Applesauce

Okay, okay, I'm going to stop making promises on my blog. This is NOT the afore-promised picture post... again. Please don't be mad.

I just thought this was too cute not to share. Ruby had a homework assignment for preschool this week. She was supposed to tell me how to cook her favorite food. My assignment was to write down, word-for-word, her instructions. I was not to edit anything. The recipes from all the kids are going to be compiled and I really hope I get a copy because they should be pretty entertaining to read.

And so without further ado, Ruby's recipe -- in her own unedited words -- for Homemade Applesauce:


- You have to get a little water

- And you have to get a little flowers -- no actually, milk

- And you have to get some cheese -- no actually, juice

- You need homemade applesauce and plain applesauce

- If you put the milk in first and the applesauce in first you get more applesauce. It makes a giant bowl if you put applesauce and milk in first.

**At this point I asked her if you needed to cook the applesauce**
- You just have to mix only a little and you have to put an ice cube in and some water, and that will make it.

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How cute is that? And for the record, I had no idea that homemade applesauce was her favorite food. She came up with that one out of the blue. I've never made applesauce for her, although my mother has made it, but to my knowledge she has never witnessed applesauce being made.

If anyone feels like joining in on this homework assignment, feel free to leave your child's "recipe" in the comments. I'd love to read them!

Um... What?

This is not the picture post I had promised earlier... I swear I will post new pictures soon...

But I just had to quickly share what Lin said last night. With a sparkle in her eyes and a huge grin on her face, she told us she thinks it would be FUN to have another younger sister...

oh boy...

Catching Up

Wow! Two weeks since my last blog post... I know there are at least a handful of people who read this, so I apologize to you all for the gap.

Lin has now been with us for 8 months -- hard to believe it's been that long already! And while the vast majority of our days are pretty happy and easy-going, we are also having days where Lin is really dealing with some heavy emotional pain. It seems a little bit like, the longer she's with us, the deeper the pain.

For example, she had about one full day where she was pretty resentful toward me because I'm not her birth mother. It wasn't the first time she's talked about her birth parents, but it was the first time she seemed angry toward me. It lasted just a day or so and then things got back to normal. I spoke with our family counselor and she told me that it's important for me to engage Lin in conversations about her life before us, so that Lin knows that I'm not threatened by it. Lin needs to know that I'm not replacing any of the important women who have been part of her life.

She suggested that when the weather warms up I get Lin into gardening. I can make the comparison between the flowers that we plant and Lin's life. The roots are strong and important to the plant. But now we need to add good soil and water so that the plant can bloom and grow.

But like I said, most days are really good. Lin made me a beautiful Valentine's Day card yesterday. I'll have to take a picture and post it. And Ruby is doing great. She has her Valentine's Day party at preschool today, and she's all ready to wear her super-fancy red dress (it's actually her Christmas dress, but hey, it's red!).

My next post will be a picture post...

Happy New Year!

Happy Year of the Rabbit!

The official Chinese New Year comes on Thursday, but we had our 2nd Annual Chinese New Year Extravaganza this past Saturday night. What a great party! Our small house has never been so full of people.

Here's Lin and Ruby, making the Jiao Zi, or dumplings. Ruby stuffed and folded about 5 successfully. Lin and I did about 90. She and I can whip through those things pretty fast!

The featured dishes, all prepared by Dave. In the wok at the far left are the pan-fried noodles. In the back row left-right: black pepper chicken, lemon chicken, dumplings. And in the front row left-right: salmon with black bean sauce, beef with oyster sauce, and sweet and sour cabbage. Not pictured but also consumed: egg rolls prepared by our friend Kerri, and tomato-eggdrop soup prepared by our friend Pam, in addition to cookies and candies brought by other friends.

Dave is developing quite the reputation as a chef. He and I have always kicked around ideas of starting up a food business... I think he's getting closer to making it a reality!

In this picture: In blue, Grace, from Ruby's travel group. In the grey sweatshirt, Qi Xuan, who goes to school with Lin. In red, Claire, from Lin's travel group. And in black, our Lin.

Fifteen kids at our house! They all had a great time, and some new friendships were made among kids who previously didn't know each other. All but 3 of the kids in this picture are adopted from China.

In this picture, Lin, Claire and Michaela. All three are from Shanghai and knew each other before we knew them.

Lin really had a great time at the party. At one point I said to her "It's a little bit crazy, huh?" and she said "No, it's CUTE!" She was really excited to see Claire again -- they haven't seen each other since coming home from China in June. 

Lin was more animated than I've seen her be with other people. I even saw her talking to one or two of the adults, something she does rarely. It just seemed like she was so proud that this is her home. We all had a great time!

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Happy New Year!