Mirror mirror on the wall who's the whitest one of all?

Julie (me) came for a visit today and found much darker versions of her sisters and mother. Yes...I am the whitest one of all...how sad. Starbucks doesn't provide much sun exposure these days. Mom has used 45 spf sunscreen on the girls all month...and yet still they tan like crazy..yes, even the Asian. Kristin's hair is no longer blonde...it's white. Ahh the Florida life! Here are some pics from the day! Oh and the bug in Leni's bucket is an Asian jumping cricket that at one point found its way to my leg...screaming and laughter followed and Cricket was soon after released to the realms of Asian cricket heaven. and ...did everyone notice the Daddy that is throwing little girls into the air is the very same Daddy that was hit by a car at 40 mph exactly 2 months ago???!! He's doing great! Still in PT for the next several months but his recovery is amazing!!

P.S. Mom's getting all the pictures organized from the many visitors that came this month so there are more to come!

Stay Tuned.......says Eloise

more pics and stories soon :)

Yes, We're still here....and....

having popcorn in the bed! Just a few days left on our vacation and we're making the most of it!!

A Few Pictures from our Week :)

Hope these make you smile:) We've had lots of visitors at our Disney townhouse....do you recognize any?? And we've had lots of adventures....too many to name at the moment. From Julie and friends... to 8 week old Sadie...to twirling girls...to tricking Katie into wearing a different bathing suit (she only wants to wear the same one...and then wants to wear it 24 hours a day. It needs to go in the trash can:)).....to more visiting with the Crokers and Malia from Maryland (she's from Katie's orphanage).... and many more in between....here's to great friends, relationships, and many, many more adventures this week!! (actually, they've already started...the Eastham's are here for the week:)!!...stay tuned!! Don't you just love that top pic of Katie?? Just where did her eyeballs go???!!!

P.S. Now...if you want another view of our life here in non-reality-fairy-tale-land.....read Medana's comment from the previous post. ....but only if you want to:)....prepare to laugh......:)

Funny Story....

so....Eloise has been watching Leni get tooth fairy money and has had a touch of the 'green eyed monster' :). She had somewhat of a loose tooth (her first) and lately has been wiggling away to get that baby outta there. She succeeded. At the park. At 9pm. She handed the tooth to her mommy who then dropped said tooth in the street. Oh dear. Drama with a capital D. So here's some explaination about the events that followed and will explain the pictures. Our dear family friend Medana and her 4 kids had come out to our Disney house for a couple of days to play. It had rained late....so our 7! kids needed to run. Thus the park at that late hour (it's vacation!!!!). We all felt sorry for K and her lost tooth in the street so Medana turned her car around to shine her headlights on the road....and we all crawled on our hands and knees to find poor little blondie's tooth. We didn't find it. So we wrote the tooth fairy a very detailed letter......and wouldn't you know!! She found a little 5 year old girl that is missing her first tooth even on vacay! Amazing!!

Future Rock Stars??!!

This mommy's on vacation the month of June.(insert giddy laugh here:)) What do I mean by that? A very kind friend gave us a house by Disney for several weeks.(not everyone's here all the time....) Oh yea! This mom's in her happy place! What are we doing? Lots..! Keep checking! Today for instance, we met a family from New England that just adopted a little boy (their 6th child...2nd adoption) from Ukraine. The mom actually approached me and asked about Katie...and then we just started talking. She introduced me to her newest son....an adorable little blond 6-year old boy that had been languishing in an orphanage. As I met this little boy I was overcome with emotion....you see, this little boy has no arms. He had never been allowed to walk or even allowed to try. He had lived his entire life in a crib in an institution. This pastor/and wife found him through an agency and knew immediately he was to be their son. Today my 3 adopted girls swam with him for hours in a Disney pool. He's walking, talking, swimming....and does amazing things with his feet!! He was taking our girls bucket and teapot and filling them up with his feet. What an amazing God we serve! On another day, I was approached by a teen girl that again, asked about our little girls (Katie Mei gives us away every time!! ) . This young girl shared that she was due to give birth in a few weeks and was giving her baby up for adoption. I actually sat and talked with her for at least an hour. She was here on vacation and just happened to see us playing and was curious about our family. I was able to share with her my gratefulness to our girls birthmom's for giving us the greatest 3 gifts we could've imagined! Then I shared our faith and how God is the foundation of all we do and why we do what we do. I hope she left encouraged and hopeful for her and her unborn baby's future. Another God moment!!
Enjoy the pics of our little rockers! We visited Disney's marketplace (again!!!) and the girls turned into American Idol wannabe's! Katie takes it very, very seriously. Leni prefers to be a pirate:)

Shocker!

