A Good Day

According to the girls, yesterday was a really 'good' day. :-) The girls' faces were just beaming as they hopped into the car after school. Then their rush of words hit me.....
"Mom,Imadethestudentcouncilagainandsodidallofmyfriends! Oh,andIalsomadeFIRSTchairinflute! Mom,I'mSOexcitedbecause'I'madestudentcouncilTOOandsodidmyfriendKathryn!
Well,Imadeall'A's'onmyworkthisweek!"

Whew!

Once everyone settled down and I was able to talk individually with each child, I could more clearly understand their news...
Emily made student council again this year. She was especially excited because several of her friends who applied also made council.
Emily tested in band again this week, and made first chair in flute.
Allyson was super thrilled because she also made the student council, along with her friend Kathryn. This is also good because this is one school activity that Emily and Allyson will do together.
Claire brought home all A's on her paperwork this week.

Yes, it was a really good day! ;-)

Le Flute

Emily was chosen as one of five flue players for band this year. She wasn't even able to make a sound during the tryouts, but we believe she got the part due to her piano experience (knowing how to read music). First assignment from the band director this year: decorate their instrument cases to make sure they wouldn't get mixed up. Scrapbooking supplies to the rescue! :-)

Emily chose the scrapbooking papers, ribbons and font for her name (I smudged out the last name on the pics for privacy). Result: one happy flute player!

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Practicing before a chair test...

Result of first test: 2nd chair!!! That's really good considering she and another girl (who took lessons during the summer) tied, so the band director used alphabetical order to determine first/second chair. Way to go Emily - we're so proud of you!!

Allyson's Gotcha Day #9 !!!

We celebrated Allyson's 9th "Gotcha Day" (adoption day) over the weekend. Wow...9 years. I still remember seeing Allyson for the first time...sitting on the nanny's lap, holding a rice cake in each hand, her hair still in that little mohawk style like her referral photo. She was a happy baby and didn't cry at all when the nanny handed her to me. Now...9 years later, she is still a happy child, has a winning smile and a caring personality. We love you deeply Ally girl!!!

All five families from our Hubei China travel group met at the Fin and Feather Resort in OK for our reunion this year. Allyson has SO looked forward to this weekend and has constantly talked about wanting to see the other girls. We arrived around 8:45 in the evening, so it was already dark...but that didn't stop the sweet reunion. As soon as the other girls saw us park the car, they ran toward us yelling Allyson's name! :-) The same thing happened when the last family arrived a few minutes later.

The resort had a laid-back, country atmosphere with plenty of space for the kids to play so it was a good place for our reunion. As soon as breakfast was over, the kids begged to go swimming. The pool was a bit chilly, but the kids still had fun.

- - The gang's all here!

Since we were all new to this resort, one of the dads browsed a few pamphlets (for local entertainment) while the kids swam. The parents then decided to drive to Talequah, OK to visit the Cherokee Heritage Museum. Much to the kids delight, we stopped at McD's for lunch on the way. :-) At the museum, we took a walking tour and learned how the Cherokee tribe lived, saw examples of their mud houses, learned how to make an arrowhead...and Claire even tried blowing a "poison" dart. :-)

Then it was back to the resort for another round of swimming, and playing with a stray dog (that the girls quickly named "Buddy"...see update below). Our group had a yummy dinner at the resort's diner (Soda Steve's), and then it was cake and present time!

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The five girls decided to open all of their gifts together, so they counted 1..2..3 and made sure they were in sync with each other on every gift. :-)

Here are the girls with the pillows I made for them. I asked Allyson to choose the colors for the pillows...so everyone got pink. ;-) The girls also received a jewelry box (with a traditional Chinese cork carving), a silver necklace (of their Chinese zodiac animal), a Chinese cat penny bank, some neat Chinese snacks and jellies (Ally LOVES those little jelly tubs!), and several other cute items (I can't remember them all, and Ally has already put everything away!).

