A Chuckle

She is aware that moms have 'eyes in the back of their heads'. I've proven it many times. She is unaware however, that her stealth abilities are seriously lacking. Not quite the bull in the china shop, but close. So like any good mom, I play along and pretend to be startled when she tries to sneak up behind me and yell "boo". Apparently my play-acting is not cutting it anymore. She seems to have caught on to my feigned 'gasps of surprise'. But, always the thinker, she has a plan............."Mom, could you close your back eyes for a while so I can really scare you?"
LOL.

Btw, yes, she is STILL into Spidey. (heavy sigh)

Answered Prayer

After just shy of 8 months, Mailia's daddy finally went back to work today!!! We are still pinching ourselves. He worked for a major new home building company, and as we are all aware, that market has all but crashed. So imagine our shock and disbelief when the phone rang on Tues. and his former employer asked him to come back!!! It is just a "temporary" position thru the end of Nov., but could last longer depending on the market.
We are thrilled, to say the least, and more than anything, relieved. We will not go into foreclosure. Thank You God! And many, many thanks to all of you who have sent prayers on our behalf. We'll be playing catch-up for a while now, but it sure is easier to sleep at night.

A little better

But she didn't keep her head down so it ended as a belly buster. Practice makes perfect.

Swimming Lessons '08

Check out the form! I don't see Olympic material here yet, but hey it's just the first week. :-)

My "Other Kids"

Since this is our family blog, I would be remiss if I did not include at least a mention of 'our other kids', my fur babies. Until Mailia became our family, my 'kids' were all furry. Rescuing strays and supporting animal charities has been my passion my entire life. I cannot imagine a home without animals. They bring so much joy and love to my life. So from time to time I will spotlight one of my 'other kids'. I am a cat lover by nature and currently we have six of them. But we have 2 dogs as well, and they will also get an honorable mention as time goes on. :-)

Today's "Poster Pet" is my Andi. Andi is 14 yrs. old although she has never looked her age. She is my "sunspot baby". She is a true sun-worshipper and will follow the sunspots around the house even if only to lay on them for a few minutes. This picture was taken as she lay on a lounge chair next to the pool. What a life!

I found Andi, along with her sister Kinker, 14 years ago while driving home from church one evening. I spotted a flash of orange next to the road and literally screamed for my husband to turn the car around. He soooo didn't want to, but he did. lol. He stopped, I ran back and found 2 tiny kittens huddled together in the tall grass shaking with fear. I believe someone had just recently tossed them out next to the road. Someone had cut all their whiskers off, they were skin and bones, and Kinker's tail was broken. But the story has a very happy ending. Fourteen years later they are both still with us and have never again suffered through hunger or fear.

Stay tuned for more "Poster Pets" and thanks for indulging my passion. LOL.

Double Duty

Daddy's Birthday AND Father's Day! They spent the day hangin' out together like they do every weekend......doing yardwork, playing badminton and swimming. She baked him a cake, made him a card and then spent the rest of the day wearing his shoes and yardwork hat. Her dad is her best friend. lol

Monkey see, monkey do!

See Mom, I can do it too!
Her first visit to Sea World. Thank you Gwamma Hauer! She totally had a great time. And it was so much fun to experience it through her eyes. I really don't think she had any idea how close we would be to a "real whale" and I know she had no clue how big they are. She was just in total awe! Our tickets are good for the rest of this year (thanks Debby) so I'm sure we'll be back several times. I'd like to wait until the weather cools off this fall, but I doubt that she will agree with me. LOL.

Fu Friends!

What a fun day we had today! We finally met up with another of Mailia's Fu Sisters from China. Lily has been home just a little over a year now. The girls have been talking on the phone recently and now that school is out we made plans to get them together. They hadn't seen each other since Mailia left the orphanage in late Oct. '06.
The best part is that we only live about 40 min. from each other, so we're hoping that maybe we can get together more often now and the girls were already planning sleep-overs before we said good-bye today. LOL. They're just a year apart in age, Mailia being 8 and Lily 7. Fu Friends and Fu Sisters together again! How sweet is that?
Here's a picture of the girls while still in China, and then a couple from today. Do they look happy?!?!?!? :-)

It's Finally Summer!

Summer vacation that is. Staying up late, no homework, and playing ALL day! It just doesn't get better than that. I'm sure we all remember that glorious feeling of freedom.
I know I do.
Shout to the mountain-tops.............I'M FREE!!! :-)

Oh and btw..............she 'cleaned' her room on Sat. This picture was taken today, Monday. (sheesh)
The spidey goggles with headlamps and the spidey pinball machine came today from her Lai Lai (my mom). I'm guessing she'll fall asleep tonight playing pinball.

Last Day of 1st Grade

We made Rice Krispies treats last night for her end of school party today. I saw something similar to these in a magazine some months back and thought they would make cute 'last day of school' treats. We dropped them off at the school office this morning amidst a parade of parents and students doing the same. As if the kids are not wound up enough for last day, they are going to be on a major sugar high too! I pity those teachers today. LOL The kids actually go back tomorrow for a couple of hrs. to get report cards and any awards. In case you can't quite make out the details of our creation, it is Teddy Grahams floating on the 'water' inside a Life(saver)preserver next to the 'beach' with the umbrella. They turned out quite cute and got lots of oohs and ahhs from the office ladies.