A Dragonfly's Red Thread Family

Mood Lighting

2012-01-23T20:12:00.000-07:00

I am not exactly sure what was happening at the exact moment this photo was taken, but the image makes me smile anyway. It was taken in December when we had lights on the front of our house. The Butterfly was standing at the door watching Daddy fiddle with the lights. The photo was taken with the camera on my phone, thus the less than stellar results and graininess of the image. Oh how I wish I would have had my good camera instead. Who knows, maybe I can try to capture it again, but this time with better results (though we have taken down our Christmas lights... hmmm, this may be more difficult than I first thought).

I love the innocence of the photo. Our little Butterfly ballerina.

~~Aloha!

Merry Christmas 2011!

2011-12-27T11:26:00.001-07:00

Merry Christmas to all of our friends.

And a very Happy New Year,

from the Butterfly...

...and the Ladybug!

~~Aloha!

A Night With the Girls

2011-12-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

This is finals week for Daddy, which means he has a few late nights so that he can do a couple review sessions with some of his students. Thus, mommy is hanging out with the girls all by herself and having a blast!

When we first arrived home the girls both received some mail from Nana F. They were both so excited to receive something that was addressed specifically for them. What was even cooler was that each card came filled with stickers for the girls to play with however they saw fit. Well, that was all the Butterfly needed to know. She immediately started tattooing her arm with the stickers and had a blast! They may have been a short lived gift, but they were thoroughly enjoyed!

Tonight we made some delicious noodles, salad, and fruit for dinner. The Butterfly decided to help me with making dinner. Specifically, she played with and ate some olives while I cut them up to go in the noodles (yup, I know... big help!). What was so cute was what she did with the olives. She found the perfect spot for them... on her nubbin. Gotta love how this girl can now give me a thumbs up!

After cleaning up we played a few games. We did play a few rounds of Hungry Hippos, but the girls' favorite game was the caterpillar/chopstick game (as they like to call it!). All three of us had a blast playing the game and often giggled along the way.

What a fun night. I love spending time with my girls!

(By the way, I am not really sure why the Butterfly has decided that she needs to squint when she smiles, but it is pretty funny and she is very consistent.)

~~Aloha!

Reading

2011-12-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

Today we put our tree up and decorated the house for Christmas. I love the lights and the decorations, it makes the house so festive. While the Ladybug and I were completing the finishing touches on the tree, I glanced across the room and found the Butterfly kicking back on the arm of the couch... reading. Love it! She looked so relaxed and thoroughly into the book. what made me chuckle was her one leg crossed over the other to help hold the book on her lap. So cute!

Her choice of book was awesome, "Oliver's High Five." The book is about an octopus named Oliver who only has five arms, but it doesn't bother him! Through his determination and positive attitude, he corrects the misconceptions other people have about physical challenges. Talk about an awesome book for my little girl to be reading. She already has great taste!

What a pleasant surprise. Who knew... I have a little reader on my hands!

~~Aloha!

Forever Family 2011

2011-11-13T23:13:00.000-07:00

Today was my birthday! Yup, another year older. But if you ask my husband he will swear that I am still 29... good man! I awoke this morning with a wonderful greeting from the Ladybug, a great big hug and a homemade present. A special Birthday Hat with candles and streamers all around. A princess-style birthday hat. And with that it was already shaping up to be a great day.

Daddy and the girls headed downstairs to wrap some presents while I got ready to go out. We decided to visit our new favorite restaurant for lunch to celebrate. But, our time there was not just to celebrate my birthday. The bigger event was the celebration of the Ladybug's Forever Family Day.

Five years ago today, we were in Guizhou, China, and the Ladybug was placed in my arms. Honestly, the best birthday present I have ever received! But despite my joy, the baby was terrified. She didn't know what was happening to her, she didn't know that we were her new family.

This tiny, adorable seven month old baby girl affectionately came to be known all of our fellow travelers as "Baby Big Hair."

Just look at those tiny little fingers.

When we move forward just a few months, the little baby was finding her groove in our family. she found her place... right by Daddy's side! She and Daddy have been inseparable ever since. She has grown into such an amazing little girl who lights up any room with her smile and laughter. I feel so blessed that she is my daughter. We are so fortunate she was chosen to be a part of our family. Simply amazing.

Here is a time capsule of the last few years on this special day. Look how much our precious girl has grown in the last five years.

Forever Family Day, November 13, 2006

Forever Family Day, 2007

Forever Family Day 2008

Forever Family Day 2009

Forever Family Day 2010

Forever Family Day 2011

(You will notice how sleepy the Ladybug looks. That is because Mommy totally forgot about our annual photo until I started working on this blog post, so we had to wake to poor Bug up to get the photo. Bless her tired little heart!)

Today was a glorious day. I love my family, and to be able to spend each birthday celebrating not only my steadfast age (gotta love 29!), but also the day when we first became a family. Such a treasure.

"Happy Birthday Mommy," 2011!

~~Aloha!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-01T21:32:00.000-06:00

Halloween came and went. The girls, as can be expected, had a blast!

Living in the middle of the United States does keep us on our toes. Fortunately, things were on our side on the last day of October... weather-wise anyway. As I drove home from work, I checked the temperature gauge. Much to my surprise it was a balmy 71 degrees. Perfect for trick-or-treating!

I arrived home, got the girls dressed,

added a little makeup,

and took some photos...

Daddy then took the girls for a wonderful stroll around our great new neighborhood trick-or-treating. And yes, Daddy did dress up too... as Dr. Who! Gotta love the bow-tie. Bow-ties are cool!

What a fun night for everyone. I love my girls, I love my husband, I love enjoying this life with them!

The Ladybug is such a loving child who smiles from the inside out...

The Butterfly's joy of life is contagious!

I love my family!

I am also happy that Halloween happened when it did. 24 hours later it was 30 degrees colder and snow flakes started to fall. Yuck! Gotta love our weather (or not).

~~Aloha!

Halloween Fun 2011

2011-10-30T22:11:00.000-06:00

The girls love to play dress-up, practically every day. Princess dresses are the most common choice (Nana F. lives in Florida and loves shopping when things are deeply discounted!), but the girls love dressing-up in anything that is not... normal school-wear clothing. Thus, as you can imagine, they love Halloween!

OK, so there are two reasons they like Halloween... dressing up and the candy. They are normal kids after all!

The festivities started this year when we visited our favorite greenhouse to purchase some pumpkins. After a fun time of roasting marshmallows, a horse-drawn wagon ride, feeding the chickens and fish, and playing in a hay-bale maze, we found the perfect pumpkins.

The girls finding their way through the maze.

Riding on the horse-drawn wagon.

The girls and their pumpkin loot!

Playing on one of the garden statues.

Now that we had the pumpkins, it was time to start carving! The Baby Butterfly had her own perfect pumpkin, and was so excited that she was going to be a part of the process of cleaning and carving her pumpkin. That was... until... she actually had all of the pumpkin guts on her hands. It truly amazes me that a child who devours her food with gusto, and in the process will get food on her from head to toe and she won't even bat an eye. But, cleaning out a pumpkin really freaks her out and makes her seem like she has OCD. Who knew?

Daddy and Mommy did all of the carving of the pumpkins. Of course Daddy did all of the drawing of the pumpkin faces. I just love that Daddy is so artistic... not a stencil in site!

The Butterfly's pumpkin being devoured by a larger pumpkin!

This pumpkin was grossed out by the cannibal pumpkin!

The Ladybug's... ladybug pumpkin!

Anyway, after Mommy cleaned out her pumpkin, the Bug was more than happy to supervise the carving process. She is a girl who really enjoys being in charge! (BTW, she is munching on freshly cooked pumpkin seeds.)

Daddy came up with a great idea of having the Butterfly's little pumpkin being devoured by one of the larger ones. The little one loved the idea and was so excited that her pumpkin was such a pivotal part of the pumpkin decorations.

Following the pumpkin carving, the Ladybug and I decided to make some special holiday treats... chocolate chocolate chip cupcakes. Yum! You cannot deny, this kiddo has come baking skills!

With all of this fun, I can only imagine all of the fun the girls will have tomorrow when they walk around the neighborhood trick-or-treating. This will be so much fun! I cannot wait. In the mean time, here are the girls in their costumes. They had a Halloween party today and I took the opportunity to get some pics of them in their outfits.

Sassy Alice in Wonderland.

Cutie-pie Minnie Mouse.

My beautiful Ladybug as Alice.

My retro Minnie!

Enjoy a wonderful Halloween!!!

~~Aloha!

Sunday Snapshot, Fields

2011-10-16T18:55:00.001-06:00

The weather outside was beautiful today. Simply beautiful. It is slowly getting cooler and I am not sure how long this nice weather is going to last, so I took the girls out today to take their Christmas photos. While we were out I captured a few photos of the girls by themselves. Below are a couple photos that I really liked.

Enjoy!

The Butterfly showing us a sassy pose!

The Ladybug looking simply beautiful (she really is a great model).

~~Aloha!

Words Have Power

2011-10-12T06:33:00.001-06:00

The following photo is another one I pulled off of Facebook recently. Being a middle school teacher, I see first-hand the effect that words can have on my students, both positive and negative. So many kids feel that words are inconsequential, after all, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." But the brutal truth is that words do have an effect. Sometimes a very powerful one... a very negative one.

With the rash of bullying and subsequent depression and even suicides that are plaguing so many schools and towns across the nation, I can only hope for all of this hatred to pass. I can only hope that kids will eventually understand that their words can inflict such lasting damage. I can only hope...

But I will do what I can in my own school to stop it.

~~Aloha!

Sunday Snapshot, Oktober

2011-10-02T19:35:00.000-06:00

Here they are, my little cuties. We celebrated a nice weekend about an hour away from our home, enjoying the fun festivities of Oktoberfest. The girls had a blast!

Time for a little editing.

They definitely are cute as little, blonde, German-Chinese girls!

~~Aloha!

Pumpkin Festival

2011-10-01T20:51:00.001-06:00

We attended a local pumpkin festival the other day and had a great time! The Butterfly ran from place to place, looking at everything with such great interest. Her favorite... this cool pumpkin.

Wouldn't you love it too? I cannot wait because Autumn is around the corner! Pumpkins, apple pie, and lots of Halloween fun. Woohoo!

~~Aloha!

Some People Dream

2011-09-30T20:18:00.003-06:00

The following photo has been making its way around Facebook recently. I saw it and froze. How, after seeing this, can anyone think that the problems we face everyday are not minute compared to what others face in elsewhere throughout the world.

"you hate your life, while some people dream of having your life"

For the past month I have been having a pretty difficult time at work. Nothing major, but the added stress has really been getting to me, so much so that I have been bringing the frustration home with me each and every day. I have never been like this before for such an extended period of time. Yes, we all have a bad day here and there. But stress that just keeps building every day for well over a month... I'm just not used to it, and honestly I am not dealing with it very well. Many of you out there reading this do know the added stress that the adoption process can bring to people. I have lived it! But, I'll tell you that the stress involved with adoption at least brings with it much joy at the same time (or at least eventually). Just look at my two little loves. They are the joys in my life (as is my dear husband). So what is making this stress so different and so much worse? Probably the fact that there doesn't seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel or much joy that accompanies it. Thus, my total frustration. Frustration that I pray each night will go away, to no avail.

So, yesterday I saw this photo and I froze. I froze right where I was, just stunned. I think I needed to see this, to help me see the bigger picture in life. I realized that everything that has been causing me so much frustration and stress is nothing compared to what other people in many other parts of the world face on a day to day basis. I am truly blessed. Blessed with a wonderful family, a roof over my head, a wonderful career that I do love, and loving friends. It is so easy to dwell and focus in on the minutiae that fills our lives. And, that minutiae is where I have been living for the last few weeks. Until yesterday...

I am already feeling better. Even co-workers have noticed. I will not let my recent frustrations get the best of me. I am going to enjoy my job, my children, my husband, and my life. I have so much to be thankful for and I am going to thank God everyday for what makes my life wonderful. Yes, I will still have stress in my life, I am just not going to let it get to me any more. Ahhhhhh...

Sometimes we just need a little perspective to thrust us back into reality. Hello reality!

~~Aloha!

Morning Opposites

2011-09-29T20:40:00.000-06:00

Each morning the girls are awakened to get ready for school. Because the girls leave for school at the same time, one would think that the baby would get out of bed first... after all, she has more time-consuming things which involve her parents that need to be done before she walks out the door. Things such as changing diapers, cleaning her tushy, "helping" the little independent girl get dressed since she "must do it by herself," cleaning up after breakfast (total messy eater), as well as all of the other normal things that the rest of us do to get ready every morning. But, that is just not the way it goes around here.

The girls are total opposites when it comes to waking up in the morning. The Butterfly wakes up all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, happy to see her parents, squealing with excitement, and ready to take on the day.

The Ladybug on the other hand takes about 15 minutes of cuddle time before she can even open her eyes... yup, 15 minutes despite the fact that Daddy puts some juice in hand which she sips to get her going (I am thinking about spiking her juice with some sort of caffeine soon to help with her lethargy... wink, wink). Thus the reason she needs to be awakened first.

