Starfish Scrapping

I was blessed again recently to be asked to make a few scrapbook pages for a Starfish baby. I love when I get an email asking if I can scrapbook for them. Miss Virginia is a wonderful lady who has taken on the huge task of making scrapbooks for all of the Starfish babies who are adopted. Amanda (who runs Starfish) takes tons of pics of her babies and sends copies to Virginia when the babies go home to their forever families. Virginia then distributes the photos to several scrappers (including herself); we all make pages, and then Virginia compiles everything into a wonderful book for the adoptive parents. I imagine it's an awesome gift to receive after returning home with their little ones.

Anyway, these are a few digi pages I did recently. Isn't she the cutest?!

Blue layout was made using a template...don't remember designer's name

Teenager!

We now have a teenager in the house! Yikes, when did that happen?! Can't believe our little Emily is now 13 years old. Seems like yesterday when we were traveling to China for our first daughter. Now, she has grown into a beautiful, smart and talented young lady. (You can tell I'm not biased right?) :-)

Emily has been asking for texting for the past two years....as apparently she is the ONLY person in our state without it. At least that's what we've heard. :-) For her birthday, she received the gift of her dreams...an iPhone (yes, we have some pretty strict rules in place for her).

I have to admit I've found it very useful to have the texting too (i.e., letting Em know we were waiting forever in the eye doctor's office this week, where to pick her up from track, etc.). Just don't tell Em I admitted that.....

A Runner

Emily is really enjoying being on the cross country track team at school. She has improved her 2 mile time by 4:40 since the beginning of school. While she isn't the fastest runner at school, she is having a good time, and that's what matters the most. I tried to get a few shots of her during the track meets with other schools, but it's really hard to pick her out of the crowd as they run by! :-)

Ally's 10th Gotcha

A couple of weeks after C's gotcha day, we met with Ally's travel group to celebrate her 10th adoption anniversary. We were also missing one of the families from this group due to the father having a stroke. (Jim, Lynn and Kailynn - you were missed!)

Once everyone arrived late on Friday evening, the girls jumped into the cold pool, while the parents visited (& the mosquitoes feasted on us). After breakfast together on Saturday morning, the group went to a nature center for awhile, then back to the hotel for swimming (some...Max and I...took a nap. Well, someone had to look after him. lol). Dinner was Chinese of course, and then the kiddos opened presents. Later in the evening, another mom and myself took 8 girls to the mall where the girls had a great time trying on matching outfits at the Justice store. On Sunday, the group had breakfast together again before heading to our respective homes. I was still feeling "in a fog" that weekend, so I didn't get as many photos as normal.




Poor guy....no pets allowed. :-) He was only pretending!

A smooch for the stuffed bear at the nature center

Claire's 7th "Gotcha"

On Labor Day weekend, we celebrated Claire's 7th "gotcha" day! We met with 3 other families that we traveled with 7 years ago to adopt our beautiful kiddos. Sadly, one family couldn't make the reunion this year....we missed you Caitlyn!! We had dinner on Friday night at the host family's home, and the kids got reacquainted. On Saturday, we had brunch together and then corralled the kids long enough for a group shot of the 4 girls. One of the girls wasn't feeling well, so she went home to rest for a bit after our first group pic.

Of course, I had to grab a quick pic of my 3 girls too! :-)

After the photo shoot, we headed to Lewis & Clark to have a go at the rock climbing wall. We were thinking the kids would just climb a little bit (meaning a short distance), and then would lose interest. They all surprised us though...as they climbed all the way to the top of the "beginner" wall and rang the bell! That wasn't enough though....as they then decided to tackle the intermediate wall. It was much harder, but several of the girls rang that bell also. Way to GO girls!! We had lots of sweaty-headed kiddos by the time they were done...it was hard work and really hot "UP" there! :-) After the rock wall, the group went for a quick game of bowling, and then back to the host family's house for more fun...a pinata bash!

We had dinner together at a local Chinese restaurant before returning to the host family's home for cake, ice cream...and presents of course!

We had a group breakfast at a local restaurant before everyone headed home. The girls wore one of the matching shirts they received as gifts the night before.

