We had a wonderful family fun week with our new daughter Jasmine. We did lots of activities together, such as the Children’s Museum, shopping, and story time. There was also plenty of one on one time. Mom and daughter worked on many crafts including expanding the cardboard playhouse. Dad and daughter had many outings to playgrounds and libraries.

Jasmine is eager to be involved with household chores. Jasmine helps mommy in the garden and cooking. Jasmine helps daddy put the dishes away and with grocery shopping. Although, after three crashes she lost her grocery cart driving license yesterday. We’ll see if her driving improves next week.

Last Friday we met Jasmine’s kindergarten teacher, and we had a tour of the classroom and school. This morning Jasmine had her first day of school. She didn’t remember much, except that there were two recesses.

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Among Jasmine’s many wonderful attributes is her mad biking skills. Foster dad Ron told us us Jasmine was learning how to ride a bike with the help of foster brother Devon.

Soon after the move in, Jasmine was raring to go and new daddy Jeff took her out to the bike path. Well, the first journey was quite wobbly and required much stabilizing by dad. The second day, she was biking mostly solo except for some helpful pushing up the hills. And the third day, she was cranking up and speeding down the hills by herself, looping around a local park.

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Easter was very special this year, since this weekend Jasmine moved into our home. New grandmothers and grandfathers sent wonderful cards, gifts and Easter candy to welcome Jasmine into our family. And the Easter Bunny made a fabulous showing with a basket of goodies and Easter eggs hidden around the living room. Lucky for us, Jasmine is a good Easter egg hunter.

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Jasmine had her first overnight stay at our home this weekend. Foster mom Kristi and Jasmine arrived Friday night. The very first thing Jasmine wanted to see was her new room and she seemed very pleased. Then Emily got Jasmine ready for bed, including a fun bubble bath. Emily, Jeff and Kristi all tucked Jasmine into bed, and the parents chatted in the living room, until Kristi left.

Saturday was a busy day. In the morning we took Jasmine to two parks for swinging, climbing, spinning, walking, and other mischief. After lunch, we went to the library for crafts, computer games, and also for some books. Back at home, mommy and daughter worked in the garden and then settled down for some serious Easter egg decorating. Then we had some down time with book reading and cartoon watching. After dinner, Jasmine helped mommy make a double batch of brownies so there would be enough to share with Jasmine’s foster family. Jasmine is a very good helper in the kitchen! Bedtime arrived and Jasmine became homesick and had trouble falling asleep, so new mommy Emily called foster mommy Kristi to give us some advice which worked perfectly.

Sunday was a stay at home day. Mommy and Jasmine did more Easter egg decorating. And Daddy and Jasmine went to the local park to play. After a yummy spaghetti lunch, playing with a cardboard box evolved into creating a full fledged playhouse. Kristi arrived in the afternoon to pick up Jasmine, and we said our goodbyes until we see each other again Easter.

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We spent our first weekend with our new daughter Jasmine. We are so happy to welcome this beautiful little girl to our family.

When we first arrived at her foster home, Jasmine jumped into Emily’s arms. After a long embrace, she jumped down and then jumped back up into Jeff’s arms. Then she invited us outside with her friends Jaiden and Devon to walk a special path in the woods they made for us. As we soon found out, the path was optimized for 3 foot people, so we did much ducking and crawling. Speaking of ducks, Devon introduced us to his duck friends and we all took turns feeding them.

After lunch, Emily, Jeff and Jasmine had some alone time playing with the tree swing.  Jasmine squealed and giggled with delight as her new daddy pushed her way up in the air. But the festivities had to stop frequently to recover Jasmine’s boots, which had a tendency to fly off.

Then we settled down to snuggle on the couch to watch Alladin, staring Jasmine’s favorite character of none other than Princess Jasmine.

The next morning,  Emily and Jasmine did each others nails. And later Jeff and Jasmine had fun playing at the playground.

All too soon, the weekend was over. Thanks so much to foster mom Kristi and foster dad Ron for doing such an amazing job of nurturing Jasmine and inviting us into their wonderful home.

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