Journey to Malia Jo ZhiYan

New Blog

2011-03-12T13:36:00.004-05:00

I have decided to make a new blog to combine the two. I think it will be too much to try to keep up with two different blogs. You can find the new blog HERE

Clifford goes to China

2011-03-07T22:06:00.001-05:00

Malia took the class mascot to China instead of "Flat Stanley" for her Kindergarten class. I wasn't able to post this while in China due to the fact that China has blogger blocked. So here are Clifford's adventures.

Here he is at the airport getting ready to fly to Beijing. He was a little nervous to say the least.

Here he is in front of the plane that we will be flying in with Boots the monkey.

Here is Clifford who is very tired after the plane ride.

Here he is getting ready to ride on a rickshaw through a Hutong.
are a type of narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing, China. In Beijing, hutongs are alleys formed by lines of siheyuan, traditional courtyard residences.[1] Many neighbourhoods were formed by joining one siheyuan to another to form a hutong, and then joining one hutong to another. The word hutong is also used to refer to such neighbourhoods.

Here he is inside one of the court yards that has the Hutong house surrounding it.

Here Clifford is in Tiananmen Square

In Tiananmen Square, in front of the Forbidden City.

Here, Clifford is in the Forbidden City

On our bus

Clifford really enjoyed the Jade Factory. Here is a Terracotta Warrior made out of Jade.

Out of everything Clifford did in China I think he enjoyed the Great Wall most of all.

Clifford had fish for lunch.

Even though Clifford isn't in this picture, he was here at the "Birds Nest" too.

Here is a Taxi that Clifford rode in, he laughed the whole time!

Clifford waited in the hotel room while Malia had her pictures taken in her Chinese dress.

Here is Malia and her new sister, Malani

Clifford loved looking at the fish in the pond that was inside our hotel!!

He also loved to eat at "Lucy's" which is a restaurant that served American style food in Guangzhou.

There are various statues around Shaman Island, Clifford liked having his picture taken with them.

New Pictures

2011-01-23T13:15:00.001-05:00

Boy does she love to dance.

What we do on a really REALLY boring new years day

2011-01-01T17:40:00.000-05:00

We were really bored on New years day, even Yo Gabba Gabba, Max & Ruby, and Dino Dan wasn't doing it anymore, so I asked Malia if we could take some pictures in some funny hats. She said Yes! That was a shocker since she hasn't been letting me do it lately. I bought some vintage hats at a local antique store about a year ago with the intention of taking some pictures later on. We took these indoors on a very cloudy day and it was almost sunset so I had virtually no natural light. So what I'm trying to say is these aren't that good. lol.

This girl love to try and make you laugh, she'll do almost anything to make it happen. Like make funny faces.

What we've been up to

2010-12-19T20:39:00.001-05:00

We went to the Dentist.

We made a gingerbread house at school.

Which we are very proud of by the way.

We got our hair trimmed.

We went on the hunt for the big man in the red suite. Malia was very excited to find him because she wanted to let him know that she wanted a (ballbie) Barbie. I mean this is all she talked about, telling Santa that she wanted a barbie. When she actually saw him I bet you could hear the squeals across the mall.

But as we got closer and closer the excitement turned to terror. Hahaha, this is as close as we could get.

Almost in tears as dad tries to talk her into it.

So we are right this minuet writing a letter to Santa to let him know about the barbie.

Chistmas cookie time again

2010-12-06T15:20:00.000-05:00

Malia is the official cookie decorator. Its a job she loves.

The concentration it takes to do this is amazing, and not everyone can do it.

She decorated cookies for a good 2 hours or more.

Buzz Words

2010-12-03T11:28:00.000-05:00

I'm ashamed to admit that Malia is sensitive to what my husband and I refer to as  "buzz words", I know I know its a horrendous condition to have, but alas my baby has it.

It started about 4 months after we brought her home. Gary would tell her to take it eeeeeeeeasy and Malia would stop doing whatever she was doing and bust out laughing. No matter what, she thought that word was the funniest thing in the world.  So every once in awhile one of us would bust out with eeeeeeeasy and she would lose it. Its the weirdest phenomenon to experience, really.

Fast forward to about a week ago, Malia is watching the new Dora Christmas movie and on it someone mentions Santa's "Naughty List". This has Malia rolling on the floor.  So she is walking around the house just randomly saying "naughty list" and laughing so hard that her legs give out and she sinks to the floor. So Wednesday night she for some reason got up in the middle of the night. Gary took her back to her bed and she started to cry. Gary said she was really crying and upset so he just blurted out "naughty list" and she went from crying big crocodile tears to laughing, instantly.
I just don't get it, but apparently buzz words can come in very handy. :)

Funny Girl

2010-11-23T11:53:00.001-05:00

Malia has just been cracking me up lately. Everyday day she says something new that makes me laugh. Yesterday we just got out of the car and she races to the door because for some reason she likes to be the first one in. Well , she couldn't get the door open, so she gives this big sigh and says " this freaking door wont open" except she says "feeking" hahahahaha. I never heard her say that before. Last night on the way to bed she starts gesturing wildly with her hands and shrugging her shoulders while rambling something about Saturday and Sunday. This went on for about 2 minuets. She goes back and forth about Saturday and Sunday, I look at her intensely while shaking my head yes, pretending to understand her.........She was so serious, but the only thing I could understand are the words Saturday and Sunday.

