Journey: pictures

No fun news to share but I do have some cute pictures of my boy! We enjoyed a fun Saturday at the zoo yesterday. He was much more interested in the animals this time which was fun to experience.

Grandparents Day!

Cousin Time!



My awesome co-workers! Our boys are very close in age which is so fun!!

These boys know how to have fun!

Friends at lunch!

Journey: 5 months

Today we celebrate being with our boy for 5 months. Life is wonderful and busy! David has been in school for a month now and LOVES it. He missed some days this week due to being sick :( and he was sad. He did get to stay with GiGi and Papa which made for a couple of fun days.
David has discovered cars and trucks and loves pointing them out to us on our drives around town. His favorite book right now is one about Rescue Vehicles. We read it each night along with a few others. He still enjoys Daniel Tiger and now really enjoys Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We thing that's what he'll probably be dressed as for Halloween. He also loves animals and making the animal sounds.
We had some special visitors from the south last weekend. My cousins, David and Al, came to Texas for the A&M vs. Bama game. They are both HUGE Bama fans and my dad is an Aggie which made for some fun ribbing. I hadn't seen Al since my wedding, 10 years ago! It was so fun to have them in town!
We are excited about fall weather getting closer and closer. David loves being outside so we are looking forward to days we can be outside without sweating so much :)

How cute are these boys?!? David and his friend, Brock!

Journey: new routine

He did better than Mommy did with the transition!

Last year at this time Steve and I were going back to jobs after an awesome summer of travel and kitchen updates. We didn't even know about David- how weird is that! I had the adoption paperwork out and had looked at it but hadn't made that next step in sending in our Waiting Child checklist. How a year can just fly by! This year we've had our first week of school and are figuring out our new schedule. This year we are loving every moment we have with our precious son. This year I will spend much less time at work and much more time playing blocks, cars and ball with my son! So excited that THIS YEAR is finally here!!

CUTIE PIE!!

The great news is that David loves school! He's had no problem during drop-off and he is all smiles when we pick him up in the afternoon. Steve is doing all the dropping of and picking up due to his more flexible schedule and being so close to school. There will be a few days when I get to pick him up and I look forward to those days! David has enjoyed playing with new friends and playing with new toys at school. He really likes to put on his backpack in the mornings- he's so darn cute!! His language continues to expand and I think school will really help with that. His newest "I'm so cute" thing is that at prayer time he will bow his head and close his eyes. He tends to close them really tight and usually has a huge smile on his face. Oh My Word he is precious!!!
Steve is teaching 5 classes this fall at Baylor and not teaching nights at MCC- thank goodness! He had a great first week with over 200 students. I've started my 10th year as counselor at Cedar Ridge. We have a population of about 650 this year. I've have a new scheduling duty this year which has taken up most of my time the past two weeks but I should start teaching next week. Steve and I are so blessed to love what we do and be surrounded by great co-workers!!


Ready to cheer on the bears!

Yesterday we enjoyed taking David to his first Baylor football game. It was HOT! I mean really, really HOT! We got there early to visit a friend's tailgate and see the band. By the time we made it into the stands we were all worn out. David did okay but wasn't really interested in the game. He yelled some and enjoyed swinging the pom-pom around. We've been working on teaching him "sic 'em bears" this week so we had fun with that at the game. We left during the first half and I was glad to get into the ac filled car! It was a fun first game. I think we'll wait till it cools off before we go to another one. Better yet I am already looking forward to basketball season- indoors and shorter :)







Sic 'Em Bears!!

Journey: 4 Months Gotcha!

This is his "cheese" face!

Thursday marks 4 months for our family to be together~ WOW! It is hard to believe that it's only been 4 months since we met David in China!! It seems like we've been together forever!!  David has continued to do great and he is growing so much!!
Our summer is coming to an end which makes me very sad though I am looking forward to the fall! I can't wait for his first Baylor football game, fall festivals, pumpkin patch, and Thanksgiving. I also like the cooler temperatures of fall!
David had his two year check up last week. He is in the 30% for height and weight. His heart continues to be healthy and we are so very thankful for God's healing! He had to get a shot and a finger prick but he handled them like a champ!
David is saying more and more words and now he is putting them together. He says "thank you" a lot and it's too darn cute when he says "thank you mama", just makes my heart happy! He continues to be a pretty good eater though he doesn't eat many vegetables. Some days he'll eat a ton of food and then the next he won't eat much- guess that's a 2 year old for ya! His sleep is going great too. We moved bedtime up and hour and he's done pretty good with that change. He's started wanting to do many hugs and kisses before we leave his room- we certainly don't mind that at all!!