The 5 Hubei girls

About the stray dog....he looked like a mix between a large dachshund, bull terrier, and something with big ears. :-) He was pretty cute. I joked that Laura's family would be taking him home with them. Before we left on Sunday, they checked to make sure he was a stray, and the dog *DID* indeed go home with them!! LOL

Panning for Gems

Our Claire is a rock-lover. She has a prized rock collection...but most of her rocks are simply just plain, brown rocks. She also has a few white driveway rocks thrown in for good measure. :-)

As we drove to grandma's house on Monday, I decided to surprise Claire with a stop at War Eagle Cavern. I have been there on field trips with Emily and Allyson, and knew that they had a gem panning station, not to mention a hike into a big cave (but we skipped the cave tour this time). Claire was ecstatic about the possibility of finding gems!! So, we plopped down the hefty $8.50 for a big bag of dirt and let the girls get to work. After about 30 minutes of "panning" at the sluice box, the girls all came away with a small baggie of gems (crystals, amethyst, citrine, fool's gold and more).


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Bag of dirt...$8.50
The girls' reaction and the memories...priceless

Claire's 6th "Gotcha"

What a cute group of girls!!!!



We drove to Teague, TX over the Labor Day weekend. We met up with the four families who made up our '02 China travel group to celebrate the girls' 6th "Gotcha Day" (aka Forever Family/Adoption Day). Wow...6 years..how the time has flown!! In some ways, it seems that it was just yesterday that Claire joined our family, yet in other ways, it's like she's always been here. The families in our group take turns hosting each year; this year our hosts were Cait's family. We always love seeing how all of the children and grown and changed.

The girls were asked to dress in traditional Qi Pao dresses for a tea party, which was held upon our arrival on Saturday. Claire wasn't sure how to hold the cup of hot tea, but quickly learned to stick out her pinkie finger. :-)
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getting the hang of how to hold the teacup...



The remainder of the day was spent just allowing the kids to play and get reacquainted, while the parents visited (and played paparazzi). :-) At one point, the kids all decided to grab some sugar cubes and feed the horses. Within minutes of going outside, Claire was complaining of pain on her feet. It was quickly determined that she had been bitten/stung by fire ants, so a little pampering was due in the kitchen sink.





Since there were no close Chinese restaurants, the host family treated us to a wonderful Texas BBQ dinner. Of course, we couldn't end the reunion without cake and presents! Many thanks to Cait's family for hosting our group this year!!

Ropes Course

Randy has been participating in a leadership series at work. One of the group's projects last week was to complete a ropes course. Randy and I were both concerned about him doing this course due to his diminished eyesight. Each person had to climb a telephone pole, traverse across a horizontal pole and a wire, and then climb another pole to a 100 foot tower...where they then jumped off and zip lined to the ground. (OK, the zip line part does sound fun...but getting there - whew!) :-)

After much thought, Randy decided to give it a try. He didn't want to feel disappointed in himself for not even trying. The good news is that he completed the entire course!!! I was thrilled that they took photos of every participant. ;-) I think I'll make a framed scrapbook page for his office using all of the photos.

7 Years Old !!!

Can't believe that our baby is 7 years old. Seems like only yesterday that I held her in my arms for the first time....sniff, sniff. Oh how I love this child...she makes my heart sing! Happy birthday my little fish face!!

Claire was SO excited yesterday because not only was it her birthday, but it was her first day of second grade. When we arrived at school, she ran up to the principal and told him it was her birthday (she wanted to make sure they remembered her on the morning announcements LOL).

Claire requested a chocolate fudge cake with chocolate icing **yum**. She was thrilled with her gifts, proclaiming "I LOOOOOVVVEEE it!" when she opened them. I took some really great shots of her opening gifts and blowing out the #7 candle on her cake....you'll just have to take my word for it though. I seemed to have forgotten the memory card in the camera AGAIN!! Once I realized my mistake, I just put the half eaten cake in front of Claire and snapped this pic. Oh well, at least this birthday scrapbook page will look a little different than the other years!! LOL

School Supplies

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The girls decided to take their school supplies with them to open house on Thursday. Of course, I had to get our traditional photos for the scrapbook first! :-) We had to do "something" while the cable repairmen were here!! lol

Internet Troubles - Playing Catch Up

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Ahhhh, finally back on the internet! Our neighborhood lost cable service last week for a couple of days, but our internet service was off for almost a week (oh the horror!).

