Our first of many....

recitals, that is!!!Kissing up to the teacher:)
Bringing ducky to dancing.



Thanks for the green tutu, Aunt Kristin!!!
"WELCOME TO OUR SHOW!!!" Notice Isabella's name written in chalk on the sidewalk:)




No, I did NOT put those green tights on her...they were a gift from the dance studio for their "Under the Sea" performance today.







Given that this was her first performance, Isabella did amazingly well. She twirled when she should have skipped and skipped when she should have twirled but she looked adorable and that is all that matters, right??

We are off to Baltimore tomorrow to meet up with a family we met in Vietnam. They were also there adopting a baby girl (from a different area and different agency). We haven't seen them in 3 years:) It should be a fun weekend!!!

A letter from 'home'

A few weeks ago, we received a letter from Isabella's birth parents. How cool?! It was 3 pages long and I have no clue how it reached us as our address was completely messed up except for the zip code. The letter was extremely sweet and talked about how beautiful Isabella is, how they enjoyed my sister's visit, and how often they think of us. It was so exciting to hear from them independent of the agency:)

Bellarina

Can you guess what I am spending my money on now??? Tap and ballet shoes!!! I finally have a daughter that loves to dance!!! I remember getting Elisabeth completely outfitted for this sport and she lasted about 2 minutes. I should have saved her brand new tap shoes and brand new ballet shoes for Bella to wear.

I thought we would try dance camp this week to see how she does. The first day, I didn't realize she would need tap shoes and I couldn't find ballet shoes anywhere in town....so she went barefoot. Ever try tap dancing in bare feet?? Luckily she didn't notice AND she loved it!!! Off I went to a dance boutique and a few dollars later (ha ha), we had a 2 pairs of shoes, pink tights, and a black leotard. I also signed her up for an hour of dancing (half tap, half ballet) in September:)
The pictures are stinky because I had to take them through a window:( Seeing that this is her first actual class, she isn't doing too badly. She doesn't really listen all that well, can't follow directions to save her life, and thinks she is wearing ice skates instead of tap shoes (because they glide...don't ask). Ten minutes into the 75 minute session, she wants to eat her snack and she spends most of her time trying to either hold the teacher's hand or sit on her lap. They were trying to learn the hand positions for ballet and would tell the girls to 'paint the wall' (meaning bring their arms out and down)...I couldn't figure out why Bella kept running over to the wall and dragging her hand down it. Duh. She was taking it figuratively.

If I hadn't said it, she would never have repeated it....

We stopped by Bella's babysitters tonight to say hello and to see how they were doing. Carl, the husband, was tickling Bella on the couch. All of a sudden, I heard this little voice yell, "I am going to KICK YOUR ASS!!!" Ugh. She couldn't have pick a more upstanding, Christian man to say it to. I think Bonnie is quite happy Bella is moving on to preschool where she can share her new-found vocabulary with older children:)

PapPap Visits

Having not been to PA in almost 4 years, Dad decided to drive us back home and spend a few days. We had a wonderful time together:)

Sadie and Bella (PS. I added more photos to the previous post!)

When I got too sick of the bugs, I decided Bella and I would stay with my cousin Jacqueline for the night. Not only would I get to sleep in moist-free sheets and have a shower that didn't involve lake water, but Isabella would get to spend time with her cousin Sadie. They spent most of their night chasing eachother and squealing or "doctoring" the poor cat. Dr. Isabella diagnosed him with a high fever and decided he needed multiple shots in the butt. Because it was a special night, they even got to each dill pickle potato chips and drink coke IN BED!!!