This morning I after the Ladybug had her 15 minutes of cuddle/wake-up/open-her-eyes time with Daddy, he want to the Butterfly's room to bring her out so that she could spend a little time with the family before getting ready for school. As soon as she appeared in the living room she squealed, "Mommy!!!" Honestly, that is the best way for me to start my day. Hearing her sweet little voice squeal with joy when she sees me warms my heart every time. I just LOVE it! today though, I giggled with I saw her. The pig-tails that were left in her hair from the day before were turned vertically, pointing in opposite directions. She was so cute!

I cherish simple mornings like the one I enjoyed today. I want to keep them close to me and remember them forever. It is the simple things like a squeal and smile that just warm my heart and make me entire day wonderful. Thinking back to the time before we had children, I longed for little ones in my life for so many reasons, not the least of which, I really wanted to be a parent. But now, after experiencing every day with these wonderful little girls, I could never have imagined that it would be the simple little things like a morning routine that would make the most difference in my life and make it worth while.

Silly, ~~grumpy~~, tired little girl in the morning.

Happy, cheerful girl in the morning.

Both girls after a little bit of Daddy time.

~~Aloha!

The Chickens are Coming!

2011-09-28T21:26:00.001-06:00

We have been in the process of getting our landscaping done for the last few months. Finally, this last week the entire process came to a close... we now have a landscaped yard! Grass, rocks, plants, and some trees. Ahhhhhh, I am so glad the dirt is gone! But, the week before the complete yard renovation, the landscaper suggested that we visit our local nursery to choose a few trees and plants that we liked. No big deal, right?

The four of us loaded into the car and headed out to the nursery. This is the middle of September in the Midwest, so how crowded could the place be, right? Wrong! We barely found a parking place on the edge of the property which left us wondering, what in the heck is going on at a nursery in the middle of September? When we got to the door we found out immediately, a farmer's market and pepper roasting. Yum!

We wandered in as the sweet smell of freshly roasted peppers wafted past. So far, this was a great visit! We made our way through the nursery, past the pepper roasting, and out to the area where all of the trees and bushes are located. We wandered around for a bit, then were approached by an employee who answered many questions and offered some great suggestions. During this time, the girls wandered in and out of the aisles of trees, playing hide-and-seek with each other. They were in heaven! They even got to try some apples off of some of the trees (the leading reason why we are now the proud owners of an apple tree... plus, more to come in Spring next year!). After a few minutes the employee thought we would probably like to see some trees a bit farther back on the nursery lot. He said that he would meet us there (pointing to a particular area of the lot) while he went to go grab some food for the chickens. Wait... did he say chickens?!?!? Hmmmm...

We walked over to the particular area pointed out to us by the guy and started looking at the trees, but I swear that I must have misheard the guy because I definitely didn't see any chickens. After a few minutes, the employee returned, with a cob of fresh corn and an tomato in hand. Yup, I definitely misheard him, chickens do not eat tomatoes. It was at that moment that he started calling for the chickens, the same way someone would call for a dog... "Here chicken, chicken, chicken!" And that's all it took to make them all start coming out of every nook and cranny within the trees. About twenty chickens trotted eagerly toward the employee who folded back the corn husks and handed the cob to the Ladybug. She looked at him and asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?" We all laughed. She soon learned to hold the cob out for the chickens who feasted on the fresh, raw corn. I asked why he brought the tomato, to which he said, "The chickens like tomatoes too!" He handed me the tomato and sure enough, the chickens came running.

Interestingly, there was even a half-chicken, half-turkey hybrid. Daddy commented that if we could mate that bird with a duck we would have the perfect Thanksgiving meal of a turducken! You can see the half-chicken, half-turkey in the photo below... they are the ones no feathers on their long, red necks.

We stayed in the area, feeding the chickens for about thirty minutes. The Ladybug loved every minute of it... a "chicken whisperer" in the making! Unfortunately, the Butterfly didn't quite have the same reaction. No, she screamed at the top of her lungs, terrified the feathery creatures were going to peck on her instead of the corn. The only thing that made her feel better... Daddy of course! (I did ask they employee why they had chickens in the nursery. Turns out they were purchased a few years back to get rid grasshoppers and other bugs that liked to nibble on the plants. Cool!)

Notice the Butterfly running toward Daddy, crying for help!

To answer your question, yes we did choose some wonderful trees and bushes that are now planted in our yard... Woohoo!!! But, the day was so different than we expected, so much better than we expected. We thought we would go to the nursery, pick out a couple trees and leave, thirty minutes tops! Not... even... close. We ended up enjoying a great petting zoo-type of experience with the girls feeding the chickens and playing hide-and-seek in the trees. Of course we did enjoy some of the freshly roasted peppers and all of the fresh fixins' (homemade salsa and chips!) that were oh-so-delicious. Honestly, who knew that our local nursery was so awesome! Okay, silly question... we are probably the only people in town who didn't know how cool this nursery is, but we know now and you can be sure that we will be back often!

I don't want to post about the landscaping quite yet, but I did want to share one photo from the day they landscapers rolled the sod. The Butterfly was so excited to watch every minute detail of the happenings of the day. She walked out on the patio, still in her pajamas, apple juice in hand and just gazed at the transformation taking place before her eyes. Truth be told, she was also grooving out to the music playing from the stereo they brought with them to keep them going throughout the long day! I snapped this photo of the Bug, watching one of the workers, who was also watching her off and on dance excitedly to the music. You can see him in the photo, looking at the Bug, smiling as she is watching his with great, big eyes.

Yup, we enjoyed a couple of fun days. I love where we live!

~~Aloha!

Outtakes

2011-09-27T21:57:00.000-06:00

When I take photos of the girls I just "click" away! These two kiddos move at lightening speed and getting a good photo of them is sometimes very difficult.

Case in point, the evening of the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. After the girls donned their beautiful, Chinese outfits, I took them outside to our doorstep to take some photos. I prefer to take photos in natural light since I am able to capture the natural shadows that fall so beautifully across softer faces. But, with natural light comes the possibility of movement in the photos... especially with very wiggly children. Add to that the difficulty of getting the two of them to smile perfectly at-the-exact-same-time... well, you get the "picture!"

Below is the series of events from that evening. Each time I view the photos I chuckle. I love how the Ladybug is doing everything she can to get her sister to smile perfectly, and the Butterfly is fighting it with everything she has to not smile. Then, she looks away, or makes a silly face. The Ladybug, getting a bit frustrated, starts to smile a rather pained smile. Seriously, I only have two children. How in the world do people with several more kids do this and get a great photo? Photoshop, it has got to be Photoshop! Anyway, what am I to do? Just giggle and sigh...

(Note: Don't forget, these are the outtakes from our little photo session. They are not perfect, far from it. They are just some of the photos that make me smile because they captured the moment. They just weren't "perfect" enough for the final cut.)

I just love these girls... silly, grumpy, boogery, snotty, serious, and giggly faces and all! All of these faces are what our days are filled with from morning to night. And I wouldn't trade them for the world!

~~Aloha!

Lantern Festival, 2011

2011-09-26T23:16:00.001-06:00

I am a little late in posting this, but we did celebrate the Mid-Autumn Moon festival a couple weeks back. For those who do not know, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival is the second most important festival in China, after the Spring Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is similar in significance to our Thanksgiving Day, and is one of the few "reunion" holidays where families gather together with loved ones, show their love for their loved-ones, enjoy the beauty of the full moon, and enjoy some delicious moon cakes (cookies in our home). This year, the Ladybug and I made another batch of our yummy moon cookies which was a great way for the two of us to spend some great, quality time together. the Ladybug is becoming such a great chef (baker in this case), and made sure to be a part of the entire process.

Following our afternoon of baking, we went to a special place in the hills where many hot air balloons ("Hot Balloons" as they are called by the Butterfly!) were lighting up in the beautiful, clear night sky. This was such a special way to begin our celebration of the Lantern Festival... watching and enjoying some VERY LARGE, hot air lanterns! We stayed there in the field for over an hour enjoying the the visual symphony as the balloons synchronized their lights with each other. Simply beautiful!

The following evening, the girls dressed up in their favorite Chinese outfits, we all grabbed our homemade lanterns (something we created last year for the festival), and took to the streets of our neighborhood. We visited some of our good friends in the area, offering them some of the delicious cookies the Bug and I made the day before, told them we were thankful for their special friendship, and wished them a wonderful Autumn. It was so special for us to share this Chinese holiday with our friends, who loved our visit and were inspired by our enthusiasm for continuing this tradition.

Following our walk around the neighborhood, we settled in back home and reminisced about all the reasons we are thankful to be a family. It was a very special evening for all of us. One that we all look forward to celebrating again next year.

~~Aloha!

Getting There

2011-09-25T21:59:00.000-06:00

Hi again!!!

This is just a little post because a picture is worth a thousand words. We are getting there... and apparently in total comfort!

~~Aloha!

Who?

2011-09-11T23:41:00.000-06:00

It was bound to happen, we just were surprised when the Butterfly walked up to the TV one evening and loudly squealed, "Doctor Who!!!" Honestly, we didn't even think that she knew the program let alone the main character. Silly kid walks around the room "Who-ing" all the time now.

~~Aloha!

Fun with Water!

2011-08-22T12:52:00.000-06:00

The Ladybug and Daddy spent the day at the county fair. So, that left the Butterfly and I to enjoy a Mommy-Daughter day together. When I asked her last night what she wanted to do, without hesitation she replied, "Swim!" I was actually a bit surprised with her response since we hadn't talked about swimming for a few days, but apparently she had been wanting play in the water again for quite some time.

As you can imagine, she had a BLAST! Watching her in the water you would think that she knows how to swim, but believe it or not, she has not been taught yet. Hmmmm... That does not keep her from bounding forward and pushing herself to the limit. Trust me, I get a little nervous watching her, but I am always very close, and I know that letting her explore is great for her confidence. I did work with her a bit on floating, kicking, and arm work, but in the end she is a kid... she just wanted to play! Below are a couple pics and some videos of the Baby Bug "getting her water on!"

Time for lots of fun on the dinosaur slide.

Without any prompting from me, and believe it or not no other kids were doing this either, she decided to go down the slide head first! The Butterfly totally caught me off guard with this move, but she LOVED it!

Lots of fun, fun, fun!

~~Aloha!

Training Wheels

2011-08-08T17:45:00.001-06:00

The Ladybug decided that it was time to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. Yup, my girl was ready to rip off those training wheels and ride like the wind! Some of you may remember going through this process as a kid and recall numerous spills, scraped knees, and lots of trying again and again and again before finally riding your bike smoothly, like a pro. Well, that is exactly what the Ladybug experienced. Except, rather than it taking this "little go-getter" weeks or even days to master this process, it only took two afternoons and one very dedicated daddy.

The Ladybug started to process yesterday. She was barely able to keep the bike upright. When she did and was finally able to get it going, she totally forgot how to turn, and thus she crashed continuously. She crashed into the curb, a car, the grass, etc. She kept trying, but didn't improve much.

Today, daddy and the Bug tried again. Here is footage from her first attempt today.

And, of course there were some spills:

And finally, this is how the Ladybug ended the day. I am telling you, if this girl continues to learn things this quickly, she will be in graduate school by the time she is 10!

Way to go girl!!!

~Aloha!!!

Staying Cool!... UPDATE!!!

2011-07-18T19:40:00.000-06:00

UPDATE:

The Butterfly awoke from her nap and low-and-behold, she wanted to get back into the water... surprise, surprise! The butterfly put on her hat and raced outside for more fun. New photos of the fun from the rest of the day follow at the end of the post.

In case you didn't know, there is a heat wave moving across this continent. We have had temperatures in the low 100's for the past few days. We are doing everything we can to stay cool, which usually means we are staying inside in the nice air conditioned house. However, today I decided to do something else with the girls.

We have a nice little kiddie pool, as well as a water-squirting hop-scotch toy. Unfortunately, we don't have a yard quite yet to put those things out on. But, we pulled out some tarps, the hose, and our new water toys, put them on our deck, and let the water flow! The girls had a blast staying nice and cool in the blistering heat. The baby is now taking a nap... she tired herself out from all the fun. Who knows... the girls just may jump back into the water in a few hours. It doesn't get dark here until after nine so we'll have to wait and see.

My little bathing beauty!

"Cheese!"

The Butterfly playing in the water.

No exactly sure what she was looking at in particular, but she sure does seem intrigued with her belly.

Running through the water... what joy!

Sisters. Hopping, skipping, and jumping together through the water. Having fun!

Fun in the pool.

A thirst quencher. Yup, mommy broke down and gave her a soda. Enjoy it kiddo!

Summer fun and memories!

Now, just imagine how much more fun we will have when we finally get our lawn!

Update photos from after the Butterfly's nap!

A well-rested, happy little girl!

Trying to catch the water droplets.

The Butterfly loves water, and playing with it out in the sun is one of her greatest joys!

This is one happy, little Butterfly.

A giggly Ladybug is hanging out in the pool (which was, with the extreme heat, quite warm).

Silly, little girl.

Trying to catch the water droplets.

Lots of fun in the sun (... and no, for those of you who are wondering, my eldest did not suddenly grow breasts. She and her sister found the little water discs that go with the hop-scotch game, filled them with water, and decided that they wanted to put them in their tops. Silly girls!).

~~Aloha!

