Christmas Day..examining the "loot"

"MY OWN LIP GLOSS" exlaims Meigan....everything she took out of her stocking she yelled out "MY OWN"..geesh, she sounds so deprived.......

by 7:01am, Catie and Meigan had discovered toys and stockings by Nana and Grampa's tree, and had dumped the contents of their stockings on the floor...

T'was the Night Before Christmas

and these girls were all ready in their new christmas jammies from Nana! The girls left Santa a letter, some cookies, milk and carrots for the reindeer...all very exciting!

Airplane pics

Over the USA and the Mississippi River to New Hampshire we go...

We're here...after one LONG day yesterday...in chilly and I mean chilly Dover, NH...at Nana 7 Grampa's house..where the girls are in HEAVEN! they have a HUGe tree, and are just giving the girls nothing but their undivided attention (which is FINE with me)...at this very second, nobody is bugging me, whining, fighting....pure heaven...

the trip was easy, just long...extremely full flight full of kids, my 2 again, are just champs at traveling..so easy they are...thank god! they watch movies, eat, color...they did great!

Catie lost her other front tooth on the flight..pretty exciting stuff that was..of course the tooth fairy came last night (good thing she packed some tooth fairy gifts in her suitcase, just in case)..

here are a few pics of the journey!

Kristin

Santa Clause is Coming to Town

you better watch out...you better not cry.....
no cryin' here....these girls are veterans...kinda/sorta.....

Catie would NOT go near Santa until last year, when she was almost 5 1/2..I remember bringing her to see him when she was 17mos. old...she'd been with us for 4 months, and we just looked at him, and she grabbed onto me like nothing I'd seen and whimpered..and we left.......Meigan's first experience with Santa was Dec. 04...home just 4 months, and almost 18mos. of age she was....reacted worse than Catie..and we left...no pictures of kids on Santa's lap crying....no sense traumatizing them just for "that picture"...all in good time things come....

so we'll enjoy this one...our 2nd pic. with the girls and Santa...ho ho ho!

Fish, Frenchfries and Greenbeans.. OH MY!

3 cuties being quite goofy during dinner....as always we love having Norah at our house...Catie and Meigan LOVE Norah...they're really amazing with her...and Norah bosses them around...because she can, because SHE IS 2!!



oh, where is Anna you say???
well, she was messing up my computer while the girls were eating..... really she and I were having a bit of a "challenge " logging onto my blog...

all I can say is "don't drink and blob"......hiccup....I mean don't drink and blog... :)

The "fine art" of noodle slurping

demonstrated by Meigan....chief noodle slurper #2 (yes, she takes her rank behind her big sister "chief noodle slurper #1 who loves to slurp noodles through those spots where her teeth have come out!

WHAT A FACE!!!! look at those cheeks!....this kid is SUCH a crack up....

All Pooped Out

Sometimes you just gotta give into sleep....6:05pm tonight, here was Meig.....GONE!

she won't nap suddenly (though if I have to go in a car, she'll go out in a flash)...and after 2 days of no nap, very early rising, and a late night last night staying with our neighbors while we were in the city overnight for Brian's Christmas party she couldn' t hold up any longer....that's ok, it's a cold, rainy, windy nasty night and we have the fire going and she got all cozy on the couch and whap, out she went! now I just gotta get Catie to go to sleep now.....hmmmm, cold medicine with alcohol in it?? :))

as for that Christmas party last night, and us staying overnight in the city....we had fun! I think...at least I remember having fun most of the night... hangovers STINK when you're over 40!

These boots are made for walking........

These have to be THE CUTEST boots I've ever seen! These are Meigan's newest wardrobe addition. she loves them..and I have to say, they are adorable on her. Catie is getting ones in pink for christmas from Nana... One more reason we love Target!

Life is Good when you are 6

Yesterday, I took Catie to the Teddy Bear Tea at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco. It was really nice, and very fun. We went with her group of friends from her old Preschool. Now, I have to say, yes we were at the Ritz..and the cost was steep...but the entertainment was THE BEST..this guy was fantastic with the kids and all Bay Area people should check him out...he's good for grownups and kids..www.binkytheelf.com

Catie was all decked out in her fancy dress, and all the kids got a really nice Gund teddy bear, that is very soft and cuddly....It was a fun time, with of course a little bubbly for the Mommies!

Another tooth is gone....bring on the Tooth Fairy

Tooth #5 is now out...and #6 will probably be out tomorrow night...
this kid is losing her teeth like crazy....4 on the bottoom are gone, the
big giant permanent teeth are in...and now the top
are coming out... stay tuned, I"m sure that the other tooth
will come out tomrorow...it's barely hanging on, but she wants to wait...

looks like the Tooth Fairy will be broke by Sunday.... I love this!!

The Naughty Frog..it's not just for kids anymore

yes, here is Brian...put on the "naughty frog" by Meigan and Catie....for saying something naughty.... these girls don't mess around.....

A Glimpse into the past...............

This was our first offical family photo...that's Catie on August 14, 2001 in Guangzhou....we'd had her for less than 24hrs.... little did we know that 3yrs. later, we'd receive Meigan in that exact same room.....

This is one of my favorite pics from our 2004 trip to China...this was taken 2 days before we left for home....Meigan was 13mos. old and Catie was 4....seems like forever ago...

Nothing like a rainy Sunday....

it still amazes me how 2 kids who total 66lbs. can wreck a bedroom in minutes......this WAS Meigan's room this afternoon.....

thank GOD school starts again tomorrow.....

Adios Cabo San Lucas....

We came back on the 19th from a week in Cabo http://playagranderesort.com where we have a week every November....a week for the girls to swim, and for Daddy to go fishing..this time they caught 20 yellowfin tuna...anyone like tuna?? 'cause we've got A LOT of it frozen in our freezer...we'll be eating Tuna until next November, I think..... and it's a week for me to have some nice margaritas brought to my lounge chair by the pool...it was a great week, nothing but hot sun for 7 days.......only 359 days left until my next pool-side margarita......sigh..

Here we are, the 4 Van Weeles. I'm Kristin, my dearest husband is Brian and on my lap is Catie who was adopted on 8/13/01 from the Maoming SWI, and on Brian's lap is our wild one, Meigan who was adopted on 8/10/04 from the Maoming SWI.

We were stunned to receive another referral from Maoming SWI back in June of 2004..never thought in a million years that it would happen... LUCKY us!!

Life is busy with these 2 girls. Catie is in first grade now...first grade...it's hard for us to believe that...seems like it was just yesterday that this little 17lb. 13mos. old peanut was handed to us in Guangzhou wearing 6mos. clothes....I have to somehow upload those pics onto here (they are not on CD)... Catie will be 6 1/2 in January....she's really going on 25 I think...boy..she's so flippin' smart, sassy, sensitive, sweet, bossy, loving, and really good with her little sister 90% of the time...she's just an amazing little girl...and just so beautiful!

Meigan is almost 3 1/2 now..she's been home 2yrs...she's changed SO MUCH from that wild-haired, 16lb. peanut that came to us in Guangzhou with only 2 bottom teeth that stuck right up for all to see...she goes to preschool 3 days a week now...such a big girl she is...bossy as all get out and quite a know-it-all as well...can pout and mope really well...(thanks to her big sister for teaching her that charming quality)...and she's just one really hilariously funny kid, as you will see..

I'm knew at blogging, so bear with me...there is so much to capture on here...I'm so behind on doing this blog...so I'll just start with life now....stay tuned...

Kristin