Our Journey to Aaron

Chinese New Year Celebration at Preschool

2012-01-22T17:17:00.001-08:00

To a Mother I Will Never Know

2012-01-17T05:35:00.000-08:00

To the mother who gave birth to my son,

Today, on Aaron's 5th birthday, I can't help but think about you. Though I will never know you, I am so thankful for the choices you made for my son; Without you, I would not have my son.

Certainly there are some things I wonder, as I am sure he someday will too. It is so hard for me, as his Mommy now, to comprehend how you walked away from him 4 years and 3 months ago. The reasons really do not matter to me. What I do know is that you (or another family member) left him in a place where he would be quickly found. I will never ever know your story. What we know (and what he will know also) is that you chose life for my son. You made the choice to bring him into this world, and then you made a choice to save him. Without you and the decisions you made, I would not have my son.

I wish you could know that he survived against the odds as an orphan in China, and at 3 years, 3 months of age, he met his forever family. I wish you could know that he is loved and cherished, and always will be.

I wish I could meet you and tell you how amazing he is! I wish I could let you hear him laugh, just once. I wish you could see how smart he is - scary smart. How in eight months he learned English to a point that no one would ever know English was not his first language. How within a month he learned his colors, shapes, numbers, and letters in English. How LAST Christmastime he memorized the entire Night Before Christmas story, Frosty the Snowman song, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town song. How this year he began READING!

I wish you could see him with his brother, Donovan. I wish you could see he is loved and adored by so many people. I wish you could feel his hugs and kisses, and know how loving he is. I wish you could see and know that he is cherished by all of us. That we are so proud to have him as our son. That we love him so much!

I wish you could see how Aaron embraces each new aspect of his life with incredible enthusiasm. I wish you could witness the joy and happiness he brings to all those around him.

And I can't help but wonder if you are thinking of us today, as much as I am thinking of you. Without you, we would not have our son Aaron and I can't even imagine a life like that. You gave him life! You gave him a chance to be surrounded by love.

I know that we have been blessed beyond words to have him, as our son.

I will forever be thankful to you and the choices you made for Aaron. My continued prayer is that someday we will meet, most likely not this side of life. I pray that we can stand together before our Father who had this marvelous plan for our lives, and you can finally see the gift you gave us - and the gift you gave Aaron.

You will always be remembered,
Love, a very thankful Mommy

Sledding Fun!

2012-01-08T15:50:00.000-08:00

While we do not have much snow right now, we spent the morning sledding on the sledding hill at the boys' preschool. SO MUCH FUN!

Christmas Photos

2011-12-25T18:21:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese Birthday Aaron

2011-12-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

Today is Aaron's birthday according to the Chinese/Lunar calendar.
Here are some photos of Aaron wearing a few different Chinese outfits. He very much enjoyed his "fashion show."

LOVE the photo below of the dragon on the back of this outfit!

We are heading out to Aaron's 5 year physical with our most favorite pediatrician. Aaron is proudly bringing photographs of himself and Donovan for the pediatrician's bulletin board in his office. He is very much looking forward to his 5 year physical after hearing about all the fun Donovan had at his. He knows he is likely to get 1 or 2 immunizations, but that doesn't phase him one bit. He's looking forward to finding out what stickers they have for him to pick from after his appointment.
Then when we get home he has a few presents and lucky money to open, and a special dinner with cupcakes tonight. A very special day for a very special boy.
Here are some photos from Aaron blowing out his candle #5 and enjoying his cupcake.

And, I love this photo of my boy!

Preschool Book Publishing Party

2011-12-18T13:50:00.000-08:00

Donovan and Aaron's preschool had a book publishing party, where the students read their recently "published" books to the parents. Donovan's book is "Monster Steals the Giraffes" and Aaron's book is "Mousey flying over cars." Each boy has a shruken apple doll figurine - Donovan's is a monster and Aaron's is a mouse.

One Happy Boy!

2011-12-10T17:36:00.001-08:00

Donovan's Recent Photo Shoot

2011-12-10T17:32:00.001-08:00

Our Christmas Trees is Decorated!

2011-11-27T12:43:00.000-08:00

Aaron and Donovan had so much fun looking through their ornaments from previous years. They also each received a special ornament from Mommy and Daddy from Santa's Village this year, and several special ornaments for each of them from our trip to Disney. They each chose the perfect spots on the tree for their new ornaments, and then put their ornaments from previous years on the tree also.

Our Christmas Tree

2011-11-26T15:45:00.001-08:00

Here are some photos of the boys "helping" to "saw" the tree (after it was down).

While Grandma searched for her perfect tree and Daddy cut it down for her, Donovan and Aaron decided to "decorate" a smaller tree with pieces of ice. They did this for close a half hour and were so thrilled with themselves over this. It was so sweet!

Our lights are now on the tree (8 strands!). We are looking forward to putting all our ornaments on the tree tomorrow, including some special ones I purchased for the boys at Disneyworld in May.
This evening we've watched Elf on the Shelf (he'll be arriving tomorrow), Rudolph, and now Frosty, while enjoying some freshly baked brownies.
This is the best time of the year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-26T15:31:00.001-08:00

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!
All morning the boys were pretending they were on an "expedition" to shoot a turkey for our dinner. They made turkeys out of Legos. I'm happy to report we did not have resort to their hunting skills for our turkey. Aaron and Grandma had purchased a 22 pound turkey earlier in the week (while Donovan and Mommy were at the pediatrician for Donovan's 5 year physical).
Our turkey and all the dishes were delicious.
Both boys were thrilled to have Grandma sleep over at our house.
Daddy started the first fire in the fireplace of the season and we all enjoyed toasting marshmallows.
And, both boys are looking forward to picking out our Christmas tree on Saturday.

We continue to be amazed at Aaron's impressive memory. On Wednesday morning, he looked out the window and saw the snow (first snowfall this fall) and was SO EXCITED. He started telling me how soon our Elf on the Shelf, "Pelf," would appear at our house, and recalling all the different traditions he was introduced to last year. He is very much looking forward to this Christmas season.

5 Years of Donovan!

2011-11-17T11:12:00.000-08:00

The Birthday Boy!!!!!

We took this photo before Donovan's birthday party.

Out for a hike on his 4th birthday. Mommy loved that brown fleece jacket of his.

This is also Donovan at age 4 - his preschool photo.

Donovan at age 3 with pumpkins Daddy painted for Halloween.

Our Christmas card photo when Donovan was 2.

Chinese New Year when Donovan was 1.

Photo of Newborn Donovan - He was one week old.

U.S. Citizenship Finally!

2011-11-14T16:04:00.000-08:00

After 11 years of living in the United States, FINALLY, Rupert is a U.S. Citizen!
(And officially changed his name to include Rupert, which has been a nickname since he entered primary school in Hong Kong, but never a legal name).

There were 28 people gaining U.S. Citizenship, from 18 different countries. It was quite something!

It was a complicated process, which seemed endless at times, especially when desperately trying to get his permanent resident/green card, in order to file our adoption paperwork with Homeland Security back in 2008. 3 years after that, (March 2011) he applied for Citizenship, and finally received his interview this fall, and passed the test.
He's the last in our family to gain Citizenship, since Aaron gained it when our plane touched down at JFK.
Congratulations Rupert, we are so proud of you!

Fun at Preschool

2011-11-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of Donovan and Aaron on the zipline, slackline, and climbing trees. They love their preschool and so do we!

Halloween

2011-10-31T22:41:00.000-07:00

Aaron & Donovan as Chip & Dale

2011-10-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

This has been in the making since our final day in Disneyworld when Donovan saw a "Dale hat," and we purchased it. He told us if he was able to get it, he would be Dale for Halloween, and Aaron could be Chip. Finding the costumes was not easy...(they ended up coming from Disney Paris via Ebay!). The boys LOVE their costumes and have tried them on many times. Thank goodness Halloween is NOW, because in another month, there is no doubt that Aaron's would be too small for him - it's quite snug now as it is!
Last weekend one of our local malls and pedestrian streets had trick-or-treating for the kids. The boys had so much fun (and got so much candy!). There were SO MANY COMMENTS about the "adorable chipmunks."
Here are a few photos.
We are looking forward to trick-or-treating Monday evening in Grandma's neighborhood as we did last year(about 30 houses, just the right size for our boys!).

Aaron the Artist!

2011-10-26T17:31:00.000-07:00

Aaron won a local Halloween coloring contest for his age group (ages 3-6). He won a g$5 gift card to the local drugstore that was holding the contest. Aaron was SO THRILLED, as is evident in the photo!

Donovan's Chinese/Lunar Birthday

2011-10-23T16:38:00.000-07:00

We are Still Here

2011-10-20T17:50:00.000-07:00

As I expected, upon my return to teaching full time, I've not updated our blog in WEEKS...We are all fine - great actually. Aaron and Donovan are thriving at their preschool. We are getting excited for Halloween, Donovan's Chinese birthday (this weekend), and his birthday in November.

Just a quick post to say we are still here, doing great, and enjoying fall.

First Day of Preschool 2011-2012

2011-08-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

Here are Aaron and Donovan just before heading to the first day of preschool.
Due to our recent rain from Hurricane Irene, and their plans to use the zipline at school, both boys were well-prepared with rainboots.
Both boys are in the same class, which meets 3 mornings a week. This is their second year at this school and they (and we!) LOVE it. Their teachers are phenomenal. This is a parent cooperative preschool, and a wonderful community.
And here's a silly one of the boys:

Photos from our trip to Maine

2011-07-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

We had an incredible week on the coast of Maine. We stayed at the same house we have stayed at the past 4 years. This was the best weather we have had in many years. Sunny and hot (high 90s, near 100) most of the week. The boys LOVED the ocean, and spent hours every day in it (and never complained of the temperature of the water, which was 59-61 many days, but 51 degrees on our last day). Even on the last day, the boys loved being in the water, riding the waves in on their kickboards, and playing in the sand. Here are many photos from our trip. You can see Rupert was quite busy making characters in the sand (Mike from Monsters Inc., Cars characters, including Guido and Luigi).

Maine...Here We Come!!

2011-07-15T13:01:00.001-07:00

We leave early tomorrow morning for the coast of Maine. This is a family trip with my mom (Grandma) that we look forward to each summer. I've been going since I was 13. What a thrill to now share this with my own children. The boys are so excited. They remember "Jim's House" from last year (Jim is the man we rent the house from.).
Last night I told Donovan after we got out of the pool, "Well we are certainly going to miss the pool next week when we are in Maine." He replied, "That's okay Mommy because we are going to have a great time and you know what, when we get home from Maine, we will miss the Ocean!" True!

Not sure if we will have Internet at the house this year. If I don't post here on the blog, just know we are having a great time!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

Donovan had a special day with Grandma on Friday, while Aaron had a special day with Mommy. (I love being able to give each boy 1:1 time with me, and each boy LOVES spending a day with Grandma!) At Grandma's house, Donovan helped to make a strawberry Jello pie (which we all LOVE) which would be our dessert tonight. He asked to put blueberries on it so it would have red and blue (and later white due to a little whipped cream on top). He was so proud of his creation!

Aaron in a new tube for the pool from Grandma (notice the American Flag theme)

The tube is so big that both boys are able to fit inside it together. They LOVE it!

Echo Museum

2011-06-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the morning at the ECHO Center. The boys have seen a "Things that Glow" exhibit advertised and were interested in seeing it. We had a nice morning there, and enjoyed a picnic lunch on the waterfront.

First experience with parking meters in the "big city"

Donovan contemplating the cost of parking-

Counting his change

Feeding the meter

Aaron takes a turn feeding the meter

Aaron posing with the meter

Our Two Chipmunks

2011-06-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Today, our mailman rang our doorbell, delivering a package I had ordered - the boys' Halloween costumes. (I do realize it's only June! But, when I am teaching I try to order their Halloween costumes and birthday party supplies over the summer, when I am not as busy!) THe boys were THRILLED.
Here they are, dressed as Chip (Aaron) and Dale (Donovan). Do you know the difference?

Chip has a brown/black nose like a chocolate chip and only one tooth. Dale has a red nose, and two teeth.

Before we left for Disney, we were reading many Disney stories and watching Disney dvds to prepare the boys for the different characters they would see and rides they would go on. Both boys loved Chip and Dale. Aaron kept telling people we were going to see, "Those 2 little sweet chipmunks." Our first night at dinner at Garden Grill in Epcot, both boys loved meeting and spending time with Chip and Dale. They saw that Dale is quite a trickster; after signing Donovan's autograph book, he took the pen and pretended to throw it into the scenery below. The next morning we saw them at Animal Kingdom, and again the boys were thrilled. This time Donovan made sure to get his pen back as soon as Dale finished writing with it :)
On our last day at Disney, we returned to Animal Kingdom. Just as we were leaving, I stopped at one final gift shop to check their pins for the boys' lanyards. While I was looking, Donovan appeared, wearing a Dale hat AND a HUGE GRIN. He said he wanted to buy it. When I asked why he wanted it, he informed me he would be Dale for Halloween and Aaron would be Chip. He proudly bought the hat.
Let me just say, finding Chip and Dale costumes has been difficult. I finally located (via Ebay) 2 costumes from Disneyland in France - however, they were both Chip costumes. We decided to improvise and roll the attached Chip hood down inside the neck/back of Donovan's costume so he can wear the Dale hat. I think they look pretty darn cute. The boys were thrilled to surprise Rupert when he came home from work - greeting him dressed as the chipmunks, and later in the evening did the same when Grandma stopped by.

Father's Day at the Montshire Museum

2011-06-20T13:07:00.000-07:00

The boys invited Rupert to spend Father's Day at the Montshire Museum. (After two visits in less than two weeks, and at least one more visit before summer's end, I'm kicking myself for not getting a membership last week on our first visit!)
The boys loved their day at Montshire, just as much at last week's. Honestly, it's been the first "exciting" topic I've heard the boys talking about since our return from Disney!
Once again, the boys loved the Robot Zoo exhibit, leafcutter ants, and all the hands on science centers. They participated in an optical illusion activity too. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, as the Vermonter (train) passed by us, much to the boys' delight (they love trains). After lunch, they changed into bathing suits, and spent close to two hours in the outdoor water area. Last week there had been a school group there, of kids 8-10, and one area was dominated by then, so my boys had avoided it. Today, that area was empty and Aaron and Donovan spent close to 45 minutes constructing pipes structures, which were built on top of water spouts. They had so much fun. Then they returned to the main water area and spent a lot of time constructing a dam (just like last week). Such a fun day!
The boys were asleep in the car within 5 minutes on the ride home.
Once home, we enjoyed a late afternoon swim in the pool, dinner from our favorite Chinese restaurant, and time at a nearby playground.
Happy Father's Day to Rupert!

Both boys loved this robot housefly!

Donovan and Aaron were amazed by the leafcutter ants!

