DID SOMEBODY SAY FOOTBALL??

So I had this plan to post a whole bunch of awesome pics of all of our fall football activities, because if you have followed me for any length of time you will know that we are all about football around here! First of all, I will say War Eagle! We are Auburn fans! We watch college football every Saturday (well all weekend long really) and try to be festive and wear our Auburn Orange and Navy for the games, but that is after a long morning and afternoon of Pee Wee football supporting the Ridge Lightening, Matthew's team, and the night before that, the Ridge Community High School Bolts football team, where Christina marches in the marching band. So we are at practice ALL week for one child or another and at games ALL weekend ALL fall long.

The only problem is, I really don't have many awesome pics like I had planned. Every time I have everyone dressed up in their game day colors, it rains or I forget the camera, or the photos come out bad. So I just decided I will start posting what I have today and go from there!

Today is dedicated to Christina's and Marching Band. As you can see these are early season pics because they aren't even in full uniform yet. Also, a couple cute pics of her in her homecoming dress.

2 fun videos too. More fall football pics to come. :)

This first video is Christina's band in the stands during the game. Last year they had a band almost twice this size but with cut backs in the arts in schools, a lot of the seniors moved on and not as many young musicians came in from middle schools. They still have a great band and a great program though! They have so much fun. You can see Tina with her sax on the end near the middle.

I'm glad that when Jacob volunteers to help the band each week, he can really go the extra mile! He was formerly the Drum Major for Auburn University and so when the HS Drum Majors had to leave the other night, he was able to take over for a few minutes and lead the band!

Homecoming dress pics I found on her desktop :)

An unusual moment of the whole family together in one spot!!!

Almost 7 weeks home!

Sorry I haven't been on much to post! We have been very busy here at home and I don't have any free time as yet to blog and visit blogs like I used to. I hope things will settle at some point so that I can do this more often and I miss visiting all of my friends blogs!!

Katie Grace XiHua is doing wonderfully!! She is so sweet and is adjusting SO well. She has a good disposition and is easy to care for on a daily basis. She is sweet and helpful and loving. She is still stuck to me like glue and has panic and that is still tiring, but we work it out. She loves her siblings and they love her. She loves her daddy too and actually lets him hold her now, but only when I am gone, LOL!

I finally have slept a "full" (my usual 6 hours) night and in my own bed for 3 random nights this week!! That is something to cheer about! Sleeping on her floor on a sleeping bag and waking up to crying many times a night is very draining, and uncomfortable so I am looking forward to more sleep!

"Hua Hua", as we still call her at home has learned many English words and understands almost everything I say to her. She is bright and quick to learn. She fits in so well in our family and we just love having her brighten our day!

She LOVES to dance! Here is the sweetest video I caught of her dancing the other day. :)

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY JOSHUA!!

I want to give a big Happy Birthday shout out to my super 6 year old Joshua today!!!!! He is such a wonderful boy and makes my heart full of joy! He loves to read and talk about all kinds of facts. He loves science and skyscrapers and dinosaurs and legos. If you sit down together with a book on any of these subjects, you can have a long discussion about the facts and he will be so happy! Happy Birthday Joshua. I hope Kindergarten and your 6th year rock!

He has been saying how much he would like a "surprise party", LOL! So we gave him a surprise Birthday party this past Sunday! It was fun and here is a video of the surprise moment. Also some other pics from the party. I'm sad to say that the camera I was using had most of the pics come out blurry so I only ended up with a small bunch of good pics.

Surprise Face!!

mmmmm.... waiting for cake!!! Still room after pizza?? Of course!!

Good Friends :)

Worms in Dirt... ewwww!

Painting "pet rocks" was a hit!