Quilt Giveaway

2010-10-27T13:42:00.000-04:00

Head on over to Malani's blog for your chance to win an Amish quilt!

Also there is a chance for a blog makeover by Alexis.

Go check it out!
Click on the link below

Journey to Malani

Thanks
Julie

I found a fairie in the woods

2010-10-19T12:04:00.000-04:00

Build a Bear or a..............................

2010-09-26T20:55:00.000-04:00

We were in Gettysburg for the weekend. We had a few "firsts" while there.
She wasn't able to hang onto these rings with both hands last year. Her left hand just couldn't do it. This year she hung on long enough to swing back and forth twice.

But she was even more proud of the fact that she was able to climb up the slide ladder all by herself while using her left hand. Although she would stop using it at the top. I think she climbed that ladder at least 60 times while we were there.

We went to Boyd's Bears again, only because the last time we were there she ended up with a rat instead of a bear, because we didn't see the long tail until we got home.

It actually took me a few minuets to convince her to stand close to this big bear. She was pretty scared of it.

She found this black bear laying on this bench "sleeping" and fell in love with it. Guess how much it was? $116.00, No, we did not buy it.

So she picked out her "bear" and then got to choose what color beans she wanted in it, guess what color she picked..........PINK. I know shocker, right?

She got to put the beans inside the "bear" except for maybe 1/2 cup.

Then she got to pick out an outfit for it, she picked out a purple wizard holloween custom for it. She really enjoyed dressing it.

Well as you can see its really not a bear its a COW. Yeah, she picked out a cow. There were soooooo many cute things to pick from like at least 7 different bears, puppies, bunnies, frogs, etc. But NooOOOoooo, she picked a cow.

It's growing on me though.

Our awesome weekend

2010-09-06T17:08:00.001-04:00

We went camping this weekend, and we had FUN!

We made smores

We had karaoke night, where they sang into the end the fire poker stick.

(Sorry for any of our neighbors who had to listen to us singing and giggling)

Of course we hit the swings..............

Then we went out on a paddle boat in the lake and our ot nowhere Malia says that she wants a fishing rod
and she wants to go fishing. We both looked at her and went Whaaaaaaaaat? She was insistant after that and kept asking and asking. So off the to camp store we went. She had her choice between a spider man and a barbie rod. Of course she picked screaming pink Barbie rod. Off to the lake we went again.

The second time she threw it in she got a bite and reeled in her very first fish.

Believe it or not she sat there and fished for over an hour. Saying that "She was into it" just doesn't cover it.

The people who own the campground raise a lot of money every year for St Jude's. They have two big events a year to help raise money. One of the many things they do is raffle off an authentic amish quilt made by a local family. I spent $5.00 for 8 chances on this quilt. Can you guess who won the quilt? Yeah, I know ! I can hardly believe it myself, lol. I have decided that my mama gets first dibs on it and if she doesnt want it maybe I'll try and raffle it off myself. It is pretty stunning to look at it close up because it is all hand sewn and the designs in it are..........Well just put it this way, I could never do something like that by hand.

Over all it was an awesome weekend, we relaxed and had fun at the same time.

First day of school.

2010-08-30T11:13:00.000-04:00

Malia was super excited about the first day of school and she seemed to understand. Every time we went by her new school she would point it out "There's my new big girl school".

She is such a poser

She gets her "bus" at daycare, so we headed on over there. She waited for the "bus" with Ms. June who owns the daycare. Dustin my 22 yr old went to this daycare when he was younger too and Ms.June remembers him well. Here they are waiting for the "bus" to get here.

Of course this whole time we are telling her how exciting and fun school will be and she was very happy.

That is until "it" came. Here's a little back round on the situation. Malia went to therapy 3 times a week for the past 2 years. A "school bus" which was really a yellow school van picked her up and took her. So she thought she was cool cause she got to ride in a "school bus". While having a discussion with some of her therapist and teachers we decided that she would be better off riding a van to school instead of a regular school bus, we felt that she would have too much of a hard time stepping on and off the high steps to get on and off. So a van was arranged, I thought this would be a big help in her transition because she was used to the van. BUT her van was yellow, the one that pulled in was white along with a strange (new) driver and a totally different set of kids on board. The look on Malia's face was an indicator that this was not a good thing. She does NOT take well to ANY changes. Ugh, I think it was just as hard on me as it was on her.
The look on her face is the attempt at a smile but I'm going to cry look.

Happy 5th Birthday Malia !

2010-08-10T21:11:00.000-04:00

Wow, I can NOT believe that its Malia's 5th birthday already! It also happens to be the 3 year anniversary of when she put her feet on US soil. We came home from China on her 2nd Birthday. We didn't have a big party for her, just a small one with family. We do plan on having a big one next year because it will be a double one! Malia and her new sisters birthdays are only 7 days apart.

Everyday I have to pinch myself, I cant believe this beautiful and sweet little girl is MY daughter.

New Pictures

2010-07-25T21:23:00.000-04:00

She finally let me take some pictures without any bribery involved.

These have Textures by Flora Bella. This is really the first time I have experimented with them.

Even with her dirty face, I love how the last two turned out.

Pillow case dresses !!!!!

2010-07-19T09:49:00.000-04:00

I have been making pillowcase dresses for a little while now in ~~hopes~~ anticipation of raising funds for this adoption. For right now I'm making mostly pillow case dresses, but I'm working on an outfit for fall/winter too that has bell bottom pants with a matching bohemian style shirt.
If you are interested in any of the dresses please either leave a comment with your email or email me directly at jd_shannon @ Live.com (remove spaces) All dresses are $18.00 plus shipping cost. Although I can make any one of these dresses in sizes 18 months to 6 yrs, you can always get the size 4 or 5 and have a 6 yr old wear it with leggings.

Size 4
#1

Malani's new blog

2010-07-17T16:53:00.002-04:00

From now on Malani will have her own blog. You can find it here.

http://journey2malani.blogspot.com

Received an update.

2010-07-17T13:23:00.000-04:00

I got an update on Malani yesterday. I'm happy to see that it looks as if they are letting her hair grow now. Here's what they have to say about her....................

Medical/Development:

Her current health is good.

She can pinch the things with fingers, but the ability of her left hand is a bit poor.

She can put on the shoes and pants by herself.

She can say 2-3 word phrases, but not very clearly

She is potty trained.

She knows some color.

Personality:

They call her Ming Han.

She is introverted and likes being with her familiar persons.

Foster Care/Adoption:

The orphanage thought you might like to know that she does not like to eats banana and tomato, she is allergic to jiemycin and when she is walking, the family had better keep close eye on her.

She is in the foster family, there are foster parents, older brother and another boy from the orphanage.

General:

Her sleeping and diet schedule:

Sleeping time: 9:00 pm-6:00 am

Eating time: 7:00 am, 12:00 pm, 6:00 pm

She likes green vegetable, fruits, meat, eggs and milk.

The Lake House

2010-07-06T21:05:00.001-04:00

My son's girlfriends parents invited us up to their lake house in New York for the holiday weekend. Boy am I glad we went! It was sooooo relaxing and fun.

Dylan, Leigh and Malia coming up from the lake.

Hanging out with two of the 3 dogs

This is where you found Malia 95% of the time if we were at the house. Looking out at the lake.

Leigh's family has two Labs, and boy do they LOVE the water.

All Malia wanted to do was ride on a boat. So Mary and Dylan took her for a canoe ride.

Little did I know but the town of Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame) is only a few miles down the road,
we went and walked around for a bit, its a really cute old fashion town. Everything is about baseball there, we saw this NY Yankee's corvette sitting along the street. We also saw it sitting along side the road broke down on the way home on Monday.

And lets not forget what this past weekend was all about.

We had an awesome time. Thank you Gary and Mary for inviting us. You guys are AWESOME !

Hair today, gone tomorrow

2010-06-21T20:31:00.000-04:00

I have always wanted a girl, I dreamed of letting her hair grow long so that I could do all kinds of cute things to it. You know braids, pony tails, barrettes, ribbons etc.....
Well, out of know where last week it just popped into my head that she would look cute in a bob.

As of 9:00 A.M

At 11:00 A.M.

As of 11:10 A.M.

As of 11:30 A.M

Man, she is so stinking cute!!!

Some of the animals we spied on Saturday

2010-06-20T16:32:00.000-04:00

We went to Lake Tobias today with friends. It was a hot but nice day.

There were 3 big black bears in this cage.

Sophie was so badly to catch the dragon fly that was sitting on this fence.

They took us on a "safari" (on a bus that had its roof cut off) through about 150 acres of land with all kinds of roaming animals. You can hand feed all but the emu's.

Freeze pop break!

Afterwards we all came back to the house to cool off in the pool.

Whats the best part of camping?

2010-05-31T20:46:00.000-04:00

Making and eating S'mores!

Megan and Malia had a little tea party last weekend.........
Here is the making of the tea and cakes.

Then they danced

Adoption from a Different Perspective

2010-05-26T20:51:00.000-04:00

I've read this piece over and over after we got Malia and find myself drawn to it again. Its kind of a long read, but well worth it.

