To China and Back

Jojo is Four

2010-07-26T09:34:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart

Summer Smiles

2010-07-15T20:11:00.003-05:00

So far this summer, so good.

Phoebe was on the swim team during June. It was great and she loved it, so win/win.

Jo has been playing outside as much as humanly possible. She changes clothes 2 or 3 times a day, but there is always a bathing suit of some sort underneath.

Sunday, we leave for a 2 week trip to Wyoming. I can't wait! We're going with my parents and my brother and his family. We're taking the scenic route on the way up, going a Route 66 kind of route. Then we head North via the Grand Canyon and through Salt Lake City to Wyoming.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post smiley pictures from that little adventure.

It's Art!

2010-06-16T08:47:00.003-05:00

What happens when your 3 year old finds a stamp pad but no stamps?

Happily, the ink washed right off of her hands.

Part of me wants to frame one of those.

Painting

2010-05-11T16:04:00.003-05:00

It's makeover time here at the Lineberry house. Our office was a wreck. Kind of a dumping ground for everything and useless. So, we've picked out new office furniture with a lot more storage and that will be quite useful for homeschool (next fall!).

Since the office has to be cleared out for the new furniture AND since Josie seems to have come through her writing on the walls phase, we decided to paint it while it's empty. Sure we ordered the furniture on Sunday when the office was still full, and the furniture is going to be delivered Wednesday. That's plenty of time! Oh, did I mention Allen had to go out of town for business bright and early Monday morning? Hee Hee

Needless to say, I'm quite proud of myself...and my "helpers".

Pictures with furniture will be forthcoming.

Six Flags

2010-04-09T14:19:00.000-05:00

While it was still fun. Y'know before the puking started.

A Year in Pictures

2009-11-21T19:57:00.006-06:00

OK. Not really. Close to 6 months? Yes.

Here's Phoebe's soccer team in October. The Fall season was very odd. Lots of rain means make-up games. The last 2 weekends of the season, we had 7 games. Wheee.

In September, we celebrated Allen's dad's 70th birthday. Lots of fun.

Phoebe's first day of school in August.

In July, we went to the beach in Alabama with two other families. While we were there we also celebrated Josie's 3rd birthday!
Nate enjoying a cupcake.

Jo wearing her birthday crown. She and Emma are eying the cake.

Mmmm. Cake.

Wearing self-applied lipstick, no less.

Beach beauty.

Now that I'm posting, I'm realizing Phoebe seems to have stayed away from the camera at the beach. Must search....

At the beginning of June, the girls and I went to East Texas to hang out with grandparents.
Nothing beats an elephant spraying water into a wading pool.

It may not look like it, but she really enjoyed herself.

Phoebe and Josie with my dad on the swing.

This is my parents' street. Their house is at the top of the hill on the left. Jo and Phoebe are almost to the top of the hill.

This is the intersection near their house.

Staying at Granny's house means going for nature walks with Granny!

Now you're caught up. I think. I'll see if I can find more beach pictures!!!

The Day After

2009-08-21T12:05:00.004-05:00

I took a couple of more pictures of Josie today with her hair pulled back. You can really see the new hair style. And yes, somehow she tapered it around her face.

That said, I think when it grows out, I may have to leave her with bangs. They're just so darn cute and she'll look like such a big girl.

Too Long with No Pictures?

2009-08-20T17:11:00.001-05:00

Well.

HAVE I GOT PICTURES FOR YOU.

Phoebe and I decide to take a short break from homeschool. While walking through the living room, I notice what looks like black marker on the floor.

I reach down to touch it. It isn't marker. It's fuzzy.
What is it?

Then I turn and my heart stops for MANY reasons:

Guess we need to find an even better place to for those scissors.

It could have been SO much worse. Even when you don't consider the danger of the scissors, it could have been much worse. It looks short on the right, but don't worry, she didn't cut off her long hair in the back.

Luckily (Thank You God) earlier we had put her hair into a ponytail and then clipped the ponytail to the top of her head so that the bottom end of the ponytail was sticking straight out over her forehead.

SO, she got her bangs and a little snip of the pony (which explains the shortness on that little part in the picture). Her bangs were quite thin and wispy, but still.

She's a fun one.

Adventures in Dressing

2009-06-12T12:28:00.002-05:00

It's fabulous to be almost 3!

She like tights. And as many pieces of jewelry as she can find.

Phoebe's Birthday Party

2009-05-28T08:17:00.008-05:00

Last Friday, Phoebe turned 8 years old! I can't believe she's so big. We measured her when she got up that morning and she's 4'2"! That means she's less that a foot shorter than me.

Conveniently, Night at the Museum 2 was released on her birthday. So, for her birthday she decided she wanted to see the movie and have a sleepover. Her first sleepover. Being the practical and silence loving mom that I am, I told her she could invite 3 girls. In the end, only one girl actually spent the night. The unforeseen bonus of only inviting 3 is that the party favors (I refuse to call them loot bags) can be a lot more fun.

Boas, crowns, beaded feet decorations and TWO things to color all in a cute pink metal bucket. Apparently having 2 crafts pushed the party over into the "best party ever" category.

Here are the girls all ready to go to the movie. They decided not to wear the boas. Phoebe is the only one who made it into the theater with her crown still on. Of course, she'd been wearing it since she got out of bed that morning, so it had become part of her head.

Phoebe's cake from Steins. Yummy.

She seems to be having a good time.

Craft time... a very important part of a birthday party for these girls.

This face says, "Look at me! I'm still up at 10pm! And I just had cake and ice cream!"

Opening presents:

She actually opened this earlier when Allen got home, but she wanted to show her friends the tennis clothes Allen's mom sent her - along with tennis balls and $$ for tennis camp this summer.

All in all, it was a great day.

Jo the Photographer

2009-05-16T20:01:00.004-05:00

Josie has been wandering the house with my camera. I love digital cameras. There's no "wasting film". Here's a little look at things from Jo's point of view.

The stairs

Her room

Big sis

Mom

Senna

Her lamb

The living room

Yeah. She's a prodigy.

Two Years Ago Today!

2009-05-14T11:19:00.004-05:00

Then

Now

Phoebe's Idea of Heaven?

2009-05-12T07:44:00.002-05:00

May 3, 7 months after the exhibit opened, we finally made it to see King Tut. The exhibit closes on May 17.

Last year, in first grade, Phoebe studied ancient Egypt and King Tut so she's been wanting to go to the museum since before the show opened.

I have to say I set myself up to be disappointed. A friend who went a month ago told me that the mummy isn't in the exhibit (which makes sense) and that the death mask in all the ads (yes, that one Phoebe is standing next to above) isn't in the exhibit. What could that possibly leave?!

A silly question, of course. Phoebe even took a spiral notebook to draw and write in as we walked through. I must say, that was a proud mama moment.

Jo...is 2. So she enjoyed it as much as you may expect. Allen was quite the dad and kept Jo moving in the stroller while Phoebe and I went at a more leisurely pace.

It was a great experience. It made me want to renew that museum membership we got at this time last year, even though this was the first time we used it!

New Family Photo

2009-04-22T10:45:00.000-05:00

Finally....

Easter

2009-04-14T09:43:00.003-05:00

Well, Easter came...and so did the rain. We didn't have our Easter egg hunt at church, but rescheduled it for this Sunday.

We did, however, take a few pics of the girls in the house in their Easter dresses.

Maybe next week the sun will be out and we'll get more pictures. The girls may not make it to the hunt, but they can wear their dresses to my niece's confirmation.

Better Late Than Never!

2009-04-01T13:11:00.002-06:00

Allen and I celebrated our 20th anniversary in January. Both sets of grandparents traded taking care of the girls so that we could run away for a whole week in Bora Bora. Why Bora Bora? My attitude lately has become "If you can do it now, DO IT NOW. Don't wait."

OH, and because it looks like this. This ain't no Mexican beach baby.

I may publish more pictures later. It was just an unbelievable place.

Everybody Join In!!

2009-03-27T13:58:00.002-06:00

Phoebe had a school assignment that involved watercolors. She painted a lovely violet for her class.

Jo, of course, had to get in on the fun. She's very tactile.

Can't quite see all the paint?? How about now? (and the backwards top)

The weather has finally gotten to the point where we couldn't resist having dinner outside.

Jo wonders why I have to take pictures of everything.

Phoebe wonders why I don't take more!

Is YOUR Two Year Old Too Quiet??

2009-03-10T11:01:00.002-06:00

Better go check it out.

The Girl Loves to Color ... Herself

2009-01-19T17:51:00.002-06:00

Since it was the third or fourth time she's done this today, I decided it was time for some pictures.

While I AM considering another tattoo, I will never tattoo my hands. With Jo, it's just a starting point.

So excited about her "secret."

Show me your hands.

The girl is definitely a lefty - hence the right hand having so much more color on it.

"Oh....I love life."

"Aren't I cute?"

The upside is that these are, of course, washable markers. That's also a downside when your daughter sucks her finger and thumb....And has a snotty nose...

Catch Up Part 1

2009-01-13T13:26:00.005-06:00

So it's been a while since I posted, and I'm going to change that.

