JOURNEY TO JUNIPER: Nana, Grampie and Handprints

Someday, I will get caught up with the blog but for now, I am going to have to backtrack a few weeks and eventually, I will hopefully get up to date.

Juni is fabulous.

She is the happiest little girl and I cannot believe how amazingly well she is doing adapting to her new life. It's like she has known all along that we are her family and she shines like a little star all about the place. The boys have adjusted well and I can sense that they have accepted this change in our family dynamic. Aidan still adores her and Sam is now jumping on the bandwagon too. I think he is beginning to understand that he's also a big brother and I catch him teaching her different games, sharing his stuffed animals and hugging her when she is upset. Today, he called her sweetie pie. Of course, all is not roses. He did roll over her head the other day. But all and all, our boys make me very proud with all the love and kindness they shower on their new baby sister.

February in our neck of the woods.

It's still dead of winter here in Montana. Groan. Ugh. I-think-I-might-be-losing-my-mind-please-hand-me-a-plane-ticket-to-the-southern-hemisphere. At least we have had some sunny days in the last few weeks which helps keep everyone's sanity somewhat intact. The boys (some under the age of five and some with a few decades tacked on) have created fabulous snow forts and sculptures in our back yard. These images were from a few weeks back and show our unending mountains of snow. BTW, as delightful as this all may look, the China adoption families' reunion will most definitely be in Florida next year. (You are on Betsy!)

Sam gleefully being swirled around in the snow.

Aidan happily tunneled like an arctic mole (if there is such a thing.)

Aidan and Sam with our cheerful backyard mascot.

My lovely hubby.

The Sane Ones. (just sayin')

Nana and Juni came to the backdoor to watch the fun...

and laugh at the crazy boys wallowing in the snow.

Juni's tiny hand cupped Nana's cheek during a little love security check in.

Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother - northern style.

My radiant Mom and my beautiful daughter.

Gnomes?

While massive snow tunneling was happening in the background, Grampie and Sam worked on this incredible giant gnome head. (At least, I think it was a gnome. Could be a snow dwarf or Montana's only known homage to Easter Island, I suppose.)

We now have two enormous gnomes/snow dwarves/Easter Island Heads flanking our snowman mascot. The images do not do them justice. Since these photos were taken, the snow has continued to fall and they now have very tall hats capping their icey features. (The gnomes, not Grampie and Sam.)

Grampie, Aidan and Steve in part of the very long snow tunnel. Boys are crazy.

Back inside where it was warm and sun-splashed.

Juni and Nana played and giggled at the kitchen table.

Then Nana and Sam played with dinosaurs and dump trucks in the rice box.

For obvious reasons, we've had to keep the rice box closed while Juni is awake. It's a fairly enormous standing sand table that I bring inside and fill with rice during our long winter months. The boys love having it in their playroom as a construction zone/knights and dragons kingdom. Juni doesn't yet know the lid comes off housing all these hidden treasures underneath. I'm not being cruel here. I still catch her eating weird bits of debris off the floor and I can only imagine what would happen if she discovered the rice table. Any art I have tried with her so far goes right in her mouth, be it finger paint, construction paper projects, crayons, etc. You would think we don't feed her enough. Speaking of, she has been great at trying new foods. Sometimes she spits something out immediately but most times she does taste most everything. Today we had a tea party and I discovered she loves raisins. The only thing I cannot get her to try is yoghurt. She clamps her lips together and shakes her head vigorously as if I was trying to poison her. I think it is a texture thing. I finally persuaded her to try a tiny bit of pudding the other day and she still didn't like it. I'll stick with the wee mandarin oranges she adores.

Handprints.
After fostering the boys for two years, we officially adopted them in January of 2010. Almost exactly a year later to the day, we signed Juni's adoption paperwork in China. Back in 2010, after returning from the courthouse and the celebration breakfast, Nana and Grampie gave us the most amazing surprise. Nana had carved a work of art celebrating the establishment of our family and we each painted our hands to stamp on to the carving. Now that we are home with Juni, there is a new amazingly beautiful carving to be added to the first. All we needed was Juni's handprint. We opted for pink.

Nana added the paint.

Juni wasn't so sure but took it all in stride.

And then plopped her hand down perfectly in the center of a heart. (Must say, this is a gorgeous photo of me but seeing as this was the ONLY photo taken while she stamped her hand, c'est la vie. I think I look like I'm auditioning to be a camel. Then again, I did put a photo of Steve's bum in this blog post. Ah, the price we pay to share our love.)