Flashback Friday

Wow!!! I can't believe these pictures were taken two years ago in December 2006. It feels like yesterday. It's been a busy week. Hope to post more over the weekend. If not, I hope everyone has a blessed Holiday Season!!

Party After Party and Christmas Tree Chopping

What a whirlwind it's been around here since Thanksgiving. Last week Emma turned the big 4 and already she's talking about turning 5. Today when I was doing her hair, she wanted to see the back so I put the mirror up to the back of her head and she said "I look like 5". I suppose you look older from the back??? We celebrated Sunday with Emma's birthday party. Her Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and a close friend, Olivia, all came for the celebration. Her theme was "Go Diego Go". She is such the tom-boy. Emma was off from school for her actual birthday and Kevin and I took off too and we went to lunch and the movies to see Bolt. On Emma's day back to school, we took pretzels in to school for her birthday snack.

Last night we enjoyed the Third Annual Christmas Party at Jen and Dan's house. It's always nice to spend time with friends old and new and a special visit from the man in red himself.

We ended the weekend today with Kevin and Emma going to chop down the Christmas tree for this year. I stayed home and finished the Christmas cards and some wrapping. Kevin said that Emma loved every minute of it. The first tree she picked out was about 15 feet tall and the second one was about 2 feet tall, then she found the perfect one. Kevin said she got all into it, looking under the branches to make sure the trunk was straight and that the top has a branch that will hold our Angel. It sure has been a busy couple weeks but memories that will last a lifetime.

Three Years Ago Today...

Ok, so I started this post last night and published it today. It was actually 3 years ago today, December 9th.

.....Kevin and I received the most anticipated phone call in our lives, a phone call that changed our lives forever. A phone call that I will not forget. At 1138est, Tracey from our adoption agency, CCAI called us to say that they had a baby for us and that she was beautiful. On this day, many other friends also received their referral. As for us, Kevin had been snow plowing all night the night before and had just come home about 11:15. He made it just in time. My cousin was also with us. She took pictures and video of "the call". Tracy kept telling us how beautiful she was. We couldn't wait to get off the phone to get the pictures. At the time, we had dial up and had to wait to get off the phone before we could see the picutre.

As we patiently waited for the photo to download, a thousand thoughts went through my head, will I be a good Mother, will she love her new home and family, how long will it take us to travel. But, as we began to see her picture all the questions seemed to answer themselves.

The first thing that Kevin said was "Look at those cheeks". The first thing I said was "Look at all that hair". I truly thought she was going to be bald because I had heard all the stories of the children having their head shaven but this wasn't true with Emma. Here is the first picture that we saw of Emma. The other two were delivered the next day.

For those that are awaiting their referral from China, please do not lose hope. As soon as you receive "the call", you will forget about the wait.

Christmas Pictures 2008

Emma and I went to get her pictures taken a couple weeks ago and I was very happy with them. Emma insisted on picking out her own Christmas dress this year. I was a little leery at first since she picked the Santa look a like dress but it was gorgeous on her. Today we celebrated her 4th Birthday with a party at the house. Tomorrow is her "official" first birthday. I can't believe how big my little girl is getting.

Here are the pictures for her Christmas cards. The solo is the one that we picked.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY