NEW FRIENDS...NEW FUN

We had a great time today playing with our new friends, the Ladybugs play group. We met at a wonderful water park. I think the girls could have stayed ALL DAY.

These little girls are just precious and obviously blessings to their families. Unfortunately, I didn't get good individual pictures of each one of them.

‘Lil Miss Firecracker and 2 new friends Thank you MommyFirecracker for inviting us to join your group. We really enjoyed meeting our new friends and seeing PandaMom & PandaGirl again. We'll have to get together again when Snow Bunny and Cheerleader can join us. Oh, and by that time Doodlebug will be here too!!!!!!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY DOODLEBUG!!!

Today is the day that Doodlebug will celebrate her 2nd birthday. We sent a cake to share with her friends at the orphanage, a couple of cameras for pictures, and a teddy bear for Doodlebug. Oh, I hope she enjoys her day and that the nannies take lots of pictures!

The medical report we received says that DB was found near a harbor in Tongling. Her name actually means “harbor.” She was found with a bottle, milk powder and a diaper. As far as we know, there was no note with her date of birth or given name. After examining her, the doctor gave her the birth date of July 30th and the orphanage staff gave her a name in remembrance of where she was found.

The one thing that we found amazing is that Doodlebug’s given birthday is within 2 days of her sweet grandmother’s birthday who passed away one year ago. Secretly, we would love to believe that she shares MeeMee Darling’s birthday….Maybe she does.

Doodlebug was almost 2 months old when she was found and seemed to be in good health. That gives us a little hope that she was well-cared-for the first few weeks of her life. The report stated that she cried a lot during her first two days at the orphanage. She was probably missing the familiarity and comfort of her birth mom…poor thing. She quickly adjusted to the nannies and has developed well over the past 2 yrs.

We can’t wait to get her home and celebrate her birthday AGAIN!!! This time with her FOREVER family and friends!!!

Below are some pictures of her orphanage that I borrowed from another web site. They were taken in 2004 or 2005. Although it looks a lot nicer than the one where Desheng Darling lived, it's still not home.

FOUND THE SCISSORS!!!!!

Woo Hoo! MIRACLES DO HAPPEN!! Brother Darling allowed one of his friends to cut his hair! She’s a cosmetologist. I love the cut and I think he does too. He purposely didn’t smile in the picture…(I don’t always understand why he does what he does.) Lol I’ll catch a smile later on. I'm too busy celebrating right now!

Happy Birthday Daddy Darling

Happy Birthday Daddy Darling! We love you!

Yesterday, we celebrated Daddy Darling’s birthday with dinner at a good Mexican food restaurant and a trip to a local book store…two of Daddy D’s favorite places. (We also talked him into stopping by Target.) He’s so easy to please. He doesn’t ask for much. He’s just happy having the family together.

(Does anyone have a pair of scissors?????? BD's hair has got to go!!!!)

Of course the family takes on a totally different personality when the two older kids get together with Desheng Darling. They tend to act just like their daddy-GOOFY. Sister Darling was in charge of DD (and the camera) in the bookstore. These are the pictures I found on the camera when she returned it to me.

DD’s opinion of Harry Potter books. (Thumbs down!) OK, I know she can’t read well enough to actually know what these are about, but I really hope she never desires to read Harry Potter books. There’s enough good literature our there without experiencing HP!

On the other hand….Sister Darling, what are you letting her listen to????? Get those headphones off!


And this was Brother Darling’s idea….

They were just as well-behaved in Target!
Just trying on hats and looking for birds?????

Peace Out

We all enjoyed Daddy Darling’s b-day. Oh, they’re all crazy, but they’re a lot of fun! I’m not sure Doodlebug has any idea what she is getting into. Lol

Were There Doodlebugs on the Ark? Well, of course there were, but they weren't this cute!

Today, our play group friends gave us a shower for our little Doodlebug using the Noah’s Ark theme. It was WONDERFUL! Everything was so nice….the cake, the presents, and the fellowship! Thank you so much Ski Patrol for having this at your house! We even got a chance to visit with the Panda family. It was so good to seem them again.

I still can’t believe that it is finally happening. Hopefully, in less than a month, we’ll be adding another little girl to our family. We will definitely have to squeeze in a little more to get them all in the picture. Lol

This beautiful cake was made by Team Mom who constantly says that she has “no artistic talent.” Give me a break! I wish I had some of her lack of talent! The cake was beautiful and tasted really yummy!

Of course I couldn’t miss the chance to feature these special shoes. Too cute!

The girls had so much fun today.

They played for a little while indoors, then kicked their shoes off and headed for the jungle gym!

I can put her in a dress with bows, frilly shoes and butterfly wings, but she tends to forget about all of the girly stuff when she sees a good rock climbing wall!

Thank you Ski Patrol, Team Mom, Mommy Spice, and Panda Mom for all of the wonderful gifts and special things you’ve done! Thanks, too, to Mamama and Boppa Spice. It was so nice of you to think about us.

Now, if we could just get on that plane….

PERFECT MATCH

When adopting internationally, you are required to reveal practically your entire life in writing before you are approved to adopt. Every aspect is considered…social, physical, religious, educational, medical, financial, etc. Your complete history, as well as, your future plans are all recorded for the officials to review. Even with all of this information, there’s no way that someone in the matching room could have found a little girl so much like our family without Divine intervention from above. Here are a few examples:

Notice the arrangement of her toys….color coded. When Sister D was young, she arranged ALL of her books according to either the author or publisher. When she cleaned her room, she straightened every part of it…even inside the dresser drawers! She played for hours just lining up her toys….so orderly (something she inherited from Daddy D, not me). I hope DD will continue this habit.

