Foosball & Drums...Santa must be trying to drive us crazy!

I am dreaming of a white Christmas...

The kids had a blast playing in the six inches of snow we received overnight.  It was a beautiful sight looking out our windows first thing this morning.  Good thing they both received rain boots for Christmas.  How convenient!  Davis had a full fledge snow skiing outfit I purchased in Beijing when I visited for work in March of this year.  I had no idea if he would use it.  I suppose I was secretly hoping for snow.  Interesting to note,  is that it snowed in Beijing during that visit.  My colleague and I toured the forbidden city in the snow.  It was our tour guides first time visiting the forbidden city in snow.

On an unrelated but exciting note, if you have a few minutes, check out our friends blog. The Kennedys are currently in China finalizing the adoption of their adorable son Aiden.  They are the first link on our blog (peanut and pop tart).  Mike is quite a writer.  He certainly has a fall back career.

Blessings are all around us today and everyday.   Hope you had a wonderful holiday surrounded by loved ones and we wish you a happy and prosperous New Year.

Just a few shots of Forbidden City- March 2010.

Arrived just as the snow started to fall.

  

Busy Holiday Weekend

It was a busy weekend around the Walker household.  Friday night started with rushing from work to meet up with friends for a Disney on Ice- Toy Story 3 date night with Davis.  It has been so long since just the two of us were able to spend time together, probably since his field trip.  We went with his best buddy, Andrew and my friend Kim (Andrew's mom).  It was a great show and the boys had a blast.  He used his allowance to purchase a silver arm laser blaster during the show.  He was very proud of himself for using the money he earned and was pumped about having $6 left over.   The best part of the evening was on the drive home, I asked him what was his favorite part of the show and he said, "I like spending time with you mommy".  He has a free pass for at least a week, what a sweet thing to say and something a mom LOVES to hear.

Saturday started with Children's choir practice and errands.  Vince did a great job helping me keep the kids busy while I prepared to host a Christmas shower for our friend, Kim.  The shower was a success and she got lots of things to trim her tree!  That evening our youth group hosted a parents night out as a fundraiser, so we dropped the kids off at church and had a date night with friends.  We wrapped the evening up early because we had to be at church early on Sunday for the Christmas program.

Sunday morning, Davis and Vince were off to church by 8:00 since he was performing in the children's choir during the 8:30 and 11:00 service.  Despite being sick, he did a great job singing and his voice did an okay job hanging in there.  During the 11:00 service, we also had Hanna's baptism.  What a special day.  The photo below is of the children's choir.  Davis is on the front row, wearing the crown.  He was a wise man.

She wanted to the play in the water after the ceremony!

Giving thanks for all the blessings we are surrounded with daily- even if we are all sick and one is on antibiotics.

We are loving all the Christmas cards we are getting this year and hope to get ours out this week.

It's a small world

I joined a yahoo group for families that have adopted from Hangzhou.  There was a lady who worked with the red thread organization who emailed about having visited Hanna's orphanage in October of 2009 and subsequently in 2010.  I emailed her by chance to see if she had any photos of Hanna from her October 2009 visit.  Guess what- she did and distinctly remembered meeting Hanna.  She recalled how she wore adult shoes (heels) during the visit and sent some photos of her walking around in them!  She was so happy to know Hanna was adopted and requested an update on how she was doing.  The bonus in all the photos (and there were over 10 of them) was that her foster mother was also in them.  Any photo we can get of Hanna when she was younger is a blessing, but truly it is a small world to connect to people around the world, who knew your daughter before you did!

Snow in December

What an amazing day!  Snow in December.  Saturday started with rushing out the door for Davis' soccer practice, then back to the house for lunch and off to our neighbor's for a birthday party for Jesus.  As we were blowing out the candles and singing happy birthday, the snow started coming down.  The kids all wanted to go outside and stick their tongues out.  Hanna was just grinning ear to ear.  I am not certain if she has seen the snow before.  Davis wanted to play tackle football in the snow.  Vince promised that for tomorrow if the snow was still on the ground.

Haven't posted in a while...

It's been harder to post now that we are in the swing of things and getting busy with the holiday season.  I am not abandoning the blog though, I think the kids will have fun reading it some day.  I am grateful for all of our blessings, but especially our health, happiness, family and friends and the love that surrounds us each day.  The kids are doing great, Davis is loving soccer and doing well at school.  He started a lego camp on Tuesdays and has fun staying late for that, although its only for 6 weeks.  Hanna is speaking more and more English and has gotten a few "happy grams" from school stating she is learning the routine, saying her friends names, etc.  We are proud of her and she is becoming more affectionate and loving every day.

Just had to share some of her in her dress up clothes...what do princesses say when they wave their wands by the way?  For some reason, I keep wanting to say abracadabra, but I feel like that is for magic only?

Jammin' Out

Last night we had a great night out at the Kennedys.  Thanks, Mike for an amazing dinner!!  The kids clearly enjoyed their homemade mini pizzas.

While the adults enjoyed great wine, appetizers, conversation and laughs, Davis and Savannah had some friendly competition on the wii.  Hanna played on the computer right next to them.  Although it wasn't until after dinner and dessert that the fun really began.  The kids discovered the pool table and drum set upstairs. I believe the pictures speak for themselves.

Let the busy life begin!

Davis started soccer last week.  He had a blast.  He goes every Saturday morning in Morrisville and scored two goals his first scrimmage.  He was pretty proud of himself and so were we.  More than the goals, I was so proud of how he hustled the whole hour.  He ran hard the entire time and never let up.  He also was tripped during a game and he got right back up grinning.  He has a tendency to blame others for his mistakes and get angry, but he displayed good sportsmanship so that made mommy really proud.  He is growing up way too fast.  Hopefully tomorrow will go just as well.

Look at the boy hustle!

Jango Fett and Little Pumpkin

Yes, I am a little late at posting about Halloween.  I started work last week and have been a little busy, but happy to be back into the swings of things.  Hanna has done great at pre-school.  She pushes me out each morning and runs to see her teacher.  She is a little more clingy in the evenings after we bring her home, but I think that is just being tired and wanting a little more re-assurance that we will always come back to get her.  Davis has been tracked out the past three weeks and was able to spend some alone time with Oma and Pop Pop.  He was thrilled to be the center of attention.  Penguini, his favorite sleep toy was left behind but he was a big boy and didn't melt down at bedtime.  It is on its way via USPS back to Newport Ave.  He grinned ear to ear when I told him Pop Pop had mailed it back to him.

Davis was happy to show Hanna the ropes on how to trick or treat and she thought it was her personal responsibility to take two pieces of candy at each house and hand deliver a piece to her big brother.  Davis tried to tell her he didn't need the help, but she just didn't seem to want to let go of that responsibility.  Hanna is learning more and more English every day.  It's an amazing process to witness.

Not digging the hat, it didn't stay on long to say the least.

Hanna and her Pop Pop.  He sure is something special to her.

I was fortunate to be able to go on a field trip with Davis while I was off of work, since volunteering isn't really an option when you work full time.  They of course (like the other hundred classes that were there the same day) went to Hillridge Farms.  I think it really made his day that I was able to go with him.  It was special for us to hang out.

The only shot of us together, better than nothing.  We had fun on the hayride- it was taking us to the picnic tables to have our lunch.  I hadn't packed a school lunch in forever.  It was fun!

He had to find just the right pumpkin.  He almost missed his chance he was taking too long to decide.  He is such a cool kid- I love him to pieces.