Happy 6th Birthday...

Happy Birthday to my Jilly-Bean.

I love you higher than the mountains, deeper than the ocean and brighter than the stars...

Mommy, Daddy and your big Sis, Jen.

As you turn 7...

As you turn 7 tomorrow I can't help but reflect on this past year.

You have started grade one, went to school all day and have excelled in your studies.

You have made some many friends, you such a popular little girl, friendly and outgoing.

You have learnt to read chapter books, add, subtract and learnt about currency and how to spend and save it. You saved your money and bought two of your own Web*kinz this year, that made me so proud!

You have grown so much this year, you went from toddler to such a big girl, lost 5 teeth, taken an interest in fashion and now tells me what she would like to wear(and not, LOL).

I have enjoyed listening to you play me one of my favourite songs"Ode to Joy" on the piano, you have graced me with this song so many times you play it by memory. I am amazed at your musical gift, I hope you continue to nurture it for years to come, I see such potential.

You have started playing on a competitive, travelling fastball team, being the second youngest on the team, you are holding your own and enjoying the spirit of being part of the "team"

I love you more everyday, I am so proud to watch accomplish your goals, witness your determination and see you grown more beautiful inside and out. I love you Puddin' Pop, Happy 7th birthday.

Love Mommy.

Do I smell birthday cake??

Today is my birthday, as I climbed into my mid 40's all I can say is the years keep getting better and better!!
I woke to a kiss from hubby(as he was dashing out the door to work) and half hour later two little monkeys bolted excitedly through the bedroom door with homemade card in tow. They crawled into bed with me, cuddled and kissed the birthday girl. They presented me with a gift and easy bake oven cake and cookies, I thought my heart would literally melt.
Thank to all my family for making this the best weekend, I felt your love.

Hope everyone is having a safe and wonderful long weekend, enjoy...

Happy Birthday Jeff..

This feeling in my heart and soul is stronger than words, your my everything.
Happy Birthday, I love you....

Clowin' around

Playing pin the nose on the clown, Superman being spun around by the guests.

Yes, even Mommy put he clown nose on, so brave, LOL...

Superman clown...

I just loved this shot.

Party guests, clown' around..

Birthday cake for our big 4 yr. old..

The cutest little clown ever..

Before guests..

My favourite shot of the day...

Under the big top.

This is how I see clowns, they terrify me, always have and probably always will.
Even as a child my parents recall me screaming at the sight of one.
You can imagine the horror when I asked Jillian what theme she wanted for her 4 th birthday party and she sweetly replied that she wanted clowns!!!
I am a big girl and yes I can do this, okay this is what I keep telling myself, LOL.
For now, I am planning on having an "Under the big top" birthday theme and yes, the kids are going to dress as clowns, ahhhhh...
I can do this, I can do this, breath....

Happy 6th Cowgirl....

Saturday afternoon a bunch of cowgirls helped Jennifer celebrate her 6th birthday.

There were hayrides, horseback riding and lunch at the dude ranch.

The special guests were Chester and Skittles, the girls loved the horses, they were a big hit.

A huge thank you to Circle R Ranch, what an awesome time the girls had, they know how to throw a party. ;)

"43"

Happy birthday to me,
Happy birthday to me,
I got more wrinkles than an elephant's knee..

I am looking forward to a long holiday weekend with a little birthday celebration thrown in there on Sunday.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Daddy,
We love you.
Jennifer, Jillian and Mommy. xoxo

Pixie Hollow Party

Early morning and Mommy has just begun to decorate Pixie Hollow.
Notice my girls glued to the electronic babysitter, LOL.

The cake was quite yummy according to the birthday girl.

Mommy's beautiful 3 year old.

Pixie Hollow fairy.

Saying "Goodbye and thank you".

To her BirthMother

To Her BirthMother

You gave her birth. We’ll give her life

You gave her todays. We’ll give her tomorrows
You gave her race. We’ll give her identity

You gave her heritage. We’ll give her future
You gave her possibilities. We’ll give her potentials

You gave her up. We’ll have to let go
You dream of her future. We’ll work hard for your dreams to come true

You gave her hope. We will too.

Tom Fisher - "I am now the proud father of two adopted daughters, both are from China. Our second adoption was in February of this year." © April 17, 2006

As I celebrated the three wonderful young years of my precious baby girl, I got this lump in my throat today. I was standing at the sink washing up dishes from lunch listening to her and her big sister laughing , sharing the new birthday toys, it hit me, hard!!

In the city of Fuling today there is a BirthMother and Father wondering what and where their child is doing today as she celebrates her day of birth.

I know her heart is heavy, maybe tears stinging her cheeks as they stream down her face but I think she can feel the love that we feel for Jillian deep in her soul.

I hope she knows how deeply I love her, how I will always honour her and teach our child how much you loved her.

So today I not only celebrate Jillian's life but her BirthMother who gave it to her. I honour her decisions she made for Jillian and I thank everyone who was involved in entrusting our family with such a precious gift.