Home 3 Months

As of September 25th, Max has been home with us for 3 months! He has jumped right in and made himself a big part of our family. :-) His Chinese babbling is gone :-( and has been replaced by constant English chatters and demands. (lol) I think his favorite word is "EAT!" (he repeats "eat" over and over...sounds like the birds that say "mine" on Finding Nemo). He is a smart little boy who picks up words and mannerisms quickly. Some people have a "back seat driver" in their family....not me....I have a "back seat parrot"! No matter who I am talking to in the car, Max repeats everything I say, verbatim. It does get annoying sometimes because it sounds like someone is playing a recording of me...over and over. :-)

It does get really funny around here though. We have tried to teach the girls that we don't say "shut up"; however, Emily became very annoyed with Max's chatter in the car one day and said "Shut Up Max!" and he immediately became quiet. About 10 minutes later (as Emily was listening to her MP3 player), Emily began singing a song. Max immediately burst out with a "Shut Up Emmie!"

I thought I was going to do a better job at writing down all the words Max has learned so far, but I've failed that task. His favorite sentence is "Mom, where are you?" -- said when I am across the room. :-) Other things he says now: have a good day, how are you, good job mommy, right there (no matter where things are, they are always "right there!"), Ally & Claire ride bus, daddy work, i love you mommy, Maxie do it, i sit down, i want. I know there are more things he says constantly, but just can't think of them right now.

As for size, Max hasn't really grown much. Many people tell us he looks like a little football player, but he really isn't as big as he looks. I think he just has a big head! LOL He is wearing mainly 18 month clothing now, but I still have to roll the waistbands on some to keep them from falling off.

Max is *the* hardest kid to get a decent photo of, so I don't have as many pics as I would like. The boy is in constant motion, especially when the camera comes out. I wanted some good photos so I decided to distract him. While big sister was at piano practice last week, I picked a flower and let Max run through the teacher's yard with the flower stem. I had to use a zoom lens and not let him know I was taking photos. Here are the results....

This one is my favorite!

Catch-Up / Update

Buying school supplies

An update on all we've had going on this past month.....

The girls are crazy busy in school. Emily is in 7th grade and in all pre-AP classes. I can't even begin to help with her pre-Algebra class! lol Emily is in band again (playing the flute), and is also on the yearbook staff (co-editor). She joined the cross-country track team and is really enjoying it. This means we have an out-of-town track meet every Saturday, not to mention at least one at home during the week. Needless to say, we're using a lot of gas (but are enjoying watching her grow in this new endeavor). :-) On top of school activities, Emily moved up to the youth choir at church, and is also enjoying having a closer relationship to the girls in her youth group class.

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Emily at locker decorating day...................................Running at the SS Invitational

Allyson is in 6th grade - last year of middle school. She is also in pre-AP classes and is enjoying a good start to the year. She started orchestra this year (playing the violin). She is in her last year of children's choir at church. We recently celebrated her 10th "gotcha/adoption day" - will put pics in a separate post.

Ally at the nature center

Claire is in 3rd grade, and doing well in school. She was chosen for a part in the 3rd grade play, which will be held later this month. She also auditioned and was chosen to be in the school's new choir. She will also be participating in the children's choir at church. We celebrated her 7th "gotcha/adoption day" recently as well - will put those pics in a separate post.

Terrific Kid at school

Max - his update coming soon! I can only type for so long with him hanging on my leg! lol

Resurfacing

Splutter, splutter, cough, cough...gasp for air. I think that pretty much describes my life over the past few months. I think I'm "back" now.

So much has happened and I've missed my blog as a journal. Since this is my blog, I can write what I want, so here's what's been going on:
After waiting and waiting SO long for a referral from China, we were blessed with our little Max. We were all thrilled to bring him home. He is a feisty little one though and it took some adjusting to having him in our family once we returned from China.

Randy began traveling more with work, the girls went back to school, and then Max became my 3rd leg. I couldn't just jump up and run to school whenever I wanted, run into a store, or do anything the way that I had been doing for the past 4 years while we waited. When we started our adoption process this time, I still had one child at home...but since we waited so long, I grew accustomed to having 3 girls who were pretty independent. Max was a big change for all of us, but probably the most for me(LJ). I went through my own adjustment period. Was I depressed? Maybe - or probably...not sure. There is such a thing as post-adoption depression.

Fast forward to today.....
Max is still my 3rd leg. :-) This little boy has a great personality and is loads of fun. He still prefers ME to anyone else. He still will NOT leave my side when we are home (just the 2 of us), which means I get nothing done during the day. He will NOT watch tv (I know, shame on me for even thinking about using tv as a babysitter...but sometimes I just need to get a load of laundry done! lol), he still asks to "EAT" a gazillion times a day...but I'm ok with all of this. Max is my son and I'm very happy about that. :-)

Thanks to my friends for the private emails, and for "listening" to me. Thanks for the words of wisdom from someone who has been there.
I'll be posting some new updates on the kiddos, as well as some pics soon. I'm not going to take the blog private for now, but will continue posting our pics at a lower resolution. I've seen so many blogs with beautiful, full resolution pics, but I'm so afraid to do that.

