The Nutcracker

I thought she was too young, but Nathan really wanted to try it this year. I’m glad we did. Here are a few things we heard from Ava today during the Nutcracker ballet. . .

“Here they come! Are they real?”

“Mom, they are wearing their holiday clothes and that is why we had to wear our holiday clothes, right?”

“Is it almost over?”

Ava’s ballet teacher was the Sugar Plum Fairy in this performance and she asked, “Mom, when will Miss Lilly, I mean my teacher come out again?” (Miss Lilly is the ballet teacher in the Angelina Ballerina books.)

“Is she real? Are they real? Was that real?”

“When will it be over?”

“When can I be in the Nutcracker?”

“They are very flexible, right?”

“Are they wearing toe shoes?”

“Mom, that was an arabesque.”

“Did that little girl grow up? Was that real?”

“Are those girls in my ballet class?”

The ballet was done by the Boulder Ballet school which is the one Ava attends. It was a surprise to see her teacher in the Nutcracker. Ava was waving to her from the balcony and said, “I think she saw me!”

We’ll let everyone know when it’s Ava’s turn to star in the Nutcracker

I couldn’t be more lucky

At Ava’s Waldorf-based school, they tell a story for each child’s birthday celebration about how the children start out as star babies in the heavens. The star babies peer down at earth and choose their parents; shortly after, they are born to those parents. In Ava’s story, she chooses her first set of parents in China, so the angel takes her to them first but for only a very short time. Then the angel places Ava in our arms, gives her a kiss, and leaves. I love the sweet story.

Last night while waiting for the bus to Boulder, Ava and I were looking at the night sky and I told her I thought the brightest star was actually the planet Jupiter. She said she wanted to go to Jupiter so I told her that when I was younger, I wanted to be an astronaut. But when I was older I changed my mind and decided to become a teacher.

She said, “And a mom, right? And because I didn’t have a mom, I chose you.”

I’m not sure if she meant she didn’t have a mom while she was a star baby in the heavens or if she meant after she was born. Either way, I am the luckiest mom in the world that she chose me.

Ava’s Wishes

In our new house, we can look up at the stars as we lay in Ava’s bed. Each night we make a wish (and say something we’re thankful for).

Last night’s wish from Ava:

I wish that I could have a baby in my tummy.

Ava’s wish tonight:

I just wish the same thing as I always do- that I can be a fairy.

So far, she’s been thankful for her teacher Ann, our new house, and that I am her mom. We just added this part and I like it a lot. I read in my parenting magazine that families who regularly give thanks are happier. I also read that families that are able to be satisfied with what they have are happier, too. We’re pretty happy over here right now

“Are you adopted, Mom?”

Tonight in the grocery store, Ava had put some balled up ribbon in her shirt and said it was her baby. All of a sudden, she exclaimed, “The doctor’s taking my baby out!”

“Oh my goodness, a baby is being born,” I went along with the story.

Then Ava asked me, “Mom, are you adopted?”

“No, honey, I’m not.”

“Oh,” she said, “so you staid with your birth mom?”

“Yes, Grandma Sandi is my birth mom. Do we know your birth mom, Ava?”

“No, we will never know her,” she said sounding a little sad.

“Who is your forever mom, Ava?”

“You,” she laughed as if it were a very silly question.

Soon she’ll start wanting to know more about why she didn’t stay with her birth parents. We’ve told her a very simplified version, but it never seemed to sink in.

(Some Halloween pictures on Flickr)

More pictures on Flickr

We’re settling into our new house, getting ready for Halloween, and having fun in the snow.

About a month ago we were told that there were only two families ahead of us in the adoption program we’re in, but we haven’t heard anything since then- except that all of our paperwork has expired and we need to redo it. BUMMER

Ava’s changing and growing so quickly. She wants to earn how to read now, she’s excited to go to kindergarten next year, and her imaginative stories are becoming more and more sophisticated.

She recently learned an important lesson (actually a few lessons) when she and another boy at school took the teacher’s keys out of her purse and hid them. The kids went home without telling the teacher and the teacher had to call a cab to go get her daughter and go home. The next day, she found the keys at the school and Ava and the boy admitted to what they did. I love how the teachers handled it and I’m so proud of Ava for admitting it and discussing what she’s learned from it. I told her this time it was a mistake and she learned some important lessons, but next time there will be a serious consequence. She is doing some extra chores around the house to earn some money to give the teacher for her cab expenses. We’ve had some good conversations about saying no to friends when they tell us to do something we know is wrong. I feel really bad for the teacher’s inconvenience, but the lessons learned are important ones and I know Ava will take them seriously.

Today happens to be a second snow day in a row, so Ava and I are going to bundle up and go play!

Ava is 5!

I would love to post some pictures, but my super duper Mac is having some issues. Maybe because it’s my husband’s cast off, throw-away computer!? I decided I deserve better. It took about 6 hours, HOURS, to download 34 pictures from the camera and I’m completely out of patience to try to get any onto Flickr. I know, something’s wrong. We’ll look into it as soon as we (Nathan) have a chance.

