Christmas Ballet Show

Kylie's dance class teachers, Miss Lauren and Miss Alaina, put together a little Christmas show for the parents. It was so cute to see the girls perform, even if they are all over the place. Now, they will turn their attention to preparing for the recital in June. The theme for the recital this year is "Dance Around the World", and we were excited to hear that Kylie's class was dancing to a song from Mulan as they are representing China! It should be interesting to see what they can get a class of 2 and 3 year olds to do. Mima has already booked her flight to come in for the recital and Kylie's 4th (wow, I can hardly believe it!) birthday.

The Green Market

This winter, we have found a new Sunday morning activity thanks to our friends Amy & Mike - the Palm Beach Gardens Green Market. With the weather so mild, this has made for a great time for Kylie and Mia to visit and for us to catch up with friends. The girls like to play at the playground, and we have realized that Kylie is a big fan of street vendor food! The market offers a nice selection of produce, as well as a great selection of local vendors' products and food.

Thanksgiving Dinner at Preschool

Kylie's Preschool has a "Thanksgiving Dinner" for the parents and kids each year. The school provides a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and the kids all present their projects that they made to bring home. Kylie was thrilled when Mommy showed up in the middle of the day to eat with her and look at her art work on the wall. At the end of the lunch, Kylie posed for a quick picture with her teacher, Ms. Amy.

Philippe & Nicholas' Birthday Bash!

Kylie couldn't have been happier that Philippe and Nicholas decided to have their joint birthday bash this year at "Pump It Up", a party place filled with bounce houses and inflatable slides. After a couple hours of burning energy among the attractions, the crew headed into the party room for lunch and cake all to a Curious George theme. Great fun!

Long Time - No See

As mentioned earlier, we ran into some local friends from our first paperchase at the CCAI 2008 reunion, and I thought it would be fun to show a picture of the girls from May 2007 and November 2008 side by side. So here are Alexandra and Kylie at about 1.5 years old and 3 years old...two cuties getting better with age!

Playground Obsession

Kylie is nothing short of obsessed with playgrounds...over the course of 24 hours this weekend, she managed to clock in about 5-6 playground hours between two public parks and her playset at home.

CCAI "Picnic Under the Palms" 2008 Reunion

On Saturday we attended the CCAI "Picnic Under the Palms" 2008 reunion with adoptive families from all over Florida. There was food, fun and entertainment throughout the day, and the agency and volunteers did a wonderful job hosting the event.





Kylie had a great time doing crafts and playing at the playground, while we got to catch up with old friends from our journey to Kylie as well as new friends we have met along the way during our latest quest.


It is so nice to see how the kids have grown over the years, and I think it will be nice for Kylie to look back on these times and see all of the types of families that are formed through adoption. In addition, it is a great chance for her to experience Chinese storytelling, dance, and music, which was all performed by local volunteers.



















An unexpected treat was that we met up with one of our neighbors that we met during our first wait and got to get an updated picture of the girls a year and a half since they last met. They are certainly turning into two cute little ladies, and I am happy to report that Kylie didn't choke Alexandra this time when she hugged her goodbye...

Halloween 2008

Trunk or Treat

Pumpkin Hunting

Crying in the Bathroom

Since Kylie went to the "Twos" class at school, she has been friends with Neil. For a while, she would come home and talk about what she and Neil did at school. Since then, the girls (and the teachers) have taken over as the main conversation of her day at school, but we still hear about Neil from time to time.

Today Kylie was eating her dinner and negotiating her ice pop dessert, when she said, "I heard Neil crying in the bathroom today." Of course this comment gives rise to many questions in my head...mainly, what was Kylie doing listening at the door of the bathroom that isn't in her classroom!?! Notwithstanding that, I engaged her in further conversation by asking her to clarify..."You heard Neil crying in the bathroom?" She responded affirmatively, so I proceeded with, "Why was he crying?" She tells me he was sad. I said, "Well did you tell him everything would be OK?" Again, affirmative response, but my curiosity is not satisfied. "So, why was Neil sad and crying in the bathroom?" Finally, I get more, "Because Nathaniel PUNCHED him!" Since I'd never heard Kylie say punched...I hid my "funny-new-word" chuckle and then asked, "So did you feel mad that Nathaniel punched Neil, because that isn't nice?" feeling so proud that my daughter is so sensitive and protective of her friends. She says, "No, I wasn't mad...but Neil was!" And Kylie's world continues to revolve around Kylie. :-)

Mickey and Minnie's Magical Adventure on Ice

This fall is all about Disney for Kylie. Her morning cartoon as she gets ready in the morning is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, she will be Minnie for Halloween, and she is headed off to Disney World in a couple of weeks. So it is only appropriate that we took in Mickey, Minnie, and friends on Ice at the Panthers hockey arena.

