Mother's Day, Birthdays, and more!

Well, it is official--I am the mom of TWO TEENAGERS!! Boy I am getting old! Tanner celebrated his big 13th on Mother's Day. Just need to talk about this kid for a minute...first off, I am happy to say that we both survived thirteen years in the same house together! There were times when he was little that I really did not think we would. This young man has been a handful since the day he was born on Friday the 13th by C-section and ended up in the NICU for a few days, he had a really rough beginning but he sailed through that and has been running ever since. We never know what will come out of his mouth...like the time he was 3 and called a woman with a patch over her eye a "Huge Pirate" and I agreed with him several times as I was not really listening to him and writing my check just trying to get out of the store because it had been one of THOSE shopping trips..um how do you apologize for that? He is constant motion, he is tough, and he is one smart kid. He is headstrong and won't do anything he does not want to do no matter how hard you plead, beg, or bribe. He is our resident comedian and comes up with the most hysterical stories when he is trying desperately to get out of what ever trouble he has gotten himself into. He is simply Tanner. Lately, I look at him and can't see that mischievous little boy anymore, instead I see a boy who is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in, tries really hard in school and is trying even harder at home to get along with his pesky little brothers who idolize the kid. I also see a young man who really has not been gentle with anything since the day he was born being so sweet and gentle with his new little sister. He is growing up and somewhere along the way between all of the times he had me pulling my hair out he turned out to be quite a great young man. But, we are after all talking about my Tanner, so I am gearing up for what his teenage years may bring...Heaven help me, I just might not have any hair left to pull out if we both make it through! Love you Tanner Man!

Mother's Day found me in Utah with Maya. We flew out to help my dad celebrate his 65th birthday and had a great time playing with the cousins and catching up with old friends. We are now again in full fledged "Grandma Detox" as Maya loves all of the attention she gets when we go to Grandma's house. I got this picture in an email from my boys at home.

And I of course had to share some of Maya's recent dress up photos...her cousin Bekka gave her the grass skirt and it has quickly become a Maya favorite. I am loving all this girly stuff!

The baseball hat makes the outfit don't ya think?

Maya's multi colored dreadlocks mon!

Cute smile

Pretty in Pink...

Not that she really has any other choice, I think atleast 90% of her wardobe is PINK of one shade or another or has PINK in it! Oh well, after 14 years of buying only boy clothes it just might take me a couple years to get the PINK out of my system!

Happy news: May 21st is our Family Court Date to wrap up all of the loose ends and complete Maya's re-adoption! Stay tuned for pictures.

Happy Spring!

We have been really busy (in a good way) the past couple weeks. It was Spring Break for the boys so we spent a lot of time playing.

Here are Matthew, Jake and Maya at the Sacramento Zoo. I love the picture of the boys walking Miss Maya up the hill. It was the only calm momet of that day...most of the time Matt and Jake were running from animal to animal as fast as they could to beat the other one to it and Maya just plain proved to be the wildest animal of all that day!

We took a family day trip into SF- above: a very windy stop at the Golden Gate

Below: Pix from the SF Zoo which is just amazing!

Above: Maya's first Carousel ride at the SF Zoo

Below: Maya's first Easter--she was not impressed by much except the jelly beans of course! MMMM, SUGAR! She tried to eat the only egg she dyed and was not very interested in any eggs during the hunt, but once she figured out that there was candy inside them she was a very serious little egg opener.

The things mom makes me do for pictures!

It has been one of those weeks around here, and I find myself posting these pictures to remind myself how cute she really is, because to tell you the truth, she has not been acting very cute the past couple of days! Part of the reason is that we traveled to Utah to see Nannie and now Maya is in a full fledged 12 step "grandma detox" program...HA! Nannie spoiled her rotten (which all good nannies should do!) but coming home to a busy house with four big brothers who get in the way has sent miss Maya spinning! Or could it be that I just plain forgot how rotten the terrible twos are and that they really start at age one? GEEZ I hope it is not the terrible twos!!! At any rate, we are just a bit unsettled right now and I don't like it.

So here are the cute pictures that not only remind me just how cute she is but just how blessed I am to be able to call her my own...even if she is a little stinker some days!

Look I actually have a bow in my hair! (It lasted all of 10 minutes)

What you don't see in the 30 foot drop into the ocean...Dad got in trouble for taking this shot, but it is cute!

SNOW in TAHOE!!

