The Life & Times of Chloe & Pearl

Spring Break

2011-04-25T17:29:00.000-07:00

Pahrump, Nevada

We opted to keep things simple this Spring Break. Partly, because I am saving up money for a big adventure and partly because we just didn't feel like going anywhere. We did manage to fit in a few days for a much needed visit with my parents, who at ages 91 and 85, are due for as much family time as possible. The girls love visiting their grandparents and I think the grandparents love having them around.

My parents used to travel around the US in their motorhome while I attended college. I couldn't get ahold of them. I just had to wait until they called me. After several years of travel, they decided to settle down in a co-op in Pahrump Nevada with other like-minded retirees. They have remained there for around 21 years now. It seems like yesterday.

Grandpa is pruning his petunias

I also wanted to be productive during the break. I didn't spend any time trying to take great photographs, but I did manage to sew four simple sundresses and a new top for Effy, our exchange student-daughter. I am really trying to get up my motivation to give new birth to my pattern design business. I think this would be an easy way to generate income and spend more time with the girls. Unfortunately, I have to use some of my quality family time now in order to get this thing started. It's a bit of a Catch 22.

On Sunday, we just hung out at home and let the girls hunt for eggs in the yard. They sure had a lot of fun. Even our new cat Angelina wanted to get in on the action, but she wasn't quite sure what is going on. This is the first time I have ever seen her with a mean look on her face.

Pearl Turns 8

2011-04-08T13:48:00.000-07:00

My darling Pearl is turning eight years old on April 8th. For her birthday, she asked for a visit to the American Girl Doll store and dinner in their cafe. So we are all headed to LA/Hollywood to spend a fun day of shopping, dining and time with the family.

On the night of her birthday, her best friend came over for a sleepover and we had a cozy time celebrating with a nice dinner at home and a cute Hello Kitty cake. I think between my two young girls, we have exhausted all the possible disney girls' characters for cakes from the princesses to Tinkerbelle to Tangled. I think she was happy with Hello Kitty.

She asked for a new pair of inline skates and some pearl earrings, so that's what we got for her. I'd really like to get the girls bicycles, but for now, they would rather ride up and down the sidewalks on their skooters and skates.
Below is the underside of a mastedon skull and just beside it is a wolf skull.

Below is a sculpture by Picasso entitled "Centaur". There were several Picassos here, mostly sculptures.

The weekend following her birthday, we had a fun dinner at the American Girl Doll Cafe. They not only serve the real people, but they also serve the dolls too (although their meals are imaginary). The food was delicious and afterward, we let the girls pick out some clothes and accessories for their dolls. Pearl's doll now plays the flute, complete with her case and music and music stand.

The next day we went to the La Brea Tarpits and the LA County Museum. It turned out to be a lot of fun. At the Tarpits, there are several "pits" still exposed where you can see the tar bubbling up out of the ground. Fences have been erected to protect the perimeter of the pits and lakes of tar. It is sad because you can witness firsthand as animals and birds become trapped in the tar and struggle to escape. It is just this process that makes these pits so important to the study of the Ice Age as they continually unearth fossils and creatures that were trapped in the tar over 10,000 years ago. The remains of mastedons and wolves and saber-toothed cats are on display and there are many other creatures bundled in crates still awaiting to be exposed.

The museum was next door and it was wonderful. Since we wanted to get home fairly soon, we only explored a very small part of the musuem. There was a good selection of Picassos and Matisse' and the girls really enjoyed learning about modern art. They had special art rooms at the museum, so that the girls could play with paints and find their inner artist. It was nice and the best part was that I didn't have to clean up afterward.

Planting a Vegetable Garden

2011-04-05T19:32:00.000-07:00

Three weekends ago, I got the bug to plant a vegetable garden, even though we are currently renting our home. I remembered back to a time about 18 years ago when my husband and I were renting a small apartment with a cute little patio. We built a raised-bed planter and I filled it full of beautiful flowers. We also had a couple of vegetable plants including cherry tomatoes and peppers. I remember our house pet at the time, an adorable black English Angora bunny named "Raider", loved the cherry tomatoes. He would dance circles around our feet begging for them and we gave him so many that he got fat (or perhaps it was all the graham crackers-he begged for them too).

So I decided that it would be a fun project for me and the girls to grow our own food. I knew Pearl loves veggies and I hoped this would motivate Chloe to try some. The first weekend we built the planter and the next weekend we planted the little plants and some seeds. I know I got carried away and planted things a little too closely, but I am hoping some climbing cages will solve that problem. We planted tomatoes (four kinds), peppers (three kinds), zucchini, pickles, eggplant, yellow squash, pumpkins, green onions, basil, cilantro, radishes and purple carrots. They aren't all in that tiny planter. We also made some rows in the yard for the pumpkins and squash. I am a total beginner at this, so I am sure it won't all go just perfectly, but I do expect we'll have a bumper crop of tomatoes.

Throughout it all, my little Chloe has been helping me step by step. She planted the seeds and watered them. She was the first to notice that the onions had started to sprout. They are super tiny right now.

I think now is the perfect time for my girls to learn about growing things and healthy eating.

A few weeks ago, there was a stray cat at the elementary school. She wasn't friendly at first, but Chloe jiggled some marbles at her and she followed Chloe all the way home. Since we put some food out for her, she decided to stay and become another member of our family. She is so pretty..........don't you think? We named her Angelina. Angelina is our second cat. We adopted Sarafina last August and we still have her. Both of them have the typical tortie pattern, but Angelina also has some beautiful white patches.

Chloe was the first to notice the onions sprouting after only 7 days.

Family Day

2011-04-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

Today is the 6th anniversary of my becoming a mommy. After months of preparation, anxiety, interviews, and paperwork, I finally found myself with my husband in Nanning China waiting for the arrival of my baby girl.

They brough Chloe in with the other 14 babies. It took me a minute to figure out which one was mine. I don't think she looked much like the pictures they had sent me. She was quiet, scared and curious. I was most in awe of her big round eyes (accentuated by her fear). She was brave and I later learned, sick.

Those first few days were really rough, but we bonded with our girl and became friends with our travelmates. Everywhere we went, we were approached by Chinese people who would look at Chloe and exclaim, "Big Eyes!"

Now she is 7. We often ask "Where did the time go?" I remember being so frustrated that I couldn't carry on a conversation with her. I was so eager and impatient to see her grow up. I wanted to know what she was thinking. These past few years have been so amazing, I wish I could freeze time......just for awhile. Even my sweet Chloe tells me she wishes she could stay little. How odd, when so many other kids just want to be big.

She has blossomed so much this past year. In Kindergarten, she was quiet and reserved and middle-of-the-pack. In First Grade, she participates, competes, excels and earned Student of the Month. This year she started gymnastics and is taking to it like a fish to water. Her teacher already wants to move her up to the next level. Every evening, when her sister is practicing piano, Chloe is practicing handstands, splits, and back rolls. She does cartwheels as easily as taking a step. She is self-motivated and only needs the slightest encouragement. She is my little sidekick.

Happy Forever Family Day my sweet Chloe ♥

Chloe is Student of the Month for "Caring"

2011-03-06T20:47:00.000-08:00

I am still trying to find time to edit photos from last weekend. On top of that, it was time for me to make good on a photo shoot that I offered in a silent auction nearly a year ago. Chloe and Pearl's Kindergarten teacher was the high bidder in the auction and we did the shoot this weekend. The lighting was horrible and I was pretty disappointed when I first looked at my images, but thanks to Photoshop, I think I came up with some wonderful shots. Hopefully, if I get permission, I will post a picture or two from her shoot in my next post.

When I asked Deb to come all the way out to California to teach me about flash photography, I also invited her beautiful daughter to come along. I knew that Chloe and Pearl would love to have a playmate, and I was eager to meet the beautiful daughter whom I had admired in photos for nearly three years. As it turned out, she was everything I ever imagined..........she is not only beautiful, but she is also smart and sweet and a very special girl. I am honored to have the priviledge of meeting her and I am thrilled that my girls both think the world of her. They liked her so much, that we may have to make a trip to Atlanta sometime in the coming year (if they'll have us).

For now, we will try to catch up on some pictures from last weekend. I feel like I am still in my infancy when it comes to learning photography, but I am totally hooked and don't want to do anything else (other than spend time with my family).

Oh, and on another note, my youngest daughter Chloe was named "Student of the Month" for 'caring'. Chloe has been a tad jealous of her sister Pearl who was named "Student of the Month" in both KG and 1st grade. She has been hoping every month since that it would be her turn. I was a little bit concerned that she might not achieve this status because she can be a bit difficult. Now, finally her dream has become a reality. Not only did Chloe earn this wonderful honor, but her best friend, who is in another class, won the very same honor. I thought it was pretty cool that two best friends both won "Student of the Month" for the same thing at the exact same time!

Effy

2011-03-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was absolutely amazing. My husband splurged and got me the best birthday present ever..........a full weekend with the great photographer Deb Layden. She came out to California to teach me how to use flash (as well as showing me many other great photography secrets). She even brought her darling daughter with her. Both Chloe and Pearl took an instant liking to her and were sad to see her leave.

I took so many pictures of so many subjects that I still have a lot to sort through and edit. I thought I would start with a series of pictures I shot of Effy, our exchange student. She graciously agreed to be our model and assistant even in freezing and windy conditions.

Here are some of my favorites of her from the weekend.

Getting Ready for Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T19:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to Target as a family. It was my intention to purchase some fun cute Valentine cards for Chloe and Pearl to give to their classmates. Boy was I disappointed with the selection. Perhaps it was just because I waited until the last moment, but I really saw nothing worth buying. However, we needed something, so I grabbed a few boxes of different things.

Later that evening I remembered that I saw some Valentine Templates over at MCP Actions website and thought I would play around and see if I could come up with something. As it turned out, I was able to put some lovely portraits from last weekend to good use. The templates were easier to work with than I thought they would be.

I finished them off and printed them up in little time and I think they turned out pretty cute. I hope the girls' classmates like them.

Also today, I took some pictures for a nice young man. His mom said he needed some "head shots" and I was happy for the opportunity to practice my photography and editing skills. I really like this shot the best although we got several real nice ones. I used one of the new actions from Florabella and I think they really gave it that special finish.

Valentine Hair Do

2011-02-10T07:40:00.000-08:00

I am always looking for fun hair-dos for my dark-haired beauties. This week Chloe has been asking for hearts in her hair. So I turned to one of my favorite websites, Adopt A Do to find inspiration for Valentines' dos.

This is a variation on the Hanging Heart hair do. I decided to do the heart in the back instead of the side, so that I could put the rest of her hair in a ponytail. Then I used some red mini clips purchased from the local drug store for an accent. You will need a topsy tail to create the top of the heart, but I have had success making one with a piece of wire. There are more Valentine hair-do ideas on her site as well. All the instructions are shown on easy to follow videos.

Happy Thursday!

This and That

2011-02-07T07:10:00.000-08:00

I had a fairly productive weekend. What I mean by that is, that I planned to spend it with my family and do nothing other than relax and take pictures of them and then perhaps post a bit to the blog.

Sunday didn't quite live up to expectations as the Superbowl brought some unexpected surprises our way. I had planned to take a picture of Chloe with her American Girl Doll and then later a picture of Pearl with her American Girl Doll. But thanks to the Superbowl, there were kids galore in the neighborhood and they seemed to think my house was the cool place to hang out. So Pearl was otherwise engaged.

Therefore in an effort not to leave her out of this post, I will include a picture of something she created earlier this weekend. She made a three storey Lego house complete with car and a bald man. The home is fully furnished. There is even a computer and table.

Happy Monday! Now I am off to work while the kids enjoy the day off. Sorry Dad.

All Caught Up

2011-02-06T06:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I wanted to dig up an old lens that I hadn't had much luck with in the past and give it another shot. My ~~not-so-~~trusty 85mm 1.8 had been tucked away unused since I started this hobby two years ago. To further the matter, I had been getting stuck in a rut with my photography. I was learning some things in Photoshop, but my pictures weren't improving the way I wanted them to. I was content and complacent with my 25-105mm lens. I became lazy with the eaze of a zoom lens and this baby takes the sharpest clearest pictures, so I was satisfied. The only downside was that the widest aperture is 4.0, which doesn't allow for those amazingly creamy soft backgrounds. Although, I had discovered that when I used the 105 end of the lens and kept my subjects away from the background, I could get some lovely blur. Macros are stunning too.

The 85mm was my first prime (non-kit)lens and the vast majority of my pictures were blurry. I even ran some comparison tests and the test shots came out blurry too. But now, I was longing for that bokeh (amazing blurry effect) and I thought I'd give my prime lens another go around.

It was rough at first. I had a fabulous picture that I just won't post because I don't like the crop. I just couldn't get far enough away from my subjects to fit it all in.

This was also an opportunity to scout out my local town for good photographic venues. There are more great places around here than I even considered. Who knew the local museum had such great spots. Too bad it's only open 3 hours/week. I might even go searching some more today.........maybe even during the Superbowl, when I will have the whole road to myself.

Well, that's too much rambling. Here's what I shot with my newly appreciated 85mm lens.

Blue Lily Go Pro Workshop

2011-02-05T19:05:00.000-08:00

Well, as usual I am still a bit behind in the blogging world. But now that I have a moment, I am going to tell you what I did last weekend. It was AWESOME.

In case you don't know who Blue Lily is, I will just have to say that they are the most amazing husband and wife photography ~~team, artists, geniuses,~~ gods. OK, so maybe I am getting carried away, but you get my drift.

They hosted a workshop in a BEACHFRONT house in sunny SAN DIEGO, just to teach me and 11 other attendees how to launch a professional photography business, or at least, share ALL their most important secrets with us. Now, I don't plan on going pro anytime soon, but I do want to step up my game for a possible post-retirement second career.

