Her new favorite shirt!

She received her "cool bike shirt", as she calls it, from her Aunt Cindy who lives in England. She immediately tore off her Thomas the Tank shirt (former favorite) and replaced it with this "cool" one. She is now completely "cool" with her new bike, helmet, knee and elbow pads, gloves and shirt.

What can you do.............

with a couple of boards, a hammer and some nails? Make a bird feeder! Her Lai Lai gave her a tool kit for Christmas and today was the day to check it out. Daddy found her the wood and the nails, she did the rest. I'm still not sure how the 'bird feeding' part is going to work, but she assures me that when she is finished, the birds are going to love it. LOL I believe her!

The new ride!

Good Night Christmas

Yes folks, the clock on the wall reads 5:15...............as in A.M. Christmas morning! AND, exactly what was Santa thinking by putting a whistle in her stocking?!?!?!? I'll be putting a note in his suggestion box for next year.

But since the entire house was awake now (6 cats, 2 dogs and the 3 of us) let the festivities begin! And so they did. By 7:30 she was out riding her new bike up and down the road and "calling" us from her new walkie-talkie to see what we were doing. LOL. After all those gifts from aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, friends, us and Santa, I couldn't imagine another thing she could "need" for at least the next two years, but after riding the new bike and trying to learn to walk on stilts, it became obvious that there really is something else she 'needs'..............elbow and knee pads! We'll be shopping for those this week. LOL. She got an endless assortment of Spiderman gifts as well as #48 Jimmie Johnson gifts. So when all was said and done (and done it finally is) Christmas at our house was "OH WOW, COOL, and pretty darn AWESOME!" Hoping yours was too!

Only thing I could ask for now is she sleeps until at least 9:00 tomorrow morning!

Good Night Christmas! Good Night All! Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas!!!

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS!

Christmas with Friends

What a happy day we had yesterday. Friends from Texas were in town for a few days at the Mouse House. We met up with them yesterday and a good time was had by all. Our girls spent the day..........well.............being girls. Lots of silliness, funny faces, and giggling.

Mailia and Sara have been friends for most of their lives, having lived at the same orphanage in China. They were also adopted on the same day a year ago and our families found each other while still in China. It is simply amazing to me that through the power of the internet, combined with (I'm certain) divine intervention, I have pictures of these girls while still at the orphanage, I have pictures of them together when we met in China, and I have pictures of them together from at least 3 occasions when we've all been re-united here in the States. Sara's sister Ruth is also adopted (from the Marshall Islands) so our trio of beauties are united by a common thread and love being together.

Although Mailia might not agree with me, especially since this IS Christmas Eve and all, someday she will probably understand and agree that this friendship, as well as the friendships we maintain with several other of her orphanage friends, has got to be the best Christmas present of all.

Merry Christmas from our house to yours! And a blessed New Year for us all!

Let it Snow!

What a difference a few latitude and longitude degrees can make. We took Mailia to play in real snow at our local Christmas in the Park. It was 85 degrees that day, and the line of kids waiting to make a snowball stretched across the park. For obvious reasons they had to limit the kids to 2 minutes each. It was melting FAST! But she loved all 2 of her minutes. LOL

Fast forward to this morning.........My sister sent me the above pictures, taken in her yard yesterday, in Michigan! It is truly a Winter Wonderland. Mailia will be doing some serious whining when she sees these. She wants to build a snowman soooooooooo badly.

And although we've told her otherwise, she is still hoping to have snow for Christmas, in Florida. I don't see that happening, but hey, there is magic in Christmas! LOL

Pretty as a Picture

Our "vision in Red". Although she would much rather be in a t-shirt and shorts, even she thought she looked pretty nice in a dress. I whole-heartedly agree!

Fun with Lai Lai

Mailia's Lai Lai (my mom) has been visiting with us for the past week. This of course means lots of shopping, lots of spoiling her rotten, and lots of fun. We've been out in the boat fishing, we went to the ICE sculpture display in Orlando, and last night we went out to Celebration to play in the "snow". Florida snow, that is, which translates to soap. She had a total blast anyway.