Making Bubbles

Montshire Museum

2011-06-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

Today my mom and I took Aaron and Donovan to the Montshire Museum. We had an incredible day!
I had not been to the Montshire Museum in 15 years, when I had gone with my kindergarten and first grade class. The other day Donovan was reading a local newspaper when he exclaimed, "Mommy, there's a ROBOT EXHIBIT somewhere. We need to go." Sure enough, the Montshire currently has a robot exhibit featuring robot insects that the children control the body parts for, using joysticks, levers, and buttons.
We got there about 15 minutes before they opened, just enough time for Donovan to eat snack and Aaron to eat breakfast (with severe motion sickness, Aaron eats nothing before trips over an hour in length, just Dramamine and water), and then we headed in. We went right up to the Robot Exhibit which both boys LOVED. We toured the rest of the museum (the boys were AMAZED at the leafcutter ants), and enjoyed a picnic lunch. After lunch the boys spent over 2 hours in the outdoor water science center. It was fantastic. There was a man made stream that the boys could send balls down, and follow to the end, as they came down a waterfall (the balls, not the boys). Then, the boys loved exploring the different levels of the water area and bulding dams. It was quite a sight, as both boys had long pants on, rolled up to their upper thighs. Both boys (but especially Aaron) were absolutely drenched. I never thought to bring bathing suits and towels as it was high 60s/low 70s and cloudy, but my boys didn't care one bit. Luckily I did have a change of clothes in the car for them.
On the way home, the boys suggested they would take their naps in the car so that when we got home they could play with the new "robot arms/hands" that Grandma had purchased for them at the gift shop. They fell asleep within the first 5 minutes of the car ride.
They are already asking to go back "tomorrow!"

Enjoying the start of summer...

2011-06-10T18:19:00.001-07:00

6 Years Ago Today...

2011-05-28T05:41:00.001-07:00

Actually these photos were taken a few days after our wedding. On a Thursday afternoon we got dressed up again and met our photographer at Shelburne Farms for more photos. No reception to get to, just lots of fun taking photos.

Continuing to Adjust to Regular Life...(and it's really hard!)

2011-05-17T10:24:00.000-07:00

We were truly spoiled with being in Disney for 9 days (and we enjoyed every minute of it). We are all having a hard time adjusting to our regular life. We've had tears every morning from Aaron who keeps saying, "I miss Disney SO MUCH. I love it there. I want to go back." Donovan continually asks, "When can we go back?"

I truly am jealous of people who are able to travel to Disney every year. With being a teacher and having just the school vacations/summer vacations off (which is exactly when we DON'T want to go to Disney since it's super duper busy, and in the summer busy and unbearably HOT), it makes it highly unlikely we will be returning anytime soon. I do hope we will return in a few years, once our daughter joins our family...

We LOVED our first day at Magic Kingdom (Friday, May 5th) as it was absolutely not crowded at all. We arrived at 8:15 to find the park already open and rides running (it was NOT Extra Magic Hours that day, but rather the park was closing early at 7 pm for Grad Night for Florida students, and due to that there was no evening parade or fireworks, making it much less desirable to most people). We literally walked onto every ride and did not have to wait in line at all! It was incredible. The following day (Saturday) was busier, and the following week (Wednesday the 11th) was VERY busy. We had gotten so used to riding Pooh 3 times, then heading to Dumbo for a couple rides, but on that day, we rode Pooh twice, and by the time we got to Dumbo, the line was over 30 minutes long (for a 2 minute ride!) I cannot imagine if it had been like that on our entire trip. I'm also glad those first few days the boys got all the characters' signatures and photos with them, as those lines were HUGE later during our time at Disney.

We just ordered our Photopass CD with the photos the Disney photographers took, and I'm starting to work on scrapbooks of the boys (photobooks, done online) of our trip. It's so much fun looking through the photos. What incredible memories we have!

We are home (and missing Disney!!)

2011-05-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say we made it home last night. We had a 5 pm flight and got into Burlington at 8 pm. Both boys were exhausted after a day at Animal Kingdom and the flight home. Aaron slept a bit on the flight, but not Donovan (who had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the airport just a few minutes before we got to the airport, as luck would have it!)
Last night after the boys were asleep I unpacked and began the first of about six loads of laundry. I must say packing was much more fun than unpacking!!
The boys slept until 8:30, which is unheard of for them (both up by 6 am normally), and Donovan did not go to school today (school starts at 8:15). I took the boys grocery shopping, while Rupert began doing the edging around our flower gardens and spreading mulch (which was delivered at 8 this morning). It's supposed to rain tomorrow so we are hoping to get as much yardwork done as possible. So far I've done the weeding, he's done the edging, we both spread mulch. Up next is putting up the screens, hooking up the hoses, putting the snowblower away, and mowing the lawn.
While it's great to be home, we miss Disney so much!! On the car ride home last night, Donovan said to Aaron, "Tomorrow at Magic Kingdom do you want to go on Pooh or Dumbo first?" Aaron replied, "You choose. I want to go on Thunder Mountain Railroad and Astro Orbiter." They have grown so used to our schedule of visiting the parks the past 9 days, that returning to our normal life is going to be quite an adjustment.
We had the most wonderful time in Disney. What incredible memories we will always have!
I still need to post about our last two days at Disney. Blogger was down and so I was not able to post. I'll do that tonight.

Day 9 Disney - Animal Kingdom

2011-05-12T16:01:00.000-07:00

This morning we headed to Animal Kingdom. This was the park Donovan and Aaron wanted to return to on our last day. Donovan's favorite ride (besides It's a Small World, which we must have ridden between 12 and 15 times during our times at Magic Kingdom), was the Kilimanjaro Safari Jeeps. He's been talking about it all week. Yesterday was "Extra Magic Hours" at Animal Kingdom (which means that people staying on site at Disney can get in early on certain days at certain parks, or stay later; we found this just ends up meaning the entire park is very crowded all day on those days, and so we avoided them). Since it was Extra Magic Hours at AK yesterday, today was predicted to be much less crowded. Given that the temperature was between 98 and 100 today, I suspect many people chose to do one of the Disney Water Parks (such as Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon) today.

We were there this morning about 45 minutes before the park opened. About 15 minutes before rope drop, Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto came out to greet us. Then, once the rope dropped, we raced for the Safari Jeeps and were on one of the first ones. It was an INCREDIBLE ride - we saw even more animals than the first time! Donovan was so happy!

On our walk to Dinoland, we stopped at Expedition Everest for Rupert to get a Fastpass to use later. The wait to ride was only 15 minutes, and they had a separate single rider line which was about a 5 minute wait. Rupert was able to get right on!

We then headed down to Dinoland and rode Triceratops Spin several times. There was not yet a line, so we were allowed to remain on the ride rather than getting off, back in line, and back on. After lunch the line for that ride was quite long, so we were so glad to have ridden it already.

We then went to see the Nemo Musical at 10:30. It was fanatastic. Of all the shows we saw during our time at Disney (Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Playhouse Disney, etc) the boys said the Nemo musical was the best/their favorite. It was really well done!

We then went to lunch at Pizzafari, did some souvenir shopping (Aaron had bought a Toy Story beach towel, and Donovan had been hoping for a Nemo one which we found.), and then headed to the Boneyard where the boys played and dug for dinosaur bones for about an hour before we headed back to the hotel to leave for the airport.

Last look at one of the views from our hotel room at the Dolphin.

A big thank you to Jennifer Newport for suggesting ordering the Photopass cd before we left for Disney (which we did). Besides the photos we took, we will have about 200 photos on that cd - and we were able to all be in the photos since the Disney photographers were taking the photos. Also, Donovan LOVED pin trading. LOVED it. I had ordered 25 pins off ebay (at Jennifer's suggestion), and we sorted them before we left for ones he wanted to keep (10) and ones he would trade (15). He was able to trade them for pins for his favorite characters. Aaron traded a few also, and we bought plenty of special ones for both boys. THANK YOU JENNIFER!

Day 8 Disney - Magic Kingdom (2 times in 1 day)

2011-05-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

This morning we headed to Magic Kingdom for our last day there.

We rode Pooh (twice in a row with no wait), Dumbo (a long wait), Tea Cups, Race Cars, Buzz Lightyear Spin, and then headed over to Frontierland where we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster (twice!), Rupert rode Splash Mountain (and got wet!) earlier when he was getting the fastpasses for Thunder Mountain Railroad. We then headed into Adventureland where we took the Jungle Cruise (at Donovan's request), and then rode Aladdin's Magic Carpets and walked through the tree house.
We ate lunch at Cosmic Ray's and then went to see the Monster Inc. Laugh Show (nothing great, but the air conditioning sure felt good!)
We rode the carousel, Peter Pan's Flight, and It's a Small World.

We left the park around 2, went back to the hotel to swim in the pool (Donovan is such a fish!), and then ate dinner early at our hotel and went to Magic Kingdom from 6-9. We rode Astro Orbiter (AWESOME VIEW!), Peter Pan's Flight (we had fastpasses, otherwise the line is over an hour wait, and for a 4 minute ride that seems excessive!), It's a Small World (Donovan's favorite ride at Magic Kingdom), the carousel, and then went back and rode Astro Orbiter again, just as the show and fireworks were starting. What an incredible view!! Here's Aaron on the carousel and Donovan and Mommy on Astro Oribiter.

While I realize we are so lucky to have been in Disney for 9 days, and we have enjoyed every minute of this magical trip, it is hard to believe it is coming to an end. It is going to be hard to leave tomorrow. We will be going to Animal Kingdom until after lunch, and then heading to the airport for our evening flight home.

Day 7 Disney - Hollywood Studios (take Two!) AND Magic Kingdom

2011-05-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

We returned to Hollywood Studios this morning. Just as yesterday we boarded the first boat at 8:00 am, arriving at Hollywood Studios at 8:10, 50 min. before park opening. We went through security, and were the first in line at our ticket line. The boys ate snack, used restrooms, and read books while we waited. Today they understood how phenomenal the Toy Story Mania ride is, and the competition to get on. We were at the rope, this time in the first row, and prepared to begin racing when it dropped. And after yesterday we knew what to expect - fast pass people go to the right, people who want to ride go to the left to park strollers and then get on the ride. We were once again within the first 20 people on the ride. It was FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC, FANTASTIC. Of course at the end, Donovan said he'd like to go again, but when we exited, the wait was already 60 minutes and the fastpass line was huge - probably 45 minutes or more to get one.

Aaron then waited to meet Buzz and Woody for photos and get them to sign his autograph book. (Long story for another time as to why Donovan was not part of this...) I have not seen the photos Rupert took, but we have 4 fantastic ones of Aaron with Woody that the Disney photographer took (we signed up for the Photopass cd and have already close to 200 photos - it's one price for the cd, regardless of how many photos on the cd). Can't wait to get home and get our cd!!

We then went to the Playhouse Disney show which was very sweet. We walked through One Man's Dream (Walt Disney) and Aaron and Grandma decided to watch the 15 minute movie which they both enjoyed.

We had thought we were going to the 3D Muppets Show but then Rupert suggested we go to the Studio Backlot Tour instead....sometimes Mommy knows best...and that was the case. We should have stuck with MY PLAN. While Daddy enjoyed it, (behind the scenes look at how they make movies, including explosions, and a simulation of a disaster with fires, water raging at us, and our tram tipping) Donovan did not - Donovan HATED it, absolutely HATED it. Our serious, sensitive boy did not like it. We did all survive.

On our walk to lunch at Pizza Planet (again) we by chance got to see Mater. (Lightning McQueen is back in Radiator Springs for the new Cars 2 movie.) However, there was a LONG line to take a photo with him. So we went to lunch, then the boys played for a half hour in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground which they loved. As we turned down the road to start leaving who did we see but Mater going back to his location for more photos. We followed him and the boys were 2nd in line, so we were able to get some good photos (no autograph though of course, since he's a CAR). We took the boat back to our hotel, and headed to the pool for the afternoon. Donovan was in the pool for THREE HOURS. Such a fish. Aaron and Mommy stayed for 1 hour before heading back to the hotel room for Aaron to nap. Rupert went alone back to Hollywood Studios to see the 3 pm Pixar Pals parade (and video it for the boys to watch tonight). It's 96 degrees today and after 4 hours at Hollywood, no one else wished to return for the parade with Rupert!!!
Here are our two happy boys at Pizza Planet!

Tonight we ate at one of the restaurants in our hotel, and then headed back to Magic Kingdom. We rode the train twice, got off in Frontierland and Rupert rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Rollercoaster to give a report to us as to what it was like. The boys and I decided to go for it! Donovan rode with me and Aaron with Rupert. It was an AMAZING ride. As we got off, Donovan said, "That was a very dangerous train ride!!!" and Aaron said, "I want to go AGAIN!" Funny that our son who has SEVERE motion sickness is the daredevil who wanted to go again! (We had given him Dramamine ahead of time!) We did all go on for a 2nd time (same reaction from each boy as the first time). We then headed to Fantasyland where we rode It's a Small World (which Donovan loves), and then down to Tomorrowland to ride Buzz Lightyear Spin. We left the park just as fireworks were started (Donovan is NOT a fan of fireworks apparently! We need to get him some earplugs I think. He enjoyed watching them from the bus!) I carried one sleeping son (Donovan) into the hotel! LONG DAY and SO MUCH FUN! Tomorrow, back to Magic Kingdom for most of the day (supposed to be 98 degrees out!!!!) then back to the hotel pools for the afternoon (and I'll pack later in the afternoon when Aaron naps), and then back to Magic Kingdom after dinner.
It is going to be VERY hard to leave Disneyworld on Thursday!!!!1

Day 6 Disney - Hollywood Studios

2011-05-09T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the morning (until about 1:30) at Hollywood Studios (fantastic) and the afternoon in the hotel pool. I think I've not mentioned how gorgeous, sunny and hot it has been. Our first day at Animal Kingdom was warm (80's) and partly cloudy. The next day at Magic Kingdom (Friday) was hot, but cloudy and a few tiny sprinkles. dthen it's been in the mid 90s....and I cannot imagine being here in June/July/August, and am so grateful we decided to do this big trip NOW before I am back teaching and could only go on school vacations (huge crowds) or summer (HOT and huge crowds).

