See my still smiling and somewhat silly sunburnt son?

I feel sad and sorry that it slipped me to slather my smiling son with sunscreen yesterday:(

Nanjing Treasures

Our Nanjing playgroup met last Thursday. This is when 5 of us moms (who have all adopted from the same orphanage in Nanjing China) get together with all our kids. Every time we meet each month, we get a picture of our Nanjing girls together. Aren't they just precious? Contrary to the look on Ava's face, she really does enjoy these playgroups. Make sure you click on the picture so you can see each beautiful face up close.

From left: Millie-age 3, Ava-age 4, Mylee-age 3 (she was adopted at the same time as Ava), and Clara-age 2. Elsa-age 2 wasn't able to make it this time. Click here to see these girls last August. Strangely enough, in that photo too Ava has that same horrified expression. LOL

Revealed for the first time: our famous cookie recipe

So many people (okay 3) have asked for this recipe that I thought I'd just post it on my blog. This recipe came from Chad's uncle and we tweaked it a little to get it just right. We are famous for these! (okay, not exactly famous, but most people seem to like them)

Chad's Uncle's Cookies (Tweaked)

2 eggs

1 cup crisco shortening-the kind in the tub in the baking aisle (not butter or margarine)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

1 t vanilla***

1. Mix the above well.

2. Stir in 2 cups flour and stir.

3. Add:

2 cups raw oats

6 oz (only half a bag) of chocolate chips (or butterscotch chips)

4. Bake for approx. 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

5. Eat half the batch and then confess the sin (that's what I do anyway).

Click here to view this recipe in printable form. (just kidding; I don't know how to do that)

***May substitute 1 t breastmilk (expressed) for the vanilla if you are feeling adventerous. No, I've never done this and then given you my cookies to eat. Never. Well, probably never.

It looks like Ava likes the cookies, right?

Sammy

Sammy is waiting in China for his family to come and get him. He is going to be adopted by my friend Amy and her husband. If you want to contribute to an orphanage in China, help bring Sammy home, and have a chance to win a Vera Bradley Bag- all for only $10, click on Sammy's button above.

I kid you not.

Aren't they cute? They sometimes dress alike, they are about the same size, and they hold hands once in awhile. But in my humble opinion, they do not look like twins. Not even close.

I found out not everyone shares my opinion. When we were out the other day, a woman came up to us and first asked the usual question which is, "Are they all yours?"
Then she pointed to Ava and Kate and asked if they were twins. Seriously. I wouldn't lie on my blog. Or in real life either.

So what do you think? Do they look like twins and if so, fraternal or identical? (or conjoined?)

A daycare?

I was at Kohl's the other day doing some shopping with all 5 of my kids. Yes, I'm crazy. Anyway, when we were in line to pay, the woman in front of us said, "This is a daycare... right?"
I said, "No, they are all my children."
Then she said, "Oh, I thought for SURE it was a daycare. You must really have your hands full." She made her point, don't you think? I thought it was funny anyway.
Brooke asked me the other day, "Why does everyone always say that you have your hands full, Mom?"
I told her they are noticing that my hands are so full of blessings. Here are a couple pictures of my "hand-full" of blessings. They don't look like much trouble, do they?
























I love this last picture. All the kids are concerned that Gabe has a stick in his mouth!

















By the way, call me nosy (yes, I am very nosy in fact) but I'm curious who is reading my blog. Could you please satisfy my curiousity and leave a comment on this post? It's easy.

Got Fat?

Okay, that was mean. That is enough naked pictures of my baby on my blog. I promise. I mean I promise no more naked pictures in this post anyway. A little about Gabe: He's almost 10 months and he's adorable...all 24 pounds of him. Favorite activities: pulling over lamps, playing in the toilet, eating paper, and taking all the books off the bookshelf. As you can see, he looks really sorry about pulling all those books off the shelf.

Last April...

...the Nanjing Orphanage emailed us this picture of Ava. This was just a few weeks before she came home.

Here are some pictures of Ava taken just last week.She was so cooperative during this photo shoot. She has the most natural smile, even when I asked her to smile on cue. Isn't she sweet? I just love this first picture of her-the expression on her face is so priceless.

So many people have asked for updates on Ava and how she is doing. The answer is that she is dong wonderfully. She is thriving, gaining weight and getting taller.

A little about Ava:

Ava loves life. She gets excited when it's time to wake up, when it's time to get dressed, when it's time to go somewhere, and when we come home (she says "home!" as we pull in the driveway). She also likes when it's time to brush her teeth or clip her nails. Ava is so gentle and nurturing with Gabe. She is also a great helper and loves to please. When I lay Gabe down to change his diaper, there she is handing me a wipe. Then she puts the wipes away without being asked. Today after I loaded the dishwasher, I looked and there was Ava with the dishwashing soap ready to put it in the dishwasher for me. When the toilet paper is out, she'll go get a new roll on her own and put it in the holder. She is a great listener too. I rarely ever have to tell her anything twice. In many ways she is very mature. In other ways she is still so young.