After giving us the scoop, they set up several photo shoots for us to learn and build a portfolio from. After all, who's gonna hire you to take wedding pictures if you don't have any wedding pictures to show? I think there's a chicken and egg analogy in there somewhere. Fortunately, we have this mystery solved, as a wonderful married couple of 5 years, graciously agreed to done their wedding attire and let us shoot away.

Thank you Wendy and Tyler for the most incredible weekend packed full of information and delivered with a humorous style that kept me laughing and awake. Here are some images from this adventure.

Trying to Keep Up

2011-01-31T17:55:00.000-08:00

Now that the kids are no longer in the diapers or toddler stage, I somehow thought I would have more time to do other things, like blogging. I don't know where the time is going these days. It feels like I am losing my grip. At the same time, I am more productive at work than I have been in years. I have almost sworn off TV (except for that inane soap opera I have been watching almost since birth). Even so, I can hardly find time for my hobbies of photography, spinning, and knitting.

January has been a wonderful month. Pete turned 50 on the 2nd and we had an amazing party at a restored hotel in downtown Bakersfield. The place was beautiful and the turnout was nice even though snowy weather kept the passes closed and kept our friends from Southern California away. Chloe turned 7 on the 19th. She seems so grown up (sometimes). For nearly a year she has been asking for us to take her to the snow for her birthday. So on the weekend before the 19th, that's just what we did. We escaped the dreary winter fog of the Central Valley to play in the sun-filled snow at a nearby ski resort. We didn't try skiing or snowboarding, but we did ride the inner tubes and threw snowballs and built a phenomenal snow man (thanks mostly to Effy, our exchange student). It was a picture-perfect day and the weather was far nicer than at home.

We gave Chloe these flowers for her 7th birthday

This past weekend, we managed to escape the fog and gloom again as we spent a warm and luxuriously sunny time in Los Angeles. Saturday was spent at Farmer's Market and the Grove, where Effy had a mandatory exchange student orientation meeting. She was in her meeting all day while we ventured into the shops and watched time slip away. Clearly the highlight for Chloe and Pearl was a trip to the American Girl Doll store. Chloe and Pearl are just now old enough for these dolls and they each received one for Christmas. The dolls were ordered to match the features of our girls, so Chloe's doll has dark brown hair, while Pearl's doll has black hair with bangs. Chloe's doll even has purple glasses to match her own. If only we had known about the store, the girls could have brought their dolls with them.

Once inside the American Girl Doll Store, you see little girls of all colors and sizes carrying their dolls around. Many of them are wearing matching outfits. On the ground level, there is a salon for dolls. You bring in your doll with the frayed and rumpled hair and it is returned to you with a beautiful coif or braid. After your doll is all "dolled up", you may sit for tea or lunch in the cafe, where they have special seating for your doll. It is quite the affair.

Upstairs are more dolls, clothing, books, movies and accessories. They NEVER have sales. I think this store is pretty much like Costco. Don't expect to get out the door for under $200. We purchased a matching outfit for Pearl and her doll and then we bought Chloe some pajamas that match her doll's pajamas. She also got a fancy dress for her doll. They even have a portrait studio where you can have your picture taken with your doll. I think I can handle that part on my own.

If that wasn't excitement enough, we met up with some friends the next day at Knott's Berry Farm. My friend's son Damian was celebrating his 8th birthday, so we were having a double birthday celebration for him and for Chloe. Our luck with crowds at amusement parks has been dismal this past year, so I was fantastically surprised to find that we had most of the park to ourselves. There were no lines for rides until later in the afternoon so we dashed from ride to ride all morning long. Chloe loved the roller coasters, but it was hard to find ones where she was tall enough to ride. However, there were a few and they were doozies. Pearl doesn't like the feeling of falling or moving fast, so her taste in rides was a bit different. Fortunately, this place has lots of activities and entertainment for kids of all sizes. By the time we left, there was still so much left unexplored. I have a feeling we might be coming back next January and if we are lucky, Chloe will be 2" taller. We created memories that will be fondly revisited for years to come.

The following weekend, I went to San Diego to attend a Blue Lily workshop. I learned more about photography and how to expand it beyond the hobby stage. I have a goal to learn as much as I can in the next few years and then sometime after that, go professional. I think this is something that I may even want to do as a second career after retirement.

Merry Christmas With Love

2010-12-24T12:44:00.001-08:00

Somehow I managed to get all the presents wrapped and everything ready for Christmas with a whole day to spare. I had time to knit a scarf last night and today I even got to play with my camera. I saw a tutorial on how to make shaped bokeh (blurry or geometric shapes in the background) and decided to do hearts. I cannot believe it actually worked! This is one of the packages I wrapped (I made the bow too) in front of the Christmas tree. The colored hearts are the lights on the tree.

The Christmas Letter

2010-12-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

This year I was determined to send out Christmas cards, even though I had misplaced ALL of my friends' and family's addresses, even though I didn't have the inspiration or time to create a fun and festive picture for the card, and even though the clock was running out of time. I decided to plod along anyway.

All of last week was pretty much about decorating the house and baking goodies for a Christmas party that we hosted Thursday evening. Since I work full-time, there are just a few short hours available in the evenings to do all my preparation and with two little girls vying for attention, it is hard to break away. I tried to engage them as much as possible and Chloe turned out to be a big help in the kitchen, even if it was mostly just keeping me company.

So now it's the week before Christmas and I have made a commitment to, at a minimum, send cards out to fellow families who have adopted children from Chengdu China (which is where our Pearl is from). I scramble to find a picture for the card and settle on one from last Christmas, my first and only 9 exposure HDR (if you know what that is), and upload it to Costco, where I can pick up the cards (on the cheap) in only hours.

I send out pleas for addresses and most people comply, but now, I have realized this card really doesn't tell the story and I don't have the energy to write on every single card or even prepare a family letter summarizing the year. After all, the letter has to be printed on fancy Christmas paper (which I don't have) and slipped inside each envelope and now the postage will be double! I am too impatient and I want to ge these cards out NOW.

So for those of you lucky few who managed to get a card, but no letter, here is your Christmas letter:

Chloe
Pearl

2010 IN THE CHAVEZ FAMILY

Dear Friends, Family, Blogging Buddies and Chengdu Families:

This year brought us a nice combination of challenges and changes, mostly welcome.

We finally sold our home after four years of trying and we did it without going upside-down. We found a new large, yet cozy home just steps from the elementary and high school. We are renting it and are experiencing the bliss of non-home ownership. Even though this place is 4 years new, it has some electrical problems and the roof is leaking. We keep the landlords apprised and go about our daily business and they coordinate the contractors to fix things.

Before we moved, we had a large and very successful yard sale. We got rid of half of everything we owned, if not more. It felt like a cleansing to be unburdened from so much "stuff". Now when I look in my closet, I see only clothes that fit, crafts and projects that I use, and empty suitcases waiting for a quick getaway. I love the absence of clutter, but now I am digressing.

Once we became settled in comfortably, we realized that we missed having an exchange student around, so we signed up for our third hosting experience. The month of August brought us Liu Shuer, commonly referred to as "Effy", all the way from DongGuan China. She will be spending the entire school year with us. She is only 16 and a bit younger than our previous girls, but she is definitely "sugar and spice and everything nice". Effy has a lively and vivacious personality, yet she fits in so well with our low-key existence. She is an amazing big sister to Chloe and Pearl and she is willing to answer the same questions over and over, since that is what 6 and 7 year olds do. At least the girls can now count to 10 in Chinese.

Chloe and Pearl are having a great year too. Pearl has lost several teeth and now has one adult front tooth and one baby front tooth. It has been that way for months. We had to have Chloe's front teeth removed as they began to abscess. That was likely due to a head injury she suffered a year or two earlier. She is still waiting to lose her first tooth from natural causes.

We adopted Pearl 4 years ago from Chengdu China when she was only 3 years old. She was on a waiting child/special needs list, but turned out not to have any health issues that we are aware of. Pearl is in 2nd grade and reading like a 5th or 6th grader. She is smart and quick and makes friends easily. She is hyper and fidgety, yet she still manages to pay attention to her teacher in school, so we try not to worry about her constant motion. I think that is why she is so thin. She eats very well and loves lots of healthy foods. Chloe, on the other hand, is an extremely picky eater. Until this year, if anything had a fruit or vegetable in it, she wouldn't go near it. Now she has embraced a few fruits and veggies. The list includes lemons, olives, dill pickles, corn-on-the-cob and artichokes. She really loves artichokes and will eat an entire one with her dinner (except for the heart, which she thinks is 'gross').

We adopted Chloe from Qinzhou, China in the Guangxi province in April of 2005 when she was just 14 months old. I remeber I had wanted to adopt an older child and now I find that I would do anything to have that first 14 months with her. Chloe is in 1st grade and is a hard-working slightly above-average student. She is a deep-thinker and very intuitive. She doesn't have a lot of friends and only recently developed a "best friend". Wouldn't you know it? Her best friend is moving to Argentina in January.

Chloe took this picture of her best friend Madison, who is moving to Argentina.

I really love how my two girls can be so different and yet get along so well. They are the best of sisters.

My work hasn't changed much. I am still working for the City of Shafter and it has now been about 16 years. I get to do a lot of fun engineering and designing and it is mostly my responsibility to get our town looking good. I design parks and buildings and landscaping strips. My current projects include improvements to our public pool and the completion on design and construction of a new 10 acre park.

Pete's structural engineering work has managed to continue even though the economy has really turned things around in the construction and design business. Jobs that he used to turn away are now welcomed with open arms. Negotiating prices is much more of a business practice rather than "take it or leave it". The one thing that has kept Pete's clients coming back has been his accessibility. He's not always the smoothest with customer relations, but he certainly is responsive, reliable and quick on the spot. The work gets done on time or even earlier. And sometimes, if it turns out to be easier than he anticipated, he will refund the customer for the difference (even though he gave a written estimate). He seems to have some very loyal customers and for that, we are grateful.

My hobby in photography has started into it's second year and I am still eager to learn everything I can about it, especially the post-processing end of things. I attended a week-long workshop in October and I am scheduled for a shorter one next month. My Christmas present to myself was a new computer, a high-end monitor with color calibration software, and a large Wacom tablet and pen (which I haven't used yet). I am hoping that I will have some time to become familiar with all this stuff during the Christmas holidays. Then maybe, I'll be able to post more often on the blog in the coming year.

After trips to Europe and Hawaii, we decided to take this year off from a long family vacation. We have made lots of short trips and even fit in a trip to see our fellow Sweet Peas (families who were waiting to adopt at the same time) at a reunion in Seattle Washington in October. We even snuck in a visit to see Chris, our previous exchange student, who is now a Junior in college.

Since springtime, the girls have been practicing a dance in their Chinese dance class that they take weekly. In early December, the girls performed their dance in a competition in Los Angeles, CA and received gold trophies for their efforts (which is really 2nd place). I think they were the youngest dancers in the competition.

girls with their dance teacher
Other Chinese dancers

In August, I signed Chloe up for gymnastics lessons and Pearl for piano lessons. Two days before Chloe was to begin, she broke her arm as she fell off the monkey bars at school. It was a horrific ordeal, but it is so nice to have it beyond us and to have her arm fully healed and good as new. We are planning to start the gymnastics class again in January.

We will start the New Year with a big birthday party as Pete turns 50 on the 2nd of January. After that, we will just take it one day at a time. Thanks for following along and I wish you all peace, love and happiness in the coming year.

With Love,

Pete, Lori, Effy, Pearl, and Chloe

Picture of a tulip from my Christmas flower arrangement

Visiting the Grandparents

2010-12-09T20:43:00.000-08:00

I am way behind on blogging..so what else is new? We have had so much going on that it has been difficult to keep up with it all. After working solely on a laptop for the past few years, it is now nice to have a real computer with a real monitor. I even got one that comes with color calibration software and super high resolution. I am loving it so far.

Anyway, last month we traveled to Pahrump Nevada to visit my parents. It is one of my greatest joys to see that my parents have lived long enough for my girls to know them. They also know their daddy's parents, who also quite elderly. Last month, my dad turned 91, so we made a trip to visit and wish him a very happy birthday.

Rediscovering Old Talents

2010-11-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

This past week I have finally gotten the urge to break out my old spinning wheels and knitting gear. I discovered that I had three large storage boxes in my garage loaded with wool and fiber and lots of goodies. Sadly, I think it's been about eight or ten years since I played with any of this stuff. It seems more just like a couple of years.

Mostly, I think the hesitation to get out my spinning wheel and wool was predicated on the fact that we now have little ones running around the house. I could not picture trying to keep my girls out of the angora wool or away from the spinning wheel (I am imagining lots of wool wrapped tightly around an axel). Especially, I worry about my poor Chloe, who I think must have some sort of a condition where it is essentially impossible to keep her hands off stuff, even when instructed to. I remember thinking when she was a baby that if I just taught her "No", I would be able to keep her from grabbing everything. Now at nearly 7 years old, I realize it is a lost cause and this is just who she is. Not surprisingly, she constantly caressed my wheels as I got them back into working order. This time, I allowed her to help me with the cleaning as I tightened the connections. She couldn't wait to get her hands and feet on the pedals so I taught her how to keep the wheel spinning always clockwise. Her curiosity and excitement are infectious.

This is my original wheel. I haven't tried it out yet, but I did get it ready to go.

Well, that was last Sunday and now a week later, I have done a little spinning. But, I did accomplish one other task. I knitted myself a nice oversized scarf from some wool/silk/angora yarn that I had sitting in my bags all these years. I still have enough to make a sweater, but my skills are so weak, that I need to start slowly and relearn all those old lessons. Chloe is modeling the scarf in the pictures above.

