Tea for Two

This past weekend I needed to do a few things for work. (I work from home p/t --- and normally can organize things around family time, but I needed to get a few things done before we headed out for the day.) So I could have a little quiet, Mike took Anne Marie downstairs to the play room for some special "Daddy-time". Once I was finished, I headed downstairs to see what was going on ... and this is what I saw....... (so obviously I grabbed my camera!!)

There was a Tea Party going on!!!!

Toast!

Gulp, Gulp, Gulp.....AHHHHHH!

Fuzzy even had the privilege of joining Anne Marie, Daddy & the babies .. She must find her quite special to include Fuzzy in all the fun!

I just had to show the thoughtful ways Anne Marie found to make sure all the babies were included in the tea-party at the table (being that there are only 2 chairs & 1 baby highchair)

Belated Christmas Present

This past Friday we spend the day with Aunt "Ea" (Andrea - The girls have called her that since they were little & it's stuck!) For Christmas "EA" and "Gummy" (her husband Jeremy-- poor guy I think his nick-name stuck too!!) bought Anne Marie a "Build*A*Bear*Experience" - They bought her a gift-certificate -- with the agreement that I would take my sister to the mall with us one day so that she could enjoy watching Anne Marie pick out her Christmas present -- and boy did she ever!!

Thanks so much guys --- she LOVES her Christmas present!!! What a fun day!

Anne Marie looking through all the ready-to-be-filled animals...

Oh the excitement of helping fill her new friend w/ stuffing!!

Picking out our new friends heart.. (she made me kiss it before we put it in)

Giving our friend her heart

Our new friend "Fuzzy" the kitty getting her 1st bath

Filling out her birth certificate & information

The nice clerk took our picture to give us a memory of our special day.

Happy Chinese New Year.......

....or Happy Spring Festival..... or Gung Hay Fat Choy..... or Xin Nian Kuai Le!

I have been researching all things Chinese New Year, and have come across so many things about it & what you're supposed to say, so at this point I'm just using them all!!

Saturday we went to dinner at a local Chinese restaurant with our local adoption group. It was so sweet to see all the kids together..... I took a great picture (which Anne Marie REFUSED to be part of) with the kids in their outfits. Then they made dragon masks (see picture above) -- And there were a few new couples to our group & a few new girls that have been brought together with their forever families since our last group get-together. Can I just tell you how much it tugs on my heart when I see these new little ones!!!!

We are having a fun get together next week with some of the families for activities for the kids, so we're looking forward to that as well!!

Happy New Year to all our China friends!!!!

Christmas Evening

P.S. I just needed to note that I accidentally posted the New Years post before I was done w/ the Christmas posts.... I was trying to type all of them at one time & post-date them & some how mixed up the dates on these two -- so we're backtracking a little bit!!



After we had Christmas morning & breakfast with my family we got things organized & went to Mike's parents house. Well there is nothing like spreading Christmas out over the whole day. Anne Marie walked into their house & awaiting was the doll house they bought her. Well, did she notice that? No, she went for the candy & grabbed Grandpa's hand to take him back to the toy room to get her "usual" toys. Then finally she noticed & plopped right down & started to play. Then came the rest.... I think her MOST favorite was the camera she got!! Anne Marie can not keep her hands off my camera, so Grandma & Grandpa got her one of her very own -- it's PINK and everything!!!!! She has already run the batteries out... we're going to invest in the re-chargeable kind.



It was a lovely day. Mike and I adore the relationship she has with her Grandparent's -- they are so loving and playful with her (see the picture of Mike's dad taking pictures w/ her camera). This was a fun day -- and Anne Marie had a blast! We're so lucky to live close to his parents & my family!!

New Years Fun..

Ok, you know you're old when your New Years excitement is going to dinner with a 2 1/2 year old and a 2 month old and getting back at home in time for them to get to bed. Then watching the ball drop & heading to bed yourself 15 minutes after!!

But that is us now -- and it's just how we like it!! Our friends Diane & Brian came to visit us over New Years. And .... baby Andrew!!! Anne Marie LOVES (LOVES LOVES LOVES) babies! She has at least 10 of her own -- and loves real ones too!

She badly wanted to hold this child. It just made me nervous to watch -- his own mother was calm while she was holding him, but I just held my breath!! She hugged him, kissed him & then finally shared him with cousin Naomi (who also had to get her hands on him!!)

It was quite sweet! I'm just so happy for them -- he's such a sweet little baby.

Chrismtas Morning

Again, There are so many pictures piled up from Christmas that I've done collages here --and may I just suggest that if you click no others, that you click on one with Anne Marie & Naomi (2nd one) you'll be sad you missed that picture if you dont!!

Anne Marie's Christmas Morning..

She got some wonderful gifts. We (Santa) got her a baby-doll pack-n-play, as well as Baby Sonja-Lee. (She said she's not a baby - she's a "yittle girl") She also got wooden food for her kitchen (a sushi set too -- she LOVES that!!) Daddy's *special* Christmas-Eve shopping trip purchase was a baby-doll that goes pee-pee w/ a flushing potty (sounds included-ha!) She even got a gift certificate to Build-A-Bear from Aunt "Ea" and Uncle "Gummy" so we'll take them with us to the mall one day & take pictures of that trip & post later!!

Cousin Naomi & Anne Marie Christmas morning...

They are so funny together!! Naomi got food for her kitchen too, and she also got a baby-doll pack-n-play - they had fun playing with that. And - the funniest thing - they both had to go potty at the same time -- and neither one would use the other bathroom - they both wanted the downstairs bathroom, so my Mom decided she had a *great* idea... check out the picture!

