Fun With The New Table

After our glass table by the pool shattered into the pool, we decided to move the main outdoor dining table by the pool and buy a new really big main dining table. We have so many parties during summer that we needed the extra seating space that a large table would provide so we purchased a new one at Costco. The table will provide us with great enjoyment but it has also provided the kids with great enjoyment.

As you can see by the above pictures Mia is greatly enjoying her new "climb on toy." I tried to keep her off the table but she was obsessed. The pictures were taken after her nap so she looks kind of scroungy but still cute :)

Owen also derived great enjoyment not from the table but from the boxes the table came in. He and Mia made a shooting fort where he can shoot his bbgun. Hours of enjoyment-- in fact today they have added cushions and all kinds of "upgrades" to their fort. Very cool!!!

We are working on getting the backyard ready for summer. We have been having really hot weather so our pool is already in the 80's (we have solar so it heats the pool by the sun really quickly-- a few hot days and the pool is nice temp) so we needed to do a few final things to get the yard party ready. As you can see from the pictures that Max and Sadie are greatly enjoying the pool (they live in it during the summer). Owen is on the fireplace playing with the misters and we have a cute little nest of baby birds in our yard and I happen to catch them feeding and was able to take a picture. Very cute!!!

Busy Weekend!!!

First off we had a party on Saturday afternoon/ night at Brian and Heather's house. They have an in ground trampoline and Mia and her pal Izzy (Isabella) had a blast jumping. It is nice because the trampoline is at ground level so the little girls can just walk into it. We tossed ice on the trampoline so they could play with that while they jumped.

Here are some of the cute Mia bathing suit pictures. I love this suit. It is from Baby Gap and just looks adorable on Mia. The bottom has a skirt (not sure if you can tell by the pics) attached to the bottoms-- very cute!! Ethan and his friend Alyssa are also pictured.

After swimming I put on Mia's cover up and she played on the little play thing. She had so much fun!!

Our friend Brian bought some limo's (long story but he is going to start a Limo company- along with his many other company's) and wanted to try one of them out so he took a bunch of his friends to the Deff Leopard concert last night. It was so much fun!! The whole drive there was a blast. We just laughed and sang and had a blast!!!! Present people were Brian and Heather, Shannon, Kerri (Kerri's husband Joe is a firefighter and got called out to a big fire in our area at the last minute so he was unable to go), Dave and Kimberly and Kevin and I. It was just a ton of fun!!!
Owen was not feeling well this morning so he stayed home from school. Aunt Amy gave Mia some cute aprons and bibs so Mia and Owen decided to model them this morning. The one Mia has on has Chinese characters and Dim Sum on it. Very cute!!!
So yes, it turned out to be quite a busy weekend. Hope you all have a great week!!!

Cute Hair, Swings & Horse Trail

Every morning Mia gets a bath and I blow dry her hair. Yesterday I decided to round brush her hair and it turned out so cute.

Today and for the rest of the weekend it is going to be in the 90's so we are going to be spending a lot of time outside and in the pool. Mia and I were playing on the swing set and she just was having so much fun I ran in and grabbed my camera.

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As we do everyday, we went on our daily walk on the horse trail and here are a few cute pics from that. She has so much fun with the dogs on the trail and I am constantly chasing after her. She loves to run back in our yard with the dogs chasing after her and lock the dogs out. She sits there and laughs and laughs. On a side note, Mia has figured out how to open the front door and she has given me a few scares. Unfortunately all our doors are the lever handles and Mia can get on her tippy tippy toes and grab the bottom of the handle and pull down. She has figured out if she leans back while grabbing the handle that she can open just about all the doors in our house-- uggg!! A couple days ago I heard the front door open and I went outside and didn't see anything so I started hunting for Mia and by the time I saw her she was in the middle of the street. I scared the living heck out of me. I yelled at her and I think I scared her pretty good and then as soon as I grabbed her (after making a fool of myself screaming and flailing my arms as I was running to her)I burst into tears. It was just so scary to think that a car could have been going by-- thank GOD there wasn't. Anyway, now we have to dead bolt the door and I think I am going to go look for something we can use to baby proof it. It just freaked me out way too much.

