Summer in pictures

Zippy in Maine.

This is what #1 does at the beach- jumping, running, flipping.
BFF's two younger kids at a playground during my visit to Colorado:
There's Julie with two of hers loading up to go the huge annual rummage sale in Minturn, CO.
Julie's oldest relaxing with The Spark:
The Spark got her ears pierced during our Colorado visit!
Back at our beach in Maine...
#1 with his best summertime pal:
Zippy with his best summertime pal also the younger brother of #1's best summertime pal:
The girls with the two younger sisters of the best summertime pals above:
Sunny day, end of summer.
Sisters in the pool:
Cupcake pausing for a moment during serious mermaid castle building yesterday:
And our final boatride of the season last night:

Happy Three Year Anniversary, Cupcake!

Yep. It's been three years already since we all flew to Shanghai and then took the longest two hour bus ride in the history of the world (it took more like six hours) to Nanjing where we met our angry, scared, & scrawny toddler girl. She has truly blossomed into a hilarious, sweet, & spunky little girl ready for Pre-K and no longer throwing a tornado of a tantrum every single day. Today, for example, was completely tantrum free with lots of silliness and laughter from our wee Cupcake. I always jinx it though, even if I merely think about how smoothly a day went. And this time I wrote it down. On the world wide web. Pretty much just guaranteed that tomorrow will be a screamfest.

I will post new pics of Cupcake and a few from those first days together for old times' sake when I get home to the right computer...

Busy week with friends

It's been a whirlwind of a week. We had our special friends the Petersons visiting making a total of eight kids in the house. It was so much fun! Loud and crazy and actually easier with two extra parents in the house too. The kids all get along really well, and they even got Cupcake and I out blueberry picking right around the corner from our house which we had never done before. #1 had soccer camp, The Spark had gymnastics camp for the 2011-2012 Evergreen team, and Zippy had Farm Camp through his school. Lots to do and now our guests have left for the beach in southern NH, J and the boys are headed back to Maine for the kids' triathalon tomorrow morning, and the girls and I are going to clean up and regroup and re-pack for one more stint in Maine before summertime becomes school time.

Here is Princess Eee with the largest blueberry of the day. Dad Peterson offered a prize for the biggest and she got it hands down. This blueberry in her hand weighed a whole ounce all by itself.

And we had a party while the Petersons were here. The boys took over the playroom playing Wii, so the girls took a break from running around to watch some Barbie in Mermaidia on the computer.

#1 had games to watch on the last day of soccer camp, and here he is post-goal:

Cupcake loved having Princess Eee around again for a bit. They were very sweet together. Here they are in the blueberry patch:

And as most of you probably know by now, Princess Eee has spent most of the spring and summer with the Petersons and is doing wonderfully. She is a perfect fit with their family and they are the perfect parents and siblings for her. This week we also went to court here in NH to make it official. M & B are now Princess Eee's mom and dad, and they will finalize her adoption into their family after the waiting period in the state of Arizona. Princess Eee will grow up next door to her biological sister in a family that immediately fell in love with her and can provide her with the unconditional love and acceptance she needs and deserves. The unconditional love that the trauma of the three and a half year nightmare process to get her out of Guatemala took from me. In the words of one of the attachment therapists we worked with regularly over the year and a half Princess Eee was with us, "It was not without tremendous effort, time, reflection, heartache and professional intervention that she and [J] have made a decision about how to proceed in [Princess Eee’s] best interest. [They] have made the decision to identify a new family for [Princess Eee] and have worked very hard to find one whom they believe will provide great love and permanency for her.

...All three families now have encircled one another. The biological sisters will now have regular contact and the [K’s] will become extended family to both girls and share an open relationship with [Princess Eee] and her new family.
[Princess Eee] will transition to her new family and will now have extended family in both Arizona and New Hampshire who care deeply about her. [J] and [L] as well as the family in Arizona are demonstrating the ability to transition [Princess Eee] in a manner that is supportive and guided by the advice of adoption professionals."

So it has been an emotional and busy week with both sadness and relief as well as lots of fun times. More pictrures to post soon...

Catching up at home

Back in NH with the desktop computer where the pictures from my camera need to go, so I can finally upload and share a few. Summer has been busy with lots of time at the beaches in Maine, in the town pool, sailing camp, soccer camp, tennis camp, dance camp, art camp, and just hanging out with friends.

Now we start a week in NH with gymnastics camp, soccer camp, farm camp, and a few hours at preschool for Cupcake to catch up with friends. We will also have the Peterson family as house guests all week making it a total of eight kids in the house from Tuesday to Tuesday! Then The Spark and I are off to the mountains of Colorado to visit my BFF from high school and her crew. I am so excited to finally meet Julie's three kiddos and The Spark is counting down the days til she gets to ride on an airplane again!

Here are a few recent summer photos...

Cartwheels at low tide:
#1 with two best summer pals:

Good to have him home.

Sand castles:

Racing with friends. Funny that #1 is almost always the only one who wants to race again and again and again.