Christmas '08!

This Christmas was very busy, but really nice. We hosted Dan's side of the family this year and my brother! We had great food, great company and lots of laughs.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Here's to 2009!

Landree's 2nd Birthday and Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, we rented a cabin with two other couples and their kiddos. The husbands all went to high school together. We had a great time! Landree's birthday was two days after Thanksgiving, so we decided to have a small party there for her. Boy, it did not take her long to figure out the party was for her. We had the cake in front of her and when we began to sing the Happy Birthday song, she was clapping along. When we got to the "Happy Birthday Dear Landree" part, she just looked at me like, "this is for me?" It was all over after that. She loved eating the cake and opening her presents. Honestly, I don't know who enjoyed it more-Landree or Mommy or Daddy. Hmmm...
Here are many pictures of the trip! I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but we have been quite busy! We have been kickin' some major behind with the paperwork for Landree's big brother. Right now, we are waiting for our home study to be approved by our agency. After that, we can apply to INS. We understand that is where our wait will be. Apparently, they are currently taking anywhere from 90-120 days to process the paperwork. Let's just hope they work out some kinks and we can get this thing movin!

Landree's sweet face when she realized the "happy birthday song" is for her

Getting her hands in the cake

Back away! This cake is all mine!

Huggin' presents

This present thing is totally cool!

Landree's "bee" cake.

Aren't they good-lookin'?

Taking a nature walk with Dada.

Mama and Landree bringing up the rear

My baby is two!

Landree waking up on her birthday.

Landree gets a lesson in Wii from Q and C.

Mmmm...ice cream on Thanksgiving is nice!

Landree poses in her new vest jacket from Auntie Di Di and her new boots from Mama

The cabin of many, many, many steps!

Here We Go Again!

Yes, you read that right-"little" sister! We are beyond excited! This is a long story, so we will give the condensed version. We are in the process of adopting a three-year-old-boy from China. I am not allowed to post pictures or give specifics until we get our LOA (Letter of Acceptance from China). Seeing as how we were Pre-Approved (PA) Wednesday before last, we have been drowning in a sea of paperwork! Getting the paperwork finished and off to China will take several months. Then, we have to wait for China to give us our LOA and then we wait for TA after that (Travel Approval). We are praying for sometime next spring, but you all know how that goes.

I will tell you, he is the cutest little boy I've ever seen. He turned three in July and he's living in Beijing. He was born with a congenital heart defect, so we will be dealing with a lot when we bring him home. We requested his file several months ago and brought it with us to the pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital. Although his condition isn't common, the cardiologist has seen it before and is looking forward to working with us. Like I said, our heads are spinning with as fast as we are trying to get this paperwork done. Wish us luck!

Happy Scrolling!

Ok, I just made a ton of new separate posts. I had so much to catch up on! Scroll on down to see lots of new pics!

Re-adoption Day!

Well...we are officially done with Landree's adoption! In order for Landree to have an official name change and California birth certificate, we had to do a re-adoption. Surprisingly, this whole process was very smooth. We filled out some paperwork (what else is new) paid twenty bucks and got our court date. It all happened very fast. They called us back to the judge's chambers, signed some paperwork, took a picture, had Landree pick out a teddy bear and off we went!
Yay!

Parade of Provinces

This was the fall picnic put on by our local Families with Children from China. It's a tradition that they do a "Parade of Provinces." Landree loved waving her Chinese flag, but didn't want to walk in the parade until the very end. On another note, I got a haircut! I decided I had had enough of the long hair and cut it all off! It's taking some getting used to, but it'll do for now!

Halloween '08

Here is our "Little Red Riding Hood." We took the dogs for our daily walk just before dark. Landree was all dressed up in her costume. She walked along with us and we noticed this couple sitting outside their house all ready to hand out candy. We went up to them and that was Landree's first official "trick-or-treat." She thought that was just fabulous. The rest of the time though, she preferred to trick-or-treat at her own front door! It was so funny. She would knock, Daddy would open the door and she would say, "tickuteet!"

More Pumpkins!

Last Tuesday, Landree's daycare lady was really sick. So, we took the day off and just the two of us went to Bates Nut Farm. This is my favorite pumpkin patch. As you can see, we went on a hayride, walked around in a straw maze and played around in the pumpkins. Another great time!

The Pumpkin Patch and More

I can't believe it's been over a month since I've posted! Time flies when things are nuts! Good nuts though. This morning, we went to the Pinery Pumpkin Patch. This is the pumpkin patch that burned down in the fires last year. Besides being kinda sparse, it wasn't as bad as I thought. Except for the gnats. Oh man, they were bad. Poor Landree. Besides her boiling to death from the heat, she kept having to wipe the little buggers from her eyes. Otherwise though, she loved the animals. They had sheep and goats in a pen and she loved it! She got to pick out her own pumpkin too. She picked out a small, tall and skinny one.

The other pictures here I'm playing major catch up! She had a visit from Alyssa and her parents. Alyssa is also from Chongqing. We hope they grow up to be great friends.

Landree has rediscovered her pink "bike." As long as you walk along beside her, she has a grand ol' time riding around on it.

Finally, whenever we buy toilet paper from Costco, we let her play with it. She spends a long time stacking and restacking them. This time, she climbed into the laundry basket and I piled them all on top of her. I called for Danny and he came running with the camera. I love these pictures.

Landree is talking a lot now. She is putting two word sentences together. Her favorites are "No Mama," and "No, Dada." She also says "Lotta peepee" when I am changing her diaper first thing in the morning. Speaking of that, we bought her a potty and have it sitting in her bathroom. Of course, she wants nothing to do with it at the moment. I've decided I'm not pushing her. We'll see how it goes.

Otherwise, Landree is almost two (end of November) and is becoming assertive in her independence. I love it and hate it at the same time. Anyone with a two year old knows what I mean. She is very smart and knows when you are talking about her! I have to start being careful what I say around her.

Well, I'll try to be better about posting. Hopefully things will slow down a little! Danny and I are both doing great but as busy as ever!

One Year Ago Today and a First Haircut

One year ago today marks the happiest day of our lives. We stood in a very crowded and very hot civil affairs office and waited for our name to be called. I remember it like it was yesterday. I recall looking around at all of the other expectant Moms and Dads and the looks they had on their faces. SCARED TO DEATH. But yet so happy and excited. Then, they started calling out names. All of a sudden, the room became very noisy and you couldn't hear anything! We peeked through the glass to another room where all of the babies were. Landree was in a little walker just checking everything out. Danny and I were last on the list to be called, but it went so fast, before we knew it, we had Landree in our arms. I can hardly believe how fast the year has gone. She has grown and changed so much. Landree is now "Miss Independent." She is talking and has so many new words. We just love her to death.


This picture was taken AFTER her first haircut. Miss Thang deserved a shopping spree!




So, Landree's first haircut, was really more of a trim. It was getting so scraggly, I couldn't take it anymore and we ventured on down to Kids Kuts. They did a pretty good job. Unfortunately, Landree was terrified. She had to sit on my lap and be bribed with a lollipop to sit still. She eventually calmed down enough for the haircut. That is, until, they brought out the blowdryer. Oh boy.



We celebrated our one year anniversary as a family at The China Wokery. We went to this restaurant to celebrate Landree's referral, so we only thought it fitting to celebrate our "Gotcha Day" there.