Last weekend's soccer game

So I am catching up on posting about last weekend's soccer game for Mackenzie. We decided to let Ainsley drop soccer as she hated it. But Mackenzie seems to like it and did great in her game. She was aggressive at getting to the ball and getting it down the field and she even scored a goal!! Yay! She had lots of fun and I could tell she was pretty excited that she scored a goal. We got some decent pics so I will post a few here. It was an early game too which was even better as once it gets to 11 or 12 it is so hot that the kids fizzle out quickly but her game was at 9 which is perfect in the hot weather. Enjoy!

Random Pics

Here are just a few random recent pics of Mackenzie and Ainsley looking cute...

Re-Adoption Pictures

Here are two pics of all of us with the judge that resided over Ellie's re-adoption.  Our time in court lasted all of about 10-15 minutes at the most and now there will be no issues with probate if anything should happen to us. We already got her record of foreign birth in the mail a few days ago which is pretty fast.  We were anticipating it taking longer.  

Chinese Outfit

Here are a few pictures of Ellie in the outfit that her Auntie Kim had made for Mackenzie. Once I transfer my pictures from our old computer to our laptop I will have to post a few pictures of Mackenzie and Ainsley in the same outfit.  I love this outfit and Auntie Kim's taste in style and it looked cute on all three girls too:)

Gymnastics and School

Yesterday was Ellie and Ainsley's first day of gymastics. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of Ainsley but I will try to do that next week. I did however get some cute pictures of Ellie with some of the other little chinese girls in their matching leotards. I wanted to post a few of them as they were so cute! Actually I looked at the pictures that I took and they weren't that great but my friend, Patti got these two pics and I thought they were adorable!


Ellie did well for her first time I think.  She still doesn't want to sit still and listen to directions and waiting her turn seems to be difficult but overall she did well.  Hopefully preschool will help her develop some of these habits!  

Today was also her first day of preschool so it was a packed day for her.  She is still pretty tired and I am sure it will take a few weeks to adjust to not having a nap.  Monday are pretty full for her as she has speech, then gymnastics and then school.  Her teacher said she had a good day at school.  She mentioned that she wants to sit in everyone's lap and have them hold her but that she responded pretty well to being told to sit down on her spot.  I am praying the adjustment to preschool isn't too difficult for her.  Here are a few first day pictures.

What a week..

We have had quite the first week of school.  I need to get better about keeping our blog updated but I just procrastinate and then find that it has been a week or longer!  All of the girls have had a great week.  Ellie has spent the week adjusting to having a nap only a few days this past week. Although she doesn't start school officially until tomorrow, I did try to help her get used to not having a nap.  So a few of the days I didn't put her down and a few days I did.  She spent last Wed afternoon in her classroom.  She met her teachers and some of the kids.  She participated in the class activities and it was good to see how everything worked for me so I now know what to expect from school.  I filled out paperwork while she had some free play time and got it all taken care of thankfully.  It is insane the amount of paperwork one has to fill out on every child since they all go to the SAME school.  Isn't there some form I could fill out that says NO CHANGES??? Crazy if you ask me but then apparently no one did...:)

Mackenzie and Ainsley loved their first week of school.  Ainsley got into the van almost every day saying, "mom, I had the BEST day ever" in her very exuberant voice.  She just oozes emotion whether good of bad and it was awesome to see her so excited and not clinging to me.  I can't tell you how thankful I was that her week went so well AND she is excited for next week!  Mackenzie, though not nearly as exuberant, also had a great week of school and really likes her teacher and classes.  Mackenzie started gymnastics last week and all of them will be taking this week.  Ainsley and Ellie at a different gym than Mackenzie because of convenience. There is a gym near where Ellie has speech on Mondays and they had a class for both Ainsley and Ellie's age at the same time right after speech.  So we are pretty excited as it doesn't involved us driving out of our way.  Mackenzie's gym is much closer to home but a little bit smaller but we still think it is going to be great for her.  I think Ellie will love it.  She is in a class with 5 other little girls that are adopted from China and whom we know so I am excited for her.  This will be completely new class for Ainsley so we will see how she does but I am hopeful it goes well.  

