Another sleepover

It seems like 7-year-old girls are obsessed with sleepovers. Every weekend this summer, either Emma has been asked to sleep over at a friend's house or she has begged me to let one of her friends sleep over here. I don't mind it all that much, although I'm trying to limit it to a once a month thing. It can kind of wreck havoc on the entire weekend...sleepwise.

Anyway, this weekend it was our turn to host...Emma wanted her friend Tori to sleep over here. The girls were pretty good and I got them to bed by 10. We went to the park and swimming the next day. The girls were starting to snipe at each other a bit by early afternoon, so I knew it was time to take her home.

Here's a few pictures of the girls...

Happy Independence Day!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July. I snapped this photo just as neighbors shot off a bottle rocket (I think they took out a second mortgage to buy fireworks this year because they've been shooting them off for the last four hours!)


Sorry I haven't posted anything in so long...nothing much exciting to report, I'm afraid! Hopefully something worth writing about will happen this week...

Let's go swimming!

Emma and I hit the pool for the first time this summer...it really has been too cool to go. But the temps climbed into the 90s this weekend and we went to our neighborhood pool. We ran into several friends at the pool and had a great time.

By the way, those of you in the Midwest may have seen a burst of blinding light around noon today...don't panic - it was just the sun reflected off my pasty white skin. My apologies...

Emma had her friend Helen over last night for a sleepover. Helen and Emma have known each other for years and they are good friends, but they tend to squabble a bit when they get together. Or at least they used to! Last night, they peacefully played Littlest Pet Shop together for more than an hour and not once fought over who got which pet or whose pet got which accessory. I guess they are growing up a little...


I made the girls go to bed at 9:30, but they still weren't asleep by 11, at which point I got a bit cross with them (mainly because I wanted to hit the sack!) But they finally conked out and didn't get up until 7 this morning.

All in all, a pretty successful sleepover!

Walk for Hope

Today we participated in our local FCC's charity walk for children in Chinese orphanges. It was a cool and overcast day, which is fine if you're going to be walking a couple of miles. Some photos from the day...

Here is Emma with her friend Ella and Ella's little sister Mira. The two little girls adore Emma and followed her around all morning...


This is Emma with her good friend, Sophie. They actually scootered around the park, instead of walking...


All the girls in the organization were encouraged to raise money on their own for the event. Here are the four girls that raised the most money...Meredith, Ella, Sophie and Emma. Each of the girls won a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear Workshop, so I guess we'll be going back to that kiddie crack den before too long.


And just one more picture of my sweet girl...


We had a good time, but the whole thing was rather bittersweet. This was the 11th time for this walk and the sixth time Emma and I have participated. But we all have the feeling this might be the last one. Every year, fewer and fewer families attend. As our girls get older, they seem to lose their enthusiasm for these Chinese cultural events like the Walk and Chinese New Year. And because adoptions from China have crawled to a standstill, there are very few families with newly adopted children who are excited about coming. We only had one family with a child who had been adopted in the past year...five years ago, we would have had ten or more. It's just very sad. Our FCC chapter is actually considering shutting down, like a number of others across the country. I hope we don't...I've been on the board the past three years and have really loved it. But it's hard to put all this effort into these events when the turnout declines every year. We'll see what happens...

Au revoir, first grade!

Friday was Emma's last day of first grade...the year just flew by. She has a week off and then six weeks of summer school (which is a blessing - it helps keep her French sharp and helps me with summer child care expenses.) Then in August, we'll take a week off to visit family and the rest of the time, we are sharing a nanny with some friends of ours.

Anyway, here are a few photos of Emma's last day of school...

Here's the class with the gift they made for their teacher.


This is Emma with her wonderful first grade teacher, Mme. Cahoon...


And Emma with her friend Emme and Mme. Cahoon...


I'm sure fall will be here in a flash!

Helen's Mei Mei

Emma and I met our friends Helen and Mary at the park today. We also got to meet Helen's new sister, Amanda, for the first time. Mary and Helen got back from China a couple weeks ago with Amanda, who just turned three. I can't imagine the challenges of trying to help a three-year-old adjust to a new family, language and country. But they seem to be doing pretty well...


Amanda is very shy, although she warmed right up to Emma. She seems to understand English, but the only word she says is "mama." We're really looking forward to really getting to know her as she adjusts to her new life.

Our busy social life...

Yes, WE have another busy weekend ahead. Here's our schedule:

Friday night:

Donna - nothing
Emma - sleepover at friend Raina's house

Saturday:

Donna - nothing
Emma - Playdate at the park with friend Helen
Birthday party at friend Murphy's house
Evening picnic at friend Emme's house

Sunday:

Donna & Emma - church
Emma - equestrian lessons

As you can see , WE have a very hectic life. It's so sad really...

The free ride is over

Emma had her six-month dental check-up yesterday. I've been so pleased that she has never had any cavities. However, after taking x-rays, our dentist told me that Emma has a few "pre-cavities" between her teeth. I've never heard the term "pre-cavities" before. She showed me the x-rays and pointed out a couple places where there were little shadows - where cavities were starting to form. She said she would check them at Emma's next check-up to see if they need to be filled.

Emma doesn't have much of a sweet tooth, and she never drinks pop or fruit juice, but we could definitely do a better job brushing and flossing. And we will.

Also, our dentist told us we needed to make an appointment with an orthodondist. She says Emma has a cross-bite on one side and her permanent teeth are already crowded. Where I'm going to get the $$ to pay for orthodontia, I have no clue. But you have to do it, so we'll find it.

On a happier note, The Children's Place was having a sale and I dropped in while Emma was at a birthday party this afternoon. Sometimes you just see something and know instantly that your daughter will adore it. I saw this dress and just knew Emma would love it...and I was right. She hasn't taken it off all day...




Anyway, hope you're all enjoying your holiday weekend! I could get used to these three-day weekends!

My daughter...the philanthropist

Our local FCC chapter has its annual charity walk for orphanages in China in about a month. This year, we're encouraging families to get their kids involved in the effort. Today, Emma and two of her friends, Hope and Sophie had a lemonade stand to raise money for the walk. The girls made lemonade, cookies and cupcakes and sold everything for 50 cents. Here are the little entreprenuers in action...


So the girls sat there from like 9 am to about 1:30 pm and raised...get this...$125! Unbelievable! We were so proud of them!

Happy Mom's Day!

We had a great Mother's Day. As has become kind of a tradition for us, we spent the day at the local botanical garden, which has a spectacular Mother's Day brunch. Emma particularly enjoyed the mac and cheese because, instead of cheddar cheese, it was made with "pomeranian" cheese (I think she meant "parmesan"!) It was a kind of overcast and dreary day, but the rain held off, so we were able to wander around the gardens for a couple of hours. A couple of pics of Emma...




I wanted a photo of me with my girl on Mother's Day and asked this guy to take our picture. Apparently he had never operated a digital SLR camera before (or any other camera, for that matter) because the picture was blurry, Emma had her eyes closed and my eyes looked crossed. Definitely not one for the scrapbook!

Emma, on the other hand, took my camera for the very first time and snapped this!


Granted, even though it is a photo of me, which is no treat for anyone, I think she did a great job.

Anyway, we had a wonderful day...the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was to spend it with my girl.

I hope all you moms (and moms-to-be) had a fantastic day too!

Ten seconds of glory

At this week's lesson, Emma cantered for the first time! It's not very long, but it's thrilling, just the same!

Into the wild

This weekend was Emma's Brownie troop's campout. We left Friday right after school and didn't get back until Sunday morning. To be honest, I was dreading the whole thing. I used to be a card-carrying member of the Sierra Club and have done a lot of camping over the years. But, at least for me, when you turn 40, a shower, flush toilet and other amenities become more important. This was going to be roughing it...we were going to sleep on little cots in perma-tents (great for my back!) and our facilities consisted of an open-air shower and a latrine.

But now that we've returned, I have to say, we had a great time (not that I'm not happy to be back at home with my flush toilet and comfortable bed.)

Anyway, a short recap...here is our little open-air cabin where we slept...


We bunked with Emma's best friend Emme and her mom, so that was nice. Here are the two girls shortly after we unpacked...