Planting

2011-07-17T18:47:00.000-06:00

The Ladybug is a very hands-on type of girl. She LOVES science and thoroughly enjoys conducting experiments. As a matter of fact she was quite bummed this past week when I had to leave her home while I spent my days teaching at a science camp for middle school kids. Though I did have a blast at the camp, I did miss her enthusiasm for all things science!

Anyway, to make up for the time we didn't get to spend together during the week, I got her something that we could do together now that it is summer and because we are finally settled into our new home. The Ladybug has been "bugging" me about doing some planting recently, but since our yard is not quite finished yet (or even started for that matter), I have had to postpone that request for a while.

Well, we were walking through every child's favorite store... Toys 'R Us yesterday when I spied this really cool growing kit for kids. I knew that it was just what we needed to get started. So, we bought it and brought it home. The Bug was so eager to get her thumb nice and green!

As you can see from the photos below, she did a great job of starting the process of growing flowers. She was quite disappointed to find out that although the soil grows immediately when we added the water, the flowers did not do the same. We will keep you posted with the flower growth.

Putting the soil into each of the cups.

Watering the soil.

Comparing the watered soil on the left with the unwatered soil on the right.

Getting ready to plant the seeds.

Planting her first seeds.

Placing the seed cups into her terrarium.

Placing the terrarium on the front porch.

My happy little gardener!

~~Aloha!

Nice and... Soft!

2011-07-08T15:07:00.000-06:00

So, we are in the midst of potty training. Thus, the Wee One (the Butterfly) is running around the house stark naked all the time! Now for her, this is exactly how she would prefer to walk around everywhere if we let her. She just loves going... um... full commando! Unfortunately for her, society hasn't quite accepted that as a social norm. Sorry kiddo! In the mean time, we are constantly asking her is she needs to go to the bathroom, hoping to catch her in time to encourage her to go on her potty chair. You know the routine!

So yesterday morning, right after breakfast, she and the Ladybug were playing. I, as per the usual routine, asked her if she had to go potty. Which she gave me her normal reply, "No mommy." Sigh...

She then disappeared for a couple minutes. Honestly, I hadn't really noticed that she had walked out of the room (after all, she was just playing with her sister). But, then it happened... she walked back in the room. And I... GASPED!

(Not what you thought, was it!)

I immediately told her to "Freeze!" and not touch anything!!! After all, we are in a brand-spankin' new house, new carpet, new floors, new paint, etcetera. If she looked like this then what in the world did the room look like where she decorated herself this way? Fortunately, not that bad. Anyway, the Butterfly decided since she was super-naked, that she was the perfect canvas for lots and lots of lotion. You see, the little one has two obsessions (that I know of right now), brushing her teeth, and to slather herself with lotion or liquid soap or anything else that she can get her hands on at that point in time. So, when she walked into my room and saw a box that I had just set down on the floor, a box that I was planning to empty later in the day, what she saw was... LOTION!!!

Sigh... looks like I really need to be much more careful with this little one. And, in case you were wondering, yes, she is super soft now!

~~Aloha!

One Year Ago Today...

2011-07-05T14:25:00.000-06:00

It seems so hard to believe that one year ago today we were in Guizhou, China, meeting, holding, hugging, and kissing our Baby Butterfly for the very first time. You can read about that special day right here. She was such a tiny, timid, terrified baby on that day and for the days that followed. She could not walk, she could not even crawl. She was so unsure of us, we were so different from what she had known for the 14 months of her life so far.

We looked different, we smelled different, we sounded different, we even treated her differently than she was used to at the orphanage. Because of all these differences, the Butterfly cried and cried and cried. She was terrified. She didn't know what was happening. She was being taken from everything that she knew. As I think about this, I try to put myself in her shoes. How would I react if I was taken from everything that I knew in my life? Honestly, I would probably revert back to my "terrible-two year-old" stage and throw a tantrum, screaming and kicking. And, after the initial tantrum, I would curl up into myself and cry.

It is when I put myself in the Butterfly's shoes during those first few days that I understand why she cried so much. She did not know what we knew. She did not know that she now had a family, her very own mommy, daddy, and sister. She did not know that she was going to receive love and support for the rest of her life. She did not know that she would eventually go to school and have the opportunity at a great education and future. She did not know that she would have her own special room and her own special bed in a comfortable, loving home. She did not know... she just did not know.

August 2010

But, in the days and months that followed, the Butterfly slowly opened up. She learned to trust. She learned to love and receive love from us. She learned to laugh and play, and how to make us laugh with her. She learned who a mommy and daddy are. She learned how much fun a big sister can be (and sometimes how frustrating a big sis can be as well!). She learned what a family is, and that we are her family.

I look back on photos of those first days and I get teary-eyed. She was so scared.

And now look at her. She has grown up so much in just one year's time. She is an independent, happy, silly, joyous, loving little girl with a bit of an obstinate streak in her. She keeps us on our toes most definitely, but brings so much joy to our lives each and every day.

September 2010

October 2010

November 2010

December 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

(Sporting her new bike helmet and some adorable ladybug boots... on the wrong feet! Yup, she accessorized herself this morning!)

So now, one year later, we are celebrating this special day. The Butterfly's Forever Family Day! Congratulations little girl. We are so happy to call you our daughter, so happy that you are part of our family. You have brought so much love and joy into our lives. We loved you before we met you, we loved you the day we first were able to give you hugs. We love you so much more today than we ever could imagine, and we will love you for the rest of our lives. Thank you beautiful Butterfly for coming into our lives. Thank you for being my daughter. I love you!

~~Aloha!

Rainy Day Model

2011-06-28T09:42:00.000-06:00

The weather has been... well, weird. I know, almost everyone across the nation has been experiencing some strange weather lately, us included. Our weather has been unseasonably cool this year, though we do have some hot days coming soon. We have experienced a lot of rain and some very damaging hail, as well as some incredible lightning.

A couple days ago it started to rain, and continued to rain and rain and rain. The poor Ladybug just wanted to go outside and play, but the weather was not cooperating. After playing a couple games in the morning, I started to think about what would be fun for my eldest, who happens to be 5 going on 15, and then it hit me. I looked at the Bug during lunch and asked, "What would you think about playing with makeup, and even putting makeup on mommy when the Butterfly goes to bed for her nap?" As you can imagine, she squealed with excitement and could not wait to get her little sister to bed.

I knew that I was setting myself up for a fun time with the Bug, and she definitely delivered. The Ladybug started by carefully placed blush on my cheeks... several times in several different shades. She then moved on to my eyes and again started layering several different shades, all in hopes of complimenting my blue eyes. She was so gentle in her application, much to my surprise. I sat ever-so-still for her throughout the entire application. Watching her concentrate so deeply was mesmerizing and made me smile inside the entire time.

After finishing my eyes she hesitantly asked, "Do you want me to put on the liner?" She was terrified to even try for fear of poking my eye and hurting me in the process. I eagerly told her that it was OK, I didn't need her to apply any liner this time.

With my makeup now finished, I asked her if she wanted to now do her own face. She again squealed and eagerly said, "Yes!" I watched her as she very delicately applied her own makeup this time. Surprisingly, she did not apply too much. I think I had it in my mind (probably after seeing too many episodes of American's Funniest Home Videos) that when a young child "plays" with makeup, they tend to apply it much like a clown would. However, the Ladybug seems to already have the knack for subtlety, which astonished me.

Following her makeup application, I offered to take some "model" photos of the Bug, who was very excited to be my muse (by the way, I did not take any photos of myself... just trust me, she did a great job!). The following photos are from that afternoon of fun and laughter with my little Ladybug!

She started by looking rather girly, her hair pulled back with a clip on top of her head.

We then decided to let her hair down, and that was when all of the Ladybug's sass started to shine through.

Don't you just love the "painted" finger nails?

This is my favorite photo from the set. I just love her laugh!

Practicing her kissy lips.

My beautiful kissy-lipped girl. Seriously, she really is 5 going on 15!

We enjoyed such a wonderful time together, what a great day. Oh, by the way, the night ended up providing us with a beautiful electric light display. Quite a day!

~~Aloha!

Holy Cow!

2011-06-23T10:19:00.000-06:00

Has it really been over a month since I last posted on the blog?!?!? Apparently so. So much has happened in that time that has kept me really busy and away from the blogosphere.

The house is now officially ours and we couldn't be happier. We were waiting for the basement to be finished to finally sign the papers, and it is now done and the kids are loving it! They finally have a huge play area where they can play with all of their toys (and thus keep their rooms cleaner without all of the clutter!). The basement was finished just in time for some visitors to come and stay. We loved the visit, and they loved the fact that they could have the entire basement for their family.

The girls are doing great! Nana F. came to visit in early May to watch the Ladybug perform at her first ballet recital.

We surprised the Bug with Nana's visit. She squealed with joy when she saw her Nana, and was so excited to spend some quality time with her (Nana F. lives in Florida, a couple thousand miles away so we only get to see her once or twice a year). What the Ladybug didn't know was that there was an even bigger surprise still to come. Two days before Nana's departure, we told the Bug that she was going to go back to Florida with Nana for a three week visit. She squealed with excitement so loudly, I swear that people two states over must have heard her.

While they were gone, I finished up school for the year, the hubby spent time preparing for his summer class he would be teaching, and the Butterfly continued... getting into trouble! Actually, I jest. The time alone with the Butterfly, just the three of us was such an unexpected blessing. I could have never imagined how special (and needed) that time together really would be for all of us. However, when I actually analyzed the situation, it made perfect sense.

Before we brought the Ladybug home in 2006, she was raised by a foster mother who doted on her day and night. This amazing lady gave so much love to our baby girl. And, because she only had one older son, the Ladybug was treated like an only child, receiving all of the love and attention. The Ladybug then came to us and this one-on-one attention continued for the next few years.

In contrast, the Butterfly was raised in an orphanage with several other babies and children. This meant that although she did receive great care, she was never doted on by any of the caregivers. Each caregiver took care of a few children, and thus her time was shared with several children. Then, when we brought the Butterfly home last year, she was again forced to share special caregiver-bonding time with another child. Thus, she was never given the opportunity to be the "only child."

With the Ladybug gone in Florida, the Butterfly was finally given the chance to be the only child, and boy did she flourish during this time. I was truly amazed at how much this child blossomed without having to compete with her sister all the time. She really mellowed out (less frustration), and started giggling and laughing so much more. What is truly amazing is that this new attitude and positive transformation has pretty much continued even now that the Ladybug is home. I am so happy that we had the opportunity to dote on the Butterfly for three whole weeks. The bonding that occurred made such a difference in strengthening our relationships.

Nana and the Bug had an amazing time together during those three weeks away. When they returned, we visited some wonderful touristy sites in the area and enjoyed a great time together. We only wish that Nana lived closer so that the girls could see her more often. Now that summer is here, we are settling in, enjoying our new house, and getting to know the neighborhood. The girls spend a lot of time outdoors at the play park, riding bikes, playing with new friends, or playing with bubbles. The photos below are of the girls over the last few days. Enjoy!

~~Aloha!

The Dust is Settling

2011-05-16T20:03:00.001-06:00

Well, it happened... we finally moved! Actually, the move happened exactly one month ago, but for the first two weeks following the move I could not find the power cord for my computer. Thus I could not update the blog.

A lot has happened since we have been here, and there is still quite a bit that is still going on. I will say that living here has been one adventure after another. The day of the move-in, we tried to settle down for our first dinner in the new house. Unfortunately, we had temporarily misplaced the tray for the Butterfly's highchair. So, we decided to eat on the floor. But, because of the large perimeter of food that we typically find around the little Bug, we decided that it would be in the best interest of our brand-spankin' new floors if we put emptied, flattened boxes under the Bug. She loved it!

Dinner wasn't anything special, just some Subway sandwiches. But boy did they taste great (it must have been that "new house smell" that helped!).

Dessert is often fresh fruit. Mmmmmmmmm, strawberries!

One of the things we needed to do right after we moved in was check the smoke alarms. Because they were all new, they had little orange/red plastic covers on them which looked a bit like shower caps. The Butterfly thought they were perfect for her head! She proceeded to walk around the rest of the evening looking a bit silly, but enjoying every minute!

Checking in on the workers in the basement!

The huge vaulted ceilings provide tons of room for the Butterfly and daddy to have fun!

But despite all of the excitement, some of my favorite moments in our new place are the quieter ones.

One of the things that we are having completed (while we are living here mind you) is our basement. It should be completed within the next two weeks (cannot wait!). The builders have been working on it for a little while, and are only waiting for the bathroom vanity to arrive to finish the job. It is very exciting to watch the space go from bare nothing, to a skeleton of rooms, to rooms with walls, paint, and carpet. But, as anyone who has lived through construction knows, there is a ton of dust that is created daily. Recently the dust has settled down a bit, but those first couple weeks were just awful.

I remember when I was a child, my mother claiming that there was so much dust where we lived that within a week she was able to write her name in the dust. Well mom, I have you beat! I was able to write my name in the dust in just one day!

Although most people would probably hate all of the dust, and honestly I did in the beginning primarily because of my allergies, I found myself intrigued with it one afternoon. The Butterfly was wandering around the living room, checking everything out. I, knowing that she tends to get in trouble every once in a while (almost always) decided to follow her tracks to see what she was doing. As I walked up to our unplugged TV, which was sitting on the floor against the wall, I noticed something very special... a tiny hand print, so innocently placed on the back of the TV as she looked out the window. This tiny print made me smile. I realized that through all of this dust that was settling daily in our house, my baby's hand was temporarily preserved. I never realized before this point that her hands had touched so many things in our old house, but she never left a visible hand print. It wasn't until we moved here that I was reminded how special these little prints are.

