Thought you all might want to see pictures of our adorable little niece Lucy that Julie just sent me today. We haven't seen Lucy in quite a while so she looks so much bigger and more grown up then when we saw her around her birthday. Her hair is so much longer than Chloe's hair and Lucy has even already had her first haircut! She looks so happy!!!!!!!!!! Julie and Bill are great parents and they adore her as you can tell from looking at her sweet little smiling face. Enjoy! 
Well Lia was better so we were able to go on our trip with Dan (he had a work trip) to Chicago and Milwaukee. Lia and I spent Wed. afternoon downtown Chicago at the American Girl shop. It's moved to a new location and the shop is HUGE!! Lia brought her two American Girl dolls with her, Ivy and Josafina, and we had so much fun looking around the store at all the MANY things we could buy for them. In the end we decided to get Ivy's ears pierced so she could match Lia. For those of you who are familiar with American Girl dolls, our Ivy is not the historical doll named Ivy but rather the doll that is made to look like you and Lia just named her Ivy because she liked that name. Josafina already has pierced ears although for some reason you can't take out her earrings. Lia also bought some pretend picnic food to use with her American Girls. We both had a great time!! We could have bought out the store but we exercised our self-control! Then that night Dan, Lia and I went to our very favorite restaurant - The Cheesecake Factory! We had a wonderful dinner as usual and Lia got some cheesecake with cherries on the top (her favorite). Then on Wed. afternoon we drove to Milwaukee where we're staying at a historic Victorian hotel called The Pfister Hotel. It's absolutely beautiful and we are very much enjoying our time here. I'll try to get some pictures of the inside of the hotel before we leave and post them.
Well Lia feeling much improved and her fever is gone, so we're planning on going with Dan tomorrow on his trip!!! Chicago here we come......
Well today was my 40th birthday and my wonderful husband and my sweet girls made it so special for me! They bought me a BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers and Lia colored me a lovely picture of the two of us! We had big plans for the weekend of having my parents come and my sister, her husband, and our niece Lucy. But all our plans had to be scrapped because Lia woke up with a fever and a terrible splitting headache. We're pretty sure it's this nasty flu that's going around as she has all the symptoms. And on Tues. morning, Lia and I are supposed to go with Dan on a work trip for the week. So we're praying that Lia is feeling better in time and also that no one else gets it. The balloon came from Lia -thanks Auntie Sheryl for getting it for her to give to me! She told Sheryl that her momma wasn't too excited about being 40 so that's why she wanted to get that particular one : )
Today was one of those fun days when you have a little girl that you get to do a totally girl thing. Lia has been working towards getting her ears pierced by having a good attitude every day for six months. Even though we're still halfway through, we decided we'd let her get her ears pierced early. She has done such a fantastic job with school this year and she has been over the top fantastic as a big sister (and big helper for her mom) that we really wanted to show her that working hard without complaining and being kind is behavior that gets rewarded. So we decided to surprise her with this. I took Lia to the mall and didn't tell her what we were going to do. I took her into the shop and her little face just lit up when she realized what was about to happen. She didn't even flinch when they pierced her ears. And she got to pick out some earrings to take home for when she can get her studs out. It was a fun day for me as a mom for sure!! 
Six months ago today we finally got to meet little Miss Chloe in person. I can hardly believe it's already been six months. Somehow it seems like we made our trip to China to get her years ago. She's just become so much a part of the fabric of our lives now that it's getting harder to remember when she wasn't here. We just all love her to pieces. Right now Dan is playing "I'm going to get you" and chasing her around the playroom. I wish you could all hear her laughing. What a happy sound!!! I don't think there is a nicer sound in the world then a child laughing! Anyway, since you can't be here to listen, here's a couple of pictures from this week.
We're still working on getting used to eating regular food. Most of the time Chloe does pretty well, although she still won't drink any regular milk and she's not keen on meat as a general rule. But, when she likes something then she's very enthusiastic about eating it. Take for example flaxseed pancakes with chocolate chips.......she will lick the plate when she's done. Or take my Granny's recipe for spaghetti.......she eats it as fast as she can with her hands and then puts her hands all over her head to smear spaghetti in her hair. You've got to have your camera handy for those kinds of pictures! I have some just like these of Lia eating my Granny's spaghetti from when she was about the same age as Chloe. 