Graham's Class Easter Party!

I was able to sneak out of Sophia's class for a few minutes to go downstairs to Graham's class while Sophia and her friends ate their snack! Graham's class was saying grace when I waked into his classroom! I don't get to spend as much time in G's class because I am not room mother! I didn't get many picture of G's class party!

Sophia's Class Easter Party!

Today was Sophia's class party! We had lots of fun playing games, making an Easter bag, decorating a cupcake, eating and talking with friends! I love being able to spend time in Sophia's class!

Adoption Update!

We have been moving along with the adoption process!

Zoe's dossier was sent to China on March 21st! We are officially DTC!! YEAH!!

Harper's I-800 A was sent today to the USCIS in Texas! We are hoping for a quick turn around for our approval. We don't have to wait to be fingerprinted since we were just fingerprinted in February for Zoe's I-800 A renewal!

So what happens next:

We wait for the CCCWA to issue us our LOA (letter of acceptance) for Zoe.

We wait to receive our I-800 A for Harper's adoption. Then, we can send Harper's dossier to China. We wait again for the CCCWA to issue Harper's LOA.

Then, we have to apply for our I-800 which is asking the US to specifically adopt Zoe and Harper. We wait for that approval and our article 5 to be sent to us so we can send back our LOA to China. Then, we wait again for our travel approval from China. Finally, we travel to China to bring our girls home!!!!!!

First Loose Tooth!!

Happy 4th Birthday Parker!

Today we celebrate our little man's 4th birthday! WOW! How can you already be four! Four seems so grown up, but you are still such a little man! You love Batman and were so excited to get Batman balloons today! You love being a big brother to Piper and Oliver! You have the biggest heart of anyone I know! You are such a sweetie! I miss you when you are at school! The house seems so empty without you energy! Your smile still melts my heart just like when I saw your face for the very first time! I am so glad you are my little man! We love you Parker August to the moon and back!!!

Happy 3rd Birthday Piper!!

We celebrated Piper's 3rd birthday on Tuesday! It seems so long ago that we sent a birthday cake to China for Piper's 2nd birthday! We are so happy that we get to share every birthday with our special little girl! Piper you are so loved! We are so blessed to have you as our daughter! Your smile lights up our house! Everyone adores you (even Phia even though she is always teasing you). You are one spunky girl! You stand right up to Sophia when she teases! Sophia doesn't like it one bit! You are one of the toughest little girls I know. You have been through so much, but you always come away from it with a smile!! You are one amazing little girl! We love you with all of our heart! We can't imagine life without you!

Adoption Update!

I know I haven't updated about our adoption for a long time! Things slowed down for a bit, but now things are rolling again! We are officially DTC (dossier to China) for Zoe. We got the call this afternoon from our adoption agency that our dossier is being sent to China.

We are not only adopting Zoe from China this summer, but we are also adopting another little girl we are naming Harper. We found Harper on a waiting child list and we knew instantly she was our daughter! I will share more of her story later. We will be sending in our I-800 A application this week. This is the application to USCIS asking to adopt a foreign orphan. Once we get this approval, we can send Harper's dossier to China. We should travel this summer to bring both girls home!!!!!

Our girls are absolutely beautiful and we can't wait to be able to share their pictures with you! We can't share the girls pictures until we have our LOA from China. That piece of paper tells us that China has agreed to allow us to be Harper and Zoe's parents! Harper will be six in September and Zoe will be two in September!

We are very excited about bringing our girls home!

Parker's First Day of Special Ed Preschool!

Parker is now attending special ed preschool. I have been trying to get him into a classroom setting for a year. I requested that he be retested to see if he qualified for more intense services! I was so happy to hear that he would be attending preschool four days a week from 12:15 to 3:00. There is no preschool on Fridays!

Parker was so excited to go to school today! All he talked about all morning was going to school on the bus! I am not really happy about the long bus ride, but we will see how it goes for a few weeks. If the long bus ride interferes with his ability to attend in class, I will have to drive him to and from school. The bus (really a van) picked him up at 11:20 this morning! He happily got on the bus and waved goodbye! Sigh! I sure do miss having him around! It has been very quiet without P-man around! As we were driving to pick Sophia up (after putting Parker on the bus), Graham said I wish Parker was here so we can play together. I had to remind him he played all morning with Parker before we put him on the bus!!

Enjoying the Beautiful Weather!

We have had such wonderful weather over the past few weeks. The temperature has been in the sixties! We have spent a lot of time outside enjoying the fresh air!

Happy Gotcha Day Sophia!!

Four years ago today we held Sophia in our arms for the first time!! I will never forget that moment! It is forever imprinted in my mind!! I can still see our little girl all dressed in yellow with pigtails in her hair! Sophia was terrified! I waited so long to hold her in my arms! Sophia was as strong willed then as she is now!! She is one tough little girl! Sophia you are one very special little girl!! We are so glad you were chosen to be our daughter! We can't imagine our family without you! We all love you so much!!

Dancing the Night Away!

Tonight we ended our day by listening to some music and dancing in the kitchen! Currently, Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson are Sophia's favorite singers! Santa brought Sophia the Katy Perry CD for Christmas! She is only allowed to listen to a few songs!

Teamwork!

I love watching the children all work together to make something! Opa taught the children how to make a pyramid out of cups! They really miss building with Opa! Here is the very big pyramid they made together before they knocked it down!

Brandywine Park Zoo!

We took advantage of this beautiful March day and headed to the zoo! Today the zoo was free and we weren't going to pass up the opportunity to see some animals! This zoo is very small and it was pretty crowded since there was no admission fee! We enjoyed looking at the animals! We also walked down to the stream and enjoyed being outside on this lovely day! Enjoy the pictures!