Sunday, February 10, 2008

We had a big week ...

It all started with our anniversary of Forever Family Day on February 5. Then the Year of the Rat was ushered in on February 7, followed by two exciting Chinese New Year parties this weekend. We've been busy!

Our first Chinese New Year's party was held at a wonderful place where we've been attending Mandarin playclass Saturday mornings. We, the international adoption group, were invited last Saturday to join their children's party as our Saturday class yesterday. There was one hitch: we'd have to perform three Mandarin songs! Yikes! We practiced strenuously last Saturday and faithfully practiced during the week leading up to the big event. Thankfully it all went fine yesterday, since we were full in number and our instructor sang along with us. Claire had a wonderful time at the party, especially when the big-screen TV played fun Chinese kids' songs and everyone got up for a dance party.

To protect the privacy of others, I'm not posting photos of other kids (hence only one photo here):

Today, we joined our international adoption group for dim sum in Chinatown. We had attended this event a couple of times in the past as "waiting parents", and last year, we missed the event having only returned home with Claire a couple of days earlier. It was great this year to finally attend with Claire! Again, I don't want to post photos of other adults or children without their permission, so I actually don't have any photos from the event itself to post. However, Claire and Kitsya provided this photo op shortly after we returned from dim sum:

Lastly, here's a photo from this past week of a coy Claire:

Have a wonderful week everyone!

5 comments:

Beth said...

Wow, that last shot is marvelous. YOu have a future model on your hands. Helena sat throught endless fussings and picture shoots, her in pots, cute hats etc. etc. Miss Ava, well, that's another story! You're so lucky she'll sit because those are just stunning. I wouldn't mind a copy of that last one!

Kim said...

LOVE all the pictures...
Love the kitty kissing with Claire...
TOO CUTE!!!!
Sounds like a Wonderful Weekend..
Have a Great Week..

Kath said...

What a darling. You sure know how to strike a pose Claire. Love the cheongsam and gold shoes!

Sounds like you had a fabulous week.

Big hugs from snowy eastern Canada.

Kath, Pat & Maeve

Rae said...

It sounds like you had a wonderfully busy week with all the CNY celebrations.

The coy Claire shot is absolutely beautiful and if you're sending a copy to Beth, I'd love one too. I want to start getting pix of all the girls for Bryn's Xinyu sister album (hint, hint to everyone out there if you want to start emailing me some!).

Claire should really give lessons on how to pose for the camera. I was at my wits end yesterday trying to get Bryn to even look at the camera, much less pose nicely and smile!

Have a great trip, we'll be looking forward to some great beach shots!

Shea said...

As always, great pictures! Pretty dress too. It's nice that we'll always be able to celebrate Forever Family Day and Chinese New Year close together.