Let's start our catch-up with Thanksgiving.

This year we went to East Texas to visit both sets of grandparents. We stayed with Allen's parents and drove over to my parents to visit them.

When we first got to my parents house, Dad was up on a ladder putting up their outside Christmas lights. Jo just had to help Papa - especially since there was a ladder involved.

Eventually, she made it inside to see Granny.

Phoebe was thrilled to play with her cousins. They all went outside for batting practice. She got her timing down and managed to hit a few pretty far. Don't worry. It was a wiffle ball. Otherwise the cars would not have been parked there.

Jo enjoyed spending time with Allen's parents what with the doting and attention and love and candy and food and all. (Jo is eating a piece of candy cane in this picture.)

You could say the same for Phoebe.

Hmmmm...coincidence?

2008-12-04T16:11:00.003-06:00

I'm wondering. Jo is almost 2 1/2. She's been extremely observant since the moment we met. A few days ago, while sitting on my lap at the computer, Jo saw this magazine lying on the desk:

Jo started patting the magazine and saying, "Josie? Josie?" I said, "No honey, that's not Josie." She said, "Oh." Then started patting the magazine again saying, "My eyes? My eyes?" My only response was, "Ummmm."

Now, the little girl on the magazine is from Guatemala not China, but she does have similar eyes to Jo's. But does Jo REALLY know that? Is she already aware that we look a little different?

As a child I could literally forget what I looked like if I didn't look in the mirror for a while. I didn't have a concept of how I looked to the world, just how I looked AT the world.

I'm really curious if Jo is already so self aware. What do you think?

Who is THAT?

2008-12-03T20:51:00.003-06:00

Phoebe's school pictures arrived today. It made me sit down. I AM a bit biased, but she takes my breath away.

How 'bout That?

2008-11-10T12:35:00.003-06:00

Jo's favorite phrase lately. It seemed an appropriate title for her school picture. She's so big!

Feeling Hopeful

2008-11-04T23:35:00.001-06:00

I've kept my politics off of this blog.

I am just awestruck and feeling so hopeful for our country.

Praying for our country and our new President-elect.

Wow! A Whole Month?

2008-11-03T14:04:00.003-06:00

Yes. Apparently it's been a month since I last posted. Sorry about that.

How about this:

Does that make it all better?

Phoebe decided she wanted to be a "Princess Devil" for Halloween this year. Conveniently, Phoebe was an angel at age 2, so we re-used that costume for Jo. Aren't they a pair?

Do I Hear Three?

2008-10-02T12:19:00.000-05:00

There are so many brave souls with more than two kids, I just had to make this. (AND I've already had 2 orders for them). I also bought smaller letters so that more than one name will fit on a disc.

I have more things on order. The possibilities are becoming endless.

Here's my store.

What does Homeschool Look Like?

2008-09-18T09:21:00.006-05:00

Well, it is still early in the day, but here's a glimpse into homeschool.

Task 1: Keep Josie occupied however you can. Today....markers!

Phoebe's just happy to be here.

Oh, and have you noticed her loose tooth?

Jo still occupied? Yep.

Still? Um... yeah. Glad those markers are washable.

Start Your Christmas Shopping Now!

2008-09-18T09:21:00.001-05:00

My latest creation that I'm really proud of. You can see more about it here.

I took better pictures and finally listed it on my site.

Shameless Self-Promotion

2008-09-10T15:04:00.003-05:00

Or...look at what I made!

OK. This isn't the best picture, but it's been raining for a couple of days. I'll take better pics when the sun comes back out.

When I have better pictures, this will be the next item I add to my etsy store...custom hand stamped sterling pendants.

Hee Hee. I'm a tad excited.

Jo's First Day

2008-08-27T11:59:00.002-05:00

Josie officially started at the Montessori school at our church today. It went great! At her age, she'll only be going 1/2 days on Wednesday and Friday. This week they are splitting the class in 1/2 each day and only going 1/2 the time. So, she was there for 1.5 hours today. I had a whole hour to kill.

Happily, she was very happy to go and didn't care that I left her there. That was awesome. At the beginning of the summer, I'm afraid it would have been a different story.

Here she is at home, ready to go. (Please ignore the black eye. That's a whole other story.)

I've taken this kind of picture of Phoebe each year and wondered how I was going to do it without A there to walk with J this year. That was not a problem.

OK. She did actually turn the wrong way, but she didn't get far.

Once she walked in the door, she knew exactly where she was going.

A quick kiss to mom, and she was off to find a work and sit at the table.

She's making friends already.

I'm so glad she was comfortable in her classroom. She really seemed to have fun while she was there. She's going to be just fine.

The First Day of School

2008-08-20T09:14:00.002-05:00

Monday was Phoebe's first day of school. She was just a bit excited.

New rolling backpack. Excellent invention.

Phoebe had a hard time sleeping Sunday night. She could not wait to get to school. I thought she'd be exhausted by the time she got home, but I forgot she's 7 and not 38. I was exhausted. Someone had to be.

My second grader with her shoes that glow in the dark. A little bit anyway.

Phoebe with her new teacher. I am not ashamed to say... I love this woman. The parents had an in class orientation last Wednesday, and she has so much excitement (but not in a "Hooray for Everything!" kind of way) that she spread the excitement to all the parents. Well, me at least. I left looking forward to all of the things that Phoebe (and I for that matter) will learn this year.

Yesterday was our first homeschool day. It went pretty well. I've already realized it's going to be different from last year, mostly for the better. I don't think I'm going to stick to Phoebe like glue as much as last year. That ought to make things a little less stressful. Cross your fingers.

New Jewelry!

2008-08-07T09:03:00.001-05:00

Go check out my latest entry on my jewelry blog. I'm so excited!

Josie is 2 ! ! !

2008-07-29T13:30:00.003-05:00

Jo's birthday was Saturday. We had a few friends and family over to help us celebrate.

Jo started the day as she usually does...she must put on her shoes immediately after getting out of bed.

Here she is at the beginning of the party - in heaven - with babies and pretties in her hair.

One of her favorite gifts was this stroller. She loves pushing around her new baby from her awesome God-mother.

Last year, the bakery gave us a free "smash cake" because it was her first birthday. She didn't get into it a whole lot last year, as she was barely eating solid food. (For a flash back to last year's party, go here.) I decided she needed another shot at a smash cake this year.

Of course, diving into the smash cake required moving outside and stripping her down to her diaper. (Oh, and I got a haircut.)

This year she didn't go nuts over the cake, but she did love the icing.

She was happy to share bites with the older kids gathered around her. (I love her belly in this shot.)

Here's the cake that the rest of us ate inside with our clothes on.

Another of Jo's favorite gifts was jewelry. I am astonished daily at just how girly she is. Yesterday, I went in to get her up from her nap and I was actually wearing earrings. I was talking to her and she was just staring at my ears and reaching for my earrings saying "Eh! Eh!" which is Josie speak for "ear". I told her she couldn't grab Mommy's earring, but we could go find hers. Instant vigorous head nodding and a new word ("Eh-een") followed, as well as this little fashion show.

We're in so much trouble.

Phoebe Goes to Camp

2008-07-23T11:21:00.002-05:00

Yes it's true. I can't believe it myself. Phoebe is now old enough to go to camp. Our diocese has a camp that goes from Wednesday to Saturday for kids who just finished 1st grade through those who just finished 3rd. Phoebe, of course, was all over it.

Here she is Wednesday morning, just waiting for the time to leave. She's so serene sitting atop her open trunk.

Here she is at camp. The first thing they were going to do after getting everything in the cabin was going to the lake to take a swim test.

Fast forward to Saturday, here's P carrying her sleeping bag, among other things, wearing the shorts she wore there on Wednesday. I thought it was kind of funny - she may have been the only girl there with a sleeping bag instead of having her bed made with sheets. My friend said, "That's just inexperienced parents packing sheets."

We stopped for lunch pretty soon after we left camp. With full bellies and a 1 1/2 hour drive ahead of them, my girls did the only sensible thing.

Holiday Fun

2008-07-13T20:31:00.004-05:00

Sunday, July 6, our church had a "stay-cation". Since it was so close to July 4th, a lot of people were feeling patriotic and showing their colors.

There was a bounce house and snow cones for the kids. Here's P enjoying the latter having just gotten out of the former.

J had fun in the bounce house too. And, well, running around on the grass.

She got a little sweaty and red, too.

And, because I love Ms B, one of a few British ladies in our church, I had to show her my love and support. (hope she doesn't mind her face on my blog)

Life's a Beach

2008-07-10T11:20:00.005-05:00

In mid-June we trekked to Dauphin Island, AL with 2 other families to spend a week at the beach. We had a lot of fun and the beach was gorgeous.

This picture was taken when we first arrived. After unpacking the van, we walked with the kids down to the beach just to put our toes in the water. Not to actually play in the waves or in the sand. Since we left at 1am on a Saturday, Jo was dressed in her PJs for the whole trip. We didn't change her before we went to the water. Jo likes to be in water of any kind, so she was just fine. Ask her to play in the sand and it's a whole different story.

