Happy Chinese New Year!

 With this being Gracie's first Chinese New Year not in China, we had big shoes to fill! Thankfully, some friends took care of that for us when they planned a Chinese New Year dinner for a bunch of adoptive families in the area. We had a blast both catching up with old friends and meeting new ones, too. There were so many kids there and they all had the best time together! I have never heard so many laughs or so much energy! There were crafts, cute decorations, amazing food that everyone brought, and of course nothing like the company! :) It was so much fun and hopefully it become an annual event :) Our four kiddos were having the time of their lives, and AnnaClaire said over and over again how much she loved parties. She is already counting down for the next one!

Then tonight, on the actual Chinese New Year, we did fireworks, sparklers, and had authentic Chinese food at a little place near us. So it has been fun, and hopefully Gracie is impressed with our efforts at making it all special and fun! :)

Dance

 Here's my sweet girl and one of the helpers in her ballet class. Obviously, dance is a big hit with our girl!

Here's one of her class on Friday! I love all those little girls in their tu tus :)

And thank you to Maia's (Kate's friend that is also in her dance class!) aunt for taking these pictures! The first one especially is priceless! 

Basketball Girls!

AnnaClaire and Gracie are loving basketball! They both scored their first baskets at their games on Saturday! AnnaClaire's team is the Magic, and Gracie's is the Storm! 

Gracie also started piano lessons a couple weeks ago and is really enjoying them as well! I need to get a picture of her playing! She has even learned how to play a couple of basic songs! 

As I mentioned, Kate has started dance and adores it! She has been showing us all of her cute little moves and dancing all around. I'll have to get Mom to take a picture of her all dressed up for dance, because she looks so cute!!! Of course, the little miss is sick right now :( so she hasn't been quite her dancy self. Her sissy is ready to see her curtsying around again!

Not to leave Charlie out, he's been extra sweet lately. He really is such a good boy when he knows to keep his hands to himself :) It's nice to have a little guy in a house full of girls, that is for sure!

3 days of snow!

Our snow last week ended up getting Sissy out of 3 school days! :) It was a much needed break and so nice to be home for a couple of days, enjoying hot cocoa and snow! The kids all had a BLAST in the snow and played with our neighbors a bunch throughout the snow days. They stayed out in the snow for a LONG TIME, too! It's all melted now and it's back to the typical schedule. Of course, I have spirit this week, so it's been another fun and relaxed week for me!

Obviously, Au*burn won last week and there was a lot of celebrating here! I'm not sure if I ever posted on here, but I am for sure going there and I'm so excited!!!! I sent my housing and deposit in back in Oct. so I'm feeling ready... for the time being at least! I did get into Bay*lor, too, and I'm still waiting to hear back from one other school... but either way, I'll be at AU next year! So anyway, that is the reason for all of the Au*burn gear around here!

Everything is going well here. I know I've been so neglectful of the blog lately. All of the kids are doing well, although keeping Mom very busy! AnnaClaire and Gracie are loving doing basketball, and Kate recently started dance and absolutely loves putting her leotard and ballet slippers on and going to dance every Friday! Charlie's just our typical little guy... always getting dirty and into trouble, but still so sweet and has a smile that really will melt anyone's heart!

WAR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday Pictures

Here's some pictures of our sweet little guy turning 5! It was just a year ago that we were celebrating without him and wanting so badly for him to be home...

How things change in just a year. Because on Wednesday, our precious boy was here, giggling as the birthday song was directed toward him, saying "Cha-ee! Cha-ee present!" each time he opened something, smiling the biggest smile I've ever seen and saying "oh cool!" as he saw each present... it was such a special day.

And he is now the proud new owner of a bike and a whole lot of electronic toys (much to Mom's dismay, and his absolute excitement!) I'd say he had a great birthday!

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

So his birthday was actually yesterday, but I couldn't post on my blog for some reason.

Happy 5th birthday to our sweet little man! We love you so much, Charlie, and loved celebrating every moment of your first birthday at home! 

And trust me... there is nothing like seeing a little boy, at 5 years old, celebrate his birthday for the first time. Truly no words to describe his excitement and joy! I'll post more pictures later, but here's one for now!

Happy birthday little man!