Peek-a-BOO!

Keith here...  We celebrated Halloween tonight on Molly's Way.  Amy dressed Lia in a cute "dancing teddy bear" costume.   They went up the street with our neighbors and did a little trick-or-treating.  It was a cold night and Lia and Amy came back with rosy cheeks.  Thankfully the trick-or-treating for Lia was minus the candy, so she had no sugar high.  I'm sure that won't be the case a few years from now.   She did get a box of animal crackers from our neighbor...  and she loved them!   Here are a few pictures.  

I'm ready to go! 

Scary friends!

My sweet girls! 

Our neighbor grew this pumpkin and gave it to Lia. 

P.S.    I love being a "ba ba"... (Chinese for daddy).   

P.S.S  I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!  God has blessed Amy and I greatly! 

      

Lia's 1st Birthday!

Lia had a great time celebrating her birthday this weekend and ended up being quite the party girl.

 We took her to the Apple Pie Bakery (CIA) for a quick dinner.

Lia had a cupcake at home.  After we blew the candle out, Lia did what any 

one year old would do with a cupcake; she got really messy.

                                  

The next day, we had a small party with family and friends.  Before the party, Lia decided she didn't need an afternoon nap as Keith and I hung Chinese lanterns all throughout the house.  (She didn't want to miss anything, and was confused about our busy-ness).
It was great to celebrate Lia with everyone.  Somehow, she made it through the cake!  She could have done a face plant into it and fallen asleep (it would have been justified), but she loved the attention and went right along with accepting her new birthday tradition.

Emily, Annie, and Beth...

Wow, kinda scary, but I taught Emily in Kindergarten (don't want to tell you how many years ago!).  When I had Emily, I hadn't even thought of a Chinese adoption...maybe it was a seed that was planted in my head...

I had Annie just a few years ago.  Annie is from the same province as Lia!

It's been so cool watching the girls grow up. Through the years, I was looking forward to them finally meeting Lia.  

While we were waiting, Beth and Steve have always encouraged me...and now I can say "it finally happened"!  What a nice visit we had!

Yipee! Finally, the girls meet!

Busy Lia, smiley Emily and Annie

And the party goes on...

Keith's brother and sister-in-law came up this past weekend.  The weather was perfect; not a cloud in the sky.  It was so good to see them and for them to meet Lia!  The condensed version of the Dutchess County tour included...snacking on local cheeses and wine, Hartney and Sons, the Culinary, apple picking, and the Walkway.  What fun we all had!

Cheryl, Curt and Lia

Looks like we took a plane to Italy...(It's the Italian Restaurant at the Culinary).

And no one was wet...how'd Keith do it?

Last week's highlights...

Keith's good friend John and his wife Joanne

Isabella and Lia finally meet at Debbie's Health Connection.

Having tea with Lia always includes a chocolate cake! 

Tonight, we went to get our usual haircuts, but were very surprised to have a little party with our favorite haircutters, Fran and Barb.  It was Lia's mom and dad's turn to have REAL chocolate cake!!!!  Delicious! 

A fun weekend...

Last night, my brother Mark, my sister-in-law Liz and my 2 nieces came over to meet Lia.   Of course, we had to have Chinese food and try out the chopsticks!  During dinner, Lia couldn't take her eyes off Mark.  She babbled like crazy!  It was so exciting to have them come up and see Lia.

Maddie, Katie and Lia

After dinner, we had Jasmine tea and dessert. We used our teaset from Dr. Tea (bought in Beijing) that had dragons on them.  My nieces loved watching the dragons change colors when the hot water was poured into the tiny Chinese teacups.  We had good ole American apple pie with the tea.  What a fun night we had!!!!

Lia getting acquainted with our friend's dogs.

After church today, we meet our friends and their 2 dogs at the Walkway on the Hudson. It was freezing!  We had to put a hat on Lia!

Our real pumpkin was born October 22nd last year.

Did I hear what I thought I heard?

It sure sounded like Mama to me!!!

 I went downstairs to bring up something from our pantry, and took a detour to pick up a few things in the family room.  According to "Lia time", that was too long for her to wait to see me...she was sitting in her Exersaucer, and cried out, "Mama!".  Oh wow!!!!  From her perspective, she probably was wondering why I was smiling so much.

Now, Keith has been in his glory since the day we met Lia, because she's been saying Baba all along.   "Baba" in Chinese means Dad.

Showered with Love

Thank you so  much!

Our church gave me a shower yesterday!   It was great to see everyone and celebrate Lia.  We felt very loved.  Thanks for welcoming Lia into your hearts! Keith and I are so overwhelmed with your kindness... We also so appreciate the prayers.  I enjoyed showing Keith all the cards, special gifts and"Pearls of Wisdom" tonight.  Wow...it was a really special day, and I will never forget your kindness and love for Lia.

I am so glad that we were late to church yesterday (Sorry Pastor Lawlor). There was a benefit to it.  While in the back seat of the car, unknowingly, I had sat on a velcro attachment from Lia's car seat.   We walked quickly into church.  Keith didn't notice it on the way in since he was busy holding Lia. After the praise songs, I sat down and realized what had happened.  I never laughed so quietly and so hard in all my life!!!    Meanwhile, our friend Tom noticed the unusual floppy attachment but kept quiet, and thought it was something ridiculously fashionable.  He probably learned the lesson to never comment on women's new fashions...guys, can you relate?  Anyway, I think (hope) that Tom was the only one to see that.  After I got myself back together, I begged him to have full liberty from now on to speak up!!!!!! It brought back flashbacks of a dry erase marker that had velcro attached to it.  Somehow I had sat on it, and walked around my classroom with it attached to my skirt (same skirt, year earlier).  Last year's Kindergarteners didn't let me get away with that one, and even reminded me about it at the end of the year!  Good job Kindergarteners if you're out there reading my blog (I mean new First Graders)!  I'm very proud of your long term memory!!! (BTW; I miss you and hope you're enjoying First Grade!).

Ladies, I'm just warning you to watch out for velcro!  It seems so harmless and helpful, but can lead to "serious" laughter :)))))) or embarrassment (I lucked out, or at least I think I lucked out).

I also have been dealing with velcro bibs that I had bought at Babies R Us, that find a way to attach to socks, ugh...etc.  I am forever grateful for the new bibs I got with snaps...as well as all the other thoughtful gifts.