Family Pictures

Our sister-in-law Mandi took our family pictures on a very hot, humid September evening. She deserves an award for the magic she worked on this family of 8 who was sweating and hungry! 😄 September is a great time for pictures in our family since 4 of the girls have birthdays then and it's BellaMei's half-birthday!

Alex wanted pictures on the golf course behind our house so Mandi captured some candid ones of the girls golfing with their daddy too. I really did try to limit how many I'm posting, but I love so many of them! 

Bria ~ 2.5 yrs old

Brielle ~ almost 8 yrs old

BellaMei ~ almost 18 months

Beilyn ~ almost 6 yrs old

Brynna ~ 12 yrs old

Braylee ~ 14 yrs old

Of all the girls in all the world, God knew these two would make the perfect match as sisters. 💖
They are complete opposites but the best of friends!

Blessed beyond measure!

AAC Gathering

First, just a few cute pictures of my sweetie after church on Sunday. ♥

17.5 months old

She's figured out the "cheese" thing.

Cutest ruffle butt I've ever seen.

In the afternoon, we took the girls to Indianapolis to visit with other adoptive families. Nicole, our agency's China coordinator, was in town! She hosted a gathering for local AAC families.  It was so special to finally meet Nicole in person!

Back in September 2011, I saw Brielle on Rainbowkids.com. At that time, I had never even heard of AAC, but I knew I had just seen my daughter's face! I called AAC and spoke with Nicole. She told me to fill out the family info sheet and explained their agency policy that allows two families to review a file at the same time. I said ok, hung up, and started filling out the form online. I could hardly focus and frantically called her back again a few minutes later.  I told her I didn't even need to see the file to say yes. I knew that little girl was ours. I begged her to lock Brielle's file for our family. She kind-of laughed and agreed to hold her file just for us until we could transfer from our previous agency. And with that, Nicole became a very special person in my book!  Last November, it was also Nicole who called to tell us about another little baby who needed a family. She started by saying the baby's needs weren't on our list but the little one with a bald head reminded her of our family because of Bria's bald little baby head. 😁  Nicole also calmed me down when I called her at 6am (forgot about the time change!) crying when the new rules were posted last July and I was afraid we were no longer eligible! She will always hold a special place in my heart.

The kids played arcade games and enjoyed go-carts and putt putt golf. It's always fun to meet up with other adoptive families and I loved chatting with Nicole in person after all of the texts, emails, and phone calls over the past 7 years!

These two cuties were at the Nanchang orphanage together.

Life with 6 Kids {First half of September}

It's been 4 months since we became parents to 6 kids.  I didn't think 5 seemed much different than 4, but #6 has definitely been felt. 😄 I think it's mostly because we've never had two this close in age before. Bria and Juan are only 15.5 months apart. We're busy with the big girls' activities, I'm back at work, there is homework and housework to be done, and we're just trying to juggle everything the best we can. Currently, we have dance classes 3 nights/week, gymnastics for the four oldest, golf for Braylee & Brynna, and Awana at church on Wednesday nights. We're so thankful for grandparents who help us with the girls as often as they can! This is the season we are in right now. We are tired but loving it so much too!

Thursday, September 6th~ Gramma had her hands full this day! Two 2 yr olds and a 17mo old!

Beilyn's very 1st dance class! She was all smiles!
She said her favorite part though was getting ice cream on the way home. 😁

Taryn and Beilyn are in the same class at school too!

Friday, September 7th

She'll kill me for this one day, but she's just so cute!
She uses the potty from time to time, but we won't officially potty-train until she's closer to 2.

Sunday, September 9th~ Ready for church

That afternoon, Bridgette & Brad came over to ask Brielle & Beilyn to be flower girls in their wedding.

School pictures arrived! Beilyn - Kindergarten

Brielle - 2nd grade

Brynna - 6th grade

Braylee - 8th grade

Monday. September 10th~ It has been so fun to watch Beilyn grow so much in the last month! When she started Kindergarten, she didn't even know all of her letters and only knew a few of their sounds. Now she is actually memorizing some sight-words! Thank you, Jesus! I don't understand how her brain works (She still can't sing her ABCs!), but we are all cheering for this sweet girl! 

She's quite animated when trying to sound out the words!

Tuesday, September 11th~ Hanging out at Mamaw & Papaw's house

Thursday, September 13th~ watching Sydney's volleyball game

Friday, September 14th~ Parents Night Out and these are the types of pics we get from their big sister babysitters 😆

Saturday, September 15th~ Mamaw and I took Braylee & Brynna shopping for their birthdays, so Alex was at home all day with the 4 little girls. Looks like they had a lot of fun!

They are such good little mommies. ♥

They drove the golf cart to the park and stopped for ice cream on the way.

The first half of the month was busy, but it was nothing compared to the second half coming up! Family pictures, four birthdays, a baby dedication, Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, and more camping to come!