Swim Meets and Pool Fun

My beautiful girl striking a pose at the swim meet...
AnnaClaire looking at the heatsheet with B and helping her coach!
Funny how she's telling the swimmers what to do, and she is 3 years old and learning to swim herself!
One of my friends took this one... my sweet girl again! She is so loved!
AC playing with K., a sweet 5 year old at our pool who AnnaClaire loved swimming around with!
The girls came to visit me at work :)
Beautiful Kate LOVED the pool!
AnnaClaire and a friend she met, M. They are both 3 and had so much fun playing together!


All of these pictures are from Thursday and today. On Thursday, AnnaClaire came to our summer league swim meet with me. We joined the pool to late for me to swim this year, but I've still gone to almost every meet and AC had SO much fun tagging along. She was quite the little coach. It was very sweet.

Then today, Mom, Dad, and Drew brought the little girls by the neighborhood pool to visit me (I was guarding tonight)! They had so much fun and loved playing in their tubes and in the baby pool. Kate was so brave and didn't even cling onto me when she was in her tube. (The pool wasn't too crowded so I got to get in for a few minutes with them.) AnnaClaire was just swimming around everywhere and making friends with EVERYONE. AnnaClaire also loved the baby pool and had so much fun with a little girl, M., that she met. They played so sweetly. Both of our little girls are soooo loved at our pool! We've been members for the past 14 years and everyone has seen our family go from 5-7! I remember when we first got AC's referral in July of '06, they put her referral picture on the bulletin board at the pool... same for Kate's last year! Everyone has enjoyed getting to meet Miss Kate this year and see AnnaClaire again... she has grown so much since last summer :(

8 months!

Today marks EIGHT months with our beautiful Katherine MeiLing! Can't believe how fast time has gone and that we are already celebrating 8 months with our baby girl! Love you, sweet Kate! Happy 8 months!

This picture, taken Oct. 25, 2008 is a far cry from the one taken today, 8 months later... that is for sure!!

Wordness Wednesday

Pool Day!

Yesterday, we went to our waterpark with Mia and Mrs. L All three girlies had a BLAST!
They are so sweet together! I'm so, so glad that Kate and AC have a little friend to do things with and that Mom has a good friend nearby with a little one!
AC and Mia loved riding down the little frog slide! Kate was too scared to try...
But Kate did like standing and walking a little in the water... and looking at the froggie slide!
At one of the adult swims, we had a snack break.. Mia's mommy even brought some Chinese rice cookies which all three girls loved!
And then it was back to the pool for more fun...
Kate enjoyed watching the bigger girls play in the water... and working on her tan :) a little glimpse of 16 year old here!! She liked going in the water, too, when she was held... a big change from the last time I was at the pool with her!!!
AnnaClaire does SO good in the water. She absolutely loves it! She loves just splashing around and sliding!
Can you tell?
She even went on the bigger (still not that big) slide in the baby pool area!
Afterwards, Mia and her mommy came back to our house for lunch. The girls had fun playing with the iron!
and playing (more like banging!) the piano! We had such a fun day! Tomorrow, Mia, AC, Kate and the mommies are going to a story time pinic! They always have so much fun together.. it's sweet :)

Our Sweet Princess' Baptism!

Not only did we celebrate Father's Day at our house today, but we also celebrated our sweet Kate's baptism! It made perfect sense for our beautiful girl to be baptized on Father's Day... It was Father's Day 2 years ago that we filled out the application to adopt a second time and it was Father's Day weekend last year that we saw our precious girl for the first time... it was perfect to be able to dedicate our girl to our Father who created her and made all those perfect plans for her, on this Father's Day.

I had to smile when Kate let out a little giggle and huge smile once the water was dripped on her head, as if to say, "Look at me! I am a child of God!" She was so good and I just have to say that AnnaClaire behaved SO well and was so still and quiet while we were on the stage. Afterwards, we went to PF Changs and the boys, Mom, and I split lunch for our Father's Day gift to Dad. Kate ate her best meal EVER in the almost 8 months that we've had her... she probably gained a pound with that one lunch! :)

And so I will pray for my baby girl... that one day when she is a little older, she will see the need for our Savior in her life and that she will except Him and truly be adopted once again... into her ETERNAL family. (Not everyone gets to say that they have been adopted TWICE!) But for now, we will enjoy praying for her and entrusting her into His care until she can make that important decision for herself!

Enjoy the pictures of our sweet little princess! I am so, so thankful that she is a part of our family and that she has the chance to grow up where she will learn about Jesus and how much he adores her!
Our beautiful girl looking at K., our awesome youth pastor who baptized Kate!

