Mikayla and buddy/big sis Samantha having cookies
A shot of the circus performers that were part of the entertainment for the New Year Celebration
A shot of the cool puppets that were part of the puppet show at the CNY Celebration
Just some of our friends who live near by who also traveled with us to China celebrating the CNY
More friends at the party, Maggie loved carrying and being a big sis to Mikayla at the Reunion Picnic earlier in the year.
Our oldest friends posted here...the ones that led us to the agency who helped us find our daughter
This one should be no stranger to all of you as she has been the popular one of the blog with Mikayla...this is Ms Samantha and her mom and dad
Just one night checking in on Mikayla and at first I thought she was MIA until I took the second look....I guess she was cold even in her feety fleese one piece
The group of us that was at the Butterfly house
Ainslee and the bobsy twins...
Samantha having some magnetism with her hairbow...she was not sure she liked it there though
Just one of the beautiful butterflies we came across at the Butterfly House
One of my hitchhikers I was able to get a pic of
Dinner at Lulu's this was the day they also did the Lion Dance for CNY here at Lulu's an unexpected treat for us...there were over 200 guests at Lulu's that nightHello once again I have so many pics I am not sure where to begin. To start we all survived the rain, the hail, the wind and the tornado warnings. We made it through but I can also say we did not get much sleep. Mikayla and I stayed and tried to sleep in the basement while daddy braved it upstairs after the sirens went off hoping they would stay that way. Mikayla slept fine being as late as it was but mommy did not fair so well so come 3 am mommy trucked upstairs with Mikayla, put her in her room and I went to mine. By the time I got to sleep Daddy was rising and I got minimal sleep before Mikayla woke for the day. Now she is asleep once again and I am going to follow her in just a bit.
We have all been doing great just waiting for this cold nasty weather to leave so we can start playing outside more often. We are ready for the pool here at home we got our toys and things for practicing and we are working on finding some things do practice our gymnastics at home as well. I just wish we had a tree to use for training or swinging, etc. Currently I am thinking hard on what to do for April and Mikayla's 3rd birthday. We are thinking of combining it with Abbey next door who was born same day only a year earlier just like Alexis, along with Abbey's older brother who is I believe going to be 6 April 11th. So girlie stuff is out with Joey joining the pic but I still am not sure what or where to have a party. I am so thinking maybe I will forget the party and just do something big with her....I don't know......I do know Samantha is going to be 5 and going to Disney for her Birthday and we are NOT going to do that much for Mikayla at this time. If anyone cares to comment and give me some suggestions of any kind I would love to hear them.
We did go eat at LuLu's with her bud Samantha and her mom and dad along with Ms Wendy and Sam who we pray get their turn to go to China soon...LID 3/10/2007. We also went to the Butterfly House and Mikayla had fun with Samantha and Ainslee. The butterflies seemed to like me way too much. I had on some cologne but a gentleman there claimed it was salt they wanted...but I was not hot or sweating as I had just come into the house...plus I had an almost permanent Hitchhiker on my pant leg the entire time in there and I use unscented detergent and fabric softener, plus I don't think my pants were sweating. Who knows all I know is that I was pretty much a butterfly magnetic in there. I did not get many pics of me as I had the camera but Samantha's mom will hopefully send some pics to me soon.
We had a blast celebrating the New Year. I guess the New Year holds many surprises for all. This is the year of the Rabbit and that means it is my year, lucky for me. Mikayla and Daddy are Rats. Mikayla and I never did make it back to Gymnastics for the 4th time but I never did try, the day came and went and I thought we would sleep on it and not even try for it. We did go back and check out the gym that I kind of disliked by us giving it the benefit of the doubt. I guess I shouldn't have wasted my time doing that.... to begin with they only have evening classes, not only do I prefer day classes, Mikayla does better in the morning. By the time the classes start there she is already tiring out. Needless to say that was probably our first sign to not go there. When we arrived we were told she will be fine and they would take care of her. That was okay until after only about 5 min. they pretty much dragged her out of the class back to us and in front of a large room full of other Parents waiting for their children of all ages the coach might as well announced "your child is not smart enough and can not be in this class", the coach did not say these words but the way she talked to us she might as well have (we had her try an advanced class). The way the whole thing was handled was done so wrong. She made Mikayla upset by not letting her finish the class (the other place let her do that) plus she pretty much degraded her in front of her which Mikayla might or might not have understood at her age, still wrong. Plus, last but not least, she made it embarrassing for us the parents, even our neighbor who was there felt for us and shrunk in her seat. I did keep my cool even though it was like your boss yelling at you in front of everyone in the office, its very rude and unprofessional. That was the last straw for that place. Back to the other Gym I went, now Mikayla and I attend the Little Gym and we both have fun and are learning and enjoying the class. So Miss Mikayla is now doing Gymnastics and Swimming until June for sure.
She loves the gym classes and in Swim School she is doing so well and now learning to dive. I love the swim schools techniques. It reminds me of Karate Kid...wax on, wax off. The Karate Kid never knew he was learning Karate doing the chores and Mikayla does not even realize she is learning to swim and dive as she plays, stirring the soup and pretending to be a Pancake etc.
Tomorrow or sometime this week, I am taking her Ice Skating to see if she is interested in that.... not rushing into getting her in just looking at what might interest her and trying to have fun doing so. Might look in to taking her roller blading/roller skating as well. Daddy wants to also take her bowling, I am game. Just out having fun and letting her find her interests and talents.
