Seven Months Together

Seven months together!!!  Seriously is time speeding up?!!  Ella Bella, we love you so much.  I can't imagine my life without your ornery smile and belly laughs!  You are beautiful inside and out.  I pray for patience every morning because I know you are going to have me on my toes. But I love that spice and the world better watch out as you continue to grow. You are going to do some amazing things in this world. Love you. 

Seven Month List

1.  Christmas!  Your first Christmas happened during the last month. I have so many great memories with you during the last month. Seeing Santa, looking at Christmas lights, hanging out at home looking at the tree and talking about the ornaments, opening gifts, Christmas Eve service, and watching you love on all your family members. Christmases are so special with you girls around. 

2.  You are growing and that means you are loosing that sweet toddler belly. You are growing taller and stretching longer. I know this is supposed to happen but it makes me sad that you are growing up so quickly. 

3.  You are quite the fashionista!  You are always involved with deciding what you are going to wear for the day and are not afraid to tell you when you don't like something. You love shoes...not sure where you got that ;).

4.  You love playing dress up with your sister!  On weekends you spend all day dressed as a princess or train engineer or Doctor. During the week, you girls immediately go upstairs and change into dress up clothes as soon as we get home.  I love this stage!

5.  You love playing and using your imagination with your sister. Not only with dress up, but also with your babies, having parties in the castle, building forts, tea parties, or whatever your beautiful heads think of. 

6.  You endured a speech therapy evaluation and IEP plan during the last month. You actually blow everyone away. You are right on track and making amazing progress. Yes, you need to relearn where to place your tongue when speaking now that your anatomy is corrected but you are picking it up quickly. We are so proud of you!  You will be receiving therapy only once a month at this time to ensure you continue to make progress. 

7.  You are still a great eater but you are becoming more picky as time goes on. You love apple sauce, yogurt, any sweets, crackers, blueberries, apples, bananas, popcorn, milk, and juice.  

8.  You don't often sit still long enough to watch a show and we don't encourage tv. But an occasional movie is a must :). You love Daniel Tiger, Mickey Mouse, and a new favorite lately is The Polar Express. Even though Christmas is over we still watch it at least weekly. 

9.  You are learning so many things right now.  You really are like a sponge, just soaking up info. You are learning colors, recognizing letters, learning to count to 10. All this on top of learning how to correctly place your tongue to make words. Your progress over the last month is awesome!

10.  You love to be creative!  We are constantly doing puzzling, coloring pictures, cutting paper, stamping paper, building things with play doh.  You love it all!

Celebrating Christmas Family Style

On our way home for Christmas I was overcome by an amazing sense of being content.  I was riding home to be with my family who I love and look forward to spending time with.  This includes my mom and dad who have survived the test of time and who are still very much in love after 40 years of marriage, my "little" brother who has become one of my best friends, and my brother married his true love this last summer which means I gained a sister, I have been blessed to be married to my best friend for 12 years who loves me no matter what, and I have two beautiful, strong, independent girls...daughters who were nothing but a dream just a few short years ago.  And knowing that the following weekend I would be surrounded by the most loving in-laws you could ever imagine who would be willing to give up everything they have for those they love, my niece and nephews who I love being a little kid with, and Matt's siblings who I am lucky enough to consider my own brothers and sisters. I know that there have been so many times when I have been filled with joy in my life but I can't recall a time when I felt so content and at peace with my life.  What an amazing feeling!!  This feeling is all due to my Heavenly Father who has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams.  I pray that I remember this feeling always and just sit in that place of peace.

We headed to Kansas on Christmas Eve to spend the weekend with my side of the family.  I worked Christmas Eve morning and we planned to leave around 12pm to make it home for church.  Well, Mother Nature threw us a curve ball and sent a crazy snow storm that morning.  I made it to work no problem at 7am even through it had started snowing.  By 9:30am, Matt called and said, "If we're leaving we need to leave now.  And I'm coming to get you because the car is not getting out."  At that time we had 4 inches of snow and by 11am we had over 7 inches.  We still thought we could make it out since it was a thin storm and we were glad we tried because by the time we made it to interstate it was pretty smooth sailing.  We made it home in time for Christmas Eve service.

