Minnesota Day 3- American Girl!

On Wednesday of our trip, we spent part of the day swimming, and much of the day napping! For dinner we went to the mall and dined at American Girl. Last summer we took the older 2 girls to Chicago and ate at American Girl but the little girls had yet to go. We had given them the bitty twins for their birthdays, so they were really excited to take those with them to eat.

This location is much more casual than Chicago, which was probably good for the little girls.

I am thankful I took Makenna last summer. She enjoyed it last year. This year, while she went along, she was not nearly as excited. Which depresses me. How do they change from little girl, to not so little girl, that quickly?

They still have all the little fun touches.

Tea for your doll. In glass cups. Which is not so fun with certain 4 year olds.

Sage & "Lucy"
The dolls even get a dessert of whipped cream!
The park overlooks the park outside so that was much more exciting to the girls than their food.
After dinner they shopped. Which was stressful. They want it all! Finally Mavery settled on this outfit for "Emma".
Sage had no trouble choosing an outfit that looked like a bride dress for Lucy. This is also her bear she built, with a bride dress.


Malaine had a bit more of a struggle. She REALLY wanted the doll of the year, which is Lainey. And I did offer her an advance on her allowance. But she decided she would add her to the birthday wish list and bought the puppy Sugar instead along with a bag to hold her dolls. Lainey is only out for one year, so we know our Lainey really wants her!
Makenna did get some ear rings for her dolls to replace what her sisters had lost, but she was not willing to spend any of her own $ as her sisters did.
Sawyer & Mark enjoyed dinner at Famous Daves BBQ, for some reason they refused to eat with us!

Minnesota Day 2- The Mall of America!

I know there are alot of people who visit the mall and say "I do not get the hype, it is just another mall". I am NOT one of those people. I love LOVE the mall, I really do. Now granted I am not getting to go there to shop, so I can't comment on the shopping part. (so sad, I love to shop, but that is impossible with all these kids, not one of who likes to shop)

My adoration is more of just what it offers. Hungry? Take your pick of ANY type of food you can imagine. Tired and stressed? Just go sit in the bookstore and read awhile. Need a smile? Just go watch some of the kids on the rides. Which is so nice to me. You can walk through the amusement park with out actually paying for it. Need some exercise? Just start walking and you can work off whatever you ate in all of those levels that you will surely be lost in.

Our destination on this day was simply to get out of the hotel. The park was being saved for later in the week. We did take a walk through it, which may have been a mistake as I heard nothing else but we want to RIDE for the rest of the time! But the girls loved seeing the Nick Jr characters with out waiting in lines!



After a walk through the park we spent a bit of time playing at the Lego store. Not as big as the Chicago stores by any means, but you can't go wrong with legos in any shape or size.

Then it was a stop at American Girl. Which started to set my stress level a bit high. This was Sage & Maverys first glance at American Girl and they wanted it ALL. Every little girls dream right? A WHOLE store full of doll things?

Sadly at this point is where my camera battery died, and I did not download makennas pictures before she left for camp, so I will have to add pictures later.

We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I was not thinking about the thunder and Sage, so she did not enjoy her lunch to much. But everyone else sure loves the place.

Last we went to Build a Bear. The 3 littles had gift cards unused from Christmas so they were thrilled to spend them, ALL of them. By this time it was nap time, which was a bad start. Imagine if you will 2 tornadoes in build a bear. A fairly crowded B.A.B. Trying to get 3 girls to, #1 make a choice on an animal to stuff. Then to wait in line(not a short line) which is next to the add a sound machine, which made Sage giggle so loud the whole store was coming to see her. #2 Choosing an outfit for each of those animals, in a place that has more outfits than most clothes stores I shop at! All the while trying to explain a budget, and that we can't run, yell, cry, have it all, or stuff another animal. #3. Typing all that info into a computer with impatient tornadoes who want to do it themselves on touchy computers. Oh with a line behind us.

But in the end? All 3 girls got new friends to hug on, and we got more of those crazy big boxes that they refuse to get rid of. Our hotel room was quickly getting more crowded!

