AnnaClaire and her "orange juice" (POD)

This one is of AnnaClaire holding her wodden orange juice. She had just pulled it out of her shopping cart. I love her facial expression in it!

Shopping cart!

What a fun, big mirror!

I had a great time at PBKids!
Lovin' my shopping cart back at home
This morning after swimming, Mom, Bu, and I headed to the mall for a bit. We had to pick up Will's clothes which were being tailored. AnnaClaire loved the huge mirror they had there! We went to Pottery Barn for a little while because AnnaClaire just loves to play in there! She enjoyed playing dollhouse with some other little girls, including a "mei mei". Then she sat in the little chair and climbed on the bed. Once she was on the bed, she laid down, and said "shh, nigh nigh" and put her head down. It was the cutest thing! They had this little sandbox frame and in it was a huge ball. AnnaClaire went in it and patted the side and pointed to a little girl for her to sit down with her. It was so sweet. But the little girl said "no". AnnaClaire was quite upset that she didn't want to sit with her. So I sat there instead. Anyway... From there we moved on to the kitchen. She was really into the mixer. Today she noticed the washer/dryer and played with that for awhile. She loved it. Probably because she absolutely loves doing the wash with Mom. It entertained her for awhile. She ironed a little and then she found the shopping cart. THE shopping cart. It's the aodrable real looking mini cart and she fell in love. She pushed it around the whole store. She absolutely loved it. She would put the iron and the veggies in and push it everywhere. She just loved it. Mom and I talked about how perfect it would be at home to just push it all around, and she could put her things in it, she could go in the pantry and get food (one of her favorite things to do), put them in her cart, etc. So we got that. Besides that and a basket to hold her books, the only other thing we got were wodden foods from Joseph Beth (for her cart). Very cute. When she woke up from her nap, she played with her new cart and foods and she absolutely loves it. She pushed her cart all around and then she would put her foods in. She would take them all out and then put them all in over and over and over. At one point, I gave her the little wodden salt and she took it, put it in the cart, and said thank you. She looked just like a little shopper! So the new shopping cart is a huge hit. It really is so cute. I think the best part about it is that it looks so REAL.

Tonight we had our last summer league home meet. It was actually on Monday, but it was thundering and hailing from what I understand, so it was postponed until tonight. There are TONS of people on our team who were at Auburn, so we were really excited that it was postponed so that we could all go :). We won by almost 100 points, so that was exciting.

Tomorrow morning we head to Atlanta for my cousin Matthew's wedding! I'm SO excited. I have never been to a wedding before. Even more exciting though is that AnnaClaire's big day as flower girl is almost here!!! Saturday!!! So exciting. The other exciting news is that we will get AnnaClaire's quilt sometime this weekend! I can't wait to see it!! I'm sure it will be absolutely beautiful! I'm bringing my laptop with and so hopefully I'll be able to update while we are gone.

Chubby Cowgirl POD

Do you see those rolls??

I really just couldn't decide on a POD today. I took too many pictures and it made it hard to decide. I went with this one halfly because all the rest went with a group of photos. I do love this picture though.

First convertible ride, ice cream cones, and the park

First convertible ride!!
href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_QFzp4ot6p4Y/RoMtOmrkb5I/AAAAAAAAFPY/JtV1sFm3704/s1600-h/converti.JPG"> Park fun!Looking at the ducks and geese!
Ice cream at Brusters

Until tonight, it was a very boring day. I babysat AnnaClaire this morning while Mom got her hair done, but that was about as exciting as it got. After dinner, Dad and I decided to take Miss Bu to the park. We decided that today should be the day she rode in the covertible for the first time. After all, she's been home over 6 months and still hasn't ridden top down in it. Partly because no one ever wants to move the carseat. (not like it's that hard anyway...) So today, Dad put the carseat in his car, put the top down, and off we went. AnnaClaire LOVED it. She was just sitting in the back squealing, smiling, dancing to the Beach Boys and pushing her hair back (which was blowing in the wind). She absolutely loved it!!!!! Here's a short video of her ride:

About 8 minutes later, we arrived at the park with our still squealing little AC. note: most of the car pictures she is not wearing a bow... didn't want it to fly out of the car! First we went to the playground part where Miss AnnaClaire enjoyed running around before climbing up the very steep steps-by herself. She went from there to the slide and went down the slide which was a huge hit. From there she went back and forth between the stairs, the slides, and another slide. Big fun had. She then started pointing to the water saying "ducks" so we asked if she wanted to look at the ducks. She did. We went over and she was ver enthralled by the ducks, especially the 2 little fuzzy yellow baby ducks. She kept pointing saying "baby" and "quack quack". Very cute. She loved looking at the ducks and then we noticed some geese, so we walked to where the geese were and admired them, too. The ducklings came to visit AC again and she said hi to all the ducks and geese. She then discovered how to throw rocks in the water! (not at the birds). Dad skipped rocks for AnnaClaire and she thought that was so cool. A dog came running down and went for a swim which was so very funny if you ask Little Bitsy. We then headed back to the park for more sliding, climbing, running, swinging, and tunnel crawling. All in all, it was a big time at the park. AnnaClaire absolutely loved the slides today! I guess they aren't "ha" anymore...





We went from there to Brusters for ice cream. Brusters was fun to go to, because they give kids under 40 inches a free baby cone! AnnaClaire, of course, qualified for under 40 inches and she was given a teeny tiny ice cream cone with a teeny tiny scoop of vanilla ice cream. It really is the cutest thing. We went and sat down on the bench and sat AnnaClaire down, too. We figured it was vanilla ice cream and would wash out, so we let her hold her cone and just eat it how she wanted. My, how she loved that thing. She devoured it. She was so cute taking lick after lick after lick. So, we had a big time at Brusters and then headed home to be bathed and go night night. It was a very fun evening, as you can see.





I also wanted to talk a little bit about the bow she is wearing in all of the pictures on this post. You may notice that the initials are CSF. Obviously, those aren't AnnaClaire's initials, as she is ACH. So there must be a story behind that... and there is. Our agency has a WC board, which we joined after AnnaClaire's referral. On that board were lots of other families including quite a few who had received referrals in the same batch as AnnaClaire's and also another one, as AnnaClaire's batch was a surprise with 4 files. The two batches came 2 weeks apart, so it was really close in referral time. Anyway, for over 3 long months, we waited for travel approval. While waiting, my mom became very close with 15 ladies on the yahoo group, all adopting babies AnnaClaire's age and a few older girls. They talked all the time and came to know themselves as the chatty girls. We were all hoping to travel together, but that wasn't to be. One family received their TA 2 months before everyone else and traveled in October. 6 of the families received theirs at the beginning of November and travelled mid November. 5 of the families (us included) received TA mid November and travelled early Dec. The 3 other families received theirs at a different time and traveled in December, January, and February. The 15 moms have "chatted" almost a year now and are all close, although besides in our travel groups, none of us have met! Anyway, the 15 moms now have their own yahoo group so not to clog our agency's one. And they are still the chatty girls. One of the mommies came up with the brilliant idea of getting a bow monogrammed with the letters CSF- Chatty Sisters Forever. And she took pictures of her little Bekah and then sent it to the next family. The bow will go from family to family and each family will take a picture of their girl wearing the bow. Kind of like the Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants. So anyway, we received the bow this week and thought the park would be a good place to get AnnaClaire's pictures at, since that is one of her favorite places.

Wild Wild West

This weeks challenge is "Wild Wild West". Yes it is supposed to be a Family FotoFun Friday challenge, but being gone (oh btw, Lisa, we were in Auburn, Alabama. We were actually at the college), I am just now doing it... on Wednesday. Anyway, this was one of the more difficult challenges because I had absolutely nothing already taken for this category. I remembered that Will had a red bandana and cowboy hat from when he was little, so I hunted for that. Found it in his closet. Since we lived in Texas awhile and my mom and dad went to UT, I was hoping we would have cowboy boots somewhere, but I didn't find any. But I think her cute little pudgy legs are too cute with the cowgirl ensemble. I added a little bit of sepia to the picture to make it more "western" looking. AnnaClaire didn't exactly love wearing the hat, but goldfish worked like a charm so she'd keep it on for the last few pictures. Isn't my little cowgirl just adorable?

Here's some more of the pictures I took of Cowgirl AC. Her first time playing dress up!!

20 months old today!

I cannot believe our little sweetie turns 20 months old today... that just seems so old!!! These pictures were taken this morning while I was babysitting AnnaClaire. She was very enthralled with a new game, the "boo boo game".

Stats at 20 months:

height- 30.75 inches

weight- 25 pounds

shoe size- 6

She says so many words. Her latest and greatest is "glasses". She is starting to put 2 words together. Things like "Hi Mama", "Wuv you", "All done", "Thank you".

It is really hard for me to believe that 8 months ago, we celebrated her 1st birthday and in 4 months, we will celebrate her 2nd. Where does time go??

Sweet Mei Mei,

I cannot believe that today, June 27, you turn 20 months old. That sounds so old! Maybe because you are no longer in the "teens" but now the "twenties". You are such a big girl and I love you so much!! You are such a joy in my life and I love every second of every minute of every day that I get to spend with you. I'm so happy to be home again. I missed you so much while I was gone. This morning, when you got home from story time, you saw me and got a big smile and reached up to me. And then you put your head on my shoulder and gave me the longest love. That meant so much to me. I missed you so very much. I love you, my sweet 20 month old mei mei!!!

Sissy-Jie Jie-Emie

What was AC doing while I was gone?

Playing with her shape sorter

Blowing kissies with her puzzle pieces
Talking on the puzzle piece "phone"
Fishie kissies
Hi Mama
Pretty girl outside
Mowing the lawn
Putting water in my pool
So sweet
Playing in my pool
this one cracks me up..

Beautiful Miss AnnaClaire
Sliding
Plop!
Playing with my BLUE ball in my PINK pool!
As you can see, Miss AC had a wonderful time with Mama, Dada, and Drew this weekend. These pictures are from Thursday-Monday. None were taken yesterday...

I'm home :)

My chaperone group- Jordan, Gillian, me, Rachel, Sydney, Sydnee, Becky and we are all holding Haley (the birthday girl).

