Sea World at Christmas Time

We took Saiya to SeaWorld's Christmas celebration last week.  She had a great time.  We got to see Santa and bought some ornaments for our tree with our names and the year on them.  The walrus was really enjoying all of the kids.  He came up to the glass and would bob up and down in the water.  Then he smeared his whiskers along the glass and tried to kiss the kids.  Saiya was lucky enough to be sitting right up front while he was doing his antics.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Living Room Camping and a Party!

Saturday night, Saiya's cousin spent the night.  It was nice and cool out, so we set up the fire pit and let the girls roast marshmallows.  After that, I figured since we werent able to go camping last month like I wanted, I would let the girls camp out in the living room.  We set up my new tent and let the girls sleep out in the living room.  They had a great time!!

This past Sunday was Saiya's Kung Fu Christmas Party.  We had a great time.  Saiya and her class performed some Kung Fu stances and katas for us.  The Sifu even performed for the audience.  It was an amazing display of talent, skill, and dedication.  Saiya won an award for being the most energetic in her class.  She was so proud of herself!  This is the first award she has ever won!  We were so proud of her!

Trip to Boston for Chinese New Year

This February is the CAWLI Chinese New Year luncheon.  In previous years, there has always been a large party with a raffle and auction and traditional Chinese performances.  We have never been able to go, so this year, I promised Saiya we would go.  As it turns out, the venue where the party was always held closed down, so they are doing a luncheon in China Town this year.  I conspired with the Winter family (who live in Winsconsin) and we are all meeting up in Boston for a few days with the girls.  Saiya is SO EXCITED!!  She has not seen Matteah (aka Wen Wen) in about two years.  The first december they were both home, was the last time they saw each other.  I would love to try to get them together more often, but lives and schedules always seem to get in the way.  I hope over the summer we can arrange for Matteah and her family to come to Florida for a visit.

I booked our tickets to Boston today.  Saiya is going to be super happy!  :)

Trading

We decided to trade Tae Kwon Do for Kung Fu about a month ago.  The Kung Fu place we chose for Saiya is very traditional.  They are a staple in the chinese community here and perform for Christmas and Chinese new year.  I love that they are very strict and demand lots of discipline and respect from the kids.  It took Saiya a little while to get used to the way they do things, but we just got her first progress report (yes from the Kung Fu place) and she is doing great!  Her confidence level has increased (which was the original reason we wanted her in martial arts to begin with) and her focus and determination have improved.  We are so happy we found the Kung Fu place and that we are able to help her maintain that connection to her chinese culture.

Christmas Already?!

Christmas Tree is up!

We put the tree up a little early this year.  We usually do it the weekend after Thanksgiving, but this year Saiya will be with Chris and his family, so we had her put the tree up this weekend with my mom.

It came out beautiful!  I can't believe it's almost Christmas already!!

Happy Halloween!

Saiya was dressed as the Grim Reaper this halloween.  I tried to paint her face white with black parts for her eyes and mouth to make her look more skeleton-like.  She didnt like it at all, so I took the paint off before we went out, which made her much happier.  My sister had my mom's truck and we pulled a small trailer around the neighborhood and we had about 11 kids with us for the night.  They ran around getting candy and a great time was had by all.  Saiya looked so cute in her black robe, but after the first house, she wouldnt carry her scythe so it was hard to tell what she was.

Roller Skating!

Last night was Family Fun Night for my work.  We went roller skating!  Saiya has been roller skating once with her school, but she was still nervous about going.  She did great!  She loved it!  After awhile, she got brave and stopped hugging the wall.  Next up... ROLLER DERBY!   Hahahaha!

A letter to Matteah (Wen Wen)

Saiya has been asking alot about her friends from China lately.  We think about them often and have tried to meet up with a couple of families here in the US who also adopted children from the same social welfare institute.  So the night before last, Saiya was asking about Wen Wen again.  I told her she should write her a letter.  So we sat down together and Saiya wrote her friend a letter telling her about her day, karate, and the new dog we are going to be bringing home in October.  Her writing and reading are coming along so nicely!  We are very proud of her.

