Jie Jie's Paper's are Off to the Consulate

We are just ONE step from having our dossier for Giavanna in the hands of our placing agency for our adoption.

Today we are sending our package to our Chinese Consulate to have all of our papers authenticated by them. They should be back in our hot little hands by late next week.

Once we got this photo above (our first photo... amazingly), I took the girls out for another photo shoot. This is never an easy task... not sure what it is about 2 year olds... but, this two year old is a stinker when I attempt to take "staged" photos.

Surprisingly, most of these photos were actually good... but, you will see why as you scroll through. I decided to bring out the big guns.

The "big guns" ... AKA suckers... AKA huge bribery for smiling at the camera... 

Bye-Bye Jie Jie... Ni Hao Gu Gu!

Amaris said bye-bye to her jie jie Tyanna... she is off to college now.

Kai's best friend Christian and proud daddy!

She also met gu gu Kai-Kai for the very first time. Kai is home from the Army, but is off to college with our nephew Jordan. The two of them will be rooming together. Is it bad to secretly hope that his tv breaks as they deliver it to their room; or, that they lose their controllers to the X-box? "Oh Lord, PLEASE let those boys concentrate on the their school work! PLEASE!"

Professional X-boxers... turning college students! 

Our last family photo together for quite some time. Next full family photo op: Christmas... 

Our Flexible Monkey!

Why is it that the Chinese girls are SOOOO very flexible?

I am beginning to think it is their gigantic cloth diapers they wear in the orphanage...

Here is our little flexible monkey!

I think I kept 4 of the some 20 shots we TRIED to capture... Amaris is a wiggle worm.

The Newest Lesson I Have Learned from My Toddler!

Having not parented a toddler in 16 years, I am finding great opportunities to be reminded what it was like... or, at least what it could have been like.

Kai (now almost 21) and Tyanna (18) were some of the easiest kids in the world to raise. They were amazing...

I am not saying my newest two aren't amazing, they most certainly are... Amaris, though, keeps me on watch day and night.

The last 3 days and nights as I tucked her in bed, I told her "No pee pees in diaper... No poo poos in diaper" ... It is actually underwear by day and diaper by night...

Anyway, each time I would go to wake her, her diaper was off... and, completely dry. What was waiting for me, caught me off guard though... a very wet bed; or worse, a pile of poo poo somewhere...

Why was this happening? I just took her potty before nap time...

And then, I remembered what I told her... "No pee pees in diaper... No poo poos in diaper"... so, to avoid messing up her diaper, she took it off and messed in her bed, on the floor, or wherever.

When I finally realized what I had done, I had to leave the room because I was laughing so hard... my two year old is a genius!

I am sure if she could say it, she would say, "Mama, I wanted to make good choices... my diaper is CLEAN!"

A Ladybug Re-cap and Princess Ladybug Amaris!

 In August of 2010, I took photos of Gabriella in her 3T ladybug costume. 

She was 3 1/2 years and 25 pounds. She had just arrived home from China 27 days before. 

Here she is in January 2011 on her birthday... 

making her's and Amaris' ladybugs. 

Today, we took photos again... 2 years later...

Same 3T costume, this time, she is 5 1/2 years old and a whopping, ZERO FAT, 37 pounds. 

And, here is our baby ladybug...

Same costume... Amaris' first ladybug photo shoot. 

Size 3T, age 2 1/2, and 25 pounds... a year younger and the same weight!

This is just a sample of the crazy photos Amaris gives me... generally in a photo shoot, 97% of her photos will be doing something crazy... she makes the funniest faces... I am sure she will be the class clown.

Here is our littlest princess ladybug at her finest!

Our Adoption Journey to Our 3 Little Chinese Princesses

I am slowly learning how to create videos... 

this one is of our adoption journey to our 3 little Chinese princesses. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Paf8JDKl4

Once Upon a Time... in VIDEO!

August 2012 marks our 19th year that we have waited to hold our first 2 Chinese princesses...

We brought Gabriella home July 2010 and Amaris home the last day of June 2012... both from southern China.

We have been so blessed through the gift of adoption and look forward to bringing home our next little "gift" from God in 2012/2013.

I created this video as a result of capturing multiple photos during Gabriella and Amaris' very first princess tea in which they were all dressed up. They had so much fun together...

Copy and paste this URL into your browser and you can watch our video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48kWWrrFIUE