The Big Hat

AnnaClaire (and Kate, too) LOVES to play dress up in my room. She dresses up in my clothes, wears my high heels, finds all kinds of things and makes them into whatever she wants... She has really gotten quite creative. But anyway, one of the things she loves is the big hat that I got in China. The other day, she put it on and was just cracking up laughing... I just had to get some pictures. :) I love the one where she's not smiling, too. It took SO long to get that one... she just never stops smiling! I love it though... I think she has such a captivating look. Plus, you never really see her big, beautiful eyes, because she is always smiling through them... so there's a glimpse at my gorgeous little thing... who will be FOUR next month :(


I'm such a blog slacker, so I'm sorry about that! I've been so busy and also so overwhelmed with the amount of pictures I need to post! I have more from last week, some from when Will went to college, and now some from a little photoshoot AC and I had yesterday afternoon... plus, I still need to (and eventually will) post about China on my China blog... Once again, I've been putting that off because of the amount of pictures I have to upload. Can you tell I hate uploading pictures?? It will be worth it some day though... I just have to keep reminding myself of that :)

We're doing pretty well... School is going well for me. Nothing has gotten too hard yet, and I am thankful for that! Speaking of school, someone had commented and asked if I was going to go back to China again when we get Charlie... YES. I honestly don't think we'd have more than three pictures if I didn't go... and definitely no journals from our trip. ;) More than that though, I would never want to miss out on my little brother being united with our family. It will be extremely difficult to miss two weeks of school, especially with my schedule. However, I know that in the long run, I'll get much more out of being there when we get Charlie than sitting in a classroom. There is nothing like the miracle of adoption and I cannot wait to be there for the third (and final) time. :) I am secretly (okay not so secretly) hoping that we can either travel during my week long mid-winter break at the end of Feb or my spring break at the beginning of April... it would be nice to only miss 1 week rather than two... but we shall see! I know that God has already planned the perfect time for us to go and I also know that He's once again giving me an amazing opportunity to be there and witness HIS perfection and I don't want to miss out on that! So basically, that was a long version of YES, I will be going to China again!

The little girlies are doing great... sweet as ever. Kate will be 2 1/2 on Sunday :( :( She is growing WAYYY to fast for her Sissy's liking. She has gotten so much taller, although she's still her teeny tiny, skinny little self :) She is SUCH a good player and both she and AnnaClaire have a new fascination of puzzles. They will both just sit there doing them for ever. Kate continues to increase her vocabulary daily and it just blows me away how far she has come in the 10 months we've had her! Her little voice is so adorable, too. AnnaClaire is her same old little self.. she and Kate have become the sweetest of sisters... I just love it! The first few months we had Kate, it was tough between the two of them, but I have just loved watching their relationship flourish... they are SO cute together and just love eachother to pieces! :) They used to do things just to make eachother mad... I rarely see that anymore. And no, every moment isn't perfect... but for the most part, they love eachother and truly watch out for eachother!

Not really much else to say... Grandma is coming in town this weekend, so we are looking forward to that... I'll try to upload those pictures I mentioned earlier soon, so stay tuned for those! Oh and I know this post is kind of all over the place... gets that what happens when you don't blog enough!