A few pictures

Wow I cant believe its been this long since I've posted, I guess we have been busy.  Here are some random pictures from our summer.

Getting pushed on the swing by big brothers rules!

Chief was complaining all summer that he didnt get a chance to "drive the boat" in the pool so we made sure he got a chance before closed the pool.  (Doesnt he look elated?!?!)

Malia says "I'm rockin the princess outfit"

Chief rockin the princess outfit

Malia and Megan

Malia checking out the campers next door

Malia and Daddy

Malia's first real dentist visit, she wanted to fill out her own forms

It didnt work, she would not open her mouth no matter how many prizes we put in front of her , so we are trying again in two weeks.

Wow, is it me or do all these pictures look real "grainy"?  I noticed that blogger changed again, maybe thats it?

This weekend

This past weekend we went where? CAMPING of course, lol. As always we had a great time. We were in Gettysburg again, Dylan and Leigh came down Saturday to spend the day (and night) with us so we all went to the Adams County Winery and had a wonderful time. Every Saturday they have a free outdoor concert and it was a beautiful day for it. We will be going back often.

Some of the vats of wine.

Here we all are tasting the wine. All the fruit wine was good but oh my, the Blueberry and Blackberry wine was to die for!

Relaxing and listening to the music

And of course getting flung in the air by big brother is always fun!

We took Dylan and Leigh on a little tour of Gettysburg.

New Pictures

My mother had two dresses custom made for Malia to have some pictures taken in. Heres my first ever attempt at taking portraits of Malia. Please keep in mind that these are "rough" copies and that I'm going to be doing some post processing on these. I would LOVE to add some textures to some, but I have no idea how to do that. So if there are any CS4 experts out there and you feel like giving me a tutorial or know of a good one that already exists please contact me! Also you might notice that Malia's nightgown is on backwards in the pictures that were taken with the wicker chair. We did not realize it until we did a dress change on her! Hahaha, so we will have to retake all of those pictures and the ones outside too.

These pictures that were taken outside are "blown" and overexposed. I'm going to try and fix them with lightroom.

Guess who's 4 years old?????

August 10th was Malia's 4th birthday. August 10th is also the day that our plane landed in the USA back in 2007 after returning from China, and Malia became a US citizen. So this day has a double meaning for all of us.

We made cupcakes for her to take to school to share with her friends, she was sooooo excited about that! This is the first birthday where I "think" she might understand what its about. She knows she is 4 now and will tell you she is 4 when you ask her. She was very excited to get presents too, lol.

First we went to our local Chinese restaurant to have dinner. The older gentlemen there adores Malia.



Yes, she got a batman figurine. At her daycare she is the only girl in her class, so all I hear when we come home is batman. When she jumps over something on the floor or jumps down the steps or off the couch she puts her arms out and yells BATMAN!

And the best present (at least to me) is the Baby Born doll that pee's in the potty! I'm hoping and praying that she will think its cool and try it herself. She is still no where near ready to be potty trained. *sigh* I even got her some cute "big girl" pants but told her she could not wear them until she goes potty in the "big girl" potty.

Malia and Megan decorated the cake and had fun doing it.

2 years ago today...........

Today July 30th is the two year anniversary of when Gary and I sat in a room at the civil affairs office in Guangzhou , China. Waiting for Malia to be placed in our arms. I remember sitting there feeling very overwhelmed and excited. Looking at everyone who came up the steps, hoping to get a glimpse of her.

We were ushered into a private room, then and as soon as we sat down, in walked Ms. Tang (the orphanage director) with Malia in her arms. I lost it, I could not help it, I just busted out crying. I couldn’t believe it, this was the day I dreamed about for over 20 years...... It was here....... I will never forget that feeling or that day as long as I live. Malia, you are a blessing to this family and my one true little miracle. I love you soooooooo much.

This was taken minuets after she was put in our arms.
You were such a sad little girl, for 5 days we could not get even the tiniest little smile out of you.
You were such a tiny little thing too, you were 24 months old but wore 12 month old clothing and weighed 18 lbs.

But after 5 days of holding, hugging, kissing and reasuring you, you started to smile....

And have not stopped since.




You willingness to act goofy amazes me. Sometimes you will do anything for a laugh.

Our Gettysburg Weekend

We just spent 5 wonderful days in one of my favorite places, Gettysburg. I love the history and old town feel, kinda like Willimasburg,Va.
( I have no idea why my words and pictures are so out of whack on this post)

We discovered that she REALLY likes to play in the sand. We played with these toys for two days then on the third day some man walked up, loaded all the sand toys into the wagon and left. Malia just stood there and stared at him then started to pout. I felt bad so we jumped in the golf cart (yes we had one) and went to the campground store. Luckly they had a little basket of beach toys.

went down by the pond to take some pictures, Here is an example of why you dont shoot pictures in harsh sun light! But I like them so I'm keeping them.








We went to the "Land of Little Horses" this time around. Not the greatest place in the world. Actually if you want my opinion it was a total waste of $14.00 for us and $13.00 for Malia. It had one of two mini horses and a donkey that roamed freely around (they were nice) and then they had stallions in round pen type areas that were there to be petted. Now let me repete these were STALLIONS !!! They should have had geldings or mare's in there, because this place is geared towards kids. And here is why................

