Visit From Grandma - Recap

Mom/Grandma came to visit on May 31st and stayed with us until June 11th. She was here for my birthday and for FCC Culture day. I only went to work 1 1/2 days during her visit and we had a terrific time. The bond between Katerina and her Grandma deepened during this visit. From the first morning (Mom came in late and Katerina was sleeping) when she knew Grandma was here and went running downstairs. She stood outside the door and called for her. Mom was still lying in bed after getting in so late but said she couldn't have asked for a nicer way to wake up.

PLAYLAND - June 1

Could I be any cuter?

 Me and my Uncle Bobby

A special treat; Grandma's here

I can't wait till I'm tall enough to go on this cool ride



MAMA's Birthday

Now, who could that be behind the curtain?



Mama gets to wear the silly hat!

BACKYARD FUN WITH GRANDMA

Doesn't everyone's Grandma go in the jumping castle with them?

Memorial Day Weekend

Saturday: Asian Heritage Festival - The Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) put on their annual Asian Heritage Festival at the Kensico Dam. We (FCC Westchester/Bronx) have forged a great relationship with OCA and worked with them on pulling this festival together and took a booth to sell merchandise to benefit FCCNY's Orphanage Assistance Program. It was a beautiful day and since we did not have many volunteers, I manned the booth almost the entire day (in addition to setting it up and breaking it down) and had a great time doing so. I had a full view of the stage so was able to enjoy all the performances. Joseph was a huge help in assisting OCA with setup and directing traffic.

Our Booth

Hey - let's go over there.....looks like fun.

And so it was

Rina S

Melanie and friend

Sonia

Katie & friend

Sunday: George & Deb's - We celebrated Memorial Day weekend at George & Deb's on Sunday. It was a beautiful day, but the pool was still a little chilly. Also, there were Bill, Paulette and Ashley and the neighbors Peter and Humiko (and her mother came later after they picked her up from the Airport).

OK, Katerina, you need to wear your hat.

Easy does it!

I'm in!

Even Leo jumped in

Poor Bill with a nasty tooth infection. Poor Bill with Paulette making fun of him.

Peter, Humiko and her mother visiting from Japan.

Funny, you don't look Japanese: At one point during the afternoon, before Humiko's mother arrived, Katerina went up to her and pointed to Humiko first, then herself and then held up 2 fingers and said "Chinese....two". Did I ever mention she was a genius child?

The big kids and the little kid: Ashley, 21 and Joseph 17

Daughters of China

After sending our paperwork to China, I joined a Yahoo group of others who had sent their dossiers around the same time. We were Dossier To China (DTC) April 2005 and dubbed ourselves the Pandas. During those long months of waiting, we encouraged each other and shared plans and preparations. Then the referrals started coming and we followed each others' journeys via blogs and websites. We are still going strong and share lots of information, no longer exclusively adoption related, but just stuff. I'm hoping to make plans to meet one family in or near Disney World in December. (Look for her in the video, she is Grace Sh and comes from the same orphanage as Katerina and was adopted just a couple of days before). Another I hope to meet in a couple of weeks at FCC's Culture Day in Liberty State Park, NJ; Dallas. As we each passed our one year "Gotcha" anniversaries, one of the members put together a DVD for all who wanted to participate showing each girls referral picture and then a picture one year later. I think 50 of us participated. Look at the difference in each girls eyes from referral (dead/vacuous) to one year later, shining and sparkling; full of life. I dare you to get through this without crying.

Happy Mother's Day

Although this is my second Mother's Day, I was able to more fully appreciate it this year. Last year everything was so new and there was so much I was trying to figure out. I no longer feel awkward when I say "my daughter"; in fact, it feels extremely natural.....like it's always been this way. And I can't even describe how wonderful it feels when Katerina calls me "Mama".

Katerina surprised me in the morning with a potted marigold she had decorated in school. She was so proud carrying it to me with a big smile on her face. After going to church, we went out for brunch in Cold Spring where I had my favorite: Eggs Benedict.

Terrible angle for me, but the only picture I have of the two of us on Mother's Day

After a short nap this afternoon, Katerina decided she wanted to make me cupcakes. Look how serious she is in the pictures below.

A Day at the Zoo - May 4th 2007

Strolling back to the parking lot at the end of the day

Happy Birthday Popi & Linus - 5/1 & 5/3/07

First it was Popi's birthday on May 1 and the hats made an appearance.

On May 2nd we celebrated Linus' birthday. As you can see, donning "The Hat" is required.

Hey, I want to get in on this birthday stuff!

Don't I look adorable in hats?