Saturday Morning Cinnamon Roll Saga

Daddy Darling made cinnamon rolls for the girls Saturday morning. They were DELICIOUS. When Doodlebug discovered the melted icing on the bottom of the pan…she pushed her little red chair up to the counter top and went to town. Mmmm... finger-licking good! Sharing with Desheng Darling was not an idea that Doodlebug came up with on her own. After a bout of pushing and shoving, combined with several tears, DB allowed DD to to join her. Peace...at last. (Well, at least until lunch time. lol)

Oops! This was supposed to be at the bottom of my previous post! Oh well... Don't forget to read it.

GOTCHA DAY #4...3 Years!

The most amazing thing happened this week and the timing was perfect! On October 25th, 2004 a man placed Desheng Darling in my arms. He had tears in his eyes as he handed her to me and he told me that DD’s best friend had been adopted by a family in Spain on the same day. As I looked through our pictures from the SWI I found several pictures of DD and her friend. Of course, I never thought we would ever be able to locate this precious little girl.
I had a friend post this picture on a Yahoo group and amazingly, this little girl’s mother responded! I couldn’t believe it!!!! It seems that both of our daughters were very special to this man and his wife who work at the SWI.

She sent me several pictures of DD that were taken previously to any I have. She even sent me some current pictures of her daughter. She’s a little older than DD. This is how they look now…Still cute as can be!

Although Gotcha Day was last Thursday, we celebrated today so that Daddy Darling could enjoy the day with us. We baked a chocolate cake, DD’s FAVORITE. Then, we went to eat Chinese food and on to Dixie’s to buy DD a Big Sis charm and a kitty charm for her Gotcha Day bracelet.
I can’t believe that we have had DD for 3 years. Time flies when you’re having fun. It just doesn’t seem possible. Adopting her was one of the biggest steps of faith that we have ever taken and we are so thankful that God has blessed us with her. We love our little Desheng Darling so much and look forward to many, many more Gotcha Day celebrations. There are pictures from our previous Gotcha Days, as well as today’s pictures in this slide show. She just gets more precious every day. Oops! The slide show is in the post above this one! ...oh pooh.

A FEW DAYS WITH PAWPAW

It’s no wonder that the girls have been enjoying PawPaw’s visit so much this week. Not every grandfather is willing to wear Dora Kitchen pan LIDS on his ears!!!! DD and DB don’t get to see PawPaw very often so they really take advantage of him when he comes to visit. LOL I actually think he enjoys it, too.

He has been a real trooper. He even went with us to play group on Monday.
Doodlebug and SpicyGirl had a great time Monday at the mall.

TUESDAY:Desheng Darling and Doodlebug wore their cute little leopard print skirts to the dentist on Tuesday. I just wish DD’s dental x-rays had been as cute as her skirt! Can you believe that this beautiful smile needs another crown??? Say it isn’t so.
DD getting ready to give Doodlebug a kiss. So sweet!
Sister Darling made a special visit to see PawPaw. Of course she enjoyed playing with her two little darling sisters, too. We just love it when she comes to visit.
WEDNESDAY: Just a cute picture of DD and DB after their bath. Little bundles of joy! Getting ready to take PawPaw on a wild trip to Target and Wal-Mart. LOL

LIKE DADDY, LIKE DAUGHTER?????

Oh, I hope not!!!!! LOL

(I'm so glad that this was just a tattoo sleeve...YIKES!)

Like Mother Like Daughter...

Well, reality set in this morning when Doodlebug and Desheng Darling requested that I tie a cord on their glasses so that they could be “like Mama.” I mean…what an eye-opener! Talk about feeling really old! Seriously, there has to be something wrong when you have to put on your reading glasses to see the information on the diaper package! LOL
Oh well, I know that I’m too old to be keeping up with a 2 yr. old but I’m doing pretty well…so far. Maybe I should just consider bi-focal contacts. Hmmmm.

I’ll admit to having a cord on my reading glasses… but I have no idea why they are eating popcorn with a spoon!!! I don’t do that.

Bouncing Off of the Walls

Our play group met at eXtreme Jump yesterday. It's a place full of air-filled obstacle courses, slides, a bounce house, games, etc. The girls had a great time, but it was hard for me to get pictures that weren't blurry. After bouncing off of the walls (literally), the girls came over to our house for lunch and a little more play time. They all enjoyed "dressing-up", except Cheerleader (who thinks playing dress up is over-rated). lol Oh well, however much overated it may be, DoodleBug and Desheng Darling continued dressing-up even after the other girls went home...

Party Girls

Yesterday, Doodlebug attended her first birthday party in the U.S. PandaGirl invited us to help her celebrate her 5th birthday. We all had a great time!

PandaGirl and Desheng Darling Even Daddy Darling enjoyed the party.

The girls had a great time jumping in the bounce house, eating birthday cake and helping PandaGirl open her gifts.
For some strange reason Desheng Darling felt compelled to sing a song in Chinese for the entire group right in the middle of PandaGirl’s gift unwrapping time. Sorry PG…

The theme of PandaGirl’s b-day party was “Horses.” http://www.pandapalooza.blogspot.com/
PandaMom cleverly used bandanas as part of her decorating scheme. Doodlebug, however, had her own decorating ideas. LOL

Bejeweled?

