Back From The Beach Bullets

* The beach was great....it is nice to be with my husband and kids without having to worry about where we are going or work.

* NEVER let Hannah put your sunscreen on for you....especially if you don't tan and it is a windy day at the beach!(notice the big white spots where she actually put sunscreen surrounded by scorched skin)


* Sophie was walking around our room saying "beach" but it sounds more lik......."b*tch". It took me awhile to figure out what the heck she was saying. Although I do not claim to never swear this naughty word in not one I use.

* Ben went and stayed at a friends house last night. I said to him "Ben, don't you want to sleep in your own bed?!?!?" his response "Gaaaaw I spent the entire weekend with you guys....can I please go stay over Jacks???"

* Hannah really misses Jazzie. I can't fix it. I wish I could.....

* Why do vacations send you home more tired than when you left??

* We found these t-shirts at the beach. I do like the "life is good" t-shirts, but you have to admit that these are funny. Ben and Hannah both picked one up....just a little insight to our wacked TBG sense of humor:)

* Getting ready for July. It is going to be the busiest month of the summer for the TBG gang!

Beach Pics...

Another great day at the beach. The waves were pretty big and Hannah did great in the ocean....even after a night with dreams filled with sharks! Sophie still wouldn't get close to the water, but enjoyed the pool. We head home tomorrow:(

Beach Day 1

The beach is great! The weather is perfect. Sophie likes the beach....well not the ocean. The picture of Sophie running away from the ocean is funny when you take another look and notice that her feet aren't even touching the sand! The ocean is too loud and to big for our little pool girl. Our other pool girl, Hannah is enjoying the sun but the water was a little too rough. Ben had a great time in the water and promised to show Hannah how to ride the waves. More pictures later!!

Just One More Thing......

I can't even take the cuteness!! Sophie had her bangs trimmed today and she is looking even cuter.....if that is even possible! Couldn't you just eat her up!!??!


Photographic proof that my kids can actually get along. Yup, that is all three of them playing leggos. They played for about an hour without killing each other.

All Over The Place

* We brought our girls to go see K*ng Foo P*anda. Sophie did great and was saying "Hi-Ya!" during all the battles! Then as we were leaving the movies she was running around the lobby doing her best Kung Foo moves. The kid cracks us up!

* I just read something about "Fake Adopters".......seriously people steal referral pics and post them on their own adoption blogs....but they are really not adopting. I don't get it???? Who the heck has that kind of time??? I have not been to one of these fake blogs, I don't think I have......

* Sophie is talking up a blue streak! She is saying two word phrases and repeating everything. Tonight in the car Ben in his teenage frustration said OMG....which Sophie quickly repeated. GREAT......

* I would love to adopt again...... Chris and I talked about it this weekend. A boy under two or a girl three. Dreams my friends.......no $$$$

* Referring to the above bullet....I could win the lottery.

* Ben started work this week and we have locked his X-box so that he can only play 3 hours a day. He had a limit per week, but limiting his time each day is working out the best. He is much nicer to live with.

* Sophie is singing as I write this. Have a said how much I love that little girl! She makes my heart swell.

* Sophie got 3 vaccines today. Hannah got 2. They both have enjoyed their T*lenol today.

* Ben and Hannah are in charge of preparing dinner 2 nights per week. Monday they made pizza. It was pretty good. I am trying this to see if they can stop fighting every two minutes. So far it seems to be working.......

* We are heading to Emerald Isle this weekend. We have not been to the beach as a family in ages. Ok we have never all gone to the beach together. I took the kids to Bald Head Island a few years back, we visited my Dad in Florida, but he took the kids to the beach. Sad. I loooove the beach. Chris is not one to hang out on the beach all day, which is ok.....the kids will need someone to entertain them so I can read my book:)

* I'll try to post some pictures of my super tan kids tomorrow.

Sophie the Fish!

The temps outside were perfect for the pool....but the pool water was COLD! This past week the temps at night have dipped into the 60's so the pool is a little chilly for these southern biscuits. Sorry not as many pics as I had hoped to get, but there is still the weekend:)


***I can't see the video in S*fari, but I can in F*refox?? How about you?

Hannah's Roses

Hannah loves roses and this summer she decided to plant a rose garden where our Magnolia tree once stood. Unfortunately the Magnolia was a casualty of the drought here in NC. Here are some pics that Hannah took of her rose garden in progress.

We are heading to the pool today for fun in the sun! I hope to have lots of pics to post later.

Thanks for stopping by to smell the roses:) Sorry I couldn't help myself!

Donations Needed

Do you have an outfit or baby item that you purchased during the wait that you did not use? Or are you a crafty, artsy girl with lots of talent? If so please go to One Child at a Time and contact the blog owner to make your donation. The money raised is being used to help fund much needed surgeries for waiting children in China. Right now the money being raised will be used to fund a surgery for a child with Spina Bifida. If you don't happen to have anything to donate, click on over anyway and do a little shopping:)

Who Are You People????

I get almost 80 hits a day on this blog....but few comments. When I check to see who has been visiting there are people from all over the place checking in! I love checking the commments and visiting your blogs. So if you don't mind say "hi" so I can journey over to your slice of cyber space.

HAPPY SUMMER BREAK!

This is our niece Helen...minus her 2 front teeth! ( I love toothless smiles on munchkins!) Unfortunately for Helen she still has some school left, but the TBG gang in officially on summer vacation! Gaaaw I love having the summer off. Ben is going to a lax camp week, so it is just the 3 TBG girls during the day. I am hoping for another sunny day so we can head to the pool. Sophie is a little fish; the little girl who screamed when I tried to give her a bath in China is jumping off the diving board! I hate that I didn't have me camera with me....unfortunately after she jumped off a few times the guards told us that she really shouldn't be using the diving board because she wears a floaty. Sorry, no digital documentation of our two year old dare-devil:(

Happy Father's Day!

