Halloween and School Parties

Where does time go? It is already November 1?  We are busy preparing for Orphan Sunday, and trying to catch up on laundry (hee hee) so here are a few pics from our last few DAYS....

Florie and Jack at his party

Making silly faced pumpkins

Such a cute idea

Ben getting mummy wrapped

SCARY face??

My youngest mummy

Get ready neighbors!

My crime fighters

First Halloween

You never know about soccer players!

Sweetness

My Ninja

My Bumblebee Transformer

Walking out for "chocolate!"

Please, Mama?

One more?

SCORE!

Can you believe it?

Halloween candy rocks!

She could sit here ALL NIGHT!  She has a sweet tooth just like her Mama :)

Fall Break 2011....the Freedom of Camping!

We just enjoyed Fall Break.  The weather could not have been MORE perfect.  William took the boys camping early Saturday morning.  They spent the day exploring, setting up the campground, and just hanging.  Florie and I drove the two hours east on Sunday morning.  I wanted to wait for her to spend the night in a tent since she has been with us less than six months, and is still in diapers. Although we have come so far with sleep, I was not quite sure how she would handle the tent.

The site

Running through the woods as wild boys do

Warming by an early morning fire

We met up with the boys and William and had a great day. First we played on a playground to burn some of the kids' energy.  Then we went on a hike.  I forgot Florie's backpack carrier, so she ended up walking most of the way and really did a great job.  She loved the letters on all the signs and wanted her picture by EACH one!  We then went back to camp and had "lunch" aka baked beans and trail mix. The rest of the afternoon was full of exploring the woods around our tents.  There was a creek, a bridge, a skunk hole :) and more!  William made a GREAT dinner of couscous and chinese noodles complete with hot cocoa.  The kids then all wore headlamps and glow sticks and ran around until S'mores time.  Florie LOVED the fire about as much as the boys did, but fortunately she kept away from it.  We helped the boys clean up and then headed for home about 8 pm.

Happy to be back with the boys!

Alex hiking

Florie pointing out the letters for us

Taking a water break

Daddy and his full lap

At the top

Fall Creek Falls

Heading back on the trail

Alex for his school

LT had to get in on the posing too

Lunch!

Yum!

Our own wonderful backyard at the camp

Getting dinner started

William and Jack

Crazy camera but 4 kids with glow sticks and head lamps

The boys stayed another day to fish and explore a bit more.  Needless to say they came home stinky, filthy, exhausted, and perfectly happy.  Hard to beat a camping weekend! Oh!  Ben also "lost" his jacket at the park which was a new fleece with his juice pocketknife inside.  When we went back to look for it, it was gone.  BUT, William checked in the camping headquarters the next morning for it, and someone had turned it in for him.  Love the camping community!

Just a Lil' Girl Fun!

FIVE Months Home

Waiting for dinner

I love how the boys always look at HER

Taking time to smell the flowers

Aha!  Discovered the lil' dab of banana pudding at the end

Hip Hip Hooray for Daddy...just finished his big test today!

Sweetness

Likes:

Reading Books
Copying Moma...down to what hand my chin rests on
Lipstick
Going places....especially to get the boys
Being Sung to at Bedtime...her smile is a mile wide
"Helping" around the house
Getting dressed/undressed by herself
Pretending like she does not want a hug or kiss, while secretly waiting for us to chase her down and give her one anyway
Trying New foods....no noodles recently
Being OUTSIDE!
GUM

Dislikes:
Water poured over her head in bath (a new trend)
Being Told NO
Broccoli
Moma leaving (though she really is okay)....she maybe cries with Daddy for 30 seconds and then all is just fine.

We have made leaps and bounds on the sleep front.  She now goes to sleep BY HERSELF after our bedtime routine!!  She is so proud of herself.  We also go to a Bible Study weekly and she goes in to "school" for a few hours. She is so pleased that she gets to go to school and talks about it all week.  Granted she does cry when I hand her to her teacher (who is so sweet to hold her for a bit), but within two minutes of me standing outside with my heart racing, I hear her up and playing.  It has been a great way for our attachment to grow as she knows "Moma back" in a bit.  Florie's English continues to grow in leaps and bounds. I am amazed at what she says and what she understands.
She loves to snuggle, and we get lots of snuggle time in during the day.  She loves to play outside with the boys, and is constantly checking in with things like, "Moma home, Florie home, Daddy home.....then Moma bye bye later, FLORIE bye bye later too?  And, night-night later, bottle later...not now?"  She wants to go over the location/status of everyone in our family many times a day....and so we do.  We look at pictures from her orphanage a lot.  She points at all of us, and calls herself Florie when we are also in the picture. Older pictures from her infancy or toddler years make her stare for a while, then when I ask her who is that, she answers her Chinese name.  I ask her where "insert her Chinese name" is now, and she says Bye BYE. When I ask her if "insert Chinese name" is Florie, she says NO...FLorie here," and points to her chest.  I am amazed by what goes on inside her head.  She has come so far in 5 short months...and she seems to "get it" but, there is a lot more to be "got" as she gets older.  Now we just to continue to work on bonding, security, love, touch, and giving her voice.  (can anyone tell I just went to the Karyn Purvis Empowered to Connect conference?!).
Off to fold laundry before she wakes from her nap!

On the GO and FULLY PRESENT!

I used to think that I knew what "on the go" meant.  Med school, residency, my first child, toddler years, working...all on the go activities.  Four kids later, I now FULLY realize what ON THE GO means.  Between Cross Country meets, soccer practices, school drop-off and pick-ups, Bible Study, Whole Foods, meetings, Target, haircuts, etc....we are always on the go.  Fortunately, we are now finally in a routine where I can do all of the above AND have dinner on the table, most nights, anyway.

BUT, I went to the Karyn Purvis conference "Empowered To Connect" recently, and was reminded again about what it means to be fully PRESENT.  My kids sitting in the back of the car, staring at the back of my head as I drive them from place to place doesn't equal fully present.  Florie sitting on the floor playing quietly while I type emails doesn't equal fully present.  Kids need us parents...not just to run them around only, or to reload their itunes card so they can buy apps to keep them entertained, but they need us to BE THERE.  To BE AROUND.  To BE AVAILABLE.  For us NOT to be plugged into a computer, or ipad, or iphone, or ipod.  TO be AVAILABLE AND APPROACHABLE. When that little window opens up and they are ready to share a joy, a new crush, a mean kid story, or just some silliness....they NEED us to be FULLY PRESENT.

SO, my new game is to do the required "on the Go" stuff, and limit other things....so I apologize for tardy or overlooked emails, typos, slowly returned phone calls....these will all come after the kids are in bed, or during naptime.  Right now, my kids are growing up right before my eyes.  And that is where I want to watch them!  

Cheering at cross country for Alex

Yelling for Ben at soccer

Some fully present time at home just building Legos...ok, I watched. I am not deemed a good Lego builder anymore, sniff sniff!

He will sell it for $3 by the way

Haircut time!

Celebrating CHAMPIONSHIPS together