We have a swim party this afternoon so I am sure we will have some cute bathing suit pics of Mia. I got her a couple really cute suits so I am anxious to see her in them. Have a great weekend!!!!

No Picture Post!!

Yes, I am at work (shame on me) and I do not have my camera to post any pics but I thought I would post a thought.

First off, any of you adoptive parents enjoy eavesdropping on conversations? I sure do. What I mean is that people do not associate Mia with me (white mom, Asian kid) so I get to hear what they say about Mia and they don't know I am mom so they speak freely. Most of the time I hear (not to brag but...) "Oh she is so cute", "she is so tiny", "what a doll" and so on. Sometimes I get to hear a little more and I LOVE IT!!! Let me preface this with I am a mom who likes to foster Independence and I am totally good with kids learning natural consequences of their actions. For example, when my boys were young I would tell them they should not climb on top of the play set. They whined and whined and I finally allowed them to and I warned them that if they fall off then they will get hurt. Sure enough, eventually they would fall off and get hurt but they would learn that if they are going to do something stupid, then they will suffer the natural consequence of their actions. I treat Mia the same way. Obviously I am not going to let her do something that is going to hurt her badly, but the small stuff is where I like them to learn their lessons. I am also not one of those moms that follow their kids around the playground to "make sure they are OK." I push Mia on the swings and I help her when needed but often I sit close by where she can see me at all times and come to me if needed (or I can go to her). OK so here is the fun eavesdropping part. The other day I was at our outdoor malls play area. My friend Laila and I were sitting there watching the kids play. A couple tables over there was an older couple with their grandchildren. Mia was being a little fussy as it was getting close to nap time but she was having fun. She would climb up the stairs and go down the slide totally on her own and we would all cheer her on. She would be running around and trip and then fuss a bit but then would just move on. Anyway, this couple was obviously watching Mia (how could you not-- she is just too cute not to :) and watching how independent she was being. They were also watching her fuss here and there with no mommy running to her side. All of a sudden the older woman says to her husband "Why is there no one attending to that little baby? Where is her mother? She is crying and no one is attending to her?" As she said this she rose up from her chair and was angrily looking around for Mia's mother. I stopped smiling and giggling to myself and then calmly and very nicely leaned over to the lady and said "I am not running over to her because we are trying to foster Independence and she is obviously just fussing and is fine so we do not want to encourage that behavior." The lady looked at me with absolute shock and embarrassment on her face. She stumbled over her words and said "Oh, umm, are you her mother?" I proudly smiled and said "yes." She said something to the extent of "Oh I didn't know you were her mother-- she is very cute and what a sweet girl." I politely said thank you and that was the end of it. I just thought it was so funny. I get that not every parent is as relaxed as me but I do laugh at some of the stuff I hear.

If you are an anxious or nervous parent I totally get that for your own peace of mind you need to be there with your kid at all times-- I get that and am fine with whatever. I am not that way. I totally have no issue with what I perceive as overprotective moms because I get that there are reasons they are that way-- good for them. But I do notice that overprotective moms have issues with moms like me. It is not as if my kids are swan diving off the play set and landing on their heads, but I am just not that "I cant leave the side of my kid" type mom. I laugh at how the other side (if you will) has total issues with moms like me. They often comment on how independent Mia is but you can tell it drives them nuts that Mia is playing independently and that I am not right there with her. I have had some comments that are not that nice but I just don't understand why they have such issues and why they feel like they need to voice their opinions. I often thank them for their input and inform them that I choose to parent my own way but I am never rude. It doesn't happen that often but enough that I thought I would post on it.

Anyway, I just thought this was a funny situation and possibly blogworthy :)

Any of you get to eavesdrop?

Lunch with Ava

**Update-- I just got off the phone with a nurse at the IA clinic in Long Beach and I told her all about Mia and she consulted with the doctor and called me back. She said the doctor said that he does not need to see Mia and that she sounds like she is doing well. So, I guess we wont need to take her in. Fine by me :)

I met Laila and Cassie for lunch today and of course the girls were in tow. We went to El Torito and they sat us way in the back of the restaurant by ourselves (smart people) so the girls were able to play a bit. There was a patio attached to the back of the restaurant and our server said the girls could play on the patio. They loved that and we were able to have a relatively peaceful lunch. This is how the girls entertained themselves.

