Update and random things

Paige and I have been sick for the past week and a half so we've been staying home and laying around. I hope next week will be better as Paige goes back to school on Monday. So much for enjoying mid-winter break. Despite being sick, we did try to do our part to stimulate the economy last weekend. We retired Our Chevy Malibu at 139,000 miles and replaced it with a used 2008 Ford Focus. It is a unique Kiwi Green color.
Under the random things category, we are looking at 3 different schools to send Paige to for kindergarten. Perhaps it is mommy being over protective, but I don't think she is ready for all day Kindergarten. Our school district does not offer part time kindergarten so we are looking at the Schools of Choice program which lets us apply to other local schools that offer part time programs. If accepted (it's lottery based) we can send Paige there tuition free, we just have to provide transportation daily. We attended a parents night at one of the schools already and hope to schedule a time at each school to visit a kindergarten class when it is in session. We won't know where she is going to go until mid to late April.

The next random thing is a picture of the flyer Paige's preschool/daycare center sent out as a mass mailing. She appears in the lower left hand corner.
Finally, I felt better today so I finished a project I started this summer, I completed the quilt hanger and hung up the quilt that came to me after my grandmother passed away last spring. It now hangs in our bedroom.

Pinkalicious

Paige loves books. Many of her favorite books, and her treasured High Five magazine, come from my mom. In honor of two of Paige's favorite books, Crumbs Bakeshop in a Box by Mia Bauer and Pinkalicious by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann, we made pink cupcakes with pink frosting. We used the recipe from the Crumbs book and it was very tasty. In honor of Pinkalicious (and Crumbs too) the cupcakes were pink with pink frosting. No one turned pink from too much pink consumption like in Pinkalicious. We had a great time baking and eating our treat.

Making the cupcakes.

Making the frosting. Frosting the cupcakes.

The finished products. Makes you hungry doesn't it.

Enjoying the fruits, I mean cupcakes, of our labor.

Xin Nian Kuai Le - Happy Chinese New Year

Saturday we celebrated Chinese New Year with 100 plus adoptive families. We enjoyed a buffet lunch, live traditional Chinese music, a shadow puppet show, and faux firecrackers (100 plus kids jumping on bubble wrap). We had a wonderful time catching up with friends and celebrating Paige's unique culture.

Yesterday, New Years Eve, I spent cleaning house to sweep out (or vacuum up) the old and start the year clean. Today we took Paige's teachers oranges to wish them prosperity in the new year. We also put together red envelopes of chocolate coins to give to her class mates. Traditionally the parents and grandparents give children money in red envelopes on New Years Day. This money is meant to be saved for the future.

I hope all is well with you and you are happy and healthy. Below are pictures of Saturday's celebration.

Amy

All dressed up. Mom even let her have some lipstick.

Thanks to Auntie Kim for the dress.

Ready to party!

Traditional erhu and flute musicDragon parade. Paige just watches this part. She does not like the dragon.
The best part, jumping on the bubble wrap to pop the bubbles.
It really does sound like firecrackers

Ice Skating

It's been very cold here for the past few days. Temperatures have been in the low teens or less during the day. Yesterday morning the car read -9 as I was taking Paige to school. Given the cold we've been choosing to stay inside where it is warm. OnThursday we were inside, but at a ice skating rink. It was Paige's first time on skates and she did great! She had a few falls, but figured out how to get back up first with some help from mom then on her own. We stuck to the edges so Paige could hold onto the boards and my hand. She even ventured off just holding the boards. We made it 5 times around the rink in the 45 minutes we skated. We stopped each time we came to the team box and she would send me out to skate by myself so she could watch. Below are some pictures of our adventure.

Today Scott and Paige are off on a date. I have some work to do while they are away and a few errands as well.

Take care,

Amy

First time on the ice.

Penalty to Paige Harris. 5 minutes for cuteness.

I'm starting to get the hang of this.

Look at me go!

Just a little fall.

Harris Family Christmas

See the post below this one first.

Here are the pictures from the Harris Family Christmas.

Paige in front of the mound of presents. 8 grand kids equals lots of gifts.

The stockings hung with care. The blank one on the right is for Mei Mei.

The grand kids.

The chaos of opening presents with 8 kids and 8 adults.Paige modeling the dress up clothes and wig she got.

Happy Holidays!

We hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season! We had a wonderful Christmas morning where Paige tore through the paper on the gifts. Santa fulfilled almost all her wishes including the Hannah Montana guitar, a Leapster2, and a makeup doll. Her only request not filled was a remote controlled airplane. We told her perhaps Santa felt she should be a little older for that toy. After breakfast and some playtime we headed to Scott's family for more presents and dinner. After dinner we played with all the kids new toys. Scott and I had to wait until today to get our new toy. We got a new Dell computer. It looks great and everything but the Internet is working so I'm writing this post from the old computer. I guess we will be spending some time with Comcast and/or Dell support tomorrow.

