Our New Car!!!

Well, last night we out out shopping and ended up buying a brand new car!!! It is Orange, yellow and green and we won't be spending any money on gas! It even came with a new cell phone! Ok...Ok.. so Shasha got a new car... not us! We were walking throough Big Lots and Daddy spots the Dora Cozy Coupe. Shasha HAD to have it! She has an old one that my cousin gave her last year and she loves it... she rides up and down our very long front porch and tells everyone to "get outta the road"!!!! She watched not so patiently as Daddy put the car together for her last night and took it for a little test drive around the kitchen! Today, she moved it outside and was cruisin' da road all morning!

OUR NEW CAR!!!!

It was Carnival Week!

I so remember Carnival week being the best week of the summer when I was growing up. Somehow eating too much greasy food and ice cream and then spinning frantically on rides with all of my friends had the perfect combination for an enjoyable summer. Now it is Shasha's turn! Last year she was just a bit too small to really enjoy the carnival... but this year she was VERY... VERY into it! The Dizzy Dragons were by far her favorite ride and she would jump up and down with excitement while standing in line. She did however love all of the little rides too... the choo choo, the tanks, and the little ponies! She loved eating the cheese off of her pizza... YUP, just the cheese and she would scarf up an icecream a night! Peanut Butter seemed to be her favorite by the end of the week which was just fine with Daddy because ... well, it wasn't chocolate... and didn't stain her shirt, shorts, hands and legs. Shasha had her face painted 3 times during the week. I didn't think she would sit still long enough for any paint to be put on her face but I was wrong. She requested pretty flowers to be painted on her face each time. She loved the attention it got her... though she gets enough attention just being Shasha!

Here's a look at Shasha and enjoying her Carnival!!!

We adopted Shasha 2 years ago TODAY!!!

July 24, 2006 is Shasha's Forever Family Day! She has now been an official member of our family for 2 years!!! Enjoy some of our memories of China...

2 years ago TODAY...

Two years ago today was a very special day in our lives! July 23, 2006. It was the day that our precious little China angel, Shasha, was placed in our arms for the very first time!!!! What a great memory! I remember seeing her little face for the first time as one of her SWI workers carried her to the corner of the doorway. My heart was beating so fast... Scoog's eyes were welled up with happiness and excitement... and then we heard "NUMBER 7... Shasha!" It all happened so quickly. We passed off cameras to the other familiies around us and ran to Shasha as she was carried through the doorway. She was placed in my arms and we practically smothered her with hugs and kisses. She was dressed in the cutest little Old Navy denim dress with a bit of red trim on the bottom. I can still remember her smell... her little China smell. We have her Gotcha Day clothes in a Ziploc bag ... never washed with her little China smell still on them. We wrapped her litle frog rattle that Grammy gave her around her wrist and just starred at her through our welled up eyes. Shasha rest her head on my shoulder and fell asleep. Ahhh. So this is love.

This was the first time that Shasha ever left her orphange, Yang Xi Social Welfare Institution. It was so hot. Oh so humid. And Shasha's first ride on a little bus... no AC. She was little, only 8 and 1/2 months old, but she braved a three hour ride to meet us, her Momma and Dadda!

I look at her and still see that same little face... but with longer hair. She has changed so much since that first day we held her in our arms. She is now so tall... 36 inches. She sings her ABC's beautifully and can tell you the states in alphabetical order through Conneticut..doot, doot, doot. Shasha's new favorite thing to do is watch videos on You Tube. She loves Minnie Mouse. Her favorite foods are Pizza and Shrimp. She is a total Momma's girl. I asked her," What is your favorite kind of ice cream?" She simply stated..."A Mickey Mouse Ice Cream Bar!" She has visited Disney World 2 times in the past year and will soon be in Disneyland in California and on the Disney Cruise! Purple... red .....and yellow .... and brown are her list of favorite colors... and pink she adds. She has a little voice all her own and expresses her thoughts and feelings very well. Her favorite word??? No. Although it usually comes in threes...NO, No, NOOOOOOO!