Jimmie Johnson's Littlest Fan

It was almost as good as Christmas!
A friend told me about Jimmie's car being on display at a new Lowe's in the area. We didn't tell her where we were going, but she spotted it within seconds of turning into the parking lot. She was all over that car! She wanted to drive it, asked if we could 'buy' it, and kept saying "but where's Jimmie?". Jimmie, of course, wasn't there, so touching his car was the next best thing. One of the attendants watching the car even let her take a lug nut off one of the wheels and then gave it to her to keep! She thinks she will make a necklace out of it. LOL.
Anyway, for those of you who may not be NASCAR fans ( I can't imagine such a thing, lol) Jimmie Johnson won the Nextel Cup championship last Sunday, for the 2nd year in a row. Racing is now officially over for the season, but will be back in just 89 more days for the Daytona 500 in Feb. We will be there!

One year in the USA

Yesterday Nov. 8th was one year since Mailia came home to the USA! We celebrated by going out to dinner with some friends. They had an ice cream cake with a candle delivered to M. and all the waitresses came over to sing a little "Happy Anniversary" song. It was a quiet but nice way to mark the special day. It was also the anniversary of the day Mailia met her daddy for the first time. Man oh man did that year fly by!

Our Turkey

A dear friend and fellow adoptive mom made this shirt for Mailia. It is sooooo cute and she wanted to wear it immediately. If any of you are interested in seeing more of Sharon's creations you can find them at http://stores.ebay.com/My-Little-Pretty-Shoppe They are all custom made and can be personalized if you wish. Sharon does beautiful work!

Family issues are much better today. My step-mom had angioplasty and NO by-pass surgery is needed. Thank you God! My sister-in-law had exploratory surgery yesterday and they didn't find anything amiss. Also wonderful news, but still doesn't explain why she's been so sick.

Nothing on the job front for my husband yet, but he did have an interview on Wed. so we will have to wait and see. Otherwise, for the moment at least, all is well.

Bad news comes in Threes

My step-mom is going in for an angiogram tomorrow morning. By-pass surgery is not out of the question.
My sister-in-law is sick and drs. can't figure out why. She goes in for exploratory surgery on Thurs.
My husband was laid off from his job yesterday.

I know worrying doesn't help anything, but here I am anyway.

Praying, praying, praying.

She Made the Honor Roll !!!

Wow, I wasn't expecting that. She brought home her first report card yesterday. She got 3 B's and 2 A's. Then today she brings home an Honor Roll certificate. Not bad for a kid who hasn't even been in this country for a year yet. We're extremely proud of her, can you tell? LOL

Oh and btw, now she wants to learn to play Ice Hockey..........................(sigh)

Tripper Treat !!!

Smell my feet....................you know the rest. LOL. I have tried unsuccessfully to convince her that it is pronounced 'trick' or treat. So Tripper Treat it is. And she cracks herself up every time she sings the "smell my feet" part. The first time I said it for her she said "gwose mom, that's skusting", but now it's hilarious. LOL.

Spidey is worn out now and is in bed fast asleep, probably dreaming of candy! This was her first time at 'tripper treating'. This time last year we were in China and had known each other for just two days. Probably just as well, since had she been here for Halloween last year, I had a Tinker Bell costume all picked out at Target, and there is no way on God's green earth that I would have gotten her to wear it. LOL.

Happy Halloween! Here's some pics of Spidey and her loot!

Halloween Preparations

We are ready for Halloween! Mailia scooped the goop out of the pumpkin, I carved it, then we made cupcakes for school. The Spidey costume is in her backpack for a party this afternoon. Life is good!

Autumn in Michigan

We are home from an absolutely wonderful long weekend in Michigan. Couldn't have asked for more. The weather was cool (ok cold) in the mornings and late evenings, but warmed to the mid 60s in the day. Colors were awesome. We visted an apple orchard for fresh, made on the spot, apple cider, along with home-made apple cinnamon and pumpkin pie donuts! We were able to visit many, many relatives on both sides of our families and Mailia enjoyed every one of them, even if she couldn't remember all their names. LOL We also enjoyed a very special fall get-together with family on Sat. night, including a chili-dump, hayrides, games, and hotdogs cooked over the bonfire. The moon was full and although a little chilly outdoors, everyone came dressed for it and it turned out to be a great night we will all remember for a very long time. Mailia had the time of her life and was quite sad to have to leave. She was waving and saying "bye Michigan" out the airplane window. We're hoping to plan another trip north after the first of the year. She wants snow, and lots of it! Personally, I could live without it, but for a kid there is just nothing better in the winter than sledding hills, snowball fights and snowmen. I hope we can make it happen.

