May Photo Dump

Life has been hectic for us lately.

Not much blogging going on lately, but I'll happily share special moments in May.

Bria's last year of competition dance ended in May.

She tried out for the high school dance team & made the team!

YAY!!!

Justine & Bria

Time spent with Grandparents



The girls dentist's appointments went surprisingly well!

Harper's first teeth cleaning

No Tears!

No Cavities!

Melaina's first visit to the dentist

She had no fear

And no cavities either!

They didn't clean her teeth because we didn't have written documentation from her cardiologist stating that she does not have to be premedicated for dental exams.

Mother's Day was spent at Shelter Gardens hanging out in the old school house.

Enjoy!!!

For Sale

Alot has been going on with us this past month.

We've been "browsing" the local housing market for about a year searching for  a home with a little bit more square footage & trees.

After looking all over the area, we found a house less than a 1/4 mile away from our house!

Go figure, basically right around the corner (next subdivision over!)

We bought our home ( my first house in my adult life ) in January of 2005

And now we're ready to sell it.

Two 1/2 weeks on the market, 10 showings & no bites yet.

We have until late July to go under contract.

Anyone interested???

April Photo Dump

Waaay late posting photos...

We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary, Scott & Emily's 15th wedding anniversay, Casey's milestone birthday (sshh...... 50) & Courtney's milestone birthday (I'm not telling) in  Hermann, MO.

Good times as usual in Hermann!

Bria's last dance recital

Can you tell it was way past bedtime?

The girls love wearing their fancy Christmas dresses.

Daddy & his big girl.



Medical Update

Medical deductibles have been met already & it's only 4 months into the year.

Just a refresher:

Harper was born with a cleft lip & palate.

Her lip was repaired in China ( Spring of 2010) & palate was repaired here ( Winter 2010).

Two major surgeries in 1 year, one without a mommy & daddy, one with us there to hold her & comfort her.

She's had 3 sets of ear tubes over the last 2 years & a tonsillectomy in Jan 2013.

She will most likely need a palate lengthening surgery this year.

She will also need a sleep study to rule out sleep apnea.
Harper has speech therapy services for 90 minutes a week.

No wonder why this girl is a terrible patient!

Melaina was born with a congenital heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot.

She had heart surgery when she was 5 months old in China.

We had her yearly appointment with the cardiologist last month & he doesn't need to see her until she's 5!!!

Her heart is perfectly healthy & most likely won't need any other surgeries, not even a valve replacement!

Melaina is a champ when she goes to the doctor, giving high fives & waving good bye.
Melaina recently began  speech therapy services for 60 minutes a week.
We've already seen an improvement in her speech.

 

They're going to the dentist in a few weeks. This is Harper's 2nd visit, & Melaina's first visit.
Should be an interesting visit!

Happy Thursday!

March Photo Dump

Alot of pictures memories were captured in March as I've been testing out my new camera!!!

Enjoy

Dr visit

H= 25 % weight, 10 % height

M= 10 % weight, 25 % height

Shopping

Family Day

 Sisterly Love in the nude!

The Little Mermaid Play

Hanging with cousins

Hanging with Fam

Melaina being the "big" sister

Easter

Easter=Family Time

We made the trip to my parents to celebrate Easter with our family.

To be honest, I can barely recall Easter last year.

I don't remember coloring eggs

I don't remember the Easter Bunny making a visit

I certainly don't remember if we went to church

I was in an adoption "haze"

We had been home only a few weeks from China & we were still adjusting to our new normal.

We had a great celebration this year, one I'll never forget!

We colored eggs

The Easter Bunny made a visit

And we went to church

We filled 175 eggs for the much anticipated egg hunt for 9 kids!

As always, nothing but a good time!

Happy Easter to you!

Eggtastic

What to do when you're snowed in at the start of Spring?

We colored our Easter eggs!

Like most of the Midwest, we had a snow storm last weekend that brought about 9 inches of snow.

Harper loving the snow, she never complained about being cold.

Huge moment  for Melaina to venture in the snow unassisted.

The last 2 snow storms, she didn't try to walk in the snow with out holding my hand.

We cleared the driveway quickly

so Melaina could ride her tricycle.

Another big moment.

Her legs are finally strong enough to pedal the bike!

So proud of this little one!