Fashion Friday

Today's Fashion Friday comes to you via video. Rylee wanted to give her pose in motion so here it is...

Not only does she strut her stuff in her chosen outfit, but she also shares her views on split pants. All of this information was unsolicited by me :)

To see the other adorable children and their outfits head over to Salsa in China!

Shred, Pain and Fun - Oh Yeah!

I'm sure you have all heard about Jillian's 30 Day Shred by now right? My friend Julie (she made the cool button!) from Mom by Faith (not by sight) and I are taking the challenge. We are on day two... let me summarize for you.


Day #1 - The word that comes to mind would be pathetic!!! The workout is 20 minutes long - how hard can that be I thought, heh...


5 minutes into the workout: Rylee falls over and doesn't get up until we are done.
10 minutes into the workout: Hubby disappears into the bathroom. (can't fool me - I'm on to you dude!)
15 minutes into the workout: I think I might pass out, but I refuse to cave!
20 minutes into the workout: You've seen the Biggest Loser right? You know how they drip sweat all over the place - well that may have been me, or Hanna.



Day #2 - Pain, day two is all about the pain. Why do children insist on running and throwing themselves at you when several of your muscles are literally screaming in pain??? And why when you cry out from this screaming pain do they laugh like this is the funnest thing in the whole wide world and insist on repeating the flying leaps until you are huddled on the floor pleading with them to stop? These are hypothetical questions only!


Rylee hid at the top of the stairs and did not even come out until after the workout was over! This from the kid that is up at 6:10 every morning! I finally found a way to get her to stay in bed until 8:00 - thank you Jillian!!!!!!!!!!


Hanna bailed after 5 minutes. The adults made it through - yay!!!

Anyone want to join? No???

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Now for the fun part of the post! I have joined Barefoot Mommies as a product review blogger! I have some really awesome giveaways lined up and you are not going to want to miss them (want a sneak peak? - Bamboo Fun Tablet, Play With Pictures, Traditional Toys and much more!!!).

Head over to Barefoot Mommies and add our Father's Day Extravaganza and you get two extra entries in all of our giveaways!!

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Click below to enter for Custom Photo Cards!

Click below to enter to win a 24 pack of SafetyCaps!

One more Awe-Summm Award!

Wow, I may just qualify for the "Blogger That Takes The Longest To Respond To Blog Awards" award!

One of my newest favorite bloggers Buckeroomama from Mamahood, among other things... gave me this award a while back and I have to apologize for taking so long to respond!!! Buckeroomama has the cutest kids and she lives in Hong Kong - how cool is that? Go check out this post to see my favorite thing about China and Rylee's least favorite thing about China!

It is just so hard to believe that I could be considered Queen of Alll Things Awe-Summm by anyone other than the 6 people that know me personally.

I'm supposed to say seven things about myself that make me awe-summm and pass this award on to seven other bloggers. So ummm... to pick 7 things is just nearly impossible! I think I will get back to you, ya know after I narrow it down... maybe sarcasm would be one.

I'll be back to pass this on... (this won't surprise most of you who have learned how I like to leave things hanging heh...)

I ♥ Faces - Week 20 - Silhouettes

My entry this week is one of my favorite pictures of Hanna and Minnie practicing before a horse show in the fall. They stopped in front of the arena opening and the sunshine outside was so bright that I was able to capture this beautiful silhouette of the two of them. One of my favorite things is to watch Hanna riding Minnie, it's pure beauty!

Head on over to http://iheartfaces.blogspot.com/2001/01/week-20-photo-challenge-silhouettes.html to see how you can enter this weeks contest and check out all the amazing photos!

Blog Awards - Thank you!!!!

Thank you to Angie at A Simple Kinda Life for giving me this Sushi Award! If you love giveaways you just have to check out her upcoming Summer Soiree to enter for some really great prizes!

I was given this award by Leah from Live Life Simply. Leah is currently in the midst of prayerfully seeking God's will in adoption for their family and I am looking forward to seeing how it will work out for them. Please stop by and check out her sweet blog!


Thank you ladies for thinking of me!!! I am passing these awards on to all my blogging friends, please copy them for your blogs!!!

I have a blog button!!!

I know this is not the post I said I'd be doing today - but LOOK at my new blog button!!!

<center><a href="http://ryleeforlife.blogspot.com/"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRVgcMe35huOU6q228M1L45XQlOH-lX85E20LpufbINiHUPxAPH9TXwwcnjXnF4JwK-NEpfud_83954Do9JqKmX86rt9KrmAloryzpJbP7gGrKjZTVeNZeXTdT8SqulFkfH9gozALngUU/s1600/Rylee+for+Life.png"/></a></center>

My blog button is compliments of Jen over at Following the Footsteps. She held a giveaway over at her blog and I won! She made me this adorable button, which you can feel free to grab for your blog if you would like! If you have one let me know and I'll add it to my blog too!

Jen has some really cute designs over at her design blog, check out her portfolio by clicking here here.

Thank you Jen!!! Don't y'all think she did a great job???

Fashion Friday!

