A Day At The Atlanta Zoo

Today was the 4 year anniversary of our referral for Lauren so daddy took the afternoon off and we headed to the zoo for the day. We had a great time and are so blessed to have our feisty Hubei girl.

Earrings

Lauren got her ears pierced today, she has been asking to have it done since she saw her friend Annslee's rainbow heart earrings. She did not cry and was so brave but when they were done she said " ow, that hurt". They were able to have 2 people there to do it so they did it all at once which was great and they did it so fast I think that helped since they didn't have to do one at a time.

News And A New Blog

We started a new blog to keep everyone updated on our adoption. We have sent a profile book, contract and payment to an adoption attorney in SC to adopt a newborn baby. We are asking for prayers for us and the birthmom that chooses us as well. We also have our first homestudy visit next week to get that under way as well. so there's lots happening here right now but it's all good :) I haven't done much to the new blog as we are just getting started but keep checking there for updates, I'll post them as soon as I get them :)

First Day of Kindergarten

Lauren started Kindergarten today via homeschool, I know she is not 5 yet but we did pre k last year and she was ready for a bigger challenge so we started 4 day Kindergarten today with her. She did very well counting by ten, writing out words with a sounds, working with money and a few other things. We are using Sonlight's kindergarten curriculum and Horizon's math with her and so far so good. We are doing 4 day because she is also in a co op and I wanted her to have a day for field trips and things associated with that group so she's not overwhelmed and over scheduled everyday :)

A Free Swingset = A Happy Girl

Someone in our homeschool co op gave us a free wooden swingset so we brought it home and cleaned it and stained it and it turned out pretty good, we still need a rock wall thing for the back so she can get to the slide and a canvas for the top to help with the sun but that will be less than $100.00 so we are feeling really blessed by it :) Lauren LOVES it, she wore herself out last night playing on it for the first time.

Chixos Review

Lauren has been bugging us about getting Chixos so when she had collected $10.00 of her money we took her to buy them, she was super excited about these things as she loves pixos, she chose the fashion design studio and couldn't wait to start on it. well, IMO this is the cheapest, goofiest waste of $10.99 that there is. Honestly, they come with 2 dolls, 5 small packs of pixos, and a " fashion studio" that is actually the inside of the box they came in. Never, will we buy this again. Just my opinion but it's a total waste of money. Lauren loves crafty things and she got bored with it once the 2 dolls got put together and wanted to move on to something else, just trying to save other mom's of " crafty" kids some money :)

Cinderella, Are You There ?

I was listening in on a phone conversation this morning between Lauren and her princess phone. She started with Cinderella, are you there ? and then said hold on, I have an email from Sleeping Beauty. Now Snow White is leaving me a message, I'll call you back. I was cracking up at her...she is too funny.

What Do You Wear To Shop ?

if your Lauren you wear a tutu and heels of course :) notice she's shopping for more clothes and her poor baby is nude, she's working on her mommy skills I promise.

Before I Forget

I need to get down these Lauren quotes before I forget them, I use this blog as a baby book so to speak and have been neglecting it so I need to get these funny things down before they slip my mind :)

"Mom, you are styling" She was watching me get ready

"Mom, this next one will be easier for you" She said this because I couldn't understand what she was saying to me :)

"What's the big idea ?" she said this when she lost a game of topple to me and daddy

" Do brains go away "

She is always saying funny stuff but if I don't get them down I'll forget them and since I can't scrapbook very well this is the way I remember what she says. :)

Go Fish - The Mom Song

Anxiety 101

Well, we are back to square one with Lauren and her anxiety issues, I put her in a preschool camp for a week because she wanted to be with other kids, well she FREAKED out because of the crowd of kids and will not go back, I called her doctor today and she said to withdraw her from camp and do not let her attend preschool in the Fall or it will get worse. we knew we were going to homeschool anyway because of her high anxiety but she wanted to play with other kids so we signed her up, big mistake. She completely shut down and had an anxiety attack both days she went. I get frustrated at times when I see how easy going and social other kids are but I have to remember that Lauren has these issues and scored a 96 % anxiety level on her testing at the International Adoption Clinic so she is just different than other kids but honestly it doesn't make it easy on any of us. Her doctors tell us to expect her to be on anti anxiety meds at some point in her life, I hope she outgrows this before that point.

New Camera and Some Cuteness

I started having issues with my camera so we took it back to the store and they no longer carry the one we had ( it was only 2 years old and a Kodak)so because we had an extended warranty we got to pick out a whole new camera so we got a Nikon S560 and I like it alot already. Now I am back in action with picture taking and today was a good day to do it as we saw Noah and Jeremiah for lunch :)



look closely, can you see the two hand holders :)


The Fashionista

Paperoni

Lauren has been asking for the craft kit Paperoni and when we were in Florida a commercial came on so I went ahead and ordered her a fairyland one from Amazon. It was a good idea, it came in today and she spent most of the evening doing it, she has 2000 in her kit so she should be busy for a while. :)





*she was not impressed that there was picture taking going on while she was crafting*

Florida Fun & Frolic

We spent 11 days in Florida and just got home a few days ago, we went for our denominations general assembly but also spent a few days with family. we tried to mix meetings and fun so we went to Sea World, Putt Putt Golf and Disney Marketplace while we were in Orlando. Our niece Brittany turned 15 and we got to be there to celebrate with her so that was very special. It was a wonderful trip but there's no place like home after a long trip :)


Happy Birthday Brittany...Ice cream cake. yum






she's holding mr. mailman from pbs sprout, she wanted to enter the contest of going to fun places with him to try and win a prize :)