Winter Games

Lily prepares for the Winter Games


Lily is inspired by Nastia after watching her performance


Lily meets Nastia up close and personal


The Springfield gymnastic team and Nastia

This past Friday night Lily got the chance of a lifetime, to meet Nastia Liukin, the all around gold medal gymnast from the Beijing Olympics. Springfield gymnastics hosted the Winter Games and was able to bring Nastia in for a performance. The girls from the Springfield gymnastics gym got to meet Nastia in a private room for autographs and pictures. Lily gave her one of the Chinese braids we have as a good luck charm. Saturday Nastia performed for the crowd. It was stunning. Lily was in awe. Afterwards she said she wanted to go home and put on her leotard so she could do the things Nastia did. Sunday afternoon Lily will be performing with the level one gymnasts. She is excited but a little scared. At this age, it is meant to be all about having fun.

Catching up

This year we went to three different Chinese New Year celebrations. One with International families of adoption, another at the Discovery Center and last but not least we were invited to participate in the MSU student celebration. There were about 250 Chinese students in attendance and Luke and Lily and Daddy performed on Chinese instruments and sang a song in Chinese. The kids do not seem to mind performing in front of a crowd, just give Lily a microphone and she is set.

Luke was extensively tested through the Springfield public schools to see if he qualified for preschool special services. Although the caseworker and other teachers felt many of his skills were in the emerging category (meaning he was progressing forward) they decided to give him a boost of special skills to prepare him for school ahead. He is receiving 1 hour of special education, 1 hour of speech therapy and 1/2 hour of OT per week. The really nice feature is that the teachers go to Luke's preschool to provide the services. We had originally thought we would hold Luke back a year before starting kindergarten. He turns 5 in April. The teachers have told us another option would be to send him to kindergarten and if necessary he can repeat kindergarten. We had not thought about this in the past as an option. We are taking the wait and see approach to make sure he is emotionally ready. The neighborhood elementary school does have three K classes so he and lily can be separated. His attention span has improved so much and he is now spelling the letters of his name and pointing out the letters as we drive down the road. It is hard to judge how far along he may be 6 months from now when school starts. He does tend to "zone out" as I call it, not really in the moment of things happening and it is my concern that he will miss important instructions during class. Once he has a concept though, it seems to stick with him well. We will just move forward and register both of them for school but can always decide right up until the last moment not to send Luke. I just wonder how he will feel if Lily gets to go and he does not.

Luke has started Taekwondo and I think it is very good for him. They really teach self control and following instructions and hold them to task if they do not follow through. The instructor is with them all the time guiding them through the moves. In gymnastics they showed the kids the skill one time and then left them off on their own to "practise". That just gave Luke the opportunity to run around the room. I like the fact that Taekwondo is different in that respect. Luke seems to really enjoy it as well.

We had a surprise visit from Aunt Susie this weekend. I knew she was coming of course but left it a surprise for the kids. We showed up together to pick up the kids from school on Friday. Luke saw her from the window and had his face pressed up against the glass when we made it upstairs. Lily was outside on the playground and let out a loud "Aunt Susie" when she looked up and saw her. The kids were showered with gifts for their upcoming birthdays and we hung out at home that night until we both fell asleep (Aunt Susie and I) watching Toy Story with the kids around 9pm. The kids of course were still wide awake! Aunt Susie had to leave the next morning to go down and visit our parents in Bella Vista. I had made several dishes and froze them for her to take to them. Since our Dad is doing all the cooking these days (and he does not cook) I figure some good homemade food is well appreciated.

Well, that pretty much catches up on the happenings around here. I'm working on the summer schedule of events for the kids and hopefully some family reunions with our adoption families around the country.

Chinese New Year 2009

The family that plays together.....

Luke strikes a pose

Logan and Lily cut up in the craft room

Lily and Jada ribbon dance


The past weekend was packed full of activities related to the Chinese New Year. On Saturday we attended the annual International Adoption Families party. Another mother and I created the table center pieces. She made beautiful lanterns out of paper complete with flickering tealights inside and I made firecrackers out of PVC pipe we had lying around. The kids had a great time. They started out in crafts then had some lunch (Springfield's version of Chinese food, not the authentic kind) and then the music began. John was in charge of lining up the entertainment and since many of his students studied the Fall semester under two Chinese music professors their skills were very good. The kids got to all join in with percussion instruments. Lily was thrilled to perform the ribbon dance with Hing Wah and Hing Wah was impressed that Lily could keep those long long ribbons up off the floor (since she is just shy of 40") The kids all joined in with kid sized ribbons and then crowded inside the belly of the dragon as he swerved and curved around the room. This was Luke's first year to attend and he loved every minute. I think our two kids were some of the very last to leave and then we had to drag them away.


On Sunday the Discovery Center hosted Chinese New Year entertainment and once again, John was in charge of the music. He had students posted around the facility playing and then he and the kids took up one post. Luke and Lily were much more interested in just playing on the exhibits at the center than to "park and bark" as musicians call it. John did get Lily to perform a solo singing one of the Chinese children's songs she knows. There was a great performance of the Lion dance.

There will be one more chance to wear our fancy Chinese clothes next weekend when the University Chinese community hosts a feast. They have invited us to attend as their guests and I'm sure Luke and Lily will perform if called upon. Lily is as comfortable with a microphone as she is with lip gloss.

Happy New Year 2009

Luke makes a New Year mask


Pretty Butterfly


Spiderman!

