Happy Halloween

Lily decided she wanted to be a lady bug again this year (she was a ladybug 2 years ago).
I wasn't sure what Ty would be and Miss Lily suggested he should be a panda. Since he loves pandas I thought that was a great idea....

The other day it was so nice outside that we threw the costumes on and took some pictures.
They thought that was so much fun and can't wait to wear them again tomorrow night for trick or treat.....

Lilybug and Ty Panda.....
Also the Princess and Pirate pumpkins.... they loved decorating their pumpkins with these kits from Target.

Ty's Birthday

Ty really enjoyed his 3rd birthday!!! We had a celebration with the 4 of us on his birthday. Then this weekend we enjoyed a fall weekend at our church camp.......since we had several family members and friends with us we thought we would have a birthday celebration.

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful gifts and for helping us make Ty's birthday a special one.

Ty LOVED this birthday banner!

Happily standing under his birthday banner....

Miss Lily thought she would assist Ty in blowing out his candles... see the next picture to see what he thought of that idea....

NOOOOOO LILYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Ty and Lily in their new slippers and enjoying Ty's new Tball game
(thanks Auntie and Uncle M for that)

Happy 3rd Birthday Ty

It seems like yesterday that we were sending a birthday cake to the Xi'an Children's Welfare Institute for Ty's 2nd birthday. It is hard to believe our little man is now 3 years old.

What a blessing Ty is and how happy/thankful we were to watch him blow out his candles this year. I can't imagine life without our happy little Ty.

We had a little celebration with just the 4 of us and will have a little party this weekend with some of our family and friends.

I'll post more birthday photos next week.....for now here is our 3 year old Ty Olsen TongLin blowing out his birthday candles.....

Swing set Fun

Lily and Ty LOVE their swing set! They can play on it for hours and I love it because I can sneak some really cute pictures of them.

They love to go down the slide on each other's lap. It is usually Ty on Lily's lap (her demand) but once in a while she will go on his lap.

At any rate they have a great time........

I love these 2 so much
(I also love this picture.... this is all them.... I didn't ask them to pose... they just smiled and then went back to sliding)

An apple a day keeps the Dr away.....

A few weeks ago we made the trip to a local apple orchard.... let's just say we will be eating apples for quite a while.

We had so much fun! The weather was really nice and Uncle Jon (Jeff's brother), Aunt Katie, Cousin Ivan, and Baby Nina joined us.

Lily and Ty actually ate apples with the peel on... normally if Lily notices a fragment of peel on the apple she won't eat it... I think Ty does the same thing because he sees her rejecting the peel.
Well, they were both more than excited to eat the apples right then and there.... peel and all.

I don't have as many pictures of Ty (from the orchard) because he was on the move and on the hunt for apples... he didn't have time for my photo sessions....

Lily and Ivan hugging for what seemed like 5 minutes.
Lily always reminds us that she and Ivan are cousins just like Dora and Diego.

The hug seems to be getting tighter... Ivan seemed ok with it...
Lily gives the best hugs.... her hugs are so strong that I have to remind myself she is only 3.

Pumpkin Patch Ty

Lily picking out some gourds for us to take home...

These gorgeous mums looked like a colorful carpet...

Lily picking "flowers"

Ivan having fun

When I took this picture I asked Lily and Ty if they liked their apples and they both yelled
YUM YUM

Dad (holding the flowers that Lily picked) and Uncle Jon (with Ivan and Baby Nina)

Ty...pickin apples

Cousins... examining an apple covered in ants

Ty Baby home for 6 months

I can hardly believe that (just a few days ago) it has been six months ago that Ty came home....
It seems like he has always been with us but then it seems like yesterday that Jeff was in China.

We had our first post placement visit (with our social worker)... part of the requirements are to submit family pictures. Well, I have A LOT of pictures but none that show Jeff and I with Ty (without Miss Lily). I also only have one picture of myself with Ty. That is only due to the fact that Miss Lily wants to be in them all.

So while Lily was at preschool the other day we snapped a few pictures....
Ty thought this was a lot of fun but just to give you an idea of what his personality is like he mentioned Lily several times.... as though she needed to be there.

Our social worker asked me to tell her about Ty......
He is the one that always tries to make us laugh.
He is a social butterfly. He is really good with people and is always trying to help. If someone is crying or hurt he is the first to see why and give them a kiss.
He is so lovable.
He is fearless which causes mom and dad lots of fear.
He loves to look nice.... he wants gel in his hair each day like dad does. He always thanks me for doing his hair. He loves to try on new clothes.
He is always so thankful....he says THANK YOU for everything.
He loves pandas.
He is a smart little man.
He is so happy and jolly!
He loves all of his family, friends, and God.

We are so blessed to be his parents!!!!

Ty giving dad a kiss....

Ty LOVES the outdoors, watering flowers, planting flowers, digging, etc...... he also loves to pick my flowers.....
Here he is dressed up for his church dedication...... he took some time to stop and pick my mums on the front porch.

Another day and another opportunity to pick my flowers....

Ty in his bed... he is so proud of his Red Thread Stitches personalized pillow, his beautiful quilt that Aunt Rachel made him, his two pandas, the Dora he swiped months ago from Lily's room, and Boots that he got at King's Island.

Ty has discovered that Lily being in preschool isn't so bad... he can play with any toy he wants and he can wear her Matilda Jane hat. He LOVES the Matilda Jane hat by the way.
I was in the kitchen and spotted him wearing it while building a LEGO tower.

I LOVE Ty's hands........ they feel like little pancakes.... and they are just so cute.

A new "DO" for Miss Lilybug

When Lily came home from China her hair was about as short as Ty's. People use to tell her it looked so chic but she never seemed to like that it was so short.
As she got older and her hair grew longer she would always say that she didn't want short hair like her baby picture.
So we would just have it trimmed here and there.
Then a few weeks ago... out of the blue... she decided she wanted short hair . After she told me about 5 different times I figured she really wanted short hair.... so off we went to get it cut...
She now has a new do that is about 4 inches shorter....
The short hair makes her look younger which I love and she loves it... It seems to have brought out more of her sassy personality.... OH MY!