Boy did we have FUN!

Cute Kids huh?

The gang of kids with Cora

Check out the disaster we made of Mom and Dad's place!

What else is in my stocking?

Sisters-these kind of photos always melt my heart!

My 6 year old birthday girl!

I got Sissy this one!

Can you believe the pile of pillow pets?

Princess Ariel

The boys and pictures= mayham!

The best seat in the house!

This year Christmas was such a blessing in more ways than we could have hoped for. We got to spend it with my mom and dad, my brother and his family and of course our two EXTRA special girls!

When I look back on last year's Christmas- I would have NEVER thought we would be spending this one with another daughter. We had all but given up on adopting another child from China, but God had another plan for our family. That plan of course was our sweet baby girl Meina. She has added to our family in such a wonderful way. She has spunk and laughter that we did not know we were missing. She is loving and just amazing in her ability to adapt and learn new things. People are drawn to her where ever we go. She has allowed us to grow as parents and has allowed Ramzie become a big sister. What an amazing year indeed!

We went to Wyoming on Christmas Eve morning. We had packed the truck the night before with everything so we could just scoop the girls up in the morning and head out. They passed the time by watching Tinkerbell and snacking on banana's and oranges. I figured that I would load them up with some fruit because once at Oma and Opa's all nutrition bets were off....

Anyway, we made it there by mid morning. It was so good to see Frank, Cora and the boys. I sure wish they lived closer- Iowa is a long drive.

Anyway, after a short shy period by both girls (about 10 minutes) they were off playing and having a blast. Let the festivities begin! We had out traditional Oyster stew meal for dinner and then started the present opening marathon!

After a short night of sleep- the kids had us up by 6:30 am it was apparent that Santa thought the kids had all been very good. Meina was kind of unsure of it all happening this early in the morning (she is not a morning girl) but warmed up and was in the middle of it all very soon.

The rest of the day was filled with play and food. We had a lovely turkey dinner and then it was BIRTHDAY TIME for Ramzie.

She now has all of the necessary items that a 6 year old could want. List (not complete just a hint)Easy bake oven (santa), Airbrush Nail Design center (santa) Life Size Tangeled Doll (Oma and Opa) Art Supplies (Mom and Dad) Pillow Pets (everyone) Princess Games (Frank and Cora) Clothes and a new Coat.

Meina was loaded up with ELMO items (Cora and Frank), finger paints and paper (Santa), Rocking Horse (Santa), Clothes and dolls (Mom and Dad) and of course-Pillow pets!

We ended the night playing Sequence. I think this is my new favorite game.

Hope everyone has had a great holiday. Now on to 2011!

Joanie

How can parents be so lucky?

One of Meina's favorite things to do is lay and talk to Ellie our dog.

You caught me mom!

Matching Jammies!

My butterfly fairies

Meina is 20 months old now. She is just blossoming in front of us.... I really marvel each day that I am the mother to these two sweet amazing children. So here is an update on Meina and her development.

She is now 25 lbs and 33.5 inches tall! Yes- that is tall for her age. She is wearing 24 month clothing and loves the color purple! She really has an opinion about what she wears already. She is running and climbing everything. She loves to color and will sit and draw for lengthy periods of time. She also enjoys story time asking for a story (again) over and over.

Every morning she will wave goodbye to her sister as she gets on the bus and then turns to me and says "Elmo". This is my que to turn on her Elmo ABC video, Lol. It is nice because it runs just long enough for me to get a shower :-) She is also talking and laughing more- both music to my ears.

She is becoming more and more attached to us as her family now. She is in a stage where she wants to be held a lot of the time and will just lean in as tight as she can, put her thumb in her mouth and take a big deep breath as if to say "finally". She was not much for being held close for any period of time up until about 2 months ago- so we are making progress. She also calls out Mama and Dada if we are out of the room. As for her relationship with Ramzie, she LOVES her. The minute Ramzie gets home from school she is her little shadow. She follows Ramzie through her after school routine (washing hands, putting away her boots and coat, showing me her seat work for the day, snack and playtime). I will be upstairs preparing dinner and hear them laughing and playing while Taylor Swift plays in the background- It just does not get any better than that.

This next week will be busy. Ramzie has a Christmas program and then we are all headed to Wyoming for the holidays. Mom has been fighting an infection and we have not seen her in a while- so it will be good to see her and my dad. Frank (brother) and his kids will be there also. It will be fun to see all of the kids together.

Well- off to wrap some presents.....

Have a good week-

Christmas

Snowmen and sisters

Giant boxes are the BEST toys!

My little helper

This week we spent the week getting the house ready for Christmas. Ramzie is so excited to have the Advent calander out and she loves to wake up early to turn on the lights before she heads off to school. My tree is a bit candy cane heavy but the girls sure had fun putting them on. Meina is LOVING the decorating and she is obsessed with the snowglobe collection. It is pretty fun to see the excitement in her eyes as she is experiancing this season for the first time.

She has also become obsessive with brushing her teeth. She got a new electric toothbrush and LOVES it.

One night- I gave the girls fun (edible) stuff to build snowmen with. Well...... Meina did not make it to the building stage as you can see, but Ramzie did. It was a fun activity and one I recommend. I actually borrowed the idea from this http://salsainchina.blogspot.com/ blog.

On Saturday Ramzie and I went to her regular gymnastic class and then on to get haircuts. She has been saying she wanted her hair cut shorter and bangs (yes after all that pain of growing them out). I told her the only rule was that it must be long enough to pull it back for gymnastics and swimming. She is getting old enough to make decissions about her own hair right? I must admit when she walked around the courner after her cut- I was shocked! She looks so different. She likes it and it was very easy this morning before school, both good results if you ask me!

Off to get going on the day. May your day be blessed.

Wow- December already!

Halloween= Witches and Bumble Bees

And Mulan.....

Sister's working together to make a scarecrow

Yeah we are through security- ready for San Antonio!

Where IS tha plane?

Before the big trip (to the airport not San Antonio-darn weather)

Kitchen helpers

Meina's first reaction to snow

Wow- time does fly when you are having fun. The last month has been filled with lots of activities. I am not doing a great job of posting to this website as I need to be, but I have been taking pictures, so I will give you a snapshot veiw of our lives for the past little while.

As I keep saying- Life is good.

I do not LIKE snow ! Brrrrrrrrr

Sister time

My baby has blessed our family for five years now!

Waiting for our turn to talk during the National Adoption Day celebration

Re-finalization of Meina's adoption