Happy Mother's Day

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!



For 4 years people have been wishing me happy Mother's Day and I have loved it every time. (I have had Lauren for 3 Mother's Day but I was really close to receiving my referral for her 4 years ago.)



There was a time when I thought I would never be a mother. It use to make me very sad to think about how I might never experience being a mother.

I then started to think about doing it on my own and I looked at different options. The one that felt right for me was to adopt from China.



I turned my paper work and was DTC on 10/21/2003. The wait at that time was about a year but things started to speed up and on June 7, 2004 I was told that I have a little girl waiting for me in China. I remember when I first saw her picture and I thought she was just wonderful. I was a mom.




On August 10, 2004 this lovely little girl was placed in my arms. She was little and frightened and I was scared and so very happy. I was a mom with my child in my arms.



I love being Lauren's mom. She makes me so happy. I love spending my time and my money on her. I love seeing the joy in her face when she is happy. I love the kisses and hugs that she gives me. I love that she is always asking me questions. I love that she makes me laugh and that I can make her laugh. I am so proud that I can call her my daughter.




Being a mom is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened in my life. I am so blessed that I was given this young lady.

This morning Lauren was so excited to give me the gifts she had made for me. She had me open them first thing this morning. I got so many gifts from her. These gifts were better then any store bought gift.





This has been a wonderful Mother's Day.

We took these pictures this morning before going to church. I can't believe how long her hair has gotten.

Look at all the gifts I got this morning from Lauren.

What a Day!!

What a day we had. We left the house this morning at 9:30 am and after dance lessons and two birthday parties later we finally made it back home at 5:00pm.


We started the day at dance lessons. The class is getting ready for their recital so they can't miss any of the classes. They are learning their dances and it should be a great program.


When the dance class ended we changed clothes and went to the first Birthday party. This party was at Pump It Up. This is a place with a lot of inflatables that the kids can slide on, jump in climb on and play on.


Lauren loves going there. She is always a little scared to go down the big slides when we first get there but within a few minutes she is having fun.


This is where she will have her birthday party in a few weeks. Her party was to be today but with all the other parties she got invited to we decided to switch the date till later in the month.



After Pump It Up we had to go to the second birthday party of the day. This one was at the Railroad Park. Since the Railroad Park party is an outside party I decided that she should change clothes, since it was pretty warm today and being in long pants would be too hot. So we changed clothes again and head for the Railroad Park.



(Lauren going down the side)

Ready for the first party.

The Railroad Park just opened a new birthday room. It is in a Railroad car that was nice and cool. They have the kids play games outside and then they come back inside and have cake and ice cream. The party ends with a train ride around the park and a ride on the carousal.

It was a fun day but we were both very very tired when we finally got home. These next few weeks are going to be very busy. We have one of her dance recitals next weekend, then it is Memorial Day with a party and cookout, then we have a preschool graduation and party and then Lauren's birthday party It is going to be a fun busy May!!

Having fun with some of her classmate friends.

Playing games.

What a smile.

School visit

I don't get to go to Lauren's school that often. However, because of the never ending scrapbook project I have had to go a few times in the past few weeks to get some pictures.

I needed to get pictures of each of the kids with the school's director. She has since opened a new school at a new location and so she is not at this location much. (Her school has really grown and she out grew this space.) We made arrangements for her to be at the school today and I came and got the pictures I needed. Since all the kids where at school today we took a few class pictures. Of course you have to have the funny face class picture. I am pretty amazed that I got a picture that had all the kids looking at me.

Today was one of those days at Lauren's school that a couple of girls would not let Lauren play with them. It hurt me to see her hurt. When school started Lauren was "best" friends with a little girl in the class. It is my understanding that they would do everything together. They would play together, sit together, hold hands and etc. Then at beginning of the new year a new girl came into the class. (She really is not new but she had moved and then moved back.) The new girl and Lauren's "best" friend became "best best" friends. There are days when they will let Lauren play with them and other times when they will tell Lauren she can't play with them. Today was one of those days that they told her she could not play. The mommy in me wanted to yell and scream at these little girls. I was mad that they would hurt my little girl. The thing that makes me sad is that Lauren will still say this little girl is one of her best friends. It hurts just to think about it and I am glad there is only a few more weeks of school and then she will move on.

Funny face class picture


Nice class picture.

Awana Awards

Lauren goes to church club on Tuesday nights. Tonight was the last night for the school year. She was in the "Cubbies" and she has now moved up to the "Sparks". She will start that in the fall. Tonight was the award night. Lauren got an award for attendance and for completing her second book.





This is the first of many activities that come with the end of the school year. We have her preschool graduation, a school good-bye party, a few dance recitals, and a cheer program. It was be nice to have a break from all her activities for the summer. The only thing we are going to do is swimming lessons.

It is strange to think my little girl will not be in preschool next year, she is growing up!!

