Fall fun leaves & pumpkins

Zeke had a few firsts this month with the onset of fall. He & Maddy had a chance to play in the leaf pile we (ok, Matt) raked up in the front yard. Maddy has done this for a few years now so she had prepped Zeke on what to expect. He liked playing in the leaves, but in more so loved being able to throw them at his sister.

We also made our annual trek to the Country Sun Farm with some of the other local adoptive families. In years past we are usually late & have missed the hayride. This year we were the first to arrive and came ready with ziplock bag to put the corn for feeding the animals in so it didn't spill all over in addition to taking part in the ride. Maddy has caught onto the fact that many kids spill & extends her feeding fun by getting the excess off the ground. Looks like she's off to a frugal start in life like her Mama!

Leaves:







Pumpkins:

Thankful Thursday

Today marks our 10 month anniversary with Zeke. This time last year our paperwork was making it's way through the US Embassy in China & we were anxiousy awaiting the next step before we could book our tickets. It has been so much fun to watch our sweet boy blossom in this past year. He is really starting to take to his daddy more & loves his whole family. We love to hear him at night talking through the baby monitor practicing phrases & singing songs. It seems like overnight sometimes when he says new phrases & understand new concepts. We are so blessed that we were chosen to be his parents.

We also think back 4 years ago to our pending trip to get Maddy. It's hard to believe how much life has changed in that time but we wouldn't trade it for the world.

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Congrats to my nephew Eric & his new wife Meghan!! They were married last month in a beautiful ceremony.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for life. I went to the visitation of a high school classmate tonight & was sad to see a person so full of life now gone. It reminds me of how precious life is and how we never know when our time on this earth is done. Tomorrow is not promised to us, so we need to make the most of each day and make sure our priorities are in order.

I am so blessed to have family & friends all around me and have been trying to focus more of my time on the things that matter. I am also glad to know where I am going at the end of my days here on earth & that there is an Eternal Home that awaits me.

In search of mooncakes

This week marks the Chinese Moon Festival. We made it our mission this year to obtain & eat mooncakes in celebration. Matt was able to succeed in finding some at a local Asian food store.

In their frequent trips to the library with dad, the kids picked out a story about a boy celebrating the Moon Festival with his family. There were instructions in the back to make our own paper lanterns so we decided to give it a try. They turned out pretty well, but the kids were a little disappointed that they didn't light up. Maybe next year we will try to locate the portable lanterns on a stick to make it a little more exciting.

The big news out of the evening was that the mooncakes actually tasted pretty good. We had been warned by a few people that they may not be tasty. The bad news- I did discovered that the 4 mooncakes in the box contained 10 servings (i.e. lots of calories per mooncake). Good thing the festival only comes once a year.

Pre-school

Both Maddy & Zeke started pre-school last week. They were pretty excited & loved getting to school to see their names on their cubbies. Zeke goes 2 days a week & Maddy goes 3 days. One of the days is more focused on pre-K work so Zeke gets to hang out with daddy on those days while his jie-jie goes to school.

Here are a few photos from the big day.

Labor Day weekend flashback

This year we have 2 reasons to love Labor Day weekend (beside the day extra days off I have from work: ).

1. Last year on 8/31/10 we received the Letter of Approval to move forward w/Zeke's adoption which we had waited all summer to get. This is a picture of us at the adoption agency signing the LOA: http://meetthehintons.blogspot.com/2010/10/moving-right-along-in-our-process.html

2. Four years ago on 9/4/07 we got our referral for Madison. This was the first time we saw her face! Here was the post from then: http://meetthehintons.blogspot.com/2007/09/introducing-madison.html

Other than taking a few moments to remember these important days for our family, we had a fun weekend of State Fair going & Drive In Movie watching with a little relaxing & cleaning in between.

Here are a few State Fair pictures, they include Zeke tasting his first deep fried cheese curd, the kids on rides & our visit to the Butterfly House which they really enjoyed: