Tanner

Yesterday during dinner, Tanner pointed to the logo symbol on his school uniform and said with surety "Superhero".

He's a guy of few words...

And many attitudes.

This one is my most favorite, his goofy side.

He will do anything for a good crack-up.

Here he is in Tim's work shirt.

Whatta nut!

Ultra-sound

Only 16 months to go of this pregnancy. I know I'm being ideal, because things always change with an adoption pregnancy. However, I'll have you know that 16 months is a pretty neat stage for me.

Usually, people living in China match with a 6 month old baby. If this be the case, and if my math is correct, assuming about a 10 month pregnancy, then....

Somewhere here in China, a sweet little mother is walking around carrying our baby/ies.

Kind of a neat thought?

Neat that we get to live in the baby/ies birth country.

Oh how I love this adoption process. Who says the bond can't be the same with these babies as with the ones you birth yourself?!!

Airplane Set

Thanks to Grandpa and Grandma Calton! The boys love this set you sent w/ Todd. And thanks to Grandma Susan for thoughtfulness you've sent from the other side of the world too! It's always nice to get something from America!

Any other HUGE GeoTracks fans out there? I could do a whole post on them.

ShangHai's First District Girl's Camp

Before I forget how much fun I had at Girl's camp, I thought I'd share...

These two live right around the corner from me, aren't I lucky?!

Our fire pit marshmallow roaster.

mmmm.... smores!

No matter where you are, even on the other side of the world, Girls Camp isn't Girl's camp w/o these babies!

Our beautiful Young Women from the PuDong side! BTW, on the way out of Girl's Camp this year, Brittany and Rachel stopped me and said "We should have a Youth Conference...". Who'd have thought that Tim and I would get that privilege? We love these youth, and would do anything for them. I've gotten a few grey hairs in the process, but it will all come together on April 30th-May 2nd... so we pray!!

Our girls again. Kathleen, back row (left), maroon shirt, brown hat is our Young Women's Secretary, love her! I am in the back row (right), black hat, in Todd's fleece he gave me years ago.

Our Kimori girls, from Japan. They got perfect attendance for early morning seminary, even having to ride their bikes there. Their story belongs in a Church magazine!

The hilarious skit...

Amy, Amy,Amy... your mom deserves some sort of one way ticket to heaven for letting us set up 20+ tents in her back yard...and letting us chat all night as we camped there. Shanghai Girl's Camp was so much fun!

Amy & Brittany.

Sydney and Annie representing the Beehive group! Notice the background, this is where the youth got certified (among other activities), in the Wilde's backyard (THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH, Alison and John, once again... and again). And never mind the nice upholstered chairs, we do Girl's camp with style over here!

Megara, what would camp be with out, buddy?! LOVE this picture, way to be in the moment!!

And last but not least, our "hike", lol, a tour around the Emerald housing complex. Thanks to the the families who hosted, and for all of that planning from the leaders. You gals sure love the youth, and they know it!

When You've Lost It....

These pictures are not taken for the following story, so to say, just thought I'd throw in some cute pictures of my kids....

I figure if you're bored with the story, you can at least enjoy the pictures.

Here goes my story:


Sometimes, even in mid-sentence, I get can get distracted-hey look, a shiny penny-and can forget some of life's essentials, like having $150 cash in my jeans pocket while traveling.

$150 that was given to me to buy presents for Todd to bring back to our West Coast family members. $150 to call personal money. $150 that was supposed to last... $150 that was supposed to stay in my pocket until I said it was time for it to be let out.

And, so lame, I tried calling the hotel management , in case someone had turned in the jeans, or the $150 when we got home (I know, the blonde bleach seeps in sometimes).
Some time ago, a wise sage (alias: my brother) said "things are never fully lost, they are replaced"; used in reference to kicking bad habits by focusing on replacing them with new ones.

So I lost $150. I'd asked Tim kindly to replace it. Reasonable, right? That's what Husbands are for, right?

At least that's what Tim thought I was trying to say when relaying to him that the $150 was in the pocket of the jeans; the same jeans that "disappeared" from our Howard Johnson BeiJing hotel room, while stepping out for a $10 breakfast.

At the time I'd thought "Tim must've packed the jeans", when I unpacked my bags to NOT find the jeans therein.

Man alive, I should've treated the jeans like a purse (which I didn't bring on the trip to BeiJing), and kept them close by.

"Shoulda", another word the wise sage deems as 'useless'.

So I was left to fill the place of my $150... that was never really lost, right? Just waiting to be 'replaced', right? right?

When we got back home, I decided, instead of shopping (and spending that missing $150) with our guests, I would do a little replacing myself...

I'd have a $150 play date w/ my boys.

It would be SO fun, I'd pay $150 for it.

It would have to be more fun than a Disney Land ticket (I hear they are only $50).

So, I washed out the never-used, display-only, over-sized, tiled fish pond in the front garden...

Filled it with fresh water...

And about every utensil our kitchen has ever seen,

and took every favorite book from the shelf (to read while at our 'pool'),

And jumped in with two splashing giggling boys.

And had a $150 play date.

I never got a picture of it, b/c it wasn't the only one.

We've attempted many $150 play dates.

And still try to.

Anytime I think about losing all that money,

We think of something fun to replace it with.

So, maybe, in fact, these pictures do have something to do with this story...

Two of my GREATEST and most PROUD investments.

And so I've learned, that more play dates need to be $150 play dates.

And more moments need to be million dollar moments.

The rebel in me says: who needs George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, or even William McKinley in your pocket to make things fun?

Even my niece-in-law Gel says that kids are enthused by the littlest things.

You don't need a dime to make their day!

They are ready for fun without a moments notice.

So it is true, invest time in your kids, and you'll never go broke.

And so, I'm not sure which hotel maid staff got lucky on that trip in BeiJing...

But I'm the luckier.

It was the best $150 I've ever...

Replaced.

PS. If you ever feel like you need a jump start on having fun play dates with your kids,

just make checks payable to Howard Johnson BeiJing HouseKeeping,

because they like $150 experiences just as much as the rest of us, apparently.