Zoo pictures

At the beginning of summer, I mentioned that the kiddos and I had taken a trip to the zoo. I had promised pictures and I am finally getting around to them. Sorry that it took me so long! Anyways, here are some pictures of them playing...

Oops, sorry...those aren't pictures of the children. Hee, hee! :)

Now, this one is better; but, still there is something wrong with it. Do not get me wrong. It is an adorable picture of the kiddos and I love it (Love those smiles!) and I love those children sooooooooo much. I just think something or someone is missing from the picture. Who could it be?

Ahh...this one seems complete. The children chose to spend their last "free" day before the start of school back at the zoo. So, we went on Tuesday. We had a great time although we were only there for a short period of time. We did not want to overwhelm Emerson and we did not want to miss nap time! (Side note- Yes, a couple of them are wearing the same clothes. Remember, I mentioned before that they have special shirts to wear out in the sun...protects them and avoids some sunblock. I noticed this and figured you might too.)

Have a great day!

Pictures

To protect the kiddos, I am not going to post any pictures of them actually in their school uniforms. You will just have to trust me that they looked adorable on their first day. :) I have, however, posted pictures of them with all their required school supplies. Check out Max's face. Doesn't he look excited?! Sydney looks like I caught her off guard. Don't Veronica and Emerson look like they are having a good time hanging out while the other two are at school? :)

Mommy vs. Teacher

I always feel like there are two sides fighting in me at the start of the school year. The mommy in me cannot stand to send the kiddos back to school. I miss them tremendously. The teacher in me is so excited for them and all the adventures they are about to embark on at school. I LOVE watching them grow and learn throughout the year.

Today was the first day back for Max and Sydney. They both seemed to have a good day. Sydney is full day now. I think that is the hardest part for me. Up until last year, I got to pick her up half way through the school day. Plus, she is sitting at a desk, her very own desk, rather than a table. She must be getting older. :( I did not like leaving Max because he takes too much after me with the first day jitters. He is not in the same class as his best friend this year which just makes things that much more difficult for him. I knew he would be fine, but still!

Veronica and Emerson got along great while the other two were at school. They were really cute together. I think this is the first time that it has been just the two of them. It was neat to watch them interact.

I will post pictures later.

Keeping me on my toes...

Apparently, Emerson only likes to wear his socks and shoes on Wednesdays. Remember yesterday's post when I was so excited that he was actually wanting to wear them? Yep, today is a different story. Who knew socks could ruin your entire morning? I am quickly learning this after Tuesday and today. Also, blueberries are only good on Wednesdays. They aren't very tasty on Thursdays. Wish I had known that. I have so much to learn. :)

Time for an update...

All is well here. Everyone is starting to get back into the groove of things at home. Emerson is adjusting well to his new home and family. He has his moments where he gets frustrated and upset but who can blame him. After all, EVERYTHING is new to him.

We went to the store yesterday to try to find him a pair of tennis shoes. That was quite the experience! We are wondering if he has every had socks on before. He was not a happy camper when I put some on him. Then, he kept wanting to run around the store which is not like him. He cried on the way out because I did not purchase the two pairs of shoes that I had tried on him. We did buy him a pair at a different store though. Today is a whole different story. He brought me socks and his new shoes to put on him. He has been wearing them around the house all morning.

His facial expressions and actions just crack us up. He is such a little sweetie and is so much fun. He waves ALL the time, knows how to high five, do "cheers", rub his belly and say "mmm" (more or less), throw kisses, gives Ma-Ma kisses, lights up when Ba-Ba comes home from work, loves to "talk" to people on the phone, loves puzzles, and loves to look at himself whether in pictures or in a mirror. He loves to bring Ma-Ma stuff and have me hold it all. I say he is a hoarder; but, he wants me to hold it all for him. :) Right now he is sitting on the floor, socks and shoes on, "reading" the church bulletin.