Our 1 year adoption appointment with the social worker went great. All is well and we are done with all the updates. One thing our Social worker suggested was that we have Mia assessed medically at an International Adoption Medical Clinic. I have emailed her asking for suggestions but I was wondering if any of you out there know of any good clinics in the Los Angeles area. She was not concerned about Mia but thought it would be a good idea only because Mia is small and because we never had it done before. Anyway, any suggestions would be appreciated.

Anyway, all is well with us. Hope you are having a good week.

Fun Filled Weekend!!!

Our plan was to go to Dumont again but we looked at the weather and it was going to be windy and sand and wind do not mix well so we opted to go to a new place called Cougar Buttes. It is closer to our house (only about 1.5 hours) and it is desert trail riding and rock climbing. It was a change of pace but a lot of fun. The kids just loved the rocks and did a ton of climbing.

This first collage shows Mia attempting to put her shoes on-- she likes to do it now and clearly says SHOE!!! It also shows Mia doing what she loves to do-- playing with sand toys and hanging with Max under the motor homes. It is very cute how much she loves her dogs. My mom made a comment this week (she babysits Mia on Thursday's while I work) that the dogs are Mia's playmates and it is really true. She loves the dogs so much and cuddles up with them all the time.

Mia and I decided to take our turn at rock climbing. We went up to an outcropping of rocks by our camp and had a little photo shoot. Emily saw us and came up to help. It was a lot of fun going up and down the rocks. Mia did GREAT!!!! We went really high and over some tough terrain but she held her own and walked by herself most of the time. You can see our camp (half of it) in one of the pictures of Mia. It is way in the background but that is how we came-- we circle around and have a big camp fire and play area in the middle of the circle. I think we had 6 RVs this time which is actually a small group for us (usually more like 10).

The guys brought all their Paint Ball stuff and they had a Paint Ball war yesterday afternoon. It was soooooo FUN!!! They found a valley behind our camp and they just went to town. Owen lasted almost the whole game and won over a bunch of men-- Ethan did pretty good also!! Owen is in the middle picture with the full gear and Ethan is next to him.

We decided not to got to Dumont because of the wind but we were not void of wind here either. At least there was not sand but after dinner on Saturday night the wind started going and it went like crazy. We were not able to have a camp fire and we were holding on through 60 mph gusts all night long-- it was crazy-- the worst winds we have ever had while camping!!

We woke up this morning to beautiful NON WINDY sunny weather. It was beautiful so we were able to enjoy a nice morning in the sun but at about 11am the wind started whipping again so we decided to pack up and head out. Since we were only 1.5 hours from home we decided to stop by home, let the kids have a shower and then head to our nephew Christian's birthday party (which we did not think we would be able to attend because we would be camping). We made it in time for lunch (late lunch) and for all the festivities. Christian had a blast and so did the kids.

Here you see the kids (and my dad) playing musical chairs and the three finalists on the first round and the finalists on the second round. Seems like the big boys always make it to the end-- poor little kids.

Mia and Savannah are only 7 months apart and they are going to grow up having a great time together as cousins. Mia absolutely loves Savannah and often loves her a little too much! She hugs Savannah and knocks her over. She "shares" her paci with Savannah and in turn allows Savannah to "share" her paci. Mia like Savannah to play with toys-- on Mia's terms. It is all very cute in their own adorable way.

We had a nice time at Christian's party-- HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY CHRISTIAN!! We then came home, unpacked the RV, ate a little something and then put the kids to bed.

TOmorrow we have Mia's 1 year social worker appointment. It is at 10:30am so I will let you all know how it goes. Have a great week!!!

Addiction!!!

Yes, I will admit I am addicted to the happiest place on earth-- but who would not be if they lived 30 minutes away???? Laila called me this morning and we both complained how board we were and she suggested a quickie trip to Disney and say no more-- I WAS THERE!!! It was a quick trip but fun as usual.

