Found it!!

Found it...it was way back farther than I thought!!

I found the Merry Christmas in chinese comment, it was on an older December 2007 post.

Here is the other way to say Merry Christmas in Chinese, "Sheng dan jie kuai le" I think we did it this way this year. I don't know why I had the other saying last year?? I'll have to look it up again.

Thank you so much!!!
~Alli

Sorry...

Someone left a response on here, and I didn't mean to delete it, but I did somehow? I think it was either another saying for Happy New Year, or Merry Christmas, or Happy Birthday. I deeply apologize and if you are reading our blog again please re-write your comment.

Sorry...dui bu qi!!

~Alli

When is Chinese New Year...

The Chinese New Year starts on January 26th this year.

It is the Year of the Ox. That's Alli's zodiac and it should be Avery's too!! That's pretty cool that we will have the same zodiac sign.

Happy New Year in Chinese is- "Xin Nian Kuai Le"

Just though you might like to know. I will post more about this later.

We have our little tree still up with the red new years tasseled decorations and all of Avery's ornaments on it. We'll keep it through the Chinese New year just like last year.

Take care
Love~
~Alli

Our 2nd Christmas...

We went to Gary's parents for breakfast the day after Christmas and opened gifts with them afterward. We usually do Gary's parents the day after because then we don't all have to rush around on Christmas and not be able to enjoy the day. We went to Gary's parents Christmas night and played the Wii system with them, and had a good time.

We opened gifts with Mom and Dad Newton, Gram & Gramp Newton, Steve , Noah, and Owen first. Sammy is really sick and couldn't leave the house so Beth stayed with him the first part of the morning while Steve opened his gifts and then they switched and Beth came down and opened her gifts and Sammy's gifts after Steve went back up. It's too bad Sammy was sick on his first Christmas...he's feeling better now though, thank goodness.

Avery got more things from Aunt Beth and Uncle Steve , and her Grandma and Grandpa Newton (Judy & Ron). She got lady bug pajamas, a lady bug bank-really cute!! A lady bug rain jacket-very sweet!! A cute pink pant suit with ballet slippers on it...it's really soft!! She got a pretty purple floral shirt, and very cute daisy bucket hat, a plate, sippy cup and bowl set, bibs, 2009 coin set, ladybug puzzle, and a lady bug binky blanket-very cute!!! It's so much fun to open gifts for her, and we so appreciate the thought everyone puts into getting her something. It's not necessary but we do appreciate it!!

So Avery had a great Christmas, lots of new things to put in her room, and in her closet. Gary and I also got her a ladybug Twilight nightlight. It's a big plush lady bug that has a hard plastic shell with little stars punched in it. It has a light inside and when it lights up it puts stars and a moon on the ceiling. It can light up red, blue, or green. I guess in Europe they have blue ladybugs, and in Africa they have green ladybugs, that's why it has 3 different colors. It's really neat we opened it up the other night and made sure it worked and it puts a ton of stars on the ceiling. It's rated one of the 2008 best toys and and is proven to help children have a more restful sleep...thought it might work well with Avery giving her some peace when we bring her home.

We've got all of Avery's things in her closet now. Finally got it all out of our bedroom, it was over taking one side of the bedroom. Got a lot of it put in clear containers, and all her clothes are hanging up in the closet. It's pretty full.

We're going to change her room a little from what we first thought about. I thought it would be neat to paint a cherry blossom branch on the wall where her crib will be, so we're looking into that. We are still looking at brown, pink , green, and red, and off white for colors and accents. But I think the cherry blossom branch w/ blossoms on it might be fitting and go really well with our vision for her room.

We got some of the other things out of her room, and finally got our bedroom cleaned up...it was hideous. A lot of dust, and a lot of cat hair, and a lot of stuff we didn't need anymore. I took 6 bags of clothes out of my closet for the Salvation Army, just my clothes...I really cleaned house with my wardrobe...finally!!

So we're looking forward to getting through the next couple of months and moving into the review room in China with our dossier. It's nice to see people from our agency getting their referrals now...progress of any kind is always welcome.

Hope you and yours had a great Christmas!!

We thank all of our family and friends for their thoughtfulness of Avery this holiday season!!!

Love to all~
~Alli

Happy 18 months to us...

Today marks our 18 month Anniversary of being in the adoption!!! YAY!!
Another group from our agency has received their referrals...only 11 more groups to go before us!!!

The moths seem to go quickly, Gary had to remind me of today, that's alright!!


Love to all~
~Alli