I Scream,You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream!

Girl Stuff

The girls with their giraffe shirts-Jia was thrilled that she had a shirt like Anna. She said Anna had the Mommy and Daddy and she had the baby on her shirt.

Jia constantly tells her sisters "your my best friend"

Katie is the richest person in the house this summer!

Jia prepares a big tea party.

Yummmmm a good cup of tea.

Love this smile, what a happy kid!

Jia and Mom showing off the bracelets that Anna and Jia made.

Putting Jia away for the night...hee hee!

Just a few pictures this week. Jia is thrilled with the giraffe outfit that Nona and Papa bought her for her birthday. Notice in the picture that Anna has a giraffe shirt too which made things extra special for Jia.

Also pictures of Jia with the tea set that Nona sent.

Katie is working hard she has a daytime babysitting job for one of her former teachers. She watches a little 2 year old named Brooke 3 days a week.

Anna has soccer practice from school and is really good about helping me do errands. Sometimes Drew even joins us! (he goes crazy when he is on vacation, needs a project!!)

Thank You isn't enough....

Sometime over the weekend I received the 10,000 hit on my little family blog. It is amazing and humbling to me that so many of you give our family a little time out of each day to follow our journey through this amazing life.

"I am thankful to God for each story, each idea, each word, each day."
~Issac Bashevis Singer

CCCHHHANNNGGGESSS!!!!!!

Every morning when Katie wakes up I ask her if her teeth are straight yet-
just to drive her crazy...

Jia wants to grow her hair long "like Anna's" however she was having a hard time seeing, so she went to see Franny at "beauty" (Jia's name for the salon) to get some bangs.

Okay, this was a scary one, but as I told her cousin, the only reason why I said okay was because Christy has one too! This involved a suburban Mom and a soccer player visiting a tatoo shop. Certainly a new, and one time experience for both of us!

Happy Mothers Day Dad!

Boxers or Briefs? BOXERS

Don't let Daddy get mad at you, he just received some very sharp instruments for Father's Day

Jia giving Dad a little help with opening the gifts

Dad's Favorite gift - some strange and pointy bar-b-cue set

Jia is basting her Daddy with the bar-b-que brush.

THE TITLE OF THIS LINK IS NOT A MISTAKE, THIS IS WHAT LITTLE JIA WALKED AROUND SAYING ALL DAY!

Okay, so one of us is a little confused...but she is heartfelt in her wishes to her Daddy! After all, she helped Dad open all of his presents, and then "painted" him with the bar-b-cue brush he received as a present. The big girls get a little exuberant when it comes to wrapping presents, so some of Dad's paper was the princess paper left over from Jia's birthday last week.

Jia has a Birthday Date!

Jia and Parker going to Wannado City
Don't worry, Anna and Katie are right behind them!
(there are 3 posts in a row, couldn't get the pics into one)

JIA IS SIX! SHENG RI KUAI LE!

OUR 6 YEAR OLD!

COCO HELPS JIA CHECK OUT THE BALLOONS

Jia agreed that this was "many presents"

Jia and Mom ready to party

Wannado City-Jia as a surgeon

Wanna Do City- Jia as a Paramedic

PARTYTIME!

Silly Parker and Jia picture in Wannnado City

Jia and Parker share some Dippin Dots (ice cream)

The Lovebirds

Jia's big girl bike!

The Hannah Montana birthday cake

Happpy Birthday to Jia-cha cha cha!

Let the opening begin!

Pretty Dress from Nona and Papa, Jia loves to look pretty

A beautiful tropical dress from Nona and Papa

Jia loves Giraffes-From Nona and Papa

Helmet and knee pads from big sister Katie who used her babysitting money

We celebrated Jia's birthday yesterday. Her Chinese assigned birthday is June 18, but because that coincides with Father's Day and our 17th (!) Anniversary, we decided to move it up.