I am behind on my blogging, but hey, I am behind on just about everything right now, so at least I am being consistent! Some really good friends of ours invited us to spend the weekend in Tahoe this past February and we took them up on it. We had a great time but we were a tad disappointed that it was raining when we got there Friday afternoon but by late Sat. night and early Sunday morning, mother nature delivered and the kids made the most of it! We had a great time sledding, throwing snowballs, making snowmen, and watching Maya experience snow for the second time in her life. She did not know what to think about that white stuff falling from the sky, but she quickly caught on that it was a good thing. Eating the snow (I know, I know, snow is dirty!) was her favorite and there was a nice loud "Maya pitched" scream if you dared to even try to take it away from her!


Here are some favorites of a few of the FAB FIVE... I was on Maya duty so I need to get the rest of the pics from our friends!

Below: Our bundle of PINK!





Matthew nails the landing and flies down the rest of the hill....without the snow disc!



The Jakester catching some air!

Jake and his "Sad" friend--and just in case you are wondering if this is really how this little guy of ours feels? Yes it is sometimes, not being the baby anymore after seven years has been tough on him, but he is doing better everyday and the "happy" far more out weighs the "sad" these days.

In other news, we took the kids to Fort Bragg (beautiful, but SO SO SO COLD!) this past weekend so stay tuned for pictures and we just celebrated our six month gotcha day anniversary! I would have loved to say it was a huge event in our house and that I took tons of pictures, but it came and went and got a little lost with the all the school projects and activities that come with a house full of kids. I did however have it on my mind most of the day and still marvel at how far we have come. Maya is pretty much settled into her new little life and she is taking her roll as ruler of this house very seriously! We can't imagine life without her.

One year ago today...

David and I sat in front of our computer and saw her face for the very first time. As soon as we saw her we knew she was meant to be our little girl. One year ago I went PINK shopping and for the first time I got to keep it all and not give it away! One year ago we began the long wait to bring her home and though there were times we thought we would not survive, we did.

Looking back at the past year I marvel at how time really does go so quickly. Now it did not seem like it when we were waiting for her to come home, but we have had her for almost 6 months now and I do not know where the time has gone! It seems as if she has always been here with us, but thinking about it, I guess she always has been here, she has always had a place in our hearts and I know she has always had a place in this family. We are so blessed to know that there was a plan for her to be with us all along, and no matter how long it took for us to find each other and no matter what we had to go through, she was always meant to be here with us. I am so grateful to my Father in Heaven for His precious gift to us in this little girl, and for the precious gifts that each one of our boys are. We are blessed indeed.

Together again!

A Maya and Emi Reunion!

Maya and Emi in Taiwan waiting to get on the plane that would finally take them home.

Maya and Emi re-united 4 months later. Look how they have grown!

It was so fun to watch them react to each other when we got together with the Gray Family for dinner while we were in Utah. When Emi saw Maya she let out a squeal of delight and instantly reached for Maya. Maya just looked at Emi with her big brown eyes. They have a special bond these two. They will be friends for life. We are so excited that we live close enough for them to see each other a couple times a year, and it does not hurt that Emi has two of the coolest parents around--when we found out we would travel with them to pick our babies up, I have to admit I was pretty nervous about it, what if they were wierd? What if they were hard to talk to? Well, after some great phone conversasions and in the first five minutes of meeting them I knew we would be fine and we made lifelong friends on that trip of a lifetime. Seeing them again was is if we had never been apart, and our kids all got along great. We love you Grays!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL!

Maya turns one!

Been thinking a lot about how Maya's birth mother is doing today. It is December 24th in Taiwan. I wonder about her all of the time. I looked at her picture the other day and it all came back to me. I wonder if she is hurting. I wonder if she is trying to go about her day trying to forget the unforgetable. I wonder. I hope she is okay. I hope she can feel peace in her decision. I hope she knows through our post adoption updates that Maya is thriving and that she is a happy, curious and very busy little girl. I hope that she knows how much Maya is loved. I hope she knows that Maya will know her someday. I hope.

So Happy Birthday little one. What a gift you are.

LOOK WHO'S WALKING!!

Maya is eleven months old...all of the boys did not walk until 13-14 months old. She is a live wire and has started acting like the princess she is. She arches her back and does this fake cry when you take something away that she should not have in the first place. Funny thing is that she stops and looks at you after she does it to see how you'll react. The picture below cracks me up...she has it down that is for sure, now all she needs is her daddy's credit card!

Here she is playing with the Fisher Price Nativity set, she loves it. After trying to decorate a bit for Christmas this week, I am ready to put everything but this toy away and call it good. I can't even imagine what our tree will look like this year with our busy little woman...she loves to rearrange!

