Happy Thanksgiving to all!

We spent Thanksgiving with my dad and Suzi. One of my parents' birthdays usually falls on Thanksgiving...this year it was my dad's. Esther made herself at home, getting into as many cabinets as possible. That night she was awake from 3:30 am to 7:30 am, so that meant Gene and I were awake, too. Fun!!

Possible career option for E...a clown!!

Esther and Grandpa Neil in his shop:

Pigtails are always cute!

Nana Marilyn, Papa Jerry and cousin Mandy came to visit us on Sunday. Esther loves all the attention. Nana brought E a huge coloring book which we've put to good use.

Concentrating on the book while Nana is read to her:

Very studious:

okay, Joe, this one's for you....

okay Joe, here's the vider....along with her being awesome....and she is teh awesome, let me tell you. Every day is more awesomer than the last...and that is good English...just deal. Anyhoo, let me just tell you, Esther is the coolest. She does the cutes peekaboo, and her kisses are heart melting. And her farts smell of elderberries...yes, mom, i said fart...you should try it sometime...it's liberating. anyway...this is Gene, if you couldn't tell. enjoy the video, and feel free to comment...but only sweet, good comments, cuz if i see any bad comments, then I'll cry and nobody wants that. Trust me. have fun.

Happy National Adoption Day!

I can't believe tomorrow Esther will have been with us 11 months! It doesn't seem that long, and yet it seems she's always been a part of our life. Only one more month until our one year "Esther Day" anniversary.
She's picking up and trying new words all the time now. Gene and I are understanding her more and more, though most of the time we have no idea what she's trying to tell us. When she signs now, she says the word with the sign. At night before she goes to sleep we hear her practicing her words. So cute!

Her smile is awesome in this picture but you should have heard her laughing!

Our little tomboy.

Mural by Esther (luckily it washes off):

Balancing between the coffee table and couch looks so comfy!

Playing the Wii with Dad and cousin Bela:

Doing her signature flip:

Lazy Saturday...

...just chillin' with the family today. Nothing scheduled, nothing planned, just hanging out. (Surprise, surprise, right Kristina?)Coloring is fun. (Especially for Mom, because these markers only write on "special" paper! Don't you love these new fangled things?)

So intense. She really loves the "bay-loo" crayon.

Live action coloring...sorry, it's rather long but if you're like her Dad and I, you don't mind watching Esther for hours on end.

Today is an important day to me...

Esther has been home with Gene and I one day longer than she was in the orphanage. Hopefully our influence is greater felt.
And to top it off, she turned 21 months old...only three months until she's 2 years old!!!
Her new words are "lellow" for yellow and "cookie" (umm, how would she know this word?). I tested her to see if she really knew what color yellow was...and she does. Not sure if it's her favorite color or not, though.

A year ago today...

we saw a picture of our daughter for the very first time.
I felt right away that this was indeed my daughter. All the time we had waited was worth it for this little girl. I would have waited longer if I had to.

We are so blessed with our silly, independent, strong-willed, lovely Esther Pan Pan. I am continually amazed at what an incredible person she is. Here's a picture of her taken today (being her strong-willed self, she wouldn't look at Mom):

Hope your Halloween was "goblins" of fun.

(sorry, I could have used "spooktacular")

It's hard to impress a toddler...I showed E my pumpkin masterpiece and she wasn't very thrilled. Everyone's a critic.

Gettin' into the mood with Halloween colors:

Drum roll please...

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Introducing Yoda as interpreted by Esther:

"Yoda" helping Dad at work, improving on some of his animations:

How cute is this?

and this?

Checking out her Halloween treats: