Celebrating Autumn Moon Festival

We spent a part of our weekend celebrating the Autumn Moon Festival, which is one of the major Chinese holidays. It is Chinese custom to spend evenings looking at the full moon and enjoy time with family. They also eat moon cakes and other circular foods. We can't provide Anna Grace with the kind of Chinese culture that she would have living in China, but we are doing what we can to learn more about Chinese holidays and celebrations.


We started the weekend with a new picture book about a family celebrating the Moon Festival. Because we like to eat appetizer dinners while we watch football as a family, we made a special appetizer dinner Saturday night with "moon shaped" foods. It seemed really involved to make moon cakes, so we settled for a Southern tradition- moon pies! Anna Grace and I also made sugar cookies with white icing to look like full moons and decorated them with star shaped sprinkles. We brought our special supper down to the basement to eat while we watched the game.
.





Today we went to an event hosted by the Asian Mentoring Program at the local university. Most of the little girls dressed in traditional Chinese clothing and the students put on little skits and musical performances for the children. They also had games, face painting, and traditional Chinese snacks. They even had real moon cakes and not my version of moon pies! Anna Grace had a great time playing with some of the other adopted Asian kids from our area. She finally got to meet Janie, a little girl who lives very close to us, and Anna Grace seemed to connect with her right away. She kept sharing her babydoll with Janie and gave her lots of hugs. They were so cute together. I hope we can get Anna Grace and Janie together for a play date soon. We also think we may have connected with a mentor for Anna Grace. We really don't want her to forget all of her Chinese language, and we want her to have people around her that look similar to her.

Making Progress

Anna Grace has been enjoying gymnastics class on Monday nights. This week, as I was getting her dressed in her little pink leotard, I asked her if she wanted to go to gymnastics. She said, "Yeah!! I go tada!!"

She has been getting better at the balance beam and bars and loves doing somersaults. The end of the class has a playtime and little songs that she enjoys. She loves joining in on the movements to the songs and interacting with the other kids.


Anna Grace's physical therapist is so pleased with her progress that we do not need to go to therapy any more. She is still behind in her development, but she is catching up very quickly. Her therapist said that if we continue with the gymnastics and all of the activities at home she should have no problems catching up.




Anna Grace makes me laugh every day. Last night, as I was getting her pajamas on after her bath, I was trying to show her that the dog has a tail (she knows over 20 body parts so far). She twisted her body around to try and look behind her and grabbed her bottom and said, "Where's my tail?" I almost fell over laughing.

Even with all of the progress that she is making, I feel like we take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. We went to the eye doctor last week and found out that she has two different vision problems. She is near-sighted, and the doctor thinks she will probably continue to become more and more near-sighted as she grows. Anna Grace is also having problems with her eye alignment. The doctor asked us to come back in December so we can see if she is getting better, but we may end up having to do vision therapy.

Even with all of the little struggles that Anna Grace has faced since she has joined our family, we feel so blessed that she is healthy and happy.

Lovin the new dress

I waited so long to be able to dress up a little girl. While we were waiting for Anna Grace I dreamed of the day when I could buy adorable dresses. I wanted to be able to buy pillow case dresses and hair bows. My mom and I had a blast shopping yesterday at a festival and bought some really cute dresses for fall. I am hoping to get my sewing machine fixed so that I can learn to make some more cute clothes for Anna Grace. I don't think these dresses would be that hard to make, and it would certainly be better on the budget!

Weekends....

We spent the Labor Day weekend camping in the North Carolina mountains and visiting family. My grandmother has been very sick lately and has just been released from the hospital, so we made a trip to visit her and spend some time with just the 5 of us camping. We had a difficult time making last minute campground reservations since it was a holiday weekend, but Mike finally found a campground that had a vacancy. But, when we arrived late Friday evening, we decided that it was not the campground for us. We pulled up to trucks that had been sitting so long they had flat tires and piles of garbage on the camp sites. Our camp site was right next to the dumpster, which had a very foul smell coming from it. It was then that we realized that the car was almost out of gas, we were in the middle of no where, Mike's internet access on his phone was not working, and it was getting darker by the minute. We had a camper, 3 kids, and a dog to find a place to stay for the night. Thank goodness that my cell phone worked long enough for me to call Mike's dad who started searching the internet for somewhere for us to stay. We found a gas station and Mike's dad started making phone calls to make us another reservation. We did not realize that not only was it a holiday weekend, but it was the biggest weekend of the year- the Apple Festival. We finally got settled into a new campground at 10:30 Friday night.

It was a very small campground with not much for the kids to do, but it was safe and clean. Our plans of letting the kids play in a creek and hike in the woods changed to plans of visiting the Apple Festival and hanging out at the camper. We also enjoyed visiting my grandmother, aunt, and cousins on Sunday, and we saw some really beautiful scenery as we were driving through the mountains. And, of course, we bought some apples!!


Several weekends ago we went to Mike's uncle's surprise 60th birthday party. We had a great time introducing Anna Grace to some of her family members and celebrating with Uncle Jerry.


