Nana & The Park

While on vacation we went to the park with Nana ..and got silly.

It was a lovely, sunny day

 Mom, I loved  sitting in the park with you and chatting.

Happy New Year!

Carlsbad Beach, California

We spent some time boogieing the night away with my mom and nieces, Katherine and Taylor

The guys stayed downstairs and watched movies

Can you tell who had more fun??

The girls getting their groove on!  Katherine and Taylor, thanks for bringing the hats and noise makers . . .

Intermission time . . .

We fit in a game of Yahtzee before we rung in the New Year.  This was Liliah's first game and she rolled 2 Yahtzee's and beat her Nana (and everyone else) with a score of 426

Ringing in the Year of 2012 - thanks girls, we had a blast . . .

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.