Gung Hay Fat Choy!

We hope everyone has started out the Year of the Ox in good health and with happy times! I've been busy (surprise, surprise) since our last post...let's see, I've already been through one complete term of my pre-school dance class, went to two chinese new year parties and had a reunion with my orphanage mates, Lily and Lea, in beautiful, warm Florida! Whew, I have lots to tell you about.

Dance lessons
What is pink, white, black, silver and wears a big grin? Me, in my dance outfit including real tap shoes on Monday morning when I go to dance class! I love my class and I already know how to do heels and toes with my fancy shoes. I'm in a class with about 8 other girls that are 3 and 4 years old. Our teacher, Abby, is teaching us basic ballet positions and some tap techniques to help us explore different rhythms. We also get to do a lot of just jumping around..... Mommy gets to watch me dancing on a closed circuit TV in the lobby, and then at the end, she gets to come inside the studio and we get to dance together. It's so much fun....I hate for it to end. Here are a few shots of me at class.

We start with ballet...then go to tap...I love them both!

Dance makes me happy but wears me out...here I am asleep before we leave the parking lot.

Playdate!

So many of my favorite things: Playing with Emma, the Montshire Science Museum, Pizza and (new) flirting with our waiter! The pictures tell it all...take a look.

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Party, Party!
We got to kick off the Year of the Ox with not just one, but two fantastic chinese new year parties. The first one was on the new year's eve and it was hosted by the Dartmouth Asian Student Organization. My big pal, Flo, did a lot to organize the party and she made sure I had a great time dancing and singing on the stage, trying out different food and taking my turn at the "traditional" Year of the Ox pinata (!!). I had a great time and got to wear an outfit that mommy and daddy bought for me in China.

The second party was with our Families with Children from China group here in our local community. We had a crowd of 70 people and had a yummy buffet luncheon, some wonderful craft activities (I liked the lantern painting the best), Pin the Tail on the Ox game, chinese dance exhibit, a (scary) lion dance and a really cool Year of the Ox cake! Everybody had a great time and I was dubbed the Little Chinese Princess because of my beautiful fur-lined chinese dress that Por-Por and Goong sent to me.

Here's some of our favorite shots of our Year of the Ox celebrations......

I "hit it hard", on stage and on the pinata...

Emma, Alice and me in our pretty chinese outfits

I loved painting the lanterns...


Reunion time

We were so lucky to be able to take some time off this month to head south to Florida for a little warm weather and a long weekend reunion with my two orphanage pals, Lily and Lea. We are all getting so BIG and talking up a storm. It took about, uh, 30 seconds, for us to recognize each other and kick start a marathon play and laugh festival. We did so many fun things together and got along well most of the time with only a few snafus of "mine, no that's mine" (well, we are 3 years old, after all!). On the last night we were there we had our own chinese new year party, complete with chinese food, chopsticks and getting into our pretty chinese outfits. See for yourself how we had the time of our lives......

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

That about catches us up. Thanks for watching. I love you all.

Love,

Hui-Hui (and my mommy and daddy too)