It seems like the majority of our time was spent building fires, preparing meals and cleaning up after meals. Here's Emma doing our dishes after dinner one night (doing dishes consisted of dumping everything in a mesh bag and dunking it in buckets of water.)


The first night there, we made a big fire and the girls roasted marshmallows for s'mores...yum!


The first night, I have to admit, I didn't get a whole lot of sleep. It was nice sleeping out in the open air, but the cot was pretty uncomfortable and I tossed and turned all night. The adults all got up at 6 am to make the girls a special "jungle breakfast" (apples, bananas and bagels, which we tied up in bandanas and put up in the trees for them to get.) Shockingly, I was not walking around like Quasimodo when I got up - my back somehow survived sleeping on a 1-inch matress.

We went on a long nature hike, did some badge work and then it was our team's turn on wood-gathering duty...


A few more pictures from the day...






I did sleep much better the second night - although probably not more than 5 hours. Then it was packing up this morning and time to head home. But time for one more picture of an extremely tired mommy (in desperate need of a hot shower!) and her little Brownie scout...

Could it be...

...that spring is actually here for good? All signs are pointing that way, including Emma in shorts and a halter top!

The littlest vampire

Okay, I promise this is the last tooth-related post (at least for this week.) Emma's other front tooth has been loose forever (she lost her first one a couple months ago.) It has just been hanging there all week. This morning when I got her up, she said her tooth felt funny...uh yeah, because it was gone! Somehow, the tooth had fallen out overnight. I searched high and low for it on her bed and floor, but I can't find it. So either she swallowed it - or I'll probably vacuum it up later this week.

Regardless, I have assured her the tooth fairy will come tonight (provided I remember it...as you might recall from my last post, I have a habit of forgetting these things!)

Anyway, here is a picture taken this morning of Emma without her front teeth...my little vampire!

And the world's worst mommy award goes to...

...ME (big surprise!)

Emma lost a tooth at school yesterday and the Tooth Fairy forgot to come last night! Emma was crushed when she woke up this morning and her tooth was still there and no money. I pretended to find her tooth fairy money on the floor when I was helping her make her bed (so I lied on top of forgetting!)

Let's hope I do better today...

My funny kitty (and girl!)

I don't take all that many photos of our kitty, Sami. I'm not sure why...she really is quite a funny feline. This evening, Emma said "Mommy, what is that pink thing on Sami's face?" I looked and Sami was sitting there with her tongue sticking out and she stayed that way for like 30 minutes...we thought it was hilarious!


It was a nice spring evening and we sat out on the porch for awhile...I snapped a couple of pictures of Emma in her new favorite dress.



She is my cute little sailor girl!

Easter 2009

We had a hectic, but fun, Easter weekend. The weather was decent on Saturday, crappy on Sunday...hey, good weather half the time in spring is par for the course.

Anyway, our Easter weekend was filled with bike riding...


Painting Easter eggs...


And then church this morning with Emma in all her Easter finery...




We also managed to squeeze in a showing of "Hannah Montana: The Movie", which was surprisingly not that bad. All and all, a pretty nice holiday...hope everyone had a great Easter too!

Bubble fun!

Who says a 7-year-old can't still love bubbles?

It's party time!

Emma attended two birthday parties this weekend...I swear, it's feast or famine with these things. The first party was a cooking-themed party, which was fun.

The second party was at one of those huge inflatable play places. All the girls had such a good time. This is a group of girls who have known each other since they were a year old, in daycare/preschool together. They all go to different schools now and, in the case of the birthday girl Paci, live in a different town. They only see each other a few times a year, but they just pick up where they left off and are still the best of friends. Here are Paci, Logan, Maci and Emma at the party...it's hard to believe they are all seven now...


In other exciting news, it snowed AGAIN this weekend...good lord, will spring ever come? This is getting a little depressing. We were supposed to go to an Easter egg hunt on Saturday that got snowed out. Emma couldn't believe they wouldn't just hide the eggs in the snow!

Anyway, just one more picture I took this weekend of my girl...I think she looks so pretty (but I'm a little biased!)