Halloween with Bailey and Braden

So, can anyone tell me how to load photos on blogger in order any more? Something has changed on me and they're loading all out of order! Anyway, on Halloween, we went trick-or-treating with some friends at the local strip mall. The kids had a blast. Afterwards, we went to the local indoor amusement park place with our friend Angie's church. There was nothing we could have done with them, where they would have had more fun than this. It was awesome.

This was Sarah's first try at bumper cars!

Here is Sarah with our dear friend, Miranda on the slide!

Bailey is in the back with another girl from the group that I don't know and there is Miranda and Sarah in the front of the indoor roller coaster!

Sarah and Bailey riding on the carousel.

Bailey is a baby, Braden is the Incredible Hulk, and of course, Sarah is a ladybug

Sarah's Preschool Halloween Party

My Little Ladybug had a Halloween Party at Preschool during the week of Halloween. She looked so cute, if I do say so. She had a lot of fun, too.

Sarah was helping them make their brew. She got to pick a lizard out of the bag and add it to the pot. (It was a plastic one, by the way)

Happy 4th Birthday, Sarah!

I had some major camera difficulties and lost ALL the photos from Sarah's birthday party! Very Upsetting! But, on the actual day of her birthday, she dressed in her Cinderella dress and we had a little cake we brought home from Olive Garden and sang to her. She's my BIG 4 year old!!

Swim Lessons

When My Mom was here visiting, I took the camera to Sarah's swimming lessons to get a few photos.

Here is Sarah with her teacher learning to swim on her back and float.

She absolutely LOVES the water...

Here is her Supergirl-she's learning straight leg kicks here.

And jumping in by herself in water too deep for her to touch!

You can tell how much she loves to swim!

October train ride

Okay, so I'm a total slacker when it comes to this blog. I have been super busy and haven't even had time to load anything here. Finally tonight I spent some time getting a little caught up.

Back at the end of October, Sarah's Lao Lao and her Gigi (Grandma and Great-Grandma) came for a visit to be here to celebrate Sarah's birthday.

On this day, my Mom treated us all to a ride on the Historic Railroad train ride through the mountains. It was a beautiful ride and Sarah absolutely loved it.

For some reason, blogger mixed up the order of the photos I loaded.

Here is Sarah on the train, enjoying the outdoor car.

Gigi, Sarah and LaoLao

my Little Flower

Half way through the ride, we stopped and stretched our legs. Sarah go to play on the playground for a little while.

Ya gotta love that smile!!

Me and my Noodle

Sarah and her Baba on the train

Enjoying the train ride!

Weee, this is fun!!

3 generations!

WEEEEEEE!!

Christmas and Birthday Photo Shoot

While my Mom and Grandma were visiting, we went and had our photos taken at Sears, and they did a wonderful job. We were able to take Sarah a few outfits and did Birthday, Chinese Outfit, and Christmas Photos all at the same time.

Here is the one I picked for the Christmas cards this year. I love the look on her face in this one.

And our BIG 4 year old!!

Don't you just LOVE this dress? Lao Lao got it for my girl and it's so cute!

A month to Celebrate

So much has been happening this past month that I have felt like I have hardly had time to breathe!! We celebrated some wonderful things and had some wonderful times. Sarah's Lao Lao and her Gigi just came for a visit and they were here to celebrate Sarah's 4th birthday. Can you believe that she's turned 4 already?? I'm in shock at how quickly she's grown. On October 31st, we also celebrated her "Gotcha Day!" This was the third anniversary of the day that we met Sarah in China. I have been thinking about all that has happened the past three years and how much Sarah has grown...how much she has blossomed and what a joy she is. It's hard to fathom how much I love her and there really is no way to describe it. I know that you other mothers can relate, but trying to express it in words is pretty much impossible.

I wanted to document some of the ways my life has changed since God has blessed me with my daughter and what brings me joy on a daily basis.

I love the unsolicited hugs...

