Huntington Beach, CA - AHHH!

 

We are enjoying our vacation in sunny southern California!  Huntington Beach is my childhood/teenage stomping ground!  My mom spent many Saturdays in the summer taking her girls to the beach.  We'd get in our cute little bikinis, pack a picnic lunch and head off to play in the surf and sand.  I cherish those days and the memories I have of them.



Familiar sights



 

She loved digging through the sand and pitching it over her head.  We just tried to stay clear!

  

Time for sandcastle building







Time to head to the water and introduce her to . . .



sticking her toes in and running away. . .



Loving my time at the beach.  Thank you sweetie, for catching these moments.




Feeling the pull of the tide . . .



I love this picture of her .  We were hunting for seashells for our sandcastle.

 We finished our day by heading to the pier in the background and grabbing burgers from Ruby's.  We soaked up the sun over our lunch and people watched.  It was the perfect day! 



Christmas Morning

The girls on Christmas morning!



Big presents first!!! Daddy bought me a t-ball set

 

Then off to the next one!

A box full of art supplies . . .

Early morning portrait . . .

It was the best Christmas ever!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!  We did not do Christmas cards this year.  We have been very busy with Mei, Mei's paperwork.  We are so excited to receive our completed Home Study.  That means we've cleared our state requirements to adopt.  We also had documents certified by our state and just sent the paperwork to the Chinese Consulate today. In the next week or so, we will submit our special needs application request to our agency and head to immigration. We are headed off for a two week vacation - yippee!

 

 

Our blooper picture . . . look we have a little elf with us!

Visiting Santa

I've been watching mommy....

 I wanted to do something special to get ready for Santa.  I told mommy that I looked prettier than her!  I also told mama that Santa is going to say I look pretty in my dress.  Mommy said, well...I'm sure he will think that, but there might be alot of kids and he might forget to tell you.  

Here I am asking Santa this very thing.  He said I looked like a princess . . .

She went right up and sat on his lap.  I love how enthralled she is here of him and kept holding onto his fingers.  He really is a friendly Santa.  She has had all of her pictures with him. 

Liliah has drawn pictures for her list to Santa.  She made a page for each of us, including our dog.  She is enjoying Christmas and is still at the age where she isn't begging me for presents, or how many do I have? It really is very sweet! Next was to head for the water fountain.  Her favorite thing to do at this nursery is to dig for and toss the coins!

 

We had ourselves a ball . . .

See you next year, Santa . . .

Then we went home & made cookies . . . the end!

Gingerbread House

Making gingerbread houses is an annual event in our home!  It's not something I did growing up, but started before we had Liliah to give some moms in our church the opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done.  Hubby & I use to do it the old fashioned way of baking and assembling the houses the night before.  Now it's a kit for us. 

You were so patient all week asking if it was time to make the house. I love your jammies, they say "Wake Up and Smell the Cookies!

Look at your face....I think you are pretending the strategy of your design, while your other hand is sneaking more candy!

Your favorite candy is the little colored balls.  You also like the hearts because you say they mean love!

You enjoyed the whole process and stayed until the end!  You and daddy have already started demolishing the backside of the house! I love this tradition that you and I have.

O'Christmas Tree

Liliah's 3rd Christmas since coming home in January 2009. There's nothing better than an excited and giggly 4 year old to  decorate the tree.  She did a great job and didn't break anything.....unlike her mother who broke one!  A branch wasn't done until she had 3-4 ornaments hanging on them. 

Love her sweet hands!

A little reindeer showed up to help

Maddy is always trying to sneak kisses to mommy. Don't EVEN THINK about it!

She's wondering which list she made, the naughty or nice list?

Then a little ballerina showed up to dance

May all your Christmas dreams come true!