The next two weekends promise to be full of travel and adventure. First we are headed to Pahrump Nevada to visit my parents and celebrate an early Thanksgiving and birthday celebration for my dad who will be turning 91. I will return home for one day of work on Monday and then we are headed to the Happiest Place on Earth by Tuesday. Effy, our exchange student has never been to Disneyland, so I hope she will have a great time. Don't tell anyone we are playing hookey on a school day. On Thursday, I think we will have a low-key Thanksgiving dinner here at home. We may invite some friends over to join us, but not the extended family (of course they are welcome if they show up). Friday, we are off to the beach for a couple days of fun and exploration. I agreed to take some family portraits for one of my coworkers on the beach and she agreed to pay for a hotel room. I don't directly charge for my photography since I am still in a "portfolio-building stage" and I don't consider myself at a professional level yet, but I do hope to get there one day.

Indian Maharani Princess

2010-10-31T12:04:00.000-07:00

My pictures of Pearl seemed to come out nicer than my pictures of Chloe. They were standing side by side, and yet somehow Pearl came out tack sharp and Chloe was fuzzy. My aperture was at 4.5, so I thought it should be OK.

Anyway, I have been posting more Chloe pictures lately, so today I will focus on Pearl. She really loved her costume and I didn't realize how much work it would take to place all those crystals on her face.

Halloween Preview

2010-10-30T19:42:00.001-07:00

Chloe and Pearl were in the local Halloween parade tonight. There was also a costume contest. Pearl won second prize for her Indian Maharani Princess and Chloe won third prize as a leopard. When it was time to walk past the judges, Chloe hid her face and looked the other way. I think if she wasn't so shy, she might have done better. I don't know who won 1st prize, but there were two adorable buckaneers in front of us and I have a suspicion that they might have won.

Tomorrow for Halloween, I am not sure if I will put on as much make-up and jewels on the girls as I did tonight. It took me over an hour to get their faces ready. At least, we won't be stressing about how it looks.

Getting Ready for Halloween

2010-10-24T19:58:00.001-07:00

Someone's safe this Thanksgiving.

Cinnamon the Bear really enjoys his Halloween pumpkin.

I must really be on a roll this weekend. I haven't quite fit in everything on my to-do list, but at least I kept up with the blogging!

Today I took Chloe and Pearl to our local zoo. It's sort of a refuge for California native wild animals who are either injured or unable to be returned to the wild. I didn't even know porcupines were natives of California. Since it was "Boo at the Zoo" day, lots of little kids were running around in their Halloween costumes. There were also lots of games and entertainment for the children.

After we came home from the zoo, I needed to practice on Chloe's make-up for Halloween. She will be dressed as a leopard and her costume is totally darling (IMO). I really wanted to paint her face to match, but I was uncomfortable with my face-painting skills. I tried it a few weeks ago and while it wasn't totally awful, it wasn't very good either. I could still improve upon a few things, but I think today's effort was good enough to pass.

Justin Bieber Mania

2010-10-24T08:06:00.000-07:00

My husband Pete decided that he wanted to make a very special impression upon our exchange daughter Effy. Apparently, she is one of the many teen girls who is totally smitten with crooning heartthrob Justin Bieber. With that in mind, Pete purchased tickets and a VIP package for Effy to go to a Justin Bieber concert TODAY. They will be sitting in the third row. He is such a good dad that he is planning to go with her, so I will have the whole day to myself and Chloe and Pearl. I haven't decided what we will be doing today, but I know there will be some work on the girls' Halloween costumes. I think this year may even be more exciting than last year. Chloe will be a leopard and I will get a chance to perfect my face-painting skills. My first attempt a few weeks ago wasn't that good, but we are going to do another practice run today before the real date comes next weekend. Pearl's costume is way too big, so I will have to break out the sewing machine and make some adjustments. She also needs some more accessories, so we may have to go shopping!

If we have any time left over, the girls want to go to our local zoo. They have two new baby mountain lions in their collection that I have really been wanting to get a peek at before they grow up.

The Mystery Spot

2010-10-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Elena stands in the door frame of the crooked shack.

Arranged in order from shortest to tallest, 5'-3" to 5'-11"
Arranged in order from tallest to shortest, however this time, they appear to be the same height, or even reversed.

I took a mid-week road trip to Santa Cruz for the day. While there, Elena and I stopped by the famous "Mystery Spot". The Mystery Spot is a location in the redwood forest where laws of physics are supposedly defied and distorted. Balls seem to roll uphill, people's height seems to change and a pendulum seems to rotate the wrong direction. While the effects and observations are based mostly upon visual illusions, it's still quite fascinating to take the tour in this Escher-esque place. Once inside the crooked cabin, I became extremely dizzy.

As it turns out, even the dizziness can be explained by the brain's difficulty in trying to match up what the eyes see with what the body feels. It's definitely a fun experience. Now back to the real world.

Chloe's Cast Comes Off

2010-10-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

Exactly 6 weeks to the day that Chloe broke her arm, it was time to have her cast removed. We had been counting down the days ever since we were within 2 weeks of the scheduled date. I think we were both a little fearful that the x-rays might suggest that we would have to wait longer, but once in the office, they didn't even take the x-rays until after the cast was removed.

Chloe had been bouncing around all day in anticipation of the event. She was even bubbly in the doctor's office. That is, until the cast came off. It only took a few moments for Woody to come in with his trusty saw and cut that cast wide open. We were thrilled to see it removed. What a strange sensation it was for Chloe. The nurse noticed almost immediately that Chloe's entire demeanor changed. She became somber and a little fearful. Her arm was feeling numb and she was afraid to move it. We noticed that the layers of skin underneath were built up and peeling. I was warned not to let her scratch for fear of tearing her sensitive skin.

It's been over a week now that Chloe has had her cast off. She is still favoring the arm and it does hurt from time to time, but she is almost back to normal and her skin looks great. She still writes with both hands and I am hoping that she will enjoy being ambidextrous. It is so nice to have this chapter behind us!

A Sweet Pea Reunion

2010-10-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I have blogged. My free time has dwindled and it seems like there are a lot of other activities pulling at my attention. I am going to try and play a little catch-up here and hit some of the recent highlights.

First of all, I must explain what a Sweet Pea is. A little over 6 years ago, there were a group of soon-to-be parents turning in there paperwork to the Chinese government in the hopes of being matched with a child. Since the wait would be months and many of these parents were first-time parents, they formed a group to share the wait and plan for their new lives. We became friends online, but somehow, 6 years later, many of us remained in touch.

Now we have all been matched with our children and have settled into our changed lives. However, some of us still manage to get together in real life to see how our families have developed and grown. It's hard because we are scattered all over the US, but there are quite a few of us on the West coast and even a greater concentration in the Northwest. That's the primary reason, we opted to miss a couple days of school and work and bring Chloe and Pearl to Seattle Washington.

Another reason we traveled to Seattle was to visit our previous exchange student, Chris. Chris is now a junior at the University of Washington majoring in computer science. It was so wonderful to visit with her and take a tour of her beautiful campus.

Back To School and a Broken Arm

2010-09-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

It's just been one of those months around this household. On August 23rd, the girls went back to school. Effy, our exchange student, went to school as a Junior. Pearl entered 2nd grade and Chloe entered 1st.

During the second week of school, Chloe fell off the monkey bars at recess and suffered a severe brake to her radius and ulna just above the wrist. The bones were completely disconnected making her arm look like a "W". I had no idea how traumatic a break could be as I had never experienced one myself or with a family member. We really had a tough day and it took more than 6 hours to get her patched up and back home, where the rest of the evening wasn't much better.

Due to the fear of swelling, Chloe's orthopedic surgeon kept a splint on her rather than a cast for the first 9 days, which meant no school. Since we didn't know how long she would be out of school, we signed up for homeschooling and her teacher (who just happens to live across the street) came over every day to teach her what she missed in class.

Today Chloe got her long-awaited cast in bright pink and tomorrow she will return to school, much to the relief of both her teacher and myself. Now I can get back to work. To top it all off, I think Chloe and I picked up a cold when we were in the many medical offices we visited on the day of the break.

Vacation With Effy

2010-08-25T19:14:00.000-07:00

Carmel Mission photo converted to a watercolor.

My time available for blogging has dwindled to a minimum. I no longer have access to a computer during the day and with my girls just starting school, our evenings are quite busy too. Last week, we traveled to our favorite place, the Monterey peninsula. We stayed at a hotel right on the beach and it was cold and windy. I totally loved it. Where we live, summers in August can be stifling, so a brief respite from the valley oven is greatly welcomed, even if it means wearing jackets and coats.

The first day we headed for Gilroy Gardens . Now this place is a bit “young” for Effy, but she really had a fun time anyway. She got her face painted and she smiled as we rode nearly all the rides. I just love how there’s rarely a line for anything at this place. It’s like having your own private amusement park. I even got to ride on one attraction that was too “big” for my little ones because Effy agreed to go with me. The banana boat was a blast! We rode the roller coaster two times without even having to get out of our seat. The father and son sitting behind us were eagerly enjoying their fifth go of it.

After that, we headed for Monterey and spent time on the beaches, at the Carmel Mission, in Dennis the Menace Park , and at the Monterey Aquarium. I have been going to the aquarium since it opened (back when I lived in the area) and it just seems to get better every time. There really are a lot of things for the little kids to do, even toddlers. It’s usually too crowded for my taste, but if you come with patience, there is plenty to see and do.

We spent the last day on the beach in Pacific Grove , playing in the rocks and tide pools, searching for hermit crabs. The girls collected dozens, played with them and then released them back into the ocean before we went home. It was a great four days and now I think they are ready to go back to school.

Gate at Carmel Mission

Bell at the Mission

She's Here!

2010-08-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

Friday we went to the local airport to pick up our new exchange student from China. Her name is Liu Shuer, but she is going by "Effy". She is 16 and is from Dong Guan in Guandong China. She is cute, smart, friendly and I can see that she will be a joy to have in our family this coming year. She is a tad picky about food, but certainly not as bad as Chloe. We will just learn to expand our dining horizons.

She is not the only new member in our family. We also have a new kitten, named Sarafina. I rescued Sarafina from the local animal shelter two weeks ago. She wasn't the prettiest cat in the joint, but she was definitely the sweetest and smartest. Unfortunately, Effy is terrified of Sarafina, so we are going to have to go through an adjustment period.

I guess that's what life is all about, making adjustments.

Goodbye Chris (For Now)

2010-08-01T20:49:00.001-07:00

Chris came down from Seattle to spend the weekend with us and to visit old friends. She had to return to Washington today because she has college classes Monday morning. Even though it was a short visit, we had a fun time.

There is rumor of a Sweet Pea (sort of an FCC group) reunion in October in Washington, so we are hoping to stop in and see her then. For now, goodbye Chris. See you soon.

Just Because

2010-08-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

I took this photo last week at the park while I was playing with my brother-in-law's Canon 5D. It was my favorite of the day.

We were at the park on a very hot summer day. The girls were playing in the creek. Pearl actually fell in. I have a picture of that too, but it wasn't a happy shot, so we'll just save that as future blackmail material ;-)

I looked at Chloe and called her name. Then she spun her head around quickly and I snapped this shot. Her braids were almost horizontal. I thought it was cute, but then, I'm her mother, and I think just about everything she does is cute.

Chris Comes Back for a Visit

2010-07-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

Chris was an exchange student that lived with us two years ago. She is much more than just a student. She was a daughter and a sister in our family. After living with us for a year, she went off to college at the University of Washington, where she is excelling and doing well.

She came down to visit us and some old friends for the weekend. We took her to Pismo Beach for some fun and to San Simeon to view the elephant seals. It was a very nice day and a great way to escape our Central Valley heat.

Chloe rolls in the sand to keep warm.

Sorry About My Mess

2010-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

My blog background template isn't available anymore and whilst I was trying to come up with something new, I got lost in html world. I haven't figured out how to change the widths of my columns yet, so please bear with me for awhile until I figure this out.

I have more pictures from last weekend at Monterey. Hang in there. We'll be back soon.

Leaving the Hot Weather Behind

2010-07-18T14:50:00.001-07:00

It only takes a few hours to get us from unbearable heat to cool fog. We decided at the last moment to ditch the Central Valley and head for cooler places. The girls just love playing on the beach. These photos were taken at two different beaches. The rocky beach is in Pacific Grove and the smooth beach is in Carmel.

A bride and groom came out to the beach with two photographers to capture the moment. There was also a seal lounging on the beach. Signs were posted to keep people a safe distance back. The girls collected twigs and feathers to create their own structures.

Third of July

2010-07-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

In our small town, we celebrate our country's birth on the 3rd of July. That's because the fireworks technicians are booked at larger venues on the fourth. By celebrating on the third, we can schedule a top-notch show that might only be seen in a larger city. The other added benefit of celebrating on the third, is that we have an extra day to fully enjoy the festivities. It's like the whole weekend is the 4th of July.

Here are some scenes from last night. I will be sure to include some pictures of the girls in the next post.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I didn't have to haul any camera equipment around. I took these pictures standing in my back yard.

Vacation Update

2010-06-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

We've been home a few days now, but sometimes it takes me awhile to catch up. Last week we went to Disneyland and California Adventure Park on Monday and Wednesday and we hung out at Downtown Disney and the pool on Tuesday.

We met up with friend Joy, who is celebrating her 6th birthday at Disneyland. Her parents were in China adopting her at the exact same time we were in China adopting Chloe.

Tuesday we all went to see Toy Story in 3D together. Some of these aren't my best pictures, but I guess my creativity was on vaction too. Don't the girls look chic in their 3D glasses and supermodel poses?

Someone's missing her two front teeth!

Tres Chic!

By Thursday, we headed inland to visit with my sister and her husband. On the way, we stopped at the Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens for a stroll through the gardens and art galleries. The girls loved playing in the lily ponds. The grounds are amazing and the artwork is first class. "Blue Boy" and "Pinkie" are the most famous pieces on display.

Breakfast with Goofy

2010-06-22T14:24:00.001-07:00

Here we are on vacation with our friends, the Marcussons. I don't have time to make this look pretty in Photoshop because we are too busy having fun.

I wish you all the best.

