Eliana's daycare provider was out running errands this afternoon so she called me at work to say that she would bring Eliana by the house on her way home. No problem. In fact, it was a good deal because I could zip home, kick my feet up for a few minutes and catch some Travel Channel.

'Weird Travels' was the program scheduled for 5:00 pm and today's episode focused on crop circles which is an interesting topic to me anyway.

I caught maybe 10 minutes before the doorbell rang.

As soon as I let Eliana into the house and locked the door behind her, the Empress bolted for the recliner with me close on her heels. I scooped her up and we played and snuggled for maybe 60 seconds because that's about the longest amount of time that she can stay in one place.

Crop circles must not impress a 3-year-old because she slid onto the floor, went straight to the DVD carousel, brought a movie back and laid it in my lap.

"I wanna watch Cinderella."

Grrrrr. I know. I'll give her a taste of her own medicine.

I stood up with movie in hand, jumped up and down and wailed in the best whiney voice I could muster, "But I wanna watch MYYYYY program on TV!".

Doggone it. I really did!

She stood quietly for a second and stared at me in disbelief. Then a smile swept across her face and between giggles she said, "Nooooo Dad. That's fake!"

We attended another Chinese New Year celebration but this time it was right here in town.

I contacted families in our area who had adopted from China or were in process and arranged for those who could to meet for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant at 6:00 pm. 24 people showed up and we had a blast. The adults, many of whom had never met previously, shared in great conversation and the children enjoyed playing together after warming up to each other.

Here is a group shot that David - one of the waiters - was gracious enough to take for us.

Here were our China girls.

The little girl seated on the floor in the gold-colored traditional dress is Abigail. From left to right across the top is Sara, Mia (who was the youngest at 1-1/2), Eliana and Lauren. Lauren and Eliana are the same age. Those two really hit it off together so Carmi and I have already talked with Lauren’s parents about future play dates. Nina is the young lady at the very top of the picture.

A young man from our town named Shea met Nina while he was teaching English in China for two years. The two married in China last year and moved back to our town last summer. She speaks great English and really loved on the children. I’m so glad that Shea and Nina were able to join us and I’m sure that she will be a great resource for all things Chinese.

Carmi bought a kitchen table and chairs from a lady who lives near Winston-Salem, NC so we left home around 10:30 this morning to go and pick the set up.

When we pulled into the driveway, Carmi grabbed Eliana and headed for the house to let them know we had arrived. I stayed in the van to call and arrange a lunch date with some friends who also adopted from China and who lived only a couple of miles away. When our plans were set, I pushed the door lock button out of pure habit while stepping out and slammed the van door shut. No sooner had the door left my hand than I realized in a split second that my keys were still in the ignition.

For the luvva...

Aaaaaaaaaah!!!

Please don't think any less of me but...I got in the flesh.

The surge of adrenaline really stimulated the few brain cells I have. With a coat hanger kindly supplied by the residents of the house, I was able to get one of the van windows open without breaking it out which was my first instinctive plan of action.

We weren't even late for our lunch date. A small delay wouldn't have really mattered because there was a 25-minute wait at Cracker Barrel to be seated.

Carmi was reading nursery rhymes tonight when the Empress decided to illustrate one entitled 'Diddle Diddle Dumpling'. It goes something like this:

Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John
Went to bed with his breeches on
One sock off and one sock on
Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John

I doubt that a laundry basket played a role in any of Mother Goose's tales so I suppose Eliana was taking creative license.