Perfect weather weekend

We had a fabulous weekend with perfect weather. I've been particularily thankfull as Lily received an electric motor scooter for her birthday. She's had the best time zippg along at great speeds. We had a lot of great outside time this weekend including a playdate and fall festival at a local park.

Well, blog followers, we have a problem. Well, really I have a problem. Andrew, in all his 2 year old glory, has decided that I can't make him comply for pictures. That's right. This photo-taking mommy, has been stopped in her tracks. We had this gorgeous fall/pond opportunity and Andrew did everything possible to ruin the picture. I have about 10 shots in which he covered his face at the last second!

I did catch this shot of the kids. It wasn't the shot I was going for, but at least it's scenic.

Andrew's dreams came true when he got to explore a fire engine. Really, what is more awesome to a little boy? He was able to climb all over it, sit in the front and walk through the inside. I was only slightly nervous when he couldn't help but touch something, push a button here and pull a lever there. The fire fighters were very understanding :)

Again, my little guy has decided to look away from the camera for every picture. Sigh. Somehow, even with him facing away, I think this photo is adorable. Thanks for looking.

Birthday Bash!

Sorry for the delay in getting this post out. Last week we had a wonderful time celebrating our little girl's 7th birthday. We started the week with what we called her "Buddy Birthday" and I covered that in our previous post. On Tuesday, we sent in treats and she had her classroom celebration. Then on Saturday we had her family birthday. I'm so happy that all events went really well and Lily had a ball. Saturday, we went to Lily's restaurant of choice, Panda Inn and then came home for more celebrating. Between parents, grandparents and uncles, that girl was seriously showered with gifts. Andrew even got some some "un-birthday" gifts. Apparently some things are just too hard to avoid. Then we capped the evening off with a make your own sundae treat. Lily just isn't a cake eater. It was low-key, no stress and really a great time. Here are some pictures.

Buddy Birthday and Autumn Moon Festival

Today was a busy day. First Lily had her "buddy birthday" celebration. She invited her friend Emily for a happy meal and then a visit to Sweet and Sassy Salon. The girls were so cute. They sat together at McDonald's giggling, eating and being silly. I got a taste of my future as I sat in a booth near them keeping an eye on them and keeping my distance. Then it was off to the salon. They carefully selected their nail colors. Lily chose dark purple and Emily selected bright orange. They got glitter lotion, dolphin nail decals and giant yellow sparkly rings. Then it was glitter hairspray, a star on the face and time to mix your own lip gloss. It was a sparkly, glittery, giggly good time. We cruised the mall, stopped at Claire's bought matching stuffed animals and just had some good old girl time. It was fun to see them together and I could tell Lily really enjoyed herself. Here are some pictures of the sparking beauties.

Then it was time to go to the Autumn Moon Festival hosted by our local FCC chapter. It was held at a new location and we had a really nice time. I was laughing with my friend Georgette and said "Where else could you get to do the chicken dance, eat a moon pie and walk in a lantern parade?" The weather was beautiful and the location was fun. Families picniced while the little ones played on a playground. Miss Lily lead the group in some crazy dancing including the Cha-Cha Slide. The kids made paper moon lanterns, had a scavenger hunt and then we all walked in the lantern parade. This year the lanterns were really pretty and it was dark enough to enjoy them. Here are some pictures of the event. I have to say the Lia and Andrew were too cute together.

Sharks and Mermaids!

So many firsts........

I'm happy to report we've all been doing well and had a lovely start to the fall and the new school year. It's also been a window for many different firsst for both kids. Here's what's happened so far:

Lily has started the school year without tears. This is huge as the past 2 years we dealt with tears the first 6-8 weeks.

She took a dance class and actually liked it.

She went with a friend and her mother to an outing.

She took off her training wheels by herself and is flying around like a pro.
(I should note we could have done this a long time ago. We just never seemed to get around to it).