We're on Vacation

2010-06-19T21:52:00.000-07:00

Today we just hung around the house and packed for our week-long vacation. Tonight I met up with the local photography club and we practiced taking motion shots, jump shots, and silhouettes. Then after a while I just started shooting pictures of the girls. Here are a couple from tonight.

Catching Up

2010-06-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

I keep intending to update this blog. I have pictures and we have been doing some fun, although laidback, activities this summer. The girls have been out of school for two weeks now. They spent last week at Vacation Bible School. Saturday, a school friend invited them over for a playdate. How cool it was that Mom and Dad could have a little time together without the girls. One week from now, we will be starting a summer vacation. This year we will not be traveling to Europe or Hawaii, but instead, will meet up with some friends at Disneyland. Hopefully, we can squeeze in a few more vacation days this summer and plan a few road trips around California.

My attention has been a bit side-tracked lately. I have another blog that has been garnering a lot of my attention this week and I expect it to monopolize a lot of my time over the next year. I have made a commitment to myself to do a 365 project. That is, I will be taking a picture a day, every day, for the next year. And to make it especially challenging, I will be the subject of most of the pictures. This is particularly difficult for me because I am very uncomfortable in front of the camera. I am unhappy with my appearance and am working to make a significant lifestyle change by becoming more healthy and losing weight. So far, this year, I am down 38 pounds, but I really need to drop another hundred. Therefore, this project is a means of documenting my progress over time, as well as holding myself accountable to my goal. So please bear with me if this blog may seem a little slim on postings or if it might have a few too many shots of me, rather than my children. This blog is supposed to be all about Chloe and Pearl. They are one of the main reasons that I am committed to changing my lifestyle. I want to be able to enjoy an active lifestyle with them and I intend to keep up with their energy and encourage them to challenge themselves both mentally and physically.

I'll try to keep the focus of this blog on the girls, but for this post, I'm making an exception.

I Heart Faces "Play"

2010-06-06T21:36:00.000-07:00

Here's a theme I could photograph every day. Today was the beginning of the heat wave. Soon the temps will top 100 degrees. For now, we only reached 98.

Dad set up a sprinkler in the front yard and gave the girls some balloons to fill up with water. They had lots of fun splashing each other and practicing their cartwheels. This is image is of Chloe, doing her one-handed cartwheels. She can also do a one-handed cartwheel on only her knuckles. While technically, it's not a beautiful photograph, I definitely thought it was fun!

To see other creative expressions of "Play", go to I Heart Faces.

Playing Around in Photoshop

2010-05-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

One of my goals for this weekend was to improve my Photoshop skills. It has been a slow and painstaking process and I haven't learned near as much as I had hoped. However, it was not a total waste. Here is a picture that shows I had a little fun.

And now I know that if I ever need a pair of fairy wings, I can draw my own.

A College Reunion

2010-05-27T06:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I won't be posting any pictures of my college reunion. Partly, because this blog is supposed to be about Chloe and Pearl, and partly because I left my camera in the car. Yes, I was too embarrassed or lazy or whatever to get my camera out of the car. Sometimes I get like that.

Pete and I both met in college and we both majored in architectural engineering. It was fun to share experiences with fellow alumni and even a couple of our professors. After a few hours singing the blues about how the economy has affected the engineering and construction business, it was off to revisit the old campus and town.

This was the view from our hotel (above).

The next day we stopped by a local park to have a playdate with a couple of other families with children from China. This last picture is of the girls with their new friends.

Black and White Wednesday

2010-05-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

I still consider myself a beginner in this new hobby of photography. It's been just over a year since I purchased my first DSLR camera. I think I have worked pretty hard at it even though I work full-time and then try to spend most of my remaining hours in quality time with my family. I have edited a few shots in black and white, but it is rare for me. These past couple of weeks, I have made a greater effort to work with images in black and white.

This first shot is of Pearl from this past weekend. I sized the original a little too large for this web page, so if you want to view it larger, click on it and then click on "all sizes" after you are linked to my flickr stream.

We traveled to San Luis Obispo to a mini-college reunion of architectural engineering graduates from Cal Poly. Both Pete and I were ARCE majors and we met in college, 25 years ago. In three days, we will celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary.

After the reunion, we explored the town to see how much it has changed over the years. We usually come by here every year or two since we only live a couple hours away. The changes in this town are amazing. This picture of Pearl was taken on the steps of the mission (one of the original California missions). It is one of the few buildings in downtown SLO that hasn't changed, and I hope it stays that way.

Hopefully, in a day or two, I will get the rest of the pictures up from last weekend. My second black and white shot was taken almost two weeks ago in the yard of my old house. It closed escrow last week. The mother in this young family is a dear friend and former employee who has helped us so many times over the years. It was my pleasure to practice on her and her family as I try to expand my photography skills. I liked this shot because it felt so natural and so tender between them. The son is sitting on a stone pillar and has his hand on his Dad's hand, which is resting on his leg. You can see his Dad's wedding ring. The parents are obviously engaged in the activity of their sweet baby girl. I think it tells more of their story than the posed shots where everyone is looking at the camera, although we took plenty of those shots too.

For some reason, I couldn't make the button above link you to Lisa's wonderful site, so if you would like to see more black and white images, go here.

Pearl

2010-05-09T18:20:00.000-07:00

I put this picture first because it is my favorite.

It's been awhile since I took my girls on a photo-shoot. I decided to take them separately. Pearl has always been easy to take a picture of. It is sometimes difficult for her to relax and hold a natural position, but she loves being the center of attention and she will flash her gorgeous smile on cue.

We didn't get to bring Pearl home from China until she was 3.25 years old. We were looking for an older child (much older than 3) and then we totally fell in love with her profile. There are several behaviors that she has that we attribute directly to spending so much time in the orphanage. She needs a LOT of structure, consistency and direction. Even with those setbacks, Pearl has been the perfect addition to our family and I expect the brightest of futures ahead for her.

Pearl is very smart, almost too smart. Her reading skills are off the chart for first grade and none of the other students in her class are even close to her level. She learns from imitation and she learns quickly, although her comprehension skills sometimes lag behind. I attribute this to her only having spoken English for less than 4 years.

Pearl is a gentle soul, although she moves quickly and impatiently. She is sweet and loving, but the world revolves around her and she is easily distracted. She is kind and giving, but she is also carefree and oblivious. She is loud, quirky, goofy and a drama queen. She speaks in extremes and is quick to engage in debate. Sometimes I think she is already a teenager. She lights up a room and will strike up a conversation about herself to anyone who is willing to listen. She is amazingly popular.

Pearl is a true gem that needs to be nurtured and loved. She and her little sister Chloe have taught me so much about what it means to be a mother, something I NEVER thought I would be until I turned 40. I feel like my life has just begun.

Happy Mother's Day to all the other lucky mamas out there!

Chloe

2010-05-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a very long time since I took the girls somewhere with the specific purpose of taking their pictures. Usually, I just bring the camera along to whatever activity we have planned to capture the moment. These past couple of weeks, I have been taking portraits for friends, so I thought it was about time that I take some pictures of my girls.

This post will solely be devoted to Chloe. The next one will be devoted to Pearl. Chloe has been in our lives since we met her as a 14 month old baby. While the first six months were a little rocky, every moment since then has been more wonderful than the one before. She is my intuitive, sensitive deep thinker. She's cheerful, enthusiastic and loving (in a very touchy-feely mushy way). She learns things in her own way and does not easily follow direction or structure. She has taught me that there is more than one way to accomplish a task.

Chloe has been undergoing vision therapy for about 8 months. Her lazy eye has improved considerably and while her eyes are usually misaligned a bit, they are much straighter than before. She has total ability to straighten her eyes at will, so that is our major focus these next 12 weeks. It was so nice that she could keep her eyes straight for this photo shoot. In the past, I either had to do some major Photoshop or I had to discard perfectly good pictures because her eyes were misaligned. I am very impressed that she has worked so hard to get this far.

Fixit Friday #51

2010-04-23T20:00:00.000-07:00

BEFORE

It's been months since I participated in this challenge. I just sort of dropped out of all things photography for awhile. But now I am back, and just as excited to learn new things as I ever was.

This week's challenge was fun. The shot was so good to begin with that I bet many would not even considering "fixing" it. Here is my attempt, which mostly focuses on brightening and sharpening the eyes, removing the snowflake off her forehead and cropping/rotating the image.

I did all of my edits in Photoshop CS4. To see everyone else's edit on this lovely photo, go to I Heart Faces.

AFTER

A Full Weekend

2010-04-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

Things started happening around Thursday. That's when Chloe woke up and her tooth was hurting her again, but this time worse. Pain had been coming and going over the past week, but now it was continuous and strong. Nearly two years ago, Chloe banged into a little boy head first and badly hurt her front two teeth. At the time, the dentist was able to save her teeth. Now two years later, the roots were decaying and painful cysts were forming in the gum line.

I had to cancel an evaluation with the eye doctor in order to get Chloe in with the dentist. I thought they were going to remove only the painful tooth, but as it turned out, the other tooth was also damaged and another cyst was forming. He recommended to remove them and I asked if he could do it on the spot rather than having to make another appointment.

Chloe was a champ through the whole procedure. Sometimes she amazes me. Even I got a little squeamish when I saw the dentist twisting and pulling on her teeth. Amazingly, this procedure had very little impact on Chloe's smile. That's because her upper lip is larger than I realized. For most of Chloe's smiles, you cannot even see her front two teeth. For the picture, I had to ask her to give me a REALLY big smile to show that they were missing.

Also Thursday, several packages arrived in the mail. Three of them were a sewing cabinet that I had ordered. It came in lots of little pieces with dozens of different kinds of hardware. It was probably the most ambitious piece of furniture that I have ever ordered with the intent to assemble. And while I do have the greatest husband in the world, he is definitely NOT a handyman. This was a project that I would pretty much have to do all on my own, except when I needed more hands for holding.

On Saturday, I began construction on my new sewing cabinet. I am embarrassed to say, but it took me nearly the whole day to assemble it. It was missing a couple of pieces and some pieces came damaged, but I was able to complete it and I will be able to replace the damaged parts later when they arrive. It has been over a year since I last sewed anything, but now I have a workspace and I am ready to get back into the swing of things.

As a reward for all my hard work, dear Hubby took me and the kids out to Tahoe Joe's for a wonderful dinner. I was sure to save half for later.

Sunday morning, I awoke early (almost unheard of for this NON-morning person) and I went out to shoot some sunrise photos in the local vineyards. My boss had asked me if I had any vineyard pictures and I told him that I did not, but that I would get some. I hope he likes them.

Later Sunday, Dad took the girls to the movies to see "How to Train a Dragon", while I caught a quick nap and then proceeded to clean out the ENTIRE garage. Yes, I got to every box, pile, and stack. I sorted it all and I should have taken a picture. It looks so good! After I cleaned it out, I dusted and wiped down all of the storage containers. Sweet!! What a rewarding and productive weekend.

After a nice home-cooked meal Sunday evening, we all sat down as a family and watched Chloe's favorite movie, "The Sound of Music". She calls it "Maria". Gotta go. It's family time!

Party at the Rollerama

2010-04-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrated Pearl's 7th birthday at the local Rollerama. Chloe had been asking for roller skates well before Christmas and she finally got a pair for her birthday in January. Not long after, Pearl decided that she would also like a pair of skates and the two have been honing their skills ever since in anticipation of this day.

Lots of friends and family joined us to skate and celebrate. The girls had lots of fun trying to show their friends how to skate.

Pearl's 1st grade teacher showed up to wish Pearl a Happy Birthday. To the right of Pearl is her close friend and classmate Alexys. Alexys was probably the best skater of the bunch.

Pearl Turns 7

2010-04-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today we celebrate Pearl's seventh birthday. It is a day of joy and fun. Pearl is still young enough that she doesn't seem to fully contemplate her origins. While Chloe asks a lot of questions, Pearl remains silent. Even though I think Pearl doesn't dwell on her past much, I know she must have questions too. But, I think she is afraid to ask.

I only bring this up now because to some extent, I am sad about today. Not sad that Pearl was born, but sad that we don't really know her actual date of birth. When she was left near the entrance to the orphanage in Chengdu, she was not a newborn. There was no note or identifying bit of information that she could take with her as she matures. Her age was estimated at three weeks, yet I suspect the orphanage staff picked the 8th as a birthday for her because eight is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture.

I often wonder why it took her birthmother (or other relative, perhaps a grandparent) as long as three weeks to leave her behind. Did they have to travel a long distance from the country to the big city where the orphanage was? Did they think something was wrong with her after awhile and decide that they couldn't care for her? The orphanage staff believed there was something wrong with her and that's how she ended up on a Special Needs adoption list. Today she is perfectly healthy. Did the birth family agonize over their decision and try to keep her? So many questions go through my head. I wonder what Pearl will think.

I may have mentioned to Pearl in the past that we don't know her exact birth date, but I didn't want to remind her today. For now, it is all still about goodness and celebration, and that's the way I want her to feel.

So today before school, I decided to take a couple of pictures of Pearl. Later I asked Chloe to join in and I took a picture of the happy sisters together. Pearl's party will be Saturday and she has chosen to have it at the local Rollerama. This should be fun!

Delayed Easter Post

2010-04-07T19:36:00.000-07:00

My blogging just isn't up to speed these days, so this post is a few days late. This past weekend we traveled to Pahrump, Nevada to visit with my parents. The drive is about 6 hours, but thanks to built-in DVD players, the girls were the best of travelers. They were really excited to see their grandparents and especially to receive Easter baskets loaded with goodies from them.

My sister came up for a visit as well, so it was nice to have a family gathering of sorts. She brought with her wristlet corsages that her daughter, Cousin Lisa, had made for the girls. They were beautiful and the girls really felt special.