Here's P soaked from "putting her toes in the water".

Here's J with our fabulous babysitter K. Fantastic idea taking K with us. J, as well as the rest of the kids, loves her.

Sweet baby.

OK. I know what this looks like. Especially with that look on J's face. But honestly, she was trying to help Iz up off the floor. It's kinda hard, though, because Iz weighs the same as J despite being a year younger.

Here's a close up of the gorgeous Miss Iz.

Here's Iz's big sister E. She and Jo are a couple of weeks apart in age AND she is our beautiful God-daughter. I don't know what it is, but I love this picture of her. She and Jo together make quite a pair. Jo will never have E's curls, and E will never have hair as straight as Jo's.

This was a bit of a disturbing view at first. See that little triangle sticking up out of the water?

There are 2 dorsal fins in this picture, but they're a little further out and a little harder to see. After staring for quite sometime at this group of up to 7 or 8 fins, we finally saw blow holes. Aaah. Suddenly it's really cool that there are dolphins so close to the shore.

Superstar.

Dad taking Jo out to play in the waves. She loved it and actually fell asleep one day on her dad's shoulder out in the waves.

Phoebe loved the waves and the sand and anything at all to do with the beach. We all had a great time.

And I realize there are no pictures of the photographer at the beach. If you're desperate for one, you can see one here.

New Life

2008-07-09T20:32:00.003-05:00

I previously posted a picture of a nest with eggs in it outside one of our windows. Sadly, that nest still looks the same. The eggs are still there and will be until the nest is somehow removed.

However, two windows down, we discovered another nest of mourning doves with two eggs. Over a few weeks we watched the parent birds trade out sitting on the eggs. Those eggs were rarely exposed. While we were visiting my parents at the beginning of June, the eggs hatched. Over the next couple of weeks, I was amazed at how quickly the birds grew. I was even more amazed at the patience of the mother bird. Good grief. She sat on those babies and kept them warm. As they grew, she continued to protect them and keep them warm. As they got bigger, she could no longer sit, so she stood over them with her wings over them.

Before we left for our vacation, I took a picture of them because I was positive that they would be gone when we returned.

The mother bird is on the right in this picture and was starting to lose her patience. Time for those babes to learn to fly.

Summer Means Time Off

2008-07-09T11:34:00.002-05:00

I didn't realize that with summer vacation I would be taking a vacation from blogging. It's not that we've been just SOOO busy around here. I've just been taking it easy. That has included not being on the computer very much.

So, I promise I will post pictures later today of everything that has been going on around here.

Later.

I'm Not Ready

2008-06-10T14:48:00.002-05:00

We made a trip to my parents' house last week. It was fun. Everything, but the sleeping. Let's just say that Jo doesn't like the pack 'n play. She did not want to be in it at all, so she climbed out. This meant that each night I would stay in the room with her until she went to sleep. That's the edited version.

I've noticed in the past, and a friend reminded me, that it seems like whenever I take the kids somewhere for an extended period of time they really progress by leaps and bounds during that time. Maybe it's being around different stimuli and people. Who knows?

Josie started chattering a lot more, she looks like she's had a growth spurt (which wouldn't surprise me, Paw paw), and she decided that it was just as easy to climb out of her crib at home as it was to climb out of the pack 'n play. Since the drop from climbing out of the crib is about 3 feet, we've had to ...

Those pictures show a mess, but we were in the middle of making the conversion. So yep, she's in a toddler bed now. At first I was stressing over her getting out of bed. I was really tired though. The "getting out of bed" was really a problem when that involved a 3 foot fall. She can't get out of her room and her room is Josie-proofed. Now, as my friend put it, her whole room is her crib.

For her nap today, she got into her bed and lay down. We read a couple of books and then I left her. I heard her playing and running around her room for a little while, but then she got quiet. I couldn't resist and had to go see if she actually got back into bed and went to sleep. She didn't, but she was asleep ... in her rocking chair. I would have taken a picture, but I didn't want to wake her.

Happy Birthday Phoebe!!!

2008-05-22T21:25:00.002-05:00

Today is Phoebe's birthday. I can't believe she's 7!!

Here's a picture from yesterday, her last day as a 6 year old...

And here she is today, her first day as a 7 year old. See the difference?

We had a fabulous day. Allen took the day off from work and we all went to Six Flags. P finished school on May 12, and most other schools don't get out until June, so it was a light day at the park. We parked really close to the gate.

Here she is, ready to take on the roller coasters. She's 48 inches tall, which doesn't get her on many more rides that last summer when she was 43 inches tall, but it did get her on the Tony Hawk Big Spin. Sweet. Even though she rode the Shock Wave twice last summer, she did not care to ride it today.

She and Allen rode the Aquaman ride, cause it's the best way to cool down.

Still looking like a rock star, soaking wet. I LOVE those sunglasses. P does too. Jo does too and held them today...and broke them in half....Let us never speak of it again. I hope Libby Lu still has them.

Jo did pretty well. There were several times that she really wanted out of her stroller. We finally let her out to run around in a kids' play area with misters. She loved it.

After running around, cooling off, and getting a dry diaper, she was happy to get back in the stroller.

As I said, we had a great day. No visit to Six Flags would be complete without a Pink Thing.

We bought season tickets, so we will definitely be visiting again soon.

Guess What We Did Today!

2008-05-15T20:22:00.004-05:00

Here's a clue...
If you said, "Went to court to register Josie's adoption in Texas", you'd be right. This is something that isn't really legally necessary, but since it will allow Jo to have a Texas birth certificate, it does come in handy when we need a birth certificate for school. This is something that can't be done until the adopted child has lived in Texas for six months, so we aren't THAT far behind. What actually makes the timing perfect is the fact that one year ago today, our adoption of Josie became official and was recognized by the Chinese government.

I realize that my head is turned in the picture above, but there were only two pics and no one looks that great in the second one, including me. Since Jo didn't get to wear her red qi pao for Chinese New Year, we decided today was a good time for her to wear it.

And since everyone was dressed up...

Just look at my girls!

Jo and her Dada.

As much as I love that rose bush...

...it's just a backdrop.

One Year Later

2008-05-15T15:02:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pictures of Jo from yesterday as we marked our 1 year as a family.

Well, first, I had to post this picture of a miracle in progress. P ASKED to mop! She mopped the entire downstairs. I told her she could mop once a week if she wanted to.

Here's our girl.

Riding her zebra - doesn't everyone have a zebra?

Dancing! I love that face!

Dancing some more.

Smile for mama. Look! No scratches on her nose or forehead! There are few pics like this.

I could look at this all day.

And last but not least...

...our rocker girl!

Happy Adoption Day, baby!

EDITED TO ADD: I should say thanks to Jo's fab Godmother for the hat (and the other 3). Jo loves them!

One Year in Our Lives

2008-05-14T08:25:00.000-05:00

This is a never before seen video...

So many thoughts going through my head remembering the day. Every bit of it. The room was warm and humid, the windows were open, crying babies, crying parents. Sweet little Meaghan walked out of the room where the babies were into her mommy's outstretched arms. One baby girl was wearing pj pants that said, "I'm the big brother!" on them. Trying to learn from orphanage staff just how hot those bottles had to be. So much emotion in the room on all sides.

Jo slept about 13 hours that night. We woke up before her and just stared at her watching her sleep.

How About That!

2008-05-13T14:29:00.003-05:00

I saw this today when I was closing the blinds on the windows in our playroom. I may have been more excited than Phoebe, but that's OK. Those are tiny eggs. The fact that they are "robin's egg blue", makes me think they may be robin eggs. Well, that and the fact that when I see them I think, "Mmmmm. Malted milk balls."

The nest is in this vine that's growing up the side of our house. It's in the second window from the right. I guess they're safe from the roaming neighborhood cats up there.
I ripped this vine down last year, but I didn't dig it up. When it came back this year I was only slightly annoyed. It does have lovely yellow flowers like one day a year. I was planning to go rip it down again. I guess I won't do that.

Now, if only the storms we're expecting tonight don't rip it down.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T15:56:00.003-05:00

My first Mother's Day as officially a mother of two. I'm a little teary thinking about last year at this time.

On this DATE last year, we were in Beijing getting ready to fly to Guangzhou.

On the DAY last year, Mother's Day, we were one day away from meeting our dear Jojo. I can't believe it's been a year.

I'm not sure how we will celebrate on Wednesday, the date she was given to us, but we will celebrate. Maybe I'll manage to get some pictures taken and posted.

I know this post is a bit boring, but I have so many things going through my head right now and I'm a tiny bit emotional.

Here's hoping that our second year with Jo will be even better than the first. The first flew by and I felt like I was just hanging on for dear life. NOW, I feel like I can actually start living.

Who Likes Free Stuff?

2008-05-08T10:18:00.001-05:00

Head on over to Alyson's. They are having lots of fun over there. And you can even win stuff.

Random Cuteness

2008-04-29T17:28:00.002-05:00

I was just looking at a book my mom gave me. She printed out all of my blog entries from the beginning of the blog up to Halloween last year and put them into a book for me. I was just looking at it and had the realization that I started this blog the day after Josie was born. Oooooh. Do you have a few chills? I guess I knew it was time to start.

