One Year - I can't believe it!

I really just can't believe that it has been a year already. One year ago today Malia and I met for the first time and became a family. In celebration of this moment we enjoyed a special day together - just the two of us.





First, I gave Malia her special Forever Family gifts. The first item was a silver toddler bell bracelet that I bought on the adoption trip. The other item was a new outfit for her Bitty Baby. Her first reaction to the presents was to say that "it isn't my birthday". So I explained that this is a special Malia day. Her next question was "can I open"? It was so cute.



Then we went a place we both enjoy... the Mall of America. It was Toddler Tuesday so we got to meet Curious George, go on about 20 rides, and had a wonderful lunch at American Girl. Tonight we had a nice dinner at home, read Curious George books, and are watching Ni Hao, Kai Lan. We were excited today to see that the Nick stores at MOA now carry Ni Hao tee shirts. It is the first item we have seen based on this show. It was great to spend quality time together without the rush and stress of everyday life.















On Saturday morning we had some quiet time so I pulled out the video from forever family day. Malia was funny watching it. Her first question was where is Malia (it was before she was brought into the room). Once she came in a year ago, she cried for a minute or two. She asked me why she was crying and why the other kids were crying so I explained how she was probably a little scared since she didn't really know Mommy yet. Then she noticed the stuffed dog that I send her and brought the second one with me on that day. When she realized it was her dog she had to stop the video and go get her dog. She was called out that Grandma was there and asked where Grandpa is. I told her he was taking the video and laughed because he talked on the video about then and she told me "see there is Grandpa" like I was the one confused. It was nice to watch part of it with her to see her reaction and help talk about the adoption. It is hard to know that I took her away from China but we were definitely meant to be together. Happy Forever Family Malia!!!!

Spring is here

So we have continued to be busy which seems to be normal for us. Malia has started her swimming lessons. This is different because she goes in with the teachers and not mom but she did fantastic. I want her to be more comfortable with swimming before this summer.



She is also doing great at dance class. They have been working on their recital dance to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo (from Cinderella - her favorite). The recital is coming up in early June and I can't wait to see what the kids do on stage. For an early St. Patrick's day, we had some moms and kids over for party. It was crazy and it was a blast!



Finally, we loved that my sister and her family came to visit this weekend for Garrett and Aislinn's birthday party. It was such a nice day Saturday to all hang outside during the party and let the kids run off the energy (and sugar from the cake). Needless to say Malia was exhausted from the fun this weekend and crashed on the couch for a little after dinner yesterday. Chloe even jumped up on her and she didn't even stir. Happy Spring everyone!

Referral Anniversary

So I missed posting the photos I took of Malia to celebrate the one year anniversary from referral. I am slow because of vacation and these photos ended up in that same file on my computer so they got lost in the shuffle. I can't believe that on March 31st that we will have been together a year already. At times it seems like we have been together forever and other times it seems like just yesterday. It is also hard to believe how little LID's have been matched in one year. With my referral batch in Feb 08 they got through 12/27/05 and now they are just matching through 3/6/06 (we think). I just pray that the children are getting the homes they deserve and not just sitting in orphanages. I also pray that my friends waiting get their referrals quickly (well as quickly as this process is allowing).

Enjoying the snow

Malia really loves to shovel snow. This is one trait that makes me wonder since we are so alike in many other ways. So Thursday with the 6+ inches of new snow, she helped shovel the yard while we let Chloe investigate.




In addition, we spent Saturday morning cleaning up and Malia even cleaned up her crayon from the walls. It was sad that she seemed to enjoy it.




Also, here is another picture of Chloe.

Welcome Chloe

Malia wants to introduce everyone to her new dog, Chloe. Chloe is part Papillion and part Poodle breed called a Bijou. She was born Sept.24th and has already been adapting really well to our family (even passed her first haircut). I know we were going to try and wait until spring but work will be easier for a month due to the phase of the project we are at so it worked nice to be around more for the dog.

On another note, I have to share Malia's new saying.

Me: Are you bringing your cereal in the car?
Malia: Yes
Me: Well then put it into another bowl.
Malia: Why?
Me: So you don't spill it all over the back seat.
Malia: Oh, my gosh!

Her response took me so by surprise that I just started laughing. So of course, she proceeded to say "Oh my gosh" to everything all weekend. I hope everyone had a nice weekend!

Princesses and Mickey!!!

