Remembering Gram

J's Gram lived a long, long life. 98 years to be exact. She passed away this past Friday but will never be forgotten. We love you and will miss you Gram. You're in a better place.

Farmin' Friday

Grandpa has a bit of land where he has a large barn housing all of his "treasures". This is just fine with Grandma because at least the "treasures" aren't at the house--ha! He worked up some of the land next to it for us to plant a garden, so yesterday we donned our farmer caps and worked the land. We ended up planting: seedless watermelon, acorn squash, birdhouse gourds, mini-pumpkins, mini-decorative gourds and for the neighbor whose land butts up to Grandpa's, we planted cukes, 10-thorn gourds and turban gourds. We'll see what actually comes up. The Noodle and I are more novice farmers than J and we were the ones planting the seeds while he was digging mounds.

Determining the plan of attack (and still waking up from a nap).


Planting the seeds.

Wordless Wednesday

Asian Festival

The large city close to us put on a Pan-Asian festival today. It was the first time they had organized one and the turn-out was fabulous! The weather was a bit iffy and we actually left right before the heavens open up but that didn't seem to stop people from coming down. We go periodically to Chinatown to shop at the market, so the Noodle is used to going there, but she wasn't use to the crowds. She definitely turned serious but was busy looking all around and taking it in.

Highlights of the festival included seeing the lion dance, watching the dragon dance, listening to a traditional Chinese music group, people watching and of course, eating some yummy food. We stopped in at the market to pick up a few things and had to go look at the live frogs and fish. This time, blue crab were also on sale--alive and snapping away. We'll stick to our fish stock and rice noodles and let someone else buy those!



Listening to some music.


Food, glorious food!




The Lion dance


A Jr. version


Intently watching the dragon dance.

Looks like a duck

Looks like a duck, quacks like a duck...must be a duck! We took some time out to feed the ducks and geese at a local pond. When one of the geese decided to bite the tail feathers of another goose (she was protecting her goslings), I thought, perhaps we're finished feeding the feathered friends and we'll go on a nature walk instead. Apparently, small, green, mossy looking "logs" are too interesting...after one of those got handled, we dashed to the car for hand sanitizer and decided to call it an afternoon (btw, we washed hands immediately after we got home)! Thankfully it was at the end of our walk. I never thought to point out duck/geese pooh-pooh to the Noodle so she wouldn't pick it up--I just assumed she knew. Silly, silly me. You know what they say, "when you assume...". LOL, it was a fun afternoon despite!


The excitement of it all is just too much!



Perfecting the toss--




Doing her very best duck imitation

Zooming by (don't worry, she was a safe distance from the water)

Last Day of Preschool

It is hard to believe that 5 months ago the Noodle started preschool. Where is the time flying?!?!? Today was the last day and so the parents could come in for an open house. I've been in a few times, so that was no big deal, but what WAS a big deal, was that Daddy was coming in too. The Noodle was velcroed to his side for the better part of the morning. Ha ha! What a daddy's girl she is :)

This is the last year for both of her teachers since they are moving onto other opportunities (+15 years is a long time with preschoolers!). One of the Noodle's favorite activities while she was at school was to work on a Thomas puzzle. As a parting gift, the lead teacher told her she could have it. Let me just say the Noodle absolutely beamed from ear to ear. So sweet. It was the first thing she wanted to do when she got home.

I have been so pleased with this preschool. They have really nurtured and encouraged the Noodle to come out of her shell, but to also let her "be" who she is. She has made some new little friends and has come so far in her independence. It has been a wonderful experience for both she and us--a great start to her schooling career!




Popping bubbles as part of a fingerplay activitiy.



Special Teachers


Showing off the Thomas puzzle.


Hard at work.

Ka-Chow

For whatever reason, the Noodle is infatuated with all things relating to Cars and Thomas. We were in W*lmart this afternoon (I know, bad bad bad--sorry Uncle!) and I decided to humor her...she's been talking about wanting Cars jammies. She was adamant about looking at the undies. She really wanted Thomas or Cars panties. I had to tactfully explain that those are only for boys. Totally went over her head, hee hee. I'm soooo not into character clothes, but jammies seemed like a good compromise. Ka-Chow!!

Mother's Day

As we celebrated Mother's Day yesterday, I couldn't help but remember another mother around the world. The Noodle's birth mother. I have nothing but heartfelt gratitude for her and her decision to make the plan that she did, for her daughter. I will never know, nor understand the circumstances that led her to her difficult decision, but I DO know that I am humbled and so appreciative of her choice.

I sometimes get asked, how could mothers in China just abandon their children?! The only answer that I have, is that in many ways, our lives are as different as night and day. I can't begin to imagine the struggles, battles, financial constraints, etc. that a Chinese woman faces and I certainly have no room to pass judgement. There are some answers that we will never have. This may be one of them.

It is my prayer that the Noodle's birth mother have a peace about her decision. I trust that the Lord is stilling her heart and reassuring her of the choice. I pray that she would know that the child she gave birth to is a loving, caring, sweet-tempered little ball of energy who is loved beyond words by her forever parents. Finally, I pray that she would know how appreciative we are that we get the honor of loving and raising The Chinese Noodle.

Mother's Day tea-party

Happy Mother's Day to the 2 best moms/grandmothers that a daughter could ask for! We love you!! Thank you for coming to have tea with us. Let's make it an annual tradition.

A tea party under the trees

It has been beautiful round these parts the past few days. Sunny, clear, blue skies, warm and most importantly NO HUMIDITY :)

We decided to take the babydolls and go out under the trees for a tea party yesterday afternoon. Water and graham crackers never tasted so good! Oh yeah, the Noodle's not so into bugs, so we were on constant bug watch--how dare those ants invade our party!





Constant vigilance