23 months old!!!!!!!

Well look who is 23 months old today?? In just one month, our little Bu will be 2 years old! I can't believe it! Time has just flown by. I can't believe my sweetie is just a month away from being a 2 year old. Wow.

AnnaClaire, thank you for all the moments you've brought to my life in the past 9 months. I love you so much. You are growing up into such a beautiful little girl. God has blessed us so much to have put you in our lives. I love you forever, baby girl!
Love, Sissy!

On Monday, my little BuBear came to school for show and tell in geometry! She had the best time and everyone was going on and on about how they wanted an AnnaClaire. She is so loved. She hammed it up for my class and knew just how to make everyone go "aww". She ended my "speech" with a big hug around my neck. I think she was quite happy to finally see this place Mom is always telling her that Brother and Sister are at... school! It was AC's lucky day because a few hours later, she came back with Mom because Mom had to work a luncheon. I was in LA and I saw my black haired beauty running around the hallway and when the bell rang I scooped her up and she ate lunch with me and all my friends! It was great fun. EVERYONE was coming in to say hi and how cute she was! AnnaClaire loved coming to school and I know she can't wait to come back someday!

Apple orchard!!

On Friday I had the day off of school so Mom, AnnaClaire, and I headed to the Sky Top Orchard in the mountains! We had a great time despite at first it was incredibly foggy, cold, and wet. Once the fog left it was very fun though! The one downer was that there were no apples... there was an early freeze so all the apples were gone. We did buy some at the store and pick some out of the baskets they had outside, too. AnnaClaire fed 2 of her apples to the goats and they ate them all up! There was also a hay ride around the orchard and that was so fun! AnnaClaire met a little friend, Annaniah on the ride and they were so cute together! Annaniah was about a month younger than AC. There were also pumpkins at the orchard and AnnaClaire picked out the cutest little pumpkin. Near the pumpkin patch there was this huge spider made out of hay and black tubes and AnnaClaire stood on it and did the itsy bitsy spider! It was so cute! The orchard had the best apple juice too, and it came in these little apple sippy cups! There were even goats, roosters, bunnys, sheep, and really loud ducks. And I can't forget about the bamboo patch! It was a an apple orchard with tons of different stuff! AnnaClaire also loved swinging in this little bear swing there, playing in the apple house, and posing behind the pumpkin. The first pictureof her in front of the "How tall this fall?" sign took forver to take. She was so afraid of the scarecrow on it, but we somehow got her to standin front of it and do "so big" with the reward of a "very special" acorn. So we had a very great time at the apple orchard! I've posted a few of my favorites from the day, but I still have lots more. I'm working on homework before I go to my friends house to watch the panthers game, so I can't upload them right now but I'll try to tonight.

Ladybugs!

Today Mom and AnnaClaire met up with 4 mommies who are waiting for their little girls from China and Emma Grace (waiting sister!) at Qdoba. I'm so sad I had to miss out.. it sounds like they had an awesome time!! AnnaClaire "told" me all about it when I got home and said "Emma Gra" all afternoon! It was so cute! I can't wait until all these mommies have their little ones and we can get all the little ones together, too!
When I got home from school AC was soooooooo happy to see me. She was so cute. I just love her!! On Monday she's coming to school for show and tell! Yep.. even in highschool we have show and tell! For geometry. And it's quiz grade. Everyone is so excited that she's coming in. She's going to love it! haha!
Isn't the outfit she has on adorable? Chocolate Soup. $10. I love it! It's her first little pair of jeans! They have little ladybugs on them! So cute!! I have some more pictures to post of her in her darling outfit, but here's a few of Sara Beth's website from today! Enjoy!
Oh and I can't believe I forgot to mention (or maybe that's a good thing?) guess who had her first french fry on Sunday? Yes.. AnnaClaire! We were at Five Guys and she started reaching for them. Almost 2... 5 guys... reaching... so she got to try one. She loved it and even dipped it in catchup!

Maddy!

Here's Maddy kissing her Mommy and Daddy! Isn't she precious?! Congrats again to Maddy and family!!

