Hanging out in the backyard!!

** I have received many emails from people asking where I got Mia's red white and blue one piece bathing suit in the previous post. I actually got it at Children's Place and it was cheap. It is totally cute but their 4th of July stuff goes really fast so if you like it I would suggest getting there soon or they will be sold out-- or you can always order online. Mia is wearing the suit in an 18 month. They run kind of small as all her other bathing suits are 6-12 or 12 month.



Just for your viewing pleasure, here is my latest bathing suit purchase from Gymboree:




First off let me say I am so sorry for not updating my blog more. I have just been so busy and blogging is one of the last things on my mind. Wrapping up the school year as a school psychologist is a very busy time therefore I am quite busy. So Laila, (Laila has been bugging me to update) sorry I have not blogged but here are some pictures just for you-- haha!

These first pictures I love just because it shows how cool my new camera is. I love how it focuses on something and then blurs the background. You can see that affect in the first picture of Mia but also the one with Sadie and Mia. On that one Sadie was the focus and Mia is blurred. I just think that is so cool.

I have been so busy I have not been taking a lot of pictures so yesterday the kids and I were hanging out in the backyard so I took advantage of the opportunity to take some pictures.

This weekend is kind of slow which I am looking forward to. We have a birthday party for my niece Savannah on Saturday night but that is about the only plans we have. Hopefully there will be a lot of swimming and relaxing. The boys only have next week and 3 days of the following week left of school--- yaaaa!!!! I can hardly wait for summer and neither can the boys. I am such a non-schedule person and I crave summers when it is just free flow. We always do a ton of stuff but I just prefer not to be scheduled. I am going to try to get Mia to sleep in a bit longer so I in turn can sleep in a bit later during summer-- oh I cant wait!!! One more thing is Monday June 1 one year ago is when we returned from China. I am still in awe that we have had our little girl for over a year. Time just flies and I am baffled every day by what an amazing gift she has been. We are so blessed.

Anyway, have a great weekend and I will try to post pics as I get them :)

Lots of Stuff!!

This weekend has been nice. We have not decided what we are going to do tomorrow but since Kevin has to work the kids and I will find something fun to do. I feel a bit better about things. It was nice to go to church this morning and really feel the support of my church friends. I am really just having to give the unknown up to God and know that EVERTHING is in His control. It is easy to say but much more difficult to do.

On a side note, when I downloaded the pictures from my camera I forgot about a bunch of pictures I took early in the week before I became depressed and busy.

These first pictures are of Mia and Owen when we got home from Pismo last weekend. We came home to hot hot hot weather so we decided to swim. Mia looked so cute in her little American suit so I had to get some pictures-- as always. These pictures are with my little handheld camera- not my new one. The following is a cute little video of Mia swimming.

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Early last week-- I think Tuesday, I met Laila + kids and Cassie at the food court for lunch. We got there a bit early so I took some cute pictures of Mia playing. She was having such a good time. Again, these pictures are with my little camera-- not my new one.

Friday night we met our friends for dinner at Lucille's. It was a good time but by the time we were done with dinner we did not have enough time to go to see the new Indiana Jones movie. The boys were a bit disappointed but we promised we would take them next weekend. Please look at the second picture in the collage and please notice the Owen is smiling and is not making a face. I think the only reason it is so is because it was taken with my new camera and it has a very quick shutter speed so i got the picture BEFORE he made the silly face. So, yes he did make a face, but my new camera got the picture before he had a chance to do do. So-YAAAAAA!!!!! I really like my new camera. Again, I know very little about it thus far but I am learning everyday. There are a few pictures of us eating Saturday monrning breakfast (Kevin makes breakfast every Saturday morning-- tradition) and a few others while I was playing around with my camera. The rest of the pictures below are all taken with my new camera.

NO ONE MOURNS THE WICKED!!!!

Wicked was absolutely AMAZING!!!!! I was blown away by not only the ending but the music and everything. It was a PERFECT night-- really it could not have been any better!!!

This is taken with my new camera in our driveway with Brian and Heather. I love the colors!!

Heather getting in the limo.

Brian and Heather

Kev and I

Before WICKED we went to Lawry's in Beverly Hills. It is an old steak house from the 50's and is still today an awesome and historic restaurant. Many of you will recognise the name Lawry's from the seasoning salt you buy at the grocery store. Those seasoning salts and garlic salts and the whole line is from this historic restaurant. This picture is of Heather and I after dinner.

