Pic(s) of Day- AnnaClaire at the park.

The swinging one is probably my favorite. I love how everything is blurry and she just stands out (although she's pretty burry, too) I just love, love, love it.

Here's a few other favorites from today. If you go to the park post, there's another one (with the cups) that I should've put here, but I'm not going to bother and switch it... I also really love most of them on the "Sisters at the Park" post. You know... I love all of them that I post (which is why I post them). Anyway, here they are.. It's pretty hard to decide on just one when I took 80 pictures today... (I know, that's just a wee bit insane! The sad thing is, that doesn't even seem like very much any more...)

Sisters at the park :)

I love my Mei Mei oh so much! :)

Park fun- Mama, Sissy, and Baby!

AnnaClaire is swinging, swinging, swinging! AnnaClaire is swinging, YES, she is!

Posing by her name in the sand.
Drawing in the sand.
I really like this picture :) Cups (and sticks, too) are better than any sand toys!
Playing with Jane.
We had a wonderful afternoon at the park. First AnnaClaire swang for a really long time. She was having a ball swinging! All of a sudden, she starting doing her infamous "ba" over and over! It was the cutest thing. Then she starting flapping and clapping and laughing. She is sooooo sweet. After swinging awhile, she wanted out and to the sandbox we went. Last time she was at this park, a little girl had been writing in the sand with sticks. Well, Mom gave AC a little stick, and she bent down and starting drawing! SOOO CUTE! That stick stayed in her little hands the entire time. LOL. She loved it! She was very interested in a little boy, Eli, and his dog, Maggie. Then they left, so AC and I wrote her name in the sand. Some more people came and it ended up being some people we know from out Church. The 6 year old girl, 4 year old boy, and 22 month old girl were there and AnnaClaire just loved all the activity. She and Jane (the 22 month old) played for awhile in the sand and on the playset. It was cute :). AnnaClaire is really funny with gumballs, and she picked up EVERY SINGLE ONE she say and handed them to me. It was funny. She is soooo cute because whenever she knows she shouldn't hold something, she brings it to one of us. It's really sweet. Like earlier, she found my camera and came running over to me with it. Anyway, that is kinda off topic. We took a walk to the lake and looked at the ducks and then came back. AC and I went down the slide a few times before we headed home after 1 hour and 45 minutes of park fun! We had a GREAT time!

Fun in the morning...

"I LOVE my zoo from Ella and Riley! I especially like pressing the bird and it sings a pretty song."

"Aren't I a cutie with my piggies?"
"What's that?"
"Here, Doggie"
"I'M GOING BYEBYE TO THE PARK!!!"

This morning, Mom rushed to the library to try and get AnnaClaire a spot for library story/bubble fun. She did! So AnnaClaire is going to be a "jumping bean" this March! Fun for her :) I bet she'll love it, just having other kids there will make her love it!

We had a nice morning with playtime in the nursery while I had piano, a few errands, lunch, and naptime. After picking Will up from school and playing at the house, we headed to the PARK! We had a great time. See above post!

Our big 16 month old!!!!!!!

Mozart baby!

So sweet!
Happy in her stroller!
I love this pic because you can really see her beautiful, almond eyes!
Dancing with her door! (SOOOO CUTE!)

We had a good day playing, being outside, and just hanging around. AnnaClaire has had a blast with her new Little People zoo and dollhouse that Ella and Riley brought over yesterday. I didn't get a get picture of her playing with it though, I'll try tomorrow! It is starting to get really warm out! YAY!!!!!! If it's not going to snow, than BRING ON SUMMER!

About the last picture, that is AnnaClaire dancing. She LOVES to dance. Now she waves her arms in the air and spins around when doing it- so cute! I have an adorable video of it, plus tons of other videos, "AC's dirt story", etc to post. I need to get caught up with all that. AnnaClaire just keeps us so busy! :)

She gets sweeter and sweeter every day. I can't believe she is 16 months old!

For the picture of the day, please go to the "Happy 16 month birthday!!!!!!!!" post!

On another note, AnnaClaire pointed to me and said "gee gee" (jie jie- jieh jieh) today!!! It was so cute. Also, she used to rarely give her amazing kisses. Lately, she has been just kissing and kissing and kissing, and well you get the point. I have (by far) gotten the most kisses:) If you lean forward and say "Kiss me, AnnaClaire!" she leans forward and goes "mwahhhhhh" right on your lips :) SOOOOOOOOO ADORABLE! We think it is because she has now been kissed on so much, that she likes to kiss on us! hehe!

Mei Mei,

Happy 16 months AnnaClaire! I can't believe it was 7 whole months ago (exactly) that the FedEx man brought your referral to us!!! And that you are already 16 whole months old! You are getting so big!! I wish you would stay a baby forever, but I can't wait to see the wonderful things God is going to do in your precious life! I love you FOREVER! You mean so much to me, more than you could ever no. I love you more than anything, precious sister! God knew exactly what he was doing when he blessed us with the gift of YOU! Happy 16 months. I hope your 16th month is a very special one.

Love,

Sissy

Another redone blog!

I just finished up re-doing Meg's blog! Go check it out!!!

Remember to email me at hookemhorns@carolina.rr.com if you want a blog makeover!!!

Happy 16 month birthday!!!!!

AnnaClaire is 16 months old today! Such a BIG girl!!! We love you, AnnaClaire Chenhui!

Happy 16 months to Maura, too! We'll see you guys SOON!

Pic of Day- Sweet thing!!!

I love this picture:) Isn't my mei mei sooooooo cute?

400th post!!!

"Sissy's book is oh-so-interesting!!!!"

"I love Lola the hugging pink hippo!"

I can't believe it! This is my 400th post on this blog!!! WOW!

Today was quite a day. We just hung around the house this morning and went on some errands after. We had a yummy lunch at Qdoba. AC loved it! We came home in time for naptime, but first we took a walk and played around the house. She had a nice, two hour nap! Soon after Mom and AnnaClaire got home from picking up Will from school, our (adorable) twin neighbors who are 5, brought over some of their old toys for AnnaClaire. So now AnnaClaire has the LittlePeople zoo and dollhouse, plus tons of puzzles! Thank you Ella and Riley!!!!!

We had a fun rest of the day enjoying our BEAUTIFUL baby. We are so blessed:)

Check the website, it is finally working again and I put a new home update on it!

Pic of Day- Taco girl (and more pix)

I love, love, love this picture of AC and her tortilla. She loved it. I think she ate 2 of them! Doesn't she look so funny/cute!!!!!! AWW

Here's somemore pictures from yesterday...

"Like my new bib from my favoritest big sissy?"

"On the Border is yummy!" Notice all the guacamole on her face! (she wasn't crying, she was trying to ham it up for the camera and right as I snapped the picture, she changed her face, so it's in between smiles)
This is her new thing.. Hmm?! She goes and gets 2 cups (always the Masters ones) and runs around like that... Strange, yet adorable! I have a video of it along with tons of others that I will try to post this week.

Answers to comments...

I have been asked a few questions (through comments) that I am going to take a short post to answer.

1. AnnaClaire's hairbrush was found at Babies-R-Us for 2 or 3 dollars. DO NOT (and I repeat, DO NOT) leave the USA without it!!!! I honestly don't know what miss AnnaClaire (or we!) would've done without that!!!!!! She loved that thing. It calmed her down on gotcha day, and it stayed in her hand all day, every day, while in China!

2. Someone had commented asking if we were considering adopting again. Nothing is FOR SURE yet, but we would really like to go back to China in the near future. AnnaClaire and I are the closest age wise and we are 12 years apart. We really feel as though AnnaClaire would like having a sister to grow up with. Therefore, we are highly considering adopting again. It is not final, but it is our hope and has been since we started the process for AnnaClaire. In fact, at the end of October, 2005, before we even started the China adoption process, my mom had a dream of 2 asian girls in a crib. We already have a list of names for "Mei Mei 2" (if there is one). Esther, Evelyn-Evie, Lillian-Lilly, Katherine-Katie, or Rose. We will just wait and see what the Lord says! But it is likely (although not definitly) that we will go back for a "Mei Mei 2". Our only worry is that we wouldn't get one nearly as cute as AnnaClaire ;) ;) ;)

And 3rd, thank you for all the wonderful comments left under AnnaClaire's Story. I appreciate them so much, as I do all comments. If you watch the video, please comment. Also, don't be afraid to comment on my daily posts :) I LOVE comments! If you don't have a blogger account, you can always be "anonymous" or "other"!

Maybe she's Chinese........

But she sure does love MEXICAN FOOD! It was a long day. I guess that's what happens when a totally-outside-girl stays inside ALL DAY. Which is what happens when it's pouring down rain, you're teething BAD, are tired, and are getting over a cold. Yep. She actually played quite nicely for part of the time! She was having a ball with that life saver door thing and also climbed up and down, up and down, up and down her slide for a really long time. She had a 3 hour nap and was kinda grumpy before it, so she went down early (11). Mom was timing at the meet all morning (I didn't swim today but she was required to time). When she got home around 4:30, we played some more with adorable AC before heading to On the Border for some much needed Mexican food. AnnaClaire LOVES guacamole (sp?). ADORES it. I think it's her favorite. That and tortillas! On the Border makes the BEST tortillas EVER. She also had some veggies, rice, beans, and a little chicken- loved it all! I got quite a few darling picture of her eating her beloved Mexican but, those will have to wait... because... 1: my camera broke. Argh (although I'm sure it will be fixed soon as it always "fixes" itself) 2: Dad's camera (which I have been taking pictures on) is somewhere in the house.. who knows where? and 3: my power cord for my laptop broke and it ran out of batteries leaving me laptopless for a few days. Luckily we have an upstairs computer that is only in use when dad is home at night, and I can usually pry him off, so I can still be on quite a bit:). Bad thing is everything is on the other computer: pictures, programs, email, favorites, etc. I set up my email on this computer but my new adress isn't working. Anyway, I'll add pix tomorrow.

By the way, I had a few emails regarding not being able to view AnnaClaire's Story. I have fixed that so it is now viewable. Just hit the play button on the bottom. Sorry about that! Oh, and don't forget to comment after watching! Thanks for all the WONDERFUL comments already on there :) I have beaten my comment record already!

"Buisness"

As most of you know, I LOVE styling blogs. The other day, I had a request to re-do this blog. I was asked if I had considered doing this before for people who aren't so computer smart. So begins my "buisness". If anyone needs a blog "do", I would LOVE to do it. For free. If interested, email me hookemhorns@carolina.rr.com and give me your ideas, color choices, and blog name and I will have your "new" blog ready in 1-2 days! I will also need your username and password to put the stuff on.

FFFF Challenge- Gimme!

This weeks photo challenge is "Gimme!" You ask for and are given a letter. Then you have to come up with 10 things (said words AND pictures) that start with that letter. I was assigned the letter "j". At first glance, I thought it would be hard, but "j" things came right to me! I still have a few other things that I love that start with j like jello, juice, jacks, etc. But here are 10 things I came up with that I LOVE that start with j. Click the image to see it bigger.

