Happy Valentine's Day

Does anyone remember this picture from Valentine's Day 2008?

This is what I created last year on this day when all we had were a few referral pictures of Avery.

So last night I tried to recreate this picture using this real live Avery. Suffice it to say photoshopping last year's picture was a little easier.

We love you baby girl and you are still the best gift we have ever recieved!!






Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's Day!!

How do these thing happen?

Being the wonderful mother that I am, you know I had to grab the camera and snap a picture before I saved her!!

Happy Monday!

Chinese Lantern Festival

Today we attended the Chinese Lantern Festival at a local Museum of Asian Art. The lantern festival signifies the end of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Last year this same museum has a festival at the beginning of the Chinese New Year which we attended just days after receiving our referral. What a difference a year makes.

We dressed up Avery one of her Chinese dresses we purchased in China and headed on over to explore and celebrate some of her culture.

Our own little China Doll in her authentic Chinese dress!

Leave it to our daughter to find a staircase to climb. She has become infatuated with stairs now days. She will go up and down repeatedly any staircase she comes across.

At the festival we met up with Erin and family and explored around together.
Meisey, Mollianne, and Avery. What a blessing these little girls have been to us. I will forever be thankful to them for bringing me my great friend Erin.

Last year at the festival Mollianne held a picture of Avery. This year we had the two of them pose for a picture together.

Avery coloring her fan. We were supposed to write our wishes for the new year on our fan but Avery was having a good time just marking away.

Mommy helping Avery paint a lantern. She then carried her lantern around the museum.

Avery's first Lion Dance. She was enthralled the whole time but did get a little skiddish when the lions headed over in her direction.

Our family!

Mom attended with us. I just love this picture of her and her granddaughter.

It was a wonderful time and we can't wait to do this many more times in the future!!

Happy Saturday!!

Avery's first gymnastics class

Thursday morning we went over to a local gym and had "trial" gymnastics class for Avery. They just opened up a class for 18-24 month olds. They give you one class free where your child could either just watch or participate before you sign up to make sure it is a good fit for your child. Well, if you know Avery then you know there was no just observing for her. She wanted to get right out in the middle of the action. I was a bit leery because I wasn't sure exactly what the instructors would expect from her. They assured me that in this age group it was all about familiarizing the kids with the gym, learning to take turns and follow directions, and then progressing to some very basic forward rolls and such.

I have been looking for something for Avery to participate in simply because I want her to have interaction with other kids her age on a regular basis. Let's get real here: my child is spoiled!! Anywhere we go she is the center of attention and everything revolves around her. I think this will be a good experience for her!! We signed up for one class a week and will see how it goes from there.

Here are a couple of pics from our first class:

One of the activities was giving all the kids umbrellas and having them walk on the balance beam holding there umbrella.
Avery was very impressed with her umbrella!! She loved twirling it around.

Here she is with her coach walking the balance beam.

Checking out the uneven bars!

Patiently waiting for her turn! Notice she is wearing her Beijing 2008 Olympic shirt. Maybe we will be participating in the 2022 Olympics!!

Waving at mommy while waiting to try out the swings.

It really was a fun time and I can't wait to see how next week goes!

Thanks for checking in with us!!

The first time ever I saw your face.....

That's right folks, today marks the one year anniversary of our referral day!! It's so hard to believe that only one year ago we first saw our daughter's picture. I can still remember everything about that day; the anticipation, getting the first email, getting the call, calling everyone, waiting an excruciating 3+ hours for pictures, having an impromptu referral party, going to a local Mexican restaurant to celebrate, and then coming home and working until the wee hours on our referral announcement and putting them in the mail THAT NIGHT. Yes, it was a very long and memorable day.

The past year has been amazing. We have experienced so much and have been blessed tremendously. Avery truly is a gift from God. Looking back now we can honestly say we know why the wait was painstakingly long....we were waiting for Avery! As a dear friend once told me: "she's just wasn't ready yet!"

Many of you have followed along on our journey since that day and for that I thank you. The support and encouragement that we have received from not only real-life friends and family but also those known only via the web is amazing!! You have seen us go from elation of getting our referral, to anticipating travel, to taking the journey of a lifetime, to adjusting to parenthood. What a roller-coaster year it has been. Our daughter has grown and developed by leaps and bounds and we can't say enough how blessed we are being her parents. People often tell us that she is very lucky to have us as parents but we are truly the lucky ones!!

Just a couple of pics today to remember how far we have come.

The 3 referral pics we received of Avery:
The requisite mug shot!!

The picture that had our social worker all up in arms wondering if she had club feet. She didn't and we wouldn't have cared anyway, but that's a whole nother story.

The picture that I photoshopped a million different ways to make referral announcements, valentine's posts, and travel shirts!

Our first official picture of all 4 members of our family.

BTW: for those of you still waiting for referral do me a favor, make sure you keep your hair fixed on referral day. I did fix mine early that morning but after attempting to pull it out while waiting for pictures to arrive via email all the photos of that day show me with typical bedhead.

Here is our sweet girl on Gotcha Day. A little shell shocked but still with the same bubbly personality we have seen blossom.

And here is Avery Kristine Xian today! Our lovable, energetic, 21 month old bundle of joy!

Thanks for sharing this past year and beyond with us!!!!