I Can't Believe She is 14!

Bethany - that is!  She should still be 2! While their parents went to a church retreat Bethany & Nikki spent last weekend with us and we loved it.  We don't get to see them enough!  When mom & dad got back we had a little family birthday party. 

One day we did a little shopping and Nikki made a friend!

 Sophie & Nikki had a good time together.  Sophie loves Nikki and copies every move and sound she makes.  Nikki however has had a little bit of a hard time giving up being the baby, but did great this time.

Having grandchildren here, my knitting took a little vacation, but I have finished a couple of things lately.

I knitted a Navy watch cap for my son. 

And finished and blocked Saroyan.

I'm in between big projects right now.  I do have something OTN but am looking for another project.  Spending a lot of time on Ravelry!

Just had to add these pictures.  When I'm watching Sophie it can be a little difficult to cook, but I put her to work and she loved it.  After washing hands really well, she broke and beat eggs,cut up cheese with a plastic knife and patted out biscuits.  It took a little longer but was fun for both of us!

Miss Sophie Turns Two!

 Sophie turned two on Wednesday, but we waited and had a small family party for her yesterday (Saturday).
A few weeks ago Amy was trying to decide on a theme for her party and it was down to Dora or Pooh.  The only TV show that really holds her attention for more than a minute or two is Dora, but her very favorite thing in the world is her Pooh bear.  For her he is her security blanket, pacifier and pillow all in one.  So Winnie The Pooh became the choice for a birthday theme.  When Amy told me I had a vague memory that we had used Pooh for one of her birthdays so I got out the old photo albums.  It was for her first birthday!  Although this is Sophie's 2nd, it is her first with us, and probably the first ever celebrated just for her so I thought that was pretty neat.  Here is Amy on her first birthday with a Pooh cake that I had made. Below you'll see Sophie's mom made her a Pooh cake too!
I also found a picture of Amy's 2nd birthday with her Raggedy Ann cake.  Look at that pretty curly hair!

 

 

When Sophie arrived yesterday it was raining and a girl has to have her umbrella and snazzy raincoat!

 She loved her balloons!

 And cooked several meals for us on her new kitchen!

 When Amy and I were in Chongqing our guide Anita took us to a bakery and showed us this birthday candle.  Amy bought it and it was impressive!  We had fireworks, the flower spun and opened up and it played Happy Birthday.  In fact it played for hours.  It had to be put out on the patio and finally dismantled.  It was a big hit though!

 For her first time blowing out candles she did a great job.  Her friend Emily just had to help a little!

 Enjoying her cake and ice cream!

She is such a joy! 

Birthday Week

This Thursday was my birthday and my sweet husband surprised me with these beautiful roses.  He and our daughter also gave me a great spa day gift certificate that I can't wait to use (and dinner out). I also got some beautiful things from friends and lots of birthday wishes from friends on Facebook.  (Don't you just love being able to reconnect with old friends, especially if you've moved away).  So... even though I'm not crazy about birthdays coming faster and faster, I do have to say this one was pretty good!

Last weekend we finally got to see our son and his family, celebrate Christmas with them and have Nikki's 4th birthday party.  Jon had been out to sea since July so we are so glad he is back and were so glad to get to see all of them. 

We had a birthday party with our family and our daughter-in law's family too.  These are the girls and their cousins.

 Nikki with her Birthday Princess tiara.  Sweet little girl.

 Happy Girl!  This birthday thing is pretty neat!

 Bethany

Sophie had a good time too!

 Sophie & Rachel.

Bethany and Kathryn.

Next month Sophie and Bethany have birthdays so we will do more celebrating!

Snow Storm, etc.

Mid-morning Christmas day it started snowing and we ended up with about 5 inches of snow.  It was beautiful, cold and windy and we just hibernated most of the weekend.  We had a wonderful Christmas with Amy and Sophie and loved Sophie's first Christmas.  Our son and his family didn't make it down though and the weather kept us from going there, so we are still waiting to have Christmas with them.

This is Sophie's first sled ride.  She loved the snow as long as she didn't have to get in it or get it on her!

Christmas morning......

