ZOO Birthday Fun

We helped C celebrate her 3rd birthday at the zoo today - it was hot but fun. We had hotdogs, ate cake and ice cream, opened gifts. Then we went into the zoo and walked around. We are so glad that we could help celebrate C's birthday!

Angel's 5th Birthday (and first) Party!!!

We celebrated Angel's birthday today with a wonderful pool party. Lot's of our friends helped us celebrate. We swam, played, ate hotdogs and all the fixings, ate birthday cake and ice cream. Angel had a great time. She LOVES SpiderMan and got several S'Man items, including a huge pillow, a fishing rod and tackle box and an umbrella. She was so excited. Since she has been home less than a year, this was her first birthday party. I hope it lived up to her expectations.

Swim Lessons

Angel completed three weeks of swimming lessons. She did great and was not scared at all. By the end, she was jumping off the diving board and swimming to the side of the pool. I am so proud of her.

Gotcha Day anniversary

Since the one year anniversary of Angel's gotcha day is so close to her birthday, we kind of combined the celebrations but I did want to give her something special for Gotcha Day. I ordered this beautiful poster of the Great Wall from Half the Sky.http://www.halfthesky.com/

They are a wonderful organization that helps orphanages in China with training for the nannies and revamping the buildings, in addition to many other things. Angel's orphanage was a Half the Sky orphanage so I feel particularly close to this organization and try to donate as much as possible to their cause. They are also collecting money to help with the recent earthquake in China.

Happy 5th Birthday, my little Angel

Today is Angel's 5th birthday. She was so excited all day. We started the day with a candle in her bagel. She went to school and when we walked in to her classroom, the whole class broke out singing Happy Birthday. She seemed kind of stunned, it was really cute. Her class has always made a big deal out of Angel since she came home from China. Later, I took cupcakes to her class at snack time. I took half a day off so we could come home early and enjoy the day. Angel opened her presents, we sang Happy Birthday again, and ate a homemade Spider Man cake. For dinner, we got Chinese takeout. Tomorrow will be on day since Gotcha day - the day we met Angel in China. But since she has swimming lessons tomorrow, we are combining that celebration with her birthday.

I couldn't help but think about her birthmother today, while watching Angel play outside with some new toys. I pray that she is ok and that she knows that the child she gave birth to is happy and loved beyond measure.

Earthquake in China

Please keep the people of China in your prayers - there was a terrible earthquake yesterday in Sichuan province, near Chengdu. Angel is from this area and Chengdu is the city where the adoption was finalized. The death count is enormous and continues to rise.

Happy Mother's Day

We had a good day. My mom and sister are visiting - they are combining Mother's Day and Angel's birthday, which is Wednesday. Instead of fighting the crowds today for lunch, we ate dinner out last night. So today was spent relaxing and running a couple of errands getting ready for Angel's party. I thought it would be easy to have a pool party at our community pool. Well turns out there is alot of do to get ready - I should remember this from the days of Josh's parties. Later today Josh and I went out to a movie. I try to take advantage of the time my Mom is in town by spending some extra time with Josh, just the two of us.

This is my first mother’s day as a mom to two. Last year this time, J and I were in China, in Chengdu – the area hit by the earthquake a couple of days ago. We had dinner at Pizza Hut and walked around the city a little bit. Initially, we were supposed to meet Angel the following day (her 4th birthday) but there was a hold up so we met he her the next day. It is amazing how much of a difference a year makes.

To all of the Mom's who are still waiting, the wait will definitely be worth it. Hopefully by next year, your little one will be in your arms.

World of Nations

Today we attended the World of Nations festival with C and K. There were lot's of countries represented - the girls had fun getting their "passports" stamped at each country. We tried food from the Philippines and Puerto Rico as well as a wonderful pineapple smoothie and the best strawberries I have had in a long time. It was hot so after a while we left and went to C and K's house for a little sprinkler fun.

Growing up

Well my little girl is growing up. I was politely asked to leave the room while she was washing her hair. She wanted to do it all by herself!!! I am glad she likes to do things herself but it makes me sad that she is growing up so fast.