Flashback Friday

Wow!!! I can't believe these pictures were taken two years ago in December 2006. It feels like yesterday. It's been a busy week. Hope to post more over the weekend. If not, I hope everyone has a blessed Holiday Season!!

Party After Party and Christmas Tree Chopping

What a whirlwind it's been around here since Thanksgiving. Last week Emma turned the big 4 and already she's talking about turning 5. Today when I was doing her hair, she wanted to see the back so I put the mirror up to the back of her head and she said "I look like 5". I suppose you look older from the back??? We celebrated Sunday with Emma's birthday party. Her Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and a close friend, Olivia, all came for the celebration. Her theme was "Go Diego Go". She is such the tom-boy. Emma was off from school for her actual birthday and Kevin and I took off too and we went to lunch and the movies to see Bolt. On Emma's day back to school, we took pretzels in to school for her birthday snack.

Last night we enjoyed the Third Annual Christmas Party at Jen and Dan's house. It's always nice to spend time with friends old and new and a special visit from the man in red himself.

We ended the weekend today with Kevin and Emma going to chop down the Christmas tree for this year. I stayed home and finished the Christmas cards and some wrapping. Kevin said that Emma loved every minute of it. The first tree she picked out was about 15 feet tall and the second one was about 2 feet tall, then she found the perfect one. Kevin said she got all into it, looking under the branches to make sure the trunk was straight and that the top has a branch that will hold our Angel. It sure has been a busy couple weeks but memories that will last a lifetime.

Three Years Ago Today...

Ok, so I started this post last night and published it today. It was actually 3 years ago today, December 9th.

.....Kevin and I received the most anticipated phone call in our lives, a phone call that changed our lives forever. A phone call that I will not forget. At 1138est, Tracey from our adoption agency, CCAI called us to say that they had a baby for us and that she was beautiful. On this day, many other friends also received their referral. As for us, Kevin had been snow plowing all night the night before and had just come home about 11:15. He made it just in time. My cousin was also with us. She took pictures and video of "the call". Tracy kept telling us how beautiful she was. We couldn't wait to get off the phone to get the pictures. At the time, we had dial up and had to wait to get off the phone before we could see the picutre.

As we patiently waited for the photo to download, a thousand thoughts went through my head, will I be a good Mother, will she love her new home and family, how long will it take us to travel. But, as we began to see her picture all the questions seemed to answer themselves.

The first thing that Kevin said was "Look at those cheeks". The first thing I said was "Look at all that hair". I truly thought she was going to be bald because I had heard all the stories of the children having their head shaven but this wasn't true with Emma. Here is the first picture that we saw of Emma. The other two were delivered the next day.

For those that are awaiting their referral from China, please do not lose hope. As soon as you receive "the call", you will forget about the wait.

Christmas Pictures 2008

Emma and I went to get her pictures taken a couple weeks ago and I was very happy with them. Emma insisted on picking out her own Christmas dress this year. I was a little leery at first since she picked the Santa look a like dress but it was gorgeous on her. Today we celebrated her 4th Birthday with a party at the house. Tomorrow is her "official" first birthday. I can't believe how big my little girl is getting.

Here are the pictures for her Christmas cards. The solo is the one that we picked.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Daddy's Little Helper

Kevin took advantage of the 4 day weekend and the warm weather and decided to decorate the outside of the house this weekend. Me, I stayed inside and decorated. This is our second Christmas in the new house and last year we never had a chance to decorate because Kevin was laid up with Kidney stones. Emma doesn't remember the outside decorations her first Christmas at the old house so, she is super excited to bring the trees, reindeer, snowman and Santa himself outside to help Kevin decorate. He started and finished on Thanksgiving morning but realized that he didn't have the right outlet. He headed out to two different home improvement stores but they were closed for the holiday. So, we had to wait til Friday to get them. It was well worth the wait. The house looks great. Here are a couple of pictures of Kevin and Emma setting up. The night time pictures didn't come out that great. I'll try to post them at a different time.

More Memories to Treasure

We had another fun and fabulous Thanksgiving day at my brother and sister in-laws house. My SIL, Amy, had her Nativity setup, her Christmas village displayed and Christmas Caroles playing in the background. It actually felt like Christmas to me and every person that came, I wanted to say Merry Christmas.

Here are some pictures of the day:

Emma's two cousins and her great-great Aunt Flo. This was Aunt Flo's 94th Thanksgiving.

Pop and Grammie with their three grandaughters

And then there's the silly faces picture

Emma in our backyard before we left for dinner. She loves this little tree. Whenever she gets a chance, she starts climbing it. No matter if she's wearing a dress or not.

Monogramming Mama

I asked or may have even begged a little, who I consider a fantastic friend of mine to make a couple of T-Shirts for Emma for her fourth birthday that is coming up in December. Jen at www.katieminmin.blogspot.com came up with these two adorable designs. Emma wore the ladybug shirt last weekend and had so many compliments on them. Thank you so much Jen. I can't wait for you to open your side business. I can see the people lining up already.