What is up with google?!? Oh my gosh I have been having so many problems and can't see many peoples blogs right now. Some are disappearing even - ugh!!! But, I'm in now and going to try to get this posted.


You know about this by now right? It's fashion Friday over at Salsa in China? and our kids get to put together their own outfits. Rylee did super this week although the pinks really did not match, you can't tell so much in this photo! We have the super girl shirt paired with the absolute must have skirt and the THANK GOODNESS SCHOOL IS OUT flip flops! Yay to not having to tell Rylee every day no you can't wear flip flops to school!!!!




Rylee was loving her pigtails that were sporting a little bit of body due to three days of wearing braids and refusing to take a bath. Normally I would have insisted (on the bath) but it was the last week of school and it didn't seem like it would permanently damage her to skip a bath. I'm going with laid back mommy this week.


She brought me the hair ties and a brush and told me "Two pigs Mom. DO IT RIGHT!" I said "Excuse me?" She said "Oh, sorry Mom - DO IT RIGHT please?" I handed her back the brush and went back to what I was doing. "I sorry Mommy, please Please PLEase can I have piggys?" (sigh...)

Now I really wanted to share with you the cute and sassy outfit that she put together for dinner last night, but I couldn't download the photos l- I'm telling you it's been a technological revolt around here the past few days!

Anyway, the outfit totally matched her mood at dinner. We took her for Chinese and she strolls in picks her seat and surveys the art on the walls and the following conversation ensued:

"HEY! This is CHINA an I know all those people." (Pointing to the sketch art of about 200 little people)! "HEY youknowwhatdaddyIcandrawtheBESTturtles becauseIknowallaboutturtlesandIamtheBESTatitwanttosee?"

Daddy says "What?"

Rylee says "Yeah, you can't hear me dad, that's why you are OLD!"

Click here to see all the other cute outfits this week.

I know I have been missing!

I have much to catch up on I know, but if you want to see what I have been up to go here!

Tomorrow (hopefully) - Part 9 of our Adoption Journey!

I am also way behind in accepting a couple of blog awards - also tomorrow!

And you know what else? Tomorrow is the first day of summer break from school. Yeah, I should have lots of time to catch up, lol!!!

I ♥ Faces - Week 19 - Amature

How did this happen - another week gone by and it's Monday already?!! Which means that it's time for the I ♥ Faces entry again. This week is special in that the winning photos will be featured in the I ♥ Faces blurb book that they are putting together.

The rules for this week are to enter the best face photo we have ever taken!

Gosh, this is so hard!

I am entering this shot of Hanna that I took as she was getting ready for her very first Daddy/Daughter dance. This picture makes me want to scoop her up in my arms and try to keep her from getting any older!

She takes my breath away...

Head on over to the I ♥ Faces site and enter your own photo - or you can see all the beautiful entries by clicking here.

I am submitting this photo into the http://www.iheartfaces.com/ Blurb Book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Fashion Friday!

It's Fashion Friday over at Do They Have Salsa in China? where the kids get pick out and design their own outfits. I totally borrowed this idea from Buckeroomama because it was just so cute!

The girls came out from the direction of my bedroom in a cloud of giggles. I turned around to find this cute and matching sight:

And then Rylee lost her pants...

Click here to join in!

Biggest Loser & Chrysler

Yes, they both belong in the same blog title today! First the show - WOW did they all look amazing or what? It's crazy how attached you can become to these contestants while you are watching them work their hearts out to get slim and fit and they looked totally awesome!

I really was rooting for Tara, because she worked so hard the entire time, but then again Mike looked incredible. I was not really rooting for Helen, but man she lost so much weight and worked so hard too!

In the end I was glad that Helen won because her husband works at the Detroit Chrysler plant that will be closing within the next year. The outlook for all of these displaced auto workers does not look very promising.

This is near and dear to my heart right now since my husband just lost his job at a Chrysler dealership.

The sad thing is there are so many facing this same thing right now and we can not all just bounce back from this latest blow...

On the positive side - I hope you are all having a better week than we are :)

iHeartFaces - Week 18 - Laughter - Kid's Entry

I could not be more excited this week to have two of my most favorite sites joining forces! I have never been one to be star struck, but if I ever had the chance to meet The Pioneer Woman I am sure I would make a total fool of myself. Ree is amazing, funny, takes awesome pictures and lives the kind of Ranch life that I can only dream about AND she cooks too - I could seriously drink this salad dressing from a cup, it is that tasty!

For this weeks theme of laughter, I chose this picture of Rylee on her first visit to a sprinkler park. She got such a kick out of the water shooting out and jumping around, that she doubled over with laughter. Man I love this kid!!!

Click here to join in the iheartfaces contest or to check out lots of great laughter pictures.

Because who doesn't need more laughter in their life?

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all of you Mama's are being pampered and treated extra special today! For those of you that are sad or suffering today, my thoughts and prayers are with you as well!

I am working on Part 8 of our adoption story right now and hope to post it sometime tomorrow. Thank you to all of you that have been following along! In tomorrow's post I will be sharing some of our specific experiences from our week spent inside the baby home.

Now I would like to share with you the acrostic poem Hanna wrote for me:

Mother!!

