This post is brought to you by the letters...

H...



...and ILY



Happy Valentine's Day 2009!

(YES!!!! We make Hs here! I just about came out of my skin on Wednesday night when Hope and I were making valentines. I heard, "One line. Two lines. Swoop." Sure enough....voilá!)

These are the flowers Ron brought home for his Valentines yesterday. So pretty!

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.