We made it past the first day of school...

Well, we made it past the first day of school. The boys went back yesterday. The past few days have been crazy getting them ready: schedules picked up, fees paid, school supplies bought, oh yeah...and dealing with only being home a few days from the trip to China! Wednesday night we all sat down to fill up the book bags with the necessities. Anna Lin helped by taking supplies to whoever needed them. We went over schedules (trying our best to decipher the A/B class days), books that would be needed, etc. This whole scene was especially new for Noah who is in middle school this year and now has multiple classes.

6 am came 'real' early for me, as I scrambled around to get this one up at this time, to get them showered and fed in order to be on that bus at that time. Of course, somewhere in between the slow scuffling of teenage feet came the pitter patter of Anna Lin. She had seen everyone get ready and leave except Noah, who left the earliest. After the last person left, she hurried up to his room giggling quietly with her finger over her lips shhhing me. (We had to wake him the day before at 11 am! So, she apparently thought we would need to do that again.) As she peeked around his door she realized he wasn't there. I told her had already left like Spencer & Zak. She seemed to understand and did not get upset. You can tell he is one of AL's best buddies. She was absolutely thrilled when he came home later that day, jumping up into his arms. She was also happy when Zak & Spencer came home as well. Now she was the princess again with her royal subjects present.

The rest of the day was pretty busy, between visiting Miss Debbie (who will watch her when I go back to work), going to an eye appointment for me, and lunching with daddy. At lunch Anna Lin learned a new word, ice. She likes to munch on ice, preferably daddy's ice. She has also started to repeat phrases such as 'you're silly', 'what are you doing?' and 'thank you.' I can't remember if I had written about the trip to McDonalds, but here it is again. Noah, AL & I went to McD's. Each time after you order, pay for the food and get your food, the staff says 'thank you.' By the time we were getting our food, AL was in the back saying 'thank you' repeatedly in a similar expression to the McDonald's employees. She did this the entire ride back home, which was hilarious to Noah & I. Although Noah might have wished for her to stop sooner since he was sitting next to her in the car. :-)

We have added a couple new foods to Anna Lin's eating repertoire: hot dogs and potato chips. This is what she eats at McAllisters and we are thankful since it is one of our favorite restaurants. We tried nachos previously and that didn't go over very well at all. She liked the chips OK but wasn't going to have anything to do with the cheese sauce regardless of how many people dipped the chips and ate them in front of her. Anna Lin also gave the thumbs down to macaroni and cheese. She loves noodles but without the cheese sauce. Ric was disappointed. He said it was unAmerican. (Hmmm...let's think about that honey.)

Anna Lin has continued to acclimate very well since coming in to our family. She seems to understand us more and we seem to understand her more. (Yes, my Chinese still seems to be expanding but at a slower rate. While I was trying to get her to say 'eat' or 'I want to eat', she was busy trying to teach me it in in Chinese. 'Cha' is what she was saying, though that may not be the correct pinyin spelling.) The past couple of days have been so busy there just hasn't been time for a nap, except a little doze in the car. For this reason she has slept all night, going to bed around 8 or 9 pm. I followed shortly after her last night, not being able to keep my eyes open even with having coffee earlier. Wow! I slepted from 9 pm to 6 am. Sweet! That was the most sleep I've had since we came home. Well, I better get for today. I'm hearing strange noises from the next room. Since no one else is home Anna Lin is obviously exploring something...

-Angi