A Different Perspective
Imagine for a moment…
You have met the person you’ve dreamed about all your life. He has every quality that you desire in a spouse.
You plan for the wedding, enjoying every free moment with your fiancée. You love his touch, his smell, the way he looks into your eyes. For the first time in your life, you understand what is meant by “soul mate,” for this person understands you in a way that no one else does. Your heart beats in rhythm with his. Your emotions are intimately tied to his every joy, his every sorrow. The wedding comes. It is a happy celebration, but the best part is that you are finally the wife of this wonderful man. You fall asleep that night, exhausted from the day’s events, but relaxed and joyful in the knowledge that you are next to the person who loves you more than anyone in the world…the person who will be with you for the rest of your life.
The next morning you wake up, nestled in your partner’s arms. You open your eyes and immediately look for
his face. But it’s not him! You are in the arms of another man. You recoil in horror. Who is this man? Where is your beloved? You ask questions of the new man, but it quickly becomes apparent that he doesn’t understand you. You search every room in the house, calling and calling for your husband. The new guy follows you around, trying to hug you, pat you on the back. . .even trying to stroke
your arm, acting like everything is okay. But you know that nothing is okay. Your beloved is gone. Where is he? Will he return? When? What has happened to him? Weeks pass. You cry and cry over the loss of your
beloved. Sometimes you ache silently, in shock over what has happened. The new guy tries to comfort you. You appreciate his attempts, but he doesn’t speak your language-either verbally or emotionally. He doesn’t seem to realize the terrible thing that has happened...that your sweetheart is gone.
You find it difficult to sleep. The new guy tries to comfort you at bedtime with soft words and gentle
touches, but you avoid him, preferring to sleep alone, away from him and any intimate words or contact.
Months later, you still ache for your beloved, but gradually you are learning to trust this new guy. He’s finally
learned that you like your coffee black, not doctored up with cream and sugar. Although you still don’t understand his bedtime songs, you like the lilt of his voice and take some comfort in it.
More time passes. One morning, you wake up to find a full suitcase sitting next to the front door. You try to
ask him about it, but he just takes you by the hand and leads you to the car. You drive and drive and drive.
Nothing is familiar. Where are you? Where is he taking you? You pull up to a large building. He leads you to an elevator and up to a room filled with people. Many are crying. Some are ecstatic with joy. You are confused. And worried. The man leads you over to the corner. Another man opens his arms and sweeps you up in an embrace. He rubs your back and kisses your cheeks, obviously thrilled to see you. You are anything but thrilled to see him. Who in the world is he? Where is your beloved? You reach for the man who brought you, but he just smiles (although he seems to be tearing up, which concerns you), pats you on the back, and puts your hand in the hands of the new guy. The new guy picks up your suitcase and leads you to the door. The familiar face starts openly crying, waving and waving as the elevator doors close on you and the new guy.
The new guy drives you to an airport and you follow him, not knowing what else to do. Sometimes you cry, but then the new guy tries to make you smile, so you grin back, wanting to “get along.” You board a plane. The flight is long. You sleep a lot, wanting to mentally escape from the situation. Hours later, the plane touches down. The new guy is very excited and leads you into the airport where dozens of people are there to greet you. Light bulbs flash as your photo is taken again and again. The new guy takes you to another
guy who hugs you. Who is this one? You smile at him. Then you are taken to another man who pats your back and kisses your cheek. Then yet another fellow gives you a big hug and messes your hair. Finally, someone (which guy is this?) pulls you into his arms with the biggest hug you’ve ever had. He kisses you all over your cheeks and croons to you in some language you’ve never heard before.
He leads you to a car and drives you to another location. Everything here looks different. The climate is not what you’re used to. The smells are strange. Nothing tastes familiar, except for the black coffee. You wonder if someone told him that you like your coffee black. You find it nearly impossible to sleep. Sometimes you lie in bed for hours, staring into the blackness, furious with your husband for leaving you, yet aching from the loss. The new guy checks on you. He seems concerned and tries to comfort you with soft words and a mug of warm milk. You turn away, pretending to go to asleep.
People come to the house. You can feel the anxiety start to bubble over as you look into the faces of all the new people. You tightly grasp the new guy’s hand. He pulls you closer. People smile and nudge one other, marveling at how quickly you’ve fallen in love. Strangers reach for you, wanting to be a part of the happiness. Each time a man hugs you, you wonder if he will be the one to take you away. Just in case, you keep your suitcase packed and ready. Although the man at this house is nice and you’re hanging on for dear life, you’ve learned from experience that men come and go, so you just wait in expectation for the next one to come along. Each morning, the new guy hands you a cup of coffee and looks at you expectantly.
A couple of times the pain and anger for your husband is so great that you lash out, sending hot coffee across the room, causing the new guy to yelp in pain. He just looks at you, bewildered. But most of the time you calmly take the cup. You give him a smile. And wait. And wait. And wait. How would each of us handle all these changes?

How would this impact us for the rest of our lives?

Written by Cynthia Hockman-Chupp,

What we did today

2010-04-11T20:16:00.000-04:00

Malia loves to do 4 things, color, puzzles, read books and ..................SWING!
Note: she also loves her bicycle helmet.

And whenever I have my camera in hand, she does too.........

A few days ago, she was being very quiet so I knew she was entertaining herself with something that she shouldn't have. I peeked around the corner of the sun room and this is what I found.
She has only recently gotten "into" playing with dolls. I love the 'deer in the head lights look' lol.

lol, she had gotten some diapers and diaper rash cream out and was using it on her babies. She is such a hoot.

Introducing.........................

