This photo was taken at the beginning of summer.... when we thought to ourselves that we had a whole summer ahead of us. In fact we did have a whole summer ahead of us. BUT... as summer always seems to do.... it went by in a flash... and now it is August 31st.
September brings all sorts of new and exciting things.....preschool for both of the littles (Ty's first year), ballet, and Chinese school.
BUT.....
On August 31st I find myself wishing we had a little more summer... swimming... flowers... strawberries... black raspberries (picked by Jeff) served with chocolate mousse.....blueberries.....fresh corn on the cob.....Gator rides.....family movie day....storyhour....fresh tomatoes....trips to the beach... Kelleys Island......
After a trip to a popular chain restaurant (Texas Road House to be exact)..... one we haven't been to in what seems like ages.... but LOVE LOVE LOVE their bread and butter......The littles came home with these hats. Our waitress might have been their favorite person when she handed these over. After each bite we heard a VERY loud YEEHAW from the little cowboy and cowgirl.... as their new hats were flying in the air or into our meals. Apparently throwing your hat is part of being a cowboy or cowgirl. They PROUDLY marched out of the restaurant wearing their new hats... while adding YEEHAW's all the way out the door.
The next morning Lily comes down to breakfast and the first words out of her mouth.... MOM WHERE IS MY HOWDY HAT...... Ty follows with MY HOWDY HAT TOO MAMA
Lily also suggested that they might need cowboy and cowgirl boots......
I love this little tractor and so do the littles... This was in our shed when we moved in and the littles were so excited to put it to use. Jeff cleaned it up and the littles have been riding it all summer. They also love that their dad use to ride on it.
Lil is ready for a bigger bike but isn't ready to be done with this one!
Bedtime conversation with Ty...... Me... I love you Ty Ty... I love you Mama Me... Gave him a big hug, kissed his cute cheeks, then said sleep tight Ty baby Ty...He gave me a kiss, a hug, and held on to me tightly....then he said, "I not ready to let you go Mama"
I thought to myself.... I bet I won't hear those words from my littles very often.... but I bet I will say those words (or at least think them) quite OFTEN
Just when I was feeling sentimental Ty says..... Mama you stay here You sleep on my floor
I reply.... Thank you honey but I am going to sleep in my cozy mama bed
Ty.... Mama you sleep on my cozy floor... I have a LOTTA LOTTA room
Ty riding one of Lily's bikes..... Check out the knee OUCHIES.... those are from playtime (after storyhour).... Knee diving into the carpet will do that every time...... Ty still continues to knee dive...... Dad calls these ouchies strawberries..... Lily applies bandages to Ty's ouchies.... Ty decides to wear pants to playtime.....
Looking for Lily... No worries... she is on one of his bikes...
Thinking he is too cute and too funny on Lily's big girl bike
Get my picture Mama... I'm on Lil's bike
Oh no here she comes......
He suggests that she take a ride on their little tractor.... the one he always wants..... she agrees... he continues to ride her bike.... she suggests that he put on his knee pads to prevent strawberries..... Ty replies.... GOOD IDEA LIL
When we first moved here I took the littles to a play place in a local church.....
One day when the littles were playing I was blessed to meet Shirley (the littles call her Miss Shirley) , her mother, and her 2 boys (Kyler is 2 and Brady is 4). Shirley and her mother filled me in on all the cool kids stuff around the area. Soon after I met Shirley the kids started attending story hour together. Playtime follows story hour which means the moms get to have adult time and the kids have fun. We LOVE story hour day.
Since we met, Shirley has invited us to all sorts of fun things. She made me/us forget that we were new to the area.
The kids LOVE each other. Lily refers to Brady as HER PRINCE BRADY. Not only do the kids do wonderful together...... Shirley is one of those people that I feel like I've always known. Her friendship came into our lives just at the right time and I feel so blessed to have met her.
Her family has come to feel like family to us and we are all so thankful for their friendship!!!!
Shirley sent me the cute pictures below.....
Lily, Ty, Brady, & Kyler having fun at a play place we tried out recently..... Shirley and I weren't overly impressed with it but the kids had fun and that is all that matters....
