Some Family photos

These photos were taken by our neighbor. When we received our referral she offered to do our first family photos for free. We are so thankful to her for this. She did an incredible job and absolutely love these pictures of our forever family! Thanks Paulette!

Almost Ready For Christmas

We're almost ready for Ava's first Christmas. We did some final shopping today. We did good. We certainly didn't go over board. We both agreed that Ava doesn't even realize what is going on this year. There is no sense in going out and doing a lot of shopping for her this year. I will admit it though that it was hard. We've waited all these years to have her here with us. She is scared silly of Santa. She was afraid of the Christmas tree for a few days. Now she will go up to it and touch the ornaments. One of Terri's co-workers gave Ava a Christmas ornament with her name on it. It was a very thoughtful thing to do. Ava loves it. We put it on the tree and every time she sees it she gets this big smile on her face. Christmas day is going to be so exciting and emotional. Lots of pictures will be taken.

Panda Club Christmas party

Last night we attended our first Panda Club event. The Panda Club is a group of families in the Barrie area that have all adopted from China. There is a wide range of age from Ava and KaiLee that were the youngest to girls near teens. They were very welcoming and we were amazed that people were able to tell that Ava was from the southern part of China by her eye shape and facial features. There seemed to be quite a few girls from the same province(Guangxi) as Ava and KaiLee.

We sang some Xmas carols and waited for Santa to arrive. All of the girls were so excited for Santa to arrive with the exception of Ava and KaiLee. When it was KaiLee and Ava's turn there was no sitting on Santa's lap. Ava tightened every muscle around Daddy when she came near that pillow fattened man in the red suit.

We had some wonderful Chinese food. So good! Mike and Octavio took full advantage of the buffet. They certainly got their $10 worth. What a great deal!

Ava and KaiLee took a few minutes to come out of their shells. Once they did they had a great time. Ava gave KaiLee lots of hugs and kisses...wanted or not. This picture is just before the last hug. KaiLee has been walking for just a month so is a little unsteady. Ava is a little aggressive with her love and as she hugged KaiLee they went down. Ava on top of KaiLee. This loving gesture ended in tears...Ava at first and then KaiLee as she took the brunt of the fall. Too cute!

All in all we had a wonderful time! We will definitely get together with the Panda Club again and we will see Linda Octavio and KaiLee soon once all the Christmas madness is over!

She Loves To Dance

Terri video taped Ava dancing tonight. I called from work tonight and Terri told me that she caught Ava dancing and was able to video some of it. I uploaded it to the laptop when I got home. She is so cute. In the video after the first song ends she turns and watches the I-Mac for the next song to start. If you watch her hands she's even trying to snap her fingers. She has quite a little personality on her now. We received an interesting e-mail yesterday from the Guiping Girls Yahoo group that we belong to. Someone sent us an e-mail telling us that they sponsored Ava while she was in China in her foster home. They offered to give us what little information that they might have about Ava while she was in China and in her foster home. We are awaiting the e-mail back from her. We are very excited about the idea of possibly getting more information about Ava. Maybe we will be able to find out her foster mothers name. Any information would be nice to have because right now we have none. All we know is that she was in a foster home for the majority of her first year.

Breakfast With Santa

Ava has seen snow for her first time yesterday. She ran her hand down the side of the car and got some snow on it and did not like it at all. Terri and her went over to a friend of Terri's last night and apparently every time Terri got her out of the car and into the cold she cried. She will have to get use to it living in Canada and all. It will be fun this winter with her. We are headed out the door this morning to go have breakfast with Santa. It should be interesting. After Terri put Ava down last night she put up and decorated the tree and put out some Christmas decorations. When I came down stairs with Ava this morning she was frightened of the tree. When I took her over next to it she held on with a death grip. She rambles on now quite a bit. Not a lot of English but some and lots of baby babble. She loves talking on the phone. She made me feel very special yesterday. I came home from an appointment that I had in the middle of the afternoon and I pulled into the lane way and got out of the car and set my car alarm. I guess Ava heard it. By the time I got to the door I could hear her screaming Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. She came running up stairs to see me. I would never thought that such a little bundle of joy could melt me down to a puddle of emotions. I love her so much. She doesn't like Santa very much. I walked up to Santa with Ava in my arms and got within three feet of him and Ava had a death grip on my shoulder. She started crying immediately. Big crocodile tears. So no picture with Santa this year. Maybe next year. No big deal.