Choo Choo, School Bus

Tonight AnnaClaire, Dad, and I played with AnnaClaire's train tracks. We still had Will's and so Dad and I set them up yesterday. We had most of the little train cars and Mom got a box of other automobiles like a school bus, ambulance, police car, etc. The school bus is her favorite.. she will point and say "schoo ba". It's so cute!! She loves her little tracks with all her cars!! She was so cute with them, too. She is getting so big and so talkative. She says EVERYTHING. I am so amazed. She is such a smart little thing, too. She is the best sense o direction. She goes to the nursery during the week 2 times while Mom is at Bible study. Well it's at a different Church and she calls it the "new nurse". It's so cute!! She's so full of love. Every night before bed, we have our routine... Kissy, hug, love, one more kiss. It's so cute. She gives the SWEETEST kisses. For love, she puts her arms around you and puts her head on your shoulder, and for hug, she hugs really tight. She's the sweetest thing ever. I miss her a lot during the day. School is still going awesome and I love it!!! On Friday we have the day off so Mom and I are taking AnnaClaire apple picking! That should be fun!

Oh and I can't forget... sweet Maddy finally got her family and she is a CUTIE!!! www.maddysstory.com!

Enjoy the pictures. I'll try to check in again soon!

And now it's been 9!!!

Well by now you must've realized that there's an 11 on the calender.. which means it's been 9 months since AnnaClaire Day!!! I cannot believe how time has flown... my sweet mei mei is getting so big! I mean look at that picture... except those squinty little eyes, flat nose, and big smile... she doesn't even look the same! She has grown so much... gained 5 pounds, grown 2 inches, gone up 3(??) shoe sizes... These 9 months have been amazing. The best 9 months of my life and I would not trade them for anything!!

Little Bu Bear, I cannot believe it has been 9 whole months since you were placed in our arms! I have loved watching you grow these months and I can't wait to continue watching you grow up into the little girl that God made you... a special little girl! I love you so much and am so blessed to be able to call YOU my MEI MEI!!!!

XOXO,

Sit-zee

Nice Matters Award

I just got home from school and need to work on homework before swimming at 5, but I did want to post this. I was awarded the Nice Matters Award by Holly's Mei Mei and Young Party of Five! Thanks so much to both of them. I've never gotten a bloggy award before.. so it was fun to get not one but TWO! The award says "This award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world." I must say I feel pretty special to be given this!

So who am I nominating....

A Quiver Full is one of the sweetest families ever! I cannot wait to meet them! Mrs. S was one of my mom's first adoption friends and she was with us all the way through our process. My mom and she both filled out sn applications around the same time and although we got a referral within a month, it was a year before they got Ellie's referral. But she was still so encouraging (an sent us lots of the sweetest gifts!). I can't wait to see little Ellie in her arms a they recently got LOA. I just love reading that blog.

Princess and the Pea is another blog that you will love the minute you start reading it. I can tell you from personal experience that Keara, Maura, and Mrs. S (and I'm sure Mr., too!) are some of the nicest people we've ever met. We were so blessed to be able to do something with them! Keara takes amazing pictures of Miss Maura that are posted all over her blog. She is a great writer and shows love to all!

Journey 2 Sarah is another person we are so blessed to have travelled with! Staci is so sweet and the love she has for Sarah Lu is obvious in all she does. She writes all about her life with her 3 year old sister and has some of the sweetest pictures, funniest stories, and cutest videos.

and here's a picture of my sweet mei mei for those of you in "AC withdrawal" haha just kidding!

Last but not least... I just want to remember what happened 6 years ago on this day. If you know someone who was a part of those terrible attacks, know that you are in my thoughts and prayers as are everyone. In school, we were talking about how days like 9/11/01 will always be in our minds. I can tell you that on that day I was in 3rd grade and we were lining up to go to the playground when a big speaker came on and said that there had been a bad plane crash... or something like that. At the playground, all the 4th graders told us someone was blowing up the school which was pretty freaky to all of us 3rd graders! We had an assembly/prayer service that day and went home from school early where we watched it on t.v. It was a really scary day and it will forever be a part of my mind.

My Little Longhorn!

AnnaClaire's Tezas outfit came today!! Just in time for te UT/TCU game!! Isn't she darling in it?! With the Texas bow and everything... I'm happy to report that Texas dominated TCU! It was the outfit...

