Rachel's Choir Concert

 Rachel and her school choir did a great job tonight. I love hearing children choirs...especially when my daughter is singing!

Happy Forever Family Day, Erin Joy!!

Seven years ago today, I held my daughter for the first time.  She wasn't very happy and I was nervous and scared too.  It didn't take long for us to bond and grow in love.  I am so grateful that she is my daughter. I love her more than I ever imagined.  Happy Family Forever Day, sweet Erin Joy!!!!  I love you more than chips and salsa!

The video is last year's video.  All of my picture CDs are in boxes in a storage unit now.  We are STILL waiting for our house to close. I'll make her one for this year after we are finally in our new house.  She'll have to put an ornament on her adoption tree after we move too.

Ice Cream, Irises, and Pizza

Tomorrow is Erin Joy's "Gotcha Day" or "Forever Family Day" as I prefer to call it.  We will be so busy tomorrow night (piano lessons followed by a choir concert) that we decided to celebrate today.  Erin Joy wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  I chose the Chuck E. Cheese in Skagit Valley so I could check on the iris fields before eating pizza. 

 Rachel and I were excited to stop at our favorite ice cream stand for gourmet ice cream in a homemade waffle cone. YUM!!! We have been to the tulip fields three times this season.  The other two times, the lines were extremely long.  We had no desire to wait so long for ice cream.  We were so excited for no lines today!  Rachel and I shared one huge cone. Erin Joy didn't want one. She wanted gummy worms for her snack. Silly girl.  She missed out on the best ice cream cone in the world!  I think the scoop of ice cream is bigger than Rachel's head.

 Ah, a field of irises! Definitely not as colorful and spectacular as fields of daffodils and tulips, but still pretty.

 Just because I love you, Erin Joy....certainly not my favorite place, but glad you enjoy it....

 Erin Joy was so excited about the lip gloss she chose in exchange for her tickets.  I think the lip gloss is now gone.  She used massive amounts on her lips, arms, and face.  She was very sticky and sparkly.

 A close-up of her beautiful, shiny, sparkly lips....

Another Sunny Saturday

We have had EIGHT consecutive Saturdays without rain!! Unheard of in the Northwest! We are loving it!  And a three day weekend?? Life couldn't be better.

 We started our day learning about fire safety and having a ride in the back of a fire engine at the Children's Museum. It was really fun. Rachel excitedly giggled the entire ride (except when he blared the siren...she had to plug her ears).

 We sure love our local Children's Museum! It has provided us with hours of fun.

We ended the day with a BBQ with other adoptive families. Fun!!

 Especially when Scott brought out a few of his pets: a gecko, cockroaches, and a tarantula.

 All the kids enjoyed the pets except Erin Joy.  She enjoyed time alone on the trampoline.

Ready for Carnegie

In preparation for an upcoming recital, my daughter's piano teachers arranged for her students to play at a local retirement home.  The girls did a great job even though they were very nervous.  Nobody was really listening to them because they were eating dinner.  My girls provided a little background music for their dinner.

Rats!

Erin Joy did a fabulous job in her 2nd grade production of "Rats!"  It was a cute "Pied Piper" story except instead of leading the children over a cliff, the Pied Piper put them to sleep.  As soon as the mayor of the city paid the Pied Piper what he promised his would pay, the spell was lifted and the children woke up.  A much more pleasant ending to the story.

Mother's Day...Just a Little Late

 I wanted to see beautiful things for Mother's Day so I saw two beautiful girls!!

And beautiful flowers....

 And weird  beautiful sculptures...

 And more beautiful flowers...

( Watch Rachel's expressions...she was so cute in the first picture and then gets progressively annoyed at me taking too many pictures...)

 Love this picture with the maple behind the tulip...

 Can you see annoyed Rachel?

 And getting more annoyed...

 And so annoyed she wouldn't be in this picture...

 We have had SIX weekends in a row with no rain! It's an official record!! We are sure enjoying it!

 We enjoyed a picnic enchilada dinner with my good friend and her son. I am so grateful for her friendship.

 We tried to fly Dollar Store kites, but the kites fell apart before we could get them into the air.

 We were greeted by deer in the yard of the house where we are currently staying while we patiently wait for our new house to close.  They have been so gracious in allowing us to stay here.  They have a beautiful home and a lot of land.  We enjoy the water fowl living on their ponds...especially the blue herons.  We enjoy their llamas. The deer this morning were a pleasant surprise.

 This llama kept getting in the way while I was trying to take pictures of the deer.  Guess she wanted her picture taken too.  (I think she is a female...maybe it's he...I'm not sure.  My kids would know. They know the llamas better than I do.)