Storming the Castle

Chinese New Year at School

2012-01-24T20:08:00.000-05:00

Excitement was over the top yesterday when Olivia knew I was coming into school to help out with her class Chinese New Year party. I give kudos to her teacher, who plans a big CNY celebration each year in the classroom, whether their is an Asian kid in the class or not. The kids worked all last week getting the room and party ready: they made lanterns, and hats...zodiac necklaces with their year's animal on them, a large dragon on the ceiling...placemats with the zodiac too.

We had a dragon parade, stories, and ate noodles, dumplings and oranges. Natalie got to be a first grader for the day too!

yep, it finally snowed!

2012-01-23T10:06:00.000-05:00

Since the freaky October snowstorm, not one other flake has fallen in central PA. Finally, this weekend we had about 5 inches, and enough for sledding. The neighbor kids hit the local "slope," the hill behind the township offices--we can always find a few friends there on a snow day!

we are all different!

2012-01-18T20:59:00.000-05:00

Olivia related this story to me this evening. Apparently there is a difficult boy in her class who likes to give her a hard time. Lately it has been about the fact that she can't run fast enough for soccer. He wouldn't let her play in the recess soccer game. She tried to prove she could run fast, and he didn't buy it. So she gave him a lecture:

"Everyone is different, Michael. Some people can run fast and some people can't. Some people can ride ponies and some can't. Some people are from China and some are from Pennsylvania. Some are good at math and some people aren't. Everyone is good at something and everyone is different. And it's OK that we are all different. And if we want to play soccer we can."

She concluded her story with: "I think Michael realized it is OK that everyone is different, even if I can't run fast."

Up all night

2012-01-16T10:55:00.000-05:00

Natalie has been giving us trouble about sleeping since the beginning of December. No, actually she has given us trouble for over a year now...But in the last three weeks or so, she's been getting up at 3 am, coming into our room, tapping one of us on the shoulder to tell us, "I don't like my bed!" then having a fit when we sent her back to bed.

So-- time to upgrade from the toddler bed! She's so small she still fit in it but I guess she started thinking it was a baby bed. Since she and Olivia share a room, it was certainly not fair that Olivia's bed was bigger...

Time to go to IKEA! Unfortunately IKEA stopped making the same oak finish wood bed the Olivia has but we got a similar style in white which doesn't match the rest of the furniture but one of these days the girls will each have their own room and then we can worry about matching furniture.

A few dodgy moments happened on the turnpike when the box on the roof of the car starting to go airborne! But it made it home in one piece and now Natalie loves her new big girl bed.

Although the second night in it, she woke me up at 3 am to tell me, "I LIKE my big girl bed!"

Hands...part of my photo project from January 2011

2012-01-10T16:15:00.000-05:00

When I saw the call for entries for theme of the human hand for the TerabellaMedia photo contest, I knew I had to enter this photo of my girls' hands.

Count the fingers!

My youngest was born without a thumb on her left hand. A few months before I shot this photo, in October 2010, surgeons at Shriner's Hospital in Philadelphia gave her a thumb by moving her index finger to be her new thumb. She spent much of 2011 in occupational therapy, or "pinch-pinch" learning how to use it and was finished therapy in just 10 months rather than the expected 12-18!

My photo won third place in the contest! I even won a cash prize!

Take a look at all the winners here

Beautiful and poignant photos!

Happy Half Birthday, Natalie!

2012-01-05T18:14:00.000-05:00

At first I couldn't figure out why Natalie had snack assigned for today at preschool until I read the fine print--"Half-Birthday Treat." Ahh! She is the first of my kids with a summer birthday. We went to the grocery store yesterday and she picked sugar cookies with blue and purple sprinkles and apples to take to school. After I picked her up, I figured we should do some half birthday photos. Plus, this is really cute coat and hat!

Yesterday, she hosted a birthday party for her pony. A stuffed one of course. The pony was turning 16 and tomorrow she was going to be 5.

Christmas

2011-12-29T21:36:00.002-05:00

Confession time: I did not take many photos at Christmas.

GASP!

Yes, it is true...and it was a conscious decision to leave off obsessing about the perfect Christmas morning photos and simply enjoy the day.

While cooking our Christmas Eve dinner, I looked out the kitchen window to see the clouds parted and this marvelous light suddenly illuminating the backyard. Grabbing the camera, I ran outside without shoes and a coat to capture the neighbors trees.

Santa brought Ugly Dolls!

The girls tearing into their Santa presents...

I renovated Susannah's old dollhouse..painted it, fixed the roof, added the gingerbread trim, flowers in the window boxes and got new furniture and people

After presents and our traditional Christmas brunch, we enjoyed a few hours at Longwood Gardens.

The Christmas trees and the poinsettias in the conservatory were gorgeous.
I aspire to have trees and decorations like this...but it will never happen!

Her two front teeth

2011-12-23T17:02:00.000-05:00

Well, it's not ALL she wants for Christmas!

Over Thanksgiving weekend Olivia lost both front teeth! Yes she is now lisping and has a hard time eating anything crunchy.

(I just hope the new teeth come in straight since we do not have dental insurance....)

Annual Candy House Party

2011-12-21T13:06:00.000-05:00

Once again our Chinese playgroup got together for our annual candy house party. Of course the kids eat as much candy as they put on the houses! We had the houses pre-made out of graham crackers so all the kids had to do was frost and decorate. I confess to eating quite a few gummy bears myself...

It's always fun to see the kids creativity and their own style

A special guest joined the party--Santa! a.k.a Lauren and Paige's grandpa

Goodwill Hunting

2011-12-16T21:44:00.001-05:00

My mom and Jeremy loved Goodwill (Jeremy still does but he actually prefers Salvo--Salvation Army--now, says the prices are better). A regular Grandmary playmate always included Goodwill Hunting, dubbed so after that movie came out with Matt Damon. Jeremy was a bargain hunter and always came home with treasures.

Our Goodwill is conveniently located across the street from Target.

Goodwill Hunting a few weeks ago netted: a lovely 3' pre lit tree, still in a box, from Target, regularly $34.99, but only $6.97...also a box of new glass ornaments for $1.97 and two large rolls of wrapping paper for $0.97! And since we didn't' have any tree at all due to Tom's trip, it was nice for the kids to have a little tree to decorate. Yes, the lights still worked too!

I did a little more Goodwill Hunting today and it was a treasure trove for Christmas items. If I didn't long for the smell of real pine in my house (despite asthma and the breathing and nasal issues I always suffer in December), I would have picked up another bargain in the tree department--there were at least a dozen boxed large pre lit trees brought over from Target deeply discounted). I was hoping for a Christmas outfit for the girls, because despite being a seamstress and despite sewing lots of dresses and embroidering lots of tees for other people (like 35 year of the dragon tees for the upcoming Chinese New Year), I had nothing for my girls! Yes another case of the cobblers family not having shoes :) But how about this little number I picked up for $5?

And tonight we went out to get our real tree--first time in about ten years we didn't go cut one down at the tree farm--but, cheaper is good and Olivia was thrilled to make the final decision on the tree. Photos to come!

Tom in St Lucia

2011-12-15T11:12:00.001-05:00

Sounds exotic doesn't it?
Tom travelled to St Lucia for a week right after Thanksgiving to teach the Advanced Life Saving in Obstretrics course with a team of eight other physicians in a small hospital. Yes, I stayed home with the kids and he actually complained about the weather! Ha, too hot and humid! They were not based in Castries, the tourist end of the island and the hospital was currently situated in an old soccer stadium while the new building was under construction. The team presented the course to 70 medical students, physicians and nurses. The course ran 3 days plus a day was devoted to planning...they did get to the beach but Tom said the local beach was quite dirty, with trash and needles on the beach. Not like the ones the tourists go to at the northern end of the island! They also got to experience the local general election which was less raucous than anticipated and tabulating the results was similar to counting chads in Florida..apparently the vote counters couldn't figure out who won and announced one candidate the winner, then the other...

blogging

2011-12-15T10:44:00.000-05:00

So I debate shutting down this blog...are people reading blogs anymore? seems that everyone is on Facebook. OK not everyone--my husband doesn't have a clue about Facebook! Are people still blogging? And I mean real people, not business people? Blogs I used to read started to be peppered with ads too. I find myself not keeping up with blogs so much anymore. Are you guys reading blogs? As the Police wrote: "Is anybody alive in here?"

I'll be shutting down Fly Away Home Clothing soon...and I hope to devote more time to blogging, and reading blogs, and organizing my own photos. I have a year's worth of photos I need to put in a book--and before I forget what we did in 2011!

Natalie's Gotcha Day

2011-12-14T21:59:00.000-05:00

I tried to post this last week but ran into technical difficulties--some things are more difficult on a Mac lol...anyway..it was two years ago on Dec. 4 that we met Natalie in a hotel in Beijing!