Dad made a quick trip to the local big box store and picked up some confetti eggs for the girls to hunt. He hid them around the trailer and yard and the girls had a great time finding them. As usual, Pearl raced to find the eggs, while Chloe would take her time and examine each one as she carefully placed it in her basket. Fortunately, Pearl is such a sweet big sister that she shared all her extra eggs with Chloe, until they had exactly the same amount. I love that Pearl is quick and smart, but I also love that Chloe is careful and deliberate. They really do compliment each other. I think this was one of my favorite Easters ever.

A Five Year Milestone

2010-04-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

Five years ago today, I became a mother for the first time. It wasn't in the traditional sense. I didn't go through labor pains or spend any time in a hospital. Nevertheless, it was a long and arduous process that resulted in a sweet 14 month old Chinese baby girl being placed in my arms, forever.

Those early months were very challenging for Pete and I as parents. We kept trying to train her like a dog. I just thought if you said "No" several times, she would eventually get it. Not Chloe. She was a very stubborn baby and she liked to grab everything and put it in her mouth. Now, 5 years later, she still likes to grab stuff and she still puts some of it in her mouth. I gave up on "No" a long time ago.

As a baby, Chloe didn't seem to care for being cuddled or kissed. She wanted to be held all the time, but only if you were standing up and walking. Anything else was total frustration for her. It made going places a challenging experience, and forget about going to a restaurant!

Now she is the cuddliest little sweetie-pie that ever was. She can snuggle in your arms until she falls asleep. She is sensitive, thoughtful, caring, supportive and a problem-solver. I am so lucky to be called her mother. Sometimes she is so mature, I think that she acts like the mother and I act like the child. She even reminds me to call my mother or give my husband a hug and kiss. I could go on forever, but that's why I have this blog. I can spread it out in little bits for as long as I desire.

A Spring Trip to Gilroy Gardens and Carmel

2010-04-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

We really enjoy going to Gilroy Gardens. I think this is one of the best kept amusement secrets in California. If we account for traffic, we can drive to Gilroy Gardens in the same amount of time as Disneyland. And while I am not comparing this park to Disneyland, I must add that there are LOTS of fun rides with little or no lines and it is always a relaxing, fun, enjoyable time for our family. I think this visit was the best yet. And with our season passes, all we had to pay for was our meal (and gas and a hotel(optional)). On this visit, we had the pleasure to meet up with good friends Maddy and Gwenny from Double Happiness. In case you may have missed previous posts, Chloe and Maddy are from the same orphanage in China and were probably there at the same time. By my calculations, it's a 3-4 month overlap. They are about 6 months apart and both are exactly 42" tall (which is a critical height for some of the rides). Chloe is a bit heavier with her stocky build, but I do see some similarities in these Southern Chinese girls.

Later in the day, we met up with some other friends of ours and it really was nice for us parents to visit and share stories. Someday, Donna and I are going to get together and share all our photo-editing secrets with each other.

After a couple of nights in world-famous Gilroy (LOL), we headed for our favorite place, Carmel (and Monterey). We ate at some of our favorite restaurants, hopped from beach to beach and hung out at the toy store and the hotel. We don't really do much, but it feels like a second home to us and we really enjoy every moment.

While the girls were at the beach, someone started feeding the seagulls (are they insane?), so that is why there are so many birds in some of these pictures. At least none of them left any presents behind as they flew over our heads! We came home Wednesday morning to spend one relaxing vacation day at home before heading in the opposite direction, to visit the grandparents in Nevada for Easter. Keep in touch for future posts about the grandparents' visit and another trip in search of wildflowers.

Welcome Spring!

2010-03-21T19:33:00.000-07:00

This weekend was simply wonderful. We didn't have any obligations so our time was pretty much our own. Friday afternoon I got the idea to go in search of wildflowers. We didn't find a patch as thick and stunning as last year, but we did find a beautiful park with camping and picnicing less than an hour's drive from our home. The place is called Wind Wolves Preserve and I was stunned to know that I had never heard of such a lovely and special place.

The Wildlands Conservancy purchased more than 93,000 acres to create the largest nonprofit preserve on the West Coast. The preserve is an ecologically unique region where the Transverse Ranges, Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, western Mojave Desert and San Joaquin Valley converge. Due to this singular geographic location and an elevation range from 640 to 6,005 feet, the preserve has an impressive array of landforms and habitats. The preserve is a critical landscape linkage and wildlife corridor between the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada.

So Saturday morning, we packed a picnic lunch and headed for the hills. We walked on trails, chased lizards, sniffed flowers and admired the views until we were all too tired to carry on. Sunday was also a nice day as we spent it around the house roller skating, playdoh shaping and family fun time. Next weekend is Spring Break and we will be hitting the road. Stay tuned!

Cousin Quinlan Turns 4

2010-03-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to another birthday party. It was for Cousin Quinny. He is such a sweet and funny boy and it's always a joy to be with him and his family. I haven't posted (or taken) very many photos in a long time, so I will try to make up for that a bit in this post. Here goes.

In front of our new home on the way to the party.

This one above is my favorite. Quinny is such a ham.

Quinn's little sister Lily really enjoys the cake.

Our New Pets

2010-03-16T09:00:00.001-07:00

Since Marty our cat died, Chloe had been asking for a pet. Dad said OK, but only to a goldfish. Chloe argued for a lizard, but accepted the idea of a goldfish with enthusiasm. So off to the pet store we went. This was back in December, but as you can see, I haven't been that up to speed on the blogging front.

We purchased a beautiful 10 gallon tank and three goldfish. One for Mom, one for Chloe and one for Pearl (who wasn't there to pick hers out). I had never owned a fish before, so I had a lot of learning to do. Of course the guy selling the fish said we didn't have to do anything. That's what the filter was for! After three weeks, Pearl's fish passed away. Soon after that, we moved. I had to empty the tank and start all over and that's when I learned about "cycling". I didn't know that you aren't supposed to add fish for the first few weeks when you start over with the water. So that's when we decided to take the whole family to the pet store. Pearl picked out her second fish and Dad picked out his fish and then we added two plecostomus (catfish/algae eaters).

A little more research and I realized that I had just overloaded the tank with too many fish. One of the plecostomus' died a week later. Then Pearl's second fish died. Pearl eagerly claimed the remaining algae-eater as her fish. Soon afterward, he died too.

Now we are down to three fish and the tank has finished "cycling". The good bacteria have become re-established and the water is clear. I don't really want to add any more fish, but we will let Pearl pick out her fourth. At least she doesn't get emotional about the loss of her pets.

Somehow, Chloe's original fish, "Coral", and my original fish, "Sea Biscuit", have managed to survive all of the chaos and change that has occured in the tank. Dad's fish "Black Thunder", a black moor, is still hanging in there too, but I don't see him eat very much. He is really cute and not afraid of bossy Sea Biscuit, who thinks she owns the tank. He is smaller, but he gets under her and head-butts her belly. He is a bit shyer too, so I didn't get a good picture of him. Sea Biscuit is so exciteable. She comes to the front whenever she spies a visitor. She gets so wild that she jumps around the tank, splashing and making noise. Coral is just a sweet little friendly fish. Who knew goldfish had so much personality?

Coral, an Orinda goldfish

Sea Biscuit being very curious

Sea Biscuit shows off

Counting To 100

2010-03-07T14:49:00.000-08:00

Chloe is still having trouble counting to 100. She can count by 10s, but she will forget which order they go in when she counts by 1s. Now we have a new technique to learn how to count to 100. She does cartwheels. I warn you now that the video below is long and repetitive, but I wanted to document the fact that Chloe can do 100 cartwheels non-stop. She did pause at #29 because she couldn't remember that 30 came next. Amazingly, she is quite good at addition, so I think we've just about got this number thing down.

Black and White Wednesday

2010-03-03T13:49:00.000-08:00

I am still not back into the full swing of blogging. Nevertheless, Monday I felt inspired to take my camera out (for the first time in weeks) and shoot a few shots of the local almond orchards before all the blooms were gone. I thought that I had missed the peak of their beauty until I stumbled across this orchard where the blossom petals had created a solid blanket of "snow" on the ground. At that moment I realized that sometimes the best shots are not what you expect. I only wish that the camera could have captured the "snowfall" effect that I witnessed as the blossom petals continued to fall on their way to the ground. It was the most beautiful Spring snow I had ever seen.

And with that, here is my first entry into B/W wednesday.

If you click on the picture, it will take you to my flickr account. From there you can click on "all sizes" to see it larger.

Pearl is Student of the Month

2010-03-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

Last year in Kindergarten, Pearl was chosen as student of the month for "responsibility". This year, she was chosen for "caring". Her teacher was too choked up to read her own words about Pearl, so she passed on the speech to another teacher. Pearl really does have a way with people.

I went out and shot some pictures today. Maybe things are getting back to normal. Chloe is now asking me lots of questions about what she has to do to become Student of the Month. I don't know what to tell her other than, participate more. She can do over a hundred cartwheels in a row. I am going to try and tape it for proof!

What A Weekend!

2010-02-08T07:23:00.000-08:00

It started off great. With the cash in hand from selling one of our old Avalanches, we stole away from work early on Friday afternoon to test drive some Hondas. We looked at the Fit, the CRV and the Impulse. I am thrilled to write that we came home with a red Honda Fit. It is so cute, yet so roomy inside. It's a tiny little thing with amazing flexibility in the storage department. The rear seats are "magic seats". They can fold up to accomodate tall items. They can fold down to reveal a spacious flat cargo area. Even the front passenger seat can fold flat to allow for very long items in the cargo area. It's a zippy little car and comfortable for all but the very tallest or largest of people. We even think we'll be able to fit five passengers in it. That's right! We are expecting to have another person joining our family, at least for a few months. We plan on hosting another Chinese exchange student in the coming school year. We are so excited, and I'll tell you all about her in a future post.

The next morning, we held our very first yard sale. We got up at 4:30 in the morning to make signs and begin putting all the items under our carport in the front drive (rain was predicted). Fortunately, Pete had asked his employee Elena and her brother Gus to help us out. We never would have survived without them. Even though the time was set for 7AM, people started showing up at 6AM in the dark and fog! By 7:30, it was a madhouse. We had over twenty people there at a time, some even fighting over things. Items would sell as fast as we could bring them out of the house and people were clamoring for more things. They would just hang out in the yard waiting to see what we would bring out next. By 9AM, most everything was gone. We had time to go find a few more things inside to get rid of and by 12:30, there was nothing left. That's when it started to rain. It couldn't have worked out better.

Last year during the Superbowl, a very strange thing occurred. We saw the most amazing HUGE raccoon peeking in our living room window at us. In seven years, we had never seen a racoon before. We never saw him again, but we did have quite a few more raccoon visits after that. This year, again during the Superbowl, we were enjoying the game, when we heard sirens in the neighborhood. Pete remarked, "I bet the firefighters hate it when there is a call during the Superbowl". Just a few moments later, Pete is looking out the living room window screaming "Fire! Fire!" I look, but I cannot believe my eyes as we see flames shooting high in the sky. It looks like it's at the back of our property. After a moment, we realize it isn't at our home, so we dash outside (like all of the other neighbors) and rush to the house, two houses away. There is another house and a street between this property and ours. If you are looking at the picture below, our home is to the right. What is it about Superbowl Sunday?

Sorry, I am still not much into taking pictures this week. We are moving next week and I am spending all of my free time organizing and packing. So only a traumatic event, like a fire, was enough to tempt me into breaking out the camera. As far as I know, the occupants were out of town and no one was hurt.

What a crazy weekend!

Yes. We're Still Here

2010-01-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't felt like blogging lately........for a various number of reasons. This may continue on for at least a couple more weeks. I have been battling a cold for two weeks now. My computer and internet have been on the blink. Our weather has been mostly dark and rainy and that hasn't motivated me to go out and take pictures. I have pictures on my camera from Chloe's birthday two weeks ago that I haven't even looked at yet.

So for now, I will just post an update and hopefully, sometime soon, I will return with original pictures and fun tales of our adventures.

January 19th was Chloe's 6th birthday. It was a lot of fun. We had her party on the Saturday before at Pump It Up and I think it was well-received. We got her roller skates for her birthday. She wanted them for Christmas, but I waited for her to ask several times to make sure that was what she really wanted. Pearl has shown no signs of jealousy or interest in roller skates, but I suspect she is. I keep telling her to ask me for whatever she wants for her birthday (coming up in April), but she just asks for something basic, like a Barbie doll. I think the girls already have a dozen of those. Chloe is really developing her own interests and skills. She can do amazing cartwheels (self-taught) and often does them with one hand or just on her knuckles. I wouldn't be surprised if she starts doing them without touching the ground at all, but then I guess that wouldn't be a cartwheel.

We are signing the girls up for Chinese dance class. It was too hard to make the one hour round trip on Sunday afternoons for the Chinese language class. Just one day missed for illness sets you too far behind to catch up. We will have to try that again when the girls are a bit older. Dance class will be on Monday nights. Chloe still has vision therapy every Thursday evening.

After being for sale for 2.5 years, our home is in escrow!! We are not allowing ourselves to get excited just yet because we know how easy it is for these things to fall through. Nevertheless, we are in negotiations to rent a beautiful new 3000SF home right by the girls' school. I hope to sign the lease by Friday.

I also started to lose weight. I am 23 days into my new lifestyle change (i.e. "diet") and I am down 19 pounds. I have such a long way to go that I am afraid to get too excited about that too. Next month I turn 45. It is really starting to feel like a new beginning. That's it for now.

Farewell To Marty

2010-01-12T15:20:00.000-08:00

This new year has brought me a lot of motivation, excitement and inspiration..........just not about blogging. I will have to fill you in on the end of our glorious vacation in Carmel in a future post. This post is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and family member, Marty the Cat.

When we left on vacation, Marty was active, healthy and alert. Much to my chagrin, he was a talented hunter. His favorite choice of prey were birds. Then on the day before our return, we received a call from Elena, our friend and caretaker, who informed us that Marty was limping. We didn't ask her to do anything since we would be home within 24 hours to assess the situation.