Just getting ready to go to the grocery store can be quite an ordeal at our house these days. After giving the girls a bath and making sure they were dressed appropriately, I went back to the bedroom to get myself ready to go. When I returned to the living room, I noticed that the girls had added a little jewelry to their attire!!! They thought they looked lovely…

However, Doodlebug soon learned that too much of a good thing can be a little overwhelming at times.

Thank you Santa Sandra for cleaning out your jewelry box. Evidently, one person’s trash can be another one’s treasure. LOL

Favorite Photo Friday

Could Doodlebug's true personality be beginning to emerge?

Uh-oh...

Our Little Pumpkins in the Patch

This is our third year to take our little pumpkins to a pumpkin patch. It was fairly cool this morning with just a touch…and I mean a small touch… of fall in the air. The girls are still wearing shorts, sunscreen and insect repellant, but it’s still considered fall in Texas. Desheng Darling and Doodlebug were not in the mood for pictures, but I managed to get a few shots of them.

We missed you cheerleader!

We bought a few pumpkins and then we were off to more important things like playing in the park!

THANKS, AUNT MUH!

Although the weather is supposedly changing around here, today was very hot and humid…a great day for the girls to wear these cute dresses made by my wonderful Aunt Muh (This is what DD calls her.) This may be the last time they get to wear them this year, so I wanted to post a few pictures to show them off. I truly believe that if Aunt Muh can’t make it; it CAN’T BE MADE. She’s amazing!

(The ankle bracelets were DD’s idea.)

Great dresses for acting goofy!!!!

After the pictures we went to Mardel’s to buy a copy of The Pumpkin Patch Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs

This is a wonderful book recommended by Adele at A Mei Mei for Mallory http://www.doublehappinessinrichton.blogspot.com/ I’m really glad I found it since we are planning to go to the pumpkin patch tomorrow with our play group. The book takes the focus off the jack-o-lanterns associated with Halloween; instead it puts the focus on glorifying God by letting him shine in our lives.
They are very active girls, but they do sleep occasionally!

Doodlebug is beginning to say a few words in English. Of course some words and phrases are essential to know. She learned this essential one tonight while watching television with Daddy Darling:

TOUCHDOWN DALLAS!

(She didn’t get to say it much in tonight's game, but you just never know when it might come in handy.)

LONG DISTANCE FRIENDS

It’s been almost 3 years since we traveled to China to get Desheng Darling. It just doesn’t seem possible that so much time has passed! We traveled with a fantastic group of people. Unfortunately for us, most of them are from states much farther north than ours, so we don’t get to see them very often. Today we missed another opportunity to see them when our group held their 3rd reunion in New Jersey and we weren’t able to go. I was really looking forward to seeing everyone, but it just didn’t work out for us…maybe next year. Possibly, someone will send me pictures. Oh...I hope so!!!!

Our girls didn’t take it too hard though… They had their own celebration...
as Princess Presto (the Super Reader) and her sidekick. Yes, you’re right…too much television! I don’t have a clue what they were celebrating but they seemed to be having a great time.

Dancing with Mei Mei, Then Lunch with the Green Giant

Desheng Darling received the Dance and Learn Chinese with Mei Mei DVD for Christmas. It’s a great program featuring young Chinese girls singing in Chinese and dancing. She liked it, but it lost its appeal after a short while. We took this DVD to China with us last month when we went to get Doodlebug. When we played it for her on the plane, she was fascinated! She was glued to the screen. Even now, if I turn it on she comes RUNNING from wherever she is to watch it! She seems to understand exactly what they are saying and she loves to copy their dance moves. It’s really funny, although I wonder sometimes if she is just trying to hold on to what she feels is familiar.

After the dance recital, the girls decided that they wanted to decorate cookies. Our friend whom I’ve nicknamed Santa Sandra gave the girls a kit that included everything they needed to decorate school bus cookies! (She gives the girls a gift EVERY time she sees them…and we wonder why they are rotten.) Anyway, we had a great time decorating them, but it was hard to keep Doodlebug from eating the decorations before putting them on the cookies! LOL

The real surprise was when I found the broccoli/carrots dish that I forgot to get out of the microwave to go with their lunch which they had just finished. Doodlebug got so excited that she quit decorating the cookie and began to eat the veggies! Desheng Darling joined her. Now if I had really wanted them to eat the vegetables, you know they wouldn’t have touched them. LOL!

Great advertising for Green Giant Frozen Vegetables!

CAMOUFLAGE CUTIES

We really enjoyed our day today at the mall with our play group. It’s been awhile since we've met at the mall, so it was a good change. DD and Doodlebug wore their new pink and green camouflage capri pants. They looked so cute. Of course, Daddy Darling liked them, too. I bought them on clearance at The Children’s Place for just $3.00!

Fabulous 4 out of 5! Doodlebug couldn’t climb this high by herself and the girls were moving so fast that I felt fortunate to get this shot. There was no time to place DB up there.

Here’s #5!

These girls are so much fun. We are really blessed to get to share our lives with them…

I don’t know how they talked me into this. Actually, I think I said “No,” but Brother Darling didn’t know this when he helped them get set up.

Doodlebug used a brush for awhile, then decided that finger painting was more fun!

Not long after we had cleaned up the paint, the girls decided to show their artistic ability through another avenue….Fashion Design!

They proudly displayed their creations as we took a walk through the neighborhood. (Perhaps we should encourage them more in the fields of math and science rather than the arts.) Just another Marvelous Monday!!!