So as I look out in my living room and see the dust everywhere that seems to accumulate so quickly, I now have a different perspective... I love the special memories that this dust is leaving in my heart.

~~Aloha!

My Bug has the Frizzies!

2011-04-28T22:33:00.000-06:00

The Ladybug has been taking ballet since September, as some of you may remember. Every Wednesday I pick her up, take her home to get ready, then we are off to the ballet studio for her lessons. Part of our getting ready routine is getting her hair done, usually up in a bun and her bangs off her face. Unfortunately, with so little time after school to do so before her lessons start, her hair (in September and early October) ended up looking a little messy. Fortunately, the Bug has a great teacher who loves to do my little girl's hair... woohoo!!! This teacher is very creative, each week coming up with a unique design, and ends up doing such a great job with the hair that we often leave it up for a couple days.

Yesterday the Ladybug had one of her lessons, so as usual, her teacher pulled her hair back. This time the teacher used about 14 little rubber bands which streamed down either side of her head, holding more and more hair with each band. The final look was adorable, so much so that other mothers at the ballet studio commented on how cute the hair looked. (Sorry, I didn't get a picture of the hairdo, honestly, it really was adorable. I am just kicking myself now for not getting that pic.)

Because her hair still looked great this morning, we decided to leave her hair just the way is was, no reason to take it all down when it looked so cute. So this evening, the Ladybug had to take a bath and her hair finally had to be taken out. Daddy and the Bug walked into the bathroom to start taking out the rubber bands. I was in the other room as I heard the two of them giggling every few minutes. Then, about ten minutes later she walked out into the living room and started to sing... "She's gonna be a big sensation... Izzy's got the Frizzies!"

Now, for those of you who are not familiar with that little tune, it comes from a popular cartoon called Phineas and Ferb. Izzy is a close friend of the two main characters. One day she encountered a lot of humidity and her hair turned very frizzy. The video below is from the episode and is of Izzy dancing to the song:

So, when the Ladybug walked into the room singing the song and doing the dance I couldn't help but laugh hysterically. I think that the Bug looked exactly like Izzy. See for yourself!

~~Aloha!

The Asian Squat

2011-04-27T10:48:00.000-06:00

Sorry about my lack of posts. We successfully moved into our new house about 2 1/2 weeks ago. However, with our move I lost the power cord for my computer, thus I have not been on my computer or facebook at all while at home (plus we have been getting settled into the new house, so many boxes to unpack). Though I have limited access from work, everything I usually use for my posts is on my main computer such as the editing software and all my photos. Fortunately, I did find the power cord on Sunday, so I will be posting again normally very soon.

In the mean time I saw this little video and had a good chuckle. I thought that everyone else who has ever been to China will find this amusing. The 5-minute video is called How to Do the Asian Squat. I recall many people in China who squat down like this all the time. While at a Buddhist temple, I saw a worker on her lunch break, squatting down to eat her bowl of noodles. However, where I found the squat most useful is at a "squatty potty," or for those who have never seen one, a hole in the ground where you are expected to go to the bathroom. Children are taught this skill at an early age, and the squatting continues throughout their lives. The image below I quickly snapped of a mother helping her little boy go to the bathroom on the ground of the Temple of Heaven. Notice both of them doing the "Asian Squat."

For Westerners, this bending at the knees all the way to the floor is not fun at all. Mix that discomfort with the ~~humiliation~~, ~~aggrivation~~, ~~frustration~~, necessity of having to go to the bathroom in a way that you are completely unaccustomed to. Nope, not fun at all. We are just used to the "throne" as some call it, and I will take a "throne" any day over the squatty potty. Either way, it is a very different experience for those who are used to doing their business at a bit higher altitude.

I found this photo of the Ladybug while we were in China. Looks like she has got the squat down pat. Must be nice to be young... and limber.

Here is the video, enjoy!

HOW TO DO THE ASIAN SQUAT (Hi-Res) from Daniel Hsia on Vimeo.

~~Aloha!

We Are Moving!

2011-04-07T08:23:00.000-06:00

Some of you have wondered why I have not been posting as often as I used to post. You may have also noticed that I have been rather tight lipped about what has been going on out here (I guess that I just didnt' want to jinx anything). Honestly, we have been really busy at our house. But, I am finally willing to share.

Yes, you read it right... we are moving! Our house is sold (we closed yesterday) and the official move will happen this Saturday. We are really busy right now so I don't have much time for a long post to give all of the details. But, just know that we are not moving very far and it is all good. The (old) house is filled with boxes, just waiting to be moved. Saturday cannot come soon enough. (Try walking around your house when it looks like this!)

I will post from our new house once we get things set up. Wish us luck!

~~Aloha!

Making Paper Cranes

2011-03-27T10:55:00.000-06:00

The Ladybug and I started a little project the other day. We decided to make some paper cranes, in honor of the people of Japan. The Ladybug is so diligent in her work and soon became an expert at pressing each and every fold. I am amazed at her creation and concentration, as well as her enthusiasm for the activity.

The idea of making the paper cranes came from a book called Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. It is based on a true story of an inspiring young girl. This description comes from the back of the book:

"Hiroshima-born Sadako is lively and athletic - the start of her school's running team. And then the dizzy spells start. Soon gravely ill with leukemia, an aftereffect of the atom bomb that fell on her city when she was only an infant, Sadako approaches her illness as she did her running - with irrepressible spirit. Recalling a Japanese legend, Sadako sets to work folding paper cranes. For the legend holds that if a sick person folds one thousand cranes, the gods will grant her wish and make her healthy again. Based on a true story, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes celebrates the courage that made one young woman a heroine in Japan."

I started this little project at school with my students, in honor of all the people of Japan. With each crane that we fold and create, we are sending our love and prayers for all of the suffering and loss they have endured. Each crane also comes with many wishes for a new tomorrow.

~~Aloha!

Silly Lips

2011-03-24T21:36:00.001-06:00

The Baby Butterfly has a very silly personality, she definitely keeps us on our toes. She is wold and crazy and loves to laugh, dance, and play all day long.

Just the other day she and I were talking, and I moved my lips back and forth while I was thinking about something (don't remember what it was though... must be old age!). She tried to copy what I was doing, and ended up making me laugh. Her "silly lips" were totally unexpected, and now the funny movements makes me chuckle each time I see her wiggle her adorable lips.

Enjoy!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

(If the above video did not load, try clicking here.)
~~Aloha!

The Ladybug is Now Five!

2011-03-22T22:30:00.001-06:00

We knew it was going to happen, we had been planning it for several years. I just cannot believe that it finally came. The Ladybug turned five years old!

A few years ago the Ladybug was walking with her daddy when they passed some children on a baseball field playing ball.

She asked him what they were doing and he replied, "Playing baseball."
At just two years old she proclaimed, "I want to play baseball!"
Her Daddy said, "Sorry honey, but you have to be five years old to play baseball, and you are only two. You will have to wait three years before you will be allowed to play."
The Ladybug was a bit disappointed, but seemed content with that answer, and continued on her way.

Over the next few years, each time we passed a baseball field with children playing, the Ladybug commented that she wanted to play baseball, but she knew that would have to wait until she was five years old.

The age of five seemed so far off at that point in time, twice her age away as a matter of fact! But as time passed, the inevitability of that number seemed to creep eerily closer. And, this past Saturday, that day finally became a reality.

To help make the day extra special for the Ladybug, her Nana Schoo came out for a special visit.

On the eve of her birthday, after the Bug had gone to bed, the three adults (Nana, Daddy, and Mommy) spent time wrapping gifts and decorating her bedroom door. We took some simple red balloons and a permanent marker and created some adorable ladybug balloons. We also made a couple signs to help announce her special day.

The next morning, the Ladybug walked out of her room, walked by her door, stopped dead in her tracks and then backed up. She looked at the door and in a state of shock said, "Whoah!!!" It was an awesome response for all of the fun we had decorating.

Rather than making her wait until later in the day or evening to unwrap her gifts (an extremely agonizing thing to do for a young kid), we decided to allow her to open her gifts in the morning. She loved this option! She received a few fun little gifts, her favorites being a few archeological digs, a new doll stroller and accessories, a pretty princess dress, and her very own tool box. When looking at the gifts, I am amazed at the broad range of things she received... from princess to archeologist, to hands-on construction. This kid definitely likes a wide range of things, and I am so proud of her for that. Kudos little girl!

Her gifts from both Nana's, Mommy, Daddy, and her sister.

The Ladybug's favorite gift, her very own toolbox with real tools inside!

A Sonic Screwdriver (Dr. Who fans know what this is!).

The Baby Butterfly trying on her sister's new safety goggles.

After a fun afternoon together, we finally made our way to the Ladybug's favorite restaurant. It is a place we only visit about once per year because it is rather expensive, but it boasts the best Asian food around. We all loved the food as well as the time together.

The Butterfly writing and drawing before dinner. I just love her concentration.

A silly little grin during dinner.

At the end of the day, Daddy and I tucked the big girl into bed. She gave us both great big hugs and thanked us for a great day. As we walked out of her room she asked, "So, when do I start baseball?" My of my, that girl has a memory like a steel trap!

We thoroughly enjoyed a wonderful time as a family celebrating the Ladybug's fifth birthday. I still cannot believe that my little baby is already five! How can this be?!?!? Amazing how time seems to fly by.

Age one.

Age two.

Age three.

Age four.

And finally, age five!

Happy Birthday beautiful girl. I love you always!!!

~~Aloha!

Wordless Wednesday, Butterfly & her Blocks

2011-03-16T01:11:00.002-06:00

~~Aloha!

Mmmm, Noodles

2011-03-09T20:03:00.000-07:00

A little girl and her love of noodles.

~~Aloha!

Ladybug... Stat!

2011-03-03T16:37:00.001-07:00

Sorry I have not been updating the blog as much recently. There is so much going on around here that I am having a difficult time keeping up. I will update everyone soon. But, in the mean time I have copied a post from my husband's blog about our adventure last night. Enjoy!

Each night when the Butterfly goes to bed, we go through the same routine.

1. The Butterfly gives night-night kisses to mommy and sister
2. I turn on the bed-side light and close the blinds
3. The Butterfly closes her door and turns off the main light
4. We waltz around the room for bit
5. The Butterfly gives me a goodnight kiss
6. I put her in the crib, sing a Wiggles song or two, and leave
Unfortunately, last night the Ladybug, who was hanging out by the door as the Butterfly was heading to bed, managed to insert her fingers into the space between the door and the door frame right above the hinges just as the Butterfly was finishing Step 3. As a result, the Ladybug got her fingers crunched as the door closed.

She let out a blood-curdling scream, and when she pulled her hand out of the door frame, her middle and ring fingers were bent backwards at the knuckles in a terrifyingly unnatural angle that I can only describe as Holy shit that looks like it hurts.

(Actually, given the night to think it over, I can think of a better way to describe it: boneitis.)

The little girl simply looked at her hand a screamed some more, while the Queen B and I tried as best we could to survey the damage. Between her sobs, the Ladybug said that she couldn’t move her fingers and that her hand hurt, so we decided immediately to run to the emergency room. The Queen B wrapped the Ladybug in a sweater, while I hopped into a pair of flip-flops, and then the two of us — panicky girl and panicky dad — rushed into the car and headed to the hospital while mommy took care of the Butterfly at home.

I raced to the emergency room entrance and parked my truck outside the front doors, whereby “parked” I mean “drove up onto the sidewalk and narrowly avoided taking out a pair of nurses on their smoking break.” I swept the Bug up into my arms and ran inside to the front desk, the pair of us shaking from a combination of adrenaline, fear, and extreme cold (in our haste, we were both still in our pajamas, and it was only 4 degrees out).

We were greeted by an orderly who surveyed the Ladybug, her outstretched arm, and her mangled hand which, at this point, looked like an attempt to make the Vulcan hand-sign gone horribly wrong. He crouched down by the tear-stained, snot-soaked, hyperventilating mass of hair and and skin that had once been my daughter.

“Hi sweetie,” he said, “we’re going to fix your hand up, okay? But first, I need your help, okay?”

The Ladybug nodded quick assent.

“Okay,” he continued, “I need to takes some deep breaths, like this… Eeeeee (inhale) Oooooo (exhale)… Eeeeee (inhale) Oooooo (exhale)… Eeeeee (inhale) Oooooo (exhale). Can you do that?”

The Ladybug, still shaking and in pain, tried. Eeeee Ooooo… Eeeee Ooooo… Eeeee Oooo… As her breathing slowed, so did her shaking, and after a minute or so of breathing with the orderly, the Ladybug had stopped shivering and sobbing and seemed in much better spirits.

“Are you feeling a little better?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you,” said the Ladybug.

“Good,” said the orderly. “Now remind your dad how to breathe too, because I think he’s going to fall over.”

Over the next hour, the Ladybug and I sat and waited in a small room with a pair of extraordinarily uncomfortable seats as nurses peaked in from time to time to see how she was doing. Over the course of the first half-hour her backwards-bending fingers slowly straightened out, and she began to flex her fingers ever so slightly.