She is growing and learning so fast. She is learning to read simple books and learning words one by one. She knows her colors and ABC's as well as her 123's but due to her age she is still working hard on writing them and still not sure if she wants to be a righty or a lefty. Sometimes I just feel I am holding her back she is so smart. I found early on that she was past learning Red Blue Green and Yellow and ready for Magenta, Periwinkle, Mauve and Violet and once again I found her past learning circle, square and triangle and ready for the Pentagon, Hexagon, Parallelogram etc. I am starting to feel old and pretty slow myself. All in a days work and learning quickly myself. She is currently learning her states and where they are on a map. She knows where all the important people live or work and where she has been....NY, MO, FLA, IA, AZ, IL, HI, etc. (If I forgot anyone I am sure we tell her and I just forgot to put it here) Soon we will be working on our Mandarin. So be prepared for that. I will get back with you all after skating or bowling or whatever our next adventure might be. Love and Kisses to All, AJ
We have all been doing great just waiting for this cold nasty weather to leave so we can start playing outside more often. We are ready for the pool here at home we got our toys and things for practicing and we are working on finding some things do practice our gymnastics at home as well. I just wish we had a tree to use for training or swinging, etc. Currently I am thinking hard on what to do for April and Mikayla's 3rd birthday. We are thinking of combining it with Abbey next door who was born same day only a year earlier just like Alexis, along with Abbey's older brother who is I believe going to be 6 April 11th. So girlie stuff is out with Joey joining the pic but I still am not sure what or where to have a party. I am so thinking maybe I will forget the party and just do something big with her....I don't know......I do know Samantha is going to be 5 and going to Disney for her Birthday and we are NOT going to do that much for Mikayla at this time. If anyone cares to comment and give me some suggestions of any kind I would love to hear them.
We did go eat at LuLu's with her bud Samantha and her mom and dad along with Ms Wendy and Sam who we pray get their turn to go to China soon...LID 3/10/2007. We also went to the Butterfly House and Mikayla had fun with Samantha and Ainslee. The butterflies seemed to like me way too much. I had on some cologne but a gentleman there claimed it was salt they wanted...but I was not hot or sweating as I had just come into the house...plus I had an almost permanent Hitchhiker on my pant leg the entire time in there and I use unscented detergent and fabric softener, plus I don't think my pants were sweating. Who knows all I know is that I was pretty much a butterfly magnetic in there. I did not get many pics of me as I had the camera but Samantha's mom will hopefully send some pics to me soon.
We had a blast celebrating the New Year. I guess the New Year holds many surprises for all. This is the year of the Rabbit and that means it is my year, lucky for me. Mikayla and Daddy are Rats. Mikayla and I never did make it back to Gymnastics for the 4th time but I never did try, the day came and went and I thought we would sleep on it and not even try for it. We did go back and check out the gym that I kind of disliked by us giving it the benefit of the doubt. I guess I shouldn't have wasted my time doing that.... to begin with they only have evening classes, not only do I prefer day classes, Mikayla does better in the morning. By the time the classes start there she is already tiring out. Needless to say that was probably our first sign to not go there. When we arrived we were told she will be fine and they would take care of her. That was okay until after only about 5 min. they pretty much dragged her out of the class back to us and in front of a large room full of other Parents waiting for their children of all ages the coach might as well announced "your child is not smart enough and can not be in this class", the coach did not say these words but the way she talked to us she might as well have (we had her try an advanced class). The way the whole thing was handled was done so wrong. She made Mikayla upset by not letting her finish the class (the other place let her do that) plus she pretty much degraded her in front of her which Mikayla might or might not have understood at her age, still wrong. Plus, last but not least, she made it embarrassing for us the parents, even our neighbor who was there felt for us and shrunk in her seat. I did keep my cool even though it was like your boss yelling at you in front of everyone in the office, its very rude and unprofessional. That was the last straw for that place. Back to the other Gym I went, now Mikayla and I attend the Little Gym and we both have fun and are learning and enjoying the class. So Miss Mikayla is now doing Gymnastics and Swimming until June for sure.
She loves the gym classes and in Swim School she is doing so well and now learning to dive. I love the swim schools techniques. It reminds me of Karate Kid...wax on, wax off. The Karate Kid never knew he was learning Karate doing the chores and Mikayla does not even realize she is learning to swim and dive as she plays, stirring the soup and pretending to be a Pancake etc.
Tomorrow or sometime this week, I am taking her Ice Skating to see if she is interested in that.... not rushing into getting her in just looking at what might interest her and trying to have fun doing so. Might look in to taking her roller blading/roller skating as well. Daddy wants to also take her bowling, I am game. Just out having fun and letting her find her interests and talents.
She is growing and learning so fast. She is learning to read simple books and learning words one by one. She knows her colors and ABC's as well as her 123's but due to her age she is still working hard on writing them and still not sure if she wants to be a righty or a lefty. Sometimes I just feel I am holding her back she is so smart. I found early on that she was past learning Red Blue Green and Yellow and ready for Magenta, Periwinkle, Mauve and Violet and once again I found her past learning circle, square and triangle and ready for the Pentagon, Hexagon, Parallelogram etc. I am starting to feel old and pretty slow myself. All in a days work and learning quickly myself. She is currently learning her states and where they are on a map. She knows where all the important people live or work and where she has been....NY, MO, FLA, IA, AZ, IL, HI, etc. (If I forgot anyone I am sure we tell her and I just forgot to put it here) Soon we will be working on our Mandarin. So be prepared for that. I will get back with you all after skating or bowling or whatever our next adventure might be. Love and Kisses to All, AJ
These guys were awesome, not the low ceiling they had to work with
check out the human jumprope
love the little guy
Relaxing moment at the Butterfly House
PS Dont forget to check out the new blog profile pic.....
