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!

She Loves to Sing~

Sophie LOVES  to sing, and do the hand motions. On the train, one of the songs we sang was The Twelve Days of Christmas. Sophie sang and did the motions thru the whole song! Does she know this song?! She was so darn cute!

Headed to the North Pole!

The weekend after Thanksgiving this year, we headed to the North Pole to take a train ride to see Santa! We loaded up the car, and headed out...

The car ride north was smooth, thanks to movies and Ipads. We met several of our friends up there, including the Mach's and the Bruen's. We ate at Chili's, as usual, before heading to the train. And yes, Sophie brought along her purse!

Dressed in jammies, and ready to go, we boarded train car D. Sophie said she loved the train!

And, then she saw Santa coming...do you see the look on her face?! She was not a fan! She slid down the seat to hide. Santa did not bother her, he just slid her bell down the seat into her lap. Sophie was okay with this!

Sophie ABSOLUTELY loved the bell she got from Santa, as you can see...

I think the last picture sums it all up! She had a great time at the North Pole!

Sophie's First Thanksgiving~

November 27, 2014. Exactly 7 months from this day, April 27, 2014...

So this was Sophie's first Thanksgiving, but it was another first for her today, too. As I was drying my hair that morning, Sophie comes to me and says, "Mommy, poo-poo potty." Okay, so I stop drying my hair and put her on the potty. She wipes three times, with no activity below. I then ask her if she is finished, and she replies, "No, comin'." Okay, okay, I will let you sit there a little longer... And then, not even a minute later, she yells, "Done!" Omg, the following pictures are just too cute NOT to post. She will probably kill me in many years to come!

This was before our chat, watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates~

Now that that was taken care of, on to Thanksgiving LOL! This year, we went to the Mach's for dinner. It was so great~ great friends, great food, and lots of fun for the kiddos. Sophie had so much fun playing with her ge-ge's and Hudson and Addison! She ate great on her first Thanksgiving. Her favorite food was the broccoli! I think she nearly ate all the broccoli by herself EEKK! Her dinner was finished off with a yummy chocolate cupcake. Overall, her first Thanksgiving was so great ;)

So thankful this Thanksgiving that we have our sweet girl home!

Late Night Snack~

Sophie was done with her bath, in her jammies and comb-over in place...and she wanted ice cream. She got it ;) Chocolate and Vanilla, with Chocolate syrup!