Sunday, July 18, 2010

Where have we been???






Sheesh, summer is FLYING by. I've been a bad blogger, but I do have an excuse. I had a 20 page paper due for the writing class I'm taking this summer. Whew, that was a doozie, but now it's done, thank goodness.

Well, otherwise, we've just been enjoying the summer and our wonderful kids. Yesterday, we went to our annual Colombian Connections fiesta down state. It's so fun to see all the beautiful Colombian kids and boy, is our group growing! There were many, many new kids and babies there this year, including our Tessa (okay, she's not Colombian, but hey, she's part of our American/Colombian/Taiwanese family). :)

Of course, being the wonderful mommy I am, I totally forgot my camera. You'll just have to trust me that it was loads of fun.

One of the best things we did this year was buy a pool! It's an above ground, nothing fancy, but definitely fun for all of us to swim in. We've really, really enjoyed having it. And while we're incredibly lucky to live in an area full of lakes and beautiful beaches, it's SO hard to lug all the kids and all their gear to the beach...especially sweet Tess who's not a huge fan of sand. Ha! So, hanging at home by the pool has been great for our family.

In other news, Tessa turned 18 months old on the 4th! I can't believe it. How did she get that old? No...seriously? I'm finding her babyhood is just flying by...probably because we're so busy with three kids now. She is now 31" tall (40th percentile) and 19 1/2 lbs. Poor baby, she fell right off the charts for her weight. But, the doctor didn't seem concerned. She'll just be a petite little thing all her life. She is learning so much right now. She runs like crazy all of a sudden. She is doing a lot more pretend play (holds two stuffed animals and makes them "talk" to each other), she likes to help clean (throws stuff away), and she is learning more words now. She says mama, dada, ball, book, up, good girl, thank you, and is making attempts at many more words. She wears size 3 diapers and size 12-18 month clothes.

Here's a few random pics of late. Next weekend we are going to the Dragon Boat Races in Chicago...we are SO excited to meet up with other Taiwanese adoptive families!

5 comments:

Lisa said...

Your event sounds like fun. 3 kids can keep you very busy indeed. I think we are going to the Dragon Boat races here in NY next month too bad we weren't closer. Stay tuned for info on a Taiwanese family reunion (1st hopefully of many) that we are planning for next year. Hopefully we will get to meet then.
Lisa

Lisa said...

OH OH OH....yes, I'm helping with reunion too :) BUT we are gonna be at those Chi-town Dragon Boat races too!!! Katie has already been in touch, as well as, many other fams....SO hoping to meet your beautiful family as well!!

Will be keeping a look out for ya all!!

And so nice to see the update & so glad your summer is so grand! The pool looks fantastic and the kiddos look as cute as ever! Little Miss T sure is growing and look at all that glorious hair!!

michelle said...

I love that pool. Glad the kiddies are having fun with it and Tessa looks adorable. Have a great time at the Dragon Boat Races.

michelle said...

Sounds like a great summer - the kiddos, esp Tess, are getting so big. Agree with you about lugging 3 children and gear to the beach- the pool is much more convenient for daytime romps here and there. We did the same b4 moving to FL. Enjoy
Mlynne

Pink Velvet Mommy said...

All such beautiful kiddos you have my friend. 20 page paper??? what were you thinking?? I can't even get my laundry done much less have 3 kids and take a class that requires that I write more than a paragraph~LOL
Looks like from Lisa's pics you all had fun at the Dragon Boat races...even though there were no races, it sounds like there was still a lot of fun!!!!

We so hope you guys can come down next year for the Taiwan ROCks. We must get a picture of the Mrs. Chen kiddos to send her:)