Chicago Day 2- American Girl

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On Friday we went to the American Girl store. Makenna was not all that into the dolls, because quite frankly, I always thought the price was ridiculous. She had a doll we bought in China and she was fine with that. But Malaine has always been into all dolls, and loved going through the American Girl Magazine each month. For Christmas she got her first doll, Ruthie, and since then we have all got into them more. The girls pulled their money together and bought Julie, all for her hair. ;-) Then Kit came for kindergarten graduation. Price wise, yes, still think they are high. But I would rather cut out some of the other "stuff" that we tend to lose pieces to, or they get bored with quickly and buy something that they use their imagination with. Not to mention that Makenna & Malaine play so well together with these dolls. So, all that said, this was our first time to visit the store. Makenna was not so sure, and was certainly not going to wear a dress to match her doll. But once we walked in that store, both of their eyes lit up, their mouths dropped open and they were full of giggles and smiles!
On our way to breakfast, we stopped at the doll hospital and checked in the doll I have tried to fix myself. We all loved that they put the gown on her with promises of her having a good hospital stay. Can't wait to see what they can do with her hair and they will reattach a broken leg.

We were ushered into the dining room with a warm welcome to the girls AND dolls. They were so sweet over Malaine wearing a matching set to her doll, everywhere we went people commented about their dresses, which she loved. The pictures do not do the dining room justice. It is so cute with hot pink and black. The napkin rings were hair scrunchies for the girls to keep, they bring out chairs for the dolls. They treat the girls like grown ups. My favorite moment was when Makenna leaned over and said "I feel like such a princess mom!" We thought the food was just OK, which is what I had heard. You are paying for the experience. And it was so worth it.

After breakfast Malaine bought Chrissa. She had saved up $$ along with an early birthday advance from Grammy and she could not wait to buy her. We had ears pierced to. They had a spot you could get hair done, but Makenna has to much of Mark in her. She said there was no way she was letting me pay $$ for the hair to be done when she could do it better and then redo it later with out feeling guilty. ;-) At one point I threatened to take her home if she said one more word about $$. Mark said he told her he would give her 10% of all she saved me from spending. (kidding of course) Actually Makenna is pretty great with hair and I have to agree, she did do better than those girls there!

We all enjoyed walking around reading about the dolls and the eras they are from and looking at the things from their time periods.

All in all, a wonderful time and worth the $$. I was so into dolls when I was young, this is like MY dream come true! ;-) I loved that the entire weekend the girls just wanted to get back to the room and play with the dolls together. I can't wait to take the little girls someday. (or to give them their birthday gifts we bought while there!)

Chicago Day 1-Run Forest Run!

It takes a team to watch Sugar & Spice! Especially when Ms Jenny has had a headache for 5 days. Hope they did not make it worse and we appreciate you all! Malaine & Kit are ready to go!

That is a BIG city!
Navy Pier








The already mostly eaten funnel cake that really was not so great. Though Makenna likes the powdered sugar!



I am pretty sure that was the quietest car ride EVER. I forget what it is like to not have toddlers around. I was actually able to finish up my chore packs I have been working on along with our schedule for the new school year. Things I have been working on for months, but just did not have the chance for a long stretch of quiet to really think. So, the drive alone was succesful for me! We ran into alot of traffic on the way down, but the kids never even complained once. (in case you wonder, we left our little girls at home, and being here it was the right choice!)

We like our hotel alot, the kids said they feel like they are in a "movie star place"! (we got a good deal online when we booked LONG ago. ) We checked in and walked down to Navy Pier. Quite a walk but we figure it is good practice for Disney. ;-) We had dinner at Bubba Gumps which is one of our favorite places to eat. Then enjoyed walking around the pier. We walked through a "fun maze" which the kids were SOO excited about, but we were pretty bummed once it was over. Not nearly as exciting as they made it sound.

Ended the evening with funnel cakes and watching Monsters vs Aliens. The girls have their dolls in bed so they are ready for breakfast at American Girl! Should be quite fun. Boys are going to do boy things, not American Girl, in case you worried I might make them.

As nice as the quiet and break is, I am missing my little girls & know I will be ready to get home on Sunday. Very thankful to friends and grandparents for helping them have lots of fun.

Kansas City Meeting New Friends

The farm had a great playground for the kids to play on.

Sage loved feeding the goats a bottle. These goats were not quite as aggressive as the ones at Grants Farm!

Mavery was not such a nice bottle feeder. She would let one have it for about 5 seconds and then rip it away and run to another goat. But she had fun!

All the kids enjoyed a ride on the saddle. That was in the room with the cows. I guess in Kansas they saddle their cows. ;-)

This was Sawyers KC face. I have no idea.

Enjoying a cold treat on the cow.



Lunch! Jamison was enjoying a rib as big as she was, it was to cute!

Sawyer, Makenna holding Mavery Carson holding Jamison

Malaine, Graham, Tyler, Cooper, Heisler Addison & Sage

On Sunday we were able to meet up with a friend I met online when I got my referral of Sage. Tracy has a daughter from Chenzhou, and was good friends with my friend Kathy. So we connected and what a blessing Tracy is to me! (Remember HUGE cupcakes when Mavery had surgery, remember adorable gotcha day tshirt? Yep, this is that Tracy!) I was determined I was not leaving Kansas City this time with out finally getting to meet her. And it is not just because she sent those cupcakes that I love her, though that helped. ;-) She has just been such a comfort to me through both of my adoptions and is a really good listener & encourager. (which means she lets me unload about my kids and gets it!) She also has 5 children. 2 of her daughters she used the agency I used with Sage, her little guy was with the agency I used for Mavery. We met at a really neat farm and the kids all enjoyed that. Then ended with BBQ where my brother & sis in law joined us. 12 kids at lunch, it actually went pretty well! Thank you Tracy for making us feel so welcome and for being such a sweet friend! Loved meeting you &your family and hope we get to see more of you.

