Happy Chinese New Year

Today is the kick-off for the 2009 Chinese New Year celebration. We celebrated with Malia's class at daycare. They made lanterns earlier in the day and I went down for their parade through the halls and while the teacher read a couple books about the celebration.



On a sad note, I have had to make the decision to put my dog Rosie to sleep tomorrow. I recently found out that she has kidney disease and she has not been doing well for a while. I have had Rosie since she was a tiny puppy and she is now 13 years old but due to her size I forget how old she is getting. She has been a wonderful dog and has been with me through the ups and downs, while alone and now with Malia. I only pray that she will now be somewhere that she can run and play without the pain that she has been living with.

Going to visit Mickey!

OK, I noticed that all of my other friends get to use their mom's computer to post messages so I wanted my turn. I finally convinced mom to take me to visit Mickey in Florida. She says that things are looking much better at work for being employed with the layoffs and I caught her after a week of terrible freezing cold weather. We leave on Feb 1st for 4 nights. I am excited for my first Disney trip in the U.S. since I got to go to Hong Kong Disney on the way home from China. I will make sure mom takes pictures and video of the trip so we can share with everyone when we get back.

Malia

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Malia!

After 2 years of not getting to celebrate her birthday and especially Christmas, little Miss Malia made sure this year made up for it. She has been obsessed with her birthday for months now and Santa has been in the spotlight since Thanksgiving. So where to start. First we celebrated on Christmas Eve with the immediate family and then later with the extended family. The day went pretty smoothly considering there was no time for naps (except in the car on the way to church). Then, Christmas morning started with just me and Malia opening presents from Santa but she was quickly caught up with playing and couldn't even focus on opening the last presents (OK, they were only clothes anyway). Later Christmas Day we went to my parents and had a small cake for Malia's birthday. Finally, I chose to wait until Friday to celebrate Malia's 3rd birthday so she could nap and relax some on Christmas Day (great choice by the way). So Friday we had the close family celebrate with a Mickey and Minnie Mouse cake. Again, she loved playing with her gifts and grandpa had some to assemble right away. It was a crazy week but the best week of my adult life. Seeing everything through Malia's eyes and getting to spend some quality time with the whole family was worth every minute of the noisy activity. Here are some pictures of the events. Next up is to work on some more digital scrapbook pages.

With Auntie Susie and Cousin Jude


Opening on Christmas Eve


Playing with the Nerf gun (a trade with cousin Garrett for pots and pans...)


More opening on Christmas Eve


With all of the kids


After Santa arrived


Playing with the Dora vanity


1st birthday cake (in honor of her love of The Grinch movie)


With Rosie


Setting up for her party


Loving the singing


Cake is great!


And the frosting is the best...


With Great Grandma Bev


Family Picture

Only a couple days until Christmas!!!

I can't believe that I am only a couple days away from my first Christmas as a mom. Malia is so excited and I don't even think she totally gets what Christmas will be like. She is also extremely ready for her birthday. We will be bringing cupcakes to her daycare tomorrow and she loves when people sing happy birthday. Here are a couple photos from Saturday when we got all of the snow (but before the real cold moved in). She had fun shoveling and going on the sled with Grandpa and she made cookies with Grandma.

Happy Holidays to everyone!!! And let's pray for a new year that brings a better economy for all!

Having a blast this Christmas season

We went to my dad's work holiday party today with my parents and my brother and his family. We got to see the movie Bolt and they had Santa and Mrs. Claus. Malia ate a ton of popcorn and candy but she made it through her first full movie. I also got a really cute picture of her in a fabulous outfit before the event this morning. She also got a gift from her godmother last Christmas (before we even knew who she would be) and it is the cutest Christmas countdown idea. There is a miniature stocking for each day until Christmas. Malia loves to look in there each morning to see what the prize is. Her favorite is the candy.

It's SANTA!!!

OK, Malia had her first run in with Santa and she loved him. I guess all of the talking about how Santa brings presents and candy worked. Here I was worried she would be scared but she spotted him from the second floor of the mall and just had to see him right then. We worked our way downstairs and as I was putting the stroller off to the side she took off and ran right up to him. There was barely any hesitation before she sat on his lap. When he asked what she wanted to Christmas, she kept saying "Santa" like she couldn't believe that he was right there. Here is the photo. I had to get it to capture her first visit with Santa. Enjoy!

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow, this year Thanksgiving was totally different than last year. It was so wonderful to share it with Malia.

We just put up our Christmas Tree. She was so entranced by the multi-colored Christmas lights. She went around naming off the different colors. I then gave her a bunch of ornaments to help put on the tree. She put a lot on a couple branches but also tried to get some up higher. Then she wanted a picture with Rosie.

Tonight we went to the Holidazzle with Kirsten, Julie, Tess, Annette, and Genevieve after having breakfast food for dinner at Julie's. Malia was in awe of the parade and after each one left she turned to tell me "More coming". It was so adorable. I just can't wait for Christmas and her birthday. As I feel so fortunate this holiday season, I feel terrible for those waiting for their children or without family to share it with.

Snow?!?

So Malia saw basically her first full snowfall in Minnesota. There were slight flurries the day we arrived home from China and one day a couple weeks ago it was kind of sleeting but this was a full snow that we woke up to. I think the photos speak for themselves that she was a little amazed by this and her first concern was if she would be able to ride her bike. Let's hope she doesn't have to experience extreme snow this first season but can get some that would be enjoyable to play in. We bought her sled so now we will just wait for a snow that will stick for more than an hour or two (not that I am wishing for snow). Enjoy!

Testing out Digital Scrapbooking

So I have created my new blog header and tried a digital scrapbook page for Malia's first Halloween. I just love this software and it is easy to use once you learn how. Here are samples of my first test pages.

Our first Halloween

So October was another busy month. We had a couple Halloween events and then Halloween itself. So I have to admit that during the 2+ year wait, I went nuts buying Halloween costumes with the post Halloween discount. I thought I had picked up various sizes but it turns out that most were 2/3 so we decided to switch around for different events.

Well, we started with an event at a Richfield Nature Center with other children adopted from China. She dressed as Snow White.

Then we went to the Elm Creek Nature Reserve with the family (grandma, grandpa, uncle Jeff, and cousins Garrett and Aislinn). This one we also went with Snow White.

Next was the party at dance class. She was Minnie Mouse for this one.

Finally, Halloween. We started with a parade for the daycare center at my work. She looked adorable but she was a little overwhelmed by all of the people watching. Most workers at Best Buy look forward to the Halloween parade to see all of the little ones dressed up. She did smile and wave once she saw me. She was Belle (from Beauty and the Beast).

After work, we headed to the Minnesota Zoo with Jeff, Amy, Garrett and Aislinn for a members only event. It was pretty cool and they handed out some candy but also had other snacks and play items.

Last, we ended up trick or treating in Apple Valley near my brothers house. The first house she was a little confused but at the second house she turned around and gave me the biggest smile once she saw the candy. By the fourth or so house, she would leave one house and ask to be carried but once she saw the next house with lights on she would say "house" and "I walk" so I could set her down to go to the door. She carried the pumpkin around the whole night and no one could even look at it without her saying "mine". It was so cute to see her excited and enjoying this fun holiday. Now I just need to figure out how to smuggle out the candy since there is way too much. Malia on a sugar high is not a good thing. I hope everyone was able to enjoy their Halloween, I know we did!!!