FCC Chinese New Year 2008

I LOVE this picture!

Mama and Reese.

In Dad's hoodie after we got home.

Another picture I love.

Mom, Reese, and I with Reese's 'welcome home' present that the FCC gives to families who came home in the previous year at CNY.

With her welcome home gift.

We went to our FCC's Chinese New Year party this evening. Reese thought it was pretty nifty- lots of kids, stuff to buy, pretty colors, people taking pictures, and- FOOD! She is a noodle girl. LOVES them, eats her weight in them. She also loves shrimp, and there was shrimp and broccoli. She doesn't eat broccoli, but she loves the shrimp that comes with them. There was tons of left-over food (which is better than a shortage), so we were able to bring some shrimp and broccoli home. She and Shae (Paula's daughter, Ben's going-to-be big sister) walked the dragon dance with me. There was bubble wrap involved, which was fun. As Mom said, "bubble wrap is no longer safe at our house".

Reese was kind of unsure about the whole thing at first. I carried her around for probably a good 15 minutes before she was willing to get down and hold my hand. I love carrying her, when she'll let me, but man, she's heavy. All of my strength is in my legs. She refused to have her picture taken by the photographer there, except for in the group shot of all the kids in the FCC. And even that was hard, because the guy apparently doesn't do kids really often and didn't realize that when you have 100+ kids, the odds of even half of them looking at the camera at the same time is slim. And the longer it takes you to take it, the less you're going to get. But it was fun. Aside from the carpet burn from trying to keep Reese from running off or turning around.

Reese got her "welcome home" gift, which the FCC gives families who came home in the last year. It's a framed picture, with the child's name, date of birth, Gotcha Day, and the meaning of their names (English and Chinese). We also got a card with a jade pendant attached with a letter to Reese inside. It was so sweet. Thanks, everyone!