Now we are ready for Halloween. The Spiderman costume is carefully laid out on her dresser. :-) But first, tonight, we will celebrate ONE YEAR with Mailia! One year ago today, the little girl who captured our hearts in photos, suddenly became a real live, walking, talking dream come true. And what a year this has been for all of us. One year ago I was literally on the other side of the world, becoming a mom for the very first time. And one year ago today, Oct. 29, 2006, a little orphan girl named Fu Miao Li, became Mailia JoLee Hauer and received a Forever Family. It just doesn't get any better than that! We are all a little exhausted from our very busy, fast-paced weekend, but we'll be going out to our favorite Chinese restaurant tonight for a celebration dinner.

And for my sister Linda, here is my wishes for a very, very Happy Birthday!

Love and hugs,

S.

Mailia's Mom

It's Sports Day at School

So who else would my kid choose as her favorite sports hero????? None other than #48 Jimmie Johnson! She LOVES Jimmie! And she lives to rub our noses in it every time Jimmie beats Jeff. LOL We've got a serious NASCAR fan on our hands. LOL As she celebrated another Jimmie victory this past Sunday, she's jumping and cheering and doing the "nanny nanny boo boo" thing and then very "in your face" says " I telled you he would win"!

This kid is something else!

We are off to Michigan tomorrow morning for a few days with family. Hoping for cooler weather and fall colors. Forecast is showing rain for the weekend though, so I'm hoping that changes. We've got a fall gathering at my sister's on Sat. night..............Bonfire, chili-dump, 'smores, hayride and hopefully our annual trek through the woods with flashlights. It's always a good time and Mailia is going to LOVE it all. She's been counting down the days for over a month now. Cannot wait to see her grandmas and aunts and uncles and play with all her cousins.

She's had her bag packed since Saturday with all the essentials.......her build-a-bear monkey and extra outfits, flashlight, spiderman shirt and hat, paper, markers, dvd player and videos. Fortunately her mom will pack a 2nd bag of misc. stuff, like clothes. LOL

1st Grade School Picture

Do your kids eat squash?

Well mine does! bllech!!! She picked it out herself at the grocery store the other night. She said she loves it and ate it in China all the time. So, unlike all the other "I want"s and "I love"s, I bought squash....... for the first time ever! What mom in her right mind would say no to veggies? I then had to come home and google "how to cook squash". LOL Like I said, I've never bought it before, never cooked it before and neither her Daddy nor I choose to eat it. I sliced it up and sauteed it in a little olive oil with some onions (thanks to Google) and she ate ALL of it! Her only suggestion for 'next time' is for more onions! LOL She also loves cauliflower and green beans (although only fresh or frozen, not canned). And sweet potatoes! Another bllech!!! She eats tomatoes like candy so I send them in her lunch most days. Then last week while watching Survivor China, they showed a local family cooking for the cast, and Mailia suddenly says, "Ummmmmmmmmm tomatoes and eggs". I said "cooked together?!?!?" and she says that yes, they are cooked together, but not like American eggs, only Chinese eggs. Anybody know of a good Chinese recipe for tomatoes and eggs?!?!?!?!? I nearly tossed my cookies at the thought of it. bllech, bllech, bllech.
But lest you think I torture my child by only allowing her to eat veggies, or maybe you're thinking she's a health nut, trust me, she also loves all those other things that we wish they (and we) didn't. LOL Ice cream, candy, chips and cheetos, etc. etc. etc. But I'm not complaining. In my book, she earns them! LOL :-)

Yup, that's my girl. Practicing for Halloween. No princesses live here :-(

Attitude? What Attitude?

One Year Ago - Oct. 29, 2006

The day I met my daughter. She was scared, it showed all over her face, but she walked off that elevator, walked towards me, and called me Mama!

Welcome to My Blog!

This blog exists in order to pick up where we left off in our journey to bring our daughter home from China. Except for family and friends, it will not interest the masses. It is simply a way to document our very normal lives as a family, including events and milestones, for our daughter to read one day.

Her first year as our daughter was well documented via a yahoo group. I have decided to close the group and journal here instead. Those who are interested can bookmark this site and read (or not) without receiving email notices.

For all of you who choose to keep up with our family, we welcome you!

Hugs,
S D and M