Happy Birthday Jillian,

Love and hugs,

Daddy, Mommy and Jie-Jie.

There you have it.

A theme has been chosen by Miss Jilly Bean, we are having a Tinkerbell birthday party.
Some supplies have been purchased, just doing some party planning.
Can't believe my baby is almost three.

A fun filled day.

It was my nephew's birthday yesterday, what a terrific day we had.
There was a clown who painted our faces, did a magic show and kept all the kids entertained .
There's my little kitty cat, Mommy had a lucky lady bug for those waiting Moms out there.

Here is Dotsy the clown entertaining the kids with some magic.
I have a clown phobia(they freak me out!!!! LOL) but Dotsy wasn't too scary!

Another kitty cat close up, Jennifer loved her face painted.

Jillian on the other hand wanted no part of Dotsy, her paint or her tricks.

No Mom.......

Happy birthday Mom

Mom,
Today is my Mom's birthday, I want to wish her every happiness and tell her how much she is loved.
Birthday hugs and kisses,
Kerri, Jeff, Jennifer and Jillian, Jack too.

party pooped

Princess Jen and her best friend Princess Jill- 2nd in line to throne

Well we are officially party pooped right out, the princess birthday party was fantastic! We had seven little beautiful princesses descend on our castle.They had on their princess formal attire accompanied with all the proper accessories, crown, jewels , party shoes and tons of glitter. There was plenty of entertainment, musical thrones, duck,duck,golden goose, find the treasure and balancing the golden egg on the silver spoon. I think the favourite entertainment was the palace joker(sorry honey, you were fantastic) and the dragon. There was also a cardboard castle that the Queen Mother made, she was frantically painting it the morning of the party, it was a great back drop for a royal photo op.
Next was on to the high tea, the princess requested cheese and peperoni pizza and cake decorated with Mrs. Pots and her son chips. After that it was time for the princesses to go off to their castles, a royal good time was had by all, cheerio.

Happy birthday to me

As I celebrate my 42nd birthday today I got this sense of contentment that I never felt in my twenties and certainly not in my thirties. I am so happy how my life is unfolding, I have this wonderful husband who is just the most amazing Daddy. Then there are my two little monkeys, I never imagined I would be a Mommy , in my twenties I had a hysterectomy so I faced the hard reality that there would not be a pregnancy , I wouldn't feel life growing inside me, at the time it didn't register with me because i hadn't met the man I would want to spend the rest of my life with.
In my thirties I had met my husband, fell madly in love and couldn't wait to be a Mommy, we knew our path was adoption and looked happily to our future. During our paper chase to complete our dossier, I had routine blood work (I have blood disorder so extra documentation was in order) when my Hematologist found so irregularities, I had contacted Hep C due to many blood transfusion during my hysterectomy. Our dreams fell apart, we were told that our adoption plans would probably would be put on hold or worse forget them altogether. My liver specialist didn't know at this point if i had a lot of damage or if this was going to be something that might take my life.
Long story short my husband said we were not going to give up on our dream , we put together our dossier and didn't inform family in case we were rejected for health reasons. We had applied to Vietnam, well just as our dossier landed in Vietnam, it closed down , we were crushed, I was truly convinced that I was not meant to be a Mom. Again my husband didn't let me give up, we switched to the China program, our agency couldn't tell us for sure how China would deal with our health issues but they felt optimistic that we were going to be parents.
I tried to put the wait out of my thoughts because I was sure we would get the call and I was going to so devastated, as hard as i tried i did nothing but dream of my daughter, her little face , our first meeting , the first time she said mommy.
We were expecting news of referral in January of 2003, one afternoon my husband and I were at home and the phone rang, it was our agency , my heart sunk like a rock falling into a deep well, I was convinced if they were calling in December it was devastating news.
All i could hear after, "you have a little girl" is a blur, tears flowed and I felt like I couldn't get my breath. After the call we ran downstairs to our computer and watched our baby pop up on the screen, the most beautiful child. At this moment i knew what i had felt in my twenties was sooo wrong I did feel the life of my child inside me, she was in my heart, I felt it immediately. It was the most wonderful thing in the whole world.
Not long after Jenny came home, reality hit me hard, i had to go on treatment weeks after our return from China. I had a round of treatment for six months, it didn't work and i was devastated, didn't this damn drug know I was a Mom ,I wanted to live to see her many milestones. Another six months passed and we tried treatment again, this time for a year , I felt at some points that i just had to quit but then I'd go into the nursery and watch Jen sleep in her crib, this was enough to gain back my strength. The treatment was a success and I am now in remission state of inactivity as they like to call it.
So after my many battles in my 20's and 30's I am now feeling such freedom , i love my greys, laugh lines, I feel like I am just starting life. So as I blew out my candles on my birthday cake, my wish was for my babies, I already had all mine come true... okay enough of this mushy ol' post.