China

Here are a few of Brittany's pictures from China. Enjoy!

Brittany having dinner with Candy's family and friends.


The girls share their musical talents with one another.

Brittany taking a picture of herself on the Great Wall. Nice hair!

A Dog's Life...

Sydney wouldn't let me get away with not mentioning the dog's birthday. CoCo, our chocolate lab, is five (or 35) today. We actually celebrated yesterday. Sydney found a recipe for "dog muffins" on the internet and baked them before giving CoCo her birthday gift - a huge raw hide bone which was placed in a very pretty birthday bag! The best part of the story is that Brittany came home from school today and stuffed one of the muffins in her mouth. A few seconds after that, Sydney told her that the muffins were for CoCo! Brittany was about to gag until I told her that the muffins were ok for human consumption and that they were made primarily of fruit...a part of me didn't want to tell her right away :0)

Happy Birthday Kiley!

Kiley celebrated her 7th birthday yesterday! Brittany and I took treats into school in the afternoon, we had pizza at home for dinner, opened presents, and then it was off to Ben & Ari's for some fun. Kiley loves to play the games - especially the ones that yield lots of tickets :0)

Kenney, Josh and the girls had fun playing as well!

I wanted to post some baby pictures of Kiley, but they were not taken on our digital camera, and our scanner hasn't worked since we upgraded to Vista :>( Anyway, here are a few photos taken within the last couple of years.

When I think back to Kiley's birth and her first few years of life, I really did think at the time that she was going to be my "payback" - you know that child that acts like you did as a child. She entered the world after a long induction - not something I would recommend. I was determined, however, not to wait until April Fool's Day to deliver!

As a baby, she was a master at removing her diaper. We would often find her in her crib naked. The pediatrician recommended that we put her diaper on backwards or put duct tape over the tabs on the diaper. Clearly, she didn't understand what kind of "houdini" we were dealing with. We would literally wrap duct tape multiple times around her body, and she would still get out of the diaper!! Next, came the nap nightmare. At the age of two, about the time that Joshua was born, Kiley decided she no longer needed a nap - this did NOT work for me!! Guess who won that battle? Yup, the 2 year old.

To sum it all up, here's what we wrote in our Christmas card in 2004, when Kiley was 3:

"Kiley is continuing to work towards her goal of one day becoming a dictator of a small country. What is the politically correct word? Let's just say that she's a "spirited" child. God has gifted her with a wonderful personality and a strong will, which if channeled in the right direction, will serve her well as an adult."

Let's just say that this is nothing like the Kiley I know now! She has grown into a very sweet, loving, obedient child. She is so easy to correct. I could not ask for a better little girl! (Hopefully, she won't revert during the teen years :0)

Happy Birthday, sweetie!