Family Picture

Family Picture

Friday, February 27, 2015

Chinese New Year

We had potstickers for lunch on Thursday, the official day of Chinese New Year. Then on Saturday evening we went to a large Chinese New Year Party with lots of other adoptive families.  It is always fun to see all the precious children that have come from many different provinces of China. Most of them in their Chinese silks and all of them happy and cherished by their families. We had a nice time, but the girls said they prefer our own special Chinese New Year family dinner, decorations and celebration at home. Thankful to be making good memories for the girls and for showing our appreciation of their Chinese heritage.  It is all good!  Happy Year of the Sheep!

Amy in red and Anna in purple, their favorite colors.


Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Freezing Rain



Late Monday afternoon the cold rain began to fall.  It started to freeze not long after it began.  We were disappointed no snow, but the girls just had to venture out to get a better look at the ice forming on the trees.  It was lovely but being that it was just us girls at home for the night, I began to wonder how long this would last.  We lost power later in the evening.  We each had our flashlights and we got lots of candles lit then decided for the three of us to have a camp out in the family room with the fireplace going.  We could hear branches beginning to fall in our woods later in the night.  Our house smelled wonderful with the large array of candles, all sorts of fragrances, burning at once.  Amy got a little unnerved by everything and stuck close to me.  She kept asking, "Is this our destiny?"  
Not sure what she means by that other than the fact that she watches a lot of princess drama type shows and they probably use that word. : ) 
I said no this is not our destiny, it is just a little power outage and all will be ok, we will get our lights back on so don't worry, we are safe and sound.  
To keep things fun I let them get out our stash of glow bracelets and we read some books then stayed up way past our bedtime.  It was cozy with all the blankets, stuffed animals enough to fill the room,  and the glow of the  firelight. I wish now I would have taken a picture but I only had 38% power on my phone so I had to cut it off and conserve in case of an emergency and to check the forecast later.
The last thing Amy said before she could finally settle down to go to sleep was how much she liked camping out.  It was really good to see her go from hyped up fear, to happy contentment.
And then we heard a tree fall.  I didn't think she would ever go to sleep after that!


The light of day brought the promise of fun in the ice.  They actually had a lot of fun banging ice off of tree limbs, bushes and porches. We did have a few trees down. They said the covering of ice made everything look like the frozen movie.  I love the way these two can make a fun day out of everything.  They are very industrious and imaginative. 
They came in to warm up and had some hot chocolate. Then we managed to still get our home school day in and talked a lot about the beauty in each season. Discussed the things we like the most about each season and a few of the things we like the least.  We made a list of all the adjectives we could think of to describe the ice day. They both wrote stories about the ice storm and camp out.
We talked about the beauty of the ice on the trees and how much it sparkled
 when the sun shined on it.
Our Bible verse this week is Numbers 6:25 
The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.

We are learning a song of blessing that has this verse in it.
We also said a prayer of thanksgiving that our power came back on in time to save all the food in our fridge and freezer....especially the ice cream as they would say! 
Had a very productive day and then they went back out in the late afternoon to play again. It never warmed up enough to melt away so the ice may stick around a bit longer than expected.


       

Saturday, February 14, 2015

A Happy Valentine's Day

Anna made the framed picture with  Bible verse

Gifts for our girls.  Our boys not home today so they are missed! I've got candy for you guys and the promise of a good dinner, so come home soon!

Heart jeweled headbands

We went to Lowe's for the Valentine's day craft of picture holders then to Olive Garden for a nice lunch

The girls loved my Valentine scarf and Amy wanted to take a picture of me.
           
           


Shirts I bought for me and the girls to support a sweet baby girl adopted from China who needs heart surgery

Love this verse on the back of our shirts.  

