Casual Sunday, Wee Wednesday, Re-model planning and foster family contact

 Almost all of the pictures for this post were downloaded from my new phone.  I'm ok with the look (esp. since my camera is damaged) however it is cumbersome to download.

  We bought this tiger hat in Guangzhou and until recently Audrey showed no interest in wearing it.

   The shapes puzzle in the picture below is a referral gift from Paula.  Tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary of Referral Day!

  Watching "Signing Time" on her little red stool with her purse on her shoulder.

  Sunday after church all 3 of us took a leisurely walk through Eden Park.  We saw this food truck while we were in Twin Lakes. 

  We have started planning for the 1st floor bathroom re-model!  We are going to take over the 1st floor as soon as our tenant moves out... not that we know when that might happen.  Below is a picture of sinks from Lowe's.  I was rather impressed with their selection and obviously price too.

 We also checked out Keidel this week where you can easily spend $1,000 on a faucet.   But it was fun to look, even Miss A was entertained at Keidel.

 Cool shower head.

Tuesday at Joseph Beth.  we were early for play group at Owl's Nest Park so I decided to stop by the bookstore.  We never made it to play group.

Wednesday we went to the first Wee Wednesday 9last Wed ea month) event at the Art Museum.  This month's theme was :fins, Fur & Wings"  They had 4 interactive storytime stops in different galleries.  You receive this booklet and get a sticker for each month you attend.  We only made it to 2 storytime today.  The first was in front of a picture by Edie Harper (Charley's widow) titled Woodland Fauna.  The 2nd storytime we made it to was in front of a vase titled "Aladdin Vase" by Maria Longworth Nichols Storer.  This one featured fish. 

 I received this picture from Ann of Red Thread this week.  This is the photo album, translated letter and postage paid return letter she is delivering to Audrey's Chinese foster family in the next week.  Ann also sent a video of the cake that we sent to YiFeng and was used to celebrate the 3rd birthday of a girl named Zhuang Lu Hu who just returned from the hospital.  It took a couple of hours to download this 15 minute video and so special to see.  The children at Zhuang Lu Hu's b-day were all special needs I believe and incredibly well behaved.  It also showed parts of YiFeng we had never seen.  

  A picture of Audrey and foster baba.

 The updated photo we received after referral and for the longest time we thought was in Yifeng SWI but know now was in the foster family's home.

Douthat State Park, Movers & Shakers Class and more info from China

 We spent last weekend with family in Douthat State Park.   It was fun but this is the only picture I took.  I have been really lame about taking pictures.  Possibly b/c I have damaged my camera due to abusing it in my bag.

 On the way home we stopped at Steak and Shake.  Miss A gets a kick out of this place.

Drawing on the white board at Bow Tie.

One of our neighborhood bank friends stayed at the Florida condo this past week and brought back this Sharky's t-shirt for Audrey.

 This past Wednesday we went to Movers & Shakers Class (1-4 yo) @ Hyde Park Library.  Audrey makes a bee line for the fish once we are in the library.

 And has to be talked in to going to class.  This class Audrey learned just how much fun dance, dance, dance "freeze" (when the music stops) is to do with a group.  On the way home she also learned ".com" from the end of her signing time video.  She is picking up language and signs at a quicker pace now.

This week I also finally got it together to place an order for a care package for Audrey's foster family.   I am sending it thru Ann of Red Thread like i did for the care package for the orphanage.  The foster family should receive in about a week.  I sent a pre-paid envelope requesting a response of any information they would like to share.  Below is a copy of the email response i received from Ann when I placed this foster family care package order.

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Roberta:

Got your pictures, your letter and foster family information but we have not got your payment yet !!!

I received lots of videos about your last cake to the orphanage ,but they are all very large files !

Last time , when I delivered your cake to the orphanage ,it happed that one child named Zhuang Lu Hu was out of the hospital and three years old ,so that cake was as Zhuang Lu Hu`s birthday cake ,Zhuang Lu Hu does not have a family .....

Do you want those videos ?If you do,I will share some with you ...love,Ann

 

So of course I asked her if she would share any videos. 

 

Restaurant week

 The weather was beautiful today.  We had tickets to see God of Carnage at the Playhouse tonight however our babysitter has strep so we had to exchange the tickets.  So tonight we took a walk and had dinner at Rookwood.  It is also Restaurant Week again in Cincinnati.  I would not have known that before tonight except that my friend Anna could not go to Yoga Tuesday night because of this event.

It was our first time eating on their new outside patio. 

Miss A loved the cheese tray.  She surprised us how much she loved the parmesan, like the brie and even the blue cheese.

Putting coats on on their outdoor couch.

  I got my haircut super short at lunch today.  Much better cut for me which I should have done a long time ago.  Plus the salon is on my street, cheaper than where I went before and much more interesting stories told in the salon. 

Picture of a super confident ham-bone who spontaneously performed "baby tricks" for the first time in a long time tonight.

Block Party 2011 and new addition to the kitchen

 This past Saturday was our annual block party with our neighbors.

 Watching the older neighbor kids play.

Sunday evening Audrey and I met Paula at Bow Tie and then walked with her to Celestial where she was meeting friends to listen to Cybeil (sp?).  Audrey and I even stayed for a couple of songs which was fun but we certainly felt out of place.

 Tuesday afternoon we went to Ikea and bought this table , chair and rug for Audrey.  She is really enjoying the view of outside.  And probably done with her highchair.

Stroller Safari, piano, Hat Girl and new friend from Chongqing

  Typical breakfast. 

We have received an incredible amount of information relative to Audrey's 1st 10 months of life in the last couple of weeks.  All of which is priceless.  It is also the reason I have not blogged about daily events in a while.

Stroller Safari class this past Tuesday was "Terrific Textures".   This picture shows Audrey is learning the texture smooth.  She retained this infromation as she used it to describe a pumpkin Paula gave her 4 days later.

Audrey and some other kid following the teacher. Miss Lucy, with the snake.

  Loving the nice stroller weather we are currently experiencing!

Miss A playing with the tubes before Movers and Shakers class (at Hyde Park Library) started Wednesday morning.

  These khaki's are the first pair I ever bought for her (which was probably about 4 years ago).  They must be sized wrong as they are 6-12 months.

 These are new shoes she got this week as her feet have grown another 1/2 size since mid summer.   She is slowly warming to them. She hasn't worn socks for so long it is an adjustment.

 Goofing at Bow Tie Cafe.  I love the location, in our neighborhood, and general vibe of this little coffee shop.  Plus they have toys and 2 piano's (one for adults and one for kids).

Playing Bow Tie's kid piano is so much fun for Audrey.

She will applaud and enthusiastically say "yeah" for herself.  Luckily there is a full size mirror adjacent to the piano to fully enjoy her performance.

 Saturday morning we met some friends of Paula's who adopted their little girl in Chongqing this past April.  It was such a fun meal and we hope to get together again soon.  Afterwards John, Audrey and I took a walk around our  neighborhood.

 Maybe she is starting to like her new shoes.

 Random pictures of hat girl

  This is typical of Audrey making a hat of pants.

  She is developing her own sense of style!  As A would say ... "yeah!"