2nd Birthday Party

Celebration of Life at Natalie's School

On Natalie's Birthday, they held a Celebration of Life Ceremony at her school. First, they brought in pizza for the whole class, and let her parents and grandparents attend. We played a video that showed some pictures from Natalie's life - all the children were surprised to see Natalie on TV. Next, the teacher read from a book that Natalie brought to class. Then, Natalie got to walk around the calendar circle twice because she was two years old. Finally, everyone sat down to eat their pizza.

Meeting Tom and Karen

During her trip to Chicago, Natalie got to meet her Dad's friends Tom and Karen. First, we got to eat at Tom's restaurant in Downers Grove, which was great. After dinner, Natalie went back to Tom and Karen's house to spend some time with "the boys" - Tom and Karen's 4 Chihuahuas. The boys were a little afraid of Natalie and barked quite a bit, but Natalie wasn't afraid and had a great time with everyone.

Meeting the Winslows

While in Chicago, Natalie got to meet Matt's friend Steve and his kids. Natalie enjoyed meeting with them and had a lot of laughs playing peek-a-boo with Andrew and sitting on Kristin's lap.

Thanksgiving in Chicago

Natalie went to Chicago for Thanksgiving. She always loves to travel, especially when she can travel on an airplane. Natalie loved visiting her grandparents and eating lots of turkey. The trip was overall very restful with a quality time spent with Grandma and Grandpa.

Picnic at the Dallas Arboretum

Natalie had a great adventure at the Dallas Arboretum with her Dadaji and Aunty Nancy. She got to see the fall pumpkins, have a picnic and play ball.

Natalie's First Halloween

Last weekend, Natalie experienced her first Halloween. She dressed up as a lady bug and went trick or treating with her friend Madison from school. At first, Natalie was very scared - perhaps she thought that we were going to drop her off at the first house. However, once Natalie figured out that all she had to do was go up to each door, say "trick or treat" and hold out her bag to get candy and compliments on her costume, she started running from door to door. Towards the end of the evening, Natalie could barely carry her bag because it was so full of candy, but of course, she wouldn't let anyone else carry it for her. If there was a downside to the whole experience for Natalie, it would be that she'll have to wait until next year to go trick or treating again.

Natalie's Promotion

We recently got a wonderful surprise when we went to the parent teacher conference at Natalie's Montessori School. Her teachers said that she had mastered everything in her current class, and that it was time for her to move up to the next level. This was obviously exciting and terrific news.

Back in March, Natalie started her life in the US as a 15 month old child with the development of an 8 month old (due to her being in Chinese institutional care). Now, as a 22 month old, she's right in-line with her age in terms of development.

In practical terms, this meant that Natalie moved (as of October 21st) to a class that now requires a school uniform (the previous class didn't). Here Natalie is modeling her new uniform, just like a big girl.

Special thanks to Holly Shewmake for allowing us to borrow Madison's uniform for Natalie to try.

Costume choices for Halloween

What should Natalie be dressed as this Halloween - Lady Bug, Princess or Rabbit? We tried out various head gear to see what might work. Watch this space for the final selection!! = )

Dinner at Twisted Root Burger

This evening, we decided to dine out at a Burger place that came highly recommended called "Twisted Root Burger." Natalie couldn't get enough of the fries and chocolate milk shake. It was quite obvious that she, like us, was very happy with our dining experience.