It's a dog eat dog world.

Tomorrow we leave for our trip to Branson, Missouri. The girls have been packed for over a week. I worked the last four days so I could have a week off and not have to use vacation time. Of course, yesterday afternoon I started getting a real scratchy throat and before the day was over, I had almost lost my voice. This morning I have barely been able to talk above a whisper. While I don't really want to load up a van full of things to take and the kids, I really DON'T want to tell them that we are canceling our plans. I will pull up my boot straps and do my best.

Kendalan and Pugston have built a pretty strong bond. She would pick on him all day long while her sisters were at school. Well, she did pick on the cats too! I think all this activity keeping the critters in line wears a girl out!

Pugston has come a long way from when he first arrived at our home. We gave him all we could and tried as hard as we could, but we were one day of taking him on to a new home when an ice storm struck. Pugston was reprieved and he made the most of it!! I have to say that he is turning into a pretty good member of the family. Now if we could just get him to stop eating toys that the girls leave on the floor!

Sunday afternoon fun at the park

We met up at the park Sunday afternoon to ride the merry-go-round, the train and to meet up with some other families who have children from China. It was a beautiful day and the girls and I had a great time on the merry-go-round. I took lots of photos of the girls in motion as we rode. You can see the smiles on their faces!

The girls also love to pose as Dorothy, The Scarecrow, The Tinman and the Cowardly Lion.






I am not sure what this "ride" is called. I guess it is like a multiperson teeter-totter...whatever it is the girls enjoyed it after we got it balanced out well!





And the train is always a hit! While we were waiting for the train to come back we visited with a gentleman who told us he was waiting for his third ride of the day. He also shared that one day he rode the train 22 times! This ride was going to be his 1048 trip on the train! WOW! He has a goal in life! And a fun one at that!!



We are gearing up to go on our short family vacation in a couple of weeks. We are going to Branson, Missouri for the 2009 Adopted Chinese Children Reunion. We will see the Acrobats of China perform and hope to meet up with some families that I have known over the internet for several years. Of course, we are also going swimming which is at the top of the list for fun things to do this summer according to the girls!

Dance recital

Tonight marked the end of weekly dance classes for the girls. Last August we signed up the girls to dance and/or tumbling classes that are held in Carbondale weekly. The first month we had Kendalan and Jordis taking the little girls dance class, ZoraLin was in the weekly tumbling class and RaeAnne was in the big girls dance class. After the first couple of months Kendalan decided that she did not want to be in dance class, Jordis decided she wanted to be in tumbling and ZoraLin wanted to add dance class to her curriculum. So while Kendalan sat on the sidelines RaeAnne and ZoraLin learned dance routines and Zora and Jordis tumbled. Tonight was the season finale with a dance recital.

It was a long day as the girls had a dress rehearsal from 9-12:30. We then had to round up all the different clothes that they would be wearing for different dance routines. Then we had to rush back to the gym so the older girls could get their hair french braided for the dance! (Yes, I do not know how to french braid) The gym was full of parents, siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, family and friends!

Each girl received a certificate and a trophy for their year of weekly classes, dedication and determination to learn the routines and have fun at the same time!





The girls did a great job learning their dance routines and having fun at the same time. We are very proud of our girls for their accomplishments!

ZoraLin is SEVEN!!!

Last week flew by like a whirlwind! I returned to work and hit the ground running working THREE, 12 hour days in a row! (And I must of had a touch of dementia as I wore new shoes the first two days! What was I thinking?!) I really wasn't thinking and forgot to ask off for ZoraLin's birthday which was May 17th, so we celebrated on the day before (which BTW was our 12th anniversary!)

It was a very impromptu celebration as I had worked for three days and really didn't have much prep time. Daddy kind of snuck off to WalMart to get her new bike while I kept all the girls out of the kitchen and gathered up all the things for the cake. Once Daddy came home, he put Zora's new ride outside of the garage and then I went outside to wait. He called the girls out to the garage and gave them all bubble swords! As he opened the garage door so they could take their bubbles outside ZoraLin saw the bike. My usually loud girl all of a sudden became kind of shy and quiet! We really surprised her! Then after bubbles for a while, the girls came in for cake. I think the smile says it all!! Happy Birthday Sweetie!! XOXO

My Mother's Day!!