Last Sunday I went into Anna Grace's room to put away some laundry while she was sleeping and found that she had fallen asleep with Cole's flash cards. Apparently she was working on her division facts as she was drifting off to sleep. I knew she was smart!!

Off to the Races!!!

The lazy days of summer are officially over. This is the first week that all of the kid's activities are in full swing. On Mondays Anna Grace has gymnastics, Tuesdays Cole has guitar lessons and Alex has soccer, Wednesday nights are Awanas at church, and Saturdays are back to the soccer field. Throw in nightly homework, the occasional doctor's appointment, and school events for the boys and I, and we have one very busy schedule! Yesterday evening was especially challenging because I had curriculum night at my school in the middle of the kid's activities. Even though we are busier than ever, we have are managing to eat as a family and get everyone in bed on time most nights. I am exhausted by the time we get the kids in bed each night.


These waterslide pictures were taken tonight at the Awana kick-off at our church. Cole and Alex have never been in Awanas before, but I really want them to have a chance to do more church activities. Our old church was farther away and harder to get them there for weeknight activities, but the new church we joined several months ago is very close to our house and we love the children's programs there. Mike and I are excited to get them more involved.

An Update on Anna Grace

Anna Grace started taking gymnastics class tonight. We originally planned to sign her up for gymnastics so that she and her sitter would have an activity during the day. But, the schedule did not work out, so Anna Grace is taking an evening class on Mondays. We decided that it would be good to help develop her motor skills, and it is a fun activity that she and I can do together. Anna Grace had a lot of fun climbing on the slide and going through the tunnels tonight. She was not really sure about the balance beam and can not do any of the jumping activities. Even though it is really hard for her, she had fun trying and had a big smile on her face through most of the lesson (it's hard to get a good picture when I have to help her do the courses with her).



Last week, Anna Grace went for her third set of shots since we have been home. She had to start all the way over with her immunizations since China does not give them in the same way we do in the U.S. So far, she has had 9 shots in the last 3 months and has run a fever after each set. Thankfully, we only have to go back one more time in six months, and then she will completely caught up. She is getting caught up on her weight. She has gained two pounds as you can tell by her tubby tummy in the picture of her on the balance beam! She goes to physical therapy every month or two in order for her gross motor skills to be monitored, and we have an appointment next week at the eye doctor to rule out any vision problems that might be causing some of her delay.
Anna Grace has been doing great with her babysitter each day and has even been enjoying going to Sunday school at church. When we entered the children's building last Sunday she immediately started saying "Play! Play!" and practically jumped out of my arms when we got to her class. I have been staying with her each time, but she has quickly learned the classroom routines and enjoys all of the new toys. She is quickly learning to love coloring and story time. Her fine motor skills are really good, but she constantly switches her crayon from one hand to the other when she is working. I am wondering if she is going to be ambidextrous since she is equally good with both hands.

Anna Grace is learning English at lightning speed. She is already putting sentences together on her own. She still speaks a lot of baby babble and Chinese though, and she gets mad at me when I do not understand her. We took her to the Chinese restaurant last weekend and the owner talked to her in Chinese. She seemed to remember a lot. It makes me so sad to know that she is going to lose that as time passes. Maybe someday when she is older she will want to take lessons.
I could not have ever dreamed that Anna Grace would do as well as she is doing. Her attachment to us grows more and more each day. She loves to make us laugh with her funny facial expressions and the silly games she plays. She adores her brothers and seeks out each family member each night to give goodnight hugs. She insists on doing her goodnight prayers with each person who tucks her in. Anna Grace is such a blessing to our family.

Back to School and Back to Work

Cole and Alex had their first day back at school today. I think they had a good day, but Cole was already telling me as we were driving to school this morning that he could not wait for summer break! I remember how excited they were when they first went to kindergarten. They are only in second and fourth grades this year, so they have a long way to go!!

Here is a bucket of vegetables from our garden (sorry it's turned sideways)

And here is a bucket of boys!!


Anna Grace joined our neighbor, Bryce, in his backyard the other evening for some water fun. She did not like walking around in the wet grass very much, and she really didn't like the water squirting her. She did love sitting on the inflatable fire truck though. I think this picture is so funny with both of the baby's "Buddha bellies" poking out.


Anna Grace took her first bubble bath tonight. Actually, I tried to give her a bubble bath when she first came home from China, but she did not like it. Tonight I tried again, and she loved it. I think Cole had almost as much fun as Anna Grace piling bubbles on top of her head.


Anna Grace has been enjoying her new babysitter. I think she really likes all of the one-on-one attention. Still, she has been really happy to see me in the afternoons when I get home. We are hoping that she will be able to go with her sitter to take gymnastics classes starting in a few weeks. Her sitter is also planning to take her to story time at the library and to play at the park often. They are spending time each day reading and working puzzles. I feel so blessed to have found such great care for Anna Grace while I am away at work.