And hearing we went to Hollywood Studios, you are all probably wondering, did we make it on Toy Story Mania...Since we've been here I've overheard people who claim to have gotten to the park when it opened and have not been able to get on (or the wait has been HOURS) and that within minutes the FASTPASS line is over an hour just to get a FASTPASS. Well...we knew it would be extra busy today as there is a Fantasmic show tonight (only 3 this week). We took the first boat from our hotel at 8, and got to Hollywood at 8:10 - YES, 50 MINUTES BEFORE THE PARK OPENED. We were 2nd in line for security, gave the boys a snack and drink, used restrooms, checked show schedules, and were 2nd in line for tickets. Around 8:50 we were let to the rope drop area and we were in the 3rd row of people. As soon as the rope dropped, we went as fast as we could (and yes people were RUNNING). We got there and heard the worker announce, "Wait time for Toy Story Mania is now ZERO minutes, and that's the ONLY time today I'll be able to say that." We were one of the first 15-20 people on the ride. IT IS FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Needless to say they need a 2nd one!) When we got off the ride, the wait was over an hour and fastpasses were being issued for afternoon times.
We then went to see Little Mermaid - fantastic! When we came out we saw that the fastpasses for Toy Story Mania were now being issued for 4:30-5:30 pm. It was not even 10 am. People who want to ride it or get fastpasses for morning times need to not arrive when the park opens, but BEFORE the park opens - WELL BEFORE IT OPENS - to get on the ride or get fastpass for morning times. It was SO WORTH it!
The boys played in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground (they loved it!). We went to the 11:30 showing of Beauty and the Beast (WONDERFUL!!) and then ate lunch at Pizza Planet. What a treat for our boys!! Here are two photos from Pizza Planet, one where the sign is showing, and then another with our two Buzz Lightyear imitators!

We then took the 10 min boat ride back to our hotel and spent the afternoon at the pool. It is gorgeous!!

We are going to dinner at Flying Fish (Boardwalk).

Tomorrow we will return to Hollywood for a few hours to do Toy Story Mania again, possibly meet Woody and Jessie (or if the line is too long, we will wait and see them in Frontierland on Wednesday at Magic Kingdom), see the Playhouse Disney show, play on the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground again, see the Walt Disney film, and see the 3D Muppets Show. Then we will be back at our hotel to use the pool.
We are having such a WONDERFUL time :) This is THE BEST!

Day 5 Disney - Epcot

2011-05-08T13:21:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!
What a perfect way for my mom and for me to spend our Mother's Day!
She is the most wonderful Grandmother. She would not have missed this opportunity to be at Disney with her 2 grandsons for anything! It is so incredible to see the MAGIC of Disney through the eyes our our two boys/her two grandsons.

We spent the morning at Epcot. We were there for rope drop! It is an easy 7-10 minute walk from our hotel (or we can take a boatride, about the same length of time as walking).
The boys so loved the Nemo ride and Turtle Talk With Crush (amazing!) on Wednesday evening that we went to that first. We were the FIRST people on the ride and rode it 3 times in a row with no waiting in line. We then saw Turtle Talk with Crush (again) which was fantastic! We toured The Seas and that was great! We then went to Imagination, where we rode the Journey into Imagination Figment ride, and the boys explored the labs. At The Land we ate lunch at Sunshine Seasons (delicious food choices!) and then watched The Circle of Life show. We went inside "the ball" on the Spaceship Earth ride, and then headed back to the hotel where we spent the gorgeous afternoon (91 degrees and sunny) in the hotel pools. They are phenomenal. Donovan even went down a water slide.

We returned to Epcot, and ate dinner at Teppan Edo (Japan). It was similar to Koto's Japanese Steakhouse which we all love. The food was DELICIOUS. After dinner, we walked around The World Showcase at Epcot. In Norway we rode on Maelstrom. We walked along the Boardwalk on the way back to our hotel, which was neat.

We are watching the Epcot Illuminations (fireworks) from our hotel (what a view!!) Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios!

Day 4 Disney - Magic Kingdom (again)

2011-05-07T15:58:00.000-07:00

Back to Magic Kingdom again. The boys seemed to have more stamina today (even after a LONG day yesterday and a late bedtime). Aaron dozed for about 45 min in the stroller and Donovan rested on the ride home.

All that researching paid off!! Who would have ever thought MK would be NOT CROWDED on a SATURDAY!! Way back in January when we were planning the trip, I saw that Friday and Saturday Magic Kingdom would be closing early (at 7) due to "Grad Night" (local high schools that graduate reserve MK for their students). There is not an evening parade and fireworks on these nights. Between earlier closing, no parade, and no fireworks, the park was predicted to be less crowded than usual, and indeed it was. What a treat for us!

Today we went on ALL the rides again (Pooh 3 times, Dumbo 2 times, Buzz Lightyear 3 times in a row WITH NO WAIT (compared to later in the day when there was a 60 min wait!), the Carousel, Peoplemover, saw the Mickey Philharmonic 3D show again, a show in front of Cinderella's Castle, rode Aladdin's Magic Carpets (3 times), took a jungle cruise, and explored the treehouse. Ended the day with a train ride.
We ate lunch at Pinocchio's House, and dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern here in Magic Kingdom. Great!

Tomorrow is Epcot, afternoon at the pool, and dinner at Teppan Edo.

Day 3 Disney - Magic Kingdom

2011-05-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

First of all let me just say we are all having the time of our lives! I do wonder how I thought I'd have time to blog and post photos! I also think Rupert underestimated how exhausting (in a totally wonderful way), Disney would be with two 4 year olds - he was in bed last night at 8 pm with the boys! At this point I'm just hoping to be able to share where we went/what we did and a few photos. I'll go back once we are home and edit these with more details and do captions for the photos.

Today we spent the day at Magic Kingdom. Pure Magic, that's for sure!
We arrived around 8:30 and they were letting people into the park early. (Not extra magic hours, just letting folks in early...)
We went right to Pooh's ride and both boys loved it. We rode Dumbo twice.
We went on Buzz Lightyear Spin and while both boys loved it, Aaron requested to go a 2nd time, while Donovan requested going over to the racecars.
The boys LOVED the race cars, as we knew they would!
We went on the carousel, It's a Small World (DONOVAN LOVED IT, and we went twice), and went to see Mickey's Philharmonic Show which was Fantastic!
We ate lunch at Crystal Palace with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet, and Eeyore. Great!
After lunch we went on Pirates of the Caribbean, Magic Carpets of Aladdin (where one of those darn camels spit on Mommy and Donovan TWICE!). We rode Aladdin twice.
We saw the wonderful parade.
We rode the Tomorrowland Transit/Peoplemover twice and Donovan LOVED it.
We ate a quick dinner at Cosmic Rays and then rode the railroad around the park.
We are now back at the hotel. Exhausted, but in the best way! Back to Magic Kingdom again tomorrow.
The weather was gorgeous and is in the high 80s, low 90s all the days we are here.
I am posting photos from today.

Day 2 Disney (Animal Kingdom)

2011-05-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

Today we spent the day at Animal Kingdom.

I was really looking forward to this. We loved the Xiangjiang Safari in China with Aaron, and wanted Donovan to have a similar experience.

We arrived about 20 min. before the park opened and were able to go right to Africa to the Kilimanjaro Safari Jeeps. It was AWESOME.
Then we went right over to Lion King. We had heard it was one of the best perfomances at Disney. It did not disappoint!
We got to visit with the characters, walk around Discovery Island and Oasis.
We had a nice lunch at Pizzafari.
Then, after lunch went to the Flights of Wonder show - INCREDIBLE!
We walked the Maharajeh Trail and saw tigers.
Aaron fell asleep in his stroller, and we spent a little time in Dinoland. Donovan, Rupert, and I rode Triceratops Spin (fun!)
We had a great spot for the parade at 3:45
We ate dinner at Rainforest Cafe just outside Animal Kingdom. Fantastic meal!

I've heard from many people to plan to do Animal Kingdom the first day before the kids experience all the RIDES at Magic Kingdom. I am glad we did Animal Kingdom on our first full day. Also, they just had Extra Magic Hours yesterday morning, so the park was less crowded today. (Loved those online crowd predictors!!)

We plan to come back to Animal Kingdom on the last day. Our flight does not leave until 5 pm and our car is picking us up at 2:30, so we have from about 8:30 - 1:30 to spend at Animal Kingdom on that last day. Knowing we would be coming back on our final day, we did not have to rush today at all. We have time to do the things we skipped today: Nemo Performance, Triceratops ride again, Safari Jeeps again, walk the Pangani Trail, ride the Rafiki Train to the Conservation Center, and lots more digging in the Boneyard...

We had a wonderful day here at Animal Kingdom.
I can say though that we are exhausted by day's end, and I likely won't post many photos until we are home!

Day 1 Disney (Arrival and Epcot)

2011-05-04T19:45:00.000-07:00

Today was the day we have been waiting for and SO excited for - our flight to Disneyworld! This was Donovan's first airplane flight. Aaron was our seasoned flier! And after our trip to China...the 3 hour direct flight from Burlington to Orlanda was SHORT, that's for sure! Both boys loved the airplane ride, and had a wonderful time. They each wore their new Toy Story backpacks, and had their Toy Story lunchboxes inside, along with books, etc. They enjoyed a snack, playing with their tangram travel games, eating lunch, and just the whole experience.

A van picked us (and all our luggage) up at the Orlando Airport and we stopped at a local grocery store, which was great. Since we have a fridge in our hotel room, we plan to eat breakfast in our rooms each morning, and get to the parks each day about 30 min. before they open - to be there for "rope drop" and enjoy the parks before they get slightly more busy. (We feel so fortunate that we are able to go before the crowded summer season, and before the temperatures are unbearable!)

We checked into our incredible hotel, The Dolphin, which is right on Disney property. My mom's room adjoins ours. Our rooms are beautiful. Though we booked standard rooms, when we checked in, we were upgraded (complimentary). We have a view of Epcot and the fireworks!. I had heard from quite a few people that they had a similar experience. The staff mentioned since we are staying for 8 nights, and since they are not full right now, they were pleased to upgrade us. We are pleased too!!!

This afternoon, we went to Epcot. It is a very easy 10 min walk from our hotel.
We are in awe of the topiaries of the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival!
We went to The Seas and literally walked right on to the Nemo ride with no line. FANTASTIC!
We had 5:15 dinner reservations at The Garden Grill. This restaurant is in The Land, on the top floor, and has a rotating dining room (we gave Aaron Dramamine ahead of time!!). This is a character meal, with Mickey and Minnie, and Chip and Dale (or, "those two sweet chipmunks as Aaron was calling them in the days leading up to our trip!) We knew ahead of time that Chip has a brown or black nose (like a chocolate chip) and Dale has a red nose, so we were able to tell them apart right away. Donovan must have hugged Chip and Dale 30 times!

After dinner we walked back over to The Seas and saw Turtle Talk with Crush. INCREDIBLE!
We are happily exhausted - I'll post photos tomorrow night!
Tomorrow...Animal Kingdom!

Disneyworld, Here We Come!!!!

2011-05-01T15:04:00.001-07:00

I think it would be impossible to be any MORE excited than we are about leaving tomorrow morning for Disneyworld!!!!!!!!
We have been mostly packed for over a week now! The luggage is now in the car, and we just have lunchboxes to add to our backpacks tomorrow morning.
Our flight leaves at 10 am and will arrive in Orlando at 1 pm.
I'm planning on posting most evenings (if there is time)!
We are ready and so excited!
Tomorrow night this is where we will be:

Easter, and...The Boys Know...

2011-04-24T14:45:00.000-07:00

This morning the boys were thrilled to find their Easter baskets and hunting for the Easter eggs the Easter Bunny left hidden in the living room and playroom.

The Easter Bunny put quarters in the eggs. The boys enjoyed counting their money and putting the coins into their piggy banks.

The boys each received a Hess truck, Donovan's with a jet airplane, and Aaron's with a space shuttle.

The highlight of Easter 2011 for our boys included:....
Toy Story backpacks, Toy Story lunchboxes, Toy Story t-shirts, Buzz Lightyear hats, new Disney Cars hats...Toy Story lanyards and Disney trading pins...(you've guessed by now right?) and cards from Mommy and Daddy with Mickey and Minnie on them because... after 5 months of waiting to tell them...the boys KNOW...WE ARE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD FOR 9 DAYS in May! (May 4-12) and we are ECSTATIC!!
Thank you to all my online friends at RQ who first helped me prepare for our big trip to China, and now for our big trip to Disney! It's been HOURS and HOURS of researching and planning...and we are now ready and SO EXCITED! The boys were even more excited to learn that Grandma is coming with us to Disney!! She wouldn't miss it for the world.

Grandma arrived around 10:30 this morning, and gave the boys some Easter gifts. She also informed the boys that when she pulled in the driveway she thought she saw a few Easter eggs. So, we headed outside for another Easter Egg hunt! The boys had so much fun working together on that hunt to find the eggs hidden in our yard. After lunch (and a little candy), we took a walk around the neighborhood, followed by playtime in the sandbox. The boys are now napping and we are looking forward to our holiday dinner this evening.

Happy Easter!

I do plan to post on our blog each evening from Disney, with photos and sharing what we did/saw each day. We are SO EXCITED! This week before we leave will be a very busy one, and I'm in the midst of packing and picking up last minute things. It's likely I won't post on our blog until we get to Disney! We are staying right on Disney property, at the Dolphin, which is walking distance to Epcot.

Our schedule is:
Day 1 Arrive around 1:30, afternoon/evening at Epcot, dinner at Garden Grill (with characters)
Day 2 Animal Kingdom all day, dinner at Rainforest Cafe
Day 3 Magic Kingdom, lunch at Crystal Palace (with Pooh, etc.) stay for parade at 3 and eat dinner at Magic Kingdom
Day 4 Magic Kingdom, eat dinner at Liberty Tree Inn at Magic Kingdom
Day 5 MOTHER's DAY Epcot, afternoon at pool at hotel, dinner at Teppan Edo (Epcot)
Day 6 Hollywood Studios, lunch there at Pizza Planet, back to hotel in afternoon for naps and/or pool, dinner at The Wave (Contemporary Hotel)
Day 7 Hollywood Studios, stay for parade at 3, dinner at Flying Fish (Boardwalk Hotel)
Day 8 Magic Kingdom all day
Day 9 Animal Kingdom until 2 pm. 5:00 flight home.

Home 1 Year Today and Easter Preparations

2011-04-23T16:11:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, our plane touched down at JFK airport (and Aaron became a U.S. Citizen when our plane touched down on U.S. soil). The 6 hour (which became 8 hour) layover in a very overheated terminal at JFK is one I will never forget - it was close to unbearable, when all we wanted was to GET HOME! The photo of Aaron and I waiting for our luggage at the Burlington Airport says it all - exhaustion.

I will always remember arriving home around midnight, my mom having waited up for us, Aaron meeting Grandma and playing with her in the playroom while we made something to eat for him and unloaded our luggage. Aaron was THRILLED to peek at his new "big" brother, Donovan, while Donovan slept, and then Aaron easily fell asleep on a twin size mattress on our floor. I love this photo of Donovan getting his first glimpse of his new brother early the next morning.

That day had beautiful weather and we spent a lot of time outside, the boys digging in their sandpile (this was just before Rupert built a sandbox for the boys) and riding bikes. The jetlag those first 7-10 cays was not pleasant, and Aaron adjusted much faster than I did - soon happily moving into the "big boys' bedroom" with Donovan.

