Our 16th Wedding Anniversary!

Today we are celebrating our 16th anniversary! It seems like so long ago! I love looking back at photos of that special day. I also am still so in love with my sweet hubby, I don't know what I would do without him. Happy Anniversary Sweetie! I love this new Brad Paisley song, so perfect for today!

Last Day of School 2009 and 8th Grade Dinner

First Day of 8th Grade..... Last Day of 8th Grade!

Pictures from the 8th Grade Dinner and Awards Banquet The dinner is held in the high school cafeteria for the 8th graders. It was a semi formal event, the girls were really dressed up.

After the awards we snapped this shot, Dayton had already untucked his shirt.

Zach, Andrew and Dayton have been good friends for years, both boys are moving to new schools and we will miss them.

My good friend Debbie and her son Zach (one of Dayton's good friends too)

Kelly and Linda after hearing Austin's name announced, see Miss Whitney there too!

Doesn't he look thrilled to be taking this picutre!

Dayton and some of his good buddies.

Dayton and Big Gene, I am always amazed at the size differences at this age.
Myah and Whitney loving their time together.Myah and Kayla, she received so many wonderful awards that night. Kayla is Myah's babysitter and good friend (her twin brother is Justin in the next picture)
Dayton and one of his best friends Justin, they were walking around together checking out the "chicks". Oh boy.

Today is Dayton's last day of 8th grade, that means that in an hour and a half he will be going into high school! It will take me all summer to let that sink in! We are so proud of him and the young man that he is becoming. He attended the honors award banquet and received the 2 year honor roll award. Our good friend Austin received Outstanding 8th grade student that evening. We were sitting next to Kelly and Linda (his parents, remember them, they are Whitney's parents) when it was announced and they were so emotional. It was a great night. 44% of Dayton's 380 students were on the 2 year honor roll, that is pretty good I would say. They are a great class, full of great kids. We are very fortunate that Dayton has surrounded himself with good friends with great families. I am sure the next 4 years are going to go by very quickly but we are all excited and anxious to see what the future holds!

Gotcha Day 3 Year Anniversary!

Our first Gotcha Day....Our Second Gotcha DayOur 3rd Gotcha DayAnd this year, our 4th.....

Myah and Sarah with their sweet Chinese Dolls that Sheri gave them.

Today we celebrated our 3 year Gotcha Day anniversary with Sarah and her family. We met up for Chinese food and a trip to the park. We have all been so busy, but this is such a special day to all of us and we love being able to share our joy and memories with them. It seems like just yesterday that we saw Myah for the first time! We will never forget seeing that face and knowing that she was ours standing upstairs in the Civil Affairs building in Wuhan. We love her so much and we will always celebrate this day with her, our forever family day. We love you Myah!

Happy 4th Birthday Myah!

Today our sweet (hmm) little Myah turns 4 years old. I am still thinking she should only be turning 3. Time has flown since she entered our family almost 3 years ago (this coming weekend!), it is truly hard to imagine a time without her in it. She has filled a huge void in our family that we never really knew existed. She has grown so much physically and emotionally in the past year. She is now 35 pounds and growing like a weed, she wears a size 9 shoe and wears a 4T in most clothes and some 5's even. She is not the petite little Chinese girl that I had imagined, but so much more. She is still breathtaking beautiful. I am used to people staring at her now, but I still see people taking a second glance at her or pointing at her saying " oh look at her!". Thankfully she doesn't "get it" yet or she would have even more reason to want attention. She loves attention, all of it, she does not like to share it at all, especially with Dayton. It is all or nothing for this spicy little girl. Lately she is getting so bossy! The other night my friend Pam and I took Myah on a walk to see the horses in the neighborhood, we stopped to talk to another neighbor and Myah piped up and said "you ladies are wasting my time". Oh boy. Mark and I are pretty stern parents so we are constantly redirecting her actions and words. She seems to be in trouble alot and it really doesn't seem to bother her. I am praying that this is just a phase, she is very independent and headstrong. She loves to talk, like nonstop. A true girl that is for sure! Sometimes I am amazed that the same little girl can be the most caring, compassionate and loving child that she is. She loves to give kisses and hugs and says the most tender prayers at night, mostly about people or things that I would never think of. I love that about her, she notices what is going on around her. She has always been one to seek out the "forgotten ones" and knows how to charm them and make them feel important. I think that is just in her soul. She can be funny too, some things that she says leave Mark and I in stitches. Of course the fact that she has a 14 year old brother could have something to do with that! She loves to play "office", loves envelopes, paper, tape etc. Just yesterday she sat and filled out index cards, put them in envelopes, stuffed them in a baggie with fruitsnacks and sunflower seed and left them on the front porch for our "people". Not sure who that is but she did hand deliver some of them to special neighbors. She loves to write and draw, she is very artistic in her own right. We went to an art fair yesterday and she went into the booths and noticed many details that I would have overlooked, we had to drag her out of the booths. She loves to use pens, to a fault, I will find her with pen on her legs, hands, paper, in her books etc. I have learned to keep them out of sight until I can supervise her. She also will tell you herself "I am obsessed with gum" and she is. Can't get enough of it, begs for it, smells it when you have it, etc. Luckily the dentist told us it is good for her to use with her crowns on her teeth. She is becoming more and more social, she loves to talk to people who warm up to her. If Myah is your friend you will know it, she won't leave you alone, when she is comfortable she will run into your arms when she sees you. She is a fan favorite at baseball games everybody knows her, is a chick magnet as Dayton has happily learned, loves sports...I found her the other day playing pitcher/catcher with a little boy and she was wearing a catchers mask, loves nature..birds, plants, flowers, animals etc... also loves Dora, Diego, backpacks, purses, lipgloss, clothes, shoes and hats, so I still have a girly girl on my hands for now! I want to keep all of these memories because I know that soon she will be outgrowing all of these little life moments that are so important to a young child, I want her to enjoy being "little" even though she doesn't like to be called that. She is my little sidekick and her and I are good buddies, she loves to go garage sailing with me and gets so excited to look for treasures, she is so cute she even scores free things! Oh brother! She also is a Daddy's girl, he lights up when he sees her and she does the same. I know they told us her birthday was approximated, it is said to be June 1st but I have to believe in my heart that there is a huge possibility that she was born on Mark's birthday, the day before hers, because they have such a bond and closeness. We will never know for sure.

We are so thankful that God placed this little girl in our lives at just the right time and place. I am amazed at myself sometimes when I forget that we adopted her, she is just ours and we are hers and that whole trip to China becomes something in our past. I guess that is how it is supposed to be afterall isn't it? Happy 4th Birthday to our precious daughter!