Ruby's first 4th of July {2014}

We had such a fun 4th of July!  It was Ruby's first of course(as an American citizen) and naturally she had no idea what all the hoop-la was about but she was a good sport and seemed to have a really fun day with us.  She made it through our little party in the evening but then headed to bed so she missed the fireworks(and then, so did I!).

"Are you done with this photo shoot yet mama??" :)

 The kids walked around the block and delivered some patriotic treats to their buddies in the morning.

 Then we tested out the new patio set and ate our traditional red, white and blue pancake breakfast outside.  It was a beautiful day out!

 Poor peanut can't eat pancakes yet but hopefully by next year she'll have a big plate of her own in front of her!  She ate her usual bowl of oatmeal with mashed up bananas instead. :)

After John and the kids got home from watching the fireworks in Moorhead, the kids did some sparklers- we let them stay up late and do this every year.  It's always something they look forward to.

Happy 4th of July!!!

LOA!!!!

Today was a VERY special day for our family and our adoption process.  It was the day I've been we've been anxiously waiting on for 50 days.  We got our LOA!!!

I'm sure this FedEx driver didn't even realize how special this envelope was or that we had spent all morning and afternoon staring out the window and listening for the bell.  I was going to tell him but he had already ran back to the truck by the time I opened the door- so I snapped this pic instead.  

We have our LOA in our hands!  I still can't believe it.  LOA stands for Letter of Acceptance- it is the official approval from China stating we may adopt our daughter.  It also means that we are allowed to share her picture, name, and birth place, and birthdate.  We can now send her a care package, apply for her immigration(which, by the way, we already did all the paperwork for today and overnighted it to USCIS!)  Every day counts- we want to get to her as fast as humanely possible!

So here she is everyone...  Our beautiful baby girl- the newest little Porter- the little peanut that makes us a wonderful family of 6.  Just look at those cheeks!  I can't wait to smother them with a million kisses.  And cuddle her, and rock her, and hold her in my arms forever. :)

Her Chinese name is Zhang Rong Can.  I asked our kind adoption coordinator(who happens to be Chinese!) if she could tell me what her name means based on the Chinese characters.  Zhang is a common surname, Rong means: small-fruited fig tree or banyan tree, and Can means:  magnificent, splendid and bright.  How great is that???  Once we found that out we decided we wanted to keep her Chinese name for her as a middle name.  So, now her name is quite long, but very beautiful!

Ruby Mei Antionette RongCan Porter

Born on January 1, 2013

Fuzhou City, Fujian, China

Her first name will be Ruby Mei(pronounced May but spelled the Chinese way) because this is the name we have had in our hearts this entire journey- and Mary Beth picked it out herself for her sweet baby sister.  RongCan is her Chinese name as I mentioned, and Antionette after my Italian great-grandmother, who was a very,very special part of my life.

We've been told she smiles a lot, is quiet, loves cereal, applesauce and cake, and can roll over and sit.  Looks like she just finished some yummy cereal in the picture! :)

We can't wait to get to know her and learn about her special personality.

We will continue to share any new pictures and info we receive, and of course share our journey to China and back on here!  Our agency has told us we should expect to travel in late April to early May.  YAY!!!!  So close!  Thank you again and again for all of your support, prayers, and encouragement the past 11 months- our family could not be more appreciative.

good things

I was long overdue bring my sweet friend, Wendy her birthday present.  You see, I had it in my head that I wanted to stamp her birthdate on the tag with my library stamp but I couldn't find it anywhere... for days!!!  I became obsessed and would not give it to her without finding it.  Lucky for her it only took about 2 weeks!  Ugh...  Oh well, maybe the cuteness of the wrapping made up for it??

I used a recycled dessert box from the grocery store and cut up some old book pages for the fluff at the bottom.  Then I wrapped up a vintage tea towel, some of her favorite tea, and a tiny ceramic tea spoon from Crate and Barrel.  I wrapped the outside with a strip of vintage Holly Hobby fabric and some cute tags I bought from the gals at Modern Textiles a long time ago.  I've been waiting to use them.  The top tag I recycled from a used one I had and covered up the writing with scrapbook paper and washi tape.  And of course, we cannot forget the added touch of her birthdate stamped on it!  Ha!
I kind of like this cute packaging thing... my mom is the master at it, as I've mentioned and shown you here before.  I will have to keep thinking of new things to try out in the future!