And today, we have come full circle, as we prepare to celebrate the only holiday Aaron has not yet celebrated in our family. After tomorrow's Easter holiday, Aaron will have celebrated a full year in our family, learning new traditions. Through it all, I have been amazed at the enthusiasm and openness Aaron has embraced all aspects of his new life - dressing up as a monkey and saying "trick or treat" to receive candy, learning about the Chinese Moon Festival, eating a big turkey dinner, cutting a tree and putting it in our living room, visiting Santa, learning about Baby Jesus, enjoying Chinese New Year and receiving lai see (lucky money), exchanging valentines, and now preparing for Easter. After tomorrow, we begin the second year with Aaron, and he will be able to reflect on his previous experience with the holidays and traditions he has already experienced first-hand, rather than constantly learning and being told about them!
Below are 4 photos taken yesterday after the boys dyed eggs.

This afternoon the boys attended an Easter egg hunt, hosted by the family of one of the boys in Donovan's preschool class. (This sweet boy is a good friend of Donovan's, one he has recently begun having playdates with.) Donovan and Aaron have been looking forward to the egg hunt, and were worried when we woke up to heavy rain this morning. Luckiily, the rain cleared. Who would have ever thought that with Easter at the end of April, the temperature would be 40 degrees, and my boys would be wearing fleece coats and winter hats for an EASTER egg hunt!!! The boys had so much fun at the Easter egg hunt - Aaron's first. His smile in the first two photos below certainly show what Aaron thought of the egg hunt!

Once home, the boys had so much fun counting their Easter Eggs. Donovan counted his 27 eggs, and Aaron counted his 18 eggs. We also discovered that while Donovan had more eggs than Aaron, Aaron had more larger eggs than Donovan. Most of the smaller eggs contained candy and most of the larger eggs contained toys. The boys have been having tons of fun with two toys that have parachutes attached to toy rabbits!
Aaron counting his Easter Eggs.

Aaron thrilled with his eggs!

Donovan and his eggs.

Donovan quite happy with his eggs!!

And so, we prepare to celebrate the Easter holiday tomorrow. The Easter baskets are out, carrots have been left out for the Easter Bunny, and the boys are finishing watching an Easter video before bath and bed this evening. Tomorrow will be such a special day for them...in so many ways...tune in tomorrow for the boys' reaction to the big news they find out tomorrow!

Donovan's 1st Birthday Party for a Classmate

2011-04-17T16:10:00.001-07:00

This is Donovan before we left for a birthday party for 2 boys in his class.

This was the first birthday party Donovan has attended that was not for family or close family friends. It was held at a local gymnastic academy. Donovan loved running along a long trampoline and then jumping down into a pit of foam pieces, doing an obstacle course, trying out the balance beams, and swinging on ropes.

Donovan had so much fun!

Boston Here We Come...

2011-04-17T10:56:00.000-07:00

We are heading to Boston early tomorrow morning. After checking into our hotel, we plan to take the T to Chinatown to walk around and do some shopping. Then we will head back to our hotel for dinner, baths, and an early bedtime. Tuesday back on the T to The Children's Museum.
Donovan's preschool class did extensive studying of trains and subways in the fall, so both he and Aaron and looking forward to riding the T again. Aaron keeps reminding us he rode on a monorail at JFK airport (true) and I've been hinting that he and Donovan will soon ride on another monorail (we are telling them on Easter the full details of what we have planned that involves a monorail!). Donovan's class has recently been studying about cities, skyscrapers and architecture (and Philippe Petit!), so there will be lots to discuss as we walk around the city. We will be taking photos in Boston.

Adoption Day Anniversary (one year ago)

2011-04-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

One year ago, on April 13, we returned to the Civil Affairs office in Guangzhou, after having Aaron with us for 18 hours, and finalized his adoption.
It's OFFICIAL!

With the official who registered/notarized the adoption.

I remember our guide (knowing we were going to Xiangjiang Safari Park all day the next day, and an all day trip to the orphanage the following day) then suggested we quickly head over to the Medical Exam on Shamian Island, and so we did. It was a lot to do all in one morning, and Aaron did great!
Just after the Medical Exam.

Lunch back at the hotel with our "Noodle Boy!"

The year has gone so quickly. While it seems like Aaron has always been in our family, it also often seems like it was just yesterday when we were walking the streets of Guangzhou with him. Looking forward to this next year together as a family. We certainly have some exciting things coming our way...

Get Your Tissues Ready!!!!!!

2011-04-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Aaron pointed up at the photo above my bed (below, first photo I ever saw of him)

and then pointed across the room at this photo (below)

Do you have your Kleenex ready?
and he said, "Mommy, I didn't smile in China. Do you know why I didn't smile?"
And so I replied, "I don't know Aaron...why didn't you smile in China?"
and he answered, "Because I didn't have Mommy and Daddy yet."
Then he proceeded to point to this photo (below, taken on Chinese New Year this year)

and said, "Now I smile SO MUCH. Because now I have Mommy and Daddy. I love you Mommy!" and then ran in to his bedroom (where Daddy was) and repeated the same conversation with him. We did take a moment to point out to him that he did smile in China, just not in those photos. He was quick to respond, "I didn't smile in THOSE PHOTOS because I didn't have Mommy and Daddy yet."

Adopting a child won't change the world, but for that child, the world will change.

One Year Ago, April 12, We Met Our Son!

2011-04-12T04:55:00.000-07:00

Last year, on April 12, we sat on a black leather couch in the Adoption Registry Office in Guangzhou, waiting for the Civil Affairs office to reopen from lunch, and for the children from the Bao'an orphanage to arrive. As we sat there waiting (we were early), the elevator doors opened, and our son walked off an elevator and into our lives. The year has gone so fast. When I see photos of Guangzhou, from other families traveling to adopt their children, in an instant I am taken back to the sights, smells(!), and feel of China, and what it felt like to finally have our son with us.
These are a few photos from our first day with Aaron.

Waiting for Aaron to Arrive...

Photo of the 3 of us with two caregivers from the orphanage who brought the children from the orphanage to Guanzghou (about a 2 hour ride).

Mommy & Aaron

A Happy Boy (with his juice)

Father and Son Looking Down at the City Streets Below

Today, while Donovan was at preschool, Aaron and I had some errands to run. When we were in the car, I mentioned to Aaron that one year ago today we met him in China. He said, "And you gave me a green and white sippy cup with a straw and it had grape juice in it. We took lots of pictures [true!]. Then we got in the minivan. At the hotel you gave me some toys and I got to ride in a blue and orange stroller." These are things I have NOT mentioned to him in the year we have been home. I was planning to look through his scrapbook with him this week of the day we met, day we adopted him, safari park, orphanage visit, etc.....I am amazed he remembered those details on his own- well, I take that back - nothing should amaze me at this point about this incredible little boy. He has a phenomenal memory.
As we drove in the car, Aaron was pointing out UPS trucks, dump trucks, cement mixers, garbage trucks, etc, and saying "There's Koto's Steakhouse where we went to dinner with Grandma, and there's Kids Town where we buy my sneakers." He remembers every detail of what we do!
When we got to the mall, we had items to return to both Kohl's and JcPenny, and decided to park by Kohl's and afterwards, walk across the parking lot on this gorgeous sunny day to JcPenny. As we held hands, Aaron exclaiming, "I'm Buzz Lightyear...to infinity and beyond" as he skipped and jumped over the cracks in the sidewalk, he stopped and looked up at me, and said, "I love you so much Mommy!" and wrapped his arms around my legs, and of course, I just melted. We are so lucky!

what a differene a year makes! While of course I want Aaron to be proud of the country he was born in and his culture, when people look at him they see a typical 4 year old American boy, and when I look at him, I just see the most gorgeous smile, his enthusiasm for life, his happiness, and most of all...I just see, my son!

The photo above was taken on Chinese New Year.

One Year Ago We Were in China

2011-04-08T10:03:00.001-07:00

One Year ago, on April 8th, our plane touched down in Hong Kong, and after a short layover, we flew into Guangzhou. After that, we had three full days in which we did some sightseeing and acclimated ourselves to our surroundings and the time difference, before meeting our son.

One Year Ago We started our Trip to China

2011-04-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

One Year ago our trip to meet our new son began. On the afternoon of April 6, we flew from our local airport to JFK. We spent the night at a hotel near the airport, in preparation for an early morning flight on Cathay Pacific to HK, and then on to Guangzhou, where we would stay for 2 weeks.

His Family Has Found Him...FINALLY!! and his name will be Joseph...

2011-03-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

I deliberately chose to not update my blog about our own family for at least a month, hoping that by keeping the handsome boy with the huge, gorgeous smile at the top of my blog posts, somehow his family might find him.

Today it is with great happiness that I share that this child for whom I have thought about and prayed for daily for several months now, has a family who has submitted their Letter of Intent to adopt him. He will gain not only a mother and father, but two older brothers, AND....GET THIS...a 7 month old sister the family is also adopting on the same trip to China.

This is the original family I was in contact with a few months ago when they first saw his photo and read his information. It's amazing how within the China adoption community, two people who have never met in person can become friends. That is what has happened...I admire his new mother very much. As they contemplated this sweet boy she asked all the right questions, which I answered honestly, even when I am sure the answers were difficult to hear. Until you are experiencing something firsthand, it is hard to imagine what something will truly be like. I admire her thoroughness, and her unmoving belief that this little boy was supposed to be her son; she was supposed to be his mother. I remember that feeling very well myself!

I am so thrilled for this little boy, and his new family. I just know this is a family I will stay in contact with always, and as our two special boys grow older, I truly hope they will really know each other in person...

I cannot wait to follow this family's journey to China, to their new son and new daughter, later this summer!

He Needs A Family to Rock Him Too...

2011-03-04T16:16:00.000-08:00

First of all, after my previous post ("Journey to a Family of Five") I want to clarify that we are not in the process of adopting the gorgeous little boy whose photo appears above. Sadly, we are not...And he does need a Forever Family!!

Today Aaron had a bit of a stomach bug. Really just the third time in just under a year that he has been ill at all (once about a month after getting home, he spiked a fever for a day which was some virus, one cold this winter, and this one day of a stomach bug), which is amazing because we were warned to expect him to be ill a lot this first year home due to never having been exposed to North American germs...well so far, even after starting preschool, he has done so well. In any case, he vomited once today, and after a bath and some pedialyte, took a 4 hour nap. Afterwards I was rocking him and singing to him (me, loving every moment of it) and he looked at me and said, "Mommy, in China no one rocked me and sang to me. I wish you had been there." (He went on to remind me they gave him candy in China. YES, I know, I wanted to say, You came to us with FOUR cavities...) I cannot imagine not having been rocked for the first 3 years of your life, but it is what it is - it is part of his history, and he gets rocked now by this one very lucky Mommy. However, his comment brought me to tears thinking of a very special little boy in China who needs a family of his own...a family to rock him, and love him, and give him everything a little boy should have...

The truth is, last year at this time if China already had the rule that you could adopt TWO children in one trip, and IF I had seen this little boy (pictured at the top of this post), I do believe we would have come home with two sons...both from Shenzen, both very similar... but that is not how things worked out (and of course the thought of having a 51 month old, 49 month old, and 48 month old makes my head spin....)

It is not my intention to turn this family blog of ours into an advocacy blog, and I am not going to start an advocacy blog of my own. I will continue to advocate for waiting children from China, on RQ and the China adoption Yahoo Groups I am part of. But this child...this boy with the most incredible smile...inside I just feel I must...What if this had been Aaron...what if I had never seen Aaron's photo?

This gorgeous little boy, with the largest most beautiful smile I've ever seen, just turned 4 years old. His DOB is February 23, 2007. He is living at the Social Welfare Centre of Longgang District in Shenzhen City. (This is not the same orphanage as Aaron's but is quite close to Aaron's.) Some of you may remember this little boy as "Bob" from the BAAS Special Focus List. He is now on my agency's Special Focus List, China Adoption With Love (CAWLI) If you or anyone you know is interested in reviewing his file, you can call 1-800-888-9812 and ask for Meg. She is the Waiting Child/Special Focus Coordinator. You can also email at info@cawli.org I normally just put "For Meg" in the subject line.
If anyone has any questions about CAWLI (we used them to adopt Aaron, and are using them again. As many of you know I am very, very picky about things. They have my highest recommendation!!!) If you have specific questions about this gorgeous little boy, please email me at nwalsh528@yahoo.com I am more than happy to answer ANY questions related to this little boy, his file, and CAWLI, and our experience with Aaron...
I posted more specific information about this little boy on the Advocate for WC: Advocate for Waiting Children Group and on RQ...
Also if you have an advocacy blog and you want to include information about this sweet boy on your blog, please email me at nwalsh528@yahoo.com and I can give you more information (SN) and send you the two photos to use on your blog (the photos on my blog are right click protected).

Journey to a Family of 5 (Here We Go....Again!)

2011-02-14T20:15:00.000-08:00

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

Someone so kindly emailed me to say that in a post way back on November 18, (on the anniversary of the night I first saw Aaron's photo and knew I was supposed to be his mom), I had given a "hint" at the end of a post but never followed up on it. The hint was the Bible verse at the top of today's post. Oh dear, time has certainly gotten away from me apparently! I apologize for that!

As was hinted in that post, and should come as NO SUPRISE to anyone, yes, we are going back to China for our next child. Our paperwork is in China, and we are waiting. The wait time is so long...probably more than 5-6 years even with being expedited for Chinese descent. We will NOT be waiting in that long line; once the boys are both in school full time (fall 2012) we will begin looking for a waiting child as we did with Aaron (this time a daughter, between the ages of 2 and 4). There are currently over 2000 children on China's Shared List of Waiting Children. Each one deserving to find their Forever Family, as Aaron has.

I think part of the reason I never followed up here on my blog, is that I had shared this news in our Christmas letter, and somehow thought I had typed the same thing here. Here's what I wrote in our Christmas letter:
Expanding our family by the process of adoption has been such a positive experience for us. In fact, we are happy to say it is a process we have embarked on once again! Within a week of arriving home with Aaron, Donovan told us that he loved his new brother so much, and asked that we please go back to China for another sibling for Aaron and him. (Little did he know this was exactly what we had been planning to do!) Donovan and Aaron understand, just as we do, that we have the ability to change the life of another child from China, who deserves the chance at the love of a family. At this point, our paperwork has been logged in with the Chinese government to adopt our next child, this time a sister for Donovan and Aaron. The adoption process from China is a lengthy one, and it is likely the boys will be in kindergarten or first grade before we are matched with a little girl. In the meantime, these two boys of ours keep us busy and help us to focus on what is truly important in life!

We actually completed our home study update at the same time our social worker came to our home to complete our 6 month post placement report on Aaron. The truth is that less than a month after getting home with Aaron I had contacted our wonderful social worker, Ann, and let her know she should be prepared to do our home study for our next adoption when she came for Aaron's post placement visit/report in August, and that is exactly what happened. I knew before we went to China that we'd be going back for another child, and of course my experience visiting Aaron's orphanage on April 15 solidified that for us. Seeing all of the children there, each deserving a family of his/her own, and knowing this was just one of hundreds, likely thousands of orphanages in China, millions of children in need of families...well it is overwhelming and as the Bible verse says at the top of this post, we feel responsible to act...to be the family for one of the children who needs one.

And so, we happily embark on this journey we have chosen to become a family of 5!

10 Months Ago Today

2011-02-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

10 Months Ago Today We Met Our Son

First Moments

Rupert Holding His New Son

Happy Boy back in the hotel room, drinking grape juice (surely for the first time in his life)

Father and Son Looking Down on the World Below

Returning to Orphanage to Say Goodbye

10 Months ago today, we met our son Aaron, at the Civil Affairs Office in Guangzhou, China. While we were sitting on a couch across from an elevator, waiting for the office to reopen from lunch, the elevator doors opened, and we saw 4 children with nannies, standing inside it. Immediately we saw Aaron, dressed in green overalls, and wearing the yellow soccer shirt we had sent him in a care package. We met a most handsome boy, still ill from motion sickness on the 2 1/2 journey by van from the orphanage, drinking a box of soymilk. Rupert carried Aaron to our van, where Aaron promptly fell asleep on the ride to the hotel. Aaron walked holding our hands, called me Mommy right away and Rupert "gar gar" (older brother!!) for quite some time (must have been because Rupert looks so young!) One thing that makes me laugh is that for the first few hours, Aaron spoke in this tiny whisper and we thought, Oh how cute. I assume now that was just due to being frightented of the new situation. Never again have we heard that whisper...even when we have asked him to please speak more quietly! Oh how Aaron's life (and our life) has changed in the past 10 months. One thing has not changed about Aaron in 10 months - he embraces each new aspect of his life with openness and enthusiasm. I look forward to what the future holds for all of us!

Aaron Waiting For His Forever Family (taken about 13 months ago)

Aaron last month on his 4th Birthday! (I remember seeing his referral photos and worrying because he was not smiling in any of them. And now, this little boy of mine is almost always smiling and laughing. His enthusiasm is infectious!!)

Fantastic Photo of Donovan as the Dragon

2011-02-10T15:20:00.000-08:00

How on Earth did you get a BOY from China?

2011-02-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

We get this comment/question quite often..."How on Earth did you get a BOY from China?"My reply is now normally, "Oh, we ASKED for HIM." (Which by the way is the truth...once I saw his photo on the list of waiting children, I knew instantly I was to be his mother...and we submitted our LOI ({Letter of Intent} to adopt him. We did ask for him...)

Often people will then clarify their initial commment/question and rephrase it something like this, "I thought only girls were available to adopt from China." To which I now normally reply, "No there are boys also. MANY of them. Thousands of them. In a country where it is ILLEGAL to have more than one child, the gender of the second child really does not matter. Sure a birth family might try to keep a male second child for longer than if that child were a girl...but again, the law is the law, and the penalties for breaking it are stiff. Thousands of boys are available for adoption from China. On China's current Shared List of Waiting Children, there are over 2000 children available, and more than half are boys...By the way, why do you ask, are you interested in adopting a child who needs a family?"
My favorite version of this comment/question(sarcasm here) is, "They have boys in China?" My reply: "Yes, they have both boys AND girls in China, just like in every other country on our planet." (I realize they likely mean, they have boys also available for adoption in China, not just girls? but geez, think before you ask a stranger a question about their family/child in front of their child!)

Another fun one is, "Is his father Chinese?" - to which I get to point to Donovan AND Aaron and say, "Yes, THEIR father is Chinese."

Now I don't mind when someone is asking questions about our family because they have adopted or are considering adopting...but otherwise, it never fails to amaze me how people seem to think it is their business...

Chinese New Year in Donovan's Preschool Class

2011-02-04T18:03:00.001-08:00

Rupert and Donovan demonstrating a Dragon Dance with our dragon head.

Donovan trying on the dragon head his preschool class made!

Dragon Dance

"Spark" the Chinese Dragon (the class voted on a name; Donovan suggested "Spark" and it received the most votes)

Dragon Dance

Happy Chinese New Year!

2011-02-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

We spent a wonderful morning as "parent helpers" in Aaron's preschool class. We shared with the class a bit about Chinese New Year, how our family celebrates, and enjoyed special snacks and a dragon dance.

Aaron showing his classmates the candy tray and the "lai see" (lucky money) envelopes (with 2 chocolate coins inside) he would be giving them.

Nicole reading Bringing In the New Year by Grace Lin to the class. Since it was Aaron's special "parent helper" day, he enjoyed sitting on Daddy's lap during Circle time!

Nicole dressed as the dragon.

After our Dragon Dance, the children used rhythm sticks while listening to Chinese music.

Aaron and Donovan's preschool is a parent cooperative one, in which each day a child in the class has his/her parent(s) as "parent helper(s)." We rotate through so that we parent help once every 17 school days. We had arranged it so that we would be the parent helpers during Chinese New Year.
We read the book, Bringing in the New Year by Grace Lin and talked a bit about what we do as a family to celebrate the holiday. For example, wearing red for good luck, getting haircuts before the New Year so we don't cut off the good luck, and giving "lai see" ("hong bao" in Mandarin) which is "lucky money." We brought a dragon head for a dragon dance with the children, which they all loved doing.
For snack we had clementines, Goldfish crackers to symbolize the whole fish, long noodles to symbolize a long life, Chinese New Year Cake -which they loved!, and fortune cookes.
We also brought our Chinese candy tray filled with candy and each child was so happy to choose some candy to start the new year off with sweetness! Aaron was so proud to hand out lai see (lucky money) to his classmates (with chocolate coins inside).
This is just Aaron's 3rd day of school and we were amazed at how comfortable he is with his new teachers and classmates (who have been together since September). Everyone commented and said it seems like he has been there all along! That was great to see!

Tomorrow morning we go to Donovan's classroom to do this again. His class has been studying about Chinese New Year and they have made a paper mache dragon head and a LONG dragon body. The local newspaper may be coming to do a story!!

Gong Hei Fat Choi!

Aaron's First Day of Preschool

2011-01-27T10:31:00.000-08:00

Aaron's first day of preschool was a huge success for him - not that there was really any doubt about that - between the most incredible school, fabulous teachers, already being familiar with the school since Donovan attends it, and just overall being an enthusiastic child who takes all new things in his life in stride!

We arrived earlier than the other students this morning so Aaron could see his cubby, where to hang his winter clothes, and what the morning routine is like. He then settled in nicely playing up in the loft with the light table, Magnatiles and other magnetic toys. Just as I do with Donovan, we gave 5 kisses and 5 hugs and then it was time for me to leave. He looked a bit teary for a moment and his lip began to quiver, but as soon as I said, "I'll see you before lunch. Have a great morning!" Aaron's face lit up with a huge smile, and he said, "You have a great morning too Mommy!" So cute!

Donovan and I enjoyed our morning together. Just simple things - a trip to the bank (where when the teller gave him a Buzz Lightyear sticker, he asked for one for his brother too), post office, and grocery shopping. I thought Donovan would love the time without Aaron, to play with his toys by himself (after all that was his experience for 3 1/2 years and certainly suddenly sharing all your toys with a same-age sibling is not easy!). When we got in the car to go get Aaron, Donovan said, "Mommy, Aaron has been gone for SO LONG. I miss him so much!"
When we got to the preschool, Aaron was one of a handful of dedicated sledders up on the big sledding hill (just as is the case with Donovan when we pick him up every day!). Donovan grabbed a sled and headed up the hill. He quickly caught up to Aaron and threw his arms around him. Later I asked what he had said, and he replied, "I told Aaron I missed him so much and that I love him so much."

I asked Aaron what his favorite part of the school day was, and he said, "sledding on the big hill." He filled me in on the Dragon Dance book his teacher read (which we lent them in preparation for Chinese New Year), pancakes and blueberries and juice for snack, working with pattern blocks and making a flower garden and how he had to help the girl next to him because she didn't know how to do it, and all about the water table. He then told me he was sad he didn't have to write his name (he does know how to write his first and last name) and he didn't get to write/draw in a journal (which Donovan's class does each cay). So, after lunch, Aaron did his journaling, drawing a picture of the big sledding hill and all the colorful sleds, and Mommy waiting at the bottom of the big hill to pick him up.

I should say we never planned to enroll Aaron in preschool. Donovan started in Sept 3 mornings a week, and I am home for the school year to be with Aaron. We had WRONGLY assumed Aaron would have some orphanage related delays, but that has not been the case. We thought he would not academically be ready. We were WRONG. He very quickly (2 weeks I think) learned all his colors and shapes in English, and then within 2 months had learned to recognize his numbers to 20 and all the letters. We continue to work on counting objects with 1:1 correspondence and the sounds letters make. Aaron is quick to memorize stories and recite them and is learning to form his letters (handwriting). A few weeks ago we learned a little girl in Donovan's class was moving, and while that opening was being filled right away (by a little girl in the 2 day program), there was then an opening in the 2 day program and no one on that waiting list. While we weren't planning this, we felt that Aaron was ready and also we felt it was too good to turn down, as it would make it more likley that both boys would be placed in Donovan's 3 day class for the fall, which is what we need with me going back to work...And it did work out, as registration for current students happened last week and both boys are now enrolled for next school year in the 3 day program.

So, we now officially have two boys in preschool!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2011-01-23T06:07:00.001-08:00

This photo was taken just before we headed out to dinner at Koto's Japanese Steakhouse for Rupert's birthday dinner. We picked up my mom, enjoyed a wonderful dinner, and then enjoyed cake and presents at her house. Wonderful evening!
Aaron loved the soup and the noodles the best. Donovan ate two calamari and said they were "really good!" Donovan also loved the noodles best.

Aaron is 4!

2011-01-17T05:58:00.000-08:00

Today, Aaron turns 4 years old! Happy birthday to my sweet boy!

Aaron's FIRST Birthday Party of His OWN!

2011-01-14T17:27:00.000-08:00

Donovan created the sign on the easel reading, "Aaron Ho is 4."

The birthday party was a construction vehicle one. Aaron chose a dumptruck balloon (a big one!) for his seat at lunch.

The cake!

Awaiting the cake, and loving every minute of the birthday song, and singing the loudest by far!

Making his wish!

Blowing out the candles!

Opening a Card

Happy, Happy Boy (with my cousin's 16 month old son)

Bulldozer Pinata (FUN)

Grandma and Donovan

Oh how his life has changed! Our son, born in China, and home almost 10 months, selected TACOs for lunch at his birthday party. As Aaron said, "I want tacos for my birthday party. I love them so much. They are my bestest. They are so yummy in my tummy."

To a Mother I Will Never Know

2011-01-03T23:42:00.000-08:00

To the mother who gave birth to my son,

Today, on Aaron's 4th Chinese birthday (lunar birthday, according to Chinese lunar calendar), I can't help but think about you. Though I will never know you, I am so thankful for the choices you made for my son; Without you, I would not have my son.

Certainly there are some things I wonder, as I am sure he someday will too. It is so hard for me, as his Mommy now, to comprehend how you walked away from him 3 years and 4 months ago. The reasons really do not matter to me. What I do know is that you left him in a place where he would be quickly found. I will never ever know your story. What we know (and what he will know also) is that you chose life for my son. You made the choice to bring him into this world, and then you made a choice to save my son. Without you and the decisions you made, I would not have my son.

I wish you could know that he survived against the odds as an orphan in China, and at 3 years, 3 months of age, he met his forever family. I wish you could know that he is loved and cherished, and always will be.

I wish I could meet you and tell you how amazing he is! I wish I could let you hear him laugh, just once. I wish you could see how smart he is - scary smart. How in eight months he has learned English to a point that no one would ever know English was not his first language. How within a month he learned his colors, shapes, numbers, and letters in English. How this Christmastime he memorized the entire Night Before Christmas story, Frosty the Snowman song, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town song.

I wish you could see him with his brother, Donovan. I wish you could see he is loved and adored by so many people. I wish you could feel his hugs and kisses, and know how loving he is. I wish you could see and know that he is cherished by all of us. That we are so proud to have him as our son. That we love him so much!

I wish you could see how Aaron embraces each new aspect of his life with incredible enthusiasm. I wish you could witness the joy and happiness he brings to all those around him.

And I can't help but wonder if you are thinking of us today, as much as I am thinking of you. Without you, we would not have our son Aaron and I can't even imagine a life like that. You gave him life! You gave him a chance to be surrounded by love.

I know that we have been blessed beyond words to have him, as our son.

I will forever be thankful to you and the choices you made for Aaron. My continued prayer is that someday we will meet, most likely not this side of life. I pray that we can stand together before our Father who had this marvelous plan for our lives, and you can finally see the gift you gave us - and the gift you gave Aaron.

You will always be remembered,
Love, a very thankful Mommy

Happy Lunar Birthday Aaron!

2011-01-03T05:00:00.000-08:00

Today is Aaron's birthday according to the lunar calendar. For both Donovan and Aaron, we call these their "Chinese birthdays," and I usually say, "Today the moon says it's your birhday." Needless to say, the concept of the lunar calendar is too advanced for them to understand at their age. Both boys know when their real birthdays are, and that those are their actual (legal) birthdates, for which we celebrate as a family, and plan their birthday parties around.

On their Chinese or lunar birthday, they receive "red pocket money," or "lucky money." Today we also dressed Aaron in one of the gorgeous Chinese outfits we bought in Guangzhou.

Happy Lunar Birthday Aaron! 14 more days until you officially turn 4 years old!

Happy New Year!!

2011-01-01T11:42:00.001-08:00

Today is a gorgeous warm day here and the boys (including Rupert) have had a blast building snowmen, a snowfort, and having snowball fights. Here are a few photos.
Aaron and Donovan in front of their two snowmen.

Aaron and Donovan peeking out from their snow fort.

Aaron and Donovan in front of the Christmas tree (We are in no hurry to take it down...)

Fireman Aaron - Rupert bought both the boys these fireman toys. They come with an interactive belt that sends the boys on firefighting missions.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T14:30:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from Aaron and Donovan!

It's 2 pm and the boys are napping and still have presents to open..
Aaron...certainly taking it all in, but overwhelmed by the holiday.
Donovan, for almost every gift, he said, "Oh I've been wishing for this." So cute!!
Here are a few photos. I'm putting captions/information above each photo.

Donovan and Aaron as reindeer!

Donovan and Aaron in front of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning, with the gifts Santa left!

Proudly holding new trains Santa left them. Aaron received Emily; Donovan received Edward. Donovan wondered if Sir Toppham Hat would recognize them and call them by name when they were driven through the station (on the train table Santa brought last year). Sure enough...as they drove through, Sir Toppham Hat called out their names. Both boys were beaming ear to ear!

Grandma brought Santa hats for the boys and they loved wearing them!

Mommy and her 2 boys!

Daddy and his 2 boys!