We ate lunch at the Mexican restaurant by Thunder Mountain and there is a little stage area there where the kids enjoyed playing. The first collage is of them playing on the stage.

Mia will NOT sit in a stroller while being buckled. She FREAKS OUT!!! Usually I let her stand a bit if I can kind of control the situation but at one point at Disney it was just too crazy and I needed to buckle her in. She was already WAY late for her nap and was pissy. I forced her to buckle and she FREAKED OUT!! I mean a full fledged freak out where people were staring and thinking this mean white lady was kidnapping this adorable screaming Asian girl. I ignored the looks and I ignored Mia but she persisted. I did not want her to fall asleep (which I knew was exactly what she needed) because we were very close to leaving (only had space mountain to take the big kids on) and I wanted her to sleep in the car while sitting in traffic on the way home. So I let her scream and all of a sudden she stopped and I knew she fell asleep. I let her sleep for about 3 minutes and then woke her up (I know-- bad mommy-- but it was for her own good). She woke up happy-- even after only 3 minutes-- and she ran around the big water ball in front of Space Mountain with Ava while we waited for the big kids to get off the ride. She was just so funny running around with no clip and only one shoe. She was wired and just a hoot!! These pictures were taken while running around by the big ball.

So yes, we made it to the car without her falling asleep and the second I put the car in drive, she was out and slept until we pulled into our drive way--- YAAAAA!! Mission accomplished!!

Mullet No More!!

**Just a trivia spec on Mia's outfit in this post. When we first decided to adopt way back in 2005 I bought this outfit and another one like it in blue from The Children's Place. I kept them in a bag for years and totally forgot I ever even bought them until a couple days ago. We are getting rid of a big dresser in our bedroom and came across an old Children's Place bag with the outfits. I was so excited and while they may not be as cute as I once thought, I was so pleased to get to put the outfit on her and that it fit. Both pants and shirt are 6-9 months and fit her great!! Anyway, just a bit of Mia trivia!!

Mia is officially "mulletless." You may not be able to tell in her pictures because the back of her hair naturally curls under, but Mia was sporting one heck of a mullet. When her hair was wet the mullet went way down her back. Because of the natural curl it did not look too bad, but it was getting there. So, today I went to get my hair colored and cut by my friend who has done my hair for as long as I can remember and we have been friends since before high school. We were sitting and talking while the color was processing and she offered to cut Mia's hair. I happily took her up on it and she was able to totally chop the mullet off!! She took it really short in the back which I think looks so darn cute!! I just love the way it looks. My goal is to get her bangs and back the same length and then grow it out long all one length. But for now, while growing the bangs, I like the back short-- it is kind of a cute little bob cut!!

Here is a collage of the cut. She cut the sides and the back but not the front. You really can only see a difference in the back but I did lighten one of the pics in the collage so you can see the cut real well.

My friend Heather (who cuts my hair) has 3 kids and her youngest- Sunday- is about 5 months older than Mia. Heather and I go to church together and that is where we met in the youth group at the same church way back in high school. Anyway, Heather's oldest is in the same Sunday School class with Owen and Sunday (her youngest-- the one in the pics) is in the same class as Mia. Sunday and Mia had so much fun playing together. They freaked me out when they were by the water but they were both pretty good.

This evening we took the dogs out on the horse trail like we usually do and Mia took off like she ALWAYS does!! That girl can run and run fast. She books down the horse trail at full speed and then stops and sits on the ground and plays with rocks and then takes off again. She squeals the whole time-- it is so cute!! She loves the dogs and when they will run towards her she just squeals with excitement.

Here is a little video of Mia on the trail. It is kind of cute!

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Not Much Going on Here

Surprisingly I can say that not much has been going on here. We have had some things to do but not much. Kevin has been working on finishing the kitchen and the kids and I have just been chillin. Mia and I took a trip to the bank the other day and there is a kids area and Mia decided to climb the chairs and onto the table. She loved sitting in those little chairs so I took a few cute pics of her.