Serving tea to Pooh at her new table and chairs

 Helping granddaddy (with Santa's help) put together the race track.

 I love my Dora bag!

More tea!

She didn't know what to make of opening gifts at first, but learned quickly!

We're anxiously now awaiting the second round with the other granddaughters!

I don't think I ever posted pictures of the finished Bella's Mittens - they are a gift, but haven't been given yet.

 I love the long mittens, so warm. Since I had a little extra time and and a little extra yarn, I found a pattern for a warm headband/ earwarmer and finished this to add to the mittens. It was a quick knit but turned out cute.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, a nice relaxing week, and then a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas Eve

This has been a blessed year for our family.  My son's ship returned last night after a six month cruise safe and sound and we hope to see he and his family soon (we were hoping for Christmas, but the Navy didn't cooperate!)  We are just grateful he is home and with his wife and children!  We miss them, but hopefully will see them soon.

And... you know about this little angel Amy received this year. 

August 16th, 2010. China.

December 24, 2010, Virginia

We are so thankful she is home, celebrating her first Christmas and learning about the baby Jesus.  As an adoptive mother myself, adoption is near and dear to my heart and I always had a soft heart for the orphan, but after going to China, meeting Sophie and all the other beautiful children in our travel group, my heart just breaks for all the children still over there and in many other countries, needing a home and a family.  For all the families still waiting for their referral and for all the children so desperately needing to get to you - you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Lots of Firsts

Since Sophie came home in August she is having lots of firsts and it is so fun watching her excitement . First was Halloween and she fell in love with pumpkins.  She had real pumpkins, stuffed pumpkins, books about pumpkins and loved them!  When the Christmas decorating started we didn't know how she would do but  she loves everything - the tree, lights, decorated houses, stores, etc.  Two favorites quickly became snowmen and Santa. I'm sure she had no idea who or what Santa was but loved him on TV, cartoons, pictures, ads, and her stuffed Santa.  Last weekend her Mom asked me to go along to let her see him at the mall.  We had no high expectations that she would ever go sit in his lap.  She is still very wary of strangers and we all know that Santa is just no ordinary stranger!  He is a little intimidating to even the bravest little ones.  She did so great!  She waved at him, didn't cry and was willing to go up to see him, but there is where she drew the line.  She clung to Mama for dear life!  We were really proud of her though and Amy says she might even try again.  We didn't try to force the issue we were so glad just to get a picture with her in the same vicinity as Santa so if she doesn't do it this year that's okay!  She continued to wave at him and be excited everytime we walked back by so it wasn't too traumatizing I guess.

Another first - baking Christmas cookies.  Amy, Jon & I always made Christmas cookies when they were kids, I've made cookies with the other granddaughters and so we have to keep it going with Sophie.  We kept it very simple this year.  I have a Santa face that I usually make but knew that her attention span would be very short and we wanted her to experience as much of the process as possible before we lost her.  Another good first memory!

This week has been a blur!  I had a stomach virus on Tuesday night and missed work Wednesday.  We had snow Thursday and our Christmas luncheon at work was Friday. It was all crazy! I finished the Bella mittens (they are drying) last night.  They were my only Christmas knitting and they were an afterthought so I'm glad I was able to finish them.  (Pictures maybe tomorrow)  I really like these long mittens and might make some more.  I'm finished shopping (except for a couple of things I thought of today), but still have done no wrapping.  I've got to get to that.  I've also got to make a menu and shopping list for food.

Our son Jon is due back from his deployment on Thursday and we're waiting to see when they will be able to come down so times are still a little up in the air, but I want to get ready anyway!  Next weekend is Christmas - can you believe it?

What I have been doing!

My cross-stitching is finished!

 and hung with all the other stockings I've cross-stitched over the years.

 Bella's Mittens are in progress and I'm loving working on these!

Saroyan is still on the needles and has taken somewhat a back seat to the mittens, but I'll get back to it.


 And I've done a little decorating.........

This little guy I fought for yesterday playing dirty Santa at the cookie exchange. Isn't he cute?

This has been a very busy weekend and I can't believe I have to go back to work tomorrow!