Lili-bug: May 2008

Who's the Big Girl!

Lili graduated preschool yesterday!! My big girl is going to kindergarten next year.

Unbelieveable.

Her school had a nice graduation program last night. They sang their favorite songs and each child got called up on stage to get their certificate and a photo CD with pictures from the whole school year.

Here she is singing her little heart out.......she doesn't necessarily know all the words, but whatever !

This is a clip of Lili receiving her certificate.

We're officially on summer vacation. Even though it's only 60 degrees......it'll go so fast. TOO fast. Hopefully we'll enjoy every second of it. (hopefully it'll warm up so we can actually swim at some point.)

I cannot believe that Lili is going to 'real' school in August. I'm excited, I'm nervous, I'm sad. She'll be going to school ALL day. For a girl who still takes a 2 hour nap every day, that's going to be a BIG adjustment!! yikes.

Givin' Me the Bird!

OK, bird. We have 4 window boxes on our house. We don't have a lot of flowers in our yard. We haven't gotten around to major landscaping yet. And, obviously you don't know how OCD I am. ALL of my window boxes MUST look the same. We MUST have uniform window boxes. Why, oh why are you destroying my world?

This must be 'Mr. Bird'. He would bring her a piece of straw, then stand on her head.
(I bet his first name is 'Jeff'.....reminds me of my courtin' days.)

worthless cat.

curious, but still worthless.

"Hmmm, sister, something seems to be amiss."

Lili loved seeing the bird. She was waiting for it to fly onto her hand. (sure, Lili, just stay right there.)

Sophia the semi-worthless cat.

More scared of the bird.

Sophia waiting for the bird to fly onto her hand. geesh.

Little Miss Bright Side

This is what happened when I told Lili to "throw that dead flower away!"

Silly mama, it's not dead, it has long hair. (long hair like mama , no less.)

What a charmer.

Wedding Pictures and Pageant Practice Update

Lili was into slam dancing for some reason. She really didn't dance so much as just make us swing her around and jump........

And don't ever let her have bubbles if you want her to do anything else. ever.

But, we had a good time. We didn't get home until 2 AM!! And we left home at 1pm. Quite a day.

Now onto our weekly pageant update: (are you sure you're ready?)

Lili is a walking snot factory for some reason.

She sneezed projectile snot not once, not twice, but 3 ooey-gooey times in our one hour practice tonight.

Each time was even more embarrassing than the time before.

The first time was as we were walking in. Hellooooooo everyone!

The second time the 2 girls sitting in front of us had just turned around saying "Isn't that Brett's sister? Ummm....yeah, she's cute..."

The third glorious time was as she was practicing her princess walk. 'Turn, smile, AAAAACHOOOO-SNUCK!' Yep, she's a real lady, she is.

Did I mention she also scratched her butt for like 5 minutes straight? It's like she saves up all her disgusting-ness for Pageant Day.

at least it makes for interesting blog material.

Getting Ready for Wedding #2

Remember this dress?

I think it was someone's pick for the last wedding (I think Ella's?)

I let Lili pick out her dress this time and she picked this one: "I lie pink and bown!"
I'll be taking the camera again, so look for some pictures coming soon!

The China Issue

I highly recommend this for anyone involved in China adoption, or even for anyone who's interested in the upcoming Olympics.

The whole issue is about China. Lots of beautiful pictures of course. I haven't had time to read the articles, but it's just chock full of information.

I'm trying not to let anyone here look at it too much because I'm trying to keep it nice. (and good luck with that!)

You even get a pull-out China map with a special 'inside the Forbidden City' guide on the back.

It's just so super cool that we were there! I still can't get over it!!

Ever the Resourceful One....

This is what happens when Mommy doesn't feel like pushing Lili on the swing (for the 80 millionth time!)

And notice the paparazzi swarming in on us.....we can't go anywhere :)

China Earthquake

I'm just so sad thinking of all the people killed, injured, missing and in mourning in the aftermath of the earthquake. I also feel for the entire country as they prepare for the Olympics. We could sense the excitement and pride from the people as they celebrated the one year countdown last August.
The Chinese people were so wonderfully warm and kind to us while we were there. We never felt unsafe or unsure, and we certainly never felt alone.

