Happy Birthday to My Princess

Anne Marie had quite a fun filled birthday weekend! We had dinner, dessert & gifts with Mike's parents one night. Then we took her to dinner @ for our "annual Ruby-Tues" birthday dinner treat, and then she had a very special fairy-princess-tea-party @ the bakery that my friend owns. She was treated like royalty all weekend -- and had WAY too much strawberry cake! (Every place we went she ended up having strawberry cake -- probably because pink is her favorite color & that's what everyone thinks of when they think of her!

My girl is 4 ... I just can't believe it! She seems so grown up and the number "4" just seems like a huge step in the "grown-up" direction. I feel like I can no longer call her my baby (but you know I will). She's becoming such a beautiful little girl, that has very strong opinions and isn't afraid to tell everyone what those opinions are. She is so creative - so artistic - and so full of energy. I love that every night she prays for all her friends and family & even our two kitties. (and she still prays for my back every night too -so sweet!) She's ALL girl and our house would be pink if we'd let it be!

She's such a blessing to our family & I thank God every day for her & thank Him that he planned our family in this way. It's amazing how he knows well before we do what the plans are for each of us. As I look back at how I wished & wanted the adoption process to go faster that NO other child would have been more right for us!! He knows, much better than I and I'm so thankful!

Our fairy-princes cake. My friend and I worked on it & I think it just turned out tooo cute! She loved it...It broke my heart to cut into it!

The "tea-party" (apple--juice) table! My friend and I even made little tea-cookies to match the plates..we also made pb&j's in the shape of flowers, little cucumber sandwiches & fruit salad. The girls LOVED the tea-party..we served them & they each felt like a princess!

Everyone was asked to come in their favorite "dress-up" and then they got their own fairy-wings when they got to the party.

The girls got to make crafts instead of doing games. We made our own crowns (with what else - glitter & gem stickers). We also put together wooden-princess necklaces.

Cousin Naomi, our friend Mattie & Anne Marie show off their home-made crowns and princess necklaces that they each made. Too cute!

The whole gang! What cuties!!

Our annual family-dinner-trip! We were just looking back at the last 3 years of pictures..it's so funny to see how much she's grown! The first picture she had almost no hair & was just so tiny. It's kind of fun to go to the same place & get the same picture every year. I just wonder how long we'll be able to do this before she doesn't want to eat here anymore!

After dinner, we went back home for gifts from mommy & daddy. Daddy make her a barn for her little horsies and I made her a shirt & baby-Ling a matching doll dress. She LOVED the barn (not that she didn't love the shirt & dress...but the barn was really cool!) Daddy did such a good job on it...and it's his 1st real project for her. She got the biggest smile on her face when she walked in the house & saw it. She's been bragging about it to all her friends!

Grandma & Grandpa also took her out to dinner one night. She chose Mexican food & they also had strawberry cupcakes waiting for her. We went back to their house to open gifts & spend a little time with them. She got the mermaid doll she's been asking for. (You can take it in the swimming pool & it changes hair color..whoohoo!) Isn't it funny how the wrapping paper just happened to match her shirt that night? Not planned by the way!!!

Well, another year has come & gone -- it's just all going tooooo fast! Happy Birthday our sweet girl! I'm so looking forward to seeing what "4" has in store for us!

Now Guess Who's Birthday Is Coming.....

A very special little girl's birthday is coming up this Saturday!! And she is SOOOOOOO excited! Thursday night we made cupcakes to take to her pre-school class. I probably don't even have to give you all a hint as to what type of cupcakes she picked out. (not because of the flavor mind you, but because of the color - Strawberry). And I told her she could top them with what ever she wanted....she picked every pink and/or pink-ish sprinkle we had in the cabinet! (I know, I know, I work @ a bakery & am buying cake-mix -- I'm saving my friend & my skills for Saturday!!) Saturday she's having a fairy-princess-tea-party...and she can't wait! (Me either actually, I think the girls are going to have a GREAT time). Tonight Mike's parents are taking her out to dinner to her restaurant of choice...she's going to have quite a weekend!

Getting ready to make the cupcakes.

