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Back To School--September 2009

Lexi is in Second Grade this year. Madeline is in kindergarten. Unfortunately, I could not take them the first day of school--as all the schools in Michigan begin the same day. I also had kids starting that day too. Bama (grandma) took them the first day for me. Lexi loves her teacher, Maddy is in 2 different classes. Morning kdg., and EDK, or extended kdg. in the afternoon with a completely different teacher and classroom.

Summer 2009

Lexi and Maddy went to Love A Pony camp. Pics attached. They LOVED it here!!!

Catching Up

Realized it has been many, many months since I wrote anything on here. Going to try to play catch up and add some pics and things from the end of the school year, until now. Many months later.

We went to Toronto over the summer. Went to my cousins "summer cottage." A beautiful house out of a magazine, with 175 acres of property.

I Ought To Be In Movies

Busy Busy Busy

The title says it all. Lexi's ballet recital was beautiful, but is now over. Soccer has been rainy, muddy, and cold. She never wants to go. About a month of school left for all of us. Grad school class is now done. Finally loaded pictures onto my computer, and deleted hundreds of them off my camera from over a year ago.

My Chinese Coach

I picked up this amazing Nintendo DS game on sale today. I bought it so I could start to learn some chinese (in my spare time). Amanda, who has been taking chinese twice a week in 6th grade this year got ahold of MY game. There is a pretest of words, numbers, characters, and phrases. The game then "places" you at a certain level. My daughter placed at level 7. She began using this amazing game by recording her voice and seeing if it matches the tone of the game. She is also writing characters! I am sure when I get MY game back----I will be at level 1 or less if that is possible!!!

Chopsticks

No. Not the kind you eat with. The picture book by Jon Berkeley. This is a wonderful story about the floating Jumbo Buffet Restaurant in Hong Kong. I read this to little Miss M from the library last night. Imagine my surprise when I realized I had pictures of me right in front of the very same dragon statues that were in the story!

We got out Lexi's photo album of her adoption, and sure enough---sampan boats, the Jumbo Buffet, and mom standing by the dragons!

Miss M was thrilled! She couldn't believe the story came to life, and her mom was even in it so to speak.

This is a really cute china story of the dragons coming to life.

Gung Hay Fat Choy 2009!

Happy Chinese New Year! We spent last night with a number of families at a not-so-wonderful chinese restaurant, but they brought in the lion dancer and kung fu/wushu team with their giant drum and cabbage eating lion who did a great lion dance, ate the cabbage, and then spit it out all over the kids. They loved it!

3 Year Gotcha Day

It was 3 years ago, on Jan. 16, 2003 that I received Maddy in the Guangzhou Civil Affairs Office. She was a very scared, and frightened little girl. The orphanage workers pretty much "dumped her off," told me, "she eats everything," and ran out the door.

Within 24 hours we found out she is ticklish, has dimples, loved to eat (and yes, ate everything), and had no idea what to do with toys.

Within a week she knew what toys were, could run and loved squeaky shoes, the koi pond at the White Swan Hotel, and sweet-and-sour-chicken.

Today she is a happy, funny, demanding, loud little girl.

She has come such a long way in 3 years.

I gave her a soft chinese doll that came in a tin from Natl. Geographic dolls. She is funny. She named her doll Gotcha Day!