Hello Six! Hello Kindergarten!

                                                     Clara wanted to help decorate her own cake...

                                        Now I think I know why! 

                        Ivy was Clara's birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy.

                                             Judy and Ivy...her best girls!

                           Cannot believe there are 6 candles on that cake already! 

           Perfect end to the day...matching jammies for Clara and Judy from Grandpa Pierce.

                         The birthday party cake....just a "tetch" prettier than the one I made. 

         A certain "friend" who shall remain nameless, Christine, gave her a microphone!

                               Blowing out the candles at her party with her buddies.

                                   Opening gifts with friends is always fun!

                                                       Girlie Girl!!!

                I love a yard full of kids!  Thank goodness my neighbors do too! 

                           Tenth annual first day of school picture, second year for Clara!

                            Clara and her teacher, Mrs. Hawkins, who Harrison had for kindergarten too. 

My baby is six!  Seriously, how did that happen???  On August 30, it will be five years since we got on a plane to go to China to bring Clara home.   A couple of weeks ago we celebrated her sixth birthday.  Last week she started kindergarten.  And look at her, she looks so big and grown up! 

For Clara's birthday she got to pick what she wanted to eat.  She chose Freddy's.  She always chooses Freddy's.  So, off we went with Papa Ken, Nini, Kendra and Kelsey to Freddy's.  Who wouldn't love a greasy hamburger (or hot dog in Clara's case) and some skinny fries with ranch dressing?  No one here was complaining!  Unfortunately, Buddy had his first ever high school cross country practice during dinner, so he missed out.  But we waited for him to come home to have cake with our friends the Merideths and the Surrittes.  Clara was so happy to get an Ivy doll and some new clothes for Judy for her birthday.  Papa and Nini and the girls gave her lots of art projects.  And my "bestie" Christine and the Merideth clan gave her a microphone.  Yes, people, I said my "bestie" gave my child a microphone.  I might add that last Christmas they gave her a darling book that they recorded the story in...love that...but it has no volume control.  Harrison woke up on Christmas morning saying "do you know what I woke up to...the sound of Christine's voice!"   A couple years ago I believe it was an "educational toy" that TALKED....LOUDLY!  They think I'm old and I won't remember....but I remember. 

For Clara's friend party we planned a swim party.  Now, it has been over 100 degrees here for something like 45 days.  We haven't had rain in a coon's age (whatever that is).  But the morning of the party date...it stormed.  And it rained and stormed and was cloudy all day.  So, I moved the party to our house.  Where of course, the sun promptly came out and the skies were blue.  Clara is pretty easy going, she was tickled to have the party here and when I told her I'd decorate some tables and put games on them, she told me, "Or....I could sing!"  Did I mention she got a microphone for her birthday?  Anyway, I digress! So all her buddies came here, we ate cake, opened presents, played Hungry Hungry Hippo (which her brother gave her for her birthday...and I might mention is also quite loud!), and turned 'em loose outside to run, blow bubbles and play.  I have to admit, it was fun!  I love a yard full of kids!  There is just nothing like it.  There were the flower pickers, who blew bubbles and giggled.  And there were the tag players, who chased, tagged, and giggled.  And at the end of the evening, there was one very, very happy six year old. 

Then, before we knew it, kindergarten started.  Clara was so excited to get Mrs. Hawkins as her teacher since Harrison also had her.  And it was a bonus to have her buddy Jack and a few other friends in her class.  She told me she was excited to get to make new friends in kindergarten.  She was just as happy as could be to start school.  No fears, no tears.  She is such an adaptable kid!  She never ceases to amaze me.  I'm one of the few people who is glad we still have half-day kindergarten at our school.  I'm afraid first grade is going to come way too soon.  But like I tell Clara, we are going to enjoy six every day that you are six until you turn seven.  And we will!

Farewell Five!

It's my last night parenting a five year old.  It's a little sad!  I know this time will definitely be the last time, no surprises in five years like last time.  I have to admit, I love five!  It's a fun, fun age!  And Clara is a fun, fun kid!  She makes me smile, shake my head, and laugh out loud every day.  She has to be one of the funniest girls in the world.  And one of the sweetest and snuggliest girls too. 

Turning six means there's no more time to decide if she'll go to school this year or not.  It's official, she starts kindergarten in 11 days.  I'm so glad we are one of the few schools who doesn't have all day kindergarten this year.  I was NOT geared up for that just yet.  We were setting family goals a couple weeks ago.  A couple of Clara's goals for the year are to learn how to read and to ride a bike without training wheels.  Today she was sitting with me reading her Bob books to me while wiggling her front two top teeth.  So, she's going to do it!  She's just going to keep growing up!  Dang it!  I have talked and bargained with her for weeks trying to get her to stay five.  I was even game to go backwards and let her be four.  But not really ready to give up my baby to six just yet.  (I won't even talk about the hairy-legged man child in the other room.....my other baby....that is for another day.)  A few months ago she would tell me "I'm trying to stay little for you Mommy."  But as her birthday draws near, she is all about being six!  She was one squirrely girl before bedtime.  Spinning, twirling, giggling....okay, she ended up with her underwear on her head.  Really! 

I can't think about Clara's birthday without thanking God for our sweet little blessing.  He took us all the way around the world to bring us together.  And we are thankful everyday.  And I am so thankful to a woman in China, who I do not know, who shared a huge piece of her heart with me.  I pray right now for her, that she will know deep in her heart how much her baby girl is loved.  And even more than that, I pray that she will know the Lord and He will be her savior.  And in Him, she will find a peace that passes all understanding. 

