Gung Hay Fat Choy! 5/52 - Project 52

Wishing you health, prosperity, and happiness 

in this Year of the Horse!

We're very lucky in that we get to spend the upcoming weekend

with our beloved China travel group at a hotel,

swimming, eating and celebrating.

Grace was born in the Year of the Horse as were all the other children adopted

in her travel group.

We have known these wonderful families now

for over 10 years.

Hope you are doing something fun to bring in the new year!

Merry Christmas

"Christmas my child, is love in action."

 

~ Dale Evans

 

 

 

 

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,

The warmth of Christmas grant you love.

~  Author Unknown

 

 

 

 Behind all the commercial-ism of the season
is the simple story about a family trying to get through difficult times.
And a baby born in a manger.

 

 

 

 

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

~ Luke 2:10-11

 

 

 

Merry Christmas!

May you find the blessings of Christmas - peace, love and hope...today and always.

 

with love,

Dan, Gail, Nick, Grace and William

The Nutcracker (Sunday Snapshot)

 

 

 

  

 

It's one of those traditions that started over 25 years ago, before I had children.

I've had this love for the Nutcracker for many years and would attend productions pretty much everywhere we lived.

 

 

This is the 6th year that Grace and I have attended our local Nutcracker
put on by the Madison Ballet.
We've gotten where we both can anticipate each and every
dance and are never disappointed.
I'm hoping it's a tradition we can continue and maybe
next year bring Will (if he's up for it).

Taken shortly before we left yesterday.
Grace was playing with two of her Nutcracker ornaments from

the little tree in her room.

Merry Christmas!
We are getting a white one with a big snowstorm that's
hitting Wisconsin just as I write this.

 

 

 

Keeping Christmas in my Heart(Sunday Snapshot)

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.

 

  ~ Charles Dickens

 

As much as I enjoy seeing the Christmas decorations and giving gifts to people I love.

  It is easy to feel a lot of pressure to get the decorating & shopping done, the cards sent, the presents wrapped and all of the other activities going on this time of year. 

 Unfortunately, it is way too easy to forget about the reason for the season. 

Getting out into the quiet of the snow with Grace was a great way to get back to what is really important: love, family, simple beauty and God. 

 The blessings of the season are with us everyday. 

 We should try to enjoy them as much as we can. 
Time passes so quickly and these days will be fond memories before we know it. 

A Christmas Carol

The shepards had an angel,
The wise men had a star;
But what have I, a little child,
To guide me home from far,
Where glad stars sing together,
And singing angels are?

~ Christina Rossetti
written in 1856



 

 

(Sunday Snapshot) a Red, White and Blue long weekend

 

It was one of those gloriously long holiday weekends.

 

(iphone collage)

 

 Fun with friends...with swimming and relaxing at Devil's Lake.

 We celebrated with a parade, sparklers, fireworks and playing outside until it was dark.

 

And a neighborhood get together with yummy food,
 playing games and a lot of mosquito bites thrown in there
for good measure
(and they were worth it).

Hope yours was a fun one!!

July 4th

 

'I love my freedom. I love my America.'

 

~ Jessi Lane Adams

'In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed;
it must be achieved.'

~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
 

 

 Every country celebrates "their day."
Many call it Independence Day.
The USA was
founded by people looking for religious freedom.
They were followed by people trying to find all types of freedom...
freedom from oppression, famine, poverty, you name it.
Our forefathers fought to get freedom, to keep it and let others have it -
at home and abroad.
This is a great country and I'm proud to be an American.
I'm happy that my children will grow up here.
Happy 4th!

Taken about 10 days ago in the beautiful fields not far from where we live in Wisconsin.

22/52 - his alter egos

   Pretty amazing how wearing a pair
of Batman sunglasses can make
Batman (on the left), Superman (middle) and the Hulk (right) appear.

19/52 and Favorite Photo Friday - it's showtime!

{Spring Recital}

I'll admit that this is one of my favorite times of the year,

and also some of my personal favorites as far as photos that I take
of my children.

There were some funky lighting situations... but I made the best of it and took

my time enjoying these moments.

(Grace and her friends waiting in the hallway before going on).

Last year at her recital I got thinking 

that there probably aren't too many people

that get to see this magical little 'world' that lies backstage at a dance performance.
The air is charged with excitement.