Fun in the Fall

Emma has had so much fun this year with the fall foliage. We only have two small Japanese Maples in our back yard but you would think by the fun that she has that we lived in a forest. Emma helped Kevin last weekend with the leaves and this morning when she saw him outside, she ran out in her PJs. She loves to make the biggest pile possible and jump in them. Here are some pictures of the last two weekends. We had her pictures taken today for Christmas. I'm really happy with them and will try to post them later this week.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Emma's First School Pictures

We received Emma's school pictures today and I love them. Even though she looks a little scared and has that fake smile, they will be pictures to treasure forever. Hope you enjoy!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Pumpkin Carving and Halloween Night

We got together again this year with some good friends of ours to carve pumpkins. We started the night off with homemade pizza and then to the carving and to end the night, we watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Emma always cleans out the pumpkin, Kevin carves it and I take pictures. Emma has so much fun during the holidays. I can't even imagine what she will be like when Christmas is here.

Emma had a blast Halloween night. We went to her Grandparents house first, then to some of our neighbors from the old neighborhood and then back home to walk from door to door. We probably got to about 10 houses and Emma was ready to go home. Next year we will probably stay local so she can go around to more houses. Many people thought she was a mouse because she wouldn't hold her banana. Some thought she was a brown bear but she was a Monkey. When we went to Emma's Grandparents, we saw this beautiful tree. I had to take a picture, it was so bright that it hurt your eyes. I love the fall foliage.

Flashback Friday on Thursday?

A day early, I know but tomorrow is Halloween and I wanted to post some of Emma's first Halloween home with us. Tomorrow will be a busy day!!

These pictures were taken in 2006. She was one month shy of 2 years old. I love how her and her cousin were looking at each other in the mirror.

Emma is so looking forward to Halloween tomorrow. I'll post 2008 pictures hopefully some time this weekend. We hope everyone has a frightful, delightful Halloween!!!

Auntie Lisa and Auntie Kim, here's your sneak peak...

....can you guess what I'm gonna be??

Flashback Friday and....

.....guess what we're doing this weekend??

A Weekend at Home

Emma wasn't feeling too well last weekend so, we spent the entire weekend indoors. This is her first year in Pre School and I'm sure there will be many more. By Sunday afternoon, she was feeling much better. We pulled out the Haunted Gingerbread houses and started decorating. Here are a couple of pictures from the day. From the way she looks in the picture, you wouldn't know that she wasn't feeling well but, she probably slept more than she was awake and had plenty of rest.

One Fall Day...

.....a whole bunch of us got together to pick apples and pumpkins. I don't think we could have asked for better weather. Some of the children taste tested as we picked. Not sure what everyone else picked but we picked 20lbs. Kevin made 2 apple pies and apple sauce. The pie was delicious with the Pumpkin ice cream that we got at a local ice cream place. Here are some pictures from the day. Can't wait to do it again next year.

WE BELIEVE

Flashback Friday

Falling asleep eating lunch in her chair

October 2006

Thinking that her Halloween Treat Bucket is a hat??

October 2006

Baking Halloween Cookies

I love this smile and dimples

October 2006

Five Years Ago Today

Many of you may already know this but, many of you may not. Some of you may have noticed the poem on the side bar, some of you may not. Some may know the story of what led us to adopting Emma some may not.

Here's our story:

Five years ago yesterday, I entered the hospital, 18.5 weeks pregnant not knowing what was going on. I had had a headache all day at work to go home shivering cold with a 103 temperature. I went straight to bed at 5:30pm. Kevin came home from work about 6:00pm not sure what to do. He called our OB/Gyn and he wanted us to go to the hospital to be checked to see if I had some type of a virus.

Unbeknownst to me, our son had passed away. We didn't know when, we didn't know why. Five years ago today, on Tuesday, October 14th at 6:30pm, after 19 hours of labor with a lot of medication, we delivered Kevin John Jr. aka KJB Jr. He was a tiny 8oz and 9 inches long. What I remember the most was that as small as he was, he was one of the most beautiful babies I had ever seen.

All his grandparents were with us immediately after the delivery. We were able to spend a little bit of time with him before he was taken away. The nurse that was with us "pulled a double" to be able to stay with us. She was awesome. She held my hand the whole time, she baptised Kevin Jr. and had the hospital take pictures. At first I thought it a bit strange to take pictures but when we were given the opportunity to say yes or no to picking up the pictures, we were happy that we did. They are pictures that I will NOT post but pictures that I will treasure forever.

I was released from the hospital a couple days later and when I got home, Kevin had handed me a slip of paper with the poem scribbled on it. I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't know he had it in him to write such a beautiful poem. A poem that we quickly edited and sent to a friend of ours that printed cards for all the family members.