1. Jesus - Of course!
2. Jack-o-lanterns - I LOVE jack-o-lanterns. They make me so happy:) just stay away from the freaky looking ones!
3. July - Really it's just summer, but July is probably my favorite month of the summer. It is also the month we got AC's referral which makes it extra special. This picture is of me and the FedEx guy with AC's referral (7/27/06)
4. Jumping (on the trampoline) - especially with friends and hoses! This picture is actually of me doing a flip a few years ago. My friend, Elizabeth, took it!
5. Jie Jie (as in being one) - I love being the big sis. It is so fun:) this picture was taken when AC and I were cuddling, but I was trying to hold her head up for the picture, so she has a strange look. Still cute:)
6. Jacuzzies - Ahh the warmth. This picture is of Will (brother) and I in our cousin's jacuzzi, taken at Thanksgiving in 2002!
7. Jif Peanut Butter - Skippy Creamy All Natural is actually my favorite, but Jif is a close second. I love peanut butter:)
8. Jewelry - Earrings are my favorite (especially my $13 REAL pearls from China!) This picture is of Elizabeth, Sadie, and I a Drew's graduation in May. When you click on the picture, you should see the jewelry closer up
9. Junk food - Who doesn't like that?
10. Jammies - I am a jammie QUEEN. I have about 10 pairs of pjs. But my favorite aren't even mine... they are AnnaClaire's footy jammies :) This picture was taken at the hotel in Changsha.

Pic of day- New bib!

Today was good. My swim meet went very well. We got home just in time to help dad wash off AC, as she had a poop explosion while on a walk. I mean, poop all over her back-- gross. I bathed her in her duckie tub and we got her all redressed and then she took a nap.
I went to the mall with Caroline and Dad, Mom, and AC had a nice day. It ended with Pei Wei and carseat shopping and then they picked Caroline and I up from the mall. We headed home in time for bedtime. (Which she was soooooooo ready for.)

As for the new bib (pic of day) I got that for Little Miss while at the mall. There's this kiosk that sells the CUTEST bibs. Mom and I like the over the head ones. Well they are kinda on the expensive side for bibs so we hadn't gotten one-yet. I look at them EVERY time we are at the mall. So I got her one. And of course, I got her the pink one and got "AnnaClaire" on it in green. We love this bib, and she seemed to, too. Isn't it CUTE?

Yesterday- Pic of the Day

Hehe. I love this picture. She is running IN ACTION! And boy, does she look proud of it :)

Here's another one..

"I'm not touching it!"

A few yesterday pics

"Look at me walkin' on the doggie bed!"

"I'm so cute."
"Ya want my bunny? I LOVE my bunny!"
"Aren't I cute in this hat? It came with my new dress!"
"I know, I'm ADORABLE."
My swim meet was awesome:). Afterwards (and after nap), we picked Will up from school and brought him to his friend's house. We then headed to Chocolate Soup and found the cutest dress for $14!! We then drove a few minutes to the nearby park. I sadly forgot my camera not knowing we were going to the park! And it was the best park yet, too! AC and I had fun sliding, she swang a bit, etc. She had an absolute BLAST. We got home and she had a nice night while I babysat next door for a bit. Sorry I didn't get a chance to post yesterday. It's been a BUSY few days!

AnnaClaire's Story~The Movie

It is with great excitement that I present to you the story of my sister... AnnaClaire's Story! It is quite long (30 minutes) but I hope that you will take the time to watch it. I worked a looooooooooooooong time on this and I hope everyone enjoys it! Please turn the volume up as there is music. To shut off the song playing in the background right now, click the X by the refresh button. It is my greatest hope that by sharing AnnaClaire's story, someone will felt lead to adopt from China. Feel free to comment below! (I love comments!)

With lots of love,

AnnaClaire's PROUD Sissy

By the way, a big thanks to Staci for the info on how to load a large video on to Google Video! If it weren't for her, I don't know if/when this would ever get posted! :)

Also, I am putting the date for this video a year in advance so it will appear at the top of the page for awhile. Keep checking below this post because there will be newer posts. Once it's been awhile, I will switch it to the right date.

UPDATE: Someone has asked me what the last song was. Here are the songs (in order).
1. ”When God Made You" by Newsong
2. "When Love Takes You In" by Steven Curtis Chapman
3. "You'll be In My Heart" (the Tarzan version) by Philip Collins & Mark Mancina
4. "Swept Away" by Geoff Moore
5. "Greatest Of These" by Chuck & Lynette Giacinto (they just came home with their girl from China in December!)
6. "Orphans Of God" by Avalon
7. "Child Of My Heart" by Becky Wright & Tommy Brandt
8. "Arms Of Love" by Sandi Padilla
A lot of these songs appear on the "Spirit of Adoption" c.d. that you can buy here.

Pic of Day- I wanna go down, Sissy!

This is actually the only picture I took today, so it is the pic of the day.

AC had a great day and was "bu-bye" for most of it. She went on errands, to the park, on a walk. She is such a joy :).

The video has made no progress. Anyone know of a site that hosts Windows Media Player videos that are over 100 MB?? Anyone know anything about Adobe Premier Elements (that's where I made it)? If so, PLEASE email me or comment. I am getting so frustrated about this whole video thing not working!

Better get to bed! I have a BIG swim meet tomorrow and Saturday at 7am!

XOXO

Pic of Day- one year old with piggies!

I know, I know, that is the cutest picture you've ever seen. Yep, that's my MEI MEI!

and in case that wasn't enough cuteness for you, here's another picture that will do you in for sure!

Yesterday's Pic of Day-happy stair climber

No, she wasn't going down this way, she had POSED this way and then wanted to be picked up :)

Some pictures

Mommy and Baby

"I'm such a big helper to my Daddy when it comes transferring videos to DVDs!"
Coloring at her table (that I remember playing at when I was little!)
SO BIG!
Some more coloring

Here's a few pictures. from Monday, Tuesday, and today! Enjoy!

Today was such a good day. AnnaClaie was soo happy ALL day! She played in the nursery with Mom while I had piano. She had a blast taking me to the ortho and loved everyone doting all over her (and her shoes!) They all thought she was just the cutest.. and we, of course, agree! The desk lady wanted to "cheer all the ladies up" and took her to the back a'squeaking away. Now all the orthos call her "Squeaker".

We went to Mcallisters for lunch. YUM! AC had a blast looking at everyone and ate an awesome lunch! When we left, we let her walk out holding my hand. EVERYONE turned around at the sound of her squeakers and they were all just laughing and saying how cute they were and how adorable she was! Which, of course, she is. :)

She totally soaked through her diaper during her LONG (2 hours, she's getting better!!) and so we had to change outfits. I also gave her a new hair style with her new outfit since her bow was already out from naptime. Her hairstyle is the pic of the day, so you'll see it then :)

THANK YOU.. everyone for all your help with the whole video confusion! I FINALLY got it figured out and have it all ready to load to a program that excepts files larger than 100 MB. It was taking awhile to upload to that program when my internet went out, so I'm going to finish uploading it tomorrow when I have more time. So tomorrow afternoon, the video WILL BE POSTED!!!

video help!

Here's the deal.. I finished up AnnaClaire's Story completely. I have it saved and everything. But... it is in a PREL file. They have a few other options (MPEG, Windows Media, Quicktime, and Adobe) but I can't get any of them to work so that the video uploadss completely! Does ANYONE know how to do this? Please email me..

hookemhorns@carolina.rr.com

Short post... No pix

Sorry~ no pictures tonight! I only took 3, but I haven't had time to upload them on to the computer yet. So I'll post those tomorrow!

AnnaClaire is good. She's feeling better! She had a great morning, a great nap, and we are enjoying her very much.

I have worked all day to finish up AnnaClaire's adoption movie. I am happy to say it is COMPLETE!!! I do, however, need to upload it onto a program where I can get a code for it. I had a few difficulties or else I would've been able to post it tonight. (I experienced a 'serious error' in the middle of making it causing only parts of it to save, so I had to go back and add everything that hadn't saved. I also had trouble loading the song that I wanted at the beginning, it kept failing to find. Finally got that -after an hour- thanks to Will.) So I'll post her movie sometime tomorrow.

We've been home 2 months today!! I can't believe it!!!!!!

Pic of Day- Rolling the ball!

Love this picture of AC with the ball :)

New ball!

Today was fun. This morning Dad, AC, and I went on a few errands. AC had a blast at Wal-Mart and we got her this huge ball! She LOVES it. I have a video of her with it that I will post tomorrow. We had Chickfila for lunch. AC loved her meal (noodles, carrots, and a chicken salad sandwich) and was hamming it up for all the people there! One of the ladies gave her a little book. She liked it a lot. At the end, we were getting in line to get Mom a large coke (her favorite) and the lady (whom we know from going to Chickfila so much!) who had given AC the book brought us a FREE large coke! "Complientary of Chickfila since your wife is in here so much." Now, what other fast food (or ANYWHERE) would do that? We got home and AC played with her ball a bit before going for a NICE, LONG 2.5 hour nap!! That's what I'm talking about! She sweetly played the rest of the afternoon. Pretty low key, yet fun day!!!

AnnaClaire's Adoption Story (movie) is almost complete!!! I just have to add the music, the coming home video, and some writing and then it'll be DONE. It is already 26 minutes long, so it will probably be 29-30 minutes. I'm hoping to get that done tomorrow during naptime so that I can post it later tomorrow!

Pic of Day- Sisters :)

Both my eye and AnnaClaire's eye are kinda strange looking in this picture, but I really like this pic. She is such a sweetie and I love her soooooooooo much :) Thank you, Lord, for blessing us with this darling China doll!

CNY Fun!

She is....

beautiful,

precious,
sweet,
darling,
happy,
(so many pictures wears a girl out!) sometimes tired,
a girly girl,



& we love her more than anything.

Cheerios work like a charm when trying to have a photo shoot!

getting into toilet paper! (for the first time...)

Feeding herself off the chopsticks!

Mama, Sissy, and baby in front of Pei Wei.

We had an excellent Chinese New Year. First was our photoshoot. AnnaClaire was pretty cooperative. The O's did the trick, but it didn't last long... LOL! Cute detail from our photoshoot- I had posed AC on the stairs, and then I went to go get the washcloth to wipe her nose. I had taken her off the stairs. Well, I come back, and there she is, back on the stairs, but not climbing up them.. sitting on the first step, like I had posed her! SO CUTE!! AnnaClaire has a very bad cold, so Dad and her stayed home from Church while Mom and I went. Will was skiing with some friends up in Boone. After Church, we came home and got Dad and AC and headed to Pei Wei for our little CNY celebration- a Chinese lunch. Our lunch was delcious. AnnaClaire had a blast feeding herself of chopsticks! She actually got some on the sticks a few times. She ate pretty well- brown rice, veggies, and apple juice. She really enjoyed her time and loved it when everyone ohhed and ahhed all over her. (Which, everyone does :)). After our lunch, we headed home after a quick picture to document our celebration of the year of the pig. When we got home, AC greeted Will and she played upstairs awhile. She had taken a short morning nap, so she was up awhile. Then she went down for an afternoon nap around 3. When she awoke around 4:45, we went to Michaels to get a jar to put "her dirt" in (more about that tomorrow). Dad and AC then dropped me off at youth group. AnnaClaire and Dad went to Costco, I think. She was in the car when Dad picked me up, all cozy in her jammies. She got to meet a few more of my friends and gave a few smiles, but was pretty shy. We headed home and she played in the cabinets a bit more before going off to bed. She is such a sweetie!!! We had an awesome CNY, I hope you all did as well!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! I leave you with the "piggy face" in honor of the Year of the Pig!

