Saying Goodbye...

"I will remember you

Will you remember me?

Don't let your life pass you by

Weep not for the memories"

~Lyrics by Sarah McLachlan~

Why is it so hard to say goodbye? After 98 years she is more than ready to leave this life, but I don't want her to go... and yet, I want her to be free. Free from the body and mind that have and are failing her...

But I remember:

Sunday dinners at Grandmas house, roast beef, ham, mashed potatoes and french style green beans.

Picking rhubarb from your garden and then making the most delicious fresh pies.

The first time I spent the night at your house and was homesick. You let me call mom and she talked me in to staying. We walked down to the dime store together and you bought me a doll. The dime store is long gone, but I still remember.

I remember walking down the street to the bait store to buy penny bubble gum. The bait shop, that was also a machine shop that sold candy to the neighborhood kids. The bait shop has been replaced by soaring lakefront homes, but I still remember.

I remember singing in the car "We're on our way to Grandma's house, to Grandma's house today, We're on our way to Grandma's house and there we're going to stay!"

I remember doing puzzles together.

Playing the organ.

Pouring over the family photo books, and listening to you tell stories of the people in the pictures.

The big set of encyclopedias that you kept over the sofa, that we would read every time we came over.

Yearly school clothes shopping.

I remember introducing you to Hanna when she was born.

And then Wednesdays when you and Mom would bring Hanna a cheeseburger with extra pickles and come for a visit.

I remember wanting you to stay long enough to meet Rylee, and you did. You were 97 years old and when most kids would have been scared to approach you, she walked right up started talking to you and gave you a hug, and then she told you to walk faster...

A lifetime of memories that I will forever cherish.

I love you Grandma and I will miss you. I pray that God take you peacefully and gently home, so that finally you can rest...

Thank you for the memories.

Why I have been "missing" from my blog!

Many of you know that I have been doing review blogging for BarefootMommies. I have decided to leave there and have joined together with 7 other experienced review bloggers to create MommyPR.

At MommyPR we will specialize in reviews and giveaways but we also want to create a place to bring PR friendly bloggers together with blogger friendly companies. We have created a place on our blog called the Break Room. PR friendly bloggers can be listed in our break room and will be given a unique password to gain entrance into our blogger friendly company page. If you are looking to get started in review blogging, we can help you do that as well.

So come on over and check out our new site www.mommypr.com and see what has been keeping me so busy! I am almost done wrapping things up at BarefootMommies and will be exclusively at MommyPR on July4. July 4th is our launch party for MommyPR and you all are not going to want to miss this!!!

MommyPR is hosting an exclusive giveaway for followers only, and let me tell you this prize is AWESOME!!! We are giving away a beautiful Burberry London Purse with a $650 value!!!! Click here and go check it out!

Rylee's new doll, Ling!

I just wanted to let you all now about this beautiful doll that I received from Karito Kids to review over at MommyPR. I haven't posted my review yet, but look at how beautiful Wan Ling is! Rylee loves her and was so excited because she is "China like me Mom!". I have not run across very many Asian dolls and this one is of great quality.


She even comes with a story book that is based in Shanghai. The book was a little above Rylee's age but Hanna loved the story. All three of us read it together each night, or at least two of us did while Rylee climbed all over me!






At the end of the book are pages from Ling's scrapbook which include a picture of a "squatty potty". Rylee goes "Oh no Mom, not again!!! I don't like this kind!!" Which is so true! Once she learned how to use the "American" style potty, she never wanted to use these again!

Rylee has been sleeping with Ling and pretty much taking her everywhere she goes for the past couple of weeks. She even found out from the book that Ling loves pandas, so she gave her the little stuffed panda we got while we were in China - so sweet!


I wanted to pass this link on to all my friends, but also be sure to watch for my review soon (I'll post the link here). I also get to host a giveaway for a Karito Kid that you could win for your own daughter!!!

Oh my goodness - More Awards!!!

I received this wonderful award from Buckeroomama over at Mamahood among other things! If you don't currently read her blog, you really should go check it out. She has a charming family and a wonderful blog!

I also received this Lovely Blog award from Lori of When We Listen. Lori is a wonderful writer, please stop by and check out her blog.