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I love it when she gives me a "shower of kisses" and kisses me all over my face with pursed lips cause she's laughing at the same time.

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I love it when she says, for no apparent reason and completely out of the blue, "Mama? I sure do love you."

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I love it when she looks over at me when something is funny and we share eye contact for that moment before she bursts into laughter.

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I love the way she got embarrassed when her Baba had the staff at the restaurant sing to her "Happy Birthday."

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I love the way I was the only one she wanted when she started to cry after they sang to her because she was embarrassed, my poor little girl.

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I love the way she wants me to pray for her when she gets owies.

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I love the way she will pray for me when I have an owie, too.

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I love the way she will correct anyone who says, "Oh my G-d" knowing that she's

only allowed to say, "Oh my gosh" cause she says it hurts God's feelings to say His name like that.

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I love the way she added "ez" to the end of plural words... eyes-ez, toes-ez, shoes-ez because she knows that she needs to make a word plural.

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I love the way she dresses up like a princess and insists that I call her Ariel, Cinderella, Aurora, or whichever Princess she's being that day.

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I love the way she talks to her stuffed dogs, like they're her kids.

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I love to over hear her talking to her toys and dolls when she's playing.

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I love to hear her singing to herself when she has no idea anyone is listening.

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I especially love to hear her belting out, "I want to be...Part of your world!" just like the Little Mermaid.

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I love it when she wakes up in the middle of the night, comes to me and tells me, "I'm not having good dreams, Mommy, will you pray for me?"

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I love the way she dances at church on Sunday during worship, round and round as her dress twirls around.

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I love how excited she is to see me when I pick her up from preschool and the

huge hugs and kisses she gives me when I get there.

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I love watching her at her swim lessons...she's just so happy to be in the water and having so much fun that she has a constant smile on her face.

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I love the way she always wants me to read her stories and the special Mommy

and Sarah time we have before bed every night when I read to her.

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I love sitting at the table coloring with her for hours if I let her.

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I love teaching her new things every day as she grows.

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I love how much she remembers after only telling her once.

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I never knew how much I would love her.

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I never knew how it would feel to be loved so much by her.

Happy Early Birthday Sarah and Lia!

Today we had our October play date and we had cake for Sarah and Lia, since they both have birthdays in October! We let the girls put the candles on the cake, which explains their placement! Sarah had 4 and Lia had 3! The girls had lots of fun! I only got these photos because my camera broke, can you believe it!!! I'm so upset!

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Sarah and Lia,
Happy Birthday to you!
...and many more!!!

Frosting Mouth!

Nice teeth, huh? Eh, nothing wrong with a little green mouth at your big brother's birthday party!

My Baby Started Preschool!

Well, today was the day! My Baby started Preschool today. *sniff sniff* She's so big now. It was just the other day when we met her in China! I can't believe she'll turn 4 this month and that she's old enough to survive away from me for 3 days a week/2.5 hours each day. My Baby's growing up!!! Yes, I had a moment this morning. I was driving to the Preschool to meet Troy and Sarah there (after I got off work) so I could see her "off" to school, and I lost it! I'm a cryer anyways, but the tears were definitely flowing. I decided to get them out of my system before I got there, so I'd put on a happy face for my girl. She was so excited, it was adorable. Here are a couple of shots I took just before we went into the building.

In this one, I told her to smile-looks like a grimace, doesn't it?

In this one I told her to say, "I'm going to Preschool!" You can tell how earnestly excited and happy she was about it.
This is after we picked her up, something happened to the photo?? She's riding the horse she made in class, she had a blast today...only had to sit at the "quiet table" once??!! I guess she misbehaved once. They said that she's really smart. I told them the main reason I put her in preschool was for the socialization, because academically she was doing great with me at home. The one woman made a comment that she could tell Sarah was an only child, but she said it in a nice way...if that's possible? Still, she had fun and can't wait to go back tomorrow. *sigh*