Gotcha Day

2011-12-13T23:13:00.000-05:00

Well I posted a video/slideshow in honor of Natalie's Gotcha Day on Dec 4th...but just realized it didn't work. No wonder no one commented! We then left for a week's vacation in sunny Florida....hoping I can get the photos and slideshow up tonight!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T21:37:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving was a quiet holiday...just the six of us plus Jeremy's girlfriend. The two of them ate two turkey dinners as they visited with both families.

the kids played inside and out, and we got the obligatory family photo...

probably not the one I'm going to put on the Christmas card though!

photography

2011-11-14T15:12:00.001-05:00

October was a busy month of shooting photos. I think I had 12 shoots! I am very happy with my new iMac and it is making editing so much easier with a big screen--easier on my now 49 year old eyes too!

I haven't made an "official" announcement yet but I do plan to retire from my sewing business at the end of 2011. I plan to concentrate on photography and sew just for my kids. So if you don't mind, do pass along my photography website to friends and family and take a look at my full portfolio. I will shoot anywhere in central PA and will also consider traveling further as well. Just click the photo of Natalie below to go directly to my site. Help me take Fly Away Home Photography to the next level!

I have a blog for my photography as well as my website. Check that out too!

Freak Halloween Snowstorm

2011-11-02T09:00:00.000-04:00

I never thought I'd have snow for my birthday before, but that is what we got here in central PA on the 29th. And not just snow but 8" here at my house!

We lost several large branches off this tree in our front yard

And the bradford pear is a goner...this tree was hit by lightning about 8 years ago so already it was only half a tree. Then three huge branches came down on Saturday.

November is Adoption Month

2011-11-01T17:12:00.001-04:00

I was interviewed a white back for an article in Central Penn Parent Magazine for a piece on adoption for the November issue. Here I thought the writer might include a quote or two from me...well, turns out the piece was focusing on four families and we were one of them.

Take a look at the full article here

visit with Peepaw and Lolly

2011-10-14T17:24:00.001-04:00

Granaparents came to visit last weekend--weather was fabulous so I took them to Longwood Gardens. Amazing that we have lived in Lancaster County for 21 years but we never took them there before.

in the Children's Garden

The ceiling of the conservatory was decorated with parasols

Gorgeous light walking through Pierce's Woods

Biggest pumpkins we'd ever seen. There was a cute kids play area with pumpkins and straw bales. I fell over backward narrowly missing impaling my behind on pumpkin stems...at least I saved the camera from certain peril!

Cute toy train display in the idea garden

Peepaw and Lolly with the girls at the Italian Garden

Natalie

2011-10-14T17:06:00.002-04:00

Finally I shot Natalie's 3 year photos--she was 3 in July! We went through a time of bug bites on the face followed by a black eye (courtesy of big sister) then more bug bites. Finally all was clear so I took these at Lititz Springs Park

Yes, she did sit on the arch of the bridge over the creek...I almost fell off the other side trying to get the shot with my 50 mm....fortunately neither of us went in the drink!

Natalie is loving preschool...when I pick her up she always says, "Preschool was awesome!" Her favorite new song is "The B-I-B-L-E". She would have been very happy to go to school everyday--in fact, she is very grumpy on the days she does not have school.
Last week I waited in line to get gas at Turkey Hill for only $3.15. I had to wait because they only have four pumps and they were all taken, and by large vehicles with large tanks that took forever to fill....finally I pulled up to the pump only to find all my credit cards were missing from my wallet. The suspect was in her carseat. "I needed a credit card so I put them in my cash register."

Moon Festival

2011-10-11T22:49:00.000-04:00

Our little Families with Children from China group (I'm supposed to be one of the leaders lol) has a party for all the Chinese festivals as well as our American holidays to keep the kids connected. Another mom and I decided to get a group together after we brought our first girls home from China in 2006...and the girls are pictured here--Lauren on the left and my Olivia on the right. The group has grown quite a bit and now that the kids are in school it isn't quite as easy to get together but everyone does have a great time when we do.

rocking out!

2011-09-30T19:10:00.002-04:00

I have become Susannah's concert buddy. I guess it is pretty cool that my 19 year old wants me to go to rock concerts with her! Or maybe no one else wants to hear these bands...well, let's just think the former...

A couple of weeks ago we went to see 3 Doors Down playing at, of all places, the York Fair. I've lived in central PA for 21 years and never went to the fair. Our Lancaster County fairs are mainly the farm variety...lots of animals to see, some to pet, tractors to climb on, pickles and jam displaying blue ribbons, kids Lego displays and mom's sewing ventures, and lots of vendors giving out free stuff in exchange for your name and number on a mailing list. York was definitely carnival-sketchy (my apologies to anyone from York...) More cheesesteaks, funnel cakes and chicken fingers in one place than I'd ever seen...crazy carnivals rides, a big cat exhibit and yes, the bearded lady and other weird wonders.

But, here are some photos from the concert:

updating

2011-09-20T23:58:00.001-04:00

No I am not a horrible blogger..my computer crashed AGAIN and i've had nothing but my phone for a week. And with my eyes, trying to read and answer emails on an iPhone was hard enough without trying to write blog posts! I am now back in business and have gone to the dark side by getting a Mac. All my photographer cronies say this is the way to go with photography and couldn't believe I was editing on a tiny laptop. So away we go into Mac world!

Suffice it to say, there is a learning curve. Plus I have to try and regain everything I backed up to my external drives and put them on this new computer. The last backup I did didn't work--the laptop was too unstable--so I did lose some photos and documents. Now I have to learn new programs and keep up with my photo editing as I have quite a few shoots scheduled in the next month!

So let's see..in other news...Jeremy moved out--he got a job in Harrisburg with Habitat for Humanity and got a room in the city...Susannah headed back to Messiah as a sophomore/junior--those community college classes paid off and she just might graduate college early too!..Olivia started first grade at the elementary school across the street. She adores her teacher and is the kid who follows all the rules to the letter. Natalie started preschool two mornings a week and, as she says, "school is awesome." Not sure that the other three year olds are quite ready for her...after two classes she told me, "I don't understand what the other kids are saying." Natalie is three with the vocabulary of a six year old....l

Stone Harbor

2011-09-20T10:11:00.000-04:00

Natalie and Liz

The big kids joined us for a weekend at the beach over Labor Day. We were able to stay in a friend's condo that gave plenty of room for the college kids to join us. Weather was fabulous and the water was warm in Stone Harbor.

Tom tries to direct the family shoot...or, makes fun of the photographer!

when the world changed

2011-09-11T00:16:00.000-04:00

My mother told me she remembered where she was and what she was doing when President Kennedy was shot. Everyone did. It was 1963, I was one year old, and my mother was ironing my clothes when she got the news. I don't know if we had a TV...I suspect not as my parents didn't have any money....maybe she heard it on the radio...she saved the newspaper from that day and I remember seeing the front page, but it has disappeared in the years since...the world changed that day for her generation.

Likewise, I remember exactly what I was doing on that gorgeous day, September 11, 2001, a day of bright blue skies with no clouds, mid 70s...a perfect "10" of a day. I was folding laundry upstairs in my bedroom after taking the kids to school, catching a bit of "The Today Show" on an old circa 1978 black and white antenna TV. When Katie Couric and...who was the other anchor? I can hear his voice but not place the name...said there was a fire in one of the World Trade Towers, I started to pay attention to the broadcast, and decided to move downstairs with my laundry basket to watch the show in color. I saw the second plane hit the tower on live TV and didn't move from my spot on the couch for the next three hours. I remember the shock and the sinking feeling in my stomach seeing that plane hit the tower and the fire...I remember gasping when the tower collapsed in such a short time...I sat on my couch with my unfolded laundry crying for the lives in the building, for the fireman trying to rescue them..in terror as the report came in of a plane flying into the Pentagon....and I sat in fear as flight 93 was reported hijacked over Pennsylvania, then crashed...and then, drove frantically to school with all the other parents to pick up our kids as the state shut down. We barely moved from the TV for a week. Tom went out in the backyard and stared at the quiet sky, devoid of planes.

I was actually in the World Trade Towers back in the 70s shortly after they were built. My brother and I were visiting our father in NYC, and I wanted to go to the Statue of Liberty, but he took us to the Towers and said there was a great view from the top. I was terribly afraid of heights and not too thrilled about it. I remember a bronze sculpture of a globe in the courtyard, and I remember the view from the top, and looking out to Lady Liberty in the harbor.

The world changed on 9/11/2001. Where were you?

Flood

2011-09-08T19:55:00.001-04:00

Hurricane Irene turned out to be a bust for us last week...but the remnants of Lee are causing major problems in Central PA. Here's a look at the Conestoga River near where we live...

Amish boy watches the rising water of the Conestoga

That's a 3' high split rail fence...

Two miles up the road from me is a new river. The van on the left was backing in some jet skis to go joyriding...

This Amish family won't be getting down their lane any time soon

yes this is a road...

We looked at lots on this road right down the street but didn't buy for this very reason....

