Happy Adoption Day!!!!!

Three years today Jade joined our family. I remember the day like it was yesterday. I remember all the years waiting to become a mother and the crazy range of emotions I felt on that day. How strange the day must have been for my sweet girl. She never cried just looked at us with caution. Words really can not describe how blessed I feel to be Jade's mama.
Jade,
I love you so much and you bring so much joy in my life!!!

.. July 2006

Da Pool

It was Liam's first time at the pool today. We went with my mom to the pool at her fitness club. They have a nice pool set up. A baby pool, gradual depth pool and regular pool. Jade likes the water but is not fond of getting her head wet. Liam on the other hand is a fish. He sticks his head in the water! They had so much fun today with Grandma or as she likes to refer to herself as "The spoiler".

Ball Obsessed!

That's what our dog is. We can not have any balls in the house because our Boston (Moe) will demolish them in seconds. We just got the kids a small pool and Moe spotted the ball in the pool. He was trying for about 10 minutes to get it so we busted out the camera. Now pool ball is no more lol!

VBS!!

We had Vacation Bible School last week. It was a lot of fun! My mom and I taught a story again this year. We teach each each age and grade with two groups a day. It is a lot of work but the kids love it. Our story was about a shipwreck where God saved all aboard but the ship was lost in a storm. This was really fun to create in our room.

Jade and her friend Millie singing at the parent program.

Our ship

Jade in her class.

Jewelry Giveaway!

I love jewelry! Especially hand made silver jewelry. I really enjoy making it myself and almost majored in it in collage. So go check out Laurie over at Pho for five for a fun giveaway.

Amazing!

My friend Shel had a baby girl yesterday afternoon. I am very thankful that I was able to see baby Liana enter the world. I had never seen a baby born and most likely will not experience it myself so it was a real gift to witness. (But also looked VERY painful!)

Btw who looks this good an hour after birthing a baby with no drugs! Mama was a trooper!

Zoo, Picnic and Beauty Parlor.

Can I say I LOVE me some Spring. After months and months of cold and snow I feel like I go a little nutty when the sun comes out and the trees get their leaves. We took Liam to the zoo for the first time on Saturday and he had a blast. He was pointing and dada'in at all the animals (I think this is his happy sound, lol). Jade had fun showing baby bro the ropes since she has been to this zoo many times. Liam LOVES to be licked by animals. He likes to lean down to our Boston and have him lick his face. He thinks it is hilarious (which it is, yet slightly gross).
So he had fun feeding the goats and having them lick his hands (don't worry hands only no lips).
We also went to a picnic over at our friends on Monday. They had some others over from our church and it was really fun! They live on an acre so the kids have lots of room to play. Then we had a bon fire and they torched this old rotten picnic table. Good times!


At picnic: Who gave my kid this bottle? Uncle Cory?!


Um, Cory the table you are on is on fire, lol.

Uh oh I think our dog is going to be jealous.

Lets see how many kids we can cram in this baby.

Jade wanted to make daddy "handsome" Looking good honey!

Zoo:

Look at that joy!

Wig Busting, Day In Asia, and Choo Choo Trains

We have these gorgeous lilacs in our front yard so I wanted to get some pics in before the blooms left.


Where did my baby go?

Here comes Th*mas!

Jade with Uncle Cory

Day in Asia with Grandpa

I trimmed up Liam's hair a few weeks back but it just wasn't how I wanted it so I took both kids in to get a wig busting (as we like to call it around here). The place is especially for children's cuts and it was really cute inside. Jade didn't mind but Liam (as I'm sure many just one year olds would be) didn't love his so much. Liam looks so much older now but it is really cute and I love to faux hawk it.

My mom's Asian Awareness Club had another "Day in Asia" at her school. So, traditionally, we went up to visit and eat. It is always fun to see what the students come up with. Liam and Jade had fun and many of the students were goo-goo-gagaing over them. Jade is old enough now that she kinda knows what is going on. She said, of one of the students, "She is from China, like me."

Today we went to see Th*mas The Train. We went with my brother, his new girlfriend, her sister-in-law and her kids. It was beautiful out. Sunny and high 70s.

Has it already been 6 months!!!

