Autumn Moon Festival Dinner

We had a wonderful evening. All the 12 kids behaved really well. We had more than enough food! And we had great fellowship with lots of laughs
Our Menu

• Homade Pork Dumplings
• Fried Rice
• Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Ginger Garlic Green Beans
• Kung Pao Chicken
• Asian Noodle Salad
• Green Onion Cakes
• Asian Pulled Pork
• Garlic Sauted Veggies
• Thumbprint Cookies
• Moon Shape Sugar Cookies
• Sour Grinch Martinis :0)

We were stuffed! Our dear friends Vince and Trina came with their 4 kids. They had my kids overnight for the 2 nights before we came home from China. Trina is one of my bestfriends, and I could never have pulled off last night without her. They also adopted their beautiful daughter Mei almost 2 years ago from China. They were our encouragement and support while we were waiting for Addison. Also our travel buddies Jon and Kristin and their 4 kids came, Jon and Kristin were in our travel group and Kyla and Addison have a special bond. They also attend our church and have wonderful helpful kids.

It was a busy night, but a fun night. As I have said before hopefully this will become a tradition for our families. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful group of families to support and lift up one another.

"Nice Cream"

Forget about ice cream.....Addison calls it Nice Cream! I love how she says it :0) also we don't drink iced tea we drink "nice tea!"

On another note, Howard and Nathan have been in Montreal at Shriner's hospital since Monday. It was a little difficult for me to see them off, as I am the one that always goes to see Nathan's specialists. It sounds like things went fairly well....treatment went smoothly, Howard was surprised how easy going Nathan was about getting the IV hooked up :0) The last time he came with us Nate was a mess about needles, not so anymore! Unfortunately his orthopedic surgeon was away for this trip and Nathan is having some hip/femur problems, he had a Xray and Nate's ortho will look at it when he returns. The last time we were in Montreal (March) he could lay on his side and do side leg lifts (about 10 of them).....now he can't do even one. I am hoping we can put off surgery for at least 6 months.....but we will wait and see what his ortho says when he gets back. Other than that it sounds like the boys had a blast in Montreal shopping and eating at Nathan's favourite restaurant Burgers and Benedict's :0) I can't wait to pick them up at the airport today! I missed my two boys and poor Joshy was outnumbered by girls :0) Addison did really well with them leaving we kept telling her 2 night nights and then Ba Ba and Nathan comes home and she totally understood! Yesterday she said in the morning "One nigh nigh BaBa?" Such a smart little cookie :0)

The Potty Dance!

Okay some of you may think I am awful for posting this picture.....however nothing is showing,
except for the cutest little monkey with a precious Matilda Jane dress on, doing her "business" :0) I had to get this picture! She now does all of her "business" on a little potty seat, however when we first were trying she needed to squat for #2.....I know I know too much information!
We.....well I, do the all important potty dance everytime she goes. It is more important than any treat I could give her (in her eyes) and she laughs hysterically at me. I was thinking of showing you a video of my made up song and dance.....but I would like to hold on to some of my dignity, so only my bestfriend and sister have ever seen it :0) And I hope to keep it that way! My sister was a special needs teachers assistant and I know for a fact she has used the coveted "Kim's special potty dance song" and it works :0)
All of this to say that Addison seems to be potty trained!!!! Yay, yay, yay! She still wears diapers at night time and naptime as she never wakes up drive, but during the day Miss Addy is wearing panties full time and has had no accidents in 3 days!!! Hooray! We are so proud of you Addison!

2 months!!!!

Addison a couple weeks ago. I love how her nose scrunches up when she laughs! She had just woken up from her nap, and was laughing at the kids :0)

2 months ago, the evening we met Guo Ying (Addison) She was so scared...seeing this picture breaks my heart. She lost alot of things that day.....to gain us as her family. I also notice how skinny she is in comparison!

Well on Sunday we have had Addison in our arms for two months! The time has flown by in some ways, and in others it feels like just yesterday! Those first few weeks were just plain old difficult! So worth it, but hard! I thought things were going well when we first met, and they really were, however as I look back....we were just trying to survive! When one is passed a 2 yr old that you really know nothing about, all you can do is survive, until you get to know one another and build a little trust. I loved Addy the moment I met her, and I think she is just starting to "adopt" Howard, the kids and I. She came running up to me yesterday and wrapped her arms around me, gave a sloppy open mouth kiss on the cheek, and said "I love you." That makes all those hard first days worth it! Its also so cute to see her yesterday at church. I was talking to a lady and Addison kept patting me and telling her "My Mama", "Addison's Mama." Like she was really proud I was her Mom! So cute!

We have really started potty training, and its going really well! Today she hasn't had one accident (yet) I put her in diapers for nap and bedtime, but the rest of the day she is in panties. We had to make a quick stop at Wal Mart, and she even told me there! Yay! Hopefully in a few weeks she will be fully potty trained during the day!?!