2010-04-04T09:10:00.000-04:00

Ming

She is 4 yrs old and from Shenyang in Liaoning Providence. She has mild right hemiplegia,(Cerebral Palsy) the same thing that Malia has, but their opposite sides are effected. She has been living with a foster family for the past 2 years. We haven't really decided on a name yet, but were getting close. We hope to travel between September and November. Malia is very excited to be getting a sister, and so are we!!!

Snow

2010-02-07T10:27:00.000-05:00

Whoohoo, we had a decent snow storm here on Saturday, I love it! According to the news we got 18 inches. I remember when I was little it seemed like we always had a lot of snow on the ground but it just doesn't happen much these days.

My Yukon, the snow was up past the bottom of the door.

The girls tried to make a snowman, but it wasn't the right type of snow.

It was and still is beautiful though, I hear we are going to get more (maybe 10 inches?) on Wednesday. I say bring it!

2010-01-17T10:29:00.000-05:00

I took a few new pictures yesterday. These were spontaneous and you can tell by the marker on her hand.

Malia got this rocking horse for Christmas. Chief was a little jealous that I wasn't taking his picture. So I accommodated him by doing so.

Hahaha, this is my favorite one, it looks like he is giving me the 'stink eye'.

Apple Pie

2010-01-12T21:35:00.000-05:00

One of our favorite things to make and eat is Apple crumb pie. So that's what we did this past weekend.

Megan and Malia cut the apples.

Malia was trying very hard but didn't get to far with the wrong side of a butter knife.

Layering the apples in the crust.

And getting fingers and hands all gooey with cinnamon and sugar.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but I can tell you it was AWESOME !

Christmas

2009-12-28T20:34:00.000-05:00

Christmas was really fun this year because Malia is starting to get the Santa thing.
We started out by spreading magic reindeer food around the lawn on christmas eve, she was pretty excited about doing that !

One of Malia's favorite things she got this year was a little girls makeup kit. It had (gasp) lip gloss in it !
This girl LOVES anything you put on your lips. I thought it would be fun to try and take a picture of her every time she put that stuff up to her lips, I bet I have a total of 30. I even took some pictures of her putting it on her Dad, Uncle Dan, cousin Danny and her brothers but I wont ~~blackmail~~ embarrass them by posting it.

A Fun Filled Weekend

2009-12-20T19:44:00.001-05:00

First we had a snowstorm over the weekend so we just HAD to go out and play.

Then we took some pretty cool pictures of Megan. Head over here to see more.

http://juliesfavoritephotos.blogspot.com/

This girl and the camera have a serious love affair going on.

Then we came into the house to work on a few school projects for Megan.

She had to make a model of a type of rock called coquina and it had to be edible.

So we made it our of a rice crispy treat

with brown colored marshmallow and some sprinkles for effect.

She also had to make a Yule Log. I had no idea that it was a ~~looooooong process~~ fun way to spend the afternoon, we used a 'classic recipe'.

And guess who helped?

Sissy got braces

2009-12-10T20:43:00.001-05:00

Today Megan got braces. She was pretty excited about it.
(Please note all these pictures were taken with my iPhone so they are not really good)

Here she is before anything happened.........

I think she is starting to have second thoughts now, Its starting to sink in.................

( They made her wear these glasses)

Almost done now.............................

When they were done putting them on, they let her get up and look in a mirror. Her first reaction was this.

The expression on her face says it all......

Then she cups her hands around her mouth like she is hiding them from everyone in the office and whispers,

"Oh my god they are so UGLY" !

She is so adorable, I think she looks cute with braces.

Not much has been happening and I really haven't had any time to take any new pictures but here are some that were taken when we went over to Leigh's parents (my oldest son's GF) house for dinner recently.

They have two Labrador dogs and the one LOVES to play. Malia just loves to play with Porter.

Christmas Cookies

2009-11-16T17:38:00.000-05:00

Wow, I cant believe its been two months since I posted ! It seems like I'm really busy, but I cant get nothing done.

Anyhow................................

We spent the halloween weekend camping (where else) in Gettysburg. Malia was excited about it but it started to pour just as we were getting ready to go trick or treating so she was satisfied with just sitting under the canopy giving out the candy

We made out annual Christmas cookies this past weekend. I figure we made about about 40 Doz of 13 different kinds.

Here's Ms. Peacock now...................

And a few extra pictures, since I haven't really been taking any lately

A few pictures

2009-10-09T08:35:00.026-04:00

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

2009-09-02T16:03:00.013-04:00

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

2009-08-25T12:46:00.019-04:00

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?????

2009-08-12T09:12:00.014-04:00

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...........

2009-07-30T15:30:00.014-04:00

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

2009-07-14T15:50:00.016-04:00

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

2009-07-06T08:36:00.012-04:00

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

2009-06-28T15:59:00.019-04:00

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

2009-06-16T12:24:00.006-04:00

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

2009-05-28T11:41:00.010-04:00

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

2009-05-26T14:05:00.012-04:00

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

2009-05-20T11:10:00.008-04:00

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}

2009-05-15T20:09:00.004-04:00

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

2009-05-13T15:13:00.009-04:00

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......

