A Little Bit Of Night Life

I am not sure where this summer has gone. Abbey just got her welcome packet for the up and coming school year, which means back to homework and going to bed early. We are trying to pack in a lot of fun before then, so I decided on a bit of night life tonight. We all headed to the Botanical Gardens for evening story time. The featured author was Stacy Torino and she read her book Cathy's Animal Garden. It was a great story which talked about all kinds of plants named after animals. We also got a tour around the Botanical gardens, and found the plants that were named in the book. Abbey was more that happy to let the tour guide know that we have Lamb's ear flowers at our house.

Along with story time, and touring the gardens, there were animal cupcakes to munch on, which makes any night special. the girls made masks, and Carina enthusiastically touched a snake while I kept my distance. It was a great Summer evening, but just a few too many mosquitoes.

The Other Side Of Summer

The mosquitoes have been extremely bad this year in Wisconsin, and no amount of bug spray seems to protect my Carina from their attacks. I thought long and hard before I posted these pics, but wanted others with Dear Little Ones' from China to know that this is what mosquitoes can do to our sweethearts.

My pediatrician, who I like very much, said her mosquito bites look much worse than they are and unlike bee stings, the reaction will not get worse over time. No need to carry an epipen, just treat the symptoms.

Carina, who will not let a couple million mosquitoes keep her indoors, gets a Dr. recommended size spoonful of benadryl at night when the mosquitoes attack. During the day, I treat her bites with a good dose of hydrocortisone cream, and the random store brand of Triple antibiotic ointment. Mama's kisses seem to help the "itchies" as well.

The County Fair

I don't like fairs. Who in their right mind would eat fried cookie dough? However, it is not about me, it about three in pink. Their happiness is my happiness, so off we went.



Yum, funnel cake






Daddy, I want a 4 wheeler






Look sissy!






Cari in the mist tent. "Yook mama!" I'm wet!"






Baby Bell smiling. Nothing new:-)





The look on Abbey's face as she got off the swings says it all!






"Hi Doddy, Hi sissy!" The babes waving to daddy n Abbey while they were riding the ferris wheel.






Two peas in a pod riding the train.

I Can Fly

I try to make my girls aware that they are capable of anything they set their minds to.

My Shadows

What better way to tire out my three in pink? Take them for a walk before bed. I might consider bringing the wagon next time because Ellie insisted on being carried most of the way home. However, after snack, and brushing teeth, they all asked to go to bed. Mission accomplished:-)

A Little Of This And A Little Of That

It has been awhile since I have posted. My longest absence from the blog. Lots of good times are taking place and my babies are growing just a bit too quickly. Abbey is reading chapter books, and is too smart for my own good. Carina has been potty trained for quite awhile now. She got her trip to Build A Bear as a reward. She picked out Hello Kitty just like her Jie Jie did when she accomplished this wonderful milestone. Another thing I have to mention is that Carina went to the dentist and has very healthy teeth. Anyone who has a dear little one from China knows that this is wonderful news. I had been stressing about taking her to the dentist for some time, so all I can say is "what a relief." Ellie is quite the little toddler. She shows no fear. Swings on anything she can, jumps off the couch, but couldn't get any sweeter. She is talking like a champ, but I wouldn't expect any less since both her sisters have the gift to gab. At the end of the day no one thinks these little girls are as sweet and wonderful as I do. I have a happy (most of the time), healthy family. Not a day goes by that I don't think about how fortunate I am because it doesn't always happen this way.

I knew It would Happen Sooner Or Later

Last year I posted about my little complacent Ellie. The baby who would sit in my arms and observe, rather than take part. How quickly life changes. Ellie is no longer sitting still. As a matter of fact, she is usually running from place to place. If I turn my head for one second Ellie is standing on the kitchen table, or helping herself to a bagel from the kitchen counter. It's hard not to laugh at her because she is just so stinken' cute. Cari is more than happy to take her baby sister's lead. The other day, Ellie started running across my family room, and Cari started chasing Ellie. Cari tripped and slammed into Ellie. Ellie then slammed into the TV stand. All this happened while I was but an arm's reach away from them. Lots of blood, lots of screaming, and a trip to the ER.

Baby Belle ended up with four stitches to the ear. She whimpered through the whole thing, but was quite a trooper. I cried. I was expecting a ton of drama, despair and whining from her, but there was none of that. Within a minute of the stitches, Ellie was jumping on the chair in the room, and playing peek a boo with the nurse. She then proceeded to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Chinese the whole way home. I was expecting a bad night, but she slept through, and woke up with a Belle smile on her face. All is well that ends OK.

The funny thing is, the pictures posted here were taken after we got home from the ER well past Ellie's bed time. She was running around the house and playing peek a boo. Needless to say, I was just a bit more stressed about the evening's events than she was. Something tells me this is not the last time she will be in the ER. I hope I am wrong though. Lastly, notice the bruise on her forehead? That was another accident of Ellie's that happened while she was running away from mommy during a shopping trip.