A Stormy Day with a Rainbow Ending

Yup, that is a best man (who held the ring pillow - he is NOT considered a ring bearer, you know!) and a maid of honor.

And, yup, that is I-Boy and cuteC!!!!!

They are now officially married and I somehow don't think they noticed that it was subzero temperatures and howling winds!

The whole event was romantically beautiful and just  the way they wanted it.  Perfect!

The bride's family.

 The groom's family.

The mamas and the papas of the new couple

You can just barely see it, but her sweatshirt says "bride", with a special hug from the papa.

The bride's admirers (and now sisters!).

The getaway mobile.

Amidst the storms of the day - which God-mazingly ceased for just long enough for the beautiful ceremony - a gorgeous rainbow filled the sky.

More Candles to Blow

Another birthday girl - one year home!  Yes, we are truly blessed immeasurably.

Checkin' out what kind of animal makes those funny noises every time we walk by.  She couldn't figure out how it sounded so loud when it ran - now she knows - a horse is pretty big - even when it is a small pony!

We are so lucky to have a space that the girls can skate in the house!  Please don't look at the laundry drying in the background, and it looks funny with the area rugs thrown up over the furniture.  Somehow I don't think that the girls will remember that the room looked funny - they will remember how much fun they had!  Let's hope, anyway!

Aquarium Visit

 We had the opportunity to visit the aquarium recently.  A super cool place that is totally hands-on - including feeding the stingrays and sharks!

Notice the iguana in the background that they all got to touch, too!

How is it at all possible that our youngest princesses are growing up so fast?

Absence makes the heart grow . . . .

Fonder????  Nah.  Life is just crazy - never seems to be enough time to do anything outside of what NEEDS to be done.  Sound familiar to anyone?  What?  Only me?  OK, now I am depressed!

  Joanie and I traveled to CA for a brief visit.  Twisty, windy road, me in the backseat.  Heater turned on waaaaay too high.  Ah, yeah.  Not a very pretty combination for someone who gets car sick.  I was able to snap this photo and then it was kinda not so good after that.  Fortunately, when I volunteered to drive, the offer was accepted and the situation tummy calmed down.  A nap when we got home helped, too!

Miss Chick-a-Dee on her long awaited birthday.  How is it at all possible that this gem of a person has been part of our family for nearly 5 years already?  She is growing up WAY too fast!

Yup - can't have a family snap without someone be tired, grumpy and happy all at the same time!

Chicka thought it was hilarious to stand like mum!

Cozy, 'eh?

U.S.A. birth certificates on their way!

A girl needs a stylin' pair of shades, right?  Even if she doesn't have any light perception.  And wears her shirt backwards.  Right?

I-Boy and cuteC making some chocolate covered salted caramels.  At midnight.  I have to admit I sampled them at 7 AM the next morning and they were still good!  And at 8 AM.  And at 9 AM.  But you didn't need to know that.

Chicka fooled everyone and made cupcakes for dinner.  Frosting and all!  No one complained, even though they were mini-meatloaves in cupcake form with tinted mashed potatoes on the top!  She wasn't proud of herself either.

Three peas in a pod on Chinese New Year.  Don't tell - two of them have Korean dresses on!  Probably what JiJi is laughing about, right?

Pretty posin' Zabi.

OK.  I'll try not to be gone too long this time.  i do have some exciting news to share!

Ahem, I think the guitar needs to be tuned!

The Lord's Prayer

The sweeties did it!

They memorized The Lord's Prayer!

We are so proud of them!

A Bicycle Built for Two

The pianista, who sometimes insists that she needs to wear glasses.  Not!

Learning how when the sun shines on America, China can't see the sun and when China sees the sun, America is sleeping.

The big day came at last - JiJi's bike arrived!

Go to this site - http://www.rushmillerfoundation.org/ - if you want to see an amazing father/son and their vision.  They worked with us to find funding for JiJi's bike - I wish I would have been ready with the camera - her face was priceless when she got on that bike for the first time!

Thanks to Scott and Janice with http://highlander-cycling.com/.  They had the bike shipped to them, assembled it and then they delivered to us!  THANKS, Scott and Janice!

I just had to share - my first home-grown dahlia!  Isn't she a beauty?

JiJi hard at work on her Mountbatten brailler.  She loves for me to dictate stories to her while she writes, then she reads them back to anyone who will listen.

What?  You don't know what this is?  We took a train ride this week from Vancouver, WA to Seattle, WA.  The yellow stripe represents the train track.  The red triangle at the bottom is Vancouver, the blue crystal is the train and each of the pink dots represent a stop that the train makes.  The white circle at the top is Seattle.  JiJi loved getting out her map as each stop was broadcast to see what point we were at and how many more stops we had to go.

blog.sina.com.cn/candiedog is the blog of the first guide dog allowed in China.  We had the privilege of meeting Candie and her owner, Lian, and visiting with them while we were in Seattle.