China #10 our friend the monk.

Hayden's friend the Monk.  He seemed to have a special place in his heart for her.  We had lunch and 2 dinners with our lovely new friend and enjoyed and felt so honored that he invited us to the temple for lunch, a tour and a special blessing

The entire lunch was vegetarian, but you would never have known it.  Special chefs are brought from Beijing to cook at the temple.  If you look closely you will see sausage, shrimp, fish etc.  It was a delicious lunch.

Nope not one real piece of meat here....but it tasted GREAT!!!  You can do some crazy stuff with tofu.

They are getting ready to build a bigger building and the tiles will be used for the new building. 

Outside the temple.  This is in the heart of downtown Chongqing.

Lighting incense and candles

a very special blessing.  We felt honored that he would want to bless us with a happy, safe and healthy life. 

Having tea at the temple

As we left the temple.  What a wonderful experience and day we had with our new friend.  Hayden kept doing the namaste head bow to her monk friend.

Last day of school.

first day of school Sept 6, 2011

 

                                                                 Last day of school May 17, 2012

okay somehow we just had our last day of school for the year. How on earth did that happen??  Where did the time?  What a difference 9 months makes huh??  In the last 9 months Hayden turned 3(the first day of school) she gave up her "beloved binka" she started sleeping in a big girl bed(well we took her crib down) she has learned to recognize both capital and lower case letters, she can write all of her capital letters.  She knows the sounds all of those letters makes and is sounding out words and telling me what letters she hears in those words.   She can count to 10, she recognizes her numbers.  She can write her name perfectly and recognizes it written and most of her classmates names too.  She has become a professional scissor user and has a huge love for both scissors and glue!!!  She can draw her family perfectly, and a house to go with them.  She has learned to color in the lines and is quite an artist.  She has become completely potty trained(even at night) and has a bladder that I could only wish for at this point.  She can fold the towels out of the dryer, she can make herself a cream sandwich and dry her own hair.  She can buckle her own shoes and easily gets herself dressed.  She can button, zip, and Velcro with the best of them. 

She has moved up a level in gymnastics and is ready to move again(preschool intermed) she is very athletic and pretty agile.  She loves going and is hoping to start dance in the fall.  We will see as her sched is already a bit full.  She has started mandarin lessons and has blown our socks off at how QUICKLY she is learning and her pronunciation.  She has learned 2 songs, and her vocab is probably 40-50 words!!  I can't wait to see how well she is talking after a month in China. 

Hayden has physically grown as you can see.  She is now 38 inches tall and weighs 27.5 lbs, she is wearing between a 7-8 shoe.  She is growing her hair out right now, but we will probably go back to her signature bob after our trip(mommy too) But we think we need ponytails for the month in the furnace(I mean China) LOL

It has been a great year.  Hayden has fostered an amazing relationship with her BFF Ronan at school and we are looking forward to next year and them spending another year together.  Hopefully in the same class.  She really loves her girlfriends and I love the relationships she is building.  She will miss her two teachers this year terribly.  They were a great match for Hayden and I know she will be looking for them next year even though she moves to the big kid side of the school. 

It seems we have had so many firsts this year.  But this is just a quick list mostly so I don't forget the big stuff.  The time is flying by and I wish it would slow down.....I want her to stay little forever. 

We are preparing for our month in China.  I will be posting and asking for your help soon.  David and I will be volunteering in the 3 provinces we will visit.  2 orphanages and 1 foster care facility.  We are wanting to take stuff for the children that they need.  Cleft palate bottles are the biggest thing we want to help provide.  They are so important and can make such a difference for these children and their nutrition.  But we are taking fun stuff too like stickers, nail polish, hair do dads, match box cars etc.   So be thinking if you would be interested in helping out with a donation of $$(even $10 makes a difference) or by sending us something to take for the children.  This is a really important part of our trip and we are both really looking forward to these days of volunteering.  We look forward to Hayden being able to help us when she is older.  We would like to make this a trip we  make often and letting the time of volunteering become bigger spans of time.  But we need to wait until Hayden is older and then we can offer I time more generously.

