New Hobby

What do you do when you're dying to get 5 kids out of your house? Send them to the lake to fish. We have fished at the small lake in our neighborhood close to twenty times before and have never caught a thing. Today the kids went out, alone, and caught 4 fish. The kids are now convinced that either their dad is the worst fisherman ever (quite possible) or the fish are scared of adults (I personally like this explanation because it gets me out of fishing forever.) Either way, the kiddos now have a new hobby. JD and Piper asked if they could set their alarm clocks for 6am tomorrow morning so they could get to the fish extra early. I told them that they could wake up as early as they wanted but they were dead if either Kai or I were awakened while they were getting ready. We'll see how it goes.

3 Days of Bliss

Ready for her piano recital

JD painted/dressed Kai as a pirate

Kai's caterpillar pancake

J.D.'s alien pancake (he made it himself)

Piper's butterfly pancake

Brother - Sister Love

Kai

Cousin Jackson

Piper and Grandmama

J.D. and Aunt Kellie

Kai and Granny

Don't you just love long weekends? I do. Even though I no longer work (ha, that really makes me laugh), I still enjoy having my hubby home for 3 full days. We played in the rain, had a Memorial Day party, made pancake animals, went to 2 movies, ate an amazing dinner at The Melting Pot (sans kids), and pretty much did whatever sounded good at the moment. The very first picture above is of David and Piper about to leave for Piper's piano recital. They looked so cute together all dressed up. It made me wonder what her first date will be like (then I started getting nauseous and stopped thinking of it.) I waited until the last minute to try and get a baby-sitter resulting in me staying home with JD and Kai. It made more sense for David to take Piper to the recital since I have the musical ability of a gnat and her daddy is a famous bassist (extra wife points for that comment.)

I have a lot more to say but JD is challenging me to a game of Wii tennis and we all know that I can't let the boy think I'm scared of him already.

Who Needs a Professional Photographer Anyway?

Okay, I know I usually complain about my photography skills. More often than not, I end up with some pretty poor photos of some gorgeous kids. I'm not sure what happened yesterday, but I took some amazing pictures of Kai at the park. Since we can definitely not afford a professional photographer these days, I was quite pleased with myself (and Kai who put up with an afternoon of mommarazzi.)

And since several people have asked me lately, I should explain that no, we haven't recieved our TA yet. We're hoping to win the prize for longest time between referral and actually meeting our child (please read that line with unbridled sarcasm.) Tomorrow (May 23rd) will be exactly 1 year since we asked China if we could adopt our sweet Ash. It happens to also be our 17 year anniversary. I'll be celebrating by watching Dave's band play. Thank goodness, David got us a baby-sitter for Sunday night so we can have a real date. Life is good.

Our Cooper Ash

Ash - 34 months old

Ash - 37 months old

It's been a year since we first saw sweet Ash's face. 12 full months of planning for and dreaming about our littlest boy. We are so completely ready to go and meet him (practically speaking, we haven't done anything to get ready for him, but emotionally speaking, we could jump on a plane tonight!) With Kai's health crisis over, our thoughts are once again consumed with our 4th kiddo. We're coming Ash. Just hang on a little longer...

Asian Eyes

A little while ago I took Kai to Kinko's to have his passport photo taken. Kai loves to smile for a camera so I figured it would be a pretty painless task. Kai jumped on the stool for his picture and smiled a big, adorable smile. The clerk took his picture and a few minutes later handed me a set of passport photos. But before I could even get a good look at them she said, "I think I'm going to have to take the picture again. This time you need to make sure he opens his eyes." I stared at the lady in disbelief before I said, "He's Asian and his eyes were open. I think the pictures are perfect." Needless to say, I paid for the pictures and we high-tailed it out of there.

I don't get offended easily so I wasn't really upset by the clerk's comment. I guess it just floored me that she couldn't see the gorgeous child standing in front of her. Sometimes I forget Kai is Chinese. He's Kai, he's my son, and he's beautiful. End of story.

My One and Only

Piper, my one and only daughter. She's beautiful, isn't she? This week she performed in a gymnastics exhibition and a dance recital. I consciously worked at taking it all in - yes, I desperately need to remember all of the "girl stuff" that I will never experience with my 3 boys. When Piper was about 3 years old, I began to realize that she was not at all like me. She didn't have a tomboy bone in her sweet body but instead, she was made for pink bows and tutus. It killed me at first. I wanted a tough little girl like I had been. I wanted a volleyball playing, cop-loving, tough talking, "I can do anything as good as the boys" little girl. God decided to teach me a lesson. What I wanted and what I needed were two completely different things. I have learned so much from my beautiful Piper over the last 9 years. She is good, she is kind, she is soft-hearted, she is Godly. You may think it crazy to call a 9 year old "Godly." But then again, you probably don't know Piper. She prays for the sick, for the downtrodden, for the addicts, for her teachers, for her friends, for her brother still in China. She cries when she has hurt someone and she does not let pride stop her from apologizing. Piper, my one and only daughter. I love that little girl and I thank God for knowing I needed her in my life.