All of us outside of Lawry's

After dinner we headed the the Pantages for WICKED!!!!!! It is so nice riding in a limo as Jack (our driver-- and friend) just pulled up and we hopped out. So easy and kind of fun!!

The Historic Pantages Theatre

The Pantages is on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with all the stars. This man was playing his trumpet for money along the walk in front of the theatre.

Brian and Heather at the entrance.

The Pantages is an old beautiful theatre and about 5 or so years ago they revamped it and it is now just back to it's historic state.

This is the WICKED stage before the musical began. The props and stage and everything was amazing!!!!

Kevin and I after the show. You cannot take pictures inside the theatre so we were limited in the pictures we could take inside.

Just showing you a star on the walk of fame. No idea who Connie Stevens is but here is her star:)

Today we went to a swim party at our friends home. The kids, as always, had a blast as well as the adults. Mia is having a a blast swimming with her new little floaty suit. It keeps her upright in the water which I really like and she has learned to kick her feet to balance her in the water better. Ethan is always willing to play with Mia in the pool. He is such a good big brother!

I totally love the following collage. You can see the difference in the pictures between my old and new camera. Look at the first picture. You can see the water hitting Mia's head-- that is just so cool. It has such a quick shutter speed that it can catch that stuff that my little camera can't.

At most of our parties with friends Mia gets to see her pal Izzy. They had a blast running around and playing. Here they are making hats with Tupperware-- very cute!!

So we have had a busy weekend thus far. Tomorrow will either be a relaxing day not doing much or we may do something fun. I am really tired so I'm not sure what I am up for tomorrow but we will see. I hope you all are having a great weekend and tomorrow is a wonderful opportunity to remember those who fought for our freedom-- the freedom of this GREAT NATION!!!!

Here Is What We Are Up To!!!

A week ago we were in perfect weather in Pismo beach only to return on Sunday to 100+ degrees at home. We entered into this past week with hot days that gave way to totally cold days. Here in sunny southern California it has been raining cats and dogs and it is cold-- yes rain and cold!!! What is up with this?? I was totally loving the heat-- even the hot weather because it was as if summer was already here. Now we have snow in the mountains and rain literally pouring down like cats and dogs. It is more rain in a few days than we got all winter long-- crazy weather. Plus, about 40 miles from here we actually had a tornado!!! A tornado in so cal!! It didn’t do any damage but I heard it was powerful-- again crazy!! We just don’t get tornados (or rain for that matter) in this area.

So besides the weather being strange there is talk of all these reverse earthquakes (something we here in so cal are familiar with) and animals are acting really strange and all the experts are saying we are in for a big massive earthquake!!! What the heck??? So with all the devastation around the world-- cyclones killing what, thousands-- earthquakes killing thousands in china and just all the sad stuff recently, it has really got me down. I feel like I have been crying more in the last couple weeks than I have in years. Toady there was a funeral for one of Kevin’s coworkers whose daughter (25 years old and a budding fashion designer living and working in la) who was killed by a drink driver last Friday. Then we hear about the tragedy with Maria (Steven Curtis Chapman’s adopted 5 year old daughter from china) being accidentally being ran over by her older brother (please pray for this family-- just am amazing tragedy) and that just about topped things off for me. Then being depressed already with all the horrors I happen to be home today to watch Oprah and they are discussing drunk drivers killing people. This one family had a family wedding and they were all in a limo going home and were hit head on by a drunk driver going 70 mph the wrong way on the freeway. Everyone was severely hurt but their 8 year old daughter was killed immediately (decapitated) and the mom who was hurt minimally sat on the side of the road with her 8 year old daughters head in her lap just stroking her hair as she watched the fire department cut her family members from the wreckage. It was literally heart wrenching and I am still crying as I am typing this. There is just tragedy everywhere right now. I just am baffled and I feel so wounded. I am usually a very upbeat and happy person but all this horror has really got me down. I am just depressed right now. Anyone feeling the same way? I sure hope I snap out of it because I feel like I am crying at the drop of a hat about everything. Ugggg!!! I just don’t feel like me.