Mixing the strawberry cake-mix

She insisted on helping with the icing...she did a good job (with a little help)

Let the sprinkles begin.........

TaaaaaDaaaaa! Very proud of her cupcakes!

You can barely see the icing anymore...the pre-school teachers are going to just "LOVE" us for bringing all this sugar into school today!!! Heeee ;)

You Are My Sunshine!!

Well, Hello SUNSHINE! After this very long (long long long long) winter, today (and the next couple days) is the kind of day we have been longing for!

Our friend Mira, Anne Marie & our friend Mattie loving the sunshine...posing on our "pic-nic-blanket" ... because you know we had to eat our lunch outside today.......

and run around outside today...........

and ride our bikes outside today.......

and break out the bubbles outside today.....

Sunshine...you've been missed! And thanks to our very special friends for spending the day with us....we had SOOOO much fun!! (And I even was able to read my book today sitting in my chair getting sun on my VERY white skin while the girls played beautifully together!!)

What Does It Take To Make A Girl & Her Doll Happy?

I am very excited about my Good**will find this week! I went looking for something I needed to make a craft...as I was looking at something I looked across the room & noticed something familiar... the "Corolle" brand logo...I could see if from that far away! (That's the brand of our ever-soooo-favorite baby Ling - as Anne Marie has named her) Well, I started up the isle right away...and "swooooosh"... a little elderly lady picked it up & looked it over & put it in her cart! BooooooHisssssss :(

So, I went on my way looking @ other things. Then, in the toy section, I saw a little girl playing with it....the lady must have put it back! So (is this bad?) I hung around to see if the little girl was going to ask her mommy for it. When the mom called her so they could leave, I pounced (I did let her get 3 isles away to make sure she wasn't coming to get it). I took Anne Marie to the toy section & said "Do you see anything fun you might like today?" .... She saw it RIGHT AWAY! "Oh mommy, baby Ling would be so impressed" (I know....where did that come from?..impressed...what a funny choice of words!) She looked at me with those sweet brown eyes & I told her to grab it & we'd get it. I looked @ the price & couldn't believe it!! These things sell for $40!! It was in PERFECT shape!

We brought it home, wiped it down, and as I was cleaning Anne Marie informed me that she needed to get Ling dressed-up. (I guess this really is a BIG occasion!!). So, now you know what it takes to make a girl & her baby doll happy ... $2.65 for a a really cool toy that may have already been used....but don't you love @ this age...they just don't care!! SCORE!!

Birthday Gifts For Friends...

Well, I may be giving a big secret away here, but the friend that these were for has already had her b-day, and those others that have b-day's throughout the year may forget about this by then...or not care & just be excited that they are coming. But, I just had to share, because they turned out soooooo cute & Anne Marie had a GREAT time helping make her friends b-day gifts!

Do you have any old/broken/1/2 used crayons laying around? We did -- a HUGE zip-lock-bag-full! So, as we were researching the Internet for some of our "hand-made-2010-gift ideas" for this year, we (along with some friends of ours) found this very cute idea!

1st - Take all your old crayons & unwrap them

2nd - break them into pieces

3rd - separate them into "like colors" -(or you can just mix-it-up if you wanna!)

4th - put into cupcake tins - I found these OHOHOHOH-SOOO-CUTE heart shaped tins @ our local Goodwill for $0.65 for 5 of them & knew right away that's what we were using them for!

5th - Bake @ 300 for about 15/20 minutes (or until they are totally melted -- they WILL be RUNNY -- but that's ok) Make sure they are TOTAL COOL before you try to get them out of the tins -- or they will break!!!

Anne Marie helping take off the crayon papers & break them up -- she had a BLAST!

TaaaaaaDaaaaa! We are going to put them in a clear gift bag w/ a multi-colored bow & we bought our friend a few "girly" coloring books to go w/ her fun new crayons!! How cute are they?!?! Anne Marie even wants some now - maybe I'll make some for her b-day!

Well, We Tried...... Again.....

