Happy Birthday to Our Irish Girl

Last St. Patrick's Day we did not even know that she existed. This year, though, she is here in our arms and we will take time today to celebrate her life, the joy that she brings to our family, and the three incredible years she has spent on this earth. We may have both gone to Notre Dame, but we had to fly halfway around the world to find our own Irish lass!

Happy 3rd Birthday to our beautiful, precious girl. We love you so much!

This is how you know...

... that you have spent way too much time alone with your big sister.








Soooooooo pretty Catherine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Circus Folk

I heard an ad on the radio the other day and it made me realize that Jack is in second grade and he has never been to the circus. This may not be a big deal to some but I remember doing all kinds of stuff like that as a kid (circus, ice shows, sporting events, etc.). We always did it as a family and my parents went out of their way to make things special for us. So I immediately felt that feeling come over me. Yeah, you know that feeling... Parent Guilt!

So, I bought the tickets and then I worked my tail off to pay for them (I know... backwards!). The kids were mad at me on Saturday because I did not have time to play but it was all forgiven when we arrived at the big tent. We told Annie we were going to a furniture show (no fun if you can't mess with their heads!) and she believed us but Jack can read (darn schools!) so obviously he was tipped off as soon as we got there.



We settled into our seats and the clowns came out. Just enough silly jokes teetering on the edge of potty humor (including a clown who got his clothes ripped off revealing polka dot underwear!) and Jack was in heaven.



Annie, of course, still believed that we were at a furniture show (ha!) and was not sold on the idea until the first act... dancing horses!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was all over... she was hooked!



Ben is not exactly a fan of "shows" of any kind. He does not like puppets, people who perform in costume, or anything like that. So, the circus was doing nothing for him. He did perk up when the Chinese contortionists who stuff themselves into tubes came out... he actually clapped and yelled, "That's cool!!!" But, here is what he looked like at intermission when we told him that instead of being over the circus was really only half way done :)



Catherine could not figure out what in the heck was going on! Goodness knows what she must have been thinking :) She did enjoy herself though. And, she was particularly fascinated by the fancy colored spotlights around the tent. She sat in Jay's lap the whole time and just sort of took it all in.



So, it was a fun day (worth it I think!) and I hope the kids made some great memories. The Parent Guilt was put aside for one afternoon... I am sure I will see it again very soon!

My Big Girl is 6... sniff

March 5, 2004



March 5, 2005



March 5, 2006



March 5, 2007



March 5, 2008



March 5, 2009



March 5, 2010




Happy birthday Annie! You are growing up so fast that I can hardly catch my breath. I can see how this past year has given you a new sense of maturity and responsibility and I admire the way you have taken on the role of big sister. You will always be my child who exists "outside of the box" and I am grateful for your perspective on things... we all need to think a little outside of the box now and then. I love you very much and I cannot wait to see what the next year holds for you. If it is anything like this year it will be ALOT of artwork and projects :)

Celebrating a Milestone

Catherine has officially been with us for 100 days. In some ways I cannot imagine that time has gone so quickly but in other ways it seems like she has been here for much longer. We are so proud of her and of how far she has come in this short amount of time. She continues to amaze us everyday with her willingness to learn and her determination to persevere. We are reminded daily of just how lucky we are to have her in our lives.

Chinese New Year (sorry... REALLY late!)

Every year we say that we are going to go into Chinatown for the CNY parade but every year it is too cold, too rainy, or we are too tired :) Good thing, then, that we have an AWESOME CNY festival at our local mall. They really go all out decorating the whole mall with dragons and lanterns for the 2 day festival full of dancers, martial artists, and other performers.

It is great to see everyone come together for the activities and it is always fun to see the Chinese-American children (as well as many adopted Chinese children) wear their traditional outfits and enjoy the show. This is the first year that we had Chinese outfits for all of the kids (yeah to spending too much money in China!!!!) but we were unsure of Mr. I'm A Self-Conscious 8 Year Old would put himself out there like that. Much to our surprise he was enthusiastic about it and all of the kids looked great (we got many compliments!).







This is Jack (in the red outfit) feeding his lucky red envelope to the lion. Notice Ben is no where near him... he was screaming in terror on the side :)





Okay, so this is Ben pretending to be one of the martial artists he just saw (this went on for DAYS!), Annie smiling while holding on to her prize that she won in the coloring contest, Jack rockin the dragon outfit, and Catherine looking bored and wondering why on earth she was not given a nap today.