Floodwaters at the door...

heating it up at the barn

2011-08-31T21:17:00.000-04:00

Olivia had an ornery and unfocused pony to ride today and Miss Erin told her that she was going to have to make the pony listen because Holly was in heat and didn't want to do anything she didn't want to do and she just wanted to hang out with the other ponies (who also happened to be mares..go figure). "Ok, what's that mean--heat?" Intelligently, Erin deflected that back to Mom, so I said, "it means she is grumpy and pees a lot." Sounded like a good answer to me to give a six year old.

At the end of the lesson, Olivia asked me, "How long is Holly going to be reheating?"

first grade!

2011-08-29T22:56:00.000-04:00

First day of school today for first grade! Olivia was uber-excited and woke up super early, got herself dressed and packed her own lunch. I confess, I loathe packing lunches. One of the big plusses to me, when we decided to homeschool Susannah in 7th grade was that I was off the hook in packing lunches! Olivia had picked out a Lunchables for today so the packing was easy...for today anyway. And now I have to look forward to ten more years of packing lunches...Why do I hate this so much? I think because it requires more organization than I admit to having. One has to plan the week in advance for one thing. And I am not a morning person for another. Yeah, I suppose I could pack it the night before--now there is a radical thought!

Natalie had a hard time today. She wore her favorite pony costume most of the day, except while we ran some errands, sucked her thumb, and took two naps. Next week she starts preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

at the beach

2011-08-24T21:28:00.000-04:00

We got away for a few days to Stone Harbor over the weekend


I couldn't resist a few shots in the lifeguard boat!

Plenty of beach time, and also a visit to the Cape May Lighthouse and zoo

summer fun

2011-08-02T20:24:00.026-04:00

Look what Natalie has learned this summer!

Despite being terrified of the bath when we met Natalie in China, she's become a crazy child in the pool. Last summer I doubted she would swim. Silly mommy! This year she was like a fish--we put her in her little pink Speedo life jacket and she'd jump in...in fact, she'd jump in--and sink!-- without the life jacket. So as soon as she turned three, I enrolled her in swim lessons at our local pool. Six lessons, and by lesson four she was swimming. Not huge distances because the "little fin" has a harder time, but she was swimming 15 feet and more.
Now she has a little fan club at the pool, a little collection of moms and the lifeguards who enjoy watching her swim. One of the mom's is a swim teacher at a local gym and she is amazed by Natalie's progress.
This video was taken when she first started swimming alone.

This summer we also enjoyed getting together again with a family we met in China when we traveled to adopt Natalie. Liz and Henry, with their kids Meili and Willem braved the heat wave and traveled to Lancaster County a couple of weeks ago. Natalie and Willem were together in Beijing orphanage and we've all become great friends. Everyone enjoyed a day at the local amusement park, swimming, grilling, and hanging out.

Four Chinese kids in Amish-land!

conversations with Natalie

2011-07-30T09:12:00.000-04:00

She was walking around in a princess hat the other day....
Natalie: "I'm a princess!"
Me: "Yes, you are a princess. Now you are supposed to be cleaning up your toys."
Natalie: "Princesses don't clean up toys."

The kids were watching TV....
Olivia: "Natalie, stop sucking your thumb!" (this from a 6 year old who still sucks her thumb.)
Natalie: "God made my thumbs and I can suck them if I want to!"
Well, I thought, technically God made one thumb and Dr. Kozen made the other....

To her OT therapist last week: "Well, I know how to do my pinch-pinch so I am all done here."

visiting the camp counselors

2011-07-25T20:18:00.000-04:00

Jeremy and Liz have been serving as counselors at Mont Lawn Camp in the Poconos this summer and on Thursday the girls and I drove up to see them (despite the 100 degree temps that day!). The camp serves inner city at-risk kids from NY, and sometimes Philly as well. It's been a challenging, exhausting, eye-opening, but rewarding experience. The camp is an extension of The Bowery Mission. We got a tour of the camp (abbreviated due to the heat), a private swim in the pool (lifeguarded by Jeremy!) and dinner at Friendly's.

Looking at the lake

Porch of the chapel

Bell Tower of the Chapel

Tiles made by the campers, outside the dining hall

Playing in the creek

Signed Yogi Berra NY Yankees jersey in the dining hall

"Kids of New York. You can be whatever God created you to be. Mont Lawn Camp could be your fork in the road. Take it!" Yogi Berra, 2002

the pool and a party

2011-07-12T16:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday at the pool I realized Natalie doesn't know her left arm/hand is any different from anyone else's.
There is a local family with five or six kids, all adopted and all with upper limb differences--in fact, two of the girls do not have arms. One boy has an arm exactly like Natalie's--short, fused elbow, no thumb. So we were in the kiddie pool when Natalie looks at one of the girls and says, "Hey, how come she doesn't have any arms?" Teachable moment here, I thought...."That's how God made her. She can still do a lot of things without arms. God made you with a little arm and only four fingers." "HUH?" she says, confused, looking at her hand with a look that said, "what are you talking about?" then waved it aside and went back to swimming.

We had her birthday party on Saturday with a few friends over for cake, pinata, running around outside and playing in the splash pool. She was the princess of the day and loved her very own princess dress and shoes. Especially the shoes--she is all about accessories!

Natalie is 3!

2011-07-06T14:17:00.000-04:00

Because I was away at the horse show, we are celebrating Natalie's birthday this weekend...but she had a preliminary cupcake yesterday and opened her cards and gifts from Peepaw and Lolly.

new do

2011-06-24T00:13:00.000-04:00

Olivia got tired of long hair so she asked the stylist to make it short like Natalie's

Of course that meant we needed to do a photo shoot!

If you haven't seen my photography site, check it out. Recently I've shot a wedding, and had a family of six portrait session, and this weekend I have a little guy's first birthday pictures.

cousins

2011-06-18T10:21:00.000-04:00

It has been raining company this last month! Usually we are pretty quiet people and don't have much in the way of company...but we had Grandma Carol for about 10 days, and Peepaw and Aunt Jessica for Jeremy's graduation party...then my cousin Mary and her three kids came from VA Beach for a visit. Her husband is in the Navy deployed on the Enterprise and she needed a getaway and we were thrilled to have another visit. I was also able to meet my niece Alex for the first time since she was a baby and we had a fun afternoon at the park. I wish I did a better job with the photos but I think I was talking too much!


yeah we tried to get six kids to look at the camera at the same time!

Natalie, Mattie, Alex, Olivia and Noah

Sara and Natalie

"You driving this thing?"

Kindergarten Grad!

2011-06-17T21:02:00.000-04:00

Wow I can't believe it...Olivia has graduated kindergarten. Well, technically, not graduated. Her school didn't have a graduation, for the first time ever.She was pretty disappointed in that. The school cited teacher schedules and too much going on at the end of the year to have a graduation. But they ended up watching movies the last week so I'm not sure about the rationale there....

Now she is a big first grader!

six going on sixteen I think!

This summer she'll be continuing her riding lessons twice a week with Miss Erin at Woodberry Farm in York, and hanging at the pool. She passed her pool swimming test on the first try and can now swim in the deep end and go down the water slides. Some of her school friends are also pool members so we will see them throughout the summer.

graduation party!

2011-06-06T22:44:00.000-04:00

We held Jeremy's graduation party this past weekend, and had family from Florida and South Carolina in attendence

the kids dug into the food a little early...

Auntie Jessica flew in with Peepaw from SC

Jeremy received the coolest graduation gift ever from his grandfather: the Westpoint sword of Jeremy's great-grandfather, Col. Edson Duncan Raff, who commanded the first paratroopers of WWII and was the guy who adopted the Green Beret for the Special Forces unit (I think Peepaw has THE original Green Beret in a box somewhere in his house LOL). If you are a history buff, you might find his obituary from the NY Times interesting

Tom's dad made the gift a special presentation...to Jeremy the only male Raff heir lol...

Jeremy, Jedi Warrior

The sword is engraved with Grand-dad Duncan's name and other intricate designs

We were also always happy to have Aunt Nancy at the party...my mother's sister and a surrogate grandma..

and Grandma Carol, Tom's mom, who drove up from Florida for the occasion and is spending the week with us, reading to the kids, and coming to riding lessons and horse shows and enjoying her namesake, Miss Natalie Carol.
And Jeremy got the fantastic news last week that he HAS A JOB! Woo hoo, please cheer people! He just graduated college three weeks ago and has a job in his field. He will be the home repair coordinator for Habitat for Humanity in Harrisburg. And he has a great lead on housing through a church mission just a block away from the Habitat offices. God is good!
Now Jeremy and Liz are packing up to head to the Poconos to work at Mount Lawn camp for the summer...they leave on Wednesday. They are going to have a challenging and rewarding summer working with inner city at-risk kids from NYC

a wedding shoot!

2011-05-24T17:21:00.000-04:00

I had my first shoot as a wedding photographer this weekend (and Olivia's best friend was the flower girl).

Pop over to my photography blog to see a few more

Graduation!

2011-05-16T22:36:00.000-04:00

A momentous weekend! Jeremy, our oldest graduated from Houghton College (which also happens to be both my and Tom's alma mater). He graduated cum laude with a double major in Intercultural Studies and Sociology; he has a passion to work in the inner-city and will be working this summer at a camp in the Poconos for inner city kids from NYC.
Unfortunately, Jeremy hadn't consulted with me as to the proper placement of his cap so the tassel wouldn't be in his face!
The rain Friday night into Saturday morning stopped during the ceremony, just in time for pictures!

Apparently Houghton doesn't give out real diplomas at graduation anymore!

no more papers and no more tuition!

proud little sister will be graduating kindergarten in a few weeks

A poignant part of the ceremony was the dedication of the yearbook to a former classmate, Emily, who was struck by lightning the summer after freshman year and suffered severe injuries. She was one of Jeremy's friends and we had the privilege of meeting her and her family during one of the vacation carpooling trips back when they were freshman. We continue to pray for a miracle for her healing.

Jeremy's band, the Wolf Explosion...yes, you can find their tunes on You Tube!


Jeremy and Liz

We were thrilled to have Liz and her mom join us in the festivities of the weekend, and were able to also pay one last visit to Letchworth State Park Saturday afternoon. Who knows when or if we will be back in western NY again?

Mother's Day at Longwood

2011-05-09T23:48:00.002-04:00

Unfortunately my two oldest kids couldn't be with me on Mother's Day...both were still at college studying for finals. But the little girls helped Daddy make my favorite breakfast (normally I only eat breakfast once a year..on Mother's Day) of eggs Benedict, and then we spent the afternoon at the beautiful Longwood Gardens.

Without any prompting by me, the girls picked out their own dresses for the day: and they happened to be smocked dresses made by my mom for Susannah many years ago. This is the eighth Mother's Day since my mom went to be with the Lord..we lost her on Nov. 7 2004 and I'm sorry my little girls would never know her. On the other hand, it was my mom's passing that set in motion a chain of events to lead us to adopt. Clearly God's hand is in all things. Olivia was already carried in her birthmother's womb on that day in November 2004...God held her in his right hand..and directed us with his left..and one week after she was born we sent our completed dossier to China...we would see her face for the first time on February 28, 2006.

I thank the birthmothers of both my girls for the precious gifts they have given us.

I thought this looked like a vintage English postcard

Many fountains at Longwood...the kids threw pennies

Looking for frogs in the little creek

Lillies the size of dinner plates

the girls loved playing in the fountains. Tom bought us an annual pass so I can go back all year long and snap photos to my heart's content

new camera lens

2011-05-06T23:55:00.000-04:00

I treated myself to a new camera lens for my Canon...it's actually a very basic one, a 50 mm, but I didn't have one, since my new camera came with a bigger range lens. I'm shooting a small wedding in a couple of weeks and knew this lens would be a better choice for the wedding. So we had a little practice session yesterday. Well, I subjected the kids to a practice session. They were not enthused.

Olivia however loved this pettiskirt I've had in the closet for a while, waiting until I could find the perfect top to match (thank you Target!)

I am entering some photos in a couple of magazine contests soon and I think this one will be Olivia's entry.

Graduation..coming up!

2011-05-06T21:46:00.000-04:00

Jeremy is graduating in a week!

we will be heading to Houghton on Friday for what may be our last trip there..unless of course the little girls decide to go to Houghton! We're hoping for nice weather on Saturday to go to Letchworth State Park after graduation.

Susannah and Tucker

2011-04-27T23:31:00.000-04:00

I have been remiss in introducing the new man in Susannah's life...the man with four hooves that is: Tucker.

Usually I re-name the pets in this family. But we leased Tucker for a month before we bought him and the name stuck. Susannah wouldn't hear of him being called "Desmond." Nor would she allow me to give him the show name of "The Dharma Initiative" or "Inygo Montoya." So we kept Tucker and "Mancito" which was his show name. No idea what that is supposed to mean although a friend suggested "I'm the man."

That works!

The weather has been so bad this spring that we were only just able to get some photos of Susannah with her new horse. The two of them have really clicked and he is doing great at the shows--he has been reserve champion at almost all of the shows they've done so far.

Yes, I still have Scarlett and she is for sale. After moving trainers last fall, we quickly realized that not only had the old trainer ceased to get along with Susannah, but that the horse she thought was right for Susannah was in fact not a good match at all. So much about riding is the match between the horse and rider. You live and learn, try not to get angry (although sometimes I still do get angry) and move on. Scarlett was not the best match for Susannah, and we have her up for sale and pray we find a buyer soon. She will be a nice hunter for the right person.

Birthdays and Easter

2011-04-25T22:12:00.002-04:00

We had a little bit different Easter this year.
We weren't sure where to go to church, as we have been bouncing back and forth between two, neither of which was going to offer a traditional service. So we decided to join Liz and Jeremy at her United Methodist service and enjoyed worshiping with the choir, the handbells and the pipe organ.
And since Easter fell on Jeremy's birthday, we went out to dinner instead of me cooking a ham (which no one here really likes anyway!) Susannah's birthday is on Friday so we celebrated both birthdays with dinner and cake.

Jeremy was here all week, and had a couple of job interviews. He is graduating college in just a couple of weeks! He has a summer job lined up at a camp in the Poconos for inner city kids from NY. It will be challenging but I think rewarding. Both he and Liz are working there.

Susannah was only here overnight yesterday....she had a couple of horse shows this weekend--yes, horse shows do happen over Easter. (We saw her at the show on Saturday--she and Tucker were reserve champion again and Olivia jumped crossrails for the first time). She will be working at Sheetz this summer, which I think is a step up from Sonic but I'm not too sure....at least they pay better. And since she has a 1.25 hr drive to the barn to ride her horses this summer, she is going to need better pay than Sonic, that is for sure!

the little girls in their Easter dresses

the birthday people

around the barn

2011-04-23T23:55:00.000-04:00

Old friends and we love riding in the car....

2011-04-20T23:01:00.000-04:00

Today was a riding day so that means a 45 minute car ride. I always allow an hour to get to the barn however, because I have to travel a horrible stretch of road--Rt 30--from Lancaster to York. An old friend was in town, visiting her son who is also a freshman at Messiah College, and Amy and her dad honored me by taking the time to drive down to the barn to watch Olivia's lesson. Amy and I were close friends in our high school youth group days, and I spent a lot of time and many sleepovers at her house. Her parents were such wonderfully kind people. I have memories of Mr Nelson singing in the car. I was never a good singer and never felt like I could join along. Anyway...we had a wonderful visit at the barn watching Olivia ride. Natalie warmed up quickly and picked up many rocks to show everyone.

Pam, me, Leslie, Amy and Beth, dressed as Hobbits for the youth group Halloween party

Now I drive a CRV we have named Desmond--no mini vans for me! I loathe minivans...had one once and it was horrible in any kind of foul weather. I once had two accidents on the same road 365 days apart in snow because I turned the wheel one way and the car went the opposite. The kids are fairly compressed into the backseat, but they have a large arm rest/cup holder table between them. No DVD in Dez! Today the kids entertained themselves on the ride home by watching the clouds and figuring out what animals they looked like. We had a flying cat, a turtle and a hippo that could have been an elephant. Imagination--it's great!

Olivia's Gotcha Day!

2011-04-19T09:14:00.000-04:00

Wow we can't believe it has been five years since we met this tiny baby in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province China

She was one of the last babies in our group of twelve to be given to her new parents. She took one look at us and started to scream! She was 14 months old and 15 lbs. We fell in love with her instantly

Here she is at six, now in the 45th percentile for height (unbelievable because she stayed so small for so long!) in kindergarten, learning to read, loves school and Sunday School and riding a pony, she's sensitive and funny and a joy. Happy Gotcha Day!

riding lesson

2011-04-15T21:37:00.000-04:00

2011-04-14T13:50:00.000-04:00

If you're on Facebook, how about popping over here and voting for this photo of Natalie in a contest sponsored by Creative Memories?

Love Without Boundaries Born in my Heart Auction

2011-04-12T17:21:00.001-04:00

Once again, LWB is holding its annual auction to raise money for life-saving surgery for orphans in China.
I've donated two items this year.

One is a poster print of the Forbidden City (pictured top right in the collage above)

It is 20x30 and if you've been in my house, you have seen this print in my family room. Photo by me, shot in December 2009 on our second adoption trip.

The second item is this Playdate Peasant Set, made by me (Fly Away Home Clothing)

Ruffled pants can be capris or crops. Peasant top is created from three different fabrics.

Teal hair bow also included

It is a size 6/6X. Jeans are Cherokee Brand from Target and size 6x with adjustable waist.

The auction goes live on Thursday April 14th--check it out!

Actually....

2011-04-11T23:52:00.000-04:00

Today Natalie had her evaluation for IU 13. She has been receiving occupational therapy through Early Intervention for the last few months and because she is going to be three soon she was going to get bumped into the IU13 program.; hence another eval.

