School?...Separate Classes?....in Ten Weeks?....(gulp!!)

This post title pretty much just says it all, doesn't it. We received their K-school schedule today. They are starting school in July. In.July. Yes. In.July......(do you get that I am shocked...in.ten.weeks.....!!). My first reaction?.....well, my first reaction was....."No, oh please not yet...". My second reaction? My second reaction was..."I want another baby....". :)

Hey....wait.....they are only 32 pounds and they still wear size 3....How can they go.to.School???

So what is really creating the stress? Here's what it is......They are inseparable. Simply inseparable. They do everything (everything) together. The other day when I picked them up from school, I peered through their classroom window (behind blinds) and watched them play on the playground for about 20 minutes. They were holding hands the entire time. (remember, Jeanette....I was on the phone with you.....crying.....).....I watched them both flit-and-prance from child to child all across the playground while holding hands the entire time. Oh my. And...here's the deal....When they go to school, we are absolutely separating them. They need to be in separate classrooms doing their individual things and developing their own selves. I truly believe that is the right course but...oh...my.....they have never been separated. Oh dear.....why can't Time just go slooower some how.....I just love this time and this age and this everything. Ah.....

So.....both J and C both have good ideas......I need to organize separate play group activities for them this summer before school starts in..gulp.....10 weeks....

I need to get them ready for this. I need to buy them supplies. I need to get cute school clothes. I need to get them ready for this. I need to buy lunchboxes....I...I........I need to get ME ready for this, don't I.......??

gulp....


hugs,
cin

My Cutie-Pies

I try to keep my cameras handy and charged-up as you just never know, do you, when a Kodak moment may appear..... ? I was tending to my front porch flower boxes and pots and when I leaned over, my cap fell off and Nicki grabbed it, placed it on her head and started to prance around the porch giving me all sorts of cute-poses. Sammi quickly found another dirty-old-raggedy cap to wear (I use them for my yard-work) and before I could convince them to let me take their pictures (which is what I typically need to do....), they were imploring me to do so....

Bottom-line…they are becoming little camera hams…!

Nicki in the grey hat;Sammi in the red WolfPack hat…. (Go Pack!!)

Easter Fun & Glam Shots

It’s the rule. If both families are in town during either Easter or Thanksgiving, then our families spend the holiday dinner together. We simply take turns and it’s awesome. I’m thinking that our first holiday dinner must have been in 95 or 96…..so at least 15 or so years ago and I think there is not a time where we missed a year. It’s all so good.

So this year's Easter get-together was held at the S’s. Col’s sister, brother-in-law and their two children came along as well and we really enjoyed meeting them.

Happy SpringTime! :)

Hugs,

cin

Deep and Lasting Bonds

Earlier this month, we had the great fortune of having Truly Blessed and some of her family (Katie and Ella and Toby) visit us for a couple of days during their trip to NC. Our families share a special bond…and it’s a long story….back from our China days and, for our girls,  a story that goes back even further to their orphanage days as Katie, Sammi, and Nicki were all side-by-side crib-mates in Yangdong SWI. (Whew, now is that a “big” sentence or what……). Our families….very amazingly so….bumped into each other just two days before we were all to depart China. And guess how we bumped in to each other….? At breakfast at the White Swan,  Little Katie was clamoring and squiggling and squirming out of her Aunt’s arms in her quest to make her way over to her little “best friend” Sammi. Katie’s Mom introduced herself and we all figured out pretty quickly that all three girls came from the same SWI and were, in fact, “best friends” according to our paperwork and notes from the caretakers. Kelly said she had been planning to go back to the States and do ‘whatever’ it takes to find the family who adopted the twins that were little Katie’s best friends throughout her orphanage but as fate as it…..no seeking was required as we literally bumped into each other!! Wow, as any family knows that goes through the China and the White Swan craziness, the chances of two families connecting up like that is simply….not to be believed.

Sammi, Toby, Ed, Cindy, Nicki, Katie, Kelly, Ella ….Yippee…what a GREAT group shot…..

 

Here are the Bubble Princesses (thanks to K for bringing the bubble toys…big hit!!) (Sammi, Ella in background, Katie, Nicki)

We had another China family join us that weekend as well. Jie Jie (Big Sister) on left and Mei Mei (Little Sister) next to her in the pink  ballerina outfit……

 

Below is our “couch” picture….kinda blue tint (had wrong setting on my camera…sigh….) but still so cute…Look at tall and beautiful Jie-Jie in the middle. Jie-Jie and Mei-Mei are just simply delightful girls and we are so pleased to have met their family.

There’s Katie-Bug being simply….Katie-Bug….! :)

Below is Sammi and her beloved blanket flanked by Ella in yellow and Nicki on the couch. “Dear Universe, please don’t let us ever-ever-ever lose that blue blanket.” I just can’t even fathom that happening. I take the girls’ “loveys” very seriously and…in fact….I think i know where their special blankets are pretty-much all the time. (pretty-much…..gulp….)

The next two pictures are all the girls gathered in Sammi and Nicki’s room for their sleepover slumber party. I was expecting to hear giggles all through the evening but in fact they all fell fast asleep quite quickly. We pulled out the girls’ crib mattresses for beds for Ella and Katie. It worked out just perfectly!

The four little ones were all into the “hip-hip-hooray-girl-power-chants-and-cheers” or something like that. Whatever it was, it was very cute and happy….

Notice the lovely earrings….

 

Time….please be still….Can’t the girls just stay little a bit longer (like, um, for a few more years at least….)…..ah…it goes so.fast…..Just look at their adorable, cute, happy, beautiful, thriving little faces….Oh my…we are lucky, aren’t we, Kelly.

Of Teas and Tete-a-Tetes….

   

And…final picture for now of me and Kelly and the girls…(yes, that is a barrette in my hair…). Thanks, Kelly, for the awesome visit. We love you guys so very much!!

Hugs,

Cin