Our other darlings are doing great as well. School starts next week...ugg! I am not happy about this. I always miss the children while they are gone. Max is dreading the start of 4th grade. Sydney is looking forward to first grade and Veronica is VERY excited about preschool. The girls will be starting up gymnastics again soon too. I have agreed, along with two other moms, to start a Daisy Scout troop for the first grade girls. Sydney really wanted to do this since Max and Daddy are involved with Scouts. So, since nobody else wanted to lead, guess who volunteered? You got it. I, in turn, recruited (okay...begged...ha, ha!) the two other mothers to join me in this adventure. They are both wonderful women and mothers. I am really looking forward to working with them!

Ron was full force back into work immediately after we got home and has not stopped. Even a car in the shop, did not stop him. Of course, that only meant, he was "forced" to drive Donatella. My sister even told me to tell him that it is his car and that he does not need to look for excuses to drive her. :) Unfortunately (or fortunately...not sure which), the mechanics did not find anything wrong with our Durengo.

I have just really been enjoying being a mom and wife. There is nothing better in this world! I am so blessed and try not to take that for granted. I am amazed that I am a mom to four beautiful (inside and out), wonderful children (and two furry children as well) and the wife of an extraordinary husband. Thanks be to God for these many blessings.

To think I originally titled this post "quick update"...

Bai Jia Bei or 100 Good Wishes Quilt

Dear family and friends,

It has been a LONG time since I have posted and this one is long overdue. My hubby did all the blogging during the trip. He did a fantastic job as I knew he would. He is much better than I am when it comes to all the details. I really appreciate his hard work on the blog as it will be a wonderful keepsake for all of us over the years to come!

We have been talking about having a 100 Good Wishes Quilt made for Emerson way before we even had our referral for him. These quilts (Bai Jia Bei) are a tradition in Northern China and are given to a child when he/she is born. One hundred pieces of fabric are collected from family and friends and then sewn together into a beautiful keepsake that can be passed down generation after generation. Along with the larger pieces, smaller pieces of the same fabric are included in a card with wishes for the baby. We would LOVE for our dear family and friends to help us with this beautiful tradition. My step-father's mom, Diane, has graciously agreed to take on this project for us. Here is what we would like you to do...

1. Pick out a piece of 100 percent cotton fabric. Please feel free to use a piece of fabric that has a special meaning to you. It does not have to be a new piece.

2. Wash and iron the fabric. This will allow it to be clean, shrink if it needs to, and allow for easier cutting.

3. Cut two pieces of the fabric. Diane has asked for a 12x12 piece so that she has freedom to cut it as needed. Also, we need the smaller piece that will go with your wish for Emerson.

4. Write a note for Emerson. It can include anything...your own words, prayers, poems, stories, etc. Attach the smaller piece of fabric to your note.

Please let me know if you have any questions as I am writing this before my first cup of coffee and I may not actually be making sense. Ha, ha!

The Journey Home

I woke before the alarm went off but only by a few minutes. Both Julie and I had restless sleep as you tend to do when you are worried about oversleeping for an important meeting or event. We don't want to make the driver wait for us for fear he'll take off and we'll be up the creek. I get cleaned up first and start getting breakfast and coffee brewing while Julie is getting ready. Veronica, our little morning bird wakes first and is followed shortly by the other two while Emerson again earns the award for snoozer of the day.

Breakfast is simple oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, bananas and OJ. Julie and I race around the apartment getting it cleaned as best we can since this is someone else's house and we want our deposit back, plus it is just bad manners to leave a place trashed. We are checking and double checking everything and getting the final clothes and shower stuff packed up. We rock and are ready to roll out the door at 7:45! We turn everything off, lock the apartment and pack into the small elevator like a clown car. We are downstairs waiting for our ride and around 8:10 we decide to call the company and find out where our driver is. Their reservations number rings busy, the driver's cell goes straight to voice mail in Chinese and we wait. Eventually the phone we had been using rings and the lobby attendant speaks to someone and then we roughly communicate that the driver is 30 minutes out. Nice, just stinking nice. Good thing we have some fluff time, huh though I wasn't planning on using it all up just yet. We wait until 8:45 and try to call again with more of the same results. The lobby attendant helps the kids pass time by letting them pet his cat, which is one of the fatter Tom cats I have seen in a long time. Surprising too considering the stories we hear. About 9AM and still no driver we decided to get taxis. The lobby attendant helps hail a cab and convinces the guy to let all of us go in one. Apparently they are used to over filling taxis here in Hong Kong as he loads his trunk and uses a bungee to keep it closed. We are not sure what the lobby attendant told this driver, but he gets us to the airport like a F1 driver and we make it in less than 30 minutes! On the way we got to cross the Stonecutters Bridge (the one we saw the TV show about) as well as the longest suspension bridge in the world.