2009-04-30T10:28:00.006-04:00

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.

The newest Civil Engineer

2009-04-26T19:52:00.014-04:00

This past weekend was great ! All I can say about Pittsburgh is WOW ! I bet we got lost (and that's with navigation!) 6 times and that was only between our Hotel and Dylan's' house. Every other street is a one way and its not every other, its so random and confusing. We only live about 15 miles north of Harrisburg, Pa and thought that was big city but its nothing compared to Pittsburgh.

I think this was called a "Tram", it went up and down the hill right beside the restaurant.

So Friday night Dyl took us to a restaurant called The Georgetown, it sat "up on the hill" looking over the city, boy was that beautiful. I took some pictures but I think they came out kind of grainy. I have never paid this much for a meal in my life but the food and the view was worth it.

We were on the 6th floor and Malia loved sitting on the wide window sill looking at all the commotion on the ground. These were taken right before we left for the graduation ceremony

Malia was pretty good during the whole ceremony. She amused herself by trying on a few different pairs of sunglasses.

She had the best view in the house.

But then she fell asleep on Leigh's lap for most of it.

This kid does not want school to be over yet. I think he is seriously thinking of making a career out of it. lol.

Dylan is the first person in my family to graduate college, we are soooooo proud of him !!!!

An exciting weekend coming up!!!

2009-04-22T16:16:00.006-04:00

I cant believe it's here already! Our oldest son, Dylan is graduating this weekend from the
University of Pittsburgh with a Civil Engineering degree. Wow, those 4 years flew by way to fast. I think he even wishes it wasn't over, because now comes the "real world". lol.
We are sooooooo proud of him!!! Pictures will be posted next week of our weekend in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile here are some pictures taken this past Sunday, we spent the whole day outside.

Its been a little while.....

2009-04-18T21:16:00.008-04:00

Jeez I cant believe that its been so long since I have had an actual post.

Not much new really, except Malia is really starting to talk now. Finally, whew!

BUT, I did finally get something that I have been wanting a looooooong time. A dwarf bing cherry tree! Whoohoo. I love me some bing cherries ! lol.

Of course I had to get a Black Tartain cherry tree to pollinate the Bing cherry tree.

And Malia just enjoyed being outside all day.

(I think someone needs their bangs cut, but I really want to let them grow out now.)

I ♥ Faces

2009-04-07T11:25:00.003-04:00

Here is this weeks entry for Best Friends http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

We picture this

2009-03-17T18:16:00.011-04:00

I'm taking a photography class and I'm soooo thrilled and happy that I did it. I'm shooting totally in the manual mode, I know I would have NEVER gotten out of the auto modes without this class. We have assignments every week and these were the pictures i took for this weeks assignments, only in black and white. Megan is only too happy to be my model !

This is a site with some amazing photography on it.

I know some of them are blurry in spots. I was using my 50 MM 1:1.4 lens (which I LOVE!) and was not using the focus right on it.

Nikon D80
Mode: Manual
Exposure: 1/1000
ISO: 200
Aperture: 1.8
Focal length: 50mm

Talking the talk

2009-03-15T17:36:00.005-04:00

Yes, Malia is actually saying 3 and 4 word sentences. She is really, really starting to yak away now.

not much new happening

2009-02-23T09:22:00.006-05:00

Not much new happening around here right now but here are some pictures...

Hehehe, I just had to.....

Sissy

2009-02-01T19:09:00.005-05:00

Malia and Megan have become quite close. Malia calls Megan "sissy" she does not call her by her name. Megan has 80's day at school on Monday so here she is trying out what she is going to wear.

Megan and I took a road trip today just to take pictures. We had a great time, we both want to do it again real soon. Here are some pictures from today.

I think if I'm careful I may be able to get her into this hobby too!

Photography, Photoshop and Lightroom

2009-01-29T20:27:00.003-05:00

I know its been awhile since I've updated. All I can say is there has been a lot going on around here, but I will update very soon.
I just wanted to give a quick hint to all budding and experienced photographers out there.
I found out that if you have a college student or in this case a parent to a college student you get MAJOR discounts on awesome computer programs like Adobe photoshop CS4 or lightroom among others. My son has a store right on campus and he bought me photoshop CS4 extended for me for Christmas for a total of $194.00. The regular price for the program that I got is $999.00. If your student doesn't have a store on campus you can go to http://www.academicsuperstore.com/
and buy it on line. i just bought Lightroom for $98.00 !!!

Check it out

Hope

2009-01-07T15:10:00.006-05:00

I had entered a contest over at http://jacobandcarrie.blogspot.com
I agreed to help spread the word of their volunteer work at a Foster Care home in China. I won a silver necklace of the Chinese symbol of “Hope”.
Here it is………….
(I hope its not backwards)

They do wonderful work at this foster care home. If I ever had the chance to volunteer at a place like this, I would do it in a heartbeat!

Not to take away the meaning of the necklace but........
I “hope” that this sign of hope has some kind of significant meaning for me too. Does it mean that I should not give up hope that my DH will change his mind and give the go ahead for a sister for Malia?
Anyone that knows me knows that I will never ever give up hope of ever going back to China.

