Art Work Part III

I haven't had a chance to post Gabby's final art project from last spring. Unfortunately, the flash makes it a a little hard to see.

This is my favorite project from the year.

Scrunched

Junie found one of Gabby's scrunchies for ponytails and stretched it over her head. Who knew it would stretch that far.

My Hat's Off To You

Gabby then
Junie now

Pasta-bilities

Gabby was trying to be helpful by getting some pasta off of the back shelf for me. She was also trying to make June happy by carrying her at the same time. Apparently she should have only tried to do one at a time. While grabbing the shells, an already opened box of spagetti spilled all over the floor and into the kitty litter. This was only about a third of the spagetti, which looked like a spagetti sculpture to me.

You're Face Will Freeze That Way Part II

What does a hippo say?

Gabby's turn.
Tupperware preserves freshness.

Your Face Will Freeze That Way

John and Junie were practicing their acting skills

by making different faces to show how they

feel. They'd better be careful or their faces might

freeze that way. Surprised is my favorite one.

SAD

SURPRISED

HAPPY

One year, one day, nine hours

THEN


NOW
June has been with us one year and a day. Exactly a year ago, it was eleven at night in China and John and I were taking turns rocking June to sleep. She never ended up using the crib that the hotel provided for us. Instead she slept every night next to me and John, always making sure that at least one part of her body was touching one of us. John and I stayed up late most nights watching American movies with Chinese subtitles while Gabby slept comfortably on a cot covered with two feather in the next room. She had her own large, wall mounted flat screen tv which she watched nightly until she easily fell to sleep.

Gotcha day, September 13, 2007, had been was incredibly busy. Our group, a total of 13 families, was supposed to meet their the babies at 2:30pm, but ended up waiting at the government offices for about and hour after we arrived. When the nannies brought the babies out it was amazing. Every baby had a different reaction to meeting her new family. Some were quiet, others cried, and some ignored their new people. Once all of the babies were united with their families, the nannies came out to tell us about our babies and answer any questions we had. Since June was the only baby from her orphanage, we had her nannies all to ourselves.

When all of the questions were answered, the exchanging of money took place. It felt awkward to watch the nannies count out the $3,000 in cash that we had brought as an orphanage donation. It didn't seem to bother the nannies.

Once that was done, we all gathered to make our way back to the bus which took us directly to the hotel. Looking back, the day was gone in a blink. Now, a year later, it is hard to believe that it's been that long.

Last Homestudy Visit

China requires that you do three follow-up

visits with an adoption caseworker after the

adoption. Each report that goes to China

needs three or four photos of Junie.At least one of the photos has to include all
the members of our family. We, of course

forgot about it until last minute and had

to try to get one on our own. It only took

me about a half an hour to figure out how

to set the timer on the camera and six

or seven tries to get this photo. Not bad.

Gifts From Scrooge

My grandfather was cleaning out some of the stuffed animals that he had saved over the years. Gabby and Junie were excited to have them.








You may ask, why is this post titled, "Gifts From Scrooge"? Well, let me tell you. Before Gabby was born, my grandmother, Gabby's great grandmother, told me that she would like to be called Gigi. I asked her what she thought we should call my grandfather, who as a kid I thought was a grumpy old man. My grandmother thought about it and said, "Bah Humbug. That fits him." I agreed and we laughed about it. To make it easier on Gabby, when she was little, we shortened his name to Bah and it stuck. We've called him Bah ever since.

Ride

Gabby has been giving June rides in this doll stroller for awhile now. June just decided that she wanted to give Gabby a ride this day. After the bottom fell out of the stroller, we decided that the riding was better left for Junie.

On a side note, if you look very closely, you can see pants poking out of the bottom of June's jammies. For those of you who have been following, you'll remember the backwards pjs post. This year probably won't be much different. We put June to bed one night without bottoms on and woke up to a very wet bed and naked butt.

Elmo Time

June has absolutely fallen in love with Elmo. We had a TMX Elmo, but because he was motorized, he wasn't that cuddly and was pretty heavy. Still, June wanted to take him to bed and tried to carry him around.

Gabby is such a good big sister. She noticed how much June loved her Elmo and asked if we could get her a soft one. That was easier said then done. Almost every Elmo we found had some kind mechanics and wasn't totally soft. We were lucky and finally found this one. He kind of looks like someone goosed him, but June doesn't care. She loves him anyways.

Rain Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day

Hi To You Too!

We drive by this hay bale welcomer at a local fruit stand every time we go to the mall. John and I both thought the same thing when we saw it...

you're number one, of course. What did you think we thought?