We had a nice vacation to Disney World and Malia loved Cinderella. By far Cinderella was her favorite and she asked about her all of the time. I told her once that Cinderella was napping in the castle to rest after dancing in her show and we went on to the carousel. On the horse, she spotted Cinderella in the castle through the stained glass windows walking around (for the character lunch). I couldn't believe that she spotted her. We had a really nice time meeting princesses and the characters. We also went on rides and saw the show for playhouse Disney and Muppet's. However, the weather was not cooperating. Monday it rained all day for my birthday. Luckily I got in free that day so it wasn't too sad that we had to leave the park early. Then Tuesday and Wednesday it didn't rain but it was really cold.... like 30's even with wind. Last night it was a record low for all of February with a wind chill of 5. They had all of the plants covered and a freeze warning. How crazy. I hope the pictures look OK. We figured out halfway through the trip that it was fingerprints on the lens (thanks Malia) versus the camera that was giving the haze.

Happy Chinese New Year

Today is the kick-off for the 2009 Chinese New Year celebration. We celebrated with Malia's class at daycare. They made lanterns earlier in the day and I went down for their parade through the halls and while the teacher read a couple books about the celebration.



On a sad note, I have had to make the decision to put my dog Rosie to sleep tomorrow. I recently found out that she has kidney disease and she has not been doing well for a while. I have had Rosie since she was a tiny puppy and she is now 13 years old but due to her size I forget how old she is getting. She has been a wonderful dog and has been with me through the ups and downs, while alone and now with Malia. I only pray that she will now be somewhere that she can run and play without the pain that she has been living with.

Going to visit Mickey!

OK, I noticed that all of my other friends get to use their mom's computer to post messages so I wanted my turn. I finally convinced mom to take me to visit Mickey in Florida. She says that things are looking much better at work for being employed with the layoffs and I caught her after a week of terrible freezing cold weather. We leave on Feb 1st for 4 nights. I am excited for my first Disney trip in the U.S. since I got to go to Hong Kong Disney on the way home from China. I will make sure mom takes pictures and video of the trip so we can share with everyone when we get back.

Malia

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Malia!

After 2 years of not getting to celebrate her birthday and especially Christmas, little Miss Malia made sure this year made up for it. She has been obsessed with her birthday for months now and Santa has been in the spotlight since Thanksgiving. So where to start. First we celebrated on Christmas Eve with the immediate family and then later with the extended family. The day went pretty smoothly considering there was no time for naps (except in the car on the way to church). Then, Christmas morning started with just me and Malia opening presents from Santa but she was quickly caught up with playing and couldn't even focus on opening the last presents (OK, they were only clothes anyway). Later Christmas Day we went to my parents and had a small cake for Malia's birthday. Finally, I chose to wait until Friday to celebrate Malia's 3rd birthday so she could nap and relax some on Christmas Day (great choice by the way). So Friday we had the close family celebrate with a Mickey and Minnie Mouse cake. Again, she loved playing with her gifts and grandpa had some to assemble right away. It was a crazy week but the best week of my adult life. Seeing everything through Malia's eyes and getting to spend some quality time with the whole family was worth every minute of the noisy activity. Here are some pictures of the events. Next up is to work on some more digital scrapbook pages.

With Auntie Susie and Cousin Jude


Opening on Christmas Eve


Playing with the Nerf gun (a trade with cousin Garrett for pots and pans...)


More opening on Christmas Eve


With all of the kids


After Santa arrived


Playing with the Dora vanity


1st birthday cake (in honor of her love of The Grinch movie)


With Rosie


Setting up for her party


Loving the singing


Cake is great!


And the frosting is the best...


With Great Grandma Bev


Family Picture

Only a couple days until Christmas!!!

I can't believe that I am only a couple days away from my first Christmas as a mom. Malia is so excited and I don't even think she totally gets what Christmas will be like. She is also extremely ready for her birthday. We will be bringing cupcakes to her daycare tomorrow and she loves when people sing happy birthday. Here are a couple photos from Saturday when we got all of the snow (but before the real cold moved in). She had fun shoveling and going on the sled with Grandpa and she made cookies with Grandma.

Happy Holidays to everyone!!! And let's pray for a new year that brings a better economy for all!

Having a blast this Christmas season

We went to my dad's work holiday party today with my parents and my brother and his family. We got to see the movie Bolt and they had Santa and Mrs. Claus. Malia ate a ton of popcorn and candy but she made it through her first full movie. I also got a really cute picture of her in a fabulous outfit before the event this morning. She also got a gift from her godmother last Christmas (before we even knew who she would be) and it is the cutest Christmas countdown idea. There is a miniature stocking for each day until Christmas. Malia loves to look in there each morning to see what the prize is. Her favorite is the candy.

It's SANTA!!!

OK, Malia had her first run in with Santa and she loved him. I guess all of the talking about how Santa brings presents and candy worked. Here I was worried she would be scared but she spotted him from the second floor of the mall and just had to see him right then. We worked our way downstairs and as I was putting the stroller off to the side she took off and ran right up to him. There was barely any hesitation before she sat on his lap. When he asked what she wanted to Christmas, she kept saying "Santa" like she couldn't believe that he was right there. Here is the photo. I had to get it to capture her first visit with Santa. Enjoy!