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!