Warm November Weather

Saturday, we took advantage of the warm weather and went to a local park. As you can see, she enjoyed the heck out of herself... Summer was so hot, and fall came and went so quickly, with a lot of rain on weekends, that we didn't get out much to play much.














And then there was Sunday... with a high around 70 degrees. Our yard was so full of leaves, and we hadn't even begun to rake them... Kenzie went outside to help her daddy. When I went outside to take a picture of them, I was amazed at the amount of leaves that had been piled into the street. When I asked her if she did that all by herself, she said, "Yes... but daddy helped a little." I believe that, sweetie!

Then when I started to go back inside, she said to her Daddy, "C'mon, let's get a move on!" As if he had just been standing around doing nothing... but his blisters tell a different story.

Ooooh - she's a cheeky one. But you can see the pride in her face that she's helping.

100 Wishes Quilt

In previous posts I had talked about a little special needs girl we had been wanting to adopt. As it happened, it didn't work out for us, but the other lady who had been interested was able to get her file and is going to be adopting her. I am so very happy for her and her family.

She asked us if we would give her a piece of cloth for a 100 wishes quilt that she is having made for the child. I said that Kenzie and I both would contribute.

I took Kenzie with me to Walmart and we each picked out some cloth. I put together the cards with a swatch of the cloth taped to the card, our wish, and a picture of us included.

I sat down with Kenzie and asked her, "If you could make a wish for a little girl that is getting adopted, what would you wish for her?"

At first she wished that she would be teensy. I think she was thinking this was a wish for her own little sister. She wants her little sister to be a baby, and we keep working with her on the thought that her sister will most likely be older.

So I explained what I meant by making a wish for someone, such as wishing them good health, or success in life, or much love and happiness.

Her wish then became "I wish I could hug her and kiss her all over."

Out of the mouths of babes. That is the wish I wrote for the little girl's quilt on Kenzie's behalf. And Kenzie signed her own name to it.

Happy Birthday!

Saturday was Kenzie's fourth birthday. I am still in awe at her growth and development.

Friday, I had a birthday party for her at her daycare. It wasn't fancy, but you could tell she felt special, and was reveling in "her" day.

The little boy who sits beside her seems to be crazy about her. When she comes in to daycare, he wants her to sit by him or to give him a hug. OK, she's got a boy wanting to be her friend already... kind of scary for the future.






Saturday we took her to see "Happy Feet". I'll give you a warning. Although the music rocks, and the basic premise of the story is that everyone has something they can contribute to the group, no matter how different they are... there was one disturbing (for me) part to it. The penguins had a religion that worshipped a Penguin God, from whom all the blessings of food and prosperity flowed. And when Mumble (the young penguin that dances) upsets the elders in the penguin group, it takes on a mix of Puritanical overtones with superstitious undertones... Now, as an adult, I understand the background and what is being used here as a basis for the ousting of Mumble from the group. But it may be hard for children to understand if they have any religious background at all. The way it is presented, it made worship of any deity seem like it was nothing more than superstition. And it didn't set well with me.

If you can explain the background for that one portion of the film so they can understand it, or they are mature enough and have had some schooling to understand what it is about - the rest of the movie is great. I'm looking for the release of the music on CD!

Switched to Blogger Beta

If you can't tell by now, I've switched to Blogger Beta. There's still some quirks the programmers need to get ironed out. I won't tell you not to switch, but I will caution you that you may be spending ungodly amounts of time trying to fix the problems that are caused by the changes.

I had tried to fix the arrangement of pictures in blogger beta and found that 1) it ain't that easy and 2) the "Recover Post" option deleted all my pictures - even though I had saved and posted this one post prior to having to use the recover post option. GRRRRR

If you're like me and are technologically challenged, wait until you can read some posts where the bugs have been ironed out.

CHOPSTICKS!

Last night we went to a Chinese restaurant to eat. Mommy thought she'd try their Sushi.



I know, I know. Everyone out there is saying "Sushi at a Chinese restaurant? That's like going to a steakhouse and ordering chicken...."



But I picked up some chopsticks and thought I'd try theirs. Truth is, I only like the sushi that doesn't have seaweed in it. I hate seaweed. And I hate any kind of Asian pickle - they are too briny and have a weird flavor in my opinion... and one of the pieces had both seaweed and pickle. YUCK - they don't have enough wasabi to cover that taste! As much as I want to experience and appreciate other cultures and their foods - my preference for certian tastes is one thing I just can't ignore.



When I got to the table and began using the chopsticks to eat with, Kenzie said she wanted to eat with chopsticks, too. So daddy went and got her some. Neither of us showed her how to use them. She just began using them... still awkward, but she was able to pick up stuff on her own.



Roy was incredulous that she could do this. My stupid reply was, "Well, she IS Chinese." (I know, that was a stupid comment - Bad Mama!) He wanted to know who had shown her this... and I know for a fact no one has ever shown her how to use chopsticks... especially not me. She is just a clever kid - and I think most kids will figure it out if you give them time and let them play with it.



Now she wants a pair of chopsticks for herself at home and another pair to take to daycare so she can eat with them there. LOL! I guess I found something to buy her for her birthday next week.

The Pre-Christmas pictures

Since the company that takes the Christmas photos charges an arm and a leg for permission to use them on any website (etc.) I got some pics prior to the sitting. Good enough to see what she looks like all dressed up.

Thank goodness that's not a real cat she's holding.

The CCAA has now reviewed January's dossiers!

I have been waiting to see this for what feels like forever. I know I've been checking the CCAA's website now for a solid 3 weeks daily to see if they had made any movement. Only today did I not go there... and when I went to our local FCC group's Yahoo message board, there was a message from Lisa saying they had reviewed January 2006's dossiers. Ours was logged in on January 16, 2006.

MOVEMENT!!! At least we are going in a positive direction. Now comes the long wait to get a referral. I'm praying we can go either in the summer or fall of next year (at the very latest.)