Now, let the cuteness begin:

Phoebe all dressed for a party on Saturday. She looks so grown up.

Jo this morning giving her baby some love.

I took these pictures because I just love seeing her forehead. I know. I'm strange.

Phoebe finishing up another day of homeschool. Only 3 more left this school year. Yep. She gets out almost a month earlier than public school. Wheee.

Because It's Been a While

2008-04-22T20:53:00.002-05:00

I figured I should take some pictures of the girls, so you'd remember what they look like.

Jo loves her bike! She'll ride it inside or out.

I actually managed to get her to look at me for a picture!

Phoebe obliged when I asked if I could take a picture of her next to the giant rose bush in our backyard. It's a "knockout rose" and it is made for me! You stick it in the ground and walk away. It was just a wee little thing two years ago when I planted it. I forgot to prune it in February, so it's kinda gone nuts.

Phoebe's getting kinda tall herself.

And just to get all artsy on you...

Scenes

2008-04-17T16:06:00.009-05:00

The last weekend in March, Allen and I went to NYC. It was our first time to leave Jo overnight. I had no worries, though. She loves my parents, who came to watch the girls, and has my dad wrapped around her dainty little finger. (You know it's true, Dad). While I was going through pictures for this post, Jo kept reaching for the computer saying, "Ba-ba, Ba-ba, Ba-ba" over and over. She loves her Paw-paw.

Everyone had a blast and everything was fine. They even got P to her 8:00 soccer game Saturday morning (the only one of the season -- sorry).

Here was our view during the weekend.
Looking down on Times Square.

The Hudson River is in the distance.

The Empire State peaking out from behind another building.

The Chrysler Building sticking up in the middle (and reflecting in the building). Did you know you can open the window and stick your hand and camera outside on the 52nd floor?

Here was their view during the weekend.

I'm realize that I'm not posting a lot of pictures of P, but she was probably in constant motion, playing with neighborhood friends and her cousins on her bike and scooter.

Soccer Anyone?

2008-04-07T11:56:00.004-05:00

Saturday was a gorgeous day for soccer. The grass on the fields was so nice, if not a bit long for soccer, that several adults were taking off their shoes just to get their toes down into it.

The day started with team pics.

P had a bit of a slow start when she went in for the second period. (This picture really just makes me giggle and reminds me of one of the many things that makes me love P)

OK, here we go with some action.

This picture gave me a flash of the future. She looks so old.

Jo was happy to help finish off the grapes from half time.

Go Phoebe. Or, as Jo says, "Yay Beebee!!!"

This team was the one team that beat us last season. They managed it again Saturday. It was a 12-8 game, so pretty good anyway. Our girls were just wiped out by the fourth quarter. Phoebe took it in stride.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-24T15:47:00.004-06:00

Yesterday, the girls got all gussied up and, among other things, hunted for Easter eggs at church. This year, there was a lot of encouragement for the women (aged 1 - 100+) to wear a hat for Easter.

Before the hunt got under way, all of the kids gathered in the chapel and awaited further instruction.

Jo took the opportunity to get some love from her wonderful God-mother.

And here's our darling God-daughter, Emma. She was not totally awake, just yet.

Phoebe, desperate for the hunt to begin, shunned the paparazzi and refused autographs.

Oh, the coy superstar.

J was happy to oblige her adoring fans.

Phoebe finally decides to show her face.

And the hunt is on...

I think this picture begs the caption, "Look Up!"

Eggs are everywhere. One must always be on the lookout for them.

Meanwhile, on the lawn where the little kids were...

One of Jo's great joys in life is picking things up and putting them into something else, so the egg hunt was right up her alley. Interestingly, most of the eggs she picked up were blue.

Why limit yourself to eggs? Acorns will do just fine.

Going to put the acorns into her basket.

It was a bit chilly, it IS Texas after all, but everyone had lots of fun.

Balance - It's a Wonderful Thing

2008-03-17T15:00:00.002-06:00

My girl...we're so proud of her.

This occurred on Saturday evening. She'd been outside playing all day and around 6:15 asked Allen to take her training wheels off! Apparently they were high enough off the ground that she'd been riding without them anyway. Off she went.

Yesterday, she mastered a two-wheel scooter, so today we got her one of her own. She's zooming down the hill on anything she can.

Conversations With Jo

2008-03-11T10:31:00.001-06:00

(I just love this picture of her glancing over at her daddy)

Josie has been becoming much more "conversant" lately... if you have a parent's ear for her words. She's really cracking us up.

Last week, she was playing with some plastic bugs and dumped them out of the container. I said, "Josie, can you put those back in?" Josie said, "yeah." (I guess we need to work on manners now.) After a little more playing, I said, "Josie, you're going to have to put the bugs back into the container, okay?" Josie responded, "Day"(for 'kay). It was too cute. Now, it's a fairly common thing for her to say yes, yeah, and day when we ask her a question instead of just nodding (though she does still nod a lot).

She also spoke a two word phrase last week. This girl loves brushing her teeth. We have a little toothbrush and training tooth paste (that's OK to swallow) and we brush her teeth at least twice a day. She'd like to do it 4 or 5 times if we'd let her. Last week when I got her up from a nap, she pointed to her sink and said, "Buh Tee." I almost dropped her. I said, "Do you want to brush your teeth?" and she nodded furiously.

We've known that she has a good understanding of what we say to her. It's nice to hear her say so.

I'm Sorry....It's....March?

2008-03-06T15:35:00.003-06:00

Well, weather has always been freaky in Texas. I posted pictures of the snow we got on Monday night. There wasn't much to it. It melted within a couple of hours Tuesday morning.

Yesterday there was talk of more wintry weather coming today.

Around noon, big snow flakes started falling. I sent a message to Allen telling him the white stuff was sticking - at least to our driveway and street. Hmmm. Are you sure?
Yes. It's sticking a little bit. Then the snow stopped and it started raining. P was beside herself because the snow was going away and she didn't play in it. Then it started sleeting, but just for a couple of minutes. Then the big flakes started falling again.

Same shot a couple of hours after the first.

Our house. Um...yes, it's sticking....

A view from our balcony.

Guess what. It's 3:30. NOW Allen's on his way home. I'm not sure when he'll be here.

Can You Believe It's Been a Year?

2008-03-05T15:53:00.003-06:00

One year ago today, we first laid our eyes on this amazing and beautiful sight...

Monday, The Second Part

2008-03-04T11:58:00.003-06:00

Last night, we all went to church for a meal. We've done this the past few weeks and it's lots of fun. Last night was once again fun. I'm astounded (for some reason) by the amount of love that is shown for my children at events like this. People were fighting over Jo. My intent has been to feed her and then put her into the nursery during the performances that follow dinner. That has not been the case. I have been able to eat my meal each time without holding her and without pushing her off on someone else. She's been taken from me! After a comment by MB, I should probably take a camera with me next time to capture these moments of my daughter with these dear people.

On the way to church, around 6:00, it was actually snowing a little bit. And why not? It is MARCH after all and we've barely had any cold weather all winter. Ah, Texas.

When we left church about 7:45 it was "pouring" snow. OK, I'd say "pouring" if it were rain. I have very little experience with large amounts of snow falling from the sky. What's the word used for that? It was pretty hard to see while driving with the snow blowing straight at the windshield. But we made it home.

That's when it occurred to me...Has my South China girl ever seen snow? I know she hasn't in the last 9 months. So, we had to take pictures. The first one makes my eyes a bit misty.

You can also get a little bit of a look at where she busted her top lip on Sunday.

What a day. Today, of course is supposed to be in the 50's. Most of the snow is already gone, but the neighborhood kids did start congregating outside at about 7:30 this morning and played for a couple of hours. They had a blast.

Monday, The First Part

2008-03-04T11:46:00.004-06:00

Warning - this post may put songs in your head for the rest of the day. Songs you don't necessarily want in your head all day.

Phoebe has been studying Egypt this year at school. Yesterday was her class's festival where they showed us all they'd learned.

Here are 4 of the 168 pictures that her proud Daddy took yesterday.

She had a blast, as you can see. It was a lot of fun for us, too!

Today Is The Day!

2008-03-02T15:22:00.005-06:00

Today marks the day that Josie has been with us longer than she was without us. My how she's changed from the first moment we held her...

...to today...

She has a fascination with her belly

She's quite limber (and sensitive to the slightest bit of anything on her foot)

And she loves playing.

Though about 1/2 an hour after taking this picture she rolled off the ball and busted her lip. Poor baby. She's resting now.

As Elastigirl pointed out, she's quite resilient as we knew she would be. She's been through a lot in her short life. But now, she's spent more of it with us than with anyone else.

GOOOOOOOOOAALLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-03-01T22:53:00.004-06:00

Phoebe had quite a day on the soccer pitch today. She focused on the game, took the ball down the field, made some great passes, and scored a goal!!!

Here she is fighting for the ball and kicking it into the goal.

It was a banner day! Allen and I both got misty-eyed. We're so proud of her.