A quick recap of the last few days:

On Friday the 8th, we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary. We had a nice dinner at Abuelos without the kiddos, and then made a quick stop for some computer equipment. I know, I know....we lead such an exciting life!! LOL Came home after dinner and watched the opening ceremonies for the Olympics...amazing! I think we'll be ordering the DVD.

Saturday, we picked up Emily's new flute for school. Wow, those instruments are expensive!

We also went to our nephew's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. The kids had a great time playing all of the games.

Monday, we returned to Chuck E. Cheese for Claire's pre-birthday party. We decided to have her party early due to the first day of school being the same day as her actual b-day. We'll celebrate with another cake on Monday. :-)

Tuesday, the girls participated in the last Terrific Tuesday event at church. This week's theme was Olympics.

Thursday, we visited the schools for open house. Emily will be on the Seekers team - we've heard they're a great group of teachers. Allyson will be on the Surge team. Her teacher is great also...Emily worked with her last year on the student council. Claire's teacher is new to the district, and I'm sure she'll be really good as well.

Think that's it.... :-)

Finally...Justice!!!

We received a phone call from a friend this week telling us that we finally had Justice...a "Justice Just for Girls" clothing store that is! This is one the the girls' favorite stores to shop. We've always had to go to Tulsa/Owasso or Branson to shop though. Emily begged to drive by the building just to make sure...and sure enough, the sign is up and the staff was unpacking boxes. The store should be open just in time for back to school shopping!

Tuesday Swimming

Our church's Terrific Tuesday event this week was swimming. As usual, the girls enjoyed themselves immensely. :-) Claire is doing quite well with her new found swimming skills (thanks again to aunt Kim). Most of the kids stayed in the shallow end of the pool, but Emily took on the diving boards and water slides by herself...and promised that next year she would bring along a swimming friend. ;-) Today was the hottest day of the year (so far), so the cool pool was a nice welcome. We topped off the day with a picnic lunch in the shade of the park nearby.

School Supplies!!

On Monday, we went on a very important shopping trip....for school supplies!! The girls were SO excited! They each grabbed a small basket so they could keep their supplies separated (would hate for E's glue to touch C's pencils ya know!). I brought along the most important of supplies...the camera! :-)

We spent less than $100 for supplies this year, however, we still need to buy backpacks and tote bags. I'm sure there will be a few additional supplies requested by the teachers as well.

Earthquakes, Movies and More

Just a quick catch-up....

Randy was in Asia last week, visiting Japan and China. He experienced his first (and hopefully last) earthquake while in Japan. The epicenter was 250 miles away, but he was awakened by the shaking. Pretty scary since he was on the 29th floor of the hotel. Randy also celebrated his birthday while in China. The staff surprised him with a nice birthday cake.

We've been keeping busy. Before leaving for Asia, Randy and I took the kids to see "Journey to the Center of the Earth". The movie was shown in 3-D and the girls thought it was fun....there was even a few screams as something appeared to jump through the screen. (Won't tell what *it* was in case you haven't watched it yet.)

The girls also watched the Hannah Montana 3-D concert/movie. Love the excitement shown on their faces in the photo! LOL

While Em was away at camp, Claire had a friend over to play. They became very quiet and I went in search of their "up to no good"-ness. I found them sitting in the kitchen floor playing with clay, so all was well.

The girls were invited to a "Bead-It!" birthday party, where they each made a bracelet. I loved the bead shop and hope to take the girls there for a mom/daughter date soon. Just what I need...another craft addiction! LOL

What's in a Name?

I guess we're pretty boring when it comes to naming children. When we chose the name for our oldest daughter, it wasn't popular...now it tops the list. I'm ok with that because I know my child won't be ridiculed because of their unusual name - take "Apple" for example. We just wanted a name that would suit our child as an adult...because we all know they grow up quickly!
I'm writing this post because I just read an article where a couple named their daughter "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii". Unbelievable! Thankfully, a judge has ordered a name change for little Talula. Here's the link to the story.

China Scrapbooks

For anyone who has China-related events to scrapbook, here's a site you might want to check out.
The items offered are FREE downloads and are great for digital scrapbooking. I LOVE the overlays on this post. I suppose one could use these items for traditional paper scrapbooking as well by simply printing onto cardstock.
Posted with permission from the blog owner/creator.

