Christmas 2010

Not ready for Santa yet!

Did someone say Santa?

Bath done!

Ready for Santa now!!!

Loving her new baby stroller!

Santa's toyshop!

Mommy and Emily!

Brandon and Emily

Em modeling her new jewels!

Well the year is almost over and Emily got to celebrate her first Christmas at home with Mommy and Brian. I think I was more excited than she was. She really doesn't understand Christmas and Santa yet. Next year I think she will totally get it and be waking us up. It was a nice peaceful morning showing Emily what Santa had brought her and opening presents as a "Forever Family" at last. I couldn't have asked for a sweeter girl. She woke up on Christmas morning hair all over and tired. Soon after a quick bath and shampoo she was sporting her Santa shirt and pigs for the day. Emily loves to look in the mirror at herself after I finish doing her hair, especially when she get pig tails put in. She always giggles and says oh! Too cute!

She loved all her gifts from Santa and us. She especially liked her doll stroller. I got her a view master as well and it only took a couple tries to figure out how it works, now she is a pro at it.

She had a lot of fun at our family Christmas with the boys. She was too cute saying her cousin Jacob's name. The day was filled with lots of excitement and fun for her so it was no wonder that she was exhausted after day two of no nap and fell asleep very quickly on Christmas night. It was a beautiful morning with my baby girl, one that I will never forget. Merry Christmas to all and a very Happy New Year!

Visit with Santa

Meeting Santa for the very first time.

Santa was so good with Emily.

Perfect picture of Santa and Emily!

My sweet pea loves Santa Claus!

We took Emily to see Santa Claus tonight! I couldn't believe the prices they were charging for a picture with Santa. The cheapest package was $20 for two 5x7's. Wow! I could see if a portion of the proceeds went to a charity of some sort, but it didn't. Thankfully, I brought my camera and was able to get a few pictures of my own.

Anyways, Emily loved Santa!!! She walked right up to him and grabbed a coloring book and sat on his lap. It was absolutely adorable. She touched his belly and then touched his mustache. So sweet and Santa was so good with her! He told her that he loved her so much, aw! I think she would have sat there all night if I would have let her, but said good bye and blew him a kiss. Emily's first visit with Santa was perfect!

Home for the Holidays!

Emily and her reindeer!

So sweet!

Emily got so excited when she saw the reindeer antlers!

They all were getting tired!

I can't believe how fast my time off with Emily went. Time flies when your having fun! I had to go back to work this weekend and I am very sad about it. I miss our family time at home on the weekends with Emily and Brian. Hoping that someday in the future I will be able to get off the weekends so we can have our family time back again.

The Holidays have been so much fun so far, we can't wait for Christmas, visiting Santa and all the firsts this Winter. So this week I decided to take some pictures of Emily with the dogs for our Christmas card this year. I brought our the reindeer antlers with bells on them for Tucker and Hayley to wear and a cute little pink Santa hat for Emily to wear. Emily got all excited when I brought them out. I did my best to get everyone situated in front of the x-mas tree too. Ya, that was fun! Two dogs and a rambunctious 3 year old, not pretty!!! I did manage to get everyone somewhat in front of the tree and now the trick was to get all three of them to look at me and Emily to smile. Oh the joys of being a mom, lol! I got some cute photos and chose one for our x-mas card this year too. My friend Jill, who adopted her little Ella from China a year before me posted on facebook a song that I would listen to every year at this time and cry. It is called "Merry Christmas" by Third Day and it is about a little girl in China waiting for her family and a family waiting for her. If you get a chance listen to it, it is a beautiful emotional song. I am so happy to have Emily home for the holidays this year. Thank you God for finally making my wish come true!

Holiday traditions

Emily rolling out her dough

Aunt Chimene and Emily making pirogi

Concentrating really hard

My flour faced girl!