FFFF Challenge- Bad pix

This weeks Foto Challenge from Double Happiness is "Bad Pictures". Here are a few bad pictures I found. There are TONS more, but here's a few. As always, click to view it bigger!

(Left to right top- 1. Mom and AC at the medical exam in Guangzhou. And no, AnnaClaire is not sleeping! 2. AnnaClaire and Rebekah begging for food. AC looks so cute, but you can hardly see Bekah because it's so BLURRY!!! 3. Dad and his girls... except I was talking to Claire's Mom as Claire's Dad snapped the picture! Left to right bottom- 1. This picture was taken today at Pei Wei. LOVE IT if only AnnaClaire hadn't been running toward me so fast, causing the camera to chop off her head! 2. Dad and AC at the White Swan. Dad is trying to get AC to smile while I'm trying to take the pic... Yikes! 3. the brothers and their new sis! Drew looks awesome in this pic, AC looks okay, and Will doesn't look so good...)

Gong Xi Fa Cai!! (Happy Chinese New Year!!)

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the... PIG! AnnaClaire thinks it's so funny when I say, "It's the PIGGIE year! Oink oink!" She just cracks up laughing. AC has a bad, bad cold (I take all the blame... I gave it to her and she gave it to both Mom and Dad. Will is bound to have it next and Drew just got over being pretty sick at college!) but she is being a real trooper. This morning I dressed her in her gorgeous Chinese outfit and we had a little photoshoot. A few of the pictures came out really nicely (including this one.) She's beautiful, isn't she?! We had Chinese for lunch but that's really the only celebration we are having :(. We didn't join the FCC group in time for the CNY party (if they're even having one) and besides she's feeling pretty yucky! I'll post again tonight with tons more pictures from out photoshoot, pictures from lunch, and more text!



Check out Google's "sign". Pretty cute :)

important website info

For some ODD reason, our website isn't working. I think because we have had it for a year (!!!!!!!!!!) and the domain name isn't registered back yet?! Anyway, to view the website, you have to go to www.mychinajourney.com/bringinghomeannaclaire.com. So click that to see the latest home updates! Sorry for the confusion!

Pic of Day- Water table fun!

These pictures were taken at the Discovery Place. They are of AnnaClaire playing at the water table. Cute, huh?

by the way, I was so mad because my camera ran out of batteries and my spares were dead, so I didn't get a ton of the pictures I wanted :(. Guess we'll have to go back SOON! (Well we got season passes, so we will be going back VERY soon!)

the Discovery Place!!!

"I stacked my rings all by myself!! Yay me!"

"I'm such a happy girl and I love phones!"
"Aren't I cute all bundled in my pink?"
"Look at those FISHIES!"
"Daddy and me by the fish tanks!"
"Riding a rocking doggie in the kids place!"
"Hey!! When I press this, the cow says, MOOOOO!"

"Climbing the slide with a little help from Dada."

"Sissy just gave me a nice, warm bath!"

Today was an awesome day. I had to wake up really early (6:30) because we had swimming early. Mom and AC picked me up and we went home. Mom then went shopping and Dad and I stayed with AC. We had a good time. We played inside and out. AnnaClaire knows exactly where the cellphones are and she went and find one and walked all around the house with it. She is sooooo funny. We swang in her swing and then played outside awhile. She looked so cute all bundled in her pink!! Mom came home right in time to put her ro bed. AnnaClaire had an AWESOME nap today-- 2 hours! Much better than her usual 1! Soon after she awoke, we headed to the Discovery Place down town. The minute we got there, we knew AnnaClaire would love it. And she did! First we saw the live water animals and she even touched one! We looked at all the fish tanks. She was soooooo interested in all the fish and would point to them! Then we let her down and she just ZOOMED off. I had never seen her go that fast. It was soooooooo cute and funny! We then went over to the (stuffed) bears! She thought they were cool. She would run to one of them look at it and then run to the next. It was sooo funny! We then headed to this big kids room. I actually vaguely remember when I was 5-6 or so playing in that room! There's a little infant-3yr old part we went in first and she rode on a rocking dog and played in there. There was another kid in there and she was trying to do everything he did. He was a little mean though because when AC would sit on something, he would pull it from under her! I guess that's just how little kids are ;). AnnaClaire also played with the trains on the tracks. There was a barn and AC loved pressing the buttons to make the cows say moo and the horsies say neigh! Then came the best part of all! The water table! It is this huge table filled with water and all these little water toys. AnnaClaire had a blast! She looked adorable in the little water smocks you wear! She kept on looking up to make sure we were still there and then would run over and hug us. Too adorable! She was walking around the table and noticed the door. She started running out it and around the museum! Dad was right behind her and it was so funny because Mom and I would all of a sudden see Little Miss waddle in front of the door and then Dad come right behind her, AC a big ol smile on her face! She came back in and played awhile more at the water table. She thought it was sooooo fun! After getting soaked, splashed, and having tons of fun, she noticed the slide! It was an actual GOOD slide. You know, one you can actually SLIDE down?! She climbed the stairs up the little tower and then would go down. She then learned to climb up it too. After having tons of fun, we headed upstairs so we could see them make ice cream. Dad, Mom, and I really enjoyed that. It was sooo cool. They used 1 thing of chocolate syrup, 1 thing of half and half, and a huge bucket of liquid nitrogen. They stirred and stirred and it turned to ice cream! It was AWESOME. He also showed us a few other cool things liquid nitrogen does. Of course, AC was very antsy because it was so not of interest to her. LOL. We all really wanted to see it though. She sat on Daddy's shoulders and walked around with Dad and then climbed stairs while Mom and I tasted the ice cream-- YUMMY! We then left because it was about to close. We headed to Fuel Pizza! Yum!!! AnnaClaire had her first junk food... Pizza. I rubbed the grease off (I know, we are so mean.) She had mushroom pizza. She actually wasn't a huge fan of the pizza. (that's a good thing!) When we left Fuel, it started SNOWING!!! There were just a few flakes and it stopped soon after, but it was still fun that it started snowing right as we left! When we got home, I bathed AnnaClaire and got her all ready for bed and we played while her blanket dryed. Then Mom gave her a bottle (with rice cereal since she didn't eat much dinner.)

AC was such a sweetie today. Well... She always is :)

Oh, check the website (www.bringinghomeannaclaire.com) because I did a new home update today! There's also a Valentines Day one from the 14th and a 2 months one from the 11th.

Pic of Day- Bunny Ears!

This was taken at Pottery Barn Kids this afternoon. She actually grunted when I took them off! I think she liked them, although she was quite a bit unsure of them... She's just our cute little bunny :)

passed the 23 mark, had 3 shots, 4 molars, and she's sweet!

"I have part of the DVD remote, and NO you can't have it! Nananana booboo, you can't reach it!" ;)

"What did Sissy get at the mall?"
Chubtser legs with lots of bandaids from her shots
"I LOVE my new drum!"
"Like my new shoes?"
"I love my snacktimes with Sissy!"

Well, we arose fairly early and went on our way because AnnaClaire had to go to the doctor to get some more shots. We got there areound 9:15 and had to wait a longggggg time before we finally got called back. There were lots of kids babies and kids in the waiting room and AnnaClaire was just having a BLAST showing off her squeakers, waving, laughing, and playing with them. She was so cute though because then she'd run back over and snuggle on Mom or me. She knew exactly who HER family was out of all the people there. Finally we got called back. All the doctors were so excited to see AC. They all just ADORE her. We had nurses knocking on our door to come see her! LOL! First AnnaClaire got weighed. She actually stood at the little weight thingy. It was cute, she looked up at us like WHAT am I doing standing on this thing? I wish I had snapped a picture. Anyway, our chunky monkey is a WHOPPING 23.4 pounds!!!!!!! She has gained a whole entire POUND since her last visit, a month ago. My GOODNESS, is she a chubster or WHAT? We went back to the room and first a nurse came in to give me my shot. I was a very brave example for our sweetest pea :) hehe. The doctor came in and checked her ears, mouth, heart beat, etc. AnnaClaire has her 8 visible teeth, one full molar in, and her other 3 on their way in!!! She said one of the molars looked VERY irratated and she was surprised AC was acting as good as she is! Then the nurse came in (the nurse, Emily, ADORES AnnaClaire) to give AnnaClaire 3 shots. Our poor girl... 3 WHOLE shots! AnnaClaire was SOOOOO well behaved. She barely even cried and after the pricks, she quited down and was soon doing "ba" (blowing kisses) at Emily! Too cute. We then headed down the street to the mall. We had a great time! AnnaClaire got some ADORABLE new ladybug Robeez. SOO cute! We also got her some Pottery Barn dishes. In PB, we met a precious little girl (2) adopted from Taiwan a year ago with her 3 year old cousin! AnnaClaire LOVED seeing someone who looked like her and was just waving and waving at her-- too cute! After more shopping, we headed to the foodcourt for lunch. We were going to go take AC to the play place at Joseph Beth, but she seemed tired so we went home. It was tough keeping her awake, but I did my job well and when we got home, she went to sleep. She was quite the sweet pea the rest of the afternoon. Mom came home from Walmart with a wagon and a drum for AnnaClaire. AnnaClaire really likes her drum :).

Pic of Day- My sissy is FUN!!!

I love this picture. This is one of AnnaClaire and I playing. I was bouncing my legs up and down and she thought this was just the funnest. I was also poking her tummy and kissing her all over, which she was just a'laughing and a'laughing about. Sorry it's kinda blurry, I was trying to snap it while keeping her squealing!

Does she need a hair cut?

What do you think? And our other big question... Bangs? Or no bangs?

AnnaClaire and Sarah Lu- Friends Forever

In my last post, I talked about "the sweetest 2 1/2 year old we know." Sarah Lu is actually now 33 months old. They were in our travel group. Anyway, these pictures were taken on Staci's camera at our little squeaky shoe party in Guangzhou. (oh the memories... I miss China so much!) As you can see, AnnaClaire and Sarah loved eachother... and they're pretty cute together, too! :) Staci and Sarah + the rest.. WE LOVE YOU!! BTW, thanks Staci, for the pictures :)

Hanging out.

"Let me go down there!!!"

Playing her xylaphone (sp?)
Reading her book...
If you say, "AnnaClaire, do you want (breakfast, lunch, snack, or) dinner?" she runs over the her highchair and touches it!!! So smart!

This morning was good. Then we headed to Grace/lunch/Latin. After Latin, Mom and AC picked me up and we went to the park. Of course, I forgot my camera since I thought we were just going to go home! UGH! Anyway, we had great fun at the park. It was freezing cold, but there was another family there. It was a mom with her 6 month old boy and a 2 1/2 year old girl she nannied for. Oh my goodness, besides Little Miss Sarah Lu (Staci's mei mei who we traveled with/AnnaClaire's good friend), this was the sweetest 2.5 year old I've ever met! AnnaClaire, of course, adored her. She just LOVES kids and being with them. She followed Reagen EVERYwhere. She was also very interested in little Matthew, the baby. I think we might have to get AnnaClaire a mei mei at some point ;);). Anyway, AC just had a blast swinging, sliding, and running around with Reagen. Did I mention that she loves to RUN?? Loves it. And hates it when we try holding on to her while she does so. She is sooo lovey and loves it when people hold her or hold her hand, but when she's running.. no way jose! Of course she's still not perfectly stable, so someone has to hold on. We usually sneak holding on to her hood. LOL! Anyway after an hour of fun, we headed home for WARMTH! AnnaClaire helped me get the mail again and loved it. She just loves being outside. Major outside baby! We hung around the house until dinner. AnnaClaire has learned to climb up the "rock climbling stairs" on her slide, get situated, and slide down her slide. It is so cute when she does it all by herself. She did that with Mommy for awhile and then I came in and AnnaClaire and I played. Oh boy, did we have fun. I just had her laughing and laughing and laughing. It was soooooo cute. My heart just MELTS when she laughs. I also said, "Kiss Sissy?" and she leaned over and gave me the SWEETEST kiss EVER with the "mwah" included. I love her kisses. They are to die for. I have to brag that I've gotten the most kisses of ANYONE and I got the first one to add to my bragging rights. After we played awhile, she had a yummy dinner and then hung out with Dad while Mom took me to swimming.