Let's Bake!

While big sis is away at camp, I'm working to keep the littles entertained indoors as much as possible (baby, it HOT outside!). We don't have as many activities this week, so staying in sounds good to me. I had a craving for chocolate one evening, and the girls were "bored", so I put them to work making cookies. OK, OK, so they're store-bought...but they're still toll house cookies!! ;-)

Sewing Lessons

Since big sister made a quilt last year, Allyson decided she wanted to make one too. I promised to teach her how to sew during the summer break....problem is that we've been so busy and on the go. Things have finally slowed down a bit for us, so yesterday was the day! Before she can actually start sewing her quilt, Allyson has to learn to use the sewing machine. Yes, she is "sewing" on paper! :-) I wanted her to get the feel of the machine first, so I had her practice with paper. I also thought it best if we worked on something like this while she learned how hard (or in her case NOT too hard) to press on the foot pedal. ((Hope she doesn't drive a car as fast as she wants to drive the machine!!))
It took several sheets of paper before Allyson was able to sew a relatively straight line, but I think she's ready to move on. Today, we'll practice with some cheap fabric pieces. More to come....

Off to Camp...

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My dear Emily left Monday for her first church camp. She was SO excited that she had packed her clothing 2 weeks before! I finally had to tell her to unpack everything so it wouldn't be extremely wrinkled. :-)

We also had an issue with the luggage. Emily wanted to take the tiniest piece of luggage in the house, but the problem was that she had to take towels and bedding, not to mention her clothing. I *finally* convinced her to take a little larger piece of luggage, plus a small tote bag. What a funny kid she is!

We had doubts as to whether Em would be able to go to camp. Over the weekend, she got several splinters in her foot from a wooden pallet in a store. I removed all of the splinters I could see, but Em still complained of soreness. Within 24 hours her foot was swollen and had pus coming out (ewww). This pic was taken the first day...it became much more swollen later! I tried and tried to remove the final splinter (which looks more like a wood chip), but couldn't. Since she was going to camp on Monday, we took her to the convenient care clinic on Sunday...hoping the doctor could remove the splinter. Instead, Emily was given antibiotics and a tetanus shot. The doctor thought it was best to just let it "fester" and come out on its own. I sure hope he was right!!

Splishing and Splashing!

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Finally had time to get out the water slide this week. The girls really enjoyed it. We'll probably leave it up for awhile (one less patch of grass to mow! ha ha).

Berries and Bug Bites

After we returned home from China camp, we had to go pick up our dog from the sitter. Our dog sitter happens to be my mom, and mom just happens to live WAY out in the country in the middle of nowhere. Really...down a little dirt road, out in the woods, twisting, curving, squeeze through the trees and bushes, in the middle of nowhere. Mom likes it that way...it's quiet and she knows that when someone comes down that little dirt road, they're more than likely family or really good friends. No door to door salesmen out there.

Well, on Saturday evening on our way down that little dirt road, I spotted a blackberry bush, then another, and another. All of a sudden a nice blackberry cobbler popped into my head and I stopped the van. We scoured the van for something to put our little berry treasures in...all we could find was an empty egg carton that we had brought along to return to mom (her hens supply us with fresh eggs). OK, so we wouldn't look like professional berry pickers using an egg carton, but we were out in the middle of nowhere right? Soooo, we got to work on filling our carton. I knew there were gazillions of little ticks and chiggers waiting in the brush, so I opted to stand at the side of the road and pick the berries I could reach from there. No little buggers for me thank you. Randy was the brave one...he walked off into the bushes and weeds to get the berries I couldn't reach from the road. We filled our carton and then headed to mom's, where we quickly washed our legs off. Upon arriving home, we also took a shower to make sure no bugs had come home with us.
Fast forward to Sunday and Monday....*I* am covered with HUNDREDS of chigger bites!!! I'm the one who stood in the road to AVOID getting bites. I am absolutely miserable with the itchiness. Randy...the brave one who walked in among the home of the little critters got NOTHING...NADA...ZILCH!! What's up with this?! It seems the bugs don't like diabetics he says. :-(