Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!

Welcome to the year of the dog! As you can see from the pictures, our Ning Ning, born in the year of the monkey, lives up to her animal. She certainly is a climber! Today we attended the local FCC Chinese New Year celebration held at the Fox Cities PAC. It was wonderful! We got to see ribbon dancing and the lantern dance (done by young girls), and a dragon dance performance done by a troop from Whitefish Bay. Very cool! There were tons of little girls and boys there from China. It's hard to believe that there are so many adoptive families in the area! It's so nice to see! Enjoy the pics!

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The dragon dance...

The big brother. He had a great time!

See, even pretty Chinese princesses can throw fits!

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This is how our day went : Mom chases Sofia...

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Sofia climbs the stairs...*

Sofia climbs again...
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At the end of the day, could you be mad at this face??!!

January Fun...

The scavengers come out to eat the cereal when the box exploded all over the kitchen floor. The marshmellows were the first to go. Shocking...

Reading books with Kellie and Willow

I'm getting bigger, but I can still take a bath in the kitchen sink!

Tatey and Ning Ning being goofy before bedtime!

Self explanatory...

Happy Referral Day Sofia!

Today is a special day for our family! On this day, one short year ago, we learned about our very special little Sofia who was waiting for us at the Datong SWI in Shanxi Province, PRC. What a wonderful day that was and what a magical ride it has been! Only God knows the true story of the intervention that brought this perfect, sweet little lady to our family. On January 6, 2005 our Red Thread got considerably shorter!

Happy Referral Day Dang Kang Ning!

The Story of the Starfish...
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a figure in the distance. As he got closer he realized the figure was that of a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy he asked, "What are you doing?"

The youth replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean. The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

"Son," the man said, "Don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can't possibly make a difference."

After listening politely the boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the surf. Then smiling at the man he said, "I made a difference for that one."

More Pictures...

Christmas Memories...

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Enjoy our picture show...

But...decorating the Christmas tree was fun!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Enjoy the pics!

Adventures in family picture taking...

The Huss Family 2006

Gone are the days when a night at the mall meant blissful spending in a relaxing atmosphere. Enter the new millennium...where a night at the mall means chasing a kid (or 2) around while he and/or she is literally kicking and screaming at the top of his and/or her lungs. Add to this scenario that the mission of going to the mall in the first place was to get our family picture taken. WOW! What were we thinking?! It took TWO (NOT ONE) nights to get a picture suitable for purchasing. On our first attempt, Sears got us in 20+ minutes late and the kiddos were NOT ready to cooperate. Even our bribes of McDonald's, milk shakes, and even a million dollars wouldn't convince Tate to sit still. Night 2 was somewhat the same. But, add to that a trip to the food court for dinner and you get COMPLETE CHAOS! Sooooooo...moral of the story is...family pictures are waaaayyyy too overrated! Bah humbug...

Fun at the Tree Farm!

So...what does the average American family do on a balmy winter day when it's 17 degrees outside?? Well, considering you consider us *average*, today we went to the tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Enjoy the pics!

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You brought me all the way from China for this??

Sawyer the Woodsman

Tatey was acting very obstinate today. (Shocking!)

This was the best pic we got of him...

Falling down for the 100th time...

Dad's always here for me!

Dad and little Ning Ning...

Cutting down the tree...