To keep her mind off of things, I gave her my iPod and set it to stream Phineas and Ferb from Netflix, and as we waited, she eventually began to smile and giggle, and by the time a physical doctor actually showed up, her left hand was functioning perfectly fine. He pushed and prodded it a bit, and seeing that the Ladybug did not wince or shout in pain, commented that she had probably dislocated two of her fingers, but what with little kids being composed primarily of rubber and Laffy Taffy, that they had naturally popped back into place.

“Just to be sure,” he added, “I like to take some x-rays.”

So we did. Afterward, the Ladybug and I looked at her x-rays on a computer with the nurses. She stared in fascination at the sight of the skeletal claw gloved by the shadowy outline of her hand. She noted the neatly arranged phalanges in her fingers, which connected to the similarly ordered metacarpals in her hand, which in turn terminated in what appeared to be a chaotic jumble of pebbles perched at the end of her radius and ulna.

“What’s that?” the Ladybug asked the nurse, pointing to the pebbles.

“Those are the bones in your wrist.”

The Ladybug compared them to the long, slender bones of fingers and arms for a moment.

“Oh man,” she said with an air of exasperation, “I guess I broke my wrist instead.”

It took another hour for the doctor to survey the x-rays himself and officially discharge the Ladybug, who was, despite his say so, was still unconvinced her wrist bones should look like that. He disappeared again to find a nurse, so to pass the time, the Ladybug again whipped out the iPod and sat back in her uncomfortable chair watching Doctor Who.

Eventually, a nurse appeared with her discharge papers and announced we were free to go (…pay the bill, that is). I got up and stretched my body, which was aching from a combination of leftover adrenaline and the bootleg iron-maiden assembly that masqueraded as “a chair.”

“Time to go home, little girl,” I said, gathering up her jacket.

The Ladybug held up her left hand, which I immediately assumed was to show me that it was doing okay. However, she quickly curled up all of her fingers except her index one.

“Just a minute. The Doctor hasn’t beat the Weeping Angels yet (in reference to the Dr. Who episode she was watching).”

