Butterfly Adventure

Today, we visisted a local nature center with Cindy & Amelia. At the center, they had a huge tent set up with a live butterfly display. Hundreds of these graceful little creatures fluttering through the air. It was pretty neat. Upon entering the tent, you were handed a sponge on a stick that had been dipped in Gatorade. It was amazing to see the butterflies ~ I had no luck at all scooping one of them up on the sponge. Thanks to Cindy ~ we were able to get butterflies for the girls to hold. I asked Kailee what she was going to do if a butterfly landed on her. She said that she was going to pat him on the head!! (: Fun, fun day. The best part ~ taking a dip in Cindy/Amelia's pool afterwards! Thanks, Cindy for a good afternoon.

My camera is not too good for taking up close shots, but I managed to get this one of a butterfly landing on a flower.

Impressed, huh?
Cool, huh? I think they were looking for a way out of the tent and away from all of the kids (:

Happy 3rd Birthday!

GUESS WHO IS 3???

Yep, our sweet Kailee turned 3 years old today!

Our morning conversation went like this....

Mom & Dad: "singing happy birthday to Kailee"

Kailee: Is my party over?

Mom: You're 3 years old today!

Kailee: Oh, good, now I'm 3 and potty-trained, I get to go to Miss Carolina's room.

Miss Carolina is another fantastic teacher at K's daycare. And Kailee has been anxiously waiting to move to her room, which is right next door to her current room. Not that she's ready to leave her beloved Ms. Sheila, Ms. Toni, and Ms. Jessica. It's just a kid thing, I think ~ she doesn't want to miss out on what's next(:

I baked cupcakes w/blue sprinkles (again) for her daycare buddies and took them in for snack time. It was funny that Caden told his mom that Ms. Sonia brought blue cupcakes to us again! Everyone sang Happy Birthday to Kailee and to Ms. Sheila ~ funny that both share the same birth day and Ms. Sheila has a daughter named ~ you guessed it ~ Sonia!! Ironic, huh?

All in all, Kailee had a good birthday week-end!

Taken on Sunday, this is one of the beautiful dresses that Nana got K for her birthday

Taken while eating breakfast on her birthday morning, waiting for Dad to take her to "school"
Singing Happy Birthday to Kailee with Ms. Sheila and Ms. Jessica
Daycare buddies ~ Aden & Caden
More daycare friends ~ Kayley, Claire and Amber

Julia & Delainna
Tessi

Hannah
Callie

Happy Birthday Party!

Today, we celebrated Kailee's 3rd birthday with all of her friends. We decorated our garage in a beachy theme, as this was a 'Barkyardigans Surfs-up" theme party. Kailee's choice! Everyone donned a swim suit and came prepared to get wet. Times like this makes me wish we had a built-in pool (wink, Hugh!). The day was beautiful ~ a very nice 80+' ~ partly sunny, nice breeze. The kids (17 in total) had fun wading in the pool, playing on the swings, and jumping on the trampoline. Here's some pictures of Kailee's day...

Waiting patiently for her friends to show

Thanks to Kailee's Aunt Lisa (the kids' party queen) for flying in to help with the party. Kailee only wanted blue balloons (her fav color), but we mixed it up wih a little yellow. Our party favors were play buckets ~ full of beach toys, sunglasses, whistles, and bubbles. Aunt Lisa baked 'backyardigan' cupcakes w/blue sprinkles for the kiddies.

Eating pizza with cousin Jenna

Playing in the pool ~ 6'x10' ~ but still loads of fun for a 3-yr old

My good fellow mom friends ~ Steph, Cindy (who was recovering from strept) & Jill, sipping on homemade sangria
Sweet Hannah
Yes, these children can eat some pizza!
Yummy strawberry birthday cake

Happy Father's Day

Daddy holding Kailee who is trying to decide if she wants to try out the slip n slide
Happy 7th Birthday to cousin David
Slip n slide fun with cousins David and Danny

Punta Cana, DR

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh ~ six days in paradise! We just returned from a very relaxing and beautiful vacation in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic with our friends ~ Julie, Kacey, Nana Susan, Cindy, Jimmy, and Amelia. We met a super nice couple from NJ ~ Sandy, Tim & Micaela ~ who are also adopting again from China. Hopefully, we can all keep in touch and see them in again.

What made this trip extra special is that we left on our 2-year anniversary of "Kailee Day". All day on June 5th, I kept reminiscing of our trip just 2 short years ago to China. Wow, how our life has changed! Just when I think we can't possibly love Kailee more than we do today, she just does something or smiles her beautiful twinkling smile, and my heart just bursts with love all over again. And I can't think of a better way to celebrate our life with Kailee than on the beach!! Here's a few photos of our trip to the Ocean Blue Golf & Beach Resort...

Not afraid of the surf this year!

Paradise ~ where the sky meets the sea and having your sweet child on your lap!

Heading back to the palapa
Silly girl ~ who needs expensive beach toys?Okay, enough pictures mom!

