Beach Day!

One of the real perks of living here is that we are pretty much living on the beach, well, at least within walking distance. So, when we have a chance, we like to take advantage of that. It doesn't happen as much as we would like. I'm just glad we got out early in the day--we had some major thunderstorms this afternoon. Anyway, on with the pictures...







Caption: "Who, me? I'm not eating sand."

A Few Pictures

I was putting away laundry the other day, and Mary Joyce pulled out one of my shirts and a pair of her daddy's socks and proceeded to dress herself. What do you think of her new look?



Katherine has learned how to go to the play kitchen, open the little doors, and take out what she wants. For some reason, she likes chewing on the metal pans.


Katherine has also discovered the bookshelves. That face couldn't actually belong to anyone who would get into Mama and Daddy's books, could it?


Mary Joyce loves to build houses with her blocks. This is very serious business...


(Click on the pictures to see them larger. I forgot to adjust the size back to medium, and I can't figure out how to edit the photo size without redoing the entire post. Grumble, grumble...)

Parenthood Fries Your Brain

Last night after prayer meeting and choir practice, we were getting ready to head home from church. We went out to our car, and Chet and I were talking about something, probably Vacation Bible School-related. Anyway, I was carrying Katherine, and Chet was walking with Mary Joyce. We went to the car, unlocked it, and started putting our respective girls in their car seats. (Bear in mind that although the girls have the same kind of car seats with different covers, Mary Joyce's faces the front, but Katherine's is still rear-facing until August.) Mary Joyce started saying, "Wrong way! Wrong way!" Yep, you guessed it... we were putting them in the wrong car seats, and the only one who caught on was the 2 1/2 year old. As the title says, parenthood fries your brain. :-)

PIF Update (Again...)

Well, the Pay It Forward packages are on their way. Thanks to Pam for being the third to sign up to participate. I think it is really a neat thing that 2 of the 3 participants in this are people who I have just "met" through this process. Anyway, to Tana, Michaela, and Pam, just remember to "Pay It Forward" on your own blog. Have fun!

Should I be bothered...

that my 10 month old and my 2 1/2 year old are currently wearing skorts that are the same size (18 months) and that the one Katherine is wearing was only passed down because it is too short for Mary Joyce, not that it doesn't fit her in the waist?

5 Blogs that Make My Day

Susan at The Rachel Chronicles nominated my blog as one of the "5 Blogs that Make Her Day." She actually posted this back on the 13th, the day the evil strep bug started attacking me, so I didn't see the post until today. Anyway, Susan is a member of the July 2006 Dragonflies LID group, and she and her hubby brought their daughter Ting-Ting home shortly after we came home with Mary Joyce. Sometimes I think Mary Joyce and Ting-Ting are kindred spirits when I read some of her posts. Thanks, Susan, for including me in this.

Now, for my 5...

1. I will start off with one of my dearest IRL (in real life) friends. Jen and I met back in 2005 via an online China adoption forum. This was a national forum, so when she mentioned living in south GA, I sent her a private message, as there are not a huge number of China adoptive families in south GA, especially where we lived at the time. As it turned out, we lived within 20 miles of each other. We were lunch buddies, regularly getting together to talk about adoption and life in general. Jen and Mike even came to meet us at the Atlanta airport when we arrived home with Mary Joyce (even though we had a flight delay and didn't get in until the wee hours of the morning.) Jen and Mike have 3 biological children, and this past winter, they finally were able to bring their youngest daughter, Mei, home from China. Knowing Jen and her family has been a huge blessing for us. Jen's blog is A Life of Laughter.

2. Another IRL friend, Angie, at A Mother's Place... Angie and Milledge were friends of ours before any of us started the process to adopt from China. Chet has known them for a long time, as they live in his hometown. Our friendship has really grown as we have gone through this amazing process together. Angie and Milledge and their boys are still in the midst of their very long wait for Ruthie.

3. We met Shelley and her family at a local China families gathering here in Florida, and in one of those genuine small world/Red Thread/ and most of all "God Thing" kind of moments, we discovered that Mary Joyce and their youngest daughter, Lili, were not only just weeks apart in age, but they were from the same tiny SWI in Tonggu, Jiangxi, China. Shelley's blog is always a lot of fun to read. You can find her at Wok on the Wild Side.

4. One of my favorite blogs to read is written anonymously by Tonggu Mama. Her daughter (The Tongginator), who is a little older than Mary Joyce, is also from Tonggu. TM has a true way with words, and her posts range from informative to absolutely hilarious. She has a true gift for storytelling. You can find her blog at Our Little Tongginator.

5. Another blogger with a way with words is Heather at Our Little Ladybugs. Heather and Rob were one of our Adoption Voyages families. We hosted their website when they brought Hannah home from China. They feel like part of the family, and I love being able to watch their girls grow up in pictures.

I really had a tough time limiting it to 5, but there's the list...

Guess Who Found Mama's Lipstick?

I think this one speaks for itself...

Katherine's First Haircut

Yes, Miss Katherine has already had her first haircut. Mary Joyce had her first official haircut at 20 months old, and Katherine just had hers at 10 months. Katherine has had hair since the day she was born, and it has been growing ever since. Poor thing, the front of her hair was so long it was hanging in her eyes, and since it is still baby hair, I wasn't having much success with barrettes. So, a haircut it was...

Bad Mama forgot to take the camera for the actual event, so we had to settle for pictures once we got home. :-)

I'm Two and a Half!

On June 16, Mary Joyce officially reached 2 1/2. She is such an energetic little girl, always on the go! She is still a little peanut, wearing 24 month/2T tops and dresses, but only 18 month/24 month pants and skirts. Mary Joyce loves music and dancing--her latest favorite is an old Riverdance VHS tape. She is starting to learn words to songs, and you can see the wheels turning as she thinks about how the songs go. She can count to 10 and does a pretty good job counting objects, too. She also knows all of her colors and is starting to recognize some letters. It is hard to believe that our little girl is less than 6 months away from her third birthday. She is such a precious gift from God!

Happy Father's Day! (A Bit Late...)

Even though Father's Day was over a week ago, I still wanted to do this post. I want to say thank you to my husband for being such a wonderful daddy to our two little girls. He is always willing to pitch in and help wherever he can and never complains. I love to watch him as he plays with the girls, and as little girls do, they just adore their daddy. So, even though I was sick on the actual day...

Happy Father's Day!

Love,
Dusty, Mary Joyce, and Katherine