Sweet Kate being baptized with all her family watching :)

I really wanted a good one of her with Mom and Dad, which didn't happen...

A Great Wall of Chocolate in celebration of our two events today!

Our two beautiful Asian beauties in their white dresses

Me and my sweet princess!

Our family!

Happy Father's Day!

(one of my favorites... AnnaClaire greeting Dad when he got home from work a few weeks ago)

(a picture with his kids taken today!)

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there... especially my sacrificial, loving, amazing Dad! Love you :)

Summer Stuff

Mom and the girlies are off to story time with Mia and Miss Tracy and I'm not working until 4, so I thought I'd take a minute to update all of you... I know it's been awhile since I've posted a true update on what's been going on here. So... here you go!

We are having a wonderful summer. Of course, it started great for me with two beach trips in one week :) It's been a little more low key since that, but still fun. I'm lifeguarding for our neighborhood pool and have been working a LOT. In fact, this week, I'm working over 40 hours.
I've grown up at this pool and have known all the other guards since we were little, so it's a very fun job and I love all the people I work with. Other exciting things going on for me... I get my license in TWELVE days (finally!!!) and I leave for China in under a month! (July 14) So very excited about that :)

The boys... Drew is working as a teller and so between that and going out with friends, he hasn't been home much this summer. He is almost always home for dinner, so we have had lots of family dinners, which is nice. Next month, he is moving into an apartment near UNC Ch*arlotte, where he is transferring to. Will is at orientation for Bay*lor right now and is excited to be starting there in the fall!

Mom and Dad are pretty much the same as always. Dad is busy working, but at the end of a long day, always has time to snuggle his two littlest girls and bathe them. Mom just loves (well most of the time ;)) having TWO little girls home this summer to tote around. Mom and Dad took the little girls (the rest of us were working!) to the mountains last week and they had a great time. I have some sweet pictures I'll post soon! They are also going to take the girls up to Gatlin*burg in July while I'm in China and Will is at a camp thing at Bay*lor.

And last but not least, the little girlies are loving summer! Kate isn't a huge fan of the pool, but we did get a little plastic pool which she likes. AnnaClaire lives for the pool. She could stay there every minute of every day and be happy. We got her a noodle and that is the new favorite pool toy. Her face just lights up when I tell her that I'm going to take her to the pool :) When it's not too hot, they enjoy going to the park and basically anything that Mom takes them to do. I pulled out my doll house for them and they love playing with that, too. Kate got her summer do yesterday and it's really cute. We're growing AnnaClaire's hair out a little so that it is "long like Sissy's." (Not that long.) I love these two little girls so much and can't imagine what summer would look like without them!

How's your summer?

Wordless Wednesday on the Waterslide

Jersey Shore :)

I finally had some time to post all about our reunion at the shore! We had such a fun time and were so glad to see everyone again. We've already planned another reunion for the fall! Anyway, I posted in 3 different posts, so make sure to scroll down and read them all!

The Shore Parts 1 & 2

It took us longer than expected (13 hours!) to get in due to traffic in DC, so we didn't get to the house until a little before 10 on Thursday. However, all the girls were still up and waiting for us by the screen door. There were lots of hugs as the girls all reunited/united!
After a little playing, the girls went to sleep... they all wanted to sleep in this bed, but only Grace ended up with it :)
Friday morning, the girls all hit it off with a game of ring a round the rosie! They had so much fun playing that throughout the weekend!
Precious Shaoey!
It was very rainy out, so sadly, we couldn't head to the beach. All the girls had a lot of fun staying in though! Here they are pretending to play rockband/watching Tinker*bell!
AnnaClaire loved playing with the other big sisters, Laura (9) and Grace (6)!
AC and Lucy... Chenzhou sisters! They were so sweet together!
Giggling about something!
AC, Mia, Shaoey, and SS eating lunch at the little table. All of the girls loved to come sit there and we had to pull up/make some chairs to fit more girls!
Lucy, Shaoey, and AC! They were three of four surprise referrals that came in July of '06! Love seeing them together now!
A bunch of the girls all hanging out on the couch. Mia brought sticker books, which they loved doing, and they enjoyed drawing!
Sleepy Mia! All the fun and friends wore the girls out!
I know I already posted this one, but just because they are so cute... here it is again! the shirts are from http://www.twinkleandshine.com/!
All the little sisters and big sisters! (there is one other big sister who couldn't come and lots of big brothers, too!)
We had a fiesta night at night complete with enchiladas and a pinata!
Here's AC taking a swing at the pinata... all of the girls agreed that it was so fun!
Kate and Emily with their pinata candy! They were sneaking it all throughout the weekend :)
Kate, Mia, AC, and Emily enjoying their lollipops!