Skizzy

2009-01-03T17:44:00.004-05:00

Gary nick named Maila "Skizzy" and she now calls him the same thing. As soon as he walks in the door she says "Hey kizzy". I swear she has been saying at least two new words a day.

Malia has a habit now of wiping her hands off on her head when she eats, we had waffles yesterday. We looked over at her and she was putting her hand in the syrup then smearing it in her hair.

Here she is playing princess

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T13:47:00.005-05:00

We went over to Gary's parents house new years eve for some Schmidt's sausage (a locally made favorite) and pig in a blanket. Malia was in a very good and silly mood,(she always is) she has a cute sense of humor and tries hard to make you laugh. She pretty much hung all over her pappy all night and tried hard to make him laugh.

We got Malia a "Big girl" bed awhile ago, its just a small bed that takes her crib mattress. Its a Tinkerbell bed, but she wanted nothing to do with it for awhile. But last night when we were putting her to bed, Gary decided to try again and guess what? She slept in her "big girl" bed all night!! We made a big deal out of it this morning for her, she thought that was pretty cool.

I got a girlie girl

2008-12-29T20:18:00.003-05:00

I always swore that I would never get my nails done........well Megan talked me into it about 4 months ago and I loved the results. I don't get them long, but I like it. So anyway today when I went in to get mine done, Malia walks over to the stand where they have all the nail polish and picked out a florescent orange color, brought it over to Jen ( the girl who always does mine) then went to the chair next to mine, climbed on it and promptly put her hands on the counter. It was hilarious ! I had no idea that she paid that much attention to what was going on. She sat there very patiently until Jen went over and painted her nails, she even put little flowers on them. Malia thought she was big stuff for awhile, it was so cute. I took some pictures with my phone so they are not real good.

Christmas

2008-12-27T17:39:00.014-05:00

This was by far the best gift Malia got, its an actual digital camera made by VTech, she has taken over 1000 pictures already!

Uncle John and Malia taking pictures of each other.

Delilah got a huge makeup kit, so the girls went to a corner and made each other up.

Gary and I

Malia and Uncle Dan

A close second favorite is the Elmo live that she got.

Some pictures

2008-12-22T09:48:00.015-05:00

Here are some random pics taken over the past month.
We got these glasses at Clair's.

Malia and Megs playing

The favorite pink panda jammies.

Malia's daycare had their Christmas Party this week. It went pretty much how I thought it would....She walked in, saw Santa and screamed and cried. She stayed clammed up the whole time Santa was there, but once he left she went wild. lol.
She stayed on Ms. June's lap the whole time he was around

She snuck a peek every once in awhile...

Yum, guess where I got to eat this weekend? Our office party was at Benihana's.

The kids got "Elfed" again, lol

2008-12-11T18:19:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

The kids got "elfed"

2008-12-11T17:55:00.001-05:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Dancing to the music

2008-12-09T09:43:00.004-05:00

My co-worker got Malia a CD that has children's songs on it along with her name. Her name is mentioned like 36 times in this 10 song CD. The first time she listened to it ( in the car) she would bust out laughing like crazy. She could not for the life of her figure out how and why this singing stranger knew her name. But she absolutely LOVES this CD. I would highly recommend it, they say her name so clearly. I do have a link of where to get it, its $19.99.

I saw Malia kissing Santa Clause

2008-12-08T17:39:00.013-05:00

We put up our tree this past weekend, it was fun. The girls did most of the work.

This year Malia was able to help a little more then last year. Notice that there are groups of balls at the bottom of the tree and ornaments grouped together too, lol. I will leave her work of art the way it is and treasure it.

Last year this Santa was much bigger then Malia. She was scared to death of it. Well this year was no different, she saw it and froze. After two days of coaxing and bribing she finally realized that Santa is a nice guy and now will willingly go up and hug him.

So, here is Malia kissing Santa Clause

Support the troops over the holidays

2008-12-08T10:51:00.001-05:00

Open your heart to Adoption

2008-12-05T10:28:00.001-05:00

I still dream about adopting again so Malia can have a sister.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T18:37:00.007-05:00

Malia's Thanksgiving outfit.

Hanging with daddy

Sitting like a little lady, lol.

Ok, maybe not.

Playing with Dylan

Yeppers, "Cheese" is still here. He is officially ours.

Ms. Lola is very happy about that.

Christmas Cookies

2008-11-22T22:27:00.009-05:00

We made a few Christmas cookies today. We had to make them early because every weekend from here until Christmas will be busy.

Then the best part, eating them !

Just look at the evidence!

And guess who is still here.

New Addition?

2008-11-18T17:31:00.004-05:00

No its not what you are thinking. lol.
I "dog sat" my brothers dog this past weekend. His name is chief (Malia calls him cheese) and I refer to him as "the ugliest yorkie I ever saw" but his personality more then makes up for his ugliness. He is the sweetest dog I ever meant. Anyhow I was kind of warned that if it works out with him here that he might stay. Sooooooo, my brother was to get back from his trip Monday night and here it is Tuesday night and I have not heard from him yet. So I wonder if that means that I now have a Yorkie and a Coton. Lola ( the coton) drives Chief nuts because she wants to play all the time and he doesn't. Here are a few pictures of them playing.

