Mid-Autumn Moon Festival{Sept. 8, 2014}

 

Our sweet adoptive friends hosted a fantastic Mid-Autumn Moon Festival party at their beautiful home last night.  This was the first Chinese celebration that Ruby was home with us for and it was so special to celebrate with her.  It was also the first time she wore her pretty dress we bought her in China- she was so sweet!  She loves to go places and loves new experiences- she is actually happier when we are doing these things- so she had a great time!  So did the other kids- I vividly remember being at this same celebration last year and just staring at the other little baby girl that came home from China a year before we went and imagining what it would be like the following year when I had my little one in my arms.  I do that a lot since we have been home.  It is such a dream that she is here now- we can't believe how lucky we are to have her as part of our family.  It was definitely more special for our older kiddos to have their baby sister at this festival too.  They doted on her and wanted her to be part of all the activities.  We are so fortunate to have met this supportive group of adoptive families in our town.  I don't know what I would do without them- I look forward to watching all of the little ones grow and thrive... and hopefully there will be more families that join the group as the years go by!

Mid Autumn Moon Festival

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sept. 25th we got together with the families we have met in town that have also adopted from China.  Every year they get together to celebrate the Mid Autumn Moon Festival(we were a week late but not a big deal!) and this year we were so happy and grateful to be included in the festivities!  The kids had a blast- we had a delicious meal, moon pies, craft time-the kids made their own Chinese lanterns, and then they all went on a lantern parade around the block.  It was really something seeing all of the kids together on the parade- there were 12 kids between all of us there- running around with glowing lanterns.  They loved it and the parents loved watching them.

Hot Mama Shopping Event {adoption fundraiser}

 

My sweet friend Michelle organized a fundraising shopping event for our adoption tonight.  What a perfect ending to our happy news day!  It was so fun- she brought wine, appetizers, and invited friends to shop at Hot Mama for some cute new clothes.  Our family received 15% of the amount they purchased that evening and guess what?  We will be adding $350 to our fund after tonight! Yay!  Another step closer... thank you dear friends!

backyard camping & zoo day {july 28}

These pictures are actually from July 28th but I forgot to post them back then!  I will put them here for now and then move them back where they belong later...(I like to keep things in chronological order).
The kids had Emma and Norah over for a backyard campout.  John made waffles in the morning and they lounged around and played until afternoon.

 

These kids have the best times together... never fight, love playing all the same things... they've been best buddies for 5 years now.  We are lucky to have them so close.  I hope we get to watch them all grow up together for a lot longer. :)

Boo got tired after all the excitement and snuggled in to the tent for a morning nap.  She's so cute when she isn't terrorizing people, isn't she?

 

Somehow they all ended up on the roof of the garage while John was working on something.  They were pretty pleased with themselves! :)

Meanwhile, I was busy spray painting this awesome wooden highchair I scored for only $5 at a yard sale the day before.  It is pretty big and very sturdy.  I think it will be perfect for the new baby!  I'll show you how it turns out.

That afternoon we went to the zoo.  The weather was perfect. 

This cow's tongue was crazy!!  Jeffrey kept wanting to feed him but didn't want it to touch him.

 

 

The other highlight of this zoo visit was that the sloth was moving around.  It is a rare sighting.  Sloths are one of Jeffrey's favorite animals and so he was ecstatic!

front yard tree swing {best thing EVER}

So, we've been wanting to do this forever- about 5 years!  And today it was going to happen- I was deteremined!  I will spare you the ugly details of the events leading up to the sucessful installation but let me just say there were:  tall ladders teetering precariously against the tree, organic bags of beans and wheat berries exploding all over the ground, a roof rake, threats, and some grumpy words being exchanged.  We almost gave up several times until a combination of all of the above finally worked.

And boy, was it ever worth it.  This is SO FUN!!  The kids are in love.

 

Some friends stopped over to give it a whirl and they all had a blast.
I have to be sure to get pictures of the boys on it next time!
A special thank you to dear, sweet husband/daddy for risking life and limb for the kiddos happiness today.  You are the best!

a photo-shoot, a baby pool, and a power outage {another scorcher!}

It was in the 90s again today and the school in our neighborhood had to call off class possibly for the remainder of the week(they don't have air conditioning).  Today we watched Norah and Emma and decided to head outside after lunch to have another water fight.  Well, we weren't even set up yet when a photographer from The Forum stopped by and asked if he could take some pictures of the kids.  We got all the necessary permission and he snapped away!
This yard sure is popular with the media lately! Ha!!

Later the kids begged me to try and find the pool- we were sure regretting not setting up our big one this year!  I didn't think we still had it but ta-da!  One baby pool coming right up!

can you believe they all smushed in there??

 

there was also some chalk self-portraits done- notice Jeffrey's sloth shirt :)

 

Then... if that wasn't excitement enough for one day, the power went out tonight!  We managed to scrounge up some candles(I thought I sold them all!) and played a game of Pick 2 by mood light.  I won by the way but guess what?  Apparently we weren't keeping score... how convenient! :)

Island Park Show and a Squirt Gun Fight {today was HOT}

We knew today was going to be hotter than blazes(as my grandpa used to say)... but the Island Park Show could not be missed so we tried to go as early as we could.  Mary Beth brought a spray/fan bottle that didn't sell at our sale and we made it without melting.

There was some really great music and we sit and listened to the Irish band until the heat overcame everyone and that was that.  I got to walk around the whole show so that was good- didn't buy anything like usual!  I pretty much never do at these things but I still like to go!

The afternoon was in the upper 90s so we skipped out on Streets Alive(sadly too... we've yet to go to one!) and John had a brilliant idea.  He filled up a bunch of buckets, told the kids to get their suits on and initiated a water fight.  They had the time of their lives out there!

 

Oh yeah, and I thought I'd better show everyone Boo's buzz cut.  Those ears!!  I don't even recognize her now and she's running around like a nut case.
I guess it probably feels good to finally be able to see! Ha!