She knows the drill. A puzzle was placed before her, one with big pieces and knobs, so she got right down to picking them up with her left, four-fingered hand. She knows when any manipulatives, or fine motor activities are placed before her, it is time for "pinch-pinch" work. Only the left hand will do. We have drilled that into her in the last five months. So she rocked the puzzle. She knew the colors and most of the shapes (she was iffy on the square because she knows diamond better. don't now why lol). Speech delay?? NOT! She can not only say the word "actually" but also use it in context: Me--"Oh you are making me a picture?" Natatie: "No, I am making this for Dad, actually." Or how about, "Mom, I have a question." Since IU13 bases their evals and their services from an education-based platform, she didn't qualify at all, despite the short arm and four fingers, and no elbow. She compensates pretty well, cheats actually as her therapist at Schreibers says, figuring out her own work-arounds when things are too hard for her left hand/arm. I guess we will end up going back to Schreibers three times a week once her Early Intervention OT runs out this summer.

at the horse show

2011-04-09T21:51:00.001-04:00

Thanks for all the replies to my previous post! Sometimes I feel lonely here and like no one is out there! Granted we live a fairly boring life lol. Grandma Carol, I shall do better with my posts!

Busy day today at two barns...first Olivia had her lesson in York at Woodberry Farm. Then we drove to Dillsburg to catch Susannah and Tucker at the Halcyon Farm horse show. Because of the weather, the show was indoors, hence, no photos of Susannah riding--it is impossible to get photos in the indoor. But Tucker was Reserve Champion again in the pre-adults--he's been reserve three times now in the two months we've had him. For those of you who don't understand horse shows--the divisions are created by age of rider and height of the jumps. Because Tucker is green, they are showing with the jumps at 2'6" right now, in the pre-adult hunters. In a few more shows, they'll move up to the Adult Amateur Hunters which is 3'. Each division has four classes: three are jumping classes and one is on the flat, where the horses walk, trot, and canter. You get ribbons in each class, then there is an overall Champion and Reserve Champion. You earn points for each ribbon, and bonus points for Champion and Reserve, all which count toward year end awards and for qualifying for the Zone Finals.

Natalie got tired...and my arms got tired! So we found her this nice bale of hay...

Olivia was wishing she could show--in two weeks she will!

is anybody alive in here?

2011-04-08T20:54:00.000-04:00

Does anyone still read blogs? Seems like everyone is on Facebook....and I haven't kept up here too well!

that's because we aren't doing much...here are the kids grocery shopping....Natalie insisted on wearing her "Angelina Ballerina" tutu dress. yeah it was cuter when she had two little ponytails but she yanked those out early on. Usually they want to ride in the car. I hate the car. It is big and ungainly, and hard to push--and even harder to get into the checkout line. Invariably, Olivia grabs candy and Natalie gets her foot stuck while I try to push the car through checkout.

Feeding the ducks, Lititz Springs Park

Swinging

Swings, waiting for kids

We actually had one decent day this week where we could go to the park. I took the girls to Lititz and we fed the ducks and played on the playground. It was cloudy and threatening rain, but actually warm enough to run around without coats, a welcome relief in this dreary, cold and wet spring we are having!
I've been working on new outfits for Fly Away Home Clothing and working on marketing and editing for Fly Away Home Photography. I'll have a photography ad coming up soon in Central Penn Parent Magazine so stay tuned--you can sign up and win a free photo shoot and portrait package. I'm also working on some demo tutorials for basic editing in Photoshop and writing some of my own actions. I hope to make these available for download on my photography blog. If you aren't a follower, please go check out the blog and follow it! I'm starting to feel like no one loves me lol

Natalie's progress

2011-03-30T18:44:00.000-04:00

Natalie continues to have occupational therapy at the Schreiber's Pediatric Rehab Center, or as she calls it "pinch-pinch house" twice a week, and once a week, one of the therapists comes to our house through Early Intervention. Her hand strength is improving. She's been doing activities like riding on a swing, and having to hold on with her left hand while reaching for things with her right, or throwing bean bags. On Friday, she gets to have her first session in the therapy pool which I know she will love. At home she is practicing riding a tricycle--it's hard for her to steer because of her short fused arm. Turning left is easy but turning right is harder. She often wants to cheat about how she holds the handlebar too, and tries not to use her thumb. She can be a real pip and give me a hard time!

In the photo above, she was sitting at the piano singing one of her favorite songs "A Whole New World." I had completely different ideas for this photo shoot but she wouldn't do what I wanted her to do...but as she was sitting at the piano playing away with her nine fingers, I saw that this would be a great shot.

Here's a little video of Natalie singing, shot at the barn during Olivia's lesson last week:

Full Moon

2011-03-22T15:43:00.000-04:00

best I could do with a 135 mm lens...

Olivia's 6 year old photos

2011-03-22T15:01:00.000-04:00

finally better!

2011-03-22T08:19:00.000-04:00

Natalie finally seems better after a week. Now to get her back to sleeping in her own bed!

The other girls had a horse show this weekend. I was able to go and literally held Natalie the entire afternoon because she cried if I even put her in the stroller...my arms were very tired by 5 pm!

sickness

2011-03-16T19:25:00.000-04:00

How many phlebotomists does it take to draw blood from a 2 year old?

Natalie has been sick. She started coughing and wheezing a little over the weekend. Monday she started a fever and it hit 105.2 in the evening. The doctor checked her for pneumonia and influenza (both negative) and today got some bloodwork. That was fun. I learned that Natalie can scream without breathing or making a sound for over a minute.

She's a little better today (but we are keeping her dosed on tylenol and advil)

And the answer is: three, plus a Mom. Two to hold down the arm, one to draw the blood and Mom to hold down the child.

naughty!

2011-03-12T00:09:00.000-05:00

Somebody has been very naughty lately. In the last week, she has written in pen on my new kitchen cabinets, drawn with a purple permanent marker on the coffee table, drawn all over the rug in the playroom with the same purple permanent marker, snuck into the playroom and eaten all the candy in two party bags the girls got at a birthday party weekend, and taken to kicking the dog. Her new favorite phrase is "no way, Jose!" which she employs quite liberally. She will no longer stay in her bed (and we thought we were making great strides with the toddler bed thing) nor does she want to wear pants. Good thing she is so cute!

Disney music plays in my house continually. Some days I think i will scream. It would be worth it to pay the 99 cents per download from Amazon for some new songs! Mulan is (of course) a fav

the local boutique

2011-03-09T00:09:00.002-05:00

There are a lot of at-home seamstresses like me with online boutiques. We hand-make every outfit. We have no staff, no employees. We are seamstress, purchaser, marketing planner, IT person, web designer, and photographer. We work late into the night and early into the morning. We measure and pin and create one of a kind outfits, and custom creations. Our kids are our models. We sew in the USA. We sell on blogs, Facebook, Etsy and Ebay. But we make everything ourselves. Please support us.

There are many "boutiques" out there who don't offer this custom service. They may offer "trunk shows" and "home parties" but the sewing is outsourced to China, Peru, India and other places outside of the USA. I post this to encourage readers to support the true at-home boutiques, the women like me who have a dream to create beautiful one-of-a-kind outfits for girls, women who are trying to raise money for adoptions, who are trying to help support a family without getting a job outside the home, who just love to sew. Please support us.

Little Miss Attitude

2011-03-05T16:03:00.000-05:00

Recently I entered Natalie in a modeling contest and she made it thru the judging round as one of three finalists. The next stage was voting-based so I spent the weekend posting the link and collecting hundreds of votes for her. We were in the lead until the last few hours then lost. All rather a silly venture but I put in the effort because I thought it would be a cool thing if a little girl with a short arm and four fingers COULD win a modeling contest. That would be a great message for limb difference kids. Oh well...maybe we'll try again!

Here is Little Miss Attitude, who was so done with photos after a recent shoot for my boutique.....

Jeremy the college senior

2011-03-03T22:24:00.000-05:00

Lest anyone doubt that I have a son, and that he is indeed a college senior at Houghton...I subjected him to senior photos this week since after all, he had to provide one to the yearbook, The Boulder. (I was editor of this esteemed publication back in 1983..but I digress....) Jeremy has no patience for photos and didn't have the same vision that I did: put him in his authentic 1950s issue Navy peacoat (with a definite Russian "Hunt for Red October flair) and wander downtown to some urban grunge type settings where he would hang out by a chain link fence or drinking a cup of coffee at a bus stop. We ended up at the Leola playground.

a few more photos from Disney...

2011-02-27T23:29:00.001-05:00

Well we are back from vacation and Tom and I both have colds. Everyone had a great week. Olivia got to spend her 6th birthday at the Magic Kingdom and had dinner with Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. Tom spent his 50th birthday at the Kennedy Space Center watching the launch of the Discovery.

Natalie loved Mickey Mouse and all the characters

She gives Mickey a "high-four"

Heading out to our princess dinner at Epcot

launch of he Discovery

the birthday people go parasailing

photo contest! vote please!