And chillin

Babies and more

2008-11-11T14:26:00.009-05:00

Malia is just now starting to get into baby dolls. She played with this baby all weekend. Wherever she went the baby had to come along too. She went for a walk with us.

Then she wanted to swing with us......

She was even brave enough to get on the BIG swing...

But when Malia swings, the smile does not come off her face.

She insisted that I take these pictures of the baby. It was pretty funny.

Then we had to show the baby the rest of the swing set.

Outside Fun

2008-11-06T14:45:00.009-05:00

Any chance Malia can get, she goes outside. The weather the past few days has been unseasonably warm so we got out the old favorite, sidewalk chalk.

She is getting really attached to Lola.

Trick or Treat

2008-10-31T11:48:00.006-04:00

We bought a really nice Mickey Mouse costume for Malia and she really likes it but she wasn't real thrilled about putting it on last night for some reason, as you can tell by the pictures. But once we started to hit the houses and she was getting candy she had second thoughts about how fun it was to dress up. I didn't get many pictures of her while trick or treating because we only went to 5 houses ( It seemed that only 1 out of every 7 houses were giving out candy) before she got tired.

Malia and her cousin, Delilah.

Having difficulties with those big hands.

Are we having fun yet???

Ok, tell me again what I'm supposed to do.

Last camping trip of the year

2008-10-20T15:39:00.020-04:00

We went camping for the last time this year. We went to our favorite place, Gettysburg.

Here Megan & Malia are playing patty cake.

Malia started trying to do the peace sign, but only holds up one finger.

At Big Round top.

Gary, Megan and Malia at Devils Den.

Here are some more random pictures.

About 2 miles from where we go camping all the time is Boyd’s Bears. We passed this thing 100’s of times but never went in, well today we went and its 3 full floors of bears and such. The 3rd floor is where you can either adopt a bear and actually do some paperwork as part of the process. They have a bear nursery that you walk through to pick out your bear. Or you can go to the build a bear section and build a bear or as it turns out another creature. We did the build a bear this time with the promise (to ourselves) that we would come back and adopt.

Malia got her hard hat and time card as we entered the “factory” she picked out her “bear” and we then proceeded to the bean selection.

She picked yellow beans then she took it to get its "belly" filled with the beans.
As the nice lady was asked Malia, "Are you ready to fill your mouse up"? I asked "What do you mean mouse"? She then turned the "bear" around and showed us the loooooong tail attached to the back of it. Ugh, I swear from the front it looks just like a bear.

Then the "bear" was sewn up and put in a "Critter Box" for the ride home.

Once we did that she was wound up pretty good and danced the whole way down to the ground floor.

My whole agenda this weekend was to take pictures so that’s what I mostly did. I actually have a another blog that I made just for pictures. Its becoming quite a passion of mine and I REALLY like doing it but I also have no idea how to use my new camera yet. My next thing will be to take a photography class at the local community college. You can see my other blog here http://juliesfavoritephotos.blogspot.com/

A new AFO

2008-10-08T21:12:00.009-04:00

Malia was fitted for a new AFO or should I say a DAFO. This one will go higher up her leg to help keep her from keeping her knee locked straight. These two cracked each other up the whole time.

Getting ready to put the cast on.

Putting the cast on, while she picks out the color she wants her straps and pads.

Making sure the cast dries on the correct position.

Like I said, these two cracked each other up the whole time.

And its done! The mold for the DAFO is beside her foot. The whole thing only took about 15 minuets. Her new brace should be here within 3 weeks.

Firemans Parade

2008-09-30T16:33:00.009-04:00

This past weekend we went camping in Gettysburg (Our FAVORITE place) because they were hosting the Pa State Fireman's Parade. Of course we went because Gary's fire truck was in the parade too. Even though is rained most of the weekend we had fun.

She watched the parade from Uncle Neffy's lap and really enjoyed waving to the trucks.

We saw Smokey the Bear.

We saw lots of antique fire trucks

And we saw men in skirts again :)

This is Gary's Company's new truck (did I say that right?)

Megan and Malia

We had a faire weekend

2008-09-22T09:24:00.021-04:00

We went camping this weekend in the Lancaster area and went to the Pa Renaissance Faire. We had a great time, it was very interesting and we would like to go back again.

And here is the queen herself. The color in these costumes were very vivid.

This weekend was a Scottish themed weekend. There were men in skirts everywhere!

There were all kinds of shows, this one had people on stilts doing acrobats

This was a show geared just for kids, the dog was great. lol.

This guy did a pretty cool show, he laid on a bed of nails, stuck a sword down his throat ( he REALLY did this) and other assorted tricks.

If you came dressed in a costume you got a discount on the entry fee into the faire.
Here are some little tykes in skirts.

Lots of adults came dressed.

Then you came across the occasional homemade costumes.

Um, I have no idea.......