Late photos and football

Ruby in front of Ruby Mountain. We did hike to the top, but I forgot my phone :(

Ruby picking apples at the Turner Apple Farm Last Week -

Our dear daughter is really into physical activity and absolutely has the energy to participate often. I think she is enjoying trying few new things to see where her interests are. I'm sure she would want to try everything offered in town if given the chance, but we must limit it to a few things at a time so she doesn't get too overwhelmed with the possibilities. She started Taekwondo last week and loved it! We'll give it a few more week until we buy her uniform, just in case it is short lived. Ruby is also trying a mini three day cheer camp this week. The cheer camp will perform at the high school football game this Friday. She is excited and understands she will be in front of 100's of people for the game. I am amazed that she is ready to take on such a task. She likes to be loud when possible and enjoys being the center of attention...so this might be a great experience for her. Mike is also teaching her how to throw a football and even watches a little TV football with Daddy. She asked us last week why girls don't play football. We told her that she can play if she wants and if she wants to play in High School she might be the only girl. She replyed that she is strong (you go girl!).

Today is our 5th year anniversary!!! Happy anniversary Bebe :)

Go CUBS!!!

Apples & Moon Cakes

On Saturday, we visited the Turner Farm in Buena Vista for an old fashioned apple picking festival. This event was small, but so much fun. We won a cake at the cake walk, Ruby made a corn husk doll, we picked veggies from the community garden, pet goats, picked a bag of apples, sewed on a foot peddle sewing machine, helped make butter and more. Ruby just had a ball. The event and activities were free...very amazing in this day and age! Afterwards, we hiked Ruby Mountain. A little mountain near Buena Vista. They call it Ruby Mountain because you can find tiny garnets embedded in the rocks. To top it off the weather was PERFECT! It was a day for the books!

On Sunday we celebrated the Moon Festival, even though it really was Monday. We used the veggies from the Turner farm for our dinner and then broke in the highly anticipated moon cake box. It was very hard for Ruby not to eat any the previous day. The metal Chinese decorated tin contained four different flavored moon cakes; red bean paste (Ruby's favorite), lotus flower, nuts and melon. My favorite was a toss up between the lotus and melon. The red bean paste was really good too. Ruby told us that typically everyone stays up until mid-night on the moon festival, we weren't able to stay up that late because she had school the next day. Maybe next year. I'll post some photos soon :)

Leaps and Bounds

This is Ruby on her school hiking fieldtrip.

This is the only photo I got of her, but she had a blast.

I tagged along and just loved it. I also found out a boy has a crush on her - or at least that is what I over heard a group of boys saying. Those school secrets don't stay secrets for long :)

Things are starting to fall in place more and more each week. I've decided that the challenges are needed in order jump leaps and bounds. Ruby is becoming more open to communicating about when she gets mad. She has also been opening up to us more about her life in China and a few thoughts about her birth mother every couple of weeks. Many times it comes up as we talk about behavior or why she might act a certain way. We feel honored that she trusts us enough to talk about these deep issues. School is also going better for her. I'm not attending school with her as much. She is learning cursive writing and she is completing her academic testing next week. So, hopefully we'll have an English Title 1 or ESL class lined up and she can attend school in the morning or until the end of the day. Now she attends school from 9:45-2.

In other news: I visited the hospital yesterday, but I'm OK. I had severe stomach cramping. At one point it hurt so much I passed out as I was throwing up. Luckily a co-worker was there to drive me to the doctor. I must say it was one of my most glamorous moments. It turns out I might have gastric acid reflux disease. Anyone out there has this? I would love to hear your experiences. I need more testing done before they can determine if this is really it or not. At least I didn't need surgery for anything exploding in my abdomen.

Top 10 Signs Ruby Has Bonded To Our Family

The 'Sign' and when we noticed it -

10. Calls us Mommy/Daddy - at first it was Mother/Father in China
9. Sleeps w/pets - started this the first night were home
8. Wants to help out with tasks on her own - first few days home
7. Accepting of Dad's tattoos - third week home
6. Gives us hugs on her own - second to third week home
5. Likes to see family photos and extended family -second to third week home
4. Doesn't like us to leave -even if you are in the next room - this occured our second week home at Boys & Girls Club (I was working in the next room even) - doesn't even like to be in school w/o parent, but this is starting to fade
3. Would rather spend time with us (Mike and I) instead of going to work - started immediately when we went back to work - Mike first week home and Tara end of second week home. Sometimes she gets upset if it is not a work day and we have to work even a little at home. Keep in mind I only work 15 - 25 hours per week. It makes me sad because I know her days dreams of a family in China didn't include work.
2. Hops on our laps or sits next to us closely - maybe end of the first week or early second week
1. Says "I Love You" on her own....sometime in week 5 or 6. She only says it when we are saying good-bye or time for bed, although she did say it once in a conversation about family. She tells our dog Simba "I Love You" much more often - yet Simba will do anything she says :)

