Aiden's First Gotcha Day!

We celebrated Aiden's 1st Gotcha Day today! It is hard
to believe that last year this time we were just
getting to know this precious little guy! He is a joy
and we are so thankful for him! We always have a little
cake to celebrate Shaelyn's Gotcha Days so Aiden was
no exception. He was too cute trying to blow out his
one (1) candle! He actually spit all over his cake :)

Last year

Last year at this very day and time, we were sitting
aboard a Boeing 777 Korean Air Jumbo Jet in route
to Beijing China. We were so excited, nervous and a
little bit of every emotion mixed together. We were
not only going to get our new son, but we were also
taking Shaelyn back to China to see the land of her birth.
Wow, what a journey we were about to experience! As
I sat there in my seat on that enormous plane, I had
all the time in the world to reflect back over the past
16 months. The calling God placed on our hearts to
adopt again took us a bit by surprise. We had more
questions than answers for so many months. We ran into
so many road blocks and detours along the adoption
journey and there were times we nearly said "forget
it"! But sitting there in that huge plane I felt a
peace. I knew without a doubt that we were right
where God wanted us to be! Now a year later, I
can say that God sure knew what He was doing! This
little boy he gave us was exactly what we needed and
didn't even know it! Aiden has brought us so much joy
and I simply can't imagine life without him. The
adoption path was not easy, but the reward for walking
it was beyond our wildest dreams!

Skyler's Skating Party

Skyler (my sister's youngest)turned 6 years old and
wanted his party at the local skating rink. The party
was today and boy did my kids have a good time! This
was the first time Aiden had been to a rink and I
wasn't sure how he's react but he loved it! He was
determined that he was going to skate and was getting
pretty frustrated that it wasn't happening! He kept
pushing my hand away when I tried to help him. Shae
learned to skate years ago and she was just flying
around the rink. This made Aiden even more frustrated
because he wanted to be like "Sissy". It was pretty
cute ! Thank you Maresa for including Shae and Aiden
they had such a good time!

Shaelyn's School Years in Review

First year of Preschool

Second year of Preschool

Kindergarten

First Grade

Second Grade

Third Grade

Fourth Grade

Fifth Grade

Today was Shae's first day of 5th grade! I was a bit sad

thinking that this will be her last year in Elementary

School! She has grown up so quickly. I took out her

scrapbooks this evening and was looking back at

all her "First Days of School". I am amazed at how

quickly she has gone from my little preschooler to my

5th grader! Where does time go??

Daddy's Socks

Aiden surprised me this evening when he came into the

room wearing a pair of Rob's socks! He had taken the

time to put them on all by himself and was very proud

of his accomplishments! As you see they were more like

thigh-highs for Aiden but are actually Rob's ankle socks:)

Too cute!

Shaelyn's Artwork

Shaelyn took art classes this summer at Waterworks

Visual Arts Center and had a terrific time! Here is a

picture of her displaying one of her projects. She used

charcoal pencils and oil pastels. She created this project

to look like Sophie. She was very pleased with it and we

were so proud of her accomplishments. She is definitely

our budding little artist!

VBS - 2009

Every year our church has Vacation Bible School and each

year we volunteer to help with some aspect of it. Well this

year we played low key since we are busy chasing around

a very active 2 year old. We did however, help with the

decorations and had a really fun time doing so. Here are

some pictures of Aiden and Shae in the "swamp". Our

theme this year was Crocodile Dock!

Fireflies

I took these photos a few weeks ago and am just now getting

around to posting them. It was a night that the kiddos

decided to catch fireflies and put them in a jar. Shae wanted

to put them in her room for a nightlight. :) As you can tell

by these pictures, Aiden was completely perplexed by the

whole operation. He wasn't sure he wanted those bugs in

that jar. After a few hours of being help captive, I finally

convinced Shae to release them back into the backyard

where they could go back home to their families. :) I know

it is crazy, but I can't stand the thought of even a bug

starving to death in a mason jar. :)

Lela Jade

We are so very blessed to have Chris and Kathy as long-time

friends!! They love our kids and spoil them royally! When we

stepped off the plane with Shaelyn in our arms, Kathy was

there to cry tears of joy with us! She remembers how tiny

and beautiful Shaelyn was. A few years ago Kathy bought this

Lee Middleton doll (Pampered Asian Doll) and said it reminded

her of Shaelyn when she looked at it. She kept
the doll until Shaelyn was older. This evening Chris and Kathy

came over and gave the babydoll to Shaelyn. When she opened

it she was so surprised and giggled with excitement. I was

completely overwhelmed with emotion because it so reminded

me of what Shae looked like when we got her! It was truly

amazing! Anyway, Shae gave the doll the name Lela Jade.