Mommy and Donovan

Silly boys!

Fun with blocks and marbles!

Sledding Fun!

2010-12-20T16:43:00.001-08:00

Donovan and Aaron in front of the sign at Donovan's WONDERFUL preschool. No school this week and next and we went to use the sledding hill.

Donovan on the sledding hill. These photos do not do it justice - it is tall and steep and we fly down it on the sleds! The boys LOVE it!

Full Speed Ahead! Look closely and you can see those bumps/jumps where Donovan is. He was laughing the whole way down!

Pure joy at the end of his sled run

Here is Aaron flying off course! A WILD RIDE!

This is Aaron walking over to check on how Mommy and Donovan are doing, after we veered off course and crashed! We were fine - and laughing hysterically!

Hmm...What am I supposed to do now?

Heading back up the big hill

Happy Boy heading up for one more run

Polar Express to the North Pole

2010-12-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

Sunday we rode on the Polar Express to the "North Pole" and saw Santa. It was a magical day!!

The Polar Express is a very special event, based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg. In our area, it runs for just one weekend. It's difficult to get tickets. We've never had luck with the lottery system for purchasing tickets, and are so fortunate a colleague of mine volunteers at Polar Express. Volunteers are entitled to purchase 4 tickets, and last year and this year she has graciously allowed me to purchase those tickets. We are so fortunate!

This year was Donovan's 2nd time on the Polar Express, and of course, Aaron's first. What a wonderful day! We arrived, waiting indoors until the conductor announced, "All Aboard," and then we walked up and boarded the train. This year we rode in the rear car, which was a dining car - we had a table between us - it was wonderful. Aaron asked, "Do some people sleep on this train?" We were served cookies and hot chocolate, and as the train began to journey to the "North Pole," we sang Christmas carols. Our train had to come to a stop to switch tracks, and then we arrived at the North Pole where hundreds of elves, dressed in red, greeted us, waving and welcoming us to the North Pole. The children wore nametags, and the elves all called them by name. We were brought inside, and welcomed by a local choir singing, "Believe," and then one of Santa's helpers read The Polar Express to us. At the end, Santa arrived, and said, "If you believe, follow me," and motioned up a large staircase. The line was long, and when we reached the top, both boys were eager to see Santa. Donovan went first, and hugged Santa, who promptly picked him up and hugged him. It was so sweet. Then Aaron approached and hugged Santa and Santa bent down and kissed Aaron. Then both boys were given their silver bells, which they were ringing all the way back to the car...

I remember last year as we walked into the North Pole Station, Donovan realized the Elves were calling him by name because he was wearing a name tag. He promptly covered it with his hand, to avoid the attention...This year however, he LOVED the attention - giving the Elves high fives when the offered. Last year on the train ride, Donovan was totally into looking out the window (FIRST TRAIN RIDE) and eating his cookie and not very interested in the singing of Christmas carols and did not like hot chocolate. This year he drank the hot chocolate and while certainly he was very interested in looking out the window for reindeer and elves, he was very much interested in what was going on inside the train car.

And Aaron? It amazes me how this child of ours approaches each new holiday with such openness and enthusiasm (dress up as a monkey and say Trick or Treat? SURE!; he's already talking about how in the spring when the bulbs he planted with Grandma come up an Easter Bunny is going to come and bring him jelly beans) In preparation for the Polar Express, we've been reading the book and talking about it for a couple of weeks now. Aaron was aware of the schedule - train ride, book read aloud, see Santa. He was a bit uneasy during the long wait, wanting to run his fingers through my hair. Once it was time to go on the train, he was ready! He LOVED the train ride. We kept asking him what he thought, and he said, "Good," and "Really Good." He was shy when we arrived at the North Pole and the elves were calling him by name (much like Donovan last year), but sat nicely for the story and was brave to go up to Santa and give him a hug. His response to receiving the bell...the biggest smile ever - and it lasted all the way to the car.

We asked what they liked best:
Donovan: "EVERYTHING!"
Aaron: "The train ride, and the hot chocolate, and the book, and Santa, and my bell."

Magical Day for our Family!

Everything Changes...

2010-12-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

"Orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names.
They are easier to ignore before you see their faces.
It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms.
But once you do, everything changes."
~ Anonymous ~

8 months ago today, we met our son, Aaron, and yes, everything changed for one incredible little boy, and everything changed for one lucky Mommy, one lucky Daddy, and one fantastic brother.

From Aaron's Province...

2010-12-11T19:58:00.000-08:00

We've heard so much in the news about China perhaps ending the One Child Policy...however, this policy is very much still THE LAW.

And people ask us all the time why boys are abandoned in China...
Well...this news story is from Aaron's province in China...(You'll have to click on the option to SKIP THE AD to get to the article.)

www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/chinas-one-child-law

We are much more familiar with Chinese baby girls being abandoned (often the first child and parents abandon the baby and try for a boy), but when there is already one child in the family, and a 2nd child is born...the gender doesn't matter. You've violated the law...I think some people might try to keep the boys longer, but when your family/relatives are in danger, the child is often abandoned and no one asks where he/she went...So sad...

I think as Americans, we cannot begin to comprehend a local government taking a family member hostage until the Mother succumbs to forced sterilization. This blatant human rights violation is appalling in this day and age in a developing country. The women and children and families of China deserve so much better...

Making a Difference...

2010-12-05T19:52:00.000-08:00

We had an absolutely wonderful weekend with our boys - nothing out of the ordinary, just lots of fun at home. I love watching Aaron and Donovan and the relationship they share. Almost 8 months that we have had Aaron as our son and I'm thinking about what a difference he has made in our lives, and we have made in his. Love this story (below)...

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day.

So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

I then asked, "Why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"

"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the ocean, past the breaking waves and said -

"It made a difference for that one."

Our decision to adopt Aaron obviously made all the difference in his life, but in ours too - we are so lucky!

Cutting our Christmas Tree (Aaron's First Christmas Tree)

2010-11-27T17:36:00.001-08:00

I especially love the photos of Donovan and Aaron pretending to cut down small trees. My favorite is the one of Donovan pretending the tree is falling and yelling, "Timber." Makes me laugh every time!
Friday night we put the lights on after the boys went to bed. When they woke up and saw the tree lit up, Aaron exclaimed, "Oh so beautiful!" and then asked if he could touch the lights. In the afternoon the boys helped decorate the tree. We are about halfway done. This tree is much smaller and thinner than the ones we usually get. (We usually get 10+ feet tall trees and very, very full trees. This one is just about 8 feel tall and not so full. There just were not any BIG trees.) I am wondering how many of our ornaments we will be able to get on this tree!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-27T11:16:00.000-08:00

So much to be thankful this year - especially our two boys! Here are two photos before we ate. Aaron loved his first big turkey!

One Year Ago Today, I First Saw My Son's Face

2010-11-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

One year ago today, one day after Donovan turned 3 years old, I saw my first photo of Aaron's sweet face, and knew immediately that he was supposed to be my son; I was supposed to be his mother. It was something instinctive, something in my heart. The only way I can describe it is to say, at that moment, when I first saw his photo, it felt no different than looking at a photo of Donovan. I just KNEW; I just KNEW he was MY SON.
I immediately requested his file. I remember calling to Rupert in the other room and showing him the photo and saying, "This little boy is supposed to be our son." Of course Rupert asked, "Are you sure? How do you know?" I said, "I'm sure. I don't know how I know, but I just KNOW he is supposed to be my son. I'm supposed to be his mom."
On this day (and every day) I think especially of a woman who I will likely never know in person, who responded to an online inquiry I made on RQ (Rumor Queen), a forum for parents who have or are adopting from China. This special woman, Shannon, told me her agency had just received a new list of waiting children, and now had about 100 children on their list. She specifically mentioned a gorgeous 2 year old boy. The truth is, since we weren't looking for a BOY, I didn't pay attention to the ID# of the boy she had mentioned. Shannon's agency was Great Wall of China Adoption. I quickly emailed them and within minutes received a password to view the list. I began looking down the list at all the adorable children's photos. A few minutes later, as I scrolled down the list, about 3/4 of the way down the page, a photo caught my eye. (It's the photo at the top of today's post.) Looking at the photo, I said aloud, “That’s my son.” It felt no different than looking at my son, Donovan. After staring at this gorgeous little boy's photo for quite some time, I clicked back on the woman’s email and saw that the child she had been telling me about was #97. Going back to Great Wall’s website, I began scrolling down, looking for #97, only to discover,... the little boy I had felt such a strong connection to WAS #97! The boy who had caught my eye, who I knew immediately, without a doubt was to be MY SON, was the SAME child this woman had been emailing me about. That night I emailed Great Wall and asked to review his file. The next day it was emailed to me. At the time I reviewed his file, I already knew in my heart, he was my son. It was similar to the feeling of when I was pregnant with Donovan; I knew the child growing inside me was my child, but I had not yet held him in my arms. Looking at Bao Xinsheng’s photos and reading his file, I already knew he was my son – I just had not held him in my arms yet…
And now, one year later, the sweet boy in that photo is MY son, and my world is so much better having him in my life.

I'm going to end this post, with a HINT of what is to come...

"Once our eyes are opened, we can't pretend we don't know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows that we know, and holds us responsible to act." Proverbs 24:12

The above Bible verse is a huge hint at our news which will be shared soon...(I'm sure most of you can certainly figure out what our news is! It will come as no surprise to those who truly know us.)

4 Years With Donovan: Happy Birthday

2010-11-17T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Donovan!

It is not possible to adequately put into words how much I love him!

Photos above:
1) 4 years old - photo taken yesterday on our hike
2) 3 years old - photo taken just before Halloween
3) 2 years old - Photo taken on Christmas Day.
4)1 year old - photo taken on Chinese New Year.
5) New Baby - The photo taken at 8 days old that we used for his birth announcement.

A Birthday Hike (One Day Early)

2010-11-16T12:17:00.000-08:00

Today, the day before Donovan's birthday, the weather was gorgeous - not sunny, but in the 50s and no breeze. After preschool and lunch, I asked Donovan if he wanted to play outside with Aaron, and Donovan requested a "birthday hike like we went on last year." He has a good memory! On his 3rd birthday both Rupert and I took the day off from work to be with Donovan. After his 3 year physical and lunch at Al's, we went for a hike. Last November was so mild, that in fact on Thanksgiving day while the turkey was in the oven, we went on that same hike. Just at the end of our road there is a series of hiking trails through the woods. It's quite extensive in fact.
And so today, the boys and I headed out for our hike. They had so much fun, exploring and talking to one another, and I enjoyed every moment of simply observing my two incredible sons. At the end of the 45 minute hike, when I told the boys I was so sorry I had not thought to bring my camera, Donovan said, "That's okay Mommy, why don't we go get it and do the hike again." And so, that is exactly what we did.
I must add that last Thanksgiving, Rupert and I knew about Aaron. We knew we wanted to adopt him. We were waiting to see if the Chinese government would allow his file to be pulled back from the agency he was listed to and returned to the government, and then sent to our agency, so that we could lock his file and submit our LOI (Letter of Intent) to adopt him. I remember we talked during that walk about our concerns about having two boys basically the same age. (Can't believe we worried about that - they are the best of friends and bring us so much joy every day!) We also wondered if due to having been in an orphanage for 3 years, if Aaron would have some gross motor delays that would make hiking like that difficult. (While it was certainly reasonable to expect those delays, in Aaron's case they were so far from reality - this is a boy who was riding a 2 wheeler with training wheels the weekend we got home from China, and a few weeks later, swimming in our pool. In the beginning we did notice lots of stumbles and falls when Aaron was running on grass, but that was simply from having never done that before.) Today as I watched my two boys running together, ahead of me, and then turning and racing back to me (and Aaron squealing on the top of his lungs with enthusiasm, and Donovan giggling), I felt like the luckiest Mom ever...
Never in a million years would I have ever thought that when Donovan was turning 4, he would have a BROTHER, 2 months younger than him. And, yet our unexpected reality brings me so much more joy than I could have ever dreamed of one year ago...
Tomorrow is Donovan's 4th birthday and Thursday marks another special one year anniversary, for which I am starting to compose a post...

Donovan's 4th Birthday Party

2010-11-13T12:22:00.000-08:00

A Special Friend of Aaron's Met Her Family Today!

2010-11-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

It is with great happiness in my heart that I have been following the journey of a special little girl from Aaron's orphanage, and today she has been united with her Forever Family.

In August I became aware of this most beautiful little girl available for adoption, who is from Aaron's orphanage. For a weekend I wondered if perhaps we were to be her family, but upon seeing more specific information about her, I learned she was about to turn 4, and was three months older than Donovan. I feel strongly that we will not disrupt the birth order of our family as we add to it; Donovan will always remain the oldest. (And, even if she had been a younger 3 year old, I still remember thinking I was probably crazy to consider having virtual triplets!) And so, I began advocating for this very special little girl. In one of the adoption support groups I am part of, an online friend, Diana, contacted me to tell me that a close friend of hers had also requested the little girl's file and was having it reviewed by a doctor. I was able to tell Diana a bit about the Bao'an orphanage, to share with her friend. I kept praying that this family would be the one for this little girl, and was so happy to learn that they decided to adopt her. I have been following their blog as they have been preparing for their trip. (It's Waiting for Lucy on my list of blogs). This special girl's name is now Kit and today she has met her parents and her beautiful sister, Lucy, who was also adopted from China.

While protecting the privacy of both Kit and Aaron, I will say that they knew each other quite well at the orphanage, and share a special connection. (When I first saw her photograph, I thought there was a resemblance between the two of them, and other people mentioned this to me also, and I wondered....could they be....biological relatives? But now that I have seen photos of her a little older, that resemblance is gone. Likely it was simply a similar way the orphanage staff posed them in their photographs for their adoption files. In any case, they both lived for over 3 years at the same orphanage. They were both in the 3 year old room/group for part of 2010 (Kit would have been there since August of 2009, and Aaron from Jan 2010 until we adopted him in April.) In fact, though we could not take video or photos inside the 3 year old bedroom when we visted it (we did take a photo of Aaron on his bed and one with the nanny of the room), I specifically remember seeing Kit lying in her bed as we walked through the room. (The children were napping.) When I showed Aaron some recent photos of Kit (taken when her new family sent her a birthday cake, as we did for Aaron), I asked him if he knew her in China, he said, "I'm not sure. I don't think so." I realized she looked different in the photos, from six months ago when he was last in China, and I knew he had certainly interacted with her. Soon after I showed Aaron the photos of Kit, I emailed the orphanage photos of Aaron (as part of him being home for 6 months) and specifically asked if Aaron knew Kit. They confirmed these two children did in fact know each other, and spent quite a bit of time together.

And so today my heart is full of happiness for this beautiful little girl, a friend of Aaron's from his time in the orphanage, has found her Forever Family!

