YUM!

 

Brandon requested this recipe and thought I should share it with all of you. Personally, you would probably all enjoy the Bennigan's Smothered Chicken recipe that I swiped off the internet this week. It was really yummy. In the mean time, here is Ice Cream Pie that a high school friend gave me a few years ago. It is yummy. Brandon and Anna had fun crushing up the grahm crackers.

Mini Morsel Ice Cream Pie

1 1/2 cups grahm cracker crumbs
1/2 cup butter...melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup mini morsels
1 quart ice cream...softened

Combine grahm cracker crumbs, butter, & sugar in medium bowl. Stir in morsels. Press 2 1/2 cups in 9 inch pie plate (bottom and sides). Free 15 min. or until firm. Spread softened ice cream evenly in pie shell. Top with remaining crumb mixture and freeze. Enjoy!

Our China Trip site up again!

Somehow our website that we posted in China was not working, but is finally up and running again. Barry fixed it tonight so if you are interested.... and of course, I had to add one of those first pictures of Anna in there. Hard to believe that was Anna at 13.5 months when we met her.
http://lady-bugs.home.insightbb.com/index.htm

Happy Birthday, Faith!

 

 

 

Our niece, Faith, turns 6 years old today. The first 2 pictures are some that Angi (Barry's sister) sent me after Faith and her friend went to Libby Lu's to get all made up. The last one was the most recent picture I have of Faith taken on Labor Day. Faith was just 3.5 years old when Anna came home from China. And now Anna is the 3.5 year old. Time flies. It is always heart warming to see the cousins together. Faith was adopted from Jiangxi at age 10 months.

Pretty pics

 

 

 

 

I have been trying all week to get good pictures of the butterflies on my neighbors' butterfly bushes. Over Labor Day I took some pics of things at Barry's parents' house. He took the pink lily pad.

Preschool Trip to Orchard

 

Busy Weekend!

 

 

 

 

So far we are having a busy weekend and the weather is just GORGEOUS here! Last night we went to half of the football game. Logan and his buddy, Evan, enjoyed scoping for chicks. Today was a soccer game for Brandon, so here are a few pics. Plus some neat cranes that we saw on the way home from soccer. At least I think that they are cranes. Dad??? Any idea???? We saw about 10 of them on the Lake on the way home.

Also, this afternoon was the annual Lifelink Picnic. I fell in love with BeiLee, who has just recently arrived from China and is from Guangxi. He is 2 and is absolutely gorgeous. We saw lots of new little ones. One little boy had just been home from Thailand for a few weeks. I had recognized the mom as being an occupation therapist that has come into the school where I sub. Lifelink does not have a direct program with Thailand. The family had seen the boy on a waiting child list...he was sooooo cute. Another little girl had just come home from Guatemala. So many adorable little faces with their forever families. Brandon's friend from school was there. He had been adopted from the Philipines and a family from our church was also there. They have adopted 3 children from Korea who are all teenagers now.

Tomorrow is equally busy. Brandon receives his 3rd Grade BIBLE at church and Logan will work at the local soup kitchen for Youth Group.

Brandon's exciting day!

Brandon was asked to go to the School Board Meeting and lead them in the Pledge of Allegiance. This was a very important honor and only a few 3rd Graders get to do this each year. He thought it was extra cool since Logan was never asked to do this. He was a little nervous, but did a great job. The board presented him with a letter and a pin as a thank you. Another girl from his class joined him. His teacher and Principal also came to see them at the meeting. We did not stay for the meeting, however, since we still had a lot of homework to complete!

First Day of Preschool

Today was the official first day of preschool. I was scheduled as the Mommy helper, so I stayed the whole time. I am sure Anna will do just fine when I leave her there on Monday the whole time. She had a great day. She marched right out of the van and put her backpack on...upside down...and she was off and ready to start her day!

Guiping Reunion Collage

Click on picture to enlarge.

Guiping Reunion Pics

We had our 3rd Annual Reunion with our China Travel Group. All 10 families made it, as well as 3 of the 4 travelling grandparents. The only ones not there was my dad and Casey (Robin's son). We had a fabulous weekend and a wonderful time seeing how the girls are growing up. One of the girls was born in Jan 2004 and the other 9 were born in Feb 2004, so they are all the same age. We are a very close group and many of us live near each other and get together a few times a year. And we all email almost daily! We left Friday and went to Wisconsin Dells and met up with Robin and Kailee. We stayed at a waterpark hotel so the kids had a blast. Saturday we went to DeForest and met up with the other families. Sunday we all went to Devil's Lake...very beautiful there!