Be back soon!

Well, I really thought I would have these birthday pictures up and moving on to other things by now. I am still sorting and editing and trying to decide which ones are worthy of the blog. There are so many great ones! Meanwhile, even though the party is behind us, the craziness continues. On top of all that, Linzi came down with something completely out of the blue this evening. Hopefully it is nothing too bad, but I just put her to bed and fully expect it to be a long night here tonight. She was perfectly fine until about 4:00 today. I noticed she felt a little warm and by the evening, she was listless, feverish and started coughing a croupy sounding cough. When I gave her a bath, she was shivering and whimpering the whole time. So pitiful. :( I am praying that it will go away as fast as it came! The weather is beautiful here this weekend, so if Linzi is up to it, we are planning a family fun weekend outdoors, away from the computer! Have a great weekend! :D

Let the birthday party pictures begin!!!

The party of the season is over and our celebrations are finally winding down around here. I think the party was a huge success and the girls had so much fun! I must say I am exhausted and kind of looking forward to getting on with other things. But we did have a blast! For the next few days, I will be posting some of my favorite pictures. I have so many and am still waiting on a memory card with more from a friend. She said there were some really great ones on it. For now, I am starting out with some preparty pictures of Linzi and her Wuwei sister, Lindsay. It meant so much to us that our friends from Chattanooga drove for 2+ hours each way to spend the afternoon with Linzi. Lindsay and Linzi were in the same SWI together and when I see them together, I am quite sure they have known each other their whole lives! Every time they are together, the bond is undeniable. Here is Linzi surrounded by the friends she plays with all the time and some who she has known since she came home. But she only had eyes for Lindsay. They were inseparable the entire time. So very sweet! The more we see them together, the more we realize just how special and real this bond is. We have a very strong Red Thread connection with this family and I am quite sure that it was all part of God's design for us to meet so that our girls can have this special friendship.

I will have more pictures on Thursday. Tomorrow, Linzi and I are very excited to have coveted reservations at the American Girl Bistro with Debbie and LiLi. We can't wait to see you guys!

Short Break

We are in the middle of planning a party fit for a princess, my princess!!! What started out as a simple little birthday party has mushroomed into an event much bigger than I ever anticipated. But it's so much fun! So in between making sure my kids are up, fed, off to school, entertaining Linzi, cleaning house, picking Alex up, getting homework done, gymnastics, major book report, keeping Ally (just love her!), entertaining neighbor drop ins, church night, dinner every night and STILL redecorating the kitchen - this week I am ALSO building a pink castle, making decorations, wrapping almost 20 goody presents, cooking, baking, shopping, setting up new furniture, switching out two rooms and getting ready for my parents and grandmother, a little bit of spot landscaping in the backyard, hardcore cleaning . . . WHEW!!! Yep, blogging just doesn't fit into my schedule this week! Be back next week w/ pictures of the event of the season for our household! Have a great week everyone!

Last video for now - Promise!

First of all, this is the last video I will post for a while. I am mainly posting these for my mother and other close family and friends. In honor of our 3rd Family Day anniversary, I have been putting together a compilation of the last three years with Linzi. Don't worry, I am not going to post the whole thing here, but I did want to share a small part of if. As I was going through everything, one word kept popping up in my mind - MAGIC. Another common thread - constant motion. She may be shy and reserved when around others, but at home, Linzi has ALWAYS (from our first moments in China) been in constant motion.

Before she could walk, her little feet used to twirl all the time, like little propellers. When she was happy, they twirled even faster. We used to laugh that she was going lift off with those little propellers like a helicopter. When she started crawling, she became turbo charged and I would literally have to RUN to catch her crawling away. She was a late walker (Thank God!) but I am not exaggerating when I say she ran the same day she walked for the first time. And then the dancing started. This child is always doing some kind of silly dance. My absolute favorite captured moment is when she is tap dancing on top of the desk. She was barely two and we had just gone to see the Rockettes Christmas performance at the Fox Theatre. Little did I know I could have saved a lot of money and been way more entertained by my very own mini Rockette! We did not teach her this, she spontaneously just made it up as she went along! Notice the little arm motion too. :D My other favorite moment is of her dancing on the hill at the water park. She had waited so patiently for all the other kids to get off the hill. As soon as they were gone, she ran over, claimed it and did the "Happy Dance". Each one of these little clips took me back to that very moment in time and makes my heart smile as big as it did at then. I remember every detail so vividly, and I hope I never forget them. Oh my baby, where did time go? Even though she still dances constantly, I have not taken any video lately. I guess I better do that!