We get to the airport and six of us climb out of the back seat of this Toyota taxi, unload our stuff, tip the taxi driver nicely and head in to get checked in. We get checked in with no issues, clear security and immigration for Hong Kong. Funny to think that everyone flying from Hong Kong is on an international fight, as there are no domestic flights served from this airport. We find our way to the gate and as we are preparing to board are pulled aside for priority boarding since we have children. Nice! We go through another round of someone checking our bags and getting the stroller gate checked before we get settled in to our seats.

The flight was long as you'd expect and we were a bit delayed in taking off due to a typhoon in Taiwan that caused the inbound flight to take a little longer route. Emerson did great on the flight with the exception of diaper changes. Apparently airplane restrooms are as scary as ones on the ground. He sat in his seat for awhile but the majority of the flight he was either held by Julie or I. The older kids did what we didn't want them to do and that was stay awake on the long flight. We had encouraged them to get some sleep as we know this will be a very long day, but the allure of Leapster, Nintendo DS, movies and who knows what else was too great. Veronica got some sleep and Sydney started to doze off on our descent into San Francisco. Oh well, what can you do? On landing, Emerson became a US citizen formally so we celebrated with some flags.

We got off the plane and knew we'd have a tight connection to our Denver flight due to the delay in Hong Kong plus we still had customs to clear. We hustled to the customs hall and thankfully the lines were very, very short. The customs agent we had was awesome and welcomed us back and congratulated Emerson on being a new citizen. Unfortunately, he couldn't complete all of the paperwork we needed so sent us to another agent. I understand that everyone has a first day on the job, and it all worked out, but waiting for the new guy to figure out how to process Emerson's paperwork was frustrating. He called his supervisor over to ask some questions and received a smart answer that apparently didn't help him as we watched him type something and then backspace over it a number of times. He finally asked for help again and was again given a short answer but apparently the one he needed to get it wrapped up and we were through. While we were waiting, we watched his supervisor work with another family of immigrants who were all smiles as they were becoming citizens too. Unfortunately for them, their first experience with US customs was with this guy and he was rude, short and not welcoming at all. Hopefully the rest of their experience in America is better. I guess jerks are everywhere. We went to collect our bags and thankfully didn't miss anything as our luggage was still coming out of the machine when we walked up. The rest of the customs officials were all very polite and nice. We grabbed our stuff and re-checked it for the domestic legs of our trip and had to pass through security again.

We found our gate and learned that our flight to Denver was delayed due to an equipment change so were were getting to fly in a 747 for the second time that day. While we waited for the plane to be prepared we called home and let everyone know we were in the states and on our way. The kids were really starting to feel the jet lag now and we zombie-walked onto the plane and found our seats. The flight to Denver was pretty uneventful as everyone was pretty tired. We arrived in Denver later than we hoped, but still with enough time to catch our flight. The girls slept the whole flight and we were fortunate that there were empty seats so they could stretch out a bit. Max slept part of the way and Emerson was in and out in Julie's lap. We landed in Columbus almost 28 hours after we woke up in Hong Kong - talk about a long day! We collected our bags and headed towards the van. Julie's sister was nice and brought the car to the airport and parked it in the garage for us. We strapped Emerson into the car seat and as we thought he would, he didn't like it all.

The drive home was a struggle to keep everyone awake and we decided that we needed some late night food(it was almost 11PM) and decided that we'd hit the Taco Bell on the way home. As we got off the exit ramp, the lights were off and when we went through the drive thru, were told they were closed. So much for the plan, huh? We drove home and were greeted by Zeus who was very excited to see his people come home. He hopped right in the car with us! Enzo the cat gave us a speech about leaving him alone for that long, which he always does after a trip. It was great to be home after the adventure we had. We grabbed some sandwiches and apples and hit the sack.