So, yeah, she’s doing fine.

~~~Aloha!

Breaks my Heart

2011-02-22T14:50:00.001-07:00

Thank you to my bloggy friend for sharing this video. As she stated in her post, this just B.R.E.A.K.S. my Heart.

What a difference a cultural perspective can make.

~~Aloha!

Chinese New Year 2011

2011-02-03T22:42:00.004-07:00

Happy Chinese New Year everyone, it is now the year of the rabbit!

For our celebration this year we decided to visit one of our favorite Chinese restaurants in town for dinner. As expected, the Ladybug was extremely excited when we told her we were going out to dinner for Chinese food. Upon hearing this news she immediately ran to her room, pulled out every Chinese outfit she and the baby Butterfly have, and spent the next 30 minutes dressing and undressing her and her sister. I should have known that she had to be dressed perfectly for the night (what was I thinking?)!

Once they were dressed, I used the opportunity to take some photos of the girls in their adorable garb. Of course that is much easier said than done! Those who know me know that I love to take photos... a ton of photos. I often post some of my favorites of the girls (my best models!), which frequently receive positive comments. I have even had people ask if I ever take a "bad" photo. To answer that question, "Yes!" I absolutely do take bad photos, and with two very mobile and impatient girls, bad photos are often the norm. Below are a few of the photos from the batch that I shot of the girls tonight. In them you can see the impatience, movement, and the most common occurrence, photos where one girl looks great and the other is rather bored and could care less. So, just to prove that my photos don't always turn out for the better, here is tonight...

Of course, these are just a select few of the BAZILLION I took tonight, but at least you can get the picture (pun intended!) that not all is perfect over here in photo-land. I will admit that some of the photos do look good... of one girl or the other, but I do not like any photo of both girls, sigh.

After all was said and done, I settled on this one below where both girls actually look ok... but I am still not super excited about it. Oh well, at least I was able to get a few photos for remembrance sake.

Lastly, I also shot a short video this evening of the baby Butterfly. It is about a minute and a half long and is of her talking a bit and squeaking around the room. Enjoy!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

~~Aloha!!!

Fun with Photos

2011-01-31T23:36:00.000-07:00

Just enjoying some time playing with my photos and my new little model. Enjoy!!

~~Aloha!

Wordless Wednesday, My Girls

2011-01-25T20:50:00.000-07:00

~~Aloha!

Slow Boat to China

2011-01-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

A friend suggested I do this because it would provide some great laughs. So, I did, and laughed!

I visited Google Maps and requested directions from Seattle, Washington to Shanghai, China. (Interestingly, I first tried San Diego, but the program rerouted me through Seattle, so I decided to start there instead... why not save me that part of a long drive!)

Anyone who has ever asked for directions from this program knows that it is common to be told to turn and then "Drive a couple hundred feet in this direction," and then "A couple hundred feet in that direction." In other words, you have to follow some very tedious instructions to get to the actual meat of the directions you requested. However, what I never expected from my latest request was absolute silliness and rather "impossible" directions. See for yourself!

I started my journey in Seattle, and after meandering around a few streets, I am finally making my way across the ocean... in a KAYAK!!! Yes, you read that correctly, Google Maps suggests that if you are going to travel across the Pacific Ocean, you should do so in a Kayak. I don't know about you, but if I am going to take a journey across a vast body of water, there is no darned way that I am going to use a kayak. But, apparently the people at Google think I should. Oh well. Any way, as you can see below in Step 8, I will kayak across for 2,756 miles.

Some of you may be thinking that 2,756 seems a little bit too small a distance to take me all the way to China, and you would be correct! This part of the trip actually takes me to Oahu. Woohoo, Hawaii!!! Nice to see that I will have a little bit of time to relax in gorgeous Hawaii. After making my way across the island, I will leave Honolulu in a kayak (again) and this time I will travel 3,879 miles (step 23).

After travelling almost 4,000 miles from Hawaii in a kayak, I would think that I would have finally made it to China (the "Chinese" characters in step 24 led me to this thought). Nope! I actually have made it to Japan! Well, at least I am almost there. So, after making my way across Japan, I will leave solid ground to make my way across the last body of water in a ~~kayak~~, oops... apparently a kayak is too good for me for these last few hundred miles. Instead, I will use a jet ski (step 81)! Seriously????? OK, people at Google, do you honestly think that I will ride a jet ski from Japan to China? Really?!?!? Oh my, will I ever arrive in China? Apparently the answer is yes.

After riding a jet ski for 486 miles, I will finally make it to China. But, of course, Google Maps wants me to meander around Shanghai a little bit until I actually make it to Shanghai. Yes, you heard that correctly, after making it all the way to Shanghai, I will still have to wander around a bit until I make it to Shanghai. I don't understand it either... so don't ask.

Anyway, after 93 total steps, I have finally made it to China! Woohoo!!!

Wow, what an incredible journey! I will travel by car, kayak, and jet ski, and along the way I will visit Hawaii and Japan. Not bad!

All in all, the journey is 8,148 miles and will take me 35 days, 19 hours.

Just for fun I had the program tell me how long it would take me to get to China if I walked. Pretty much the same route with the kayaking and jet skiing. However, I would be walking through Hawaii and Japan. That trip would take me a little over 105 days. Honestly, somebody at Google is having a BLAST at his job! Gotta love the creativity.

Whoooooooo, after that long trip, I am exhausted! So... how am I going to get home?

~~Aloha!

Newsletter: December '10

2011-01-15T23:01:00.000-07:00

Each month my husband writes a newsletter to the girls about the things they have experienced. He has been doing this since we brought the Ladybug home in 2006 to help preserve her history with our family, long after the memories have faded. I have thoroughly enjoyed his stories and anecdotes, and thought that it was finally time to share his amazing, humorous writing with my bloggy friends. Enjoy!

Dearest Bugs,
It’s now January: the start of a new year, a new semester, new toys, and a bunch of new teeth. And, of course, a new round of monthly newsletters. Everyone keeps asking me “How was your Christmas Break?” and the answer I invariably give is “Busy,” and you, dear girls, are the main reason for that.

Part of that business is, of course, the end of the semester and the unavoidable Doric columns’ worth of exams to be graded Another task was a three-day trip to and from Minneapolis to visit the Shriners Hospital of Children. You might only know the Shriners as those old dudes who wear fezzes and drive around parades in teeny cars,which, truth be told, was the only way I knew them. However, it turns out that the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, as they are officially and completely non-humbly called, administer a number of hospitals that treat children for various defects, such as spina bifida, spinal cord injury, and missing limbs, among other things. The Shriners accepted the Butterfly as a patient, and set up a meeting with her for Christmas Eve Eve, and since the Ancient Arabic Order will cover all the costs any physical therapy or surgeries the little girl might need until she’s eighteen, we hauled serious ass out there to meet them.

The drive there and back was uneventful, in that the girls were well behaved and that we never managed to be beset upon by the blizzards the radio kept saying were just minutes on our tail. The Ladybug kept herself amused by drawing pictures in her journal* and carrying on endless conversations with, well, with anyone who would respond. (I’ll say a little bit more about that girl’s chatterboxery in a bit.) The Butterfly, on the other hand, simply cycled through through the activities

with a frequency of hertz.

* I mentioned last time about the Ladybug’s prolific pace for producing pictures, but the content of such pictures also bears a little mention. For example, earlier in the month the Ladybug made a picture for her mommy, which included the two of them holding hands and strolling in a grassy field under a shining sun. Shortly after, the Ladybug churned out a picture for me:

“What’s this?” I asked.
“A spinal column, a heart, and two lungs,” she replied.
“…” said I.
“Well,” said the girl, “You like science, so I thought you’d like this too.”
And then I gave her hugs and kisses and promptly signed her up for therapy.

The actual hospital visit took most of the morning, during which time the Butterfly was examined by an orthopedic specialist, an occupational therapist, and a prosthetic expert, educating the Queen B and I on what we need to do for the Butterfly and what options are available for her as she grows up. In the end, the visit was best summed up by our nurse, who said we’re doing everything we need for the Butterfly, that there’s nothing we need to worry about yet, and that they’ll see her again in three years. Such news about the health of my daughter is good news, if a little bittersweet, as it meant we really didn’t need to risk vehicular death and dismemberment to get there in the middle of December.

Of course, the biggest event of December was Christmas, although the two girls had very different takes on the holiday. For the Ladybug, having experienced the yuletide four times over, it was time to get serious. In years past, she had relied on her memory alone to ask for presents, which of course meant that she’d periodically forget something of monumental importance until immediately after she spoke to Santa. No more! This year, the Ladybug was took no chances on not getting precisely what she wanted for Christmas, a testament to her burgeoning dual senses of organization prowess and mouth-foaming consumerism.

For example, this was the first year the Ladybug maintained a Christmas list, to which she she continually added things as December progressed:
*A water tribe betrothal necklace from The Last Airbender
*A ladybug pillow pet
*A gift certificate to Claire’s
*A Rapunzel make-up compact
*An Auroura and/or Rapuntzel princess dress
*A Barbie guitar
*A panda hat-and-glove set
*A Phineas and Ferb glove and hat for Daddy (thanks, kid!)
*A drum kit

and so on. Of course, given her fierce sense of independence, the Ladybug also wrote out everything on the list herself, which is cute until you consider the fact that, while she knows how to write all her letters, she doesn’t know how to spell yet. Hence, a typical evening spent working on her X-mas list would yield at most two items on her list, and would go a little something like this:

Ladybug: Dad, how do you spell PANDA HAT?
Me: P-A-N-D-A space H-A-T.
LB: Okay, that’s too fast. P?
Me: P.
LB: [ carefully writing a "P" in her notebook ] Peeeee… ‘kay.
Me: A.
LB: Ayyyyy…. ‘kay.
Me: N.
LB: Ennnnn… ‘kay.
[ Thirty minutes later... ]
Me: T.
LB: Teeeee… ‘kay.
Me: And you’re done. That’s PANDA HAT.
LB: Okay, good. Dad, how do you spell TANGLED PURSE WITH LIP GLOSS AND MAKE-UP?
Me: Oh crap.

Of course, every kid writes a Christmas list, but my kid cross-referenced it with precisely where and when she requested them from Santa, so as to not accidentally ask Santa for the same thing twice (that’d be inefficient) or to forgot to ask Santa for something at all (that’d be a tragedy). Hence, her list has little notes to the effect of
Item 1 – asked Santa at mall yesternight*
Item 4, 5 – asked Santa at daycare today
Item 8 – wrote in letter to Santa at daycare
and so forth. Comically serious though it was, the Ladybug’s organizational prowess and attention to detail paid off: Santa and his grandparently minions managed to find everything on the list except the panda hat (sigh) and the drum kit (Thank you Thank you THANK YOU). Interestingly enough, in the days following Christmas, the Ladybug has added one more tool to her gift-getting repertoire: passive-aggression, as in “It’s too bad I didn’t get my drum kit for Christmas. I guess Santa must have forgotten. That’s okay… But you know what? My birthday is coming up soon…”
It’s gonna be a long three months.

* “Yesternight,” a portmanteau that refers to yesterday at night, is one of the more charming words the Ladybug has coined. It’s a manifestation of her exponentially increasing loquaciousness, which is a diplomatic way of saying the kid won’t shut the hell up. Really, the Ladybug just talks and talks and talks, and because the stories she wants to share outpace her vocabulary at times, she’s taken to inventing her own words to fill the gaps.** Most often this just means she conjugates irregular verbs, well, regularly, such as “I goed to the mall to see Santa” or “I buyed this make-up from Claire’s,” but occasionally we get gems like “yesternight” that really ought to be added to common parlance.

** More recently, however, the Ladybug has discovered “Um.” When the little girl is particularly excitable, she often intersperses the word um between every other word, like a aural indicator of “space bar use,” much to the irritation of her mother. In fact, the Queen B sometimes takes to refusing to let the Ladybug talk until she can articulate her thoughts without the use of “um,” which is the only successful way we’ve discovered to get a few minutes of blissful silence from the kid.

One additional offshoot of the season bears some discussion: the Ladybug, lovely little nerd that she is, is beginning to suspect that something is a little off with the whole Santa Claus concept. For example, how can Santa be at our mall, but also at her cousin’s mall in Florida at the same time? Why does Santa look different in her mall picture and in her daycare picture? How can he know what everyone is doing all the time every day? Why does he give coal to bad kids when coal can be compressed into a diamond? (I kid you not.) I’m confused as to the best way to handle these queries, torn between my nostalgic hopes to preserve a sense of childhood magic for the little girl on the one hand and my natural inclination not to lie to her on the other. Fortunately, whenever such questions pop up, the Queen B has ready made answers, such as declaring that the people at the mall are not actually the real Santa, but folks report back to him; or that the comically large “Santa key” we hang outside out house on Christmas Eve to allow Santa entry to our home (we lack a fireplace) fits the lock using elf magic; or whatever. It’s as if the Queen B has a Santa Claus Conspiracy Theory handbook with all the answers. My thoughts on the whole thing, however, are best summed up by Penny Arcade.

Now, in contrast to the Ladybug’s cool and calculated approach to X-mas, the little Butterfly was far more delightfully oblivious to the concept. Technically speaking, this is her second Christmas, but I’m not sure just how seriously the holiday is celebrated in a rural orphanage in a predominantly Buddhist country. As a result, what with this being the Butterfly’s first “official” X-mas, the Queen B made damn sure it was going to be everything the Butterfly had ever hoped for… ignoring, of course, the fact that the Butterfly was completely unaware of the holiday to begin with.

As a result, we went through all the traditional activities. For example, early on we decorated the tree. The Ladybug, of course, wanted to help with the ornaments, but owing to her height, was only able to able to dress the bottom half of the tree:

Of course, the bottom half of the tree is precisely the part of the tree the Butterfly could reach, and so the littlest girl would delight herself by systematically removing each ornament a few minutes after the Ladybug attached it. This, of course, invariably lead to the Ladybug to re-attaching the ornament and the Butterfly de-attaching it, like a pair of sibling Sisyphi.

We also made cookies for Santa, or, more appropriately, the Queen B and the Ladybug made cookies for Santa, while the Butterfly ate them whenever no one was looking. Seriously. The little girl snuck bites of the dough during the baking process. She snuck warm cookies as they cool on the cooling racks. She even stole cookies right of Santa’s plate on Christmas Eve. Either the Butterfly has no concept of Santa’s naughty list, or she just doesn’t care.

As a bit of a digression, I’m actually pretty sure she just doesn’t care. To say the Butterfly is mischievous is like saying the Titanic had a little trouble its first trip out. The Butterfly has spent this month making good on the karmic threat of balancing our the Ladybug’s lack of Terrible Twos by starting on hers an entire season early.

And let’s be clear: the Butterfly is naughty. She knows full well the things she’s not allowed to play with (e.g. mommy’s computer, sister’s art supplies, daddy’s TV remote, and so forth), and yet, despite all the toys she has to play with, these are the only things that interest her any more. Typically she’s caught before she can damage these things, usually with her arm extended and her fingers such millimeters away from the off-limit object. A typical such confrontation might go like

Me: Butterfly, no! You can’t play with the computer.
Butterfly: [ Freezes in place, shakes her head "No," and looks incredibly guilty. After a moment, while maintaining deliberate eye-contact, she moves her hands even closer to the computer. ]
Me: Butterfly… No.
BF: [ Freezes again, shakes her head again, and looks even more guilty. Then, after another moment and maintaining very deliberate eye-contact, actually touches the computer. ]
Me: NO, KID.
BF: [ Freezes again, shakes her head again, and looks even more guilty, if that's even possible. Finally, after another moment and continuing her deliberate eye-contact, maniacally starts banging her hand all over the keys. ]
Me: [ Getting up and striding over to her. ] I said NO.
BF: [ Throws her hands in the air, runs to the other corner of the room, and acts as if she'd been academically studying the plush qualities of her security blanket the whole time. ]

Every now and then, of course, she actually sneaks her way to one of the Forbidden Objects before we catch her. When caught, as she invariably is, the Butterfly’s standard response is to fling said item across the room, followed by displaying a face of wide-eyed innocence coupled with throwing her arms up into the air as if to indicate that there is not now anything in her hands and therefore, through reverse induction, there was never anything in her hands. Sometimes she even points an accusatory finger at her parents, as if to convey her disappointment in us that we’d even think such a thing about her.

The next few years are gonna be hell.
As for the Big Day itself, with the Butterfly it played like a repeat of the Ladybug four years ago: the initial thrill of being able to cause irreparable damage to box after box after box quickly waned for the Butterfly (I presume under the hypothesis that it ain’t worth doin’ unless there’s a chance of gettin’ in trouble for it), and the only way we made it through the morning is by stapling her pajamas to the carpet and feeding her boxes until the pile diminished to nothing.

Unlike the clerical certainty of her older sister, it’s a littler more difficult to tell if the Butterfly got what she wanted for X-mas. However, if I had to take a stab it based on the Butterfly’s morphological changes over the month, I’d guess she asked for the rest of her teeth. She’s doubled them, from eight to sixteen. Whereas her first eight lined up with periodontal precision, her remaining teeth — four new incisors and four molars — appear to be coming in a random angles. The upshot is that when she opens her mouth, it looks less like the adorable grin of a one-year-old and more like the maw of Agrajag, or, for those unfamiliar with the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books, a toothy version of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.