It turned out to be a great day! Jordis gave me a beautiful card that she made for me at school as did ZoraLin. Zora's had some coupons in her envelope that I get to use at will. Coupons to "Help clean up toys, do the laundry, make my bed for one week, etc." RaeAnne wanted her Daddy to help her buy me some pretty pink roses for the day. I told her that I loved the idea, but instead let's do something else. They all took me out for a late lunch to wherever I wanted to go. As we were driving down the road, I was trying to think of a place that we really don't go to all the time. It suddenly came to me! Let's go to "Joe's Crab Shack!"



The food was great, the entertainment fabulous and the company the BEST!! So then I decided since we were so close to a Build a Bear...I would treat the girls on my special day. I let Daddy in on my plan and we rushed off to the Mall. We arrived at 5pm, the store closes at 6pm....we actually walked out at 5:30pm!! Score!!

I gave the girls the option of either buying a new outfit for the critters we have at home or they could each build a new animal. Now we have more animals!!

I am one very proud, happy Mama!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

And RaeAnne sent me a reward! Seems like I had a great time!! First, please scroll down and turn off the music on our blog so you can hear what was said about me! I think I am glowing!
http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=Klh1tPZh58Z.EA6xHZAnMzEzMTg0Mjg1&referred_by=16317982-md_lWJx&p=moveon

Kendalan MianYi

Our baby turned four years old on April 24th. Since she doesn't attend school yet, I have been meaning to take her to the mall and have photos taken of just her. Well, today we did that. The studio that we have been using for our photos has many different props and I had noticed a really cute photo they had taken of a little girl dressed in her fairy outfit, sitting on a toadstool surrounded by flowers. It is an adorable picture and I wanted my Fairy Princess to have a photo done like that. So I took our Tinkerbelle costume complete with wings as one outfit. The other outfit was a beautiful pink frilly dress that Kendalan had actually picked out for herself just after Easter. "Cause you know Mom, Pink is my favorite color." she tells me!

Well the studio was not busy at all, so our photographer took her time and took some amazing photos of our baby. It was so hard to pick just a few out of all the photos she took to have printed. Kendalan is such a gorgeous subject and has the most beautiful dimples and oh my....she does have her Mom and Dad wrapped around her little finger!!



She tells me that she is saving ALL her kisses for me!! I am one PROUD Mommy!! She tells Daddy that he gets one kiss a day from her. :) And she tells me that she loves me the size of the earth! I tell her, " I love you to the moon and back! " She was dancing around the house the other day wearing a green beaded necklace. She stops by me at the computer and tells me, "Mom isn't this a beautiful chartreuse necklace?" I say, "Well it looks green to me, are you sure it is chartreuse?" She says, "Mom, of course it is chartreuse, you don't know your colors!" Guess I need to study up on my colors!!



After about 45 minutes of looking and debating, we did find some really nice photos to order. Then found out about an hour later that they were out of some of the printer ink they needed. So we will pick up the photos tomorrow and I will up load some of them here. Her eyes, her dimples, her smile....yep, she has it all and brains to boot! I can see boys falling all over her when she gets older. Good thing I have been telling her pretty often that she will NOT be allowed to date until she is 25 years old. LOL!

This little punkin princess turned 1 year old, 11 days after being placed in our arms. She was a quiet little thing that could barely sit by herself. In fact, if you sit her in a spot and she wiggled too much, she would topple over and not be able to get herself back into a sitting position. Her sisters were so thrilled to have a baby to care for! But of course, they wanted her to be able to do more with them. Kendalan watched her sisters like a hawk. You could just see that her mind was thinking "I want to keep up with these girls!" We got her April 13th, she was scooting herself around on the floor in less than one month, pulling her self to crawl just after that and by the time our adoption of her was complete on July 5th...she was walking all over the place! She has been on the move ever since! Same way with her speech. Now she can talk circles around her sisters! We hope she will be choosen to be a part of the preschool program our district is setting up. Kendalan would be one of the peer students that hopefully will help other kids catch up.

Kendalan, my sweetie, you are Mommy's baby doll and you will always be my baby. I know you don't like to be called Princess Ballerina, but in my eyes you are that plus so much more. Your dimpled smile makes my heart soar and your fun spirit is the best thing ever! Mommy and Daddy love you so very much!! XOXO