Adventures with two...

2000-2010...A Decade in Review!

I saw a recap of a decade on someone else's blog and thought it would be great to do. As I reflected on this past decade, I couldn't believe the changes that have happened in my life. Due to lack of a digital camera at the start of the decade, there is also a lack o' photos. My how technology has changed in these 10 years!!

2000

*Ring in the new year with Tom, though he's my boyfriend of 6 years at this point.

*Teaching at a Spanish Immersion school in the spring.

*Tired of waiting for Tom to pop the question, so I head off to Spain to be an Au Pair for a bit. Travel around Spain and also Morocco. Love it, but get homesick and decide to return by the new year.

2001

*Ring in the new year with Tom, again. We are happy to be back together!

*Wait tables at a restaurant/brewery. Live with Tom in a one bedroom apt. until I can get my apt. back. Cramped!!

*Get my apartment back and Tom pops the question! Finally :0)

*We plan to get married in Maui in October.

*We invite family and friends to join us and have an AMAZING wedding in Hawaii. (So glad we did that!)

2002

*Work at the Spanish Immersion school

*We buy our first house in June. We have lots of fun fixing up the place!

*Enjoy spending time in Boston and CT at Con-fra*tute.

2003

*Still at Spanish Immersion school

*Spend two more weeks in CT and travel the east coast with Tom for a week. Love Martha's Vineyard.

*It's kinda blurry what else we were doing?!

2004

*Visit Paris & Evreux, where my sis is playing pro volleyball.

*Take Tom to Spain to meet the family I lived with in 2000. 

*Decide to help start a new charter school Spanish Immersion. Go to training in TX with new colleagues/friends.

*Go to Camp Du Nord with friends over winter break and read the book The Lost Daughters of China.

2005

*SuperBowl Sunday we bring our paperwork to the adoption agency and start paperchasing for our daughter from China! We decide to call her Emily Mei.

*We sell our first house and move out to a suburb nearby. I enjoy decorating our new place

*Em was born in May, the day we mailed our paperwork to China.

 

*I enjoy the summer planning for our girl. I start this blog in June 2005!

*I continue working at the Spanish Immersion charter...thinking I'll be leaving any day...but the wait stretches on.

*Luckily we got a wonderful trip to Monaco in November from Tom's company. Wowza!!

 

2006

*The wait continues, but we got a trip to NYC from one of my students whose dad is a pilot. Most fabulous teacher gift ever!

 

*We get the call and learn that we will be heading to China in June! Finally we meet our girl!!!! One of the best days...(grainy from video copy, but our first minute together)

 

*We enjoy our first months together with our daughter...

*I decide to cut back at the Immersion school and pick up a few hours at the big local University

*We contemplate moving back to the city. We miss it!!

2007

*We take Em on her first international trip in April to London. We have a blast with our friends P, L, M, T!!!

*Put our house on the market, sell it and move into our friends third story apartment for a few weeks. Find our new house and move in! Enjoy decorating/painting/gardening and playing outside with Em.

*Travel to Seattle in the summer to see friends and family. Meet up with Nina, the other Huining girl adopted with Em.

*I work for the University again this year.

*We decide that we want to adopt again, especially after seeing this face:

*The paperchase begins in earnest once again.

2008

*We enjoy the spring and have fun playing and planning for our newest addition.

*I meet some fellow bloggers IRL in Texas. We hit the flea market. Great fun!

*Em turns THREE!

*We travel to China in June. We do some sightseeing with Em before we travel to Eli's province.

*We travel to Nanning to meet our boy!

 

* We come home and settled in as a family of four. I think I'm still tired!!

 

 

*I start a new teaching job, working at the school that I was doing assessments for the university so it doesn't feel "new". I enjoy the challenge of this urban school.

*Officially been married to this man for 7 years:

Love him!

2009*This year went speeding by...

Chinese New Year

Easter

*Em starts Pre-K at the Montessori down the road. Where did my baby go??

