Sunday, December 7, 2008
Wow, was that November that just flew by???
Gosh, the holidays do keep us busy! Emma has been picking up the kids slang lately. She says, "what-e-ver!" ,and "That's so weird!", and "That's so gross!" Whatever ends in an exclamation mark, she picks it up. Her vocabulary is really astounding. Everyday she uses new words and phrases that I hadn't heard her say before. (I just looked in the family room and noticed Emma took off the pajamas I put on her 5 minutes ago and replaced them with the clothes Ellie just took off when she put on her p.j.'s.)
I'm posting some pictures from November and then some from December. In the November pictures you'll see the girls helping me cook dinner. That is a nightly thing around here. As soon as I head toward the kitchen to start dinner, the girls scurry in and drag the chairs from the table over to the cabinet and offer their help. I'll also post some pictures from our Chinese playgroup. There's a few random picts of the girls with their purses that their Nana sent them and eating at our favorite pizza place (Johnny's). Alison is in a lot of the pictures with the girls because half the time she's at our house and the other half of the time Ellie's at her house. You'll see some pictures of my boys in there with the girls around the tree. Emma is loving all the holiday decorations and festivities. As we were decorating the tree, Ellie kept saying, "How do you like your first Christmas Emma?" I don't know which one is more excited. Oh, I almost forgot to mention... the girls made a fall bouquet in my bird bath. Ellie said, "Mom, come here, you gotta see what me and Alison did!" Those can be scary words. They covered my eyes and led me out and then, voila! There it was, my bird bath filled with dirt, pinecones, pinestraw and mushrooms on sticks. It was quite a site! They were beaming with pride and begged me to take a picture. Of coarse I gushed over it and took pictures. Ellie said, "We were just putting mushrooms on sticks and then had a splendid idea!" (Did ya catch that? Splendid. She's seen a few too many Disney movies.) Our Thanksgiving plans were to spend the day with Keith's family. But Ellie ended up sick, so her and I had to stay home. We made the best of it though. We had "pajama day" and watched Christmas movies all day! That weekend we put up all the Christmas decorations. Keith was so sweet and put wreaths on all the windows and hung the icecycle lights on the house. The girls thought it was "splendid"!
The December pictures include the girls sitting on Santa's lap at the mall. We were not planning on seeing Santa that day. We actually dropped by Northpoint mall to play on their indoor playground and ride their carousel and have lunch after Emma's eye appointment in Atlanta. But when we saw Santa with an empty lap and no one in line, we couldn't resist. There's also a shot of the girl's at Supercuts with purple balloons. Ali (Alison)and Ellie got their long hair cut into adorable bobs! Sooo cute! Ellie's was long enough to donate to Locks of Love. (Must be at least 10") I'm posting pictures from our annual Christmas parade in downtown Watkinsville. The girls walked in it with their Chinese playgroup. We were promoting adoption awareness. Boy, in a small town, you never know what you'll see in the parades. There was a float with a porta-potty on it. And behind that several John Deer tractors. There were horses and all kinds of animals on floats. Then Santa came at the end and literally dumped candy on our heads. It was really painful! Jenny (Alison's mom) and I took the girls to a little sandwich shop afterwards (the Krimson Cafe)and met a farmer and his wife. I could have chatted with them all day. What a sweet old couple! I have to say, I really love living in a small town. It's helped me slow down my life a bit and appreciate the important things. I'm posting pictures of a Christmas party that we go to every year. A doctor and his wife who live on the square in Marietta and have an adopted daughter from China and 2 biological children host catered Easter and Christmas parties every year and invite families they meet with adopted children from China. They always have something special there. (A train ride, pony rides, this year a trolly ride, last year Princess Barbie came and danced with the children and did their nails and painted their faces...). It's an amazing site to see all these little chinese children all dolled up in their Christmas best, running all over this old house clomping their shiney patan leather shoes on the hardwood floors.
Before I close this post, I wanted to mention an odd thing that happened the other day. I was pouring milk from a measuring container into Emma's cereal. (There was a little left in the carton, so I had put it in something smaller to save room in the frig.) Anyway, Emma said, "No mommy, not China milk." I pointed to the container and asked if it was China milk. She said, "yes." I said, "What milk do you want?" She pointed to the regular milk jug and said, "cow milk." Hmmm, did that container bring up a memory of some kind of formula they gave the kids in the orphanage??? What memories are in that sweet little head of hers? I sure wish I knew... And who told her milk came from cows???
