Our Little Lady!

Here is Shae's Spring school picture. She is growing into

such a little lady. It doesn't seem possible that she is

almost 11 years old. Where does time go? I love her

so much and am so very thankful to be her Mom!

A year ago!

It was a year ago yesterday that I received the call that would
change our lives! I was sitting at my desk when the phone rang
and it was our agency representative. She said they had

information on a baby that she thought just might be "ours".

She told me the baby was 15 months old and healthy and then

she said "It's a BOY"! What? A BOY!! Wow, I never dreamed

I would have a son! She told me she'd e-mail me his picture

and his medical information and that we had 48 hours to decide.

Well, in my heart I knew God had already made the decision for

us. Yang FuSheng (Aiden) was meant to be ours! I called Rob

(who was at home) and I immediately left work! I couldn't wait

to see his picture! When I got home we got the e-mail and saw

his cute little face for the first time. We were in love! His special

need of ptosis (droopy eyelid) didn't look bad at all and we just

knew he was ours. We signed the letter of intent and returned
it to the agency within 24 hours! We were then officially on our
journey to bring him home! What a journey, what an experience,
what a joy! His laughter has brought delight to our home
and his curious little nature has made us smile. What would we

have done without this little treasure? Thank you God for blessing

our family with this precious little boy!

Spring at our House

Spring definitely has sprung at our house! I have always loved

flowers so spring by far is my favorite season! It is such a nice

evening tonight so I took the opportunity to take some pictures

of the house, and some pictures of 2 of the world's cutest kids.

Okay I'm a little biased:)

Field of Daisies

I sit at my desk at work and look out the window at this field of

beautiful white daisies. Every day I have thought about what great

pictures that field would make. So...after supper tonight I left the

laundry that needed folded, and took the kids out and got some

really cute pictures in the field. Life is too short not to enjoy the

flowers while we can. :)

WOW What a Fun Day!

Yes, that is Aiden climbing way up to the highest slide! He never hesitated! Mommy was holding her breath. Shae had already gone down it and was headed back up.

Daddy was pulling Aiden and Aiden was pulling the wagon with Shae in it. Aiden was so proud of himself! He just loves having a "job" to do.

Hand in hand, ready to go down the slides.

A very happy boy who just loves being outside barefoot!

Aiden looking through the fence at all 15 of the cute little ducklings.

Wheee! Having a blast!

Aiden and Shaelyn enjoying each other and the beautiful sunshine!

Ahhhh! Aiden sportin' Daddy's sunglasses. He was so cute that Shaelyn couldn't resist squeezing him.

Jump Shae! She did the obstacle course in record time! She is very fast!

Daddy showing Aiden how to pet the horse and Shae waiting her turn to brush the horse.

Today was a fun-filled day! Rob was off so we all went on a

family outing beginning at 8:30 AM. By 9:00 AM we were at

the YMCA's Healthy Kid Day extravaganza. The first 100 kids

got a free t-shirt and tote bag and of course Shaelyn made sure

we were there by opening time of 9:00 sharp! They had an

obstacle course, inflatables, a horse to pet, balloon animals,

popcorn and the works. Aiden wasn't too sure about the horse

but Shaelyn loved it! After the YMC A, we took the kids to the

park. We fed the ducks, saw the animals and mined for gems

at the gem mine. After lunch we headed to another small park

where we took a walk around the pond (Shaelyn rode her bike).

We saw a duck with 15 babies!! They were so cute! After we

let the kids play a little while on the playground at the small

park, we took them to the bigger park just a few miles away.

This park had bigger and better slides. We thought Aiden may

be scared of the bigger twisty slides, but no way! He showed no

fear and seemed to really be having fun. By this time we are

all pretty tired (especially Mommy and Daddy). We ate supper

out and finally came dragging our tired and dirty selves home.

After hots baths and clean PJ's we are ready to settle in for the

night! Wheeee, what a fun and tiring day!!