Well, it happened .... again.... I should have known! (Mike said he knew, but didn't want to burst my bubble of excitement!) Remember how Anne Marie had been begging (and begging & begging & begging) for Ballet clothes & classes, so we got them for her for Christmas? Well, do any of you remember the swimming lessons she wanted this past summer? (If not click HERE and you'll get the point of the post!) Well, we've tried twice -- the 2nd time being worse than the 1st. But, I'm afraid our ballet clothes, shoes and tights are now for sale. She would NOT even try. She was scared to death. We even took her in to meet the teacher about a week before class, we talked about some of the girls that might be there (there is one little girl that is in her pre-school class) and we even offered to take her to a very special dinner after one of her classes. She seemed SOOOO excited about it! Well, to my dismay, she will NOT dance, not only not dance, but not stop crying & clinging to us like these cute little girls in cute little pink tights are going to run away with her. We've decided that we can't keep torturing her, so we've decided to call it quits for a little while. Maybe again, another day, we'll try again ! :(

A Special Treat

Every year we celebrate Anne Marie's "Forever Family Day" - as most of you know (but just in case you didn't) that's the day that Anne Marie was placed in our arms. Also, every year Mike's parents like to celebrate their own special day - "Welcome Home Day" - this is the day that we came home and they were able to meet their very special grandaughter for the 1st time in person. (That was 2/16). This year they brought us a very special treat. (With the help of my very special friend that owns the bakery). As well as a few little gifts for Anne Marie.

Family...

With little ladybugs.......

And a very happy family.... (me, Mike & Anne Marie)

As a note I must say... this was the cutest cake I've ever seen that my friend Heather has made! Mike's mom called her & wasn't sure what she wanted, but she said "I want something to represent the day they came home" So, she gave her a picture of us on that day. Heather came up with this cake -- learning how to write family in Chinese and putting cute little ladybugs around the cake (she knows about the luck symbol they represent in the adoption world) and then made little fondant icing figures of us -- in the exact colors we were in that day we came home. I will say we have NOT eaten us!! We saved us... tooooo cute!! (And the cake was yummy peanutbutter chocolate -- Mike's favorite!)

A Very Special Weekend!

I'm trying to catch up with a few special posts of a few things that have been going on around here. February is a very busy month @ our house -- and I'm behind! 1st there is Anne Marie's Forever Family day, then there is my moms birthday, then Valentines day, then Mike's parents always celebrate their "welcome home day", then Chinese New Year, and then my birthday. Not to mention that it's a very busy time for my friends bakery -- and I've been busy helping her there...whew...I'm tired just typing it all!!!

A few weeks ago we were able to take a very special trip to visit some "China friends" during Chinese New Year. The town they live in is not too far of a drive for us, and they called us one today to inform us that another "China family" was going to be passing through their town one weekend. It JUST HAPPENED to be a weekend that a local mall in the area was having a Chinese New Year celebration. So, we packed our bags & headed out for a night stay.

The dragon parade and a Lion dance along with many other little performances were happening all over the mall that Saturday. It's so much fun to be able to take Anne Marie to these things so that she can celebrate her heritage.

(Except the fact that this year for some reason, she was afraid of the Lions)

Then, it was off to our friends house. The girls jumped right into the dress-up clothes and started playing. It's amazing how quickly they got comfortable with each other. And how sweet are these three together?!?!?!

Later that night, our guest informed us that the girls had an "appointment". Her sister owns a kids salon in the area, and the girls were going for a "spa treatment" - they got their nails painted, their toenails painted, and the hair-do's of princesses! WOW! How sweet was that?!?!?! I can't say thanks enough for making the girls feel soooooo special! What a SWEET sister she has!! The girls had a ball!!

Letting their nails dry - very carefully!

Then, it was on to the toes.....

And then the hair-dos'....curls .... how funny! I've never seen Anne Marie w/ curls ... it made me want to run out & get a curling iron ...she looked soooo sweet!!

And little princess tiaras to boot!

And don't forget the "fairy dust"...they LOVED that part!

My little princess!

All three girls -- along w/ a very special cousin! (Her mommy is the one that owns the salon..lucky girl!)

Thanks again guys for such a WONDERFUL weekend.... we're hoping to do it again soon!! We miss you guys already!!