Thank You Lao Lao!

My Mom sent Greg and I a wonderful gift set from her trip to Greece! She also included some treat money for the girls as she did not find anything suitable for them on her trip. The girls were pretty excited....we all were. Thanks Lao Lao! :)

Purple & Bright/Beautiful Girl

Sophie's Chinese name is Zi Ye, it means "purple and bright".
Emma's Chinese name is Can Ni, it means "beautiful girl".
I think that this picture captures their Chinese names perfectly...don't you?! ; )

Happiness Is:

Sophie putting on toy lipstick.... Emma modeling her NEW feet pajamas (her favorite style).... Sophie & Emma eating an Autumn meal of tomato soup and grilled cheese....

Emma practicing drinking out of a big girl cup (it was EMPTY) ;)....

Sophie eating a gooey brownie....
Can you guess which one was REALLY in time out?! (Answer: Sophie~Emma just decided to keep her company).... :D

Pictures from the girls FAVORITE park....

Just plain cuteness....

WHY do all kids LOVE empty boxes?! Emma & Sophie played with these for at least 4O minutes! They were pretending that they were wrapping and opening gifts!

I discovered Emma singing in our room the other day....

Emma still enjoys an occasional cup of java in the morning....Sophie loves to "read". Books, magazines, Sunday Ads; it's all good.....

MORE BALLOON FUN....

Emma made this beautiful bowl at school. Yes, it IS a bowl....
Froggy got a makeover....

Now We Know...

Now we know how hard Emma has to work to make it through each day.

Now we know why Emma behaves uniquely.

Now we know that her actions are not defiant.

Now I know that I should have LISTENED to my gut instinct from day #1...I am not crazy after all. (Well, maybe I am still crazy....but I was RIGHT about my daughter)!

Now we know what we need to do to help Emma reach her full potential.

....now we know that Emma has Autism.

The results of Emma's testing were shared with us this afternoon. Emma is a "Atypical High-Functioning Autistic". Please don't ask me to explain the term in detail because my brain is like jello. I am taking it all in. When I am more educated I will be sharing Emma's progress from time to time on the blog. But, for now you can watch the following video if you want to understand how Emma's mind works. It is in simple terms and easy to understand. My dear friend Sarah shared this video with me and tutored me on how to upload it to my blog. (Thanks Sarah)!





One thing that I want to make clear is that Emma is STILL Emma. She is funny and sweet and I really can not imagine our lives without her in it. :)I am proud to be Emma's Mommy. We don't want anybody's pity, we just want people to understand our family. Don't assume that we don't socialize because we are rude, it is because sometimes doing the "normal stuff" is HARD.

HERE THEY ARE!!!!!

I'm sorry that I have not posted lately, it has been crazy around here! Here are a few pictures of the beautiful ladies for your enjoyment!

(Note: Emma has been "forcing" her smiles lately and Sophie's have been less "cheesy")!