We have been doing a little bit of color touring since Lilli has joined our family!  We took a trip to Copper Harbor on Saturday and Sunday we visited Canyon Falls and Little Mountain.  The view from the top of Little Mountain was beautiful! 

These pics are from Little Mountain overlooking Keweenaw Bay, where we live :)

Since Lilli has arrived we have kept her very busy, I'm exhausted! Today, she started school in L'Anse and attended volleyball practice.   It was a good day!  Chad helped her out with Algebra this eve.  Good thing he knows what he's doing, because I don't remember anything from Algebra!  Maddie and Lindsey were here to help as well.

Lilli was invited on her first sleep over this coming weekend.  Good thing I love the family who invited her or I may have had to say NO!

It's funny how someone you don't know can fit so easily into your home and family.  We just adore Lilli and are looking forward to getting to know her  better!

I'm sure she must have taken a million pics already because every time I looked at her she had the camera up to her face :) 

Time to catch up on some sleep~goodnight!

She's here!

Lilli arrived yesterday afternoon, started to unpack and within a short time we had to leave.  I don't think she wanted to leave with her room partially unpacked but we had a appointment at the school to set her schedule.  We took care of that, picked  up the kids and drove a hour to watch Maddie play volleyball.  We didn't get home until 9:30 so Lilli's first day was busy.  She gets to sleep in this morning because she doesn't start school until Monday.  Tonight she rides the fan bus to Ironwood to watch our Varsity Football team who are undefeated!

I told Chad last night he is going to have to beat the boys off with a stick-there were random boys walking up to me to talk who never have before....hmmmm, pretty sure it wasn't for me ;0

The exciting news is that she gets to go to Prom!  We didn't want her to go in as a Junior because then you have 3 days of required testing so we registered her as a Sophomore but really wanted her to go to Prom, so the counselor called the Prom Coordinator and they said yes, she could go!!!

We are looking forward to our year with Lilli and feel honored to have her here!

We have a new addition to the family!

We have some exciting news in the Rice house!  We are hosting a foreign exchange student starting tomorrow!  Lilli is 16 and from Germany!  It wasn't in our plans for this school year but God had another plan :)  Here is our story:

I asked Chad this summer if we could host a student and he said we needed to wait until the kids were older  so I decided not to push it and dropped the subject.  The girls were  devastated because they REALLY wanted the opportunity to host. 

My friend Jen has a little girl adopted from China who is 5.  She is working for a company that places exchange students and is hosting a girl from China as well.  We made plans to go the the Parade of Nations where every country is represented, then afterwards we were going to have some Chinese food.  A few days before this Jen called to ask if I minded if she brought along another girl from Germany that was with another host family.  Of course we wouldn't say no :)  Chad was going to meet us later in the afternoon.  When he met us we introduced him to the girls.  They stood for a long time and talked.  He worried about Lilli because the situation she was living in was not great.  There was a lot of fighting going on and she wasn't comfortable.  By the end of the day he was telling me that we should offer for her to stay with us.  Really?  This is the guy who told me no several months ago???

We got the call on Monday that they were willing to place Lilli with us if we wanted to take her.  Ummm.....yes!  She will arrive tomorrow morning and we are all THRILLED!  She is very chatty.  She has a good sense of humor and has figured Chad out, and gives it right back to him!  The kids love her :)  We are looking forward to her company and learning what we can from her about Germany and are looking forward to helping her out with her English.  We believe she will enjoy the school here and fit right in. 

I have had the opportunity to "chat" with her parents on FB and they are as sweet as she is.  I can't imagine how hard it must be to let your child go half way around the world to live with a strange family in a foreign land but we are willing to take great care of her.  We look forward to meeting them in June :)

Ryan asked if he was being replaced tonight-we told him NEVER and he always has a room when he wants to come home to visit.  We are looking forward to this adventure with our new family member.  I'm hoping it will make me keep up with the blog better too!  We will post photos soon!

Wow, I have been a slacker!  Sorry-there has been so much going on around here I don't know where to start!

 

My boy is growing like a weed!  He is no longer the sweet little compliant boy that came home nearly 2 years ago.  He is loud, likes to "fight" and isn't afraid to say, "NO!"  He's a bit of a devil now but still loved SO MUCH! 

 He's taken a liking to the song "sexy and I know it" thanks to his teen sister.  Yikes!

We've had spring concerts and Honors Con that Madeline and Josie were a part of.  Next year we are hoping all 3 girls will be in since Maija will be in the 4th grade and eligible.

Summer is going by quickly already.  It seems when the 4th of July hits summer dissapears. 

Ryan will be home on Saturday for 10 days!  Woohoo!!!  Miss that boy so much.  We haven't seen him since November :(

Had to sneak Ollie in here too!

