handsful

Abbey, 3 months old

My oldest turns 11 today! I know it’s cliche’, but where DOES the time go? It wasn’t that long ago that I was a brand new mom, unsure of how this mommy-business worked. 11 years and 4 kids later…and I’m still trying to figure that one out!

Abbey is such a special girl. She loves horses, dolphins and most recently monkeys! She’s an “in charge” kind of girl, which can make her relationship with her siblings dicey at times! She has one foot in childhood and one foot in pre-teen (as evidenced by her love of stuffed animals AND her first pair of (slightly!) high heels). She loves Jesus (what more could a mom hope for?) and will be the first to nix any non-creationist ideas from books or TV! Abbey loves all her treasures (a.k.a. she’s a packrat), has a fairly massive sweet tooth (like mom, like daughter), and can’t make up her mind which she enjoys more, horse riding or basketball. She’s our first…the child that transformed us from people to parents. I’ll probably be a little sentimental today, remembering her as a baby…her word for balloon was “boo-num”…how cute is that?? Enjoy the pictures!

9 months old

Abbey, taken last night…last day as 10!

Thought I’d pass along a contest that a fellow blogger “Five Minutes for Mom” is having! Go on over to http://www.5minutesformom.com/, scroll down to “I Love Contests” and sign up. The prize is jewelry hand-made byhttp://www.allisoriginals.com/ Her designs are too cute!

My June-July CCAI Secret Pal sent us 2 wonderful books! A board book called ”I Love You Like Crazy Cakes” which is about a family adopting a baby from China! We also received “When You Were Born in China”, which is also about adopting children from China and has photos of real adoption journeys! My secret pal, obviously knowing my sweet tooth, included Jelly Bellys and chocolate Chinese New Year coins! She said they were for the kids, but I’m sure she won’t mind if I take just a few…Thanks again, Secret Pal!

Randy and I paid a visit to our local travel clinic tonight, to begin our immunizations needed for our trip to China. I spoke to the nurse on the phone a couple of weeks ago and she was so nice and willing to discuss what she thought we would need. There are no requirements for vaccinations for travel to China, only recommendations. So, Randy had his first Hep A/B, I had the Hep A (had the B series years ago), and we both got Tetanus shots. The kids were with us, cheering us on! The girls even presented us with tiny glass bottles, filled with notes that said things like “way to be brave” and “you’re the dad”. How sweet. So, tonight we have sore shoulders and the satisfaction that we’re slowly, but surely taking care of our “things to do before our China trip” list!

This is our kids 3rd season participating in Upward Basketball and Cheerleading. Upward is a Christian sports league that strives to teach children sports, while focusing on salvation, character, and self-esteem. Each practice and game, they earn stars for things like memory verses, best defense, best cheer, and most Christ-like. It is a wonderful organization and the kids wouldn’t miss it. The boys play, Marley cheers, Abbey plays and cheers, and Dad coaches the boys team and Abbey’s team. It makes for very busy…and fun…Saturdays!

100 quilt squares and wishes, I mean! We actually got #100 yesterday, a pretty panda print. Today we received #101 and the one above is #102. Randy will be so psyched to see this one. He’s loved N.C. State since he was a kid and went to college there. As a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, I’m supposed to rant and rave and refuse to allow this square to be used in Lainey’s quilt (ahem…NC State and UNC-CH are rivals). But, I’m not THAT kind of wife!

Thanks to everyone who has given us a square/wish! We are hoping to receive more, so that we can make the actual quilt and a wall-hanging quilt for her room. Or, we might just put them all into the quilt. We have time to figure that out!