Christmas Party

We attended our red thread Christmas party on Saturday night.  It was a lot of fun.  Santa Claus came and visited with the kids.  There were a lot of games and fun for the kids.  The organizers worked really hard setting it up and there were of people there.  It was nice to get to get to meet more people.  Xing seemed more relaxed too.  In the past we've noticed, she sometimes would seem uncomfortable around a large group. 

We also went to the Luck Library and did crafts and visited with Santa there.

When Santa came to the Christmas party, I asked Xing if she wanted her picture taken with him and she told me "no, I already did at the library".

Party

We had a party to celebrate Xing's 3rd birthday.  This was her first party with just friends.  I think it went well and the kids had a lot of fun.  They did some gymnastics and had a bouncy house.  Xing goes t gymnastics at Flyaways Gold so we had the party there.  Not sure if Flyaways will ever be the same.

XingXing's 3rd birthday!

Thursday was Xing Xing's 3rd birthday!  She has been anxiously waiting for it to arrive!  She's been wanting a gas pump.  She's always asking at the post office if it's come yet.  It finally came and she was very happy to get it.  She also loves the Disney CARS  movie so she got a Lightning Car.  Lots of friends and family sent her birthday wishes and she was able to buy a ball and hungry hungry hippos game.

She got to help make her cupcakes and she had a great time eating the batter and the icing.

As she will do every year, she donated to Smile Train and to her SWI in China.

Thanks for all the wishes and love. One fun thing she got to do was have a party with Grandma Nai Nai and Uncle Rob b/c they all have November birthdays.

Love without boundaries

Check out what Love without Boundaries is doing for children in China:

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/

More pictures

Tennessee Trip

Coral had a great trip to Tennessee.  She got to see most of her aunts and uncles, some of her cousins and lots of friends.  She loved driving around the mall in the red car.  Notice her thoughts on Favre in a Vikings jersey...thumbs down.  She got to go to the zoo and to her great-aunts far.  She loved getting into the powder that Grandma keeps under the sink...she just forgot to take her clothes off first!  She really had a great time.  We got to go see some really good friends from Decatur.  It was great to catch up with them.  Unfortunately, we've all been sick since we came home.  Hopefully, we'll be better soon.

Future Star

Aixing loves anything pertaining to music.  She has a friend who has a guitar and she loves it.  So, when we were in Tennessee, I bought her a guitar.  Here's her video of her playing the guitar.  She also got to play a set of real drums too.

Fawn Doe Rosa/Guitar for Halloween

We went to Fawn Doe Rosa the other weekend with our Red Thread Group.  It was a neat place and the deer come right up to you.  They actually had a grizzly bear (two).  I didn't really like how they had the grizzly bear though.  Xing didn't really feel good b/c she had 3 vaccines the day before.  However, she loved riding Phantom.  He was a good pony, but not as good as Grandpa Sab.  There were some goats that stole some of the girls bags of food.  You could tell the goats had done this trick several times.  

Many of you know that lots of people think Xing looks like Dora.  Well, I found a Coral Dora doll at Wal-Mart.  Of course I had to get it.  What do you think?  Does she look like Dora?

Her guitar costume came this week.  I couldn't wait to try it on her.  It looks adorable!  Can't wait for Halloween.

Getting ready to go to Tennessee.  I'm planning on bringing her Strider bike so she can show everyone how she can ride.  She's been wanting a rolling backpack since she saw them in the airport.  (She said "Mama look...what's that?  Xingxing wants one!).  So of course we got her one so she can use on her many travels.  She loves anything with Lightning McQueen from Cars.  She slept with it the first night.  In the picture she's pretending to sleep but she really did sleep with it.  Seriously.  Tennessee in September, Madison in October, Tuscon and San Diego in  November and Tennessee again in December.

IAC visit

On the day we left for Kauai, Xing had her 1 year follow up at the International Adoption Clinic. She weighs 26.4 pounds and is now in the 25th percentile.  She is 36 inches tall and is in the 50th percentile.  So she's doing great!  Several of our Kauai friends commented on how she's got such longs for a chinese person and that she seems tall for our age.  She seems to have just have just grown overnight.  I guess it's all the brats and cheese!

Also, I read a travel tip about bringing silly putty on the plane for kids to use.  It really works.  Xing played with it for most of the trip until she fell asleep.  

XingXing's great trip to Kauai

When we got our tickets, we saw that we weren't together.  We booked the tickets together.  I don't understand why they airline can change them.  There weren't any seats left b/c the flight was oversold. The airline said people could upgrade to first class for 250 a person.  I wanted to do that, but Bill said no.  They also offered a voucher for 300 each. Anyway, we volunteered to   take  the voucher and fly out the next day.  The attendant called us up to the desk and said she had 3 seats together.  They were first class and we didn't have to pay!  We are now spoiled. Coral thought it was really cool to go through security by "own self".

We had a fabulous time in Kauai.  Xing fit right in with her Kauai ohana.  She was just so relaxed the entire trip.  She is definetely an island girl.  We went for my friend's daughter's first birthday celebration.  We had a great time. It was a Winnie the Pooh theme and there was about 100 people in attendance.  She got to meet lots of her "aunties and uncles" plus her "grandma and grandpa" from Kauai.  She loved playing with her new friends and loved playing horsie with grandpa.  Grandma gave lots of hugs.  We went swimming in the ocean and saw fish and crabs.  We ate lots and lots of good food too.  She was very close to one aunty.  Aunty Michele had a special purple lei made for her.  We all loved the hula pie!  Although I think the chickens were her favorite.  Kauai has numerous chickens running wild and she just loved them!  

We went to a bon dance.  Obon|お盆 or just Bon|盆 is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one's ancestors.  There were lots of dancers there plus games for the kids.  You don't have to be buddhist to attend and you don't have to participate in the dance.  It was alot of fun.  She played games with grandpa and his grandkids.  She won a magic wand and flashlight.  

Alot of people on island (Japanese and non-Japanese) asked us if she we knew if she had any Japanese in her background because she seems to look a little japanese.  Even people we didn't know asked us.

We really miss Kauai.   We will be moving back someday even if we're 90!.  

Our next trip is to Tennessee to see my family and our friends.  That will be a fun trip too.  We've got lots planned for that trip such as the zoo and watching Tennessee football.

Busy Week

Aixing has had a busy week!  She played with a friend from chinese dance classs,  She "published" a book with a friend, worked on electric lines, met a new friend at the fair, and played with a friend in the park. Her new friend from the park has some similarities...note the blankie!  She is really beginning to feel at home here and is making friends. We're making friends too!   Oh! and she now wants a pony because she rode one at the fair.  And she wants a cow and sheep!   I don't have good pics from the rides at the fair b/c my battery died.