New blog

Hi folks,
I have decided to make a new blog, "Continuing Adventures of Esther Xiaopan" which you can find here: http://estherxiaopan.blogspot.com/.  No promises that I will be any better at posting to this blog but at least I will be able to add pictures periodically.

No more photo storage on this blog?

That's the message I'm getting when trying to download some pictures.  Maybe it's time to start a new blog?  Will keep you posted.

Pumpkin Patch and Jack-O-Lanterns

Fall has arrived.  Bring on Halloween!  Last weekend we headed to Bob's Pumpkin Patch for some good soggy fun.  Hayrides, pumpkin pickin', corn cannons, and horsey rides, yeehaw!

Waiting for the hay ride.

Picking our pumpkins.  Lots of gooey mud!

Esther loves riding on horses or ponies, reminds me a little of Cousin Halie's passion for horses.

Esther drew the Jack-o-lantern face and Mommy cut it out.

Esther was a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle this year (Leonardo to be exact)

Luckily phones have cameras...

....'cuz otherwise I would never take pictures at all.  I used to take pictures all the time, but alas now I rarely have my "real" camera close to me.  That's why these pictures are all from Gene and my cell phones (mostly from Gene's).
And blogging, I forget about that, too.  So any faithful readers out there, apologies and thanks for sticking with the blog.

This an old photo sent from Esther's kindergarten teacher.  I don't think I ever posted it.

E lounging with her buddy.

Hair cut time!

Waiting for the school bus.

Esther was showing off her 3DS to the other kids at the Little Gym.

She enjoyed "teaching" the others how to play Mario.

Playing with her Lego's.

Esther's Art

I have been scanning Esther's art into the computer so I can upload the images and make a photo book of all her art so far.  I thought I would share some of my favorites.

age 4

I think this is a dog.

age 4

age 4

"shark and submarine"  age 4

snails

kindergarten

kindergarten

kindergarten

"Esther and Ike" (notice Ike's soccer cleats)

"It's a big problem when bomb rolled in my condo.  The adult I would tell is Mrs. Neeson."

Can you tell we love the Pigeon books by Mo Willems?

So true, so true....

She didn't get to go to recess because she got into trouble.

self-portrait, age 5

First Day of First Grade!!

She picked out her outfit.  She hates to be "cute" so don't even think of calling her that.  The other day a boy asked her if she was a boy or a girl.  Esther told him without any embarrassment that she was indeed a girl but that she liked boy things.  That's my girl!

All went well today, except she didn't get her hot school lunch like she was supposed to.  Esther told me she ate the lunch I packed for her, which was actually her snack.  Gotta love the confusion of the first day(s).  Even though we all woke up at a horribly early hour (7am) and it was "before breakfast" as my dad always says, Esther did great.  She did say school was "really long" and was boring at times.

Some photos from my phone.

Doing a cheer in gymnastics camp.  Each week was a different theme, like Cheer leading, Olympics, Animals, Super Heros.

Esther  will finally put her face  in the water with her goggles and snorkel.

Getting her eyes checked.

Of course she loved all the equipment.  And she doesn't need glasses yet.