Gotcha Day and Thanksgiving feasts!

The oldest kindergarten pilgrims!

Kindergarten is fun!

What a performance!

This is what Thanksgiving is all about!

Isn't he handsome?

My how Matthew has grown!

My socks have "moo" written on them!

Whew! Finally, a moment to catch up on my posting. We've had two very busy, but fun weeks! We celebrated Matthew's 1 year anniversary of his Gotcha Day. I put his outfit on that he came to us wearing and boy has that child grown!!! It's so nice to see how healthy he has become.

On the other hand, Matthew asked if he was going back to China when I asked him to put on his outfit. When is that boy going to feel permanent?

At school this past week we celebrated everything Thanksgiving. On Friday, both Analiese and Matthew had feasts. Matthew really wanted both Dave and I to be there and Dave rearranged his scheduled to be able to attend. Unfortunately, Analiese got an ear-infection, I couldn't get an appointment on Thursday that didn't interfere with Sarah's dentist appointment and the Friday early morning appointment had to be rearranged because our pediatrician called in sick. The bottom line? Dave missed Matthew's feast (but was able to attend Analiese's). I did bring Sarah to Matthew's feast so he had someone other than his Mom.

Analiese's feast was lots of fun--as kindergarten classes are. We were able to enjoy a performance as well as some turkey and cake. Dave and I got silly and put on pilgrim hats. Sweet Analiese loved it but just wait until she gets to be Sarah's age!

Today was a big day for Matthew. He had his circumcision surgery. Dave and he left at 5 AM so they could get to the children's hospital by 6:00. Matthew was the first procedure scheduled. According to Dave, Matthew was a real trooper!

When Matthew returned from the recovery room Dave called me and let me talk to Matthew. What did my son say? "Hi Mommy, my pee-pee hurts"! Don't you just love it???

When Matthew got home the first thing he asked was, "Mommy, you want to see my pee-pee?" How could I refuse (and his 3 sisters wanted to see also). So all of us followed Matthew as he lay down on the couch. When he pulled down his pants to show us his circumcision, he promptly announced, "I like my new pee-pee!"

That brought laughter and smiles to all of us! How worth it was the surgery for Matthew to be happy with his new pee-pee? He did wonder about the "black ring" (stitches and blood). We assured him that once he healed he wouldn't have the "ring".

Matthew has been a challenge to keep quite and still. He wants to play with his sisters. Every time I turn around he is off of the couch or upstairs. The only time he was quite was right after we gave him his pain meds. Boy did he get sleepy. Quite different from Analiese who seems to get wound up after her surgeries!

Tomorrow our adoptive grandparents, "Oma and Opa" are coming over. Oma is my friend Carol who is Analiese's speech therapist. She and her husband have adopted the kids, as their grandson lives in Germany. It's wonderful for all of us!

Sarah's first performance for the Nutcracker is Dec. 7th--right around the corner! We are excited but Sarah has admitted to a few nerves!

The boys are coming to spend Thanksgiving with us. I have a 25 pound turkey that I'm cooking, as well as all of the trimmings. It should be a fun, fun day! Hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday. I know that I have so much to be thankful for--how lucky am I?????