2011-02-26T21:56:00.000-05:00

I entered both girls in a modeling contest and Natalie is a finalist!! So please if you read this blog and know Natalie's story, click HERE and vote for Natalie by Monday, February 28th

Nemo

2011-02-23T22:32:00.000-05:00

Today we were at Animal Kingdom and saw the "Finding Nemo" show, which by the way is awesome....if you are heading to disney put it on your must-see list. The puppets are spectacular and the whole production wonderful. Definitely on a Broadway-caliber.

In "Finding Nemo" (a favorite in my house), Marlin takes Nemo to school but is concerned because Nemo doesn't swim well. So he tells Mr. Ray, "Nemo has a bad fin...he can't swim well." A bad fin? Why does he say that? Why not a "little fin?" Because he has a little fin, not a bad one. Marlin tells Nemo "you think you can do these things but you can't" then realizes later, that yes, Nemo can...but still...why call it a 'bad fin.' Its not bad, it's just small.

We were swimming in the pool yesterday (yes it is 80 degrees here and we are wearing shorts and swimming) and another mom was watching Natalie swim. Lots of people keep telling us how cute she is. Yes, we realize that. Yes, SHE realizes that. The characters are all over her as well, but I digress. Anyway, this mom was watching Natalie swim and commented on how well she did in the pool, being so little and all. Natalie was wearing her life jacket, but was swimming. She then climbed out of the pool to go down the water slide, and I told the other mom that Natalie was a lot like Nemo, having a little fin and all. The other mom watched her for a minute, then said, "Oh, I see that now." I don't want to tell Natalie she has a "bad fin" or a "bad arm" because it is small. She does loves Nemo and we did the ride at least four times. One of these days, she will watch the movie and say, "hey, wait a minute! I have a little fin too!" At least I hope she will say that, and not that she has a 'bad fin."

just a little Disney rant...

2011-02-23T22:15:00.000-05:00

Posting from Disney....
We're at Disney this week and having a blast...it is also 80 degrees and we missed snow at home so all is good.
But I have a bone to pick with the Mouse.
Why doesn't Mulan rank the same as the other princesses? My kids love Mulan--she's tough, she's pretty, she can fight, she dresses like a boy, the songs in the movie are really catchy, she saves China..but she isn't here. I'm beginning to think the Mouse is racist. No, seriously. We haven't seen her at all. The other "official" princess all got floats...even Tiana, the new one who has barely been in existence for a year. No Mulan though. We also had a princess dinner at Epcot, but the princesses in general were thin. We saw Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora...and for some weird reason Alice, who isn't even a princess...again no Mulan. Was she hanging around at the China pavilion with Mushu? I don't know...we didn't get that far in Epcot. But I think she deserves a place on the princess float just as much as Tiana (just created in 2010). And I do have to ask: is the Mouse racist? Jasmine however, has her own meet and greet spot in the Magic Kingdom. And here is this new character, an African-American, who has more products, costumes, characters, and rides the floats, than the Asian character who has been in the Disney pantheon since the mid-late 90s? WTF?

the kids with the very blond Cinderella

the red sneakers

2011-02-19T08:43:00.000-05:00

I've only entered these weekly challenges a couple of times, but this week my photo of Natalie's red sneakers won 2nd place in the I Heart Faces weekly challenge. There are always at least 600 entries each week. I took this photo the day before her hand surgery when she insisted on taking a nap wearing her new red Converse.

"I'm a Big Girl Now!"

2011-02-15T23:26:00.000-05:00

So on Saturday afternoon I asked Natalie, "do you want to wear big girl panties?" She was all for it so we found some old princess ones that used to fit Olivia. They stayed dry for two hours. Fortunately when they became wet, she was standing on the pergo floor.
Sunday she stayed dry all day, so bye bye diapers! This was probably not the best strategic move on my part considering we are going on vacation Saturday...better pack plenty of pants! We also went to Target and she picked out Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck panties. Now all her 2T pants are too big! Tom and I aren't quite sure what is more earth-shattering: the lack of diapers or the fact that she has slept all night in her crib for four nights in a row now!

car talk

2011-02-14T22:33:00.000-05:00

Actual conversation between Olivia and Tom yesterday in the car.

Olivia: "Dad, when can I drive?"
Tom: "When you are sixteen...in about ten years."
Olivia: "Wow, ten years, that's long. Who will teach me?"
Tom: "I will, just like I taught your big brother and big sister."
Olivia: "No you won't. You'll be dead."

Tom is really having an age crisis now, more than just his 50th birthday coming up next week!

Playdoh creation, or Snowman, Tim Burton Style

2011-02-08T09:46:00.000-05:00

Can you see the resemblance to a snowman? Olivia likes her playdoh snowmen to have long arms and legs. At first I thought it was a bird. Tom entitled it the Tim Burton Snowman.

2011-02-04T08:08:00.000-05:00

Two thumbs up!

2011-02-02T17:21:00.001-05:00

Today was Natalie's follow up appointment with the surgeons at Shriner's Hospital. Thankfully, the ice storm we received overnight wasn't as bad as predicted and we were able to make the trip.

Dr. Kozin checked out Natalie's "pinch-pinch" by giving her some toys

She demonstrated that she is now pretty adept and peeling off stickers

Two thumbs up on her progress!

As far as our concerns about the arm growth, he said that it *should* grow but at a slower rate than the other arm. And it if it doesn't: "no problem, we can lengthen it."

The scar is looking more thick and raised than is idea so she is to wear a soft splint at night with an elastimere insert to flatten out the scar. Otherwise, we just keep doing what we've been doing, with her 3x a week therapy sessions.

Dr Kozin said he's almost finished with her surgery video but "we have to re-edit the bone-cutting part." OK, I didn't really want to know about the bone-cutting part! He also had us visit the hospital photographer who shot a little video of her peeling stickers to add to the video. Tom saw part of it but I think I will pass!

Oh, I had sent Dr. Kozin this photo of Natalie, just two days after her cast came off

He says he loves it has it hanging in his office. Cool!

Chinese New Year

2011-02-01T09:40:00.000-05:00

On Saturday our FCC group held its 5th annual Chinese New Year party. Our group has grown quite a bit in the last five years.

Year of the Rabbit cake

The kids played a game where they had to carry gumdrops with chopsticks across the room

Dresses I made for the girls

a white rabbit

2011-01-25T21:35:00.000-05:00

I feel like the White Rabbit..."I'm late, I'm late!" I keep rushing around and don't get caught up. I'm busy getting Natalie to therapy, Olivia to school, reading homework, riding lessons, editing photos, finishing Chinese New Year outfits, making new spring outfits...oh and trying to keep the house picked up...NOT!

this is how Mom feels most of the time!

Natalie is doing well in therapy but the therapist is now pushing work on her entire arm. I've been saying all along I don't think she uses the left arm and I don't think it is even growing. Angie agrees with me and now that Natalie's splint is off, Angie is racheting up the therapy program getting Natalie to reach and pull and do more than just "pinch pinch." Natalie is, however, giving us all a run for our money! She calls herself "Pistol Pete" now and one of her new phrases is, "because...I no want to!" and, in answer to "Do you have to go potty?" she says, "not today!" Next week we go back to Shriner's for a follow up. I'm hoping to get another xray to see if her arm is growing.

Our FCC group has our Chinese New Year celebration on Saturday. I made Olivia an outfit to wear and then she announced she wouldn't wear it but wanted one of her China dresses instead...

She doesn't quite catch the vision of the marketing scheme lol...

Olivia lost a tooth last week on our Florida trip! She is really growing up. She was eating a pop-tart and all of a sudden the tooth was gone-swallowed up. She was worried the tooth fairy wouldn't come but we wrote her a note explaining the situation and the tooth fairy brought $2 which Olivia promptly spent on gum.

Natalie's hands: January 2011

2011-01-21T21:25:00.000-05:00

no more splint!

2011-01-20T00:15:00.000-05:00

Natalie is officially out of the splint! Monday marked twelve weeks from surgery and the day we could take of the splint for good. Now the real therapy will begin. The occupational therapists couldn't do any weight bearing or resistance therapy with Natalie until the 12-week mark. From here on out they will work to build up her hand strength. One goal we have is for her to be able to get herself dressed..and to manage her pants to use the potty!

Sea World getaway part 3--kids and rides

2011-01-19T21:46:00.001-05:00

We did not try and win the gigantic pink Shamu..it would have taken an extra seat on the plane!

Olivia was tall enough for Journey to Atlantis

so they rode in the front of the boat

and got wet! Bailey said that ponchos were for wussies...we just made sure they did this ride at the end of the day

Sea World Getaway part 2--dolphins and whales

2011-01-19T20:14:00.000-05:00

I don't have a huge friends base (except on Facebook lol) so this trip was a real treat. We stayed in Hilton Vacation club and fortuntately no one gave us a hard sell to buy into their timeshare. Since there were six of us, the two bedrooms and the living room were great--Kathy and I could put the kids to bed and hang out, visit, and watch "Cupcake Wars." Remind me never to make anything that combines blueberries, green tea, acai and balsamic vinegar, and frosting.

We got a second-day-free ticket to Seaworld, and saw the dolphin show on Sunday--all we could saw was "wow" on that one. I had been to Seaworld about seven years ago and expected a traditional dolphins-jump-thru-hoops kind of show but they blew us out of the water with the dolphins, the acrobats,and the flock of parrots that swooped over the audience. Definitely a must-see. I didn't take too many photos as I was too busy watching.
We would have loved to learn more about how the animals were trained. I can't even teach my dog to stay!

We went back to the Shamu show for a second time because we didn't get any good pictures the first time. This show is different, because since the tragic death of a trainer last year, the trainers are not in the water with the whales.

Girls weekend in Florida

2011-01-18T20:18:00.000-05:00

The kids and I escaped the cold and snow and went to Florida this weekend to meet Kathy and her girls. (Bailey, I won't tell anyone in Andrews, TX that you called in sick to school). Kathy came to visit us in September, and we thought we would go visit them in their new home in Texas, but Kathy said there was nothing to do there and Florida would be more fun. That was all I needed to plan a fun weekend.

Here is part one:

bad blogger

2011-01-09T00:15:00.001-05:00

What a bad blogger I am...letting almost a week go by without a post...it's hard keeping up with three blogs and three facebook pages!

So what has been going on in the castle? Susannah headed back to college last Tuesday. I think she was pretty bored here. Since she did cyber school for high school, she didn't have a big social group...really just two good friends here at home. She has quite a group of friends at Messiah and was anxious to get back. We are also selling her horse which adds some stress on life. We only bought Scarlett in June but she and Susannah are not getting along well and in talks with Susannah's new trainer, we decided it was best to sell her and find a better match.

I s

Olivia went back to school with two loose teeth. she'd been complaining about her teeth for some time but we ignored it and put it down to drama queen stuff--she is the kid to meltdown over a pinprick after all. We had to give her a flu shot in the middle of the night while she was asleep. Turns out, her permanent teeth and coming in behind her baby teeth--and they are actually quite a bit in without the baby teeth being very loose. We have a dental appointment set up for Tuesday, and if any of you are in the Lancaster PA area, you want to run and hide if the dentist has to pull the teeth because it will not be pretty or quiet! I'm hoping Dad can take her!

Natalie continues with her "pinch-pinch" sessions at Schreibers. She goes three times a week and works with up to three different therapists. She likes them all--loves the undivided attention from anyone! Here at home she has been giving us trouble when we try to work with her, but she is more cooperative in her sessions. She's getting a better pinch but has no muscle strength at all in the hand. Monday we have an evaluation with Early Intervention...in the hopes we can get additional therapy here at home. She certainly won't quality for any other services--there are definitely no delays in anything other than left arm/hand usage. And she is the ultimate PIP! She slept two whole nights in her own crib this week--yee haw. Hopefully we'll get this sleep thing under control in the next year.

I suddenly got very busy with my boutique orders. Must be the imminent Chinese New Year. I may not see the light of day for the next couple of weeks...my sewing "room" is the basement....I am happy to get the orders as I was pretty slow in the fall. All profits from the boutique go to pay off our adoption debt. Yes, even after a year we still have adoption debt...we didn't expect to get a referral for Natalie when we did...and with two kids in college it is rough...and we got no adoption credit from the feds. If you haven't seen my boutique for little girls clothes, take a look. I'm launching a giveaway over on the site tomorrow. We also continue to raise money through our Just Love Coffee store...if you love coffee like I do (gotta have at least 3 cups in the morning!) take a look and buy a bag--every bag helps.

365--a photo a day

2011-01-03T20:03:00.000-05:00

Many folks over on Facebook and in the blogosphere are getting into shooting a photo a day on a theme, to stretch their photography. So I'm having a go, starting with the theme of hands...I made a new page for the photos so click the tab above and check them out.

Happy New Year and the Stealers

2011-01-01T10:54:00.000-05:00

No, I don't mean the football team. We had a brush with crime this week. On Thursday morning we discovered that the seat of Tom's car was slashed and the garage door opener was missing.

Also, the back door into the mudroom where Charlie sleeps was open in the morning.We think that the thieves tried to get into the house but Charlie's formidable appearance (and loud barking) must have scared them off.

I found out that a neighbor's house was also robbed in the same manner--a garage door opener was stolen from a car and thieves got into the house, stealing cash and cell phones. I spent Thursday talking to the insurance company, the police, and the garage door people figuring out how to recode the door. We took the kids to Dutch Wonderland for the final night of the Christmas event and locked the house up so tight that neither Jeremy nor Susannah could get in. Yesterday a policeman showed up at my door and had our garage door opener. I assume they caught the perps who are probably some local riffraff. Olivia calls them "the stealers." So endeth 2010 for us!

a little fall of snow

2010-12-26T20:37:00.000-05:00

We were hoping for a white Christmas but got a little snow today...it is actually still coming down this evening but who knows if it will be enough for the kids to play in tomorrow. They went out today and tried to catch snowflakes.

Christmas

2010-12-26T15:48:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T14:23:00.000-05:00

If you didn't get our Christmas card this year, it's because I lost your address. Or that you didn't send me one! I've been sending them out as I receive them because I lost all my addresses in one of my computer crashes.

Photos by Fly Away Home Photography (a.k.a. me)

update on Natalie

2010-12-24T00:02:00.000-05:00

The therapists are pleased with Natalie's progress. She can now pinch smaller objects. She's also figured out how to cheat, and pick up things by just curling her fingers and not using the new thumb at all! We are still limited in that she has to wear a splint if we aren't sitting down and doing a therapy activity; there is a risk of injury until the three-month-post-surgery date, still a month away. So, since she and her sister can be crazy, doing stuff like one riding the tricycle around the house while the other was attached to the dog's leash to the back of the trike...we have to keep that splint on.

O Christmas Tree

2010-12-23T15:07:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of the more memorable trees from my childhood:

In 1979 for some reason, my parents decided not to get a tree. Not sure if it was a bit of Grinch-ness going on or Scrooge-ness...but we had to decorate this house plant instead.

This was my dog Franklin. Believe it or not, we did name our female dog Franklin. Note that lovely Santa ornament just to the right of Frankie's head. That was one of my more classic creations. When I was in maybe first or second grade, we made Santa ornaments at school out of lightbulbs. We painted the lightbulb a pale pink, inverted it, made a cone hat, added cotton balls and a face..voila' a lightbulb Santa. Probably not considered a safe craft in today's school, using a real and breakable lightbulb. I insisted my lightbulb Santa get a prime spot on the tree every year until he met an untimely end in smithereens at the bottom of the ornament box. I reincarnated him, using more durable material: a Legg's pantyhose egg.

1980 saw a more modern twist on the popcorn and cranberry string...it's hard to appreciate in this photo (which was a bad photo to begin with, and since I don't have a scanner I had to take a photo of the photo...) but I strung Salada Tea tags in an alternating red and white pattern to make a truly inspirational tree full of pithy sayings.

Christmas memories

2010-12-21T23:51:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, I didn't know we were poor. My mom was raising my brother and I on her own-she and our father divorced when I was ten and she held a part time job as the church secretary--she thought it was important to be at home when we got off the bus and could make us chocolate chip cookies. For years I didn't realize that other families had hot meals for dinner. We had our hot meal at school for lunch and sandwiches for dinner because that was all Mom could afford. My mom often went without lunch herself to save money. Weekends we went to visit our aunt and cousins on Cape Cod. Our Grammie lived there much of the time and there was always love and good food, especially at the holidays. I also remember visiting my friend Pam from youth group. Our town had two middle schools, and she was in the other one. But we went to the same church and youth group and we were great friends. I loved going to her house for sleepovers. They had ice cream in their freezer all the time! We only had it for holidays and maybe birthdays. At Pam's, there was always ice cream.The coup d'tat was that after school, we could actually open the freezer and pick our flavor of ice cream for a snack! I was in heaven.

I remember one Christmas time at our church, South Shore Baptist, in Hingham, Mass...I think I was in junior high. All the kids from the youth group brought canned goods wrapped in white paper--"white gifts"--to church to put under the tree and given out to poor families in the congregation. I probably brought cranberry sauce because it was my favorite food at Thanksgiving and Christmas. I could eat the whole can by myself. One day after school, I came home to find a large basket of white gifts on our kitchen table. I was confused. Why did WE have these in our house? Weren't these for the poor people? My mom said it was a gift from the church. That was the moment I realized that WE were the poor. And that was weird because I didn't have a clue.