Paige has been enjoying her new toys. The easy bake oven has proved to be a bit of a challenge. Everything that she has tried to make has burned. First it was the cake she and the babysitter tried to make, then the cookies she and Scott tried to make. It seems the cooking times given in the directions need to be cut in half. The Leapster2 has made a few car trips and the make up doll has had several session for both her face and hair. The guitar also gets played and she sings along with it. The guitar was a popular toy today when we had some friends over.

The other day Paige was putting on a bracelet she got from Santa and she saw it said "Made in China" on it. She asked Scott and I "How come so much of the stuff Santa brought says made in China?" She's 4, she cannot start questioning Santa yet!!!!!!! We told her Santa has workshops all over and that sometimes he has to buy some things he cannot make. The answer seemed to satisfy her for now.

Now since you really want the pictures, there a some in this post and the next one down. Enjoy!

Amy

Paige in front of the Christmas tree.
Reaction to opening the guitar she really wanted.Rocking out with the guitar in the High School Musical Cheerleader outfit
Playing with the Leapster.
Applying eye shadow to the doll.

Snow much fun!

As we continue to dig out, Paige enjoys the snow.

Making her way up the snow hill.

Clawing her way to the top.

I made it!

This was fun!

Snow angels.

SNOW DAY!!!

We got over 10 inches of the white stuff today so no school or work for us. We went out and played in our winter wonderland.

New York Christmas

This past weekend we spent visiting my parents and my grandfather in New York. We arrived on a snowy night and woke up the next morning to 4 inches of snow. We spent the day cooking, eating, playing in the snow, and opening presents. My parents finally got to see the joy of grand kids opening presents first hand. Paige ripped through the paper this time, quite a change from last Christmas where she would tear off a little bit and hand it to mom or dad, tear off a bit more, hand it to mom and dad and 2 minutes later she might have finished opening the present. It was also nice to share Paige's joyous spirit in their home. We spend so little time with them it's nice to be able to make it joyous and fun while we are there.

On Saturday we drove to Cooperstown to visit my Grandfather. My mom had brought along a present for him to give Paige to break the ice and it worked like a charm. She opened the gift, a Littlest Pet Shop set of games, and she played tic tac toe with her Great-Grandpa. Both were smiling the whole time. While we were there we also helped him put some cards and photos in an album and Paige decorated his room as well. It was only a short visit, but it was so nice to see Paige, my mom, and Grandpa interacting together. I have great memories of my great grandparents and I hope Paige will have a few of her last living Great Grandparent.

This week we party at school and at playgroup. Let the eating of goodies begin. Of course I already started since I made peanut brittle (the easy way in the microwave) tonight. I still have cookies and fudge to make in preparation for next week. Paige says we have to leave milk, cookies, and a crescent roll for Santa. We had a very serious discussion about where the plate and milk would be left. After talking through the pros and cons of three locations she finally decided it would be under the tree. Santa won't miss them there.

I hope you and yours are enjoying a wonderful holiday season.

Amy

Opening presents with Grandma and Grandpa.

Showing Grandma and Grandpa the calendar we made them.

Playing tic tac toe with Great Grandpa.

Helping put pictures and cards in the album.

I love this picture of Grandpa and Paige.

WOW! I cannot believe it's been a whole month since I last posted. It seems we have spent the last month passing around illness. We are all on the mend at the moment, but with Paige is school it seems we get more stuffy noses than usual.

We spent a peaceful Thanksgiving with Scott's family enjoying good food and a rousing game of spoons (It's a card game for those who have never played). We of course ate too much and are already starting to talk about the weight loss resolution for next year.

On a funny note Paige's class made gingerbread cookies today. She got very upset when the cookies disappeared from the kitchen. Last year she was in tears and inconsolable and it took me a while later to figure out she was scared there was a fox roaming around her school. This year she was upset again about the fox. The school director pulled Paige aside and asked her if she could keep a secret. Paige agreed so when the other kids left, the director showed Paige the unharmed cookies in the pantry. She was apparently fine after that.

The Christmas cards are in the mail, but I'll post it here as well in case we don't have your address, or you've moved since last year. Have a wonderful holiday season!

Amy

SNOW!

We woke up to a bit of snow on the ground. Paige was so excited she rushed through breakfast and getting dressed so she would have time to play before school.

Catching snowflakes with her tongue

Falling in the snow.

Making a snow angel.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween has come and gone for another year, but we may be eating candy for months to come! Paige Trick or Treated at Scott's office Friday afternoon and went out Friday night in our neighborhood. We ended up with a huge heaping bowl of candy! We gave some away to Paige's older cousins who were here for the weekend, but we still have tons left. Below are pictures of our little Fairy.

Amy

Pumpkin Carving

To top off an already busy weekend we carved pumpkins today. Unfortunately my pumpkin was already soft so I did not get to carve one this year. I attempted to draw on a face, but it looked dorky. If I get a chance this week perhaps I'll go get another pumpkin and Paige and I can carve it. Below are Scott's and Paige's pumpkins.

Carving pumpkins is messy. Note the pumpkin seed in Paige's hair.

Scott's pumpkin during the day.
Scott's pumpkin at night.
Paige's pumpkin during the day.

Paige's pumpkin at night.