We arrived home on Sunday but could not find Marty anywhere. We called for him and searched our whole yard, but out attempts were unsuccessful. We left food out and he did not eat it. We looked for two more days and then by Tuesday, we were pretty sure Marty must have met with foul play. But our little adventure was not over yet.

On Wednesday, we had an appraiser come to our home to review our property. They looked it over from top to bottom. Then suddenly, one of the appraisers came back into the house with a concerned look on her face. She said, "Do you know there is a cat locked in your shed?" Panic struck, I darted out to the shed to find Marty, crouched and crying and pitiful. His eyes were fully dialated and he acted like he couldn't see. I carried him in and gave him some food and water. He only ate two bites. An hour later, I was at the vet's office and Marty wasn't responding. It was beginning to seem like he was suffering from more than dehydration. The vet looked him over and exclaimed "Your cat is blind!" I had no idea. He was just hunting two weeks ago.

Apparently, Marty had suffered from some sort of trauma, probably just after going blind, while we were on vacation. He had been hiding in the shed because he couldn't see and he was sick. My husband was in the shed only the day before and didn't notice Marty. Sadly, he hung on for a few more days. At least we had the chance to say goodbye and hold him until the end.

I know there are a lot of people that don't care for cats, but we liked to think Marty was special. He was friendly and greeted visitors, but didn't fuss all over them. He was a constant companion whenever we were in the yard. He seemed to watch over us like we were in his pack. He didn't act all finicky and snooty like some cats. He always knew when to keep his claws in and he never bit or nibbled on us. Marty would walk with us four blocks down to the corner market and then back home. He wasn't on a leash; he just liked being with us. Farewell sweet Marty! You were a wonderful pet.

Too Much Fun to Blog

2009-12-26T09:15:00.000-08:00

I thought that being on vacation would mean lots of posts and lots of pictures. I thought wrong.

We are having a great time and every time we do something fun, my husband says "You have to blog about that." Then we do another fun thing and I forgot all about the last one.

I will just have to do my best with a brief and incomplete summary of the past few days. On December 23rd, we joined our long-time friends Kevin and Christie as they finalized the adoption of their twins at the Monterey County courthouse. Afterward, we went out to breakfast and I received a phone call from my realtor that she had just opened escrow on our house. It has been for sale for 2.5 years, so this is a momentous event for us. There are still a lot of hurdles to be jumped and so much that can go wrong, but if things are still on track in another couple of weeks, I may just get excited.

Later that night we went to Bubba Gumps for dinner and it was one of the best times we have ever had eating out as a family. I am not sure what it was, but on this one evening the food was just right, the girls were happy, the service was perfect and we were entertained by live carolers singing Christmas classics. It was just one of those magical family moments that you can tuck away in your memory box.

Christmas Eve wasn't what we had hoped, but we did get to visit with family. We returned home from vacation to sign the papers for our home sale and to exchange gifts with the relatives. It was a little sad because the grandparents weren't up for the party. They were the primary reason we had traveled all the way home.

Christmas day we returned to Carmel and our vacation. We didn't buy any extravagant or fancy gifts, but there was plenty of presents under the tree and the girls were all smiles anyway. After a nice long nap, we went to the beach and let the girls play until sunset. The beach was much busier today. I guess others thought it would be nice to see the sunset on Christmas day too.

After that, we showered the girls and took them to Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey to enjoy the Christmas lights on the boats and to eat dinner at the Old Fisherman's Grotto, one of our favorite restaurants. The lobster ravioli was to die for! We were having such a nice time together and then the waitress informed us that the couple next to us had just paid for two desserts for our girls. No one had ever done something like that for us. It sure made a special evening even more magical, such a sweet and friendly gesture.

I hope you all are busy making some special treasures for your memory box!

Ready For Christmas

2009-12-22T09:58:00.000-08:00

.............well almost. The girls are certainly ready. They are having a great time on vacation. It's a little hard to keep them off of all the antique furnishings in this vacation home, but we still manage to keep our cool (after a time out or two).

I have been working on this picture for two days. It didn't quite meet my expectations, but I still think it looks pretty cool. There is so much more for me to learn in Photoshop. I guess that will have to wait. I am looking forward to the time when my editing skills can match my imagination.

I hope you all are enjoying the season. Now off to finish my shopping!!!

Day 2 - Maybe a Little Too Much Squeezed Into One Day

2009-12-20T13:08:00.000-08:00

We didn't want to waste one moment on the fun meter for our first full day of vacation.

We slept in, but only just a little. We all had breakfast in the house and dashed off to see "The Princess and the Frog". I really liked the story, but I was greatly disappointed with the artwork. I thought I was watching something on Cartoon Network; the quality was so poor. What has become of Disney? There was so much potential for creative expression in the swamp scenes. Oh well, I guess the era of Disney setting the artistic standard has ended.

After the movie, we went shopping and purchased some pajamas for the girls. Then we took them to see Santa Claus to sit on his lap and to ask for him what they wanted for Christmas. Even my shy Chloe was brave and direct. Chloe tells me she wants some Polly Pocket toy, but then I hear her ask Santa for roller skates! They took nice pictures of the girls with him, but I don't have a scanner with me, so I cannot share on my computer.

We came home, ate lunch, and then went out to pick out a Christmas tree for our vacation home. The girls had a fun time running around and acting crazy.

After setting up the tree, we decided to give the girls one of their presents early. Little did we know that the scooters required full assembly, but we all worked together as a team and had both of them put together in a very short time. It was getting dark, but there was still enough time for the girls to try them out on the short dead-end street where our home is situated. They scooted around until they were tired out.

We had dinner reservations for a nice restaurant nearby and one of the girls was acting up. I'll leave out her name because I try to keep this blog focused more on the good stuff, rather than the bad. She was moody, ill-mannered and obnoxious throughout dinner. Dad and I were both exerting all the patience we could muster, but the quality of the experience was sadly lacking. We realized that we were partly to blame because she was tired, cold and hungry (not a great combination). Amazingly, as we left the restaurant, we had several people, including the hostess comment on how well-behaved our girls were. I wonder what they're used to!

Today's pictures weren't the greatest, but I only took 10 all day, so there wasn't really much to choose from. I'll try to post pictures of the tree tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be a much slower day.

Christmas Vacation Begins!

2009-12-19T16:52:00.000-08:00

I haven't had much time to blog lately. That's because Dad and I have both been working extra hard night and day in order to get ahead at work to be able to take two weeks off with the girls for Christmas break.

Thursday afternoon was the grand opening ceremony for our new animal shelter that I designed and built for our city. I love that my job allows me not only to design, but also to manage the construction....all the way down to ordering the final equipment, hanging the pictures and selecting a Christmas tree to dress up the place. It was a cold and foggy afternoon, but there was a good turnout. Since the shelter opened two weeks ago, there has been a noticeable increase in adoptions and there is room for future expansion.

You can click on any of the smaller pictures for a larger view.

Our animal control officer cuts the ribbon to her new animal shelter.
The front facade has animal imprints and pawprint cutouts.
A new lobby. The old facility didn't have a lobby. It was a small trailer.
New well-lit and heated kennels with outdoor runs for the dogs to go inside and outside at will.
Cat condos with separate toilet space. They have interior ventilation.
A "Get Acquainted" room for prospective parents to play with the dogs and cats.

Friday, I worked in the morning and then Dad and the girls picked me up just before noon to head off to glorious Carmel-By-the-Sea for a two week Christmas vacation. For the second year in a row, we rented a home. There are so many nice houses here for sale and a lot of owners rent them out while waiting for a buyer. It only took us 3 hours to reach our destination, leaving us with plenty of time to unpack, settle in, and make a trip to the beach before sunset.

This looks like the beginnings of a beautiful vacation! There are a lot more pictures and posts to follow.
This is the entry to our vacation rental in Carmel. The hydrangeas are in full bloom.

Chloe does the Happy Dance on the beach to celebrate.

Catching Up

2009-12-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a very long time. It seems like life is extremely busy right now. Work is busy for both Pete and I. We had a very nice Thanksgiving with family. We brought the food over to Pete's parents house. It was a smaller gathering this year as other family members opted to go elsewhere, but it was still nice.

Now I have another cold, so my writing may be especially poor. We leave on vacation in less than two weeks, so we will probably be very busy getting life in order before then.

This past month Dad went sailing with some friends while I stayed home with the girls. Actually, we didn't stay home the whole time. We went to Huntington Gardens in Pasadena and met up with my sister for a day of exploring and fun. It was fantastic. I felt like I was back in China when we walked through the Chinese gardens. They seem so familiar.

I'll write more later. Time for some pictures. Click on any of the smaller ones for a larger view.

Fix-it Friday Autumn Beauty

2009-11-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

Well, it's that time again and this week's editing challenge had a darling little beauty burried in a pile of leaves. I played around so much with the edits that I wasn't able to keep track of my steps, so I'll just let the pictures tell the story. I cropped and rotated the image to give the subject a slight tilt. Many others cropped out the tree and grass. This is a nice touch that gives the illusion of an endless sea of leaves. However, for me, I liked the green contrast from the grass and I thought the tree balanced out the subject, so I kept those elements in my final crop. I also thought this picture would work well with a painterly effect, so I played around with that too.

You can click on any picture for a larger view.

ORIGINAL

FIRST EDIT

PAINTING EDIT

For other great editing ideas, go here.

Staying Home

2009-11-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

Today I had lots of big plans at work. I had an appointment with an accountant to audit one of my projects. I have three contractors scheduled to perform various tasks on another project and I have paperwork and design work to do for my next project. It was supposed to be productive.

But then, stuff happens when you're busy making plans. Here it started around midnight. Chloe woke me up to tell me her tummy hurt, just in time to make it to the bathroom. And so it began. Now it is 13 hours later and she is still sick to her tummy...no school, no work, no rest. I am hoping Dad can step in and give me a break in a little while.

I took a picture of her sitting by the fireplace, snuggled in a blanket. If only she felt as good as she looked. I am also throwing in a couple of miscellaneous pictures. One is a family portrait I took a couple of weeks ago. I cannot believe how difficult it is to get 13 people to not blink or make a funny face at the same time, especially when 5 are children. I don't really see a future in this for me, but it was sure fun to try.

Yesterday it was cloudy and gloomy all day. We didn't get any precious rain, just the clouds. Finally, right at sunset, the clouds broke apart enough to allow for a beautiful scene. I had to steal away a few minutes early to capture this image just down the road from my house.

I've got the girls to myself this weekend. Dad is going sailing to Catalina Island with friends. Hopefully, if we are all feeling well, we can get out and do something fun as well. Until next time!

Ninety Years Ago

2009-11-16T10:29:00.000-08:00

Woodrow Wilson was president of the United States of America. World War I was over and the Treaty of Versailles was signed and the Nazi Party was formed in Germany. The sale of alcohol was prohibited. We were still ten years away from the Great Depression. The Cincinnati Reds won the World Series over the Chicago White Sox, taking the series in five games to three. Milk was a whopping 62 cents per gallon, bacon was 55 cents per pound and the average wage was a record $1272 per year. The average price of a new home was $5,626...........and Earl Williamson (my father) was born in Vernon Texas and later moved to Oklahoma as part of a family with 10 kids. Now, only three remain, including my dad.

This past weekend we traveled to Las Vegas and Pahrump Nevada to celebrate my father's 90th birthday. His health is good and his family is grateful. My brother couldn't make it at the last minute, but we did have a nice turnout all the way down to the great grand children. I am so happy that my daughters are able to see and know their grandparents, all four of them. It is more than I ever could have hoped for when we decided upon adoption.

All the rooms in Pahrump were booked Friday night so we stayed at a nice resort hotel in Vegas. We drove through Red Rock Canyon to take a couple of quick pictures on our way to Dad's birthday party. I reserved a dining room at the local winery restaurant and we had an amazing time visiting, swapping stories and enjoying each other's company, plus an amazing 5 course dinner. My sister, the florist, brought a beautiful exotic bouquet of flowers as a centerpiece and a carrot cake which was topped with airplanes in recognition of Dad's lifetime career of working on them and flying them.

As always, Chloe and Pearl had a great time and I lament that I did not get outside to take some great Fall vineyard shots with them. I was just having such a nice time with the family inside. By the time we finished, the sun had set but we were all thankful to have another wonderful memory to add to our collection.
We stopped off at Red Rock Canyon to shoot a couple of pictures before going to the party.
My sister made this beautiful arrangement.
Dad and Mom enjoy the company.
Grandaughter Lisa (my niece) and fiance Brent
Carrot cake with airplane toppers
Dad blows out the candles.
The next day Chloe and Pearl play with rocks at Grandpa and Grandma's house.
Daughter Nancy (my sister on far right) with grandson Brian and great-grandchildren Isabella and Greta.

Mom and Dad

Fix It Friday #35

2009-11-06T20:36:00.000-08:00

ORIGINAL

This week's picture was way too perfect to start off with, so I was challenged to come up with different ways to edit it rather than "fix" it. I have been having a lot of fun making up presets in Lightroom. Mostly I create presets to give a unique color cast to an image, like purple or gold. With this picture, I sharpened and brightened the eyes in Photoshop. The rest is simple playing with the colors. I am showing several variations here. To see other edits, click here.

Halloween 2009--Happy and Sad

2009-11-02T08:05:00.000-08:00

After three and four years home with us, the girls are really getting into the swing of Halloween. It is so much fun for Kindergarteners and First Graders. Chloe and Pearl are still in the princess phase, so I told them it was time to move up to the "queen" level. Pearl decided to be the Queen of Hearts and after a couple hours of re-sizing her costume, she looked quite majestic. Chloe was dressed as the Queen of the Nile, Cleopatra. I thought it would be unique and original and that I would have fun with the make-up. Well, as it turned out, we ran into two other Cleopatra's at the park and Halloween parade and I am not as great a make-up artist as I thought I was. However, I was able to "fix" Chloe's running and smeared eyeliner in Photoshop. Take a look at the lovely picture below where she is crossing her eyes. Actually, out of character, Chloe was NOT in the mood to have her picture taken. What's the fun in all this dress-up and make-up if Mom can't get a picture to remember it by? At least Pearl was willing to pose for me and I had a lot of great shots of her.

