A Drum Roll Please...............

There is a story to this bed and it starts way back in September. We were at H*me D*pot looking at paint for the kitchen. Alex was a little whiny so I gave her a brochure of a kids bedroom that had a Cinderella bed on it. (to amuse her-- so I thought). She immediately started showing me this bed and telling me she wanted it and for the next week she had that brochure and would tell me and show me at every opportunity how much she wanted this bed. Finally-- I had to sneakily throw that brochure away. I thought to myself-- out of site out of mind. Did I think wrong-- the mind of a 3 year old shows no mercy. That girl has asked for a Cinderella bed everyday since then and we kept pacifying her by saying " Santa will bring it to you" . Well -- TADA--- here it is the INFAMOUS CINDERELLA BED. She loves it. She climbed right up on it and had no problems sleeping on it the first night.
I must say that "Santa" had quite a time finding the bedding. "Santa" couldn't really find anything she liked until she came across this and "Santa" could still live without the princesses in the corner on it but "Santa" loves the toile sheets. We still need to put the curtains up but here is a picture so you get the general idea.
MORAL OF THE STORY: BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU HAND A TODDLER TO AMUSE THEM. IT MAY COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU.

Miscellaneous pictures

Mommy and Daddy playing with the tripod.

Here is my future "baby doctor" playing Operation very intently. Here is a funny story. Todd put Alex down for a nap and about a half hour later he heard her up there talking so he peeks in her room and she has all her stuffed animals on her bed with all of her "doctor stuff" and she is making Mr. Bear feel better. Is that not the cutest thing ever.

Cute stuff

Daddy and cute stuff.

Opening presents

Christmas Morning

So--- Alex gets out of bed on Christmas morning and immediately wants to get dressed and she specifically wants to wear jeans and a t-shirt. I didn't have the energy to argue with her over that even though I really wanted her to wear a dress. Oh well-- it is just clothes. Unfortunately, Christmas day was pretty much like Christmas eve. No smiles, no laughing in front of the camera. She's killin' me. Oh well another day. I don't know what I am going to do with her. But all in all we had a very nice Christmas. We have much to be thankful for.

Christmas Eve

So we always spend Christmas Eve with my family. It has been that way since the beginning of time. Alex had a great time playing with all of her cousins and Santa even came for a visit. Of course, she would not sit on Santa's lap but she did get pretty close to him and even talked to him. Right when Santa was getting ready to leave, you heard this loud little voice over the din of about 50 people. " Santa Santa, reindeer food my house" . She wanted him to know that she had reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn for all those hungry reindeer. It was very cute.

This girl is obsessed with lip gloss and chap stick. Cherry chap stick more specifically. If you let her she will put it on at least every 5 minutes and then you see this pink halo emerging from around her lips and you can smell it from the next room. I don't even know how this happened. I put chapstick on in the car when I am going to go outside but not all the time. She just loves lip stuff.

Christmas Eve

My dad, Jim, with his 3 girls (Hannah, Kate, and Moi)

Todd with my sister Hannah. Those two are always in to something.

My dad with his girlfriend, Wendy

Christmas Eve

Here is Alex with her cousin Mariah. They were very cute together and had a great time playing. As usual, my daughter was a challenge to photograph. There were lots of smiles and laughing but none for the camera. Everytime I went to take a picture she would turn her back or frown. Oh well, better luck next year.

Alex and Mariah playing with her new "computer"

Pre School Christmas Party

Alex's preschool had their Christmas party this past week. We got to go in to her classroom and the kids all performed their various Christmas songs. They were adorable. Here is our girl singing her heart our.

Alex loves her teachers Mrs. H. and Mrs. R. They are awesome. We are very fortunate to have found a preschool where the teachers love the kids and where they make learning fun.

Waiting

I was just playing around this morning while Alex was dressed and waiting for her Nana and Poppy to come get her. I just took a few shots by the Christmas tree. I tried the pictures in sepia and really liked them. They always look so old fashioned that way and I love that. Enjoy!!!

Christmas photo

Well it is official, we have the only kid on the planet that can de-throne Santa Claus. This picture was taken at Alex's preschool and she of course won't sit on Santa's lap so I guess he asked if she would sit in his chair and she did. Well the ever accomidating Santa Claus took a knee and just leaned in for a photo. Thanks Santa.

Gabriella Update

 
 

We got a little update and photos of our sweet girl waiting for us in China. She looks and sounds like she is doing great. She is a little peanut like Alex. They gave us a height and weight. She is 34 inches and 24 pounds. We are still waiting for our LOA which we expect to arrive in January sometime and after that things are expected to move quickly. We are hoping for February but I am thinking it will be March. Just hold on baby -- Mommy and Daddy will be there soon. We love you.

I just love the little Pepples look. It looks like her foster family is taking really good care of her. I think I even see a hint of a smile. I can't wait for a full on sweet smile.

That's what I get

So we went to our local China groups Christm*s party this year. Alex was very grumpy for some reason. She had a shorter than usual temper tantrum right before we left and then she was shy, grumpy, and clingy for the entire party. For the first half I had to hold her but then she did warm up a bit. She saw Sant*a (and screamed) and wouldn't even go near him. She barley ate the yummy pancakes, and she wouldn't even interact with any of her little friends. So what was I thinking when I asked her if I could get some pictures of her in her cute little San*ta outfit. I was actually pretty shocked when she agreed to pose. So this was what we came up with. Fake smiles and grumpiness. Oh well, we will try again next year.

Peanut Butter Tarts

Alex is always asking me to make cookies with her. She loves the whole process so when I found this beyond simple recipe on the Salsa in China blog I went right out got the ingredients and watched my little girl just light up when we made them.