It is time for change!!!

Well I just switched to the new blogger and I have been trying to change my template design too, not as easy as I thought. If anyone has any tips on how to make this an easier transition...let me know. Sorry if the look is in limbo for awhile;) Also...how come many of my comments are now anonymous????

My Baby Turns 12 Today!!!

In honor of my sweet little Kyla (well I guess not so little anymore), who turns 12 years old today, I made a little slideshow of highlights from the past 12 years. I had to take pictures of my scrapbooks since most of the pictures were pre-digital camera days....so sorry about the bad photo quality on some of it.

It has been a busy birthday Saturday....1st highlight was making her very 1st basket ever on her big day. She has been playing B-Ball for 5 years now and she plays great defense but has been a little timid about shooting. She usually passes to another player to take the shot. Not today though!!!! Swoosh....and she scored!!!! What a birthday treat! After the game we quickly switched gears to prepare for the birthday party. We loaded up Kyla's friends into two cars and headed to the skating rink. After skating we came home for pizza, cake, presents, lots of candy, lots of giggling, and now they are all quietly watching a movie and then hopefully to bed soon. Well maybe that is wishful thinking but they are quiet now...and I can get this special post up to celebrate Kyla.

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!! We love you!!! You always have a glowing smile on your face that is so infectious. You are beautiful inside and out and we are so proud of the young woman you have become!


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Secret Pal Love!!!

I am so spoiled and I have the best secret pals in the whole world!!! You should see Grace's display shelf in her room, it is over flowing with goodies!!! Now, we just need that little sweetie!!!

These are the fun "mealtime" things that my Firefly Secret Pal sent and she also included a cute little bowl and cup that came all the way from France...Merci!!!

My CCAI Secret Pal sent all these fun goodies which included socks, tights, hair bows, and the cute little sun glasses for Grace. She also sent Hailey and Kyla the Asian inspired notepads and mom got a few little treasures too! Thank you so much!!!
I am afraid I have been a pretty lame blogger lately but I started a class this quarter and that has been keeping me pretty busy. The class is "Performance and Healing" and has been pretty interesting so far. Tonight I am going hear a lecture from Lynn Manning. He will be discussing his life as an actor, world blind Judo champion of the world, poet and playwright as a man with a disability. He was shot in his early 20's in LA and has been blind ever since. He has been involved many different television and film projects including Blind Justice, Sienfeld. Eight Simple Rules, etc. Check out his website, http://www.lynnmanning.com/bio.htm. I will let you know how it went.

"Ni Hao, Kai-Lan"

All I can say I am totally excited about a new cartoon about a Chinese-American family that is coming out on Nick Jr. I just heard about it from the RQ site and I finally located a picture on the web and it looks like an adorable new cartoon. Just in time too! I have also read a lot of different articles about this new animated show (they don't give out a lot of info) and I am not sure if it is going to be airing this spring or fall (I have read both dates). Regardless, I think this will be a great addition to the cartoon line up that celebrates cultural diversity along with other shows like Dora.

If anyone knows anymore info about it I would love to know!!!

PS. It is finally raining again....I thought I would never be so excited to see some rain;)

What the heck??????

I thought we were in the middle of global warming but we have had three snow storms already this year, when we actually have not had much snow for many years. It is only the middle of January too...what else will the winter bring us? Don't get me wrong, I love the snow but hey we are not used to it, so driving is not fun and we need to get on with life. Mike had to take the SUV to work today so that means we are stuck at home. The kids have used up a whole week of snow days. Looks like they will either lose their days off during spring break or go to school into July. Well, it is suppossed to turn to rain later today so hopefully it will wash away by tomorrow....when I need to get back on the road again!

This was last Wednesday night....it dumped about 8" in two hours....crazy!

This was this afternoon!

A Beautiful Gift From China!!!

Yesterday Mike brought home a beautiful paper cutting art piece that a co-worker, Jianhui, brought back from China for our family. Wow!!! It is so beautiful, the pictures really do not do it justice. The amazing part is the intricate details are all cut out by hand. I was in awe of its beauty and fine craftsmanship. It is big too, 2' x 4'!

Now, we need to decide how we will mount and frame it. If anyone has a suggestion, we would greatly appreciate it, as we would like to preserve and display this gorgeous paper cutting. The story depicted is a famous folktale about 12 daughters (we think, although we couldn't locate any information about the story on the internet). Hmmm....maybe we will keep going with more adoptions to add to our daughter count...We'd only need 9 more....:0) Mike would definately need another job or two to keep up with all the shoe shopping!

Thank you Jianhui for such a special gift, we will cherish it always!!!!

Gifts for Grace....

Life has been so busy since we got back on New Years and I never got a chance to post the gifts received over the holiday season for Grace....

Here are the cuddly things she received from my wonderful Firefly Secret Pal for December, Thank You S.P.

These cute Christmas ornaments came from Kim Nichols from the Firefly December Cyber Shower. These are Grace's first ornaments and we were so excited to get her collection started! Thank You so much!!!

Hailey bought this cute little panda shirt for Grace for Christmas from our favorite store, Gymbo. Isn't it cute?
Hailey is displaying this cute Fisher Price Nativity Set, we had got this a few years back for Emma when she was a baby and fell in love with it and I can't wait until Grace gets to play with it at Christmas time (hopefully next Christmas?)


Kyla gave Grace a beautiful Chinese doll that we found at Costco. She was so excited to find it for her and she can't wait to give it to her for real someday soon!

( I am having problems uploading this picture to blogger tonight, so I will try again tomorrow, cuz the doll is so cute!!!!)


This cute little Fisher Price Noah's Ark was a gift from Santa. We have a whole collection of Little People toys still from when Hailey and Kyla were little so this will add to an already fun bunch of toys for Grace to play with.


Finally this darling little jumper outfit was from Nana and Papa for Christmas and I especially love the cute little collar and smocking! Precious!

Magical Memories in Disneyland!!!

Disneyland was truly magical, especially being there to ring in 2007! Click on the photos to get a bigger view of all the fun that was had by all!!!


I added another slide show since the PictureTrail one did not work out the way I wanted...I know there is a lot of photos but hey, this is only about 1/10 of what I actually have on my computer. Crazy photo lovin' family ;), thank goodness we don't have to develop all the rolls of film anymore!!!


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