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