I need to share this lovely blog award with another 5-15 mom's whose blogs are also very lovely and that I find to be interested and exciting. There are so many great blogs that I follow and I will work on narrowing it down and passing on these awards soon!

Thank you so much for passing these awards on to me - I truly appreciate it and am so thankful for the many of you that stop by often and also leave me comments that always bring a smile to my face!

I hope you will bear with me just a bit longer while I get my schedule under control! School being out and juggling two jobs has been just a little bit crazy!!!

Belated Birthday Post

It's hard to believe that Rylee has turned *6* already! I feel like she has grown at double speed this past year, and in reality she probably has.

When we brought Ry home a year and a half ago, she was really more like 3 than 4.5. While the kids in her class still seem to be a little bit older than her, she really has come a long way in catching up!

In many way it seems like she has been part of us forever. It's hard to remember a time when she wasn't with us and wasn't a part of us. It seems so natural and right that she is my daughter and as strange as it might sound, I forget why people stare at us when we are out in public. When I look at her I see her beautiful spirit, her love for life and her joy in experiencing the world around her. I see her charisma and exuberant personality. When people stare at us, I assume they are seeing the same thing.

But occasionally I am reminded. Like field day at school and she came home about 8 shades darker than when she left. Or like the day when my husband and I both put the girls on the bus for school and Rylee peeked out the window at us, just able to barely come eye level in the window. My husband said "Oh my gosh, she's Chinese!". It made me chuckle a little bit but I knew just what he was saying. When you know someone really well, you see who they really are and not just what they look like. She may look different than us, but she doesn't feel different than us!

I don't even know if I can tell you how much I love this child, and I have no doubt that she feels the same way about me! I can't help but think about another mother somewhere who may be thinking about her too. I wish she could know this joy of a child and know how very much Rylee is loved!

Oh how badly Rylee has wanted to turn 6! She has been talking about since about

a week or two after she turned 5. Because at 6, she could have her ears pierced. I thought 6 would be a long way away, but it came all too soon. She has seriously been asking for months, so we finally did it. We told her how much it was going to hurt, so she brought her favorite stuffed animal and said "I know, I know - dis be okay Mama, you jus gotta squeeze da animal, I know how to do dis Mama!" Well, that's all fine and good until you see your daughters face crumple from the pain! However, she didn't kick the girls that did it and she didn't scream to bring down the building. Once I showed her how pretty they were in the mirror, she stopped crying. Now she goes around asking everyone "My ears pierce still sparkle?" So cute!

Now I just want to share a few birthday pictures. Naturally we had a princess party!!

Waiting for the guests to arrive (only about 3 hours to go)!

Still waiting, but outside now!

Silly girl blew out the candles as soon as we put the cake in front of her. Everyone yelled "NO you have to wait!" She said "Oh, well I don't know this! How I know this?" Right! - she has only been here for one birthday - she probably didn't remember that you have to wait!!! I hope she is not too upset with me once she finds out that she was supposed to be making a wish before blowing those candles out!


I know there is a glare, but can you see how perfect this poster turned out? Rylee loves it and it really looks like she was right there in the castle! Super, super cute!!! You can win one here for your child!

30 Day Shred - Level 2

Today was my first day of attempting Level 2.

This is all I have to say - and I mean this in the nicest possible way: Jillian please STOP TALKING!

Fashion Friday

It's Fashion Friday time at Do They Have Salsa in China? and I hope you join in this week! Fashion Friday is when we let our kiddo's have free choice on putting their outfits together and we get to enjoy their creative side!

Our first outfit this week was a smashing success - she looked totally cute and everything matched!!!

Outfit number two was fitting for the warm days we are having now. Sunglasses seem to have become her "must have" accessory right now. The only problem is that she only wears them on her face in the house. She said that they make her see better inside :) Outside she shoves them on top of her head!

This was the outfit she picked out for VBS. She was not thrilled with my stipulation of no princess dresses until she got home - ha ha!!!

This was her choice for going to the barn this week. The horse shirt worked really well, I only wished the pants had matched better...

Since school is out, and I have been working so much (leaving Dad in charge of wardrobe) Rylee has had plenty of opportunities to pick out her own outfits. She is big into accessories right now and of course princess dresses have pretty much made an appearance daily!

Click here to join in the fashion fun!

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!!!