Valentine Week 2008

Wow this week flew by! So many little things happened that I wanted to blog about and then I remembered that I need to wait until Sunday. So, I will warn you this is a long post and there are a lot of photos. This is my scrapbook so it is hard to leave stuff out.

I want to thank all of you who e-mailed me or commented below on Thursday to wish me a Happy Valentine's day. I was touched that people thought of me even as I was not blogging:)

Kate and I met some special friends this week for lunch. I wanted to take Kate here to get some casual Chinese New Year and Valentine photos. I have never used one of these places as I am not a big fan of indoor, staged photos with props but we gave it a try. The people that worked there were amazing. They spent more than an hour trying to get Miss Katie Ru off of me and trying to get her to smile. Here are some beginning photos.

As you can see, she was clingy and grumpy and mad. She glared at the sweet and patient photographers. I was a little embarrassed of her reaction but now I think the pictures are kind of funny because they are so inconsistent with Kate's personality. She does not even look like herself in those photos.

They finally got her to warm up a tiny bit and we were able to get these.....

I was next to her and we were singing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes." Kate is doing the "mouth" part.

After the photo shoot, we met Michelle and Josie for lunch. Michelle was ahead of me in the adoption process and our social worker put me in touch with her. I cannot tell you how helpful she was with my paperwork. I had already done all of the paperwork for Korea (which was quite different) and then Korea changed their policy and would not place girls with families who had not adopted from Korea before. So we could either re-apply for a boy (and get at the end of the line) or switch to China. I was so overwhlemed at the thought of completing another dossier. Michelle gave me a big pep talk, told me exactly how to do it and even walked some of my final paperwork though Washington DC for me. I was amazed at all of that kindness from someone I had never even met! We did finally meet shortly after Josie came home and I enjoyed it immensely.

Michelle is the kind and generous person who gave Kate this special gift when she first came home. This was only our second meeting (we don't live very close) and Michelle's first time meeting Kate. I loved having lunch with them and cannot wait to get together again. Michelle and I could have probably talked for days. She wrote a far better descritpion of our lunch here.

Josie was so cute with Kate (holding her hand and reading to her).

The week was filled with Valentine celebrations. Harry's school has a "no siblings" policy. That is, when a parent comes to volunteer or go on a field trip or anything, they may not bring siblings.

I understand the policy but it irks me. Harry wanted me to come to his Valentine party so badly. He asked me over and over if I was going to be there. I am the room parent so I thought I should be there. However, I did not have anyone to watch Kate at that time of day. Harry has definitely felt a little"squeezed out" since the adoption so I decided I needed to be there for him. I packed Kate up in her Mei Tai carrier and signed into the school, went to the classroom and began helping. Luckily, no one said a word to me except how sweet and cute Kate was! I felt awful for breaking the rule but I would have felt more awful breaking Harry's heart. I volunteered a lot at the school last year and I have hardly been there this year due to the no sibling policy. Here are some pictures from his school party:

My sweet hubby surprised me with this lens for Valentine's day. I have been bitten by the photography bug (although I truly have NO idea what I am doing). I wanted this lens because it is supposed to be a great portrait lens for kids. Will let me use him as my practice model. And really, who could go wrong shooting that handsome face? Clearly, I still have no clue how to use this new lens and would love any help or suggestions from you photographer types (Kris, Chris and Deb, Connie and others---you all know who you are). But here are my first practice shots.

Will's left eye was itchy and allery-ish which is why it looks smaller and irritated in these outdoor photos. He is such a good sport.

An indoor shot of each of my sweethearts with the new lens.

In addition to my awesome new camera lens, my husband planned a special dinner with some other husbands in our neighborhood. He had this idea two years ago for a surprise progressive dinner where the husbands did all of the planning, cooking, table settting etc... It was incredible. When I woke up that morning he handed me a letter explaining that I would be having lunch with two of my friends, then spending the afternoon at a spa. When I returned home, I was supposed to get dressed up for a special dinner. We had appetizers at one home, my husband cooked Osso Bucco for the main course at our house and then we had dessert at another home. It was the BEST Valentines ever.

Last year, the hubbies did their own individual things. You can read here what Dave did. However, this year Dave decided to initiate the progressive dinner again. We invited two new couples and once again it was AMAZING! There was no spa or lunch and I think the women helped a little bit this year since it was on a Friday. We had a great time. Here is just a sampling of what our men prepared:

Appetizer course:

Pomegranate martinis and mojitos (which contributed to a slow Saturday)

Thinly sliced and seared beef tenderloin with Yukon Gold potatoes.

Escargot , blue cheese and mushroom tapenade on endive leaves

Oysters Rockefeller

Gourmet Cheese plate with olives

Crab toast points

Main course:

Light salt tasting with Sourdough bread (photo of the salts)
Baby spinach salad with Champagne Vinaigrette

Slow Cooked Local Organic Beef Shortrib

Sweet Potato with Carmelized Onion (this was to die for!)

Orzo with garlic, parmesan & spinach

And a surprise mini cheeseburger to keep it casual

Dessert Course:

Grand Marnier Creme Brulee

Fresh peach tart with Mascarpone cream and Vanilla ice cream

Port wine

A box of incredible handmade dark chocolate truffles from here for each couple to take home!

The men really outdid themselves. The food was great and they waited on us hand and foot. Candles were lit everywhere, the drinks flowed and so did the laughter. It was a great evening with friends and sweethearts. The husbands all gave one of the guys an old photo from childhood and they made a banner, menus and a wine label that said Four Grapes Cabernet ...Sassy Vineyards. I would post it but two of us were not exactly thrilled with the photos our husbands chose so I thought it be best to leave that private.

Our progressive dinner party.

Yesterday Kate and I were invited to the most incredible Valentine party ever. A friend of a friend does this every year and she kindly invited me and Kate this year. The photos speak for themsleves but the party included , hair styling, fingernail painting, dress-up, fairtytales, yummy delicacies, and everything girly you could possibly imagine!

My newest little Valentine!

And finally...here is a funny conversation from the car this week that I don't want to forget:

Harry: Mom, Grace won the math race at school. Girls are just smarter than boys.
Me: Silently smirking with surprise and amusement.
Will: They aren't smarter, Harry. They just mature faster.

NOTE--As you know blogger is not spell checking and I am a terrible typist so please ignore any errors.