We did hear that there were some families from our agency in China during the quake. They were in Guangzhou (which is where we were). They felt the quake, but there wasn't any damage there.

We also heard about Lili's orphanage in Wuchuan. There wasn't any damage there, but the quake could be felt there as well.

The latest report I've seen is 12,000 dead and 18,000 missing. Unreal.

God bless them all.

'What I Did on Mother's Day Weekend'

What a Kick in the Heart

I copied this picture from another blog.

This is a copy of the 'Teleflora' site, which is encouraging you to vote for your favorite mom in one of 5 different categories.

The 4th category: The 'Non-Mom Mom', which includes grandmas, stepmothers and ADOPTIVE MOTHERS!!!!!!

Are you freaking KIDDING me??????

I'm a 'NON-MOM'?!?!?!

Well, someone should have really told me that before the

8 months of paperwork,

the 18 months of waiting,

the 18 day trip all the way across the world,

and the thousands of dollars spent.

Shoot, if I had known I wasn't going to be a REAL mother, I would've just used all that time and money for something that would actually make a difference to someone.

Un-freaking-believeable.

(on a lighter note) It Happens to the Best of Us! Mirror, Mirror on the Wall....

Someday your face will freeze like that!

What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too?

You're going to put your eye out with that thing!

How many times do I have to tell you...don't throw things in the house!

Close the door behind you -- were you born in a barn?

Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it's been.

Why? Because I said so, that's why!

Don't use that tone with me!

Eat those carrots, they're good for your eyes. Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?

Did you flush?

You can be anything you want to, if you just set your mind to it.

There's enough dirt in those ears to grow potatoes!

Be good -- but if you can't be good, be careful.

I don't care what "everyone" is doing, I care what you are doing!

If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.

I hope someday you have children just like you.

Don't talk with your mouth full!

Always put on clean underwear in the morning, in case you're in an accident.

Sit like a lady!

Don't pick, it'll get infected.

I'm not just talking to hear myself.

I'm going to give you until the count of three.

Put that down! You don't know where it's been!

Don't cross your eyes or they'll freeze that way.

If you swallow a watermelon seed, a watermelon will grow out your ears.

Men perspire, ladies glisten.

Happy Mother's Day!!

To ALL Mothers, Everywhere!

Random Photos

Sunday was actually a pretty nice day, so I decided to get some pictures with the lilacs while they're still in bloom. (and yes, the only way to get a really good shot of the flowers was to face my children directly into the sun !)

Coy Lili.

Strong-Man Brett. (and believe me, Lili is NOT the easiest person to pick up and hold!)

"Owwww! Mama! SUNSHINE!!! Ehhhhh, Lili can't see!"

My, Barbie, what BIG feet you have!

By the way, I won the brown dress. I found it on eBay and no one else even bid on it, can you believe it? So, you'll be seeing it on Lili sometime soon. (probably before the pageant because you cannot deny Lili when she wants to wear a pretty dress!)

And seriously, if any of you need fancy dresses go to eBay and search for 'girls pageant dress'. There are TONS and TONS of beautiful dresses. Most for under $40.

I Think I Found "The One"

Well, what do you think?

I think this is the dress I'm going to get for Lili's pageant. She can also wear it to 'Wedding #3' the weekend after the pageant. (that's the plan anyway, we'll see how much she sweats in it first. she's one sweaty kid.)

I wasn't too sure about brown, but I'm getting pretty tired of pink. Of course it does have pink accents.....

We just got back from our latest pageant meeting. Lili kept control of all her bodily fluids this time, which was a plus. :)

I was a nervous wreck as they practiced answering their questions, but I have to say, Lili held her own.

She answered:

What her favorite food was ("PB&J and bananas. Bananas are yellow." show off! )

What her favorite movie was (everyone say it with me: "SNOW WHITE!")

If she has any brothers or sisters ("Yes. A brother. He's 10.")

I really cringed when I listened to "What's your favorite thing about [your town]?" ("...............................") "Do you like to swim in the lake?" ("I like swim......Meemaw, Peepaw,%$^#*#&$^%*%*%(%@$$%#^#.....")

So, all in all it went pretty well. She learned to 'walk and talk like a real lady'. Which will come in very handy someday, somewhere, I'm sure.