Opening Day

2008-02-29T12:54:00.004-06:00

OK, so opening day of the Spring soccer season was almost a week ago - last Saturday. I'm just a little slow. Here are a few pics from P's game. It was at 1:00 and we expected it to be warm, but the wind changed that. P's team is in a different bracket this season, I think because they had a winning season in the Fall. Anyway, P's team won 8-0 and P had to hold up fingers for every point scored.

Pre-game.

Sharing some warmth.

Jo wondering why she's out in the cold wind (and showing that mommy is so excited about this year's election that she voted early).

P's a bit excited....or cold.

What's that score? I think this was after the next-to-last goal.

Guess Who's Hit the "Terrible Twos"

2008-02-26T16:06:00.006-06:00

My oh my, what a temper this child has. Whenever she doesn't get what she wants, she dissolves or erupts (whichever way you want to think of it). Take digging in Mom's office drawer...where the sharp pencils are.

When Mom puts her hand on the drawer, this happens (yes she was actually swinging at my arm and trying to move it):

Mom takes her hand away, and she instantly turns it off.

I can clearly remember when Phoebe was in her terrible twos (from 18 mos to about 4), I told myself, "I will remember this if I ever think of having another child." And I did remember thinking that before we decided to adopt. But I decided that was just part of the bargain.

So, the little miss is 19 months old today and the terrible twos are definitely in full swing.

(Oh, and yes, I got her bangs and the back of her hair trimmed)

Wow!

2008-02-26T15:41:00.002-06:00

That's all I can think...wow! A family that is in our October 2005 yahoo group is headed back to China. They went last year a month before we went. You can check it out here.

I'm just awed by this family. I still feel like I'm in survival mode, even though we've been home 9 months today.

Check Out My Etsy Artist of the Week

2008-02-25T09:56:00.001-06:00

Bop on over to my Little Shop of Baubles blog and check out my etsy artist of the week!

OK, Really?!

2008-02-19T09:44:00.003-06:00

So, Jo likes to climb on the table, huh? Move all the dining chairs away from the table and she can't get on. Problem solved.

Jo likes to climb up onto the desk in the office? Push the office chair all the way in and she can't do it. Problem solved.

Now

Sigh....

Happy Valentines Day!

2008-02-14T09:45:00.002-06:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2008-02-07T16:11:00.001-06:00

{Insert adorable pic of Jo in her red qi pao here }

Sadly Jo is not having one of her better days. New molars will do that to a girl. Hopefully, we'll have the missing picture taken and posted soon.

What Else Would She Wear on Feb. 3?

2008-02-04T10:59:00.000-06:00

Yesterday and today, the weather has been Spring-like. When we woke up this morning, it was already 70 with an expected high of 80. I just thought this was such a cute dress loaned to us by a friend, that she should wear it no matter what month it is.

It IS going to be below freezing when we wake up Wednesday morning. Ah, Texas.

Because I Haven't Posted In A While...

2008-01-31T16:08:00.000-06:00

There really hasn't been much going on.

I mean, sure Jo has turned 18 months old and been in our lives 8 1/2 months. That's cool. She's still a monkey and climbing whatever she can. I'll have to post a pic of what the dining table looks like on a daily basis. Suffice to say that, for now, I'm pulling all the chairs away from the table so that she can't climb from a chair onto the table. Of course, I have to make sure that the chair isn't close to anything else she doesn't need to reach.

AND I have to make sure I push the office chair in whenever I leave the computer, otherwise, I'll find her sitting on the computer. Since the office chair is on carpet, she has a harder time moving it away from the desk.

Allen and I calculated (with the help of the internet, of course) the number of days that Jo was alive before she came to us. We figured out that on March 1, she will have been with us the same number of days that she was without us. And, obviously, on March 2 she will have been with us longer than without us. We may have to have a little celebration.

And for your viewing pleasure, my other daredevil:

Baby Steps

2008-01-17T17:03:00.000-06:00

Are you sitting down?

Good. Because this may be a bit of a shock.

Over this past weekend.... we.... Allen and I....WENT TO DINNER ALONE!!!!!

We hired a sitter on Saturday night.

OK, back up. Yes, we've had grandparents stay with the girls, especially over the holidays. That was nice. But we still kinda felt like we shouldn't be gone too long. We didn't want the grandparents to feel taken advantage of.

But a teenager we pay? We're gone all night, baby! Just kidding. Jo did great.

In fact, she did so well with that, and she's been doing well in the church nursery, that I just decided to chance it....and I went to the gym on Wednesday!

I haven't been since August or September and Jo had to be held the whole 30 minutes she was there. This time I was a bit worried, since she was crying when I left. And following me since she can walk now. But when I went back she was walking around with a toy, happy as could be. The attendant said she didn't cry long at all. She didn't even START crying when she saw me. She just smiled and came to me.

SWEET! I'm actually excited that I can go to the gym again!

And now, for a little gratuitous cuteness

P looked so old to me in these clothes.

This is Jo's first taste of Mommy's Madeleines. I think she ate 3!

Heaven, Help Me

2008-01-14T14:00:00.000-06:00

And, really, I mean that.

Have you ever been doing something, say checking email, and you hear a sound. It's a familiar sound, but you can't quite place it. It does seem like a sound that you really shouldn't be hearing.

So, you get up to investigate.

Accessories Make All the Difference

2008-01-11T10:36:00.001-06:00

Don't you think?

I can't bring myself to get scissors near Jo's face yet, so...

Doesn't she look totally different? I've been missing those expressive eyebrows.

And, Phoebe got her new glasses on Wednesday. She really only needs them to read and do school work. Of course she HAD to take them to school today. I hope they make it home.

Remember When?

2008-01-06T21:03:00.001-06:00

I haven't done this in a while, 'cause you know, I've been so wrapped up in myself. But check these out... new babies!

Referrals came in January 2. You're not going to believe this, but the people who got referrals in this batch had log in dates 2 MONTHS after us. Let me spell that ... TWO MONTHS! We got our referral for Jo 10 months ago. I cannot believe that they've only gotten through 2 months of parents' documents in 10 months. I knew things had slowed down, but I feel SO bad for the parents still waiting. And waiting.

I've heard that applications from parents outnumber the available babies. That sounds good, except for that word "available". It's not the number of babies in orphanages, it's the ones who are paper-ready.

I've also seen that the "review room" is about a year ahead of the "matching room". Meaning the hallway outside the matching room must be hard to get through. Actually, meaning the first step, review, has been done for a year's worth of more parents than have been matched.

Say a prayer for these waiting families and babies. I know how hard it was for us. Now, knowing that people whose documents went to China only 2 months after us are just now getting a referral...it blows my mind to think what they've gone through.

OK, this started out a happy post. Here are the babies!

2getSoph
The Jake Break
Pat’s little Sister
Q-Fold - Twins!
Welcoming Kathryn
To Bring Leah Home
Maria Hui Jun
Miss Gioia
Introducing Tiffany

The following blogs are expecting their referral in this batch:

The Sweeney Family
Sienna Bug
Our Journey to Baby M
Waiting for Julia

I'm Having Flashbacks

2008-01-06T10:13:00.000-06:00

T'was a rough night at the Lineberrys' last night.
Friday night, J woke up a few times during the night, but not for very long. Not long enough to go into her room. It was out of the ordinary though. Yesterday, she wanted to be held a lot. Especially when we were taking down Christmas decorations. That was interesting.

Last night, she woke up a couple of times again. I went in to check on her, to make sure she didn't have a fever or seem sick. My mistake. I went in at 12:15. She was fine. As soon as I picked her up, she stopped crying and did the "more" sign and pointed to her door. I decided to see where she wanted to go, so I walked out of her room. She pointed to the stairs. I took her downstairs, she did the sign for water. OK, she wants water. Boy did she.

Silly me, I thought "problem solved". I even got a sippy cup of water that she could take to bed with her and we went back upstairs. I held her for a few minutes then went to put her back into her bed. Oh no. She was having none of that. Her right arm was wrapped all the way around my neck and her legs were latched on like vises. Alrighty. I sat on the futon in her room. She snuggled. I figured ok, let's have some mommy time, so I lay down on the futon with her on top of me and she was soon fast asleep. Hooray!

I went over and put her into her bed and she was instantly awake and screaming. Sigh. This went on until about 2am when I decided to let her "cry it out" and went to bed. At 2:30, when she was still screaming at the top of her lungs, Allen went in. He said she was standing in her crib holding the rail with her left hand, holding her sippy cup with her right hand, had her head down and eyes closed and was screaming. Is it possible she fell asleep standing up and crying? He woke her and changed her jammies to some that were a little cooler.

2:45, still screaming, I went back in and asked Allen to go make a bottle. Let's fill her tummy. Alright, full belly, cool jammies, dry diaper and back to the futon we go. Back to sleep on mom we go. Snoring, she actually said, "dada" in her sleep. Sleeping like a rock. Back to bed. Nope. Scream. Back to the futon.

You get the idea. At 5:45 I decided that nature was calling. I managed to get out from under her on the futon, pick her up, get my hands in a good position for putting her down and walked to her crib without her stirring at all. As soon as her body touched the mattress, instant scream. Too bad, nature wins on this one.