3 CUTE LITTLE RASCALS TOGETHER FOREVER and "Mom, I think we got the best little girl in the orphanage."

This little girl has these boys wrapped around her little finger! All day long she calls their names, "Josssuaaa!!" "Mapheeww!!!" and they run over to her and help her with whatever she needs. She comes with me in the morning to help wake them up in their rooms and calls them to come down from their bunks. She is so excited to see them get off the bus and Joshua runs over to kiss her as Matthew casually and cooly (because he is 7th grade now you know) picks her up and gives her a hug. She loves them and wants them to play with her and calls them over all day long. Even Matthew's 7th grade friends hug her and she has gotten to know and like them. :)

Joshua (5) was the baby of the family and let's not kid around here. This transition has not been easy on him. In fact, he has had some real big changes in behavior while giving up the baby spot. He has been acting particularly difficult and defiant and crying more at the smallest things. So, we have been working with him to help him move into big brother spot. But the neat thing is, he doesn't resent Katie Grace in any way he just resents not being the baby and me not having 4 arms instead of two. And I totally get that. It is hard when I have to hold her a lot with her fears of being left behind and being stuck to me and him not getting the attention he used to get. So I am trying to do my best. But he does adore her now and that is a relief. He kisses her a lot and says things like (in a baby talk voice) "look at this sweet baby" and she pushes him away with a grumpy face because he is way over kissy and gets in her space! Then he laughs and then she laughs too. But she still loves him just the same and he does her.

Last night on the way home from football practice, Matthew (12) said, "Mom, I think we got the best little girl in the whole orphanage." and Joshua (5) said, "I do too!" Then I said jokingly, "So you don't think we should trade her in for a new one?" and Joshua said, "NO!!" I said, "That's good, cause we would never! She's for forever."

Quick addendum and edit to the last boo hoo post this morning.. :)

So when I said that no one has come by to visit or has even called me and mentioned only two that had, I had failed to mention that Jacob's parents were here when we got home and have been SO helpful! They have been beyond wonderful! I didn't add them to the visitors because they had been a part of the welcome home and well, just part of the family! But when I read my previous post, it sounded as though I left them out. I just assume everyone knows they are a part of the family and always here for us, but I should never just take that for granted or assume everyone knows how awesome they are! Anyway, I just wanted to correct that.

Also, I think I am just having sort of one of those boo hoo downer days, so don't take this too seriously! In fact, I was thinking... We have only been home a little over 3 weeks, but we adopted Katie Grace 6 weeks ago. So the fact that no one here locally has called me or to ask if they might see her, is not that unusual if you think of only 3 weeks for goodness sakes! It just feels longer to me. Like Leah said on her comment, they may feel like we need time to settle in. And we did, I could just use a little diversion from playing dollies hour after hour now! So..........

This morning, after writing my last post, I remembered my dear friend Karin wanted to do some playdates soon. She is a friend who I work with at Disney who pretty much stays at home now with her 2 year old daughter and lives about 20 minutes away. So I called and sure enough she was ready and going crazy for someone to come over! I headed over and the girls played for 2 hours. Karin is Japanese so she made noodles which is Hua Hua's favorite and we all ate with chopsticks and everyone was so happy for the company. We are planning to do this 2 days a week!

3 weeks home!

Sorry I have not had a lot of time to post. It is not easy to get time on the computer with this little chickie following me around and still stuck to me like glue! She likes to press the buttons on the computer when I am on it so I just usually end up giving up!

Over all Katie Grace Xi Hua is adjusting quite well. She is very good natured, bright and learns as she goes. She is very observant and wants to do things like we do them, so she watches and learns quickly, whatever it might be.

Her tantrums have numbered down considerably. She may only have a couple per week. When she wakes up from a nap, she used to have a big tantrum everyday. Then it became just a long crying jag, now it is about 20 - 40 minutes of serious grumpiness without much crying. I have to work with her through it- she won't let me leave her side, but won't let me touch her. Once it is over, she is a sweet as pie again!