I did not get the camera out when we were at the house, but we enjoyed staying with Marks brother Brett and my sis in law Amy. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins. They were so kind to let us invade their house after they had been gone at youth camp all week and Amy sure made us some yummy desserts. Being a pampered chef consultant I guess means you have to bake well because she does!

Overall the kids did great, we never know with the little girls how they will do away from home, we just do not travel as much as we used to! We were actually surprised at how well Mavery did, she seemed to actually do well with all the change and noises and busyness. Now the car, that is another story. I did threaten to cancel Disney on the drive down, it was that bad. 4 of my children do GREAT in a car. Honestly, they play, they sing, they read, they watch tv. Mavery just whines. Or screams. Or hits the person next to her. And NEVER stops. It is REALLY hard. I am trying to come up with more ideas for the trip down, other than having someone fly her. We had planned on driving all night so hopefully that will help.

Suitcases are unpacked from KC and now getting repacked for Chicago! We are looking forward to some big kid time and the little girls are looking forward to some Ms Jenny and grandparents time!

Kansas City- Spicy Friends

Saturday evening we met friends for dinner at the T-Rex Cafe. Sage & Tatumn were both from Chenzhou Hunan, so they are spicy girls! Though I am certain one is a little more spicy than the other. ;-) We were also able to see Myer and her sweet family. They were on our first trip to China, but went to a different province. Myer has faced alot in her little life and is such a miracle. Her smile and giggle can light up the room. Sage was not so sure when we first went into the restaurant. She is not a fan of loud noises and it was certainly loud. She sat next to Tatumn but did not want anything to do with her for the first little bit. But by the end they were full of little girl giggles and smiles, holding hands and hugs. Funny thing, Sage wanted the dino that walked around to come over and get a hug, Mavery was scared to death of him. But Mavery LOVED how loud the place was.

After dinner the girls started a round of Ring around the Rosie which drew quite the crowd. You notice the little blonde, who patiently waited to be invited in the circle. So cute!

My girls LOVED the fountain and were just about in it swimming around. Tatumn wanted nothing to do with that and as you can see in the picture the hand holding and hugs were over once Sage got wet. The last picture is their "chinese smiles", silly girls!

Still more weekend fun to come!

Kansas City-Song Song & Ming Ming

Forever Friends!

Isaiah & Malaine after they painted their faces, they were so cute together!

They had an area for fishing for magnetic fish that was fun. I love the above pictures, it is like they were sharing secrets, so sweet!

In the bottom picture Mavery has a stash of fish in her dress that Ming Ming was catching for her.

Sage LOVED painting her face and spent a very long time in that area.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

We traveled to Kansas City this weekend because our friends were going to be there. We traveled this time to China with Jeff & Leigh who live to far away. Texas to be exact. So with news that they would be just 4 hours from our home, we knew we had to go so we could get the girls together. Leigh and I have been talking, wondering how it would go. When I mention China to Mavery now, she folds her arms and pouts her lips and says, "No China, me not like China". And when I told her we would get to see Ming Ming this weekend, she said NO MING MING. I really think she thought that Ming Ming was going to try to take her back to China. And Leigh said, that if Emma (ming) could, she just might do that! ;-) We met at a park in KC and just getting out of the car Mavery was clinging to me. We walked in and there was Emma who came running over and Mavery hid her face and wanted nothing to do with her. Of course for me it was so emotional. Partly just seeing Leigh again and Emma has changed so much! Partly the fact that I guess I thought these 2 little friends would see each other and embrace like they had never left!

It did not take long and Mavery was full of giggles and these 2 sweet girls fell right back into their rolls from their life before us. Ming Ming mothering SongSong around, Song Song being ornery and not listening to her. ;-)

I have had the chance to see a few of the families we shared our trip to China with, and each time, it is so sweet. To see the change in Emma/MingMing is just amazing. I think with our own children, we do not see it as much. We forget how far they have come. So to see Emma with her long hair and loving her mama, speaking english, getting tall and skinny, it really was a gift for me. I love that little girl and she will always be MingMing to us, Maverys China sister. And of course spending the day with Leigh and Isaiah is a gift as well! I only wish we did not live so far apart.

More friends & fun to come from our weekend!

Sawyer is NINE!

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It makes me sad that my Sawyer boy is in LAST year of single digits! He is getting way to old and growing up so quickly. He has had quite the birthday celebration. We had a family party last weekend, then a full day of fun in Kansas City. Cousins, friends, dinner with the dinosaurs at T-Rex Cafe complete with a birthday song and cookie sundae, YUM! Nine things all about Sawyer Riley from this year..

1. He has such a tender heart. He can't stand for anyone to hurt.
   
2. He finally has his own room back. He & Malaine have shared for a long time because of new babies, but she has moved out and he is on his own!
3. He is a VERY good reader and tested at about 3 grades above his actual grade.
4. He loves to talk. Alot. He outtalks the girls in this house.
5. He is very witty. He has a great sense of humor.
6. He enjoys pokeman.
7. But is really into legos now. He is all about Legos. And Wii or anything electronic.
8. He wants to be a video game designer when he grows up.
9. Is a GREAT brother and NEVER complains about having 4 sisters. In fact, I think he enjoys his role as THE boy.
   

Happy 9th Birthday Sawyer, our favorite boy!

Weekend Preview

Will post when we get home, but wanted to share some highlights from our day. Everyone is having tons of fun!