Holidays 2010

We have just finished with boxing day also known as the day after Christmas. I wanted to update the blog as soo much has happened in a year and a half since the last post.

MEXICO
The holidays started for me back in October with a quick but needed trip to Loreto Mexico. We stayed in the nicest little villa and enjoyed the colbalt blue sky and warm weather! On our trip out to the island we saw 100's of grey dolphins diving all around us. Kimi was thrilled and it was magical! On the island the water is crystal clear and warm. We saw so many fish just walking in the shallow water.

HALLOWEEN
Then full swing into Halloween. Also about the time Ken started at a new job. It was time for a 2nd car so we had finally found one. We started early Oct. 31st to finish the deal which was the last day of the sale. To make a long story short I headed to work at 3pm, Ken and Kimi to the dealer to finish the car. They ended up missing the Halloween party they were supposed to go to, and trick or treated on Max and Erich's street which filled her candy bag twice over! Luckily she had a costume in the car she started off wearing that day. Earlier when I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween she said a doggie (the same costume as the last 2 years!) Who am I to argue. Every day there were dress rehearsals of princess dresses, ladybug costume, and talk of wearing the spider man outfit she had begged me for but never wore. I still feel bad she missed her party and had to wear the lady bug costume that happened to be in the car. She fully embraced her lady bug, she was a trooper and was eating candy for a long time after 10/31!

DISNEYLAND
We made a quick trip to Disneyland and celebrated JJ Rubin's 6th Birthday. We stayed at the Grand Californian it was a real treat and one of the best trips to Disney in a long time. Kimi went on the Materhorn for the first time, she cried the whole time and vowed not to ride it again. We'll see how long that lasts. She is such a good traveler she loves to roll her own bags and it is so helpful.

THANKSGIVING
Then quickly into Thanksgiving season. And still no word of final home study even though I thought it was finished and to our agency. We have been talking about little brother who waits for us in Taiwan for so long now. More waiting is in store. Ken and Kimi headed to cousin Nancy's for Thanksgiving they had a wonderful time I was later told Kimi was the "Belle of the ball". Knowing I would not be at the party, I had coached her for many days on things like instead of saying YUK YUK loudly if you didn't like something, try no thank you!

CHRISTMAS
Then Christmas season was here. I vowed to enjoy this year since the last two years were so rough with Ken in and out of work, I had to work and missed most holidays or was just exhausted when not working. We started early with a visit and stay from Nini Kimi loves Nini and is so excited to see her and wake her every morning. First activity was skating in Union Square in the outdoor rink. There was a news crew and filmed Kimi she was so darn cute.

GOOD GRADES IN SCHOOL
Then we had parent teacher confrence, Kimi's teachers complemented her and told me how generous and helpful she is in class. She loves spending time in the building and reading center. I was so proud I promptly took her to Toys R Us for a new to she picked out a wood cookie baking set, she loves to pretend she is a flight attendant passing out hot cookies.

We also started baking cookies which is one of her favorite activities. She made an early visit to Santa and when he asked what she wanted for Xmas she said she had a lot of toys already and didn't need paints or art supplies either. Then he finally said not even a Dora she said oh she did like a Dora castle with the yellow bed. (We had seen this at the store when she got her cookies).

SANTA CLAUSE
This was the first year she really understood Santa and trying to be so good to get on his nice list. Ken got sick with cold only to recover in time for Schaefer's Party in Sonoma with Pisole! I was going to make this since they had not had their annual holiday party last year. Whaa Laa it was a Pisole party and so much fun. Then quickly to restock Kimi with lots of clothes since she was outgrowing everything even teachers had commented. I couldn't get away with calling short jeans knickers anymore. Then we made Gingerbread House, decorated the house more, went to Christmas school show. Twas the days before Christmas and Ken and I got the stomach flu. I ended up going to the ER getting hydrated we spent the until the 27th recovering.

