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!

School Time

 

Today, Anna and I went to Preschool for an hour. Parents stayed, too, so that the kids could get used to things. They had calendar time and play time. She was very comfortable. Afterwards, a bunch of the kids and parents played together at Dairy Queen. Anna is going to have no problems leaving me and going to Preschool on Monday and Friday mornings from 9-11:30. Since she is so tall, she fit in just fine. The funny thing is that ALL the kids have really blond hair and then there is Anna. What are the odds in a class of 15 that they are all light headed??? I am hoping to talk Anna into taking her smaller backpack next Friday since today's backpack was bigger than her!

Soccer Season

Fall Soccer has started once again and Brandon had a great game. It was very hot and it really wore him out. He jumped right in the pool at his Grandparents' house after the game. Good game Brandon.

 

 

 

 

School Time!

The boys started school today for just a half day. Tomorrow will be a full day. They both seemed to enjoy their day and had a lot to talk about when they got home.

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Anna's Antics!

I have written here before about Anna and her Antics! Well, after nap she was just being soooo sweet and cute. Then that 'look' turned into a little bit of a devlish look. It was cute, so I took some pictures of her running around. Minutes pass and then I find just WHAT she was doing. She had powder EVERYWHERE! Followed by lotion, too! Luckily the lotion was covering up the powder on her body and it was not on her bed or carpet like the powder. OH MY....now I know just WHAT she was plotting with the sweet little look. I was dying to take pictures of this little mess, but I did not want to justify what she had done, so here are the "before the mess" shots.

Anna is 3.5 years old today!

Hard to believe that my "baby" is 3.5 years old already. Time is going tooo fast with her. She has really shot up lately. Next week she will go to the dr. for a check up and I have a feeling I will be shocked at how many inches she has grown. And she has to be a few pounds heavier than 26, which she had been since last October. She has been eating like a horse this summer. She is becoming quite the young lady. Very independent in every thing that she does, too.

Rainy Day here!

Today Brandon asked me to tackle he and Logan's room. They wanted it cleaned and rearranged. What a job, but I can say it is done and dust free again. I need to work on the closet, but I am pooped!

My mom had her hysterectomy on Tuesday and so far things have been going well. She might get to come home tomorrow.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

       
Thursday I took pictures of Myah and Jesse.Myah is from our China travel group and the same orphanage and she is just a few days older than Anna. Anna towers over Myah, though and it is fun to watch the girls together. We had fun swimming after the hot photoshoot.

Hot, Hot Day!

One fish, two fish, dead fish!

We set up a new 10 gallon aquarium a few days ago. The first fish died the second day and another one bit the dust today. Must be the fish. Our PH levels and ammonia were fine, so I have no idea why the tetras aren't surviving. We are wondering how many more of the 5 fish we will have to flush. Anna cracked up today when we flushed the second. She thought it was so funny to put a fish in the toilet.

OOPS...5 minutes after I posted this the third fish died! Two left to go! I am going to call the aquarium store now.