One last note: I never said she was graceful, just active! :D Yes, I guess she is a bit clumsy, just like mommy!

3 years ago today. . .

Three years ago today, my dream came true. Three years ago today, I held my youngest daughter for the first time. The time flies, but the magic never fades. I still have to pinch myself when I look at her. I am still overwhelmed with how greatly we have been blessed. I wish I could say something profound and beautiful, but the truth is I am exhausted from all the celebrating we have been doing lately! The words are not coming, but my heart is full and forever grateful. So I will let the video speak for itself. If it will let you, you can slide the thingy forward past all the wording to get to the actual video.

Happy Birthday Linzi!!!

We are in the middle of an endless Birthday/Family Day celebration at our house along with many other things, so I haven't had much time for blogging or visiting my favorite bloggy friends. But I did find time to put together a little video of Linzi's Birthday weekend celebration. If you can make it through to the end, you will see what Linzi got for her birthday. And the funny part is that her party isn't for another two weeks. Today, she celebrated with her class. In two weeks, we will have a party fit for a princess, complete with a Royal Pony and a Royal Steed. :D Whew! I am exhausted already but having so much fun!

Tomorrow is our Family Day and I am putting something special together for that too, but it might take a few days to get it up.

I turned off my blog music for now because I am planning on posting a few videos over the next few days. Make sure you have your volume up for the videos!

First Day of Preschool!!!

Well, we did it!!! We had a very successful first day of preschool. It started off rocky. Linzi woke up nervous and a little withdrawn. By the time we took a bath, she was coming around and even seemed a little excited. She did great taking pictures before we left and even willingly got in the car when I told her it was time to go. But when we walked up to the school, she started to get nervous again. You can see it in her face on one of the pictures below. As expected, she cried and cried when I said goodbye. I walked out of the room fighting back my own tears. I could hear her all the way down the hall. She was the loudest, most pitiful one. For the first day, they had all the new parents meet in the santuary to go over procedures, so I was in the building the whole time. I kept looking at the doors because I just knew someone was going to be bringing her or coming to get me. But no one did! When it was time to pick her up, I walked in to find her dancing, singing and happily participating. No tears, no swollen eyes, no sad face. She was her usual happy little self! Her teachers said she did cry for a little while, then she sat in the teacher's lap for a little while and then she just jumped in the middle of everything and had a great time! I can't even begin to express how relieved I am and how excited I am about this next year for her. I think she is also very proud of herself. She has been extra silly this afternoon.

And last, but not least, she actually took a nap when we got home!!! Naps are so rare these days, I get very excited when they do happen! :-)

When Mandi asked Linzi how her day went, this was her reply: "The little BLUE boy cried because he missed his mommy. But then his mommy came back and he was happy. He's my friend." Too cute. I think the "blue boy" was a little boy wearing a blue shirt. LOL

Oh how I love this face. . .

We spent a wonderful Labor Day weekend on the lake. I will be posting a few more pictures later today.

This next week is full of milestones for us. Tomorrow, my baby starts preschool. I am excited for her but so very hesitant about the initial adjustment. Linzi has never been able to separate well. We have never left her in the church nursery or gym nursery. Every time we have tried, they have called us back. Twice, I have come into to the room to find her hyperventilating because she was so upset. We haven't even attempted in the last year and a half, so tomorrow is a very big day for us. Please pray that we will get through the day! I bought Linzi a special dress yesterday but made the fatal mistake of saying it is for the first day of school. Now she won't even try it on or look at it. Oh boy. . .

We are also celebrating her birthday and our Gotcha Day in the next few days. Lots of celebrations, lots of pictures and lots of memories in the next few days!

I am so honored that Lori @ A Journey to Our Daughter nominated little ol' me for this award. Funny thing was, on this particular day, I was not feeling very "nice" at all! In fact, yesterday was a really, really bad day. I went to bed feeling awful because I had spent the better part of my evening all up and down my son for the normal teenage stuff. Let me tell you, raising babies is 100 times easier than raising teenagers. So anyway, today is a new day. Nice DOES matter and I am passing this award on to three ladies who are always nice and leave a trail of kindness wherever they go.