I wanted to share this too- I stopped at a yard sale yesterday after picking up Mary Beth from Art, lunch and recess... and spotted these beauties!  The chair was only $5 and it just needs some piping added around the edges of the fabric.  And behold!  Vintage sheets!!  I've been collecting these to use for the crafts I'm making to sell at Unglued and the Junk Market coming up next weekend.  You won't believe it but the really nice gal who was having the sale GAVE these to me for free!  We got to talking and I found out she is from The White House Boutique(love their stuff by the way!) and she told me she had wanted to come to our sale but didn't make it so to consider this a donation.  How sweet is she??  I know I can make good money with these items in the future- I'm so excited and blown away by the kindness of others once again.  But that's not all!!  She also offered to sell the vintage jewelry I have left from the sale at her booth at Junk Market!   Yay!!!

And in closing, a shot of the sunflowers Jeffrey planted at the community garden- they let him cut some to bring home last night.  Gorgeous!

beaches & bunnies

Today we went to Buffalo River to swim at the watering hole and play on the beach- our friends came with us and the kids had a blast.

Jeffrey does this every time we go- digs a big hole and then sits in it.
It's hilarious.

Sometimes he can get other kids to join him.

BFFs

here's the watering hole- looks brown and dirty doesn't it?  it kinda is but it's warm and the kids love it!

Then, this evening at our Community Garden, a nest of bunnies were discovered under a huge pile of straw.  They were so tiny!!  Two of them were accidentally killed before anyone realized they were there and that really broke the heart of our animal lover.  He was crying and crying and then worrying about what was going to happen to the rest of them, knowing that the mommy may abandon them after they were messed around with so much.

 

Poor little guy.  Our friend Cadence was so sweet, she sat with him and placed her hand on his arm to try and make him feel better.

they sat like that for a long time, just watching the bunnies and making sure no one stepped on them.

Jeffrey grew attached to one in particular.  A kind man from the garden offered to take them all home and nurse them for the next week.  Jeffrey felt a lot better.  We can wait to see what they look like next Thursday!  Jeffrey is pretty sure he will be bring this little guy home eventually...

 

Meet "Blaze"

Mickey's Spring Choir Concert

Last night was Art Night and Mickey's big choir concert. He was so excited!

look at this cutie!
the big finish

he's so happy!

here is his music/choir teacher and his student teacher

he was mistakenly given a 1/2 year award when he should have gotten a 1 year- his teacher gave him the right one the next day...

Mickey's best friends

trying out the instrument he wants to play next year-much to my dismay- a ginormous BASS!!

The Butterfly Ball

Last night was THE BIG NIGHT...

since there was only a little bit of time before between the end of the work day and the Grand March John and Mary Beth had to eat at home instead of going out. She didn't seem to mind her tuna sandwich one bit! I used some of the fresh flowers that John had brought me that morning to make a corsage and boutonniere(putting my skills as a flower designer to use again)- I even found the real boxes at Hobby Lobby! And lucky for me all the bridal stuff was half off so I got all my supplies for a great price! You know how happy that makes me. :) As you can see, Mary Beth chose the purple butterfly dress and she sure looked lovely!

She was in love with wearing a corsage. So cute.

I surprised her with a tiny tiara and spent an hour doing "princess hair" for her special night with Daddy. She was such a trooper standing there while I curled a million locks of 8 foot long hair and then shoved a billion bobby pins into her head. I told her it was all part of being fancy. She didn't mind too much and LOVED the end result.

All the Dads and girls got to participate in the Grand March while Moms and brothers watched, took a bunch of pictures, and clapped loudly.

John was so excited and happy to be sharing this special memory with his baby girl- they were so adorable. He even wore a lavender shirt and tie to match her dress!

The moms had to leave before the music began so I don't have any pictures on my fancy camera of the actual dancing but John took some movies and pictures with the phone so hopefully I can figure all that out and share some later. He said Mary Beth only stopped dancing long enough to either remove or put on her "tall-ups" or to grab a bite of her cheesecake. During which time she insisted her stay where he was on the dance floor until she returned so they wouldn't lose their prime spot in the middle. :) They were both BEAT tired when I picked them up- and had the time of their lives! This will definitely be an annual event for them.