She is still very attached to me, Mom. Now the attachment is good, yes! But the fear and panic is not so healthy. I am working with her to not fear being left behind in her own home. She panics if I walk too fast away, even in the house. But yesterday for the first time, she played with our little neighbor girl, Amber (7), who loves to come over. She let me go out of the room several times to do my housework and only called me a lot and checked on me now and then but didn't scream and run after me. I even got a shower in without her standing at the shower curtain, yay!

She is learning to share more and more everyday and really loves her siblings and mom and dad so much. We hug and kiss and hold hands a lot all day. We play and sing and dance and watch shows together.

I however, have to say, am feeling a little bit down. It is not easy sitting in a house all day on a floor playing dolly or "kitchen" with a 3 year old hour after hour day after day and doing house work in between. I know, I know, that's what moms do! Don't get me wrong, I really am attaching to Katie Grace quite well and she is so sweet, but this is not unlike the feelings of the blues after having a baby and you feel pretty cooped up and disconnected with everyone. No one has come to visit or to see our new daughter or even called to say hi, except our awesome babysitter and my wonderful neighbor Liz. Actually 2 others have messaged me and said they would visit. But that is it! I guess adopting is not exactly like having a bio child in the eyes of the world? Or maybe once you have a few already, people probably figure it doesn't really matter anymore and you got it down to a science. :) That has been a bit of a disappointment and I feel a little out of it. I have to say, I have been feeling better though when I get out in the evenings to football practice or wherever and just out of the house for a bit.

Here are some great pics from this past week:

Here is a cute one of Kate Grace in her too big slippers and backpack she wears around the house and packs with all kinds of things! If you can't find something, it is usually in there, like my phone, someone's shoes, etc!

Daddy gets a little extra love from the boys! Nothing like those hugs to give you some more energy for the day!

Just a cute little face to see everyday!

Swimming pool time with Matthew and Joshua. Thank goodness she lets Matthew take her in too so Mom can take a break and take some pics!

Joshua and Hua Hua all grubby after playing in the dirt after football practice, being silly and having chicken nuggets for dinner.

BANGS, PONYTAILS AND MY VISION

Katie Grace Hua Hua came to us with bangs (hang in there, this is kind of a neat story when you get to the end!) but they were too long and hung over her eyes, so I have been barretting them to the side, which is super cute, but I am re-clipping that barrett every 20 minutes when she is playing! So, I decided to recut her bangs yesterday. She was so good and just sat on the bathroom countertop for me as I cut them. She LOVED her bangs and said, "mai lee!" Pretty!! I can still barrett them if I want to but they are short enough to stay out of her eyes when playing.

Then, as most little girls love, she grabbed some hair bands I had on the counter top and wanted me to put some ponytails in her hair, so I put a pair of ponytails in, one on each side like I used to wear when I was little.

Suddenly, I realized I was re-creating the little girl from my vision! The little girl that I had to go and find from my dream I had almost 3 years ago. Here she was in front of me! She couldn't be more real! The very reason we set out to adopt our little girl in Asia. You can read about that vision here. You see, 3 years ago, I was already advocating for children here in foster care as a GAL and had a heart for children in need. Also, in the past, I had pursued the adoption of a little girl from foster care and that child was not able to be adopted at that time much to my heartbreak. Adopting internationally was not really a thought until I had this dream and "told" the little girl "I will be there soon". Then this journey began and here we are today with our little Katie Grace Xi Hua!

One fav photo I missed...

Dressed for pee-wee football game day, Christina (16) and Hua Hua (3) watching Barney on Mama's bed together. Apparently Christina is remembering her former love for Barney and happy to pass it on to her little mei mei... :)

The Past Few Days....

Our little Katie Grace 'Hua Hua" is doing very well! She is really adapting and is quite the little trooper as this past week has been very busy with school in session as well as dance, marching band and football beginning for the big kids. She just goes along without much trouble. When she does get agitated, and starts to cry, then it does still escalate into a tantrum, but these are even less dramatic and more like crying fits as opposed to screaming like before.