I explained how addresses worked because she was concerned about how the letter would get to her friend.  She put our address on the return section of the envelope herself.  She drew a picture for Wen Wen and I added a few pictures of her from this year for them.  I contacted Wen Wen's mom yesterday and got her address so that I could put the letter in the mail.  Saiya was so excited to hear that her letter was sent and on its way to Winsconsin.  I sincerely hope that we can maintain a good friendship between the girls.  It is so very important for them to keep contact.  And I truly believe that it will enrich their lives as they get older.

Time Flies!

WOW! The summer has flown by! Monday was the first day of school for Saiya. We decided at the end of the school year last year to have her repeat kindergarten because we (and the teacher) felt that she wasnt mature enough for first grade. She understands all the work she was doing, but really wasnt independent enough for advancement into first grade. She wasnt happy about it, but she came home Monday happy to make new friends. She did great on her kindergarten readiness test and her teacher said that she has come leaps and bounds over the summer in reading. She has been working her so hard this summer, we are very proud of her!

We have decided to drop violin in favor of a second day at karate during the week. She loves it and gets so much more out of it than violin at the moment. Perhaps when she is older, we will revisit an instrument.

Let's see.... she went on a road trip to Mobile with my mom and dad. She had a great time! is doing much better at learning to swim. She is coming along with her bike as well.

Her physical appointment for school was about two weeks ago. Not much growth on the last year. Only a couple of inches taller. Currently, she weighs in at 34.5 pounds and is 43 inches tall.  Still too short to ride any of the rides at the theme parks.  Although she has gained 10 pounds and 7 inches since her clinic visit in China in Sept 2010, she is still a foot shorter than all of her classmates. We are so glad that she loves karate. She will need it as she gets older. I dont think she is going to ever be very tall.

left 2010

middle 2011

right 2012

Tae Kwon Do

Last week, my sister asked me to stop by the karate studio next door to Saiya's school and get some information for her son. He had done karate in Alabama and my sister was looking for an activity for him.  At the same time, Chris and I had talked many times about some sort of self defense class for Saiya.  She is very small and we know that it would help her confidence level.  At the same time, we want her to be able to defend herself as she gets older.

I stopped in there and by the time I was leaving, I somehow managed to sign Saiya up for Karate (technically Tae Kwon Do). The whole time we were there, she was crying and complaining that she didnt want to do it and it that she hated karate. The whole way home, she was in tears.

Yesterday was her first day. She was a little grumpy on the way there and even sad-faced when I was putting on her ghi. At first she was very apprehensive and shy, but she warmed up quickly. As the time progressed, she became enthusiastic and everytime she completed what they asked her to do, she ran back to her spot with a HUGE smile on her face. When the class was over, I asked her how she liked it, she said "I really really really LOVE it, Mommy! I want to go again everyday, all the days! How about we can come back tomorrow!?"

Happy Father's Day!

Like last year, this year we took Chris to SeaWorld for Father's Day.  It was extremely hot, but we had fun.  We wandered around, had some ice cream and looked at all the animals.  Saiya still loves the dolphins.  We could sit there all day and she would be perfectly happy.  When we went to see the Beluga whales, it looked like they were fighting.  Until we saw the male.  Poor whales have no privacy!  And all of the little kids were crying because the whales were "fighting" and the male had a "yucky long black thing sticking out".  Hahaha!  Too funny!

We even stopped by one of the shops and let her pick out something for baba as a special Father's Day gift.  I can't believe the difference one year makes!  It still amazes me at how adaptable she is and how easy going she can be.  All day long walking around at SeaWorld and not one complaint about the heat or anything.  All-in-all, we had a great day!

Immersion School Finale

Yesterday was Saiya's cultural finale for her Chinese Immersion program at school.  The show lasted about an hour and was unbelievably cute.  All of the kids  (1st through 4th grades) did an amazing job and I was really impressed with how well the language development was coming along for all of them.  Saiya has been practicing her songs and reciting her lines for the last two months.  I'm so glad she did such a great job!  Good to know the months of her singing "God Bless America" were well worth it.  She had such a great time and did a great job.  She is so proud of her chinese heritage and I am so glad that she is putting so much of herself into this program.  She will be repeating kindergarten next year because we feel she is not quite there socially yet, but that just means the work next year will be much easier for her and she will begin to excell in areas where she is sort of struggling now.  Regardless, this program is accelerated for her grade already.  She has been doing first grade math since the beginning of the year and she has come so far with her letters and reading.  We are always proud of her and continue to be amazed at how quickly she is learning and adapting.