Most magnificent

Only the best mom ever

The best mom ever

Her eyes are so bright

Energentice

Ramdunkshish

Here's hoping you are all Energentice and Ramdunkshish too!!!

Fashion Friday

It's Fashion Friday over at Do They Have Salsa in China which means that it is time to display our child's unique fashion style by letting them put together their own outfits. Click on over to M3's blog to join in the fun!


This week Rylee did quite well I thought, until she added the Turtle Fur Fleece kids neck warmer as a fashionable headband. This in itself might have been okay, except for the fact that it is regularly in the 80's here now and she sweats like crazy even without the fleece accessory! But as she pointed out to me, it did in fact match her flip flops.



A couple of days later she wanted to try again I couldn't think of a good reason to say no, so here is outfit #2.

Apparently she favors the black leggins over any other colors because she picked them again. She clunked down the stairs in the dress up high heels and this fabric piece on her head. I said "Um Ry, why are you wearing that on your head?", to which she said "I have to Mama, cuz dis is what princesses do, and I am de Princess and it is beautiful!" So, now you all know the required head covering for today's modern princesses!

I did draw the line at the shoes before we left the house, because the way she was hobbling around I was afraid that she may sprain an ankle. Or, it may have been because of the incessant clacking of the shoes on the hard floor... either way, she had to change them.

Remember to click here and join the fun of Fashion Friday!

Laughter Lives Tuesday!

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

Wow - it's Tuesday already! Somehow I missed Monday this week. Maybe because I was grieving over the fact that some of my blog friends apparently think I stink! (see the comments in my previous post)!

I am just going to go ahead and apologize right now for how long my adoption series has gone on (and on). I really had no idea that I was so long winded and that it would carry over into May! However, I must admit that I am surprised by how much of a kick I get out of your comments telling me to hurry it up :)

Yes, my ego has taken a trampling this week after finding out that I "stink" :) I also found out that I am no longer cool!!!

We had gotten home fairly late and it was past bed time for both girls. I told them to hurry up and head upstairs to get their jammies on and brush their teeth before bed.

Hanna said: "Mom, why do you have to be harsh like that?"

I replied "That's just how I roll, Hanna" (totally cool response, right?)

Hanna shook her head sympathetically and placed a supportive hand on my shoulder. "Mom" she said still shaking her head "You're just not cool like that" she said with a sigh, as she continued to pat my shoulder.

I shrieked replied "WHAT - I am too cool like that - get upstairs and get to bed right now!!!"


I turned to look at my husband, who was barley holding back his laughter, and said - "Oh no! How did she find out that I'm not cool already? I really did think that I had more time before she found that out..."

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Rylee loves Chinese food and it had been awhile since we had taken the girls out, so we went to dinner recently at her favorite Chinese restaurant.

The hostess was wearing traditional Chinese clothing and Rylee said "Look Mama, gee is so beautiful, so SO beautiful. Right Mama?"

We were seated and already knowing what she wants, Rylee said "I want spice chicken an flies!". The girl leaned in closer and asked her "what do you want?". Rylee repeats rather loudly "SPICE CHICKEN AN FLIES!" Several heads turned our way and I quickly explained that she wanted Dry Chili Chicken and white rice.

The waitress goes to put in our order and comes out to tend to her other tables. Rylee being anxious to get to her favorite meal, watches her pass by a couple of times. The next time by Rylee yells out "HEY DUDE, WHERE'S OUR FOOD? Why dis take so long DUDE?"

I crawled under the table, Hanna ran to the bathroom and Rylee stood up in the booth waiting for her answer!

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Last I leave you with this picture. The girls like to play school and they can get pretty elaborate with their school room set up. On this day, things had gotten pretty quiet so I thought I had better check on them. Hanna was no longer in there and this is how I found Rylee:

Fashion Challenge Friday

It's here again - M3's Fashion Challenge Friday! It's time to let your child's creative side out in full force.

One day this week after getting home from school, she took off running up the stairs telling me "I'm picking my outfit Mama, I know just what I wanna wear!"

Okay I think, it's super warm outside so she will probably pick something light and airy for our shopping trip!

She sure was light and airy and even cute too! But she was wearing a nightgown! Apparently, I need to specify that when she picks her own outfit, she needs to stick with daytime wear!

I told her that she can't really go out with pajama's on and she said "But why Mama, I got dis shoes so it's okay right?"

So there are no extra points for me this week because I did NOT let her wear this to the store... but maybe with leggins I might have considered it.

For outft #2 this week I told her to run upstairs and put on barn clothes so we can get going for Hanna's riding lesson. She says "Okay Mama, I can do it!".

Yeah, so she comes hopping down the stairs with this outfit on! Not exactly what I would call "barn clothes" and she certainly can't ride in this outfit. So I tell her that she won't be able to ride if she wears a skirt - skirts are not made for horseback riding! She pokes her bottom lip out and tells me that she doesn't want to ride - she wants to be cute!

So I gave in on this one and since it has been dry here, I didn't even press the boot issue. So there she was at the barn looking super cute and springy and not caring one bit that she is standing in horse manure in her flip flops...