Our newest friends from NJ... Tim, Sandy & darling Micaela

After dinner fun ~ Amelia, Kailee & Kacey
Waiting on the train ~ Kacey & Kailee
Kailee & Amelia
Amelia trying to hold Kailee's hand
Such sweet girls ~ Kailee, Kacey & Amelia
Did I tell you how good the margaritas were???
Some of the GGs and their mommies:Julie & Kacey, Kailee & me, Amelia & Cindy

Kailee and I won the "Mummy & Me"contest

Kailee loved this tee-shirt and insisted on wearing it the rest of the night.
Amelia, Kailee and Kacey
Waiting for our nightly "train ride" ~ this became a routine after dinner and milling around the shops.

Nana Susan (Julie's mom), Kailee, Kacey & Julie w/me in the background

Our silly, wonderful little Kailee

Kailee & Kacey acting silly at dinner
Kacey, Julie and Kailee adorned with their beach hats
The beautiful zero entry pool (a parent's dream).

By day 5, Kailee was jumping from the 4' side of the pool.

She has come to love her floaties!

Our sweet, sweet child. We love you so much! Kailee, Amelia & Kacey
Oh YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Nightly dinners on the beach were held here.
Our view during lunch every day ~ a girl could really get use to this, ya know?
Another view during lunch The resort had beautifully manicured gardens, with a moat filled with flamingos, ducks and fishLast day before heading home ~ Julie, Nana Susan & Kacey
They did NOT want to have this picture taken!

What an adorable little ending to a great trip!

3-Word Sunday - NO MORE PULL-UPS!

YIPEE! Guess who has been dry for over 2 weeks? After weeks of trial and error and lots of potty tools (potty chair - check, potty seat - check, stickers - check, Dora, Elmo and Tinker Bell panties - check, Elmo potty book - check) I think we are there. We haven't ventured to "big girl panties" full time until today. After sleeping 12 hrs (no, this does not happen often!), Kailee woke me saying she had to go potty. I was pretty amazed that she had stayed dry after 12 hrs of sleep. She said, "no more pull-ups mommy, throw them away, I want to wear panties." Up to this point, we had been wearing panties over top of her pull-ups like her friends, Hannah & Tessi. Today, we made a big todo about throwing the pull-ups in the trash. So, we are keeping our fingers crossed. Kailee has come to love our praises. Everytime she went today, she asked me, "are you proud of me, mommy?" She now follows me to the bathroom and has become my little bathroom cheerleader, never failing to tell me "Good job, mama, I'm so proud of you".

Matt Graduates!!!

Over the Memorial Day week-end, we flew to Ohio to attend my nephew's high school graduation ceremony. We had a great time seeing everyone. Hugh got to do some serious golfing while Kailee and I got to do some serious visiting. My sister, Judy, had a huge party for my nephew, Matt to celebrate his graduation. Aunts, uncles, cousins abound ~ it was great to see everyone! On Memorial Day, my brother, Paul, treated everyone to a trip to Cedar Point. For those who have never heard of Cedar Point ~ to say it's merely an amusement park on Lake Erie is an understatement. Cedar Point is the Roller Coaster Capital of the World ~ boasting 17 thrill seeking coasters. What a great day!!! Kailee rode nearly 20 rides and loved them all ~ her favorite was, of course ~ the roller coaster. My niece and nephews along with ringleader's Uncle Paul and Aunt Lisa rode every coaster except for the Top Thrill Dragster (which goes 120 mph straight uphill) and Wicked Twister. Kailee and I were watching the Dragster riders as my niece/nephews were deciding to ride the Dragster. Kailee watched the coaster speed off, zoom up the rail and came back down. She looked at me and said, "those people are crazy, mama." So much for my little thrill seeker!!!

Here's a few pictures of our great visit ~ looking at them makes me miss my family!!!

Cuddle time with Aunt Lisa

Mom, Matt, Jesse, Dad and JudyCongratulations, Matt!! Judy, Matt & Jesse
Playtime with cousin, Danny The "princess" and her suitors, Danny, Josh, neighbor Dustin, and Aaron playing ball Airplane rides with Aunt Lisa & Aaron
~ The Family ~
Uncle Steve, Aunt Lisa, cousin Aaron, Nana, Daddy, me holding Kailee, Aunt Judy, cousin Josh, cousin Jesse, Uncle Paul, cousin Matt, Dodie, cousin Danny and Papa Kailee and more cousins
Fun with Papa (Kailee kept lifting her dress while trying to take pictures ~ of course, this had nothing to do with me telling her "not to do this!" (:


Cedar Point Fun ~ Aunt Lisa, Uncle Steve, Nana holding Kailee, cousins Aaron & Jesse, Uncle Paul, cousins Josh & DannyRiding the camp bus with Aaron and Danny
Kailee braved the bumper cars ~ this is the point where she started and ended. Yep, our girl couldn't muster the strength to push the pedal.
More rides!
Thanks to Eli for riding with Kailee.
"Not sure what I'm suppose to do here, mom!" Hugs for Nana
Danny and Jesse riding the river ride
Uncle Paul gives great rides! Aaron & Kailee