HAPPY NEW YEAR

So much time has passed since I last posted. I hope all of you are well. I feel awful that I've lost touch with so many of my Taiwan adoption friends. I miss hearing from you all and think of you often!
Annabella is 2 1/2 now and has been home almost 2 years! It's amazing to watch her grow. She is so loving, caring, and sooooo GIRLY! Which I love!!

She always has us laughing! She loves to dance and play with her brothers and friends. She is in preschool 2 mornings a week at our church and she loves it. She has made a wonderful friend in her class. :)

We had a fun New Years celebration here with our friends. Here she is with her brother Jack.

And a visit from Santa! She wasn't afraid of Santa at all.

Happy New Year to each of you!!!

A fantastic family summer!

There's really nothing like summer! Our family loves it! We spend days at the pool, Kings Island, and visiting with friends.

Here are some pictures of our trip to Hilton Head...




As you can see, Annabella and her brothers had a wonderful time. She LOVED the beach. She is very brave...too brave...in the water! She loves to swim. We have had so much fun and look forward to many more special days ahead.
I hope each of you are having a wonderful summer too!!!

Annabella turns 2!!

Our princess is 2 years old! She had a fun party with 8 of her friends. Here are some fun pictures from her birthday party.

Spring Update

Has it really been that long since my last post? My goodness, how time flies! Annabella will be 2 years old in less than a month! She continues to amaze us each day with her sweet, funny, and curious personality. We have been busy with many playdates and a fun Gymnastics class at our local community center. She LOVES to play with other children and is really drawn to older girls. Her favorite color is yellow, she loves to watch Elmo, and will color and draw for hours! Here are some pictures of some fun Easter events.

As you can see, her brothers adore her!



This was taken on a train ride called The Easter Bunny Express. Annabella LOVED it!
I promise to update again soon. Thanks for being patient with me! :-) We recently bought a new home and are moving soon! Life has been extra busy for us!!! More to come soon.....

Happy Annabella Day!!!

Today is the one year anniversary of the day I finally held Annabella for the first time! I'll never forget that magical moment in Taiwan!! We had a wonderful family day today. We are so blessed. She is doing so well. She is almost 21 months now and is really beginning to talk. She loves to eat!!! She loves her friends and her brothers so much. She is a little cuddle bug with her daddy too. :-) We just love her to pieces. :-)

A funny video of my silly kids

Annabella has some dance moves! :-)

A quick winter update

Santa surprised the kids at our house recently. We had some friends over to watch the Bengals game and the doorbell rang....and it was Santa! Annabella wasn't too sure about him but she did great! She loved the baby doll he gave her.

We were lucky enough to have just enough snow to build a snowman and go sled riding. Annabella LOVES the snow!



Annabella and her friend Arianna have a good time together. She has been able to play with lots of neighbors lately and just loves children!! She is beginning to talk a lot now. Her newest words are snow, Santa, EAT!, chicken, and "take this". She is such an energetic, curious, funny, and loving girl. She has added more joy to our home than I could ever explain. Happy Holidays to each of you!! I'm short on time but promise to try to update in the new year.

18 months and so curious

When I look at these pictures it really makes me realize how fast she is growing up! The weather has been beautiful so we've been "exploring" outside together when the boys are at school. Annabella is so smart and so curious! She amazes me more and more everyday!
Sadly, I had to miss her very first Halloween! I became ill and had to have emergency surgery to have my Appendix removed! No fun! I wasn't able to lift Annabella for over a week....wow, was that tough! But I'm recovering now and we're having such a fun Fall. My wonderful husband took all three kids trick-or-treating by himself....but did he take the camera?! Nope!!! So, not only did I miss the night but no pictures either. :-( Boo-hoo! Oh well, we always have next year!

A fun, fall weekend

Annabella is LOVING the fall and all the Halloween festivities. We have a yearly neighborhood Fall Festival and Annabella was able to wear her princess costume to it....along with most of the girls in the neighborhood. :-)

We also took her to a pumpkin patch to pick out her first pumpkin! Her big brothers were able to show her some of the animals that live at the farm where the pumpkins were sold. She was amazed by the cows and laughed at the chickens. It was so fun! We have so many more fun activities planned this month....hopefully none of my children will catch the nasty virus that is ciruculating in our schools....fingers crossed!

Busy, Busy, Busy....

Our future little cheerleader...

Bryce heading off to second grade...

Wow, have we been BUSY! With school, soccer games, playdates, and other social events....it seems September just flew by! Annabella is doing great! She is now part of a fun playgroup that meets once a week in our neighborhood! She gets to play with other little girls that her own age and she loves it! I've enjoyed watching her interact with the little girls. So fun! The boys are both playing soccer and she LOVES watching them during their games. As you can see from above, we've also introduced her to our favorite NFL team so now she gets to wear her cute little Bengals outfit every Sunday! :-)
We are so excited to spend her first Halloween with her this year too! Can you guess what she's dressing up as? The boys wanted her to be Yoda or R2D2 but Mommy trumped them....a Princess costume is a must this year! :-)
Hope you all are doing great.