Hanging at the beach!!!

On Saturday, we headed to the Indiana Dunes with my sister and family.  This has become a weekend thing for them and we were able to go this time.  Hannah's first words when she stepped into the sand was, "It is too dippy." We weren't really sure what that meant, but she didn't want to really walk, so we assumed she meant she sank when she took a step.  She got use to it and we walked with her.  The weather was perfect and Hannah had a blast with her Ry-Ry.  They built sand castles, dug holes, and went out to swim on the sand bar.  We thought it was fun last year, but it was even better this year, because Hannah is talking so much and the things she says is a crack up.  She was very excited to hear "airpanes" and "biiiiiig boats" all day. The funny thing was she woke up that night wanting to see Baba and the airpanes, but I told her that it was dark outside and then she went back to sleep.

Can you get a better smile than that!!!

a full bucket of water- she is so strong

Best Cousins- thanks Ry-Ry for being a great example to our little girl.

Heading to the sand bar.

"Really Mama, I am busy with my sand castle."

Drawing in the sand

Flying our First Kite

Hannah and I have been reading the book Every Year on your Birthday before we go to bed. It is a book about a mom adopting a little girl from China and then telling about things they do on her birthday each year. One of the pictures shows them at the beach flying a kite, so I thought it would be fun to show Hannah a real kite and try to fly it.  We drove to a school soccer field closest to us and experimented.  Roger and I haven't flown a kite ourselves for a few years, so we weren't sure how it was going to go, but I told him all you do is throw it up and let the wind do the rest. It wasn't as windy as we needed, but it still worked. Hannah had a good time and it ended with a tantrum because she didn't want to leave, but I didn't think to take a picture of that. :)

A little girl amazed by the little things !!

Look Baba, there it is!!!

Hanging with New and Old Friends

This summer we have tried to get together with a few friends. The first 2 pictures are of Hannah and J.  J's mom and I taught together at Lincoln this past year. They went to the free movie on Wednesday, then we met at the park to play. They got along pretty well even though they are far apart in age. He will make a good big brother some day.

Last week we got together with some "old friends" to play and swim.  The party was a big hit. Thanks Miss Wendy for letting us come for the day. Hannah loves to play with her twin boyfriends. :) They are all growing up so fast.

                        

 

This is our newest friend.  A teacher friend of mine invited us to her house, because her sister and family came to visit.  Her sister and her husband have been trying to adopt this little guy for the past year and now will finally be able to soon. Everyone at Lincoln at been praying for them for a while, so when they came to visit, we all got the chance to meet them.  He is quite a charmer and even tried to smack a good kiss on Hannah on the top of the slide. They hit it off and had a really good time. Hopefully they will meet again some day.

Walking for the Orphans in Africa

 It was Hannah and I's second 5K and Roger's first.  ICDI (Integrated Community Development International) was having a fundraising event for their organization during the Lake Festival here in Warsaw.  ICDI travels to Africa and cares for orphans and drills wells for clean water throughout the country. Since Hannah was once an orphan, we thought it would be appropriate to help and also get some exercise.  It was a pretty day, but very hot, but we all made it. Of course, Hannah didn't have to work to hard, but she was still hot.

Today's Project- new swing set!!!

So earlier this week, Roger and I decided to dive in and purchase a swing set from Kmart!! They said it would take about a week to come to the store, but we got an email on Friday that said it was here. We called the Weinsteins to see if we could borrow their truck and Roger went to pick it up last night. Thank you Bryon for helping to unload it at our house, because I would have never been able to help.  Today, we decided to attack the project. We  had planned to have family over to help put it together, but when we told everyone that, they kind of laughed and reminded us how long it took to put Hunter's swing set together, so we decided to brave it ourselves. All the wood was already cut and most of the holes were already drilled, so we thought we could do it.  Well it turned out that 10 hours later, with the help of Dora, we completed the project!!!! The only thing we didn't complete was the anchors. When we tried to pound them into the ground, they both eventually split. We will figure that part out later- right now Hannah isn't big enough to flip the swingset. Roger and I totally enjoyed putting it together ourselves and we never even yelled at each other.  Once we were finished, we had to pull Hannah away from Dora, but once she figured out that it was for her, she tried every part out. We recommend this swingset to everyone- Kmart- Timber Play Set II.



Hannah tried to help at the beginning and kind of got in the way, so Mama got
smart and put in her new Dora dvds and she was hooked for an hour and half.





After Dora and lunch, Hannah took a nap.  She fell asleep reading
her "If" book to Dora...yes with her purple Crocs on.

Enjoying a banana popsicle on her half finished swing set.



This is Mama's favorite part of the swing and I think it will be Hannah's too.

Climbing up the wall...

at the top...

at the bottom!!!! CHEESE!!!!





Completed swing set in one day!!!!!

First of many warm days of fun!!!!!

Last Saturday, Baba decided to go fishing, so Hannah and I decided to fill up the little pool for the first time this year and have a little fun.  She was a little hesitant to get in at first, because it was a little cold, but after she started to warm up, you can see she dove right in.  She even took the time to cool Mama's feet off every once in a while. We had a good time...can't wait...3 more days of school, then we can have more good times all summer!!!!



Happy Late Mother's Day!!!!

I wanted to send this out earlier obviously, but I was having trouble with my blog and it still isn't coming up quite right at home, but we are going to try it anyway.  I wanted to send out a late Mother's Day wish to all the mothers reading this.  Sometimes I still can't believe that I am finally the Mama that I dreamed of being for 5 years while we waited for our little girl, but it is real.  She is real!!! She is truly the best Mother's Day present that I will ever receive and wouldn't want anything else!!!  She has grown so much since that first day we saw her, then received her and brought her home. Look at her now- Wow!!! She continues to be a huge blessing to us and everyone around her and we thank God for her every day.  To all the moms- enjoy every minute you get!!! Children are a true gift to us.


The very first picture we saw of Chen Leyan (Hannah).

 

The first time holding Hannah!




The first full day at home.

                                       Look at her NOW !!!!!!