Enjoy the closing ceremonies...we are:)

Getting Ready for School

Tomorrow starts the school year for the two oldest girls.  Mackenzie will be all day but Ainsley only half day.  I found out that Ellie doesn't start until next Monday so I have a week home alone with Ellie which will be fun.  Mackenzie and Ainsley are all ready to go and looking forward to it. I am a bit nervous with Ainsley but hopefully she suprises me and has no "mommy attachment" issues!  

Ainsley had her first soccer game on Saturday and didn't play.  She managed to cry a lot though:( We are going to give it another shot.  Jeff will take her to practice tomorrow night and then to her game on Sat.  I went with Jeff to the game and she didn't do well but maybe if I am not there at all it will help.  Mackenzie also had her first game and did pretty well for her first game.  She still has a lot to learn about following through when kicking the ball and learning positions on the field but we think she did great.  She was pretty tired at the end as it was really warm and sunny but she was a trooper.

Hopefully I will remember I to post tomorrow after their first day of school:)

Where has the week gone???

This week has flown by with lots of little things.  The girls had their first soccer practices this week.  Ainsley was on Monday and Mackenzie on Thurs.  I actually didn't go to either of them but Jeff said they both did great.  Ainsley was a bit hesitant but did tell the coach her name and did play so that's good!  And Mackenzie seemed to really have fun so I am excited for them.  Hopefully they will really enjoy their time in soccer this fall.  They are also both enjoying swim lessons and I am seeing lots of improvement in both of their swimming so that has been really worth it.  Other than soccer and swim lessons, we have been spending time at the pool, hanging out with the neighbors and just having fun.  We have had one other big event this week kid related and that was that our re-adoption was finalized!!  We went ahead and re-adopted Ellie here in the US for estate planning purposes just in case anything ever happen to us.  It is just best to have all the bases covered as sometimes things can get held up in Probate if they aren't re-adopted in the US.  It also gives her a US birth certificate which is helpful for school purposes.  So we are glad that is done.  All that's left is out 12 month post placement in October/November.  

I spent Thursday and Friday at an amazing leadership conference in Cincinnati put on by Willowcreek.  I learned so much and it was fun to go to but the two days were long..not getting home till 7 both nights.  Definately worth it!  So that's been our week..oh and of course we can't forget the beginning of the Olympics.  I LOVE watching the Olympics and especially this year as they are in China.  It is fun to point that out to Ellie who can now say China:)  The girls have all loved watching with us this year.  Hopefully we can still get some sleep!

More Maine 2008

Ainsley's 5th Birthday!

Blowing out her candles

Opening gifts

Ellie wants to help too!

Matching dresses funny faces:)

Uncle Aaron taker of awesome photos at Mt. Katahdin

Homecoming Parade Lincoln 2008

Ellie at my mom's house

A blurry photo of the girls in their matching outfits for Ainsley's family birthday party

Ainsley's 5th birthday cake at Grammie Moody's house

Ellie in the cloth swing at the children's museum in Bangor

Ellie on the ship at the children' museum

Ainsley in the swing

Ellie sitting in the mouth:)

Mackenzie and Ainsley dressed up in kimonos at the children's museum

Ainsley playing in the water section of the museum..I think she is trying to thwart the building of a dam...much to the dismay of a little boy there:)

Ellie playing in the water at museum

Mackenzie in mittens...

Mackenzie and Ainsley in kimonos at museum

Mackenzie in swing

Maine 2008

Look at the cool fish I caught!

Hmmm...mom, what are you doing?

Yet another fish..did I mention I LOVE fishing?

Apparently I do too!

Mom...I am a great fisherwoman

We loved making good treats with grammie and grampie Miller!!

Ellie

Daisy

Henry

Mackenzie

Ellie and Ainsley at the lake with Grammie and Grampie Miller

Ellie at lake

Sand Angels:)

Apparently better than snow angels because you get sandy!

Look at me..mid dance:)