handsful

The night before Lainey turned 4, I was joking with her that I wanted her to stay 3.  She laughed her “oh, you’re so silly, mommy” laugh and said “no!”.  I asked why she couldn’t stay 3, and she said “Lainey wants to be a big girl!” 

Well, Lainey girl, you are…

Good morning, sunshine!  So, how old are you today?? 

Oh!!!!  FOUR!!

Dressed up for July 4th…I mean, her birthday!  Same thing.  She’s ready for church!  (She looks so OLD here!)

sometimes those eyes do disappear when she smiles!

A birthday-girl sandwich.  heh heh

Middle and little sister share a hug

More posing with the birthday girl.  (ignore my goofy grin)  There’s no shot of Abbey with Lainey because most of us were already out the door when Abbey came downstairs.  She’s got her daddy’s “late” gene.  :)

After church, we headed out to lunch.  Fast forward to dessert.  Before the other kids got theirs, a bunch of waitresses came over and sang a VERY LOUD birthday song to Lainey.  She got very serious and tried hard to ignore it.  Then, they planted this in front of her and she wasn’t as serious anymore…

must. get. every. last. drop. 

Back home and time for presents…one from mommy and daddy, and one from big sister Abbey.

A blow up pool with sprinkler!  Awesome!

It’s all she asked for…

A little mechanical hamster.  She named it Tashu, same as one of Marley’s hamsters.  She made it a little bed in her wardrobe :)

Time to try out the pool.  The big kids do the hard work. 

Lainey had the easy part!  She loved it. 

Yes, that IS a taco with 4 candles in it.  Lainey requested her birthday dinner be from TB.  She absolutely adores the place, wants to eat there EVERY time we suggest going out.  So, we sang to her and she blew those candles out!  It took a few tries, but she did it.  In fact, for each taco she had (3), she put the candles in again, we sang again (in triple time!), and she blew ’em out again! 

It’s hard to believe that she’s 4 years old.  I look back at the pics of her when we first received her at 19 months old and think how little bitty she looks.  She’s so growny and independent, loves helping me out with whatever I’m doing (I know, that eventually wanes a bit…), and simply can’t wait for her brother to join us.  Oh…Dylan.  That’s right!

He turned THREE on July 4th.  We sent a cake to him using the in-China organization called www.ladybugsnlove.com  We’re waiting for pics of his celebration (the company takes the money we send and gives it to the orphanage with the instructions to buy the cake and provide digital pictures proving that the money was used for that purpose)  We’ve seen many birthday celebration pics, and were fortunate that Dylan was in a few of them!  I hope he enjoys having his own party :) 

In the meantime, Abbey bought a birthday present for him, too.  We’ll have it here, waiting for him. 

Thanks, Abbey…he’ll love it. 

Next stop…Marley, Payton, and Ethan’s birthday on the 7th! 

 

No, not her first SPOKEN word…that was “eye”, in case you’re wondering.  She made the long “i” sound and pointed to her eye.  Hence, her first meaningful word spoken in English. 

No, I’m talking about her first written word.  Not that she KNEW she was writing a word.  She just loves to write letters and run up to me and ask “what that say?”. 

This time, she was making a Father’s Day card for her daddy and just started writing letters.  My jaw dropped when I saw what she’d done.  GOD.  Clear as day (and G is usually not this neat and easy to read!).  Lined up straight, in the dead middle of the page.  I know it could just as easily been “bug”, or “cup”, but I thought it was super cool that her hands made the name of our Creator instead. 

She looks a little smug, don’t you think?  You go girl…keep proclaiming the name of our Lord :)