The Art of Making Mud Pies

Summer is here for us already.  It has been gorgeous and in the low 80's for a few weeks now.  The nights still drop down into the 50's.  This is perfect weather in my book minus having an ocean close by. 

We have a section on the side of our house that is suppose to be for growing things, lol.  I dont have a green thumb so the kids have turned it into their mudpie making outdoor kitchen!  Ava enjoys it the most she will play for hours and be covered head to toe and Rowen loves to follow her. She taught him for the first time last week how to make mud pies.

They had a blast together and there came a point when I had to put the camera away so I could help them clean up and get sprayed down before coming back in the house.

I wish I was good at gardening so I could turn this area into some yummy organic food and spices. But honestly I just dont have the time to learn what it takes.

I think we will instead built a chicken coop over here and get a few chickens.  It is the perfect area for them to have free range.  And we benefit from them taking care of all our nasty bugs and spiders we have here in AZ.

Ava totally adores her baby brother. He is half her size yet she still attempts to carry him around. He loves her room and loves to sit at her little table the draw with her.  And Ava loves to mother him.

Rowen is such a blessing to our family, we cant imagine life without him.  He is always so happy and such a joy.  He is so lost when everyone leaves for school and it is just us.  He much prefers the craziness of all the troops being around.

Miss Ava has come a long way.  She is finally sleeping through the night after almost 5 years of having trouble.  We still have bed time issues but we are working with an amazing adoption therapist that I think will help us so much. We are also going to do some testing to pin point so other issues that we have noticed for awhile too.  Ava also receives speech therapy and really enjoys learning how to make the correct sounds.  Mommy has been her family translator for a few years now. 

She enjoys school so much but does struggle in a few areas so we are going back and forth about repeating kindergarten next year. We did it with two of our boys and it was the best decision we ever made.  I would hate to see her continue to struggle in the areas she does all through school and it will only get harder.

Next post I hope to have an update on Miss Gemma.  Just wanted to get some recent pictures to go along with it.

Our Family Has Grown Again!

It has been over 2 years since I have blogged.  I gave up shortly after coming home with Gemma. First things first I had an old dinosaur computer that would take forever to load one picture and I got frustrated not to be able to post pictures when blogging.  Second, about 8 weeks after coming home with Gemma God showed us he was in control again and I found out I was pregnant!  I was so ill the whole pregnancy and did not feel like doing much.  I was also introduced to Facebook at that time and that made it much easier to keep family and friends updated for me.

On November 11th 2011 we welcomed Rowen into the world. Boy #5 and lucky #7.  He is now 16 months and the best baby ever.  He spoiled to death by all his siblings and knows it.

Ava recovered beautiful from her heart surgery and only has to check in once a year! Yay!! She just turned 6 at the end of January and is half way through Kindergarten.  She is still our ball of energy and keeps us all on our toes. Ava enjoys gymnastics and Hip Hop dance every week.

 Gemma has been home over 2 years now and is doing amazing.  She is in 5th grade this year and loves school.  We also continue to do Mandarin classes and she has kept her Chinese.  She does struggle with oral but understands and can write and read Mandarin.  We are trying to find a tutor that can help her more with the oral.  She also loves gymnastics and goes twice a week.  She is a fantastic helper with her little brother Rowen and was very excited when we found out we were expecting.

 Preston turns 18 next month, yikes!!!  He is also a senior this year and graduates in May.  His plan is to stick around next year and work, work, work so he can attend a film school in Northern Arizona.  He still keeps us laughing with his movies and videos and is an awesome big brother.  He has gotten a few gigs doing music videos for some local bands.

 Soren started his first year of High school this year and loves it.  He is our straight A+ student!  He is loving his welding class this year and is very talented in that department.  He enjoys hangin with his friends everyday.  And also an awesome big brother!

 Gavin is in his last year of Junior High.  His is playing the Sax for the third year now and we love going to his concerts.  He is also our Ice Hockey player and spends a lot of time on the ice!  Also an awesome big brother! :)

 Keaton is enjoying 3rd grade this year.  He and Gemma ride their bikes to school every morning.  We still enjoy his wild imagination and artwork.  He started Ice Hockey this winter also and seems to be enjoying it.  He absolutely adores little Rowen and can never get enough of him.

Party of Nine!