Enjoying the last days of summer

Ruby and Simba: Ruby told us on Monday that she was

going to marry Simba. She loves the pets dearly and likes to sleep

with at least one of them in her bedroom.....but she's also afraid of the dark still. She is very thankful for her ladybug nightlight :)

Mike's Magnificent Deck. We are excited to finish it and

use it more next summer.

Eating Lunch Outside - one of my favorite things to do!

The weather has been amazing during the day at our house this past week. Thought I would sneak in some photos from the weekend that I forgot

on my phone. BTW - Ruby has been entertaining herself a little more the past few days. Until recently she wanted to do something with us every minute of the day - which is/was a good thing, but that takes alot of energy! Whew! I know she was just so happy to have a forever family. I'm sure she imagined us always being together in her day dreams. At least we were able to provide as much as possible these past two months. I take this as another sign that the honeymoon is over and she is settling down into family life.

Autumn Moon Festival

I've always wanted to celebrate the Autumn Moon Festival and now it is finally going to happen. Ruby is totally excited and we are counting down the days to Sept 14th (which also happens to be my Mei Mei's BD). After looking at mooncake recipes, I decided that purchasing them might be a better choice. The best deal I found on the internet is from www.chinasprout.com Hopefully, they taste OK because Ruby had told me how much she loves to eat mooncakes!

First week of school

Miss Ruby on her first day of school

Ruby and I getting ready for a cold summer's walk. I love this photo, but I look 40 not 34!

I can't believe it is already September! Time has flown by so fast! Ruby's first day of school was last Tuesday. She was quite nervous, but did good overall. Ruby has had some ups and downs concerning school since her first day. This is expected due to a new adjustment, new friends and environment. I've been attending school with her to help out with the translation part. Even though I am far from speaking Chinese, we are still able to communicate in our own way. I am starting to ween myself off of school so Ruby can become a little more independent. I think I'm just more of a distraction to her now, instead of help. We tested this on Friday because I had to work and missing so much work has put me behind. I was sad to leave her too, but know it is the right thing because I can't go to school with her every day. She was upset that I wasn't going to be there, but did just fine after I left.

We have adjusted a few things for Ruby until the school has completed her testing and program design. Ruby goes to school at 9:30 and leaves at 2. She feels a little awkward coming in late and leaving early, but is OK with it. We've done this because Ruby wants so badly to be doing what the other kids are doing in Spelling/English, but her communication/vocabulary just isn't there yet. She doesn't understand what the kids are doing and it makes her very frustrated. So, instead of feeding the frustration we have decided to skip those classes until she is able to attend a title 1 English class and other options. I think it is a relief for her now :)

Ruby will not lack motivation to catch up. She is all about being at the same level as the other kids. We knew she was competitive, but we are finding out her expectations are too high. One night she spent over 2 hours just trying to do homework. Her teacher is very flexible with the assignments and anything that is out of her reach does not have to be completed. Ruby has a hard time understanding this. From what she has told us, her school in China was very very strict and she feels she can not do anything wrong or different from the other students. I think school may have been traumatic for her in China after hearing her stories. I hope she has a more positive experience here. American schools are so different. Ruby made the comments to me on the first day of school that her teacher walks around the room too much and letting the students drink water during class out of water bottles is bad.

Socially, Ruby is like a movie star. It is a little overwhelming at times because children say hello to her in the halls and she doesn't know them. All the kids want to play with her at recess. Everywhere we go in town, kids and parents are saying "hi". Ruby says that people like her because she is from China. Mike and I tell her yes because it is the truth. We also add in that China is a great country and Americans like China because they were able to see Beijing during the Olympics. This makes her happy and proud.

I look forward to seeing what the second week of school brings. Ruby also has a hiking field trip (I'm going of course!) and her first birthday party on Friday.

I think this might be her first birthday party.