Ben 5 months with Daddy at a beach in South Carolina.


Hannah 6 months with Daddy on their way to an UNC football game.


Sophie 16 months old with Daddy at a Elon football game.

Happy Father's day Chris! We love you! We hope you enjoy your day at the soccer field:) XOXOXO

Any ideas???

Crap. Crap. Crap.The Big plan today was to take my three gorgeous kiddos and get their pictures taken for Father's Day. Yeah, I know this is a little last minute but it was going to be a surprise and well, I can't do the picture surprise thing on the weekend without my husband finding out. Hannah looked beautiful, Ben handsome and Sophie as cute as a stinking button......that cries and does not want to get her picture taken so badly that she almost pukes! Sophie was literally screaming crying on the floor and gagging. We left, she waved bye bye. I was doing the "counting to ten thing that Moms do in public so they don't totally flip their shit" WTF. Pre photo checklist included a good nap, yummy lunch, plenty of play time and a snack.

Looks like it is Polo shirts for all the dads....unless you guys can give me a better idea.

Back to Blogging and Bullets

• The last day of school was Tuesday for the kids. I have two workdays and then I am off for the summer! Yahoo!! The sad part is that I only worked half the year and I couldn’t wait for summer break.

• I will have two kids in middle school next year. God help me!

• Ben will be working two days a week down at his Dads. I don’t make enough money to support Bens social life.

• We joined a different pool this summer.

• Both kiddos will be doing swim team this summer…..we wouldn’t want to take a sports season off or anything.

• Hannah will be playing soccer in the NC State Games this weekend. We are giving Chris endless hours of soccer in the hot sun for Fathers day.

• My June calendar is so busy it kind of makes my stomach turn.

• July isn’t looking much better.

• I am working on Sophie’s TBG day video. There are tons of pictures to go through, oddly enough Ben is hardly in any of them??!?!?

• I am hoping to get my blog made over soon. I love my blog design and designer but I want something a little less soccer mom and a little more sassy.

• Sophie is talking up a storm. She is putting two words together and repeating EVERYTHING!

• I am thinking of seeing if Sophie is ready to give potty training a try. She does pretty good, I am just not sure she can tell me when she needs to go.

• I hear someone in our house say “Sophie you are so cute I could just eat you up!” at least once a day, this includes Ben and Hannah!

• Looks like Sophie and I will be heading to Cincy in October. All you Ohio girls I’ll keep you posted on the dates. We will be there for a week.

So What Did You Think???

***Spoiler Alert****

I went to see the new "Sex and the City" movie yesterday with some friends. We were celebrating one of the girls birthday. I liked the movie...mindless entertainment. After the movie we went out for dinner and here I am surrounded by smart, confident women and they are all so happy that Carrie and Big get married at the end of the movie. Really??? This was a good ending??? True love my ass! " They have been through so much"....yea because Big is a jerk. He has serious commitment issues.... and he treated her like crap. I wouldn't want my daughters ( when they are old enough) to see this movie and think that a man can LEAVE YOU AT THE ALTAR and still be your "true love". I cried when Carrie beat Big with her beautiful wedding bouquet, screaming " I knew you would do this to me!" and Charlotte protecting her friend. Loved that scene.

How about Carrie's new assistant "Louise from St.Louis". Was this the best African American woman character the writers could come up with?? Never mind the acting was awful....

I liked Miranda's story line. I loved how it ended...cried then too!

I guess it is good to be Charlotte. Only thing that really bugged me was the line "I'm pregnant, can you believe it?? Everyone says that once you stop trying or you adopt then you will get pregnant!" Really....ya think???

Samantha was well Samantha. Cracked me up that she ate so she wouldn't cheat. I would have been happy to see Samantha be happy in a relationship, but I liked how she decided to leave for "herself". I liked the part where Samantha says that she is staying with her boyfriend because he stayed with her through her chemo...and Carrie said "sweetheart you just compared your relationship to cancer...."

I liked the movie it was a fun time with the girls! So what did you think???

Quilt, pigtails and NFL players Ahead!

Here is Sophie's 100 Wishes Quilt! I wish I could take credit for putting this together but that would be a vicious lie!! A woman that I met at a local craft show made it for me at a VERY reasonable price. Sophie's quilt is about 52x52. I wanted a size that she could snuggle with on the couch. Robin can make any size and design you would like. I got the design from this book. You can ship your squares to Robin and she will lovingly make your son or daughters quilt. I love Sophie's!! Please email Robin and be sure to put quilt in the subject line. Here is her email addy and tell her I sent you! Sewwcrazee@aol.com





Now on to pigtails. Sophie has enough hair for Hannah to put her in little Whoville pigtails. The first picture is her crying because she is not feeling this new hairstyle. I took them out because once she stopped crying she was so pissed she wouldn't eat! Thats my girl! Of course Hannah would not give up...thats my girl too! The next day Hannah was able to put Sophie's hair up and take some pictures of her liking her new style.




Last but not least here is a picture of Hannah with David Garrard. He plays for Jacksonville and he came to our field day last week. His nephew is a student at our school. He was very nice and "one of the good guys" in the NFL.

One Year Already!

A year ago today we got "the call" from our agency....hard to believe that it has been a year. We just love this little munchkin to pieces. She is perfect for our family. She is a loud, funny, dog lovin', sassy girl and we couldn't imagine our lives without her!

We love you Sophia June XuCan....we are so happy that you found us!!