Mid Autumn Day/Moon Festival

The traditional Chinese festival, Mid-Autumn festival began today, September 25th. It is the second most important festival in China & I was told by a Chinese friend that it is comparable to our Christmas. When the moon is rising tonight families will put a table in the open yard covered with moon cakes and fruits, including watermelon. All members of the family will sit around the table, they will talk & eat while they are enjoying the moon. Some families will pray before they eat. The moon will be brighter and rounder than it normally is because tonight it is closest to the Earth. Eating moon cake is an important custom of the festival-moon cake means reunion. Families who live far apart try to travel to be together during this time, but if that is not possible they call each other.

To celebrate this special holiday Emma wore a traditional dress to school & I have to say that she looked absolutely GORGEOUS!!! : ) She also brought a story about The Moon Festival (Chang E Goes to the Moon) for her teacher to read to the class and moon cakes for everybody to eat at snack time! The "moon cakes" were actually Hostess' Ding Dongs...I figured that Emma's friends would enjoy them more than real moon cakes that have flavors such as bean paste & lotus! Tonight Emma and I went outside to look at the moon and think about all of our family and friends near and far-especially Emma's birth mother who was surely looking at the same moon. Unfortunately, it was overcast & we could not see the moon! None the less we stood outside and said our good wishes. : ) When Greg gets home we will celebrate together by going out for a Chinese dinner & we will eat REAL moon cakes... it is an acquired taste-but we like them!

~Megan

Trip to the Park

One of Emma's new favorite things to do is go to the park. For whatever reason she is completely obsessed with slides! So, last Sunday we visited a new park that opened near our house. I was impressed to discover that they have a play area designed for toddlers, everything was close to the ground! It was the perfect size for Emma, although that didn't stop my dare devil from playing on the regular sized equipment as well!






As you can see from the pictures Emma had a wonderful time! She was very disappointed when it was time for us to leave. The ONLY word that I heard for the next 24 hours was "SLIDE"! (As in "Can we PLEASE go back Mommy? I want to ride the slides for the rest of my life")! : )

Cleaning Lady

Emma often observes me cleaning and has picked up some pretty good habits for a 3 year old! I can only hope that she retains these same habits as a teenager! ; )

The other day I emptied out her Diaper Genie & when I was finished Emma eagerly accepted my request that she throw out the bag of dirty diapers. She dragged it from her bedroom...down the stairs...& to the back door! It was comical to watch her in action, she looked like such a big girl! Which leads me to close this post with a question:

IF YOU ARE OLD ENOUGH TO HELP EMPTY OUT YOUR DIAPER PAIL ISN'T IT TIME THAT YOU START USING THE POTTY? ; )

~Megan

Mother-Daughter Weekend

The ducks were HERE...

... And Emma was way over THERE! :)
(Watching from a safe distance)!

Greg has been in London on a business trip for the past week. Last weekend the weather was beautiful, so I had what I thought was a fun afternoon planned for Emma & I on Saturday. We went to The River Walk in Naperville to feed the ducks. Emma LOVES animals, therefore I assumed that she would enjoy throwing pieces of bread to the ducks & watching them eat...boy was I wrong! I spotted the ducks down a hill near the water and took Emma out of her stroller so that we could get closer to them. When she realized that we were heading in their direction she wanted NOTHING to do with it, she started to twist her body around me like a 30 pound pretzel while shouting "NO, NO, NO--ALL DONE"! I managed to calm her down enough to throw whole slices of bread (forget breaking off small pieces) & the minute that the last slice was tossed she ran back to her stroller and buckled herself in. : ) For those of you that know me well you are aware that I am deathly afraid of birds, so I guess that poor Emma inherited her aversion to our feathered friends from me? *lol*! After feeding the ducks we stopped by a fountain to play for awhile. Emma enjoyed splashing her hands around in the water, but I could not coax a smile out of her....I think that her experience with the ducks set the tone for the rest of the day! : )
~Megan

"Alright, where did the ducks go"?







"Who can I splash"?!









Ten Little Fingers! : )

Introduction & School!

Emma was NOT happy about her
6:30 A.M. wake up call that morning! :)

Welcome Family & Friends to Emma's Blog!
Yes, the Montieth Family has finally decided to join the rest of the world & start a blog for our daughter. Better late than never right? I could no longer justify the weak excuse: " I should have started it when we traveled to China to bring Emma home"! It has been over a year and a half since Emma has been home and I just have SO much that I want to share about her! : ) Please keep in mind that I am completely new to this and quite frankly have no idea what I am doing! So, bear with me and hopefully my skills will improve. ; )

Emma & Mommy waiting for the bus!!
Now for the first official entry:
Emma has been attending Preschool at The Bonnie Mc Beth Learning Center for a month now. She attends regular class Tuesday-Friday & every other Monday for therapy. (Mainly Speech). Emma really loves going to school, especially riding the little bus! When she sees it approaching from down the street she says "Here it comes"! Her language has exploded over the summer, and even more so over the course of the past month. She has begun to use two and three word sentences! (Of course Greg and I are the only ones that understand half of what she is saying)! We are VERY proud of Emma, our baby is turning into a big girl right before our eyes!
~Megan