Culture Parade-school

Our school is studying different cultures this month. On Monday Sara got to talk on the school intercom saying Hi, how are you in Chinese. On Tuesday Ruth did the same phrase in Marshallese-Yokwe.

Today was the culture parade. Children researched their heritage and made a parade through the school representing their culture. It was all lead by a Chinese dragon for Chinese New Year-18th.
Note Ruth's dress is home made and she is holding the Marshalese Flag and a basket from he country. Sara is wearing an outfit we bought her in Guangzhou and is holding an unbrella she chose there also. Today was a very cold day and they quickly changed to warmer clothes after the parade, plus the fact that Ruth does NOT like wearing dresses and I would NOT let Sara wear white Satin any longer than necessary..the child is a mess.

Science Fair

Today after soccer practice, we went back to school to see the presentation of the 4th grade science fair. Sara (mom) got 6th place for her classroom. Her first question was, why no 1st place-this girl is competitive! The projects were judged by the University of TX professor and three of his students. On the side, Sara's teacher said that Sara (mom) actually got first but the teacher explained that Sara got a lot of help, so they switched her to sixth out of 22---not too shabby.

3 months today / Sara's first tooth fairy

Sara lost her first USA tooth..during school. She did not know what to do so she slipped it into her pocket and did not tell anyone. I did not know the upper molar was lose, but she has been wiggling the bottom one and it should be any day. I told Sara's teacher and she said she was wondering why Sara was so quiet...the tooth in the pocket. She did not know what to do. The tooth fairy came last night and she is itching to spend the money, where as Ruth has all the tooth fairy money still...in a special bag. Tonight we will get Sara a tooth fairy bag to keep her money in.

Today is 3 month anniversary of Sara being our daughter.

CELEBRATE !

Hollywood and Whales

Today after school we went and picked up Sara's new glasses. They are purple of course. She also chose a coordinating purple box to store them in, complete with a mirror and handle. She is styling Hollywood style. We got transition lenses since she seems to be very sensitive to light. No vision correction, simply to protect her good eye. They are poly carbon with a flex frame...kid proof we hope.

Today Ruth had to present her Independent Study. She did the report on whales and the tail slapping. I sat in on the presentations of most of the students and learned quite a lot from the different topic...these kids are so smart.

Snowman,teeth

Well, it has been a week since our snow, and the snowman has taken many forms. As it began to rain, he chose to switch to an umbrella. As the sun came out, he chose to hide behind the BBQ grill.....alas after a full week, he has finally gone to the great snowball in the sky


Sara and Ruth had the dentist again yesterday. Sara got her gums scraped a second time. I did not tell her that we were going until the night before because it was so traumatic and painful the first time. As she walked in and saw the hygienist, she yelled "oh no!" but then ran over and gave her a hug.
Ruth had to have TWO teeth pulled, again. Her baby teeth really like her mouth and most have had to be pulled. These two eye teeth were giants! She was a trooper and watched a football game while they did it and did not know how they did it.

Snow TX style

Now before we get started, those of you in the north get ready to laugh but you must understand, we are not equipt to handle this situation...the situation of ice followed by snow followed by, dare I day it, school cancellation! We had a blast! First of all this was a total suprise to both us and the weather man! He actually admitted it on air! As the girls got up, I put them back to bed, and they did not complain about this! LOL! Then up, dressed in 3 layers. Sara laughed and said just like in China, yea! Then out we went for some very cold play. Luckily DH was already planned on working from home, not that he could have made it on his hour drive anyways, but he had brought work home so he was a go. Ruth made a snow chair and thought she would sleep in it, but decided that she would pool her snow with Sara and make the snowman, and yes, they make them in China too. Then the snowball fight. The girls and I took our shaggy dog for a walk, with Sara trying to ride her bike....crunch crunch on the ice. The dog was covered with ice when we got home and I had to get the hair dryer to thaw him out.