So behind!!!

I am so behind. I have so many pictures. I need to post a long overdue home update on the website... But for now, here's a picture I love of the Bu. This was on the train ride at the festival. Is she not adorable?! I love this one! it is my background on my computer :). Oh and I also wanted to wish happy one year gotchas to AC's friends Maggie and Maura!!! They both celebrated a year on Tuesday!! Also I want to wish a belated 2nd birthday wish to LilyRose who celebrated her 2nd bday on Tuesday!

Schools still going well. I switched from Latin to Spanish and I love my new schedule. I also love learning Spanish much more than Latin! It is great. I'm doing well, too. I got my first geometry quiz back today and I got a 100. I am so happy about that! I also got a 100 on my LA quiz yesterday. So it's going great! I have lots of friends there, too. I love it!! I am always very happy to get home and see my littlest Bouy, though!

Jr Firefighter (fesival part 1)

One happy, waving girl with her Daddy on the firetruck

driving the fire truck
AC and the fireman!


This morning Dad, Mom, and I brought AnnaClaire to the festival I was telling you about that has been going on this weekend. Ihad plannd on meeting some friends there later so I went on with the rest and just stayed after they left. We had a great time. First we went to the fire station. The firefighter was so nice! He let AnnaClaire (and all the other kids) "drive" the big firetruck. AnnaClaire thought this was too much fun and did not want to leave the big red truck! She was so funny in it just waving to everyone. She should've been in the parade on Saturday! We walked somemore and stopped to look at the racecars. We then turned a corner where there were lots of little tents set up selling things. I got this really pretty frame that spells out SWIMMING and you put pictures in all the letters. We got AnnaClaire a few little things, too. We then took her to ride a pony! On the way there was a Little Gym tent. AnnaClaire did the balance beam and a few foward rolls on the mat. She had so much fun. I think we'll have to bring her to the Little Gym! She loved it and kept going back for more balance beam. That was her favorite! She then rode a pony and she was so cute on it!!! She loved her pony ride. She rode the smallest little brown one! We walked over to where there was a kiddie train and waited in line for that. It was very fun and AC loved it. After that (about 2 hours there) Mom and Dad left with AC and I stayed and found my friends. It worked perfectly. I had a great rest of the afternoon there. It was so fun. We rode rides, ate snacks, played games, and just walked around. It was really fun. Me and another one of my friends went home with my friend, Ellie, and stayed there for a little bit before we went home. It was a really fun day!!! The Bu loved the festival. It doesn't come again until next labor day weekend, sadly!

I have lots more pictures to add as well as the others from the ranch. But here's some at the fire station!

First masterpiece

My dad has to make a cd with all the pictures from yesterday because he already erased them off the camera. So.. I don't have any of those to post today. But here's one of my favorites of Maggie and AnnaClaire from yesterday. Aren't they too cute?!

It was a very normal Sunday. We went to Church and AC made her first thing!!! She made a little card that said "Dear Mommy and Daddy, thank you for taking me to Church! Love, AnnaClaire!" and there was a little cheerio cross on it. Well.. while they were waiting for me to come out of youth group, guess what AnnaClaire decided to do?! Yep, she ate the gluey cheerios of her masterpiece! That gave us quite the laugh. We will always pull that out and remember the first thing she made... and her eating the cheerios off it! Mom did realize it before she ate the last 3. Phew! LOL! When we got hom from Church and lunch, AnnaClaire went down for a nap. My friend and I went to the mall and AnnaClaire helped Dad with all the branches in the yard. She was out there all afternoon! She came in full of mosquito bites. She had bugspray on but not before she got about 20 bites! We tryed RumorQueen's recommendation of putting ice on them and they seemed to start going away, so we'll see in the morning!

Last week... Drew gos back to college

Dad, Drew, and AnnaClaire before Drew and dad left for Boston

Drew's ready!
Bye Drew! See you in October!
AnnaClaire playing with the number at McAlisters last Sunday
Me and my sweet little Bu Baby
I just realized I never posted these pictures from last Sunday. That was the day Drew and Dad left for Boston to take Drew up to college! They had a safe and uneventful drive up (thankfully.. if you remember Drew's drive here...) and Drew has now started his sophmore year! AnnaClaire misses her big bro lots! We are hoping he will be able to come home for AnnaClaire birthday at the end of October. We love you and miss you, Drew!!