She cried for about 10 minutes and gave up. So, all told, I got a whopping 2 1/2 hours of sleep last night. Allen didn't fare much better. Apparently he was flipping channels on the TV most of the time I was in her room.

She's in a fine mood this morning, and has that "I slept on Mommy" hair.

I hope she naps.

A Christmas Overview

2008-01-04T11:29:00.000-06:00

I had a request to update my blog. I can't believe I haven't posted since December 18. Well, I kind of can. I kinda just checked out of doing anything over Christmas. P and Allen had Christmas vacation, so I did too. So here is a small recap of Christmas day.

Well, actually, I think this picture was taken Christmas Eve from our balcony.

Here's P on Christmas morning looking pretty satisfied with Santa's offerings.

And Jo with her new phone.

The carnage. Actually, not much had been opened at this point.

Cutie pie.

This picture cracks me up. Santa brought P a dog that "grows and knows your name". She's thrilled with it. She loves to brush it and measure how tall it is. And it talks to her. (I've seen too many horror movies and find this creepy. "hi, Phoebe". It gives me chills.) Anyway, in this picture, P is happily brushing her electronic dog while the real, live dog wanders past behind her looking like she's saying "what am I, chopped liver?" Oh, Senna. If only you could say her name.

And On We Go

2007-12-18T14:20:00.003-06:00

As we move ever closer to Christmas, we've had all sorts of things going on around here.

There's the obligatory visit to the fat man. This was a couple of weeks ago. A local realtor arranged for the big guy to visit our community center.

This would be P explaining that when he brought all the furniture and figures for her Dora house last year, Santa did not bring Dora's dog and could he please bring it this year.

And here's Jo trying to make it clear that she doesn't care what Santa brings her, she just wants him to go away.

Here are the girls by the Christmas tree.

And Jo on her own by the tree.

And finally, just to get away from all the cute Christmas pictures, a picture that is not for the squeamish. P lost another tooth on Saturday. Have you ever seen a child so thrilled to be bleeding from her mouth?

This occurred Saturday evening. After being at the church for 4 hours in preparation for and attending Janet's service, I came straight home at 2:00 and put on my jammies. That would be me just barely in the picture on the left trying to stop the bleeding while P just wanted the moment captured on "film". She cracks me up.

Janet's service was wonderful, as I knew it would be. One thing about Episcopalian funerals, they are quite a celebration of the person's life. It was standing room only. We were squeezed into the pews cheek to cheek with a lot of people standing in the back. It speaks volumes about Janet and her life.

So, on we go. A week until Christmas. Shopping to do. Family to see. Friends with whom to have "breakfast for dinner on Christmas Eve eve". All dear moments to enjoy.

Our Dear Janet

2007-12-10T13:33:00.000-06:00

Where do I start? This summer, our dear friend Janet found out she had leukemia. She went into the hospital June 26. Aside from a short 1 or 2 day visit to her home, she has been in the hospital ever since.

Until today. Today she left the hospital. To use MB's eloquence, "Janet passed peacefully into larger life this morning just before 8:00 a.m."

At the beginning of November, she had a stem cell transplant. Around Thanksgiving, we received word that Janet would be leaving the hospital the following week. There was much rejoicing. Then, there was a delay. Then another delay. And another. Turns out that the leukemia, despite rounds and rounds of horrible chemo, never completely went away. Add to that, her body was slow to accept the new stem cells, and you end up here.

Friday I found out that the decision had been made to discharge her to hospice care. I was devastated. The general feeling was that she would not actually make it to today, when she was to have left the hospital. I've been bawling all weekend. I'm not alone.

J was so thrilled about our adopting Josie. On the Sunday before we left for China, J grabbed me by the shoulders, gave me a big ol' kiss and said, "You are so loved. We are all going to China with you. Go bring that baby home." She was at the airport to welcome us home and to fawn over Jo.

I'm so not finished with J. We had things to do. Laughs to share. She and her husband had all kinds of plans. Her daughter just had a baby girl (after 3 boys) in September. We all knew that she was going to get through this in her tough British fashion.

But, she didn't. And now, we are left with a gaping hole in our lives. She will be SO very missed by so many people.

The Adventures of Jo

2007-11-29T17:05:00.002-06:00

Here's our little Jo on Tuesday. She's so proud of herself. She's just walked about 10 steps from the living room into the office to show me the remote. She took 2 or 3 more steps to me then stumbled and hit her chin on my knee and bit her lip.

Here she is yesterday, very impressed with herself for standing on the stool and being able to see all the cool things she rarely gets to see.

"I wonder if I can use these handles to climb higher..."

"Guess not. What's on Mom's desk?"

Here's a close up so you can see the "moisture" on her face. This is after she fell off the stool, cried some, then climbed back up. (No. She did not fall toward the desk and its glass top)

"Yeah. I fell. But, that's no reason to stop!" (Note the slightly darker red spot in the middle of her bottom lip where she bit it the day before.)

Scenes From a Photo Shoot

2007-11-26T18:05:00.001-06:00

On a recent Saturday afternoon, we went over to our friends' house and had a few, or 150, pictures taken by close friend and uber-photographer, Doug. He has quite the eye, and quite the camera. A couple of these will be appearing on a Christmas card near you. None of these have been Photo-Shopped. They are basically straight out of the camera.

My Family

My Girls

My Boy

Jo On Her Own

At Long Last...

2007-11-19T11:13:00.001-06:00

...the baptism pictures!!

Doesn't she look angelic with that perfectly timed sunbeam coming through the high window of the church?

She has no idea what's about to happen.

Uh...mom? What's up with THAT guy?

This seems bad. Mom?

Ready or not, here we go!!

You can't see Jo's face, but mine tells the story.

After doing that 3 times, she's dried off.

Notice how Fr. David is in focus and Jo's a little blurry? Uh, yeah.

"Receive the light of Christ..."

Sweet baby girl. She didn't enjoy that much, but she survived.

Hello!

2007-11-09T20:31:00.001-06:00

I can't believe it's already Friday.

I can't believe I haven't posted since October 27!

Hmmm. What's happened since then?
Halloween - lots of fun.

November 4 - Josie was baptized. She screamed her way through it. I promise I will post pictures as soon as I get them from the friend who took them.

This week - Allen traveled for work, so my mom stayed with me for the week to keep me from losing my mind. Well, to keep me from losing more of it. We had lots of fun. Josie has really taken a liking to her. And last weekend when my dad was here? Forget about mom! Josie loves my dad. She wanted to be in his lap whenever possible.

Tomorrow is Phoebe's last soccer game of the season. I can't believe the soccer season is over. Seems like just yesterday when it started. After the game, we're going to drive my mom and meet my dad half way between where we each live so mom can go home. I think she may sleep for a week. She has been such a blessing this week. Catching me up on laundry, cleaning Phoebe's closet so that those too small clothes are gone, watching Jo so I could have some me time. I keep asking her when she's going to move in.

On Monday, we meet with the social worker for our SIX MONTH post adoption visit. Six months?! Sheesh. I can't believe it.

I guess we ought to get that new family picture taken, huh? You know, so we don't have to use that one in the post below.

Trunk or Treat

2007-10-27T22:16:00.000-05:00

Our church had "Trunk or Treat" this evening, so we debuted the Star Wars family costumes.

Aren't we an interesting bunch? P is Darth Vadar, of course. Allen is Obi Wan. I'm Padme(! - NOT Leia. No cinnamon bun hair!) And J is, well, Yoda.

Watch out, Yoda's trying to use the force on you.

Happy Darth

Mean Darth (but still awfully cute)

A Yoda close up. The teens at the church started calling her Joda. She actually kept the hat on the entire time and didn't seem to mind wearing it. Must go shopping for cute hats.

Behold

2007-10-22T12:14:00.001-05:00

Isn't she too cute?
Here's Jo practicing her walking.

Sometimes she makes sudden right turns.

The "walk behind" also works if you stand in front of it.

Here are a few shots from P's soccer game this weekend. It was the first loss of the season (Phoebe's first experience with losing a game), BUT P did get more into the game...

AND actually got her feet on the ball a few times....

And had a shot on goal...

Alas, this girl isn't on our team. Otherwise, P's shot would have been directed into the goal.

One Small Step

2007-10-15T10:05:00.000-05:00

It has happened. And there are no pictures. Sorry.

Friday night, Little Miss J took her first unassisted steps. This story really has two tidbits of information. Apparently Josie is going to be quiet the girly girl. And girly things are very motivating for her.

Friday night we were all sitting on the couch. My friend Sue, and her daughter Audrey, and Sue's friend Cheryl, were here. The couch is a sectional, so it's shaped like an L. We had the ottoman pushed up into the corner of the L and Josie was crawling around on the large cushy space this made. She found one of her sister's headbands and HAD to have it on her head. I put it onto her head and she smiled and hit herself on the head and crawled over toward Sue and stood up beside her on the couch. I reached over and took the headband off of Jo's head an put it onto mine. She laughed and then took a step toward me reaching for the headband.

