Life of a Soccer Mom......: April 2013

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Busy, Busy.......

     I am finally sitting at the computer during Sophia's naptime. I wanted to let everyone know that she is doing AWESOME! Her big sister Olivia has been such a big help and we are very thankful that "lil miss" is finally trying and eating solid foods now. ;o) Her list of favorites include cheerios, puffs, crackers and nilla wafers. She has been eating some of the #3 baby foods such as the chicken and veggies. She loves the noodles in "chicken noodle soup". She also likes macaroni and cheese. She is not to keen on meat and she is not a fan of fruits. I have tried fruit cups, and fresh fruit and so far she does not like it. So, we will try it again at a later date. She is now drinking milk! NO MORE FORMULA! She gained 1 pound in 2 weeks and her doc said, "she looks great"! She is learning sign language very quickly. She has more, please and thank you down pat! We have been working on the signs for cat and dog because she is PETRIFIED of the animals. She screams and hides her face when ever Max (our cat) comes in to eat and she immediately looks around when we go outside, watching for Isabelle (our dog)
    We have been busy with rec. soccer and high school soccer with Lucas. He will receive his driver's license in Sept. and it will be so nice when he can drive himself to and from practices. He is doing awesome in school and was inducted into the National Honor Society 3 weeks ago. We are so proud of him. He had a great CF clinic check-up yesterday and we are gearing up for another Great Strides Walk in May. So, if have not already, please donate to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Here is the link: http://www.cff.org/Great_Strides/KimAllen.
    Olivia is also on the go constantly. She is playing Dixie softball again this year and is enjoying being able to pitch more often. She is also on her travel softball team, Speed. She loves going to batting, slapping/dragging, and pitching lessons. She keeps telling us that she will go to college on a ball scholarship to be an orthopedic surgeon one day. ;) She made honor roll this last 9 weeks and is studying for her end of year SOL's. It is so hard to believe that she will be in 6th grade and at the middle school next year. We celebrated her 11th birthday at the softball field with her "birthday BFF" Brooke and she just donated 10 1/2 inches of her hair to Locks of Love. This is her second time donating.We are so proud of her.
     Zachary is finishing up his 3rd year at VCU. He is still working as a lifeguard at 2 gyms on campus. He is still living in Richmond and playing in his band. They are getting ready to release their 2nd CD and are super excited to start playing their new music.

Here are a few recent pics:

Love watching him play!!!

Honor Society Induction

Brooke and Olivia's cake

The Birthday Girls

Losing the mane!

Getting ready to cut.....

Sophia and Lucas

Smiling on a Sunday morning

Love my Lucas

Monday, April 8, 2013

Home....

After 14 days in China, gallivanting from one hotel and province to another, it has been wonderful be back home and enjoy life as we know it. Sophia is settling in and she has met quite a few friends and family. I must say that it has been really weird changing diapers again. I must not be as organized this time because I find myself running around the house trying to figure out where I put the wipes, left the diapers, etc. Could be that I'm a little older this time. Nah. ;o) We had an awesome welcoming committee at the airport when we arrived. It felt so good to know that people went out of their way and interrupted their busy schedules to welcome us home. I got very teary eyed walking up the hall and seeing so many people that love us and we them. We are so grateful to God that we made it home safely and we were able to bring home the best gift anyone could ask for. ;o)
Here are a few pics since being home!....

First bottle with big brother Lucas

Having fun with Daddy

This is fun!

Not to sure of this "shaking business"

I love my kitchen

Snoozing with PawPaw

First bottle with PawPaw

Playing with my best friend Tiffany

Spending some time with Zachary

Only Ramen for me!

One week late for Easter but this is my beautiful dress....

Hamming it up before church

My first softball tournament

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Last Night in China!

April 2, 2013
We have been preparing to come home all day. YAY!! We had breakfast this morning and swiped some bananas, oranges and apples off the fruit bar for tomorrow mornings breakfast. LOL! We will be getting up at 4:30am and leaving Guangzhou at 6am. We fly from Guangzhou, back to Beijing, have a 3 hour lay over and then fly 14 hours to Newark and on to Richmond VIRGINIA!!! We will be so glad to be home and in our soft beds. Olivia has decided when she gets home she wants: Spaghetti O's, my homemade spaghetti, Mexicali chicken, baked potatoes, soup, and chicken and dumplings, to name a few. She said she will not ask for Hong Kong take-out for quite awhile. ;o) She has enjoyed China immensely and wants to bring Sophia back to visit when they are older. She said it was really cool when the officer (an American lady) started to give us our oath and then started speaking fluent Chinese to one older boy that was being adopted. She said it was a great experience and she is so glad she came with us. Terry and I have certainly enjoyed watching her reactions and facial expressions this whole trip. We are so grateful to be able to have this chance and opportunity to be blessed with these 2 beautiful, awesome, amazing children from China. We have missed our boys so much and wish that we all could have made this trip together. Never know, maybe one day we can all come back as a family to China again. ;o)
Here are a few pics from today:

Thank you Grammy for my beautiful shirt you made for me!

Very foggy day outside...

out our hotel window

helping daddy with the computer

What's left of our groceries

It might look familiar but it sure does not taste the same....

getting ready for lunch

I FINALLY opened my mouth today for a taste!!

not too sure....

Here daddy, how about YOU eat the cookie....

Learning how to give smooches <3 td="">

last ride in the stroller....

Monday, April 1, 2013

Consulate Appt.....DONE!

Monday April 1st, 2013
We were up bright and early this morning for our Consulate Appt. at 8:30. Much different from 10 years ago. We are not staying at the White Swan on Shamian Island this time and the Consulate has moved to a different building than before. We were sent upstairs with about 20 other adoptive families. We took our "oath" and then an officer checked all of Sophia's documents for her travel visa. That process took about an hour and then we had the rest of the day to do what we wanted. We decided to take the drive to Shamian Island and see how things might have changed. We recognized the medical examination building we went to with Olivia. "Jennifer's Place" had moved. This is where we bought the chinese silk dresses for the babies. We watched some people playing Mahjong and watched LOTS of people young and not so young playing jianzi (Chinese hacky sack). It was amazing to see how long they could keep that thing in the air. We also watched some folks doing tai chi . We had lunch at Subway and then headed back to the hotel for naptime. ;o) Tonight we ventured out again with the Garner family and found Burger King. Everyone is feeling better. Terry and I both have a head cold but the girls are doing better. Olivia ate pretty good today but she still had the fear of getting sick everytime she ate. :( We walked around the hotel thinking the pool was inside but the pool is outside. Liv thought about swimming but she DID NOT want to wear the swim cap again. LOL!
Here are a few pictures of our day....