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.

The Ballet

Jade, my mom and I had a girls day out today at the ballet. We saw a youth ballet preform The Emp*ty Pot. The story is set in China and is about a boy who tries to grow a seed for an emperor. My mom has taught two of the high school kids in the company who had the two leads. They did a really nice job. I use to dance (toe ballet) when I was younger (believe it or not) for 10 years so I always enjoy watching it. Jade sat through most of it and said she really liked it.

This was my view before the organ went down, HELLO! We were in the first row.

Jade made a friend

Okay, time to intervene before one of them goes over.

My mom taught the boy on the right.

Another student of my mom's.

Okay and one of Liam with a sweet do.

Charlotte

We just got back from a trip to see some friends in Charlotte NC. The weather was beautiful!!! In the mid 70s and 80s blue skies, and low humidity. I mean does it get any better? We met our friends when we all adopted our daughters from China back in 2006. Jade and Lilly are from the same city in China so it is so neat to see them together. John had some job interviews as well. We may be moving there in the summer. We wanted to move there before but wanted to wait for our adoption of Li to be completed. It is a fun area with a lot to do and the weather is so much nicer then here. We came home to 40 and rainy, bummer. It was wonderful to see them and the girls had a blast!

Liam, Lilly and Jade

Lilly (aka Tootie or Shu Shu)

Jade is not into the swing but little man sure is!

The girls on Cisco. This is our friends oldest daughter's horse. (We have NEVER been able to get Jade to go near a horse before, go figure?)

We have a picture from a year and a half ago of the girls sitting on this exact seat on the porch.

Then:

Now: (Wow, how they have grow!)

This video is of the girls on the trampoline. If you listen carefully you can hear Jade say, "I love you Shu Shu." Too cute!!