Jetta Picasso....

The picture attached is Jetta's first piece of artwork....it's quite the masterpiece and I love her choice of canvas! I was in changing after work and she decided to get her bathtub crayons out and headed into the kitchen. Shannon was in there starting dinner and I guess unattended she decided to try her hand at a masterpiece. A masterpiece it is...thank goodness they are bathtub crayons, they wiped up as easy as they went on. However, couldn't pass up the opportunity to post her first piece of artwork!

Chinese New Year....

This weekend was the start of Chinese New Year and we celebrated with friends and family....our Chinese family. We traveled to Itasca to meet up with several of the families that we traveled with in China. It was a really great weekend and even better to see the girls. They are getting so big and all have changed so much. It is great to see how they are changing in person vs just in pictures. I'm so grateful that our group wants to remain in touch and work to get the girls together. I think right now the visits are for us, but as the girls get older it will be for them.

While we celebrated our first Chinese New Year as a family, as I said we also celebrated it with our Chinese family. When we traveled in China, I didn't realize just how much all of these families would mean to me and how much I treasure the moments and memories we will have together forever. Each of them hold a very special place in my heart and am so grateful that I had the opportunity to share this experience with them and to be able to continue to share the future with them.

A special thanks to Joe and Marla for opening their house to us (again) and for allowing us to continue to share each others daughters. They are so special and honestly can't remember life before, honestly I don't want to...my life is so full now, I wouldn't want it any other way.

I look forward to July when we will travel again to Peoria this time, as Abby, Bob and Bing will host our next gathering and will be our annual reunion, one that I hope we have for many years to come.

I'm gonna post some pictures from yesterday, you can see for yourself just how much all the girls have changed. Also, check out the one of the girls at the window...they are looking at the snow and all seem to really enjoy being with each other.....

Just a couple of cute pics to post...

We took these pictures over the weekend. Jetta found her sunglasses, and decided she wanted to wear them. The funny part is.....since her nose is so tiny, if she turns her head, the sunglasses turn too...it's pretty funny. However, she doesn't seem mind wearing them. I'm hoping to get her to wear them a little more before we head to CA next month, as I think she'll want them while we're there.

Also, check out her shirt.....one of my friends gave me this shirt and she knows how much Jetta loves Elmo and she is finally big enough to wear it. She was pretty darn excited when we put it on.

Then the last pictures are her in her jacket, her had and shades. Now all we need is snow. We haven't really had much to speak of, but we're just getting her ready for her first time out on the slopes.....just kidding. However, in the picutre, all she needs are some ski poles and I think she is an ad in the making.

She is just getting so darn big. She is finally starting to wear some 18 month clothes, which I guess is about time, since she's nearly 23 months old. Her final two teeth (other than her final molars that won't come in for a bit) have finally poked through. They were tough....I truly think it took nearly a month for them to pop thru. So, she almost has a full set of teeth. Not only does she have a full mouth of teeth, but she has a pretty full vocabulary. A week or two ago I did a list of words that she knows and came up with over 170. I had been thinking she was around 100, so it was with pleasant surprise that I discovered she knew more. She's starting to put some of the words together into short sentences, so I think we're getting pretty close to her actually talking and then I think I'm in for it. Other than that, she is just growing like crazy and is quickly approaching that two year mark.

We will be taking a trip to Peoria this coming weekend to go to a Chinese New Years celebration and then the next weekend to Chicago to meet up with some of our travel mates. I'll have more to post after that. Then we're almost to our one year anniversary of getting Jetta....hard to believe and then just a few short weeks later she'll turn two......where has the time gone.

Well, I'm gonna close for now, as we're home today, she has been running a fever and is wanting some snuggle time. I feel very lucky, this is the first time she's been sick since we got her and already seems to be perking up a bit.....So, hope you enjoy the pictures.

Oh to have that much energy....

The video that is attached is Jetta and all her energy. She makes me tired just watching her. As you'll see, I try to get her to stop, but she just keeps going....kind of like the energizer bunny. She seems to enjoy running around the kitchen island and being silly. I wish I had half her energy....after you watch the video you'll understand what I'm saying.