Now I'm not saying she's perfect (fussy doesn't begin to describe her when she's tired), for she did inherit the "disease" we all have: sin. But for the most part, Ava is easy-going, cooperative, and kind. How did this child get to be such an incredible blessing, despite 3 1/2 years of neglect in an orphanage? We don't know. All we know is that we are so thankful to God for the gift of this sweet soul.

Having said all that, the bonding is still coming. We are a lot further along than when we started, but I know we still have a ways to go. Bonding and attachment do not happen overnight. It usually takes time, especially when adopting an older child. After talking to other adoptive moms, I found that it's common for the process to take awhile, sometimes even years. I look forward to the relationship I have with Ava getting stronger and stronger as time goes on.

Some people ask how Ava and Kate get along, being so close in age and having such drastically different personalities. There is sometimes jealousy and fighting between them like you would expect with sisters. However, they really do enjoy each other and play together a lot. The other day after Kate got angry at Ava for something, I asked Kate, "Are you glad we have Ava?" (I guess I was wondering if she resented us a little for adopting a child so close in age to her.) Immediately she said (like she was surprised I would even ask), "Yes, because I yuv her."

Ava's language has exploded. She understands everything we say to her. She is smart and picks things up quickly and can follow multi-step directions without getting side-tracked. However, while her expressive language has improved greatly, it is sometimes still hard to understand what she is saying. Sometimes if Chad and I are not sure, one of our other kids will interpret for her.

I think I'll end this post by sharing how Ava feels about her adoption. When it was her turn to pray the other night she said, "Dear God, thank you that Daddy and Brookie came to get me in China."

Okay, I think that about covers it. If not, feel free to ask questions. Here are some more pictures.

Here is that first picture again. Isn't she just beautiful?

Need Diapers?

It looks like this baby does.

Seriously, I love baby butts. I can't help it. Especially when we are talking about a butt on my baby. (Gabe is cute here, right?)

Anyway, my baby's cute butt is not what this post is about. Seriously.

If you have a baby in diapers at your house, and you like to save money, then read on:

Go to Diapers.com and pick out your favorite brand of diapers (I personally love Luvs-no pun intended). Spend at least $49. When you check out, on the shopping cart page, enter this referral Code: TSPR4993

By entering this code, you will get $10 off your purchase. So you will get $49 dollars worth of diapers (or pull-ups) for $39. And, the diapers are no more expensive than the diapers at the store. In fact, jumbo-size packs of Luvs are on sale right now at Diapers.com for $7.99. I got 2 jumbo-size packs of Luvs and one big mega-box of Luvs all for $39. Anyway, if you order and put in the referral code, you get $10 off your order and I get a credit of $5. And, if you then refer someone and they put in your code (that you'll get once you order), you'll get a credit of $5. Cool, huh?

No longer an orphan...

This adorable 3-year-old boy is part of a family now, and a good one at that. Drew is going to be adopted by Matt and Mandi, who have become close friends of ours. Mandi traveled with Chad to China last May and brought home Mylee from the same orphanage that Ava lived in. Matt and Mandi have 3 biological kids too, so Drew will be their 5th child. Hopefully they will be able to bring Drew home early next year. Go here to see more pictures of this cutie and read their amazing story of how God led them to this little boy.

He is Risen!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend celebrating our Savior's Resurrection. Really, we should call this day "Resurrection Sunday" instead of "Easter Sunday" because of this. (After some discussion, Chad and I did decide, somewhat reluctantly, to let our children have an egg hunt, by the way.)

We had some additional excitement this weekend as we now have a new baby in our family. My brother and his wife welcomed baby Alayna Rae. She was 5 pounds, 14 ounces and is just precious (I'm not biased or anything).

Good Friday

Little Kate

Okay, I'm going to show off the extent of my photography skills for my first post. I wold LOVE to learn real photography (like how to take pictures in manual mode, how to mess with depth of field, make the background blurry, all that), but for now I'll just enjoy my point-and-shoot and of course editing my pictures in Adobe Photoshop.

The first picture is one that I edited. The original follows. Kate wouldn't give me a smile or even look at the camera when I wanted her to (she has her own mind; that is for sure). But it turns out that I love this first shot of her. She is such a beauty.

Hi, there!

Welcome to my new blog! Please sign in as a "follower" (see left sidebar) if you want to get updates whenever I post. Soon I'll write a "real" post. LOL

tara