Double Happiness

Music Video - "When Love Takes You In"

When Love Takes You In By Steven Curtis Chapman

Click ^ the far left button (above) to play the video

Gwen's hair

When Gwen came to us, she was practically bald <click here to see her referral picture>

In the 9 months she's been home, her hair has grown and grown and grown! It's super thick and glossy and gorgeous but it's also in her face all the time! To make things worse, it grows straight toward her face at a very sharp angle so any attempt to pull it back and contain it with a barrette or clip is really unnatural. It just won't "bend" that way!

We flunked inspection this morning at our local park where Chinese Grandmothers take their little grandkids to play. They know us well and they call Gwen "MiMi". Today, they smiled at her but frowned at me as they made the sign of scissors and pointed at her bangs.

But I am trying! We own so many barrettes and bows and hair clips! I've even attempted to appeal to Gwen's sense of vanity (she has none, apparently) by telling her that I'm putting a "pretty" in her hair. I got that tip from Sophie's mom since Sophie loves to get dolled up and always looks adorable <click here to see how adorable>. But Gwen doesn't care about "pretties" in her hair. In fact, I might as well be telling her that I'm putting oatmeal in her hair because she immediately finds the offending thing and throws it on the floor.

Pigtails are super cute on her but they never last more than two minutes. Sometimes, they've lasted long enough for me to grab the camera but not much longer.

"The Pebbles Doo" (pictured above) seems to be the exception as she'll actually leave this silly thing alone. It's nice to be able to see her face even though she looks like she has a fountain springing from her head! Actually, she blends in pretty well with the tree in the background!

Daddy's not too fond of this style but it's about all we can do until her hair is finally long enough to capture in one ponytail at the back of her head. That's our goal. It's going to be a challenge to ride out this shaggy look between now and then.

I wonder what Maddy's hair looks like.....

Happy Birthday Gwenny!

Gwen's 2nd birthday is this Sunday (June 25th). But, since there was family visiting for Michael's graduation last weekend, we decided to have her birthday party a week early.

Here are the pictures. But first, a few stats:

At 24 months, Gwen weighs 25.5 pounds
--90th percentile on the Chinese charts
--38th percentile on the US charts

At 24 months, Gwen is 33.25 inches tall
--75th percentile on the Chinese charts
--43rd percentile on the US charts

	She's two!
	We had a really fun birthday celebration for her. First, there was the pool party with her best friend, Benjamin. You might remember him from this jumping on the bed video.
	Lots of splashing and slipping and throwing water everywhere! Lots of smiles!
	Then there was some cake. There's no reason to get your hands messy when you can so easily just put your face right in your plate!
	Mmmmm! Yellow confetti cake with vanilla confetti frosting! A party can never have too much confetti!
	Yummmmmy!
	Then presents! Gwen gets a little help with unwrapping from her pal, Benjamin. She calls him "B!" (strangly enough, she also says "D!" instead of "down". Does this mean she'll be an early speller?

Videos from Gwen's birthday weekend!

Click the title -----> to see a cute music video of Gwenny lovin' her kitty cat! (duration: 2:07)
Click the title -----> to see a cute music video of Gwen jumping on her trampoline! (duration 2:16)

Ahhhh! Summer!

  There's something special about running around outside in the grass in your bare feet! Gwenny loves doing that. She also likes to play a game we call "Ah Boom!". She'll run around until I say "Ah Boom!" then she'll fall over! She never gets tired of it and it's a great way to wear her out for a nap!

Daddy got a wide angle lens for our Canon Rebel XT for father's day. Not only does it take nice pictures of our pretty hills, it also takes nice pictures of our pretty girl! It looks like Daddy might be standing on a ladder to snap this picture of Gwen in the grass but he's not. Also, there's not as much distortion as I thought there'd be!

I can't wait to play with this lens myself!

Class of 2006

Our son, Michael, graduated from High School today!

	It was an amazing day! His class had 451 students and there were several thousand parents, family and friends cheering them on.
	I love this picture. It seems like he's "looking to the future". (Yeah, I know. He was probably looking to see if there were any cute girls around.)
	They don't give the kids their diploma during the ceremony. They all got a nice blank thing! We'll have to go to school and pick up the diploma next week.
	Andrew's Mom and Dad came out to celebrate this special day with us. Gwen thought Michael's tassel was something she needed to get her hands on. In 16 years, she'll get her turn!