy new clothes and new shoes.

Favorite thing about your house:

The outside- it's red brick with black shutters, and I fell in love with it the first time I saw it.

Least favorite thing about your house:

I really can't complain cause my house is just fine, but I guess I'd love to have a finished basement

One thing you are good at:

I hope I'm good at being a wife and mother

What is the hardest part about your job?:

Again, can't complain- I love being home with my child, but I'd say the fact that I can't seem to keep my house clean- someone (I won't name names, but she's a tiny tornado!) is always messing up what I just cleaned!

When are you most relaxed?:

When I'm out on date nights. I love spending time with just my husband.

When are you most stressed?:

When people from out of town come to visit. It makes me very happy, but it stresses me out too.

What can you not live without?:

My faith. The love of my family

Do you agree or disagree about the recent article that reported blogs are authored by narcissists:

I haven't read the article, but I've read some that seem very much that way and others, not at all, so maybe it just depends on the person.

Why do you blog?:

We started a website to keep people updated on our adoption, and then I just kept doing it to continue to keep people updated. For me it serves as a diary that will hopefully one day bring back a lot of wonderful memories for me and for my family. But I will admit that it's also nice to know that some people check in on me regularly to see how I'm doing and to see how Allison is growing up. I enjoy learning about other people and their lives too, so it goes both ways for me.

A Fun Park Morning with Katie

2008-06-02T12:58:00.001-07:00

This morning we met Katie and Beth at the park, and I realized it had been awhile since I'd taken pictures of one of our outings with them. We get together about once a week and always have a good time. Today we checked out a park we don't go to that often, and it was funny cause both girls were much more interested in exploring nature than they were playing on the equipment. Neither of them went down a single slide, although the swings held their attention for quite some time. We ate our lunch there too, which is always fun. The girls ALWAYS want whatever the other person has in their lunch bag. I should call Beth ahead of time and tell her to put lots of vegetables in Katie's lunch just to see if Allison would want them then! :)

Katie and Allison go exploring!

Why are you licking it, Allison? Just eat it for goodness sake!

Wait for me, Katie! I want to feed the ducks too!

Katie checks to see if the glass slipper fits! It does!

Making Faces, The Biker, and God's Promise

2008-05-31T20:13:00.000-07:00

Come on- that's a pretty good title for a post, don't you think? The other night Scott and I went out for our anniversary, and we took Allison to a babysitter. I just picked up this cute little outfit for her, so I had to snap some shots of her in it. She loves making different faces to show different emotions, and it cracks me up every time.

On the way out to dinner we saw this guy on his bike. My true feelings are this- I NEVER make fun of overweight people in general (because it's not nice, plus I'm one of them), and I really, really never make fun of them if they are out exercising, but come on folks, is this guy serious? I'm proud of him for being out biking, trying to get in better shape- really, I am. But come on! UPDATE: Seems I cannot get the biker guy's picture to download- wonder why??? UPDATE #2- if you click on the little red box that shows up by the first picture of Allison, you'll see the biker dude. I'll get better at this, I promise! :)

Tonight we had a little rain come our way. Scott noticed two rainbows outside, so we all ran out there to look, take pictures, and remember God's promise to us. Allison was squealing with delight. You just don't see rainbows that often, and these were so clear and so beautiful.

I'm trying something new tonight- trying to put captions underneath my pictures. Like most things I try for the first, second, or even third time, they don't work out exactly as planned, so bear with me as I learn. I trust you are all intelligent enough to understand my pictures without explanation, but I really want to learn how to put captions underneath them. So, here goes. :)

This is the face I make when Mommy says, "Smile normally"

This is the face I make when Mommy says, "Make a sad face"

Allison and I spent Friday morning at Imagination Pottery- what FUN! She made something for herself as well as something for Daddy. I can't wait to go back and paint some more. We both loved it!

This is my face when Mommy says, "Make a silly face!"

God will always keep His promises!

Ten Years Ago Today!

2008-05-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

Ten years ago today I said the most important words I'll ever say- "I do!" I married the man of my dreams, and 10 years later he's STILL the man of my dreams- even better!

Thank you, honey, for all you do to make our home a happy one! I LOVE YOU!! Here's to the rest of our lives, and then some...

Laurie

Loving Spring!

2008-05-30T06:27:00.001-07:00

Just a few shots of Allison enjoying the wonderful springtime weather we're having this week! Enjoy! :)

More KC fun

2008-05-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

We took a LOT of pictures on this particular afternoon, so it will take a few posts to show them all. These pictures show Allison having fun in the water (notice how most children came prepared with swimsuits- we were obviously clueless), painting, and playing with big bubbles. It was a GREAT day for kids!! :)