 That is it in a nutshell for now.  We also moved to another state to be closer to family when we found out we were pregnant, so this last two years has been crazy!  I hope to do a better job now at blogging, at least better than every 2 years, lol.  Looks like I will need to start with a blog makeover.

Any questions for us, let me know.  I hope to do a more detailed up date of the girls soon.

(I need to figure out the picture thing on here too because these are super blurry. Also these pictures were all taken by a sweet photography friend Jill Candland)

Open Heart Surgery for Ava today!

All is going well in our family and Gemma is still doing awesome!! I need to do an update really bad!

Just wanted to let everyone know Ava went in for Open Heart Surgery this morning at 8:15am Mountain time. She is having her pulmonary valve replaced and her pulmonary artery fixed. They told us it will be a 5-7 hour surgery. We will keep everyone updated, not sure if anyone still even reads this blog anymore. I need to get back to blogging!!

Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts, it means so much to our family!!!

Two months with Gemma!

Okay to began where we left off! Another month with Gemma home.

About a week before Christmas break Gemma started school part time. She has been placed in the 3rd grade and attends a charter school with Gavin and Keaton. She was beyond excited to start and counted down every day! My husband, Ava and I walked her down to her class. Her teacher and classmates where expecting her. They had made a wonderful welcome poster on the door of the class and had pictures from our china trip on it. Everyone in the class had signed it. Her teacher had taken the time to read our entire travel blog to get to know our family and Gemma better!

We continued to walk her in for 2 more days and showed Keaton where her class was so he could have the privilege to make sure she got to her class okay every morning.

School has been going great and she is still very happy and enjoys going every day. She is kind of a rock star and has made many friends quickly. Some of her classmates now argue over who will walk her to her class when the school doors open in the morning. Keaton is kind of bent out of shape because of this.

We had a beautiful Christmas break and the weather was beautiful for our neck of the woods. The kids got lots of outside play and it was not too cold to enjoy it. Gemma has taken a liking to the Razor scooter, jump roping, and hula hoop. She is very good at all of them!

Ava showing Gemma how it is done!

A week before Christmas some great friends of ours came over from California to visit for two weeks. They have family just 30 minutes north of us so we were still close enough to get together many times in that two weeks. They have three amazing kids; Jacob 18, Emily 15 and Hannah 3 1/2. I have talked about this family before on my blog. We met in a very special way last November of 2009. Their daughter Hannah and our Ava were crib mates in China for almost 15 months before being adopted. Our families hit if off and enjoy that we have this special bond with our girls. Ava was beside herself knowing that Hannah was coming to visit. We had them over for dinner one night after they arrived. The girls have so many of the same mannerisms and facial expressions, it just melts my heart seeing them together here on the other side of the world! We have some very touching stories about them in the orphanage that the nannies had shared with our families.

Yes, this is only two families! ha

We got invited over to their extended family's house for a Christmas party the week before Christmas. We only knew our friends but it was still fun nevertheless. I think Gemma really enjoyed being part of a celebration and feeling part of a bigger family. She and the rest of the kids had a great time.

Gavin and Hannah

Keaton digging in

We stayed home this Christmas and did not have any family come this year so it was such a blessing to be able to spend it with great friends.

I have never seen so much excitement from a 9 year old child about Christmas. The amazement and wonder in her eyes was priceless. Christmas eve we took the three little's to see St. Nick. He was in a cute part of old town in a little cabin. It was beautiful and almost 60 degrees, which was wonderful for waiting in line outside. Gemma was not sure what to think of him but he was very kind and we got some great pictures. Ava even drew Santa a picture!

St. Nick and the little's

We have the tradition of opening one present on Christmas eve. We always do this after dinner. I made a yummy roast in the crock pot with potatoes and carrots and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas eve dinner. We had also baked and decorated sugar cookies earlier in the day. The kids all sat at the table for hours working on cookies. They started off very traditional but with 4 boys they got creative with the icing color and the cookies! Everyone enjoyed the gift they opened and off to bed they went early.

And their set

Gemma's first cookie

Christmas cookies

Then the boys got crazy and creative!

We woke the kids up at 6am Christmas morning to see the presents St. Nick had left and then it was time to get ready for church. We are so blessed Gemma came to us knowing the true meaning of Christmas and that it was Jesus' Birthday! After a beautiful Christmas Mass we headed home to snap a quick family pic, change clothes, have a quick breakfast and sit down to pass out the gifts. Gemma was just grinning ear to ear. We opened our presents by taking turns and going from youngest to oldest, one at a time. Gemma caught on very quickly and knew it was her turn when Keaton was done! ha Ava actually understood and enjoyed Christmas much more this year too. The older kids really did a great job at getting excited for the little ones.

