Pumpkin Patches

I didn't get to visit as many pumpkin patches this year.  With Logan in kindergarten it's hard to find time with both of them.  We did manage a couple and even made a couple of homemade pies.

 

We even went to one with the cousins and Maw Susan and Paw Briggs.

Our first patch of the season was the one at the church near our house.



High Notes, Low Notes

Today's Productive Parenting activity suggested using a piano or other instrument to demonstrate the differences in how notes sound.  I had downloaded a piano app to my tablet when Logan was taking lessons so we used that.  Sophie loves playing on the piano.  Maybe we should have signed her up for lessons instead of Logan.

Sophie's Big Girl Room

I finally pulled out the actual toddler bedding for Sophie's room.  (I've just been using the crib sheets and same blankets, with a small camping pillow.)  Before we even had Sophie (back when we were just waiting for MIC), I chose this bedding because it would work for a girl or a boy.  And since we didn't know exactly how old MIC would be, I bought both the crib set and the toddler set.

 

By the way, the "flat sheet" in this set actually has elastic on one end.  How ingenious!  Why can't all sheets be like that?

 

Since I was in Sophie's room anyway, I pulled some toys, clothes, and shoes for donations, which included her changing pad.  This freed up some space, and this is what I did with it.

 

 

Sophie says she like her "new" room.



CCCWA Dinner

There were several delegates in town from CCCWA which is the Chinese government adoption agency.  Gladney hosted them and families for a dinner.  Because Paul had to work, Logan and I went by ourselves.  We had dinner at a Mexican place downtown.  We got there before the delegates or Gladney staff so when they started coming in the delegates immediately came over to Logan speaking to him in Chinese and touching him.  He kept looking at me, asking why they were touching him.  After relaxed a bit after I explained who they were.  It was a really nice evening.  Several of the delegates had special gifts for the families.  We sat across from a family with a daughter a year younger than Logan who lives where we will probably be moving.  Logan only agreed to let me take his picture if he got to take mine.  (This is probably the most shots of me in any post.)

One of the delegates

 

 One of the coordinators

 

 

More delegates



 

 Another Gladney mom

 

 The head of CCCWA

 

 One of the Gladney staff members

 

 Logan and Mr. Wu, the head of the Asia Program at Gladney

Mr. Wu was definitely very instrumental in bringing Logan home! 

Tiki Party

Aunt Kelly invited us to a friends place for an impromptu dance/costume party.  The kids had a great time running around this huge building that was completely set up like a tiki bar, complete with a "fireman's pole" (wink, wink).  I took the kids spiderman/girl outfits.  Logan loves to play with Matthew and so he couldn't have been happier.  And Sophie just loves to be around people.  Lots of fun for all!

Tyler Rose Festival Weekend

The kids and I went to East Texas for the Tyler Rose Festival.  Although we've been to the rose gardens each year, this was the first time we were there during the festival.  We started with the parade on Saturday.  This year's theme was Indochine so there were several Asian-themed floats.  And of course, there were clowns, bands, and candy.

 

Sophie doesn't like to have the sun in her eyes so she ended up laying down and covering up for a lot of the parade.  She even shared a sweet moment with her cousin, Kalyn.

 

On Sunday, Maw Susan met us at the gardens to look at the roses.  I let Logan stay with Aunt Kelly and brought Kalyn instead.

 

 

This was a really cool rose.  It looked like it was a white rose that had been splattered painted with pink paint.

 

I wanted to go through the exhibit hall and see all the Indochine decorations but they weren't open yet.  Maybe they will still be up the next time we are in Tyler and can go to the museum.

 



 

Princess Night

Chick-Fil-A had a special family night where the kids could come dressed as princesses or pirates and I decided to have a special night with Sophie.  We picked one of her dress-up princess outfits.  We got some food to eat while we waited in line for the carriage ride. Yes, a real carriage.  Unfortunately, we had to leave to pick up Logan before we could get on the carriage.  Sophie was disappointed but Paul promises to find a carriage for us to ride.  She did get a treasure box of special treats so it wasn't a complete bust.

 

 

 Giving her best princess wave.

Waiting somewhat patiently for the carriage ride.

 

One of the neat things about the evening was the the woman who does the storytime, Ms. Peggy was there and the first thing Sophie said when we walked in was "Where's Ms. Peggy?"  And then when she saw Ms. Peggy in her princess dress, Sophie couldn't wait to go up and tell her how pretty she was.