More pictures from the Tahoe trip

Maya in Coloma at the Wan Hop chinese store...very cool chinese history here.

Below: looking out over the American River at Natomas Fish HatcherySalmon trying to jump the gate...the ladder was closed that day and there were literally hundreds of fish waiting to climb. Jake thought it was awesome.

A quick trip to Tahoe...

We were able to squeeze in a quick trip to Tahoe this past week and we had a lot of fun.
We got a two bedroom condo for the week, but only stayed Sunday-Wednesday...we have not vacationed with a little one in a long time!! Packing the baby gear alone was quite the accomplishment! We stayed in South Shore and it was gorgeous. We hoped that there would be snow, but it was still up to high. Oh well, maybe there will be snow in Utah when we go home for Christmas.

We played on the shores of Tahoe, drove into Carson City, Nevada and explored a railroad museum there, hot tubbed on the roof of the condo's over looking Carson Valley, explored Coloma (sight where gold was found in CA) on the way home and stopped at Apple Hill for some of the best apples around (brought home the most heavenly apple and pumpkin cream cheese pies for turkey day) and we stopped at the Natomas Fish Hatchery to watch the salmon climb the ladder. Lots of family time spent together doing things we never do around this awesome place that we live in.

Maya did great but taking an almost one year old who explores everything on vacation was harder than I remember! She walks all over now, so I just chase her all day long. She found that pounding on the glass coffee table in the condo was the most fun, but wondered why she was told "NO!" so much! Needless to say, we cut the trip short a couple days to get her back to the enviorment that she knows and she was so happy to be home.

Thanksgiving was nice, I am 36 and I cooked my first ever turkey this year...lame I know, but hey we have managed to always be the guests until now!!! So dinner was nice, but with my brood of boys? 5 hours plus in the kitchen only to watch my boys clean their plates in 15 minutes!! Taking pictures of the family and meal took longer than dinner did. Atleast Maya took her own sweet time and enjoyed her food...ok it was everywhere but in her mouth, but she enjoyed it--especially the pumkin pie and ice cream. YUMMY!

We have a lot to be thankful for this year, and we are so happy there is a holiday that lets you make the time to remember just how blessed we really are.

Just For fun...

Maya and the boys were all outside enjoying a beautiful fall day and I had to grab my camera and capture some of the fun.

Above: Spencer and Maya

Below: Maya giving Jake kisses

Tanner and Maya

Matthew and Maya

The little things

Funny how it is the little things in life that can make you the happiest, take laundry for an example...I HATE LAUNDRY (!!!!), but I find myself loving the fact that I am washing and folding little girl things, I open up the dryer to a whole load of yummy smelling tiny little girl clothes in assorted girl colors and it somehow make all of those jeans and tshirts that I am so accustomed to washing and folding a little bit more fun. Bathtime is another example...it can be quite a pain to wrangle four young men into and out of the shower/bathtub without a trail of dirty clothes all over the house and without all of the water (which is now filthy because boys are dirt magnets) ending up everywhere but the bathtub itself, but take miss Maya wrapped up in a pink towel and smelling pretty darn yummy herself and bathtime takes on a whole new perspective!

Some of the other little things that make me happy:

- Maya dressed in her lady bug halloween costume
- four big brothers who absolutly adore Maya
- waking up really early to a little one calling "mama" from her bed
- Maya standing at the window waving "HI" when Dave is coming in from a days work
- Jake trying so hard to remember that Maya is not a rag doll
- Maya flapping her arms and getting so excited when the kids come home from school
- morning naps so I can shower
- baby girl shoes (How can you stop at one or two pair?)
- me starting to feel like my old normal self again after this wild ride called adoption
- the fact that everything is starting to fall into place and Maya is thriving

So that is a little of what I have been thinking about lately, we are still trying to settle into our new roll as parents and big brothers to this amazing little girl, and she is still trying to settle into being our daughter and little sister to four big brothers, but we are doing well. She has made some major progress just in the last three weeks and seems so much more comfortable in her new life. We are so happy and so blessed to have these five kids....sure life is crazy busy, but we would not change it for anything.

Oh.. and by the way, my 10 month old baby girl takes 4-6 steps on her own now. A bitter sweet thing for me. She is not supposed to grow up so quickly, but this is one of the first milestones we got to witness that was not in an update or a picture.



Maya and her Cabbabge Patch Doll

Jake thinking it is easier to wrangle a snake than a ladybug!