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Look who's 8 today!

Yes, my little girl is now 8 years old. Unbelievable is all I can say!

Happy Chinese New Year...a little late!

We attended our local FCC chapter's Chinese New Year party today. I swear, the group gets smaller and smaller every year...very few families are adopting from China now (sigh!) But we had a wonderful time, hanging with families we have known for years now. Now Emma's at a sleepover and I have an evening to myself. So what to do...

Braces no more!

Emma got her braces and palate expander taken off today. She's had the palate expander for about 8 months and braces for just three months. But the orthodondist says we have to let more of her permanent teeth come in and then decide if any other orthodontia is necessary. In the meantime, she'll have to wear a retainer at night, which should be great fun for her.

I have to say, her front teeth look great...very straight and no big gap or anything (as you can see in this photo of her serenading her toothbrush!

The Pokemon girls...

Emma and her good friend Jenna are both in the midst of Pokemon-mania. Whenever they get together, they huddle over their Pokemon cards and books and speak what sounds like a foreign language to those of us who are clueless about Pokemon.

Jenna's 8th birthday is this weekend, and when her mom asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said she just wanted Emma to come over and play Pokemon. So that's what we did today. After a nice lunch at Pei Wei with Jenna and Kay (Jenna's mom) I dropped Emma off at Jenna's house for a couple of hours and the girls played with their Pokemon cards, watched a Pokemon movie and read their Pokemon books.

The two had a wonderful time!

Best Christmas ever...

...we had such a wonderful Christmas. For the first time in like 25 years, our entire family was able to spend the holiday together. It has been so great to hang out with my parents, siblings and their families the past few days. Emma has had so much fun playing with her cousins.

We were blessed in the gift department as well...I finally got a Kindle (yea!) and Emma got a Wii, a camera and a scooter, among other things. But I think her favorite gift was the Pillow Pet she got from her grandma and grandpa...she has barely put "Bubbles the Hippo" down since she unwrapped him!


Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday as well!

Seven years ago today...

...I met my daughter for the first time in China. Has it really been that long? I am so priviledged to be this little girl's mommy...she has been the light of my life for every day of the past seven years!

Visiting with the big guy...

Emma is getting to the age where doubt begins to creep in about the authenticity of Santa Claus. We were in the car the other day, and she asked me if Santa is real. I asked her what she thought, and she said she thought he was. But I'm sure many of her friends no longer believe.

Anyway, she still really wanted to go to the mall to see Santa, so we headed there the other day. While we were standing in line, she kept rehearsing her Christmas list so she would get it right when she saw Santa. He was a great Santa and Emma was so happy afterwards. Hope this isn't our last year for this tradition!

Ain't it the truth...

Braces!

Emma got braces today! Okay, they are only on her front teeth...to help pull them down a little. But still kind of a big deal. So far, they aren't bothering her a bit - but the orthodontist said they could ache a little tomorrow. Right now, she's just excited about showing them to all her friends at Brownies tonight!

Seven years ago today...

...I saw my beautiful daughter's face for the first time. I can still remember every moment of referral day, just like it was yesterday...not seven years ago! It was certainly the most memorable day of my life.

The pirate, the witch and Madeline...

Emma went trick-or-treating last night with her friends Sophie and Hope, and the girls had a wonderful time. It was a perfect night for trick-or-treating and we were out for more than an hour-and-a-half. The girls may not have been tired, but us moms were exhausted.

Anyway, here are a few pictures of the girls before we headed out...




Love that last picture...our little goofballs!

So now we're stuck with a huge bag of candy, which Emma has very little interest in. She just doesn't have a sweet tooth (it runs in the family - HA!) She loves Halloween...running around in a costume with her friends, acquiring candy and then trading it back and forth afterwards. But now it will just sit in her bag until I take it to work (after I pick out the good pieces for myself!)

So another Halloween behind us...hope you and yours had a great holiday too!

It's apple-picking time!

Every fall, we go apple-picking with some of our friends. Because everyone has been so busy, we didn't get around to it until this weekend. It's a good thing we went, because this was the last weekend the orchard was open. Because it was so late in the season (and because we had such a cool summer and fall) there weren't a ton of apples left. But it's still more about the experience than coming home with a huge basket of apples. Here are some pics:





So this morning, I'm looking for apple recipes on the web. Last year I made an apple pie with some of our apples, but Emma is not really a pie fan. So I'm looking for some great apple crisp recipes. Yum!

