Thankful for my family!

Eliana LOVES to dance and 'sing'. So it should be no surprise that two of her favorite television shows are musical based shows - Yo Gabba Gabba and Jack's Big Music show on Noggin. Our whole family enjoys Jack's Big Music show - the Schwartzman Quartet is great and we love the 'music videos' of the Laurie Berkner band and others. Yo Gabba Gabba is a little bizarre...okay a lot bizarre. It has really grown on me, though. Ben finds it really 'creepy'. Both shows feature songs that will stick in your head the rest of the day. But this one featured on Yo Gabba Gabba last week takes the cake and is perfect for Thanksgiving. How cool - Philadelphia hip-hop band "The Roots" singing "Lovely, Love my family". You can buy it on the Season Two soundtrack of Yo Gabba Gabba. Please check it out (but I warn you - you will sing it all day long)!

Here is a picture from the episode (Photo credit: Ben Clark / Nickelodeon)

Speaking of great music, with Ben's permission I am posting the video of his recent piano recital. Please excuse our videography, taken on my point and shoot camera. We sat in the last pew in the church where the recital was held so that we could take Eliana in and out as needed (she was 'out' most of the time)! You will notice that Eliana occassionally kicks Adam's camera arm and says "Ben" several times. Oh, and we cut off the beginning by a few seconds. When Ben saw the video, he remarked that he made a lot more mistakes than he remembered making, but we think he did a fantastic job! We are very proud of his accomplishments. Expect more great music from Ben in the future. In addition to playing, he does some composing and arranging. And you should see the size of this kid's hands - wow! So I present Ben playing "Jack Sparrow" from the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, music by Hans Zimmer.

And finally, some pictures. The first slideshow is of a day Eliana spend making, baking and decorating sugar cookies. Ben came home just in time to help with the cutting and decorating. We made turkey cookies out of both of their handprints - fun! The last one is of Eliana helping clear the deck of fall leaves. She is really good with a rake! She also liked to stuff them in the watering can and then 'water' the deck with leaves. Taken on 2 different days - one much colder than the other. She is a blur of motion that is hard to capture with a point and shoot camera!

Thank you to my blogging friend and fellow Heritage adoptive parent Aus, for the "I love your blog" award - I am honored! I will post the award and pass along some nominations of my own very soon (but maybe not until after turkey day). Did I mention I am hosting a small bunch here and that we still have two large holes in our dining room ceiling due to a leaky bathtub pipe, and furniture piled up in the living room? Oh well, hopefully Adam's siblings and their kids won't mind the chaos. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Laura Beth

Catching up on pictures

Cuteness captured in October:

She climbed into Daddy's suitcase and put on his ties all by herself. She finally has learned to smile for the camera on cue (when she feels like it)!

Looking adorable her first time in overalls, and the Halloween headband is doing a nice job managing her hair, which is getting a little wild as it is growing out. I wish this one were more in focus!

An expression rarely caught on film - an Eliana meltdown moment. I really wasn't sure what triggered this bout of crying, but it ended almost as quickly as it came on.

Just chillin' eating a snack and watching a cartoon. She usually crosses her feet and I thought the way she was all sprawled out was really funny. Maybe she was imitating Ben?

She wrapped up one of her dolls in a blanket and was 'reading' a story to her. So sweet! And there are those crossed feet I am used to seeing.

In mid-October I met up with my friend Sandi (Sam) when she came to DC with her 3 beautiful boys to catch up with her traveling husband. We were very close friends in high school and I have known her since the 5th grade, but we had lost touch for about the past 10 years. We recently reconnected on Facebook and I am so glad to be back in touch with her!

The following weekend was the Marine Corps Marathon in DC. I volunteered for Team Love Without Boundaries - just cheering the runners on from several points along the race route. Thirteen runners raised over $25,000 for LWB foster care programs - wow! Many thanks to those of you who donated - every dollar makes a difference! Every picture of me at the race turned out horrible (I overslept and got ready to go in about 5 minutes and it REALLY showed), so I am just going to post a picture of the adorable Allen family, who I mentioned in my previous post, and a couple of Ben & Eliana. Michael Allen had a great run in his first marathon and I got to spend a little bit of time chatting with his wife, Beth, and meeting their two oldest boys (twins). I am still hoping to get Eliana and their daughter Mia together someday to have a little Qingyuan SWI family reunion. Maybe we will get out to Colorado someday and connect there. I also had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Sandi Glass, the coordinator of the LWB Anhui Cleft Healing Home and I hope to be able to do more to help support their efforts in the near future.


And a couple of slide shows. Refresh your browser to restart the slides. Press + on the bottom left corner of the slideshow to speed-up or - to slow down the slideshow, & place your cursor over a picture to temporarily pause the frame and read the caption.

Random fall fun & Sukkot celebration:

Halloween:

The National Zoo Sunday November 2nd. Be sure to see the pandas in the fall foliage and the Orangutan traveling on the "O" lines. In all of our visits, this is the first time we have seen them climbing on the ropes, which go right over the sidewalks full of visitors and connect two habitats in different areas of the zoo. So cool!

Great news last week! Eliana had another appointment with her pediatrician on Halloween (including another shot - poor baby) and she as grown 3 inches taller and gained 3 pounds since mid-June! That is HUGE! That means she is back on the US growth chart for weight at around the 3rd percentile and she is now ABOVE the 10th percentile for height! This puts her in about the 50th percentile for height on the Chinese growth charts and almost the 25th percentile for weight. She now wears about an 18 month size in pants, even though the waist is still very roomy and she can wear a 2T in dresses with lots of room to grow (and may still be able to wear them next year). Grow Eliana, grow!

I can't believe that it is already November and Thanksgiving is right around the corner! We have so much to be thankful for. :o)

Laura Beth