This was the name we recently had picked out for the girl we

thought we would get from China, but of course God gave us a

boy. Thank you Chris and Kathy for giving this doll
to Shaelyn, she will treasure it forever!! When I get to missing
Shaelyn's baby days I will just look at Lela Jade!

Happy 11th Birthday Shaelyn

Shaelyn with her recently stuffed Hello Kitty!

Aiden was sure proud of the bath he was giving his monkey.

The birthday girl at Build-a-Bear. They made her this birthday

ribbon around her neck! It said Shaelyn is 11 today! She was

so proud:)

Out to eat at Shaelyn's favorite restaurant.

On the way home from the mall...both kiddos were happy with their new friends.

Shaelyn concentrating on blowing out her candles. Aiden is

clapping with excitement.

Shaelyn's Littlest Pet Shop cake! She was very happy with her cake:)

Shaelyn and Aiden with their wonderful cousins!

The table is all set and ready to go. The pink bags are treat bags for everyone.

Today we celebrated Shaelyn's 11th birthday! I can hardly

believe that my baby girl is 11 years old!! I took the day off'

from work and we had a day jammed packed with fun! Shae

decided that she wanted to go to Build a Bear again this year,

so we took the kids there this afternoon. Both Shaelyn and

Aiden had a blast! Shaelyn chose a Hello Kitty and Aiden

chose a Monkey. Afterwards we went out to eat in the mall

then Shaelyn went to the Hello Kitty store to spend some of

her birthday money. For the grand finale... we had a family

party at our house at 7 PM. This year Shae wanted a Littlest

Pet Shop theme, and of course Mommy had fun decorating.

All in all it was a terrific day for Shaelyn! We are so thankful

for Shaelyn and for all the joy she brings to our lives. We love

you very much Shae!

This and That

Approximately 2 1/2 years ago this cat showed up at our house. I
had no idea who it belonged to and tried to find its owner. I even
responded to an ad in the newspaper but turns out it was the
wrong cat. Anyway, we decided we would not name him because
we didn't want to get attached and then we find his owner. So,
we decided to call him just Kitty Boy. Well, Kitty Boy has been
our foster cat for 2 1/2 years now:) He stays outside and is great
at keeping all the little critters away. He is huge!! He makes two
of Sophie! This was a picture I took today of Kitty Boy on the
back deck. I thought it was just too cute. Oh, did I mention that
Aiden is crazy about this cat! He feeds it every day:)

As many of you know, I LOVE a bargain and LOVE flowers. Here is Aiden posing in front of the Marigolds we planted this weekend in front of the house. I got them for about 17 cents each!

Here is another bargain I am proud of! I got this TV at a yard sale
for a fraction of what a new one would have been! It swivels, so
you can see it clearly anywhere in the living room and dining room!
It doesn't have the greatest picture (color) in the world but it will
work just fine for us:)

Pool Fun!

Here are some pictures of Shaelyn and Aiden enjoying

the pool. The dog Sophie is always very distraught when

the kids get into the pool. She whines excessively until they

are out. We have a chair we keep beside the pool for

our towels, well she gets up on it and tries to see inside

the pool. She will even stand on the arm of the chair

and stretch as much as possible just to get a glimps.

It is adorable! Don't know what she thinks here little

7 pound Chihuahua self could do to save the kids but in

her little mind she must think she's the lifeguard:)

God Bless America!

Tonight my two "China babies" danced around the yard singing

and waving sparklers! Shaelyn has done this now for many years.

This was Aiden's first:) I couldn't help but think that both of my

kids are celebrating a freedom they would never have know in China.

We are all truly blessed to call this great Nation our home:)