Playing in the Snow & First Day of Ballet Class

The kids have been having a great time playing in the snow with the other kids in the neighborhood. Mike and some of other dads made a ramp in the backyard so that the kids will go air born when they sled down the hill. I can hardly get them to come inside to warm up with a cup of hot chocolate. As soon as they come in and I throw their clothes in the drier, they are asking to go back out.









We find that we are constantly laughing at Anna Grace and the way that she says things. She still insists on calling snow, "snow man." She calls her snow suit "snow man suit." Her new favorite game is hide and seek, which she calls "hide and see me." She loves to run and hide behind the curtains and yell out, "One, two, three, four, ready or not come find me!" Of course you can always find her because she hides in the same places every time and is often times wearing her squeaky shoes.

Anna Grace started taking her little dance class last week. She was the only one that was able to attend the first class, but she really enjoyed it. I was worried that she would not be ready to keep up with the expectations of the class since she is still a little behind in her motor skills, but her teacher said that she did great the first day, and she thinks Anna Grace will do fine. I am sure she will love her dance class even more when she is not the only student.






I took Anna Grace to the doctor's last Friday for her final round of vaccinations. When we came home from China, the pediatrician recommended that we start completely over with her shots since her shot records from China were very vague and we weren't sure what she had been given. She had her last 3 shots on Friday, and she is finally on a normal vaccinations schedule like any other 2 year old. It is a relief to get her caught up, though for the first time she started crying, "No boo boos!" when she saw the shots. I am glad that we don't have to put her through that again for a long time.

My Boys

My sweet boys have had a great week full of accomplishments. They each got report cards yesterday, and they have made so much progress. Cole made all "A's" (which is expected of him), and once again, he had a 100 average in science. He also got a great report from his gifted teacher and received a notice that he will be getting an award on Wednesday. We don't know what his award is yet, but whatever it is, I am proud of him. He had his first basketball game this evening, and he played really hard. He is not an aggressive kid, so team sports are difficult for him. But, he gave it is best effort tonight, passed the ball to his teammates,and scored for his team.


Alex also did a great job on his report card. It is really hard to get an "E" with the new criteria that the teachers have to follow, but he made "E's" in 4 out of 5 subjects. Alex also received the award for the most reading minutes in his class for the quarter. Last quarter he was in the top 3 readers, but he was #1 this time. We continue to need to work on his writing skills and staying quiet during working times. If you know Alex, you know that he loves to talk and make people laugh. No matter how many consequences we give him at home, he still has a hard time keeping quiet at school.

Both boys have major school projects that they are now working on for school, so we spent the afternoon at the library. Alex has to research Martin Luther King, Jr. while Cole is beginning his first science fair project. I realized today as we were driving to the library that this is the first of at least four years in a row that we will have to do a science fair project for either Cole and Alex. Ugh, I do not look forward to that many science fair projects!

Playing Dress Up

Anna Grace will start taking a little dance class this week, so we spent some time in her room tonight trying on her new leotard and tights. That of course led to dressing up in some of the other little outfits she got for Christmas.

I was really disappointed when we went to sign up for dance class and the only class available was on Wednesday mornings. I really wanted to be the one to take her to dance, but Megan, Anna Grace's sitter, will be the one to take her each week. Megan will be armed with a camera and video camera though so that I can see how precious Anna Grace and the other little "dancers" are twirling around in their tutus.




The box that Anna Grace is standing on in this picture is one of my recent projects in her room. I put together a special box for her with the outfit that she was wearing when she came to us, her plane tickets home, all of the cards that people sent to us congratulating us on our adoption, and many other things that I thought would be meaningful to Anna Grace in the future. I also included the special photo album that her orphanage put together of pictures taken in the weeks before she came to us. I hope that Anna Grace will love looking through all of her treasured belongings someday when she is old enough to understand her story.

Our First Christmas as a Family of Five

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house. Anna Grace opened her first present, a babydoll from her Aunt Jacque, and she was so happy with her present that she did not feel the need to open any more gifts. It took us a long time to convince her to open more. Then, she opened a stroller for her doll, and she was gone making circles around the house pushing her new baby. She was so amazed when we got home that night and her presents had come home with us. She looked at her little doll again and laughed and said "Wow!!" I don't think she realized that she was going to get to keep all of the toys that she opened.




This year was especially special because we had all of the grandchildren there for Christmas. Anna Grace has not been the only missing grandchild at Christmas time during the last few years of our wait for her. My brother's oldest son has been with his mom on Christmas since he was a little baby, but he was finally able to rejoin our family this year. This was the first Christmas in a really long time that I finally felt like we did not have anyone "missing."



