Happy Birthday Karen (& A Late Christmas Celebration)

Yesterday our friends Karen, Jennifer & Avery came over for a visit.

We had not yet celebrated our "Christmas present exchange" with our friends - and Karen's birthday was last week, so we decided to get together, exchange gifts, and go out to lunch.

We had such a GREAT time. Well, I forgot to bring my camera downstairs, so thanks to Jennifer - I have copied her pictures to post on our blog!!

Karen and Jennifer are such great friends and I'm so thankful that God has brought them into our lives - and it's so great to see Anne Marie and Avery grow together!!

Anne Marie showing off her "princess skills" in her Tutu that our friend Jennifer made for her. How cute is this?? Jennifer is SO talented!! She also made a sweet little top & booties that go with the outfit -- it makes her a full-fledged fairy princess!!

Our friend Karen getting help from Avery opening her birthday gift. Happy Birthday Karen!!

Avery & Anne Marie got sweet little flashlights from Karen for Christmas. Anne Marie got a ladybug - she LOVES it. Avery got a cute little frog.

What would a day be without a time-out around our house? I have the sweetest child, a child that makes me laugh madly, however, she is also very strong-willed!! Have you ever wondered what happens when a mommy takes a little one around the corner to "talk" about why she needed a time out? Well, our friend Avery "stole" her mommy's camera and decided that she needed to take a shot of her friend getting in "trouble". Haa Haa -- do you notice the cheese that Anne Marie is giving Avery?? Even time-out's can be "funny" I guess! (haaaa)

A Fun-Filled Day at Grandma #1 & #2

Who might Grandma #1 & #2 be? No, not my mom & Mike's mom -- but Mike's Mom & DAD! (She calls my Mom "Nana".) Anne Marie has not quite got the difference between the "ma" and "pa" part at the end of the word, so she calls them both Grandma. It's makes for very funny moments when she says Grandma & they both answer & she looks at one as if to say "I didn't call you -- I called the other Grandma". Haaa!!!

Mike and I went to visit after Church today, and well, I hope they didn't mind, but we stayed most of the day. After I decided to quit my full-time job, we decided to cut our cable down to basic... and well, we've lost the sports channel! Now, if any of you know Mike, he LOVES (and that is LOVES) tennis. So today was the Australia Open. I think he made sure we found a "good reason" to stay over at his parents for a while, as it was on ESPN today!!

Anne Marie didn't mind at all. She had SO much fun today! She actually threw a FIT (and I mean FIT--ha) when we left! They are so much fun, and have great toys for her to play with. There is never a moment where she doesn't feel special at their house. (She is their only Grandchild -- so you can only imagine the "special" treatment she gets!)

Anne Marie is so lucky to have great Grandparents on both sides of our family!!

Anne Marie showing Grandma #1 her "funny-face" we taught her !

Eating a banana (after Pizza for lunch & brownies)


Anne Marie w/ the dolly Grandma bought to keep at her house to play with.

Grandma #2 Helping Anne Marie wash her hands. One of her favorite things to do!!

Anne Marie playing the "parachute" game with Grandma #2. Do you remember this game when you were a kid? She giggled & giggled!!

Bad...Bad...Mommy!!

Ok -- today I would sooooo NOT win the mother of the year award!! We ran & ran & ran today. I had tons of errands to run, and then I got a call from a friend of mine that I haven't seen in a couple of months and she wanted to have lunch. I love having lunch with her, because she works full time, and that seems to be the only time we are able to "catch-up" with each other.

So me and little "cutie-pie" ran our errands, then had a lunch date, then ran more errands. Needless to say, she missed her nap today! Well, below you will see what happens when I do that! She falls asleep in her food over dinner!!! Poor thing!!!

P.S. Can you tell I'm having TOO much fun w/ this video posting?!?!?!

Stroller Misshap #2

Well, our house is defiantly bad luck for baby strollers!! This time, though, it was NOT my fault!! Anne Marie has created the most recent stroller disaster. Two days in a row she broke the poor baby's stroller. The first night, she tipped it over, then stepped on the "sun-shade" of the stroller & broke one of the arms.

The very next day, she decided she would rather have a ride than baby, so she sat in it. Well, this sweet - yet 26lb child - obviously was a little too big for the stroller & broke the seat.

Mike was not happy when he came home from work and I informed him that we would need to go to Target and buy ANOTHER stroller! The first night, he thought we could just "deal" with the broken sun-shade, but now poor baby isn't even able to sit in it ... so we made Daddy a little video to show him how much we needed a new one --

I thought I'd share..........

Happy New Year & Christmas Pictures!!

I'm sitting here realizing that it's now 1/1/08! WOW! We hope that 2008 brings each of you happiness and that God blesses each of you in the new year.

How fast time flies!! I can't tell you how fast the past week flew by us!! Christmas was SO busy!! And SO MUCH FUN w/ this beautiful child in our house!! I can easily remember last Christmas. We had the picture of this sweet child, but felt such an absence with her still waiting in China for us to come and get her! We talked Christmas 2006 about how different Christmas 2007 would be. There was no way to tell then how much better it would be!!

We spent Christmas morning at our house. She woke up a little before 7am. We had left all of her "big" presents unwrapped out in the living room by the tree. She got a table and chairs, a new baby doll, and a grocery cart with groceries. We set it all up just waiting for her to come out & play. She wasn't sure what to think at first -- then she starting yelling each piece of food out loud "banana" - "apple" - "cookie". Then, she sat down at the table - begging us to "sit sit". (There was no way I was getting in that tiny chair!!) But then she saw the baby in the 2nd seat & ran to get food to feed her. It was SO SWEET!!

After she played for a while, we packed up and went to my moms house. We got together with my 2 sisters and their kids. What fun!! We then went to visit Mike's Grandmother.

The next day, we spent the day with Mike's parents. They got her a kitchen for her new playroom we built in our basement. She was having so much fun and we had just as much fun watching her run from one side to the other of her new kitchen!

We ended the week with 2 family reunions. It was great to be able to see our families. It made for a very crazy week, but it didn't seem to matter much, since we finally had Anne Marie to join us this year!


Giving "new baby" a ride to the "grocery store".
Helping Daddy open presents.

"I don't know know what to think about all of this yet!"

Feeding baby a "fresh" banana from the cart.

Anne Marie got SOOO many wonderful gifts during our get-together at my moms house, but I'll give you ONE guess what her FAVORITE toy was that she got there! Check out that smile!

Trying to open her new Cabbage-Patch baby with her rolling-pin.

How could you not LOVE this ... playing with her new kitchen (Thanks! Grandma & Grandpa!) The chefs hat makes all that food taste better! The kitchen has a "kitchen side" and an "outside grill-side" on the back - she didn't know which was more fun -- she did love starting the grill up - over & over.

Having a special Christmas-Get-To-Gether dinner with Grandma & Grandpa.

Having Fun at Mike's family reunion! She's sitting with Grandma while Mike's Aunt "fed" her a straw full of Coke -- which she never had before -- as you can tell by that face -- She liked it!!

Having fun at my family reunion with my moms family. The Grand-daughters playing piano together (can you imagine the "noise"??!!) And Anne Marie & Naomi having fun with Uncle Jeremy.