ICE and Fu Dan

Yes, this is ice! In Friday, we were 70,then of course just before the girls got out of school, the pouring rain began. Then the temperature dropped 40 degrees in 1/2 hour! Around here, we mean business when it comes to weather changes. Then the ice came and it is beautiful if you have no place to go. Luckily Monday is a holiday for the girls and Jeff will work from home. I did make it to the store before the storm so we will not starve, but I do not know how those up north do it staying indoors for long periods of a time--it would drive me insane.

On a happy note, my friend Misty and Earl are in Nanchang today and getting their daughter Fu Dan in a few hours. Sara is so excited that her friend is coming to the USA-SC area. Then we will have one more known friend to come home-Anna. I have to wait until Sara's English gets better to know about more friends that are waiting or coming to the USA. Hopefully there will be many more older kids on their way! They all need a chance to fulfill their potential.

Great report cards

Today Ruth got her report card-All A's! She also got a special award from the PE teacher and almost all E's from the Accel (gifted) program. We are so proud of her. No award for perfect attendance this semester-remember the chicken pox?

Sara is doing flash words in her ESL class, so I made more, words that she hears all of the time. She is doing incredibly well, seems to have no issues that we can see, and loves the movie High School Musical-go figure. We even listen to the CD in the car!

Oragami fun

The girls have been creative with the oragami that Sara got for Christmas, some silly, some simple, some complex. The first night we had Sara, she was making cranes, a basket, and even a telephone. Sara said that she learned some in school. Sara has patiently shared this knowledge with little sister Ruth. I let the girls put them on the wall with push pins. Sara said that in China, they had them in rows down the walls....a little piece of home in the USA

What am I?

I am a Daffodil What Flower Are You?

Just having a little fun today. The girls are back in school-YEA! Sorry teachers (Yea, right!) My friend Misty leaves to get her daughter Fu, Dan in 9 days, home on the 25th, and Sara has marked her calender and is already waiting for a call from her friend, soon to be Dani. We also found Sara's bed mate, yes, they share beds. Her name will be Anna and will live in PA. Sara does spend time calling her two friends who are already in the US, Mailia and Ling. We may need to get this girl her own line when she gets older.

I decided to change the look of the blog for a little change. I may change it monthly, who knows.

Camp Hope-Fuzhou

http://www.bringmehope.org

Here are a few photos of Sara at Camp Hope in August 2006. The first photo has Sara, Dani, Ling, and Anna in it.






Then Sara and Ling,


then just Sara. Sara said she had so much fun there. Maybe some day Sara will go back as a counselor with the camp.

~2007 BEGINS~

Happy 2007 to everyone.
We chose to bring the new year in quietly. Ruth spent the night with a friend of hers, and Sara was not feeling well, so we were up with her until midnight.
This afternoon we went to Jeff's cousin Bud and wife Michelle's house for the afternoon. They have a wonderful get together of friends on News Year Day, BUT we are the only ones with kids. The girls were well behaved and Sara decided that she DID like brisket, and Ruth DID NOT like black eyed peas. Sara once again was feeling bad after eating. I think her system is having a hard time with new foods and they she belches, well, like a truck driver :(

We played our new favorite game Uno Attack in the evening. Sara usually is doing well and when she is, she makes sure everyone knows about it.

Happy 10th Sara

Tomorrow is Sara's 10th birthday, but so that we can celebrate it including my sister who has to leave for home tomorrow morning, we are celebrating Sara's birthday today. First off to Sam's for what Sara calls a "proper" birthday cake, aka lots of color and icing. Then she picks out two rotisserie chickens for her birthday dinner-she and Ruth love the legs. We have family over for cake at lunch so that we can include another one of my sisters, Chris, and her family. Sara loved all of her gifts, and the cake and ice cream.

Later that evening my nephew Jonathan and his wife Paige joined the family. We played Uno Attack, the girl's new favorite game.

Christmas 2006

Today is Christmas. We had to wake the girl up at 7:00 because we are traveling south to my parents house this morning too. At first Sara did not see the gifts, but when she did, her eyes got huge and she was so excited. This is the first year for having Christmas for two, double the gifts. First we gave them the super cool chair, which they sat in for the rest of the morning (Garden Ridge)

Then 2 1/2 hours later we were off for our LONG drive south, where the rest of the family gathered first for a feast, then the opening of gifts. My mother once again outdid herself with a wonderful meal.

