WE ARE HOME FROM MICHIGAN!

We are home from Michigan! We had a GREAT weekend! Dylan and Carli had a very nice birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa's, and got MORE wonderful gifts! They said this year has been their best birthday ever! I'm sure the fact that they had TWO parties had something to do with it being their "best" ever!

Here are some pictures from our weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's.....

THERE WAS A LOT OF 4-WHEELING!

RYLEE & HUNTER (COUSINS)...LAURYN, CARLI, AUSTIN & DYLAN

GRANDMA & LAURYN

DYLAN & CARLI's HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL CAKE!

THE BOYS IN GRANDPA's APPLE TREE WHERE THEY WERE N-O-T SUPPOSED TO BE (I HOPE GRANDPA DOESN'T LOOK AT THE BLOG TODAY)!

DAD & GRANDPA....HARD AT WORK (SUCH A MAN THING)!!

HUNTER (HOLDING TICO), AUSTIN, DYLAN, TANNER, CARLI, RYLEE and LAURYN!
DYLAN GOT SPEED RACER TOYS!

CARLI GOT THE LAST OF HER HANNAH MONTANA DOLLS TO COMPLETE HER COLLECTION :)


CARLI GOT TWO MORE WEBKINZ KITTIES!


DYLAN GOT MORE WEBKINZ TOO! THE TIGER SNAKE AND CHEEKY DOG!


DAD & LAURYN EATING CAKE & ICE CREAM! THIS "CLOSED EYE" SHOT IS TO PAY MY HUSBAND BACK FOR THE ROTTEN PICTURES HE TOOK OF ME AT THE LAST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THOSE OF YOU WHO FOLLOW MY BLOG KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT :)

ANOTHER GROUP SHOT!

THIS ONE IS FOR YOU, TANNER! I DON'T KNOW WHERE YOU WERE WHEN ALL OF THE OTHER GROUP SHOTS WERE TAKEN!! LORD KNOWS YOU'RE A "BUSY" LITTLE GUY, THOUGH!!

WHY I LOVE MY YAHOO GROUPS!

BEFORE I BEGIN MY POST....IS THIS SONG (ANGELS AMONG US) THE MOST AMAZING SONG EVER, OR WHAT?! I HAVEN'T HEARD IT IN SO LONG...IT MADE ME CRY!!

There are many reasons why I love my Yahoo groups! I have met so many wonderful new friends as a result of these groups, and I especially love my Hefei adoption group! Several of the wonderful people from this group have taken pictures of our Kacie for us when they visit the orphanage! We are so thankful for every little glimpse of her that we can get!!

I visited a blog of someone who belongs to my Hefei adoption group and noticed that she was from Wisconsin! So, naturally I had to leave a comment on her blog!! To make a long story short....we exchanged several emails last night after discovering that we actually graduated from the SAME high school (she graduated 3 years before I did)! We had so much to talk about (so many PEOPLE to talk about)! And, it was sooooo fun!!!! Honestly, we are from a small town in Wisconsin, and rarely has anyone ever heard of it!! So, to actually find someone in my YAHOO group who had not only "heard" of the town, but was actually "from" the town...was very exciting (to say the least)! For all of my Hefei group visitors who are familiar with member names, I'm talking about Carrie Sullivan!

Not much happening here today! I've spent any of my spare time today packing for our trip to Michigan tomorrow, doing laundry and trying to make sure the housework gets done...and WORKING on top of it all!! I'm pooped!! :) It's always a "job" in itself to get this family ready to go ANYWHERE!

I did take some pictures of the kids today! They all got haircuts yesterday (even Lauryn)! Lauryn has NEVER let anyone except "mommy" cut her hair! Well, she cried the entire time she was in the stylist's chair, but.....she did it!! She survived the TRAUMA of getting a haircut!! LOL!

Here's some pictures for you! I hope you all have a great weekend! I'll post some pictures when we return from Michigan on Monday!

AUSTIN

DYLAN CARLI AND LAURYN CARLI AND LAURYN ACTING GOOFY (CHECK OUT THE TONSILS ON THIS GIRL)!!

BOP TO THE TOP!

I'm sorry, but I couldn't take that same song playing over and over every time I logged into my blog! It was driving me bananas!! So, I think I'll put a new song on here once a week or so....just to mix things up a bit!!

And for your listening pleasure this week (or displeasure).....my children have asked me to put this song from High School Musical on the blog! Okay, it might not be the "best" song, but they are just tickled to pieces and they think our blog is now really cool :)

P.S. If you really can't take that song.....you can click on the song below it (much better in my opinion)!! But...shhhhhhhh!! Don't tell the kids!!

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, CARLI & DYLAN

Happy Birthday to our twins Carli & Dylan who turned 9 years old today! Hard to believe they're already 9!! Mom is feeling pretty tired right now.....a house full of kids for three hours is enough to wear ANYONE out!! But, it was a great party....the kids had a lot of fun, and the twins got a lot of great gifts!! Next weekend we go to Michigan for the "family" birthday celebration at Grandma and Grandpa's house!! The fun starts all over again!!!

Here are some pictures from today's birthday party....

