Last weekend

This week has been so busy, I'm finally getting to post last weekends pics!

Conor had a basketball tournement on the coast, so we reserved a hotel room for saturday night.

Of course the weather on the Oregon coast is nothing special during the winter and even spring months, so there wasn't much time spent on the beach (especially since there were warnings posted since the recent quake in Chile).  So I have a few pictures of her first glimpse of the ocean, she kept pointing and talking away.  She went in a swimming pool for the first time and loved it, she kept jumping in to Steve.  She even got over her fear of the hairdryer and dried her hair with it after swimming!  And of course what I posted on earlier she called me Mama for the first time and has continued to do so since.  When you point to me now she will even say Mama, which has been a huge step for us.  She's has since day one let me hold her, kiss her and hug her without any issues, I was at that time another caregiver to her.  But now three months later I'm much more, when we lay down for nap time she will rub my face and smile at me and look at me with shear love.  Enjoy the pictures.

Zoe in love with Clam Chowder, she ate two bowls

Parker loving his crab!

Getting ready to swim

look mom I'm like you!

Baba what is that?

She wouldn't turn around for this picture.     

                                                                                          

Still talking about the ocean!

Mama &  Zoe

Parker watching the coast guard fly by

Mama!!!

She finally said that sweet word for the first time this weekend.   We were all in the van heading to one of Conor's basketball games and everyone was talking back and forth.  Then I heard a little voice getting louder and louder saying "Mama, Mama, Mama".  She didn't stop until I turned around to look at her and she had the biggest smile on her face.  Now she uses it all the time.  Before she wouldn't even point to me when you asked her where Mama was, although she would point to everyone else in the family.  This weekend she made a huge step and I feel that we have a new closeness.  Hopefully I'll get time to post later with pictures from our weekend trip to the coast for Conor's tournement, but I had to squeeze this post in while I could, (Steve thinks I'm cleaning upstairs).

3 months anniversay!

Today marks 3 months since Zoe joined our family!  I'm working on a post for our myadoption website which should hopefully be posted this week.  Check it out at www.myadoptionwebsite.com/zoe

Park Fun!

We finally had a nice enough day to visit the park.  So as soon as we got back from Portland today, I walked the kids their Elementary school where we let Zoe play on the playground for the first time.

She started off right & then

Decided backwards was more fun

Chase climbed the jungle gym

& had fun on the slide

Zoe learned to hang on while swinging

& wouldn't get off the swing

The older boys scared their mom with how high they could go

but it made for some awsome pictures

And they even held still long enough for a group shot!

Chinese New Year's Celebration with ASIA

We celebrated again this weekend in Portland with our adoption agency ASIA at a Mandarin resturaunt.
Kaylie and her family joined us, along with my brother Sean and his wife Anna.  Zoe didn't enjoy the 1 1/2 hour car ride to Portland so she was in quite a mood when we arrived.  They had lots of crafts for the children to do but she didn't want anything to do with it, she wanted to do what 2 years do RUN!
We had a great lunch with about seven different dishes served.    Enjoy the pictures!

Mandarin Cove (Great food)

Parker coloring a Tiger mask

Conor finishing up his mask

I wonder what Chase was saying?                                            

Zoe having fun with Chopsticks         

                                                                                                     

The Yummy food

Kaylie & Chase best buds

HELP FROM OTHER BLOGGER MOMS!!!

I've noticed a lot of different blogs had frames around the pictures they post and that you can't click on them to make them bigger.  I really want to figure out how to do this, I've looked around and can't figure it out.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!!  Thanks!

Gallery Night for 5th graders

Our son's school had what they call Gallery Night where each student stands in front a poster that they did of a famous person and tell about them.  Conor chose Frank Lloyd Wright a famous Architect, he got all dressed up and looked very handsome.  We had to get a family picture since it doesn't happen very often that the whole family dresses up.  He did great with his speech and didn't even appear nervous as he spoke to the other parents.