I'm posting some pictures from November and then some from December. In the November pictures you'll see the girls helping me cook dinner. That is a nightly thing around here. As soon as I head toward the kitchen to start dinner, the girls scurry in and drag the chairs from the table over to the cabinet and offer their help. I'll also post some pictures from our Chinese playgroup. There's a few random picts of the girls with their purses that their Nana sent them and eating at our favorite pizza place (Johnny's). Alison is in a lot of the pictures with the girls because half the time she's at our house and the other half of the time Ellie's at her house. You'll see some pictures of my boys in there with the girls around the tree. Emma is loving all the holiday decorations and festivities. As we were decorating the tree, Ellie kept saying, "How do you like your first Christmas Emma?" I don't know which one is more excited. Oh, I almost forgot to mention... the girls made a fall bouquet in my bird bath. Ellie said, "Mom, come here, you gotta see what me and Alison did!" Those can be scary words. They covered my eyes and led me out and then, voila! There it was, my bird bath filled with dirt, pinecones, pinestraw and mushrooms on sticks. It was quite a site! They were beaming with pride and begged me to take a picture. Of coarse I gushed over it and took pictures. Ellie said, "We were just putting mushrooms on sticks and then had a splendid idea!" (Did ya catch that? Splendid. She's seen a few too many Disney movies.) Our Thanksgiving plans were to spend the day with Keith's family. But Ellie ended up sick, so her and I had to stay home. We made the best of it though. We had "pajama day" and watched Christmas movies all day! That weekend we put up all the Christmas decorations. Keith was so sweet and put wreaths on all the windows and hung the icecycle lights on the house. The girls thought it was "splendid"!
The December pictures include the girls sitting on Santa's lap at the mall. We were not planning on seeing Santa that day. We actually dropped by Northpoint mall to play on their indoor playground and ride their carousel and have lunch after Emma's eye appointment in Atlanta. But when we saw Santa with an empty lap and no one in line, we couldn't resist. There's also a shot of the girl's at Supercuts with purple balloons. Ali (Alison)and Ellie got their long hair cut into adorable bobs! Sooo cute! Ellie's was long enough to donate to Locks of Love. (Must be at least 10") I'm posting pictures from our annual Christmas parade in downtown Watkinsville. The girls walked in it with their Chinese playgroup. We were promoting adoption awareness. Boy, in a small town, you never know what you'll see in the parades. There was a float with a porta-potty on it. And behind that several John Deer tractors. There were horses and all kinds of animals on floats. Then Santa came at the end and literally dumped candy on our heads. It was really painful! Jenny (Alison's mom) and I took the girls to a little sandwich shop afterwards (the Krimson Cafe)and met a farmer and his wife. I could have chatted with them all day. What a sweet old couple! I have to say, I really love living in a small town. It's helped me slow down my life a bit and appreciate the important things. I'm posting pictures of a Christmas party that we go to every year. A doctor and his wife who live on the square in Marietta and have an adopted daughter from China and 2 biological children host catered Easter and Christmas parties every year and invite families they meet with adopted children from China. They always have something special there. (A train ride, pony rides, this year a trolly ride, last year Princess Barbie came and danced with the children and did their nails and painted their faces...). It's an amazing site to see all these little chinese children all dolled up in their Christmas best, running all over this old house clomping their shiney patan leather shoes on the hardwood floors.
Before I close this post, I wanted to mention an odd thing that happened the other day. I was pouring milk from a measuring container into Emma's cereal. (There was a little left in the carton, so I had put it in something smaller to save room in the frig.) Anyway, Emma said, "No mommy, not China milk." I pointed to the container and asked if it was China milk. She said, "yes." I said, "What milk do you want?" She pointed to the regular milk jug and said, "cow milk." Hmmm, did that container bring up a memory of some kind of formula they gave the kids in the orphanage??? What memories are in that sweet little head of hers? I sure wish I knew... And who told her milk came from cows???