She is more patient and plays and shares better. She knows that her food is indeed coming and that food is not going to "run out". She can see that her toys are here to play with and that sharing does not mean that she will lose everything.

Katie Grace is smiley and cute and makes silly fun faces and loves to giggle. She LOVES to be tickled! She plays well and adores her siblings.

She is still totally attached to mama and panics if I go in another room and close a door. She will allow our oldest daughter Christina to take her a little farther away from mama, for instance at our son's football game the other day, Christina took her to the concession and to the bathroom which was a big step! She won't really let anyone else carry her much except Matthew occasionally although she does sit in daddy's lap now for a bit if he will tickle her ribs!

Our family babysitter Jean, who has been coming to babysit our kids as they have grown for years, has been coming over regularly this week and Katie Grace likes her. I will have to go to work this Thursday and Saturday evening for 4 hours and Jean will be here Thursday evening because Christina has band practice. Please say a prayer that Katie Grace will not be traumatized when I leave!

Here are our latest pics:

1st bowl of ice cream!!! So cold but she loved it!!

Joshua's first day taking the school bus! Sometimes we drive, but sometimes they take the bus. He was very excited to take the bus with big brother Matthew!

Katie Grace loves playing on the back patio with her cars and slides. She also loves her little parasol!

Matthew's first official football game of the season. Hua Hua and Christina all set with snacks, tent and chairs. Let's just say that it is hot her in Central Florida. SO HOT. But we stay under the shade. Matt loves to play football though! Katie Grace even yells Go Maphewww!

The boys all worn out from the heat after the game.

It's tickle time with daddy!

Ok, so she LOVES Barney! Christina loved Barney when she was little and we still have some VHS tapes of Barney so I thought I would try it. Well it is the only thing that "hua hua" loves to watch. She is enthralled. She dances and giggles and sings! I always said there is something about Barney!

SO happy to watch Barney on mama and baba's bed!!!!

BACK TO SCHOOL

Christina, Matthew and Joshua went back to school this past Monday. I was sad to see them go so quickly after we got home, but glad to get into a schedule here at at the house.

Katie Grace watches them go in the morning and says "bye bye" and when they come out of school she squeals and jumps and giggles and yells, "Tina!!!! Mafffewww!!! Joshua!!!!!!" It is the cutest thing to see how excited she is to see them after school, I will try to get those moments on video if possible. Just priceless.

Joshua started Kindergarten this year. He had half day pre-k last year so this is going to be a change for him. He had a very hard time with us being gone to China, especially as it got longer, and is having a little bit of a hard time with not being the "baby" anymore with new little sister getting so much attention. Especially when she is so much of a mama's girl right now and wants me only to hold her. Although, as the week rolls on, he seems to be relaxing about it much more and enjoying being big brother. I am really hoping soon Katie Grace will be more comfortable to stay with daddy so that I can go to Joshua's school and volunteer in his classroom. Jacob and I and Katie could go have lunch soon though!

Here are some pics from first day of school.

Boys all dressed in their uniforms ready to go. Thier mei mei (little sister) sticking close by. :)

Christina is a junior in high school this year, can you believe it?? She is a great honors student and involved in a lot of activities so she is ready for a busy year. She and Katie Grace have already been on the computer making funny pics to put on Christina's facebook page!

Joshua heading out to the car with his Sponge Bob backpack. Oh was he happy to find Sponge Bob! Yes, we are Sponge Bob friendly in this house. He is the ultimate optimist! :) :) :)

Did I mention how much Katie Grace loves Matthew?? She sticks by him a lot. In fact he may be my second care giver for her at this point! Matthew is going on 13 and is starting 7th grade. I've mentioned many times here what a tender spirit he has and she saw it right away. She loves playing with all 3 siblings but holds onto Matthew the most right now.

Joshua and daddy.

Joshua's Kindergarten classroom and his teacher, Ms. Kaiser.

