A New Outfit!

Matt brought home a gift for Ana yesterday. It was from one of the parents at school. (I had taught her daughter in kindergarten and now she's in 8th grade!) The princess costume is gorgeous with a lot of detailed work in it. As soon as Ana saw it in the morning she wanted to put it on. And of course, mom was snapping away. Even though she didn't sit still too long and her headgear was too big, I still got a couple of cute ones! Enjoy grandparents and aunts!!

Trying To Do Better!!

Sorry for not doing better about blogging--there's just so much to be done!!
Here's my most recent creation. It's made from a man's dress shirt. I made up the pattern myself using a dress Matt had bought in China. It was sooo much easier than many of the tutorials I've tried that I'm thinking of making another one with my own tutorial!

Since I have a lot of felt I made this cute little turkey today. I just let Ana put the feathers behind him today, but it would be a great activity for patterning, counting, placement words, etc. She loved it and played with it for quite a while!

Busy...

On Friday night I went with Puah Meng to the symphony. There was a young violinist from the UK and a couple of other pieces. Michael picks up these free tickets from the classical music station all the time! Before going we had Thai Green Curry. Boy was it hot--I've eaten this many times before, but this one wins hands down for heat!
On Saturday I went to a big garage sale. It wasn't as good as last year's, but I found a couple of books and VCDs. I was hoping for some more gently used shoes, but didn't have any luck!
Matt, meanwhile, took Ana to the championship basketball games for two of our teams. I met up with them later, watched the tail end of the games, and headed to Subway for lunch.
The rest of the afternoon was spent on Matt's masters class and me trying to entertain Ana!
On Sunday we went to church--can I just say I am so looking forward to church in the States where I can drop Ana off!!!!--and then had lunch at a hawker. We had Mee Pork--noodles with pork :) Michael had to line up for a long time, but no worries! We had steamed dumplings in the meantime. We went back to the Wong's to let Ana swim and then had a very nice Cantonese dinner--sweet and sour pork, greens, tofu, and fish with rice. We also got mango pudding for dessert! What a nice relaxing weekend with so little cooking! Gotta love it!

Future Cheerleader???

Our seniors have been selling lots of "spirit" items including these small pom poms. Our office manager lets Ana have the run of her area while I'm filing or doing other misc. tasks. She discovered her pom poms and went crazy. If she does grow up and decide to cheer (don't worry Aunt Kim, most of our schools are too small to have cheerleaders!) she'd be a wild one!

PS I made the skirt! The man's shirt was in the give away pile at school!

Fun, Fun, Fun

Today was the shower for China and Behailu. Matt's secretary, Cindy worked really hard to make it cute. It's hard to do here--there aren't party stores. You have to use a lot of imagination! She did! She used a wagon theme and made a wagon cake as well as as a small wagon to collect cards. She used cute clothes hangers to hang the balloons and lined the table with ducks! There were some great veggies and sandwiches along with some yummy cake and cheesecake. I had a great time catching up with people I don't usually see. As you can see all the little duckies went home very happy.

We're so thankful for our Christian family. You've been so supportive. We couldn't make it without you!

Adoption Update

We have been told that if the mothers do not show up at the next court hearing that they can get a letter from the province where the boys came from clearing them for adoption. My question is how long will that take??? Keep praying that the director finds the mothers soon and that they're willing to travel to Addis Ababa.

The Great Bean Explosion

Now, I've been meaning to do some thorough cleaning in the kitchen for a while--and today I got my chance. I have a trusty old pressure cooker that was my grandma's. I've used it many, many times as refried beans are $5.00 a can here. It's been a great asset--I'm so thankful for it! But today, while cooking a pot of black beans, everything changed. The pressure valve became clogged with a bean skin and the safety valve blew. It was sooooo loud and there was so much pressure it blew the shelf off above it (along with all the spices). All the dishes and wash had to be rewashed. We had to pull out the oven and scrub the floors and the walls. A little overwhelmed I called Matt and he came home around noon and helped wash dishes and watch Ana. 4 hours later I have a VERY clean kitchen and an aching body! Ana just keeps saying "What happened? and so sorry!" Me too!