CARLI's LITTLEST PET SHOP VIP

DYLAN's TECH DECK SKATEBOARDS


DYLAN's TWIN LIZARD WEBKINZ

CARLI's TWIN KANGAROO WEBKINZ

CARLI's HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL MAGIC 8-BALL

RATATOUILLE BIRTHDAY CAKE

THIS IS WHY WE KEEP THE CAMERA AWAY FROM MY HUSBAND! IT WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR HIM TO "ALERT" ME TO THE FACT THAT I WAS FLASHING!! HE WOULD RATHER SNAP THE SHOTS!!

LAURYN ENJOYING HER CAKE AND ICE CREAM

A GROUP SHOT OF THE KIDS

LAURYN PLAYING BARBIE DOLLS WITH THE GIRLS!

AUSTIN LOOKS THRILLED, DOESN'T HE?!!

ANDY & JESSI (ARE THEY CUTE OR WHAT)?!

DAD & DYLAN

EARTHQUAKE IN INDIANA

We awoke this morning to our entire house shaking (5:40 a.m.) My husband and I were both looking at each other like "WHAT IS HAPPENING?" Things were actually shaking away from the wall and towards the center of the room!! Our computer nearly fell off the desk!! The shaking stopped after about 15-20 seconds. When it stopped, we heard the kids downstairs (YES, OUR KIDS AWAKE AT THAT HOUR)! They too were awakened by the shaking! They were very scared. Honestly, the thought of an EARTHQUAKE in Indiana never even entered our minds! But, we were all too shaken up and SCARED to go back to bed! My husband scoured the house top to bottom and....NOTHING! So, then we started thinking "Oh my gosh...what if our house blows up!! What if it is the gas line or something"!! So, I actually called the police department. When the lady answered the phone, I said "Without sounding crazy...." She instantly cut me off! She said "We've had an earthquake."! I think my jaw dropped to the floor when I heard her say this!

Anyway - since we have so many family members who live out-of-state and they routinely check our blog to see "what's happening".....I wanted to post something before you hear it on the national news and wonder if we're okay! We're all fine! A little shaken up, but we're fine!

The early reports say that it was centered near Evansville (Indiana/Illinois border). It was a 5.4 on the richter scale, which they say isn't high enough to cause any major structural damage. But, can I just say that I don't even want to KNOW what it's like to be in an earthquake that measures any higher. And, good grief....I can't imaine what it was like for people who live closer to Evansville (we're quite a distance away...311 miles)!!!

So.....I just wanted to let everyone know that we're okay!! Don't worry about us! :)

IT'S TAX TIME AGAIN!

Have you ever noticed that everything seems to take forever to get here....except "tax time"! Why does that seem to roll around so quickly each year?! I haven't had much time to post lately because I've been burying myself in tax forms, trying to sort receipts.....all of those fun things! I seriously need to come up with a better "organization" system for my self-employment records! I just throw everything into a box throughout the year, and then wait until the last possible moment to start sorting through it for tax purposes!! I just can't MOTIVATE myself when it comes to doing taxes!

So, there are only TWO DAYS left until April 15th! Have you done YOUR taxes yet?! Do you wait until the last minute like I do, or are you on the ball and had them completed months ago?!

HAPPY 6th BIRTHDAY, KACIE!!

Happy Birthday to our "Kacie" who is 6 years old today (it's Monday morning in China, April 7th)! We are so disappointed that we are not able to spend this birthday with her! We had originally planned to have her home by her 6th birthday, but.....this process proved to be a rather long one for us and things just didn't quite happen as we "planned"!!

Well, we are definitely thinking of her and wishing that we could be celebrating her birthday as a family!! We'll make up for it next year!!

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day outside! The kids were feeling better (although still not 100%), so I took them out to get some fresh air!! They had so much fun playing outside! It was fun to watch them build a tent with blankets and towels and chairs!! And the girls brought their dolls outside to play in the "tent"! The boys were busy on their skateboards....they idolize Tony Hawk!! I think Austin has a much better chance at becoming a pro (he is afraid of NOTHING)!! We missed having dad outside with us. That's definitely a down-fall to him working nights....he sleeps during the day!! But, we had a great time telling him about all the fun he missed!!! Hope everyone else is having the beautiful spring weather that we're having! Here are some of our "outside" pictures from today...

ALMOST TIME FOR CAMPING!

It's April 1st! Almost tax time (yuk), and almost time for camping (hooray)! We weren't able to do much camping last year, but we hope to make up for it this year! The kids LOVE to go camping! It always seems like life is so much easier and "slow paced" when you're camping! Wouldn't it be nice if life could always be so care-free?! Those of you who are campers will know what I'm talking about!

I wonder what Kacie will think of camping! I know one thing for sure....it won't be too hard for her to have a good time!! Goodness, I hope she comes home while the weather still PERMITS camping! Oh who am I kidding?! We were camping on Halloween last year! Certainly she will be home by then!! I think last Halloween was our favorite camping trip ever! They had hay rides for the kids, costume contests, trick-or-treating from campsite to campsite, a haunted barn, and even a haunted hayride at night through the forest (nothing too scary)! It was TONS of fun!!

It helps to think of fun things we'll do when Kacie gets home! There are so many things we can't wait to do with her....knowing they will be "firsts" for her!

Hope everyone is having a great week! Are any of you doing anything special for Spring Break?! We're staying home....taking care of our four sick kids! FOUR....yes ALL FOUR are now sick!!

I'll leave you with some camping pictures from last year.......