Day Care

Well, It's time to go back to school. It has been pretty rough for Beth the past couple of days. As far as attachment goes I'd say Mommy is hooked. Seeing pictures like these makes it a little easier. Hope sure is lucky to have Grandparents that take such good care of her. Play hard, Nap hard.

Group 91 Picinic

We sure had fun at the picnic yesterday.  Most of the families we traveled with were able to make it.  Fun stories and many common adventures with our new additions.  Hope had a fun time playing with the other children.  There were also two weddings in the park while we were at the park.

Baptism Blessings

As promised...PHOTOS! Hope was baptised on Aug. 5. We couldn't be more proud. We'd had a bit of a rough night of sleep, so Hope was very tired and slept during most of the church service. In fact, she didn't wake up until I tipped her back for the water. She wasn't very happy, but she quickly calmed down and took it all in with grace. Hope's dress was also a bit frustrating since the buttons wouldn't stay closed. Oh well. I'm thinking I might work on that a bit and take some more pictures of her with the dress before she outgrows it. She looked so pretty, open collar and all. :) Her silver bracelet is one we'll cherish forever. It was a gift from her orphanage and has the name of the SWI engraved on the front and her Chinese name engraved on the inside. What a special gift they gave her. So, without further ado, here is Hope's baptism weekend in pictures...

Hope's Uncle Mark and Aunt Andria (and their puppy, too) stayed with us for the weekend. We started out our Saturday with a little geocaching. Here are some fun shots:

Sunday - Photos from church:

Sunday Afternoon - Reception/Picnic in Hope's honor:

Meeting More Friends & Family

We always seem to be busy! I wanted to share a couple of photos here of special friends and family who have come to meet Hope since my last post. Hope's big event from last weekend (baptism) will ge the subject of my next post. I'm just waiting for some pictures from others. Enjoy these shots for now.

In his previous entry, Ron included a picture of geocaching with Tony. Here is the whole clan. Debbie and Tony came to spend the day with us last weekend. It has been a long time since we've been together, but we always have such a good time when we are. Thanks for making the trip over guys!

And, here we are with my cousin Craig. He was on his way through to visit some friends in MN, but came a day early to do some riding with my dad and to meet Hope. We miss our family to the south! It meant so much that you came Craig. We love you!

Hope was invited to her first party...a 2nd birthday party for the other little Hope in our lives. We had a wonderful afternoon, but had to find creative ways to compromise when our little swiper decided to try out the newest birthday toy. It all worked out eventually. Sharing is so hard!



On this day, we headed up to Grandma & Grandpa's house to meet Hope's Great-Great Aunts, Vi & Liz. I don't know why we don't have any photos of them. I feel terrible about it. But we will remember this day and know that it was very special for Hope to spend the afternoon showing off for them.
Here she is with her Grandpa.

A couple of close-ups



Uncle Rick and Hope are having a few words here. What is Hope saying/thinking? Please leave comments to caption these photos!


We'll end this post with these two pics. Hope and Daddy got caught in the sudden storm - BUT, then thought it would be fun to run back and forth outside to play a bit. Our little girl loves the water!