Thankful

I am so thankful for...
loving family and friends,
laughter,
the joy which Hannah and Ava bring into our lives,
Doug,
God's amazing love and grace,
photographs which help preserve memories,
footed sleepers and the children wearing them :-),
games,
good health,
smiles,
and YOU!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to Our Big 8 Year Old!

Our wild (note zebra outfit below), witty, wacky, (strong-)willed, and wonderful daughter is 8! Really? Man, oh, man, where does the time go? I can't believe Hannah is 8?! I think I type something like this every year in my blog. I try to savor and enjoy each age and stage, but somehow time still has a way of slipping by too quickly. Okay, I better stop or I'm going to need some tissues.

Hannah, sometimes you try my patience and other times you make me laugh or think about life in a new way with the questions you ask or the observations you make. You are incredibly creative, determined, thoughtful, opinionated, goofy, stubborn, and curious, and I wouldn't want you any other way! I love you to the ends of the earth and back, and so does your Dad! Thank you for being such a blessing to our family. xoxoxo

I LOVE this picture!!!

Chicago

Right before Thanksgiving, we headed to the Windy City to spend time with our good friends, Al, Karen, Abby and Amy, who were there from California to lay Al's mom Ginny to rest. We were so grateful to be able to be there to support them and remember a dear lady.

We were also blessed to spend time together as families creating new memories. Our little girls wore matching panda pajamas and were thrilled to get matching Bitty Baby twins on our trip to the American Girl Store. We couldn't let the little girls have all the fun so the older girls and moms got matching pjs too. Hannah was also so excited to get Felicity's friend Elizabeth at the AG store before she was retired.

We love you, Al, Karen, Abby and Amy! Can't wait to create more memories with you in the future!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Ava!

Our baby is 4! All of a sudden she seems like a little lady (insert the sound of me crying). Some days I wish I could keep her little and other days I take delight in the person she is growing to be. She is truly a blessing! She fills our days with so much joy and laughter. We love you, sweet Ava Grace FuXiao, to China, Kalahari, the moon, and back! Love, Mom and Dad xoxoxox

Ava's Pajama Party

To celebrate Ava's 4th birthday we had a Pajama Party with nine of her friends. When we started talking about having a party she was very emphatic about who all she wanted to invite. She's so social that I'm sure she would have invited everyone she knew if we had let her. We thought 10 was a nice even number (and the teacher in me was excited that we could literally act out the song "There Were 10 in the Bed" - see picture below).

I thought she'd like a princess party like we had for Hannah when she turned four, but Ava had her own ideas. She wanted to gather her friends for a pajama party. I should emphasize that it was NOT a sleepover - the girls came in the morning and left after brunch. Doug and I aren't crazy enough to have 10 little 2-4 year olds spend the night. The girls were all excited to come wearing their jammies. For several girls it was their first birthday party so it was fun to watch their reactions. The girls played, sang songs, heard bedtime stories, ate brunch, opened presents, colored pjs and ate yummy pajama cupcakes. We all had so much fun!