Tons of the girls all pointing towards Haley- the one with the "Diva" necklace and birthday crown

Haley blowing out candles

The pool

The diving well
Me, Becky, and Dana at the meet
A few of us drew fish on our arms so that when we bend them, it looks like the fish is closing it's mouth. I know it's pathetic, but you just gotta have some fun, right?! Anyway, this is me, Becky, Dana, and Rachel is turned around because her fish was upside down.
Jamming to music (Rachel and Becky had a Sharpie war- hence all the sharpie on their backs!)
The football stadium
Firstly, there seemed to be a lot of confusion on what I was doing. Auburn's swim coach recently came to our team, so we now have lots of "connections". Anyway, this weekend we went up to Auburn for a swim meet Friday-Sunday and a swim camp Sunday afternoon-Tuesday. We got to stay on the campus. I'm not going to college and I'm not on their swim team. I just finished up 8th grade, so I am just about to begin highschool... Sorry for the confusion on that!

We had the funnest time ever! We arrived mid afternoon on Friday and got settled into our dorm rooms before heading to the pool. The dorm rooms we stayed in were interesting to say the least... There were 2 rooms and in between the 2 was a bathroom. There were also two walk-in closets, so it was a really great layout... just not a very nice room. It was also covered with ants with was a pain. But it made it all the more fun. Friday's session went well. After that session, we had wraps for dinner at the pool and walked back to the dorms. Everyone in my room was a little scared as the rooms were very "cold". So we decided to push the two twin beds together and form a king size bed which all 4 of us slept sideways on. I know it sounds very squishy, but it was actually really fun:). We woke up a little after 6 on Saturday and headed to breakfast at the cafeteria. I cannot imagine having that food every day for breakfast... yuck. We then walked to the pool for Saturday's session of the meet. It went well, too. I did pretty good as did my friends. After the session (which was really long considering there were around 20 heats of every event) we had delicious RolyPoly wraps and then we walked back to the dorms for a little and then headed to the bookstore. On the way, we realized that it was 101 degrees. And we had to walk EVERYWHERE. To the pool and back twice a day, to breakfast, to the store, eveywhere. It was really, really hot to say the least! The bookstore was fun. There were tons of people from our team there and afterwards like everyone went to Smoothie King which was next door. Yum!!!!!!!!!! I love Smoothie King! We had walked with one of the main coaches and she made it really fun. It was a really good afternoon. Shortly after we got back to the dorms, we headed to the pool where we met up with the younger kids who swam in the afternoon and we had Moes for dinner. It was delicious! We also had a talking swim clinic where they talked about all this stuff, but we didn't swim. After that it was back to the dorms and we hung out with lots of people before climbing in the (very uncomfortable) bed for another night of sleep and waking up at 6. Sunday morning we had breakfast at the pool. That session went well and everyone swam pretty good. Haley (my friend) turned 14 on Sunday, so that made it really fun. Everyone in our chaperone group wore party hats and she wore a princess tiarra. We also all wore these goofy kiddy sunglasses, gold medals, and party blowers. It was really fun! Straight after the swim meet, we had a turns clinic with one of the Auburn swimmers. We had McAlisters for lunch and then everyone went back to the dorms and we had a very relaxing afternoon before heading back to the pool for dinner. Back at the dorms, we had a little party for Haley with cake and presents. It was so much fun! It was good her birthday was on Sunday so we could have cake and not feel bad about it :)! Afterwards, we all went to Haley's room and listened to music and did all sorts of fun things before going to bed. Monday morning we had to wake up at 6 again, even though the swim meet was over. We had cafeteria food for breakfast again and walked to the pool for another clinic. We got to watch the Auburn people swimming first which was awesome. There was also a diver there and it was really awesome watching him dive! The clinics were really fun because the olympians did them. It was about 3 hours long and very fun. We had Chickfila for lunch which was delicious!!! Then it was back to the dorms before another clinic that night. After the clinic, we were supposed to tour the football stadium, but it had closed 20 minutes before. So instead, we went to this room that the football team goes over all their plays in and watched an Auburn 06-07 swimming & diving highlight video and another olympian spoke with us. That was really, really cool. Last night since it was the last night we were there, a few people all brought their matresses' to one of my friend's rooms and we all watched Grease and slept in there. That was so fun. During the movie, I felt something climbing on my arms and looked at it to see a huge roach. It was disgusting!!!!!! We all started screaming and jumped on the beds. We didn't see it again and were too scared to get back on the ground, so all 6 of us squeezed into the beds. Now that was uncomfortable! (But well worth it!!!) This morning we woke up, had breakfast, and then walked to the pool where we had the hardest dryland ever with one of the Auburn swimmers. He was TOUGH. It really felt like boot camp or something. Everyone was getting bit by ants, covered in dirt, and he was just calling out all these things to do. It was rough. By the end of that, we were SO ready to get in the cold pool where we did starts with more olympian Auburn swimmers. Directly after that, we had lunch and boarded the buses. We stopped at about 5 for dinner. For the meals on the way there and back, we went off an exit that had lots of fast food and we could just walk (with chaperones) to where we wanted to go. Today we went to Wendys. I have not had a Frosty in forever and it was AMAZING. Right before we left, it started pouring rain. Well, the bus was a pretty far walk. So we asked for 6 trashbags. Everyone working there looked at us like we were crazy and started laughing. But, they gave us trashbags in which we tore holes in for our heads and put them over us as a "raincoat". It went down to our knees and it looked SO funny because there were no arm holes. So it looked like we were wearing no clothes and had no arms. And we ran all the way back to the bus. Everyone was honking at us and as we pulled up to the bus, all the people on it started looking at us and just laughing. It must have been quite the site! My friend had a picture and I'll have to add it when she sends it to me! The bus ride was really fun and we arrived home around 9 and it really does feel good to be home!

On the other side of things, from what Mom has said, AnnaClaire has been doing great! She has discovered that she loves the gas station car wash and today Mom went in it and forgot to shut the windows, so AnnaClaire got all wet. Mom said in the back, she heard "All done, all done" and she turned around to see water spraying her. LOL! Mom also says she has been so sweet all weekend and that today she said "Wuv you" to Mom. AWW. I haven't seen her yet because she was already asleep when I got home. But I can't wait to give her a huge kiss. I miss my sweet mei mei! Oh and yes Mom did take a few pictures. I'll try to add those ASAP!

Well that was long. I cannot believe how long I went without the computer. That's amazing for me! In fact, when I first got on, it felt wierd typing... lol...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

To hold you over...

I love this picture of my sweet girl. It was taken by Keara when we were at the Great Wolf Lodge. Actually, in this picture we were eating Chickfila, as you can see. So here's a pic/collage to hold you over until Tuesday! I have left Mom with the old camera and directions on how to use it, plus a note to take atleast a pic a day. So hopefully I'll have some pictures to add when I get back!

POD- Reading in Sissy's suitcase

Lazy days of summer

I am so ticklish!!!

Playing on the floor
Hi!!!!!
Aren't I a cutie patootie?
I am...
I'm going to put my panties on!
Hmm... what way do they go?
This way!
I'm so big putting my panties on!!!

I might need a little help pulling them up...
Reading in Sissy's suitcase
Can you bring me along? Please?
If I'm really cute can you take me?

It was a very relaxing day. Just the usual stuff for a summer day. After AC's nap, she put on her panties mostly all my herself!! Then AnnaClaire helped me pack my suitcase. She is such a big help:). She was so cute sitting in it and shaking her maracas and reading! I think she wanted to come with... After dinner, Dad took her to the park and they went on a longgggggg power walk and played a little on the play set. They didn't get home until 8:30! AnnaClaire had a big time acoording to dad! She is such an outside girl, yes she is! Anyway, it was right to bed for her. Dad got her her bottle and she ended up playing on Mom's bed while drinking it. She thought it was such fun getting in her jammies, snuggling with Mommy, drinking her bottle, and crawling around the bed!! Don't ask how that worked... I finished giving her her baba since I won't see her until Tuesday. She is such a snuggle bug! She just snuggled right up to me and was loving on me. Ahh it was so sweet!

Because you asked...

I've had many, many people email/comment asking what program I use to do my collages/digital scrapbooking. The program I use is called LumaPix FotoFusion Scrapbook Essentials (version 4- basic). This was recommended by Double Happiness and I cannot thank her enough for telling us about this program! I love it! It comes with a few kits for a small fee, but I'm not one who likes to spend money on kits, especially since I use so many. So I find all of my kits as freebies on digital scrapbooking sites. The basic version is the version I have and it is only $39.95. Some of the best money I spent!!

I've also had a few people ask what kind of camera I use. As much as I like/want the really nice, big cameras that take AMAZING pictures, I have to have a camera that is compact. I take my camera everywhere, and a larger camera would not fit in my purse etc. When I was searching for "the perfect camera", I started off at Nikon, because that's the kind of camera we've always had and it's been a really good brand. I researched all different kinds and decided on the S500 which came out in April 07! I love my camera! Right now, I've been using my dad's Nikon Coolpix S9 because my camera is getting fixed at the moment (my fault, not the cameras!)

About my new look: I'm sure you've noticed my new look. I've been messing around with some other templates and such on my test blogs... I figured out all this new stuff and really wanted to use it on this blog. Also, it's the first day of summer and I thought I needed a summery look! I'm still figuring a few things out so there might be a few minor changes over the coming days, but nothing major. My sidebar is getting too long so I'm going to erase some links. I've already erased quite a few and am going to erase a few more. The orphanage list is getting really long, so I'll add that one to the Chenzhou blog.

And lastly, I will be gone all weekend... which means no blogging and no pictures! (This will be the first time I've ever missed more than one day of blogging! That's kinda sad, actually!) We are heading down to Auburn for a swim meet/camp. I'm really excited! We are leaving early tomorrow morning and the meet is Friday-Saturday-Sunday. Then we will have the swim camp on Monday and Tuesday! We get to stay in the dorms there and I'm rooming with 3 of my good friends, Becky, Rachel, and Gillian. I'll be home be back late Tuesday night! I've never left AnnaClaire that long, so it'll be a little sad! But I told her to call me every night and talk to me!

AnnaClaire and Mrs. R!

Water Baby

I'm so cute, yes I am!

