Spelling lessons in public bathrooms

Paige has become fascinated with spelling words. She can write her letters so she'll often ask me to spell words for her. She is also learning how to spell words by sounding them out. Yesterday we had a lesson is spelling in the ladies room at our local mall. Here is how the conversation went:

Paige: Mommy somebody wrote on the wall.

Me: That wasn't very nice.

Paige: What does F...U...C...K... spell (muffled laughter from the stall next door)

Me: (Pause) Luck, it spells luck. Lets go! (full laughter from the stall next door)

Phew that was close! The language in the bathroom is not always nice so I'll have to keep her distracted now so she does not read the walls.

On a lighter note Paige and I had a great day on Friday with Scott's family. We spent the morning with his parents tour a little zoo, the afternoon in her cousins pool, and the evening playing little kids games to help raise money for the local high school football team. Here are a few pictures of our day.

Feeding the Swans with Grandma and Grandpa

She pet the baby bunny and I have the picture to prove it!

Checking out Grandpa's new lawn tractor

How to ride a bucket

Texas Vacation

This year our vacation plans took us to Texas. We spent few days in San Antonio to tour the Alamo and the Riverwalk. We also spent a couple of hours with my cousin Traci and her sons Justin and Jarin at the San Antonio Children's museum. It was nice to see Traci again and to meet her two boys. They were both so good with Paige.

We really liked San Antonio. We stayed on the Riverwalk which is a tourist area along the river with shops and places to eat all below street level. The river meanders through the city and you can walk around without having to deal with cars/crosswalks. It's also nicely shaded so it was somewhat cooler than up at street level. We took a tourist boat cruise on the river which highlighted all the sights.

Scott enjoyed visiting the Alamo. It was not at all like he expected. It is a beautiful park now in the middle of the city. Other than a few bullet holes that remain you cannot tell a battle ever took place there. We got the obligatory Scott with a cannon shot that goes with visiting any historical battle site with Scott. For those who don't know, we got married near a historical battle site (Mackinac Island, Michigan) and have a picture of us in our finery with a cannon.

Next, we traveled to Austin where we met up with 3 of the families we traveled with to China when we adopted Paige. It was great to catch up with these families and see how the girls have grown and changed. We swapped stories and had a wonderful time watching the girls play together.

We were sad to have to leave Texas, but look forward to meeting up with these families again next year. You can view the photos of our trip by clicking on the link below:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?mode=fromshare&Uc=m7znk8n.3io6b71n&Uy=mwelzs&Ux=0&UV=608763012022_753771872603

Amy

Gymnastics Graduation Day

Yesterday Paige complete her Playful Penguins gymnastics class with a showcase of skills on the floor, beam, rings, and bars. After completing all rotations each child received a medal and certificate. Paige has now moved up to the next level where she will be by herself, no moms allowed. Below are some of the highlights from the showcase.

Amy



Warm up stretching















Standing up after a forward roll
















Flipping over the bar















Straddle swing















Look at my cool medal and certificate!

Summer Fun Photo Story

First put on your most stylish swim suit. Use your best model stare while mom takes a picture.





















Get a bucket full of water















Get your swim suit wet.





















Get out the water squirters





















Reflect on the fun I had.

Road Trip to New York.

This past week Paige and I drove from Michigan first to Ithaca, NY where my parents live, then on to Cooperstown where my Grandfather is. Paige was a very good traveler! The trip to my parents took 9 hours and the trip to Cooperstown was 3.5 hours. We had a wonderful week with my parents and my Grandfather was so excited to have Paige come visit. This was the first time he has seen her and he smiled the whole time we visited! My grandfather looks so much better than when I left a month ago. He even went on an outing with some of the other residents of his nursing home to go for a drive and some ice cream! I'm glad he seems to be adjusting to life in the home.
There are no baseball fans in our family so while in Cooperstown we spent an afternoon at the Farmers Museum. We rode the carousel, walked through an restored village, and took in the animals at the historic farm. Paige had so much fun she slept most of the way back to my parents house!
My parents love having Paige and I come visit and Paige had such a good time she did not want to leave! I am grateful we got the chance to see my grandfather and my parents. Below are a few picture from our trip.


Amy

Mom, Grandpa, Paige, and me

Grandma and Paige ride the carousel

Paige milking the pretend cow at the Farmers Museum

Paige with Grandma and Grandpa

Garage sales!

