play hard, sleep hard...

Meili sure has a lot of energy! She loves exploring and is very inquisitive. Some of her current favorite things to do are watch birds on our feeders, go for walks in the stroller, dance, and read books. She is such a content kid and it's so fun to take her places. We are still teaching her sign language as her speech is still developing. She catches on quickly and knows at least 30 signs now. She cut one new canine tooth this past week and has three more coming soon. Here are a few pictures from the bubble area at the Children's Museum and one shot of a favorite afternoon activity of hers!

it's HOT.....

It's hot. The high yesterday was 95 and today was 94. We're spending lots of time in water to keep cool. We hung out in our little pool yesterday and played in a fountain today. Meili loves playing with sandbox toys in the pool. (They're useless in the sandbox because it doesn't have any sand yet.) She got pretty excited when I dumped Simon and Otis in the pool. They jumped right out but I could tell they felt much better.





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Meili was playing in this big chair the other day. A new thing she's been doing is trying to copy us when we smile at her - especially when we make really big, goofy smiles. If we say "SMILE, Meili!" she makes this face that must feel like a smile to her - it's so funny! Scroll down to see her smile!

"SO BIG!!!"

fun picts...

AT THE ZOO...

AT HOME...
making faces during dinner

reading a Bible story

hugs for Ernie and Bert

talking on the telephone

AT MEIJER GARDENS...

playing with the boats in the children's garden

Rachel Grace

introducing our new niece, Rachel Grace
born this morning at 1:37 A.M.
Minneapolis, MN
21.5" long, 8 lbs 6 oz
HOORAY!!!!!!

at the hospital...

My brother and his wife are at the hospital.... waiting to hear news about our new niece!!!

new babies!!!

New life is such a blessing! In the last months since we came home with Meili many of our friends have also been blessed with additions to their families. We are so thankful for all of these blessings from God!
- Cameron Asher - born in March
- Nathan Miller - adopted in March
- Sarah Jean - born in May
- Marika Julia - born in May
- Jaeden Isaac - born in May
- Katherine Rose - born in May
- Ava Grace - waiting to come home from China!!!
- Levi James - born on Friday!!! (see picture below)


We should hear from my brother and his wife any day now - their third daughter was due to show up last Friday. =)

two fun days

Wow! Summer vacation brings opportunities for all kinds of fun adventures. Saturday we spent a few hours at the Multicultural Festival at Bethany. There were all kinds of fun things for kids to do. The best spot was the critter area. Meili got to hold, pet and give kisses to all kinds of cute and fuzzy animals.

(notice where Meili puts her hand)

Initially, Meili was a little nervous about the cute duckling...

but it got a kiss too.

totally wiped out after lunch...

Today we had another fun adventure. It was a first for both of us - picking strawberries. Once Meili figured out that strawberries tasted good, she picked a few of her own to eat. She also ate a leaf or two and tried eating a few pieces of straw. Her shirt, arms and legs were covered with juice from the berries. Tonight we had delicious jam on crackers and a piece of strawberry pie! YUM!

socks...

Meili loves socks - our socks. It seems like it's on some of the hottest days that she manages to find them and asks one of us (with motions) to help her put them on. Then she walks around in them. Meanwhile, it's just so hot and she has sweat covering her head. What a funny kid!

vintage toys rock

It sure is fun to watch Meili enjoy toys that we had when we were kids! This barn was 5 cents at a thrift store. Meili loves the mooing sound and also likes sticking all of the cows and pigs into the hay loft!

a few more bath pictures

bath foam

Meili loves taking baths - especially when we pull out the can of bath foam from Grandma. The only gross thing about it is that it makes the water all yellow. (At least I think it's from the bath foam!)


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fun with Grandma & Grandpa

It's so fun when we have family visitors! This weekend Meili got to spend lots of time with Grandma & Grandpa who were visiting from Ontario. Grandma got to babysit on Friday and she took Meili for a visit to the park and the library. She also introduced Meili to the idea of putting her hands in her pockets. (Bakka will get a kick out of that!) Meili was SO proud of herself when she got her hands in her pockets but had a hard time keeping her balance when she tried to walk!


Meili loves giving kisses... this time she shared them with Grandpa!

sitting pictures

Well, Menga and Bakka have spoiled Meili again. (Thank you!) Here she sits on one of her new little chairs - she just loves them. She hasn't quite figured out how to get down from the chair by herself but she's getting close. She usually has her afternoon snack in this chair and likes sitting at the table with some of her toys. Today she did some coloring at the table. She has a really funny grip on the crayons.



The high chair is another place Meili spends a lot of sitting time. She's been eating solid/regular food for about a month how and she's starting to get really good at chewing! Two favorites of hers are Kraft Dinner (that's Macaroni & Cheese in American) and pancakes. Of course her pancakes are covered in REAL, Canadian maple syrup. Only the best for this little girl!!!


Meili isn't saying a whole lot of words yet - at least not words that we can understand! She tries to copy what we say but it often sounds quite different. She knows about 20 sign language signs and uses those all the time to communicate with us. Here is the sign for "drink."