Our Little Rocker

Immediately after Lotus watched an 8 yr old Japanese guitar player on the Ellen Show she wanted to play on the guitars. She said it over and over and over again until Kevin agreed to take her down stairs to play. She specifically wanted to play on the Hello Kitty guitar. Here are a few photos from her first jam. Wondering should have we signed her up for guitar lessons and not dance? Hmmmmm

Hey Mommy, You're 40?

Last Friday I quietly turned 40! Ok, so maybe not so quietly. My dear husband threw a 40th birthday party in my honor. Originally he tried to make it a surprise, however, a week prior he confessed that a party was planned. The date was getting close and I was trying to make dinner plans etc, so he figured to let the proverbial cat out of the bag. We had originally discussed not having a party and go on vacation instead (my idea, not his), yet, my husband said there was no way your 40th can come along and not celebrate.

The day started out with Kevin and I dropping Lotus off at school and then stopping for a quick breakfast at the Amish Market (yummy). Then off for some shopping and preparations for the evening. Around 4 o'clock I left for a pedicure (which never happened), before picking Lotus up from school. It started to POUR (whenever we have a outdoor party at the house it will rain) and it continued to RAIN. I ditched the pedicure and decided to pick up Lotus. We were making our way back home in the Monsoon and she was not liking the rain at all, so we started to sing "Rain Rain Go Away", she got a kick out of the song and was content. When we reached home, we ran inside and waited as the guests arrived to the party. Luckily by the time everyone arrived the MONSOON had stopped and the sun made an appearance. It was a great party to say the least, it was a wonderful time to be surrounded by family and friends to celebrate my 40th! It definitely made turning 40 more exciting and fun. I will save my thoughts on turning 40 for another post.

Thank you Kevin for making my day very special, it was a great party!

PS There are no photos of the party since I am the one who takes most of the pics! I think my sister-in-law has one of the Happy Birthday blowing out the candles. Once I find it and it passes my approval, I will post it.

PPS During the party my daugher (who is almost 3 yrs old) turns to me, points to the banner, and says, "Mommy you turned 40?"

Playing Around with the Camera

Preview for Fun Fall Activities

It will be a very exciting fall this year in our household. Our little princess will be 3 years old and can sign up for organized activities. In September, Lotus will be starting weekly dance (ballet and tap) class and playing fall soccer. I figure this will not be too much for Lotus since soccer is only for 6 weeks and will be a nice change to our schedules on Saturday mornings, shake it up a bit. Since she is joining two activities in the same month, plus her birthday is in September, I figured we would get her soccer gear this month and her dance attire next month. This way, in September, after our vacation we wouldn't be rushing around trying to get everything. Today we went to pick up her cleats, shin guards, and ball for soccer. She was so cute at D*ck's Sporting Goods, trying to play ladder ball in the aisle . After we tried one pair of cleats, she didn't want to take them off. Good thing the first pair fit. She insisted on wearing them home. After dinner she played in the back yard with her cleats and soccer shorts, she couldn't wait to have them back on, she might have slept with them if I didn't make her take them off. I hope she keeps this excitement going. Of course I have photos to share. Enjoy........

Seems Like Just Yesterday......

that we received the CALL! The CALL we all wait for, the CALL you expect when on vacation. So you give your agency your email address, cell phone number, your husband's cell phone, even your mail carrier cell phone number (OK maybe not their number) so just in case the file of your daughter appears on their desk. We went on vacation and no CALL was received, referrals were being made and no CALL. We came home from vacation and still no CALL for us. My hopes were dashed, there would be no CALL for us this month. Or so I thought..........

Back to work I went on Monday, July 2nd, you know how it is after returning from vacation.......... I settled in with my coffee and went to a process map meeting. A little voice inside me said "Take your pager". During the meeting I was paged "URGENT CALL HOME 911" total panic came over me, my thoughts were not about the CALL. I thought something horrible happened. I ran to my desk and called home, Kevin answered right away (whew, he was safe) and told me, "You won't believe what happened, I came upstairs and the cats caught the kitchen on fire!" WHAT????!!!!! "How did that happen??" And then Kevin said "WE GOT THE CALL! She is 10 months old, Pam is sending over her file to you." I think I screamed and kept saying Oh My and started fanning myself because I couldn't breath. I told Kevin I would forward the email to him so we could see her photo at the same time. It took forever for him to receive the email. And then we opened the email and scrolled down and this was the very first photo we saw of our daughter Lotus...................



and then this



and lastly this one



There was no question, she was our daughter. After speaking with the international adoption department at our local children's hospital, we immediately made our CALL to our agency and accepted our referral for our daughter. We would have accepted right then and there, however, we wanted to have all the facts. In my heart, no matter what the international adoption department said, we would have accepted her with all our heart.

Flash forward two years later..............to our almost 3 yr old ball of fire! Isn't she a cutie?



This is a day I will never forget, along with a few other momentous events in my life. I am forever grateful to have the privilege to be called MOM. It is not always easy, however, the rewards are endless.