She is the SWEETEST thing ever. I wish EVERYONE reading this could meet her. I can't imagine having any other sister in the world. I know waiting for things (referral, TA, etc) is tough no matter how long you wait, but dreams do come true, and once your dream does come true, you will realize why it didn't happen any sooner. You will have the perfect child for you and that is a dream come true in itself. So enjoy the pictures of MY dream come true. And yes, I only took 5 pictures today. Can you believe it? My whole family makes fun of me because I take so many pictures. I actually took a total of 84 pictures on Monday... but I just love taking pictures especially of THIS precious little thing! Anyway, no one can make fun of me now, because I only took 5-- there's one more for the pic of the day! (although Will is stil trying to get me to go a day without any. Hasn't happened since the day before we left for China! Actually before then!)

A must, MUST see! - China Rescue

One of my favorite bands, Newsong, went to China in November and visited some orphanages. This is a video that was put together from their trip. You NEED to see it. (Mom, that includes you!) It is sooooo amazing. Make sure to turn off the backround music (red X by refresh button) and turn UP YOUR SPEAKERS!!!

BTW, the song is called "Rescue" by Newsong. (LOVE THAT SONG and just bought it on iTunes!)

Pic of Day- my happy Valentine

I love this picture. The picture says it all.

Fun Baby's 1st Valentines Day!

Pretty girl with her crayon! She now loves to color!

We call this the poopy pose. I think it is habit formed from split pants! We always know when she's pooping, because she squats down like this and grunts.

AC LOVED her dinner of sweet potato, greenbeans, bread, and water at Outback!
Playing 'fists' with Brother at dinner.
One happy girl taking a bath!
After bath, AC was a WILD WOMAN! She was just squealy, smiley, happy, laughing, a jumping bean, etc. Here she is squealing...

I hope everyone had a GREAT Valentines Day. Ours was wonderful! AnnaClaire woke up quite happily and enjoyed her Valentines Day breakfast. She then got her Valentine card and present. She didn't think that card was for her and kept bringing it to Mama! LOL. Her present was a Little People Car. It is sooo cute and she loves it. She learned how to press the front seat driver down so the car honks, laughs, or sings. Really cute. Of course SHE likes the baby to drive the car and the Mama to sit in the back. lol. We played with that for awhile. We then left for piano. AC had a blast in the nursery with Mama and played with lots of toys. She didn't want to leave! She fell asleep for about 2 seconds on the car ride home. Mom had to go back out, so AC and I went inside and I got AnnaClaire some egg, congee, pear, and water. She ate everything I gave her. She loved her lunch! We played more with her car and then went outside for a bit. She was disappointed because it was really wet outside, so she couldn't walk around in the yard. We compromised though, and she walked on the deck, which she loved. We went inside for a split second before heading back out for a walk up the street to get the neighbors mail. Last time, she was pretty slow walking, being timid, but this time she just RAN down the driveway, RAN up the street, etc. She headed straight for the other neighbor's house because we had gone there last time. She kept looking at it like, "Aren't we going THERE?" It was funny. Then we got to the other neighbor's house and she started walking up in the pine needle like I showed her last time. It was cute. She has a good memory! We then walked back down, all the while she was just a'sqeaking. She wasn't ready to go in yet, so we walked a little more before we went in. We played a bit longer. She had a snack and played awhile with Mama and then we left to meet Dad at Outback for dinner. We had a WONDERFUL dinner! AnnaClaire LOVED her sweet potato, bread, and beans. LOVED it. She just kept eating and eating and eating. Everyone at Outback thought she was adorable (which she is, of course). AC is so good when eating. She could sit there for 3 hours and be perfectly okay with that. We let her walk to the door, and everyone turned around at the sound of her squeakers, "Are those her shoes?" "How old is she?" "What's her name?" "Are those her shoes?" "Look at those SHOES!" "The shoes squeak!" "Oh my goodness, her shoes!" It was funny. EVERYONE turned at her squeaks. I hope she didn't ruin anyone's romantic dinner (just kidding). We headed home and Dad and I gave AC a bath. She was soooooo happy! We then got her dressed in her I<3u>

She is such a love!!!!! She also had LOTS of Valentines, but I think I am her TRUE Valentine :)

Happy Valentines Day!

Our Pretty little Valentine

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy Valentines Day! With love from yours truly, Miss AnnaClaire Chenhui! (and her favoritest big sissy)

"Look at my Valentine from Mama and Dada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"For Valentine's Day, I got a Little People Car!!! I like the baby to drive my car and the Mama to sit in the backseat!"
"I'm such a 'so big' 15 month old on my first Valentines Day!"

A good laugh

Mom's going to kill me for posting this... but a girls gotta do what a girl's gotta do! O.K. Long story short, Mom wanted to check her emails, AnnaClaire wanted to be held (and was being quite fussy) So... what better idea then to give her some animal crackers and water, put her in her high chair, push her by the computer desk and let her eat? Notice AC holding up her cracker and Maggie 'ready to pounce'. AnnaClaire already fed Maggie egg, pear, cheerios, 2 animal crackers, and some other things today! UGH! Our little princess just holds the food out for Maggie. HAHAHA. Last night we even caught her throwing some food into Maggie's mouth. LOL! Anyway, I thought this was just too funny and had to post it ;)

The Door

Sweet girl.

"I'm ready to go in! (not) Can I go in Doggie's door? Doggie goes through it!"
"Okay... I guess I'll go through the people door..."
"Lookie! I opened it!!!!!! By myself!!!!!!"
"Hi!"

Pretty pictures brought to you by Miss AnnaClaire

I think we have a little artist on our hands! Wha do you think?

Valentine fun

First, do you like my candy heart?? Go here if you want to make one!

Second, did you notice the "Google" on Google today? Love that!!!

Chenzhou pictures- blog

We've had quite a few people ask us for pictures from our visit to AC's orphanage, Chenzhou, so instead of emailing all the pics individually, I made a blog with them. All the pictures (besides the ones of like AnnaClaire with her friends, etc) we took while at Chenzhou are on there. So if anyone reading this has/had a little one in Chenzhou and was unable to go to the orphanage, you can see tons of pictures of where your child was/is. Anyway, The URL for the site is www.chenzhouswi-dec06.blogspot.com.

Pic of Day- Little Sweetie

I love this picture of AnnaClaire in her Valentines Day PJs. We had a little photo shoot this morning and she wanted to hold her cold medicine, so she was shaking them like maracas. Too cute. Here are some more pics from our "photo shoot". But my favorite one is the top one, so that's the pic of the day.

Doggie gets bows?!

Our sweet thing rocking in her chair!

Love that face!!!
And this face too... So cute, I know, I know!
Doggie went to the groomer today...Did you catch whats on her EARS?

Not sure if you noticed... but Miss AnnaClaire had no bow in her hair today. And look who does! This morning we took Maggie to get her "hair cut". AnnaClaire was so bewildered and excited that Doggie "Gogdie" was in the car with her. She kept pointing at Maggie and saying, "Gogdie!!!!!!!! Gogdie!!!!!" It was so cute. So we dropped Maggie at the groomers and then headed to Wal Mart for a bit. AnnaClaire was OH SO FRIENDLY at Wal Mart and waved to EVERYONE she saw. She was smiling, waving, squealing, talking, to everyone who passed by. She is the friendliest little thing ever! We were at Wal Mart awhile. She especially liked seeing the other kids. She loves other kids! I then went to Grace where I made a really cute headband! Eek. Mom & AC picked me up and we had lunch. My Aunt called and talked to my Mom... EXCITING NEWS!!!! AnnaClaire is going to go to her VERY FIRST WEDDING... THIS SUMMER! (And it'll be my first wedding too! :)) My cousin is getting married!! Lunch was yummy and then Mom put AnnaClaire to bed. She fell right to sleep and was asleep almost 2 hours! YAY! A decent nap! BTW, she had an awesome night last night as well. She didn't awake ONCE! After naptime, Mom and AC headed on a few errands, picked Will up from school, and got Maggie from the groomer. Maggie looks soooooooooooo pretty!!! Her bows crack me up. I think their kinda cute though! It's funny that the BABY isn't wearing a bow but the DOG is wearing 2! Oh and the reason AC isn't wearing a bow is not because she took it out, she isn't wearing it because she banged up her head and we didn't want to hurt it with the "trauma" of putting a bow in. LOL. So that explains that. AC and I played while Mom made dinner. Oh and AnnaClaire made her very first picture!!! I'll take a picture of that and post it tomorrow. Mom got her some "So Big!" crayons and AC and I drew with them. She actually did a nice job. She couldn't quite figure out how to press hard enough to make a dark line, but the crayons made her quite happy. LOL. I think we have a little artsie baby! Dad came home for dinner and we had a nice dinner. AC and Dad then took me to swimming. The weather here has gotten nasty. It was soo nice this weekend and yesterday with it being so warm and sunny! But today it got freezing and started pouring down rain... that means for a long day for our outside loving baby!

New name!

A few days back, I asked for HELP! thinking of a new title for my blog. (Even though I got no help,) I finally came up with one. Journey with AnnaClaire. Because isn't that what this is? Our journey with this beautiful baby God has blessed us with AKA AnnaClaire! It's no longer the journey TO AnnaClaire, it is now our journey WITH AnnaClaire. (and boy does this journey rock!) The picture on the side is one of my very favorite pictures of AnnaClaire and I. There was a Bible verse (that I love) that I really wanted to include on the header, but the only way to get it on there was to make the font pretty small. I had to shrink the image to fit it properly as the header, and I couldn't read the verse at all. So, I have added that verse to the left. I found it while reading The Strenght of Mercy and had bookmarked it for later reference. The NIV version is different, but I liked the version they had in the book. Not sure which Bible it appears in... Anyway, I really liked it :)

MUST SEE THIS VIDEO/STORY!!!

In the middle of our paperchase, my mom was telling me about a story she saw on TV of twin girls, adopted from China, being spererated at adoption and years later, after DNA testing, finding out they were twins. I somehow came across a website that linked to another website that linked to the video. It is so amazing. You MUST see it! http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=21649@wbbm.dayport.com.

Pic of Day- Could be a portrait

I love this picture of AnnaClaire "hugging" the tree. I just love it!

AnnaClaire and the Waterbottle

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful princess. Her name was AnnaClaire. Princess AnnaClaire's servant took her outside and the little Princess insisted she take her beloved waterbottle with her. First, she got in her swing and swang, all the while holding on to her beloved waterbottle.