Mommy and Emily

We have started our holiday traditions and this year is a little more special for me since I have Emily in my life now. It is amazing to experience the holidays this year through a child's eyes. She will have so many firsts this holiday season and I can't wait. We have many family traditions that we do every year at this time. First we make pirogi and then comes all the sweets! Hard candy, chocolate candy and of course X-mas cookies too. Recently, my sister and I got together and made pirogi for our X-mas dinner. My Nana used to make them every year for us and we have continued on the tradition. Every year Chimene makes the dough, I make the shrimp mixture and my dad makes the kraut mixture and the potato cheese and bacon mixture too. You probably have never heard of shrimp pirogi, but my Nana made them every year and they are my sister and my favorite! It is kind of like an egg roll and very yummy! As we were making them this year Emily wanted to help too, so we gave her some dough, rolling pin and flour and away she went. Chimene showed her how to roll out the dough, it was so cute. She eventually had flour all over her face and loved helping mom and Aunt Chimene. I can't wait to make the candy and cookies with her too. This holiday is going to be so much fun for me and I can't wait to take her to see Santa too. Hope every one takes time this year and experiences some of your own holiday traditions.

God is good!

Emily doing a puzzle

Looking through her magnifying glass

I have the sweetest daughter ever! I am going through rough times right now and she came over to me tonight and wanted me to pick her up while I was making dinner. I picked her up and gave her a hug and tears began to fall down my face. Emily looked at me and wiped away my tears and had the look on her face like she was saying "Mommy don't cry it will all be alright, I love you". All I can say is my heart is breaking, but at the same time filled with the most joy by the innocence and sweetness of my little girl. God is definitely working through her. Thank you God, I needed that so much today.

Welcome Home/3rd Birthday Party!!!!

My sweet birthday girl!

Uncle Michael and Emily

Emily and Mommy

Cheryl and Emily

Party guests!

Emily pretending to take of pics of Hunter!

Opening presents!

The beautiful Hello Kitty quilt that Gloria made

Her cakes!!!!

Excited for cake!

Yummy, cake!!!!!

Grandma and Emily

Emily and Warren wearing their Princess shoes!

Playing with her Grand Dollhouse!

This past weekend my family gave Emily a combo Welcome home and 3rd Birthday Party! It was so much fun. Emily had a terrific time and we were blessed to have so many of our family and friends there too. Brian's family came up and we finally got to meet his sister, Carey and Cheryl and their daughter Warren. Emily and Warren got along really well too. It is hard to believe that they are both 3 years old. Emily has a lot of catching up to do. She loved meeting Brian's mom and dad and Nita too. My girl is so easy going. She met them and went right to them like they have always been around. She's amazing!

My parents, sister and her family had the house all decorated with Ni' Hao Kai Lan and great food was made by all. The cake was adorable with Kai Lan on it of course! My mom had made a collage of photos of us in China which was so sweet. Thanks Mom! Everything was perfect. Emily enjoyed eating her cake and she actually made a huge mess all over her outfit. I didn't mind one bit! She was really getting into the cake so I just had to laugh and let her go to it. Emily was so cute opening her presents. She opened the cards and it looked like she was actually reading them too. She got so many wonderful gifts! Clothes, pj's and lots of puzzles, books and toys. If have to say that the present from Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Chimene and family stole the show. They got her a Grand Dollhouse that she just absolutely loves! They also got her furniture to go with it, it is just too cute! We play with it everyday. Another big hit was dress up shoes! She and Warren put on the shoes and tapped their way around my house. Talk about cute, holding hands and click clacking around! She even tried to put the shoes on me today, but they are just too small for mommy. Emily is just so sweet. She had a wonderful birthday! We can't thank everyone enough for coming and celebrating with us. Thank you Mom, Dad, Chimene, Michael, Austin, Jacob and Brian for all your help in setting up, taking down and planning such a wonderful party. It was fabulous and Emily is very blessed to have such a great "Forever Family". We love you all!