Fun Morning for Aaron & Allergy Testing for Donovan

2010-10-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Last week Aaron spent the morning with Grandma. She took him with her to run some errands and into the Mall where he rode on several toy vehicles. He was so excited! He had so much to tell us about when he got home. These photos of him are so sweet!

Aaron spent the day with Grandma, while I took Donovan for allergy testing...

After 2 years of a series of lingering colds every fall (Aug - Oct) and spring (April - June), often resulting in sinus infections taking multiple rounds of antibiotics to clear up, we realized what was most likely causing Donovan these symptoms was likely allergies, and not colds. In fact, how we finally realized this was that when we returned from China in late April, and Donovan was on another round of antibiotics for a sinus infection that had been going on for 4 weeks, suddenly the temperatures dropped and we got a snowstorm, and Donovan's symptoms disappeared -and then reappeared a week later when spring weather returned. Donovan was started on Zyrtec and Flonase and we saw quick improvement in his symptoms. Our pediatrician wanted to refer Donovan for allergy testing then, but we were afraid that removing him from the Zyrtec and Flonase allergy meds. for a week required before the allergy testing would result in yet another sinus infection. So, our pediatrician agreed that if we could keep the symptoms at bay with the Zyrtec/Flonase, then we could hold off on allergy testing until late fall/early winter.
And so, last week, I took Donovan for the allergy testing. We were simply trying to discover which things he is allergic too and which months we would really need to treat him with allergy meds (rather than medicating from spring to first frost of winter...). The allergist we chose was absolutely wonderful. In fact, when I taught one summer in a private preschool's summer program, his oldest son was in my class, and his youngest son is adopted from Korea, and his wife is an artist, whose work we have several of in our home.

Donovan did great! First the nurse "wrote" on his back and then she "scratched" it. Donovan didn't even flinch when she "scratched" him with the needles 20 times for the various possible allergens. Within moments his back began to itch and turn red in many locations. The nurse told Donovan not to touch his back (btw, he complied so much with this that, that afternoon when it was time to put pjs on for nap, he asked if it was okay to then touch his back.) Donovan and I spent about 15 minutes playing Go Fish and Memory. The doctor came in, looked at Donovan's back, and announced, "Well it looks like we are dealing with some allergies here." The results, as expected, indicated allergies to pollen (April - June) and ragweed (Aug-late Sept) - Well, at least we can take July off from allergy meds :) AND, what we were not expecting...an indoor allergy to dust mites. Donovan did great through the whole thing, and was excited about his sticker, and then lunch out with mom.

The outdoor allergies are certainly not a big deal, we will just use the Zyrtec and Flonase as recommended by the doctors, April - June and then again August and September. The dust mite allergy is a bit more involved. We've been ordering a lot of items and have some changes to make. Just received our steamer and ionic air cleaner with permanent Hepa filter for his bedroom, special dust mite covers for his mattress and his pillow (and Aaron's, and ours too as they both often climb into our bed in the early am), special additive for laundering his bedding (weekly). His room will need to be steamed weekly. No more stuffed animals, except one special panda and one special koala bear which will be steamed regularly and laundered weekly. We are NOT removing carpeting. Our allergist said if we vaccuum his bedroom 1-2 times a week (including moving all furniture and vaccuuming where it was) and steam it regularly (weekly I guess), we should be okay.

I am so glad we opted to have the allergy testing done. While the seasonal stuff we had already figured out, the dust mites allergy was unexpected. Well, now we are armed with our steamer, and ready to eliminate dust mites on a regular basis :)

Donovan's First McDonalds

2010-10-29T17:29:00.000-07:00

It is with a smile upon my face, that I share this with you...

Today, Rupert picked Donovan up from preschool and took him to lunch, as Aaron and I had something else going on. Rupert chose to take Donovan to McDonalds, where Donovan has never been before. I should clarify I was aware of Rupert's choice and laughingly said two things to Rupert 1)This will be his only trip there for 2010 and 2) I bet he will not like the food.

I am pleased to report that Donovan did NOT enjoy his first trip to McDonald's. He liked the Happy Meal toy but reported the "brown part of the hamburger did not taste good to me." That would be referring to the "meat."
Having not eaten at McDonald's/BK since I was 12, I'm thrilled. It appears he won't be asking Rupert to take him back there again :)

Home Six Months Today

2010-10-23T10:59:00.001-07:00

Today, exactly six months since he has been home, Aaron excitedly participated in trick-or-treating at our local mall. He and Donovan were dressed as monkeys.

Today, we got lots of, "Oh how cute, are they twins?" comments...and I answered, "Nope, just brothers, but today they are 'monkey twins.'"

Aaron was enthusiastic about trick-or-treating, as he is about all things in life. This past week he went to the dentist for his first cleaning, and was happy to exclaim, "wee...." when the hygenist and dentist reclined the chair for him. He didn't move an inch during the cleaning, and was looking forward to a plastic snake as a prize (which Donovan got the week before). The dentist asked, "Is he always this happy and enthusiastic about everything?" Yes, pretty much. We returned the next day for a filling and for the 2nd time since he's been home, the work was done without any novocaine or nitrous oxide...NOTHING...took about 15 minutes and he did not even flinch (again, thinking of a plastic snake in the prize drawer). The dentist was so impressed with Aaron, as are we!

There are no words...

2010-10-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

Husband: China Forces Wife to Abort at 8 Months
(Click on title of article above)

No words...just sadness and outrage. And fear for the husband's safety in speaking out against officials...

It is supposed to be illegal for authorities in China to force a woman to have an abortion.

I've seen the video on YouTube of this couple. Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan interviews the woman forced to abort her 8 month old baby. It took me a minute or two to realize this was THE WOMAN...she still appears pregnant, because she is now carrying a dead fetus...The video will break your heart...

Two Very Special Boys

2010-10-16T23:03:00.000-07:00

I know many in the Chinese adoptive community may recognize the handsome boy to the right of Aaron as "Timothy" from Love Without Boundaries. (He's wearing a bit of frosting from an ice cream cupcake!) It seems so long ago that I first read about "Timothy" on the Love Without Boundaries website when he needed sponsorship for medical care...and then again when he was highlighted this past November in their newsletter, and it indicated he was waiting for a family. Never in a million years could I have ever imagined that I would be MEETING him one day...and that my own son would share a special connection with him.

Today we were absolutely thrilled to get to meet (in person) Debbie and her new son, Timmy, and the rest of their wonderful family. Debbie and I both belong to an online support group, one that we are both very active on. It was on that group that I first "met" Debbie, while we were both waiting to travel to go get our sons. We traveled first for Aaron, as we were a family whose paperwork was already logged in with China, and Debbie's family was just starting the "paperchase." I waited eagerly after getting home with Aaron, to follow Debbie's journey to China to adopt Timmy. Exactly 4 months after we arrived home with Aaron, Debbie met her new son, Timmy, in China.

Though we live in different states, Debbie's family has a ski home not too far from where we live. They were coming up for the weekend, and offered to stop at our home so we could meet! We were thrilled to meet them, and hope this is the first of many times that we are able to get together.

Aaron and Timmy are two incredibly special little boys. They have much in common. I truly believe Timmy and Aaron will be in contact with one another many times during their lifetimes - at least that is certainly my hope, and I know Debbie and I will both work to facilitate that.

"I'm so glad I have a brother. I love him SO much!"

2010-10-14T12:55:00.000-07:00

Today, at the end of lunch, Donovan came up to me and hugged me and said, "Mommy, I love playing with Aaron. I love playing with Aaron with our vehicles and with our school and playing games. I'm so glad I have a brother. I love him so much!"

Today while I was preparing lunch, Aaron and Donovan played three board games together (Candy Land Bingo, "Lucky Ducks" - which is a fantastic and fun game!, and a Curious George Game). A few days ago, while I made lunch, they played Candy Land and an animal matching game. We play board games several times a day, especially as a family in the evenings, and I'm very impressed that these two boys can negotiate and take turns well enough independently to play the games together, just the two of them.

These two brothers love each other so much, and I love them both immensely...

Field Trip to Apple Orchard

2010-10-08T12:22:00.001-07:00

Today I chaperoned Donovan's preschool's field trip to a local apple orchard. Donovan ate one apple there at the orchard, and a second one in the car on the way home, announcing, "This apple is crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside."

Santa's Village

2010-10-03T17:40:00.000-07:00

We had the most wonderful day at Santa's Village in Jefferson, NH today. We are exhausted, but so happy and have so many special memories of our day today.

(As some of you know, last year was our first visit to Santa's Village, and we were quite caught off guard when halfway there, Donovan, who had never been motion sick before, became very ill on the trip. This year, with the addition of Aaron with his SEVERE motion sickness, both boys were given Dramamine, and we had a very pleasant car ride there and back.)

When I woke the boys up at 6 am (in preparation for our 7 am departure), Donovan sat up and said in a surprised voiced, "What? Time to get up already? It's still dark out." This gave me a good laugh as this is the boy who usually comes into our bedroom around 6 or 6:15 each morning, and who for a least two years was up between 5and 5:30 am...

We had a really nice ride there, enjoying the gorgeous fall foliage. It takes 2 1/2 hours to get so Santa's Village. We were there a few minutes before it opened, and in fact, we were the first in line to see Santa. Donovan had been saying for several days that he planned to give Santa a big hug and thank him for the train table he brought last year. Well...we walked in, and Donovan became a bit shy. So, here is Aaron, who has never seen Santa (except in photos in Donovan's scrapbook which we have been looking at the past few days), and he says, "Thank you for the train table. I like construction vehicles, and cars and I would like a UPS truck and an ice cream truck." (This from a little boy home 5 1/2 months, who only knows Santa from the little bit of information we have told him the past couple weeks). In any case, this really helped Donovan feel at ease. Donovan then also thanked Santa for the train table from last Christmas and did give Santa a BIG hug. He also said he likes construction vehicles. Santa gave both boys TWO candy canes and the boys sat on his lap for some photos.

Last year I would say that the train ride (which we did 4 times last year) was the hit. This year, without question, the Antique cars were the highlight. We went on them 4 times in a row! (and then 8 other times throughout the day). Donovan was THRILLED to find out that this year when he stood up with his foot on the pedal, he was able to make the antique cars go. Aaron was also able to do this and was very pleased with himself. They are still talking about it!

Both boys also liked the ferris wheel, carousel, train ride, and bumper cars. Last year I did take Donovan on the rollercoaster, but he did not care for it. We've been reading a book about a rollercoaster for the past month, and Donovan said he wanted to go on it this year. So, we did. And he LOVED it. In fact, after we got off, he went on it two more times (for a total of SIX trips around the rollercoaster) with Rupert. Aaron watched and decided not to go on it. Then during lunch, Aaron said he wished he had gone on it. So, a little while after lunch, he went on with Rupert, and while I don't think it was Aaron's favorite, he was very proud of himself that he went on it!

We enjoyed a great pizza at lunchtime. Both boys were very hungry and loved their pizz and a special treat of chocolate milk. We had a very nice ride home (again enjoying the fall foliage). Both boys were asleep less than five minutes at bedtime!

"He's SO smart!"

2010-09-23T12:09:00.001-07:00

Today, Grandma spent a wonderful morning with Donovan. I took Aaron to an appointment, and then ran a few errands. Last week I purchased 5 pairs of snowpants at a children's second-hand clothing store, and was thrilled to find that 2 of them fit perfectly (one for Aaron, one for Donovan). Today I wanted to run in and return the 3 that did not fit. When we got to the register I had to tell the clerk my name, and then I picked Aaron up just as the clerk asked what our address was. Aaron shouted out our address (house number, street name, city) clearly and correctly to her. The clerk was so surprised and said, "Wow! He is so smart! How old is he?" By now Aaron had moved on to counting the pens in her pen holder on the counter and telling her how many there were (14). I told her he was 3 1/2, and she said, "Well we sure see a lot of kids in here, but I'd have to say he's the smartest 3 1/2 year old I've seen." I then shared, "Actually, he has only been speaking English for 5 months; he was born in China and just came to the U.S. in April." She was floored; she asked twice if I was serious, and when I said yes, her mouth dropped open.
It is truly amazing to have witnessed Aaron's language development the past 5 months. Certainly having a brother the same age has helped Aaron learn English quickly, and it is clear that Aaron is a very smart boy (as is Donovan). We are so lucky!

It's Official - I'm home with the boys until next fall!

2010-09-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to share that my wonderful superintendent approved my request to extend my leave of absence for the purpose of childrearing, so that I will return in August for the 2011-2012 school year (instead of January 2011). I am so very grateful to have this time with both boys, but especially with Aaron!

Happy Mid Autumn Moon Festival

2010-09-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Mid Autumn Moon Festival! The first image above is the Mid Autumn Festival greeting card we sent to Rupert's parents and his brother's family. The second image is a close up of the writing (and moon) on that greeting card. The third is a book just released on Sept. 14 (Thanking the Moon by Grace Lin) which we read to Donovan's preschool class yesterday. The bottom image is the cover of a book (Lin Yi's Lantern) we gave Donovan's teacher as a gift, and we also have one for the boys.

Yesterday, was our first parent helping day at Donovan's preschool (it is a co-op). In addition to helping out, and providing snack, we shared a bit about Mid Autumn Moon Festival. The children are all 3 and 4 years old and I was amazed at how much they comprehended. We talked a bit about the holiday, read Thanking the Moon by Grace Lin (sweet, simple book to introduce children to the holiday, with beautiful illustrations), and gave each child a paper lantern (ordered from Chinasprout). Our snack was circular rice crackers, cheddar cheese cut into circles, and circular cookies ("moon cookies" we called them, really simple homemade sugar cookies). We talked about mooncakes, the fullness of the moon, lanterns, and making a wish while looking at the full moon. Donovan's WONDERFUL teacher sent home an email with parents with information about our visit and the holiday. In addition they created a large display of photos of our visit, information about the holiday, and a large paper Rupert had written Happy Mid Autumn Festival in Chinese on. All of the parents thanked us so much for the lanterns and for sharing this with the children and they shared some of the details their children had told them about the holiday.

Tonight, before dinner the boys and I walked to Donovan's teacher's house to give her a copy of a beautiful book, Lin Yi's Lantern, a large paper lantern for her to hang tonight at her house, and a mooncake. She emailed us this evening thanking us and telling us she read the book to her 5 year old daughter tonight and they both loved it. It has a wonderful message and is a very touching story. She plans to bring it to school on Friday to share with the students.

Just after dinner, we went on the screened in porch and Rupert lit the lanterns. Each of us made a silent wish (well not so silent for our two boys). Donovan wished for a dog (well, some wishes won't be coming true anytime soon...) and Aaron announced his wish was "to see the moon." Well, Aaron's wish came true. Around 7:30we drove in the car to get a perfect view of the FULL moon. We were all able to see it clearly and make our special wishes. When we arrived at the spot we had planned to park the car to get out and gaze up at the moon, we discovered it was now covered by thick clouds. We waited about 15 minutes, but the clouds remained. We are so fortunate to have left the house when we did so we were able to see the moon.

