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!

A Little Catch Up

So far behind on blogging. :-(

We've just been busy with summer fun "stuff". Here are some pics from the past couple of weeks:

Claire having fun on the trampoline

Max in daddy's shoes/hat - and Max just looking cute

Ally *finally* celebrated her birthday with a party - #11 !!!

Little drummer boy & riding on big sister's shoulders

Monkey see, monkey do

Great Wedding Video

This is one very cool couple....love their wedding party entrance!

(can't embed the image, so you'll have to click on the link....but it's worth watching)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

Shades of "Cool"

Max found his sister's sunglasses and tried them on. What a cool dude! :-)

Singin' in the Rain

We've had some rain the past couple of days...and since it was just raining one day with no thunder or lightning, I let the kids play outside. They had an absolute blast stomping in the water and playing with the umbrellas.

One Month with Max - long

An eating machine...making sure he gets every last bite of food off the plate!

July 16th - one month with Mr. Max. How time flies once we have our children home with us!

Max didn't have a great one month anniversary though. :-( On Monday and Tuesday, I had to discipline this boy quite a lot due to hitting and biting. He knew the minute he did something wrong and would immediately start running from me....so we weren't liking each other so much by Tuesday afternoon. :-) (Don't worry, he has a strong hold on my heart!)

On Wednesday, we saw the pediatrician again and started the dreaded shots. The doctor also wanted to go ahead and draw blood for the tests required by our agency. I made daddy help hold Max for the shots since he was already mad at me from the discipline. As soon as Max saw the nurse enter the room with the needles, he immediately began shaking his head and saying "no!"...he knew what was coming. :-( They had to do 3 sticks for the blood draw and ended up getting samples from his foot (ouch!). Poor baby!

Because Max struggled so much during all of this, his legs were REALLY sore where they gave him shots. He ran a low-grade fever Wednesday night and just sat in my lap, screaming every time I had to move, change his diaper, put on his pj's, etc. I guessed that bedtime was going to be a disaster...and it proved to be just that. He slept for about 2 hours and woke up screaming again. After getting him calm, Max then proceeded to throw up...twice. I cleaned him up and by around 3 in the morning, the two of us snoozed a little while sitting in the living room. Max could never get comfortable enough to lay in the bed, so he slept on my chest (just what we both needed after all the discipline issues earlier in the week). At 5 in the morning, I was so exhausted and decided to try sleeping in the bed again. Thankfully, I was able to get another hour of good sleep, and Max got about 2 hours....enough to get us through another day!

On Thursday, Max had more fever so he clung to me like a baby koala (so sweet). His legs still hurt, and he didn't want to walk. By Thursday evening, he was feeling much better though...and was completely back to normal by Friday morning.

Other items of note: While we were at China Camp, we saw our ped who informed us that Max's tests for parasites came back positive for giardia...yippee! (NOT!) We started the meds on Monday and it must taste horrible -- Max says NO and covers his mouth when he sees me get it out of the fridge. I've tried secretly putting the meds in other drinks, but he must be able to taste it, so that hasn't worked. Thankfully, we're almost done with the meds...then we get to do another round of poopie samples....woohoo! (again...NOT)

Speech: Max's speech is progressing well. Sometimes when he gets frustrated, it sounds like he is speaking Russian though. When he was sick this week, I first patted his back and said, "I know it hurts". Max picked up on that and constantly moaned, "I know" every time his leg hurt....we heard "I know" over and over and over! Another new phrase from Max is "Here you go!" He says this each time we hand something to him.

Words he clearly says: look, Jazzy (the dog), Puckles (for Freckles the dog), Allyee, Claire, Emmayee, momma, daddy, baba, ball, what's that, all gone, where'd it go, diaper, I poopoo, muck (for milk), I know, here you go, more, hello, bye-bye, wei (Chinese way of answering phone), beep-beep, I wuv ooh, up, all . There may be more, but this is what I can think of right now.

Sisters trying to teach him how to go backwards down the stairs.

Church Camp

E & A left for church camp on Monday....came home on Friday afternoon. It was a long week without them here, and we missed them a lot. For the most part, they had a good time at camp (sadly, they just had to deal with some drama from the adults). If only we could all learn to be more open-minded and accepting like kids.....

BFF's (Sisters)

These two can be enemies one minute, and then the best of friends the next. When one is away from home, she is so missed by the other. Last week, they decided to dress alike, and then went out to play. Thank goodness for a zoom lens that allows me to have a peek into their world. :-)

China Camp

Getting the campers ready for a group pic - not a great shot, but I wanted to post one that showed how many campers there were,but didn't show the campers faces

Last week, our girls attended China Camp in Tulsa, OK (hosted by Dillon International). This was our 11th year to attend camp -- we started when Emily was just 2 years old. As usual, a fun time was had by all! This was a year of changes for our camp time though...a new facility with more room, a new child for us (which means we didn't help with anything during camp), staying in a hotel instead of with our friends (they moved), and Emily was a CAP (counselor apprentice) instead of a camper! Wah! Can't believe she's old enough for that!!

Allyson was in the dragon group this year; Claire was in the Ox group. The girls participated in classes of Chinese language, cooking, kung-fu, art, etc., and came home with some really cute projects. Emily led a group of 2nd graders to all of their classes, and said she really enjoyed her time with them.

Claire with friend/fellow camper, Lilli -----------Allyson making a Chinese "book"

After camp each day, the hotel pool was THE place to be. There was a great indoor pool play area for little ones, and Max fell in love with the frog slide.

Allyson celebrated her 11th birthday while we were in Tulsa. Since we had to postpone her birthday party due to camp, we took her out to dinner at a restaurant of her choosing for a small birthday celebration with another China family. Allyson chose Casa Bonita because she loves their simple cheese enchiladas (& their arcade).

Since we stayed in a hotel this year, Emily's travel group wasn't able to spend the special time together that we've enjoyed in the past. Thanks to the K family though, we had one special evening at their home. They aren't part of our travel group, but they opened their home to our group and served us a nice dinner, allowed the kids to play in the pool and hot tub, and gave the adults our social time. Thanks Rebecca and family!

Max enjoyed the swings at the K family home

Late Saturday afternoon, we headed home. The girls watched a movie, and Max went back and forth between napping and crying (ALL the way home! ugh!).

This was the view from my rear view mirror on the way home. At one point, there were two sets of feet, but one pair went down just before I took the shot. Not a bad shot from a driver who just held the camera up, hoping for a good picture eh?