Our Forever Family

Our Forever Family
WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF!!!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Our China reunion 2010!

Check out our China group reunion photo! Our girls (and boy) are getting sooooooo big!

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Our Very Own Family's Fairytale

David and Vicki's photography made us this great photo video to showcase our photoshoot! We chose the song "You'll Be in my Heart" from Tarzan because it is our family's adoption song... it just relates to our family and adoption! I can't say it enough... David and Vicki are awesome! ENJOY! Oh... and go all the way to the bottom and pause or stop the blog music before clicking the arrow to play our video...
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Saturday, August 14, 2010

Our July 2010 WDW Trip! My pics...

Now that you have seen the fantastic photos that we had professionally taken while we were visiting THE WORLD... I wanted to share some (ok...maybe lots) of the photos that I took while in Disn@y! So, they won't be quite as great but they sure do share some great memories!
Just a bit of background... WE LOVE DISN@Y! We are DVC owners and visit the parks at least once a year... but usually twice. I will have been to WDW 4 times this year including a trip that I will be taking as an advisor with our YES group this coming October. Just for the record... this was my 24th trip to WDW! :) As a family we have 3 trips to The World and a Dream cruise booked for 2011... so like I said WE LOVE DISN@Y!!! Po has visited the parks this past February as a day trip or two but this was his first real stay at the Resort. We own, love and stayed at the Animal Kingd@m Villas on this trip, as we always do. We did a split stay... 1 night at Kid@ni Village and 8 nights at J@mbo House. Po loved the animals and jumped up and down and screamed like a baby when he saw the giraffes...or zebras... or ostriches... you get it! He loved the savannah view room as much as we did!
This was Shasha's 7th???(maybe 8th) trip to Disney and she is a pro! Honestly, this child knows those parks like the back of her hand... if you ever need a tour guide just let her know!
We did a few firsts this trip... 1 night Deluxe Dining, 8 nights quick service, The ireworks Dessert Party (which is costly but worth it), T-Rex, fireworks from the Poly Beach and a Savannah View room! Our trip was awesome and as relaxing as a trip to the World can be with two little ones... take a look.. (oh and click the little x on the add so you can read my comments with the pictures!)

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Some More of my Favorite Photos!

Just a few more of my favorite photos that we had taken while in WDW in July by David and Vicki Arndt Photography! I just ordered an 8x10 collage, 62 4x6's, 6 8x10's, 6 5x7's, and wallets... free shipping... $29.42!





Monday, August 2, 2010

Our First Actually Professional Family Photos

I am just tickled pink about how fabulous our family photos turned out! Of course, I changed our blog photo to one of them a few weeks ago when I received some sneak peeks... but I just can't wait to share them all with you!

Now... you may be asking how I chose a photographer??? That would be easy! Scott and I LOVE Walt Disn@y World... and I mean LOVE!!! So when I saw someone on the wedding thread of the Dis highly recommend Vicki and David Arndt Photogragraphy(http://www.davidandvickiarndtphoto.com/)
I immediately visited their website! Sure most of the photos were of beautiful brides and their handsome husbands... but when I saw their work I knew that I HAD TO HAVE THEM TO TAKE MY FAMILY'S PHOTOS!!!
Vicki and David Arndt are photographers in Orlando, Florida! Truly, they do everything from weddings, to families, to graduation pictures... Oh, and I NEED a dress to trash because I just love their Trash the Dress shots!!!
Anyway, I knew that I needed to have that Cinderella Castle in the background of our pictures so I decided that the Poly resort would work best for our photos... although I was torn between the Poly and AKV.

We met David and Vicki and I could just feel it right away that they were a perfect match for our family! Shasha and Po did as well as anyone could have ever expected! Seriously, I thought that I would end up with one good family photo and then a few of the kids here and there and call it a day! Oh... how I was wrong! David and Vicki took 2 hours worth of photos of us posing and kissing and walking and playing and splashing and blowing bubbles and... you get it right? I could just go on and on! Shasha wanted to play in the sand... great!
Po wanted to watch the boats an play in the water... fantastic! David and Vicki were like our photo angels! Everything we did... they found a way to make it into a photo op!

Honestly, we have so many fantastic photos that I could print a new one out to showcase in the living room every week for a year and I would still have more left over to display in th ekitchen and the bedrooms and playroom and...!!! Our pictures are beautiful... NO, more than BEAUTIFUL... they are beautiful and awesome and natural... and they just show the simple beauty of our family!


So if you live in the Orlando area or you are just vacationing in the area... check out their website @ http://www.davidandvickiarndtphoto.com/ and schedule some photos! I am telling you... you won't ever want to step foot in a mall studio AGAIN!!! Thank you David and Vicki for the most magical family photo experience we could dream of!

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Celebrting ShaSha's Adoption Day!

Our ShaSha today!!!


