Look Who's Walking!

On July 25th, 2008, Nolan took his first step! Yippee! There is no stopping him now! Rob calls this his "Monster Mash", the Frankenstein walk!

Happy B'Day Bebe Noli! You Are 1 Year Old!

Happy B'Day Bebe Noli! You Are 1 Year Old!

We celebrated Baby Noli's 1st Bday! It is hard to believe our baby boy has just turned 1! He is such a sweet, beautiful baby! We had a fabulous party for him, surrounded by wonderful friends! His Godparents (Kendi, Mark) and Godbrothers, Colin, Grant, Cam, arrived, accompanied by Grandma Linda, Aunt Kristy and her wonderful family! Thank you all so very much! You made the day so very special! We had lots of outdoor water fun, followed by presents and then diving into a big chocolate cake! Enjoy the pics! We just lOVE our baby boy! He is simply the BEST! We are so grateful each and every day to have such wonderful children and friends!

Happy Birthday Claire!

Claire is now 3 years old! It is hard to believe! We had a party for her at the house, BBQ , cake and ice cream! We had her picture on her cake, next to Barney! She was so excited to turn 3! Lot's of our friends showed up to help us celebrate! Everyone had a wonderful time! Happy B'day Claire Bear

Spring Dance Recital 2008

Caitlin had her annual Spring Dance recital late last month. She participated in each concert, performing jazz, ballet and tap numbers. She had beautiful performances. She will move up to the next dance company for her summer classes. We are very proud of her!

Look Who's 11 Months Old!

One more month and our baby boy will turn 1! It has happened so quickly! He has been crawling now for a few months, is constantly pulling up on anything he finds! He has discovered climbing stairs, so the child gates have been installed everywhere! He is really a very sweet baby, very laid back (most of the time)and so very happy! Oh, and very quiet (that is, compared to Claire)! We just love him to death! All of our children bring us such joy! Here he is with his favorite toy, a popping ladybug (and, yes, dirty laundry in piles, an everyday occurrence)! He is a very fast crawler, so I am anticipating he will be walking soon and into everything!

Barney Will Be Celebrating Claire's 3rd Bday!

Well, it looks like it's going to be Barney, the Dinosaur for Claire's Big 3rd Birthday celebration! She just LOVES the Purple Guy! Here she is singing her current favorite song! I thought I just about had Rob convinced to dress up as the big purple guy but I haven't yet be able to find a costume! I am still searching!

Busier May!

Whew, May has been sooooooo very busy. Nolan's Baptism/Brunch was the weekend of May 4th. Rob then had his AAA National High School troubleshooting contest at Mt Hood CC the following weekend with Mother's Day (I had a most special, blessed day with my beautiful children) and birthday parties in between. Then Caitlin had yet another dance performance at PGE park May 16th (video clip included), where they performed at the Portland Beavers Baseball game. The entire family attended and we had a great time! Her dance company had also performed at a Portland Trailblazers and Timbers (professional soccer team) game, early this year.

We then celebrated a very special day, May 22nd, our 2nd annual "Gotcha" or Family Day, making it exactly 2 years when we first held our baby girl, Claire, in our arms! I brought out my beautiful Chinese silk table runner, place settings and china! I made Jiaozi (dumplings), Asian Egg Drop Soup, Orange Chicken (which is an actually American Asian dish which the kids love), Apple filled Won Tons and Beef teriyaki. We also had tea in our Asian tea pot! Claire is realizing that she has 2 very special parties, her Family Day and birthday celebrations! The month concluded with more birthday parties (Caitlin and Claire have so many wonderful friends) which we all LOVE to share! June will be just as busy with more parties, including Claire's 3rd birthday!

We have also been in/out of the doctors office! Our baby boy has had 4 ear infections within the past month or so! So, we have an appointment with an ENT Specialist early June, so we are possibly looking into having tubes inserting in his ears. We don't want him to continue suffering so will evaluate our best recommendations!

Busy May!