Me in my ladybug raft!
This is SO much fun!
WOOHOO!
Look at me in my ladybug!
Who's the cutest?
Hi!
Eating snacks (Jaclyn, Julia, Liz, AnnaClaire, and Becky)
Would you like a pretzel, Becky?
I guess I'll have it!
Playing "This Little Piggie" with Becky
Sweetie eating snacks
Playing in the baby pool
What is this?
Whatever it is, I like it! (I love this picture... her EYES!)
Watering myself!
Covering my mouth so I can go under water


We had a big day today. Around lunch time, my mom's friend came over to deliver some bows we had ordered. It's the same lady who does Sara Beth Bows. The bows turned out beautiful. She made AnnaClaire's flower girl bow~ oh my goodness, it's beautiful!!!!!!! The other bows we ordered are some really pretty, plain ones. My mom had emailed her asking if she could make a custom one and she came up with a really cute bow and she named it the "AnnaClaire Bow"! So she came by today to deliver the AnnaClaire Bows and the Flower Girl Bow. All the bows are beautiful. You really should check out Sara Beth Bows. They are so cute and well made!!!



AnnaClaire showed off her nursery. It was so cute, she was really excited and pointed to all her things. So cute. After lunch and baba, AnnaClaire went down for a nap and when she awoke around 3:30, I dressed her in her swimsuit and coverup and I took her to the pool! We had a blast! I was planning on meeting one of my friend's, Becky, there but lots of my other friends ended up being there, too. When we got there, all the lifeguards ran over yelling "ANNACLAIRE! IT'S ANNACLAIRE!!!" Heh. We are so popular. We had such fun. We played in the big pool with the ladybug raft first. AnnaClaire now LOVES her ladybug raft. She had huge grins the whole time. She was going her "Who's the cutest?" thing for everyone and everyone about died of cuteness overload. We "swam" back in forth in the raft and then she was ready to get out of the raft, so, all being swimmers, showed her how to swim! It was quite cute. She "swims" with her fists. LOL! We were then all ready for snacks so we got out and laid the towel down and all sat down eating our snacks. I got AnnaClaire some pretzels. She loved them. She was really adorable with them. She would share them and eat them, too. She loved her pretzels and besides sharing a couple, ate the entire bag! Then it was to the baby pool. She played with the watering can (we forgot hers, but luckily someone else had one and they let AC use it.) We also found some little pool animals that AnnaClaire had fun with. We were at the pool for over 2 hours. It was so much fun!!! AnnaClaire had a BIG time and you could tell she was so worn out by the time we left! We got home just in time for dinner, bathtime, a little bit of play time, and bed. Guess what AnnaClaire learned how to do *UGH*? Open the gate. That is NOT good. I heard the gate rattling so I ran to see what she was getting into, and she was standing, holding the gate with a big, cheesy grin on her face. Yikes. She is very smart and knows that if she gets too close, she will tumble down them. Guess falling down the stairs twice was a lesson learned. But still, we have got to train her not to open the gate!

POD- Waking up happily!

It is such a joy to get AnnaClaire out of her crib each morning... because this is how she wakes up! A big grin on her little face! This morning I went in and she was laying down, smiling, but as soon as she saw me, she sat like this and gave me a huge grin! She is so happy waking up. She never cries upon awaking... just talks in her crib until someone gets her, and then smiles when they do!

Red Beans and Rice Recipe

(a few pics of AC eating red beans and rice tonight)
A little while back, I had someone email me asking for our red beans and rice recipe. While I had it all typed out, I thought I might as well post it on here in case anyone was interested in trying them. They are really, really good. They are a little spicy, but our Spicy Girl LOVES them!!! They are the recipe from Treebeards~a really yummy place in Houston! Enjoy!



“Treebeards’ Red Beans”

If one dish is synonymous with Treebeards, it’s our red beans and rice. The secret to making a great pot of red beans is to avoid stirring them as much as possible. The beans will get very soft as they cook, and stirring them will eventually turn them into mush. If you like your beans thicker, remove the cover during the last 30 minutes of cooking or, when the beans have cooked, remove ½ cup of beans, mash, return to the pot and gently stir to mix.

1 pound dried light red kidney beans
2 quarts water
2 medium onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
½ large bell peper, chopped
2 ½ teaspoons salt
1 ½ rounded teaspoons of thyme
1 ½ rounded teaspoons oregano
1 ¼ teaspoons garlic powder
¾ teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 bay leaves
1 pound smoked sausage, cut into ½ inch slices
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped green onions (including tops)

Wash the beans under cold, running water. Place in heavy 5 quart pot. Cover with 2 quarts of water. Let beans soak overnight. Or, cover beans with 2 quarts of water, bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and boil for 2 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit 1 hour before continuing. Do not drain off water.

Add chopped onions, celery, and bell pepper to beans. With spoon, gently push vegetable below water line. Cover pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 ½ hours.

In a small bowl, mix all spices except bay leaves. Sprinkle on top of beans. Add bay leaves. Add sausage to pot and very gently stir spices and sausage into the beans; do not stir more then necessary. Cover and let simmer at least 30 minutes or until beans are completely soft. Serve over hot rice with shredded Cheddar cheese and plenty of chopped green onions, if desired.

Serves 6 generously.

Little Bunny Foo Foo

sliding

Cooking with Mama

Wide eyed and beautiful!
Sweet from the side
Concentrating hard
Clap clap
More claps!
Little Bunny Foo Foo is SO fun!
...booping them on the head....
I love Little Bunny Foo Foo!
Soothy thing with BuBu
Washing the floors!

Washing the windows!
Playing with her latch board... this is the coolest thing ever!!!
I'm a so-big girl using my so-big words!
Mopping (are you jealous yet?)
Like oh em gee! (something about this picture reminds me of a drama queen...)

Crawling!
Hi!
Playing Bro's guitar!
Drew and I playing tag!

Where to begin... Miss Bitsy Bu slept in so late that I was the one who got her out of the crib! (AKA I got to swimming, swam for 2 hours, and got home before she woke up... She awoke after 9!) It was a relaxing morning. AnnaClaire went with Mom and Will to get some alterations down on his dress pants and jacket. We are getting ready for Matt and Leah's wedding on the 30th. It's very exciting!! I can't wait to dress AnnaClaire all pretty in her flower girl dress. I'm so excited that our little princess is going to be a FLOWER GIRL. What a princess she will be! Anyway... after they got home, we all ate lunch and AnnaClaire napped moderatly. I napped, as well. I have been so tired lately. It's really hard to go to bed early enough to wake up before 6 and still get enough sleep. I am a night owl, so it is a hard transition! Back to our day... After AnnaClaire and I awoke, we headed to the mall so Drew could get some wedding clothes. Before we left, AnnaClaire said "Mall, mall" over and over. She loves the mall! Whenever we ask her where she wants to go, she says "Mall!" It's adorable. A girl after Sissy's own heart! We found Drew some clothes and while he tried everything on, and they picked stuff out, AnnaClaire stayed occupied by playing Little Bunny Foo Foo with me! She LOVES Little Bunny Foo Foo! I would put Bunny on my hand like a puppet and sing the song and when we got to the "bopping them on the head" part, I would bop her. She LOVED it. It was slightly embarassing singing Little Bunny Foo Foo in the middle of Belk... but... "Whatever keeps the baby happy!" She also loved admiring herself in the mirror and saying "Ah-na". If you ask her what her name is, she says clear as a bell "Ah-na". It's so cute. We are still working on the Claire part, but AnnaClaire is a difficult name to say, don't you think? We walked around the mall a little more before heading back home where we enjoyed a meal of red beans and rice- AC's favorite!!! Then she hung out with Drew, Will, and I before taking a bath and going "nigh nigh".

The cutest little swimmer (POD yesterday)

Is that not the cutest swimmer you've ever seen? Love this picture!!!!!!!

A Trip to the Pet Store and Swim Meet Fun!

Fun with Mommy's sunglasses!

It was a very relaxing Monday... after swimming, Mom, AnnaClaire, and I headed on a few errands. Just things like Wally Worl, Michaels, etc. Michaels has these really small carts, and they were the perfect size for AC. She looked SO cute sitting in that teeny little cart... anyway... Petland is right next to Michaels, so we decided to take AnnaClaire in Petland. I was so sad that I didn't have my camera, because she was so cute there! Wow. She had the best time!!! She saw birds, rats, hamster, kitties, dogs, fish, and bunnies. Her very favorite was the bunny. She was SO cute with him. I picked up this really cute grey and white one, and told her to sit down. She plopped down right on the floor and said "Bunny" and I held it while she pet. It was SO cute. Then she gave it kisses, "loves", and more pets. She kept wanting to pet the bunny. We did it about 4 times! It was a really sweet bunny, too. AnnaClaire was really good with him and was SO gentle. She was enamored by his ears! She also loved the kittens and she even got to pet a little cocker spaniel. I think she thought the hamster was pretty cool, too. She just had the BEST time. She made a little friend, Elizabeth. They would run up to eachother and hug. It was really cute. When we left, Elizabeth said "Bye bye, friend!" It was really sweet. After we got home, we had a yummy lunch. AnnaClaire had blueberries, some of my organic kraft mac and cheese (it's the BEST!), and a teeny bit of turkey and cheese. As the Princess napped, Drew napped and I napped! So it was a very "nappy" kind of day! Soon after AnnaClaire (and I!) awoke, we headed to the summer league swim meet. We brought AnnaClaire, hoping to see a family that we met last year on that team, also adopting, but we didn't see them. AnnaClaire had a BLAST. She loves going to the meets. Everyone just ADORES her. She always has a huge crowd of people around her! :) She walked around, and splashed the water and cutest of all... I took her with me when we did cheers and she clapped along! It was SO cute! Oh and I can't forget the other really cute part... she wore my swim cap! It was adorable. I didn't have my camera, but the lady who takes pics at our meet got a picture and I'll add it once she sends it to me, probably tomorrow. That's the POD, so there isn't one to post tonight. AnnaClaire left after our medley relay (which we won and set the pool record for!) The rest of the meet was really fun and we won by over 100 points!

POD- Family of SIX!

Well we finally, after 6 months of being home, got a family picture. Our only other one was taken the night we arrived home... of an exhausted family just arriving home from China, after 31 hours of travelling... So anyway, this is a much better one! The first thing I said when I saw it was "Wow... we have a big family!" There's SIX of us! Picture comliments of Will's friend Ben, who was over and took it for us!

Father's Day

Sweet girl so pretty for Church!