In this picture DD is helping Brother Darling put together a chest of drawers. Aunt Muh, Nanny and Aunt Sherry will be happy to know that it finally got built! We received it as a gift when we came home from China with DD….so we’ve been a little dilatory in our efforts. Hey, better late than never, right? What’s amazing is that Brother D actually called DD upstairs to “help” him. He’s definitely not one to offer to visit with a 4 yr. old without being asked. I think she makes him feel pretty special! She told me the other day that he was her best friend. He achieved this great status because he helped her find the armhole in her shirt when she was trying to get dressed and her arm just wouldn’t go where it was supposed to go. Lol Again, Brother D needs a little encouragement from time to time, so DD is a great boost for him! Just what he needed.
Besides her rather large feet and brown eyes, DD is like me in some ways, too. In earlier posts, I’ve mentioned that DD was really enjoying learning to read with Hooked on Phonics. She gets to add a star to her chart (on the refrigerator) for each book she reads. She now has 10 stars!!!! The HOP kit also includes a CD with games to reinforce what she has learned. She cannot move to a higher level game until she masters the game she is on. As she masters it, a star is added on the computer. Today, I let her work on the computer as long as she wanted. Here are her results: A star on every game…

I kept telling her that she could stop at any time. Her response to me was that she didn't want to stop until she completed every game which is quite challenging for a 4 yr old. A few years ago, my job required that I do an analysis guaranteed to identify my “strengths.” Administrators did this district-wide. My top “5 Strengths” were (1) Competition, (2) Achiever, (3) Learner, (4) Input and (5) Responsibility. Hmmmmm...sounds pretty descriptive of Desheng Darling, too.

SHE DID IT!

Like I said, she is a perfect match for our family….

SHE EVEN HAS HER DADDY'S GREAT TASTE IN FASHION!!!

‘Lil Miss Firecracker…A Blast!!!

Desheng Darling and Spicy Girl made a special trip to a mall to meet a new friend, Little Ms. Firecracker (center). What a cutie! When LMF’s mother saw that Doodlebug was from the same province as Lil Miss Firecracker, she emailed me. I am so glad that she did. We made arrangements to meet at a mall about ½ between our two towns and we all had a great time today!
The girls started out in the play area, but quickly found their way to a special table in the mall where a lady was making balloon animals and giving away free ice cream. Unfortunately, just about EVERY other child in the mall made it to the table before we did. lol

The girls waited in line…

And waited some more… Finally, it was their turn to get a balloon sculpture!!!! The lady was actually very talented, but my pictures don’t do justice to her craft. DD asked for a black poodle, Lil Miss Firecracker got a Dalmatian, and SG got a teddy bear with a heart. The girls played well together. Sometimes they were quite serious.

Other times...they were just plain goofy!!
The girls finished the day off with a dish of ice cream with sprinkles and M&Ms!!!! Yum Yum! ….the results of a little too much sugar!!!!!!! What a great day!

SATURDAY WITH SISTER D

Saturday was a busy day for Mama and Daddy Darling as we worked to get our yard back in shape after all the rain. It's been hard to find a break in between showers to actually mow and use electrical lawn equipment. It’s amazing how fast weeds can grow in the flowerbeds!!!!! I have to ask myself why we spend so much money to fertilize and water a yard so that we can spend over half the day in unbearable heat on Saturday mowing, edging, and weed-eating ALL SUMMER LONG….Hmmm, it really doesn’t make much sense.
You can tell that DD is less than thrilled with the heat and yard work. Here she is taking a break in the shade eating a snack of dry cereal that she got for herself.

Sister Darling came to visit…after all the work was done…

DD read books to Sister D and played Leapster with her. DD now has 6 stars on her reading chart! She’s coming right along.

The expression on her face says it all! DD loves being around her big sister. She’s never more than a few feet away from her the entire time that SD is here.

Zzzzzzzz…A true sign of a great visit!

TUESDAY'S TRAVELS

We started our day out with a trip to Brother Darling’s doctor. DD wore the new dress I made her. She looked so cute. (She just needs a pair of those cute flip flops like SG and SB bought yesterday!) I’m really dreading the day that she becomes adamant about picking out her own clothes…and I know the day is coming!





After lunch we began working with our Hooked on Phonics program. DD just couldn’t wait any longer. The problem with DD is that she just doesn’t know when to quit. When she found out that she could get star stickers for reading, she refused to stop until she had read a book. Here is a picture of her chart with her first star.

She has already been asking about doing it again today. I told her we would start after lunch, so she’s been asking for lunch all morning!!!!

Last night was Kids’ Night at Chic-fil-a. DD and Spicy Girl had a great time. So did we. We were actually able to visit with Mommy and Daddy Spice without too many interruptions….that’s rare.




After dinner, we stopped by Target where DD enjoyed shopping for shoes. She seems to be attracted to the ones with heels and sparkles. Should I be worried?


Needless to say, she was exhausted by the time we got home, but she still wanted to read me a book or two. She read the first book in her kit, CAT.



Then she read her Cars book, Old , New, Red, Blue


I checked on her before we went to bed and she had her CAT book on her pillow, so I moved it and placed it back in the kit. At 3:00 a.m. she woke us up crying because her book wasn’t where she had left it. I DEFINITELY THINK SHE’S HOOKED ON PHONICS!