Honor Roll, colorful teeth and that cold white stuff...

Loving the first snow fall...I don't think she

quite understands how much we actually get up here!

Ruby made the honor roll. Pretty amazing kid. We are so

proud of our hard working daughter! Of course the English part of school has

been adapted to her level...but she's catching up fast!

Yes, we know that Ruby should brush her teeth more often, but the colors are starting to grow on us.

Ruby attended her first Halloween party yesterday and had a blast. Afterwards she told me that she really likes Halloween now. She was also amazed by all the candy.

Our daughter is picking up English at a faster pace now. She has used 20 - 25 new words in sentences the past few days. Ruby gets so excited when she uses a new word. When she uses a new word she let's us know that it is a first time word. Very cool and we share her excitement! She is starting to forget a little Chinese already, which makes us all sad, including Ruby. Luckily she is trying to keep up with her Chinese by listening to Chinese music CD's and moive/videos. My mom sent her several animal Chinese videos (a Chinese version of animal planet shows). All these things have helped......the library is also hooking us up with an order of simple reading books in Chinese and English so Ruby can retain some of her 1st grade level in reading and writing the Chinese characters.

Pumpkin Patch Fun & Photos

Ruby riding a mini horse.... she told me later that day it was her first time on a horse, even though she grew up with them.
Ruby and her friend Seth.

Mom and Ruby on a hay ride....

I love that Ruby is in the tween stage because she still has a lot of little girl left in her. It makes days like going to a pumpkin patch so much fun. Right now she believes in Santa...I hope it lasts until after Christmas. How fun to play Santa for her first Christmas! She has some pre-teen behaviors too....like not knowing what to wear to school and if it looks nice, asking me to buy more training bras (boo hoo....puberty is coming) and wanting to wear make-up.

4 months as a family

Ruby and Daddy chill'n with Macea...aka Mimi
The parents.....it's nice to have someone in the house that
can take photos of us!

Daddy with Ruby

Mike and I can't believe we've been a family for four months already. Fall is here and we are already looking forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving, Rubys' BD, Christmas and the New Year!

We reached a couple of milestones this week. Ruby's behavior and emotions have finally become more consistently positive. We only had two small behavior issues this week. This is amazing! Usually she has a couple of good days mixed in with some OK and 3 -4 challenging days. Mike and I have been praising her left and right for doing such a good job at expressing her emotions appropriately. We are so proud of her. This is a huge accomplishment and I we can tell she is trying hard. Ruby even went so far this week to admit that she hasn't been very nice sometimes to us and that she can do better. Another milestone includes Ruby saying sorry to me. She has only said sorry after poor behavior because Mike has asked her to. ...maybe one or two times before. Because it was the first time she said sorry on her own I broke down and cried (of course!). I let her know that it made me happy. She gave me a big smile and kiss on the cheek after I told her how proud I was of her. I hope it happens again :) Since that incident, our relationship seems to have taken a little step further. Our third milestone happened today. She wanted to know about the adoption process and hear our story of why, how and when we adopted. I was quite open and honest. She also shared some more of her story with me. Her younger foster sister entered the orphanage the same time. I hope to find where her sister was adopted...if yet. Ruby knew she was going to be adopted about 60 days before she came home...this is good because I thought they gave her less time. She didn't receive the care package though until the day before she came home....not a lot of time to process the photos we sent.

On another note - Ruby is starting to read basic level 1 and 2 books like "I am Sam". She also starts full school days maybe next week or the next.

Visiting with Grandpa and Grandma Skubella

Celebrating my big 35 with family...at a Chinese restaurant of course!

Ruby w/ Grandma and Grandpa Skubella

Me sleeping...for some reason my family loves to take photos of me sleeping.

Ruby at the football game. She cheered with the Jr. Cheerleaders and had a blast!

We are so proud that she was able to memorize most of the cheers - Ruby practiced so hard!

These past two weeks have flown by! At lot has happened. My last day w/Boys & Girls Club of South Park was last Tuesday. I am sad, but am happy with the choice I made. Mike works and Ruby goes to school south of where we live and my previous employement was north. We were almost an hour apart. Now I am looking for work in Buena Vista, the town that we mostly conduct our lives - wish me luck.

We celebrated my 35th BD. I can't believe I'm already 35. I've read somewhere the new middle age is 40 and not 35 anymore...so I'm sticking with that. This will be good news for my siblings ;)

Ruby is learning so much more English. She was able to communicate with Mike's parents pretty easily. Her vocab is still taking off. It's amazing how fast a 10 year old can learn.

Our visit with Grandma and Grandpa Skubella was great. They were able to see Ruby cheer at the local football game, watch the aspen leaves turn gold and orange (it was a fantastic year for leaves and reminds me of the year Mike and I married on Sept 21st). Grandma and Grandpa also got to see a few of Ruby's special performances. Ruby loves to act and perform for Mike and I, but we learned that she'll sing and dance for other family members too. She is so funny when she performs little acts - sometimes it is acting, singing dancing or all three!