Hmmmm. "Could be on to something," Sue said. So, we repeated this process several times. Each time Jo took from 1 to 3 steps toward me while standing on the couch without holding on to anything.

In my mind, it seems like if she can walk on a less than stable surface like a squishy couch, the wood floor shouldn't be a problem. She has yet to be so brave on the floor.

I will try to get pictures next time this happens. We were all so in awe that we didn't grab a camera. We didn't want to mess up the scene lest she decide she didn't want to do it anymore.

Hmm. I may need to shop for shoes....

The Gap Between Posts

2007-10-01T11:01:00.000-05:00

You may be wondering why there have been so few posts lately. Why no cute pics of the girls? Well the answer is over there on the left, just under the "About Me" section.

Around about the time we got our referral of Jo in March, I kinda lost any time I previously had to make jewelry. Well, a couple of weeks ago, my friend Sue told me about this site called Etsy. Now I'm in trouble. It's pretty addictive, but it has gotten me back into making jewelry. I have a little store there that you can access by clicking the link over there on the left under the pictures.

I have to warn you. It isn't just addictive as a seller. It's addictive as a buyer. It's an entire virtual marketplace of handmade items. Pretty much anything you can think of is there. And buying from there supports individual artists. I've heard there are mass producers masquerading as independent artists on the site, so you may run into that. For the most part though, it's individuals. It's a cool place. I may do most of my Christmas shopping there.

So, now for the reason you're actually here.

Here's all the girls in the family - including the dog. Senna was diagnosed with Addison's Disease last week. It's totally treatable and she's feeling much better now that she's on a daily dose of Prednisone.

Look how much Jo is filling out. She's definitely had a growth spurt!

Jo loves her sister. And I think the feeling is mutual.

Jo also loves to play in the toilet. Dad didn't want that in the pic, but yes she's holding the toilet paper roll holder and putting a foot up on the toilet lid. We have a lovely lock that holds the lid down now.

And, this picture is just P in a nutshell. My sweet girl.

Soccer is Life - Life is Soccer

2007-09-25T17:49:00.000-05:00

Phoebe had an 8am soccer game on Saturday. We needed to be at the field at 7:30.

This is what the sky looked like when we left the house. My camera just refused to capture the redness of the sun.

Here's the team warming up. The dew on the ground almost makes it seem like Fall.

These pics are from the game. Once again the other team had uniforms very like ours. In fact, I think the only difference was the color of the socks. This time, the OTHER team wore the scrimmage jerseys.

I'm pretty sure that's a legal move. Ahem.

I love this pic simply because P is actually going after the ball.

And she's staying focused.

Another win for the Rock Angelz. Woo hoo

Today's Sparkles

2007-09-21T10:32:00.001-05:00

My miniature roses off the front porch.

I had fun trying to catch a drip with the camera.

It really seems like there should be a frog under there.

More roses.

These are the bracelets I'm wearing today.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you are making your day a sparkly one.

Be Sparkly!

2007-09-19T10:17:00.000-05:00

Friday is Sparkly Hannah Day. Hannah would have turned 6 on Friday if not for a horrible tragedy that happened two months ago today.

Hannah was a very sparkly and fancy girl who loved "all things bright and beautiful" and often found beauty where most adults wouldn't think to look.

Hannah's mom has been keeping up with her blog and "talking things through" in a way I can't imagine doing myself. They have a wonderful day planned for Friday. She invites us all to go out of our way to wear or do something sparkly on Friday, or just slow down to notice beauty around you that you may have not noticed before. Notice the dew on the grass. Paint your toenails. Wear that jewelry that you never wear because it's "special".

Start thinking about Friday and how you can honor this precious spirit.

Always Fun at the Lineberrys'

2007-09-17T13:27:00.000-05:00

Phoebe had her second soccer game this weekend. She again had a total blast. She stayed focused more this time (didn't come to the sideline for a drink during play). She ignored some trash talk (! from a 6 year old !). She generally ran around, kept up and had fun.

When we got home from the game, she was beat - and acknowledged that. That should have been my first clue. She took a bath, ate and basically chilled. Except she didn't REALLY chill. In reality, her head was quite warm. The girl had a fever. Her temp hovered around 101.5 Saturday night and all day Sunday. She didn't act like she felt bad, unless you count that she generally played in the floor and didn't run around like a crazy person all day. Last night her temp went up to 102.6. I gave her some Tylenol to help her sleep. She fell asleep, the fever broke, and all was well...

Until she woke up around 4:30 this morning, again burning up. I didn't take her temp, but did give her some more Tylenol. This time it didn't knock her out quite as quickly, but did handle the fever. This morning, I took her to the doctor where she, of course, had no fever. She apparently does have signs of a virus, though. Whee!

Just for grins, I asked the doctor to look in J's ears. Guess what! Again with no symptoms, J has an ear infection as well as a red throat meaning she could have P's virus. So. There's too much fun going on here at the Lineberry house. The doctor told me, "She's got a pretty good virus. You and Dad may end up with a cold."

My daughter. She's such a giver.

Negotiations

2007-09-14T14:39:00.000-05:00

S: "I want my bone. You can't take my bone!"

J: "How about if I give you this lovely plastic chain?"

S: "THAT smells like I shouldn't play with it."

J: "How about a wicked game of peek-a-boo?"

S: "Uh, no thanks. I'm just going to go back to my bone."

J: "Hmmm. What if I get THIS bone?"
S: "That's mine, too. Where are you going with that?"
J: "Right about here. I dare you to try to take it from me."

The Latest

2007-09-10T10:58:00.000-05:00

When we first came back from China and we were introducing J to all of the new people in her life, one person she instantly took to was Elastigirl's Manchild. He is 12 years old, and is just awesome with J. She just stares at him whenever he's nearby. Often J reaches out for him to hold her, which is a rare thing indeed.

One of the first things the Manchild did with J, and still does every time he sees her, was play peek-a-boo. He'll put his hands over his face and she just waits in anticipation for him to move them and say peek-a-boo, or sometimes "mao mao", which is what our guide told us is the Chinese version.

Well, yesterday at church after the service, I was holding J talking to friends when the Manchild walked up. J did not wait. SHE put her hands over her own face and then moved them and smiled at him! It was the cutest thing. She did it a few times and he did it back. Then she reached for him and, being a 12 year old boy, he wasn't overly enthusiastic to hold her, which was fine. So, she covered her eyes again.

Now today at home, if I say peek-a-boo, this happens:

What a sweetie.

Opening Day

2007-09-08T16:37:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of the rest of our lives. Phoebe's first soccer game.

OK, OK. I get it. Thanks Brandi for giving me that little push to sign her up (whether you knew you were doing it or not). Phoebe had a blast!

The games are made up of 10 minute quarters. Phoebe played the 2nd and 4th quarters. She finally seemed to get the hang of things about half way through the 4th quarter. Up to then, we had to remind her to pay attention to where the ball was, etc. Apparently she got into it on a corner kick when the coach told her to not let a girl on the other team get in front of her. That was all it took. We truly could not have asked for a better group of girls and parents. I'm so glad that the coach emphasizes that we're there to have fun.

Because pink is a popular color among girls this age, the opposing team had shirts similar in color to ours. Our team wore yellow scrimmage jersey thingies. You COULD tell them apart by their socks. Ours are black.

Here's Phoebe's first ever play in a soccer game. Doesn't she look like she knows what to do?

She did manage to keep up with the other girls most of the time. That's her on the right.

She didn't actually score here, but she was staying focused. Always a plus.

Here I'm really hoping she didn't push that girl down. I'm sure she didn't, but she's not trying to help her up either. She's going for the ball.

I liked this pic because she's actually in full on motion, trying to get to the ball and not part of the cluster. The blond in the middle of the pic? That's D. She's really good. I think she scored all 7 of our goals. (Not that they keep track of the score at this age, but we won.)

Soccer Practice - Take 2

2007-09-06T21:28:00.000-05:00

Here we are on Thursday again. It's Phoebe's soccer practice day again. And the sky looked like this at 6:15pm.

Here's Phoebe all dressed up and ready to go. Boy, is she ready!

"This is how you take a soccer picture, mom."

I'm happy to report that the skies were only threatening and did not actually produce any thunder, lightning or rain.

Here's P practicing going after a corner kick. She also practiced corner kicks. She can't quite bend it like Beckham yet, but hey, neither can he a lot of the time.

Here's Josie watching big sister's practice. Notice the dark spot on her bottom lip? Well, maybe you can't see it, but she's been getting more and more brave letting go of things when standing. The down side is she tends to fall face first into whatever is closest.
Here's P after we got home. I'm not sure what's up with the pose. I just thought she looked so old, I had to post the pic.

And here it is...the jersey. Apparently my computer can't handle the color of the jersey. In the picture it looks kind of coral or salmon. NO. It's bright, Barbie pink. And I do mean pink. She's a bit excited.

There was a gorgeous sunset on the way home. I didn't manage to get a picture of it. Even with all the cool features the minivan has, it doesn't take pictures or drive for me while I take a picture.

Apparently They Are Aware of Each Other

2007-09-04T17:36:00.000-05:00

The lizards were back over the weekend and decided to meet up on the center window.