A very cold weekend!

We had an unusually cold weekend...the high only hit the low 40s on Saturday and Sunday. We were supposed to go on a Brownie camp out on Saturday night and (like most of the troop) decided not to go. I have been battling a cold and did not feel like sleeping outside in 20 degree weather. I feel like a wimp, but it was the right decision.

We had to bundle up when we went outside...as you can see from these photos of Emma..




These look more like pictures from February! It's supposed to warm up a bit this week - thankfully. I love autumn and hate seeing it turn to winter too soon...

Haven't felt like blogging lately...

...I don't know why, but suddenly blogging seems like such a chore! I think it's partly because I've been doing it for so long, and partly because we've been so busy lately. Anyway, I guess I have enough energy to check in and post a few photos.

It was very much an autumn weekend for us. Saturday we went to the area's annual Moon Festival - it was nice seeing some new families who had young babies and toddlers recently adopted from China. Emma had a great time, digging in the dirt all evening with her friends...


Our other big excursion was to the pumpkin patch. Normally we don't go quite this early, but I honestly couldn't see a time for us to go before Halloween...we are that busy. Anyway, it was a beautiful day and we both had a great time.


Incidentally, Emma informed me this week that she was going to be a tomboy from now on! I guess she was serious - when we went to McDonald's this weekend, she wanted a Bakugan toy instead of the Build-A-Bear toy.

My daughter, the adventurer (NOT!)

Emma's Brownie troop had a field trip today...they went to a nearby Girl Scout camp where they had a zip line. The girls were supposed to climb up a rope ladder onto a small platform and then they were hooked to a zip line and they glided down the line about 500 feet. All the girls were giddy with excitement, except my little Emma. She is so afraid to try new things...especially anything that is a physical challenge. All 22 girls in the troop went down the zip line, except Emma and one other girl.

I tried not to make a big deal about it, although I'm sure she sensed my disappointment. I just wish she was more willing to try new things. Of course, maybe this timidity will be a good thing a few years down the line, when other kids are trying smoking and drinking and other things I don't like to think about.

Anyway, although Emma chickened out, she still had a great time...and that's the important thing.

Equestrian camp

Emma is spending the entire day at an equestrian camp. I'm a little nervous about leaving her there the whole day - I always stay for her lessons. I feel like I should be there in case something happens. But the instructor assured me she would take good care of her, so I dropped her off and left...



I've spent a glorious day grocery shopping, doing laundry and cleaning the house. I guess you could say I was at housekeeping camp all day.

A day at the farmstead...

Sorry for the lack of posting of late. It seems like the first couple weeks of school are so hectic - and it's a challenge getting back into the routine. But I feel like we're settled in a little and things are getting back to normal.

Of course, that doesn't mean we don't appreciate a nice long holiday weekend to get us all out of whack again! Emma's best friend Emme spent the night last night and stayed with us most of the day today. The girls have known each other since they were one, and second grade is the first time they have not been in class together. They have really missed each other.

It had been an absolutely beautiful day, so we decided to visit the local farmstead - along with about 75,000 other folks. But the girls had a great time. The day was filled with...

Feeding the goats


Mining for gold


Eating snow cones


And just hanging out


Now Emma is over at Emme's house...I half-suspect I'll get a call soon from my girl asking if she can have a sleepover at Emme's house. She loves her best friend!

First day of second grade

I'm now the mother of a second-grader! Emma had a few butterflies in her tummy this morning, but I think it was just the excitement of being in second grade...


We went to orientation last night and found out who Emma's teacher is. There was one teacher I definitely did NOT want her to get, and I was super-relieved when I saw she wasn't on his class list. I feel horrible saying that, and I'm sure it's no fun being the teacher that no one wants to get. But he has a reputation for being kind of a yeller and I know that would not be good for Emma.

Anyway, her new teacher is Mme. Valluett - she is from France and is super-nice.


I'm hoping Emma has a great year...she told me some kids say second grade is "really hard." Hopefully that's not the case!

PS this is the first year I didn't cry when I dropped Emma off at her first day of school...I guess the next time I will bawl will be when I take her to college!

Emma and her Biggie

I know there's no one who loves Emma more than I do, but my mom comes close. She adores my little girl and Emma loves her Biggie (that is what Emma has called her ever since she could talk.)