Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Another Way to Beat the Heat

Sometimes, it’s just too much work to get to the pool.  On those days, I just pull out the hose and turn it on.  It cools them off just as well.  And I can get dinner made in the mean time.

sarah 2 

Trying to catch some sprinkles on her tongue, perhaps?abby both sarah 

I wish I were that flexible.sarah 3

A few observations from the video:

1.  When did Abby’s legs get so long?

2.  I love Sarah’s little song and dance there at the beginning.

3.  It cracks me up that Abby dumps the water on her head but Sarah didn’t see that part and so she just dumps hers on the ground.  Usually, she does EXACTLY what Sister does.

4.  Don’t you love our ghetto set-up:  the hose nozzle wedged in between the bricks I found in the garage?  Oh, well. It worked.

5.  When Sarah points down the driveway, she’s pointing at her Daddy who just drove back from the store.  Then she’s telling him “water” (quite emphatically) and signing it, too.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Red Day at VBS

Abby went to VBS a couple weeks ago.  On Monday, she came home and said that Tuesday would be Red Day.  She doesn’t have a lot of red clothing, so Hantie said she would make her a bandana skirt.

She also wore her Daddy’s hat and her shoes from China.  The ladybug necklace and earrings completed the outfit.

abby red day at vbs

Friday, July 23, 2010

Sarah

One night, when Billy and I were in the office late, we turned around to find this in the doorway:

sarah sleeping

I guess the train woke her up and she wandered into where we were, but then got so tired, she went back to sleep.  I’m really not sure how long she was there.  Probably a half an hour or more.

And here’s her new hobby while we’re working in the office:

sarah tape 2 sarah tape

She’s been busy!!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Benjamin Bunny

Cousin Timmy got a new bunny and I took some pictures of the girls meeting him for the first time.

sarah abby Timmy took the bunny outside to hop around.  benjamin

Sarah looks like she’s trying to hold onto him. outside

The bunny is trying to escape!  Go, Benjamin. Go!running

Monday, July 19, 2010

Friends

For our last trip to China, our adoption group was 12 or 13 families.  We traveled with one other family to a separate province than the rest of the group.  We went to Guangxi where it was 80 degrees and everything was in bloom.  The rest of the group went to a province where it was still winter.  The family we traveled with adopted Callie who was six and we adopted Sarah. 

A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I went to see a them.  We met up with Callie and her mom at a park and played for a while.  Then we went to McDonald’s to play some more and cool off in the air conditioning.

We had not seen Callie’s family since we traveled with them in February 2009.  She sure has grown! And her English is amazing.

  cheesecallie and sarah  three girls tic tac toe

Hopefully it won’t be another year and a half before we see them again.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Blueberries

I love all kinds of berries and to me, nothing says summer like fresh picked blueberries.

Abby and Joey hard at work filling their buckets.1 abby and joey

Lots of berries!2 berries

Sarah is helping Hantie.4 sarah helping hantie

Abby shined her best blueberry3 shiny berry

Sarah peeking around the bush5 sarah

Mommy and Minnie Me7 me

Sarah gets the ones close to the ground.6 sarah picking

Mmmmmm:  Blueberry pancakes, blueberry muffins, blueberry smoothies, blueberry yogurt, and blueberry crisp!      

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Dad of the Year

Back in March or April, Abby brought a paper home from school saying if she read 20 books by the end of the month, she would get two tickets to a Lake Erie Crushers ball game.  She read her allotted books and we got the tickets several weeks later. 

The designated game was on June 29. 

So, after driving for 8 hours home from Kentucky, Billy had a couple of hours to relax and then they went to the ballgame. Several of her classmates also got tickets so Billy hooked up with some of them and ended up not having to drive.  Whew!

Abby was excited about going but also worn out from the trip. ball game 1

It actually got cold when the sun went down and they didn’t take sweatshirts.  Good thing they had this blanket to cuddle up with.

ball game 2

They left after the ninth inning.  The game was still scoreless.  The Crushers eventually won in the eleventh.

Way to go Daddy for going the extra mile for your girlie!  He was so proud of Abby for reading all those books, he could not let her miss the prize.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Big Day

With only one day to spend on the farm in Kentucky, you have to pack a lot into it.

So, we took a walk through the fields (that’s Sarah and Joey).fieldsarah

Abby found a wooly worm. wooly worm looking

Abby lost her second tooth – actually she allowed my cousin Heather to pull it for her.  She knew Mama was getting no where close to pulling it.  I actually went to the other room while the deed was done.  And amazingly enough, the tooth fairy left her a gold dollar under her pillow.  (thanks Uncle Chris!) tooth number two

The kids took a gator ride around the farm. gator ride

All this was before lunch!  Uncle Chris suggested a trip to his dad’s house to swim in the pool, but then it started raining.  We ate lunch and then it cleared a little so we got ready and headed out.

While en route, the storm clouds moved in and it really started pouring.  Plan B:  wait out the storm while watching Toy Story 3 at the theater!  Awesome!  The movie was starting in 20 minutes.  Perfect timing.  Sarah did great – it was her first time in a theater.  I was concerned about the scary parts because she has gotten upset at times while watching DVDs at home.  But, she was fine.

By the time the movie was over, the storm clouds were almost gone.  So we headed to the pool.  It was still sprinkling when we got there but no lightening so it was ok to swim.

(Can you stand a few more pool pictures?  It feels like that’s all I’m posting these days.  I promise not to take my camera next time we go to the pool.)

Hey… the noodle is different.  Sarah liked using that as a flotation device to swim across the pool and back. pool sarah

Abby and a noodle.  Those goggles are a permanent fixture on her face while in the pool.  She even has the tan lines to prove it!pool abby

Sarah flying through the air. flying sarah

Daddy has one end of the noodle on the water jet inside the pool and so the water squirts out the end.  Sarah had great fun with that! water fountain

After the pool, we had pizza and baths and went to bed!  What a big day.  The next day, we got up early and drove back to Ohio.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Great Smoky Mountains

The day after the wedding, we decided to drive up into the mountains since we were so close.  Personally, it was not my best day ever:  a bit hot, a bit tired, a bit grumpy, combined with a bit of monthly struggles.  Nuff said.

But I persevered.  And then, we get to the mountains (Cades Cove) and drive along a scenic trail and see a deer grazing right by the road.  I pull my camera out to take a picture, and the battery is DEAD!!!  AARRGGG.

So I ran back to Karen’s car and grabbed her camera and took pictures with hers for both of us. The deer had run off by then.  Just imagine a little deer grazing right there.  :)0 view

We stopped to look at an old church and took a little walk to see a bear up in a tree.  He was really high up so we didn’t get a good look at him.  I was hoping not to run into the mama.  Also hoping not to step in poison ivy.  Notice the inappropriate footwear.  hmmm.1 footwear

Later, we stopped to hike a trail and the park ranger had an otter pelt.2 otter

Some of the group on the bridgebridge

Sarah likes to blaze the trail herself!3 run sarah

It was a pretty (and thankfully SHADY) mile trail up to an old homestead.4 trail

The kids in the barn5 barn

Our new house (I guess it comes with random kids)6 house

They have running water!7 running water

The cuties posing on the stump.  I am sparing you the next picture I took of Abby.  Let’s just say she doesn’t deal well with the heat.8 pose

Back down by the creek9 creek

The water was COLD and refreshing!10 cooling off

After cooling off in the water in which some of us got more than just our feet wet, we got back in the car and drove to my Granny’s farm in Kentucky.