We ended this day with dinner at our hotel. Love those residence inn's and their FREE breakfast AND dinner!

Minnesota Day 1- Swimming Fun!

We were able to tag along with Mark on business for a week. Who can pass up a free hotel room? Especially when it is at the Mall of America??

Our first day we spent at the hotel while Mark worked. We just made it a pool/unpack and rest day. We had traveled all day Sunday and got in pretty late. We LOVED our van for the drive down. I guess just all that extra space dropped the noise level down a few notches. That and the kids being able to spread out. Though we did have issues that the back row's wireless headphones did not work, to far away??

We were in a Residence Inn which my kids always love for their great breakfast buffet. This hotel was connected to an indoor park and a huge indoor pool. What we did not know was that the complex also had a retirement community attached to it. And open swim was only at certain times. The kids enjoyed watching Water Aerobics done by a group. Let me tell you those people are serious about their lap swimming. It was to begin at 12 and at 1201 I was asked when I was leaving. We were not even in the laps! I sure hope when I am older I am not so crabby as some people are!! ;-)

We were starting the day off with a problem listening, so while some kids were able to do this right away..

Some had to sit on the bench for awhile. They look terribly sad do they not?

My little water bug

Remember how scared she used to be of the water? She loves to swim now and is happy she has graduated to floaties instead of a vest.

The class used these floats to work out, my kids used them to make a boat!
And work out!!

Today's meal was at Tuchi Benuch our FAVORITE Italian place in the mall. If you ever go, try the baked spaghetti, it is fabulous! All in all, a good day. A bit crowded in our room, but free IS free. ;-)

Maverys heart update & therapy

We saw the heart doctor this week with Mavery. Quite a fun visit. Mark made me leave the room to try and gain some control over her. What is it about moms that seem to bring out the, what is the word, the hmm, well anyways, she was not acting so good with me. The visits are LONG for her. They just did an echo and an EKG but it took longer than usual waiting. Anyways, the news was not that great. There has not been a change since our last visit in December. He wants to go in and dilate the stent they put in last summer and is hopeful that will help. He claimed this SHOULD do it till she is a teenager. But I am wondering how they just put a stent in a year ago and it is already needing dilated and then we will be able to go 10 years?? We just take it one day at a time, one visit at a time and we are no longer surprised by anything. He wants to do it this summer so I am just waiting on a call from the hospital. NOT what we wanted to put her through again at this point, but at least it is simply a cath and not open heart surgery.

We also took her to her first therapy session today at Sensory Solutions. I have to say, her therapist looked a bit frazzled afterwards, which kind of made me giggle. ;-) We are hopeful that this will bring about good things for Mavery, and for us! She will go once a week. It is a bit of a drive, but I am planning to take one kid a week along with me for a date at BreadCo, which conveniently sits right downstairs of the therapist!

We appreciate your prayers for our girl!

A Day with Sage

Will catch up on our trip from last week, but that will take awhile. So I wanted to share my date with Sage I had this week. I try to make it a point to spend time with my children one on one, but it is harder with the little girls. Especially to get away with just Sage because Mavery gets so upset. So I had the perfect chance this week. My older 3 had a church field trip for the whole day and Mavery had school. I did not tell Sage till Mavery was gone and then told her we were going to have a special day together and do whatever she wanted. Her face just lit up and she ran around telling the rest of the house.

Our first stop was to the Coffee House in town. We just love that place. So warm and friendly. Sage had a frozen hot chocolate. I forgot to take my camera in, so forgive the car photos.

Next pick was the library. Sage loves to look at books.

Then on to the playground for a short stop.

Her favorite was going to the 'big girl nail place to get her feet washed and painted!"

She could not wait! This was her first time for a real mani & pedi and boy did she enjoy herself!
She thought it was hilarious when they scrubbed her feet and just giggled away yelling that tickles!

I am not sure who was concentrating more, him or her?

Getting flowers painted on.

Pretty in Pink (i talked her out of lime green)

Can you tell she is happy??
From there Grammy treated us to lunch at Applebees, yum!