Wow can't believe the last post was Dec. There is so much to catch up on, this is the short version. We celebrated Ken landing a new job working at a gaming company in Marin (about 1hr from us).We had a fabulous Christmas. NiNi  visited for a week and then we all went to LA to celebrate Xmas eve. Oh we stopped by Disneyland to celebrate with Mickey too. Kimi had a great time at her first Christmas she is still talking about her presents and thinks all her aunts and uncles will be giving her a gift every time she visits. We raced home so I could be at work on Xmas day, Ken and Kimi went to the Burgers for a wonderful dinner. A few days later we celebrated our final adoption at the court and met a great family who has a doughter from China and a bio daughter. Kimi will be going to school in the fall with the older daughter. New years we went to Tahoe with Max and E, Kimi played in her first snow field and saw her first ever snowfall. She is itching to snowboard but boots don't come in her size. Jan we celebrated our 1 year together as a family by going to New Taiwan for dinner. Next we celebrated Chinese New Year in China Town. We ate dim sum and Kimi would yell out what was on the cart in Mandarin so we would ask her which one is chicken or fish etc.. and she would say the name in Chinese (it was a true Chinese restraunt they didn't speak English). Feb we visited a great school in the east bay for Kimi. It is an international school Kimi visited and loves it, I think because it has a small potty/sink and they gave her snacks. In March we up and moved to the East Bay! We are now going to sell our house in the city. We are adjusting to our new home and town. We just celebrated a wonderful Easter in Sonoma (Kimi's first one there). Nini was here to join in on the fun. Kimi sang me Happy Birthday a few weeks ago it was precious and the best present I ever had! Kimi is growing up way too fast but turning into a delightful almost 3year old such a fun age. On April 15 Kimi will have her last day at Day Care she has been there almost 1 year. They are having a big party for her she is excited. We will be going to Mexico for a week to celebrate Kimi's 3rd B-Day. When we return she will start pre school....

Computer is now working after many repeat repairs, now looking for cords in moving boxes, inbetween runnign after Kimi.

The computer is down!

Excuse our no posts lately..especially during this fun time of year. The picture friendly computer is down and in repair, promise more posts and pictures to come soon. We are doing great, Kimi is getting so big and smart. She is talking so much in English and in Mandarin, she out talks us in Mandarin now (which isn't hard to do). She often has conversations with the owner of Jasmine Tea House our local Chinese Restaurant they end up laughing and Ken and I are lost. This season has been a lot of fun we have been ice skating in the outdoor rink, visiting Santa, and going to many parties. grandma is visiting now and Kimi is having the time of her life beign spoiled.

I'm so excited to experience Kimi's first Holidays. Starting with a visit to the pumpkin patch to pick out a Halloween jack o lantern. Kimi ran around picking up all the pumpkins she could. Then she picked out a perfect big, med, and little one.


Kimi and Daddy with her medium pumpkin!

Kimi's first bounce house! Those are a real work out since she doesn't bounce unless I jump hard to make her bounce.

It was fun falling all over the place!


Look out project runway I'm designing a line of hats/underwear....very versatile.

It has been a beautiful October and we have been on lots of trips to the zoo, here is a family pic.


The mini tractors in the petting zoo are a hit!


Time for some community beautification! Neon pink and blue paints were perfect! First I'll paint the paint brushes!


I think I'll repaint this car blue, it really needs a fresh coat of paint.

Just wanted to update some photos and new news. There isn't any new news but Kimi's first ever holidays are coming up and I'm very excited to experience them with her. Over the past few months I have been working a lot to make up for Ken being officially unemployed. I'm working 2 jobs and 7 days a week with one day off. I really miss being with my little Kimi. She is continuing with her Mandarin daycare which she enjoys. She started gymnastics and loves it she asks to go often. I will say we are going to school tomorrow with your friends, she will say no the other one, other school. She says nastics as she tries to do the splits or does downward dog. She is a natural and has very good balance. The second class she was up on the high balance beam ( with padding below of course). Now we can't keep her from climbing.

She is speaking so much both languages, she continues to count however we are working on expanding our numbers I think she is board with counting to 10. She likes to pretend to make and sell me or anyone food. Her specialty is chocolate cake and pizza, she never forgets to collect the money and quickly sticks it in her pocket. She loves cooking and we recently made our first batch of oatmeal cookies she actually helped a lot. We also made a fig tart for Max's birthday. She knows to ask for Tylenol for fever, orajel for her teeth, and ice with kisses for boo boos. She is almost ready for coming to work with me. Ken and Kimi do visit me for dinner@the hosp job they join me sometimes. Now when I go to work she says Kimi go work too it is heartbreaking to hear. We are thinking she can read or has memorized books we read. Tonight she pulled out a book we have not read in a long time and she look at the cover and said colors! which was the title. The other day she was reading a numbers book and on the right page she was saying numbers huh? She has an amazing memory, recently we were in a mall where we visited the Easter bunny last March! We walked in and she said bunny rabbit? I remembered we saw him there long ago. We are close to finalizing our adoption and met with a SW last week. During the meeting Kimi was running wild she was bringing the stool out of the bathroom to climb up and get dog treats! She is such a problem solver. She like to keep a small stash in her drawer of dog treats to doll them out as she sees fit.