So, Did We Or Didn't We?

2007-09-04T17:05:00.000-05:00

Yes. Yes we did.

This is the color we went with.

We had thought we'd go with black exterior and interior, but then I got smacked on the head by dog hair and thought black interior may not be the way to go. Then, we thought about black with tan interior and had flashbacks to other tan interiors we've had. The interior of this "nimbus gray" one is called "olive" but it looks gray to me. Hopefully it will hide dog hair AND dirt.

Here we are at the Grand Canyon over the weekend. OK, not really. This isn't even our dash. Ours is gray, er, olive.
Here's that lazy susan in the floor. Note the med kit, walkie talkies, binoculars and LUNA bars. They came in really handy at the Grand Canyon.

So, just to recap - we spent our Friday night buying a dark gray mini-van. Yup. We're livin' large.

The Soccer Practice That Wasn't

2007-09-01T12:48:00.000-05:00

Thursday was supposed to be Phoebe's first soccer practice. There was a lot of excitement around here most of the day on Thursday.

Practice was scheduled for 6:30. Around 4:30, there was a little bit of thunder outside. I wasn't overly concerned because we did have 2 hours to go. And the thunder did, in fact, stop for a while. We left the house about 6:15 and it was thundering again. I started preparing Phoebe for the possibility that practice could be cancelled. She kept pointing out, "It's not raining, mom!" So, I had to remind her that thunder meant lightning and lightning probably means no practice.

About 2 minutes from the house, I said, "Wow, Phoebe, look at that wind!" A big gust of wind was blowing dirt across the road and quick on its heels was the rain. Sheets and sheets of rain blowing across the street. We kept driving toward practice, my hopes fading. When we arrived at the park, it was raining harder than I've seen it rain in a while. There were rivers along the curbs of the streets. Phoebe still had hope. That's my girl.

I parked and called the house to see if the coach had called. He had, of course, and we drove home. Phoebe, as you might expect, was less than thrilled.

I managed to get a small smile out of her.

After playing around in the puddles, we came inside and the girls played a little bit.
This did help improve Phoebe's mood. Note the spiky black hair at the bottom right of the picture. J sure likes to be held.

This was the sky outside trying to decide what it wanted to be. A little stormy, mostly sunny, still thundery.

We also noticed these two little guys. They started showing up this week around 5:30 in the evenings. We have 3 windows in our living room. One gets on the left window and the other gets on the right window. I'm not sure if they are aware of each other, but they are always there at the same time. Judging from their bellies, I'm thinking it must be a good time of day to catch bugs around our windows. I couldn't tell you if the same one gets on the same window each time.
This one decided he wanted to hide. He wasn't stuck. because he's long gone now.

As Long As I'm Jumping on Bandwagons

2007-09-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

I've been to a couple of blogs just today that have had makeovers. I think it's a change of seasons, kind of thing. I figured, "hey, why not?" So I'm trying this on for size.

What do you think?

Why Didn't Anyone Tell Me?????

2007-08-29T12:37:00.000-05:00

I will soon be a stereotype. We may be getting a mini-van this weekend. Say it ain't so. First soccer, and now this. It may in fact be one of the signs of the Apocalypse.

Obviously, if I truly felt that way, we wouldn't get one. It all started about this time last year. We got our Honda Pilot, my friend Elastigirl got a Honda Odyssey. Her Odyssey had some groovy features we chose not to get on the Pilot. Like the navigation system and the back up camera. "That's cool," I said, "but it's still a mini-van." She smiled and went on to show me the 50,000 cup holders and the lazy susan under the floor boards for storage. "It's too bad it's a mini-van," I said.

Fast forward one year. School has started. We have two kids, one in a full fledged car seat and one in a booster. We're carpooling with our neighbors. I've driven my 2 and the girl next door to school a couple of times now, and there's a space issue. Sure the Pilot theoretically seats 8, but getting to that back seat isn't easy. So all three are together in the second row. With that being the case, where do the backpacks go? Hmmmm? (I can hear you, Elastigirl). And this is only the beginning. Allen has helped with getting everyone in on these occasions and HE'S the one that had to go and say it might not be a bad idea to go ahead and trade the Pilot for the Odyssey.

He called the guy that sold us the Pilot; what a deal he has. So, in a few short days, I may be the owner of a mini-van. I may have to go get another tattoo to even things out.

Leaps and Bounds

2007-08-28T13:29:00.000-05:00

Josie has been doing so many new things lately, I don't feel like I've documented them all very well.

She has been waving hello and goodbye for a few weeks now. With both hands, of course. Sometimes her feet get in on the action. I think the first time was to a woman named Rachel G. at church. She did it for Rachel and then wouldn't do it for anyone else who came up to say hello.

She's doing well on the eating front. She can eat an entire package of Easy Mac by herself, just like her big sister. She likes canned veggies, and today had fresh blueberries and strawberries.

She has started saying "mama" and actually looking at me. Sometimes she even touches my face or my arm when she says it. Of course, sometimes she points to herself when she says it, too. I guess mama is everywhere.

I'm don't think this quite counts as a first word, but I think it's pretty cool. There is a butterfly mobile above her changing table that she loves to look at and reach for. Sometimes I hold her up so she can touch them. Whenever she looks at them, I say, "butterfly." She now reaches for them and says, "buh-by". Yes, I know it sounds like that SNL skit where the flight attendants are saying, "buh-bye" to all of the passengers, but that's what she says reaching for a butterfly.

AND, just today, I pointed to a picture that Sarah matted for my shower. It's one of Josie's referral pictures. I'm sure I've pointed to it before and said, "Josie". Today, I pointed at it and said, "who's that baby?", and Jo pointed to herself. Do babies recognize pictures of themselves? Does she just have a good memory of me telling her it's a picture of her? Either way, she knows that picture has something to do with her. Pretty cool.

Another Milestone

2007-08-27T10:59:00.000-05:00

Hey. Guess what I just did! Can you guess??

I just lowered the mattress in Josie's crib. I bet all of you parents out there can guess why.

Around 10:15 this morning I put Josie down for a nap. My intention was to mow the front yard while she was napping. But, as usually happens, I got distracted by the computer. In this particular instance, all I can say is thanks be to God.

Around 10:30 I heard a very loud thump from upstairs. I learned I can still move pretty quickly when I need to. I actually made it upstairs to her bedroom door before she started crying. As a matter of fact, that kinda scared me a little.

Yep, J has now done something that P never did - fallen out of her crib. The creepy thing is that as I was leaving her room after putting her into her crib the first time, I thought, "We're going to have to lower that mattress soon. She'll soon be tall enough to climb out." Well, apparently sooner than I thought.

So, the mattress is now low. Josie is back in her crib for her nap and I'm going to go mow the yard. She seemed fine, just scared. I felt all over her to see if she was tender anywhere, but she was just ticklish. She crawled around her room and played with toys while I lowered the mattress. I called Allen and he asked if her pupils were the same size, and I pointed out that I can't actually see her pupils. She's fine.

Now I guess I have to shorten that dust ruffle.

The First Day of School

2007-08-22T20:43:00.000-05:00

Today was Phoebe's first day at her new school. We actually had school at home yesterday, but today was the first day to don the uniform, load up the backpack and head out.

The day started at 6:15. Allen had to leave early, so that's the time his alarm went off. That's not why my day started then. My day started then because seconds after the alarm went off, Phoebe came into our room ready to start HER day. Before we left home, I told her I was going to miss her today. She said, "Mom! It's OK! I'm coming back!"

Here she is before breakfast. Does she look like she's a tad bit excited?

Her uniform shirts do actually have the school logo on them, but I roughly covered them in the pics.

I've been taking pictures like this every year she's gone to preschool and school. I got the idea from my friend Sue. Phoebe had a little trouble with the backpack. Not because it's heavy, but it's bulky and she isn't really.I went straight to Target to get her a smaller backpack. This one, with her initials monogrammed on it and everything, can wait a couple more years I guess.

Here she is at the entrance. Lots of kids were getting their pictures taken underneath the sign...

...so we figured Phoebe would, too. Notice how her shirt is already coming untucked from wrestling that backpack.

Here's my sweety in her classroom. There are only 12 kids. What a great place to be.

After leaving this smiling face, I went to the car and called Sue and my mom. I can't believe my Sweet P is in first grade. After Target, I went to a store and learned how to use a laminating machine. I learned all kinds of things to not do.

Phoebe came home today all smiles. She had a blast. I even got all domestic and made chocolate chip cookies to welcome her home. (Does a Tollhouse break-apart package count as domestic?) At first she was upset because she was sure I'd used the mix we bought to make next time Granny is here. (Who gets upset over chocolate chip cookies?) Once she realized that I hadn't touched the "Granny package", she ate four and drank a glass of milk.

She just fell asleep on the couch. I'm surprised that she lasted this long. I'm surprised I lasted this long. I wonder how she's going to get upstairs. Not sure I can carry her tonight!

Tomorrow it's another day of homeschool. I'm really glad we don't have to be out the door at 8. If all goes as it did on Tuesday, we'll have a great day.