Family Pictures on Christmas

We had a family photo shoot, here are the pictures!



My mom, me & Sandy

Uncle Sean & Aunt Anna & the kids

Papa Robin & Grandma Susan & Grandkids

Our family

Our kids


Grandma Shirley & Papa Booth & Grandkids

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We had a great Christmas celebrating with family and friends. Zoe did great and fit right in with everyone, after a few hours she was letting everyone else hold her and play with her and favored Uncle Sean a bit. Christmas morning was crazy as always and Santa let them some big surprises.
Parker got his fish tank, Conor got a Stereo, Chase got Handy Manny work bench and Zoe got a doll house! They also got Rock Band for the Wii to share! Enjoy the pictures.

One Month Anniversary

Today is our 1st Month anniversary with Zoe. So much has happened in this first month. It's hard for me to believe that she's been with us only a month, it seems so much longer, maybe because she was in our hearts from the moment we seen her first picture. She has been such a blessing, she fits into our family so perfectly that it's hard to believe that she wasn't there all along. I was worried and nervous when we left for China over a month ago, but once she was in our arms all those worries melted away! So I will start with what we've learned about her personality in the last month: She loves to dance and will shake her bottom to even the elevator music, she has a million expressions and we see new ones everyday, she's a typical toddler and likes to do everything herself, she's terrified of animals, she loves children and gets along great with her brothers, she's a girly girly and a tomb boy split in half, she loves to wrestle with the boys but then loves twirling in dresses, she loves almost every food we feed her and will out eat all of her brothers, she loves to give hugs and kisses, she loves her picture taken and then wants to see it on the camera afterwards and much much more that I can't even think of right now. She still only says a few words: Ma Ma , Ba Ba, Bye, Hi, eye, new words that she's said once is : papa and uh oh (not sure if that's spelt right).
She's had a lot of first in the last month also: first dentist appointment (all good), first doctors appt (not much done), first Christmas party, first time meeting Santa, first time meeting lots of family and friends and the list goes on......
We look forward to our first Christmas together and the many more special events and even the day to day stuff, she is our little angel this Christmas, the best gift I could have asked for.... Zoe we love you.

First time on Santa's lap

The kids babysitter threw her annual Christmas Party and we attended with all of the kids. Zoe loved her new red dress but she wouldn't keep the headband on. She got jealous at one point when I was taking a picture with Chase and another little girl and tried to pull the girls hair and dress. She waved at Santa when he came in the room but refused to sit on his lap. Chase hopped up and then completely forgot what he wanted for Christmas when Santa asked him. Parker also sat on Santa's lap and also forgot what he wanted. Conor said he weighed too much this year to sit on Santa's lap and it broke my heart. It's hard to see your oldest feel as if their too old for something. Enjoy the pictures. Tomorrow I will post about our one month anniversary!

Welcome Home Party

Saturday my mom threw us a Party for Zoe. It was one of the coldest days and the roads were hazardous due to freezing rain. We had just the perfect amount of people come to meet Zoe and she was happy and herself the whole time. We had good food and yummy cake. She opened presents and loved everything she recieved, but someone was handing out cake while she was finishing up and that was that she wanted some cake. We watched some of the videos from China and shared some of the stories. Thanks to everyone that made it!

Another picture

She was so funny, the photographer was talking loud and being silly to try and get her to laugh. What does she do but tells him to be quiet, he was quick and got a picture of her doing it! She also took the bow out of her hair and threw it right before this shot.

Doctor appointment and Pictures

Today was Zoe's Dr appointment with her Pediatrician. He checked her over and said everything looked good. He wants to see her back in a month to do blood work and get her second H1N1 shot, but told us just to enjoy the time bonding with her. He also said that we can call Early Intervention on Monday and start the process to get her tested. After the Dr's we went and got her pictures taken at Sears, she did great and the photographer couldn't believe that she was just adopted two weeks ago.
Then it was of to the Social Security office which was a mess of paperwork, but now it's done and she will have her SS# in a few weeks.

Enjoy the pictures from Sears, I'll post a few every day for a week!

Zoe's Adoption Timeline

Zoe's adoption Timeline

5/26/08 Mailed Asia application
5/29/08 Accepted by Asia
5/31/08 Mailed Contract to Asia
6/1/08 Sent off for Birth certificates/Marriage
6/9/08 Started online classes
6/18/08 First Homestudy
7/11/08 Second Homestudy
7/15/08 Third Homestudy
8/4/08 Last homestudy
8/23/08 Sent I-800
9/17/08 Fingerprinting in Portland
11/2/08 Dossier translation began
12/13/08 Received USCIS approval with wrong date
12/23/08 New USCIS letter
1/20/09 Dossier to China
1/23/09 Logged in to China
5/4/09 Referral
5/5/09 LOI
5/15/09 Pre-approval
8/21/09 LOA
9/8/09 I-800 approval
TA 11/5/09
CA 11/30/09
Home 12/4/09

Were in Guangzhou!

We flew from Beijing to Guanzhou yesterday afternoon and our now settled into our room at the White Swan Hotel.  We will be our daughter tomorrow at 2:30 pm.  We
are really excited and can't believe it's actually time already.  We will post some pictures tonight from around the island that were on called Shaiman Island. 


Love you boys!!!!

---

Windows 7: I wanted simpler, now it's simpler. I'm a rock star.

Update pictures of Zoe

We recieved an email today with four new pictures of Zoe!  She is so cute and her hair has grown longer.
We will meet her in less than four days!!!  Also check out our other website www.myadoptionwebsite.com/zoe
for updated pictures from today's visit to the Great Wall.

---

Windows 7: It works the way you want. Learn more.

another picture from Hard Rock Beijing

Heres another picture from the Hard Rock Cafe

---

Bing brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. Try it now.

---

Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft's powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.

FW: Hard Rock Cafe

---

 We'll we decided to venture out today even though we didn't have a guide.  We took a 30minute taxi ride to the Hard Rock Cafe to eat
lunch/dinner.  Our friend Debbie had told us about it from her adoption trip and we thought we would check it out too.  The driving is crazy here
our driver on the way there drove fast and honked the horn a lot, there were at least five times that I thought we were going to get hit.
The driver also acted like he didn't know where he was going, so we were very relieved when we pulled up to the Hard Rock Cafe.  We bought all
of the kids the souvenirs we promised and then went and ate lunch/dinner.  I got nachos and Steve got a mushroom burger our last "American" meal for the next
few days.  The ride back was smoother and we went through a more run down section than before.   I got a few pictures on the way back since we were stuck in traffic.
We start our touring tomorrow so check back tomorrow for the Forbidden Palace.

---

Hotmail: Trusted email with powerful SPAM protection. Sign up now.

---

Bing brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. Try it now.

We made it to China

We are here and safe!  We had a great flight and are very tired so we are crashing for the night!    check out the new post on http://www.myadoptwebsite.com/zoe

---

Bing brings you maps, menus, and reviews organized in one place. Try it now.

Leaving for Portland

We are leaving for Portland and fly out early in the morning tomorrow.  You can all follow up on our website www.myadoptionwebsite.com/zoe
We will have the first post once we've landed safely and our in our room in Bejiing! 

---

Windows 7: It works the way you want. Learn more.

Our Itinerary

November 15th fly out of Portland
November 16th Arrive in Bejiing
November 17th Day to relax
November 18th tour Bejiing
November 19th tour Bejiing
November 20th-tour Bejiing
November 21st Fly to Guangzhou
November 23rd Meet ZOE!!!!
November 26th Orphanage visit
November 30th Consulate Appt.
December 3rd Ride train to Hongkong, tour Hongkong
Decmeber 4th Come HOME!!!!!!!!!

Waiting for Consulate Appointment

We are still waiting for our consulate appointment which will hopefully be confirmed today! We will be leaving now on the 17th of November, Meeting her on the 23rd and hopefully having our Consulate appointment on the 2nd of December and home in Oregon on the 6th! I will post the arrival time of our plane in the Portland airport as soon as I have the details (which is hopefully today)!

My first baby turns 11

We are celebrating Conor's birthday this weekend since we will be in China on his birthday the 19th, which might be Gotcha day!

My baby was born November 19, 1998 on a cold snowy day in the town of Klamath Falls.
My water broke two weeks before his due date in the middle of the night and we rushed to the Hospital, 13 hours late, including one hour of pushing Conor came into this world. And wouldn't you know being the first he had the largest head out of all my kids! He was so smart and quick to learn, he was talking whole sentences by 1 1/2 and reading by age 4. He found his love for sports at age 5 when he started T-ball and soccer. A few months after his 6th birthday he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and our whole world that we knew changed. We spent three days up in Portland at the Childrens Hospital and came home to a very changed life. He was such a trooper through it all and had to grow up overnight with all that he had to deal with. We didn't let it rule our life and quickly learned that he could do all of the same things that he used to enjoy doing. Now at 11, he's a little man, he's so mature and responsible, partly due to all that he has endured. He played Tackle football for the first time and fell in love with it ( against his mother's wishes) and is becoming a Rock star on his electric Guitar. He is my first and has paved the path for the others to follow, although he has his moment of stubborness he is so fun to be around and makes me so proud to be his mother. I LOVE YOU CONOR!

We have TA

We just got notified that our TA arrived yesterday. For those of you not in the adoption world it means Travel approval , our final step to get to China. Our agency checked with them last night about scheduling our CA (consulate appointment) where we get sworned in before we come back to the US, and hopefully we will have that date today so we can start making some plans. We could possibly be leaving next friday, yeah friday the 13th, I waited to long to go to China I'm just going to have to get over my superstitions of the whole friday the 13th thing and go. Were going to China, were going to China!!!!!!!!! Hold on my sweet little girl we will be there soon!

Trick or Treat

We had a great Halloween and had some funny and scary experiences.

Chase my youngest was a crack up, he would knock on the door say trick or treat and then pull the persons candy dish down to his level and pick through it for what he wanted, he told one lady who tried to hand him candy that he already had one of those and proceeded to help himself. He also kept stepping into peoples houses , at one house they had something scary on the porch that was moving around and he ran into the house. Luckily we only went to houses that we knew the people, I had to explain to him the rules of trick or treating, No stepping into the house, No picking out what you want unless they ask you, and always say THANK YOU!

We knew he was done when he told the last house to not give him candy that he had enough!!!

Parker my 8 year loves Halloween and dressing up he had a blast trick or treating with his little brother.

Conor my oldest decided that he's to old to trick or treat so he stayed back at the house with his friend and scared people coming up to the house to trick or treat.

Me and Steve even dress up this year!! Enjoy the pictures.

Oh yeah the scary experience: A large man ran right in front of my van on our way home from Trick or treating and stood right in front of the van, I panicked to lock the doors and he looked right at me and then ran accross the road. The way he ran in front of us he was trying to get us to hit him, it scared the kids and me.

Carving Pumpkins

We were all feeling good enough last night to carve our pumpkins. I tried to help chase and ended up messing up his pumpkin and so we had to turn it into a potato head by sticking eyes and ears on it. Conor got creative and carved wolves howling at the moon, Steve carved a cool face, Parker ? I still don't know, Mine was a face and Steve carved Zoe's name in a pumpkin for her. It was all fun, but the mess was horrible!

Pumpkin patch trip

Here finally is our pumpkin patch trip from the weekend before. I was soooo sick last week that I didn't even get out of bed for three days. Now the kids have it so I'm home again!

Now back to the pumpkin patch, we went to the Pumpkin patch with Auntie Anna and Sean, Adrien & Sandy & Grandma Booth. It was a muddy mess luckily we all were wearing our rain boots. We all picked the biggest pumpkins that we could carry out!