One of Kimi's first trips to the beach, or at least a beach that was sunny! She loved the sand and water...just look at that smile!

Before the beach we went to a park with water spouts, here she is running through in between spouting water!

She could have been carried away by the balloons there were so many. This was a party for all kids from Asia. We had a blast and Kimi went to her first concert/dance performance. She was so cute saying BYE really loud every time a performer would leave the stage.. she had the whole auditorium laughing.
I added this picture because she picked out these fantastic pink boots earlier that day and I couldn't resist!

Random cuteness the morning before the beach riding a stone snail!

We have managed to have a few fun outings in between my new hectic work schedule. our summer has been very cold so we headed 30min. south to warmer weather ( by 20 degrees). We found a part of an ocean inlet that has wave less water and a park play area on the sand. Kimi had a great time and so did mom and dad relaxing in the sun.

Kimi and her silver spoon

This is Kimi with her first (and only) silver spoon! It was a gift from our cousin Lilian who lives in NY.


Kimi loves getting little blue boxes...who wouldn't!

She loves her spoon and takes good care of it, she makes sure not to throw this one!


Marissa, Kimi, and Kyle! The three cousins on ken's side of the family. Kyle came to visit from Virginia. We had a good time golfing and swimming. Kimi loved Kyle's magic tricks and eating his chocolate cake!
We decided to celebrate all the cousins birthdays since it was the only time they were all together. This is the delicious B-Day cake!

Here is the crew out for a walk, can you believe it is the middle of summer and we have to wear winter clothes! Have you heard the saying the coldest winter was the summer in northern cal?

Kimi and daddy went swimming with the cousins.

A girl and her dog, they are inseparable most of the time!

This is Kimi opening her gifts for her cousin B-day party! Like her summer outfit haha.

I'm behind on blogging these days so there is much to catch up. First I'm excited to announce a few of Kimi's Taiwan mei mei's (sisters) are coming home to their families in California Lucy and Gracyn after very long court adoption cases! Kimi actually met Lucy briefly when we were in Taiwan. We can't wait to get together with them. Best wishes to all the little ones on their way home. This summer stinks here, it has been cold and dark I think we have had 4 days of sun. Kimi has not been able to wear all the summer outfits she has. We have been going to a park 30min. south of here just to get some sun. On th job front....Ken' s company decided to close after 6 months of negotiations to be bought by a Chinese company. Thier first game sadly did not do well. I can't get into to many details now but new projects are in the pipeline for him. For now I have taken extra shifts @ work and he is MR. MOM and finishing up closing the company! His cooking skills have pleasantly surprised me, one dish was so good I thought it came from a restaurant! He still has a ways to go in hair styling dept. especially working Kimi's favorite 2 ponies doo.

Kimi is doing well, she is getting her bottom two 2yo molars in and that has made her fussy. She is doing well in her Mandarin School, she is speaking a lot of both Mandarin and English. She is also counting which she loves to do. She is also loving trains and any type of tunnel! We went to train town on the 4th of July, there is a miniature train and it goes through long dark tunnels. I taught her to clap her hands in tunnels to help the darkness go by fast. After that at home she was saying nano nano. It took us a long time to figure out she was saying tunnel! Now she loves going under freeway passes she claps her hands saying nano nano again. She is loving watching gymnastics, swimming, and running in the olympics. we may sign her up for a toddler gymnastics class since she is trying to do fancy downward god and headstand moves.

We have been with Kimi for 7mos. we are adjusting well to being a family. Most of all we celebrate everyday she is in our lives!

2 parties in 1 day!

Party #1 a baby shower early in the afternoon. I love this dress, she was completely overdressed for the bbq party. I couldn't resist.

Party #2 Erich's B-Day in the country. Which one is real?

Kimi on the cutest cow you have ever seen!

Kimi has become an avid runner, she loves running and watching runners go by. She will say pow pow (run run in Mandarin) and start running. It is really cute when her top half of her body sways in a waddle. Here she is running pretty straight.

Kurt (half pictured) Sam, Kimi, and Grant playing in the awesome country yard.

Rick and Erich, Happy B-Day E!

Max, me , and Kimi with cupcake!