How Time Flies

Yesterday, I got a text from my best friend asking if it was the one year anniversary of our referral. I actually had to look back at the calender because I couldn't remember. And guess what...it was actually the day before! I'm either a terrible parent or I have three kids! I'm going to pick the second one and say that I can't believe that a year ago we were waiting to see our baby girl for the first time!

I will never forget that day! I was at school with my phone in my hand literally all day! My friends at work were peaking in my room every few minutes asking if we had gotten the call. You see, we didn't get one the month before and I promised myself that I wouldn't be disappointed if we didn't get one again. Then, around 1:30 my phone rang! I looked at the kids in my class and they knew! All of a sudden they start hushing each other and I ran into the room next to mine because that teacher didn't have a class. I don't remember much of the conversation but I think she told me her name was Wei, Ren Yue, she was 18 months old and she had a cleft lip and palate. She told me some other things like how much she weighed and how big her head was but I can't remember at this moment. I still have them written down so I can tell her one day.

Then, I went back into my classroom and called Tony. We both waited for the email to arrive and when I opened it up....this precious face is what I saw!


The ladies at Tony's work were in the back ground ohhing and ahhing...but I was just sitting there crying! Several of my students started to cry as well. It was so cool to have them be a part of our referral day! Some of the things I learned about Wei, Ren Yue that day were that she liked to eat and she could "feed cookies to self." I had no idea how much that would apply to her a year later!

While it doesn't seem like it was a year ago that we first saw her, it seems like she's been with us forever! Today, she weighs 33lbs and is 36 inches tall! She's a "sassy pants" as the doctor said today when we went in for an ear infection and I couldn't agree more! She's the boss of her brothers and a tattle tale of all!

She's starting to talk more and more each day! She can sign more than 30 words but she can say just a few. Some of those include: mama, dada, milk, bath, monkey, bad, Lee Lee (she calls herself)and she can make the sounds of several animals.


She's the greatest thing ever happened to our little family and I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful little person to bless our lives!

Where The Heck Have I Been?

Yes! That's what I have been hearing at church! I haven't blogged in forever it seems. Well, that will change (yeah right) because we got a new computer today!

This week was spring break so I made sure the kids were busy every day, and that included our planned "clean your room" day! Since I haven't blogged in a few weeks, I had tons of pictures to go through and narrow down. So, hang on, this may take a while.

We didn't have any snow this January so the kids and I were able to enjoy all of the planned holidays. On President's Day, I braved the zoo along with three little monkeys.


It was a moderately warm day and we had a blast!

Brady was chosen to compete with our AWANA olymipcs team this year so one Saturday, we enjoyed some "nerd games" as I named them! Lynleigh and I didn't last very long but before she was whiny, tired, and ready for a nap, I was able to get a few good pictures of her.

Though she would never let you know it, she loves her big brother, Kaden! They have junk food in common so that's about the only time they get along. Well, let me rephrase that...he wants to get along with her all the time. She, on the other hand, tolerates him at best! She's so mean to him and I know it hurts his feelings but he still thinks she hung the moon!

This guy...

Also thinks she hung the moon! She also tolerates him too! Well, let me rephrase that...she likes him in waves. Some days, she's the biggest Daddy's girl and others she gives him the hand and says Uh-huh!

Today, my step dad said, "It's amazing what a little hair has done for that girl!" And he's right! Her hair has gotten long enough that I can get it into little pig tails! It's so cute and she just loved having her hair like this. Well, she loved the attention this hair do got her!

As I mentioned, this week was Spring Break. The weather was great! Nearly 80 every day so we took advantage of that and headed back to the zoo. We have a pass so we go there a lot!

One of the cool new attractions this year is feeding the giraffes. On Sunday's and Wednesday's you can feed them. We got there early and were honored with this view!

We were so close! I couldn't believe how cool this was. I thought for sure Miss Thang would freak out! You never can tell with her and today must have been her good day! She loved it and was really mad when we ran out of food!

Since it was Spring Break, everyone had the same idea and we had to wait in line for about 20 minutes before we got our turn. While we waited, we were entertained with the monkeys.

Oh, sorry, I meant we were entertained with my children!

And Lynleigh played with her best friend Belle. By the way, Belle's parents are currently in the process of adopting a little girl from China! They just started and I'm so excited for them!

Sorry, ADD moment. Back to the zoo. Lynleigh LOVED feeding the giraffes!
And as always, I tried to get a picture of her with the pandas. I have one of each of the boys but for some reason (probably that she's tired by the time we get there) I can't seem to get her to pose in front of the panda room. So, I compromised and got in the picture with her!

All in all, we had a great Spring Break and I'm kinda sad to see it come to an end. On the plus side, we only have nine weeks until school is out and we head to Disney! I can't wait to see her reaction there!