BackYard Summer Fun w/ Cousin Naomi

Some days it's just nice to spend a day at home, play in the back yard & relax. Cousin Naomi came to visit one day - and we decided to pull out all the outside toys and spend the day outdoors. We had the water table, pool, squirt toys, and playground. (We decided to keep the sandbox covered as water and sand would have been a HUGE mess!!)

The girls have so much fun together. They are only 2 months apart- and though there is a little rivalry - over toys - attention- and "who goes first" - mostly they just love each other. It's so sweet!!

Joint Sliding

"Slide Naomi, I'll catch you!!"

Peak-a-boo!!

Splashing in the pool

"Ha! Gotcha Mama!" - Anne Marie splashing me while trying to take the picture

The ideas they come up with ... they decided it would be fun to dunk their heads & blow bubbles in the water table...

Ending the fun day with ice-cream - what could be better??

A "Berry" Fun Day

Blackberry picking has now become an annual tradition in our little family. (all berry picking really -- but we NEVER miss the blackberries -- and actually most years we have gone back at least 2 times to "re-stock"). We LOVE blackberries. The farm we go to is a small little farm in a nearby town, the owner is a sweet little man that always comes out and talks to you and always lets you "taste test" the berries while you're picking. Anne Marie loves fruit, and eats her fair share while picking.

Some friends came to visit us a few weekends ago and we spent the weekend at the pool where Mike works, watching the girls catching fireflies (another great memory of mine as a child) and picking blackberries.

p.s. Thanks to our friend Jen for taking the pictures for us -- I forgot my camera!

Sweet blackberries

Anne Marie eating her blackberry

Our friend Avery enjoying hers

Proud of the basket she's picked.

Our Jiangxi Sisters -- Part #2

The day after Shartzer's came for a visit we loaded up in the car and went to visit the Causey family. Another Jiangxi family. It was so great to see them. We have not seen them since we have returned home from China.

We got there and received a HUGE warm welcome from the whole family! The are such a happy loving family - and their 3 boys adore the girls. The boys are so sweet!! Arden is a very lucky little sister!

It was so sweet to see the three girls play (and fight over toys) together. It just melted my heart as we talked about our adoptions, looked over pictures from our trip, and talked about how they have grown. It makes me want to go back again (tomorrow if I could!!)

I had a friend of mine make these really cute little shirts. On the front are little asian girl faces w/ bows in their hair & then each name under the little face & then Jiangxi sisters on the back. For Mother's day we made Mike's mom a tote-bag w/the same little face on it & under that it read "Grandma's Grab-Bag". I saw one of the other groups w/ cute little shirts, and it made me think about the handbag we made for Mike's mom and thought this would be too cute!

We had such a great time & vowed to do it again -- and not let so much time go by this time.

These are the girls in their cute little shirts.

... how cute is this from behind!!

All the kids together ...


Anne Marie fell in love with Arden's brothers -- it was so sweet!!

Our Jiangxi Sisters -- Part #1

Another few days of our vacation was spent with some of our Jiangxi sisters from China. The Shartzer family came to our house to spend a few days. One of those days we traveled to visit another family - The Causey's -- more updates on that with pictures tomorrow!!

We were so happy to see our friends. Anne Marie and Maggie were a little shy at first, but it didn't take long. We are very lucky that the Shartzer's live close enough that we are able to visit a few times a year, however we've all been so busy lately, that it's been quite a few months since we've had time to visit with each other.

It was great to see the girls together -- my how they have grown!! God made a way for us to have a wonderful friendship with this family, and I'm so glad that the girls will have a friendship as they grow.

Anne Marie & Maggie playing with PlayDough.

Anne Marie showing Maggie her playroom.

What fun! We broke out the water table one evening -- and they had a blast!!

After getting their clothes soaking wet they decided that they would just go with-out them! I got some really cute pictures of two cute little girls running around in our back yard completely "free", however I couldn't crop the pictures good enough to keep some "privacy" for the girls. But trust me -- they would make you laugh!!!

Fun in Baltimore

We took a week of vacation in July. No major plans - our beach week will come in September, so we decided to just take a couple day "get-a-ways" during the week. A couple days were spent in Baltimore.

We took Anne Marie to the Baltimore Aquarium. The hotel we stayed at is a sponsor of the Olympics. They had Build-A-Bears for kids when we checked in, along with a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear, so we took a trip to the store as well. It was a cute little Panda Bear w/ an Olympic symbol on her foot. Anne Marie has never been to BAB --- and I will just say --OH MY! It was hard getting out of the store - she had to be carried out crying!!!

We had such a GREAT time -- we missed the dolphin show @ the Aquarium, so we're planning another trip sometime this fall.

At the entrance of the Aquarium - she was so excited!!

Daddy & Anne Marie gazing at the jelly-fish. (I just love this picture)

Getting a birds-eye-view of the skate down below.

Checking out some of the "Big Fish"

The Bird Sanctuary at the Aquarium.

Anne Marie with her new Bear Friend. We're headed to the BAB store.

She was able to give her bear a "bath" before picking out it's clothes.

Anne Marie decided on an Olympic T-shirt, bow and sun-glasses for her new friend.

Very proud of her new friend's "look".

Later that night Mike took us to a really nice restaurant near our hotel. Anne Marie loved the food -- she ate hers and 1/2 of Mike's!!

Fun with Grandma & Grandpa

I have to say that there is one spoiled girl in our house when Grandma & Grandpa come to visit!! She is the ONLY grandchild!! (Need I say more?) Anyway, there is always a "special surprise" in Grandma's purse (or gift bag if it doesn't fit in there). And, Anne Marie knows it - it's the first thing she does -- she runs to Grandma & says "yemmy yook" (let me look) while grabbing her handbag! Too funny!

Here are a few pictures of a few visits we've had with them over the last month!

This outfit she picked our herself that day! How stylish can she be? Every girl's gotta wear pink - great boots - and a bow in their hair!! (haa) Grandma & Grandpa came over. She is playing with her new cash register and grocery basket full of food & grocery scanner they brought her. She LOVES these new toys - she still plays with them every day!!

Check out the money!!! Gotta love that the cash register also comes with a credit card (ha)!

Having a tea party with Grandpa. Now I'm wondering --- Anyone notice anything else about this outfit? She's in "big-girl-pants" - yea-yea-yea!! We're going almost all day with out accidents now!!!!! Just still need a diaper at night.

Another visit with Grandma & Grandpa - she's showing off her new dress they bought her & trying on Grandpa's glasses.

How cute is this picture? Grandma & Grandpa can always make her laugh!! I can't even remember what they were doing to make her laugh here, but you know joy when you see that face!!

Here, Grandpa was playing with wind-up-toys. They make her laugh, so they have bought a huge bucket full to keep at their house to play with every time she comes to visit.

Another visit - and another new dress -- this one for winter - but this time they were making her laugh by playing the "let's hide in the blanket" game. It's the simple things that make kids happy right??

Where has a month gone??

Well, we have gone almost a month with out posting - where has this last month has gone? It's been buys for us -- a week vacation, a family reunion, a visit with our China sisters, fun visits with Grandma & Grandpa & and just having summer fun!

I can not believe school is starting here already!! We LOVE summer - we're usually very busy - but it's just so much fun - it's all those things that we have memories of as children, and LOVE that we're sharing those things with Anne Marie. We're also lucky that our summer extends into September as our Beach trip won't be until mid-September!!

I'm trying to get all our pictures in order and will be posting updates on all our little "excursions" from the last few weeks -- So give me time as I update -- I should have them all done within the next few days!!

Happy Summer !
Melissa & Mike & Anne Marie