CNY Wrap Up

Well, CNY 2009 has come to an end. We had so much fun this year. Here are some final photos of our last two celebrations.

1-30-09
SIL Lisa and our two nephews came over for dinner. We had a great evening, yummy food, red envelopes for the kids, and a little extra happy noise in the house.

I took these first two while I was getting the veggies ready for the stir fry. I had to get a shot of that cute ponytail. Hope thought she was pretty hot stuff doing her own veggie prep, too.


Hope is blow drying her hair here with the Little People Pet Shop dryer. :)

Hope and Aunt Lisa

Cousins





2-8-09
The Midwest FCC Chapter hosted an event last Sunday. It was so fun to see so many happy children
celebrating with their families. It is so important for us to attend things like this...to be around other transracial adoptive families....for Hope to play with other Chinese children...for us to honor Hope's culture by celebrating the most important holiday of the year. What a fun afternoon!

Crafts & Games



This is Emma with Ron and Hope - We actually met her and her family last October when we were on our north shore vacation. It was so much fun to run into them again.





So much for tossing. :)

This was a little different than fishing with Daddy and Grandpa.


Mattea, Charlotte, & Hope had a good view of the fireworks at the end of the afternoon.



Hope going for a "ride" on her balloon puppy on our way out the door.

Our Precious Girl - She had so much fun running around with all the kids.

I may just have to frame this one.

Blessings and prosperity to you in the year of the Ox!

Chinese New Year - Monday & Tuesday

The next morning I got to stay home with Hope since my school had the day off. We had a great day of lounging around the house, playing, cleaning up after the party, and catching up on laundry. I know it doesn't sound like anything spectacular, but we needed this day and we enjoyed each other's company so much. It was wonderful Mother/Daughter time. Oh how I wish we had more of these days. This photo was taken that morning. Hope was starting her day with a little warm milk and some "Super Why" on TV. Some pictures just makes me smile. :)
1/26/09 - Chinese New Year


1/27/09 - Mall of America
The Mall of America hosts a Toddler Tuesday event every week from 10:00-12:00. I normally am not able to go because work seems to get in the way, but I used some personal time for this one. They did a great job celebrating the Year of the Ox with crafts and treats for the kids and a Lion Dance Troupe that entertained us twice. We met some of the other Red Thread families there as well as our new friends Miss Ellie and her family.

Special Girls








The Lion Dance








Hope and Olivia Playing



Photos of the girls with the find of the day - PUZZLES! If you look carefully you'll see why these puzzles are so special.

New Year Sunday

Xin Nian Kuai Le

Click on the greeting above to find a site where you can hear it.

Again, Happy New Year! Since we are continuing to celebrate through this weekend (the Lantern Festival is on the 9th officially ending the Spring Festival), I thought I'd continue with my party photos.

1/25/09 - Church
We started out our second party day at church. Ron and I were involved with the music that day so we knew we were in for a long morning. Hope did great! This was the first time we'd planned to leave her while we were both out of the pew. We were stunned by how she sat, stood, listened, played along a bit...It was a proud morning for Hope's parents. :)





1/25/09 - Family
After church it was time for Hope to nap and for me to start COOKING! I cooked like a mad-woman all afternoon. We had our family over that evening...little did they know they were going to get their hands in the food, too. :) I owe a beer to Aunt Tami for coming over early to help with spring rolls (I think we still have some TsingTao in the fridge when you're ready), and then a big thank you to both of Hope's grandmothers for giving the dumplings a try. Daddy helped with a little of everything, and Uncle Brian gets credit for the crab wonton cups. It was a total group effort. I have to admit that some of the recipes could still use some practice...haha - STICKY dumplings - but it all tasted pretty yummy. Thank you to everyone who helped make this a special evening for our family.