As the swing got faster and faster, the Princess' waterbottle fell out of her hands and to the ground. Princess AnnaClaire demanded it be picked up, and her servant, Emily, was there to do just that.

The Princess soon tired of her swing and grunted to get down. First, she wanted to hold her servant's hand, but she then grew brave and was loving her freedom in the grass!

She took very careful steps as to not ruin her pretty dress nor drop her waterbottle.
She made her way over to the leaves where she literally ran through them, almost falling, but catching herself with flying arms!
She decided the leaves were to dangerous, and made her way back to the grass where she sat and enjoyed her waterbottle.
The Princess then heard a noise coming from somewhere. She stopped to think where it could be coming from.
She peeked through the gate and saw Tilly and Alexander playing next door. She watched for a very long time.
Princess AnnaClaire then ran through the bark somemore, following Tilly from across the gate, all the while.

The Princess' servant showed her how cool trees were, and she touched the tree as if it was a diamond.

Her servant then showed her the log, and she grunted to get on.
Princess AnnaClaire became self contious of her dress getting dirty, and squatted on the ground instead, patting the log as she sat.
While squatting on the ground, she found leaves and looked up at her servant as if to say, "WHAT ARE THESE?" She played with the strange things we call leaves for a long, long time.
Through all the excitment of leaves, we realized Princess AnnaClaire had dropped her beloved waterbottle and the Dog had picked it up!
The Princess and her servant chased the Dog all around the yard trying to get the waterbottle back...
With no luck, the Princess decided the wrapper of the bottle was good enough... but not for long!

Not wanting to upset the beautiful princess, her servant did everything to get the waterbottle back. And get it back, she did! The Princess was very happy, except now the beloved waterbottle was dirty, squashed, and wrapper-less.
So the faithful servant got the excited Princess a new waterbottle! This one was not empty, but full of the delicious water! Princess wanted a sip, but it was hard to drink from such a big opening!
The servant read the Princess' thoughts exactly and poured some of the chilly water into the cup, so the Princess could drink some water. She was very happy.

And the beautiful Princess lived happily ever after, dog, servant, sippy cup, waterbottle, leaves, and all.

Indoor fun...

AnnaClaire has discovered that something that just so happens to be called a CD. Needless to say, she loves them.

Walking backwards so she can see her phone!
"I love balls!"
Looking at her Splish, Splash book.
"Look at me holding my puzzle!! Can we play with it?"

"I'm bringing it over to you, Sissy!"

Sliding.

Today was a fantastic day. AnnaClaire didn't have the best night last night, but she woke up extremely cheerful. She and Mom went to the grocery store and were there awhile. They came home bringing me tulips (my favorite :)) AnnaClaire was quite sweet all day. She enjoyed yummy congee for lunch and we played piano, played with her phone, and played with the ball. She has taken interest in balls and cds. Maggie and AC fight for the ball. AnnaClaire learned to throw it, and now she holds it really cutely and then she throws it. It's adorable! She also loves holding cds! She probably shouldn't hold them, but she sobs when they are taken away, and they are usually not in her mouth. She is also quite gentle with them! She had fun walking around with her phone pull thing and realized that it "rang". So cute. She still walks backwards so she can actually see the thing she is pulling, which I think is adorable.

After lunch, we played piano and about 12:45, Mom put her down for a nap. I got her out of the crib around 2:30. We came downstairs and she pointed to her sweater. If you say, "breakfast", she runs over to her highchair. If you say "stroller ride", she runs over to the door. And if you say "outside", she reaches for her sweater. I hadn't even said the O word, but she wanted outside. So I put her sweater on and we headed outside. It ended up being REALLY warm out, so we de-sweatered. She had a lot of fun swinging. She also insisted she bring her waterbottle out... LOL. We swang, we walked around the yard, we chased Maggie, we picked up leaves, we looked across the yard at Tilly and Alexander who were outside nextdoor, we hugged trees, we looked at the grass, we patted logs, we climbed on tree stumps. We were outside for over an hour and AnnaClaire loved every bit of it. She is an outside girl! I have a TON of pictures from outside, along with a story to go along with them that I will post above.

After being outside, I got AC some water in her cup and she drank a lot of it. She then went over to her puzzle and brought it to me, turned around and plopped in my lap, and we did the puzzle together. I must say, it is the sweetest thing when she turns around and just PLOPS right into my lap. I love it. I wouldn't trade that for anything. We did her puzzle, we read, we had snack. We then went upstairs while Mom made dinner. We danced to music, we (she) went down her slide, and we played. Finally after 4:30, she was hanging on the gate, so I took her downstairs where we admired little Maura and sweet Sara's announcements, her first Valentine, and a ladybug note card thank you note. That was for sure the longest time I had spent with AC straight. We had a BLAST!!! I never knew how much fun 2 hours with a 15 month old would be, until we did it! It was great fun. I love this baby girl oh so much!!!!!!!!!!

AnnaClaire's First Valentine!!!!!!

AnnaClaire got her very first Valentine (from a friend) today!! She had gotten one from both grandmas, but not anyone else. This adorable Valentine came from AnnaClaire's special friend/twin, Maura! The "O" is even fuzzy, which our 15 month old girly-girl LOVES to touch! Hehe. Thank you Maura!! WE LOVE YOU & CAN'T WAIT TO MEET YOU THIS SPRING!!!

2 months!!!

I can't believe we have had AnnaClaire for 2 months! It seems like so much longer... but it also seems like just yesterday she was given to us! I did a new home update today on the website, so check that for more "2 month" info. Here's a little "Then and Now" thing I put together! Click to make it bigger.

BTW, Dad and I are in the process of doing a "Gotcha Day" video clip (finally!) and AnnaClaire's adoption story. It might be another few weeks before that's posted, but eventually, it'll be here! We still have to figure out how to get video from the video camera on to a movie!

Pic of Day- Big smile!

I love this picture. I stuck AnnaClaire on the chair and she loved it. She didn't want to come down! So she was soooooo happy. LOVE THIS PIC!!!

Daddy/Daughter day!

"Cups are COOL!" (it's empty)

"I'm under the TABLE!!!"
"Sitting on Sissy."
"I love Doggie!"

AnnaClaire and Daddy had a "Daddy/Daughter" day today because Mom took me to my swim meet. I did okay. After the meet, we went out to Panera with a few friends and then went to Coldstone Ice Cream. It was delicious. When we got home, I played with AC for a long time. Mom went and saw a movie. AnnaClaire went in her first ride in Dad's car!!! I think she liked it. She could reach the seat with her feet and had fun kicking it.. lol. I think it's a pain for Dad to moce the carseat from car to car though...

AnnaClaire was extra sweet today. She also enjoyed lots of outside time with Mom for awhile!

Half the Sky

AnnaClaire in Chenzhou

I have briefly mentioned Half the Sky before, but (in honor of 2 months together) I have decided to do a post all about HTS. "Half the Sky" is an organization working in many orphanages across China, including Chenzhou SWI, where AnnaClaire lived for 13 months. As of now, HTS is working in almost 29 orphanages and is expanding their work into Maoming, Maonan, Shaoguan, and Qingyuan orphanages. Half the Sky has 4 programs, the baby sisters (infant nurture) program, the little sisters program, the big sisters program and family villages. The baby sisters is until 2 years old, so AnnaClaire was in this program in Chenzhou. So I'm focusing on this program in this post.

"The little ones in Half the Sky’s Baby Sisters Infant Nurture Centers make their journey from sleeping infants to running toddlers with the help of Half the Sky-trained nannies with whom they develop deep emotional bonds. These are the bonds that are crucial for healthy brain development.
Half the Sky’s nannies—retired or laid-off workers from the local community—are trained to act as every parent who has fallen in love with a child intuitively acts—they sing, play, cuddle, hug, and generally dote on their charges. In so doing the nannies help babies avoid the problems that are so common in institutionalized children who have been fed and clothed, but not cherished.
The nannies help babies avoid the problems common in institutionalized children who have been fed and clothed, but not cherished.
The nannies learn to recognize the signs of delays. They learn simple therapies to help the babies reach developmental milestones. They learn the art of responsive care…watching their young charges, listening to them, and providing the nurture as it is needed.
Infants need more than food and clothes—they need the daily love and interaction with caring adults that Half the Sky’s nannies provide." (this is from the HTS website.)

Right now in China, Half the Sky employs 530 nannies, 181 teachers, 42 local supervisors, and 12 field staff, all working to bring nurturing programs to orphaned children!

It is evident to us that AnnaClaire had this wonderful program in her orphanage, as she was walking steadily, talking, eating table foods, etc. the day we got her, at 13 months old. Although this is very normal for American children, many children in China are delayed in these areas of development. While visiting the orphanage, we were told that AnnaClaire began talking at 10 months old and walking in early Dec. (13 mo) (Right before we got her!) Half the Sky is also who provided us with development reports from AC's birth- AC's adoption (including a picture of AC shortly after arriving at the orphanage!). Speaking of which, is anyone who has adopted a child from an HTS orphanage know how to get the color version of these reports? If so, please comment and tell me! I know it's possible but I'm not sure how and our family would really like these priceless pictures in COLOR!

For more information on Half the Sky Foundation, please visit www.halfthesky.org.

Pic of Day- smiling sweet with her brush!

Bet you haven't seen the infamous ladybug hairbrush for a long time, have you?! I love this picture. It was taken shortly after bathtime and AC was just walking all around the house with her hairbrush. She stuck it in her mouth so she could hold her new book, too, and then she gave me this huge, hairbrush, grin! So sweet. I LOVE HER!

Another park!

"We're getting ready to go bubye!!!"

"I had soooo much fun swinging at the park!"
"Look at me GO!"
"Daddy swang, too!"
"I love walking around hold 2 hands!"
"I love my Daddy."

"Sliding down the slide!"

"This backround of the lake at the park is so pretty, especially with me standing in front!"

"Sissy bought me a new book! I love it!"

"We got girl scout cookies today, but I'm not aloud to have them. So I get SPECIAL (organic animal crackers) cookies!"

"Mama, Dada, someone... Doggie needs in!"

"Lookie at my beads!"

"The library is fun!"

"Lots of books!"

"I'm a sweet valentine (note bib) who loves to eat!"

This is quick.. have to get to bed. Today was a good day. AnnaClaire did NOT sleep well at all last night. She was up more than she was asleep. My swim meet went very well this morning and I did good. After the meet, I went with a couple of friends to a pasta lunch. It was yummy. Mr. L drove me home and Dad and I went to the park with AC. AnnaClaire had a blast. She loved swinging!!!!! She was a little timid to walk around by herself and mainly liked to hold hands and be lugged around. She had fun exploring the lake. She also went down the slide a couple of times. She liked that. We then left to go to Blockbuster because one of my friends was selling girl scout cookies there. We got lots of thin mints and a box of tagalongs. YUM! I love girl scout cookies! We went to Harris Teeter and Barnes & Noble after that. While at Barnes & Noble, I gave AC a book to keep her happy. It's called Hugs and Kisses and it's a touch and feel book. She wouldn't let it go!! So I bought it for her. She loves it. We got home and played a little while before Mom, Dad, and AC went to the library. I think they had a good time. The night ended with yummy dinner and Dad and I bathed, lotioned, and changed AnnaClaire. We played a little before Mom put her to bed. Hopefully she will sleep MUCH better tonight! BTW, she took at 2.5 hour nap today!!!!!!!!!

Foto Challenge- Wildcard!

They aren't feeling so great over at Double Happiness (hope y'all feel better!), so this weeks Family FotoFun Challenge is "Wildcard!" I could NOT decide... I looked at all my pictures from China first. I was going to do my top 10 photos taken there, but I took 1529 pictures, and it's just too stressful to pick 10! So I decided to do "Smiles! (China)" (aka my favorite smiles from AnnaClaire while in China) and "Bathtime". We've only taken pictures for a total of 3 baths, 1st bath with us (in China), first bath at home, and then another time when she was just too cute. So I've added all the bathtime pictures we have, but made my favorites the biggest. There is really a difference between her 1st bath and the other two. She is so terrified in the first one! Anyway, ENJOY!

Pic of Day- pretty in her "announcemet dress"

We call this dress the "announcement dress" because she was wearing it in the picture we used on our announcement. Speaking of which... I need to post a picture of our gorgeous announcement! I'll do that tomorrow! Anyway, we love this dress, especially with her blue bow and white squeakies. I think she is just a doll-baby. Especially with those rosy red cheeks! What do you think?

Uh Oh!!!

Here's AC in the car this afternoon. When I took the picture, she was in the middle of saying "uh oh"!

AnnaClaire has quite a few little words. Things like ba (flying kiss), jiang (peekaboo), Mama (prounced MaMaaaaaaaa), Dada (prounced DaDaDa), Ba Ba (for bottle), bu bye (pronounced ba bay!), hi (pronounced eye), so (pronounced o), doggie (pronounced gogdie, or something like that!), ge ge (big brother) I've heard jie jie (big sister, she pronounces it gee gee), and then one of the cutest... "UH OH!" She just recently starting saying this one. It is SOOOOO cute when she says it! She says it when something falls, or she falls, or when we say it. The way she says it is just to die for! "Uh ohhhhhhhhhhh!" You have to hear it... this video was taken the other day. I was changing her and I (purposely, lol) dropped something (so she would say it for the camera...)

Anyway, today was a fun day. I wasn't home much of it, so this post will be pretty short. AnnaClaire was a little fussy this morning. She didn't sleep great last night. We played with her and laid her down for a morning nap around 10:20. She slept until about 11:40 (I think Mom had to wake her). AC, Mom, and I then loaded up and drove to one of my friend's houses for bookclub. I brought AC in and after a little timidness at first, she was showing off all her cute tricks and being adorable. She liked playing with the little toys they had too! Mom and AC left and we enjoyed Chinese lunch. Mom and AC went to the mall because it was a not so nice, cold day. They actually ran into one of our adoption friends who lives here! AnnaClaire had an afternoon nap and played outside for a really long time. She also enjoyed sliding down her slide, Mom said. Bookclub was great. Caroline's mom brought me home and then I got all packed up for a swim meet this afternoon. Mrs. P took me and we picked up Sadie from school, got Subway, and then headed downtown. The swim meet went pretty well. It's all weekend long, so it'll be a busy weekend with not much AC time :(. When Dad and I got home, AnnaClaire had just finished her bath. She is sooooooo adorable wrapped in her little hooded towels! Dad and I lotioned her and dressed her and then Mom did Ba Ba and bed. Hopefully she'll sleep through the night as usual! I think the poor thing's little toofers might be bothering her, which would explain why she didn't sleep great last night and was fussier than normal this afternoon.

Pic of Day- Snacktime with Sissy

This was taken while AnnaClaire and I enjoyed goldfish and applejuice. I think she's pretty adorable :) (BTW, she is waving hi to you!)

Pictures from today

"What is this?"

"Cords are such fun!"
"What's in Sissy's bag?"
"Reading LuLu Ladybug" The ladybug moves all around the book, so AnnaClaire has so much fun with it.
She also loves this book- Home: Sparkle Fun. She especially loves pointing the the pink table on the "Dining Room" page! (which is what she's doing)

It was a fun day. AC's hearing test was this morning and she passed with flying colors. She was so good for it! We enjoyed a calm day and AC and I read a bunch. She was so cute when we were done, because she knocked the book basket over and picked all the books up one by one and put them back in the basket. She is so good. She plays so nicely by herself now! As long as someone is with her, that is. We love her so much. Sorry this is such a quick post. I did a new home update on the website and it is 3 (Microsoft Word) pages long, so it's kept me occupied tonight. BTW, check the website for that newest home update! www.bringinghomeannaclaire.com

Have a nice night!

Pic(s) of Day- More Park Fun

I really would rather just have one picture of the day... But I just couldn't decide. I knew it was going to be the swing one (first) but then I posted the standing one in my other post, and thought it was so cute... So here they both are. Both sweet pictures of my sweet mei mei that were taken at the park.

I love her.

Pretty on the wicker chair

Today while AnnaClaire and I enjoyed our beautiful weather on the porch, I decided to have a little "portrait" of her. It's not professional or anything, but I love the way she is sitting, her smile, etc. I think she looks beautiful on the wicker chair!

Fun at the Park!!!

"LOOK AT ME GO!!!!!!"

"Walking around the park with my Mama!"
"I know I'm cute. Why say anything more?"
My mom took this one. I thought it came out nice. I think we were looking at a pine cone.
"I think I can, I THINK I CAN!" (make it up the "slide")

Today we went to the park. First I had piano and AC played in the nursery nextdoor, like always. She didn't want to leave! But we did leave and went to the park. It's a small park in a little town near where we live. When Drew, Will, and I were little, Mom would take us there. The last time anyone from our family had gone was when I was 2 (11 years ago). So we drove down the little street to the little park. My mom said it had really changed. There are now buildings just jumping up all around the "little" street. Anyway, we got to the park. AnnaClaire got all excited. We put her in the little swing first. She swang back and forth. It was really funny because she had her head forward. It was cute. The picture of her in the swing, I took underneath, so that's why it looks like her head is up. It is really down. Here's a picture of her swinging with her head down: My mom told me I did the same thing when I was little ;). After some swinging, we put AnnaClaire on the mulch to see if she wanted to walk around. She was very timid at first and clutched onto Mom's hand. She took VERYYYYY small steps. Then she realized it was fine and she was soon walking a very quick pace all around the park. She fell a couple times over the ledges, but she'd laugh at herself. We went down the slide. I had to follow her through this little tunnel thing. Whew, it was tough! It was tight quarters. She enjoyed the park so much. After some independent time, she decided she wanted to hold Mommy and Sissy's hand instead of being herself. So she clutched on to both our hands-- adorable! There was this little *WIMPY* slide thing for toddlers that she went down. It was kinda pathetic because it was not even slidish (is that a word?) enough for her to go down. I pushed her down. She thought it was funny. But then she realized she could climb UP it! See picture. She worked at it and worked at it until I took her hands and pulled her up. She smiled HUGE and was all excited. Too cute. We went home and she cried the minute we put her in her carseat. She usually loves her car seat, but she didn't want to leave the park. I think we'll make it a normal activity. There are lots of parks near us. My mom said this one had changed a ton since I was little. It was pretty unused and small, but AC loved it!

We got home and AnnaClaire had bites of cheese, turkey, and greenbeans for lunch. Loved it all. She played outside with Mom until Mom left around 12:15 for her belated bday lunch with her friends. I got to babysit AnnaClaire for the first (real) time. I've watched her while Mom ran some where quick, but never atually babysat her. Mom was gone about 2 hours. AC and I started out on the porch, having a blast. She was so cute playing with the doggie door. About 12:40, she seemed tired, so I got her bottle ready. We went upstairs and I realized her crib didn't have sheets on it. I put her bottle down and hunted all over for sheets, put her down and made up the crib. She came over to me and started patting my leg like, "Sissy, I'm ready for my Ba Ba!" I finished quick and then got all comfy in the chair, laid her in my lap and started giving her the bottle. Out it came. Too hot. We went downstairs and I stuck it in the freezer for like 1 minute to cool it off. We went back upstairs. 1 minute in the freezer did the trick and she drank the whole thing down. I rocked her a little and then got up to put her in the crib. Yikes. I laid her down and she started SCREAMING. I mean blood curdling SCREAMS. I pulled her out of the crib and rocked her some more, then tried again. (she was fine if I was holding her, but the minute I got near the crib, it was AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!) After a few times, I called Mom and she said to just rock and keep trying till she got home. I rocked her and rocked her and sweetly, she found a comfy position and fell asleep in my arms. It was the sweetest thing ever. She started snoring. There is nothing like my baby sister falling asleep in my arms, let me tell you. I let her sleep about 10 minutes and decided she was in a deep enough sleep to try the crib. I laid her down and "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" she cried, and screamed, and cried some more. I got her out and she fell right back asleep. I held her another 5 or 10 minutes and tried again. WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I let her lay a minute so I could get another bottle ready. I didn't warm it as much this time. I gave her the bottle and she drank it all. I rocked her and put her in the crib. Nope, she'd have nothing to do with that. Finally I gave up and just rocked her. She now thought it was playtime and was playing on my lap. I made us stay in the rocking chair so she knew it wasn't play time. We actually had a very nice time together. Around 2:20, Mom got home and brought me a mouth watering peanut butter cup (I think I talked about those in and earlier post.) She and AC then left to get Will from school. When they got home, Mom got a bottle ready and gave it to AC, then laid her in her crib. In 2 minutes, AC was fast asleep, not a cry out of her mouth! Of course, she slept for Mama, but she slept in my ARMS and let me rock her for me! (She doesn't let anyone else rock her and hasn't slept in anyone elses arms). I felt so special. So it was a long afternoon babysitting, but AnnaClaire and I had a very nice time. We've learned that when I watch AnnaClaire again, Mom will put her to bed FIRST. As much of a pain it was at first, I now look back and I'm glad all that happened, because AC and I had some great sissy time :).

After her nap, she was alllllllll soaked through, so we changed her into some cute pants and she had a wonderful rest of the day. She is so sweet. I love her sooo much. She is SMART, too! She was in my room and went over to the trashcan and pulled out all the waterbottles. There was other stuff in there, but she pulled out only the waterbottles and lined them up. There was one without a lid and she handed that one to me. It was cute.

Ohh and our little sweetie is getting another "toofer"!!!!!!!!! A top molar! I don't blame her for being so fussy today, molars HURT! She still has a total of 8 teeth (4 top, 4 bottom) and her top molar is coming in. It is barely in though, just a wee pit of tooth popping through!

I love this little girl OH SO MUCH!

On another note, I can't believe this... it was 2 months ago, today, that we left for China!!! I can't believe it's already been 2 months! Time flies, but then it seems like we've had AnnaClaire forever! I remember that day two months ago.. that flight that seemed like eternity. 2 months ago, we only had a couple more hours left of our flight. I was probably watching that screen that tells you how long you have left, hehe. Wow, 2 months since we left for the trip of a lifetime, the best place I've ever been, the happiest time in the world! Two months... and I'm ready to go back again! I miss China soooooo much.

HELP!!

As you can see, I've added a few more touches to my blog. 1st is my little "I <3 comments" thing. Because I do. Did you know last month was "de-lurking" month? Well I'm celebrating it a month late. It's been almost a month and I've had almost 2,000 visitors, so I know you're out there! So please comment!

I also added some pictures. Like "Our first peek", "gotcha", "family forever". I also have a new "thing". For every holiday (besides like Labor Day, Presidents Day, etc), I'm going to post a picture of AC that represents that holiday. So you can see the "Happy Valentines Day" picture, too. That is AC (pretty in pink) with her pink hugging hippo from Grandma.