Christmas morning was spent at home playing with gifts from Santa and opening the presents under the tree. Cole and Alex were especially anxious for Christmas morning because several weeks ago, when I wrapped the presents to put under the tree, I left off the name tags. Each kid had a different kind of paper, so the boys have spent the last few weeks trying to trick me into telling them which one was theirs. They kept telling me over and over, "Mommy, this is torture!" They had one gift that was to both of them that was wrapped in a patchwork of both kinds of paper. They did not know until Christmas morning that the secret to which paper was theirs was written on the back of the patches of paper on that gift.

Later on Christmas Day, we all headed to Mike's parents' house for more family, presents, and food. We always have a great time on Christmas Day with his family because many of the extended family members come. We always have a large crowd of aunts, uncles, and cousins.


I have been learning to make pillowcase dresses and tops, and this is a little Christmas shirt that I made for Anna Grace. Mike got me a new sewing machine for Christmas so that I don't have to keep borrowing my mom's every time I want to make something. Who knows, I might even learn how to make something with sleeves soon!


We got several inches of snow on Christmas Day. Anna Grace kept going to the window yesterday saying "Oh pretty! I ready snowman!" She calls all snow "snowman," so even this morning she is going to the back door looking out at the "pretty snowman" that is covering our deck.

Yesterday, the boys were headed out to play in the snow and Anna Grace was determined to go out with them. She kept saying "I ready snowman too!" After she ripped off her pjs, she put on her mittens and hat and started trying to put on her snowsuit. I laughed so hard at the sight of her sitting in the floor wearing nothing but her underwear, a hat, and mittens crying that she could not put on her snowsuit because her mittens were in the way.

I love the little tail on the back of Anna Grace's snowsuit!

All I Want for Christmas is My 5 Front Teeth!

Christmas Eve is tomorrow and Alex has lost another tooth. He lost his first tooth on Christmas Eve of last year. We had Santa and the Tooth Fairy come the same night. In fact, we even had to leave treats for the Tooth Fairy so that she would not get jealous of Santa's plate of cookies. Alex still does not have that tooth grown completely in, and he has lost 4 more! The latest tooth was lost this week when he decided that he and Anna Grace should put on swimsuits and go swimming in a bubble bath. Somehow Anna Grace punched him in the mouth, and Alex's tooth popped out into the bubbles. It took a while to find it, but the tooth was eventually found.

This is what Alex will look like if he keeps losing teeth!



The rest of these pictures are from a cookie decorating party we went to at a neighbor's house. The kids had a great time icing cookies while the adults ate chili. Everyone brought homemade goodies to swap, so we came home with a box full of yummy treats.

A Day to Celebrate

Today we went to the courthouse to readopt Anna Grace under American law. Even though she was legally ours under Chinese law, we wanted to adopt Anna Grace under American law so that she can have an American birth certificate and there can never be any question about the adoption procedures. We did not want her to have a birth certificate with her parents listed as "unknown." We are her parents, and we want her to have a birth certificate that she can be proud of.

It means so much to us that both sets of grandparents came with us to the courthouse. The hearing was very short and easy, and the judge allowed us to take pictures after it was finished. Then, we all headed to my friend's new restaurant for a yummy Italian supper. Stacey and her husband also have a daughter adopted from China, and they suprised us with a cake for dessert. They were so sweet to our entire family (even when Anna Grace crashed a plate on the floor!)






We are getting ready for our first Christmas with Anna Grace. Every time she sees a present, she says, "Its a birthday!" I guess she is technically right since it is Jesus's birthday. She opened a few presents when we first came home from China, but she has never celebrated Christmas or opened a pile of presents. I can not imagine how she is going to react when Christmas comes, and she realizes that many of the presents under the tree are for her to open.

I posted a link is to a "One Less" video on my sidebar. I thought it was touching since Anna Grace is now "one less" orphan in the world.

Christmas Parade

Part of the annual tradition of our small town is the Christmas parade. We look forward to the parade every year because it seems like the whole town shows up- either as spectators or in the parade. There are just as many tractors as there are floats and all of the kids come away with bags of candy. This was the first year that we partipated in the parade with the adoption group. I walked with Alex and Anna Grace while Mike, Cole, and my mom watched. I decorated a wagon for Anna Grace to ride in so that I would not have to carry her the whole way, one of the moms made a bunch of jingle-bell bracelets for the kids, and another one of the moms put a little red pompom on her nose to make her look like Rudolf. Anna Grace had so much waving at the people we passed.



Then, the whole group met to eat at an Italian restaraunt with Santa Clause. Anna Grace did not like "Clause" at all, but she did let him come up and talk to her while she ate. I really wish I could get a picture of all 3 kids with Santa, but Cole and Alex refuse and Anna Grace is too scared. I would push Cole and Alex harder if I thought I had a chance with Anna Grace, but I don't want to scare her. Oh well, maybe next year!