We've finished up with softball and basketball camps so our summer is free now which is wonderful!

These 3 girls and I traveled to Chicago last week and visited the Aquarium and Field Museum.  They took their first taxi and train rides.  Not sure they liked traveling that way or the traffic but had a great time anyway!

If you could say a prayer for my brother who is 12 years older than I.  He has Encephilitis and is hospitalized at U of Michigan Hospital.  We are praying for a full recovery.  Thank you and God Bless!

Spring Top Contest

I have entered a Spring Top sewing for ME contest!  I sew a lot, but it's always for the little ones, so it's fun to concentrate on me and the things I like!

I have seen a lot of florals and lace this spring so thought I would incorporate both into my design.  I used a tank I already had as a pattern!

The materials I used were all thrifted.  Lace and some kind of sheer vintage fabric in the prettiest pale colors.  Although I am a bit pale myself right now!

I pleated the neckline to keep it feminine and used some vintage bias tape to finish the arm holes and neckline.

A doily pocket and a pretty bow on the shoulder completes the look!

I am loving the lace back.

It will look even better with a tan!

What's going on around the Rice house?

BASKETBALL!  We have spent a lot of hours sitting in the gym.

All 4 girls play.  Madeline on the Freshman team...

Sophia on the K-2 team....

Xander the supportive little brother....

Maija is in 3rd grade, playing on the 4th grade team....

Josie in 5th....

Besides that, I coach the Varsity Cheer Team so we do the home boys AND girls games.  Crazy!

We have the next 2 weekends of tournaments for the grade school, then we are finished for the season...

We are tired!

What I've been up to!

No Xander talk today-it's all about me ;)

I have to show you all what I've been doing with my time, besides 5 kids at home, working 4 days a week, basketball tournaments on the weekend and games during the week and somehow coaching the Varsity Cheer Team?  What about cleaning and laundry????  Anyway, I've been on a sewing kick lately.  2 friends have had babies lately!  One received her quilt yesterday and I forgot to get pictures of it...oops! 

The other had a premature little boy who is 3 pounds right now. I wanted the little guy to have a great Easter outfit since little girls have such great options for Easter. 

The sweater was a womans sweater that I cut down using a shirt I brought Madeline home from the hospital in.  The bunnies on the knees I had seen on another blog and the tie shirt I've seen several times online.  I used maddie's little hat to trace the sweater hat for Landon as well.  Hoping it fits him well in April!

Happy Chinese New Year-year of the Dragon!

We celebrated the start of the Chinese New Year with a party at Xanders school.  We brought in some books to read and some things I bought Xander while in China.  When I talked about China and Xanders posessions he smiled from ear to ear.  His teacher thought it was so cute because you could see how proud he was!

I did make him wear his silks today and he wasn't too pleased-he doesn't like anything with a collar, Mandarin included :)

We made a dragon cake and the little guy helped decorate-he was pretty excited!

Friday night we ordered some take out and had our New Years Meal then, it was very good!

Xander was practicing his chop-stick skills.  I think this is the first time he has tried them-didn't do too bad either :)

This boy loves to eat-he really liked the noodles. 

We have a lantern to light off outside but since it's snowing here, I doubt it would float away!  We will have to wait for a clear night.

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Pure Joy!

Update on the lil man!

This boy is growing up WAY TOO FAST~!  The last weight I got on him he was 36" and just shy of 36 lbs.  That is a gain of 8" and 17 lbs.  WOW!  He amazes us daily!

Daddy came home with a new potty chair 2 days ago, and just like that he started to use it.  Therefore, he has ran around bare bottom the last couple days.  Thank goodness we haven't had any company! 

Potty training is T.O.U.G.H work!

I love when he falls asleep with his blanket, he puts a end in his mouth and sucks it a little.  He still has a little bit of "baby" in him and we love it!

He has gotten to be quite the little "techie", he can play Mario Brothers with the best of them and knows how to run his Daddy's IPod touch.  I don't even know how to use it!

He is the biggest ham you'd ever want to meet.  His eyes are so expressive and he gives a little side-glance that makes everyone smile.

Speech-this is a tough one!  He has had so many hurdles to overcome-more than any little one should ever have to endure.  His speech is ok-we can understand him about 50% of the time.  We are amazed because he spent so much time "silent", he was just taking it all in.  He likes to keep his mouth closed while he talks but most of the time we can still understand what he is saying.  He is starting to get more frustrated when we don't understand him which is good.  That will make him try harder.  He is a little stubborn and doesn't want to try at times so I have to turn his head towards me and say the word so he is looking at my mouth.  He is starting to sound nasaly so I'm sure a P-flap surgery is in his future.

 

We are truly blessed to be given a opportunity to raise this incredible boy-we are proud parents!