Walking in to school!

I started back to work last week and Steve begins classes at Baylor on Monday. With summer over David has started at daycare which we're calling 'school'. Today was his second day and so far he is really enjoying it! The first day he went in with a smile and said "bye bye" to us with no hesitation- Praise!! I think going to church child care has helped with the transition. Tomorrow he will stay most of the day and I'm hoping for smiles when he gets picked up. I'm excited to see him make new friends and learn many new things. I also think school will help with his language development. We feel blessed to have a place where we know he is being cared for each day! He's been tired the past two nights so I know he's playing hard!

Ready for his first day of school!
All smiles!!

We got him a tricycle for his birthday.
It's a BIG hit!!

Journey: We have a 2 year old!!!

He loved his cake!

August 2nd is a very special day for us! 10 years ago Steve and I were married on August 2nd. Steve's dad's birthday is on August 2nd. And 2 years ago our precious son was born! August 2nd was already a very special day for us but now it's even more special!! When we got our referral for David I was actually researching our 10 year anniversary trip which was going to be a river cruise in Europe. Instead we went to China, thank goodness!!

Daniel Tiger!

When I found out that we would be in Florida for David's first birthday with us I was super excited. I knew that being with family would be lots of fun. Since we missed his first birthday I think 2 birthday cakes are in order! My awesome sister is a master at cakes thank goodness! I decided that for his Florida birthday we would do a "Daniel Tiger" cake. David loves Daniel Tiger which is on PBS and a take-off of Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. It is possible that I like it more than him :)
On his birthday we started with a great morning at the beach. Steve and I went out to lunch to celebrate our anniversary at a local place which was very yummy. We had a wonderful dinner and then did cake and presents with David. He LOVED his cake! He also really enjoyed having us sing Happy Birthday to him. Thanks to all of our June birthdays he knew exactly what to do when it came time to blow out the candles. What a fun day!!!

Happy Birthday David!!

He's too cool!

 Like I said, since we missed his first birthday we thought 2 birthdays would be great! It being August in Texas meant that his party needed to be inside or involving water so we chose both. We  took advantage of our Baylor connection and used the SLC pool!
It was easy to come up with a swim theme and thanks to Pintrest, my mom and my sister we had lots of fun ideas. David enjoyed having new friends play with and he loved the cakes and candle. We had a special candle from China that lights up and plays "happy birthday". We brought home several from China! I enlisted my sister again to make a fabulous cake~ a beach ball. Drew loves to bake as well and made a yummy dolphin cake! It was the best party he won't remember :)


David loves his cousins!!

Blowing out his special candle!

He loved his cake!

Cousin Drew made a yummy cake!

Thank you Aunt Cheryl for a perfect cake!

He loves the water!

Journey: Pictures on the Beach

While in Florida I wanted to get some family pictures on the beach. We did professional pictures with the whole family early in the week. It will take 4 weeks to see those and we're all hoping they turn out great!
Knowing that we have a semi-professional photographers in the family we decided to take advantage of his nice camera and talent for a mini-shoot! Drew and my dad both took pictures one morning. and we had a lot of fun though it was so darn humid!! David's a natural at taking pictures~ let's face it, that's an important thing in this family! It was fun and we got some great pictures. Below are a few to enjoy :)

We're squinty but David looks great!

Another good one of David!

Behind the scenes

LOVE this picture of David and my parents!

Cousins!

Seriously, could he be cuter :)

Thank you Drew!!!

Journey: more beach

Our days at Blue Mountain were spent relaxing at the beach and pool and fun family times together! The beach was so beautiful and our time was spent playing in the sand and enjoying the waves. Having a pool at the house was very fun too! David enjoyed making a float into his own little boat. He liked the steps and pouring water into and out of pails and buckets.
On Tuesday the boys (minus David) went deep sea fishing. They had pretty good luck catching fish and had a lot of fun. While the boys were out fishing the girls went shopping, of course!! We enjoyed finding some good deals and David enjoyed riding the little train at one of the shops.

Ready to catch some fish!

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