My Blog Has a Name Change

If you've been around awhile you've seen my blog evolve since we began our first China adoption paperwork  in 2012. It began as "Adoption Adventure with a Little Princess"  and fairly quickly switched to "Adoption Adventure with Two Little Princesses" as a second daughter was added to that "going to China just one time" adoption in 2013. A Prince was added in 2014, then Princes Two in 2015!   Our family has increased far more than we ever anticipated when we began this journey. 

You may have also noticed a magnificent little girl that I've advocated for beginning sometime early in 2014. I loved her the first time I laid eyes on her.  At first I spoke up for her quietly to folks on the side that I knew were looking to adopt a child her age, then on some of the advocacy groups. I featured her on my blog several times, and finally ended up with being her Warrior for the Reece's Rainbow 2015 Angel Tree.

As part of the Warrior role I started a community on Facebook dedicated to fundraising for an adoption grant for her and advocating for her family to find her.  I talked to people interested in adopting from China (both online and in real life) but she didn't seem to be a perfect fit for any of those families.

When we returned from China with Patrick in April of this year, I may have loudly proclaimed to God and anyone else who was listening that our family was DONE. Done, done, done. Never say never.  Even though I loved this little beauty the minute I laid eyes on her, we thought we were too old for a four-year-old child. So I advocated for her as "Zuza" when she was with WACAP, then as "Susy" when she had turned five and her file was with Madison, and for the past year on the shared list. She was in my thoughts most days, and literally haunted my dreams at night. I'm thrilled to say my advocacy paid off - though not how I expected. Surprise! WE get to adopt this magnificent little girl (who is now six years old) and I am at peace at last.

Here we go again! We received our PA (Pre Approval) from China and have begun the long process to bring our baby home.  We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we jump through all the legal hoops over the next several months.  If you are counting, she completes our baker's dozen.  We are thrilled beyond words.  My blog's new title is simply, "Raising the Royalty."

Video: Kings & Queens by Audio Adrenaline

Christmas Tree Day!

Pat loves to tell us how strong he is.  He got a chance to prove it here!

Starting youngest to oldest, each child gets the chance to help cut the tree.

We couldn't quite get in there to get a photo BEFORE it was cut down, so Baba holding it is the next best thing!

On the way out of the field to the van!

There are several activities to do at this farm.  The kids always enjoy the photo shoot in the sleigh.

Then Tikvah decided to get out ....

and become a reindeer!

Hot chocolate and cookies!

Goats to feed

or NOT.  Pat was afraid of them and dropped the corn when they got near.

It is always so exciting to see the FIRSTS with these older kids.  Pat LOVED the horse and carriage ride.

Merry Christmas!

f o u N d - an adoption story

My children were invited to be a part of this video that was the senior project of a friend.  She is a Communications major who interned with Dr. Mary Staat at the Cincinnati Children's International Adoption Center and this video was donated to them for their use.  I am privileged to know many of these great kids. Their stories are all true.  Enjoy!

Craft Fair

Yesterday was the big day for the craft fair.  It was a fundraiser for "Susy's" Angel Tree grant.

I made sugar scrub, bath salts, coasters, and hand warmers.  I still have a lot left, so if you would like some for gifts this year, give me a holler!  You can see them individually pictured and order HERE 

Five in a Row Curriculum: Cranberry Thanksgiving

 

 Cranberry Thanksgiving centers around a little girl who lives with her grandmother who is famous for her cranberry bread; but Grandma insists on keeping the recipe a secret.  Both of them invite a friend over to share Thanksgiving dinner and learn a lesson about character in the process.

We watched a short video on YouTube called How Does it Grow? - Cranberries that also showed how they are processed.  Even I learned several things!  In that short video it mentioned that Ocean Spray is the lead grower in the USA, so we went to their website to see what we could see.  They have another short video about cranberry cooperatives  that was worth watching, as well as information on the different types of products that they make from the cranberries.

As always, we had a FoldNLearn to work on.  This is a free download from the Five in a Row publisher's blog and a lapbook downloaded from Homeschool Share.  Today we reviewed the New England states and drawing on information learned in the cranberry video, talked about the seasons.  We noted that fall time is when most cranberries are harvested and eaten.

We obviously HAD to follow that up with tasting some cranberries!  Today it was craisins (dried cranberries) and also cranberry walnut bread.  We gave the thumbs up to both.

We went on to make cranberry/orange cookies for a Thanksgiving party that we went to with our homeschool co-op.

Yum!

One REALLY MUST talk about the origins of Thanksgiving and this book was a good lead in to it.  We listened to a radio drama of The Legend of Squanto (available here on Amazon - affiliate link) and the younger kids continued work on some Native American costumes they began in co-op last week.  

Since it isn't obvious I will clue you in! These are Indian vests, of course!

We had a lot of fun at the Thanksgiving party that our homeschool co-op hosted.  Lots of crafts opportunities...

And snacks too!

Other things we did:  Custom coloring books!  If you have a comb binder (I got mine used on Ebay) you can print off anything and make them into custom books!  Free downloads about Thanksgiving found HERE!

And we practiced handwriting - at this point tracing the letters.

 
Our extended family gathered for a big Thanksgiving feast.

After dinner the family did a reading theater drama of the story of the first Thanksgiving.

Our study on Cranberry Thanksgiving was very timely and helped our newly American citizens understand why we celebrate.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Movies watched:

How Does it Grow? Cranberries

Cranberry Cooperatives

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (The dvd included The Mayflower Voyagers too!)

Supplementary books read:

Squanto and the first Thanksgiving by Joyce K. Kessel

Three Young Pilgrims by Cheryl Harness

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George (GREAT illustrations, some may want to watch the text for evolutionary references)

Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen

Thanksgiving Day by Anne Rockwell

 Thanksgiving Is.... by Gail Gibbons

Thanksgiving by Lisa M. Herington



and just for fun:

The Squirrels' Thanksgiving by Steven Knoll

Daisy's Crazy Thanksgiving by Margery Cuyler

Mousekin's Thanksgiving by Edna Miller