Happy Easter!!

We hope you all had a beautiful and blessed Easter. We had a wonderful Easter weekend. It was so special to share it with Rosie this year. Last year at this time, we were looking at her pictures, watching her video multiple times a day and preparing to bring her home. Hard to believe it's been a year! We had fun coloring Easter eggs with Kelly and the girls on Friday. We did save a few to do with Daddy that night, which was fun, too. Rosie only did a couple and then lost interest, but she still had a fun time. On Saturday, we went to an Easter egg hunt. She went about ten steps, found two eggs, sat down and was done. So cute!! Poor Tia ran her heart out trying to find eggs, but only ended up with two herself. They under-estimated the number of kids that would show up and ran out of eggs in a split second. It was kind-of a bummer, but we still had fun. It was a beautiful day to just be out and about. On Easter, we woke up to lots of goodies from the Easter bunny for the girls and eggs hidden out back. Tia was tickled pink about everything and Rosie wasn't sure what to make of it all, but was still happy. We went to Mass and then enjoyed a wonderful meal with the Lee's later in the day. We always have such a nice time with them. They are a very special part of our life. I have a ton of pictures from the whole weekend for you to enjoy. :-) 
Also, Tia is enjoying her cake decorating with her 4H club. She did her second cake and I will attach a picture of it. And Rosie loves to be on the ATV with Daddy, so I will attach that one, too. The rest are all from Easter. God bless and enjoy!

Father-Daughter Dance

Oh, what a sweet and special night. Tia was so excited and Daddy was, too. He even washed the truck before their big date. They got all dressed up and went to dinner with Axelle and her dad Daniel before the dance. Red Robin was the pick of the night. Girls' pick. :-))  From there, they headed to the dance. In the meantime, Rosie and I met my parents at the fish fry and that was fun, too. Rosie loved the mac n' cheese! Afterwards, we headed to the dance to get a "sneak peek" and take a few fun pictures. I had only gotten Mike and Tia before they left, but wanted to get the great ones from the actual dance. The girls were having a blast when I walked in. Singing, dancing and doing the "cha-cha" line. And the dads...................well, they were all visiting among themselves along the sides. One of the dads re-named the dance to the "ditch your dad" dance. Pretty cute! But they did dance a bit, enjoyed snacks and had their picture taken professionally, which is a tradition of the night, too. It's just such a special event that we are so happy to be a part of each year. A very special time for everyone.

There was a LOT of energy in the room, as you can imagine. Warms my heart to pieces. Enjoy the pictures!

St. Patrick's Day

Well, things are going great here. Tia is busy with school and 4H, along with a fun class at our local gym called Cardio Kidz. She decided to take a break from the swimming and is enjoying something different for now. We had our first cake decorating class for 4H and it went really well. She loves it and is looking forward to entering a cake into the Fair this summer.
Rosie is doing great, too. She also does a class at the gym called "Monkey and Me" and it's so good for her. She loves the other little kiddos and is also making progress physically, like with her balance, climbing, etc. She is still as busy as ever and becoming more vocal

every day. She is repeating a lot and saying more "2-word" phrases. We continue to praise God for her every day and for the fact that both of our girls are happy, healthy and HOME!
We had a fun time at the St. Patrick's day parade a couple weeks ago. Then we went to the Burger Dive for some of the best burgers ever. It's always such a fun day.
We are MORE than ready for spring, but other than that, all is good and I'll share a few pics.
The next post will be from the Father-Daughter dance which is this weekend at the school. Tia is so excited!!

Way too cute!!

I forgot to post this picture earlier. Auntie Jaci sent ladybug cake pops and they are absolutely darling. And just as yummy as they are cute!! Thanks so much, Auntie Jaci. You're the best and we love and miss you!!
Also, the tiny cake on the birthday post was Rosie's own special cake and Tia decorated it. She was so excited to do that for her sissy and did a great job. :-))

Happy Chinese New Year!

In the midst of all the excitement of Valentine's and Rosie's birthday, we have also been celebrating Chinese New Year. It officially started two weeks ago. We celebrated with some friends by going to dinner at the Grand Garden on the first night of holiday. The following week, Tia did her presentations at school, which was really fun. She read a book, sang a song and shared pictures from China. We also had crafts for the kids and dumplings, which they all loved. It's a very special time for Tia at school with her friends. I was so proud of her for all that she did and she was just so happy.
This weekend, our group of families who all have children from China celebrated with our big party at the Knights of Columbus. What a special night! For the past 6 years, we have celebrated with Tia while waiting for Rosie. This year, it was absolutely wonderful to be there with both of our girls. Most of the group had already met Rosie, but some had not met her yet, so it was fun to introduce her to everyone. They have all been so supportive over the years and share in our joy to finally have her now. It's a wonderful and very special group of people. The night was super fun! Again, I will let the pictures show the night. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Rosie! Happy Valentine's Day! Happy Everything!!!!

Oh my, what a BIG day it was! Full of love, laughter, gratitude, friends, hugs and absolute pure JOY. I have a ton of pictures that will pretty much exhibit the day from morning 'til night, but I will tell you a bit about the day. We started out with fun Valentine goodies waiting for the girls when they woke up. Tia was more excited than Rosie, but it was a fun morning for all. Then we took Tia to school and headed to breakfast with Mom and Dad. Tia was out of school early, so we picked her up at 11:30 and had a quick lunch before we headed to the courthouse to finalize Rosie's adoption. For those of you who do not know, her adoption has been final since our trip to China, but this is a formality that is done in order for her to have a US issued birth certificate, for school, sports, etc. Judge Fagg officiated the ceremony, just like he did for Tia, and it was so very special. It's a short ceremony, but it's packed with emotion.

Judge Fagg was so sweet and really included Tia in the whole thing. His words were very meaningful. The Lee's joined us, which was wonderful and we all had a good time. The afternoon was full of friends stopping by and lots of fun. Dinner was with Mom and Dad and then cake, presents, etc. Rosie loved everything and Tia had a blast helping her sister celebrate. The whole day was awesome. We couldn't be happier!! Enjoy the pictures.