Ava got the diaper bag she had been wanting!

Keaton and his "surprise" look

Explaining Gemma's gift card from Papa and Lori to her

Gavin

Soren

Preston

We broke from tradition this year with no family in town and decided we did not want to spend the whole day cooking and preparing dinner and then have all the clean up. We wanted to enjoy each other and the kids and have a very relaxing day. So at 4pm we headed to our favorite Japanese restaurant for an early dinner. It was a hit and we enjoyed bento boxes, sushi, noodles and much more! We came back home to a clean kitchen and enjoyed yummy cookies, fudge, and pies!

We enjoyed a couple more get togethers with our friends from California and it was sad to say good bye. We will see them this June when we head to California for a mini vacation.

The little's getting crazy

Trying to get them to settle for a picture!

Super Ava to the rescue!

During Christmas break we also took the family to see "Tangled". Everyone loved it!! It was Gemma's first movie and she was very excited to have popcorn and watch the movie. This was only the second movie Ava has ever been to and she sat and watched the entire movie, which is big for her. When the movie was over Ava told me she wanted hair like Rapunzel, so cute.

On January 2nd our church had its annual Christmas pageant. The pageant is for all kids five and up in the parish that are interested. Keaton was a shepherd and Gemma was a star angel. She was not quite sure what was going on so we had our friend Linda explain it to her. I think she really enjoyed dressing up, she did a great job and even try to sing the Christmas carols.

Yes, the older kids enjoy photo bombing the pics!

Gemma seems to be fitting in very well. There has not really been any big issues. She and Ava have their moments but it is nothing major. She is very trusting of us. She is doing better in the car and no longer getting sick but Gemma is very much a home body. When we are out and about she always wants to know when we will be home. Her English is slowly coming along but it is still very hard to communicate without a translator. I think school will help in that department. She goes to bed easily and sleeps well every night. Ava is doing much better in the sleeping department too, thank you God!

Gemma continues to talk to her foster brother via QQ a couple times a week. She has also called her foster mother once. Her foster mother was very excited to hear from her and to know she was okay and safe.

The things we have to work on the most are manners and cultural differences but it is coming along. She is a very quick learner with a goofy sense of humor. We have had some funny translation moments and we all just laugh. She continues to speak to her friend Faith every couple of weeks on skype but the conversations are not as long because Faith has picked up English very quickly and does not speak Chinese much anymore. Since Gemma's English is slow coming this makes their skype sessions a little more difficult but I think they still enjoy seeing each other.

Gemma continues to go to Chinese school on Sundays but has been on break over Christmas. We start up again next week. We still meet with our friend Linda every week or so, she is a wonderful Chinese mentor for Gemma. We use this time to tell each other things and ask questions of one another. Linda also makes Chinese food for Gemma every time she see hers. We are very blessed to have Linda as a friend and to be so generous with her time! Gemma calls her Ayi (Auntie).

I still cant believe we have 6 children now, have to pinch myself. Every chair at our table is now filled and now when we have company we have to break out the card table and extra chairs.

Thanks for following along!

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!!!

FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!!!

(Where are Ava's arms? Behind her holding onto my skirt. ha)

Over 1 month with Gemma!!

Cant believe Gemma has been with us for over a month now!! That paper chase is a very distant memory. Gemma was so happy to get off those planes and see her forever home. We walked through the front door and she walked right in and plopped down on and couch and said Awwwwwwwww!! After resting for a few minutes she wanted the grand tour of her new home.

All her siblings have been so excited and have welcomed Gemma with open arms. If anyone is having a little bit of a hard time it is Ava. Not so much because of Gemma but just missing us so much when we were gone, it was very hard on her.

Watching Chinese cartoons with Gemma

Two days after coming home we made a trip to the dentist. Normally I would not have done that so soon. But Gemma had been complaining of her teeth hurting in China and asked to see a dentist. I could tell she had some major rot and abscessed teeth. She also had 5 broken adult teeth from a fall at school earlier in the year. She did get a little nervous not sure what was going to happen. We had a dear friend of ours explain it to her in Mandarin. They did an exam and cleaning and she did great!! She did give my hand a big squeeze a few times but she was very brave. Well the verdict was 12 cavities, 2 teeth to be removed, 3 root canals, and 5 broken teeth that need major reconstruction. The day we left China Gemma starting throwing up a couple times a day, then we thought it was nerves but now we know it was from the infections in her mouth. She continued to throw up until we got her on antibiotics for the abscessed teeth.