I have been slacking off on my journaling! It seems like every time I sit to write, the baby or others need my attention! It is very busy around here! May brought us Baby Noli's Baptism! We wore our beautiful silk outfits we bought in Viet Nam! I wore my traditional Vietnamese Ao Dai and the girls, their silk dresses. May 4, 2008 was a beautiful, sunny day, wonderful friends and a most welcome visit from Grandma Carla and Rog who flew in from Arizona to attend! The kids (and we too) were so thrilled to see them! It could not have been a more special occasion! Nolan's Godparents, Kendra and Mark and their boys came, as well as Grandma Linda from southern Oregon! We also had other special friends attend, Aunt Christy, Stacy, Mike, Hannah and Mac! We then celebrated with a wonderful brunch! We couldn't have had a more beautiful celebration on this special day for our baby boy! (oops, the baby is crying! Got to go!)

Meet "Little Guy"

We first met Little Guy in Viet Nam! He proved to be an excellent babysitter, patient, kind and very entertaining! Well, we just HAD to bring him home! So, Daddy deflated him as best he could, smushed him in a suitcase and here he is, living with us now! Sissy and I spend hours hopping around the house on Little Guy! We are slowly teaching Noli the fine art of bouncing all around the house! We just love our Little Guy!

The Godparents

WE ARE ON THE MEND, HOPEFULLY!

One thing, among others, that my children have taught me, is that biology does not necessarily make a family! We have been so very blessed in amazing friends, who have stepped in to help us on a moments notice! Thank you Kendra, Mark, Stacy, Mike, and all our church family! You all have been amazing! We have all been very sick! Rob was in urgent care Sunday, with a horrible systemic staph infection. They had to administer IV antibiotics! This was something he had in VN and it returned, even after a round of oral antibiotics! He has been absolutely miserable but is beginnning to feel better now! He was back in to have another round of IV anitibiotics, then another course of oral antibiotics. This is something that baby had, but his cleared with oral antibiotics. Then, Sunday evening, Claire was complaining of stomach and headache, then threw up late Sunday evening! Oh joy, I knew the entire family was getting sick when Caitlin was complaining and up half the night coughing and coughing, uncontrollably! Just when Rob began to feel somewhat human, I fell ill Tuesday evening with a headache I hadn't had in years! It was one that left you feeling nauseous and miserable just to breath! I was in bed Tuesday evening at 7:30!! That is soooooooo unusual for me, the late night owl, get things done at night kind of person! We are all starting to feel better but I told Rob, I bet this is how the baby has been feeling, but hasn't been able to communicate it! A few days prior, he was almost unconsolable! He was up every couple of hours and acted like he was not feeling good at all (which is so out of character , as he is such an easy going little guy)! We thought it might have been the shots he had, but it could have just been a combination of, whatever nasty virus has been circulating! Thank you again Kendra and Stacy for stepping in to help when we needed someone! You can't imagine how blessed we feel to have you in our lives! I am also back to work, as of, well, when we returned. I received new referrals the very week we returned. I feel so very grateful to have continued work, but it is more of a challenge with 2 children in daycare! I am juggling it all though!

I want to include wonderful photos. We have asked Kendra and Mark to be Nolan's Godparents, and they have honored us by accepting! She threw me the most heartfelt and beautiful baby shower! She is an amazing friend to me! Her Mom, Grandma Linda, has happily agreed to adopt our children as her own! Here are some beautiful pictures of Kendra, the Godmother, holding our beautiful baby boy! And, Mark, 'THE GODFATHER" truly, (he sounds just like Marlon Brando) well, he, too, is happy to oblige! They both love our children to death and we love theirs the same! We thought it necessary to plan a Spring Break outing to the coast this year! We will have all 6 kids in tow, so we will let ya know how it all goes! We are looking forward to a relaxing, yet fun-filled weekend!

PHOTO ESSAY (FEATURING AN ENERGETIC TWO-YEAR-OLD AND ONE WHACKY DAD)

"DO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"