Merry Christmas

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Christmas Cookie Making with the Cousins

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Caroline is not Afraid of Santa

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sisters playing

Having fun on a Saturday morning breakfast

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Happy Fall

Caroline has had a happy fall. She goes to a pre-school twice a week and has really enjoyed it. The other three days she attends her in home daycare. She is learning her colors and her numbers. This Thanksgiving I kept thinking how thankful and blessed our family is to have Caroline in our family. Adoption is amazing and has brought so much to our life.




She has started taking a huge interest in what she wears. She loves shoes and purses. She calls any kind of ponytail a “pretty”



We are looking forward to Christmas and spending some quality time with family.

Looking Ahead

As the weekend comes to an end I am looking forward to a get away with my husband later in the week. It should be a lot of fun for both of us.

Dance

Nara helping out

Caroline loves the pom poms

Ready for Dance

Caroline started dance two weeks ago. She has loved it! She is is a little shy when she starts each week but she then warms up to it. However, it has turned into a Mother and Me class and I have never been good at ballet. So I am the mother who is always one step behind. To help me with my lack of dancing skills I have started bringing Nara with us to dance. Nara really enjoyed helping Caroline. It has been a lot of fun.

September 11th 2011

Never forget those we lost and those who continue to fight for our freedom.

Dance

I am so excited Caroline is starting a Ballet/Tap class tomorrow. The class is called tiny tots for two and three year olds. I have been looking forward to this day for a long time.

So Loved

Checkout this give away. It is a great cause and a great shirt. I already have one and would love more

Sunday Snapshot: Universal

As a family we have gone to Universal and Island of Adventure many times. We live in Naples and that is about a 3.5 drive to Orlando. We have had season passes since Nara was about 5 so as you can see we have never brought a toddler to a Theme Park so we were a little nervous to bring Caroline but last weekend we decided to give it a shot.

The four of us spent a lot of time here. She thought this area was magical

Caroline, Nara and I rode this while Rick sat back and took a few pics

She was not really tall enough for this but we put her little wedge shoes on her and they let her squeeze by. This was by far her favorite ride.

Nara rode this ride solo no one else wanted to get this wet.

We stayed here at the Portofino Bay Hotel. The Portofino Bay Hotel is one of the three hotels on site. We have stayed at all of them and they are all great. Best of all when you stay on the grounds you get an express pass for the rides and you get in the park early. It is totally worth it and it is a resort so each hotel has amazing pools and spas.

With Parent Swap we were even a able to ride all of the big kid rides

One of my favorite restaurants at Universal is Hark Rock and thanks to a tired little girl we did not get to go but we always have next time

Best of all Caroline got the chance to meet Sponge Bob she was so excited. As she waited for him she started chanting “Sh BoB” (Sponge Bob) and then when he walked in she ran right up to him and gave him a big hug. My little one is not shy.

Caroline

This daughter of mine is such a joy. She has grown so much in the last year. Her vocabulary is expanding daily and she has such a large personality.
When we first met Caroline in China she was hungry and was obsessed with food. She always wanted both hands full of food. We really just allowed it. Rick and I both felt that she had to learn that she had food and when she understood that then her obsession with food would lessen.
It has been 15 months since we returned home and I can say that she is finally not that interested in food. She has her favorites but she has really become a picky eater.
She loves restaurants and loves to be on the go. When we pull in the parking lot of a restaurant she will often look at us and ask Eat? However, once in the restaurant she is much more interested in social interaction than food.
It has been amazing to watch her grow and become the little girl that she is.

Happy Fathers's Day

Nara and I have had a great time planning Father’s day. Nara, Caroline and I spent the day shopping and planning. We bought Rick some clothes for our upcoming vacation and a cool pair of shoes. Nara decorated him a cookie and made him a huge card.

The party started last night with a family dinner and has continued this morning with Nara making her dad breakfast. Caroline and I are heading to church we will take Rick out for a late lunch later today.

Overall we are having a great time celebrating Father’s Day. Happy Father's Day to all of the great men who are called Dad

Ready for Summer

Happy Easter

Hppy Birthday Caroline!

Happy Birthday Caroline We just returned from Gymnastic World where Caroline celebrated her 2nd birthday with family and friends. We are all tired. I will post pictures soon.

