We Had A Spooktacular Halloween!

This was my second Halloween. Last year I dressed up as an Anne Geddes bunny. But this year I am something totally different. I'm going to start with a picture of Mama and Baba that was taken before they went to a Halloween party on Saturday night. They look creepy, don't they?!?

And this is me in my ladybug costume! Ladybugs are a good luck symbol for families who are waiting to adopt from China, so this was a very special costume for me and for my Mama and Baba.


I love my wings and my pumpkin!


My wings flap as I walk and run in my squeaky shoes (I only do that to hear them squeak).


Are you still taking pictures of me? Let's do something more entertaining.


See, I am making one wing move now! Oh, and it's trick or treat time!


And here is the pumpkin my big brother Xavier carved on Sunday. I love it, and I love when he visits me!

And this is what it looked like at night time. Spooky!

I enjoyed going to houses and saying "trick or treat." Now I'm checking out my loot! Wow, that's a lot of candy!

After all the festivities, I enjoyed playing with a glow stick and wearing my new frog PJ's my Grandma bought me.

This is my "why are you still taking pictures when I'm trying to play with my glow stick" face.

Well, that's all for tonight. I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! Stay tuned for our upcoming trip to the North Georgia mountains and then Thanksgiving with Poppy, Mimi and the Doughertys in Memphis.

Our Trip To The Pumpkin Patch

Well, I now know what a pumpkin patch is! We went to one today, and I loved it! Here are some pictures that will show you exactly what I had fun doing. First, I got to see a few goats. They weren't too interested in me though. They were eating.

And then, I met a pig. I know exactly what sound a pig makes, and I tried to talk to him saying "oink, oink." He didn't talk back.


And then I got to see a real live cow. The cow was really popular to look at.

And when I was all alone with the cows, I started trying to talk to them by saying "moo, moo, moo."


And then I enjoyed a hay maze.

Luckily, I was able to make my way through it!


I had a chance to play with some really BIG pumpkins. I played this one like a drum.


I really love this pumpkin.


Next, we went on a hayride!


I love the feel of the wind in my hair!


I can come back here every year to see how tall I've grown. I am about 2 and a half feet tall right now!


And here I'm sitting on some bales of hay, surrounded by pumpkins.


And now we are about to go choose our pumpkins from the patch! Mama and Baba have to walk, but I get to ride in STYLE!


Wow, we've already found one really good one! That thing is BIG!


Mama said that I am just like her. Here I am in the middle of a pumpkin patch, and I'm focusing all my attention on reading the brochure!

And now we've found the perfect pumpkins. One of them weighs more than I do! And we also have a little baby pumpkin that is all mine.


Well, our time at the pumpkin patch is just about over. But I have found the coolest thing yet. A rock!!!!! I love it, and I'm going to take it home with me.


Mama and Baba said that we will actually carve our pumpkins in a couple of weeks and then place a candle inside them to make them glow for Halloween. What fun! Oh, and stay tuned for my adventures when we take a ride up into the North Georgia mountains. Mama and Baba are waiting on the leaves to turn pretty colors, so it will probably be a week or two from now. Zai jian (good bye)!

We Are Having A Great Gotcha Week!!!

In honor of the one-year anniversary of my "Gotcha Day" my Mama and Baba started celebrating this Saturday, which was the exact day last year when they began the trip to China to meet me. We had a great day on Saturday. We started it off with a delicious lunch at an Italian restaurant. I loved the "Seafood Charmaine" because I love scallops and anything spicy. And I especially loved the fresh mozzarella with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, fresh basil and tomatoes. For a toddler, I have a very diverse palate! After dinner, I enjoyed a mango smoothie.

See how happy this mango smoothie makes me!

I love when I get to drink something with a straw like this. It sure beats a sippy cup, because if you pull the straw in and out, it makes a squeaking noise like my shoes.


Hold on - time for another sip.


Yep, I'm still happy. It's our Gotcha Week, my tummy is fully of Italian food, and I have a mango smoothie!



Hold on - time for another sip.



Mama likes that I am becoming more "playful." She said that each and every day, my personality comes through a little bit more.

We also went by to visit a place where Mama used to work. She wanted to visit some of her old friends and clients there. It's so pretty at that place! They have beautiful gardens and a fish pond. And their new marketing director (that was Mama's old job) gave me a balloon!!!!!!

Here I am looking at the fish pond. I don't want to get too close! Oh, and I mentioned that my shoes squeak. That is because they are supposed to! They are "squeaky shoes" from China. There are squeakers in the heels, and it makes me happy when I walk in them and hear them squeak! My dress is also from China.

We also went to the mall for awhile. Baba and I look SO excited don't we? Mama should know better than to interrupt our fun at the mall with a picture-taking session. :)

We also went to see our friend Greg at his putt-putt golf place called Groovy Golf (at the Georgia Square Mall in Athens - shameless plug for our friend Greg). He just moved to a much bigger location, and it looks GREAT!

And this is why it's really so groovy - it's a glow in the dark golf course! We LOVE it!

The other thing we did for our Gotcha Week celebration was to watch our video from China again. This time, I really understood it. I kept walking up to the TV saying "baby" - because that was ME on the screen. And I saw my Mama and Baba too. Mama said that I must have really liked and understood the video, because I kept coming up to both of them for kisses throughout the whole thing. They thought that was really sweet. We are all so happy that one year ago, we became a forever family. Now stay tuned, because this next weekend, we are going to a pumpkin patch for a hayride, a petting farm, and all sorts of things that I don't exactly understand. But I will tell you ALL about them soon.

And Finally, Our Gotcha Day Video From October 9, 2006

This was the day that we became a family of 3 in Chongqing, China. It's already October 9th in China, so we are just in time to celebrate our one-year anniversary of "Gotcha Day."

Introducing My Baby

A few months ago, Mama and Baba bought me a baby of my own. She is named Baby Yang. We picked that name, because Yang was my last name before I met my Mama and Baba. Mama somehow knew that I would fall in love with a baby that looked just like me. Mama looked all over to find one that was just right, and she did. Baby Yang has my black hair, my brown skin, and my beautiful almond-shaped brown eyes. She looks just like ME! And I love her very much. She sleeps with me at night, and she rides with me in the car, and she even sits on the kitchen counter while I eat at the table. She goes everywhere with me! Oh, and they bought me a red balloon that day, and it went everywhere with me too.

I love to give Baby Yang kisses just like Mama and Baba kiss me.

And if you come up to try and take Baby Yang from me, I will give you this very suspicious, secretive look and say "No. Mine. My baby."

Sometimes I get very creative in how I carry Baby Yang. In the following example, I'm holding her by her ankle. Sometimes I hold her upside down. Mama says that I need to change that when I start spending time around REAL babies.

And finally, Baba let ME take a picture of the two of us. Mama thinks I did a really good job!

Thank you Mama and Baba for Baby Yang. And for all Mamas out there who may want a baby like Baby Yang, she is made by Corolle. They have an entire line of baby dolls of different ethnicities and for all ages, including first baby dolls for infants.