Week in Review

We had a pretty busy week. Leah finally was better on Saturday after 4 days of fever and just general "blah". We finally had some good snow on Friday and Daddy worked from home which the kids loved. We went out to shovel and play for a little. Fager was so excited as she hasn't seen a good "roll around, dig and bounce around like a loon" snow in awhile.

Sunday we went to Chinatown to see the Dragon Dance. It was neat. The dragon dances at the entry to each store. During the dance they light a strand of fireworks to ward away all the bad/evil from the previous year. The fireworks were LOUD and Daniel was ready to duck and cover a few times. Here are some pics from the past week.

The pink boots are back

I LOVE snow!!!

Like Father Like Son

Watching the dragon dance. We forgot Daniel's hat and he's wearing Daddy's. Poor kid. Would someone tell his parents to get with it.

Leah

Leah is sick today :(

So, we are just resting. We just did some arts and crafts. Leah loves arts and crafts. It has been a whole new ball game since Daniel arrived. Arts and crafts are more interesting now. Not much else to write about. Being sick is not too exciting. I know, I was there last week. Now we're waiting for Daniel to get it next. He just finished antibiotics for his ears so hopefully he'll escape this round.


I finally took some pictures of Leah yesterday. Been feeling guilty since I've taken so many recently of Daniel. You would never know that I'd be picking her up from school with a 101 fever a few hours after these were taken.

I think I'm done with portraits for awhile. I think the kids are sick of me pointing the camera in their faces. Maybe I'll give them a couple weeks break :)

Leah has Earrings!

Yesterday we went to the mall and had Leah's ears pierced. She has asked a few times in the past to have them done. When she was about 3 years old she once said to me after looking at my earrings, "Mommy, I want to buy me some holes". So, yesterday Daddy and Mommy bought her those holes she's been wanting for years. We didn't tell her until we were at the mall. I wanted to be sure there were two people working at the store so they could do both ears at once. I didn't want to find out what would happen if one ear was done and she didn't want the other. She did great! She flinched a little when they went in and that was it. I didn't want to tell her it may hurt as I was afraid she'd chicken out. I thought the less she knew the better. And, I could not honestly tell her that it would hurt as I never had my ears pierced in that manner. When I was about 7, my dear family thought it would be a good idea to have mine done the "old fashioned" way. Numb the lobes with ice and jam a needle through them. Yeah, it was great! And a memory I will never forget....although I would like to!

Leah before the earrings are put in

Almost there

The moment of impact

Look how pretty!

She chose the pink flowers

Daniel after painting. He's so neat.

Daddy made homemade Potato soup for dinner. Guess who liked it alot...

Happy Presidents' Day!

In honor of President's Day Leah has recited the Pledge of Allegiance that she has been practicing in school. She's doing a really good job with it! She made some patriotic hats in school that she and Daniel are wearing in this video. Without further ado here are George and Abe....

Mandarin and English are very similar

Just a funny story I wanted to share. At dinner tonite Leah was asking us how do you say cat in Chinese. Now, Leah likes to talk, and talk, and talk some more during dinner. She does everything but eat dinner. So, just to answer her something I said "ask Daniel" jokingly.
Here is how the conversation evolved:

Leah: "Daniel"
Daniel: "hmmm?"
Leah" How do you say cat in Chinese?"
Daniel: "meeeooooowwww!!!!"

Amazing how similar the languages are :)

Some photos from the weekend

Here are some photos from this past weekend with all our new friends!

This first photo was from the orphanage in Sept 2007. Daniel is in the front and the little guy in red is Josh.

Here's a new picture of the boys playing ball now home with their forever families. Amazing what 5 months will bring!

Leah

Katie, Leah, Maddie, Lizzie, Daniel and Katie

Maddie and Katie

Lizzie,Maddie,Katie,Daniel, Katie, Josh. leah and Connor in the back

Sing a Song

Leah and Daniel have been singing this song everywhere we go. Leah knows it a little better than Daniel.......maybe a lot better :)

But, he's getting there!

A busy weekend

We had a very busy (and fun!) weekend. On Saturday we went to a Chinese New Year party at our friends' the Maguires home (thanks Kelly and Dave!). We had a wonderful time and it was nice to see all our friends from our agency and their beautiful children. I have photos that I will post later. Yesterday we went to our FCC celebration at a local Chinese restaurant. It was a large gathering of over 150 people. It was so nice to see all the happy families together celebrating. Here is some video of Daniel and Leah partying in the Year of the Rat. Daniel was the only boy we noticed. He was in the midst of all the girls and it didn't phase him a bit. One dad said to me "He's a lucky guy!". He doesn't realize it yet but he will in the future! Not too soon I hope. Dancing to Hannah Montana, High School musical and jammin' with a snack cup full of Gerber apple puffs. It doesn't get better than this! Leah was having a great time dancing too.

More pictures

More photos from the other day. Most are of Daniel. I'm trying to take a lot of him right now so I can start evening out the photos on my walls. It'll be awhile before he catches up to the amount of Leah's pictures but Mommy is working on it. I won't hear him complain about the second child syndrome and having no photos when he's older :)

Update on Daniel's Speech

We had a great day at our weekly FCC (Families with Children from China) playgroup today. The kids had a lot of fun making paper lanterns and watching the premier of Nick Jr's new show NiHao Kailan.

We have 2 parties scheduled for this weekend. Leah and Daniel are all ready to get dressed in their traditional chinese outfits and party! I'll be sure to post some pics.

Daniel had his Early intervention evaluation for speech therapy on Monday. He will start speech therapy next week. The therapist will come to our house once a week until he turns 3. He'll then have to go to the local school for the therapy. They feel once he has his surgery in August his speech will really improve. They feel he shouldn't have any major issues with language. Very good news! The evaluators were amazed at how much language he has acquired in the time he has been home. They said that he is right on target for his age group in language comprehension. Not bad for hearing the language for 10 weeks! They were joking that he's have his PhD and writing dicertations (however you spell it) in a few years. I wouldn't be surprised!

Here's a picture I took of the kids yesterday. Of course Daniel was in sweats and it's the only picture that they are both smiling perfectly. Oh well!

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Happy Year of the Rat!

First Haircut

Daniel had his first haircut today! Well, his first haircut with us. He had his head shaved last summer in China, however, this was his first real cut . We made sure to take some hair home to put it in his book. He did really well as he sat on Daddy's lap. I'm not too sure how much better the control issue will be but it is a little more even. It's a custom to get your hair cut before Chinese New Year (which is this Thursday Feb 7). We all needed a cut so it was a family affair :)Here are a few pictures.

"What a handsome dude!"

Leah is all signed up for dance class and she CANNOT wait. She's been wearing her little outfit in the house.

Leah and Ryan on the merry-go-round last week at the mall.