Enjoying Pei Wei!
Eating my yummy lunch!
Hanging around in my AWAA onesie!
Enjoying my bathtime with Jie Jie!
You have the cup!
Daddy and me with the card I made him!
Yeah! He likes it!
Kisses for Daddy on Father's Day!
We had a grand day. The usual for a Sunday. Church, lunch, yaddy yaddy yad. I went to the pool a bit again today. Ahhh after a week of thunderstorms, it's nice having the SUN out! It was a pretty calm day. Dad did his favorite thing- watching golf in his "swivel chair" and playing with his littlest daughter. AnnaClaire colored him a nice card this evening and Daddy really liked it! :) For Father's Day, he got 2 books that he really wanted and a Starbucks gift card. But I think if you asked him what the best present was, he would say having all 4 of his kid's home! It's hard to believe that last Father's day, we had no idea who AnnaClaire even was! And now we've had her 6 months!! WOW!

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Pic 1: Drew and Dad, Drew's graduation, May 06. Pic 2: Will and Dad, China, Dec 06. Pic 3: Me and Dad, Austria, May 06. Pic 4: Dad and AnnaClaire, our house, May 07.

Happy Father's Day to all the daddies and future daddies!!! Especially to my dad...

Daddy,

Happy Father's Day! You are the most amazing father ever. I could not ask for more in a dad and we are so blessed to have you as our own. You mean so much to me and I hope you have the best father's day ever. Especially since it's your first with The Bu. We love you so much. Thanks for all the time you spend with me, the countless swim meets you take me to, the nightly ice cream scoopings you scoop me, the Saturday morning errands you take me on, the stupid tv shows that we watch every night... I love you so much and thank God every day for giving me such an awesome Daddy!

I love the "eese"! (POD)

I snapped this one while AnnaClaire was out by the geese. She was so happy seeing all of them!!! Actually, in this picture, she was kneeling and saying "cheese". It was so funny! I love that she poses for the camera now!!!

ducks, geese, and pool fun!

This morning we pretty much relaxed at home. AnnaClaire ran around with her boxes and played with her cottage/house all morning and then Dad, AC, and I ran a few errands. We didn't get anything interesting... after Wally World, we went to Qdoba for lunch. This particular Qdoba has a beautiful patio outside with a large pond (lake?) with tons and tons of geese, ducks, and swans! We ate outside and the entire time, AnnaClaire's eyes were glued to the nearby "eese" and "ucks". After we finished eating (which consisted of apple sauce, turkey, cheese, raisins, pinto beans, and rice for AnnaClaire... mostly from home with a little of Sissy's naked burrito...) we headed down by the pond/lake and let AnnaClaire run wild. She loved looking at all the birds! We didn't let her get too close, as I've heard of geese attacking people... but she was scared to get too close, anyway. She loved looking at them. We were there for awhile just out by the water. It was a beautiful day, and AnnaClaire was loving being with all those birds! She was full of kisses, waves, and chatter with the birds! Around 2, we decided we had been out long enough and it was time for The Bu to go night night. So we went home and the princess slept. I headed to the pool where lots of my friends were and we hung out there awhile. After AnnaClaire woke up, Mom, Dad, and she headed down. We had our pool opening party (although it's been open awhile now!) so there was lots of yummy food. AnnaClaire LOVED playing in the baby pool. She swam around in her raft a little, played with her watering can, and enjoyed having my friends and I come play in it with her. After awhile in the baby pool we ventured out to the big pool. She had a blast! She loved her ladybug raft today and thought "swimming" across the pool in it was such fun. Spinning around in it is a hit as well. After awhile in her raft, she decided that being free in the water would be fun. She learned to stick her face in the water! It's so cute! She closes her eyes, sticks her face in, and seems really shocked! She quickily picks it up and wipes all the water off! It was so cute! The water was FREEZING and she was shivering so we decided to get out and we wrapped her all cozy in her new towel from me. She was so cute all wrapped in it! Then she said hi to tons of people and hammed it up for everyone before leaving to go night night! We had such a fun day and AnnaClaire was great all day long!

AnnaClaire and one big box! (POD)

This afternoon, Drew came upstairs telling me that I had some mail... a package. In he walked with this. The most wonderful package ever :).

Today AnnaClaire was reading a book about a little boy climbing in a box, and she discovered a big box. She loved it. She had so much fun playing with the box. She climbed in it, wore it as a hat (and said "hah, hah, hah" when she wore it. She pushed it around, pulled it, sat in it, read in it, put her toys in it, etc. She would be in one room and would pick up her box, run to another room, put her box down, and get into it in that room! She was SO funny in her big box!!! Anyway, here are a few cute shots of my sweetie playing in her box (I think it's now her favorite toy!!!) The first one (the one that is all "done up" is the POD, but I really like them all!)

I'm your package, Sissy!

Reading books in my box
The little boy is in a box just like me!
Boxes are fun!
I'm so comfy in my big brown box!
Box, box!
Sweet thing in her box
Pushing my box around the kitchen
Reading my books in my box
I love to read in my box!

What a Day!

The morning started off with swimming for me, which resulted in AnnaClaire coming and picking me up and being loved on by all. Then we ran to the pool to pick up ribbons from our meet last night. Everyone loved seeing The Bit and she was really adorable for everyone. She is such a social butterfly!! We ran a few errands before heading home... After naptime, AnnaClaire was playing SO nice with her toys including her new favorite... a box! (more on that later). It was just Mom, AC, and I for the night, so we wanted to go to something. We ended up heading to our big outlet mall about 30 minutes away. It was fun. We ran in a few stores like Gymboree Outlet and Strasburg, but they didn't have much. Well, maybe the did.. but Bitsy has enough clothes! She did score high in the toy area with new puzzles and such from Mom's favorite store... Education Express! I got a laptop case (the school I'm going to next year uses laptops!! Cool! So, I had to get a pretty case, of course!) It's Vera Bradley (of course). I got it with graduation money from my grandma. (Thanks Grandma!) Anyway, the pattern I really wanted was the Sherbet. Well, that's long retired, so I was going to get it off Ebay! I was so surprised when I saw that they had something in sherbet... much less the laptop case I wanted!!! Plus, it was on sale! WOOHOO! I love sales! So I got that and this really cute Vera Bradley patchwork thingamabob. Then I got a free Vera Bradley notebook for buying Vera. Very cool. So anyway.. we ran into Bass Pro Shop and took AnnaClaire back to the huge fishtanks and stared at the fishies for a long while. AnnaClaire LOVED the fish. She was so cute with them. She would wave and said "Hiya Ishy" It was so cute! She did NOT want to leave. I would ask her "Can you tell the fishies byebye?" and she would shake her head and say "NEEEE!" After being there awhile, we finally bribed her away from them by telling her she could walk instead of going back in her stroller. Right away, she looked at the fish, waved byebye and said bye! It was funny. So she walked all the way to the Education Express where she played happily with the trains with another little girl and boy. She had fun! After that, it was off to dinner. We brought AnnaClaire some congee in her cute little Hello Kitty thermos. She eats SO much better with food from home. She really doesn't like out food very much. She ate all her congee and a container of blueberries! She had her eyes on the Merry Go Round from the minute we walked into the mall, so we had promised her we'd ride it after dinner. She had a BLAST. She was waving, blowing kisses, and talking to everyone, both on and off of the merry go round. EVERYONE around us was going on and on about how adorable she was. Heh, that's my girl! When it was over, she clutched onto the bar and said "Moooooooooooore!" Here's some picture of the Princess on her Charoit!
Anyway, by this point it was like 7:45, so we packed up our stuff and headed out... Low and behold, the minute we were walking out of the foodcourt, a family with 2 "mei meis" walked out of the bookstore. They came over to us... It is so much fun meeting other adoptive families! They had 2 little girls, Grace who is 4 and Faith who is 2. AnnaClaire, Gracie, and Faith were SO cute together. They were chasing eachother all around our little "circle", hugging eachother, and just being cute. It was precious. You could tell how much Grace liked AnnaClaire. She would try to pick her up and would chase after her when she went "out of bounds". At one point, the girls were jumping. Well, AnnaClaire can't jump. So Gracie tapped me and said "She wants you to jump her!" It was so adorable! The three girls were so cute and we loved talking to other adoptive families. Faith was even from Hunan, just like AnnaClaire! As we were talking, we saw another family walking around, this time 2 older brothers holding the hands of another Chinese princess! We got into talking and had a great time. Their little girl is Lily who is 2 and came home in October and she was so cute. So now there are these 4 little Chinese beauties from the ages 1-4, all hugging, chasing, playing, talking, and jumping around together. Right smack in the front entrance of this huge mall. Everyone was looking at us with the "awwwwwwwww" looks. It was so cute. It was so much fun to meet other adoptive families and talk with them. We spent an hour in the middle of the mall talking with these families. It really does amaze me. The adoption community is so wonderful. We meet people we never would've met, and we just "click" right away.. because we have something in common! SO... that was the highlight of the entire day!!! We ended up getting home after 9:30, so it was a late night for Miss AC herself!

Big brothers are fun! (yesterday)

Here are the pictures of AnnaClaire playing video games. Keep in mind this is not a normal thing in our house and she is not sitting there playing video games all day long! This is just what happens when she wanders into Will's room............

L.O.V.E. (brought to you by the weekly FFFF)

click to view larger

It's Friday again and today's challenge is "love". This one was hard... because I have so many sweet "lovey" pictures. I finally narrowed it down to these ones. AnnaClaire is SO full of love. Everything she sees, touches, etc, she loves. For example, the vacuum cleaner. She is scared of it. Yet, she gave it a kiss one day when we were washing the car. She blows the sweetest kisses and gives the best kisses ever, especially when they're on the lips!!! My favorite of all, though, is when she blows her kisses and says "ba", because that's what she came to us doing. She also "loves" people/things by leaning her head on them. It's SO sweet!

Pic 1: AnnaClaire kissing the vacuum. Yes, she even loves large objects!
2: AnnaClaire loving her Bunny. Bunny is her most favorite lovey!
3: AnnaClaire and Will loving on eachother in China!
4: AC hugging her Maggie!
5: Mei Mei and Sarah Lu giving hugs in China!
6: The "twins" (AC and Maura) holding hands. How sweet!! They love eachother so much!
7: Me and the love of my life :)
8: Blowing kisses "ba!"
9: Maura and AC giving sweet twinny hugs!
10: AnnaClaire loving on Daddy (I love how she tilts her head to love on people!)
11: Rebekah and AnnaClaire giving sweet kisses!!!!!