Feeling the need to take a bloggy break for awhile. Just have a lot going on and am trying to process (survive) it all. Don't really want to write about fun things the kids are doing when I'm not feeling particularly "fun" sometimes...just seems wrong somehow.

There are times when I just need to step back and review my life and how I should be living it - this is one of those times. Please don't judge me.....just pray.

Am also thinking of going on private status with the blog if/when I do return.

Will try to continue checking in on everyone else's blogs, but probably won't be as frequent.

Take care folks!

~LJ

Sisters

This is what happens when a boy enters a household of girls. Poor little guy was dressed up by big sister Emily! We have more pics of Mr. Max in a Cinderella dress too, but dad wasn't happy about those pics at all! lol

E's New Room

When we received our referral for Max, we had to do some furniture rearranging so we could get a room ready for him. We knew that Emily was going to move up to the larger queen bed from our guest room, so we gave her a choice of rooms. She ended up staying in her current room, but decided she wanted a more "grown-up" look....she *IS* almost a teenager after all! LOL :-) (yikes!)

Emily still wanted bright colors in her room, but only as "accents", so she chose a simple comforter in off-white. I surprised her with custom art with pics of herself for one wall. I had seen this cool photo site online, but couldn't afford their prices, so I just altered the pics myself and printed the pics at Wal-Mart. The 5x7 prints were only $.58 each and the frames w/mats were $5.00 each. I think it's a great look for a budget deal.

Emily made the other wall her "photo wall"...with pics of family/friends, along with a couple of pieces of her artwork. She also made her F4E canvas a focal point. The F4E name is what she and the other 3 girls from her China travel group have dubbed themselves (Friends 4 Ever). All of the girls have a banner like this in their rooms...so sweet that they have such a great connection. I was also happy that Emily didn't go *so* grown-up and decided to keep her trophy shelf for awhile longer. :-)

Anyway, here are shots of her room...before and after.

Before:

After:

Super Kids

Lots of noise, lots of running through the house. That's what I get when the kids decide they are "super girls". Allyson and Claire tied blankets around their shoulders and helped little bro Max with his "cape" too....then all proceeded to run through the house, yelling "Super Girls!". Yep, even Max yelled super girls! lol When I couldn't stand the "noise" any longer, I asked them to take their yelling outside and I grabbed the camera. :-) Even big sis Emily donned a cape for a few minutes.

Not great pics, but it's the memories that count. (the girls had to slow down outside for the camera, and so that Max could keep up! lol)

I Heart Faces - Silly Face Photo Contest

I've been a reader of the I *Heart* Faces photography blog for awhile now, and thoroughly enjoy seeing all of the photos. I've never entered one of their contests but decided to jump in this week for the silly face photo contest. This is a shot of Mr. Max playing with daddy's magnifying glass. ...another pic taken while entertaining the little man in the car. :-)

Rock Stars

What does it take to be a rock star these days? Only a comb and a hairbrush! These two had the best time singing into their "microphones". I love you, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Little Helper

Miss Claire is a girl who doesn't like to help out much around the house...she's pretty much our couch potato. She doesn't like to work hard and sweat either. I had to laugh last week though when I saw her outside with a shovel. We hired our nephew Jeremy to work on redoing some of our landscaping, and it wasn't long after he arrived that Claire was outside, shovel in hand, helping him. Maybe all the girl needs is a cute guy around here more?

Picnic in the Park

In an effort to get away from the house for awhile (& *not* go shopping), the kids and I took a trip to the Pea Ridge Military Park. We watched a short video about the Civil War, and then drove through the park, stopping to take a few pics by the old cannons. We also packed a picnic lunch and had some really good "lazy" time on a blanket under a tree.

Have I mentioned how difficult it is to get a good picture of Max? It seems the kid is always in motion or looking away when I press the shutter button. Or...in this case, raising his shirt so everyone can see his tummy! I've been deleting lots of shots from the camera, but I think I'll keep this one. :-)

In the Car

Sometimes we have to wait a few minutes for big sisters to finish piano practice...and sometimes if the "king" is sleepy, he gets impatient and throws a major fit (& believe me, he KNOWS how to throw a fit!). This was one of those days, so in order to stop the whining from turning into a full meltdown, mom pulled out the trusty camera and played peek-a-boo. The camera had an amazing effect as it looked through the headrest at the "king". :-) Thanks to Emily for keeping her camera in the car!