Andrew decided to not be outdone by his sister. So far he's

Took his first gymanastic's class with me. He did a wonderful job, participated the whole time and followed the teacher's directions

Had his first solo playdate (i.e. without Lily)

Started using the bathroom with a lot of success. By the way, we had tried the potty training a few weeks ago and he expressed significant fear of falling in. Then he announced he was ready.....and he's been ready.

6 years ago today...........

We got "the" call. It was the call to let us know we had a beautiful 11 month old daughter waiting for us in Guangxi, China PRC. I can remember the day very well. Referrals had come in and our LID had been included. Our agency took one full day to translate the referral information and to verify the children were still available. Then the next day the calls would come in after 2 pm our time. Bill and I both decided to work and then come home for the call. We had requested for them to call us at 4:30 because we both knew we'd be home. Well, neither of us could sleep the night before, we certainly couldn't concentrate at work and we just couldn't make it till 4:30. So around 3:45ish, I sheepishly called the agency saying I couldn't stand it any longer. Xiao, the agency director's sister, talked to us and said "Bill. Melissa. You have a daughter." After that, I couldn't process much of what was said. Xiao would give us a piece of information and I'd repeat it. It went like this "She's beautifull." "She's beautiful." "She has lots of hair." "She has lots of hair." "She's in Guangxi Province.".........You get the idea. Both sets of new grandparents came over and we all stared at the computer looking at this image of our Lilianna.

It really is hard for me to process that was 6 years ago already! I knew then that I was so fortunate to become this little girl's mom. Though really, I had no idea how fortunate I was. Our Lilianna is such a joy and it's our priveledge to be her parents. I'm not sure if it's because we spent so many years trying to be parents or if it's because we've seen the whole adoption scene become next to impossible. Really, maybe this is what most parents feel. In any case, we really and truly feel so blessed to have our sweet, loving, funny, caring, smart daughter in our lives.

Our 1rst Grader!!!

Lily is officially starting her first grade year! She carefully selected her outfit, hairstyle, lunch, and snack. She thoughtfully packed, and repacked her backpack. She gave me specific instructions on where to meet her at the bus stop. Our girl was ready! She left this morning with a little bit of nerves, but no tears (those tend to come for her a little later). We chatted happily during breakfast about how many kids she knows in her big, big, big first grade (she's in a team teaching situation with 2 teachers and 30+ kids). She admitted that she's going to miss me. Little does she know how much I'm going to miss her. I'm so excited for her and yet I'm a little sad that the time has ended where she spends most of her time with me. Everyone was right. It does go by too fast!

Back to the Zoo

With summer winding down, we decided to take advantage of the "cooler" weather and headed off to the zoo. It was well attended, but the crowd wasn't too bad. The kids really loved exploring the new polar/artic exhibit. I think our favorite animal was the artic fox who posed rather nicely for this picture.

Lily and Andrew had a fun playing in the inside ice exhibit. I found it very funny to see all these little kids pop up out of the play ice like little prarie dogs.

We stopped at a shady spot and enjoyed a picnic that was Canada goose free. For those who haven't visited the zoo lately, the geese are very fond of all the folks eating and aren't shy about getting really close. This tends to make both kids nervous and they were happy to be geese free today.

Next to the sharks, Andrew loved the manatees the best. I didn't know they currently were hosting 4 baby manatees. We were excited to see them but the "babies" were not particularily tiny weighing in at 500-600 pounds. Then both kids had fun climbing on the alligator statue.


It was a great day and I must admit with a little sadness that I realize Lily won't be able to do our typical fall zoo visits as she'll be in school full time. Where does the time go???

Hanging out with a few friends....

It's so nice that our kids have so many kids in the neighborhood to hang out with!

Our week in review

We've had a nice week with little goings on. Some highlights included going out and celebrating my parents 47th Anniversary with them.



We rescued a baby bird that got blown out of it's nest in those crazy storms.

I'm happy to report we got the baby bird safely back into the nest without touching it with our hands and the momma bird was sitting on the nest 20 minutes later.

Finally, we went down to the state house and had a early birthday picnic with Bill. The kids loved it, the weather was perfect and we enjoyed a concert on the lawn.