Tomorrow, July 24, Shasha will be ours officially for 2 years. We adopted her in China on July 24, 2006. She is the joy in our lives and we look forward to spending the rest of our lives in her company... we just don't want time to pass too quickly!

P.S. The date on the pictures is one day off!

It's been a while!

I am running a bit behind in our blogging! So I'll try to catch up! Last week, we visited Dutsch Wonderland with LB and LM (and their Mommy and Daddy, too). Shasha absolutely loved it there. What a nice park for little kids! It started out rainy but by the time the pak opened ... blue skies and sun tan lotion were the prescription of the day! Shasha loved the little whip, the log flume and the old cars... and yup, she drove those cars all by herself! She thought she was a racecar driver! There were a few rides she hated... and I mean hated... the little Frog ride, the ferris wheel and the rockets! She would merrily climb aboard these rides and within about 3 minutes or so of the ride... "whhhhaaaaaaa! Me ready to get off now! WWWhhhhhaaaaa!" could be heard throughout the park!! LB would try his best to keep her calm... what a great friend! The only time it rained we were at the little water park... so it really didn't matter. And that was good because it didn't just rain... it poured!



We spent another night in AC. The beach was just how Scoog liked it... cloudy! Shasha went on a "big stroller ride" and loved it! The guy who pushed our "stroller" was beeping at people just like Shasha! "Beep...Beep!" We ended our stay with a nice walk on the beach... it was nice to feel the super cold water on our feet as we walked through the sand. Shasha was collecting shells.. but only broken ones. She had no interest in the pretty whole ones we gave her!

On the adoption front... we went for our physicals yesterday. So one more thing down. I was happy to hear the doctor notice my weight loss. Since last November (the last time I was at my doctor's office)I have lost 26.5 lbs. Yeah!!! Of course, the first thing I did when i got to my mom and dad's house was eat 3 Oreos! They did taste good though! So anyway...all we are waiting for now to complete our homestudy is our State fingerprints. Later today I will mail everything we have to our SW so she can complete our homestudy.

Hotdogs, Popcorn and Baseball!

Take her out to the ball game! Buy her a hot dog and buttered popcorn!
Last night we went to the Iron Pigs game and Shasha had a blast. Our friends went to the game with us and Shasha loved hanging out with LB and LM! Certainly, with three kids at the game we didn't spend a whole lot of time watching the game but we did spend quality time together as two families! We did spend a lot of time eating... so it seemed. But nothing beats the taste of a hot dog at the ballpark!! MMM...MMMM...MMM. The game ended with a fabulous fireworks display to celebrate the 4th of July holiday a few days early! Shasha loves fireworks! This is a far cry from my childhood memories of fireworks! I remember watching them through the holes of a blanket with my fingers in my ears to block out the big bangs! Well... fireworks are made in China...

Our Homestudy is...

well, to say the least ... our homestudy is coming along! We are no strangers to the process. This is now our third time doing the paperwork for a homestudy. Even though we are only updating our homestudy the paperwork and never ending check writing just seem to go on and on and on.
Last Wednesday, June 25. our sw who is doing our Taiwan homestudy did a home visit. She is wonderful! We felt so at ease with her and are looking forward to doing our homestudy with her. On Monday, June 30, we went to our local UPS store to have our PA FBI fingerprints taken. This is a new step that was just added to the PA adoption process as of January 1 of '08. Cost... another 80 bucks. Our reference letters are out and our clearances need money orders and to be put in the mail. We have physicals scheduled for July 16 and for the first time in a long time... I am excited to get weighed! I want to see that official weight loss number. I know that I am down at least 23 lbs since my last doctor visit last year! We still need employment letters that say we do indeed have jobs and document how much we make. We can't forget the mighty important financial report. If nothing else filling this form out has really made us look at our money situation over the past 4 years! It is nice to see that big mortgage number steadily going down!!! We still have 10 or 11 years before that number reads $0. I can't wait for that day to come!So now all we need is a will! Yup... a will. I know that we need one. After all, we have to think about Shasha. But WOW... what a smack in the head to get that started! I guess we best get started!!!