Autumn fun

Before I talk about our family, I just have to share a great blog/web site: the International Princess Project at

http://intlprincess.org/index.php/ipp/blog/

I bought some fantastic jammie pants for my sister's birthday, made by women in India who had formerly been trafficked into prostitution. I met the women who started the business at the conference I attended a few weeks ago. Love this!

Anya Rashi is up to lots of new tricks. She is quite a singer lately. This morning, I was getting her dressed, and I heard the melody for "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." The words need some work, though -- I only heard one: ba. :o) She also sings to her dollies, which is the sweetest thing. She has figured out how to tickle people, and thinks it's really funny to tickle Daddy or Mama. Anya Rashi has fallen in love with Elmo, and a few times each week, we turn on the last part of Sesame Street, when Elmo is the focus. The funniest part is that she forgets to blink! By the end of her 15 minute Elmo fix, tears have formed and rolled down her cheeks to keep her eyes from drying out!

One of her favorite things when Peter is at work and the boys are at school is to name her family. She says all of our names, and waits for me to ask, "Is that your family?" so she can say yes. Her name for our pet parakeet Cleo is "Coco," and she loves to point to the food and water dishes and tell me what they are. She is fixated on the number "two," and when we read counting books or count fingers, she carefully says, "Two . . . two . . . two . . ." :o) She also likes to "read" my books, and very seriously turns pages.

Last weekend we visited a pumpkin patch/apple orchard/hobby farm with our friends Todd and Tina and their three month old son Liam. We had a great time. Anya loved the goats, and fed them goat chow, pellet by pellet. I was a little concerned that her fingers would become part of the meal, but the goat was very careful. Now she's fascinated with pumpkins, and when we walk or drive past yards decorated for autumn, she points with great excitement.

I was able to spend a whole day with my sister Alicia this weekend. Originally, the plan was just to attend the last Milwaukee performance of Cirque du Soleil to celebrate our birthdays . . . but then the Brewers made it into the Wild Card playoff, so our day grew a little longer! We went to the game at noon, which was not pretty. The up side was the fans -- after the game, while the Phillies celebrated their victory on the field, everyone stayed to applaud the Brewers and thank them for a great season.

We made our way downtown for the Cirque show, Saltimbanco -- it was a phenomenal performance, and we were amazed at the athleticism, creativity and beauty of it. Alicia is a big fan of Cirque, and has seen several of their shows. I went to one with her two years ago, and it was completely different than Saltimbanco. Thanks, Alicia, for the fantastic day, and thanks Grandma and Peter for making it possible!

Good news on the adoption front: Devika's (http://www.greathopes.blogspot.com/) and Zaleeya's (http://zaleeya.blogspot.com/) families are traveling to bring them home! They are blogging during their trips so we can follow their journey. Congratulations to them!