Elise's 5th Birthday

These pictures are from Elise's family/friends birthday party. As you probably can tell the theme was candy/candyland. The highlight for the kids was the candy buffett (I'm not sure the parents agreed). Games included lollipop ring toss, pin the gumball on the gumball machine, and a candyland walk.

Earlier in the day we went to school to celebrate with Ellie. She got to bring her favorite book (Angelina Ballerina Goes to the Fair), her favorite toy (Princess Farley), and a poster full of pictures of her at all stages of life. She wore the birthday crown and was the center of attention. This was her favorite part of her birthday celebration.

Elise's 5th Birthday (Party #2)

This was our first year doing a school birthday party. I let Ellie pretty much plan these festivities. She wanted to have the party at Monkey Bizness. There are jump houses, blow up slides, climbing structures, and a rock wall. The kids loved it. She wanted her cake to be a "Winter Wonderland" cake. It was very appropriate for this year's winter. Lots of the girls brought home-made cards that Ellie loved opening. She had a great time.

More Chinese New Year

Great Wolf Lodge

Last night we took our family and my brother's family to Great Wolf Lodge. This was our Christmas gift to their family. We had a great time. We met up about 4:30 and checked into our rooms. The kids immediately got dressed for the pool. They played until about 7:00 when they finally stopped to devour some pizza. Every kid ate three slices each. They had really worked up an appetite. We then went back to the room for quick showers and a change into pajamas and headed to the lobby for story time. This of course involved popcorn and ice cream. The kids finally collapsed into bed about 9:15. They were up at 7:00 on the dot and we got dressed and had breakfast, then played in the arcade until the pool opened at 9:00. They swam for three more hours and then we took our family home for rest. K/Q/C/S were still going strong when we left. Our family's big event was Ellie mastering her fear of waterslides. She has always wanted to go down them, but has always been too scared. She finally "took the plunge" and LOVED it! That was all she wanted to do today.

Chinese New Year Dinner

Tonight we met some of our friends and had a fun dinner to celebrate Chinese New Year. I dare you to look at these pictures and not see that these two are "meant to be".

What we got in the mail today

1. Our returned original China dossier. The one I secretly hoped our old adoption agency had forgotten to withdraw when we sent our new one in to our new agency.

2. Max's acceptance letter to toddler school for the fall.

3. A "Smile Pinki" dvd from Smile Train.

4. Some information for our Alaska trip this summer.

Today's mail pretty much hit the highs and lows.

Face painting

Dinosaur

Mermaid

Guess who we met 6 months ago today?

I can't believe it's already been 6 months, it feels like yesterday.

But, I can't believe he hasn't been here forever.

Daddy and Daughter

After Ellie goes swimming, daddy likes to wash her hair in the sink. It's so cute!

Somebody loves stickers

A Family Picture

The last time we took a picture with all of us in it was in China. The only reason we thought to take this one is because we have our 6 month post-placement report coming up next week and we needed one for that. Very sad. We've got to do better.

A visit with friends

Clearly they're meant to be.

This is what sisters do to brothers