"I can't stop liking this"

Andy has been out of town all week, so while I blogged with nostalgia about our gotcha days, we did not actually celebrate until today.  This year both of our little people received gifts that were actually purchased in America.  Zach excitedly pulled me to the movie section in Target a couple of months ago to point out that they had an Ultraman video. We bought it that night, and Andy and I laughed tonight as we remembered all the Ultraman moves that Wyatt constantly shared when we first met him. 

Julia's gift was a little harder this year.  We bought most of her Gotcha day gifts in China, but shortly before her adoption, I purchased an American Girl doll that was on clearance. The doll is part of the Girls of Many Lands series, and it really was a steal.  However, I remember looking at the picture online and thinking it was an ugly doll.  The pictures simply did not do it justice as it is beautiful. The doll comes with a book which is even better than a doll in Julia's opinion.  Now here is the cool thing.  The doll's name is Spring Pearl.  You might remember how pearls surrounded Julia's adoption. See my "Five Years have passed too quickly" post if this does not make sense.  Anyway, Julia's first Chinese name means "spring."  Her gift was harder this year because it seemed an appropriate time to give her the going home Barbie from the White Swan.  The problem is that she would definitely want to play with it, and that Barbie is irreplaceable, so we are leaning toward giving it to her at a time when she will be able to have it as a keepsake.

The rest of our celebration revolved around food.  We went for some authentic Asian food carryout, and came home with crab rangoon, Mandarin beef in honor of Wyatt's heritage, and Cantonese chicken in honor of Julia's heritage.  All week long Wyatt has been telling me that he was going to have some stuffed lotus leaves upon Andy's return.  I thought he was just hoping for this, but apparently, Andy had promised it.  Andy made good on the promise and bought four of them.  Wyatt said again and again, "I can't stop liking this" as he helped himself to three of the stuffed lotus leaves.  Andy is the only other person who likes them, so that was just fine.   Following our Chinese feast, Andy and I ran to the grocery to top off the evening with yummy sundaes which Savannah and I then tried to walk off.  I am sure that was to no avail.

Last but not least, Savannah finished her submission for the state fair arts and crafts category. You are getting a sneak peek!