I used my old point and shoot camera to take these pictures. It is hard to use this camera because it is so slow and it does not work the best. Last fall I treated myself to a new camera (Nikon D40x). It is a very nice camera and so easy to use. You can take a ton of pictures really fast. The quality of the pictures is so much better. I love using my Nikon D40x. Now I want the Nikon D300.

I leave my point and shoot camera in the car but I think the heat has really taken a toll on the camera. I think that is one of the reason it does not work like it did before I started to leave it in the car.

Fun Time Saturday

My brother turned 40 years old this week so we had him over for a birthday celebration. We also had them so that his wife (my sister in law) would help me with the never ending scrapbook project.

So while we worked on the scrapbooks, my brother and girls played outside. They played in the sand, in the bouncy house and with bubbles. I know the girls had a great time I am not sure that is they way my brother thought he would celebrate his 40th birthday. The girls also played in Lauren's room. When I went in there after they left it was an interesting mess. There was fish food all over the floor. The fish tank was full of fish food. So this evening I had to clean out a fish tank before I went to bed.

I can't believe that my little brother is 40 years old.

Happy Birthday Brian. I hope you enjoyed your evening here and I hope you have a great year. I Love You.



The week I turned 40 was also the week that I went to China to get Lauren. It was a great 40th birthday present and the best way to celebrate my birthday.

Tough Weekend

(These pictures are from last October. It was our first visit to Disneyland. We had a great time. My friend and her daughter went to Disneyworld last week and I have been thinking about them and the fun they probably had. It reminds me of the fun time we had so I decided to post a few old pictures. Lauren's favorite ride was the teacups. We must have rode them about 25 times.)



(Kim and Ella: I hope you had a nice vacation and Happy 2nd Family Day!)

I was tough on Lauren this weekend and as I look back I think it was because it was a weekend of frustrations for me. It was weird because it was such minor things that made me so frustrated.

The first frustration was Lauren's birthday party. About a month or so ago I called and made reservations for a birthday party for Lauren at a place called Pump it Up. It is a place with a bunch of inflatables that the kids jump in, slide down and climb on. They all love it and Lauren really wanted a birthday party there. So I scheduled it for May 10 at 4:00 pm. (Lauren's birthday is in June but I like to have her party in May before school gets out and everyone goes away for the summer.) I sent out the invites on Monday. Well, on Thursday I went to Lauren's school and I learned that there are 2 other parties scheduled for that day. Both those parties are for boys only so Lauren is not invited to either of them. However, since most of the kids in her class are boys not many would be able to make it to her party. I went back and forth and talked with Lauren about whether or not she wanted boys to come to her party. I explained that if she wanted boys to come then we would have to change the date. She decided that she wanted the boys to come so I changed the date of the party to May 31. Later that day I got the mail and Lauren had party invite to Pump it Up for May 10 for another one of her friends. I am so glad that I changed the party. We would have been at Pump it Up at noon to 2:00 and then again at 4:00 to 6:00 that would have been just way too much Pump it Up. It is a bit of a pain to have to send out new invites. I already sent an email to everyone but I am also going to send out new invites.

The second frustrating thing was at dance class. This problem I have not resolved yet. When Lauren got her dance recital outfit she asked if she could put it on with her tap shoes. I told her she could and then she said that the tap shoes where too small. I thought this was a bit strange since I just got her new tap shoes about a month ago. (Lauren wears between a 9 1/2 to 10. She has been a 9 1/2 since school started in the fall. I know that her foot is going to grow soon. So I bought her size 10.) When I looked in her bag she had a pair of tap shoes that were size 8 1/2. I told her she must have picked up someone elses shoes and we would straigten it out on Saturday.

So on Saturday during her tap class I went in to see if she found her shoes. That is when I was told that the teacher took it upon herself to switch shoes. The teacher that did this is the owner of the Dance Studio and was not there but her assistant was there. The assistant told me that the teacher felt that Lauren's shoes were a bit big on her so found another pair and switch them with Lauren. These new shoes are so tight on Lauren's feet. She has not wore a size 8 1/2 in over a year. When I asked where Lauren's tap shoes are she said someone probably has them. Is that weird? The teacher just decided to take Lauren's new shoes and give them to someone else and give Lauren ones that are way too small. I am so mad about this and everyone I tell think it is a bit weird also. I am going to speak with the teacher next week and I hope it goes well.

Boy, I hope this week goes better!!!

List Girl

I have been a list person for as long as I can remember. My sister (the person who watches Lauren during the day) is also a list person. I usually only use lists at work but I think my sister has a list going all the time for all the projects that she is always working on.

Tonight coming home from work I told Lauren we could watch a movie and have popcorn. She thought this was a good idea and decided to make a list of everything she needed to do tonight. I think this pretty cute and she did this with no prompting from me. During the evening she would make marks when we completed an item.

We were able to get through all the items on the list. I love that she added Dance to the list. I agree that we need to dance everyday. (Actually she told me she needed to practice for her dance recitals.) Number 4 is Fox Hound. That is the movie she wanted to watch. She ran out of room so she put the d on the next line.

It warms my heart to know I have a list girl!!