Ella inspecting Christmas Eve dinner

Sass-a-fras #1 and #2

My Loves

Snacks for Santa and his Reindeer

Mom and Bobby looking at old family pics

Santa came

Reading the real Christmas Story

Chinese Feast in the works

On New Years Day we headed back home to spend the weekend celebrating Christmas with Matt's side of the family.  I love our weekends together and so look forward to the craziness that occurs every single visit!!  Let's say that these visits include 6 grandkids under the age of 5, 5 big dogs, and 9 adults...pure craziness!!  Thank goodness we have the farm to let everyone run around!  I love them all so much!

6 of our little crazies!!

Love these sweeties!

Carson and Ava ready for presents

Addie, Ava, and Jessie

Ava loving on Grandpa

Nai Nai has candy for the stockings!!

Baby doll accessories for the girls

"Uncle Dave, you look like you need chap stick"

"This is for me, right?!!"

Uncle Craig made all of us girls name signs out of old barbed wire.

Whipped topping, yummy!

These boys love puzzles

Two brothers mesmerized by the kid's toys

Game time

The whole bunch of us!

We made such fun memories on this Christmas with our amazing families!!

Ella's First Christmas~Our First Christmas as a Family of Four

We had our family Christmas on Saturday, December 19th since we were going to be out of town with family on Christmas Day.  What a sweet day together with beautiful memories made.  I was on the verge of joyful tears for much of the day.  Sometimes I loose my breath with how blessed I have been in this life and namely the people who have blessed my life...Matt, Ava, and Ella.  I need nothing more in this life than them.  

First Christmas for our littlest princess

Family Pic before presents.  One of my favorite memories this year...the girls in their princess outfits.

Lots of gifts to open and their new wagon

Ava was just as excited as the rest of us for Ella to open her first Christmas present.  Ava kept saying, "Ella, it's your first Christmas!!!"  Ella's first gift she opened was her light up pillow pet.  Definitely her favorite!

Ava and her new watch that Baba picked out for her.  Definitely her favorite gift of the night.

The girls with the shirts they picked out for each other.

My gifts

"It is 4:55"

Dinner of Chicken Noodle Soup and rolls.  Dessert of brownies and ice cream.  And cheers with wine and sparkling grape juice.

Holy Moly We're at Six Months!!

I swear time is flying by at warp speed!!  There is a lot of truth to the saying, "The days are sometimes long but the years are fast."  I know I don't always think about the gratitude of every precious minute I get with my sweet family but I pray everyday that God helps me to soak up every sweetness, every argument, every hug and kiss.  And I pray that these moments together last forever. 

The 6 month mark is an important one because it means we should be receiving our final adoption documents so that we can re-finalize Ella's adoption in the US.  This is the final step in making our family a family of four.

1.  It is so fun watching you take in all the magic of your first Christmas.  You love looking at the lights and the Christmas tree.  I know it doesn't make sense to you but you enjoy the beauty of it all.  You met Santa at daycare and weren't scared at all; just unsure of  what was happening.  However when we went to see Santa all together you were not having it!!   Once Mama came in to save you we sat next to Santa together but you refused to even look at him.

2.  You are also loving Christmas movies.  A few in particular are How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the Jim Carrey version) and Polar Express.  It's been nice to watch something other than Daniel Tiger!!

3.  You are a great sleeper and we are SO grateful for that.  You have been a great sleeper since day one.  You're not always the easiest to get to sleep; in fact there are many nights when you are still awake when I head to bed but once you are a sleep you rarely wake until morning.