Anyway, now I want a new header. The one I have now is sooo plain. I love how I redid my blog, but I need a "catchy" header/title. I have seen some realllllly creative blog titles out there. I am usually quite creative, but I can't come up with anything. "Emily's Mei Mei" is just to boring and "AnnaClaire is home... Journals of a Jie Jie" is way to long for a title. SO, HELP! There must be SOMETHING creative I could call my blog. If you have ANY ideas, PLEASE comment. And if you don't have a blogger account, feel free to be anonymous!

ALL things are possible...

I was on someones website today and then had a post titled "Birth Verse". I clicked on it and it led me to www.mybirthverse.com. This is AnnaClaire's birth verse-

Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Mark 10:27

I love that verse! How true it is! How in all the world would it be possible for us alone to "find" AnnaClaire. There is no way. She was hand picked specially for our family, and only God can do that. ALL things are possible with God.

Just had to share that. The picture is of me and Miss AnnaClaire. I really love that picture "Pretty in Pink". I took it yesterday.

Pic of Day- Sweet with bunny

I don't know what it is about this picture, I just love it. I hope you do to! She loves that bunny she is holding!!!!! (Thank you Kempf family!)

I also really liked the ones from the "diaper cutie" post (2 posts down) but I wanted all of them shown, not just one, so that made my choice easy.

Texas fan

She's learning at an early age :)

And SHE'S the one who wanted (pointed and grunted for, and once we gave it to her, flashed a huge grin) this hat, I didn't just shove it at her for a picture, I promise!

Diaper cutie (other favorite pics)

I took these pictures this morning. I think she is SOOOOOOOO cute in just a diaper. As you can see, she's quite the chubster as well!!!

BTW, notice the bow in her hair? There's a little story to that-- Mom was putting her stuff away earlier in the morning, and AnnaClaire saw the bows go in the drawer. She started grunting and pointing at it and pointed to her head. Mom put it in and she was happy. So that's why she's wearing a bow BEFORE she was dressed!

Typical Tuesday

"I'm such a help when if comes to doing Sissy's hair!" (she is holding those things that clip your hair back while you do stuff to it)

Maggie kept getting caught holding AC's rings. Then we realized that AnnaClaire was actually GIVING the rings to Maggie. Haha... I caught it in action!
"I LOVE my cell phone from Big Brother, Drew!)
She gets into EVERYTHING. PROOF: (but we still adore her all the same, it's just part of babyhood!)
"Sissy and me: pretty in pink. Oh, BTW, notice my "poopies" in my hand?"

AnnaClaire woke up really happy this morning! Mom made her french toast for breakfast and she enjoyed that with some orange. She ate very nicely. I read a few books to her including, Moo Ba LaLaLa (thanks Lindbloms), Who's Hiding in the Garden? (thanks Liptacks!) LuLu Ladybug (thanks Hutts!) My Mama Loves Me (Thanks Schwarz') and her all time favorite- Home: Sparke Fun (thanks Gadsens!) She actually picked the books she wanted to read.. hehehe. I got her dressed all cute in my very favorite outfit she has. I remember the day we bought it! Anyway, she looked PRECIOUS in it. We played a little more and then I gave her to Mama so I could do school. AC and Mom went to the grocery store and were there forever. Everyone wanted to see her, as Mom explained. Mom unloaded groceries while AnnaClaire "helped" me do my hair (AKA find the basket with all my stuff in it and unload it all one by one, satisfying herself with the little hair thingamabobs). She was soooooooo good while I did that and packed my bag. She just played with my stuff. She is SUCH a good girl! I went to Grace and then my friend and I went to Panera where we enjoyed their DELCIOUS food. We walked across the parking lot to Target and got frappichinos and stuff while we waited for my mom to pick us up. AnnaClaire was playing with her cellphone in the car. She loves that thing! She is such a technical baby!!! HEHE! When we got home, we played somemore while Mom checked emails. I fed her a snack and we had fun with that. After playing a little, I realized she had a STINKY poopy diaper. I changed her (I must brag a little that I have changed QUITE a few poopy diapers...probably more than my dad!) She is so funny after getting her "poopies" changed because she likes the carry the bag downstairs! It's pretty cute :). Mom, AC, and I played some more and then AnnaClaire insisted on doing "chariot rides". (Where she sits in her PUSHY wagon and I push her all around the house). She had the biggest squeals and grins. It was cute. And tiring for me! Mom and her played with her door thing and then I practiced piano. AC also insisted on playing with me. She is so cute because she likes to sit on the bench and then she just plays and plays. Precious. Except it makes it hard for me to play! It's still adorable though! Anyway, then we had dinner. She loves beans!!!

She is soooooooo sweet. I love her sooooooo much!

They have Miss Lily Rose!!!

This morning was Lily Rose's Gotcha Day! Isn't she sooooo cute? Lily Rose and family~I love that smile! What a change from that serious face we saw in December! She is adorable.

Pic of Day- Cracker Crumbs

I love this picture of Miss AC with cracker all over her face. She's pretty cute, isn't she?

BIG mail day!

1st off, while we were in China, we met a wonderful family adopting sweet Holly. It turns out, they had been following our website for a few months, and we had been following their website, too! About mid January, Mrs. Kirby emailed my mom telling her that they had gotten some cute things from people and they didn't fit Holly, would we be interested in them. Well, today they came! A sweet summer ladybug play outfit, and a little ladybug sweater! I also included the note they sent because the picture of Kian and Holly is so cute, but I don't know if you can see it or not. Thank you so much, Kirbys!!! AnnaClaire is going to look just precious in her ladybug clothes!

2nd of all, ANNACLAIRE'S CERTIFICATE OF CITIZENSHIP CAME!!!!! I've included a picture of the letter from George W. Bush. I think AC was already an America citizen when we landed on US ground, but the airport lady said she wasn't, so if not, AnnaClaire now is, for sure, an American citizen!

3rd of all, we got something else in the mail, but I'm saving that for the quilt blog! So check that, and we also have some ***BIG*** news in that area of interest.

Bow girl

This just had to have a post of it's own.

If you followed our trip to China, you probably remember me complaining about how AnnaClaire WOULD NOT WEAR BOWS. It was so disappointing, because she really looks so much better with a bow in! I worked with her and worked with her and finally, once back in the good ol' USofA, she kept it in for 4 hours!!!!!! I thought the bow battle had ended, but no, it came back and she still would NOT keep a bow in her hair. We worked and worked some more. Let me tell you, I was DETERMINED for this little one to keep this bow in! FINALLY one day, it stayed in the whole.entire.day. I was so pleased. It was a tough battle, but Sissy won out. She hardly ever takes it out anymore. She usually takes it out as revenge when she is yelled at, but that is it. And if she does take it out, she holds it out to us and puts it on her head-- to cute! So today, I was wearing a bow so AC and I could be "alike". She reached up and pulled it out of my hair and put it on her head! So I stuck it in. (She already had one in.) Then I put another one in and another. She had 4 bows in! And she wasn't even yanking them out! It was pretty sweet... So, enjoy the picture of "our little bow girl."

And don't get me wrong, I'd love her all the same even if she didn't wear her bows. But... they do add an extra charm to her :)

Wagons, snow, and more!

Hehehehe, isn't she cute in her "chariot"?

"Ohh I love being pushed around in my wagon!"
"It's so much fun..."

"We don't get enough REAL snow, so why not make napkin snow?"

AnnaClaire was sooooooooo sweet today. We got some good reading time in this morning. I took care of her most of the morning as Mom was on the phone with one of her best friends who she hardly ever gets to talk to. So, AnnaClaire and I had a fun morning. She didn't nap all that long (ugh). Grandma left this afternoon, it will be tough not having her here! She was SUCH a big help with the baby! Dad also left for Richmond for work and he won't be home until Wednesday.... By the afternoon, you could really tell Miss AC hadn't gone anywhere today except her swing. She was getting so antsy and fussy! But she is still adorable when antsy and fussy. :) It was all too quiet in the kitchen, and Mom peeked in and Little Miss had a mouth full or dog food, hand in Maggie's water, etc. YIKES! All I heard was, "NO!" and then "WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" She hates being told no. So I guess she had her first taste of dog food today. Wonder what she thought of it?! She practiced piano with me. She is so cute doing that. She loves playing. It is hard though because she trys pushing my hands off the keys so she can have it all to herself! She likes to hear herself play! LOL! She had a yummy dinner and then got some of our noodles, too. She LOVED the noodles. She really is such a sweet little one. I love her so much.

BTW, we had to make new email adresses today because we switched internet things. I've gotten quite a few emails from people who read my blog, so I thought I'd just post my new email adress: hookEMHORNs@carolina.rr.com.

Pic(s) of Day- Sitting pretty & jumping on peanuts!

I love these pictures! The first one took a waterbottle "jumping in the sky" for her to sit still. The second one is of AnnaClaire jumping on the peanut bags. It was taken at Five Guys. Elizabeth is the one holding her. I really couldn't decide with these two. I love the first one how she has her hands in her lap and its just so sweet of her, but the second one has a smile that I love. And I think it's cute with the peanut bags!

Fun day with Sweet One

"Carrying around my poopies!"
"I'm ready to go to Church!"
"I loved having lunch with the big girls!"
"Aren't I darling in my crib with my bunny from the K's?"

Short post-- It was a fun day. We went to Church today and Mom took AnnaClaire into the newborn nursery that she works in. She doesn't want to leave AC yet, and she works in the newborns. AnnaClaire did very nicely. After Church, we met Will had gone to another Church (geared for teens) with his friend and we met them for lunch at Five Guys. Elizabeth, Sadie, AC, and I all sat at one table and AnnaClaire had a great lunch of grilled cheese, mushrooms, and green pepper! She is a fantastic eater! We stayed awhile and didn't get home until after 2. It was tough keeping Miss AnnaClaire awake in her carseat! She napped nearly two hours and was a sweet, happy thing after awaking. She played piano with me and then went to Harris Teeter with Dad and Grandma to get stuff for nacho cheese (she didn't have any!) I went to Youth Group for our superbowl party. We had a good time although I wish they had let us watch halftime! Also they had trouble getting the satalite to work, so we didn't know if we'd be able to watch the game. We had a big prayer and afterwards, it worker, but was still very poor quality. It was still a really fun event though with pizz, ice cream bars, soda, and fun!

I'm a little disappointed the Bears lost, but I think the Colts deserved it.

Who will win??

As if you couldn't tell.. I love football. Love it. I'm quite disappointed that the Panthers had such a stinky season or else this Superbowl would've been especially fun:). But it's a good matchup- Bears vs. Colts! I personally want the Bears, FOR SURE. I don't like teams that everyone else likes. It seems like EVERYONE likes the Colts, EVERYONE has Peyton Manning jerseys, EVERYONE talks about the Colts, etc. Yet, this is their first Superbowl! Ha. Anyway, I've never liked the Colts, so cheering for the Bears comes easily to me. And my Mom was born in Chicago plus I've been there and love it, whereas I've never been to Indianapolis! (or Indiana for that matter...) Besides, I've always been an underdog cheerer. (Wait-- the bears are the underdogs right?)

Who do you want?

Pic of Day- Happy with Chinese food!