One of the lamentable side effects of the Butterfly’s new toothy grin is that it was accompanied by a week-long bound of diarrhea. Each day the poor little girl would have “dirty squirty” after “dirty squirty,” invariably culminating in a particularly, shall we say, energetic evacuation that ruined both her clothes and my fragile psyche. Such events are charmingly called “blow-outs” by the gals at her daycare, but after a week of sifting through them, I think a more appropriate term is “assplosion.”

Thankfully that’s cleared up, and the two little girls are pleased with their toys, just as I’m pleased with their health and happiness. I can’t wait to share some new adventures with you girls in 2011.

I love you two!
– Ba ba

Six Months

2011-01-11T21:39:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, January 5 was a special day around here. To most it would seem like any other middle of the week, normal day. But to a special little baby girl and her family, the day was special. January 5 marked the six month anniversary of when the Baby Butterfly was placed in our arms... the six month anniversary of when we became a family of four... the six month anniversary of when the Ladybug became a big sister... and finally, the six month anniversary of when the Baby Butterfly finally had a family to call her own.

I am really finding it hard to believe the baby has been with us for an entire six months already. But at the same time, it seems as though she has been with us forever. The transition for all of us has been rather smooth, especially considering the Ladybug had been our only child up until that time. The Ladybug has taken on the role of big sister so well, though I do hear the occasional, "Stop touching me," or "Stop taking my things!" But that is totally expected and actually makes me laugh most of the time.

What amazes me most is the Baby Butterfly and how well she has transitioned. Six months ago she couldn't crawl, within a week she was crawling, and a month later she was starting to walk. She is now running circles around all of us. She went from a shy, timid little baby to a vibrant, giggly little girl who loves her family. I love coming home each day to this little who whose excitement to see me just melts any frustrations I may have encountered during the day. She love to laugh at everything, and tries hard to make us smile and laugh with her. But more than anything, she is a girl who loves to love. She is a little cuddler who hugs with all her might.

I look at both of these girls and I feel so blessed. Thank you Lord for blessing my life and my family. Thank you life's little blessings.

~~Aloha!

2010-12-25T18:11:00.002-07:00

Merry Christmas!!!

~~Aloha!

Need a Snow Day?

2010-12-18T15:24:00.006-07:00

Do you live in warm weather and miss the snow? Do you have fond memories making paper snowflakes as a child? Or do you just love the intricate details of one of God's most beautiful, artistic creations? If your answer to any of these questions was "Yes," then the following site is just for you.

One of our fun creations!

Using just your computer mouse you can create some beautiful snowflakes. Go try it, you will definitely be hooked... we are. Just click the "Need A Snowday" box below to be directed to the site.

Enjoy!

~~Aloha!

Trimming the Tree

2010-12-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

After putting this off for too many days, we finally trimmed our Christmas tree this evening. The Baby Butterfly was extremely excited to see all of the lights and ornaments. She seemed giddy the entire time, giggling her way around the room. The Ladybug was the big helper throughout the evening, making sure all the ornaments found their way to the tree.

The Butterfly doing her best to help with the trimming of the tree.

As I streamed the lights around the tree, I lit the first strand of white lights so that I could see there they were resting in the tree. When I turned on the lights, the Ladybug "oohed and ahhed." But, what made me laugh was when I turned on the red lights to complete the tree lighting she looked in awe at the beautiful lights, came over to me, wrapped her arms around me and said, "You are the BEST mommy in the world!" Hard to believe that some simple Christmas lights would evoke such a reaction. I am on cloud nine now!

After getting the lights on the tree and streaming some garland through the branches, it was time to decorate the tree with ornaments. I did the unpacking while the Ladybug did most of the trimming. She loved every moment! However, as she was carefully placing each ornament on the tree, I noticed something... the ornament placement was determined by her height and where she could climb to get up higher. Of course, after she went to bed, some of "Santa's helpers" visited our house and fixed the ornament placement by evening them throughout the tree.

Our lopsided tree.

The tree after "Santa's Helpers" moved some ornaments around.

Upon opening our ornament boxes, the Ladybug found her baby Santa hat. She sighed and said, "Ahhhh, I wish I was a baby again. I really want to wear this Santa hat." I looked at the tiny red hat and immediately thought the baby would look adorable in the hat, and since this is her first Christmas with us, the monogram is perfect... "Baby's First Christmas." I recalled at that moment the first Christmas we spent with the Ladybug and how special that moment was for my husband and I. We had waited so long to be parents, and in November 2006, just one month before Christmas, we were blessed with our darling Baby Ladybug. Now, just four years later we are again are feeling so blessed to be the parents to another beautiful baby girl, this time our Baby Butterfly.

The Baby Ladybug in her Santa hat in 2006.

The Baby Butterfly donning the very same hat in 2010.

The Baby Butterfly did her best to help her big sister. She handed some of the ornaments to her sister and played with some other ornaments when she got bored. Not to fret, she seemed to love the time with her family and giggled each time a new ornament was placed on the tree (yup, there was a lot of giggling going on this evening!).

The Butterfly helping to unwrap some ornaments.

Playing with one of the ornaments.

Checking out a fun bumble bee ornament... seeing if it tastes like honey.

Looking carefully at the bumble bee.

The Ladybug admiring the bumble bee ornament last year, 2009.

After the tree was trimmed I placed the Baby Bug next to the tree to look closely at my favorite ornament, a little Chinese girl next to a small pagoda. I took a photo of the Butterfly looking at the ornament and I remembered that three years ago I took a similar photo of the Ladybug next to the same ornament. It is so neat to see both girls enjoying the same ornament.

The Baby Butterfly admiring the Chinese girl ornament.

The Ladybug in 2007 admiring the same ornament.

Enjoy a few more photos below of our evening. We had a great time and are now looking forward to the joys this season will bring.

The Butterfly happily trying to place an ornament on the tree.

Looking at the lights.

An excited little girl.

Oh happy day!

Our silly girl with her adorable crooked grin, excited about the Christmas season.

~~Aloha!

Perspective and a Laugh

2010-12-14T07:11:00.001-07:00

Just because we all need a little perspective every now and then... and a good laugh.

Some of you may have seen this story and/or picture before. The picture has landed in my e-mail at least once before now. However, I have never seen the description attached with the photo. My oh my does a change of perspective help with understanding what was going on in the mind of this young girl. The story is as follows:

Students in Mrs. D's first grade class were asked to draw a picture of someone they admire. A girl handed in the drawing below for her homework assignment.

The teacher graded it and the child brought it home.

The next day the girl returned to school with the following note addressed to the teacher:

Dear Ms. D.,

I want to be perfectly clear on my child's homework illustration. It is NOT a picture of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint surrounded by male customers with money.

I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we
made in the recent snowstorm.

This drawing is of me selling a snow shovel.

Sincerely,

Mrs. H.

See what a little perspective can do??? Just remember, there are always two sides to a story!

~~Aloha

Festival of Lights

2010-11-30T19:33:00.002-07:00

About eight years ago, my husband told me he had received a job offer from a university in South Dakota. My immediate thought was, "uhhhhh... where?" You see, at the time we lived in sunny San Diego, California, and "small town U.S.A." seemed very far away from where we were at that point in time, and honestly sounded a little bleak. However, we took the time to visit the school, the city, and the surrounding area, and we knew this place in middle America was right where we wanted to settle down. Don't get me wrong, I loved living in San Diego, but I was ready to make the move to a smaller city (town) and a slower pace.

Jump ahead eight years and I love where we live, though many people who have lived here do question our sanity and motives. A very close friend has often joked, "Who the heck would move from San Diego TO South Dakota? Only thing I can think of is someone who is part of the Witness Protection program... yup, that is the answer!" No, we are not part of the W.P.P., and as a matter of fact moving to one of the coldest states in the U.S. really was a conscious choice, REALLY!

Honestly, we love it here. Not having to plan our days around traffic is an absolute blessing. And, all of the little things that we took for granted in a big city are things that we cherish here. One example is the annual Festival of Lights Parade that the city has hosted since 1998. In the early evening hours on the weekend following Thanksgiving, local businesses and organizations make their way to Main Street on a personalized, lighted float. Despite the often cold temperatures, we love the event because of the small-town camaraderie, lively music, and wonderfully creative, lighted floats.

The Ladybug and Butterfly boogying during the parade.

This year marked the first year the Butterfly was given the opportunity to enjoy the event (I still find it hard to believe that she has only been home with us from China for just over four months). Being a wee-one barely a year and a half, she had no clue what was going on when we left the house all bundled up (thankfully, Daddy had just purchased a nice, warm, thick, winter coat that provided the much-needed warmth for the Bug). Then when we arrived downtown and decided to plant ourselves on the edge of the street, out in the cold no less. The poor thing really seemed concerned because we weren't moving on. Fortunately, to keep us warm we brought a couple blankets, hats, mittens, and some nice and warm apple cider. Though the cider helped to divert the Bug's attention from the cold for a bit, what made all the difference in her ambivalence toward the evening was the moment she saw and heard the first float.

Daddy and the Ladybug enjoying the parade... with angel 3-D glasses!

We all thoroughly enjoyed our evening together as a family, watching each of the fun, silly, creative, and beautiful lighted floats pass by. Whenever a float passed with some fun, upbeat music, the Baby Bug started boogying and rocking out in her stroller. She was quite a sight with so much enthusiasm. The baby Bug had a great time all evening... she loved it! I am thoroughly looking forward to the coning years as we continue this tradition of enjoying the Festival of Lights.

The Butterfly rocking out to the great music.

A fun entry this year... believe it or not, singing toilets. A total fan hit!

The Ladybug and daddy enjoying the parade.

Some of our local nurses enjoying their time away from the hospital.

Our favorite entry from our local Air Force base. One of the airmen actually sang with the float, what an amazing voice. So happy to have these men and women serve our country.

Although we adopted our girls internationally, this float asking for support for local foster and adoptive families really touched my heart. We are all part of a special family.

Members of the fire department provided lots of lights and music for all.

A fun "Shop Early" float, with perfectly timed lights and music, from UPS.

The local HOG (Harley Owners Group), leading the way for Santa.

Santa, enjoying the crowd on the last float of the parade.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this spectacular parade and helped to make this wonderful city a great place to live.

~~Aloha!

Santa!

2010-11-28T21:11:00.002-07:00

'Tis the season... for sisters!

~~Aloha!

Pigtails and A Snow Princess

2010-11-22T22:03:00.009-07:00

Two very different things happened this week...
1. The Butterfly's hair is finally long enough to put her hair into adorable little pigtails.
2. It started snowing and the Ladybug is so excited to play in the snow again.

The Butterfly just four months ago.

Over the last four months our baby Butterfly has changed in so many different ways, not the least of which is physically. She has gained weight, gotten a bit taller, and her hair has finally grown. Now, the last is my favorite because I can now put her hair into pigtails. Yup, you guessed it, I love having a girly-girl. I have on in my beautiful Ladybug who loves to dress up in frilly dresses, play princess, and wear make-up (when I let her!). She is the epitome of a girly-girl. What was awesome (for me anyway) was that when we brought her home at just 8 months, she already had tons of hair that I could play with. And, boy did I play! As a matter of fact, her nick-name in China happened to be "Baby-Big-Hair," she had THAT much hair!

The Ladybug at 13 months.

The Butterfly, on the other hand, had very little hair when we brought her home at 14 months old. I was able to put a little bow in her hair, which inevitably fell out just a short time later. I did what I could by adding bows just to make sure that my little girl looked like a girl. But, there was no way that I could make any ponytails with her thin, whispy hair. It just wasn't going to happen.

Move ahead four months and I am now finally able to do a few fun things with her hair. We often do the "Palmtree," as we call it, with one pony on top of her head. And, finally this week I was finally able to pull her hair into two pigtails on either side of her head. Now, you must understand, this is my favorite hairdo on my baby Butterfly... and in fact, it was my favorite hairdo on the Ladybug as well. I am guessing that it has something to do with the fact that one of my favorite Pixar movies of all time is Monster's Inc, and when the girls have their hair in those cute pigtails, I am reminded of one of the main characters, Boo. That little girl from the movie just warms my heart, so it is no wonder that when I see either of my girls with little pig tails, I get a very warm and content feeling inside. Ahhhhh.

Boo from Monster's Inc.

The Butterfly, and her adorable crooked smile... (just like her sister!).

Now, onto the other thing that happened this week... winter finally arrived. As a matter of fact, winter arrived with a vengeance. Just two weeks ago we were enjoy some unseasonably warm weather in the mid-seventies. And trust me, we were loving it. Now, just two weeks later, the temperatures have dropped to single digits and we are all in shock! I know, we should have expected this, but it happened so quickly that we are all just not quite acclimated yet. Seriously, this weather sucks! But, not all is bad, for at least one member of our family anyway. The Ladybug is thrilled with the weather and so excited that she can now finally play out in the snow. So, this afternoon when she and Daddy arrived home from school, she put all of her snow gear on, bundled from head to toe, and headed outside to play.

The Ladybug, just in from "playing" in the snow.

What the Ladybug wasn't expecting was that Daddy (with his snow blower) was ready to play too. The first couple times that he "threw" snow in her direction she laughed and continued to play, but soon her playful demeanor waned and she realized that it was actually pretty cold outside (single digit temperatures will do that to you), and the snow all over her made it even worse. She eventually made her way back to the house, knocked on the door, and this is what I saw...

A Ladybug who has had too much "fun."

My happier and warmer Bug.

Poor thing. I guess that Daddy played a little too rough. Don't worry though because just seconds later, after defrosting a bit in the warmth of the house, she was able to smile from ear to ear just thinking about how much fun she will have in the coming days.

~~Aloha!

Evolution of Emotion

2010-11-17T21:44:00.011-07:00

I recently took Christmas photos of the girls, which included some photos of the girls together as well as apart. The photo shoot proved to be a bit difficult for the Baby Bug... she just doesn't enjoy professional photo shoots, even if they are being done by mommy. Don't get me wrong, she loves getting her picture taken and always hams it up as soon as I pull out my camera. However, she hates being posed, and quickly gets frustrated when she is posed for photos. So, my time with the little one was minimal, but I was still able to get some nice shots.

What was fun to see was a full gamut of emotions: happy, exuberant, sad, serious, frustrated, and more. My favorite photo is one that looks like the Baby Bug is in "Time-out," pouting." Truth be told, she isn't, but I like to think that I got a great shot of my kiddo in trouble.

The Ladybug was just the opposite of her sister. She loves the camera, and is such a natural. I love having a little model in her and thoroughly enjoy clicking photos.

What I love even more is that the two girls are becoming so much closer. When we were in China, the Baby Bug wanted nothing to do with her sister what-so-ever. She only wanted Daddy and I, which surprised us. We figured since the baby had lived in an orphanage for the first 14 months of her life, and because the Ladybug looks a little like the other children from the orphanage, that the Baby Bug would naturally gravitate to her new four year old sister. However, nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact, it wasn't until this last month that the baby finally learned that her sister isn't half bad. And now, she seems to be making up for lost time... she follows her older sister around everywhere.

Both girls are so cute together, and ~~always~~, ~~usually~~, ~~often~~, get along without whining, crying, or hair pulling. In all actuality, they really do like each other (most of the time) and enjoy playing together. I am so happy that the baby finally came around to see how awesome her sister is. I can only hope that they will stay close... though I know full-well that they will likely go through the normal ups and downs that most siblings do, so I am not holding my breath. Ahhhh, I am just happy that neither has put the other in the hospital yet!

~~Aloha!

Forever Family Day 2010!!!

2010-11-14T14:20:00.024-07:00

Forever Family Day 2010

Wow how time flies by. It is so hard to believe that our little girl is now four and a half years old and that as of yesterday, she has been a member of our family for four years. This day is so special for us all on so many levels, it is the first time that we became a family, the first time that we met our daughter, the first time that the nanas got to meet their grand-daughter, and also the best birthday I have ever celebrated. Yes, as the fates would have it, my baby girl was handed to me on my birthday, the best present I have ever received in my life. Daddy even joked at one point during that first day while he was holding the Ladybug, "Little girl, you have now made it impossible for me to ever do anything extra special for your mother for her birthday, ever again. I will Never be able to top you!"

The Ladybug and her referral photo.

A Ladybug, then and now.

As with each previous year, we celebrated our special day by going to a wonderful Chinese restaurant. This year was different though, we are now a family of four! The Butterfly thoroughly enjoyed the evening. She loved the food, and enjoyed helping mommy open a couple presents (looks like she is going to have a Blast on Christmas!). Since the day is so special for the Ladybug, she also received a couple gifts, a new art kit for her never-ending love of all things artistic, and a Chinese dragon puppet that we brought home from China just four months ago. Her favorite gift was hands-down, the dragon. She walked all over the restaurant practicing her puppeteering skills with her new toy. My favorite gift... tickets to see the musical Grease next week when a touring Broadway production comes to town. Cannot wait!

The Butterfly at dinner.

The Ladybug getting ready to eat.