Farewell Sweet Five!  It's been an amazing, fun, blessed year!  I can't wait to see what God has in store this next year!!!

Road Trip Summer 2011

Well....I never got to the rest of June.  And apparently July has vaporized in the heat.  So, here it is, August and I'm way behind on blogging.  But I'll just have to write things as I remember them over the next few weeks.  Of course, the way my memory is these days that may mean a whole lot of nothing! 

So in July we took a road trip.  We spent eight days driving to see family and friends in Indiana and Ohio.  We thought it would be fun to drive as far as possible during the hottest summer on record in many years.  And I'm happy to say, we all came home alive.  It was close a couple of times, but no one was harmed in the making of this vacation.  The first day we drove to St. Louis and spent the night.  It was equally hot in St. Louis, but we had a great room at the Westin, right across from the Cardinals stadium.  We ate some yummy fish for dinner and enjoyed the Heavenly Beds at the Westin.  Joe was the deal finder and managed to get us a great room at a cheap price, he just kept asking what he might get credit for (like being old, working for the school district, etc.).  We got up the next day and went to check out the Arch before we got on the road again.  We all rode up to the top of the Arch and enjoyed the view.  I remember doing this with my parents as a kid, so it was kind of fun to take my own kids.  The last time we stopped there Harrison would have no part of going up in the Arch.  But it was pretty cool, even though the ride up is a bit claustrophobic.  And to prove that I know someone everywhere we go, we ran into the Harberts at the Arch.  That was a nice surprise! 

Next stop....Indiana.  We drove to New Castle, unloaded our bags and went directly to Top Hat Pizza (without passing go).  I admit, I'm not a pizza snob, I like it, I'll eat it most anywhere.  But Top Hat Pizza....it is truly the best pizza ever!  We did refrain from eating there all 5 days we were in Indiana.  Which shows that we do have some small amount of self control.  Very small...very, very small! 

We had the best time staying with Joe's cousins Lisa and John.  They have a beautiful home that has cornfields all around it.  Clara loves to stay in the frilly girlie room.  She announced "I love this room" over and over.  And we had fun staying up talking and laughing each night.  It was great to spend time with Joe's dad and visit with lots of other family too.  It's fun to see the newest generation of Dicken kiddos and I loved getting my baby fix with sweet Alaina.  We also made a run up to Muncie to check out Ball State.  And as you can imagine, that set off a whole new set of "ball" jokes and puns.  Why do men become 12 years old anytime there is anything with the word "ball" in it???

While we were there, we made a day trip over to Cincinatti to see two of our Xinhui girls!  We met up with the Dakters and Morans and let Clara, Maia and Anna have the whole day to play together.  There were lots of "ahhhhh" moments watching our girls reconnect.  As soon as Anna saw Clara she just ran up to her and hugged and kissed her.  Then Maia arrived and both Clara and Anna were so thrilled to see her.  They all donned their matching shirts that Maia brought and away they went.  There was giggling, hugging, running, more giggling and lots of fun.  It is amazing how these little girls, who slept next to each other in cribs in China, are so connected even though we don't get to see each other very often.  They always just pick up where they left off and have so much fun together.  I have these pictures in my mind, with the little girls all holding hands and running through the museum.  We were all wishing our 4th Xinhui girl, Alyse, could have been there with us!  We missed her so much!

So....my top five things from our Indiana road trip were...(I don't include the Xinhui girls visit....it's in a top 5 all its own!).

#5 - Family Fun with Dicken clan.  I always love fun times with the Dicken clan (Joe's mom's side of the family).  They truly are some of my favorite people!  We laughed, enjoyed Top Hat pizza, laughed some more, held sweet babies, enjoyed the little kids laughter, ate some yummy peanut butter pie, and watched the Dicken boys, who were little when I joined this family, all grown up now.  I loved that when we walked to our car that night Harrison said "so....we have a pretty cool family." 

#4 - Late night visits with Lisa and John.  Oh okay....and a glass of wine....or maybe Sangria....or whatever!  It's not my fault that Lisa was trying out new Sangria recipes while we were there in preparation for Lindsey's wedding reception.  I'm just helpful that way.  Lisa is the source for family history and has lots of fun stories.  And John....well, he's naughty.  And I'm trying to deprogram my kids.  But, he is hilarious! 

#3 - Garage sale Alf and jewelry run.  Joe's dad is a collector.  We are not.  He loves to find great things and collect them.  And he remembers if you like something.  So....he took us over to a garage sale because they had a talking "Alf" doll and my son is obsessed with Alf.  (No joke, he often says "well, I learned that from Alf".  Which is not always a great thing.)  This same sale had some classic costume jewelry from the 50's and 60's.  So Clara got a tub full of clip on earrings, necklaces and bracelets.  Oh, it brought back memories of me dressing up in my mom's jewelry. 

#2 - Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat.  I'm not sure why or how it happened.  But Harrison got started on trying to say toy boat 5 times fast with his grandpa.  And Joe's dad got laughing until he cried!  They went on and on and on and I have to admit, it was hilarious.  It was great to see Joe's dad laughing hysterically!  Makes me smile just thinking about it. 

#1 - Top Hat Pizza.  I bet nobody saw that one coming!  There are no words to describe it....just YUM!!!