Sorry I'm slacking!!

Time has been going by really quick!! I feel like I don't have time to get anything done!! I have to go back to work December 1st, and I'm trying to get a lot of Christmas stuff finished before that. Well I'm trying! It's not really working out as I had hoped. There never seems to be enough time in the day. Ellie wants my attention every three seconds. Every mark of the crayon, every puzzle piece
placed, every pop bead snapped, she wants me to see. How many times can you say "wow," or great, or pretty before you start to lose your own mind? She is still rattling off long paragraphs of Chinese, and then sighs at me when I say "I don't know what you are saying." She obviously understands much of what we say, but I think she thinks we are going to learn Chinese instead of her learning English!! Although I did teach her to say" I'm bossy" LOL

Weekend with Nana and Papa

Maybe she will be a pilot?
Just doing a little shopping

Rorey riding with "Mr. Boney"

Three wild animals in a cage!

WOW that's just scary!!

We just got home from spending the weekend with my parents, and Ellie was really good!! She didn't seem to mind going there and staying 3 nights. She slept with Rorey in Nana's room on the pull out couch bed, and they had a load of fun!! Riley and I slept in the spare bedroom.....which is more like a dorm with 2 twin beds and a double bed in there!! The kids didn't have school Thursday and Friday because of parent teacher conferences and then today because of Veterans day. It was great timing for a long weekend at Grandma's house. We also went and visited my grandmother who recently had to go into the nursing home. Ellie has seen her at her home, and did great, but the nursing home made her start crying and get the "doctor's office face." She calmed down after about 10 minutes, I guess she figured out that it wasn't scary after all. On Saturday we took the kids to a children's museum in Decatur. It is pretty cool, Riley has been there several times and Rorey one other time when he was small. Ellie had lots of fun, her favorites being....bubbles.....water table.....shadow wall.....and the climbing area. Also we went to church with my parents... to the church I grew up going to. There are still many people there who remember me and have helped us out during this adoption journey. Everyone was so excited to see Ellie!! She was a little shy, but no crying or fits. She even went into the preschool room with Rorey for 2 hours with no problem. This girl ROCKS!! Then we went out to lunch at the Chinese restaurant where my parents and half of my Mom's family go EVERY Sunday!!

The people there have been anxiously awaiting Ellie's visit!! I guess they where very excited when she came in, and talked to her for quite a while. (I was on McDonald's duty, bringing food for Rorey and Riley) Ellie ordered won ton soup and fried rice with shrimp and pork. By the way she is going to enjoy the left overs for lunch today!! HAHA! We had a fun weekend, and now I'm trying to get all the laundry done!!

English as a second language

We are still hearing a lot of Chinese around here, although it seems like she understands much of what we are saying to her. She knows when we say to put her clothes on, put her shoes on, take a bath, brush her teeth, but we haven't heard much English. I have had to look up some wonderful Chinese words like....share, be nice girl, be quiet!! Well last night I was putting her to bed and she grabbed her little stuffed pig and said......Mom this one is a baby. I just stared at her for a second like English was my second language!! Then I said yes it is, it is a baby pig then I said it was a blue baby pig and she repeated blue baby pig. Today at the store I told her that Rorey had to go to the bathroom, and she turned to me and said Mama where is the bathroom? I don't know about you, but I'm impressed!! I promise we didn't learn any Chinese that fast.

Halloween Pics

Spidey, Hobo, & Sunshine

Pumpkin Time

Halloween was kind of up in the air this year....we didn't know how Ellie was going to react to all of the excitement!! It isn't surprising that she LOVED it!! She laughed crazily as Riley chased her around the house in his "hobo, vampire, army guy" costume, and loved Rorey in the Spiderman getup also. She enjoyed being a "sunshine bear" even though she has no clue what a "sunshine bear" is!! We went to the "trick or trunk" at the Methodist church first, and they also have a free wiener roast there. Ellie tried her first smore, which she did not care for at all!! She seems to have an aversion to chocolate! I know it's pretty obvious that she is not my biological child, but this just seals the deal!! (Also she does not like Mac-n-Cheese, but we will discuss that in a later post) Anyway after the trunk deal we went to my friend Michelle's house and we all went trick or treating in her neighborhood. She has 6 children...5 bios and 1 new adoptee from China. So 4 of hers and 3 of mine went out and ran the streets, with parents chasing, and yelling, and reminding to say Thank you etc. Wow I was beat after all of that!! Tons of candy, what else do you need to know?