September 2009

One more trip this month to visit family. Uncle Bob from California came back to PA for a high school class reunion, so we packed up Grandma kitty and the girls and headed to PA again.

As you can tell, Sarah is delighted to meet Uncle Bob and Elizabeth now regularly corresponds with both of Grandma's siblings.

Below are 4 generations...Aunt Gladys in the middle, Grandma and Sarah to the left and Elizabeth and me to the right.

This last photo is mom and her brother Bob with Aunt Gladys and daughters Catherine and Connie.

August 2009

Too soon the summer fun is over and time for school to begin. Elizabeth turns 8 and starts 3rd grade. To help Sarah have a little more time to fill in the gaps, we enrolled her in a Montessori school, where she is in a class of 3-5 year olds. This environment lets her pursue the 5 year old activities where she is ready (which is most of the time) yet gives her opportunity to build some skills she is still developing with the younger children.

I'll be back later to insert the first day of school photos.

July 2009

In July, we had a terrific visit with Elizabeth's travel group. This group has expanded to include a number of little sisters, so both the big and the little girls had loads of fun on a perfect summer's day. Our hosts had a jumping tower and a snow cone machine to keep the kids happy and scrumptuous munchies and appropraite beverages for the adults! We're so glad to keep in touch with the people who shared our experiences in China and the precious connection for the girls. As you can tell from the photos this year, Sarah and Elizabeth have developed a habit of dressing alike. The butterfly dresses were this summer's favorite!

June 2009

Well, I'm terribly behind in updating this blog, so I'll try to give a month by month glimpse of our lives.

June 2009 was a month of travel for us. Nancy, Elizabeth, Sarah and Grandma Kitty all took a plane ride to visit with Grandma's sister Nancy in MN. Not only did the girls get to meet some more cousins on my side of the family, we got to meet one of my "imaginary" friends! Caroline has been an online friend for many years on a parenting/adoption board, but we got to meet Caroline and her girls in person at the Mall of America. Had we known we were going to have such a great time, we would have planned more time to spend together. My Elizabeth has added Caroline's girls to her ever expanding penpal list.

Then we got to meet another online friend on our way to spend a week at a North Carolina beach. The girls had a blast reuniting with Sarah's friend from China, Evelyn and playing on the beach.

From the beach, we made one more stop at cousin Mike's house in Raleigh before heading home.

Reunion with Sarah's friend Evelyn

We had a grand time visiting with a family who just brought home one of Sarah's friends in January. The girls had not seen each other in 18 months. While they didn't seem to remember each other, they did have a blast getting re-acquainted.

Well, we tried to take a photo of the girls together, but the two 5 year olds were jumping up and down so much, this is all we got! Here is the trio snuggled in bed watching a video after a night at the waterpark.

After running around playing, these two took a Cheetos break!

Here's the princess trio...

Even in a still photograph, Sarah conveys motion.

Here's our princess rock band! They were entertaining us with song!

The oldest princess in her Belle pose.

Adoptive Families event - Roller skating

Bath Art!

Fun at the Zoo

Ice Show Videos

Sarah, as expected, stole the show as she lead 20 three to five year olds out on the ice for the local Learn to Skate ice show to the music of "Carolina in the Morning".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYd7zWpmdSA Warning - You need about 5 minutes to watch this.

Sarah is the smallest and first in line. When they reach the end of the blue line, they are supposed to do a little back and forth shuffle, then an up & down bounce movement. As you can see, Sarah seems to be the only one doing it. The rest of them join the routine for the "in the morning" movement. The girls turning in circles are one blue line ahead of the routine. They are supposed to do "swizzles" straddling the red line, then do the circles at the end of the second blue line. Dad lost sight of Sarah as she & her partner headed back to the center circle, but he catches up!

Sarah loved watching all the performers come out for the finale. It is so fun because as each performer does a little final flourish, Sarah looks like she is trying to figure out how to make her feet do each thing. She really got into the screaming and hooting for each performer.

This is the Carolina girls coming out for the finale (1:23 minutes) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgCdbE59Yrw

This one is Sarah & friends getting into cheering for the rest of the skaters (6:26 minutes) They were screaming along with the rest of the crowd. Sarah is also mimicking some of the skating moves and making her 10 year old companion very nervous!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFhmVusxRGM >

Chinese New Year Dance Performances

Sarah was front and center and could not have been happier performing for an audience of 200 plus. We get a lot of attention and people commenting on how cute the girls are, which I think is sometimes more related to them being Chinese -even though they are cute! This audience was 80% Chinese and they still all fell for Sarah's charm.

Sarah, age 5, is in the pink in the front center with the pink headband. She is between a 2 1/2 year old and a 4 year old in red. My 7 year old Elizabeth, is on the far left of the screen in a matching pink pant outfit. She's my serious dancer.

Here is 3:20 minutes of Sarah entertainment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaHXt7j09Rc

This one is Elizabeth's dance class, which is an older group of kids and more serious dancers. It is 5:45 minutes, but good beat. Elizabeth is 3rd in from the right of the screen and tends to be in the middle of the focus with Daddy behind the camera!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b05sB8mvjKQ

Teeth, teeth, teeth

After much agonizing in kindergarten and first grade when all her friends had lost their first teeth, Elizabeth finally lost her first tooth at age 7 1/2 in the middle of second grade.

Sarah, on the other hand, lost her first 2 teeth last April at age 4 yrs, 4 months, then lost the next 2 in January 2009 just as she turned 5.

1 year home - family photos

Then and Now Jammie shots

Amazing the difference a year makes!

China November 2007

Ohio November 2008

Sarah's first Preschool Pictures

Can you tell she is more than happy to pose for the camera?

First Days of School - 2008

Elizabeth was off to 2nd grade in mid August, while Sarah was ready in mid August, but didn't start preschool until September. Both girls love school, which is a big relief to their parents!

First Day of School Collage

Sarah's First Haircut Photos

Of course, at 4 years old, this is not really her first haircut, but it is the first in the USA! Sarah has often mimicked getting her haircut, so this must have been both a memorable and a happy experience for her in China...although with Sarah's sunny personality, she makes anything a happy adventure!

Now I have 2 girls who are addicted to the pampering of a beauty salon!

Before the cut

The wash

Clip, Clip

Born for the Salon!

Summer Fun!

Summer is here and opening a whole new world of adventures for our two. The pool in the backyard is the site of endless fun for Sarah. The girls love donning bathing suits and getting wet as these photos show.

6 months Home!

Can you believe it? We are celebrating 6 months since the day Sarah became part of our family!

Here we are at cousin A & B's violin recital. We are so proud of their playing!

Sarah was very eager to try the violin too! She would have gladly gone on stage to perform!

This photo of the two girls was a candid shot taken in their typical play. They play so well together, even though they have their typical sibling fights as well.

What a wonderful journey this has been. Sarah fits so perfectly in our family and life is so much better as a family of four.