As you can see, my sweet mei mei is full of love. And I love HER so much!!!

6 Month Post Placement (POD)

Well, as you know, today was our big 6 month post placement meeting!! It went well and AnnaClaire was being an absolute doll for Michelle, our SW. I was at my friend's surprise party (which was awesome!) and Drew picked me up a little early so we could go home, because the SW has to see the kids. AnnaClaire was adorable the whole time, blowing kisses, waving, etc. When Michelle got up to go, she ran over and gave her a hug, started waving bye bye, and blew more kisses. The meeting went great and Michelle was here for about an hour.

Other than that, it's been a pretty normal day. Waking up at 6 every morning is starting to show... so today not only did Bubu nap, Sissy did, too! The Bu took a great nap and awoke just a few minutes ago!

After swimming, AnnaClaire came to pick me up with Mom. When I was walking to the car, I saw the sweetest black head of hair, a big grin on her face, and her little hand up and waving. I just love her!

After AnnaClaire and I played awhile, I headed off to my friend, Maggie's surprise birthday party at Olive Garden. That was really, really fun. She was SO surprised! I felt kinda bad for the Olive Garden people... 10 teenage girls with a table to themselves...............

And that gets you back to where the post started:). I'm posting now, as we are about to head to my summer league meet (if it doesn't thunder, like it's been doing all day!) I know I'll be home late, and I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to post, as swimming is early tomorrow... I have more pictures (in fact, I just took a few cute ones of her playing video games.... grrrrreat. She is actually pressing the buttons on the controller and watching her car drive! In fact, Will and Drew are trying to teach her to say "game" at the moment... Guess that's what big brothers are for!) to add and I'll add those tomorrow/tonight. Have a great afternoon!!

Oh.. and Happy Flag Day! (like AnnaClaire's patrioticness?)

1

This will be short. Believe it or not, I just got on the computer for the first time all day... and I need to go to bed in a minute because I have swimming really early. Well anyway, it was a really, really busy day. I only got one picture of AnnaClaire the entire day, and it was right as I walked in the house, and my mom was giving her a bottle and going night night! It's not the best picture, but hey, it's the only one I took. Besides, I hardly have any ba ba pics! It's been really rainy here making it hard to do anything outside with AnnaClaire. Rain, rain, go away, baby AnnaClaire just wants to play!!

Enjoy your night!

POD- Apron girlie!

I love these pictures of AnnaClaire in her apron. Aren't they adorable?! Look at that 3rd one, with her little bum sticking out of her diaper! Isn't she adorable?

All sorts of stuff

We had a fun day. I was up around 6 for swimming and afterwards, my friend Becky and I went home with my other friend, Sarah. We went out to breakfast and got spray paint and regular paint to decorate all our swimming stuff (like our kickboards, paddles, fins, snorkels, etc). We also got spray paint to decorate the rock at Sarah's brother's school, because it is his 18th birthday. It was really fun spraypainting the entire rock. Then we went home and hung out at Sarah's house all afternoon, painting, and all that fun stuff. Around 4, I came home and AnnaClaire and I watched her VeggieTales song DVD together. She got really into it and was dancing lots! She played around the rest of the afternoon, inside, because it was thundering and raining..ugh. After her bath, she found Mom's apron and wanted to put it on. It was so cute on her! After dinner, playing, and bathtime, AnnaClaire went upstairs with Dad and I and played on her slide. She loves her slide. Today, she taught herself how to go up, turn around, and go down on her tummy, feet first! She LOVED that! She's not sleeping soundly:) It was a good day. Tomorrow storytime starts again! Yay! But, I have swimming, so I can't go. :( so there will be no pictures from that...

6 months as a family of 6!

Today is a special day... today marks 6 months that AnnaClaire became ours. 6 months ago, a screaming, red faced baby girl who was screaming "buuuuuuuu", was given to us. 6 months ago. That day, December 11, 2006, is a day I will never forget. It is the day that changed my life forever. The day that made our family a family of 6. I cannot stop myself from thinking "6 months ago, we were doing this..." etc. For instance, at lunch, I remembered that 6 months ago, AnnaClaire would not, under any circumstances, wear a bib or sit in a high chair. I cannot believe we have had my precious mei mei for 6 whole months. 6 months/26 weeks/182 days. That's a long time! Also, happy 6 months to our travel group- Sarah Lu, Rebekah, Mia, Kenzie, Claire, Zoie, Emma, Sarah Beth, Isaac, and Isaiah I love this girl, AnnaClaire Chenhui, so much. I cannot imagine life before her. 6 months ago... my life changed for the better. I cannot believe it has been that long already. But wait!? Haven't we had her forever?



In honor of 6 months together, I wanted to do something special. I have already done a whole movie about AnnaClaire's adoption (see here), so I needed something different than that. I finally came up with the idea of making a movie showing my favorite picture from every day that we've had AnnaClaire. (Except for April 10... that was the day I didn't take any!) I have spent many hours making this movie so I hope you will watch it. It starts with a picture of the gotcha moment and then there is my favorite picture from every day we've had her so far... December 11-June 11. Enjoy!! (Before watching, please turn off the background music by going to the very bottom of my blog and pressing "pause")

AnnaClaire,

I cannot believe that you have been ours for 6 months! 6 months is a long time! How is it that 6 months ago, you became AnnaClaire Chenhui?! I have loved every month, every week, every day, every hour, every minute of having you as my sister. 6 months ago you were a terrified baby girl. I am amazed at how much you have changed... into a happy toddler. You mean so much to me and I wouldn't trade these 6 months for ANYTHING. I am looking forward to years to come with you, Mei Mei.

Love always,
Jie Jie

POD- My sweet Mei Mei

I took this one on our walk... I LOVE it.

A fun day

Me and my balloon from Teeter!

Maybe Sissy doesn't want to do her summer reading... but I will!
Walking around in Sissy's shoes
Smiles!
This is my "butbut" (belly button)
Playing ball blowers
What's up there?
Cracker grins
I love crackers!
Reading my books!
Pretty eyes/lashes looking up
Squirting myself with my duckie
Eskimo girl

Help!!!!!!!!!!!
Pretty, clean faced girl
I love you, Doggie
I still love my infamous hairbrush


We had a grand day... AnnaClaire came to pick me up from swimming this morning and we went on a few errands like the post office, Harris Teeter, etc. AnnaClaire got a pretty balloon. I asked her what color she wanted and she said "purple". They didn't have purple, so I got her blue, which is her favorite color to say at the moment. We ate lunch at Chipotle. AnnaClaire ended up eating free. They rang us up wrong so ended up giving it to us free! So that was an added bonus! We had a yummy lunch and AnnaClaire loved it! After her nap, we played inside the rest of the day, as it was rainy. Well, we did take a walk down the street. I was eating a snack before swimming in the afternoon... well, she wanted some crackers, too. We were telling her to keep them away from Maggie, and Mom said "You don't want Maggie to have your crackers, do you?" Well... AnnaClaire started nodding and runs over to Maggie, holding out the crackers! It was so funny! Oh.. I can't forget to mention about AnnaClaire and her belly button. She LOVES her belly button. Or any belly buttons. Whenever she sees one, she reaches for it, sticks her finger in it, and says "butbut". If you asked her where he "butbut" is, she will lift up her dress and point to her belly button. It's so cute! After hanging out, drawing pictures, etc, AnnaClaire went bubye again, to take me to swimming. She is so cute whenever she takes me to swimming. Right when we pull up to the pool, she starts waving and blowing kisses... so cute! When I got home around 7:45, AnnaClaire was in the bathtub. She was so funny squirting herself with her duck! She then got wrapped up like an "eskimo" in her towel, changed, etc. I just love her so much:)

Happy Birthday sweet Sarah!

I just wanted to wish Miss Sarah Lu a very, very happy 3rd birthday! Sarah, we love you so much! I hope your 1st birthday with your family was perfect in every way. You are so loved!!!

Here's a few pictures of AnnaClaire and Sarah Lu (in China)... aren't they cute?

POD- Happy girl in her beautiful dress

Sliding is so fun! (Daddy took these!)

Climbing the stairs to my slide... (Sissy helps me with this part)

Now it's time to slide!!

BTW, aren't her new water shoes SO cute? We ended up with the orange and pink ones. I LOVE them!

Oh beautiful...

Drinking from my big girl cup at Five Guys

A sweet profile shot
So precious
Pretty girl in her pretty dress
I love you, sweetie
She has a FACE
I'm so ticklish!!!
Posing pretty on the stairs
Big smiles outside
So pretty

Running around in the afternoon sun
I love to be outside
Catch me, Sissy!
Catch me, catch me!
I'm a true toddler... I love to run!

and run.....
and run somemore!
Don't want to fall and dirty my pretty dress!
Hi!
Giving Maggie water

Filling up the pool
I love my pool!
Pouring water down the slide... such fun!
Reading my Fuzzy Bee and Friends book!

We had an amazing day. AnnaClaire was the happiest baby all day. She looked so pretty for Church in her new dress. She did great in the nursery and the workers said she was happy and danced, went for a walk, etc. After a wonderful Church service, we went to Five Guys for lunch. Is it just me, or does it seem like everywhere we go, now that AnnaClaire is home, we see "mei meis". Today we saw an adorable little girl (3 maybe?) who was so sweet and AnnaClaire and her were waving to eachother.. so cute! We went home and AnnaClaire and I ran around outside while I tried to get some good pics of her in her dress. Her favorite was "Catch me". I would say "Catch me, catch me" and she would run after me with a big smile. We had a blast! After her nap, Dad and I took her in her pool. She had the BEST time. She has learned to go down her slide mostly all by herself. I help her climb the stairs, and then she scoots down it. It's soooo cute. We were outside for awhile and then she came in and had an indoor rest of the afternoon before dinner and Mom took her on a wagon walk before bed.

Strawberry girl!

I just finished this up of AnnaClaire eating her strawberries on Wednesday. Let me know what you think! Is that not the cutest layout?? Thank you Melanie, for the picture effect (red strawberries, everything else B&W).

