Fun Christmas Festivities

Zoo Light Safari

Adair wanted her picture made with every light!

Adair's Improtu Christmas Recital

Adair's Class Christmas Party

Sweet Christmas Gifts

Adair's handprint angel painting

Emalyn's handprint Santa ornament

Myla Grant's footprint manger

Peppermint Ornaments

Emalyn: Ten Months in Our Arms

Ten months ago, a screaming, tearful, terrified little girl was placed in our arms.  She quickly made herself at home in our family and our hearts!  The terror has been replaced by joy and she lights up our lives!  We cannot imagine life without her in it!  As we approach her first Christmas in our arms, we are reminded again and again of God's sovereignty.  We are so thankful His plans were bigger than our plans and that He didn't knit our family together in only the "conventional" way! 

The Nutcracker

This was Adair's first Nutcracker experience and she loved it! We both did! My mom used to take me every Christmas when I was a little girl and I have always looked forward to doing the same with my girls. From Marie to the Nutcracker to the Sugarplum Fairy, it was an amazing show and a wonderful memory to store away with sweet Adair.  Let another special Christmas tradition begin!

Snow!

After the ballet, we met our friends, Alicia and Caroline for a hot cocoa date.



Such sweet friends!

Myla Grant is Eight Months Old!

Myla Grant remains the happiest and sweetest baby!  She loves getting attention from her sisters, sitting on the floor to play with her toys, and being held.  She started sitting up all by herself at about six and a half months old and has recently started scooting around on her bottom and backwards on her tummy.  I think she will probably figure out how to crawl soon.  She is a great eater and sleeper and continues to enjoy her homemade baby food more than store bought.  Her favorite foods are avacado, squash and sweet potatoes.  She enjoys playing with puffs, but is stilling working on figuring out how to let go when she gets them to her mouth.  We love this sweet baby so much.  She is a joy to love and to parent!  It's hard to believe she is already eight months old!

First Thanksgiving

She loves the exersaucer and jumping.

She loves bath time and splashing in the water

Scooting backwards

Frustrated that she's backed into the corner.

Gingerbread Fun

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is decorating a gingerbread house. This year, we decorated gingerbread trees instead of houses and the girls loved it. It was very hands on for them. They stacked the cookies to create the tree, piped on the icing (with some help) and placed the beads in their own random patterns. The tradition continues and it was so much fun to have added another little set of hands this year!

Fun with Daddy

Hank disappeared for a while recently and the girls couldn't have been more surprised or excited to find him in the playroom building a quilt fort. As he said, he's still working on the perfect method, but the girls had a great time crawling around, sitting and being tickled under their tent.

Emalyn and Adair also loved roasting marshmallows over our fire pit with their Daddy! Emalyn ate them any way...burned, slightly browned, or "raw"; Adair on the other hand, was partial the the barely browned ones. They both loved catching them on fire and blowing them out, though!



Adair's First Christmas Program

The 4K and 5K classes worked very hard on their Christmas musical and they did a great job! Adair was so excited to sing and do her speaking part.  We were very proud of her!

Waiting patiently for the program to start.

Excited to see Adair on stage.

"I," said the sheep with curly horn,

"I gave him my wool for His blanket warm;

He wore my coat on Christmas morn."

"I," said the sheep with curly horn.

The angel told the shepherds,

"Our Savior is born at last."

Our favorite sheep.

Thankful

So very much to be thankful for, but, above all else, I'm thankful to serve a God that is always faithful, sovereign over everything and always has a plan. This year, I'm especially thankful that His plan for us in 2012 was so much greater than we could have ever hoped or imagined. Thank you, Lord, for our three precious girls, for a birth mother in China who chose life for her baby girl, and for our family and friends who love them as much as we do!

Our Thankful tree.

The Week Before Thanksgiving

We enjoyed a Thanksgiving feast with Adair at her school the week before Thanksgiving.

Her class made turkey shirts and head dresses.

Emalyn had a great time at her Thanksgiving snack.

She loved her handprint turkey shirt and placemat.

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