5

This little big girl turns 5 today!

We sometimes joke that she was 4 going on 15. You know, on those days when the little attitude and drama come out. But seriously, she is so sweet and so fun and such a wonderful little girl. I'm so glad that God gave me a daughter (and now almost 2 daughters) because while I love my sons and really enjoy being a boy mom, I feel like Ashten and I have a special bond between us girls that is so much fun!

 

This past year Ashten has gotten really excited about being a big sister, she LOVES cheerleading and the colors purple, pink and blue (in that order). She's our little extrovert, she'll talk to anyone, anywhere, anytime. She has made friends with all the cashiers at our grocery store and will randomly tell people in Target or at the park that she's getting a sister from China. She loves to be girly and do her makeup and dress up, but she also will play almost anything with the boys that they play, including football, baseball and Legos.

 

Ashten is excited to be 5 years old and start kindergarten in the fall. She's going to be a great student and she's going to have a blast being at school for a few hours every morning instead of just at home with her boring, introverted mom!

Chess on the floor

It's no secret at our house that Preston LOVES to play games. All day. Every day. With anyone. Any game. It doesn't matter, he's a game guy. No one plays with him nearly as much as he would like, but we all take turns being Preston's game buddy. I love seeing Brayden especially play games with him because Preston looks up to Brayden SO much and adores his big brother.

 

Preston can beat almost everyone (except Chris) in a game of chess, that kid is seriously good at those strategy games!

Logan's date

Logan and I went to Panda Express and to a movie for our date in March. It ended up being a completely free date because a friend gave us free tickets to see The Drop Box (she had bought them for herself, but then got sick). Logan picked Panda Express for dinner and we were standing in line waiting to order and the man behind us told us he wanted to pay for us. So sweet!!

 

Logan says he knows how to use chopsticks and I agree - if you have to use them, that's the only practical way!!!!

Sledding in the yard

Up until February we had a fairly mild, dry winter. But then February came and it was like snow every other day! The kids loved it, and they even got a snow day off of school out of it!!

 

The last time Chris took the boys sledding it was disastrous. Crying and whining and ruining all the fun because they were cold, their hands hurt, they got snow in their face, etc. So we weren't eager to take them sledding again, but they improvised in the yard.

They sledded down the stairs off our deck and made a sledding ramp in the front yard. They had a blast and didn't even ask to go somewhere to sled, win win!!

 

I'm such a party pooper, not much for playing the snow, but luckily they have a dad who loves to get out there with them and have some fun! Even Ashten enjoyed it this year, in the past she has spent about 2 minutes out there and then come in because it's too cold.

We have a travel date!

Well our daughter must be SUPER amazing, because Satan sure is doing all he can to try and discourage us and make us wait a super long time to get to her. Normally families leave within two weeks of receiving travel approval, but because of various things going on in China, we aren't leaving for 4 weeks!!

We got confirmation today of our travel dates. We will be leaving April 9th or 10th and will get custody of Kailin on April 12th. We will be flying home April 23rd. Coincidentally, April 23rd is my birthday and it will be the world's longest birthday as we fly backwards in time from China to the US. I would probably rather spend my world's-longest birthday almost anywhere but on an airplane with a toddler but if it gets me closer to home and having all my kids under one roof, I'll definitely take it!

I'm happy and excited to finally go get Kailin, but it still feels so far off. It's hard to get excited about something that isn't for 1 month. I can't even pack or anything yet, it's way too soon for that. Gotta find something to keep myself busy!

Thanks for all your prayers!

A shower for Kailin

A sweet friend of ours offered to throw me an adoption shower. She did such an awesome job with it, I loved it!! She incorporated so many fun unique elements, it was special for me and Kailin!  I felt so loved and supported and now prepared for any diaper emergency for the next 3 months!!!


The food table - a delicious spread!



 

Everyone had opportunity to write a note for Kailin with a verse or encouragement on it, it was so special to read those and I know it will be special for Kailin to see how loved and prayed for she was before she even came home!

 

 



Ashten is so excited to have her sister come home!

 

 

She did this cool canvas thing, where everyone added their thumbprint and wrote their name next to. I have it hanging in Kailin's room already, I love it!

 

 

She made little goody bags for everyone to take home that had some Chinese candy in it and a verse and remainder to pray for us on the tag!



What a wonderful time to get together with friends and celebrate Kailin almost coming home! I love that showers aren't just for first-time baby. As my cousin once told me, "every child is a gift and should be celebrated!". Kailin is certainly a gift and I am so thankful for friends who rejoice with us! 

Ashten the cheerleader

Ashten has been really into cheerleading lately. She loves to do cheers and dances at home and a few weeks ago she got to participate in the cheer camp at Chris' school. She was so excited, she loved every minute of it.

They learned a dance and performed at halftime of one of the girl's basketball games. My camera is broken partly, so I took pictures of that, but they didn't come out. :(  I did get some before the game and during the second half when Ashten went over and cheered with the cheerleaders though!