Get Fired Up

Last night horse was cancelled due to rain and bad lightning, so I took Saiya to Get Fired Up in downtown Melbourne.  It is a place where you pick a piece of ceramic pottery and glaze it yourself.  She picked a very cute little heart-shaped box to paint.  I had a bowl with kitty feet on it.  She had such a great time painting her pottery!  It was a great way to spend a rainy Tuesday night.

Teacher Appreciation Week

Monday was Card day and I found some left over thank-you cards in the junk drawer. I had Saiya sign her name under where I had written "thank you for all you do". We made one for each of her teachers.

Yesterday was candy day, so I took some left over candy from Halloween and Christmas and made little goody bags for her teachers.

Today was flower day. Saiya was supposed to bring flowers in for her teachers. Well, I don't get paid until Friday and truthfully, didnt have time to get to the store to purchase flowers for her teachers. So, this morning, we made these for her teachers. So much better than store bought, I think! Saiya liked them and I thought they came our really well. We didn't have any construction paper and no glue, so we inprovised. Like them?  Who knew such pretty things could be made with soda boxes and packing tape?  We added a bit of curling ribbon to make it more 3-D and Saiya signed her name on each under a little heart I drew.

I will be very lucky if i can make it through the rest of this week without spending a dime on teacher appreciation. :) tomorrow is "Bring in a School Supply day". Might be in trouble for that one.

Violin Recital!

Saturday was Saiya's violin recital.  We went out shopping for new shoes and even spent the day together.  We got pedicures together and had a very nice lunch at her favorite Chinese restaurant.

She did a great job!  I had to hold her notebook for her to read her music from and she even did a little curtsy at the end.  She was very nervous, but muddled through "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with only a few squeeky notes here and there.  Overall, a great job!  Some of those kids are so talented!  I can only hope that Saiya sticks with it for years to come.

Sad Decisions

After many hours of long discussion and several days of mourning, we have decided to cancel the adoption of our second daughter, Xylie Austin.  This was a heartbreaking decision for our whole family, but one that we feel was in the best interests of everyone involved.  We thank everyone for their understanding in this very personal matter and hope that Xylie will find a family who will love her and cherish her and give her the world.  We are comfortable with our decision and know that it is what is best for her and us.

In light of that, we are so very proud of our first daughter, Saiya and so very happy to have such a perfect little girl with whom we can share our lives.  She has her first Violin recital April 28.  She will be playing "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star".  We are so proud of  her and her strength and ability to adapt to changes amazes us everyday.

Memories and Sharing Moments

I remember when we were little, my dad would work on the car or the boat and we would watch and "help" him while he worked.  Holding the light was the most important job a kid can have.  So, this weekend, I replaced Chris's headlight bulb with Saiya's help.  She, of course, held the light.  She had a great time helping me fix his car.  She was so proud of her work that she went running inside when we were done to tell Baba that it was all fixed.  :)

Happy Birthday Saiya!!

We had Saiya's 6th birthday party on Saturday afternoon at the Bear Factory.  She had a blast!  After the Bear Factory, we went home and had a little get together with people who couldn't make it to the mall for the kiddie party.  She had a great time!  I am so happy she is growing up so well.  But not so happy she is growing up so fast!!!  I have no idea where the last year has gone.  :)

Happy Birthday, Saiya!

Log in Date: 12/22/2011

We have finally received notification of our log in date for Xylie!  This means that China has received our paperwork and has started to process our request to adopt a Tian Xing.  So now, aproximately March 1, we should be receiving our Letter of Acceptance which means we will then be able to file with the US government. So excited to be moving along towards bringing her home. :)

Life has been Busy!

I can't believe it is 2012 already!  In a mad rush to use up our flex spending account dollars from work, everyone (including Saiya) had eye doctor appointments.  Saiya did great!  Sat in the big chair and everything without a single complaint!  The good news is that we spent nearly all of our flex dollars for 2011 and Saiya's eyes are PERFECT!  Chris however needed new glasses for night driving.

In other news, my sister and I are going on a cruise next week.  This will be the first time since we brought her home that I will be leaving Saiya for more than a couple of days with Chris.  On the upside, school starts up again next week.  Three weeks of winter break is entirely too long!  I am sure he is going to need a vacation when we get back.  Poor guy!