Wordless Wednesday....

Hugs,

Cin

What I Think Is Cute....

Me again. Yep, two postings in one day...must be a first...It's due to the inspiration of seeing all my blogger friends devote the time day-in and day-out to their posts.

Ok...so...here's WHAT I THINK IS REALLY CUTE...

Look at these boots....oh, how cute....the girls LOVE them....have worn them almost non-stop for almost a week now....(and Ed picked them out..not me!)

Sammi in pigtails tonight...
.
Goofy Sam-a-rina...


And yet goofier still...


Now to Nick-a-rina.....


And both.....giggles abound....

Ok.well, I even have MORE pics to blog.....maybe I'll try Wordless Wednesday tomorrow...

Hugs,

Cin

Happy 2008 Holidays to You!

Warm wishes that everyone is having a safe and happy holiday season. We are all doing quite fine in this busy season and have had the great fortune to celebrate many Thanksgiving and Christmas occasions and cheer with both dear old friends and new friends, too! And, of course, it’s been quite a blast watching Sammi and Nicki really get excited about Christmas, Santa, presents, Christmas decorations, etc. There’s nothing as magical as watching 3-year olds totally believe in the magic, is there..?

Here's Sammi....(yes, in pink...)

and Nicki....

J and me with the girls....

Ed opening-up a present as Sammi anxiously looks on...

Look at the background of this pic....oh my...so many presents...they had so.much.fun. opening-up the packages...

Horse-Farm...it's all about ponies and princesses these days...

Can you spot the half-eaten carrots on the plate...?

Girls making cookies...oh, my, we made a dozen-dozen (yes, 144!!) Mrs. Smith's cookies and walked around the neighborhood and handed out cookie tins to our friends...lots of fun although I think I won't be able to look at (or smell....) another cookie for..well..at least another year...

See this big "mixing" bowl I used...and see who got the "licks?" :) Oh, and to think that we used to lick spoons growing-up!! Ugh, uncooked eggs...YUCK...what were our mothers and grandmothers thinking...??!! Best left to the dogs, I say...

Here's my sweetheart Kelse...

And high-jinks from Jessie (left) and Maddie... :) It's become quite a ritual every TGiving with Col and John and Jess and Kelse....this "high-jinks" business with the ol' whipped cream. Who started that silly business, anyways...(oh, yeah, that's right....um, I did.....) !!!

TGiving with a crew of dear friends..


Ha...I remember when Amy (on left) and Karen were in elementary school...look at them NOW...


George and the girls....(psst...George is a big ol' softie AND the girls adore him...)

Here's Ed in his favorite holiday pose....

Hugs to All,

Cindy

It's Catch-Up Time....1 of....lots

Hello Hello Everyone!

Oooff, I know it's been quite a long time since coming here (and blogging on to others...)....Actually it's been more than 2 months to be precise. But...I sure do miss everyone.....


So, why the MIA? Well, lots of reasons but all just fine stuff (thanks for the many-many-many emails I've received checking to be sure all is ok....yep, all is very well....). What I have been up to is..

1. AWESOME trip to Chicago in August for our Holt Adoption Group Reunion (yep, lots of phenom pics to blog there.....)
2. Path to the election obsession....too many papers...too much involvement in political blogs...just overload...glad the election is over!
3. FANTASTIC trip to the Outer Banks with some of our dearest and oldest friends in our lives + our very dear new friends, too, like Rony and her family (yep, lots & lots & lots of pics to blog there.....)
4. Lots of international travel (nope, nothin' to even consider blogging there unless someone wants to see what the insides of boardrooms look like when we gruel out our 18-hr day.....international business travel is so-not-glam)
5. Fun (really fun round of parties in our social circle lately...oh my...just a spate of fun stuff...kinda funny but practically one a week for 2 months now...)
6. I've institued a very very important First Friday of Each Month Girls-Night-Out affair.....very big deal...
7. Awesome mountain cabin vacation...in the lovely mountains of NC (yep, lots of pics to blog there)

And, interspersed there one weekend, we had Jessie come hang out with me and the girls while Ed was...um, somewhere...forgot where...and we had the best girls-weekend....!

So...more coming very soon.....But first...before I even blog more, I'm off to VISIT some blogs I've not visited in months!!

Oh, blogger friends, I've missed you!!

Hugs,

Cindy

Feeling Reflective...the "Then" versus the "Now"

Cafe next to the White Swan Hotel....


Maybe it's because we recently passed our 2nd anniversary of our referral (August 24th--which is also Ed's birthday!!). Or maybe it's because they seem to be at the sheer pinnacle of what I think "thriving" is all about. Whatever the reason, I've been feeling unusually reflective lately so I dug-up some old China and Early-Days thereafter pictures.....just to kind of "compare" and jog my memory of the "Then" and the "Now".....

Forbidden City, of course.....



Um...guess what...I'm thinking this is Nicki 'cause I'm more sure the next pic is Sammi but....I think I may always be unsure on these two shots which is completely unusual for me!!


Wonderful Welcoming Committee at the airport when we returned from China...


Ooofff....we were so beyond-belief tired after 45-50 hours non-stop travel from White Swan to RDU...


Here is Colleen and me on our first evening home....Colleen and all our friends were just wonderful...Ed and I were so exhausted and our friends all rallied around us and helped us out for quite some time.....


Ah, I'll never ever forget what our team of pediatricians (who specialize in Chinese adoption ) said to us those throughout their first two months home: "Your daughters have quite a lot of issues going on right now." Whew, and were they ever right. They came home with double ear infections (both), exotic skin fungus problems (Sammi), severe bronchitis (both)...and oh yay, RSV (Nicki). On one of our practically daily doctor's visits (which happened to be Christmas Eve), Dr. Foster took one look at Nicki, slammed-on a pulse ox monitor and immediately called the EMS as Nicki's reading was right at 89-90%. Poor little thing and poor us. As the EMTs were whisking Nicki away, I overheard one of the nurses say to another nurse that RSV can absolutely be fatal. Oh my....there we are below in the ER waiting on her room as she had to be admitted for a few days. And, I'll never forget what Jeannette and the Ks did for us.....I called Jeannette crying and in need of immediate help to take care of Sammi and Jeannette dropped everything she was doing (on Christmas Eve!!) to swoop in and take care of Sammi while Ed and I stayed at the hospital with Nicki....wow, pretty awesome, huh! Ah, our dear friends are indeed our "family".....


A few weeks later, things started to get better....here we are at the Mall...


Oh, so tiny....they weighed 13 pounds when we came home....and gained just a whopping 8 pounds over the year. Now, at 3 yrs old, they still just weigh 26 pounds...Tee-nine-eey....



And....here they are now.....simply awesome, happy, fun, funny, capable, mostly pretty sweet, they play so very well together....and they are both just our bundles of joy....Wow, Then vs Now. What a journey.....


Hugs,
Cindy