On a very sad note, we learned when we arrived home from trick-or-treating, that our friend Catherine lost her husband Jimmy to the H1N1 flu. We had been anxiously reading updates whenever Catherine had time to post on Facebook and we were constantly thinking about what they must be going through. Catherine and Jimmy are adoptive parents like us. They adopted their little girl from China at the same time we adopted Chloe. As anxious parents waiting for referrals, we joined a support group called the "Sweet Peas" and Catherine and Jimmy were part of that group. Now it is with a heavy heart that we keep Catherine and her family in our thoughts as we wish them peace and comfort in their time of grief.

UPDATE: After the parade, we left the park and carnival early to go trick-or-treating. We just found out that Chloe won 1st prize and Pearl won 3rd prize for their Halloween costumes! I am so sorry they missed it.

Fixit Friday #34

2009-10-30T11:45:00.001-07:00

BEFORE

AFTER

This week's lovely photo is a beautiful fairy. When I saw her, I knew I wanted to take a turn at editing this photo. She is sooo sweet.

First, I imported the picture into Lightroom. I rotated the image, which consequently, gave it a significant crop. I stopped the rotation when the crop got as tight as I was willing to go. Last week I made a preset I call Boys Town, it is basically some playing around with saturation and tones giving a golden-brown cast. I used that as a base and tweaked it a bit to give her a soft peachy look.

Then I opened the edited picture into Photoshop where I brightened and sharpened the eyes. I tried to blend out the bruises by using the clone tool at 50% and I cloned out a distracting branch from the background at 100%. Due to the small size, it was getting a bit pixely/grainy, so I used a noise-reduction program (Topaz Denoise). That made the picture a little too smooth, so I finished it off by placing a Florabella texture (nostalgia, soft light, 44% opacity) over it. It's still overly smooth, but in this case I like it.

To see the other edits, click here.

Happy Scarecrow Day

2009-10-27T21:21:00.000-07:00

In case you hadn't heard, today is Scarecrow Day. Well, at least it is at Pearl's school. Chloe has a little cold, so we kept her out of school today.

I am not sure what the significance of this all is, but it meant Dad had to run to Target to buy Pearl some boy's clothes that she probaby won't ever wear again. The kids put on a special performance today for the parents (that were able to come at 8:30 in the morning) singing songs and dressing up. I managed to escape from work for a brief time to sneak a peak on the show. It sure is wonderful to have my home and work within 1 mile of the girls' school.

I took a few cute shots of Pearl before school. When we stepped outside and looked up, the sky was full of vultures riding the currents in the air. It is quite a sight to see over 60 giant birds circling your home. The picture below only shows about a third of them. I guess this means it isn't Scare-vulture day.

The Third Birthday Party in Four Weeks

2009-10-25T17:47:00.000-07:00

The girls have been busy lately going to birthday parties. This time it was finally for someone their own age. One of Chloe's classmates, "E", finally turned 5 and her mom planned a Fancy Nancy Tea party for the girls. It was quite a treat and would have been perfect if not for the hot weather........again. The girls could dress up however they wanted, so Chloe chose an aqua ballerina dance outfit and Pearl wore her Belle princess dress.

On Sunday, Dad took Pearl to the local zoo for a special Halloween event. Chloe woke up sick and Mom stayed home with her. We played together and watched Animal Planet. I even snuck in a little editing time on the computer. That is why we have no pictures from Sunday.

You can click on any of the pictures for a larger view.

Grandpa's Birthday and a Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-18T21:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning brought the annual family gathering to celebrate Grandpa's birthday. We met up at a favorite local Mexican restaurant and had a fun festive time with the usual games and players. There is something comforting in repeating a regular family tradition. It was very dark in the restaurant and I don't have a nice flash for my camera, so these pictures aren't among my best. I had to Photoshop a lot of the shiny flash off of people's faces, glasses, lips and teeth. Thank goodness for "denoise" software.

After brunch, we headed to the hills to visit a farm where the girls could pet some animals and then pick out pumpkins. It was HOT!!!! AGAIN!!! Not only was it hot, but it was also crowded and there were long lines......3 things I usually try to avoid at all costs. I think this is the hottest October I can ever remember. I guess we will bear almost anything to build fond memories for our girls. I think it was a big success and they were quite pleased with their pumpkins.
Berkeley and her mother Jane

The whole crew, mostly.

Grandpa admires his cake.

Cousin Cassie flashes a smile.

Later at the pumpkin patch.

Apples Apples Apples & Mushrooms

2009-10-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

Today was another low-key Saturday with the family. Last night we all went to see the movie "Where the Wild Things Are". The girls really loved it. I was bored through most of it and I really hate it when the camera bounces around too much during the action scenes. It makes me sick. I have had to walk out of movies ("Hannah and Her Sisters") for just that reason. When we put on home videos, I can only watch a few minutes before the nausea sets in.

We took the girls into town today to play at the park. We were trying to find an adoption gathering, but we lost the flyer and when we drove by the park, we didn't see anyone we recognized. I guess we must have gotten either the date or time incorrect.

Later in the afternoon, Chloe and I went out into the back yard to take some pictures. I expected to see all of the apples rotting on the ground. We have lived in our home for almost 7 years and have never used the apples from our trees. To my surprise, there were still quite a few decent fruit clinging to the trees, so we picked them. I let Chloe play around a bit and I just aimed the camera. I was able to collect enough apples to make an apple pie and two batches of apple muffins............yum!

Chloe picks an apple.

Chloe finds a vulture feather to add to her collection.

Chloe finds a make-shift table for her treasures. It needs a little dusting off.

Chloe studies her finds. She's not sure if the twig will make the final cut.

After setting down the feather and pine cone, Chloe shows her apple.

Chloe makes the final still life arrangement.

Chloe's final creation.

On the way back into the house, we spotted these large flat mushrooms in the yard.

Here's what they look like at ground view.

More mushrooms from the front yard

I think this bunch looks like a fairy village.

Blogger Brain Block & a Birthday

2009-10-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

For some reason, it hadn't occurred to me to blog the past few days. I guess I was sidetracked with thoughts of processing the hundreds of photos I took last weekend. I was so glad to get through them all that I forgot to set a few aside for the blog. The weather was another distraction. We were expecting a real big rain storm and all we ended up with was a severe dust storm that wreaked havoc in our yard, filling our pool full of pine needles and our roof with large tree limbs. It wasn't even cold enough to light a fire in the fireplace.

On another note, I was asked by an acquaintance to do a family photo shoot and for some reason, I couldn't turn them down. What was I thinking? I cannot take family portraits!! They haven't even seen my work. I told them there would be no charge, as I will be doing it for the experience. They still plan on offering something and if they do, I will apply it towards one of our sponsorships for a foster family for a Chinese orphan at Grace and Hope. If you are interested in helping a child in need of a foster family, head on over and click on "How to Help".

While I am loving photography, I have no interest in making this a profession. I do just fine as a full-time engineer. I have had my fill of frustrating photo attempts this week that serve as a reminder that I have so much to learn. Last weekend brought us another birthday party and I agreed to capture every moment. This time the party was for the lovely miss Lily. She turned two years old.

A clown lady came and painted faces and made balloon animals.

The clown lady poses with the birthday girl Lily

Miranda shows her little sister how to swing at the pinata.
But Lily prefers to kiss the pinata.
Pearl is eager to give the pinata a big whack!!!
Lily enjoys the candy from the pinata. She is wearing a pair of satin squeaky shoes that we picked up in China that Chloe never wore. I love the bottoms!
Lily flirts with cousin Nathan. I think she's trying to bum a ride.
A homeless guy strolls by the party. He is apparently collecting aprons. I guess there is another party across the street, according to the banner.
Big brother Addison takes one for the team. He allows the face-painting clown to paint a tatoo on his arm and then tries to convince us it says "Wow". It's just upside-down.
Lily really enjoys her cake.
Even the dog wants in on the action.
Quin shows us his colorful candy from the pinata.
Uncle Taylor holds his daughter Ellie, almost the same age as Lily.
Aunt Olivia plays with her daughter Morgan, also the same age as Lily.
Presents!
Lily opens the present from Chloe and Pearl. It's a talking Kai Lan doll.
Lily is in love with this doll

Lily loves Kai Lan so much that she kisses her and then begs to take her to bed later that night.

Fix-It Friday #31

2009-10-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Over at I ♥ Faces, is the newest photo editing challenge. I decided to give it another try. I really enjoy playing around with other people's photos and this little guy was especially handsome.

BEFORE

First I imported the picture into Lightroom and warmed up the white balance, darkened the blacks, saturated the blues, added a slight vignette, desaturated the oranges and then played with some split-tones. I added a bit of gold highlights and blued-up the shadows. Next, I imported it into CS4 where I cleaned up some food on his face and some scratches on his forehead. I dodged some shadows on his cheek a bit. I smoothed the image and then finished it off with a Florabella texture at 35% on soft light blending mode(cool Sugar & Spice). It may sound like a lot, but it only took a few short minutes.

AFTER

For other clever edits, head on over to I ♥ Faces

Portraits of Chloe

2009-10-04T19:33:00.000-07:00

My excuse for taking pictures of Chloe today and not Pearl is that Pearl has been sick with a temperature for the past three days. This afternoon I took Chloe to Chinese class by myself. Dad is also sick and he stayed home with Pearl.

It was cold (did I just write "cold"?) outside just before sunset and I wanted to try a picture with one of the girls wearing one of my angora scarves. Chloe was eager to participate. I did try to take some serious pictures without the smiles, but they just don't compare. I used three different processes here, two are presets that I made myself in Lightroom, one I call "Purplelicious" and the other is "Autumn Day". The third is just a straightforward black and white conversion. I was totally amazed at how her eyes popped in each of these shots, but then again, I might be a little bit biased.

As I write this, we are all inside, sitting by the fire, and Chloe now has a fever. I guess both of the girls will not be going to school tomorrow.

A Trip to the Fair

2009-10-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

Only three days later and the temperature has dropped 30 degrees. It's Wednesday night and we decided to make good use of this great weather by going to the local fair.

Pearl and Chloe get their faces painted.

Chloe gets a unicorn

cows

A grand champion rooster

The girls take a ride on a camel

Chloe jumps real high. Pearl got on this too, but barely managed to get just a few feet above the trampoline.

a colorful fun house

The view from the top of the ferris wheel. I actually got scared because I could feel the wheel tilt from side to side. Dad was scared too, but the girls seemed oblivious.

Here's another shot from the ferris wheel. I edited the picture at tiltshiftmaker.com to give it a fake miniature effect. What do you think?

It's Fall and It's HOT!

2009-09-28T18:40:00.000-07:00

Chloe gives me this irrisistable smile just as she jumps in the inflatable waterslide pool

I hope this is the last time I write this, at least for this year. IT WAS HOT!!!

We had a nice weekend at home. Saturday was filled with running errands and shopping. Dad took Pearl to see that meatball movie. Chloe didn't want to go (huh?), so she stayed home with me.

The weather was hot Saturday, but Sunday really topped our ~~fears~~ expectations as the thermometer climbed to 107 degrees! Ouch! That's hot even for Bakersfield in September. My girls are quickly outgrowing their summer dresses and shorts and I really don't want to buy more until next Spring. Of course, Sunday was the day we had planned to attend an outdoor birthday party. At least it was in the morning. I think the temperature was only 104 during the party.

There was an inflatable waterslide pool and the kids just loved it. There was also a real fire engine with horns and sirens and a 100' ladder. For some reason, the boys seemed to enjoy this feature a little more than the girls. I blame the heat.

If it weren't for my addiction to photography, I might have considered this day a drudge rather than a positive. I had so much fun taking pictures and the birthday boy was so darn photogenic, it was hard to leave. But then, we had to head out a bit early to whisk the girls off to Chinese school. What did we do before kids?

Actually, I think it was a pretty good weekend. Now let's do something about the weather!

Cousin Quinny gives Nathan a big birthday hug!

Quinny enjoys a swim in the pool! At least somebody's keeping cool today.

This picture cracks me up. The girls were asked to leave the pool so they could await the arrival of the fire engine. I think the boys were a little more excited about this prospect.

It's here! Doesn't Addison have cool shades?

Nathan looks on with wonder as the giant ladder truck backs up into his driveway.

Nathan gets to try on the firefighter gear. Doesn't he look handsome?

Nathan and the other boys climb up into the cab. They repeatedly play with the horns and sirens and use the bullhorn to assault cars driving by, telling them to slow down.

Cousin Miranda tries on the gear as well.

Looks like somebody left something behind.

Nathan's mom climbs the ladder on the fire engine.

Even Nathan's baby sister Morgan enjoys the activity.

Happy third birthday Nathan!!

Fix It Friday #30

2009-09-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today's challenge was definitely challenging. I tried to used Flickr, but couldn't get the right link, so I am trying it again here on my blog. Here is my edited version. I used Lightroom to lighten, crop and adjust colors. Then I opened it in Photoshop CS4 to lighten and sharpen the eyes. I added catchlights and used Topaz Denoise on extreme to remove the noise and grain. I increased the resolution and then finally, layered a french canvas texture to give it an aged look and to lighten the background.

Here is the original

Be sure to head on over to to see other entries.

Something Gained and Something Lost

2009-09-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

First, SOMETHING GAINED...........can you tell why?

Second, SOMETHING LOST

Pearl had her first visit from the Tooth Fairy last night. I really try not to perpetuate stories about tooth fairies and Santa Claus, but this time, the girls wanted to play along. I remember how I did too when I was their age and I always wondered how Mom and Dad got under my pillow while I was sleeping. Well, now I can officially say I know how [wink wink].

