SS reached a karate milestone faster than we expected. She passed the orange belt exam last week, and was promoted by receiving her belt tonight. Needless to say SS was excited and even she has vomited for the past two days, she hauled a** to class. There is not telling how long her impetus will last, but we are happy that she is happy. Even better, SS found out karate will be an Olympic sport in 2020. The news made her feel very proud of participating in the sport.
She's so cute about following protocol, good because her instructor is big on it.
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SS has never been one to let a special occasion go uncelebrated. Our very own party girl, may she get it out of her system by the time she enters college.
The instructor decided to call kids in reverse alphabetical order. His last name starts with a w and it annoyed him in school always being last. That meant that our daughter a AA would experience her first time being last. The instructor said he will alternate for future belts.
Yesterday SS and P participated in the annual Daddy-Daughter dance. They both look forward to the dance each year, and enjoy dressing up for the occasion. P dressed to compliment SS's outfit and I think they looked absolutely great. I was unable to volunteer to chaperone because I had surgery Monday, I'm still walking around with a draining tube, and in pain. P sent me pictures throughout the dance, it was good to see SS having a good time. The girls usually end up dancing with each other, and that leaves dozens of dads, who do not know each other, standing around. SS and P danced, my husband has serious moves. Sadly no pictures because P can't simultaneously dance and take pictures.
SS usually goes to bed late on Fridays, she brings her iPad to our bed, and by midnight I have to take her tablet away, and tell her to go to sleep. Last night she was exhausted, said her eyes hurt, handed me her glasses, and fell asleep in less than a minute. SS is still asleep, she is one tired girl.
SS looks so grown up wearing this outfit. P is sad that there is only one more daddy-daughter dance in his future, fifth grade.
Yikes, SS needs a trimming ASAP. But her dress is still gorgeous.
I know I'm biased but they make a stunning baba-daughter couple.
There were a lot of princesses at the dance. That is actually a dad in a tuxedo on the upper left hand side of the picture. He is hanging out by the green table.
The train, little girls love the train.
SS and best friend, M.
SS doing the Cha Cha Slide
SS and Baba doing the Cha Cha Slide at Knott's Berry Farm, April 2014.
To us she is still the little girl we met for the first time at the Civil Affairs Office in Kunming on 07/08/2008. Reality does have a way of bursting our bubble, and we woke up this morning to the beautiful sight of our ten year old baby. SS is TEN YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SS has karate class on Wednesday, and of course there is homework after school. Since she has arrived at double digits age, we gave her a choice. She could open her gifts in the morning, thus waking up earlier, or open gifts after karate. Silly us like she would chose the latter. So getting up at 6:00 a.m. to open presents it is. SS made sure to bring DOG with her for the special occasion.
SS had a great day, but there was a bit of sadness. Only Abuela and Abuelo remembered her birthday.
SS is not a fan of flash photography, especially after just waking up.
A Batman T-shirt to go along with her cake.
Flash photography aside SS was eager to open her gifts.
Her first wireless headphones.
SS loved the movie Moana, and we can see her as the strong willed and adventurous protagonist.
She was happy with the Multiplication Bingo game. SS's teacher plays the game with the kids and it really helps.
SS picked this cover for her full size iPad, and was rightfully disappointed when we bought the "wrong" size. On a funny note, Abuela loved the cover. Yup, our daughter has the taste of a 77 year old woman. Just kidding.
SS looks less than happy with her big gift. She has had the full size iPad since Kindergarten, time for an upgrade. SS had no idea what a tablet is, because she has lived in an iPad, and mini iPad world. Once she realized what it was, she was happy, and the smaller cover made sense. P was in charge of still pictures, I have no idea why we do not have some of her using the new tablet.
We decided on a cupcake cake to make it easier to distribute in the classroom. I had surgery Monday, and still have a draining tube, and a lot of pain. A full birthday party was not an option for us, the same for two days at Disneyland. We are taking SS on a fun trip next month to make up for the timing of my surgery.
The Yunnan Ham is ten years old.
SS's teacher asked her to choose two classmates to help her pass out the cupcakes.
I was able to film SS and the kids saying hi to Abuela, who enjoyed the video.
Happy girl, proud but still sad parents. It really is unfair how fast she grows, but she is kind, intelligent, inquisitive, happy, determined, and so many other great things. We are very lucky to be SS's parents.
I am K, married to P, and mother to JJ. We are a family of three, impatiently waiting to become a family of four, via adoption from China. Of course it is a girl, what else could we want. We are creating this blog to keep our family and friends updated on our lives, then our journey to China. We should be united with S in January 2007, and right now it seems like an eternity.
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