Pictures from Dennis phone- back in time

I am taking advantage of the fast internet connection (amazing-- I could totally live like this)- and wanted to post some pictures from Dennis' phone. Its kind of a quick look back over the last year for us.

Here we are at one of our favorite places in Shanghai :) though I think the donuts aren't quite as good as the US establishment . Don't you think they would make a cute ad campaign :)
Love this pic of Addie in She Shan- over Chinese new year. What a beauty we got :)
chilling on the bed in the hotel- we went to a hotel outside the city to escape a night of crazy fireworks.
on the subway... Addelyn on an important call
Why did we get the kids a doctor's kit for Christmas??? ha ha

Will's soccer team this year.
I kind of forget what this is- I think this is will testing out a massage chair in the mall. Obviously he needs the kids version.
One of the last family pictures of 3 we took before Addie came..

I don't know what is happening here- but it makes me laugh :) What a silly boy
A daddy and Will construction company creation.

A quick hello- Will school birthday

Hi friends- yikes yikes yikes! It has been so so long since I have posted! Ah- it just feels like I never have time to wait for my ridiculously slow internet to load my photos. So much to update- Christmas, Will's birthday, Dennis's mom visit- so I will update more later. But for now- I had these on my computer so I thought I would share.

Will attends a Chinese pre school half day- and on his birthday they did the "typical" birthday celebration that they do for each kid. His teacher took pictures and video and gave them to me. I just have to share. It just cracks me up to watch this. I love love my Will but this has to be the most unenthusiastic birthday song rendition I have heard. I mean the kids in his class are really just mailing this one in (see video). Is that girl next to Will yawning??? And why is Will not smiling? Did they tell him this was a serious affair? Funny thing is Will loves to watch this video over and over.

Some Christmas season pictures

Well I haven't gotten around to uploading the Christmas morning pictures- (will have to do that soon ) but this whole Christmas season has been a little busier lately with our latest addition. :) So here are a few pictures from our Christmas season.

Our good friend Gabe Ting took these first 3 photos of our family- we are so grateful- cause we NEVER would have gotten around to going to a studio to take such professional looking pictures- but he just took these on the fly at a Christmas party. (the theme was Christmas morning- hence us in our pajamas) Thanks Gabe!

And here is where the photo quality goes down- I am behind the camera now. Here is our quickie Christmas cookie making session (we did this while Addie was napping). Will still got to do his favorite thing- eating the cookie decorations.




and lastly me and my two precious kiddos- I am so thankful!

Christmas is coming...

Been pretty busy here not necessarily with Christmas stuff - but we did manage to squeeze in putting up the tree. Will is so excited about Christmas and asks every day how many night nights is Christmas. We have managed to snap a few pictures of our new family of 4 getting ready for Christmas.

Will's Prayers

Will's prayers generally follow this pattern

"Lord thank you for food

*Insert observations from the surrounding room*

Amen Chi Ba (Chi ba means lets eat in chinese)"

Often times the observations are about the food on the table which is appropriate but sometimes its about other things. Here is Will's dinner prayer a couple weeks ago. (fyi Addie had started eating)

"Lord thank you for food. Food on the table. Broccoli on Addie's nose. Now mommy laughing. Amen Chi ba."

*****Speaking of prayers: please do pray for Addie she has bronchiolitis- kinda like bronchitis- but viral so can't take meds- she is so uncomfortable and not a lot of sleep happening here- Thanks!

The 11th thing about Addie....

....she has a healthy heart!!!!! We adopted Addie from the special needs list with China- she was diagnosed with an ASD in her heart (a small hole in her heart) BUT we just took her to the pediatric cardiologist and did another ultrasound of her heart (which she screamed all the way through)- and found that the hole had closed!! We are so so thankful and thrilled that God healed her heart. She is a perfectly healthy ACTIVE 1 year old. :)

10 Things about Addie

1. Don't I repeat don't mess with her bottle!

- this is something we learned early on- she has to hold her bottle herself- this is how she did it before so its not something we have fought- we do try to hold and snuggle as much as we can while she has her bottle

2. Addie is active! She loves to move and clap and throw her hands in the air, and laugh.

3. Adding onto the above- she likes to climb ON things- chairs, toys, even a 5 by 5 inch cube she is trying to get her feet on it

4. She def prefers Chinese dishes to American food (I mean to be expected) with one exception.. Cheese!

5. She is just learning to walk....she toddles everywhere- and is so determined- she may fall flat on her face but she just gets up and goes again. (When she first joined our family she could stand, but not really crawl- now she has gone from crawling to walking in 3 weeks).

6. We definitely know how Addie is feeling. She is either squealing with joy or crying with frustration. High highs and low lows.

7. She loves her big brother. She loves to watch Will jump around, run around, do silly dances or whatever- he makes her smile :) (and I love that)

8. Addie likes to dance- turn on music and she is standing (kinda doing a sumo squat) smiling and clapping her hands

9. We think she's pretty smart- she loves to mimic and copy us. I handed her socks the other day and she put them towards her feet like she was trying to put them on.

10. She's a cutie!!! (see pictures :) )