Yesterday we had our good friends daughters birthday party. The kids had a blast as they usually do at their house. They have an amazing pool and this cool outside house thing with a HUGE fireplace in the middle and a full kitchen with a soda fountain-- very cool! They also have a full basketball court so the kids LOVED playing basketball. Mia enjoyed getting in the middle of the big kids game. Here are a few pics from the party.

Sorry to say that not much is happening this week. We are kind of in a boring funk but I will try to find something blogworthy. We are leaving Friday for Dumont so, as usual, I'm sure I will have a ton of pics once we return.

Have a great week everyone!!!

Girls Night Out-- Bon Jovi and Chris Dautry

How could you enjoy a girls night out without hunky rock stars and a limo?? Well we got to experience that last night!! Some of my girl friends and I were given tickets to the BonJovi and Chris Dautry (American Idol) concert at the staples center in LA last night. Leni's (red head in black) husband is a rock star himself and still tours with his group (Hard Line-- they were HUGE in the 90's) and was able to get us free tickets to the show-- thanks Johnny. So, us girls decided to do it up right and rented a Limo for the night and head to LA for the concert. Present parties were: Susan (you know as in Chuck and Susan-- great friends), Amber (teacher at boys school-- hopefully Ethan will have her next year-- great teacher and friend), Crystal (long blond-- pregnant- she is actually Owen's teacher this year-- she is awesome and I totally love her), Kelly (blond in black sweater- we actually went to high school together and she is AWESOME!) and Leni (red head who's hubby got us the tickets-- she is so fun!). It was a great group and we had a BLAST!!!

We had a blast!! Chris Dautry from American Idol was AMAZING!! I totally love his music and he gave a great performance. Here is a little video of his AWESOME SONG "I'm Coming Home"


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Next was Bon Jovi and what can I say about him except that he is Bon Jovi!! Love the Young Guns Music-- he was AWESOME!!!

Here is a little Bon Jovi for your listening pleasure:


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It was a wonderful night and thanks Chuck for watching the kids (including Mia) until Kevin got home from work-- he is so brave. Also thanks Kevin for taking care of all the kid stuff so I could get a much needed girls night out!!!

Remember When I Lost My Camera??

The date was October 1, 2007 and we went to Disneyland with all our camping friends. When I got home I realized I had lost my camera. I looked everywhere but could not find it. Knowing I cannot live without a camera I went out and got my new one-- which by the way I love. Anyway, a month or so later I found my lost camera-- ugg!! We decided to keep it as a back up camera and when Kevin went to The Grand Canyon he took it with him. When I went to download the Grand Canyon pics I found all the pics from the day the camera was lost. I was so struck by how much the kids have changed. Mia has changed a TON!! In these pictures she was 11 months and she is now 17 months and she looks totally different!! I also could not believe how much the boys have changed. They just look so much older. Anyway, I thought I would post these pics since they are BLOGWORTHY!!

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today I saw the most beautiful face. I saw a little baby that was planned for our family since before time began. I saw a little girl that was MY LITTLE GIRL!!! I saw My Mia. One year ago today we received our long awaited referral for our beautiful daughter Ba Jun Fei-- Mia JunFei Bock. It was a day that I will remember forever. A day our family saw a glimpse of completion. Never in a million years would I ever had expected sheer perfection but Mia was just that. One year ago today my heart became whole!!

If you would like to see the original referral post-- click HERE. It is so fun to read it all again. I tell you-- that day was perfection and I remember it as if it were yesterday. I cant believe it has been a year-- amazing!!!


NOW ONTO REGULAR BLOG PICS:

First off I must tell you about a funny thing Mia does. Not only does she wear my high heels around but she likes to put my bras on. Every morning when I am getting ready she goes into my closet and grabs one of my bras laying on the ground (yes my closet is a mess-- but a controlled mess) and slings it around her neck. She walks around while I am getting ready with the bra around her neck and she thinks nothing of it. She just looks at you like-- what?? It is so adorable!! So, I finally had my camera around when she had the bra on and I had to take a few pics. Please excuse the bra but it is too funny not to post.

Today Mia looked far too cute in the dress she wore at church today so here are a few pictures:

After church Kevin and the boys went to an off road show and Mia and I went to a baby shower for our friend Christy. Mia and Savanna were having a great time playing-- well kind of playing--not sure if Savannah thought it was fun-- but anyway, they were really cute so I had to take more pictures.

