Our Little Christmas Angel~

Our little angel, Sophie. We waited and prayed for Sophie for so, so long. Now, she's been here with us for 8 months come December 28th. We.Are.So.Lucky! Her little face and personality are just adorable and she fits in with our family perfectly. God made her to be in our family, and I could not imagine life any other way. Sophie Jingyun, we love you to the moon and back!

First Christmas Home!

And...Sophie had no idea what happened while she was asleep! Santa brought Sophie a Doc McStuffins play center, and she played with that for about 30 minutes before she started ripping open her other presents. She was so quiet, calm and slow opening her gifts...so, so different from her two brothers. And it was nice, so nice!

After watching her brothers open their gifts, she got the hang of it, quickly. She had a lot fun ;)

Sophie must have been a really good girl this year! She got lots of gifts ~ Doc McStuffins play center, retro pink play kitchen set and food, Matilda Jane adorable dresses and skirt, Little People Princess Castle, books, Frozen wand and purse, baby doll accessories ( cradle, bouncy chair, hanging high chair ), Minnie Mouse tea set, angel wings and wand. She is one lucky little girl!

Here she with her baby, Jingyun.  Jingyun is in her highchair, right next to Sophie's chair. She's serving her tea, one of Sophie's favorite things to do!

I think Sophie LOVED her first Christmas home...just look at her smile!

Christmas Lights, Cookies and Presents~

Mimi came to visit this year for Christmas a few days prior. Papa was to come with her, but he had the flu and was not able to make it. The kids LOVE when Mimi and Papa come to town...and so does Mommy!

This year we went to the Scottsdale Fairmont Princess Hotel for their Christmas lights.  It was so aweome~ they had about 2.5 million lights! We walked around and watched ice skaters, went on a train ride and the merry-go-round, and enjoyed s'mores and hot chocolate. So fun!

The next night that Mimi was in town was Christmas cookie night! She quickly got the hang of it after seeing what her brothers were doing...

On the last night of Mimi's trip, we opened each other's gifts.  Sophie got her own OWL sleeping bag and loved it!

As always, it was such a fun time having Mimi here at Christmas. We wish Papa was here with her. These trips always go too fast...

Merry Christmas!

One of the Happiest Times of the Year!

Christmas is my favorite time of year, and the kid's as well! My friend, Jessica Rondeau, shared this picture she took in her home, and I just LOVE it!

So, with this being Sophie's first Christmas with us, we are having a lot of fun with new "firsts" for her....

Sophie's first stocking and letter to St. Nick. She added "socks" to her list- her idea ;)

Sophie's first time doing Christmas crafts with her ge-ge Connor~

Sophie's first peppermint candy cane with ge-ge Hayden~

Sophie's first time decorating the kid's tree and getting out the Christmas decorations~

Sophie's first time putting up the big Christmas tree~

I can already tell this is going to be a great first Christmas with our Sophie!

Our Donation to Xiamen~

Earlier this year, we put together a charity, To China With Love, to send some much needed items back to Sophie's orphanage in Xiamen, China.  You can find that post here

With lots of love from friends and family, we had many generous donations! We sent over lots of clothes, card games, baby dolls, Hot Wheels, balls, baby toys, crayons and coloring books, reading books, blankets and shoes. This picture does not do the donations justice, as I packed these boxes FULL! They were HEAVY boxes!

So, I shipped them off at the Post Office and today I got a sweet email from Lilian at the orphanage~

I hope these donations make the kids lives at Xiamen just a little bit brighter. May they all have a Merry Christmas and be joined with their Forever Families soon!

Bearizona!

The last part of our trip up north included a stop at Bearizona. Such a cool place! The first part, you drive thru the park and see all the big, cool animals. Sophie would oooo and awww at all the animals we saw and she would repeat all their names. The black bears were her favorite!

After the drive-thru portion, we could get out and go to the petting zoo. The first thing we did was go to a Bird Feeding Show. We learned about several birds, even an owl, which Sophie loves! One bird was flying back and forth over our heads, very close to us. At one point, the bird was so close to Sophie's head, she felt to be sure that her bow was still there LOL!

After the bird show, we walked around the petting zoo checking out the otters and baby bears. Definitely a fun place to visit!