 

We can't believe how much life has changed in 10 years. What an amazing ride it has been. I feel so lucky to read through all of this and know that it's my life.

I wonder what reflections will be like in 2020. Will we have more kids? Will we be living here? (I vote for some place warmer!) Where will we be working?

The kids will be 13 & 14, I imagine life will be just a bit different?! Tengo alas para volar.

We wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous

New Year & Decade!

xoxo T, B, E, E

Here's a close up of the card...

Sorry, couldn't get it to zoom in any more for you. Try this one...

Everyone has asked us how long it took us to get this. In reality, it wasn't too long after the "costuming" and staging. We tried a few other poses, like me serving cookies to the family while they read a book (the irony continues!!) but it worked best with no props. 

Oh my gosh, can you get a load of those kids?! Hilarious. And my husband, he looks like a curmudgeon when in reality he's about the friendliest, most approachable guy you could meet. Ha!!

There were a few out takes, but the truth of the matter is that the kids LOVE when we set the timer and rush over to smile at the camera. Try it some time, you'll be surprised at what good photos you can get.

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Our Christmas Card 2009

We went with a 50's theme for our Christmas card. Oh they irony of this card....in SO many ways!!!

Nonetheless we laughed at it for days, just staring at it and finding something else funny about it. 

Two funnies...

Tonight Em told Tom, "Daddy, can I have a gumball?"

Tom answered, "No, not now."

Em, in all seriousness responded, "No Daddy, you have two choices: Yes or Yep."

****************************************************************************************

A few days ago I came into the living room and Eli had taken a red marker to the hardwood floor and all over his pajamas. I asked, "Eli what happened here?"

He looked up and said, "Gus, do dat Mama!"

Yeah, I'm sure the cat got the cover off that marker and drew all over.

It's hard looking this guilty...

 

"BeeBah" always a favorite!

Decking the Halls

Last week I got out all of the Christmas decorations and spread them all out on the dining room table. After finishing up our dinner we got busy decking the halls. Before we got going however, the kids decided they wanted to dress up so they got their special fairy decorating outfits on!

I told Tom that Eli would hate me for posting that nude bum photo someday and he told me, "He won't care about that one, but he'll hate you for posting these!"

 

 

PS You might be able to see that both kids had a very mild case of chicken pox. Glad they had their vaccinations!

O Tannenbaum 2009

This is the fourth year that we have gone to a local tree farm with Tom's parents to cut down our tree. After meeting at the farm this year, we hopped out and began the search with everyone in great spirits. We walked a bit, pointing out trees that we liked but never deciding on one. Soon enough Grandma and Grandpa found one that they liked.

After about 15-20 minutes, the kids were getting a bit tired and not wanting to follow as we walked. Tom decided it was time to pick one and start chopping. It was then that I couldn't seem to find one that I loved. So I kept saying, "No, not quite...how about...ummm...." searching...walking.... (Yeah, I'm picky. I know!)

Eli was wanting to be carried at this point and Em was getting frustrated pointing out trees that she wanted. I kept searching, trying to be quick. Moments later, Em starts wailing, "Why doesn't anyone like the trees that I'm picking out?"  Tom and I are trying to explain that we want a tree that's a bit more plump or a bit taller, etc. I'm trying to convince her to like a tree that I like. More wailing.

Tom throws up his hands and says only half joking, "I can't deal with the women in my life right now!" After some convincing, Tom has us all agreeing on a tree and he (quickly!) chops it down.

Everyone's happy and ready for lunch at the local greasy spoon.

 

 

Love that Grandma and Grandpa are walking there behind us.

Warm in the car...

 

Let's go get some grub...

Christmas Photo 2009??

I asked Eli and Em to get dressed quickly this morning while I finished drying my hair.

As I came around the corner, this was the scene I came across...

Ummm...Em seemed to have gotten the message, Eli must have only gotten half of it.

Oh boy, that boy!