In the meantime, I’d like to announce that we’ve moved to Lafayette, CO about 10 miles east of Boulder where we used to live. We love our new place- it’s simple and modest (and brand new so it’s very clean) and we’ll be saving so much money. We want to take time off work, travel more, and put money into savings, so we decided to move where an average house isn’t half a million dollars. It’s working out quite nicely so far.

Ava turned 5 on October 2nd and she’s had a few small celebrations. She asked me yesterday if she seems more grown up. Yes, indeed, she does. She’s using bigger and bigger words all the time; she’s making up the best stories with her toys; and she sometimes bundles herself up in her hat, mittens, boots, and winter jacket to “surprise” me.

Ava loves our new house and is content with the most simple things- watching cars outside of her bedroom window, seeing the geese fly over our house on the their way to Canada (that’s where she says they’re going), a working fireplace (have to admit I’m pretty happy with that, too, after the last two places with broken fireplaces), riding in her teacher’s van on a field trip to pick wild plums, and feeling so much older now that she’s 5.

Our house is a chaotic mess, but we’re happy to be on the downhill slope of this long transition.

I can’t wait to get this computer fixed or get a more modern one to start posting pictures again

Life’s about to be a little more relaxing

In just one week, we will move into our new house in Lafayette, CO. It’s only 10 miles from Boulder and it’s still in Boulder County, but we’re pretty sad to leave this beautiful city after living here for 12 years.

The new house is actually half of a duplex, but it’s nicer than anything we’ve ever lived in. It’s brand new and after we finish the basement it will be about 2500 square feet. A couple of years ago Nathan and I decided we wanted to do more with our money than live in Boulder, so we looked into areas with cheaper houses.

Our future plans include more travel, time off work for me when the new child comes home, some furniture, and probably a new car since ours are both over 10 years old. I know we’ll be happy in the new home for a long time. Lafayette is a cute little town where we can walk and ride our bikes almost everywhere. We also have some very good friends and family who live there.

One more update- we heard from our adoption agency the other day and there are only two families ahead of us waiting for referrals. Once we get our referral, we still have to wait 6 months to travel, but at least we know things are moving.

The other day I was telling Ava how we were going to pack up our things and move into our new house where we’ll live for a long time. She said, “Well, until you’re a grandma. Then you will move out.” Great, sounds like my daughter will be kicking me out of the house

Hopefully just a brief pause in our blogging. . .

Well, school has begun, we move again in a month, Ava’s in more activities outside of school, and the list goes on. I’ll keep posting pictures to Flickr, but the blog updates are on hold for awhile. We look forward to ballet, yoga, and swimming; packing, cleaning, and moving; school, weekends, and Ava’s birthday in October. Don’t worry, if anything big happens like a referral from Taiwan, I’ll be sure to keep our family and friends updated. I’ll probably be ready to write again by November.

Maybe Nathan will take over for awhile. . .

Guess where we are?

Big cactus in Grandpa and Grandma’s yard

Papa Gordon and Grandma Esther’s house in Tucson, AZ.

We decided to spend our last week of summer vacation in Arizona because it just wasn’t hot enough in Colorado. We really needed to experience 109 degrees- yikes! Actually, we wanted to see our family out here and realized it would be awhile before we had time off again.

Ava is treated like royalty here and we will have to work hard to undo all the extra spoiling. It’s okay- that’s what grandparents are for, right? Some highlights of the trip have been . . .

-picking grapefruit from the tree in the back yard and eating it
-going to the Heard Museum in Phoenix where they had lots of Native American history and crafts for kids to make
-seeing Nathan’s uncles and aunt in Tempe
-giving our dog, Zeke, lots of hugs and kisses (he used to be our dog, but we were so busy, we thought he’d have a better life with Grandma and Grandpa)
-spending time with our niece/cousin Mikayla who is 1.5 years old
-eating food prepared by Uncle Nick, who is not only an artist, but an excellent cook as well
-seeing Uncle Noah
-swimming, talking, relaxing, and trying to stay out of the heat

Arizona is an interesting place and it’s easy to find beauty here, but, wow, the heat is intense in the summertime. It’s great to see our family and we hope to return soon when it’s a mild 80 degrees or so. Hopefully next time we can see more family and our friends that we met in China.

Camping with the family

Playing in Lake Granby

Each year we manage to go camping at least once. This year it was a family camping trip with Nathan’s family- Grandma Kathy, Uncle Derek, our cousins Jeanette and Sasha, our nieces Kendalle and Emma, and our family.

It was a typical camping trip with lots of roasted marshmallows, a little hike, some craft projects, and more food than we could possibly eat. We played in the lake and sat around the fire and talked.

It was fun to have two pre-teens along and two younger kids (Ava and Sasha). The older girls liked playing in the lake and eating junk food, but they balked at the hiking and crafts. The smaller girls made up their own games and rarely had a complaint.

We all came home much dirtier than before and happy to sleep in a soft bed. On the first night there, I pointed out the stars to Ava and she said, “It’s my lucky night. I see all the stars and I get to sleep in the tent with you and Daddy.”
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(Lots of pictures from the camping trip on Flickr)