Yesterday, July 24, was Shasha's Adoption Day! We celebrated 4 years together as a forever family! I can't believe how fast time seems to pass. We had a super great day! Daddy worked dayshift but that was OK because we went shopping for dresses and new shoes, went to Littl@ Gym Class and then followed by lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant! We eneded our afternoon with a trip at the bookstore... one of her faves (seems logical considering I am a school librarian, right?) We didn't get to spend too much time there however, because a certain little brother was way beyond his naptime!
Our Shasha then...



While Po napped, we tried on all the new dresses and hung them up in the closet! Daddy was soon home and after showing him all of our buys Shasha decided that the perfect end to her day would be by celebrating at her favorite place to eat.. Fri@ndly's! So we headed out to get some yummy food and ice ceam and ended our night at our local minor league baseball stadium for some fun! It was a super great day!

Now only one other thing... Shasha celebrated Gotcha Day on Friday, Adoption Day on Saturday and she wants to know what she can celebrate today????

Monday, July 19, 2010

18 months old already!

Wow, how time flies. Wasn't just yesterday that we were on the longest flight of our lives to Taiwan to pick up our 8 month old little boy? It is hard to imagine that 10 months have gone by since we brought our little Po-boy home to be part of our forever family:) Take a look at this slide show of his first 18 months and keep reading about our little Po below!
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Po is the sweetest little thing... and ahhhh I sure do mean that. He loves everyone...especially Shasha... but Momma is a slight favorite! His little face and smile melt my heart. His laugh is infectious and those dimples are growing deeper by the day! Sometimes when i am hugging him... I have to remember that he is only a little peanut of a man and not hug quite so tight... I love to hold him and hug him and squeeze him and love him! He truly is a Momma's boy.

Po had his 18 month well visit today at the pediatrician. He is getting tall! He measured 31 and 1/2 inches! Weight? Well, he is pretty light. He weighed in at 19.15 pounds so he has to gain 1 once before we can turn his carseat around! I would have sworn that he was 20 pounds:)

Po-Chun is a vegetarian so it seems. He eats NO MEAT. Once, I cut a hot dog up teeny tiny and mixed it in with his beloved mac and cheese. He actually picked every bit of hotdog out and fed it to our dogs! I couldn't help but laugh. Every once in a while we can get him to eat a bite or two of chicken... but that is it! This was one of the concerns we talked to the pediatrician about today. She was not concerned and said it simply may be a texture thing right now. In the meantime... feed him an egg a day, be sure to give him his gummy vitamins, and let him eat all the mac and cheese he wants!

So what foods does he like??? His faves are fruit and Mac and Cheese... oh but Cookies still hold the top spot! He will eat any fruit given to him... grapes, cantalope, watermelon, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries and it is also common to see him walking around the house chowing down on an entire nectarine or peach! Fish.. he loves fish, so once a week we have fish for 1 meal. Yogurt. Cookies. CHEESE. Peaches and Cream. Chips. Fettucini Alfredo. Did I mention cookies?

Let me begin by saying that I talk a lot. AND Shasha talks maybe more than me! So needless to say, Po has lots of words! His first word way back when was Cook-Cook for Cookie. Mamma... is the word we hear the most. Now, the list goes on. My (mine), bye, sues (shoes), Fishies, Goggy (Doggy), although our dogs are more specifically Do-Do (Yogi) and Cin (Cindi Lou), Deer, Baba, Gink(Drink), eat, more, up, down, hot, cold, cheese, dare (there), uh-uhn, and the more direct NO, yah(yes), Gickey (Mickey), Minnie, Goof-Goof (Goofy), car, truck... and lots more. We hear at least one new word a day! This kid is like a mocking bird... if he hears it, he says it! And lately he has been combining 2 words together. For example... Momma UP, In dare (while pointing at the fridge) or My gink. This is very different than Shasha since she skipped words and started taking in phrases and sentences... but not until 25 months!

He loves hats... not necessarily on himself... but he loves to steal everyone else's hat to try on and play peek a boo with. Oh and the phone... he loves the phone. He has made several long distance phone calls on the house phone... 2 of them were to Vegas. I hope he hasn't started gambling...hahahhaha. And remotes... we hide them! Po loves water! Everything is a poo (pool). It doesn't matter if it is his bath, a tidal pool, the ocean, a river, a mud puddle, or an indoor fountain filled with loose change. To Po it is a Poo! And try getting him out of the poo... cry? Oh yes! He doesn't ever want to get out! He is a water baby. He will bring his bathing suit out to us, point to the door and yell, "Poo!" It is cute but I don't know what we will do when it is winter!

Gosh. I have so much to say about this insanely active, terrific 12 hour a night sleeper plus a 3 or 4 hour nap a day kid who loves his shoes and to go Bye-bye. I think I could type for hours and hours. That's what a Momma does. I am just so proud of him and the great strides he has made over the past 10 months. It is hard to look at him and remember that last year at this time he was not even here with us.
Lilypie Waiting to Adopt tickers