~ PRIVACY PLEASE ~

China Princess is going private ~

it is time. . .

~ CATCHING UP III ~

These photos are from our playdate at Paige's house ~ we all got together on a beautiful day to just hang around and have some fun:

Just love these next few photos of Eddie & Mikey with Paige:

yes, they were smitten with her :)

Paige is SO very active for a 9 month old - crawling, cruising, etc

too cute!!

she is so very social

so very cute!

Paigey & Mia

Our three little girlies all together

Meggie wasn't in a picture mood :)

But, she is a cutie pie even from the back !

O.k, this post just about catches me up, ahhh that's a good feeling :)

~ CATCH UP II ~

Over the summer, Meaghan Grace's family had some friends over to play and swim ~ most where meeting little Miss Paige for the first time too:Pretty Paige!


Owen just adored Paige

I love how he is touching her cheeks :)

Ella adores her too :)
Meggie-girl!

Three unbelievably precious girls!

Mia & Meg floating~
What a girl!

Meggie loved to show me how she swims underwater ~ what a little fish!
Can you stand the cuteness?!

My little "Ester-Williams" as she's been called :)


It was, and is, so sweet to see all of our little ones together ~ we all waited so long to have our babies home - together... This is just the beginning of our happy moments together :)

****************************************

Yesterday we gave some moral support to Paige & her mommy when she went to get her ears pierced!

I think Mia looks more nervous than Paige!

Paige was such a trooper! It was done one-two-three and she did great! Mia just kept saying "baby Paige cry!" - wonder if it brought back any bad memories for my little princess??!

Go on over to Paige's blog to see more photos!

~ CATCH UP, Part I ~

First off, I will start with the boys trophy day from their Spring season of baseball ~ Anthony's team won first place in their division and then went on to win the playoff's! He was so excited to win a "big" trophy this year :) His team learned to work so well together, it was really a team effort and, boy was it an exciting season! My little guy got his 1st ever trophy and was beaming from ear to ear! He was planning on where he would place his trophy on his dresser so he could see it from his bed :) Too cute! Yup, they're dirty even though they didn't play a game today!

BOYS!!!

Next, we started the football season off with our buddies the "C" family by ordering in some heroes and basically EATING :) The kids were all over, some watched the game, most of them just played and ran around...just having fun :) The "C" family surprised us and brought over a yummy crumb cake ~ with crumbs that were just huge ~ and a #2 candle to celebrate Mia's two years of being home (we arrived home from China Sept 13, 2007) ~ so sweet, thanks guys for thinking of us & Mia in this way:

Two years together a family ~ WOW!
We are blessed :)

This next photo is of Mia and the apple of her eye, Brandon (who happens to be our godson :)

Mia is just smitten with him and will grab his hand and flirt with him ALL the time! She glows when she says his name and will talk about him and ask about him when he's not around. Brandon is soooo good with her and soooo patient too ~ thanks honey :) It is so sweet to see Mia affectionate with someone, since she's had some issues with closeness ~ she is just such a loving and sweet girl ~

Hugs for "Bran-on", as she calls him :)

~ BACK TO SCHOOL 2009 ~

Back to school, back to routine ~ things are going relatively smoothly and we are forming our new routine, up earlier; but it's working out. It's nice the kids have a 3 day week to adjust to all this newness ~Ant - 6th grader
Eddie - 1st grader!

I made the kids this pencil-brownie to celebrate the day ~

they really got a kick out of it :)

**Mia did really well for her first-offical day at preschool. I was told she cried a little bit and then went back to playing. When she saw me at pickup she looked a little sad-on-the-verge-of-crying, and when I strapped her in her car seat she had tears falling from her eyes. She missed me. . . I had her tell me what she did and this was what I was told: she ate pretzels, they sang "wheels on the bus" and she cried...

~ 1st DAY OF PRESCHOOL ~

Mia Hope's first day at preschool went really well. . . I have to admit that her first day consisted of mommy & Mia going to preschool for an hour; it was sort of a "meet & greet" hour. BUT, she was really looking forward to going to see her school and her teacher(s) and the toys :) Mia in our "traditional" first day of school picture spot!

I am so very glad she really wanted to go ~ she was...

excited!!! "let's go!"

We met Meaghan Grace and her mommy in the parking lot (did I not mention that the girls are in class together!) and, of course, we had a photo-op on the front steps of the preschool :)

Meaghan Grace & Mia Hope

All smiles :)

Ooooooooooo, did they look darling!

my baby girl is a preschooler!

Do you think they've had enough with the picture-taking?

Once inside we got to meet the teacher(s) and check out the classroom. Oh what a beautiful, sunny and happy room it is, filled with puzzles, toys, arts & crafts ~ what every preschool should look like. Mia just went from one thing to another. . . kind of like a little tornado :) She really checked out everything and enjoyed the class ~ it was really, really nice :)

This next picture just really touches me... It is of Mia and her teacher Miss "J". In Sept 2006, Eddie started preschool here and had Miss "J" , and at this time I had just sent in our dossier to China and talked to Miss "J" about our plans to adopt our daughter. She shared with me pictures of her friend who had adopted from China. I remember looking at the photos of her friends adorable little girl, thinking...someday that would be me. Well, this is that someday. Now, Mia is blessed to have this wonderful, compassionate and loving teacher ~ WOW, sort of surreal :)

Mia and Miss "J"

I must admit, this mommy is nervous about leaving her little girl on Thursday for 2 1/2 hours. I know she will be in great hands; but I am so afraid of what she will think and how she will feel - I hope that I have conveyed that "mommy always comes back". It actually hurts my heart to think that she will feel this for even a moment. . . wish us well ~

Well, the boys start their first day of 6th and 1st grades tomorrow, and Mia will start up again with speech ~

one day at a time :)