I'm not complaining, but.....

OK- please don't judge me or think that I'm not over the top in love with my daughter and sooooo happy that she's Ethiopian. But... I'm writing this to see if anyone has any advice. Since bringing Grace home, we have really only received positive comments about her, our now "multi-racial" family, etc..... And yes, as Grace's mom, I can say that I think she is absolutely beautiful! But, lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the amount of comments that I receive every time I am out in public with the kids. Again, they're all very sweet and nice...... but I can't go anywhere without people stopping to tell me how cute Grace is, that she looks like a Cabbage Patch doll, "can I touch her hair", "oh my, I thought you had a doll in your grocery cart", "I'm sorry for staring, but I just can't stop looking at your daughter, she's just so beautiful.", etc.... Even little kids are starting to point her out to their moms at the park. This is all very sweet, and I don't want to sound insensitive, etc... but I'm starting to notice that it's affecting Jacob. He's almost 5 and has much more of an introverted personality. He's not catching the eyes of perfect strangers, and he's definitely not getting the comments that Grace is getting. He doesn't really even look at or talk to people he doesn't know-- he's just a shy little guy. But, he actually told me the other day that he doesn't like it when everybody talks to Grace and no one says anything to him!! This broke my heart. He's such a sweet boy and he adores his sister so much. So, I just don't know what to do about it. Any suggestions?

So again, the last thing I want is for anyone to think I'm complaining, but..... I have two darling kids and one is starting to feel pretty left out!

Fun with Hair!

We had a fun slumber party with Ruby last night!! And of course there had to be bath time too!!!

I said I would post... and people have been asking. :) I just started using Curly Q Kids Shampoo, Conditioner, and Hair Milkshake and I LOVE all 3 products!!!! I was noticing Grace's hair was getting pretty dry-- especially in the back. I've only used these products 4 times and I can already see a difference in Grace's hair. The curls are more defined, her hair doesn't seem to get as frizzy throughout the day, and it doesn't seem as dry. :) Once I put the conditioner in, I can actually run my fingers through Grace's hair!!! There's also a hair custard; has anyone used that... or any of their other products?

"Oh Ruby, your hair feels so soft and manageable after using these new products!!"

Vacation!... and maybe an Ethiopian Family camping trip next summer!!!

We just returned home from a weeks' vacation! Mike's family has a cabin on the Wenatchee River so we spent our week there-- playing in the sun, the river, the lake, the pool... if there was water-- we were in it!! :) It was nice to have a week together as a family.

Here's some of the fun:

The river in front of the cabin!

Grace was VERY serious about her graham cracker!! By the way... I'm planning on posting about some new hair stuff I got for Grace!! It's amazing. I can already tell a difference in Grace's hair. This picture here was day 2-- after washing. I used to never be able to leave Grace's hair down after a night's sleep-- it was always frizzy and huge!!! She practically had a head of finger curls still defined in her hair in this picture. And.... I washed it Tuesday, today is Friday, her hair is in pigtails, but it's still really nice with pretty curls-- not too frizzy!!!

The Leavenworth pool!!Grace needed to wear goggles too! She wore them for quite awhile! She's a hoot!

I think the belly and the bum are about the same size!!!Julie B.- Grace LOVES her kitty. She sleeps with it every night and had to take it on her "go to sleep" stroller ride!!

Natalie, Kristin, and I have been talking about planning an "Ethiopian adoption family" camping trip for next summer (there are TONS of Northwest adoptive families!!!!)..... and I think my vote is for the beautiful Lake Wenatchee!!! There's a great group campsite, the lake (swimming area, playground, cool areas for exploring, bring your boat or inflatable something and explore little coves and islands, etc......) And... if you're not into camping, but think getting together sounds fun.... there's TONS of condos and cabins in the area to rent as well!! So, I guess this is becoming the first "let's throw it out there and see if anyone wants to come" unofficial invite..... to join us for a camping weekend next summer!! (by the way... Lake Wenatchee is about 2 1/2 hours east of Seattle, WA... in case anyone was wondering. :)

Here's some photos to tempt you.......

So many kids!!!

We took our annual trip to the beach today with a group of my teacher friends. One of my good friends who I used to teach with moved to Boston a few years ago, but comes home every summer for a chunk of time and always invites us to her folks' place at the beach. I taught elementary school for 10 years before I decided to quit to stay home with the kiddos. Well, I taught with a wonderful group of gals who became great friends. My staff was a young staff, and the running joke was "don't drink the water" unless you want to get pregnant. One year there were 22 babies born at our school! 2 years later, the year Jacob was born... he was one of 11 babies born that year. I've lost count as to how many kids have been born over the years, but there have also been 7 kiddos added to our school family through adoption.... so it was a very blessed place to work. :) I miss it sometimes, but I do substitute teach there throughout the year, so I'm able to stay connected. :)

Here's a picture of just of "few" of the kids. :)
**And I need to add..... Mike's been gloating about this all weekend! Grace has really started using her signs to communicate with us. Everything is please and then something like please more, please food, please up, please binkie, please down, etc..... it's too cute. Well, on Friday, Mike was keeping Grace occupied while I was finishing up with last minute packing things for our camping trip. Well, when I was done, I went to find him. I thought they were outside, but then I found them in Mike's office. I guess Grace had been playing on the floor and then walked over to Mike, signed "please up" and he picked her up and she put her head on his shoulder and fell fast asleep. When I walked in the office, Mike had a HUGE smile on his face! It was too cute... and throughout the weekend he kept reminding me that I do all the work and he gets all the benefits!! NICE!! Yes, Mike got the first word, the first spontaneous blow of a kiss, etc...... This little girl loves her daddy!!

7 years ago today....

I married a WONDERFUL man!!! I knew he would be an incredible husband, but I never could have dreamed he'd be such an AMAZING father as well!! I'm one lucky, lucky girl!!(I'd like to write more, but Mike's tucking in the kiddos and as soon as he's done, we'll start our "fancy" in-home date night!! Can't wait for the grandparents to come home from vacation(tomorrow!!) so we can go out on a real anniversary date!!) :)

Happy 4th of July!!!

Hoping everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July!!

We decided to stay home this year and have a nice family 4th! Mike was thrilled because he spent the entire day BBQing-- starting with Pancakes on the BBQ for breakfast! He's a BBQing machine and loves to have friends over so he can feed them-- serving/feeding is definitely his love language. Lucky me-- no cooking/prepping the entire day!! :) Our neighborhood is quite the firework frenzy so we just went out front and the kids played and watched the millions of fireworks going off!!! Some people put on quite a show!!

My favorite picture-- Jake didn't want his picture taken, so he gave me the cheesiest smile and then ran off as soon as the camera clicked. Grace wasn't too thrilled to be posing either.

Nice and safe smoke bombs! (lovin' the rubber boots on Jake! He wears those year round!!)

Neighborhood buddies. Jake has some good friends that live next door and a few houses down! Always someone fun to play with!!
Some good finger curls!! I've been doing Grace's hair from time to time like this for awhile, but now that her hair is really long... the spirals are amazing!!! I love the ringlets in the piggies and they stay like this for a good couple of days!!!