I love this picture. I took so many pictures today and I love every one of them, but this one is my favorite. If you look close, see all the food on her face and the greenbeans hangin' out of her mouth? Gotta love that SMILE.

I LOVE MY MEI MEI OH SO MUCH!

Then and Now... Without and With...

I made this presentation of the last 2 times we were at PF Changs. The last time before tonight, was Miss AnnaClaire's 1st birthday, celebrated with just pictures of her. And then tonight, we went, for Mom's birthday but this time, we had AnnaClaire!!!!!!!!! One thing for sure.. it's harder getting a picture of us with the Great Wall of Chocolate!! Click the image to see upclose!!

PF Changs dinner!

"I'd like to let you know that everything tastes better on chopsticks."

Hmm.. does that look appealing to you? BTW, these "TableToppers" are an amazing MUST HAVE. They are at Babies R Us for $9 a pack-- expensive, but they are the best invention EVER!

"Ohhhh hot tea is AMAZING." "Jiang, brother!"
Happy birthday (1 day belated), Mom!

Our PF Changs dinner was fabulous! Grandma treated us all, for Mom's bday! We enjoyed lettuce wraps at first. Oh, the love of lettuce wraps! AnnaClaire loved the lettuce wraps minus the lettuce. I fed her some of the gunk off chopsticks which made it even better. We all got our delicious meals, but we had a longggg wait for them. AnnaClaire stayed SOOOOOOOO happy the entire wait! When the food came, she had some of Mom's salmon, some of Grandma's chicken, green pepper, green beans, bean sprouts, and brown rice. She discoved Mom and Dad's organic green tea and drank 3 CUPS of it! She loved it and would reach for it and grunt when I took it out of her mouth!! She loved eating all her food off chopsticks!!! Desert came out and we argued over whether to let her have a crumb of chocolate cake or not. I won the argument and AnnaClaire had NO cake. The waited came out with the free brownie thing and Mom had that--loved it! We also got a Great Wall of Chocolate for the rest of us. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!! AnnaClaire found a new favorite! Blueberries and strawberries! That was her desert! Hey...they came off the desert plates! ;) We ended up being at dinner for 2 HOURS. And AnnaClaire was a happy baby the entire time! We got quite a few complimants from other people eating on how well behaved she was. She sat in the highchair that whole two hours! OH MY GOODNESS, DID SHE LOVE PF CHANGS OR WHAT! While we were in China, her head would get all sweaty when she ate. Well, since we've been home, it hasn't done that! At PF Changs, guess what? Her head was DRENCHED in sweat. Also, we got those adorable squinty eyed, teeth showing smiles, which we hadn't seen for awhile either. She smiles 24/7 but it had been awhile since we saw that "Gotcha day smile" you know, the famous one on the homepage of our website?! AnnaClaire just adored everything about dinner. Including "petting" the elephant statue as we left. Dinner was capped off with a VERY smelly diaper that Sissy changed (part of Mom's bday present..) We gave Mom a Chickfila giftcard for her bday and she loves it. She is also getting a new garage door because at the moment, we are manually doing ours! Anyway, by the end of dinner, AC was a MESS. I mean, she had food on her feet, on her legs, on her face, on her hands, INSIDE of her undershirt, in her diaper, in her hair, EVERYWHERE. We rinsed her off and then left. AC was a tropper in the car considering it was 8:30, way after bedtime! She was clapping, dancing, singing, and smiling in the car. I gave her a quick bath when we got home, since she was a mess. While she was waiting for her bath, she went potty (and her diaper wasn't on...) yikes! That was the first time that had happened, and she's run naked around the entire house! I finished bathing sweet one and then dried her off, lotioned her, put her in her jammies, brushed her hair. Mom got her bottle ready and she gave nightnight kisses to everyone before going to bed.

MY GOODNESS, I LOVE THIS LITTLE GIRL!

I can't believe the last time we were at PF Changs was on AnnaClaire's 1st birthday! It was so much better having our little one instead of just a picture! See above post for "then and now" pictures!

Presents and puzzles!

Hi there!

Grandma and her only granddaughters!
"Showing my Dada my new stuffed animal!"
"Look at Lola, my new hippo! Grandma gave her to me for Valentines day!"
Sweet doing her puzzle!

This afternoon was very fun! Grandma came to our house bearing many, many gifts from all her friends back in Texas. We opened all of them today. THANK YOU EVERYONE! WE LOVE EVERYTHING! We got a darling hand sewn hooded towel, precious ladybug summer outfit, sweet stuffed bear, a "Growing with Jesus" growth chart, I love you Like Crazy Cakes, a Bible board book, and then a Valentines gift from Grandma- the hippo from Hallmark! AnnaClaire took right to both her bear and hippo! She hasn't seemed to LOVE stuffed animals, but she LOVEDDDDD these ones! She carried Bear all around and showed her off to everyone! As for her hippo, she was smiling at her, carrying her around, hugging her, TOO CUTE!!!

After opening all the presents, we headed to the mall before going across the street to PF Changs for Mom's birthday dinner. We got AC all in the stroller and walked in through Belk. We passed a big sign above some Lacoste Polos that said 50% OFF! Now, I have been really wanting a Lacoste shirt and how could you pass up a 50% of Lacoste sign? So we looked through them all and found quite a few colors I liked in my size. I tried them all on and went with the green one. Then we were walking back though to buy it, and we passed a pretty pink one I hadn't seen. I couldn't decide which one I wanted, so Mom gave me a special treat of BOTH! So we got 2 for the price of 1. (I hope this doesn't make me sound spoiled. Please realize that I buy ALL my own clothes!) She later called it my treat for being such a big helper with AnnaClaire/a good sister. So now I have a pink AND green Lacoste shirt! YIPEE!!! Thanks Mom, love ya!

P.S. dinner was a HUGE hit for all! See above post for text and pictures from dinner!

Foto Challenge- Sleepyhead!

This weeks Family FotoFun Challenge from Double Happiness is "Sleepyhead!" As always, click the image to see it upclose! Cracks me up that MINUTES after I posted yesterday's "picture of the day", I went to see what the next Foto Challenge was and it was sleepyheads... Exactly what my picture of the day had been!

I never want to disturb AnnaClaire in her sleep, so most of these pictures are in China while Miss AC was 13 months old. The upclose one was taken yesterday at 15 months! I think she is just precious when she sleeps! Those heart shaped lips and slanted eyes--aww!

As a matter of fact, Princess AnnaClaire is sleeping right now! Funny.

Pic of day- sleeping sweetly

Here is our darling little angel asleep in her carseat. Yes, shopping does just wear a girl out! I love this picture. I think she is precious asleep!

Mall, birthday and tongues!

"AnnaClaire, where is your tongue?"

"Here's my TON GAH, Sissy!"

First off... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I won't say her age because I don't know if she would like that... ;)

In "celebration" Grandma, Mom, AnnaClaire, and I packed up and headed to the MALL, of course! We went to our big outlet mall. First we had Chickfila, though. We had a full day of shopping and AC was very well behaved for not having a nap! She was a TROOPER! She slept in the car and had a total of a 1 hour nap because Mom laid her back down when we got home.

We didn't celebrate Mom's bday tonight, because I had a swim party to see a movie (We are Marshall. It is an AMAZING movie, a MUST see!) and Wendys and Will went to the school basketball game. Since we both had something, Mom wanted us to go, so we are going to celebrate tomorrow though with PF Changs, the Great Wall of Chocolate and PRESENTS! This will be the first birthday celebration AC attends! :)

Can you believe this-- I took 4 pictures today. 4 ONLY 4! I usually take between 40 and 50 each day! Today I took 4. 2 of her with her tongue and another one 2 different times. 4. It's a record low!

Have a wonderful night!


OH and... there have been LOTS of Chenzhou referrals this batch, so there are a few new sites under "Chenzhou sweethearts". I also need to update a few sites out of the "TA wait" and "referral wait" because a few families WAIT NO LONGER! CONGRATS!!!

Introducing Miss EMILY ELIZABETH!

My friend Kayla and her family got their referral today!!!!!! www.loveforemily.com is their website! After waiting 16+ months, Kayla and family have the referral of beautiful Chen Hui!!!!!!!! Isn't she a DOLL? She is from Chenzhou SWI (AnnaClaire and her are orphanage sisters who have VERY similar names-- Chen Xun Hui and Chen Hui!) She is just 7 months old and is so BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!

Hanson Family--- WE ARE SO HAPPY FOR Y'ALL! CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!! Miss Em is so precious. I know you are so anxious to just get to China and GET HER!!!!!!!! I can't wait to meet her! Maura, AnnaClaire, and Emily need to have a get together!!!!!!!!!

CONGRATS AGAIN ON YOUR SPICY GIRL!

With love,
Emily & AnnaClaire and the rest of us!

VIDEOS! LOTS OF THEM!

here's AC in her sled this afternoon. Soooo cute!


And here she is playing piano (this one is REALLY short)


Here's Miss AnnaClaire popping her popper


FINALLY! I got a video of her doing "BA!" Here it is:


Here AnnaClaire is doing "love" and running!

Pic of Day- Loving the sled!

I really just couldn't decided between these 2 sledding ones. So here's both. She loved her sled!!!

We have a *SNOW GIRL*

"Wow! See that white stuff everywhere???"

"Look at me and Sissy sledding!!!" (notice the snow has really melted...)
"I had a blast in my sled! Sadie and Sissy pulled me all around!"
"I helped Mama stir the soup tonight!"
"And I met Grandma H.!"

Yes. We. Do. She loves it, LOVES it. That white stuff. Oh, it is LOVE! This morning, AnnaClaire and Mom came in my room and said, "Look out your window!" I opened my shutters and the snow was just falling and falling! AnnaClaire just looked and looked out the window. She enjoyed watching it just fall down. School was cancelled. Those up north-- yes, it was 2 inches of snow but we get it barely EVER so we always have school off when it comes! (last time we had any way about 3 years ago!) I went out with friends and we had a very nice day. We played in the snow awhile and then went into Elizabeth and Abbie's house for a day of games, food, fun, and TV! We had a blast. The snow wasn't great playing snow so that's why we were inside most of the day. There were 11 of us girls there. We all headed home around 4:15. Sadie and I sledded a little more in her backyard, but by then it had really melted. We walked over to our house and sayd Mom and AnnaClaire on the way (they were on a stroller ride). We walked the rest of the way home with them and pulled AnnaClaire in the sled for about 45 minutes. She adored it. She doesn't have much real snow gear, but it wasn't all that cold out, anyway. She just loved being in the sled. She cried when I pulled her out! When we came in, she helped Mama make soup for dinner and then met her other Grandma! She took right to her!

It was a fun snow day! I just wish the snow would last..........

And I want to say CONGRATS to a few people!!!!!!!!!!

1- ELIZABETH MEI'S FAMILY (one of my mom's email friend's) GOT TA YESTERDAY!!! www.elizabethmei.com. She is darling and her family is going to have her in a few weeks! Congrats!!!!!!!!!

2- EMILY'S FAMILY (a fellow awaa wc family my mom is friends with) GOT TA TODAY! CONGRATS! They are leaving at the end of February!!!

3- Lily Rose's (AC's Chenzhou sissy) family is leaving for China TOMORROW! YAY! www.journey2lilyrose.blogspot.com

4- Emily Elizabeth's family (My friend, Kayla) is getting their referral TOMORROW! YEAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Congrats! www.loveforemily.com