First weeks of school ~ Sept. 5th-18th

The boys are beyond allowing us to take their pictures at the front of the school on their first day, but Nora is just beginning these milestones and is very excited about it. Our second day back to school found us enjoying a school-wide BBQ. It's a great chance to reconnect with families and start the year out right. Nora had her first face-painting experience... Thomas and Lewis were not impressed, as now she looked "weird".

Our lovely butterfly...

Keeping a safe distance...

 ...to meet the new mascot.

An exciting morning for all of us was Nora's first time to go to Preschool for 3 year olds. (She'll be turning 3 in November.) We'd been talking about it all summer, and that definitely motivated her with the potty training. Even though she only went for an hour with me the first day, it was still a special day.

And yes, time does fly...

This is also the time of year now that we remember leaving the second week of school in 2010 to travel to China to bring Nora home. We've been talking often about that time with Nora, to help her learn her story. She seems to understand the part that "When I a baby, I in China. I go home on plane. I had lots of bottles..." It will take many years and story-telling times to give her the full picture. She won't be so exuberant about it as she learns that she has a birth family out there somewhere that she will know nothing about. For now, she's all smiles about China, and her favourite food is "Chinese". :)

Our official family photo...

To celebrate Nora's adoption day (Sept. 14th), I had her quilt finished by a local machine-quilter, to which I just need to sew the binding onto. It's made of squares of Asian fabrics sent by family, friends and other adoptive families as we had waited for our little girl from 2006 onward. I finished sewing the quilt top almost two years ago, but found it too daunting to sew the layers together. I still have another 135 or more non-Asian squares to make another quilt for her some day.

Nora's "90" Good Wishes Quilt  (Just short 10 squares to be "100"...)

With life getting back into routine, we were happy to get together with our friends, Megumi and her daughter. We found a beautiful park in South Surrey, and got caught up on our summer news.

The lovely Redwood Park

Sometimes the girls get along...

...sometimes they don't!

Either way, they're cute together.

Eventually we realized that Nora's backpack was almost as big as she was, and was quite burdensome as she insisted on carrying it to preschool and back from the parking lot. We've bought a smaller one since then, so less people are laughing at her behind her back. :) She's adjusted well... no separation anxiety for this one. The boys didn't have any either! :)