When I was a kid, we got our tree on Christmas Eve. When we were young, we believed that Santa brought the tree, decorated it, and brought all the presents as well. Once I was old enough to debunk the Santa myth, I was allowed to decorate the tree for my brother. Once he was old enough, it remained our family tradition to string cranberries and popcorn, and decorate the tree Christmas Eve. I tried to maintain this for our kids, but Jeremy and Susannah knew their friends got their trees at Thanksgiving, so why didn't we? Eventually we started putting it up at mid-December. My mother later told me the real reason our family did the tree Christmas Eve was that my grandfather was the janitor at the school, and he was able to take the tree home after school let out for Christmas vacation. The family couldn't afford to buy a tree. So they got a tree on Christmas Eve. My mother only got us one present each. We had aunts and uncles, grandparents and cousins, who also gave us lots of gifts under our tree. We loved Christmas and didn't feel poor.

My brother Erik and I, 1972

In 1972 I was thrilled to get five Nancy Drew books for Christmas. I still have them, along with about thirty others, in a box in my basement. In 2010, I am thrilled to have all four of my children at home: the two I gave birth to, and the two who were born in China and joined our family through adoption. I will be thrilled to see the little girls faces as they see the presents under the tree, the crumbs left on the plate from Santa's cookies, the footprint left in the fireplace grate from Santa's boot and maybe even a little glitter in the yard from the reindeer, if I can pull that off...Now, in 2010, I can buy the kids presents from us and from "Santa" and revel in the time of year when I can spoil them just a little. And I think that they would never experience Christmas, or the love of a family, if they weren't adopted. And we would never experience joy, if they didn't join our family.

Remember, out there are some poor families, and they might not even know they are poor. Though some that are poor, are also rich.

Jeremy is home!

2010-12-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

Jeremy made it home from China on Saturday. It took him almost two days to get home since he traveled from Xiamen to Hong Kong, to LA, had an eight hour layover, then on to Washington DC and then home to Harrisburg.

And here are Jeremy and Liz in the tack sweatshirts he brought back...

Apparently they are very popular in China!

Candy Houses, or, How to get Nine Kids on a Sugar High

2010-12-19T19:56:00.000-05:00

my home "studio"

2010-12-14T23:42:00.000-05:00

I've been busy with my boutique this fall...Fly Away Home Clothing got a website makeover (go check it out). With the cold weather, I need to shoot photos indoors, so I've been working on creating a quasi-studio set-up and subjecting the girls to test it out.

I don't get as many good shots of Natalie because she is usually running away, yelling, "No pictures!" but she was in a cooperative mood for me....

Then she decided that wardrobe was optional...

Yes, she's two!

Olivia was more cooperative...after all, she is now an experienced model, and even shot a commercial last week.

The dog ate it

2010-12-14T23:24:00.000-05:00

Natalie has a splint she is supposed to wear whenever she is walking around, or is not doing a supervised activity and for sleeping. It's a molded white plastic with hot pink velcro straps and a blue elastamere insert to aid in scar reduction. If she were to fall, and catch herself with her hand, she could seriously injure the new thumb, so she is supposed to wear the splint, unless we are working with her in some sort of therapy activity.

Sunday night, the dog ate the splint. This of course happened on Dad's watch. I have witnessed the dog eating plastic ponies, the eyes off teddy bears, the insides of shoes. I allow nothing within his reach that I want to remain in one piece. Tom, however, left it on the coffee table, so he won the toss to go back to Philly to get a new one made.

The dog has been constipated. Maybe the velcro sent his digestive system over the edge this time.

Natalie started occupational therapy at the local pediatric rehab center last week. I'm still working out our daily schedule, with getting her time out of the splint, practicing her pinching, dealing with her crying because she doesn't want the splint off, then crying because she doesn't want it on....We'll be going to therapy three times a week now. So far, Natalie likes her new therapists--today she got to decorate a gingerbread house--with her left hand pinch-pinch-pinching the candies and treats as decorations....and got to use a touch screen computer. She thought she was pretty hot stuff at the computer!

Santa's helpers

2010-12-09T00:43:00.000-05:00

We got our tree this weekend...trees, I should say. Olivia wanted a kids tree for the playroom. We let her do this two years ago and she loved decorating her own tree. Last year we were in China, and got home on December 18th. Susannah surprised us by getting a tree up and decorated! We like real Christmas trees so she enlisted the help of neighbors to get the tree into her car and home into the tree stand.

It was strange trimming the tree without the big kids here...although to be honest, they could probably care less. Jeremy would probably do something green and urban and create a tree-like structure of soda cans and other recylceables. Jeremy returns from China on the 18th, and Susannah will also be back from college later the same day.

2010-12-06T00:02:00.000-05:00

We have always celebrated Olivia's Gotcha Day with Chinese food and a special ladybug-themed cake. So that is what we did last night for Natalie's Gotcha Day.

No, I did NOT make the cake. Cakes are completely beyond me.

The cake looked a little cuter before somebody poked her finger in the face...

Natalie did a terrific job with chopsticks (even if they were upside down) and no, we didn't help her at all

Check out that new left thumb!

Happy Gotcha Day, Natalie!

2010-12-03T20:52:00.002-05:00

where we're at

2010-12-03T00:13:00.000-05:00

Another day of therapy at Shriner's. I don't know how the commuters do it--one week of driving to Philly every day is doing me in. It's 3 hours in the car. I'm going to need hand therapy from all the driving!

Today Natalie worked on holding small balls and small ducks. She loves ducks so it was an activity she really enjoyed. At the end of the session she got to pick up Skittles--I always have a small bag of them in reserve in my purse just in case she doesn't want to cooperate!

She is making progress but it is slow. I believe it's going to be 6 months to a year to see full mobility. And actually, she will probably not have full mobility because of her fused elbow. Try this: hold out your left arm at a 90 degree angle and keep it there. Now lower your wrist about 15 degrees. Now try to pinch or pick up something. Much of the movement of the hand and the wrist comes from the elbow. Try and rotate your hand while keeping your elbow fixed. Hard to do. Because Natalie has ulnar deficiency (not radial clubhand as we initially thought) her wrist does deviate somewhat. We are trying to get her the most mobility she can have.

Next week she starts therapy locally at Schreiber Pediatric Rehab--it should be a 15 minute drive. We'll go there 2-3 times a week for the next couple of months. She has to wear a splint when we aren't doing a supervised activity (it has spanking hot pink velcro straps and is very stylish). If she is walking around, she has to wear the splint. So, for her to be out of the splint, I have to be right next to her, making sure she doesn't do anything crazy or falls on her hand. As time goes on, she should have more time out of the splint, which she has to wear for another two months.

Meanwhile...Saturday is Gotcha Day! I hope to put together a little slide show tomorrow..OK it may be very late tomorrow...to celebrate our year with Natalie.

2010-12-01T22:17:00.002-05:00

New shoes...to a new thumb

2010-12-01T20:13:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, Natalie got new shoes. That day, Olivia learned to tie them, and Natalie took a nap in them.

The next day she got a new thumb

Today, she started to use it!

In therapy, she is playing with playdoh, practicing pinching

and with blocks. One of the surgeons saw her today and declared her the poster child for thumb pollicization

It's still going to take months to get mobility. She gets very tired after her two therapy sessions at Shriners and sleeps all the way home ( 1 hr. 20 minutes if there is no traffic). At home she doesn't want to take the splint off. She has to wear the splint unless she is doing a supervised activity--there is a danger if she falls on her hand. She isn't supposed to do any weight-bearing activity.

pinch-pinch-pinch is starting to go good-good-good!

"Pinch-pinch-pinch"

2010-11-30T20:09:00.000-05:00

(I just realized I should update this blog to a Christmas theme...who knows when I'll have time for that!!)

Therapy day 2: Natalie is mostly working with a physical therapy student who is wonderful with kids...Miss Justine is a cross between a preschool teacher and a therapist...Natalie is however keeping her on her toes! In our first session, Natalie played with stickers. Justine put large stickers on Natalie's right arm so she would have to pull them off with her left hand. Natalie did use the hand more today than yesterday, but didn't use the thumb much. Justine kept telling her to "pinch-pinch-pinch!" We got a few pinch attempts although mostly Natalie pushed with her thumb.

In the afternoon session, they played with bubbles --holding the bubble wand with the left hand--and putting stars on a felt board and pouring pretend tea from a teapot into a cup (held with the left hand). We were in a playroom for this session and there were a lot more toys. Natalie liked the little play house/mailbox toy and putting the mail and cards through the door. Justine played that the cards were credit cards and she had to hold them in her left hand. Natalie will sure know her left and right by the end of this week!


Bubble time

Eventually Natalie said, "I all done pinch-pinch-pinch...Nat-nat cred cards!" Yeah, she is a PIP!

Dr. Kozen stopped by, eating lunch on the run, literally. But he watched some of her therapy and came in and looked at her hand and pronounced it good. I missed a photo op of the two of them together. Hopefully I can get one tomorrow. By the way, if anyone is reading this who has a child with a hand deformity, Dr. Kozen is THE MAN in the NATION. Get thee an appointment!

I did notice this afternoon that Natalie has some deviation in her left wrist. I always thought she did, but I noticed it more now that she has a thumb. The therapist thinks that as she strengthens that part of her hand, that the wrist will straighten...I guess I will ask Dr. K. when we see him officially tomorrow.