The new Los Angeles Chinese Consul General Zhang Yun CNY's Celebration

Today we attended what proved to be a wonderful event.

We were invited to this celebration by our Families with Children from China Chapter and it was incredible.

I would say about 20 families attended at the Consul General's home. Also in attendance were the employees of the Consul General's Office and their families, the P.R. China Press and Local LA Chinese newspapers. After a short reception we were treated to a wonderful presentation by the very gracious Zhang Yun which included an introduction to the Beijing Olympics (they had all 5 mascots there), a skit on the Chinese horoscope animals, and a musical performance on an ancient Chinese instrument. Then we had a very nice buffet lunch and the children played on the backyard lawn. Each family was presented with a bag of goodies when we left which included, Olympic pins, an Olympic stuffed doll, a book on the year of the rat, a DVD on China and a Chinese lantern. What a treat!

Brooke is the latest and youngest member to arrive from China. Both she and Sienna garnered a lot of attention. I do have to say that they each looked adorable in their traditional outfits. Sienna was even interviewed by the press separately. LA China Times is doing an article on our family and a newspaper reporter from Shanghai said he would be calling as he would like to do a story too.

Later in the afternoon we got the best surprise of all, Brooke's US Citizenship Certificate arrived in the mail along with a letter on White House stationary from George W. That was the best part of the day!

Look out she's crawling!!!

Happy New Year!

This month has rolled by in a flash. We had so many to do lists...and finally we are making some headway.

We had a mellow New Years with the neighbor and her children over for pizza, movies and cookie making. The adults had fun watching one of the DVDs purchased in China. But it was an early night and a mellow and quiet New Years day.

Since then we have had Brooke's pediatrican's appt, her first birthday pictures done, and planned her baby naming/birthday party.

On Jan. 8th we visited Dr. B. and his chin nearly hit the floor when he saw how bright, alert and healthy Brooke is. She weighed in at the 50% tile on the american charts and was also 50% for height. She recieved some immunizations and then we went to the lab for blood work. This poor kid was strapped down like she was getting a labotomy in One Flew Over the Cookoos Nest. The they proceeded to find a vein which didn't work and she had to get stuck again in the other arm. 8 viles and a bottle later we were on the way home feeling like heels.

Sienna is adjusting well now that she has been moved up to the pre-k room. she is enjoying the challenge and doing book reports and learning letters. she is turning into an athlete and I have been told she is the resident tomboy (who knew). They suggested getting her involved in athletics as soon as possible because she loves...get this...tag football. She even fakes out the boys! Based on this we bought a play yard from ebay. Getting it in the yard and up from Orange county took an act of god, similar to that of parting the red sea. John just finished it yesterday and it looks great. they kids should enjoy it for years to come.

We have also taken a few field trips to the zoo and the acquarium which both Sienna and Brooke loved. Brooke pointed to all the fish swimming by and said "that, that". Sienna keeps asking if we can go back!

Brooke is advancing daily. She is starting to crawl, can sit up from a prone position, pulls to standing in the crib, has great fine motor skills and knows how to get what she wants. She has picked up a few english words, in fact her first words seem to be "all done" with a wave of hands. she learned this immediately when I started teaching her baby sign language. Now we are learning milk and more. We are looking forward to her learning this rather than banging the table with her hands and crying for food.

The good news is that all her test results were perfect! She is healthier than all of us!

I am planning to update one more time after her first Birthday and then I am going to stop updating this site in order to protect their privacy.