4.  You enjoy coloring at home.  You color princesses and hearts.  You're also good at hoarding the colors to make your sister mad at you!  Still pushing those buttons ;)

5.  You are making friends at daycare and love going to daycare.  When we get close and can see daycare you break out excitedly shouting, "Daycare!!!"  At the end of the day you are excited to see whoever is picking you up but you also give out hugs to your friends and you always tell us that you had a fun day.

6.  Your speech continues to improve.  There are some words that are still very hard to understand.  Sometimes that's because you're irritated and whiney.  And sometimes it's because you're trying to say a new word.  But words that you've been working on continue to get clearer.  We all get so excited when you say a word that we can understand on the first try.  You have a speech therapy eval next week so that we can start therapy soon.  

7.  You love your baby dolls.  You're always feeding them, rocking them, or tucking them in to bed.  You even have them pretend crying at times so that you can then take care of them.  You're quite the little mama.

8.  We love playing games together as a family!  Some of your favorites are Uno Attack, Don't Break the Ice, Candy Land, and Count Your Chickens.  You definitely require help with the games but honestly for being 2 you do a great job!  You're learning your colors, numbers, and how to take turns.

9.  You celebrated your first Thanksgiving during the last month.  We celebrated with both my side and your dad's side of the family.  Thanksgiving was filled with fun, food, and family!  We were so blessed that you were with us this year.

10.  You and Ava are closer than ever.  It is so fun to watch your relationship bloom.  You girls are getting along more and more and you love playing together.  Mama and Baba love that you girls use your imagination; pretending to be at the beach, playing dress up, cooking food in the kitchen, and on and on.  Nothing makes us happier than hearing our beautiful girls laughing and playing together.

Visiting Santa

We visited Santa this weekend at the Durham Museum.  Santa was very busy and had a long line to get to him but it was worth it!  Ava was so excited to see Santa this year.  She kept telling us that she was not scared of him anymore but I was still hesitant about how she would do.  Once it was our turn, Ella decided that she was not interested so I was busy holding her and telling her it was okay.  By the time I turned towards Santa, Ava was already on his lap telling him what she wanted for Christmas!  She's now a pro at this Santa business.  We were able to get a few pics of both girls with Santa and then I jumped in to save Ella.  I hate to say it but this photo makes me laugh! Ella however was not amused.

After Ella calmed down in my arms I went with her to sit by Santa.  She still wouldn't even look at him but we did manage to get a decent picture.

Wish lists for Santa this year included:

Ava~slippers, teddy bear, barbie clothes, and a new hippo game

Ella~baby doll and teddy bear

Ava's First Christmas Program

Ava has been preparing for her first school Christmas program over the last month.  We were all so excited for her program and we were very proud parents!  Ava was so happy to have both her mom and dad there as well as Lau Lau and Pappy there to watch her.  

Ava sang loud and proud :)  The first song was called Pinata.  It went something like, "Uno, dos, tres, pinata!!!" Shake, shake, shake.  They were so cute!!  The second song was about a Gingerbread Man.  During this song the vice principal came out dressed as a Gingerbread Man.  

Deck the Halls

I LOVE Christmas! I love decorating for Christmas! This year was one of my favorites because my girls were so into helping decorate. I mentioned to Ava that we “might” put the tree up that night and her excitement was contagious and definitely was not going to let me get away with not putting it up!

Ava helped with all of it...putting the tree together and fluffing the branches as well as putting on the ornaments. Ella watched her sister for a short time...this was the first time she would have seen a Christmas tree...but then she quickly wanted to be a part of hanging the ornaments. They were excellent helpers and I watched proudly as they picked out and hung each ornament. It's so fun to share with the girls the stories behind each ornament. I Christmases are just going to get more fun every year!

We have a pre lit tree and unfortunately when we got the tree put together the lights on the middle section would not turn on. I worked on them for a little time but then decided that I'd just go get other lights to fill in later. At one point Ava was putting up an ornament in the section and must have gotten the string of lights just right and all the sudden the middle section lit up. I got excited and clapped and Ava exclaimed, “That's marvelous!!”