Happy Easter!

What the...?!

So... we're sitting at our favorite Italian bistro eating breadsticks and waiting for our entrees when Lin suddenly blurts out, "What the H*ll! Where's our food?!" A sudden silence fell upon the crowd. We asked her what she said and she clammed up... knowing instantly that she said something wrong. And within earshot of several other tables! She repeated it quietly and we explained why that wasn't the best thing to say... especially since we just ordered our food!

This is not the italian bistro, but a typical snapshot of our crazy family having dinner. Notice the sleepy child with white blankie, the ravenous big sister and blissfull mama bear. 

As Summer vacation quickly approaches, Lin has been asking us, almost hourly it seems, what she'll be doing. since our big trip to Disney isn't until October. So we've been researching activities to keep her busy. Although, her typical response is to frown when you present an idea to her. But one thing that I thought would garner an "No" was sending her off to Summer Camp. This past weekend we took a road trip to an all-girls Summer camp located just a few hours away and took a tour. She loved it! Cabin-living, horseback riding, archery, canoing, singing, outdoor cooking, goats, the works! We signed her up that day! She'll be going to a mini 4-day session, staying overnight in a big cabin, we think it'll be a great boost for her confidence in communicating with other kids her age. She still has a "wall" up and doesn't interact much with other kids. We're excited and she is definitely excited. We fell in love with the camp so much that earlier in the Summer, Ruby and Mama will be attending a two-day/sleepover camp as well. We're also thinking of a trip to Tennessee so she can spend time with her best friend from Shanghai.

Ruby attempting to climb the rock wall!

She made it!

So... Sunday morning and we're getting dressed for church when the phone rings. Dave answers it and it is the fraud prevention center at our bank... oh, great... Anyways, it seems that somebody has been ringing up hundreds of dollars through iTunes. Yikes! We cancelled the card and will dispute the charges, but just a word of warning if your kids are downloading iTunes app to check your iTunes account history periodically. Lin purchased several Chinese games and apps for her iPod, but along the way somebody snagged the account info since all of the bogus charges were from a Chinese retailer.


The girls biking back from the Chinese grocery store.



Spring Break!

It's Spring Break time around here! Lin and Ruby are both out of school for the week, so Dave and I took a week off of work, too. I believe it's the first time we've had a full week of time off together since our trip to China in June.

And of course, how do we choose to spend our much-deserved vacation? Remodeling the kitchen! A week of rest and relaxation is for wussies! We're Go-Getters in this house!

**Please, no one remind me of the slight emotional break-down I had yesterday morning, standing in my disasterous kitchen, Ruby running through with a paintbrush painting everything except the walls, Lin being impatient about why it's taking so long, and Dave looking at me and saying "What? It'll be fine!" **

Anyhoo, I'd say we're about 75% done with our project. The painting is done and our brand-new dishwasher is installed and working like a champ (it's my first dishwasher! Can you believe it?!?). Our new kitchen island is supposed to be delivered tomorrow and after that it's just the details that need to be finished. I'll post before-and-after photos when we're all done.

In the meantime, here are some pictures of Ruby. So much of this blog has been dedicated to Lin and our story of older child adoption, but I can't let you forget about our 4-year-old cutie!

Here's Ruby with her most-beloved posession, White Blankie, sometimes referred to as White Blank. For the record, White Blankie is a "she" and Ruby can hardly stand to go anywhere without her, although we do make White Blankie stay in the car when we go places (and yes, White Blankie is often perched on top of Ruby's head).

As you can see, Ruby is a thumb-sucker. But she really only sucks her thumb when she's holding White Blankie. Sometimes all Ruby wants to do is lay on the floor, sucking her thumb and cuddling White Blankie. I try to discourage this, however, and I often find myself telling Ruby to put White Blankie down and go do something!

Here's Ruby (and White Blankie) playing in the box the dishwasher came in.

A favorite game of Ruby's is to pretend she's a baby. Her baby name is "Baby Cherry" and the dishwasher box quickly became Baby Cherry's crib.

You go, girl!

She did it again! Lin came home with another Honor Roll Certificate from school. We are so proud of her! She is studying so hard to learn English. Every weeknight, 8pm sharp, it's homework time! No matter what else is going on or whatever we may be doing, she'll sit at the kitchen table, pencil in hand, waiting for us to join her. We've never had to tell her to do her homework... now that's Dedication!