A Ninja, an Army Man, and a Lady Bug

We had a busy, but exciting weekend celebrating Halloween. Even though Halloween was officially on Sunday, most of our neighborhood did their trick-or-treating on Saturday this year. We live in a neighborhood with lots of kids, and we get several hundred extra visitors to our neighborhood for Halloween every year. We always hand out buckets of candy.


We invited another family over to watch the football game and eat chili. I believe I have eaten chili every Halloween of my life. After supper we set off for a night of trick-or-treating. All of the kids had a blast. Anna Grace had 2 other little two year-old girls to trick-or-treat with. It did not take her very long to figure out how to say "trick-or-treat" and open her little lady bug purse to collect her candy.





Sunday night was another round of trick-or-treaters visiting our neighborhood. Cole, Alex, and Anna Grace put their costumes back on to pass out candy. Cole and Alex had fun hiding in the bushes and jumping out yelling "boo!" Anna Grace had a chance to wear her second lady bug costume.

Our first broken bone...

We have had an eventful week that started with Cole breaking his collar bone. He was playing football with another kid during Alex's Tuesday night soccer game when he got tackled really hard. Thank goodness the orthopedic clinic is open late because they were able to get him in and out really quickly Tuesday night without a visit to the ER.
Cole will be in a sling for several weeks. He is having a really hard time with his school work because he is left handed. He also insists that he is not going trick-or-treating next weekend since he will have to wear a sling over his costume. I am really sad for him, because unlike Alex who does not care too much for Halloween, it is one of Cole's favorite holidays. He talks about his costume for months and has so much fun with the decorations. I really hope he changes his mind when he sees the other kids coming to our door next weekend.



We had the fall festival at the boys' school yesterday. Back in August I signed up to help at Cole's class booth. Mike took Alex and Anna Grace to Alex's soccer game while Cole and I headed to the festival. They would join us after the game when my shift was over. Even as I was walking up to the festival yesterday I thought I would be helping with a cake walk or ring-toss game. I was quite suprised when I arrived and was told that I would be helping with the train ride, and then I dicovered that I would be driving the train! The "train" was a 4-wheeler pulling a dozen "cars" filled with kids. It has been a long time since I have driven a 4-wheeler, and I have never driven anything that was pulling a trailer. I have always had a fear that I would hit something if I had to pull our camper (and this train was way longer than any camper).

The first time around the PE field I almost hit a huge pile of sticks with my "train cars" filled with little kids. My train was often loaded with 5th graders shooting waterguns at each other and sometimes even a crying baby. But, I survived my 2 hour shift without any casualties. Cole, Alex, and Anna Grace had a great time, and hopfully they will realize someday that I was truly out of my "comfort zone" but I was trying to be a good mom.


Anna Grace says "xiexie" (thank you) to Unmi and her sweet family for sending her favorite Asian yogurt drinks. She also loved her yummy panda cookies!

Another Fun Fall Weekend

We had another great weekend full of fall activities. Saturday included a fall festival and a pumpkin carving party at the neighbors. We had a great time at the party visiting with friends and eating great food. Cole and Alex also enjoyed carving pumpkins and once it got dark, they watched a movie projected against a sheet on the patio.






The boys went to a birthday party on Sunday while Anna Grace and I went to a "Runway Show" hosted by the Asian mentors.
Anna Grace is going to be a ladybug for Halloween this year. She was given two really cute ladybug costumes to wear, so I think she will have to wear both of them before all of the Halloween parties are over for the year.

Enjoying Fall

We went to the pumpkin patch last Saturday morning to pick our Halloween pumpkins. Cole and Alex look forward to our annual trip each year, and we were really excited about taking Anna Grace for the fist time. She tried so hard to hop from row to row of pumpkins like her brothers and got mad at them if they left her behind. Anna Grace picked out a green pumpkin- she has no idea that a pumpkin is supposed to be orange!

The outfit that Anna Grace is wearing in the picture below is my first attempt at making a pillow case dress. This was quite a challenge for me because I really don't sew. I hemmed the dress to make it into a long shirt, and my mom helped me by making the matching pants. There is no way that I would have been able to sew those ruffles! We really had a great time working together to make this outfit.

Anna Grace still loves going to gymnastics on Monday nights. She has difficulty with the balance beam, bars, jumping, pretty much most of what they ask her to do. But she is the most flexible kid in the class and amazes everyone with her ability to do splits.




Anna Grace loves our next door neighbor, Bryce. Every time we go outside she says "Bryce play?" He came over for a little while last weekend to play, and I thought it would be cute to take their picture of them watching the football game on TV. Bryce is much more active than Anna Grace and he kept sliding down off the ottoman before I could get a good picture. So, I asked Anna Grace to give him a hug, thinking that he would be still for just a second longer. By the time I got the picture, Anna Grace's hand had slid down to his bottom! That was not quite what we were going for, Anna Grace!!

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.
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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.