Trick or Treat!!

I had to work today, but one of my co-workers came in early so I could go trick or treating with the girls this evening. The trick was on me! My co-worker forgot that she was going to come in for me today, so I was over an hour late! Daddy was a champ and with a little phone coaching managed to get all four costumes on. Last minute phone call from ZoraLin was, "Mommy, where are the pumpkins to put the candy in?" Well, since I was still at work I directed Daddy to get plastic bags! They met me outside the hospital and off we went to a nursing home not too far away. What a neat place!! In their grand room they had the residents, staff and some family members seated in a big circle. The kids then traveled around the circle with their bags open saying "Trick or treat." Mom and Dad went along prompting, "Now what do you say?" All the way!! In about 15 minutes the girls each had a bag full of about 5 pounds of candy!

Can you say "Sugar high?"!!! Kendalan and Jordis Li are princesses, RaeAnne a witch and ZoraLin was Mortica.

Our girls

Sweeter than Pumpkin pie!!!

Say cheese!

ZoraLin's remaining front tooth has been wiggled every which way but loose. Today after school, I convinced her to let me tie some string around the tooth. Then I was going to talk her into tying the string on the door and let nature take it's course. Getting the string on her tooth in the first place was no easy task. She didn't seem to think it was a good idea. She finally relented.


Once the string was around the tooth, she decided that her parents do not always have very bright ideas! She did not want to tie the string to any door and letting anyone else touch the string was out of the question. So, I was going to take the string back off. Well, she didn't seem to think that was a very good idea either! Even though I assured her that I have taken sutures out many times she did not want me to clip the string in her mouth. Okay....but we were getting ready to go run some errands. Guess we can leave the string in?!! She wasn't too fond of this idea either! After 20 plus minutes of trying to explain to her that the tooth either had to come out or she had to hold still so I could cut the string.....Daddy grabbed the string and with one mighty yank....the tooth was OUT!!

Unfortunately I did not have the video camera rolling. The look on her face was priceless as probably was the look on all our faces except for Daddy's. I had no idea that he would pull the string. In fact, he said he didn't know he would pull it, but he was tired of waiting for ZoraLin to make up her mind! The tooth fairy was somewhat guilty tonight and a bigger bonus was added!

It's Jordis Li Day!!

And for those of you who aren't in the know...that means it is the anniversary of our first Forever Family Day with Jordis Li. One year ago, ZoraLin, Jordis Li Meng AKA Jiang Meng and I were in China finalizing becoming a family! Gotcha Day was one year ago yesterday and they give us a 24 hour harmonious period to see if this is really the child we want. Duh?!!

It was very fitting that Jordis' Daddy and I went to the Social Security office today to show them that we have her Certificate of Citizenship. Now she will no longer be labeled as a resident alien. Our 12 month post placement report reached us today...so we are DONE with paperwork. We actually celebrated Jordis Day last weekend at the Pumpkin Patch as we knew school would keep us busy today.

Our girl has come a long way. She fits right in and it is hard to believe that only 365 days have passed since she joined our family. She loves to watch TV, play outside (if the weather is right!), eat just about everything and anything and she independently will come up to her Daddy or I several times a day just to give us a hug, kiss and say, "I love you." We love you too Sweetie!!

Apple Festival

Today we attended the 29th Annual Apple Festival at the Old Prairie Town. While it didn't turn out to be exactly what we expected, we did have a good time. We met up with another adoptive mom who was accompanied by her neice and her princess from China. Her little girl is 15 months old and a real cutie pie! Our girls LOVE babies and even Daddy got in on the fun!

The girls helped make apple cider with an old fashioned cider press, listen to a mountain man tell his story and help a blacksmith drill holes in wood the fun way. Here are some photos of the day!

The mountain man sure held the kids attention. He warned them that he was going to holler the mountain man way....then warned them they better "hold their noses!" All the kids did just that...held their noses...then rapidly switched to holding their ears when he yelled!

Even though he won't admit it.....I think he likes holding Chinese baby girls!!!

Pumpkin Patch

We traveled to Augusta yesterday to meet up with some of our friends at the Applejack Pumpkin Patch. We also met with our social worker to do our final post placement report!

Even though it was really windy, the girls had a great time! There were many things to keep the girls entertained and completely exhaust them! Three of them slept the two hour drive back home! Here are some great photos of the day!!

Our Sugar Cookie

Kendalan is our pure sugar cookie! I have been telling her Daddy that this darling is going to be so spoiled by the time she starts school in a couple of years. Daddy was all excited to sign her up for pre-school, that is until he found out that it was $126/week! I don't think that she will be needing too much to have her ready to start Kindergarten in a couple of years anyway. These are some of the conversations that she and I have had lately.


Mom, do you know what a chrysalis is? Thankfully I do have a clue, however I am somewhat amazed that she would know! I tell her, "Yes, I know what a chrysalis is." I then ask her what happens to a chrysalis? She says, "A beautiful butterfly comes out of it." She then adds, "A chrysalis is like a sleeping bag." Poof! You can blow me over with a feather!


We also visited about colors. She is a sharpie when it comes to colors. You really can't pull one over on her. So our conversation went something like this. "Mommy, what are your favorite colors?" I tell her that I really don't have one favorite color, I like most of the colors of the rainbow. She then starts asking me about each individual color. "Do you like red?" I reply, "Yes." "How about blue?" "Yellow?" She then says, "Do you like violet?" I say, "Yes, I like violet, what color is violet?" She says, "Oh you know Mom, a kind of purple." Yikes!


So we take off to run errands yesterday. As I am strapping her in her car seat she says, "Oh Mommy, I forgot my sunglasses!" So I tell her to sit still, I will go get them for her. These photos are of her giving me the sweetest smiles after I handed them to her and she put them on. She likes to wear them in the car, "So I can see better." We stop at a shoe store. She is still wearing her shades in the store. Two of the women working there come over and tell her that she is looking pretty good in her sunglasses. (Duh! Of course she knows it!) She smiles sweetly at them. The one woman asks me what nationality she is. I say Chinese. The woman says, "With the sunglasses on, she looks Philipino." She then asks Kendalan to let her see her eyes. Of course Kendalan obliges and very matter of factly pulls her sunglasses down just a hair and peeks over the top of them at the woman. The woman says, "What beautiful eyes you have!" Kendalan says, "I know." as she puts her shades back on!!


Oh, I can't wait for the teen years!!