Another Fun Weekend!

This weekend we went to the Renaissance Festival at the zoo. It was a LOT of fun! We all really enjoyed it. It was a perfect day in terms of the weather -- nice, but not too hot,

and the atmosphere was just really great. I have a lot of pictures to share that I think will represent the day quite well. Not much else is new around here, other than continuing to watch Rosie learn and change each day. She is SO much fun. She is now saying, "Ni-Ni" at bedtime and is also learning "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and other fun things. She also folds her hands to pray at dinner. Precious. We continue to be so happy and grateful for our two sweet girls. Life is good. Enjoy the pics!

More Fun in the Sun!

We continue to enjoy the summer each and every day. It seems like we are doing something fun, big or small, almost every day lately. Tia's been taking swimming lessons again and really enjoying it. She's learning how to dive and do different strokes. She did her first "canon ball" off the into the deep end the other day and was so tickled about it. We've been going to the spray park and other parks and today we all went to Lake Elmo, or as Tia calls it, "the beach". Not exactly, but it's as close as we will get for Montana, so we'll take it. We had a great time! And Rosie loved it, too.
We've recently had a barbeque with our friends (the picture of the 4 girls in a "stack") and our cousins were just here from Great Falls (the other picture of 4 girls) -- we had a great time with all! We are so blessed with so many wonderful relatives and friends. We love any time that we can spend together. The picture of Tia and Rosie in the cupboard is how they were entertaining themselves the other day while I was making dinner. They were having so much fun, it was precious.
The girls are doing  good. Rosie is still sleeping great and eating great, but she did just decide about 2 days ago that she no longer wants fruit of any kind??? She shakes her head "no" and wants to put it on the floor. We have no idea what has changed because she has loved it ever since we got her. We'll see if she changes back, but for now it's a mystery. Tia is loving her very much, but we are still adjusting to her no longer being the only child. It's been challenging for all of us, but we are taking it one day at a time and doing the best we can. We know this is a big transition time for our family, so we are trying to be patient and somehow keep some humor during the tough times. And we're praying a lot! :-))

The summer is going way too fast, but we are enjoying it all and will continue to share fun stories and pictures when we can. Enjoy!

Tia's Gotcha Day!

Tia's Gotcha Day was yesterday (July 9th) and it was a very special day. It's been 7 years since she was placed in our arms in China. It's hard to believe! The time has gone so fast and she seems so grown up now. She had a really fun day that started off with her morning at the Zoo for camp. If you notice all of the mosquito bites on her sweet face, that is where they came from. They have been really bad, but she's still loving every minute of her time out there. She LOVES learning about the animals! Yesterday was "Bear Day" and the kids were able to go inside the bear complex and hide food for them. Then, they got to watch from the windows as the bears went around and found it all. It was very exciting! Today was "Reptiles and Bugs" and she was able to pet the boa constrictor and watch it eat a rat. Yikes! But she loves it. Anyway, after her camp yesterday, we went to lunch and then to visit her sweet friend Ellie who had broken her arm. Then it was off to her first swimming lesson of the summer. After that, the Murphy's came with pretty flowers for her, which was such a sweet surprise. She chose Panda Express for dinner with all of us, and then it was back home for her ice cream cake and presents. We saw our friends Tammie and Maiya at dinner and that was really fun, too. Quite a day!
We are so thankful for her and are so happy to celebrate 7 years of our family being together. We are blessed beyond words.

Happy 4th of July!

We had a really fun and special 4th of July. In the morning, we went to Red Lodge for the parade, which we always just love. The atmosphere is so festive! When we got back to Billings, we had a barbeque here with friends, which was really fun, too. The kids swam in the pool and had an absolute blast. Rosie got her own "pool", which you will see in the pictures. I think she was in there for an hour -- she was having so much fun. It was precious. Overall, it was a beautiful, fun and special day. We feel so blessed!!

Summer Fun!

Well, we knew it would be a fun summer, and it's been just that. It's been beautiful and we've been spending a lot of time outside with friends enjoying every bit of it. I will attach some fun pictures for you to see what I'm talking about. :-))

We had a "Come and Meet Rosie" party and it was such a nice time. Everyone was so excited to see her and she did great with all the activity here that night. It was lots of fun!

Papa turned 80 last Friday and we are so thankful for him!! He is feeling good and just so happy with his grand-daughters. When asked what he wanted for his birthday, he looked at both of them and said, "They are all the gift I need." We had a yummy Mexican meal, compliments of our good friend Tony, and Mom made his favorite German chocolate cake. I found a darling outfit for Rosie to wear and that was her gift to him (you'll see what I mean in the picture) and the gift from Tia was a new mug with both of their sweet faces on it. He loved it. We had a really special night.

We went to the Symphony in the Park and enjoyed a beautiful night. It's always such a good time and the weather was perfect. Rosie was even clapping along with us

. She seemed to really love the music.

So, I will end this post with a shout out to "you-know-who" in Denver and for everyone to have a safe and happy 4th of July! I can't wait to post those pictures. :-))