Linette @ Life With Hannah - I met Linette a couple years ago when she first came home with Hannah. Hannah is from the same SWI as Linzi and I had the honor of doing Hannah's adoption video. Although I have never met Linette in person, I feel like I know her and consider her a friend in real life as well as bloggyland. She is compassionate, kind, an amazingly devoted mother and truly celebrates life with her family. They are in the process of paperchasing Hannah's baby sister and I just can't wait to see what God has in store for this special family.

Debbie @ Hiking through Life w/ Ian & LiLi - I have had the pleasure of knowing Debbie through blog comments, emails, and recently we met in person. Debbie's amazing photography and LiLi's beauty and charm have inspired so many more people than she will ever know. I have seen how Debbie has touched many other lives with her candid openess and supportive comments to any blog she happens to come upon.

Lucy @ Home at Last w/ Ally - Lucy and I go back to when Linzi first came home. Now, she is home with sweet little Ally. You will never find a more genuine, down to earth friend. I am so lucky in that I get to play with Ally all to myself a few days a week! Ally and I are still getting to know each other, but she has already stolen my heart. If I can't have one more baby of my own, I am just going to borrow Lucy's for a little while!
:-)

Favorites Meme

Debbie tagged me for a "favorites" meme. So here goes . . .

Sound – Linzi’s giggles, there is no cuter or happier sound in the world!

Late night snack – chocolate chip cookie dough in any form ~ ice cream, cookies, etc.

Smell – Orchid or Plumeria – reminds me of the breeze in Hawaii

Color combination - Pink and Green

Nut – don’t care for the kind you eat, but I have lots of favorite human and furry nuts

Time of the year – Fall – love, love, love Fall!

Author – Dr. Seuss – What can I say? I have kids! Reading a good adult book is not a luxury that I indulge in often. But I read to my children all the time and we have a HUGE collection of children’s books.

Books – I LOVE children’s books. I can’t resist a fun story with underlying morals and beautiful illustrations that relate to situations in our current life. Our current fave read is “The Kissing Hand” by Audrey Penn in honor of Linzi starting preschool for the first time next week. This book has gotten all of my children through that first time separation of going to school and is very dear to my heart.

Vegetable – Red Peppers w/ sun-dried tomato balsamic vinagrette

Male Actor - George Clooney – I am SO with Debbie on this one! :D

Flower – Hydrangaes (I had to change this one twice because I love so many flowers!)

Vacation spot – I have two – Italy & Hawaii. For romantic vacations with your honey, Italy is as romantic as it gets. Art, culture, history, natural beauty, good food & wine, a terrace overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, breakfast outdoors on the rooftop w/ cappacino and croissants, need I say more? As a family, our best vacation ever was in Hawaii. The first time was supposed to be a vacation of a lifetime, but we loved it so much, we went back. I hope we will go again and again over the years.

Pizza – Haven’t found any pizza where we live that rocks my world. I do like New York style pizza, just don’t know where to find it in Georgia.

Sport to play - SHOPPING!!! :D

Subject in school – social studies & humanities

TV channel – HGTV, Fine Living, The Travel Channel

Radio station – The FISH 104.7 our local Christian music station

Holiday – Christmas – I wait all year for the Christmas season!

Perfume – some perfumes burn my nose intensely, so I don’t wear it often. I do indulge in all kinds of nice bath products and prefer to smell just out of the shower clean over perfumey.

Shoes – Can’t stand constricted feet. Flip Flops or anything I can slip on and off easily. Not very glamorous in the shoe department.

Candy – Reese’s peanut buttercups – all varieties

City to shop – Atlanta, Georgia – I am lucky to have some of the best shopping right up the street! I also love shopping in South Florida.

Female actress – Nicole Kidman, don’t always like her movies but appreciate her talent, style and classic beauty

Beauty products – Don’t know how I ever managed without a good straightening iron.

Item to shop for – Anything for little girls and the house!

Okay, so now I am passing this meme on to three blogger friends who have impeccable taste and I am sure we will all have some new favorites after reading theirs! :D
Mommy24treasures
Lori @ A Journey to our Daughter
Jennifer @ My Three Sons & a Little China Girl