Ok, ill snap out of it for now because I do have a fun weekend ahead. Tonight we are taking the boys to dinner and to see Indiana Jones (Mia will be there too but I will probably have to take her out). The boys are looking forward to seeing the movie and I am looking forward to kabuki!! Tomorrow night is a big night for us!!! My parents bought us tickets to wicked for Kevin and my birthdays so tomorrow night is the night we go-- yaaaa!!! I love love love the wicked music and I can hardly wait. We invited our friends Brian and heather to go with us and since Brian owns a few limos, we are going in one. We are leaving early like 4pm and heading to lawrey's in Beverly hills-- a very nice restaurant. Then we head to the play. Kevin's parents are babysitting so kids are taken care of-- yaaaa!!!! I can hardly wait!! Then Sunday we have church and then a pool party at our friends Dave and Kimberly’s house that may just turn into a non pool party in light of the weather. Anyway, getting together with friends is always a blast. Monday is Memorial Day and I am not sure what the kids and I will do but Kevin picked up overtime that day to help out so he will be at work till 7pm. I am sure we will find something fun to do-- Disney anyone???

So, despite the depression and the horrors in the world at the present time, am really excited about this weekend.

Here is just a snip of what we will see tomorrow!!!



THE NEXT COOL THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK IS-- WELL I WILL JUST SHOW YOU--



Yes, the camera I have been searching for-- reading review after review-- checking prices all over the place-- asking others what they shoot with-- has been decided on----- drum roll-------- it is the brand new Nikon d60 with the 18-55 VR lens and the 55-200 VR zoom lens. It is so cool and I am totally excited about it. I have been shopping for quite some time and finally decided to just suck it up and make a decision and get the camera. We are going to Maui Hawaii at the beginning of august and I want to know the camera well by then so I figure I needed a few months of practice to get to a comfy level with it, therefore, I decided just to get it!! I am a total and utter novice. I know literally nothing-- what is an f stop? I have no clue-- but I am learning. I even ordered a Nikon d60 training video online last night. It should be here this next week and it is 2 DVD’s and it is supposed to be very detailed and exhaustive so I am sure I will an expert by the time I finish the DVD’s --haha!!! What is funny is that I know my vices. Shopping is a total vice and I shop when depressed. I have been looking at this camera and others for months now but I think what finally drove me to buy it yesterday was the sheer depression and depressing events going on. So at least I know it was a bit of a depression induced buy, but I do not regret it-- I am actually quite excited-- the depression actually pushed me to make a final decision :)

So, I really don’t have much to post other than that-- which actually is a lot but no cute Mia pics or cute kid pics. I will have some after I figure out the basics of my new camera and I am sure after this weekend I will have some cool pics to post.

Have a great weekend!!

Here's What

GOTCHA 1 Year Anniversary!!!

*** PLEASE KEEP STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN'S FAMILY IN YOUR PRAYERS AS THEIR TEENAGE SON ACCIDENTALLY BACKED OVER AND KILLED THEIR 5 YEAR OLD ADOPTED DAUGHTER FROM CHINA- MARIA. MY HEART IS JUST BREAKING FOR THIS FAMILY. SO MANY ENTER ADOPTION BECAUSE OF THE WORK STEVEN AND HIS WIFE DO IN THE ADOPTION COMMUNITY. PLEASE LIFT THIS FAMILY UP IN PRAYER AND I KNOW THEIR LITTLE MARIA IS IN HEAVEN BEING HELD IN JESUS' ARMS.

One year ago today our lives were changed forever. One year ago today we held our baby girl for the first time. One year ago today our family was complete.

And my baby girl now-(18 months old)!!

I remember the day so clearly. I was a bit annoyed as we were scheduled to receive Mia at 3pm while every other family I had met at our hotel met their babies in the morning. All morning long we saw beautiful babies who had just met their forever families. It was beautiful yet we were longing to meet Mia.

The nerves were going strong all morning long. We were able to visit a local elementary school and that distracted us for a while but as the time went on the butterflies in my stomach became stronger and stronger. Finally it was our turn and we packed up the HUGE diaper bag and headed to the Changsha Hunan Civil Affairs Office where we were to meet our daughter.

We got to the civil Affairs Office a bit early and entered the elevator heading to the third floor. I kept looking around to see where the other families were but I saw no one. As the elevator rose I became more and more overcome with nervous excitement. What would she look like? Would she be scared of us? Would she cry? As I searched for the camcorder to give to our guide I was reeling with questions.