Do you believe in destiny??

Do you believe in destiny??  We do!!

Referral Anniversary

Then: 11-03-08

Now: 11-03-10

Our life has been nothing short of AMAZING and full of LOVE in the last 2 years since we first set our eyes on our beauty. 

At 5:25 that day I took that call and saw this picture and knew that we were meant to be.....

How did our family get so lucky to be picked to be your family??  DESTINY my dear.

We LOVE you more than words could say Hayden Magee.

Flutasia

Last night our library hosted "Flutasia" which is a flute choir.  So we ran up and listened for a bit.  Why you ask???  Well Hayden has a sport cup straw that she walks around the house blowing, and it sounds like the flute.  So she tells us that she is playing the flute.  David thought she needed to see and hear real flutes.  It was actually really good, and the music was pretty lively.  Hayden sat still and listened for almost 45 minutes, not bad for a 2 yr old.  She did confirm that she still wants to play the piano or the harp, and not play the flute.  I told her that was just fine, whatever she decides works for me:)

 They played a song that sounded like a calliope and she was wanted to get up and do a jig:)

              This was at the end when she had had enough sitting still, so we moved to the back.

**poor quality pics because I took them with my phone

A trip to the pumpkin patch & our skivvies

Orange bow was the most "holidayish" we could be that particular day!!  We now have some pumpkin/Halloween ware!!  This was the little "petting farm" Hayden loved the little goats. 

H petting the goat and that is her Rubiness to the right petting the other goat.  The girls LOVED feeding them grass!!

Ruby with part of her family and H feeding grass to the goats...which the goats LOVED too!!

Ruby is really not always so serious....she actually smiles and LAUGHS a lot, I just never capture it on film.  I think she is just so pretty...smile or no smile.  H told me after the pumpkin patch that Ruby is her best friend!! 

Getting pictures on this VERY HOT autumn day was not an easy task and I am just documenting how difficult it was.  This is Gracie, Hayden, Ruby and Mac.  Ruby's brother and sister, and let me tell you that they are the BEST!!!!

Mac pushing Hayden on the tractor.....she is a terrible driver, does not have any sense of steering at all. 

This is the one decent picture I got of Hayden, and it was because she was waiting for her kettle corn!!!  Check out how DIRTY her shoes are in this pic!!

Just keep scrolling and see that it was IMPOSSIBLE I tell you to get all 3 looking and smiling.  Poor Gracie was being so patient.  Of course it was Hayden most of the time doing her own thing....nothing new!!!

"hmmmmm what are they doing over there I wonder??"

"mommy I am itching and HOT"

"mommy can I take my dress off now?" NICE!!  such a lady we are raising!!!  Beats the day she actually did take her clothes off at the library!!

This was seriously the best that we were able to capture.  Ruby the movie star and Hayden the "gangsta" which is her way of saying "I am totally over this now"

Girls were not really understanding this concept!!!  But it was cute and funny all the same:)  Again the sweet and lovely Gracie was up there just trying to get them to stick their heads in the holes:)

The girls sliding...thanks to Gracie!!  They must have gone down this slide 30 times!!!  We had a blast spending the afternoon with Ruby and her family and we are planning a trip back in the evening so we can go on the hayride!!! 

I am adding this VERY casual picture from this morning.  Somone emailed me recently that I don't actually know, and asked if Hayden was dressed "beautifully" EVERY SINGLE day and did she actually own any "play clothes"  So I thought I would show you all that we do actually have "play clothes" and she is not dress what I would call "beautifully" everyday.  I will say that most days she does wear a dress, she does ALWAYS have a bow or a clip in her hair, but a lot of the time her dress is from Targ@t, or is a hand-me-down.  I waited a really long time to be a mommy to this little girl, and yes I shopped  A LOT for her while we waited, and I continue to shop for her.  I LOVE dressing her everyday, and I think she looks really cute most day's.  But sometimes you will find her in her pj's with jelly on the front from breakfast or better yet sometimes in just a lovely polka dot diaper....just like everyone else's kid.