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Food in Socks?
Emma has been home 7 and a half months now. I thought we were pretty much done with the hoarding food and toys... Evidently not. She walked in the kitchen the other day and was walking funny. I kept hearing a noise when she walked. Finally I said, "Emma, come here." I lifted her pant legs and found Halloween candy and gum stuffed in her knee socks. Pretty inventive! I said, "Emma, why do you have candy in your socks?" (I've seen her stuff food and toys in her pockets and under her pillow, but this is a new one.) She said, "So nobody can get dim!" I told her that no one will take her candy and if they do she can tell me and I'll protect her. That got a big smile out of her.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
You Ever Never Leave Me?
Emma's been saying this for a while now... "Mommy, you ever never leave me????" I say, "No Emma, Mommy will never ever leave you." Sometimes she'll add, "Mommy, you love me, you ever never leave me?" And I'll hug her and reasure her. As much as she needs it confirmed, I'll repeat it to her until she knows that she's unconditionally loved, she'll never be abandoned again, and we are her forever family. Especially if we're not at home; maybe at a store or something, she'll walk around holding my hand and every so often look up at me and either ask it as a question or make the statement, "You ever never leave me mommy!"
Today, Keith and I were in the kitchen fixing lunch and she was jumping around, literally jumping up and down. She was so excited and she kept talking and talking and being silly. She starts most sentences with "Look at my face mom." or "Ya know what dad?" Keith made a comment about her talking so much; he was teasing her and when she figured it out she said, "You funny daddy, you just kidding me." Then out of the blue she burst out, "I love my mommy, I love my daddy, I love my Tyler..." (She went down the whole line, Alex, Drew, and Ellie). Then she said, "I love my whole family!" Then she paused and you could almost see the wheels turning and she said in delight, "My family loves me!!!" (Then went down the line the other way, Daddy loves Emma, Mommy loves Emma.....)Then she hugged my leg so tight. Keith and I just melted. It's amazing that this little girl just turned 3 and has only been with us for 7 1/2 months and only been speaking English that long and she put that all together! I feel sooooo blessed!
Today, Keith and I were in the kitchen fixing lunch and she was jumping around, literally jumping up and down. She was so excited and she kept talking and talking and being silly. She starts most sentences with "Look at my face mom." or "Ya know what dad?" Keith made a comment about her talking so much; he was teasing her and when she figured it out she said, "You funny daddy, you just kidding me." Then out of the blue she burst out, "I love my mommy, I love my daddy, I love my Tyler..." (She went down the whole line, Alex, Drew, and Ellie). Then she said, "I love my whole family!" Then she paused and you could almost see the wheels turning and she said in delight, "My family loves me!!!" (Then went down the line the other way, Daddy loves Emma, Mommy loves Emma.....)Then she hugged my leg so tight. Keith and I just melted. It's amazing that this little girl just turned 3 and has only been with us for 7 1/2 months and only been speaking English that long and she put that all together! I feel sooooo blessed!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
I love the holidays!
We've had such fun with Emma's 1st holiday! We made some halloween treats and went to our annual neighborhood carnival. There was a moonwalk, a hay ride, a costume contest, and lots of games and prizes. They finished it off with a parade including a firetruck that threw candy to the kids... Then last night we went trick or treating! Most people were in golf carts or on hay rides going from house to house. Not us, we did it the old fashioned way... on foot and with a jogging stroller. I think we ran more than we walked. The kids were so excited. I kept thinking they would give out, but they just kept going and going... They'd stop between houses for a few pieces of candy and then zoom, off we went again!
Earlier this month the girls were at a Birthday party at Chuckee Cheeses and someone took my purse and stole my digital camera (it had pictures with the girls making Halloween treats, the carnival pictures, and my son's senior homecoming dance). They also stole all my cash! I was so bummed. I got a new camera the day before Halloween, so I'll be able to post those pictures.
Earlier this month the girls were at a Birthday party at Chuckee Cheeses and someone took my purse and stole my digital camera (it had pictures with the girls making Halloween treats, the carnival pictures, and my son's senior homecoming dance). They also stole all my cash! I was so bummed. I got a new camera the day before Halloween, so I'll be able to post those pictures.
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