Luckily, we had third row seats for the show and Kylie got to see all her favorites up close. Kylie had asked earlier if she could wear her Minnie Mouse costume to the show, but I told her she had to settle for wearing her Minnie Mouse T-shirt. Of course we sit down next to a little girl wearing a Minnie Mouse outfit, but Kylie only pointed it out to me twice. :-)

After the show began, she was so excited and shorted out who each character was as they came out on to the Ice. When Ariel and Sebastian skated by us. Kylie got so excited that she even peed a little on Daddy's leg! He wasn't thrilled, but was more sympathetic once they returned from the potty as she really had to go!

Harvest Moon Festival

Every year on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar (September 14, this year), when the moon is at its maximum brightness for the entire year, the Chinese celebrate "zhong qiu jie." Children are told the story of the moon fairy living in a crystal palace, who comes out to dance on the moon's shadowed surface.
The legend surrounding the "lady living in the moon" dates back to a day when ten suns appeared at once in the sky. The Emperor ordered a famous archer to shoot down the nine extra suns. Once the task was accomplished, Goddess of Western Heaven rewarded the archer with a pill that would make him immortal.



However, his wife found the pill, took it, and was banished to the moon as a result. Legend says that her beauty is greatest on the day of the Moon Festival.

So in celebration of the Moon Festival, we headed to the Norton Museum of Art for their 3rd annual celebration of the festival. We met Amy and Mia there, which was great since we hadn't seen Mia in a couple of months and she has grown so much. We toured the gallery, made dragon pendants, heard the story of the festival from Sagwa the Siamese cat, and did a little shopping in the gift store for some souveniers.

Kylie admires some Chinese craftmanship.

Kylie reads up on some Chinese art (while mom, dad, and Amy try to ponder how they can take a picture of Vanilla Ice, who is sitting right behind Kylie at this point playing a game of "Chinese" checkers!)

Kylie and Mia give each other a hug goodbye.

In Search of the Perfect Ballerina Bun

All I can say is, we're getting there. Here's Kylie off to ballet class this weekend...

Halloween Preview

After considerable Disney character debate, we agreed that Kylie would be attending the Halloween festivities this year as Minnie Mouse. So before she changed her mind again - I ordered the costume. I think she was very pleased with her choice once it arrived.

This year, the Halloween festivities include a trip to Orlando with Mima and Papa for "Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween", which we got a glimpse of last year. I'm glad she stuck with Minnie Mouse, as I suspect she will be a little different than the sea of princesses that will be roaming the park.

Into the Review Room

We found out today that our dossier has moved into the Review Room. While we probably won't hear for a few months that it is out of review and the Match Room is likely years away, it feels like a solid milestone in our second adoption from China nonetheless.

Tonight, as we were getting Kylie ready for bed, she asked if she had a sister. She is really in love with the idea of having a sibling these days, and she speaks about it frequently and calls her dolls "baby sister" or "baby brother" sometimes. Hopefully we'll be able to return to China with her someday and bring her little sibling home.

Not So Fast My Friend...

Just as we thought things were settling down with Kylie's new bedroom done (post to follow soon) and her doctor clearing her to come off of her skin medication, she broke her front tooth for the third time tonight while swimming underwater in the tub. So...back to the dentist for a fourth round of bonding (the 2nd round broke off a day after we got it done, so I can't blame Kylie for that one).

On top of that, our often-neglected dog Lexi (left) managed to get herself stung by a wasp just over her eye and broke out in hives all over her 100 pound body! First, I thought she rolled in a pile of fire ants as it was mostly on her legs, but the veterinarian said the bumps were hives and it was just an allergic reaction. Since I have never had hives...the thought of doggie-hives never came to mind, but I am sure glad it wasn't fire ant bites all over our poor Lexi.

Big Girl Room