Paige loves to go to garage sales and this weekend was our subdivision one. We walked the entire neighborhood looking for good bargains. From our neighbors Zack and Tyler we bought a very cool mini trampoline. Here Paige demonstrates her bouncing skills















From Ms. Mary we bought a Leap Pad (teaching type lap computer for kids) and a shelf with bins to organize toys. Paige spent her money on a princess wand (no surprise there), the Candy Land board game, and the Pretty Pretty Princess board game. We played all the games after dinner. The winner of the Pretty Pretty Princess game refused to have photos published here. Paige won Candy Land easily.

It's supposed to be a hot week. Stay cool!

Amy

They grow up so fast

Friday morning we were shopping for a new car seat for Paige and by the afternoon we were shopping for bras! Here is one of the ones she liked.














We actually went shopping for mom, but Paige wanted to try some on too. Her choices were much more colorful than mine :).

Friday we went to Paige's cousin Anthony's school for lunch. We took a slight detour to pick up the new car seat and we happened to pass a Crispy Cream Doughnut shop with the "Hot Doughnuts" light on. I could not stop the car from pulling into the parking lot. This was Paige's first Crispy Cream experience. Here is a picture of the sugar high.














When we arrived at the school, Anthony gave us a tour of his class room and took us to get lunch. Paige wanted to hold his hand and he was happy to do so. Too cute!














The afternoon found us with cousins Jenny and Andrew on the playground. I love having a camera in my phone. I've gotten some cute pictures I would not have gotten since my regular camera is so big and bulky.

Will we ever settle on a website location?

Some day perhaps we will decide on one site/software Scott and I can both use. While I am the one making the posts it will be here for now. Blogger does not work in China (darn those government restrictions on the Internet!) so we'll have to come up with a new plan when we return to China to adopt again. Of course that is so far off things could have changed. Before you ask, no we don't have any idea when we might travel and cannot even give you a guess at this point.

So What have we been up to you ask? Well the past month has been eventful for me. The week before Mother's day I received news of my grandparents failing health. I went to Cooperstown, NY to help my mom get them both on Hospice and to support her as we watched her mother give up on life. My original plan was to stay a few days, fly home, and drive out with Paige. I ended up staying for 9 days. My grandmother passed away on May 8th and calling hours and the funeral were held the following Monday and Tuesday. It was long and emotional 9 days, but I am so glad I could be there for my mother. Scott picked up the slack and stayed home with Paige. He did a great job while I was away. I came home to a clean house, no laundry, and food in the kitchen (not all of it junk either!). I am a lucky girl to have such a a great man!

I did get to spend mother's day with my mother, something I have not been able to do in a long time. We went to the Fenimore Cooper Museum (early American arts and crafts) and rode the carousel at the Farmers Museum. Both museums were free for mothers. It was a few stolen moments of happiness in an otherwise sad and stressful week. Another positive was getting to see my cousins Traci and Tami and my uncle Keith. I have not seen them in many years and it was good to see them and catch up a bit.

Paige had her last day of school last week. We both are going to miss it. We do however still have gymnastics until the last week of June. Paige continues to grow and loves to paint, play in the sandbox, and go to the "Old MacDonald Park" (Petting zoo/farm/park next door). Not a day passes when she does not mention wanting to do something or save something for Mei Mei. She is going to be a good big sister!

I'm sure I've missed a lot, but I thought it best just to give an update rather than overwhelm everyone with the details. As always, enjoy the pictures!

Amy


Me, Grandpa, and mom in lobby of nursing home














Back: Traci, me, Tami. Front: Uncle Keith, mom, dad.













Grandpa and his grand daughters.














Scott's mom, Paige, and Scott attended Mothers Day tea while I was in NY.













Watching the Kentucky Derby in style!

Princess Paige

May I introduce Princess Paige. She picked this outfit out to attend a birthday/costume party and to wear for Halloween. She looks so sweet I just had to share.

Amy

Trying this again

Hello,
I've been going back and forth between this site and our comcast site to see which one is easier/best to use. I'm back here since Blogger has made some changes that will hopefully make things go smoother than before. So since you really came here to see the pictures, here they are.

Hanging out with my friend Bella

Forever a Family on August 15, 2005

Forever Family Day 2nd Anniversary on August 15, 2007

WE'VE MOVED!

Please join us at our new home on the web http://home.comcast.net/~scottamyharris to get all the latest news and photos.

Scott, Amy, and Paige Harris

WE'VE MOVED!

Please join us at our new home on the web http://home.comcast.net/~scottamyharris to get all the latest news and photos.

Scott, Amy, and Paige Harris

One year ago today...