On top of the pyramid

On top of the pyramid

Cutest little cheerleader

Ashten with her cheer camp coaches

 She had such a fun time and seems to be pretty good for a 4-year-old. We are thinking about enrolling her in a cheer group after we get home and settle with Kailin! She would love that!

New pictures and still waiting

Now that my blog is private, I can post pictures of Kailin without the little heart on her face! She is so cute, you're in for a treat!!

We received these three pictures at the beginning of February when we requested an update on her. On paper at least, she seems to be doing very well and is happy and thriving in her foster home, so that makes us feel a little better as we wait to go pick her up. Her foster family is not her forever family, but she is loved and well cared for, and we are very grateful for that.

 

As you can tell from these pictures, it is very much the norm in China to bundle the kids up in lots and lots of layers. In the above picture in the pink vest, you can see how many layers she has on and in the bottom pictures in the yellow coat, that is on top of the pink vest and shirts!  Kailin is actually a very tiny little thing, these pictures make her look bigger.

We are currently waiting on travel approval (TA) from China and once we receive that we will request our consulate appointment and once that is scheduled we can book our flights! We are getting so close, but this wait is getting really, really hard. Every day feels like a week. I'm running out of things to do to keep busy and even when I do try to keep busy, all I can think about is going to China.

Ever since we received our referral in early November we have been praying that our travel would fall over Chris' spring break so that he had a little leeway in how much time he took off once we returned home and also he wouldn't so stressed leaving so close to the AP exam and the end of the school year. We have seen God work some paperwork miracles and we have also seen some unexpected slowdowns, but we are still hoping and praying to travel over Chris' spring break. For that to happen, we really need to hear word of our TA this week. Will you pray with us? If God chooses to answer no, we know He has a reason, but we are so anxious to go get Kailin and have our whole family under one roof!

Free day at the zoo

We used to have a zoo membership for many years, but as the kids got older and we got busier with more things, we just didn't have the time to go, so we let it lapse. Poor Ashten kind of got the short end of that stick being the youngest that she didn't get to do as many toddler-type things, and she's been begging me to take her to the zoo.

In February there was a free day, the last one till October or November, so I wanted to be sure to take her. I had a ton of stuff on my to-do list that day, but I had to remind myself that this is why I stay home, so I can be in the moment with the kids and make memories with them and do fun things with them, that's what it's all about. So I ignored my list for one day and Ashten and I had so much fun at the zoo together!!

This is the first time I have never packed tons of snacks and a stroller to go to the zoo, we had snacks on the way to the zoo and Ashten walked! It was so nice actually!! She got tired right at the end, but she did great! We walked 1 1/2 times around the zoo and she only complained when we left the zoo and had to walk to the car.

We saw the elephant show and while we were waiting for it to start, we took some selfies!

 

At the end, Ashten wanted to go in the gift shop. She saw this adorable cheetah and just HAD to have it. I explained she didn't have enough money, but she was dead set. It took about 10 minutes and a lot of tears for her to set it down and leave the store. We promptly went home and ordered a cheetah off of amazon that she could afford!!

 

 

 

It was such a great day with my girl, I'm glad we went!

 

In the spirit of Valentine's Day

This year Valentine's Day was pretty low key, which was fun. Chris and I made a deal to not do much in the way of gifts since we are about to travel and need to save that money. In all our years of marriage, I could count on one hand the number of times we've gone out on Valentine's Day and I think all or most of those were before we had kids. I actually prefer it that way though, there are so many people out on Valentine's and we just don't need to celebrate that way to feel loved anymore. Plus, Chris' birthday is one week later and we almost always go out for that, so I have learned I actually prefer the quiet day at home as a family.

This year, we did our annual treasure hunt for the kids (it wasn't meant to be annual, but they look forward to it and it's become a fun tradition) and we gave them each a box of chocolates, a mechanical pencil and then some rainbow loom bands. Chris and I exchanged cards and he got me some flowers and chocolate covered strawberries!

During the day we hung out as a family and ended up at the mall. The kids had some money burning a hole in their pocket that they wanted to spend, so we went and walked around. They also all desperately needed new shoes. We found a GREAT deal on shoes (all 3 boys for $50!) and then we treated them to some Orange Julius. We told them we only had enough to get two, so they paired up and chose a flavor together!!

 

When we got home I had planned a fondue night, but during our cheese course, Chris' parents called and wanted to go to dinner, so we ate cheese fondue, ate dinner out and then came home and had chocolate fondue and chocolate covered strawberries. No one ate much chocolate as we were all pretty full, but that's okay because we just had leftovers the next day! Chris and I rented a movie for later after the kids were in bed, but I was so lame and just fell asleep - some fun Valentine's date I am, huh??

 

It was such a perfect Valentine's Day - I was with the ones I loved and that's the perfect day for me!