Today....to my utter suprise and shock because this hasn't happened in well over a year......all 3 girls took a nap! At the same time!! This mommy didn't know what to think! But...rest assured...I enjoyed it!!! After.... I found Kristin's little project in the closet. She had very sweetly put her duckies to bed with her. :) Very cute.....and a mommy moment.

Our Father's Day in Pictures...

The Tooth Fairy.....

....has been to visit! And to celebrate two missing front teeth, this group celebrated with our fav Ice Cream!!

Happy Birthday to Three- Asian- Three- Year- Old- Princesses!!

We have a tradition that has become very important to us...and this weekend was proof! Malia, Alexis, and our Katie Mei were all adopted on the same day, from the same little rural Chinese orphanage, having birthdays within just a few weeks of each other....and here they are 2 years later celebrating their 3rd birthdays together....at where else??!! Disney World!! We try to get them together at least a couple of times a year...especially on their birthdays...1. because they may not know it yet...but they are each others heritage and they will one day yearn for some connection to their past ...and all they will have to do is look at each other!! 2. we have grown to love the parents and siblings of these little girls and have a great time every time we get together!! So here are a couple of pics from yesterday as the girls get reacquainted as 3 year olds....enjoying their princess cake and playing in the pool and at the park. Thanks everyone for making this day possible!!

Happy Birthday Katie Mei!

Today is Katie Mei's 3rd birthday! We celebrated with a trip to Disney's Marketplace where we rode the carousel, train, had lunch, SAW KUNG FU PANDA!!!! and of course shopped. :) Mom Jo let her pick out what she wanted from the Disney store (within reason) and the ABSOLUTE only thing this child wanted was a pair of sparkly pink "PINKEE (short for princess) flip-bops. So...guess what was purchased? After our busy day, we had Disney cupcakes and a round of swimming w/our Daddy. A perfect birthday! (the friend party is this weekend!!)

So, What are you doing at 3 a.m.?

Yes, this photo was taken at 3am to prove I was up. :) This sweet girl is having a nasty bout of asthma this week and our resident physician told me to 'sleep her sitting up'. So we have been. All week. Here's the proof. And......it works:)

Well...this mommy is on vacay with 3 little monkeys! Julie and daddy are home working and commuting for visits. Sad to say the Internet isn't working here yet.......but a round of applause as this computer dummy is actually posting from my phone!! We've had lots going on ....so keep checking back!!!

Eloise-Every Family Needs Some Blonde Ambition.......

Kristin. Our colorful child. (AKA Eloise...after the children's book). Well, Miss Eloise had her ballet recital tonight and may we say....she far exceeded ANY and ALL expectations we had. At rehearsal we weren't sure this blond-i-mania was going to go through with it...but she did and did RAWTHER WELL!! You go girl!!

What makes her so colorful?! Well, she goes through enough emotions in a 24 hour period as there are colors in the spectrum. Mostly she keeps us laughing with her beautimous green-grey eyes....and there's the head-scratching 'temper-fits' that leave her mommy and daddy exhausted. She can turn those emotions on a dime. :)

Here's a couple of recent stories....you will see a car (Cade's) rubberbanded to her shoe. She thought this up completely by herself while riding in her car seat. We were at McDonalds attempting to go across the parking lot full of moving cars....and of course she tries to 'skate' on her new invention across the street. It didn't work....but we admire this girl's entrepreneurial (did I spell that right??) spirit!

Next you will see a tube of cream. It is a perscription strength anti-fungal cream we use for very, very bad diaper rashes and skin issues. It's leftover from our trip to China...and was put very (did I say very) carefully away. Well Miss Eloise came down the other night with the tube in her hand (how she got it down remains a mystery) and said, "MOMMY! This toothpaste doesnt' taste too good!" .....Yea. The child had brushed her teeth with it!! Once I found out it wouldn't hurt her....I laughed for hours. Yea. That's Eloise.

And the final last pic is a rare, peaceful moment indeed....of Eloise being the sweetest sister ever to Katie. Katie cannot stand to be told what to do by another sister...and won't take it...and Kristin likes nothing better than telling her sisters what to do. Got the visual?? This pic will be blown up and framed on their wall. :) Have a great weekend everyone from our house of God's colorful and wonderful little princesses!