Wow, I am a bad blogger! I just have had a lot of things come up lately. Plus the weather has been warmer so I just want to be outside a lot. I also have been on a reading binge. It all started with the Twil*ght Saga. Those books are all consuming. I just couldn't put them down. Then after that I wanted to read her other novel The H*ost. I really enjoy her books!

We got 3 new lenses for the camera so I hope to learn how to use them better. I did work for a photographer for 3 years when I was younger so you would think I would know more than I do. I should have used that opportunity to learn from her more.

Little man has been home now 6 months!!! Man does time fly!! I look at Jade and can't believe she is almost 4. Where did my baby go!! Liam is walking all over the place and getting into everything. I am very thankful that he is such a good sleeper and I think this is because he is so busy during his awake hours. He is also very verbal and loves to gibber jabber all day long. he can say a few words (mama, dada, baby, and a lot of boo boo, dee do, na, nahs all day long) He can also sign for more. He picked this up quickly when communicating that he wanted more food. He LOVES to eat, and solids now, no more puree for him. He only has 5 teeth but eats like he has a mouth full. I try to cut it really small because he shovels a handful in at a time.

Above are some pictures from the park a few days ago with one of my new lenses. It was cloudy so I hope to go back and get some neat ones using sun rays.

Look Who's One!

Yes our little man turned one yesterday. We had a birthday party for him at my parent's house on Saturday. Poor Liam has been sick with Croup and a secondary infection. On Saturday he was feeling better but still a little crabby. So the song "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" did apply to my little man on Saturday. He still has a runny nose but is at least eating and not crying half of the day now. It was a rough week last week. He is in a much better mood now. He LOVED his cake! I think he played/ate it for more than 5 minutes. Very soon after we stopped rolling he smashed it with both hands. We missed it on video but got some pictures below.

When I changed Liam's diaper the next morning I was alarmed because his poo was dark blue. Lol !!! Then I remembered all the icing he ate the day before..

Liam having a moment.

Want some grandpa!

I don't think my poor little man had smiled in days. (Cake makes me smile too!)

My sweet girl!

Look who's walking.

Liam starting taking steps a couple weeks ago and last week he decided that he would like to walk now. Everyday he has been walking more and more. Now he seems to be wanting to walk more than crawl. Here we go.....

Fear Fa*ctor, here we come!

My brother decided to have a get together yesterday to try out different "interesting" food items. He had many of his friends over so we decided to join in the fun to see who would be gaging first. My brother and I have been wanting to bust out the Dorian fruit to see what it tastes like so why not include some other questionable items and make it a "dare ya to eat it" party. We wanted to wait till it was warmer outside because the fruit smells putrid. We saved it for last but actually it was not the worst tasting item on the menu. Smelliest, yes. Worst tasting. no. The worst tasting to me was the least smelliest. go figure.

Fermented soy bean, hmmm. The word fermented should be your first warning.

Ji enjoying food from her homeland

You mix it with mustard and soy sauce and it becomes gooey.

Oh yeah, that is nasty!!!

The Dorian

My bro getting a big 'ol bite.

The face says it all, lol.

Thousand year old duck eggs. Not as bad as I thought it would be actually.

A whole fish.

Jade was excited but did not try much at all. I think our expressions scared her a little bit.

This is Liam's new favorite thing, hanging upside down.

A girl and a pen in the bathroom alone....

And you get some lovely artwork on the walls next to the potty. What else is a 3 1/2 year old going to do while "waiting", right. The funny thing is it's one of the best pictures she has ever drawn. I mean you can see eyes and a mouth. I had to take a picture before removing it.

It has been unseasonable warm the past week so we have been outside as much as possible. We went to a park with a protected wetland with our friends Josh, Jeanine and their son Jonah. The park is still muddy and wintry looking but it was blue skies and mid 60's so we got to see some animals out like this muskrat. (He was so cute!)

The beaver dams are really cool here.


Jonah

Little man

Then we played outside since it was so nice. I need to get new sand for Jade's sandbox so she enjoyed the dirt in this pot on the porch. Of course she thought this was great. They had a bath a little early that day.


Getting a little windy

It is hard to get both kids smiling and looking at the camera at the same time so I was excited to get this one.