See this "stud" bitting her knee? I noticed it right as I was snapping the picture (Malia never said a thing) and told Gary to get her down, NOW ! We tried to "pet" two other stallions and they both also nipped. I cant believe this place has not had a lawsuit yet.
They also have these toy tractors that the kids could ride around and ram the old donkey that had to be at least 30 years old and 3/4 blind. I felt so sorry for that thing. And yes, that little boy did ram the donkey and no one said a thing.


This were two little donkeys, they were both very nice.

Our weekend

We didn't do a lot this past weekend, we just relaxed while camping. In fact we were sooooooo relaxed that we did not want to come home yesterday. Usually we are ready to go home and get stuff done that needs done....You know, the stuff that was neglected because we were camping.

And of course we rented a golf cart.




And of course she didn't want to get off of it and pouted until we would take her for a ride. This is what her and I did all day.




We did a little of this.....


And a lot of this, that we scored at the campground store.


We visited the playground several times a day too.

Busy at home

We have been doing a lot of improvements around the house. First I painted the dining room a deep purple, and put in a hard wood floor.

Before





After




Our living room light needed replaced badly for years. It was one the previous owner had made with 3 shop lights enclosed in 2x6 inch wood. When ever we needed to replace a bulb we had to set up scaffolding to change it. We finally had it replaced! The new one hangs down 12 feet so all we need now is a 14' ladder to change bulbs.

Out with the old



New light (taken at night)


Yesterday we spent a lot of time outside again so we did some of our favorite things.








Last night we went to see Uncle Neffy (or as Malia says,Uncle Nessy )and Aunt Beth.

Summer time

Boy does this girl LOVE the pool!!
The water is only about 78 degrees (to cold for me) but the kids have been getting in almost everyday. Malia cant wait to come home from "school" and put her swim "soup" on and get in. She will stay in that pool until you drag her out kicking and screaming. She gets so cold that her little chin just shivers and chatters away.

Habitat for Humanity

While we were in China we met a couple from Colorado who were using the same agency as us. I have kept in touch with them through emails and facebook. They have just been picked by Habitat to go to China to help rebuild homes and towns that were effected by the earthquake last year. They are counting on donations to go. According to Barry this is what they need.....(quote)

"Although we have many things in the works to help us get there, we are under a bit of a time crunch to get our initial goals of $1,000 by June 10th and an additional $2,600 by July 12th. The total $3,600 covers our food and ground transportation along with building supply fees to Habitat for Humanity while we are in China. After this portion is paid, we will need another (anticipated/estimated) $4000 for air travel. We are also working on some matching funds for a few things, so that donations will go even farther."

You can donate through the habitat website here (copy & paste) https://www.habitat.org/cd/volmgr/participant/cwp/participant.aspx?pid=-23-9319-4323

Camping

We did our first camping trip of the year this past weekend. We didn't go very far from home but its a campground that we like.
Malia just LOVES golf carts, so we rented one for the weekend plus its a nice way to keep cool when its hot and a nice way to waist time when Malia is bored. She wants to be on it 24/7.

Here she is with her cousin Delilah.





Every time we go to this campground Malia wants to get on this swing.








All in all we had a great weekend! Except for the storm on Sunday afternoon, it happened all the sudden. It got real windy and rainy then it started to hail. Our campsite flooded, it was an adventure!







I stepped out when it was done raining, the water was about 3" above my ankle.
The scary part that we were only about 20 feet from a large wide creek and this is how close it was to our camper after only about an hour of the downpour. I was sure that we would float away during the night. lol.

The Philadelphia Zoo

We met some friends Ella & Sophie and Lauren and Paige at the Philadelphia Zoo this past weekend. We had a great time! We were very lucky that the weather held out for us because it was supposed to storm that day





They had a really cool playhouse there and thats where Malia really started to "open up".







They had a petting zoo too, Malia was pretty hesitant at first but then relly wanted to pet them.

We Picture {this}

The theme for May is "hats"
This picture was taken only weeks after we got home with Malia. I truly think she was trying to get the hat off but could not figure out how to do it.





Please go on over to the We picture this blog by clicking on the button below to view all the beautiful pictures.

Some new pictures

Again nothing new happening around here, we have been super busy here with "summer stuff". It seems when May rolls around we just get soooo busy we don't have time for anything.

Here she is using my makeup, she put concealer all over her lips. Who was I to tell her that's not where it goes.

I forget where we were going but Megan turned around and started laughing, Malia was putting on her chap stick a little on the heavy side.



Malia LOVES being outside ! Anytime she gets the chance she is outside. She can now ride a tricycle and keep her left foot on the pedal. She even uses her left leg to push on the pedal!

I'm Somebody now......

Anyone remember that line by Steve Martin in the movie "The Jerk" because his name was listed in the phonebook?

I entered a contest by our local phone company. You were to submit pictures of the local area (within the county) and they would judge those photos and pick one for the cover of the phone book for this year. GUESS WHO WON????? ME !!!! lol.

I submitted a picture of the Rockville bridge, which has some history that you can view here.

Its the largest stone arch bridge in the US. http://davecathell.tripod.com/rock.html





Here is the actual picture that was submitted.