Socially Addy is doing fairly well. Its kinda like two steps forward one step back. Addison and Riley either really love each other.....or really hate one another. And when Addy gets mad, someone (mostly Riley) gets hit or pinched. She is thinking twice about it now, but if we aren't right there to shake our head no, then Riley gets whacked! We have also seen her do that with kids that are bossy or outgoing (like her) However she is very nurturing with babies and shy children. On Wednesday she went to the nursery at church, because it was just her and Riley. Riley stayed to keep her company. I had a pager and she had a blast playing with our nursery leader. I think its a good way to introduce her to going in and playing without me, because right now once she gets restless at church I leave the service to play with her in the nursery. On Sunday she really wanted to go before the service started, I gave our nursery staff the same instructions I gave the leader, that I was to be called it she showed any signs of fear, aggression, cried, or even asked for me. I checked in every 15 minutes and about half way through the service I noticed she was starting to get overwhelmed, so I pulled her out for a walk and we found a quiet place to play with Kyla (her friend from our China trip) I don't know if I will try again for a while.....it just didn't feel right. I think there were just too many kids on Sunday's for her right now. I love that she wants to socialize, however I want it to be successful.

Sleeping is going well. She loves our bedtime routine. I lay with her for about 30 minutes and then if she isn't asleep, I tell her good night that I love her and leave. She is usually asleep 5 minutes later! Addison sleeps through the night she goes down at 8PM and wakes around 7:30AM. The girl loves her naps! Right after lunch she has a 2 1/2 to 3 hour nap! That time allows me to clean up, and catch up on my emails etc.

Eating....well she certainly likes to eat! She always stops when she is full, and I don't think over eats very often now. She loves a variety of foods. I can't get her to drink milk, however we just introduced chocolate milk, and she likes that! Of course! And the rest of kids are ecstatic that we have Choc milk in the house! Addison has gained 4 pounds since coming home from China! And now is holding steady at 23 pounds. Its nice because now her 18 months size pants don't fall down!!! I wish I had that problem!

We are so blessed to have this precious, sassy, funloving, cuddly, busy, bossy, talkative, smart little girl in our lives! I have moments where I am so overwhelmed by our blessings...I have a God who loves me more than I can ever imagine, my husband is my bestfriend, 4 beautiful funloving children, a wonderful extended family, and fabulous friends. Its more than I deserve. However I will be continually thankful for these gifts.

Quiet Time

Howard and all of the kids have stepped out for about an hour.....and I get some quiet time! I love,love,love being a mom, I like being busy with the day to day, ins and outs of a family of six. However a little bit of Mom quiet time is so sweet!

I have totally neglected my little blog and I am bummed, because we have had alot of first going on around here and I wanted to document them. I am hoping I will become a little more regular with the blog posts!

Our family is hosting the Autumn Moon Festival dinner at our house this year. I think we will have about 21 people coming for dinner and fellowship. 13 of those people being children! I have decided to do this as a potluck, each of the families will bring two "Chinese" dishes. I am in the process of learning how to make the perfect dumpling.....they never look as good as the ones we tried in China, although I think I have found a filling we really like! Also last year we made thumbprint cookies instead of mooncakes....because mooncakes aren't the tastiest confection! The cookies were a hit, and very easy to make and easy is important when you are entertaining 21 people! I think this should be a blast, and hopefully it will become a tradition for all of our families.

Things are going along well, Addison is falling into a nice school routine. Although she was quite miffed that there wasn't a cubby and shoes for her at Kindergarten!!! She kept frowning, with her arms crossed and stomping her foot! It took all my self discipline not to laugh at her :) She is doing really well and the last two times she has woken from a nap she hasn't cried!!! She just called out for me, with a big smile on her face. Its so nice to see her becoming more relaxed as each day passes!

Well the troops are home, time to go!

First Day of Kindergarten!

How does time fly so fast!?! I remember when Miss Riley-roo was born....it feels like yesterday! Now she is in Kindergarten!!!! Riley had her first day on Friday, it all started well....then I ran into a Mom of a little girl who is new to our church and wanted to say hello. Bad choice! Had I left right away she would have been fine, however the stress of everything new was too much for Miss Roo and she started to cry, and beg me to take her home. It was one of those hard things we have to do as a Mom I had to paste on a smile and console my sobbing 5 year old as I tried not to cry myself :) Riley teacher was amazing and took my sweet little girl under her wing as I quickly as possible headed for the door! Riley of course had a wonderful day and seconds later as we were passing the windows of her class, I could see she had already stopped crying. I know she is going to have a fabulous year and can't wait to see as she blossoms into a more independent girl! As much as I want to keep her at home and protect her, I know this is the job as a Mom to encourage them to use their wings so they can soar!!! But does it have to be so hard on our hearts!?! I love her to bits! Sigh, my sweet little Kindergartner!