POD- Coffee Beans Girl

The picture says it all

Turtle Day!

Did you say COFFEE?

It goes in here!
Now I turn it on...
Wow! Look what I made!
"Dear God..."
Up! Up!
Running around in Sissy's shoe!
I'm so cute, aren't I?!
I love to read!
Look at that, Sissy!
What could be in here?

Reading my books
I make such a good drummer!
Movie star at dinner!
Ohhh yeah!

The morning started with AnnaClaire helping make Daddy's coffee. She was so cute doing so!!! Aren't her new pjs so cute? I love them! After she ate a yummy breakfast, made by me, I got her dressed in her cute little turtle shorts that I got her. I love her turtle shorts... It was a pretty low key day. AnnaClaire went out with Dad and Will while Will got interviewed to work at Harris Teeter, which he's doing. Drew works there, too. Guess what? I learned how to make hair bows!!!! I'm so excited! We had this really cute ribbon and I was tying it in a bow and then I came up with a grand idea to try to make a bow with it! And I did! I'll have to post a picture at some point. It's not completely finished (we need to buy some clips to put it on). But anyway, I'm pretty excited about my new found bow making! At dinner, AnnaClaire decided that she wanted to wear her shades... I think she looks like a little movie star in them:)

Meet Elizabeth "Ellie"

This is our dear friend's sweet baby!!! She is 16 months old today and from the Fujian province! Isn't she just adorable? We have been praying for this sweet little girl, Ellie (as named on their agency's list) to get matched to her sweet family, for about a month now. I remember the first time I saw her... I loved her immediately. Every single day, I would ask my mom if Jeanette had heard anything yet. She told me they were going to make matches on June 8, so all day yesterday, I was asking my mom if she had heard anything. She picked me up from swimming and said "Are you going to ask me if I heard from Jeanette?" and I started screaming and said "WHO, WHO?" And she told me. We both started crying happy tears and screaming some more. Because, yesterday, they found out that they were matched to Little Miss Ellie! So now, sweet Ellie is Elizabeth (and will probably be called Ellie). I'm going to let you go to her blog for all the details... don't want to spoil her fun! But.. I just had to Congratulate Jeanette and family on their sweet, new addition... Precious Elizabeth!

their blog: www.aquiverfull.blogspot.com

AnnaClaire loves her new little friend already. I was showing her the picture, on my computer, and she was waving hi, blowing her kissies, and saying "Ellie!" Then she started leaning on the computer screen, and kissing her face! So I printed out some pictures of her, and AnnaClaire ran around kissing her pictures, "loving" (tilted face on the pic) and saying "Ellie"! It was quite cute!

Kisses for Elizabeth!

I love you, friend, and I cannot WAIT to see you with your family!

CONGRATS AGAIN ON YOUR SWEET DAUGHTER!

POD- My Little Ladybug Love

I shot this one of AnnaClaire this morning, in between doggie kissies and running around the house. I really love this one. I gave it a special effect of being not fully black and white, so you can see a tint of red in it... I love the way it came out!

Kissies for "Woof Woof"

Kissie, Woof Woof!

That face, that face, that face!
Trying on Mommy's apron
I love you, Maggie!
Look at my big, Chinesey, black eyes! Aren't they beautiful?
What could be in your purse, Sissy?
This is fun to shake!
You are so funny.
Reading books on Doggie's bed! (I didn't hear anything, so I went to check on her, and this is what I found. How sweet is that?)


This morning Mom and I headed out around 10 to go to meet with my future guidance counselor to talk about classes next year. We got it all figured out. The whole time, Will was babysitting AnnaClaire. I'm excited about going to school next year! I've been homeschooled since 5 grade. I have really enjoyed it, but it's time for me to go to school. I'm going to the school I went to before I was homeschooled. Will goes there and Drew graduated from there. Anyway, that went well. Afterwards Mom treated us to milkshakes from Chickfila. Yummmmmy. Acie Baby had a nice time with Will, but was ready to see us when we got home. It wasn't long before naptime which was okay today. She woke up and we looked at the newest referrals together. She sat so sweetly, very still on my lap. I would point and say whatever the baby's name was, and she would repeat it. So cute! Speaking of referrals, congrats to everyone on them! We played around, reading, going through my purse, playing with Maggie, etc... a little before we headed to Barnes & Noble to get Will and my summer reading books. We also got AnnaClaire a "summer reading book". It's so cute. It's called "Eyes, Ears, and Nose" and it really bright and cute. She LOVES it. We also ran to Wally World and got a few school supplies (yes, most of the schools here got out today and we bought school supplies today!) It's actually a good time because it wasn't very crowded and they weren't out of anything. There weren't as many options, but that's okay. So we got a few things there. I went straight to swimming, which was good.

Oh and whoever keeps commenting rudely, anonymously, it's really getting old and I'm to the point where I get rude comments and I just laugh.

My Messy Mei Mei

click to enlarge, so you can really see the messyness!

Over at Double Happiness, the Friday challenge is MESSY! AnnaClaire gets quite messy when she eats, so this one wasn't hard. I found lots of photos that she was very messy in, but here's a few favorites...

Picture 1: That's one of my very favorite pictures of AnnaClaire. I know she's not even that messy, but the yogurt in the corners of her mouth- too cute. Taken 12/12/06 in Changsha, Hunan. 13 months old.

Picture 2 (top): AnnaClaire was eating black beans in this picture and she had quite the time eating them! Taken 4/2/07. 17 months old.

Picture 3 (bottom): This one was taken at our favorite... Five Guys! The Little Bu was feeding herself, which is always a messy procedure... Taken 3/3/07. 16 months old.

Picture 4: This is one of the pictures from the infamous Red Beans and Rice story. She had red beans and rice from her hair to her toes, and everywhere in between! Taken 5/21/07. 18 months old.

Picture 5: I took this one when we were in Blowing Rock on Memorial Day. She was eating some of our favorite Kilwin's ice cream. This isn't the messiest picture from her Kilwins, but it is one of the sweetest:). She loved my mint ice cream!!! Taken 5/28/07. 19 months old.

Picture of the Day- THE Retro Kitchen

How could this NOT be the POD? Here's Little Miss Bu Bu playing at the pink retro kitchen in PB Kids. Is that not the cutest thing? (especially with her at it???)

Pottery Barn Kids fun!

Gaming with my brother

Oh boy, look at this!
Picking out shoes to try on...
I WILL get these on!

I'm so stylin!

Well hi there!
Giving myself kissies!
I'm such a happy girl!
Looking at the fountain!
Look, Mama!
I love this chair at PB Kids!

Hi everyone!
Kissies for the dolly!
The bean bag is cool, too...
But I really like this chair...

So as you can tell, today we went to the mall. Just for a bit. We ran in a few stores, including Stride Rite. We wanted to find some cute watershoes for The Bu. She loved running around the store looking at shoes. She thought it was such fun to try on the biggest pair of shoes they had! Ha! She ran around the whole store in these clunking size 12 (atleast!) shoes. It was so funny! She enjoyed it very much. Oh... she measured a 5.5 wide! (so we buy 6W) Our big, wide footed girl! As for watershoes, they didn't have her size in the pair we liked, so we ordered it. On the way out, we saw another pair, in the window. They were SOOOOOOO cute. I'm talking watershoes. Pink and orange. Starfish and shells. Cuteness. They didn't have those either, so we ordered them, too. They had such cute shoes in there. Oh, I just love shoes!!!!!!!! Then we had a yummy lunch, peeked at the fountain and started heading back to the car. On the way, Pottery Barn Kids was just calling us inside... Mom and I have decided that if we ever win a shopping spree to any store, that'd be the store. Everything there is just perfect. AnnaClaire loved the little chair thing. I think we're going to get her one for something (birthday, Christmas... something!) She was really adorable in it, too. She loved playing with the dollhouse and the beautiful play table. She also loved the retro kitchen. You don't know how badly I want that for her. If you've never seen it, you are crazy and you need to! It is this light pink retro kitchen.. oh it is beautiful. Someday, AnnaClaire will be the proud owner of that! I wish. She found a few friends and did puzzles with them. It was a really cute puzzle, actually. Mom and I drooled over these precious jumpers they had. But we saved ourselves the $36, decided AnnaClaire has way enough clothes! The money we saved from that can go to the "retro kitchn savings"! Ha.. just kidding. We stayed a little longer and then left. AnnaClaire enjoyed walking (I mean RUNNING) through the mall waving hi, saying bubye, and smiling. Ahh she's so funny. She went up the escalator which she thought was big fun. She took an okay nap and soon after the Princess awoke, we headed to my first summer league swim meet. We are in the best division (go us!!) so there are really good teams. We aren't the best, but we aren't the worst, either. Today happened to be a meet against the best team in the division. We lost, but my whole age group (13-14 girls) dominated. AnnaClaire was there part of the time, and everyone loved seeing her. She was such a ham for everyone! After the meet, we went out to dinner as a team and then headed home. The meet took forever and we didn't get home until after 11! Good thing AnnaClaire went home at like 6:30!

POD- our girl loves to skateboard!

So, I took a ton of pictures today... usually with most of my PODs, they are the BEST picture that I took that day (as in most professional). But sometimes, I use what I think is just the cutest picture. Today, my POD is the cutest picture. It's nothing that makes you go WOW, that's a good picture. It's just an adorable/funny/cute picture of day to day live. So on with about the pic...

This afternoon, Bitsy Bu Bu was hanging out with her big bro, Will. Will's favorite hobby at the moment is skateboarding... so, he sat AnnaClaire on the skateboard, and was lightly pushing her back and forth in the hall. The whole time, she had the biggest grin on her face. She LOVED it. So here's the POD... It's for you, Will!

Warning: Excessive amount of pictures

This is my bread. Looks yummy, eh?!

Hi!
"Chee- zee" (that's how she says it!)
Peekaboo, Jie Jie!
I'm givin' you "the look".
Chee-zee in the car, with her most favorite book!
Pat the watermelon!
What's that, Sissy?
So sweet at the produce stand!
Mommy, can you get us this watermelon?
Don't take my crackers, Doggie! You have you bones! (she brought Maggie her bone because she was trying to eat AC's crackers)

Dancin' queen..
She's a movie star... who ME?
Yeah. These are my awesome glasses from Maura!
I love the hose.
Yay for water!

A is for Adorable
My watertable is So much fun!
So cute in my swim suit!
Here, Jie Jie. These are for you.
Sweet girl playing with sand

Dust off!
The water is COLD!
Playin' with the sand
Putting the sand down my water spinny thing
Such a drama queen putting on her sunglasses

I got my eye on you!
Don't I have such beautiful hair?
I love to be outside on a sunny afternoon!
Cheese!!!!!!!!!
Who said I couldn't act like a dog?

I really like this picture.
That water isn't so good...
Bro's got me!
I LOVE strawberries!

This will be short, since I posted so many pictures...

It was a good day. I suppose Mom and The Butles had a good morning, but I wouldn't know, because I awoke at 11:30! (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE SUMMER?) Mom woke AnnaClaire up at 9:15, so she slept in, too! We ate lunch and AnnaClaire ate another whole container of blueberries. She loves those things. Oh and her diapers aren't bad after them. She played around in the house, just running around, being adorable. She has decided that she is "SOOOOOO big" and can go down the stairs- the big kid way. I don't mean sliding on the belly... I mean holding onto the spindles and walking down. Yikes... We are trying to tell her that she needs to do it belly way, so we shall see if she decides belly way is better. She took a good, long nap and afterwards, we went to the produce stand where she was 100% adorable. She loved patting the watermelon. Have I said how loud she is? She had her little book in the car, and she was pointing to everything and YELLING out what it was. Over and over again. It's really actually very cute. But still loud. She has the sweetest little voice though. And it's awesome to see her using her words so much. There are new ones every day. When we got home, she enjoyed a few minutes of going through Mom's purse and then I took her outside to her sand & water table. (Note- yes, she is wearing the same suit she wore last time we went out.. I try not to repeat them, but it was the only one that matched her piggies, and I was really sooooo proud of her piggies, that I couldn't bear to take them out.) She had an utter blast outside. She was sooooo adorable in her sunglasses! Oh she was just so cute outside. She is sooo funny. I can't even begin to explain everything she does that makes me laugh/is so cute. There's just too much! I really think that she thinks she's a dog. She was drinking out of the water table like Maggie does... lol. She's so funny! Oh and she can't stand to have sand on her hands. She loves to play with sand, but right after, she always "dusts off" her hands. It's so cute! If you say "dust off", she rubs her hands together! And... I can't forget... everytime I pull the camera out, she looks at me and says "Chee-zee". It's so cute!!!!!! The "chee-zee" smile looks almost like she's going to cry... but she's not. Anyway, we had a yummy dinner. She ate soooo many strawberries. She is loving her fruits! She was so cute with her bright red strawberry face, too.

POD- Big smile with her Bible book

Describing AnnaClaire as "happy" is an understatement. I mean... look at that smile...

Her books

Getting my Bible book from my wagon

Reading my Bible book with Sadie
Dancing to the music in my Baby Einstein book!

AnnaClaire is quite the reader. Have I mentioned that? (I know I have) She is always carrying around a book, always wanting to read. She just loves it. This morning, she was hunting for her favorite Bible book and walked around with it all morning. When my friend Sadie came over, she brought the book to Sadie and "made" her read it! She is too funny with her books!

There's nothing really to post about our day... I woke up really late (have I mentioned how much I love summer?) and The Bu and I hung out a little, ate lunch, then Sadie came over for a minute and we went to her house. For lunch, AnnaClaire ate a whole small container of blueberries! Guess our girl loves her blueberries! AnnaClaire napped and soon after she woke up, she and mom took me to the ortho. Is it just me or does it seem like I'm always going to the ortho? Everyone at the ortho loved her. Everyone everywhere loves her. Part of the time I was there, AnnaClaire was at Target with Mom. They ran into Drew and my first grade teacher (my very favorite teacher EVER) so she got to meet AnnaClaire. I'm sad I wasn't there to say hi!

When we got home from the ortho, AnnaClaire wanted to read somemore. That's when I snapped the 3rd picture. She was dancing to the music in her book. She loves to press the buttons for music and then spin and dance along to it. She's so funny :). Oh I forgot to mention yesterday... AnnaClaire was standing in Maggie's food bowl, which is a big no no- and she knows it! Mom said "No, AnnaClaire, get out of the food bowl." Well, she didn't... She looked up with the "haha I'm breaking the rules" look. So Mom went over to her, and she backed away and said "Neee" (how she says no). Is that not too funny? "Neeeee! Neeeeee!"

Oh BTW, I added new music. Drew was telling me that the video was running into the text/pics (did that happen for anyone else?) While I was at it, I added a new song. It's When God Made You by NewSong. Love, love, love that song!!!!!!!! It has always reminded me of AnnaClaire's adoption... I know it is really about marriage, but hey- it can mean adoption too!

It’s always been a mystery to me

How two hearts can come together

And love can last forever

But now that I have found you, I believe

That a miracle has come

When God sends the perfect one

Now gone are all my questions about why

And I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life

Chorus:

I wonder what God was thinking

When He created you

I wonder if He knew everything I would need

Because He made all my dreams come true

When God made you He must have been thinking about me

I promise that wherever you may go

Wherever life may lead you

With all my heart I’ll be there too

From this moment on I want you to know

I’ll let nothing come between us

And I will love the ones you love

Now gone are all my questions about why

And I have never been so sure of anything in my life

Chorus:

I wonder what God was thinking

When He created you

I wonder if He knew everything I would need

Because He made all my dreams come true

When God made you He must have been thinking about me

Bridge:

He made the sun

He made the moon

To harmonize in perfect tune

One can’t move without the other

They just have to be together

And that is why I know it’s true

You’re for me and I’m for you

Cause my world just can’t be right

Without you in my life

Chorus:

I wonder what God was thinking

When He created you

I wonder if He knew everything I would need

Because He made all my dreams come true

Tag chorus:

He must have heard every prayer I’ve been praying

Yes He knew everything I would need

When God made you

When dreams come true

When God made you He must have been thinking about me

(Oh and in case anyone is wondering why I have it on my "playlist" so many times, it's so that it will keep repeating and not stop.)

POD- sunbathing

I can stack cans!

Look what I built!

See it?

I can make a tower TALL!

Where did I go?

Hi...

HERE I AM!

That was fun! Again, again!

I'm REALLY cute.

Today, I was messing with AnnaClaire's hair on the counter (which is why she isn't wearing a bow in the cans pictures). All of a sudden, I see her clapping and wonder why she is so happy. I didn't even notice that the whole time, she had been building a tower out of cans! When I looked noticed, she was happily sitting there, with a tower of 3 cans, clapping. (I don't know why I hadn't noticed... I was standing right by her!) Anyway, I couldn't get over that! Then she stacked it 5 blocks tall, before we decided that was enough. Didn't want cans falling on toes... you know how that can be! I just thought that was so cute that she would just start picking up the cans abd build a tower!

The other pictures are some stroller pictures I took this morning. She was in it and discovered a new game... she would pull the hood down, and hide under it. Then we'd pull it up and she would get all happy. I cannot tell you how many times we played this new game. It's a big hit!

I forgot to mention in the last post, I was sitting on the ground with AnnaClaire and pretended like I was going night night. She then ran into the living room saying "pa pa" and came back with her pop pop car. She drove it in circles around me, and then sat on me and started kissing me! Next thing I knew, she brought Bunny over and gave her to me! Is that not sweet? First she was trying to "wake me up" and then she was helping me "fall asleep"! Speaking of kisses, today AnnaClaire pulled kinda hard on Maggie, and Maggie didn't like it one bit. So I said the usual "be gentle, AnnaClaire!" She responded to that by giving Maggie about a hundred kisses on the head and I mean head totally pushed into Maggie's fur, and big MWAH kisses. She is such a kisser. Although sometimes she WILL NOT kiss anyone. Today was one of those "kissy" days.

The whole point of this post was to show the can tower pictures and ask the bang question. Guess I got a little OT! So anyway... what do you think? Does our little princess need some bangs? Here are some tester bangs I tried out, without cutting any hair. So should she get them?

Hangin' in the sprinkler and baking!

(note- this one, she was running and got to the top of the hill and all of a sudden I hear her say "Tees" (cheese). I look up and she is standing there like this- posing!)

The first few pictures are of AnnaClaire making pumpkin bread with Mom. She loves to help bake!

This afternoon, AnnaClaire and I went in the yard to play in the sprinkler. She had a big time and enjoyed herself. Most of the pictures are pretty self explanatory... so I'm not going to label them.

We are still working on the whole "walk on the pavement, you can run in the grass" thing, and today AnnaClaire fell on the driveway and got a little owie (skinned knee). Poor thing. She cryed for a spilt second, and we got her all bandaged up with her adorable little Veggie bandaids (thanks Maura!) She's a true toddler with her skinned knees and bandaids! She is so funny, because she loves to point our her owie. She points to it and says "oww" or "boo boo". We are trying to teach her the word "owie" for it, because she has pretty much taken the nickname of "Bu Bu" (or Bu, Bitsy Bu, Butles, Little Bitsy Bu, etc.) One day, Mom said "If AnnaClaire weren't named AnnaClaire, I think she looks like a Betsy". So she somehow got the nickname Little Bitsy Bu, which has become Bu Bu. We later realized that it's perfect because she came to us saying "BUUUUUUU" and was born 4 days before Halloween (BOO!) It goes along nicely with the rest of our REALLY STRANGE nicknames. Gosh, something with our family and nicknames! (Drew- Whoosie. Will- Bump. Me- Sue.) So that's how her nickname came to be.

There is a little hill in our sideyard up to our neighbor's house, and AnnaClaire has discovered how much fun it is to run up the hill, and then back down. She did that for SO long. Other than that, she mowed the lawn, ran through her sprinkler, ate a snack, and waved to everyone who passed by. At one point, our neighbor came over. She stayed a bit and then when she left, AnnaClaire waved bye to her until she was out of sight!

The last picture is of AnnaClaire playing "Guitar Hero". Officially every kid in our family loves that game.

Oh and I'm about to do another post with some seperate pictures that are so cute.

Dress from Blowing Rock

This is the dress that we got in Blowing Rock last week. (That I promised to post and never got around to doing that!) Isn't it beautiful? How could we not buy that... oh and it looks even cuter on Miss AnnaClaire!

POD- the princess wave

Here it is... the infamous "princess wave" from the FRONT! Is that not the cutest thing?

Ladybug Lane

These are my Crocs.

I love my Crocs!

Can I bring them to Church?
A squeaky clean girl, brushing her teeth, and sliding!
Hello San Fransisco!
Whew... an hour in the tub tires one out!

This morning we headed to Church. Lately we have been going to a different Church and they are adding on to the building. Today, all the preschoolers were in the new building, although everything else is in the "old" building. Anyway, it was really awesome. They used to have like a few nurseries crammed together on one little hallway, now they have this HUGE, wide hallway with hallways going off of it into different nurseries. The main stretch is called "Ladybug Lane". How cute is that? Anyway, just had to share that... AnnaClaire was a little timid going into the nursery, probably because it was brand new, so she's never been in it. By the time we picked her up, they said she was "social, sweet, and loved the gold fish!" They said she did great and didn't cry at all! (I was a little worried, because we went back to write our number, and she started crying when she saw us...) But she did good. It was raining all morning- ugh. Caroline had asked me to go whitewater rafting with them, and I was worried we were going to end up not going. But we did. It was soooooo much fun. It pretty much stopped raining, although it was pretty cold out. We had SO much fun rafting. There were too many people in our "party" (her brother and his friend, and her dad's boss' kid's and their friends, plus me and Caroline) so we had so split up. Caroline and I ended up going with these really nice people who raft there all the time. They lead for part of it and then they let us lead. Well, yesterday they had these "olympics" things and tried to get the fastest times in all sorts of events. In rafting, the record was 1:20. On our last run, when Caroline and I were leading, we went about a :50!!! Pretty awesome! The guide was like "You should've been here yesterday for the olympics... you would've won the rafting!" So that was pretty cool. After 2 hours of rafting, we came home. AnnaClaire, Dad, and Mom had gone to the Discovery Place but soon got home. It was a low key evening and at about 7, I bathed AnnaClaire. She LOVED her bath so much tonight. She loves having bubble beards and bubble hair. It's so fun and cute. She was lovin' her bath. She just wanted to stay in. I was showing her how to blow bubbles, and finally decided to get in with her. So I put on my bathingsuit and we played in the bathtub. She LOVED that. There's a picture, but honestly, I don't really want to post a picture of me in the bathtub. Even if I am in a bathingsuit... it seems kinda wierd. She's really cute in it, though! We played with all her tub toys, her toes, did "This little piggie", and more. She spent over an hour in the bathtub! Talk about spa treatment! All the bubbles went away and we had to get a second round of water because the first round got cold! By the time we got out, the second round was getting cold! That's how long she was in there. She DID NOT want to come out. Finally, she was ready to come out and so I lotioned, potioned, and dressed her. After playing, hugs, and kisses, she went "nigh nigh".

Oh and of course I can't forget. My brother has this game called "Guitar Hero". You might've heard of it... if not, it's an xbox game and the controller is the guitar. Kinda like Dance Dance Revolution, except for guitars- you press the buttons that it tells you. So tonight, Drew, Will, and I were all playing Guitar Hero. It was really quite fun. I had never played it before, even though he's had it since like March. Very fun game.

For all my adoption friends out there, we had a ladybug sighting today... in the bathtub!

AnnaClaire's Announcement

It just dawned on me that I never posted a picture of Miss AnnaClaire Chenhui's adoption announcement! So here it is! Oh and I gotta give myself a little credit... see the pink bow? Mom didn't want to pay extra for announcements, so I tied them... on all 90 announcements! (oh and by the way, we didn't just send them out... we don't procrastinate that much! We sent them out in like February.)

Announcements by Picture Me Perfect (totally recommend them!!)

Picture taken in December by me

POD- Happy zoo girl with a lopsided bow ;-)

Dad picked this one. (and I agreed) How cute is that? As for the bow, I guess that's just what happens when you send AnnaClaire to the zoo with Dad and Drew (of all people). Hey- atleast it's even in!

The guys and AnnaClaire go to the zoo

Hi from the zoo!

Brother and me with the flamingos
playing in the bamboo!
Looking at animals with brother.
I'm cute
Riding the merry go round
Posing by the flowers
Hi! I'm on the zebra!
I love riding the merry go round with "Dew"!
Daddy and his girl
checking out the turkey
Look at that elephant!
Look what Sissy bought for me! (yes, she has one shoe on, one shoe off... she likes to walk around like that for some odd reason...)
I'm so cute, and happy, and pudgy

Enjoying my bath
sweet smiles
Here's my toes
That tasted FUNNY!
This morning, Caroline's mom picked us up and we decided to go to the mall. On the other side of things, Dad, Drew, and AnnaClaire went to the zoo. Besides the fact that it rained the entire time, I think they had a good time besides it rained the whole time. AnnaClaire rode the merry go round 3 times. She loved it. She also loved seeing all her animals. Dad says that feeding the goats was a favorite, too.

My day went well. Caroline and I were at the mall for so long. We had a fun time. Going to the mall is always a fun thing to do. We walked right past PB Kids and they had the cutest hooded beach towels in the window. I couldn't help myself but buy one for AnnaClaire. It's SOOOOOOO cute! Pink and green stripes with a hood! :) :) :)

One of the many fun things of the day was running into Maggie and family in the Apple store! It would've been nice had AnnaClaire been there, so Maggie and AnnaClaire could've played a little, but it was fun to finally meet them! It seems like we always go to the same places but are never there at the same time. Maggie is SO adorabley cute.

After being at the mall for like 6 hours (and just so you know, we barely bought anything!), my mom came and picked us up. We brought Caroline home and then we got home right as Dad, Drew, and AnnaClaire were unloading the car. AnnaClaire was so happy to see Mom, Will and I. I have to admit, that she came out of her carseat saying "jie jie" and hugged onto me for a long time :). I missed my little bit!

I showed AnnaClaire her towel and she ran around smiling with it- so cute. Then we bathed her. She was sooooooo adorable in the bath. We got her all striped down and she was posing cute, so I took a few pictures in her diaper and everytime we said "Pose!" she would give this huge grin. So cute. Then we put her in the bath and I gave her a bubble hat and bubble beard. She thought that was so much fun. She did so many cute things in the bath. She would "pose" in the bathtub and give us the cutest smiles. Then, she was showing us her toes. It was especially cute, because the water was pretty deep, so she was trying so hard to balance so she could life up her foot. Too cute. Oh, and she picked up the rag and started washing her toes, belly, and face!!! SOO ADORABLE! Then she tried to blow bubbles (I've shown her a few times how I blow bubbles in the pool, so she was trying to do it) well she put her face in the water and tried... it didn't work and she swallowed a little water. I thought she would start crying, but instead, she picked her head up with this funny (like, "what did I just do?") look on her face (see last picture) and smiled!

After her bath, she ate dinner, played, and went to bed where she has been quite the little sleeping beauty since:)

My cutie (yesterday)

Smiley baby! Proper lady lifting her dress to walk (and sticking out her tongue- ha!)

So, yesterday AnnaClaire woke me up (at 10:30!! I LOVE summer!!!!!!) and after she played on my bed a little, she went to the produce stand with Mom. I was so sad to figure out that there was no internet connection! UGH! We didn't have it all day until like 2. Soon after that, Caroline came over and we hung out and then we went to our timothy project (youth group thing) leader's house for a group sleepover. Very fun. Anyway, that's why my post from yesterday was so lame ;-).

So it was a good day. AnnaClaire is catching a cold, poor thing. She's doing fine, though. She was good all day. Our sleepover was so much fun. We played some really fun games, scared eachother with this huge cardboard manican of Arnold S...(I'm not even going to try to spell that!), pigged out and told jokes. It was really fun. Almost everyone from our group was there... 5 (of 6) 8th grade girls and all 3 sr leaders. We had such an awesome time............

Strollers!

This weeks FFFF Challenge is "Strollers". We have lots of stroller pictures, so this was a good one. Of course, I couldn't decide with just 1 or 2, so I have chosen my favorite one from each month (except June... don't have any stroller pics from June- yet!) We have 2 strollers. Our main one is a PLIKO P3 Free Style Stroller (pink). We love that stroller and AnnaClaire does, too! It is SO easy to push, very comfy, easy to work, etc. Our other stroller is a blue Baby Jogger. We got it at our local children's department store, so it's not the nicest stroller and not our first pick for color, but it does the purpose and was a great price! We didn't bring our stroller to China, so the first picture (December) is a few days after we arrived home. You can really tell how much she has grown from the Dec stroller pic and the May stroller pic! Enjoy- click the collage to view it larger! :)

And here's 2 cute ones of AnnaClaire pushing a dolly stroller at PB Kids!

Thursday pictures :)

Concentrating hard on stringing the moo moo cow...

So serious with her beads!
I will get this on!
Now the tractor!
Shake shake them all to the bottom so there's room for more!
This is the tree, Sis.
She concentrated so hard on each and every bead!
Yeah!! I did them all!
Shake, shake! Lookie at them all!
And now I'll shake them all off...
Doing it again!

Unloading groceries!

I'm such a helper!

Bringing the bag to the pantry!
Okay, I'm here! What now? (she wasn't frowning, she was biting her lip)
Look at me taking the chips out of the bag!

Whew, this is tiring!
One more!
Come on, chips!
Okay, they're both out... now into the pantry...
TWO bags of chips!

I'm such a big girl putting them away!
Golfing!
I take after my big bro, Will!
Getting in the pool...
I fell... but I got right back up after!

This is my tongue.
Watering the lawn (it needed it... hasn't rained in forever!)
I got water in my eyes! Oh no!
Hi up there, Sissy!
Cups are such fun

and buckets, too.
I LOVE my pool!!!
I love to squat. They say it's because of my squatting experiences in China. (AnnaClaire rarely sits on her bottom, she only squats!)
Lovely
Fun stuff!

My tongue... aka I love sitting in my pool!
Look at me, so big sitting on my bottom in the pool!
See my Crocs?
Playing with my toys in the pool.
MY cup!

I love the slide!!!!!!! (sorry it's blurry... but you can tell she likes it with that face, right?!)
I want to slide AGAIN!
Sliding down my slide!
See my dimples?

Quickie

Here's another pool picture. Today is a busy day, so I'll add the rest sometime this weekend! Have a good one!