Formerly "To China For Kelly"

When I originally set up this blog, it was to chronicle our trip to China to adopt our daughter, Kelly; thus the title, "To China For Kelly." But now that I've decided to keep it up as my on-line scrapbook/journal, the title needs updating.
Inspired by my girls, who, despite their ten year age difference, both love lollipops and lip gloss; it is now titled, "From Lollipops to Lip Gloss." This is not to leave my son out, who also loves lollipops, but isn't too big on lip gloss, understandably!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Happy Fourth of July!

Pictures from the past few days... 
We are having a blast with Nanna here.  Bjorn came to spend the holiday weekend with us.  We've been swimming and having water balloon fights.  We also had fun going to lunch with our good friends, Kristi and Adyson.  
Time is going by too fast, but we are living life to the fullest and loving every minute of it.  We are so thankful to have this time with Nanna.

No time to caption these pictures much, but they're pretty self-explanatory. 
Enjoy!
Happy Independence Day!







Kelly's whiney face... she's getting really good at whining... uuugh!





SWEET HUGS!!!

Nanna got Caleb an early birthday present...
A very nice watch that looks great on him!


Water balloon fights...




A game they made up with the water balloons... 
you can see the balloon hit Bjorn in the third picture.


Nanna and Boo











Monday, June 29, 2009

Nanna Comes to Town!


I can't believe how long we've waited for this day... it's been a little over a year since Kelly came home, and Nanna couldn't wait for the day to come where she could come to California and smother her sweet little Baby Boo with hugs and kisses...
Well, I'm happy to share that that day has finally come!
Nanna made it here to California from Texas via Amtrak- adventurous gal that she is- and we are so happy to have her.  She is such a blessing to us.  Kelly didn't take long to warm up to her, as these pictures below show.  She was very good at giving Kelly the space she needed, but she engaged her at the same time.  She brought Kelly a precious little baby doll that Kelly has been toting around and mothering ever since Nanna placed her in Kelly's arms.
  
Nanna has been a prayer warrior and an encourager to us from the moment we told her we were going to adopt Kelly, so it has been a very heartwarming time for us all to have her here, but I think it's been especially emotional for Nancy to finally meet this precious little gift God has placed in our lives- her granddaughter, Kelly Elise.  Many tears of joy have been shed by one very tender-hearted Nanna.

Nanna brought a whole extra suitcase stuffed full of goodies for all three of her love bugs!  I couldn't believe all the gifts she had for everyone... (Awww, she's always doing stuff like that!)

Just a side note: Nanna's train got in a few hours earlier than expected, so in our scramble to get to the train station to pick her up, I completely forgot to grab my camera!  I wanted to capture pictures of the first moment Kelly met Nanna...but no such luck. Uurgh!  At least I grabbed the camera as soon as we got into the house...

hOt weatheR + kidS = OtteR pOpS! 
Kelly decided to climb in this empty bin to eat her otter pop, 
which made clean-up pretty easy... (Thanks, Kelly!)   
Now Kelly is letting Nanna help her with her otter pop...
Do you want a bite, Nanna?

Nanna was in tears just watching Kelly swim with her daddy and brother... 
she was so amazed at how strong and fearless Kelly is in the pool, and how much love she shares with her brother and her daddy.


Clint stays cool in the water while we visit...
WATERMELON- YUM!

This morning when Nanna got up and saw Kelly watching Mickey Mouse, 
she had to join in the fun. The two of them dancing and laughing was quite a sweet sight.   



Later on, Kelly had to climb up in Nanna's lap to "help" her on the computer.

Princess Kelly props herself up on her new ladybug pillow Nanna brought her from Texas.

Kelly shares her goldfish with Nanna.

Kelly's not the only one who loves Nanna.  So does Kaya!  
The feeling is mutual... Nanna has two Westies at home she's missing, so Kaya is providing her with her much-needed "dog fix!"




There is no doubt...
After 24 wonderful, fun-filled hours of Nanna being here, 
all the grandchildren agree: 

(More pictures with Caleb and Camryn to come!)

Monday, June 22, 2009

More from Kelly's One Year Gotcha-versary!


Kelly's Jie Jie, Camryn, decorated for her Mei Mei's special day.  

Camryn curled pink ribbon and hung it from the chandelier.  

She cut pink roses from the garden and chose the perfect vase in which to display them.

She arranged the roses beautifully in the little glass vase and placed her arrangement on the center of the table with love.  

We got some gifts for Kelly and wrapped them in wonderful gift bags for Kelly to open. (Most of which were recycled from other gifts we received-- so if you see a gift bag you recognize, thank you!  We got more than one use out of it!)

Here we are- everyone is helping Kelly open her gifts!
Kelly got some new sunglasses- oh, she has a face for sunglasses, doesn't she?  And she got some gum- one of her new favorite things.
Nonnie got Kelly a camera! She can actually take real digital pictures with it.  Now Kelly can be just like her mommy!
We got Kelly the pretty dress you see on the table there, with a matching headband and sandals.  Kelly actually picked the dress out... last time we were in Gymboree, she brought it over to me and said, "Pretty!"
I didn't buy it at the time.  I went back later and got it for her to surprise her. 
This was Kelly's favorite gift.  We got her a Chinese musical doll. 
She plays the song "Jasmine," so appropriately, we named her Jasmine.
Kelly loved Jasmine and did not want to put her down!

Camryn made the bow you see in Kelly's hair for her!
Doesn't Jasmine have a sweet little face?
Can you tell Kelly loves her?
Camryn loves her little China doll, Kelly, so much!
Here we are, on our way to dinner.  Isn't Kelly looking so super stylish? We went out to eat at The Canton for wonderful Chinese food. 
Daddy helps Kelly get ready to eat.
It was extra special to have Nonnie with us.
Kelly was hungry and ready to dig in!
Oops! Don't forget to pray first! 
(Kelly loves to remind us to pray before we eat these days. It has become her job at meal times. Every time we sit down to eat, she puts her hands up to her face like this and looks at each of us as if to remind us to pray first. It's the cutest thing ever!)
"Thank you, God, for my family and my food.  Bless us all. Amen!"
"Hot Dog!  Let's eat!"
YUMMMM!
One thing Kelly loves to do is celebrate with a song and a dance!  
Her favorite right now happens to be Mickey Mouse's "Hot Dog" song. 
Oh Kelly, can you get any cuter?  
"I don't think so!" says big sister adoringly.
 
"Hot Dog! Hot Dog! Hot Diggity Dog!"
And finally, we received our fortune cookies.  This is always very special to Camryn, who saves all our fortunes in her treasure box.  She always makes sure we each take a turn sharing what our fortunes say before we leave.  Each one of us had a different one, and of all the fortunes, this was Kelly's.  It actually made me cry.
We got a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake to finish the celebration.  
Not only did we celebrate Kelly's Gotcha Day, but the next day was my mom's birthday, so we got to do a double celebration! 
Here are the special girls getting ready to blow out their candles.  We sang "Happy Birthday" and "Happy Gotcha Day" to them, and for the rest of the evening, Kelly kept singing, "Happy! Happy! Happy!"  She's something else, I tell ya.
Blowing out the candles together... such a good team!
What a wonderful day.  
What a wonderful girl.  
What a wonderful world.