Knitting FO's & More

 Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante - the second in a series of patterns based on the TV show, Bones. knitted in Trekking sock yarn.  I have the third pattern in the series, Saroyan, otn. 

This is a simple little sweater dress I knitted for Sophie.  I still have some sort of applique to add, but can't find something I like.  The pattern is Baby Sweater Dress by Maryann Wu. She added cute little fall leaves to hers, which I like, but want something a little different.  Still looking.

Yesterday was Amy's birthday.  We didn't do anything fancy, just ate at her favorite Mexican restaurant, then had cake and trick or treating at home, but I imagine it was one of her best - her first birthday having Miss Sophie in her life.

She didn't dress Sophie up last night, but she surprised us and willingly gave out candy, putting it right in the bags or pumpkins.  Tonight we are going to a fall festival at a church and will hopefully have pictures of her dressed up later. 

Today in the beautiful sweater knitted by my friend Timmie.

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend all the grandchildren were here and we made a trip to a local farm where they had a great time petting animals, riding ponies, taking a wagon ride, going to the pumpkin patch and corn maze. It was a beautiful fall day, but very hot - wish it had been just a tad cooler.


Nikki loved all the animals and finally got the concept of how to feed them.

I think I now need a farm and some goats and sheep.  Unfortunately, DH doesn't share this thought!

 Nikki was so proud of herself for riding the pony.  There was a really small pony that she had picked out to ride, but when her turn came they said he had had a busy day and was too tired.  She wasn't sure about the bigger pony, but with mom walking along she did great.

 Nikki and Sophie love the bunnies.

 Sophie picked out her first pumpkin with granddaddy.

 This little house is at the back of the farm and Santa is here at Christmas.  While in this area we also saw the horses, most of which are rescue horses.

 Picture before we tackled the corn maze.  With the dry summer we've had there was no worry about getting lost in the maze - we could see over most of the corn!

 The sun was so bright and right overhead so we couldn't escape it.  Here are Bethany and Nikki with their pumpkins.

 The little playground at the end of the tour was a big hit with Sophie and Nikki.

 Looking at the baby pigs.

Great Weekend

Sophie's personality comes out more all the time. We had a great weekend and got to spend some time with her. She's a joy. To think that a month ago she possibly had never heard English and now she is learning new words every day. She loves cars and points them out from the window, our front porch, the car window, etc. Today her granddaddy was watching a Nascar race and she would say, car, fast, fast, fast! Maybe he will have a racing buddy!

Yesterday we went to a children's festival and even though most of the activities were a little too old for her, she enjoyed the atmosphere and watching the activities.

Last night she learned the joys of chips and cheese dip.  She caught on quickly!

When first home from China she was afraid of the grass and wouldn't touch it or put her feet down in it.  Now she loves to be outside and just takes off. 

Happy girl!

We'll Always Remember

Like most of you I remember well this day 9 years ago.  It was a beautiful blue-sky September day, my mother's birthday and I was thinking of her and hoping she had a good day, planning to call her later in the day.  I had just gotten to work when we began to hear the news.  What had  happened?  Was it a freak accident?  Then other tragedies began to happen and we knew it was worse than we could have imagined.

My son was on a ship in the Mediterranean, my daughter-in-law and 4 year old granddaughter on the Navy base in Norfolk which quickly became thought of as one of the next targets.  They called my daughter-in-law at work to pick up B as they were closing the base day care and closing down the base.  She called my husband and he and I left work immediately to go get her.  DIL felt she had to stay to work but wanted B to go with us.  In the four hour drive we listened over and over to the news on the radio in disbelief.  This couldn't have happened here - but it did and we will always remember.

Still a Knitting Blog??

After a hard two-week trip to China where sleep was lost, and a really hard, never-ending trip home, then family visits, going back to work, and a killer sinus infection for the last week, I finally picked my knitting back up again.  I made it back to Monday night knitting and was so glad to see everybody.  Amy brought Sophie by to meet everyone and even though she is a little wary of strangers at first after getting a neat new book from Gaye, Sophie relaxed and they even saw a little of her personality shine through. 