Friday, February 13, 2015

Fresh Haircuts and getting Ready for Valentine's Day

Yesterday the girls got their haircuts. They really like their hairdresser and enjoy getting to see her.  They both enjoy getting their hair cut but Amy particularly likes having someone's undivided attention as she gets her hair done plus has a listening ear from her hair dresser.  Amy chit/ chats the WHOLE time! Last time we got haircuts, Amy told Jessica that she is magical because she and Anna are from China.  Jessica replied that she wished she could be magical too.  Then Amy being the generous girl she is,  told Jessica that she would share some of her magic.  Then she bestowed magical powers to all the hairdressers in the room.  To Jessica,  she gave the magic of cutting hair.  To the hairdresser next to us, she gave her the magic of jewelry (because she wore lots of jewelry ).   To another she gave the magic of nature, and to another the magic of the sun and moon, to which this hairdresser announced to all that it would be a very sunny day tomorrow because that is what she likes best!
Cheers erupted across the room.
 Amy then apologized to everyone, explaining that she, and she alone,  has to keep all the magic of the glitter for herself because she loves glitter. Amy did graciously bling some imaginary magical glitter around to everyone to share what she could. They were all very pleased with their magical gifts, and sympathized with her desire to control all the glitter of the world,  then Amy continued to entertain all the ladies getting their hair done, with all sorts of nonsensical topics and also by asking who was a mother and who was a daughter and who was a sister.  She likes to know everyone's family situation.
Some background information for the rest of my story, because Amy likes to turn things off and on, any and everything, I had to be really firm with her about our hair dryer being off limits. She must wait until she is a little older to use it all by herself. We stressed that it could burn her as it does get hot.  Well we may have over done it because she kept telling her hairdresser, Jessica, to be more careful when she was drying her hair. Jessica tried  not to giggle because she thinks Amy is so funny.
She also understands Amy has some sensory processing issues, including how ticklish Amy is when getting her hair washed.  Amy laughs hysterically and squirms the whole time the water squirts her hair.
 In between all kinds of chitchat I could hear these random comments:
" Don't get too close with the dryer, Jessica."  When Jessica would put the dryer under her arm to use both hands for brushing/styling Amy's hair, Amy would really scold her......"Don't hold the dryer like that Jessica, or you might burn yourself up.  You don't want to burn yourself up, do you Jessica?! "
"Are you TRYING to burn yourself up, Jessica?!"
 "Your pulling my hair, Jessica."
  "That's too hot, Jessica, you are burning my neck." 
 "Ok, Jessica, now you are pulling my hair and burning my neck." 
Everyone once again was amused by Amy's micromanagement.

So for this haircut appointment, I reassured Amy that Jessica is a "professional".  She knows how to handle scissors and a hairdryer very carefully. She went to a special school to learn all about it.
 And all went well.
  I could not hear what all Amy was saying to her this time, but I did see her mouth moving most of the time. 
 There is no telling!

Jessica used to have dark hair like the girls. She went for a big change.  Amy wants red hair too! I told her how much I love her hair the color that it is and that red would have to wait until she is MUCH older.

Looking more grown up with just a haircut.

Anna growing up before my eyes!

Making strawberry cheesecake cupcakes for Valentine's Day.  Taking turns with all the steps including the best part, the icing!

Monday, February 9, 2015

Appointments, Appointments

In late January Amy had to have two teeth pulled, two cavities filled and 4 sealants done.
Anna had to have 4 sealants done on a separate day.  Thankfully they did a conscious sedation for Amy and they did everything in one appointment. She never would have been able to stay still for that long!  She did great, was a brave trooper and we were so proud of her.  Anna did well and they called her the perfect patient.
The girls were rewarded with some prizes.  


Amy after her dentist appointment.  She picked out butterfly balloons for her and Anna.  She always wants a prize for Anna also.  She is never content to get a prize just for herself!

Nerf gun prizes they picked out.  Anna made the fashionable side purses for carrying extra nerf bullets.
These two nerf bandits tried to take me hostage.  After offering a ransom of some oreo cookies, they set me free.


Then there was Amy's hand specialist appointment.
The doctor asked her to tell him about her hand and this is what she said:
My family loves my special hand and they love me very much!
Then he asked her to do several different things and she proved herself to be strong and capable.

They sent us home with these sensory beads, and some other exercises for physical therapy.  She loves to play in this and it is also good for her sensory processing.
I hid some sticky toy reptiles in the bin and she dug around for them.  


Then last but not least, Amy had to have her eyes checked.  She asked the eye doctor tons of questions. Questions such as:
Hey are you going to blow me up? ( As Amy looked at all the side arm extension equipment)
Will any of this stuff explode?!
When you keep raising my seat are you going to make me hit my head on the ceiling?
Amy told the doctor she could see just fine as her and her daddy played a game of "how many fingers am I holding up" and she won.
During the exam, she told the doctor that she knows her letters very well, but when the doctor keeps making  them so small and blurry, they get almost invisible and then she is going to miss them!
Amy doesn't need glasses.  She likes to pretend and wears a pair sometimes though.
Here she is using some packaging to make herself have fish eyes.
This week we have hair cut appointments. Pictures to follow!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Triple layer chocolate cake

Anna saw this on the front of a magazine and wanted to make it over the holidays.  We were too sick to bake or eat then so we made it a couple of weeks ago instead.  Delicious choice Anna.  
Savoring the rich, moist, cake and icing

This girl can put away some good cake

Had to eat some lunch before that cake. Saturday baking. Whole wheat made from scratch pizzas.  The girls like lots of turkey pepperoni!

YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS: