Twins

Gwen and her cousin Alyssa love to be twins... whether it be fixing their hair the same, wearing twirly dresses, or having flowers in their hair... whatever. Don't you see the resemblance?

China Sisters Together Again!

Gwen, Kate, Kimberly and Alia

We had such a fun reunion with our adoption group this weekend! It was the first time all four of these girls have been together since they had all just joined our families in December 2005. See the picture below! What a change in five years. The girls are not in the same order in the two photos... can you tell who is who?We were very busy playing together this time... all four girls running, jumping and cartwheeling! I'll post more pictures soon of all the fun we had. :-)

Favorite From Today

Took some fun photos today, and among them a number of Madelyn. I think this one captures her personality really well, and I love her beautiful eyes and smile, too!

Tomorrow two of Gwen's China sisters arrive for a reunion this weekend, with the third coming on Saturday. This will be the first time all four of the Sichuan girls have been together since we left Guangzhou with our newly adopted daughters in December of 2005. Looking forward to seeing how they all interact. Will definitely have pictures of all the girls together to post!

Caleb is finishing up his second week of camp in Michigan tomorrow. His camp program includes 30+ hours a week of work in the kitchen, but he is among friends and has been looking forward to this time all year. We've not been able to hear anything from him while he's there, so I'm anxious to hear his stories!

We're just about a week our from heading back to Shanghai. Still some visits to have and things to do here, but looking forward to having our family back under our own roof. Scott has been hard at work in his new office in the World Financial Center in Shanghai for a week and a half, and is ready for some company at home besides the cats!

Thanks for the encouragement some of you left for me about blogging... I am grateful for your kind words! Truthfully, this is an outlet for me that I really enjoy and I would hate to give it up. Just don't want to be writing something irrelevant. :-)

Through Time and Space

At a graduation party at a park in Cleveland early Sunday evening, Gwen has a conversation with her daddy who is on his way to work on Monday morning in Shanghai.

Isn't technology wonderful?

Garden Pics and a Few Blogging Thoughts

I mentioned the Cleveland Botanical Gardens in the last post, and I wanted to share these couple pictures I took the day we visited there last week that I am especially pleased with! This one below features Gwen running across the little footbridge, but its the amazing lushness of this part of the garden that I feel like I captured in this photo. Doesn't it look so cool and inviting? Looks like a place fairies might live, I think. :-) Click on it to enlarge, and you might find that you want to step into the photo yourself!
For the thoughts... I feel like I am in a bit of a blogging rut. Lots of photos but not anything unique to say about them, I guess! Summer in the US is a wonderful time for our family, but it has us out of our regular life. Perhaps that is part of my blogging block. Scott's gone back to Shanghai now and so I'm looking that direction myself.

Also, I've been hungrily reading the blog of college friends who are in China adopting right now and it has me thinking back to those days when we were waiting for Gwen and then traveling to get her. She was the reason I started this blog, wanting to keep people in the loop with what was happening in our adoption process. Then it was to chronicle our life in China. Now that Shanghai has been our home for three years, it seems I have less to write about daily life there. Not saying I am hanging it up, but I wonder if my blog outlived itself. Thinking about it tonight.

Gwen On Her Own

With all her siblings at camp in Michigan this week, Gwen has had to adjust to a quieter routine. We've learned a new board game, read books, strung beads, practiced jump rope tricks, and done puzzles. She's also asked every night when Madelyn will be home!

Tonight we have her 18 month old cousin Isaac with us, whom she delighted to feed at dinner and carry around afterwords. I think she looks so funny holding him since their size difference isn't too great, but they both seem to enjoy it!

With less distractions than usual, we've managed to practice reading and writing fairly consistently this week... six Reese's Pieces after 20 minutes of hard work has been a great reward.

We spent a day earlier this week with Aunt Mindy and Isaac... one of Uncle Mark's many horns was fun to try to blow!
Gwen molded and decorated a mud pie at the children's garden at the Cleveland Botanical Garden on Wednesday. The finished product was so pretty we took this picture and then left it at the garden on a log for other visitors to enjoy. :-)
Gwen also had one-on-one time this week with both Nannie and Grandma. What went on those days are their secrets!

Evenings on the Beach

We had a really great week on Oak Island with Scott's family a couple of weeks ago. Of course we took lots and lots of photos, and I've been a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of them, thus the lack of posts from that week!

Here I've gathered a few from my favorite time of day at any beach~ early evening. The sand and air have both cooled, no sunscreen is required, and everyone can stroll together along the water. Ahhhh!


Jenna and sweet Naomi
Trying to slither through a tunnel Seth dug... all the girls tried it.Lots of gymnastics on the beach



Madelyn chases speedy Samuel

Emma Clare's famous smile~

You don't fool us with that look, Brad. We know you love it! :-)

Uncle Justin gives Gwen a whirl
Brad and Seth

Nannie and her granddaughters~
Our crew! It must be noted that Seth skillfully photo shopped Andrew and baby Naomi into this picture... notice the lack of a pair of legs, if you look carefully!

19 Years and Then Some

 

He's still the one. :-)

Did It!

 

I've made a couple of attempts at concocting sushi this week. We're at the beach in NC with Scott's family, so I've had lots of eager tasters. Yesterday's batch, pictured, was a bit better than my first one a few days earlier. This one had avacado, cucumber, and imitation crab, finely chopped and mixed with a bit of mayo. It is suprisingly easy to roll, and I'm looking forward to trying other fillings.

A Poet that Don't Know It

I was pulling a traditional Chinese dress over Gwen's black pony-tailed head for a photo, and her comment was, "I'm Chinese, but I don't really look like it."

Hmmm. Because you don't usually wear a Chinese dress? Silly girl! :-)

Seth's Adventure with Grandpa and Grandma

Last week while the other kids and I were at my sister's, my parents took Seth on an adventure in California, to San Francisco and Yosemite National Park. These pictures are just a taste of some of the things they saw and did together. So grateful for this time for the three of them!

A little summer snow fun!

The giant sequoias amaze me! Can you see my mom and Seth at the base of the tree above? They look like little insects next to it!

Yosemite Valley... surely one of God's jewels

Back in San Francisco with the famous sea lions...
...Alcatraz,
and the Golden Gate Bridge!

Thanks, Dad and Mom, for such an amazing adventure for Seth. I don't think he will ever forget the time just the three of you shared. :-)