Burnett___Family-O-Rama

Happy New Year everyone!

As you probably know, the Lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year) was on February 18. In China, this kicks off a serious time of parties and family gatherings. We're told it's kind of like Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's all rolled into one.

So many people travel inside the country of China to visit relatives and friends during this time that it's just about impossible for foreign travellers to get around. Our adoption agency just doesn't even try to schedule trips during that time.

We finally got to attend a very cool party with our local chapter of FTA (families through adoption). The party got postponed due to the blizzard. The first couple of pics show Althea and the other kiddos coloring pictures of pigs and other New Year's related stuff.

This is the year of the pig--very auspicious! While in China, we were told that many, many couples got married last year in the hopes of having a baby in the year of the pig because of its auspici-osity. Go fig.

It was a super fun party--great Chinese food, decorations, and music. Althea grooved on the music, especially once she found a long red ribbon on the floor. She picked it up and started dancing! Olympics here we come!

There were also many fun crafts, supplied by one of our high school's Chinese culture clubs. Althea was a bit young to make a lantern or a fortune cookie, but she certainly had fun running and running and running all over the place, saying "hiiiiiii" to such an appreciative audience. Hmmmm--is it the year of the pig . . .or the year of the ham?




Anyway, we had a really great time. We brought along a video of some traditional lion dancing to show the kids. Very cool wushu stuff. I think it will turn out to be an ongoing event for the group and for us.



So happy auspicious new year to you all!

Hello friends,
(It's Dawn this time.)

Just thought I'd share some fun shots of the little one. Seems she's really taking to some of the typical girly stuff with vigor.

For example, she has decided she really enjoys hats--mostly for the effect they have on her Baba when she shows him how cute she looks.

She also enjoys purses and bags--putting things in them, taking things out of them, and carrying the bag around like she's headed out for some serious power shopping. She definitely enjoys shopping more than her mother. Perhaps this little girl is just what I need to finally deal with my "shopping issues."

Here is a shot of one of our morning rituals. She loves "loooooooo-tion." When it's time to head out the door, I ask her if she wants some lotion. "Jes!" she exclaims and runs for the bathroom. She giggles as I dab the lotion on and rub it around. We put the extra on our hands. Dry skin--it's a winter thing.


We've also just started experimenting with "pretties" (little hair clips shaped like butterflies). Althea's only recently had enough hair to try this. To date, we haven't gotten very far with them still in her hair. Usually, as soon as we get a few feet from the mirror, she pulls them out to look at them. Unfortunately, they also frustrate her because they're a bit too hard for her to put in herself. And she loves doing things herself. She has already conquered socks and can manage most pants and shoes with only a tiny bit of help.

And amazingly, she already will insist on certain clothing choices for the day! Often, I can do a bit of a bait and switch when needed, but I know those days are numbered.

My sisters would most likely say she is wise to start cultivating her own fashion sense rather than relying on mine.

As you can see, she decided my hair needed a little work too, using a pretty avant garde styling technique.

But despite all this girly stuff, our little one also seems to be in touch with her "masculine" side. She loves toy cars and racing them around. She enjoys growling at any opportunity. And we've had to work lately on taming a pretty serious upper cut!

Hiiiiiiiiiii friends,
Althea here again.

A new word has been added to my secret vocabulary lately--blizzard! At first, I though it must be something bad, since my parents and everyone else seemed kind of worked up about it when it was headed our way.

Turns out to be a great thing--a WHOLE BIG BUNCH OF SNOW! And I love snow!

I also learned about a "snow day." That means my school is closed so I get to stay home with Mama and Baba. Very fun for the most part. Baba spent an awful lot of time shovelling and shovelling and shovelling the snow. I got to be out there to help only sometimes.

I think snow is the best! Not only does it give me a new challenge for my walking and balancing skills, but you can also kick it and squish it with your hands and feet. I also like making tracks through it. (Though this time there was so much, I couldn't get through it without falling down).

As you can see, I did fall down a bit. Can you believe my mother would snap a picture at such an undignified moment!?! I told her very clearly that she really ought to be helping me up instead. Sometimes that woman really tries my patience!




Looks like I'm starting to get a bit "winter moist," so Mama says it's time I went in.


Hope you're all having fun this winter too!