Little Miss Jia had a great time. I'm not going to write a lot as I have a ton of pictures, but here was the plan: Jia and Parker visited Wannado City-Katie and Anna were their chaperones. If you are not familiar with Wannado, it is like a giant indoor theme park, but each section highlights a hands on experience highlighting a job that the kids may want as a career. For example, Jia was a surgeon, she held back the skin of the "person" on the table, she was a paramedic, where she took a hurt patient to the hospital in an ambulance. She was a pilot on an airplane, and she also captained a boat. Katie and Anna each wore a bracelet that they could scan at any moment and find out exactly where Jia and Parker were. Meanwhile, we got to see Summer Raine (Parker's brand new little sister) and all of the adults retired to the Cheesecake Factory.

When we came home we had a family party where Jia opened her presents and had her Hannah Montana cake. All in all, I think she had a blast! Enjoy the pictures!

Dance Fever!

Lazy, Summer Days

Jia is learning to swim this summer with Dad's help

Anna-Red, White and Blue (hair)

Opening Nona and Papa's box

Finding out she is indeed, Scottish

Ellen and Katie playing Wii tennis

First of all, let me say congratulations to our niece and nephew Christy and Michael on the birth of their second child Wesley Jack. We are so happy that they have been blessed with another beautiful and healthy son!

We have been lazy and just hanging around here. The girls have had a few parties, but other than that we have been enjoying the pool, a visit from Ellen and her granddaughter Daphne and of course shopping.

Little Jia received her birthday box from Nona and Papa, she was very thrilled, we let her open the box but would not let her open the presents. She handled that well (much better than Anna does!)

We will be celebrating her birthday this Saturday, June 13th although her birthday is June 18th. Our plans keep changing, but as of right now, Jia is going to Wannado City with Parker and his brother Cody. Anna and Katie will go in with them to chaperone. After that we will come home for balloons, cake, ice cream and presents. She is very excited.

I am feeling guilty, I wanted to invite her class, but didn't get the invites out on time. I am anxious, very anxious , that she will have fun. I used to plan A & K's parties down to the last little thing, I think if I were 100% I would have had it under control. GUILT.

Last Day of School

Sometimes pictures speak louder than words!

PIRATES, BRACES AND 1 MORE DAY!

ONE MORE DAY!

Jia, the Pirate Princess

Mom-happy everyone will be home with her soon.

Ms. Flanagan High 2009

Before

After

Coco Channel-no reason, just too cute.

What an exciting day today! We started out getting Jia ready for her Pirates and Princess Party at school. It just so happened we had Jia's pirate costume from Halloween two years ago and she was perfectly happy being the only girl pirate. Everyone made a big fuss over how cute she looked.

Katie and Anna had short days because they are taking finals. Katie's appointment with the orthodontist was at 1:30. She has finally got her braces!!!

Then Anna and I went out to Target to buy teacher presents. While there we ran into one of Anna's teachers. The first thing she said to me was: "Are you Anna's Mom?" When I said yes, she said " Would you please come over to the school and teach a class on how to raise a child right". She went on and on about how wonderful Anna was. It is so nice to hear all of these great things about our girls.

We have spent the evening making jars of hugs & kisses for teachers.
Tomorrow is the big day!

Blogging Directions...

Please scroll down, there are 3 new blogs in a row. (Don't worry, they are short).

Goodbye Coach, We will miss you.....

COACH! YOU ARE THE BEST!

Coach Dave Tuthill has been the PE Coach at Silver Palms Elementary for 20++++ years. He had Anna and Katie in his class through their elementary years and he has Jia right now. He typifies what an exceptional teacher is. He remembers every student, makes them feel special and teaches with all of his heart.

Coach Tuthill (just called "Coach") is retiring this year. Today former students were invited back to say goodbye to him. I got Anna and Katie out of school early so they could go. Both girls found tee shirts from elementary school and wore them out of respect to coach. When you look at the pictures notice that Anna and Katie have 5th grade shirts on. Coach remembered both Anna and Katie and says that Jia is a sweetheart.

There are a lot of good teachers out there, but there are only a few that make a supreme difference in a child's life, Coach Tuthill, without a doubt is one of them.

One Hundred Years From Now

Author Unknown

One hundred years from now
It won't matter
What kind of car I drove
What kind of house I lived in
How much money I had in the bank
Nor what my clothes looked like
BUT
The world may be a little better
Because, I was important
In the life of a child.