Sunday, April 27, 2014

Forever Family Day April 12, 2014

Our family...4 years of LOVE
Emily and I have been a family for four years now! WOW, the time has flown right by.

We celebrated by going to the zoo with JuJu and then out to lunch at PF Chang's. We had a day of fun, sunshine, love, and laughter. After getting home from the zoo, I gave Emily her gift of the newest Tinker Bell movie, and then we all sat down to enjoy the movie as a family.

It is amazing that the wee, tiny girl who was handed to me screaming and crying in a government office in Taiyuan, China, is the same girl today.

She has gone through so much in the past four years...met me, her mommy, who was a total stranger to her, bonded with me in the first few minutes, learned to speak a whole new language, learned to trust and to love and how to be loved back. She has had surgery on her teeth, surgery on her thumbs, had lots of dental work done, gotten hearing aids, does speech therapy, is a bright beautiful Kindergartner (almost first grader), who LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to swim and also loves dogs. She is funny, silly, cute, stubborn, caring, loving, and eager to learn new things. She has gone from being a 3 1/2 year old wearing size 12 month clothing to a strong, independent 7 year old who now wears a size 6 clothing.

I could list the changes she has gone through forever, but let's just leave it at she is the LOVE of my life, and I can't even remember what my life was like without her in it!
Love you baby!
Mommy



Kutai's grandma...we had to explain to Emily that Kutai had passed away

Sweet old lady

Darling girl in the petting zoo

What a big girl

Emily LOVES this wee lion to sit on

Celebrating at PF Chang's

Spring Break 2014...Tucson here we come!!!

On the flight to Tucson
We were lucky enough to go to Tucson for spring break this year! My aunt and uncle have a house there and invited us to fly down! We had the very best time. It was my aunt Pam, Julyn, Emily, and myself for five days of sunshine, relaxing, fun, laughter, and LOTS of LOVE!!

Of course, I can't forget the dog Ella. Emily LOVES her Ella and I must say, Ella loves Emily right back!

We only had a few minor distractions on the way. Our first full day there, Emily woke up crying about her ear hurting. So off we went to urgent care to find out, yes, she had an ear infection, BUT, she could still swim during our trip. THANK GOODNESS because that was our main activity while in Arizona!

Our second day there, we came home from the pool only to find that Ella had gotten into my carry on backpack and eaten 5 packs of gum and an entire roll of Sweet Tarts...wrappers and all! Needless to say, Pam had to take her to the emergency vet, where Ella had to stay over night, and Pam had a HUGE bill the next morning!

The third day Julyn had to go to urgent care as she thought she may have strep throat. Luckily it was just allergies, but it was kind of humorous after day three to see what would happen next!

We did lots of swimming, some very good shopping in Tubac, AZ, and went to a VERY GOOD production of Beach Blanket Be Bop. It was great! Emily loved it as did we!

It was great just to relax and really not have to do anything at all!! Thank you Aunt Pam!! We miss you and LOVE you so much! Can't wait till Sun River in July!
Kathy




Selfie on flight to Tucson

Only there 10 minutes and she has on Anna her costume holding Oscar the cat!

My girl does LOVE to swim!

Yummy popsicle

Wait a minute...is that Cousin It??

Ella waiting for bubbles to catch

Delicious Mexican food!!

Cutie Patootie

Heading in to see the show

Sweet girl

Pam's backyard

Is that the Lone Ranger and Tonto??

Fun

Cutie

Emily loves Ella


Mommy, Emily, and JuJu

Emily took this one all by herself

Beautiful swimmer

In Pam's friend's pool


Waiting for dinner to come

Her new favorite book

Relaxing out in the backyard

Ahhh...such is the life

Mommy's little shopper

Emily got to drive Aunt Pam's golf cart!! Too funny

Aunt Pam and JuJu

Emily and Aunt Pam



Family fun



St. Patrick's Day 2014

Well, that silly leprechaun visited our house again this year! This time he left green sparkly shamrocks all over Emily's bedroom, wrapped all around the dining room chairs, and a note to Emily about where to find her pot of gold! He also left behind his wee tiny hat that Emily just had to try on before heading off to school that day!
Enjoy,
Kathy



Still in Jammies after finding her gold

All ready to go in and wake up JuJu and show her what she got
Modeling the Leprechaun's hat he left behind...

Grandparent's Day 2014 King's Way Christian School

Since Grandpa and Grandma were in Palm Springs for Grandparent's Day this year, Emily was lucky enough to have JuJu attend with "Grandma" Becki from church.

They got to see Emily's classroom, art work she had done, go to an assembly in the sanctuary, and listen to the teacher, Mrs. Fix, share stories the kids had written.

Just a couple pictures from that special day!
Kathy


Grandma Becki and Emily

Emily and JuJu

Emily showing off on the playground

Emily's Story for Grandparent's Day...sweet

Valentine's Day 2014

Dear Friends and Family,

My oh my has it been a long time since my last post.  Life just seems to happen believe it or not! We have had many special occasions since our big snow event!
I will begin with Valentine's Day and go from there.
Emily had a very fun day at school with her friends in Kindergarten and exchanging cards. That evening she got her Valentines from Mommy and Auntie JuJu!
Love filled the air that day, as it does every day!! :-)

Kathy


Happy V-Day baby


Enjoying new Princess books

Mommy and Emily exchanging Valentines


JuJu and Emily exchanging Valentines

New Princess Anna costume from JuJu

Sweetie

New Elsa doll