Caroline Day

One Year ago today Rick and I became parents in a hotel lobby in Nanchang, China. In some ways in seams like we have always had Caroline and in other ways I question where the year went. A year ago Caroline slept in her stroller and watched TV all night. That was after she cried for two hours. It became clear that she loved the stroller and the stroller became our friend. One year later she still loves the stroller and she loves to go but can I count the ways our girl has grown. She loves to laugh, play and talk. She loves her mom and dad and big sister and brother. Tonight we will celebrate Caroline Day with green and pink butterfly cupcakes. I will end tonight the same way I ended a year ago. I will thank God for our answered prayers and I will pray for the mother that left her so she could be ours.

Our Backyard.

Rick and I love to travel and we have found it a little difficult with Caroline being so young. So until she gets a little older we have been trying to enjoy our backyard
We are currently on Spring Break but have really enjoyed the last few weeks. Rick and I have made a real effort to enjoy the local area around us. Both of us grew up in the area but we have discovered lately that our little local area has a lot of fun.
We loved to go and stay on Fifth Avenue in Naples or just go and have lunch. Fifth Avenue has a lot of unique shops. It is within walking distance of the beach. We often go and have lunch and then we walk to the beach.
We are also on a big exercise commitment so we try to at least to incorporate long walks into what we do. So two weeks ago we joined the Naples Botanical Garden. Every week we try to go and enjoy the natural beauty while we walk a few miles. Caroline loves it.

Although we look forward to the day when we can pull our passport back out and travel to someone else’s backyard for now we are enjoying ours.
So here are a few of the spots we have been to lately:

Naples Beach Hotel

http://www.naplesbeachhotel.com/

This is an older hotel in Naples. You can have dinner right on the beach. The sunset is great

http://www.naplesgarden.org/

This where we love to enjoy the gardens and walk

The Inn on Fifth is in a great location to enjoy downtown Naples

We enjoy the beach but really do not go as much as we should.

Fifth Ave is in downtown Naples and is a tourist area. It has lots of great shops and restaurants.

The Asian Garden is one of our favorite stops along our walk.

On Sunday Rick, Caroline and I all went to the Naples Botanical Garden
The Naples Botanical Garden is local tropical gardens with beautifully restored natural habitats. So last week we went to the Corkscrew Swamp and this week we went to the gardens. We are not trying to be tourist in our own town. Although we do live in a tourist town. Rick and I have started the Couch to 5K program So we run every other day on the days that we do not run we try to walk a few miles. So on Sundays we try to take Caroline to interesting places where we can incorporate a long walk and then we go out to a lazy lunch.

http://www.naplesgarden.org/Visiting_the_Garden.aspx

Corkscrew Sanctuary

Some of the Friends we saw a long the way

Hanging with dad

Rick along the way

Helping Nara with Homework

Rick Caroline and I had a great time at Corkscrew Sanctuary http://corkscrew.audubon.org/
Rick and I have started running again so we run every other day. The day we do not run we try to walk a couple of miles. So Sunday we took Caroline and walked all over Corkscrew Sanctuary. It was about three miles. It was fun for all of us.

Catching Up

She loves the park

Nara and her friends

Another great day playing outside.

I have not blogged in a very long time. It has been a busy year for our family. The month of January was full of illness. I think everyone in the family got sick at some point in January.
February has been a nice month. We celebrated Chinese New Year by having dinner at a local restaurant and celebrating with cupcakes when we returned home. Nara turned 12 on February 6th and then Valentine’s Day was here.
Caroline is growing everyday. She learns a new word daily. I love hearing her talk. She has a very sweet voice.
I will try to post more in the next few weeks.

Happy Birthday Lily

Happy 10th Birthday Lily

Happy New Year!

2010 was a wonderful year for our family. Just a year ago we were waiting for our LOA and preparing for our trip to Sweet Caroline. It has been a year of change and growth for our family. Mostly is has been a year of love. We have loved watching Caroline grow and learn to love and trust her family. The year 2010 will always be special for us but we are looking forward to 2011 and all the new exciting things that our family might encounter. Happy New Year and I hope you find many of God’s blessings in 2011.