Lily supervising the boys
Eating cupcakes at Brady & Kyler's house....
Princess Lily with HER Prince Brady..... Oh my word these two are so cute together!
A VERY Big thank you to all of you for your comments and emails.... regarding my last post. Oh you guys are so wonderful. Thank you for sharing your experiences, stories, feelings, etc. Thank you as well for your support and the very kind compliments. It means so much to me/us.
Here are some thoughts.... also regarding the last post..... *Being a parent is a hard job no matter what the circumstances. *I am not crazy about the word adoption. Not exactly sure why I don't like the word. It was nice to see that other families don't care for the word either. I LOVE that Lily and Ty came into our lives through adoption..... just think we need a different word. *People will ALWAYS have questions and comments...... some will be good and some not good. That is part of life.... right!? *I love sharing our story .... the story of how Lily and Ty came into our lives. I figured out long ago (when we were waiting actually) that there is a difference between a rude question and someone that is interested in our story (or interested in adoption).
My sweet friend Megan shared this scripture with me..... I thought it was perfect and quite true......... Proverbs 19:11 - A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
A little laugh for you....... A breakfast conversation...Lily was trying to tell Ty that she was right and he was wrong. Lily says... MOM, girls are always right (she wasn't asking... she was telling) Me..... (I really want to say yes.. hee hee) but I said well, not always Lil Lily..... Well, I am right because I am a really smart girl and you just know I am TY enters conversation... I can't know that Lily You can imagine how much she liked that answer???!!!!!
NOPE....... but when I saw this little duo they sure reminded me of Lily and Ty.
THE LITTLES
This post is not meant to sound bitter or anything of the sort.... but I wanted to share.....
Being a family with children from China we get MANY questions (which I know I have shared before).
The most popular question is the brother and sister question. It use to start out with ARE THEY TWINS.... my answer was NO.... then it would go on to how old are they.... what is their age difference.... I can totally understand people asking if they are twins. I might do the same. They are very close in size and look similar.
BUT the most frequently asked and my LEAST favorite question is... ARE THEY REAL BROTHER AND SISTER? This is always asked loud enough for Lily and Ty to hear. One week I counted (crazy I know) and we were asked over 20 times. I have given many answers to this question... I try to be polite for the benefit of Lily and Ty.
On a recent trip to the grocery store the clerk decided she needed to ask this ever so popular question. Here is the scene..... Lily and Ty were getting antsy and starting to fight, Ty was trying to reach the credit card machine, Lily was pulling at him to sit down, he was yelling at her, she pinched him and told him to listen, he yelled NO LILY, and so on. That is when the clerk asks LOUDLY (probably because they were so loud)..... Are they REAL(with emphasis on the real part) brother and sister? I was sweating from going through the store as fast as humanly possible, feeling a little weak because I was hungry, and knowing that the check out is usually when Lily and Ty have reached the end of their shopping experience. SOOOOO.... I wasn't in my usual friendly mood (hee hee) when I answered........WELL they are NOW. I must have answered loudly because she looked shocked but not enough to stop asking ?'s. She continues.... I mean are they REALLY brother and sister? I (still not in the best mood) said, "THEY ARE NOW". She seemed to catch the fact that I was done answering because she stopped questioning. Luckily Lily and Ty were picking at each other so much they didn't hear any of it.
For a while we would answer that they are NOT biological.... but I don't like how negative that sounds. Since I know this is a question we are always going to get I want to have an answer that sounds positive for Lily and Ty.
I know that people are curious and I am sure they don't think about how the question sounds to Lily and Ty. BUT Jeff and I do think about how the question sounds to Lily and Ty. We can't protect them from people asking questions but we can give good answers.
My brother and I....... I wonder how we would have felt if that was a question we heard growing up.... What answer would my parents have given.... Ok maybe we shouldn't go there.... hee hee
We adopted our daughter, Lily Feifei from China in July 2006. In March 2008 we adopted our son, Ty Olsen from China.
This blog is about our journey as a family.
Under The Trumpet Vine