Five days after Kevin Jr. was born, we buried him with his paternal great grandparents. It was a private ceremony. Kevin read the poem aloud during the ceremony. It was the first time that the family had heard it.

A couple months later, we continued with our In-Vitro treatments, six in all with only the first one being a success. When we were going through our last treatment in October of 2004, almost a year to the date that Kevin Jr. had been born, Kevin met a very nice family that he was doing some work for. Kevin came home that night and told me all about Hannah and how she was twirling around in the driveway getting ready to go to dancing class. He had spent 3 hours that afternoon talking to Kathy about international adoption.

All Kevin had to do was hand me the business card for the adoption agency that Kathy had given him. Within a couple weeks, we had called the agency, filled out the application for Chinese adoption and was approved.

We started the adoption process in November 2004, submitted our paperwork to China in April, 2005, received out referral December 9, 2005, received Emma on February 6, 2006 and the rest is history...or the beginning of a new chapter in our lives.

I often wonder what my life would've been like with a little boy running around the house but I wouldn't in a million years trade the life I have been given. We are one very lucky family to have been blessed with the joys of adoption.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of Kevin Jr., in more ways than one. Everything is meant for a reason and I whole heartily believe that this was God's way of leading us to Emma and all the friends that we have met along the way. We love you Kevin Jr. and can't wait for the day that we will meet you again!

From Soccer Star to Princess Diva

Saturday was Emma's last day of soccer. It was the first week that she actually finished a game. For the last five weeks, she would do all the instructional parts of the practice but when it came to the short 3 on 3 game, she had no interest. It wasn't until last week that we realized it was because she wasn't being agressive enough to get the ball. Something clicked this week, she actually finished the game and even scored three times. She's already talking about joining again in the spring.

We celebrated Princess Maddie's 3rd Birthday with her little brother Charlie's first birthday Saturday evening. All the girls were dressed in their princess gowns. They all looked beautiful and handsome. What a great day to spend with friends!!!

Flashback Friday

I love this idea of Flashback Friday. It makes me go back a year or two and glance over some pictures that were taken this time of the year but in the past.

When looking at October 2007 pictures for today, I came across this 30 second video. We moved into our new home on October 20 but, a couple days before that, we were given the keys. I was working part time and when I picked Emma up, we went straight to the empty house. She instantly went to the backyard and started climbing the tree. Listening to the sound of my voice, you would think the tree was 80 feet tall.

Take a listen and you will see what I mean!!

Here are some stills from the day

Harvest Moon Festival

On Saturday, September 29th, we spent the afternoon with other adoptive families that belong to our local FCC (Families With Chinese Children). It was a bit cold and rainy outside but inside, the room was filled with joy and excitement with all the children. This is the third year that we have gone to the Harvest Moon Festival and enjoy it more and more each year. The children always seem to have a fantastic time.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the two most important holidays in the Chinese calendar, the other being the Chinese New Year and is a legal holiday in several countries. Farmers celebrate the end of the summer harvesting season on this date. Traditionally, on this day, Chinese family members and friends will gather to admire the bright mid-autumn harvest moon, and eat moon cakes together.

Flashback Friday

A very dear friend of mine Kate started posting pictures from the past on Fridays and is calling it Flashback Friday. I think it's a great idea and have posted the following pictures of Emma from October 2006. The first picture is of her picking out her very first Pumpkin.


This picture is from October 2006 also. Emma and I would just sit in her bedroom and play, play, play. She had tons of toys and books but all she wanted to play with was bubble wrap. To this day, she loves it.

Boy has the time flown by. I can't believe that it's two years later and that Emma will be four in just two short months.

Jack and Jill

Everyday Emma comes home from PreSchool and will not tell us how the day was. It's like pulling teeth. We ask her what she learned, did she have fun, did she get along with the other children. The only thing she will tell us is that all she did was sit, sit, sit.

Then out of the blue, she comes up with this:

It's amazing to me that she is learning these Nursery Rhymes and then reciting them at home like she's known them forever. What a smart little cookie.

Sorry the video is a little dark and YES Lisa, that is a little NE accent you hear!!!

MY WHAT BIG TEETH YOU HAVE....

THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH.....


Took out the Halloween decorations today and this is what Emma found.

It Must Be Fall

Emma's version of a pumpkin, stem and all!!

Sleepy Head

Since Emma has started school, she is really missing her naps. She usually takes anywhere from 2-3 hours. She does have a 30 minute rest time at school but, doesn't fall asleep. This makes it a little challenging when Kevin picks her up at Grammies and brings her home. She has been falling asleep on the way home (right at dinner time). If we wake her, she gets really cranky and mad but, if we let her sleep, she has a hard time going to bed. Yesterday, Kevin brought her in the house and this is how I found her on the couch. Poor thing!! I guess it will take a few weeks to get her in a new routine.