Silly faces!

After dinner I started to clean up the baby Bug so that we could open some presents.
I started by wiping her hands, her face, then lastly her bib. As I was wiping it down, I came upon some things that had fallen into the pocket in the bottom. This is a normal thing that I see whenever I clean her up, after all, she is a pretty voracious eater. However, this evening there was something more... a spoon. Apparently she was trying to take not only some left-overs home for later, but also a spoon to eat them with. Hmmm, this story has a familiar ring to it... maybe Nana Shoo will remember!

Hmmm, leftovers and a spoon!

We did have another funny moment, this one was while we were waiting for our main meal to be brought to the table. The Ladybug was sipping her soup and savoring every slurp. Daddy leaned over to me and said, "Happy Birthday honey." I leaned toward him and gave him a really nice kiss. After a moment we kissed again, and while we were kissing the Ladybug looked up from her soup bowl and said, while rolling her eyes, "Mommy, since it is your birthday, you are allowed to kiss daddy. But only today!" Both Daddy and I laughed hysterically at the comment, then continued kissing. Apparently we just kiss too much! Oh well.

Forever Family Day, November 13, 2006

Forever Family Day, 2010

We took some photos after dinner of the family. The photos above show my favorite original photo of us as a family in 2006. I absolutely love how the Ladybug is looking at my necklace and gently touching me. I also love how Daddy is so lovingly looking down at the Bug... finally a daddy, he could not stop looking at her. The photo just below that one is the same pose, but taken last night after dinner. Wow how things have changed, and yet how they have stayed the same. Below you will see the transformation of our family over the last four years.

Forever Family Day, November 13, 2006

Forever Family Day, 2007

Forever Family Day 2008

Forever Family Day 2009

Forever Family Day 2010

When I look at my baby girl, I am amazed at how much she has changed. The Ladybug is growing into creative, sassy, silly, intelligent little girl who lights up a room as soon as she walk in. She is caring, loving, and always concerned about how others are feeling. I am so proud to call her my daughter, and I feel so lucky that I was the person chosen to be her mommy.

Forever Family Day 2010

A Family of Four!

Thank you little girl for making me a mommy.

~~Aloha!

Learning to Talk

2010-11-09T22:13:00.001-07:00

As can be seen by my lack of posts over the past week, I haven't been at my computer very much to blog and keep you all up to date. But, my lack of computer time has been for good reason. I have either been out of the state at the NCTM regional conference in New Orleans, or I've been working 13 hour days, at meetings, and involved in parent-teacher conferences. But, now that my schedule is pretty much back to normal, I should be able to update more often. Baby I'm back!

I wanted to share with you what has been going on around our house recently... the Butterfly is trying to talk. Just tonight I walked in the door from very long day at work and the Baby Bug met me at the door with a squeal, and a ton of smiles and hugs. As soon as she saw me she started gleefully saying, "Momma, momma, momma, momma, momma..." As can be imagined, despite a very long day, I ended up with a huge smile. Seriously, wouldn't everyone want to be greeted this way when they arrive home?

I grabbed our video camera and was able to capture the Baby Bug and her older sister, the Ladybug, hanging out on the couch together, talking. The Ladybug is finding it a little tough to share camera time, but she is a great big sister who adores her little sibling... especially now that the Baby Bug knows how to say "sister."

Enjoy the video. Just think, this baby girl has only been home with us for four months. What an amazing transformation.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

~~Aloha!

Halloween ~ AKA Photos Galore!

2010-11-01T21:41:00.000-06:00

Halloween has come and gone this year, and the girls had a wonderful time. I was out of town for a conference for the days leading up to the day (I will post about my great time in New Orleans soon, but for now I will keep focused on the girls!), so I missed a couple of fun parties that the girls (and daddy) attended, but I did arrive home just in time to take the girls Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood.

While I was away, Daddy took the girls, in their matching Halloween t-shirts, to the park to play. I was so excited because he grabbed my camera and took some great photos (thanks honey!). Below are some of the cute photos of the girls while they played together.

Following the fun at the park, Daddy and the girls went to a couple parties. The Butterfly dressed as a Bumble Bee, with her hair sticking straight up as antennas. The Ladybug went as a sassy Dorothy Gale with sequined red tennies. The girls had a great time playing with friends, bobbing for apples, and laughing and singing the night away.

I finally made it home from New Orleans late Saturday, so I rested up on Sunday, and then it was time to take the girls trick-or-treating. We had an adorable outfit for our Butterfly... keeping with the bug theme she dressed as a Bumble Bee, antenna and all. To finish off the cute outfit, we put some fun little ladybug squeakie shoes on her feet. Yup, a Butterfly dressed as a bumble bee, wearing ladybug squeakie shoes. Gotta love bugs! The Ladybug kept her "cool" by dressing as an Ice Princess, and sparkled her way around the neighborhood the whole night. She looked magical.

Since the Butterfly had never experienced Halloween, she wasn't quite sure what was going on when we started. We walked her up to the path of the first house, then let her sister walk her to the door. As soon as she started walking, the squeakies started squeaking, and people started oohing and aahing. She started grinning from ear to ear, especially when she realized that people were giving her things at each house we visited. She LOVED it!

The Ladybug, of course, also loved her time trick-or-treating, but what made the evening more enjoyable for all of us was watching the Butterfly "float" from house to house. We stayed out for about an hour and then had to call it quits as the baby soon tired herself out with all of the fun.

All in all it was a great night for the family. It will be fun to see what will happen next year.

(As you can tell, this is my favorite photo from our fun evening.)

~~Aloha!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-26T08:44:00.000-06:00

I will be gone for much of the rest of this week in New Orleans, so I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Halloween. I cannot to see all of your cuties in dressed up for the holiday. In the mean time, here is something to make you giggle.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

~~Aloha!

A Shoo Visit

2010-10-24T20:48:00.012-06:00

What a fun weekend!

We live in the middle of the United States and enjoy where we decided to settle ourselves down greatly. Unfortunately, because we chose to live in middle American, we do not have family who lives close to us. My mom, sister, and family live on the East Coast, while my husband's family live primarily on the West Coast. Most of the time I love the fact that we live nicely situated between two coasts, just the perfect distance from all of the "fun" that can happen when you live real close to relatives. However, there are times when I dearly with that we did live closer, especially now that we have children.

As many of you know, my mother accompanied us to China to bring home the Butterfly this past summer, so she has actually met our newest little wonder and spent some fun time with all of us. However, what many of you may not know is that my husband's mom and dad were also planning on accompanying us to bring home the baby, but some other last minute issues came up and they were not able to make it. So, sadly they have not had the opportunity to meet our newest little family member... that is, until this weekend!

Nana & Papa Shoo, and Nana Shoo's Mom, the Great-Nana Sutts came out to visit us this weekend. The Ladybug loves her Nana and Papa and she was so excited to get the opportunity to see them again. But, because the baby is still a bit apprehensive around new people, we were a little worried how/if she would take to them. Apparently we worried unnecessarily.

They arrived at our house on Friday afternoon, and as soon as they walked in the door both girls were excited to see them. The Butterfly went to all of them immediately (she never does this with new people), and eventually started grinning from ear to ear each time she would walk up to them. We eventually went to dinner where they were able to observe the baby's voracious appetite and much of her silliness that we enjoy on a daily basis. Following dinner we settled in for the night to get some nice rest before a busy day tomorrow.

Saturday, the Ladybug had already planned to go attend a Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic to build another exciting item. This weekend she was building a wooden bat that flaps its wings (in honor of the upcoming Halloween holiday). With Papa Shoo and the rest of the family tagging along she was even more excited to be building something special (Papa Shoo is a great do-it-yourself type of guy, so the Ladybug was proud to have him there to watch her hammer away).

The Butterfly hanging out by her sister at Lowe's.
The Ladybug checking out her work.
The Butterfly watching her sister intently while she makes her flying bat for Halloween.
Nana Shoo and the Butterfly watching daddy and the Ladybug build her bat.
The Butterfly offer some suggestions to the Ladybug.
The Butterfly and Nana Shoo "cheesing" for the camera.
Nana Shoo, the Butterfly, and Great-Nana Sutts smiling for the camera.
The baby wandering around Lowe's while her sister is making a flying bat.

Following the building, we enjoyed a great lunch and eventually dinner with the family. At one point, the Ladybug convinced her Nana that the perfect place to visit while they were here was not any of the beautiful landmarks (Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, etc.). No, her persuasion skills must be amazing because she convinced her Nana to take her to Chuck E. Cheese (she is only four after all!). We all made our way over there and played a few games. The Bug had a BLAST, as can be expected, and surprisingly, so did her sister who enjoyed the mini merry-go-round, and all of the flashing lights and music.
Papa Shoo and the Butterfly enjoying some time together.
A little peck on the cheek.
Time for a stare-down.
Apparently the Butterfly won this round.
Time for some tickles.
Great love between Papa and his newest grand-daughter.
We finished our fun day with a nice dinner before saying goodbye. It was such a short visit, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the time together. I am so happy that they had the opportunity to finally meet the Butterfly and get to know her a little bit. She is such a fun little girl and has really come out of her shell in the last couple months since she has been home.

Thank you Nana & Papa Shoo and Great-Nana Sutts for visiting us. We hope to see you all again real soon. We love you!!!

~~Aloha!

Social Worker and Messy Eating

2010-10-21T20:50:00.007-06:00

Last weekend we met with our social worker for another evaluation of how the Butterfly is doing now that we have her home. We last saw her two months ago when we had been home only one month with the Butterfly. This was the three month visit, and it went wonderfully. As a matter of fact she stated that in all of her years of working with adoptive families, she has never seen a child improve so drastically in such a short amount of time. So, here are some of the changes that have happened in the last two months:

The baby wasn't even crawling when we brought her home three months ago and yet now she is walking everywhere, and even running.
She has gained 3 pounds (yup, a little chunky monkey)!
She no longer uses bottles, she really never seemed to like them. She now uses sippy-cups all the time.
The baby has really taken a liking to her big sister (finally), and actually follows her around everywhere (much to the Ladybug's dismay at times). The girls now play with each other all the time.
She has started talking (babbling mostly, but there are some words starting to come through). She says "bye-bye," "dada," "mama," and "stop." Right now it is cute to hear her say stop since she says it in the middle of giggling when we are tickling her.
She communicates really well through the use of sign language that we have been teaching her. She knows about 25 - 30 words and uses them all the time to let us know what she wants. (Just tonight she came to me crying hysterically. I was actually worried that she possibly hurt herself somehow. I picked her up and gave her a hug and asked what was wrong. She signed the word for dog and pointed toward the door. I walked with to the door with her and as soon as we got there she pointed to the dog next-door, and nuzzled into my shoulder for comfort. She really was scared.)
The Butterfly not only seems to be able to communicate with us rather effectively, but she also seems to know what we are saying when we talk with her, which just amazes me since she has only heard English for three months of her young life. This fact also amazed the social worker who was able to observe her reactions to us when we were talking to her and asking her to do things. I honestly believe that sign language has really helped her bridge the gap between hearing only Mandarin for the first 14 months of her life and now only hearing English.
The baby LOVES music and starts dancing whenever she hears it. She even dances when she hears my cell phone's ringtones. I also often hear her trying to sing with us when we are singing to a song on the radio. It is really cute.
She seems to love her family. She smiles and giggles practically all the time, and takes great joy in playing with all of us every day.
She has learned some silly little things to do which make her daddy and I laugh. So, we frequently find her walking up to us, nudging us and joking with us just to make us laugh. She really has a great sense of humor.
She is a huge cuddler, and can often be found hugging and snuggling us. Some of my favorite times are when she crawls up onto my chest and snuggles into me. Such a loving little girl.

After seeing what a shy, scared little baby she was when we met her just three months ago, I am amazed at her transformation into a fun-loving, silly little girl who loves her family. We really are so blessed.

One of the things that did shock the social worker was the fact that the Butterfly has gained three whole pounds in just three short months. I believe the reason for this is that she was so restricted with her eating in China that when we brought her home she couldn't find her "off switch" when it came to her eating. She has since realized that she does not need to gorge on everything that she sees because we do eat three meals a day, thus she has slowed down. Non-the-less, this little girl does love her food, and tonight is the perfect example of her joy of eating.

I placed a bowl with some noodles and meat in front of her this evening along with a fork to help her eat. She dove right in and ate every single morsel. Every morsel, that is, except the stuff that ended up on her face, on her hands, and in her hair. Gotta love a kid that enjoys her food.

Licking her fingers to get every last bit of sauce!
Diving into her food.
A very happy eater!

The Ladybug watching her sister during dinner, showing her how to smile for the camera.

~~Aloha!

Tub Time!

2010-10-19T19:15:00.007-06:00

Our girls LOVE their time in the bathtub. The Ladybug has always enjoyed playing in the tub, and has often been found writing on the walls with tub crayons...

...and singing her heart out.

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

With the Ladybug's love of bathing, we were of course hoping that the Butterfly would enjoy her time in the water as well. However, we could not imagine just how much our new little baby would love getting clean.

We found out about her love of the water while we were still in China. We visited the hotel's pool for a quick dip in the refreshing waters a few times because of the extreme heat during the summer. We figured our first visit would last no more than about 20 minutes, but the Butterfly had other plans. As soon as we got in the pool, the baby started splashing, giggling, squealing, and playing with such delight. Before we knew it we had been out there for a little over an hour, and we were all getting wrinkly. As can be imagined, our next few visits to the hotel pool were long and fun.

Now that we are home, the Butterfly has decided that she has her own personal pool in our home... the bathtub. And, she wants to go "swimming" every day. We do love that she is such a water baby, but knowing that if she had her choice she would spend almost every waking hour in the tub, we have decided to limit her time "playing in her pool" to every other day.

As you can tell from the photos below, she does love the water, and playing with bubbles... and her sister. We are just so happy to see this little baby coming out of her shell.

~~Aloha!

Opposite Roles

2010-10-12T18:30:00.003-06:00

Just a quick post today about my girls. One is growing up so quickly, and the other is striving to go back in time.

The Ladybug is now 4 1/2 years old, and with her new baby sister in the house, the older sibling is really wishing that she was the baby in the house again. Just the other day I found her like this...

After dinner, she had climbed into her sister's high chair, and was playing with her toes, just like a one year old. Poor thing really misses being the baby in the house.

Later that evening I found the Butterfly, now 17 months old, walking around the house acting like a teenager...

Really "Bad to the Bone." She is now walking, and at times, running everywhere. She follows her big sister around everywhere she goes (much to the disappointment of her big sister), trying to be big just like her.

Of course she does still love her blankets!

We have been home just three months now and already our girls are wishing to be an age other than what they are... ahhhhh, such is life.

~~Aloha!

Play at the Park

2010-10-05T19:13:00.007-06:00

The park, our girls' favorite activity. We tend to visit most days of the week as long as the weather is good, and with the beautiful weather we have been enjoying recently, trips to the park have been quite frequent.

The other day we put the Butterfly in the stroller and made our way for the local park, just about two blocks away. Below is our afternoon in pictures!

The Butterfly, as you can tell, smiled her way all the way to the park.

... and giggled her way as well!

The Ladybug has recently mastered the overhead bars, and enjoys practicing each time we visit now.

For the Butterfly, the swings are still her favorite. She loves swinging back and forth, and giggling the entire time.

At one point I was able to capture the most adorable smile as she was swinging. Wow, I just love seeing the joy this baby girl shows with her family... she is really happy!

Daddy moved in and started giving the Butterfly hugs and tickles with each swing, and she seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

The Ladybug loves spending time on the swings as well.

Especially when Daddy gives her great big pushes to give her lots of air (notice that Daddy's feet aren't even on the ground!).

The Butterfly is starting to practice her staring skills... I think she will be ready for a sibling staring contest in no time!

Of the many skills the Butterfly is currently working on and mastering... walking. She is doing a great job!

Of course a few spills are part of the learning process.

While the girls were playing, Daddy decided to practice with his whip and top that he purchased while in China. He is getting pretty good!

Lastly, just a couple close-ups of the Butterfly. I love this little girl so much and am so happy that she is a part of our family. She, and her sister made me a Mommy. Thank you Lord for making us family.

~~Aloha!

Sleeping Beauty

2010-10-04T20:43:00.004-06:00

I went into the Baby Bug's room this morning to awaken her from her dreamy slumber. I opened the blinds to let light into the room and then found the Butterfly sprawled across her crib like below. This little girl definitely loves her sleep, and enjoys using every inch of her crib to get it... including the vertical edges apparently!

~~Aloha!