I started the Traveling Woman shawl before I left, but have worked very little on it since then.  Hopefully I will get back in the groove soon.  (Trekking sock yarn)

We had a wonderful, laid back Labor Day weekend.  It was so good to have the few days off and we got to spend a little time with Sophie.  Granddaddy has been worried that she wouldn't ever willingly go to him but that all changed this weekend. 

Just like the other two granddaughters decided long ago, he became a favorite person!

She found my tupperware and cookie cutters!

She went out to eat with us and was so good.  She waved and said hi to all the other children in the restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed her lunch!

And she learned to ride the Care Bears car like a champ.  This little car has the most annoying song you can imagine and she pushed the button at least 100 times.  We are going shopping for a new car I think, either that or this battery is going to die!

Not Another Red Couch Photo!

This weekend our daughter-in-law and granddaughters came in for a visit to meet Sophie.  We were a little worried about how the 3 year old and Sophie would do, but they did just great!  A few episodes of "that is mine", but not many and we were so proud of Nikki for sharing all her toys and being so loving to Sophie.

Sophie enjoyed her first meal in our house.

We tried to get a group photo of the girls but I think Sophie flashed back to the "Red Couch Photos".  She was having nothing to do with Mama putting her down.

Sophie sucks her right thumb to get herself to sleep.  Today it got infected and looked terrible.  I went with Amy to the doctor where we thought it would have to be lanced and might take both of us to hold her.  While we were waiting in the exam room though either Sophie hit it on something or it just opened on its own and drained. She now has an antibiotic and a wrapped thumb. She cried a little in the beginning, but actually sat still and let them dress her thumb.  Don't know how she will make it tonight without that thumb!  I hope she and mama get some sleep.

We're Home!

Thank goodness!  After such a wonderful trip the last few days have been a blur!  We left Guangzhou at 10:40 pm Wednesday night China time (12 hrs ahead of us), got to Hong Kong at 11:40 and took the hotel shuttle to the Marriott at the airport.  We got in bed about 1 am and had a wake up call at 5 am - so even though it was our first soft bed since we had left home we didn't get to enjoy it long. 

Our flight left the next morning at 8 so we had to get to the airport early.  Keep in mind all of this is with an 18 month old, 3 check-in bags, and 2 carry-ons.  Every step was an ordeal!

From Hong Kong we flew to Tokyo - had enough time to get to our gate, eat lunch and rest a short time and then board for our longest flight to Minneapolis.  We were not lucky enough to get an extra seat, so we had two seats in a set of three and Sophie climbed from Amy to me at least 5,000 times over the course of the next 10 hours.  She really did well for the circumstances.  I'm writing the airline though - sometimes you  have to fly with babies and they could help a little - they could at least have a baby changing station and some special seats for families with babies.  Ever try to change a poopy diaper on a plane, or eat a meal with a toddler sitting in your lap and the tray table down where they can grab everything on the tray? Fun times!

At Minneapolis we had to retrieve our bags, go through customs (where Sophie became an American Citizen!), recheck our bags, go through security again, and then wait about 3 hours for our flight to Atlanta.  In Atlanta we had almost no time to change planes, but luckily two other ladies on our flight had to catch the same plane, so they helped find the gate and lead the way there.  All along we encountered such nice people who were great to help us out!  The poor lady who sat by us from Tokyo to Minneapolis was wonderful.  She was from Thailand, going to visit a friend in North Dakota. (Couldn't have made that up!).  We barely could communicate, but she helped us several times on the trip.

Here are a few pictures of our last few days in Guangzhou.  We had a wonderful time in China and will always remember this trip.  We met some great people and hope to keep in touch.  Some are in these pictures.

Amy & Sophie in the Mattel playroom at the White Swan Hotel.

Sophie and her friend Lily.

It is a tradition to dress up all the adopted children in a group and make their picture on the famous red couches in the hotel.  This was hilarious!  It was chaotic, crazy and loud.  Some kids (like Sophie) were having none of it and some just looked around at the screaming ones in wonderment. 

Sophie has good lung power!

Look at Lily and Grace in the front turning around to look at Sophie and Lia (next to Sophie) to see what all the fuss is about!

She was fine if Amy held her.

Our whole group.

Sophie and Grace our last morning at breakfast!

Amy's friend Tracy and her daughter, Charlotte met us at the airport in Minneapolis.  Don't Charlotte and Sophie both look cute in yellow?