And finally, of course, I couldn't let all these natural-looking pictures be posted without playing with one of them in Photoshop, tints, colors, textures and all! For this last shot, I played with the colors tinting the highlights purple and the shadows gold (or visa versa..I cannot recall). Then I added a Florabella texture called "Nostalgia" and finally, I used my favorite brushed copper texture from Boccacino.

Another Weekend Down

2009-09-20T19:02:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to take pictures of anything and everything despite the fact that I am still ill with some sort of respiratory condition (going on 6 weeks). I know this blog is supposed to be about Chloe and Pearl, but tonight I feel like posting some of my recent pictures, and the girls aren't in any of them!

Saturday afternoon we went over to our friend Carmen's house. She just gave birth to a baby girl 13 days ago. Her name is Morgan. I had never photographed an infant before, let alone a newborn, so I was eager to pop in and start shooting. If Carmen ever lets me come back, I will bring props the next time. It was so much fun.

The other pictures are just random photos from today. Enjoy!

Here are some apples from our tree!

Challenges Unique to International Adoption

2009-09-18T20:30:00.000-07:00

When we decided that we wanted to adopt our two daughters from China, we took it for granted that we needed to embrace and learn about their heritage and Chinese culture. We did this, all the while knowing, that we ourselves do not know much about being Chinese and we live in a community with only one other Chinese-American family (actually they are half Thai).

From my perspective, my girls are really only Chinese in their appearance and in their ancestry. They are not even Chinese-American in the sense that most Chinese-Americans either embrace both cultures, speak both languages, or are raised by Chinese and/or Chinese-Americans. How do I instill pride in their Chinese-ness when I am not an authority on this myself? Well, I do all I can to encourage and share in my daughters' enthusiasm for anything Chinese.

We try to associate with other Chinese families and other adoptive Chinese families as much as we can. Our girls have always had a Chinese doctor. We enjoy Chinese children's videos and movies. We celebrate Chinese holidays with Chinese American families. We have hosted two Chinese girls to live with us and attend the local high school. These two girls have become like sisters to our girls. Yet still, this just doesn't feel like enough education or exposure for my girls.

I am not in a position to move them to a different community where there will be lots of other faces like theirs, but we do have a couple of new opportunities knocking on our doorstep at this time.

There is a larger city to the south of us and the local Chinese community is offering Chinese language (and culture) lessons. Another lady will be offering Chinese traditional dance lessons. I hate making commitments, but these opportunities to learn and understand are way too important for me to pass them by. Ultimately, my girls will form their own opinions about who they are and how being of Chinese descent factors into that identity. But for now, I wish for them every opportunity to learn and appreciate this wonderful culture. After all, the more information they have, the better able they will be to form their own opinions.

Last Sunday was the first day of class and it will follow the regular school year. I took these pictures of the girls during the break in class.

Fix It Friday #29

2009-09-18T19:59:00.001-07:00

Well, I haven't been blogging lately or feeling well, but I was still looking forward to this week's editing challenge. I was pleasantly surprised to see the very familiar and beautiful face of the daughter of the Animator's Wife.

Click on any of the images to see a larger view.

BEFORE

I think this shot is great, not really much to work on. First, I rendered a spotlight filter to cast light on her face. Then I lightened (with curves) and sharpened her eyes (unsharp mask). I also lightened her teeth just a tad. I wanted to do something a little more dramatic, so I used my favorite software bundle "Topaz". I detailed the whole picture, except for the face and hands, which I softened a bit. I like to see the detail in her hair.

AFTER 1

Not wanting to stop, I decided to play around with textures and I added a couple here in the second try. I emphasized the color of her hair by using a heavy brushed copper texture overlay.

AFTER 2

For my last version, I really wanted to give it a painterly effect. It took a lot of tweaking to keep this from looking scary. I finally reduced it to 68% on a separate filter. The software used for this was Topaz Simplify, which will plug directly into CS4. Topaz has several inexpensive software packages that are totally addictive.

AFTER 3 (best viewed large--click on picture)

To go directly to the other edits, click here

Fixit Friday #28

2009-09-12T21:28:00.001-07:00

BEFORE

AFTER (click on picture for a larger view)

This is another fun editing exercise from I ♥ faces.

Well, I am a day late working on this edit exercise, but this little baby was so adorable, that when I laid eyes upon her on Saturday, I had to give it a go anyway. I used Photoshop CS4 for the entire operation. First, I used Curves to lighten up the eyes and darken the lips. I sharpened the eyes, lightened the exposure of the eye shadows and cleaned up some of the food on baby's face. Next I used a plug-in called Topaz Adjust to smooth the skin. I know they say not to smooth baby's or young children's skin, but I just love this effect and do it anyway. After that, I used a couple Florabella textures on very low opacity, Chocolate milk at 14% and another one (I forgot which) at about 30% opacity. I usually like to crop, but I thought the angle and framing of this one were already perfect to begin with.

I don't know how to do frames yet, but I would love to put this in a swirly frame with some lovely flourishes. Maybe next time. For other clever editing ideas click on the button below.

At the Grocery Store

2009-09-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

We left for vacation in such a hurry that I forgot to pack all of the pieces for Chloe's vision therapy, which we do every day. We are training her eyes to work together and improving her tracking and focusing abilities. Hopefully, all this work will correct her lazy eye (intermittent exotropia) over the next 9 months.

Not wanting Chloe to be penalized for not doing her homework, we decided we could make temporary vision tools for therapy. One segment of this training uses popsicle sticks with stickers on the end that we pop up quickly in front of her eyes. She has to focus rapidly on the picture at the tip while it is less than 2" from her face.

While in the aisle at the grocery store, I asked Chloe if she saw any popsicle sticks, to which she replied, "What? Mom, do you mean tongue depressors?" Oh yeah.....well, excuse me. I thought that was quite a mouthful from a five year old, especially one who still mixes up "Y"s and "V"s. She always keeps me laughing.

After a trip to both the supermarket and a drug store we were able to collect all the supplies needed to re-create our homework (except for the 3D part).

Having Fun in Monterey

2009-09-06T12:20:00.000-07:00

This has been a very fun low-key holiday weekend with just the four of us. We have quite a few friends and family in the area, but since I am not feeling all that well, we have decided to just hang out with each other. Saturday morning Dad took the girls swimming in the hotel pool while I slept in. Next we took the girls shopping for shoes because Chloe's tennis shoes were too small. Later on we went to Dennis the Mennace Playground in Monterey. It is very large with lots of fun apparatus and it was packed full of kids and parents. Even though I hate crowds, this place was still a lot of fun. They have a full-sized retired train engine that kids can climb on (with parental supervision).

After the trip to the playground, we were still ready for more fun, so we headed out to the beach. We decided to avoid the crowds at the sandier locations and opted for a small private spot with a rocky shore. Dad and I relaxed in our lounge chairs while the girls collected hermit crabs, over 23. Before we left, we carefully returned the little guys to where they came from. After that, we ended up dining at a fancy restaurant (a little underdressed), The Whaling Station in Monterey. It was a perfect day.

Admiring their hermit crabs
Hunting for more hermit crabs

Back in Monterey

2009-09-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

At the last minute, we decided to sneak a trip in to Monterey. I haven't been feeling well. I have bronchitis and have been coughing for a month. I decided I could lay around the hotel room just as easy as laying around my house all weekend. So here we are enjoying the clean air, sunshine, cool weather and beautiful skies. I am so glad we made it and the girls are having a blast.
I took a few pictures of Fisherman's Wharf, but I only had time/energy to edit one. We didn't go whale watching, but we did explore the whole wharf.

Back To School

2009-08-24T22:15:00.001-07:00

My fellow blogging mothers, most of you have blown me away with your back-to-school posts and pictures on Facebook! Mine isn't going to be very fancy, only one picture, and it's not even a very good one (but doesn't Pearl's hair look cute!).

Monday was the first day of school for our girls. Pearl started 1st grade and Chloe started KG. We have been encouraging the girls' excitement of this day for at least a couple of weeks now. Both girls got the teachers we wanted for them and Chloe's teacher is the same one Pearl had last year. I was worried that Chloe might not know any of the kids in her class, but to my relief, there were at least 6 kids from her preschool class. I have been carefully laying the groundwork for Chloe's adjustment to school to be a smooth and tear-free one.

So the day came. I was thrilled that Chloe easily rose at 6:30 AM (when I haven't been able to get her out of bed before 7:30 for the past month). Pearl also arose easily and was dressed and had her bed made in just a few moments. If only they could always move that fast! I took a couple pictures on the way to the car (seen above) and at the school. The pictures at school weren't that good and I didn't take enough to get any good ones. What do they call it when you are having a creative mental block? I am blaming the almond dust, but that's a story for another day.

Dad and I first walked Pearl into her class. It was all smiles and fun as Pearl met her teacher, Mrs. Funk. How can you have a bad time when your teacher has a name like that? She met and hugged lots of friends and then sat down at the desk with her name on it, just like a big kid.

Next we took Chloe over to her class, just three doors down. It was crowded in there with all the parents. We all stayed for the first half hour as the teacher explained a few things to us and help our children get settled in. I really like how they do this and I love being in the classroom to share in this moment. As we headed out the door, all the kids took a seat on a colored floor mat. Chloe picked the red square in the front corner. I bent over to hug her goodbye and she gave me the strongest grip I could imagine a 5 year old capable of. I could feel her anxiety, but I was proud of her for not crying. Her best buddy Dylan didn't fare so well. I could hear his wailing as we walked out the door.

The girls called me at work when Dad picked them up after the first day. I asked Pearl how many of her friends were in her class and she replied "23". That's actually the number of kids in the class, but knowing Pearl, I am sure she considers each and every one of them her friend.

And so it begins.................

Stranded

2009-08-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday. The day before school starts. I dreaded this day, but not because of school. I knew our girls were ready and eager. I dreaded this day because we were going to have yet another open house. At least this time we had a real estate agent to manage the people and pay for the advertising. All we had to do was clean the place and disappear. I dreaded cleaning the home from top to bottom yet again. The home was pretty much in good condition, but there's company clean.........and then there's open house clean. Open house clean anticipates nosy visitors looking in your closets and drawers. Open house clean means climbing on the roof to clean the skylights and to remove branches that have fallen off the tree. Open house clean means hiding your trash can and stashing the girls' bikes in the shed. It means tucking away all those little things you use every day (like our computers and cords) and knowing that you will just need to get it all out again as soon as you get home.

It wasn't that bad. My hubby and the girls pitched in and in a couple of hours, we managed to stash everything out of sight except for furniture, decorations and wall hangings. Our plan was to take the girls to the movies during the open house, after a short stop in the park to show off the girls to Dad's high school classmates from 30 years ago. The night before was his class reunion.

We went to see the movie "Shorts". Please avoid this movie at all costs! I want my 89 minutes of life back. It's bad enough that I get to see only kid's movies, but really dumb ones are a whole 'nother level of torture. I found myself thrilled when Chloe asked to go to the bathroom. "I'll take her!" I quickly announced before Dad could beat me to it. I guess the payoff was at the end when Chloe announced, "I really liked that movie." Well, at least somebody did.

After the movie, it was already time to go home. We decided to stop off and go grocery shopping (note to self: avoid shopping for groceries on Sun eve.)so that I could pack lunches for the first day of school. Chloe still doesn't eat more than 18 items of food, mostly brown, beige or white. Despite my tone of writing, we were all in good spirits and having a nice time together. As we pulled out of the grocery store lot and into very heavy traffic, we heard the all-to-familiar "CLUNK". That's the sound of your transmission going out. Here we were in the middle lane of a busy intersection with no gears, except "reverse". We learned that lesson from the last time our transmission went out(different Chevy Avalanche), and we didn't realize that "reverse" still worked. Dad flagged cars to go around us, while I called AAA for the tow truck and the highway patrol for assistance getting out of the road. As it turned out, we had just enough break in traffic to back our way over to the side of the road. Dad called his friend to transport me and the girls back home (in a different city), because I wasn't going to try and fit their car seats in a tow truck. I unloaded the girls, carseats, crayons (did I mention it's almost 100 degrees?), my purse and camera. Well, I didn't want my camera to go to waste, so I took this opportunity to take a picture for posterity. The other photo with Dad and the girls didn't come out and I am not in the mood to Photoshop it into place.

It all turned out OK, except for all the bills we will incur. At least it gave me a story to tell. It's alright if I lost you three paragraphs ago. I just needed to vent. Next up, First Day of School!

A Car Show

2009-08-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

This weekend was another typical weekend around the house. Pete took the girls to see a movie, while I made an attempt to sew. I did for a couple of hours, but didn't finish my project.

By Sunday, I was feeling pretty guilty about squandering another chance to do either something productive or something fun with the family, so I talked my husband into taking us to the Mountain Festival in Tehachapi.

There were a lot of people and we decided that it was too hot and dusty to go to the rodeo. The carnival rides looked pretty dirty and lame compared to our trip to Gilroy Gardens just 6 days prior, so we told the girls "No rides today. We will go back to Gilroy Gardens soon." They willingly agreed without even a fuss. I just love how understanding my girls can be sometimes. That left the car show as our destination and it was wonderful. It is amazing how much work people put into restoring these old vehicles. I assume that some of them are never driven, even if they are operable. The engines are just too pristine. I just wish I had the chance to take pictures of these cars without all the people getting in the way! Some of the attendees to the car show were as interesting as the cars, but I was just too shy to aim my camera at them (because I had a wide angle lens and I would have had to get right in their face!) so you will just have to use your imagination. One of these interesting characters was riding a cool orange-flamed chopper. It wasn't even part of the show, but I had to take a picture anyway.

Chloe kept asking me to take her picture in front of every car she liked, so I now have a full library of Chloe posing in front of fancy rides. I'll spare you the full-length version and just post a couple here. If you click on the pictures, you will be taken to my Flickr photostream. You can click on "all sizes" at the top to view a larger version.

Next weekend will be all about getting ready for school!

The girls pose in front of a restored antique fire truck