AWAA NC Reunion 2007

Oh what a wonderful day today was!! We left about 9 but mapquest had the wrong directions so we got lost and it took 2 hours to get there... But we did make it! There was a place reserved for our group that had a moon bounce, picnic tables, and food set out. We walked up and there were lots lof little ones in the moon bounce and we recognized Maggie and her mommy and daddy doing bubbles right away! AnnaClaire and Maggie did the moon bounce and fed goats before lunch.They sat by eachother at lunch, too. We also saw a family we know from my old homeschool school. They adopted their little girl, Abby, a year before we adopted AnnaClaire. Abby is 2 and a half. Not only was it fun seeing them (and they have a girl a year older than me that I know) but it was also fun to see them because when we went to the AWAA seminar in Jan 06, their family ran it! So the last time we saw Abby was when she was 12 months old! She has grown so much in the last year and a half!! She was adorable! We also ran into a family from the AWAA WC yahoo group with 2 sweet boys from Russia. They are in the process of adopting another boy, this time from China!! So it was fun getting to meet them! After lunch, talking to people, more moon bouncing, we went to the barn for our 12:45 wagon ride. There were big horse drawn wagon rides that rode all through the ranch and it would stop at different spots so your could feed animals! It was really cool. There were lots of people from the AWAA group on our wagon. Maggie and AnnaClaire sat by eachother and fed animals, played with the food, talked, etc. It really was a cool ride. We gottopet giraffes, zebras, goats, water buffalos, buffalos, emus, osthriches, llamas, and a LONGHORN!! and more. It was really cool. We also saw a 5,000 pound rhino! AnnaClaire was a little shy with the animals on the wagon, which surprised me because she was so outgoing with the goats! It was a really fun ride that lasted about an hour and a half. It really ws a fun place to go! After the ride, we watched a horse getting it's shoe on and then walked around a little longer. AnnaClaire and Maggie held hands when we walked around and didn't let go until we got to the goats! It was the cutest thing! They also enjoyed playing in the water bucket together. That was a big hit! We fed the goats with the leftover food from the wagon, said goodbyes, took a few more pictures, and left. AnnaClaire fell asleep right away, but we stopped at DQ (which was a huge mistake). We left the car running and Mom stayed with Bu. She was still sleeping when we came back but when she heard the doors close, she woke up and stayed awake the rest of the time. She was really good though. Lots of Will's friends came over tonight and she loved seeing all them as did they. We read and did puzzles most of the afernoon, and of course watched college football. Texas' game wasn't televised, but they won which they should've! The App State upsetting Michigan was pretty awesome, too!! I thought it was funny how the aflac question was "Where is Appalachin State?" I guess it just seems like everyone knows that.. but really it's not a very known school. Just here since we are pretty close to it. So anyway that was really cool.

And lastly.. I know there are 80 something pictures the slideshow... but I took 400 so 80 really isn't many. I hope I don't overwhelm people with pictures. There were just so many good ones. If you click on "view all pictures" you can go through them quicker. I still have some that I need to upload from Dad's camera, but I think this is enough for now!

*new email

Because of my email troubles, I made a new email adress. It is emilyh331@gmail.com. I get a lot of emails from people who read my blog so just thought I should put my new one on here.

AnnaClaire and Maggie

We had an awesome day today at the AWAA NC reunion at the Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville. It was an awesome time. There were about 15 families there. There weren't as many as normal, but that was fine. Funnest of all was that we finally got to meet Maggie and her mommy and daddy!!! I had met them (at the mall, of course) before, but Mom, Dad, and AC hadn't. It was so awesome to finally meet them!! AnnaClaire and Maggie became friends at once! But anyway, they were ADORABLE together. Maggie will be 2 at the end of this month, so the girls are a month apart. They were SOOO cute together. They ate lunch together, went on the moon bounce together, fed the goats together, rode the wagon together, and just walked around being cute together. They were sooo cute. I took 400 pictures today so I'll do a bigger post tonight, but I did really want to add one of my favorites right now.