If you are curious what they are "drinking" it is a baby medicine bottle and they are sucking on the end. They love sucking on that little dropper top.

Mia is obsessed with my phone and since it is a Blackberry it is flat and kind of like a rectangle. Because of this Mia is not interested in the traditional phone-- no she likes the flat looking things to use as phones. In the above pictures she is using a domino as a phone and can be frequently seen using a flat lego as a phone. On another note I think Mia said "monkey" today. She watches Curious George in the car all the time and love it. In the bottom pictures she is looking at a DVD case for Curious George and says to my mom- pointing to George--"monkey". I was shocked. I looked at her and she said it again and was pointing to George again. It was clear as can be and I think I am safe to say that she indeed knows the word monkey-- YAAAA MIA!!!!

We had Kevin's parents over for dinner tonight and we had a great time. We were all sitting in the kitchen and all of a sudden Mia figures out how to open the pantry door (where all the food is). I was horrified as this is now going to be a challenge to keep her out. Because it was a "first" I had to take a video of it. Oh my little Miss Mia was so proud of herself-- goodness what am I going to do??

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Happy Birthday Kevin!!!

Today my wonderful husband turns 36!! What an old man :) I decided this morning that I would make cupcakes and take them into Kevin's work and surprise him. So Mia and I made a pitiful attempt at red velvet cupcakes (homemade since I didn't have a cake mix)but didn't have the red food coloring so they ended up as brown velvet cupcakes. I had green food coloring so I thought I would color the frosting but it ended up looking like a pale greenish funky color. Then I thought I would sprinkle chocolate sprinkles on them to try to improve the overall presentation-- that didn't help much either. So we ended up with funky greenish sprinkled cupcakes-- but it is the thought that counts--right?

So Mia and I picked up some balloons and headed to the PD to surprise Kevin. Mia had been in a great mood all day and was happy on the drive over and as soon as we got out of the car she fell on the ground and started to throw a fit. There I was trying to hold the tray full of cupcakes and the balloons and my purse and Mia's sippy and then a flailing little girl-- it was not fun. We finally got inside and many of Kevin's coworkers got to meet our pleasant and happy daughter-- NOT!!! She was so pissed off that she refused to be held by anyone and threw a fit at every turn. It was less than pleasant. Finally Kevin came in and we were able to give him the balloons, cards and cupcakes. Mia was a bit better at that point but was still pissy. By the way, the second we got into the car to leave she was asleep before I pulled away from the curb.

Mia and Kevin in the briefing room.

Too Cute!!

Kevin, Mia and Shannon- Shannon is a dispatcher and Kevin loves working with her. She is really fun and has been very supportive of our family!!

Kevin & Dave (and a little bit of Mia)-- Dave is another motor officer.

Kevin, Mia and Olga-- Olga is a jailer and actually has worked with me a bit working towards her school psych degree.

Kevin, Mia (look at her pissy little look) and Natalie-- Natalie is also a dispatcher and is also totally fun. She too is and has been very supportive of our family! She has a son about Mia's age and he is so darn cute!

Had to just put one picture of Mia :)

My birthday was March 6 and my parents had planned on taking me out for my birthday to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Pasadena but my grandmother passed away and plans were changed. This was the first weekend we were able to get together to go to Fu Shing's and luckily it was Kevin's actual birthday so we celebrated both our birthdays together.

Here is the picture they take of us in our celebratory hats-- very attractive!!


A few of you have commented or emailed me about my grandmother's death. My grandmother passed away Saturday March 16, 2008. She was an amazing woman of God. She lived a wonderful life and was completely ready to go home. She died at the age of 90 and had been healthy and NOT riddled with illness. We visited her just a month or so before her death and she was in great spirits-- healthy-- and cognitively intact. Grandma passed away in her sleep and was finally reunited with my grandpa who had passed away 9 years prior. She was finally home with grandpa and her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! Grandma will be missed but tears were not cried because of her death-- tears were cried in happy memory of her wonderful life and her new eternal life in heaven.