Ready for a great 1st day!!!

Ok, we sort of had to peel her little hand off Matthew's and tell her we would see him later. She was not thrilled about us leaving the boys at that place. It may have seemed a bit like a orphanage to her with lots of rooms and kids. She had a concerned look as we left. She was so happy when we returned to pick them up!

YES, WE ARE HOME!!!

Sorry I haven't had time to post since we returned home! You can imagine how tired and busy we have been getting settled in over the past few days. We have 24 hours and 4 flights home. Katie Grace "Hua Hua" ("Hua Hua" is what she calls herself, but it almost sounds like "Qua Qua" or phonetically "Qwa Qwa", obviously her nickname for her Chinese name "Xi Hua", isn't that cute?!) did a great job traveling - she was awesome on the international flight, but did throw 1 dinger of a tantrum one of our domestic flights, but oh well, we made it anyway!

She was jet lagged and a bit in shock at the new changes again upon arrival. New home, new siblings who were happy to see her, new grandparents happy to see her, new everything. She slept for almost 18 hours. I was getting worried and then she woke up a happy little girl and has been doing quite well since.

On top of that, Monday was first day of school for our other 3 kids which we went to dazed and confused due to jet lag and China bodyclocks, LOL ! Thank goodness, Jacob's parents stayed just a couple extra days to help us get our brains going again! They are so wonderful, cooking and helping us with the kids and in the house, I miss them already!!!!!

We (she!) were sleeping on China time for the first couple of days, ( I was getting NO sleep and was starting to get really out of it. I slept only 1 hour on all flights combined too) then on day 3 she stayed up all day until 6:30 PM and went to bed so we were able to get onto US time. I am still waking up early, (it's 4:30 AM right now) but happy to get on schedule!

Her adjustment, I would say, is going well. Some of the behaviors that were really trying earlier like yelling at us to get things, being really demanding, tantrums for not getting things, have decreased day by day and it is only the first week. She likes to play with her animals and dollies. She likes to play with her little kitchen and "food". She is learning to share a little. She is still stuck to mama and needs mom to do all of her care at this point. She is a very happy little girl for the most part as we go through the day. She still is very nervous about others helping her with things or if someone wants to show her how a toy works, she thinks they are taking it and she grabs it and hides it! She is getting a little more relaxed though.

Tomorrow I will post some pics of the first day of school and try to write more! Also, I have 5 million videos from China that I need to upload to youtube (unpublished) so that I can post them here and also send to the moms and dads who are waiting to see their kids from our orphanage visit. Here are some pics of her first few days.

What a wonderful welcome this was and what a joy to see my kids, I can't tell you! Thanks to Jacob's parents, Lolli and Pops for making this happen! Why don't I have them in some of these pictures?? That really stinks!!

Jet lag baby and on China time sleeping all day wherever she would walk to and just lay down! Then I would just grab a pillow and put it under her head!

Jet lag Jacob fell asleep playing with Katie with a lamb on his head, HA!!!!

So guess what, she loves pancakes! But honestly, who doesn't????? Thanks Lolli for making pancakes!

She loves to play with her Minnie Mouse. She actually thinks it is funny to squeeze Minnie's nose and make her cry and then hug her and make her feel better. Umm, not sure if that is nicest game, lol, but at least she makes her feel better! Of course it doesn't help when we say (in a Minnie voice, "owwww my noooose, give me a kisssss")

Daddy picked me up out of the car yesterday for the 1st time!!!!! This was a milestone that I let daddy pick me up!! I let him pick me up once more later in the day, but only once. That is progress though!!!!!!!!!

She saw her tutu and just loved it and wore it around the house! She also loves buttons. Remotes, phones, computers.....

Playing on the computer, taking funny pictures with Christina, Joshua and our neighbor girl Amber who plays here a lot. They were laughing a lot at the pics!

Playing on the school board with Joshua. I love those sweet faces!!!!!!