This aunt just loves to brag...

Since we don't have kids yet it is very convenient for me to borrow my siblings kids. My brother said when they were waiting for the last baby to be born, his wife always said she "wants her blonde hair blue-eyed baby". I think she got one, what do you think? This is miss Hallie Nicole's 1 year picture and she is wearing the same dress that big sis Isabel wore for her 1 year picture. I can hardly wait to see this one at Christmas (and Jena can hardly wait too).
I just returned from a fabulous 2 day conference in Orlando. We stayed at the Gaylord Palms which is about as fancy as it gets (for me anyways) :)
It was so much fun and I felt like I learned alot but we also played a little since there were 6 of us friends that went together.
Tomorrow we are taking Jena to Orlando to Universal Studios so hopefully I will get some fun new pictures to post after our trip. We had free passes and just realized they expire this Tuesday so with such short notice Jena couldn't really invite a friend but I think she will still have fun anyways.
Hooray for Friday!!

Welcome Home Party!

Yesterday we took Jena to her first FCC luncheon. It was a great afternoon since all our friends were there to celebrate two of the newest babies home with their families. Although she has had a cold and couldn't taste everything, Jena was very excited about the "American Chinese" buffet and she went back several times to be sure she didn't miss anything.
John and Nancy got to introduce little miss Lily who has been home 2 weeks yesterday. She is doing great and keeping them busy for sure:)


Next came Kip and Treena with baby Jemma who has been home almost a month now. She is almost 7 months old and so very healthy and happy. When you adopt from China, usually the youngest the child is when you actually bring them home is about 9 months. In Taiwan, typically the child is between 4 and 8 weeks at referral then you travel to bring them home anywhere between 3 and 5 months after that. It was so fun to see her take in all the sights and sounds.


This next photo is very special too. Jena Chen from Taiwan meeting Jemma Chen from Taiwan. Jena thinks it is so amazing as she never knew about the adoption world. She tells her mother everything and her mother thinks we are all "so kind".


CCAI is having a Florida Reunion this November in Orlando. 2 years ago we went shortly after finishing all our paperwork and we had a great time. This is where we began to make friends with fellow families adopting from China in our area. We first met Kip and Treena here and found out we have the exact same LID date for China, 9/11/06. We are making plans to hopefully attend with them again this year. This time will be even more fun since we will have Jena and Jemma with us too:)

Weekend in Orlando

This past weekend we went on a little trip to Orlando. My brother and his wife Heather came down to spend the week at Disney with the twins who will be turning 5 this month.
We got there early on Saturday before they arrived so we could take Jena shopping at some outlet stores. She had a great time and she found lots of great bargains for clothes for school. This is the first time she has really been shopping here since her first weekend. I could tell she enjoyed it so much more now that she has settled in.
The kids were so excited to see us. I think Isabel was pretty much attached to me the whole time. They stayed at the Grand Floridian which was really cool and we got to enjoy the shuttles by boat and monorail to Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner Saturday night. I think Jena really enjoyed her first trip to Orlando too.
Sunday we hung out at the resort and swam in the pools, had lunch, then we rented "Motor Mice" or is that Motor Mouses? We are really not sure what they were called but they were pretty cool.
Jena has never driven ANYTHING in her life and she was told she could not drive anything while in the US. Since the age limit for driving was 12 and older, we felt she could handle it, right Jena? Check her out her expert boating skills.


Below are some more pics of our fun weekend in Orlando...You can click on any of them to make them bigger.

Those Eyes!

Recent photos of our newest niece, Hallie who just turned 1 last month. Her eyes are truly amazing and it's so funny how Jena, our exchange student, can hardly get enough of American kids with all their light features. I on the other hand, can hardly get enough of her baby cousin in Taiwan. Isn't it funny how that works?
We just spent the weekend with Hallie's big brother and sister in Orlando. She stayed in KY with the grandparents...we missed her so much!