One year ago today Paige was placed in our arms and our lives have not been the same since. In some ways it seems like she has been a part of our family for years, while our time in China seems to be only a few weeks ago. We feel honored and blessed to have Paige in our lives and look forward to a lifetime together.

When Paige was placed in my arms for the first time I felt such a sense of relief and peace. Finally, we were a family! Today I hugged her tight and felt peace and love (and got a return hug). Today we celebrated as a family with Paige and I making a cake and having dinner together. We gave Paige a sock doll we had purchased in China. I also had a chance to take part in a conference call among 8 of the families we traveled with. It was wonderful to hear how all the children and adults were doing! I hope that we are able to keep in touch as the years go by as these girls are really like sisters and share a background that is special to them.

Our Chicago Trip

This past weekend we traveled to Chicago for a long weekend with our friends Mike, Kris, and Jozef Mularski. We took the Amtrak train from Dearborn. The ride out was not the best way to begin a trip. It should take a little over 5 hours to get to Chicago. It took us 10. We ran into freight train traffic, slow downs due to hat rails, and then our conductor was going over his hours. Paige handled all this with ease, The rest of us on the train were not as pleasant about the whole experience. I called ahead to the hotel to see if they could have a crib in our room when we arrived. We arrived at our hotel at 10pm Chicago time and then proceeded to wait 45 minutes for a crib for Paige. Needless to say no one slept well the first night. Our darling morning riser was up at 7am ready to go.

Our first day in Chicago we went to Shedd Aquarium, The Museum of Natural History, and Navy Pier. We met up with Scott's cousin Cindy at Navy Pier for dinner and a visit tot he children's Museum. Paige enjoyed it all and was very well behaved despite having less sleep than usual. She also took to Mike right away and was his buddy much of the weekend. Day two took us to the Museum of Science and Industry where we toured the inside of the U 505 German Submarine. Mike and Scott really enjoyed all the military history in this exhibit. We ended the day at the top of the Hancock Building and dessert from the Cheesecake Factory.

We spent the morning of our final day in Chicago at the Library as it was too hot to be outside for very long. The trip home was hassle free and took a little over 5 hours. So that's all the excitement from here. Here are some pictures of our trip. Enjoy!

Amy

Paige's Favorite Word

Paige's favorite word is "help". She wants to help with everything! Being an adventurous sort I try to let her help as much as possible. She now helps set the table (napkins and silverware only), folding the laundry (she's great at matching socks), and cooking. Last week we made pie together, but did not get any pictures. Just imagine flour everywhere. Paige looked like she had gray hairs already. We had fun though. Thursday night I was making a cake and she wanted to help. She went to her kitchen and got her rolling pin (we had used it in making pie) and was ready to go. Below tells the story of making the cake.





Adding the water (note the rolling pin at the ready)

















Using the rolling pin. I could not convince her it was not for mixing.















The best part, licking the spoon. Yummy!






Today she had to help me clean the floors. Here she is in the kitchen. I'll hire her out to clean your house. She works for fruit or mac and cheese. I do not make any guarantees about how clean your floor will be when she's done, though.









I'm getting the hang of this.


















Under the table is tricky.












Zooming across the open floor.

A weekend with Anthony

We had our nephew Anthony with us last weekend. We went to the Zoo, Build-a-Bear Workshop, a water park, and an arcade. A good time was had by all! It was also good practice for Scott and I to have two children. It certainly changes the dynamic! Of course Anthony at 6 is much more independent than Paige will be when we adopt her little sister. Speaking of our second adoption, we had our last visit with the social worker last Wednesday and hope to submit our paperwork to the office of Citizenship and Immigration next week. We should have approval in 5-6 Weeks and be ready to send everything to China in September as planned. In the meantime we enjoy having Paige and she
continues to bring us great joy. Below are some pictures of our weekend.

The sign at the Kangaroo exhobit at the zoo (no Kim those are not the real distances)

Here are Anthony and Paige Roaring like tigers

Paige at the Arcade

Anthony at Build-a-Bear with the Monkey he made.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a nice holiday and took the time to count their blessing for living in such a wonderful country. Scott, Paige, and I went to Birch Run to be with Scott's family. We took in the town parade and then had several competitive matches of Croquet in the afternoon. Paige loved the parade, especially all the candy she collected. We shared the wealth among the family. Below are some pictures from our day. Hanging out with my Aunt Michelle before the parade

More candy. Cool!Cousin Cassie twiring her baton.I don't think this duck will fit in my bath tub.

Croquet anyone?