All of "us big kids" had a fun Christmas too!! The picture of Mike -- holding a glass mushroom paper-weight...this has been in my family (my parents bought it right after they were married) for years. Mike has LOVED this goofy thing,,,,,and this year my mom gave it to him for a Christmas present... Mike was very touched because him and my Dad used to joke about it all the time -- and now it's his - I think my dad would have had a good laugh !! Mike has even found a special place to display it!

Christmas Eve

Click on picture collage to see pictures up-close.

Christmas Eve was actually kind of quiet for us. Usually we would always go to Church, then visit Mike's parents & then drive around looking at Christmas lights & finally, spend the night with my parents. But with my Dad gone now, things have been little different. This is the 2nd year with out him, and it's been weird & hard, but we've now decided we're ready to make our own traditions.

Mike's parents stopped by for a bit before we went to Christmas Eve service at Church. They had a special Christmas-Eve gift for Anne Marie. WHOOO HOOO.... she loved it...she didn't even need Christmas-Day presents after this -- it was a baby-doll high chair. She immediately went to grab one of her babies & a bowl, spoon & food. She made us put it together right there & she started feeding her. It was very sweet!

Then we went to our candle light service. I just love our candle light service. It always renews me!!

Then, on to view Christmas lights. We went by the house that puts the lights to music -- it's just so much fun to watch.

Well, since we weren't headed anywhere, we decided to take part in the 2nd annual Christmas-Eve-Japanese-Steakhouse-Dinner!! We did this last year when we didn't go to my parents house, and this year my mom & her new husband were visiting with friends instead, so we've now decided it's our new tradition. Anne Marie LOVES it!! They are never very busy, and always give her lots of attention -- she even got free ice-cream this year!!

Then it was time to head back, get the little girl in bed. We spent the rest of the night finishing any wrapping that needed done & making sure that all toys were "pre-put" together and all of those "piano-wire-thingy's" were taken off all the toys & placed gently back inside the box like nothing ever happened!! It's just so much fun being parents @ Christmas time!!

Pre-Chrismtas Activities

The next few posts are going to be all collage pictures --- it makes it easier to share many pictures and it makes it easier to post -- so just for the Christmas posts I'm going to set the pictures up this way... just click on any collage and you can see the pictures up close -- and there are some cute ones!!

• We made reindeer shirts (from Anne Marie's feet & hands -- it was SOOOO cute!)

• We let Anne Marie get a special Christmas decoration - she fell in LOVE with the little topiary reindeer - she wanted to keep it in her room & play with it!! She was very sad when we decided to add it to our outdoor collection on the table with the outside tree.

• We went to Grandma & Grandpa's to help decorate their tree.

• We had cousin Naomi over to take Christmas pictures with her.

• We bought an Advent calendar and loaded it with Hershey kisses & little gifts like finger puppets & hair-bows & such ... she just loved it. It had the nativity at top & she just loved talking about Joseph & Mary & baby Jesus!!

• We hand made all our family ornaments...she had too much fun with that!!!

• We colored & made our own nativity scene.
  

There was so much more, but with being back-logged so much I thought I'd try to condense some of it into a quick little post. All I know is we had a lot of fun getting ready for Christmas!!

Christmas Back-Track

In the "craziness" of the Christmas holiday I lost my converter drive that attaches to my computer to import my pictures, so not I'm trying to catch up with posts. I'm going to post these in (or try to) in order. I"m very far behind, so I'm sure I'll leave out some great pictures, but at least I'm catching up, so you'll have to check back every day or so (or scroll down to see new ones you may have missed) to see all the things that went on around here, because I'm trying to get them all done w/in the next week ...................

First....I must post these pictures ... not only because this child of ours is TOO CUTE in these, but our GREAT friend Allyson C. made these beautiful beanies for her. After Anne Marie cut her own hair (see a previous post or two ago!) I had been having problems with bows and such staying in her hair. Then, I remembered that our "China-friend" Allyson made her own bows and sold them. So I got in touch with her and got a few (and one for a Christmas present too).

I told her that she SAVED me (or Anne Marie that is) because it hides the "chop-job" she did and it's just TOO cute on... So, Allyson THANK YOU!!!

This was the day we got our pkg. in the mail, just HAD to try one on!!

This was Christmas -Eve service @ Church !

This was ready for Church the Sunday after Christmas... and my other talented friend made this shirt for Anne Marie to match the skirt I had (that had no matching shirt) ... gotta love these great & talented friends I have!!!

What????

1st off -- I must say that I've lost the connection to my camera & computer, so I have not been able to download pictures...this is why it's been a while since my last post. I'm going to get a new one this week & will be able to catch up on Christmas pictures & such....so stay-tuned.

But I thought I'd share a little *laugh* while you were waiting for pictures...

This morning for breakfast I made strawberry smoothies (the frozen berries, yogurt, juice, honey type...these were HUGE strawberries we picked over the summer that I froze)

Anne Marie had finished the cereal I gave her & asked for more. I noticed that she had barely touched her smoothie --- this is normally her FAVORITE thing we make!! I told her that I would get her more cereal after she finished her smoothie. She took a little sip & asked for cereal again. I asked her again to finish her smoothie first. She sat there with a little pout on her face & finally said, "I can't, it gets in my head!" -- I said "what????" -- "It gets in my head" again ... "What????" And as she took a sip again she pointed to her forehead & said "I CAN"T IT GETS MY HEAD!!!" ---- OHHHHHHHH it was BRAIN FREEZE -- like w/ ice-cream -- just with a very very cold smoothie!!!

Cracked me up!!!

And finally after we let the smoothie sit for a little bit & warm-up, she slurped it down!!