It is incredibly special to me.

(Older ballerinas watching Grace's class perform on stage.These girls were so encouraging to the younger ones).

And for Will...this was his first Spring recital.
The waiting part was a little hard for these guys
in the boys (5-7 yr.) hip hop class. They couldn't wait to show the audience what they could do.
The boys had 2 performances on Saturday and they did awesome!



(Waiting to go on...Will was the first onstage and led his group out).

Months and months of practice come down to this....
and finally it's their time in the spotlight.
My husband and I couldn't have been more proud of our two!

Grace had strep throat the week of the recital and missed both rehearsals as a result.
The photos of her were from Friday night of the ballet, "A MidSummer's Night Dream."
She was part of the lavender field.
Unfortunately she was too sick to dance on Saturday
and didn't get to perform in the ballet again or in her jazz and tap dances.
She was a little disappointed but is really looking forward to dancing again next year.
And thankfully she's healthy now.

Will's hip hip group danced to "My Girl" by Mindless Behavior.
He loved being on stage for his dance and also the finale (his first one).
He's still thinking about hip hop for next year but may possibly switch to gymnastics.
This boy can move!

And Happy Mother's Day a little early!

Love is in the air

Only from the heart can you touch the sky.

~ Rumi

A hundred hearts would be too few
To carry all my love for you.

~ unknown

kisses are a better fate
than wisdom.

~ e.e. cummings

Happy Hearts Day...

xo

4/52 and Favorite Photo Friday - Celebrating the year of the dragon

{lion dance costumes}

This was a first for us as we joined our local FCC group
and participated in their Chinese New Year celebration.

Grace loved the crafts and made a few beaded items,
a bookmark, and various other things.
She was in heaven!

Will was in a parade with the golden dragon.
He also met a friend from his kindergarten class
who has a twin sister.
The three of them hung out the entire time.
He was delighted to see Hope and Stella there.

 One of the highlights for us all was the Lion dance.

There were 6 lions dancing around the large room.
This was the first time that Will got to put hong bao in the lion's mouth.
(so fun!)

The other highlight was seeing this Chinese dance group perform.
The peacock costumes were designed and hand made in China for this event
and shipped back here.

There were also performances by a kung fu group,
singers,
 of course fireworks (bubble wrap)
and plenty of food.

We definitely will be back next year!

Favorite photo Friday - Looking back

As the end of 2011 rapidly approaches, I thought I'd choose 12 of my best photos.
Really  'favorite' would be a better word to use.
As I went through hundreds of pictures, I had a couple of thoughts...
these two have grown like crazy and we had quite a year!

Taken just about a year ago in their Chinese clothing to celebrate Chinese New Year,
these two made me smile.
You can see so much of their personalities.
I'm making a note to self to get out that backdrop out and do it again
in January.


January 2011.

Grace in contemplative moment.


 Late March 2011.

Easter Sunday, playing and jumping on the stones
outside the restaurant we were at for brunch.
I love this candid.

April 2011.

Swan Lake.
Grace's first Spring recital, she's in the background if you look closely.

May 2011.

Will with shades on, swinging.
Our sweet Molly looks on, she lives in heaven now.


June 2011.

Door County, WI vacation.
I bought 2 little vintage Kodak Instamatic cameras off e-bay for the kids to play with.
They were a huge hit!
This series was one of my favorites and I use this image
on my thank you notes
for clients.

August 2011.

Will holding a yellow leaf.
You can see so much of his personality in this one with his sparkly eyes.
He's a mischievous one. ;)


October 2011

 

Portrait of Grace that was used for our Christmas card.
I love the light and her expression here.
It was an extremely windy Fall weekend and cold.
My camera was acting up and I went with what I got that weekend.
Grace's hair was flying everywhere in almost every image-
like straight up in the air.
Some cloning was done.

October 2011

Playing at the dog park, one of my favorite candids.
It's real life and my 2 little loves.

November 2011.

Grace before we left for the Nutcracker, about two weeks ago.

December 2011.

And finally, Will on Christmas Day (which is also his Birthday).
While doing a little photo session, he spun around
and gave me this look, (this is so him).

December 2011.

Well, another year has come and gone.

Wishing you blessings, health, and lots and lots of  love and laughter
in the New Year.

xo
Gail