After that we headed to the mall. It was especially exciting because I did not make her ride in a stroller but let her walk like a big girl. (a stroller is typically a necessity when I am out w/ all of them) We stopped at Claire's, a 4 year old dream come true. Jewelry and makeup and all things girly. She looked at the ear piercing chair a few times but she decided not till she is bigger.
Escalators are also something we typically avoid due to strollers so that was a big request, can we ride the escalators? We rode every single one in the mall... more than once.
We went up...

And we went down!

We went to the bookstore FOREVER to read .

We stopped at the kiosk in the mall where they always want to straighten your hair. She wanted to know what they did. So they curled her hair. Do you see it? One curl. She wanted alot of curls but the girl was not offering that.

So we had a cookie for consolation. Sage is following after Makenna and loves anything with peace signs.

We had a perfect day and I laughed so hard with her. Sage just embraces life and EVERYTHING makes her happy. She looks at anything she does as one big adventure and you can't help but giggle right along with her. It might simply be stopping at the grocery store and picking up a loaf of bread, or skipping through the mall and searching for a pack of gum, she enjoys it and so then I do too. This week we celebrated referral day and I think this day was a perfect celebration of that gift we saw on that day 4 years ago.

Because of a few good men

Because of these two

And these two

and most importantly this

I get to live this life

Happy Fathers Day to the men who have made my life what it is. So thankful.

6/20/05 the date that forever changed us

I guess this will be our spotlight Sunday for Sage!

There are many dates in our lives that are important. Mark says that I remember to many dates and how can one person keep track of all those things? I have no idea, I just do. Which is amazing if you knew how bad I stink at math. ;-)

One date is a really big deal to me. June 20th, 2005. It is the day we were officially logged in with China for our first adoption. It meant that we had finished up all of our paperwork, mailed it in, and they had filed us away waiting to be matched to our child.

For months, days, HOURS I counted down. I cried. I prayed. I BEGGED God to get a move on and show us the face of our baby. Every time a batch of referrals would come out, it was based on your LID. (log in date) So, 6/20/05 was a date that was never ever far from our minds. Every month on the 20th we checked another month off. We knew it meant we were just that much closer.

So while February 2005 was when we actually officially started our paperwork for adoption. And June 2006 was when we received our referral. August 2006 was when we met our daughter. It really was all about June 20th, 2005. THAT was the day that China counted. THAT was the day that caused me to get matched with her. If we had been matched earlier or later, it would not have been our Sage.

Sage ChenYi Mae. Our first glimpse of adoption. No doubt in our minds that God chose that date, and matched this child as ours. She makes me laugh every single day. Her personality is amazing. Yes, she is sneaky and can drive you crazy, but then she laughs this big laugh or says something that makes you laugh so hard you forgot what it was she did that made you crazy!
I am still in awe that she is mine. That God allowed us to step out into this world called adoption. That of all the babies in China, I got to be Sage's mommy!


She has changed in this past year. As we went through attachment therapy with Mavery, we learned a few things about Sage. We always thought she was secure and attached to us. And while I think for the most part she was, there were little things that have improved. She has become much more loving. She was always kind of indifferent to hugs and kisses. But now we get them much more freely. "Mom, I love you" is heard more out of the blue, which just melts me.

She is still a free spirit, which is what makes her Sage. Everyone loves her, yet she seems not to notice the attention she draws. She is typically in her own little world and can amuse herself, but is happy to include you in her play. Especially if you allow her to be the boss! She is the quiet sneaky sort. You better keep your guard up, but typically no matter what she does, we just end up laughing. She is also SO smart. She loves to learn and her concentration is pretty amazing. She is competitive, which is a new challege for us in our children.
She loves all her siblings, but she and Sawyer have a special bond. She calls him "my buddy" and she can get him to do just about anything she wants. Same goes with her daddy. One evening he was gone and called home. She said" I can't wait till you get home so you can tickle me!"

June 20, 2005. Because of that date, we are forever blessed with our Sage. Thank you Father for the amazing gift of adoption!