The bell rang for the 3rd floor and the doors opened. Again, I did not see any other families but I did see a Chinese lady at the end of the hall squatting on the floor holding the hands of a standing baby girl. I looked in shock as we walked closer to her and as we drew closer, I realized that was Mia!! That was our Mia standing with a nanny at the end of the hall—just as real as could be. I asked out guide if that was indeed Mia and she asked the lady and sure enough that was our baby girl! We asked if we could go up to her and our guide informed us that we could look at her but we could not touch or take her until the official person was there to oversee the “handover.” Come to find out, we were the only family scheduled for the afternoon and the official that oversees the “handover” had already left for the day. As our guide scrambled to contact the official and get them back to oversee our handover, we were able to take in the beauty of our daughter. For a rare and precious 2o minutes we were able to look at Mia and allow her to look at us. She was able to look at our funny faces and hear my funny voice. She was able to gaze at us and get to know us for a whole 20 minutes before we were ever able to hold her. That time was a rare and precious gift I will never forget. Those 20 minutes set the tone for the rest of our “GOTCHA” experience and those minutes were priceless.

After 20 minutes the official lady arrived and hurried us into the GOTCHA room. At 3:24pm Ba Jun Fei was placed in Kevin’s arms and officially became Mia JunFei Bock!!

Mia went to Kevin so easily and actually gave him a smile right away. She loved his facial hair and just stared in wide eyed wonderment at her new daddy. She did not fuss, she did not cry. She just stared intently at her dad. A few minutes later I was able to hold my daughter for the first time. It was a dream come true to finally hold this little person in my arms and smell her hair and feel her skin and know that she was ours—forever!! Mia came to me easily and did not fuss. Again, she stared at me with wide eyed wonderment as if she recognized me somehow. It was magical!!

As paperwork was completed we were able to get to know our daughter. She was perfect in every way and was obviously meant to be a part of our family. She never cried or even fussed. She was just perfect!!!

We said goodbye to the staff and we headed to our van. I remember thinking how odd I felt just placing Mia on my lap and not buckling her in a car seat. I remember Mia staring at me and then Kevin and then me and then Kevin—back and forth the whole ride home. We stopped by a store to buy some baby items and then back to our hotel. As I carried Mia in our ERGO people stared and commented on how beautiful she was and how young she was. I was such a proud mommy!!! I just took in every compliment agreeing whole heartedly with them all. We were hooked—completely and totally smitten and in love with this little person—our daughter!!!

We got back to the hotel and unpacked. We played a bit and changed her into her first American outfit. She looked so adorable in her little Naartjie outfit!! Mia was getting sleepy so we went to get dinner in the hotel. She did so well during dinner and just stared at us. She did not do a lot of smiling but she was watching our every move. The compliments and stares were plentiful. “She is so young and small” we received from other adoptive parents and from Chinese people we received the smile and “very beautiful girl.” Our little girl was quite the center of attention!

After dinner we went back to our room and put our angel to bed. She went down easily and Kevin and I just stared in amazement as our baby girl slept. We were in shock and amazement that we were finally united forever with our baby girl!!


There is a lot of video that follows. Do not feel like you have to watch it all but it is amazing footage of this phenomenal experience.

This is the first time we ever saw our daughter. We were in the hall waiting for the official person who had left for the day. We were the only family there—what an amazing experience!!






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GOTCHA!!!!







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More GOTCHA









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While we waited for paperwork to be completed:









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Interesting fact, I left my camera battery charging back in the hotel room so we did not have a camera at GOTCHA. I was very upset at first but now I am so thankful. Each and every detail of that day was divinely orchestrated and I believe if I had my camera with me that it would not have been the same. The flash may have scared her or I would have been distracted or who knows. All I know is that day was perfect in every way. The following are pictures we took once we were back to our hotel. Mia was 6 months old when she was placed in our arms. She is now 18 months old!!

Our beautiful girl!!

Daddy was smitten at first glance!!

Precious!!

Meant to be together forever!

Cute Naartjie outfit-- first American outfit!!

PERFECTION!!

Mia loved to lay on her back and play with her feet. She had all these fun games she would play-- it was very cute!!

Limber little thing!!

Eating with a spoon-- we didnt figure it out until a few days later but she was use to being table fed since she came from a foster family so as soon as we presented her with chopsticks in her face, she opened her mouth wide-- too cute!!!

Checking mommy out!

Precious!

Getting ready for bed after a long but wonderful day!!

Night Night Mia!!!

And now a year has gone by and WOW has she grown-- Mia at 18 months!

WE LOVE YOU BABY GIRL!!