Apple Picking

The girls and I had an opportunity to meet some other families from the Chinese Culture Group of Greater Grand Rapids today at Klackle's Orchard. My parents live in the same town as the apple orchard and they joined us for the apple picking festivities.








Chris was busy with a social work conference and missed out on apple picking. The weather this morning was cool, but absolutely beautiful.



We're looking forward to doing other outings with the GRCCCC group in the future.








ONE WEEK FROM TODAY is the Kenward Family Halloween Party!! The big decorating push happens over the next week. Changes will be occurring daily at the Kenward household. Check back for more pictures.

Dracula counting at the Kenward household...

One of our oldest Halloween creatures is a life-sized Dracula. In our Greenville home, he took up residence outside. He is constructed out of clothes, newspapers and railroad ties. Each year he has to be put back together and re-stuffed after spending a winter in our garage attic.



When we moved into our current house seven years ago, he became an indoor fixture. We have vaulted ceilings and he is perched above our entertainment center in the living room. A few years back, Walgreens sold stuffed animal-type Halloween creatures. Josie has adopted the stuffed Dracula and refers to it as her baby Dracula. Today's short video features Josie and our Dracula collections.

Happy Anniversary, Josie!

Today marks our 7th month Josie anniversary. Her vocabulary and cognitive development continues to amaze. She's definitely spicy, lovable, spicy, creative, spicy, happy, spicy, energetic, and did I mention spicy???



She's finally outgrown all the darling shoes we purchased in China. I took her shoe shopping on Monday and she's definitely got a much bigger foot. As a child with a heart condition, I can't tell you how relieved I am to see healthy pink toes. Seeing blue toes before her heart surgery was downright scary.

In the clothing department, she's almost able to wear 18 month pants. If the pants have an adjustable waistband, we're in business!

She eats like you wouldn't believe. Her appetite is amazing and she's not afraid to try just about anything. Rice is no longer a staple in our household.



She's even starting to show an interest with potty training. It's not consistent, but if there is candy involved, she's game to try her potty chair.

Our sleeping has been the pits again. Why Josie thinks 1:30am is an acceptable time to be up, we'll never know. She's definitely an early riser. Chris and I can "almost" handle 5:30am, but 1:30am, is downright painful when we have function at work the next day. Chris and I are back to playing musical beds again at night...yawn.

Tomorrow, I'm taking Josie for bloodwork. On Monday, we're visiting her hand surgeon to schedule her extra thumb removal. On Friday, we're visiting an Occupational Therapist for evaluation.

Adopting a child with special needs definitely keeps our doctor's office and medical insurance busy. Thank goodness for amazing medical insurance.

Happy Anniversary, sweet girl. We love you so much.

Feeling alittle witchy...

Chris put together my favorite hanging creature this evening. She's a lovely witch that is flying above our Halloween tree.



She also has several fluffy clouds that are suspended around her. Black lightening and flickering lights give off the illusion that the clouds are storming. This quick video clip shows Chris in action with his two sets of ladders as he gets the witch display ready. Both girls were in bed when he worked on this. The ladders are just too tempting for a busy toddler who likes to climb on everything!!

Look what came in the mail today!

This year's Halloween party is drastically different. Instead of plotting the perfect appetizer and cocktail, we're spending our time researching kid-friendly games, prizes and treats. Our order from the Oriental Trading company arrived today. Josie and Emma were very excited to explore the contents of the box.



We have secured a popcorn maker from a local elementary school as well as several teenagers willing to spend their night running carnival games. Without giving away too many secrets, the prizes that arrived from Oriental Trading Company look awfully fun.


Although Chris enjoys his creatures and all the bloodcurdling gore that comes with Halloween, I'm all about the festive side of Halloween. I want to reassure the blogging world (and those families that are bringing little ones to our party) that we really do have some more gentle Halloween decorations.

As you can see in this picture, Josie has enjoyed rearranging the stuffed Halloween creatures on our piano.



My Halloween shelf in the sunroom is now done (I managed to finish that up while Josie was napping on Saturday).



Josie also enjoys wearing the bear's witch hat as long as she can sit in her baby doll's stroller. Notice how those plastic pumpkins go everywhere with her now.



This year, I've put my Charlie Brown Halloween collection up HIGH on my sunroom shelf. It's probably one of my favorite Halloween possessions. Who doesn't love a good Charlie Brown Halloween?



Believe it or not, we're still not done decorating. There are a few more crates to unpack. A few of you have asked whether we do this big of a display at Christmas. No. This is our BIG holiday. Keep checking back.