Tonight I think of Aaron's biological parents, and wonder if they were able to view the moon to celebrate this holiday. What silent wishes/prayers might they have made gazing at the moon...Oh how I wish they were somehow able to know that Aaron now has a Forever Family - a mother, a father, a brother, and a grandmother who cherish him and love him unconditionally; that he persevered against the odds in an orphanage in China and traveled to a new life in America; that he is happy and so smart and loving, and a most wonderful son. He is such a blessing in our lives.

We are so blessed to have two wonderful sons, Donovan and Aaron.

Happy Mid Autumn Moon Festival!

One of those Moments...

2010-09-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

Today, I was making lunch, and Aaron was working on finding the correct magnetic letters to spell his name on the whiteboard. All of a sudden Aaron leaned around the side of the easel, smiling, and said to me, "Aaron is SO HAPPY." I asked, "Why are you so happy Aaron?" and he replied, "'Cause I love you Mommy, and I love Daddy, and I love Donovan." He had this BEAMING smile on his face (and by then my eyes were filled with tears!) and I raced over to scoop him right up and give him a big hug and kiss.
Every night when Donovan gets out of the bathtub, he races to our bed, where Aaron and Daddy are reading books, and jumps up to give Aaron a big hug and kiss. It's moments like that just melt my heart!
Here are two photos of Aaron with his name correctly spelled on the easel. He was very proud of himself.

Happy Grandparent's Day to the BEST Grandma ever!

2010-09-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

Today we are celebrating a wonderfully special Grandparent's Day with Aaron and Donovan's Grandma (my mom).
My mom had been away on the coast of Maine for a week with friends, and the boys were thrilled to see her today! They have both missed her during her week's vacation, and have been eagerly awaiting her return.
This photo was taken today after my mom gave the boys crab shells from the coast of Maine. They were thrilled! After lunch she gave them each two sets of fall/winter pajamas (which we need right now with our cooler weather at night!) and a new book. And, then coins to feed to their piggy banks. The boys are napping now and we are looking forward to a wonderful afternoon and dinner with Grandma!

Even though I know it's Grandparents' Day, and not Mother's Day, I want to say that my mother is truly my very best friend and I truly know how fortunate I am to have her in my life. I admire my mother so much, in so many ways, and she is exactly the kind of role model I want in my children's lives. She is such a selfless person, who has shown this time and time again (caring at home for two terminally ill husbands, and taking in her mom (my Mimiere) to live with us from 1986-2010, including caring for her for several years after a massive stroke). My mom has always done a lot of charity work. From a young age I was taught the importance of helping those less fortunate. We hosted Fresh Air children from NYC every summer, brought donations to homeless shelters, provided meals to the Ronald McDonald House, etc.
As a grandmother, my mom absolutely adores both of her grandsons. She sees them several times a week and loves playing with them. When one has an appointment, she always offers to help by spending the day with the other boy. Both boys already have fond memories of going to the penny candy store near her house, swimming in the pool with her, going shopping with her, and going to the playground. Aaron, though he has only known his grandmother for 4 1/2 months now, loves her so much. At least once a day he asks if she is at her house or if she is coming to see us that day.

I remember sharing our news with her that our adoption plans (for a healthy baby girl) had changed, and that instead we had found the most gorgeous 3 year old little boy, and felt so strongly that he was to be our son. Of course she was expecting a granddaughter, as that was what we had applied to China for back in 2008 - but within a moment of hearing our news, seeing the excitement and joy on our faces, she was 100% supportive of our decision, and truly happy for us, and for our new son.
My mom has suffered so many losses in her life, and at my age (36) suddenly became a single mother, when my father died after a 3 month bout with cancer. It would be easy for someone in her situation to feel sorry for themself, and choose to be negative/pessimistic, but instead, she has always chosen to focus on the positive and enjoy every moment. The saying on our blog "Life is not measured in the number of breaths you take, but in the moments that take your breath away." is one that is near and dear to my heart.

Happy Grandparents day to the most wonderful grandparent I know - my mom! Donovan and Aaron are so lucky to have you in their lives, loving them, and we appreciate you so much!

Oh How Our Garden Grows...

2010-09-05T11:00:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying the veggies and fruits from our gardens. We have been overwhelmed with our crop of cucumbers, as our neighbors can attest to, as they've been receiving them from us quite often. The boys and I have been eating 2 cucumbers a day! Our crop of snap peas and snow peas were much more manageable, and are long gone now. We are in the midst now of our cherry tomato crop (picking twice a day!) and our rasberry bushes are producing an incredible crop this year (these were new additions last year), and the boys and I simply devour them daily!
Finally, today our first two yellow bell peppers were ready to be picked. The boys have been checking on these peppers multiple times each day and were thrilled that finally they were ready today. The boys' lunch each day begins with cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and bell peppers along with some dip (dill dip for Donovan, sweet and sour sauce for Aaron). They especially LOVE yellow and orange bell peppers. I love these photos of the boys holding the peppers.

Day 2 of Preschool

2010-09-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

Apparently Donovan thinks that taking photos of him before we leave for preschool in the morning is part of what happens every morning I think. This morning, with his backpack on, he happily left the house and as we approached the car, he said, "Hey Mommy, how about I stand in front of some places in our yard and you take photos?" I'm posting a few of them.
He had another wonderful day. He reported playing in the sandbox, on the playground, with some sort of blocks, and about seeing a crayfish at the river. It was another scorching hot day, and so as soon as we got home, Donovan, Aaron, and I all went in the pool, followed by lunch, and a nice two hour nap for the boys. Rupert was sent home halfday for the holiday weekend, which was a nice surprise. We all enjoyed time in the pool after the boys' nap.
Looking forward to a very relaxing 3 day weekend!

First Day of Preschool for Donovan

2010-09-01T05:51:00.000-07:00

Today was Donovan's first day of preschool. We have all been eagerly awaiting this first day of school. Donovan attended a summer camp at his preschool in late May/early June and became familiar with the school, and some of the students and teachers. Then last week we attended a playdate with children from his class.
Donovan was very well rested this morning, ate a great breakfast (as usual), and was ready in plenty of time for a few photos before I drove him to school. The hugs and kisses between he and Aaron lasted quite a while. (Last night Aaron had said, while trying to fall asleep, "Tomorrow during the day, Christine will stay with Donovan, and Mommy will stay with me." (Christine is Donovan's teacher.) And yet, even with that understanding, the goodbye between the two brothers who have been inseparable for the past 4 months, was quite a long one.)
Donovan selected some spots in the front yard to have his photo taken in front of (which I've posted above). When we arrived at his preschool, he seemed a bit quiet, but replied when his teacher greeted him, picked up his name and put it in the basket for attendance, selected a cubby, and hung up his backpack as I unpacked things for his cubby. We then headed back outside, where Donovan headed to the sandbox. He then went right up to his teacher, Christine, and said, "Last week there was no excavator here, but there was one here at summer camp. Do you know where the excavator is?" At first, the teacher said no, there must not be one, but another parent remembered having seen it before. The teacher went to the outdoor supply shed and sure enough...a small excavator was located. Donovan was thrilled, and I was so pleased that he was able to speak up and advocate for himself (well, for an excavator, which is VERY important to him these days.) I then walked over and said, "Okay Donovan I'm going to leave now. I'll be back before lunchtime. Have a great day." He replied, "Bye mom, see you later." And that was it...What a big boy! (Rupert and our wonderful childcare provider, Lisa, can certainly appreciate this goodbye, as they both dealt with close to a year of tears at morning dropoff when Donovan was 2!) I left smiling, watching him totally engaged in the sandbox with two other boys.
I came home to find Aaron playing with his new school bus (Grandma gave Donovan a book about school and Aaron a large school bus). Aaron was loading Fisher Price people onto the bus, and telling me that he could fit "4 more passengers" into it. We spent quite some time playing with the bus, and then ran some errands. Aaron was my big helper at the bank, children's clothing resale shop (dropping off winter clothing from when Donovan was a baby) and a ladies' resale shop. Then home and into the pool until it was time for me to pick up Donovan.

On the ride home, Donovan told me all about his day. He said, "Mommy, guess how many kids are in my class?" I guessed 5, but he said, "no, more. There are 17 kids, and 2 teachers and there were 3 mommies. (The preschool is a parent co-op, so each day one parent of a chid in the class helps out. For the first day of school they had more parents. We've arranged our volunteering to fall around Mid Autumn Festival, and Chinese New Year so that two of our volunteering days can focus on Chinese culture/holidays.)
Donovan also told me some of the things he did today: played with trains, blocks, light table, sandbox, playground, and ran through the sprinkler. (In fact the teacher mentioned just before I arrived she had to hose Donovan off because he, and three other boys, went straight from the sprinkler to the sandbox...one can only imagine!)
Right now, he's trying to fall asleep, and keeps remembering things he wants to tell me.
What an exciting first day!

Four Months With Aaron

2010-08-22T15:35:00.001-07:00

Today, August 23, 2010, marks four full months since our plane touched down in Burlington, Vermont, and Aaron began his new life with us, his Forever Family. Now at four months, most days it seems like Aaron has always been part of our family. We are so lucky to have him (and Donovan) as our son!
Here is a photo from this past Saturday (Aaron's Baptism) and April 23 when we arrived at the Burlington Airport. What a difference 4 months makes!!

Aaron's Special Day

2010-08-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today, Aaron was baptized. The ceremony was absolutely perfect and was held at my mom's church in Shelburne. I found her priest, Father Michael, so wonderful to work with for my Grandmother's funeral in January. In addition, he took a special interest in our adoption of Aaron, and in fact recently used Rupert and I in his Homily related to the choices we make in our lives, specifically the selfless choices we make to help others in need. He is wonderful with children.
Aaron wore a special Chinese outfit we purchased for him in China (the same one he wore in his adoption announcement), and Donovan also wore a Chinese outfit to the Baptism. Aaron did so well during the ceremony. He listened intently to Father Michael. Near the end, when Father Michael placed his hand on my head to bless me as Aaron's Mother, Aaron also placed his hand on my head. Donovan also did quite well, sitting with my mom (who I have no idea how she was able to also take photos!)

Aaron has two special Godmothers - my best friend (whose friendship started when we were in the 5th grade) Candice (who is also Donovan's Godmother, and I am Godmother to both of her beautiful daughters), and my cousin, Laura (who unfortunately had to turn around halfway to Vermont as her 11 month old son became ill with a fever and rash - he's okay, but certainly not feeling himself!; our close family friend Letitia stood in for Laura, which we are so grateful for).

The ceremony was perfect. Afterwards we had a small gathering at our home. Although the weather was cloudy in just in the 70s, I had turned the pool heater on earlier in the day, so the water was at 86, and we were able to enjoy time in the pool. Candice's husband, Gregg, and their oldest daughter, Alexandra spent close to 2 1/2 hours in the pool! It was a great day. Their family stayed for dinner, and then a visit to our local elementary school playground and then for cremees. They also were able to see Donovan's preschool. These are such special friends of ours, who we get to see not often enough, but our boys both clearly sense just how important they are to all of us. Donovan said on the way home, "Uncle Gregg and Aunt Candice and Alexandra and Ashley stayed all day. We got to swim in the pool and play in the house and they even stayed for dinner. Then we went to the playgorund and to Joe's for ice cream and they saw my school. I had so much fun. I love those girls so much. I wish I could see them every day!" Oh, me too, sweet Donovan, me too!
The last photo is of my "Uncle" Jack (my father's first cousin). Both boys were quite taken with him and even called him, "Grandpa." It's a sweet photo!
Today was the first time Donovan has "skipped" a nap and the first time he has ever had potato chips. In fact, when I asked him if he wanted potato chips, he asked, "What are they mom? Can I try just one to see if I like it?" Needless to say, he liked it and asked for some with his lunch...
It was such a wonderful day!

The Alpine Slide

2010-08-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, today we took the boys to the Alpine Slide in Stowe. The area has changed a lot in the past few years, with the addition of a huge, expensive resort/private condos, but the slide itself (and the chairlift ride up) immediately brought me back to when I was a child, visiting it once a summer with my mom (and often one of our Fresh Air children from NYC). The price has certainly changed; I recall paying about $3 per ride and riding about 6 or 7 times on the day we visited. I think by the time I was a teen, it had probably increased to about $7. Today's price...one ride for $21, 3 rides for $42. Luckily, the boys are free riders (since they are under 5). We splurged for 3 rides for each of us adults, realizing one ride would simply not be enough, as each boy wanted to ride with EACH of us down the slide.
I rode first with Aaron, while Donovan rode with Rupert. On the chairlift ride up, Aaron sat as still as a statue, holding on to the bar with both hands, and chatting with me the whole way up about the scenery, which at some points included being able to see riders coming down the slide. At the top, we loaded into our sleds (Aaron and I went in the sled ahead of Rupert and Donovan). Both boys LOVED the ride down, claiming to have gone, "super fast." Just for clarification, my sled went "super fast," Rupert's...not so much. Aaron and I were waiting for Rupert and Donovan for quite some time at the bottom. The second ride, I rode with Donovan; Rupert rode with Aaron. We let Rupert and Aaron go in front of us on the ride down, in hopes that once down they would have time to get off their sled and take a photo of Aaron and me coming down the hill - Nope...we caught up with their sled about 3/4 of the way down. Donovan made it very clear he wanted to ride with Mommy on the final run of our visit. So, he rode up the chairlift for the final time with Daddy, and down the slide with Mommy. This time Rupert went in the opposite slide and kept up a good pace with us, so that our sleds finished at the same time.
The boys are already talking about "next summer when we come back to Alpine Slide." It was a wonderful day...

Spruce Peak in Stowe

2010-08-14T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today we took the boys to the Alpine Slide at Spruce Peak in Stowe and enjoyed a picnic lunch afterwards. (Our second picnic in two days! We are LOVING this incredible weather this summer!)
Here are three cute photos of the boys with a huge stuffed black bear and a carved wooden bear, and me with the two boys in front of the resort.
It was a GREAT day!

Day at the Waterfront and Science Center

2010-08-13T18:59:00.000-07:00

This morning Donovan, Aaron, and I met Grandma (my mom) to go to the Burlington Waterfront for a visit to the ECHO Science Center, and a picnic lunch. The boys had a fantastic time in the science center, viewing the turtles and fish, and playing in the different areas. After our visit at ECHO, we enjoyed a picnic lunch outside on the waterfront (a first for both boys). Aaron was intrigued with the idea that we were not going to be eating at a picnic TABLE, but instead on a picnic BLANKET. Both boys loved it. After lunch we walked along the waterfront, and the boys were very interested in the boats. It was a wonderful day. (Interestingly the boys kept looking out at the lake for Dragonboats, as we were just there on Sunday for the Dragonboat races/festival.)

Playground Photos

2010-08-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

Some great photos of Aaron at the playground