Chinese New Year

Still attempting to catch up. In February, we did some painting and pulled out our carpet. Our dining and living room are now Crisp Celery. The floors are hard wood. You can see we are still in process in this pic, as the carpet tacking is half pulled up in the background. Luckily the floors looked pretty good under the carpet, so for now we'll leave them as is.

We celebrated Chine*se New Year* for the better part of 2 weeks in February. Here is our China playgroup party.

Here is M in her Chinese school performance.

Chinese school

We also attended our FCC* CNY party. M loved them all!

Walt* Disn*ey Wor*ld

Well, this was the end of January. I guess we've been a little busy. We spent a week in Florida with my mom and dad. During the week we took a 3 day trip to the "happiest* place on Ear*th". To say M loved it would be an understatement. She relished in every moment. Loved the rides, loved being called "Princess*" for 3 days straight by every crew member we encountered, loved the parades, loved the shows, loved the fireworks, loved the characters and ESPECIALLY loved meeting the PRINCESSES*. The only movies she had seen before our trip were "Peter* Pan", the Tinker*belle movies and Snow* White*, so she really wasn't familiar with many characters, but she loved them all regardless.
The joy of riding Aladdin's* Magic Carpets* and getting to control the up and down switch.

Meeting the mice.

The face of pure happiness upon meeting her first princess.

Meeting her favorite princess. M was just in awe.

Spending time with Mul*an. Mu*lan was so sweet. She spent about 10-15 minutes with M, talking to her and walking with her. In this photo, Mula*n is showing M her favorite bird in the pond.

M got her own camera for the trip and has become quite the little photographer. She snapped this one in front of the Temple* of Heaven* at Ep*cot.

A great time was had by all!

A couple of beach shots.

Musher Mania and other Winter Fun

We have a little catching up to do. These events happened in January.

Our first snowman of the year. M was so excited and begged and begged to go build him from the moment it started snowing on. I told her we had to wait until the snow stopped before we started, which happened to be 2 days later.
Even though we didn't have the traditional embellishments, we think he turned out quite fine. He has cranberries for his hair and smile, grapes for eyes and a sesame candy for his nose.

Then with the hard work behind us, it was time to make a few snow angels.

Here's M at our annual trip to Musher *Mania. This event is put on by a husky/mushing club. They have dog visits, demonstrations, stories, and ice carving. It is a great event.

M really enjoyed visiting with the huskies this year.

I got to try pulling M on the sled. She thought it was great, me not so much.

Those dogs do some hard work.

After finishing up our fun with the dogs, M and Baba had snowball fight. M is about to get plastered by the one you can see in mid-air.

M getting her revenge up close.

And Baba goes down.

Our 2nd year as a family at OneTrueMedia.com

Two years ago today we became an "official" family through the miracle of adoption. Here is another photo montage of our 2nd year together.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

To Celebrate two years together- A photo montage of our first year

Two years ago today, we walked into the Hubei Province adoption office and saw our sweet daughter standing there. I will never forget the moment I saw her. Here is a photo montage of our first year together.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Some random December pictures

M at our church's live nativity. They had 2 real camels this year!
Ayi Natalie helping M with a craft project during the live nativity.

M dancing with Lao Shi G at her Chinese school.

We attended my cousin Maggie's wedding. Here she is dancing with her dad.
She was a beautiful and happy bride!

Well, not long after that M hit the dance floor herself.

She didn't hold back, but used all her moves. Baba and I were told to sit down so she could work the floor on her own.

She danced until about 11:00pm, before she started to slow down.

Our little lamb in the church Chirstmas program. She was so excited to be a lamb. She did a wonderful job singing too!

Christmas at the Children's Farm

We just love this place! M was so excited to go back and see all her farm friends. The Children's Farm does a live nativity every year. They offer everyone head dresses to be shepards and get in on the fun. Here's our little shepardess in the chicken coop with Baba.
The sheep were very interested in EATING her headscarf.
M thought that was pretty funny.

The nativity scene is right in the barn and they have a REAL baby. Families with infants volunteer to lay Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.
They baby lays in a real manger with a heat lamp hanging overhead. M was quite intrigued with the real baby. Shepards stand around singing carols and caring for animals.

M making friends with Bella the donkey. You can see the Holy family just above and behind M. The orange glow is the lamp to warm the baby.

M with Lily the bunny. We found out her favorite rabbit, Peter is retired. He now lives in the backyard at one of the volunteer's homes. We also were not able to see Muffin. She was at another farm on a date, but come May we should be able to see her and her BABIES back at the farm.


We ended the day with cookies and hot cider in the shed. M would've loved to keep her headscarf, but finally turned it back in so she could come back next year and don it again.