We put on many layers of clothes last night and headed downtown to First Night. The layers were due to the cold temperatures that have returned to our area. Many businesses participated in the event and once you purchased tickets all the venues were free. We spent most of our time at the YMCA standing in a long line for face painting. There was one painter and many many faces! The kids were determined so we stuck it out and the results were great. They had inflatables there as well that the kids enjoyed. We then went over to the Lander's theater to see the YES troop perform. The YES troop is a group of very talented high school kids who have spent many years perfecting their stage performances. Luke and Lily were both tired at the beginning of the show (9:30pm) but woke up when the dancing started and stayed awake until it was over an hour later. We headed home and didn't stay for the midnight fireworks. They are too young and John and I are too old. Happy New Year to everyone.

Christmas Travels

With only two days between trips it was a challenge to get the laundry done, go to work for two days and head out again, this time for North Carolina. We decided to drive all night on Tuesday. John was ready with plenty of Starbucks coffee to keep him awake on the journey. We had a rough ride the first couple of hours with ice and then heavy rain but the last half was pretty good. I can say that because I did not do any of the driving. I was able to actually read a novel with my little book light and finished it by dawn. Of course there were a few naps thrown in along the way.
Lily left earlier in the day with Aunt Kim and Michelle so we just had Luke and Logan. By 10pm after watching two movies they both drifted off for the rest of the ride. John was understandably tired by the end of the trip and had to catch up on a little sleep on Wednesday.
We spent Christmas eve at Mill Ridge with Grandma Prescott and her caretaker, Delta. The kids hung their stockings on the fireplace. The next morning we were back over at 7 so the kids could check out what Santa had delivered during the night. Their stockings held all kinds of treasures and Lily got a Barbie bride and Luke a drum set. After a traditional breakfast of ham biscuits it was time to open the family gifts. Luke was so excited to get a fireman costume and firetruck from Grandma while Lily got two High School musical dolls and a cheer leading costume.
By noon we were ready to make the two hour trip up to Aunt Valia and Uncle Rudy's house in Winston-Salem. Their two kids were there, Rick and Kay along with their families. We had a nice dinner and played our gift exchange game. The weather was unseasonably warm so the kids were able to play and run off some energy outside.
Back at Mill Ridge in the mountains the kids went tubing with Daddy, Aunt Kim and Michelle. I stayed back at the house to relax and begin the packing up process.
We had a nice meal out with Grandma and then it was time to say good-bye as we headed back home early on Saturday. The kids really enjoyed their Christmas time.

Christmas Joy

Aunt Valia's house in Winston-Salem North Carolina



Family gift exchange


Luke, Lily and cousin Christy


A bath not just for birds


A ride on cousin Ryan


Luke and Daddy tubing in the mountains


Logan and Lily tubing


Lily displays her gift from Santa


Luke plays with his drum set from Santa


Lily shows off her stocking at Mill Ridge

Christmas Time activities

It's been a very busy week with lots of Christmas activities thrown in. We enjoyed our annual Christmas party at Jessica's house with the families of international adoption. Luke was the first to sit on Santa's lap with a list of wishes, mostly centered around "Spiderman."
On Wednesday we left for Chicago. We stayed at the Fairmont hotel which is only a 5 minute drive to Navy Pier, a wonderland for kids to play in. While John attended his music conference I took the kids over to Navy Pier. We played most of the day in the special winter wonderland area. The kids went on rides and jumped on inflatables until they could move no more. John joined us in the afternoon to help me get the kids back to the hotel. Later that evening we took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe, a real experience in jungle life for the kids. Chicago was in the middle of a snow storm so there were few diners out and Lily had the best time with our waiter Chip. By the time all as done Chip had convinced them that the animals were all real and he was the one who built the place and collected the animals. Lily is still talking about him.
The next day we woke to snow! We took our time getting ready to check out while the street crews of Chicago worked their magic making the snow disappear off the streets. We were able to meet our friends the Morales out on Navy Pier to take in the Children's museum. We traveled with the Morales on our trip to China in March. They were picking up their new son, Tonito while we were picking up Luke. Lily and their daughter Vivi became fast friends in China so it was great to all get together again for a visit. The kids loved the museum especially skating in their socks. We all ate lunch at the McDonalds and then had to part company as we traveled on to Wisconsin.
The roads were clear but the snow kept getting deeper as we headed North to visit our friends the Binzels. They live on acreage and the road and driveway go back about 1/2 miles from the road, but no fear, it was plowed and ready for our arrival. Lily and their daughter, Leah are from Fuling and we traveled together in 2005 to pick up our daughters. The kids started in playing right away and Luke felt a little like the odd man out (being the only boy in a princess world) but soon they were all playing together. Susan made some wonderful pizza with homemade bread dough crust and we quickly ate two pizzas (and drank a bit of wine) It was so cozy with the deep snow outside and all of us warm inside. All too soon it ended as we had to leave the next morning for home.
The weather was kind to us as we made our way back to Missouri. The snow disappeared but the cold weather followed us.
We are home for two days before packing up and heading out to North Carolina to spend Christmas with John's family. Thank goodness for DVD players in the car and mini vans, it makes the long trips bearable.



Luke discusses Christmas with Santa

Ring those bells (with the church choir)

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Happy Siblings


Choo choo express

Luke and Lily pose

Sock skating

Lily and Vivi

three pretty butterflies

Antonio, Maya and Becky