20 more days...

Santa Claus came to town tonight and the gals were jazzed!!  They bundled up, walked down to the Hudson, got their hot chocolate, listened to Christmas carols and finally, after the tree was lit, the big fat red man arrived bearing candy canes. (Hannah's favorite part)  I love the little village I live in so much on nights like tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a very happy Turkey Day!!  We did- a nice day of rest amidst the chaos.   We are moving into a new house before Christmas!  So, we have bought a second car(the new house is not near the train station), picked up hundreds of cardboard boxes from friends who've recently moved and begun filling them, not to mention finally dealing with RE-adopting Hannah(it's a long story) and retreating Hannah with meds because an old parasitic friend from Dongguan is revisiting her intestinal tract!  It's been a little hectic.  Everyone is happy for the move, though.  I may have to shop on Christmas Eve this year - unprecedented but necessary, I think.  Enjoy the pix of the holiday.  I may not be posting until the new year, so Merry Christmas too!!

Happy Halloween!

Wow - what a whirlwind weekend!!  The gals had a blast as a "fire devil" and a butterfly - marching in the Cold Spring Halloween Parade, trick-or-treating(Hannah says"trick or treat" clear as a bell because of the resulting candy) and partying with so many friends.  Rob is currently away in sunny Florida working on the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" tour but returns home this weekend.  We're missing him big time.  Lots of people are now coming to check out our condo but no sale yet.  Looks like 2009 may be the year of the big move.  I'm crossing my fingers that we're in the new house before Hannah turns 3.  My personal favorite part of this year's Halloween was drinking egg creams and eating candy while watching "The Nightmare before Christmas" with Riley on Halloween night.  Enjoy the pix!

Liberty enlightening the world

We did one of those touristy things that you never do because you're from the place and visited Lady Liberty yesterday.  Riley got really into it and being up close with a statue that large really is pretty amazing.  Hannah preferred the wide open spaces of Ellis Island.  Perhaps she can relate to the "immigrant experience" :) Got to admit that seeing the history of how open minded and welcoming our country has been to foreigners in the past gives me hope for its future.

You know fall's here when...

you go apple picking!!  We did our annual trip - this time to a great orchard in Newburgh.  I made sure to get lots of pictures of Milo and Hannah because about a year ago, we did the same thing, so I think I'll try to make it a tradition.  The weather was incredibly beautiful and all of the kids had a great time.  We are all happily settling in to the routines of school and work and I am really enjoying teaching dance again.  I didn't realize how much I'd missed it.  I'm so happy that autumn is finally here -my favorite season!!!

One Year Ago Today...

We became a family of four.  And it fits.  All of the chairs at the table are taken.  Riley has someone to play (and fight) with.  We all laugh a lot more than we used to.  Life is much more chaotic, but somehow just right.  Hannah was the missing piece of our little puzzle.  Thank you China for choosing the perfect child for our family.  She is amazing.

First day of school!!

OK, today was the 3rd day of school, but I can still blog, right?  Riley has begun the 2nd grade and is off to a great start.  I am so relieved to have more structure in the day and less sisters fighting in my living room.  We'll see how happy I am once I get back to work next week.  I have really enjoyed all the free time with the familia.  I am, however, excited to get back into the studio and dance, though!  Bye bye summer!  Hard to believe we were still in China this time last year.  So nice to be home with the WHOLE family walking her to school on the first day.