Cheap Entertainment

Aiden has a room full of wonderful toys! Some of these toys

he plays with but most of the time he entertains himself with

the strangest things. Tonight I snapped a couple pictures of him

putting post-it-notes in the handles of our chest of drawer. It

was so funny! He just worked and worked with them! This

proves the ole saying "You don't have to have a lot of money to

have a lot of fun" :)

Aiden is Learning to Talk!

I must admit that when we got Aiden I was a bit concerned about
his language transition. 20 months old is such a critical language
development stage and here we were pulling him away from the
only language he knew and was was just beginning to speak.
I am happy to say that after 7 months of hearing the English
language he is doing very well! Here is a little video clip of him
saying a few things!

Happy Easter

Our family in route to the sunrise service.
Aiden is still half asleep.

Mimi (my Mom) and Aiden playing in the sandbox during our get-together today. Cousin Makalah and the Easter Bunny. Okay, he's not really the Easter Bunny but he is our sweet little lopp-ear bunny Chloe. (Yes Chloe is a HE - After we named "her" Chloe we found out that Chloe was a HE but the name stuck) Chloe stays outside in his on little bunny condo.
Aiden pulling cousin Ethan in his red wagon. It was so cute!
I am never very successful in getting both kids to look at the camera at the same time! Oh well! Here is a picture of Shae and Aiden at Church in front of some decorations left from the Easter Party yesterday.
Aiden could not wait to eat, so I made him a plate early. Here he is eating at his little table.
My dining room all ready for the Easter Dinner.

Aiden getting into his Easter Basket!

Shaelyn loves her Easter Basket/Purse! Aiden was really excited about his basket too!

Shaelyn's Easter Basket this year was actually a purse filled with goodies. She loved it!

What a wonderful day it was today! We began the day

by going to the sunrise service at church. We were up and

at 'em by 5:30 AM! That is really early for kids, but having

Easter Baskets to wake up to really helped! ( Aiden

has been in a foul mood most of the day today and I think

it is because of getting up so early). After the sunrise

service we ate breakfast at the church and then went

straight into the morning worship service. We were home

from church around 10:00 AM. AT 1:00 PM my Mom,

Dad, Sister's family and my Brother and his wife (from Ohio)

all met at our house for Easter dinner. It was a bit crowded

but we did manage to fit 18 people into our little house without

too much problem. It was fun having everyone together!

With the exception of Daniel and Travis (hey, missed you

guys) we were all together for the first time in a long time!

After dinner we had an egg hunt in the back yard for the

kids. It was a special time and the weather was perfect!

I am very tired tonight but am so thankful for our Risen

Lord and for my wonderful family! Hope everyone had

a wonderful Easter!

Kids Easter Party

Cousin Makalah and Aiden.
Shae and Aiden in front of the beautiful decorations!
During the egg hunt, Aiden just plopped down and emptied
his bucket in the grass. Everyone kept on hunting eggs but
Aiden was content to enjoy the ones he had already found.

Cousin Ethan and Aiden. Found one!
Shae found her an egg and was looking for more!

Today was the Easter Party/Egg Hunt at church. It was wonderful!!

Nana (Teresa) had it decorated beautifully and had tons of things

planned for the kids. They made a craft, played games, heard

a story, colored pictures, and of course had a yummy lunch of

pizza, chips and punch. Shae and Aiden has such a good time!

Thank you Nana for all the hard work you did! Here are some

pictures from the party!

Easter Egg Fun!

Careful Shae, don't drop it!

Aiden is thinking about what all he could do

with this egg. MANY option no doubt came to mind! :)

Getting help from Sister.

Shaelyn concentrating on painting her egg.

Tonight we let the kids dye eggs. I'm almost certain it was Aiden's

first egg-dying experience. He was thrilled beyond belief! He kept

stomping his feet and turning circles in the chair he was standing on.

He was so excited. Shaelyn took her time and was very detailed with

her eggs. She is very artistic and loves to paint and draw. It was fun!