Our Family Blog – Mike, Louanne, Nadia, Amelie, & Dani
Dani at breakfast.
Once we had our surgery date we asked the church if we could have Dani’s baptism beforehand and they told us we could do it on Palm Sunday. We found a dress for her and we were ready to go and had braced ourselves for anything to happen. Would Dani just be silent and staring? Or would she scream?
Amelie, Dani, Grandma Linda and Nadia before the egg hunt.
Mike’s mom’s health has been declining over the last year and we have had her on the waiting list at various nursing homes. A bed became available at the beginning of April at the place we liked the best when we went on tours earlier in the year. The place is small and they have a very nice staff, many of whom have worked there for a long time. The residents seemed happier and not just sitting in their room, but out and engaged. We scrambled to get her over there and settled, but she got the available bed, which was a relief for us. The place was planning an egg hunt the day after we moved her, so I thought it would be fun to dress the girls up and take them over and get Linda out of her room. They had invited the residents’ families, but when we showed up, it seemed to be only our kids and the staff’s kids. They had an egg hunt for the 4 and under and then one for the 5 and up. Amelie and Dani went first and they even had a woman bring a live bunny that the little kids could pet.
I only had to show Dani one time what to do and she grabbed the bag out of my hand and was off collecting them herself.
After the little kids were finished we moved to the front of the building where they had a bigger hunt set up for the big kids. Nadia really had to compete because she was so small compared to the other kids. A couple of the women who helped hide the eggs and toys got frustrated that Nadia kept getting knocked out of the way by the bigger kids so they went ahead and got stuff first and put it all in Nadia’s basket which made me laugh.
Love this photo of the girls. Thanks to Nonni and Grandpa Brian for the matching dresses. So sweet.
The constant adventures at our house.
At the beginning of April Papa and Grandma Brooke drove up for a quick visit to meet Dani. They were coming for dinner instead of breakfast and the immediate question from the girls was, “Are we having waffles?” So we asked Papa and Grandma and they said okay because the kids love traditions. It was great to see them again and for them to meet Dani. She warmed up to them right away, which was cute.
It was a fun little visit with lots of playing, chatting and eating. We hope to see Papa and Grandma again soon.
We have some friends we met through the adoption community who have a little girl who is 6 months older than Nadia. When we met online we figured out that we were in the same province at the same time in 2007 and even stayed at the same places, but never met. Of course this was back when there were a lot more adoptions from China each year. It has been fun to become friends in real life even though they live in another city. Rieley was about to turn 8 and her parents were going to bring her to Dallas for “Disney on Ice,” and they invited Nadia to go along and celebrate with them. We were so happy that we were going to be home from China in time for Nadia to go on this “big girl” adventure. Tim, Kathy and Rieley came by the house first to meet Dani and then they were off to the show. Kathy said the girls had a blast and the show was great (Nadia talked about it for DAYS).
Tim and Kathy – Thank you so much for including Nadia in the fun.
Dani playing with Mike’s truck from when he was 1 year old. So cute.
Amelie playing with her food.
After the show we met up for dinner at Niki’s Italian and it was delicious as always. The girls told us about the show and the parents visited. Near the end of our meal a guy dressed like Captain Jack Sparrow came in and sat down to eat by himself. Nadia wanted to say hi and ask him if we was a “good pirate or bad pirate” and he told her that he was good. I thought she might like a photo with him, but I think she got embarrassed. After we said our goodbyes to the Easons we headed home where Mike introduced Dani to an important part of life. 😉
