My Spiderwoman and Pumpkin

Here are some shots of us carving our pumpkin on Sunday. There is Sydney in the background.

Z in his cousin's pumpkin costume. It was hot outside, so he only wore it for a little bit.

E and M are ready to go!

All the kids ready to go trick or treating. Baby J was a duck. Very cute.

E in action as spiderwoman. She was even brave enough to go into our neighbor's "haunted house" which they create each year in their garage

T, E and Z examine "the haul" after we came in from outside. In our neighborhood, we sit outside and give the candy to the kids instead of having them come up to the door.

When I was a very little kid, I used to prefer to stay home and hand out the candy. In our house, it is our family's tradition to watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown after we're done with our trick or treating. E liked giving out the candy while we were watching the movie.

My Budding Pianists

We've done quite a few things this week.....

We played the piano (something Z loves to do)...

We stumbled onto a frisbee dog demonstration yesterday....and played in the park while T was on call

E held baby J last night when we had our friends the Ms over. We played a domino game called chicken foot...something we used to play all the time before we had 5 kids between the two families!

And we had art class in the kitchen

And we ate pops

My Daughter's Halloween Party

Last night we went to a Halloween party. E wore her Spiderman costume. There was a fortune teller (I had my cards read) and a clown that made balloon animals.

First we went to the Halloween fun day at our church, where E got a ghost painted onto her face.

Then we went to the Halloween party. Yes, that is a pink gun she choose. The boy infront of her in line was also spiderman and he got a gun, so I guess she wanted the same thing.

And here is a picture of Z about to go on his first bike ride.

My Daughter's Bee Sting

I guess what I forgot to tell you was that last weekend, E got a bee sting on her wrist. We had walked over to the ice cream store. As we walked into the house through the garage, a bee landed on E's shirt. She got scared and started to pat her shirt to get rid of it, but it stung her. You would have thought that the bee cut her hand off from the screams (and I do mean screams, not cries). She was fine after a few minutes....however our ears are still ringing. However, as you can see from this photo, she recovered.

My Aunt's Visit

E and I cooking up a storm.....

Hi all, I know its been a while since I've posted.

Z is going great. He is walking across the room now. Just amazing.

Last weekend, my Aunt visited. We had a great time visiting the zoo and just hanging out. Here are some pictures from the visit. We had a great time visiting the animals, having a picnic lunch by the refleting pool which was outfitted with about 75 pumpkins and riding the carousel. Emily got to touch a snake and a pancake turtle. It was a great day.

My Son's First Word

is Uh-Oh. Z has started to say Uh-Oh the past few days when he drops something.

When you adopt a child from another country, "they" all tell you that when you get him, he will be developmentally delayed (compared US standards). I can't tell you the tremendous relief it is to have Z developmentally where he needs to be (walking etc.) and also speaking his first words (after only being exposed to English for 3 months!).

It makes us even more than very happy.

Here is what happens to Z when he has a late night out at parents night out, followed up by a day with only one nap.....he falls asleep at dinner and easily transfers to the floor!

My Daughter's (Pre-Conceived) Conceptions

On Sunday we had a baby shower for a dear friend, C, who is due to have a baby shortly. E saw some of the decorations and after I explained to her what they were for I casually asked her if she knew how the baby got in C's tummy. We had previously had a one sentence discussion about where babies come from when she asked how the baby got in C's tummy a few weeks ago.

Emily's response was this: "Well, first you sleep with God a bit. And then the baby falls into a parachute and falls into the mommy's tummy". I thought this was hysterical. I don't know where the first part comes from, but I'm pretty sure the second part comes from the movie Dumbo, where the stork delivers the babies and they float down from the sky.

Here is E and our dog S, who grew by 40% while we were on vacation.

My Son's Readoption

Last Thursday, we drove to Fort Worth to readopt Zachary. This was our first car trip in quite some time. The kids did well and we arrived into FW around 9:30pm. Z's adoption was final in China. However, readopting in the US allows the courts to formally recognize the international adoption, so no one can question it. It also gives us a TX birth certificate, which makes it a lot easier for enrolling in school etc.

Friday, the next day, was quite a fun one. We didn't have to be in family court until about noon so we took the morning to visit the headquarters of our adoption agency. It was a very nice visit and we learned a lot about the history of our agency (they have be around for over 100 years). Emily had a great time playing in the play area of the lobby.

While walking around and reading about the history of our agency in the lobby, we came across this picture of Z's Social Welfare Institute (SWI) (orphanage). After a flood, our agency had helped put a new roof on the building. We had known that our agency had helped the SWI after a flood, but it was nice to learn this new piece of information.

Then it was time to grab a quick bite to eat and off to family court. The C family, who traveled with us in China and was with us in Z's province was also readopting that day (it was a group adoption day, so there were about 18 families readopting that day). It was good to see the C family and their daughter M, who shared a room with Z at the SWI.

E and Z wore their silk from China.

The courtroom was filled with over 50 stuffed animals (lambs and bears) and balloons. It was a very festive time.

We were the second to last family to be called up. Once we were up there, our lawyer asked us a bunch of simple questions. We were able to give our camera and video camera to the court staff and they all took pictures for us (everyone was so nice). Here we are with our lawyer (in red). The judge is hiding behind Z.

After we gave our testimony the judge signed the readoption petition and we were allowed to go up on her bench and take some photos. The judge held Z and E got to sit on her desk. The children then each got a stuffed animal and we enjoyed cookies and punch in the jury room!

Here is a shot of E, Z and M playing on the floor while we wait our turn.

The judge said how nice it it to do the group adoption days....both for her and for us. Had we picked a non group day, we would have been on the docket with some unhappy issues that are often dealt with in family court.

My Prima Ballerina

Here is our little ballerina! She just started ballet lessons last week. She loves her leotard and ballet shoes. She couldn't stop dancing when we tried them on in the store. There are 7 other little girls in her class....all dressed in pink. Very very cute. I wish I could take a video of her doing her ballet moves. She does love to dance!