She has had half the work done already on her teeth and she is very happy. We are taking a month break then in January we will start the reconstruction of the broken teeth. She is such a brave girl and we are very proud of her.

Gemma has been a very obedient little girl. She has said NO a few times but I believe it was just a little testing in the beginning and there have been a few times she was not happy with me and gave me ugly looks. Overall she seems to be very happy in her new family. She loves giving hugs and tells us Thank you and love you often. Language has not been a problem at all, this girl is an expert at charades and the translator on the ipod has helped too. Like I said before we also have a couple of good friends that speak Mandarin that have been a great help too. Not just with translating when needed but with teaching me how to cook some of Gemma's favorite Chinese food.

One week after being home Gemma also started a local Sunday Chinese language school. It is 2 hours every Sunday and she loves it and looks forward to it every week. It is very important to us that she keeps her native language and we hope this helps.

Gemma has also been begging to go to school with her brothers. We have not decided when that will happen but I think she would thrive in it and it is what she is use to. In china she attend a private school and was in 3rd grade. She was a very good student and loves school.

The hardest thing so far for Gemma is driving in a car. She hates it. We live way out in the country and it is 7 miles just to the nearest store. So we spend a lot of time in the car every day.

She has enjoyed Skyping with her friend Faith from China that was adopted at the same time. Gemma also used QQ to talk with her older foster brother in China.

About 2 weeks after being home she begged to get her ears pierced. So she has some pretty flower earrings in her ears and loves them.

We just cant believe how well things have gone. We have not had any meltdowns or any major challenges. Thank God!!! I know it is still early but I would be surprised if serious issues started now.

I will say we had some tears last night. She became sad and got in a funk for a few hours. I ask her why she was sad and she said she missed Chinese food. She was downstairs crying and I did not know because I was cooking dinner. Keaton came up and told me Gemma was crying. I think it did not help because my husband left on his first business trip after coming home and I think it hit Gemma hard to have him gone. Momma gave lots of hugs and told her to talk to me so I can help her. Told her I loved her and wanted her to be happy in her new family. She was good to go after that!

She eats everything we serve and always clears her plate and asks for more. Gemma loved our Thanksgiving feast she was very curious as Sean and I cooked and prepared in the kitchen. She had seconds on mashed potatoes and gravy and many leftovers for days! ha Thanksgiving was just the 8 of us. When we were done eating Gemma ask when the party was starting and when family and friends would be coming! ha I told her not this year it was just us, she was a little disappointed.

Helping with Thanksgiving dinner and enjoying the meal

The cold is also another thing she is not happy about. She hates being cold but loves to watch the snow through the window and gets very excited. She did go out in it once but it lasted less than 5 minutes!

I can honestly say the hardest thing since being back is Ava. She missed us so much when we were gone. All her nighttime issues have come back full force. She will all the sudden start crying and say she is glad we are back and does not want us to ever leave again. Her anxiety is off the charts with us leaving a room or going anywhere. The night waking is back to 2 plus times a night and has been very draining on us. It was very traumatic for her having us gone. There is no way we could have taken her, she cant even handle a 1 hour flight to Phoenix let alone 15 hrs to China. We made the best decision at the time and hopefully we can get her broken heart through this process.

Tonight a got another amazing hairdo that out did the one in China!! Compliments of Gemma, Keaton and Ava, this one truly should win an award!!

Gemma will sit for hours doing her barbies hair. I think a nice big doll with long hair will be on the list for Santa! She loves to draw and watch her Chinese cartoons too.

I will also honestly say it has been a little hard on me. I did not realize how much I would miss not having the cuddly little baby or toddler like with Ava. You have to be much more creative with starting attachment and bonding. Luckily Gemma does let me do everything for her so we are on the right track!

I hope I did not bore you to tears and sorry it was all over the place. This is why it took me so long to do an update, my thoughts are just all over the place and major Mommy brain these days!! We are so blessed with our new daughter/sister.

Ava and the outfit she picked for the day!!