Next was the all night card game and Ruth and I trying out the new video games Santa brought the girls...we approve.

The day before...

This morning the girls were just being silly. I got them up early so they would go to bed early so Santa can come and then get to bed. They have been in the study with me making crafts, and using our new furniture as a slide. It is hard to believe they were not sisters 6 weeks ago!

Christmas LICE/MOOSE

This evening we drove downtown to see the lights. They were beautiful and Sara kept saying "China no good Christmas lice, oh my gosh, COOL!" We found a chocolate store open and bought the girls, and us of course, some chocolate. Sara got a chocolate Christmas Moose sucker (reindeer) and Ruth some dark chocolate. The girls were sleeping by the time we got home.

Ice,tow truck,bikes

Today we went to see our friend Tami and her daughter Lauren. We went to the Gaylord hotel to see the ice sculpture display made by men from Chins who work on the Harbin Winter Festival. It is a constant 9 degrees in the display and luckily they give you large parkas to wear over your coat. I brought gloves and hats too. The girls had fun together and at the end, there is an ice slide that they went down a few times....then out because it was getting very cold.

By this time, Sara was too hungry and she crashes when she needs to eat. We went to the restaurant and were told we had a 30 minute wait, so we got the pager and went to get our free Christmas cookies and apple juice. Then we were not starving and wanted to save some money, so when they paged us, we told them thanks, but we needed to go. As I waited with the now crying Sara, Tami took the girls to the garage to get the car, and we waited, and we waited.....finally we met up and the car had died. It was in for maintenance the day before, and now a dead battery...coincidence, we think not. SO, back to the restaurant, a sports bar, and they seated us immediately, brought food within 5 minutes, and tended us like royalty! Sara got some, what else, chicken into her and she shared with Ruth and I. The meal was great and the service wonderful. Tami went ahead to see about the car, tow truck and loaner car coming from the dealership.

We met up with Tami as her car was leaving piggy back on the tow truck. On the way home we stopped at a park by her house and the girls played until it began to get too cool. Back to the house for the girls to make cookies. Then I took the training wheels off Lauren's bike and Lauren and Ruth both learned to ride!!!!! They were off like the wind, and Sara had to show them a few finer points on the bike.

Then back to the house and an end to a very fun day. Oh yeah, it was the battery on Tami's car and she called saying that she was on her way to get the car.

Dress-ups

This evening I caught the girls being girls...playing dress up. It was so much fun sitting back and watching them. AHHHH childhood is wonderful and we all need to keep a little in

our hearts to keep us smiling. Sara was watching a Chinese video of little girls doing ballet dances that she picked out in Guangzhou and she was pretending to be a ballet dancer. Ruth was a hula dancer along with just a sweet silly girl.

There were laughs all around.

Teeth and tears

Well, today was the teeth doctor, aka dentist. We stopped at McDonald's on the way for a little lunch and relaxed play-it is cold and raining outside. Sara was thrilled to see the dentist had video games to play while she waited, Ruth is old hat at all of this. Then it was time and to the back they went. Parents are NOT allowed in the back! They were there for a long time, then out comes Sara in her silent cry with tears running down her face. Her teeth were bad, but not terrible. They had to push back her gums to get to the crud. They are so much whiter too. Down the road will be braces and fixing a few chipped teeth. They played video games a little after the appointment and were all smiles by the time they left.

Ruth did great as usual, but needs two more teeth pulled to make way for her eye teeth. Her baby teeth usually do not want to leave and have to be pulled, the first 4 at a time when she was 4, and it did not phase her! SO....back to the dentist next month for Ruth's extraction and to work a little more on cleaning Sara's teeth.

Company Christmas Party

Today we drove an hour to Jeff's work for their company Christmas feast. Sara wanted to see where her Baba worked, and Ruth has fun there. We feasted, and the girls played in Jeff's office for a while....what artists we have.