Thursday, December 30, 2010

Oh What Fun...

Milana has been enjoying Christmas and her time off from school with her family a great deal. She enjoys looking at the pictures of all of the "babies" on Reece's Rainbow. She gets so excited to see them. It is so hard to believe that she was one of those faces on there not too long ago. Now she has a home with a Mama and a Papa and 3 sisters! And let's not forget her 3 dogs who she loves and adores as well. This girl is surely loving life :)
Her sisters all enjoy having her home with us as well. Riley & Peyton love giving her baths and helping get her dressed. I think they like playing with her toys as much as she does! We got a lot of snow for....well for North Carolina on Christmas Night. Milana and all three of her sisters enjoyed sledding down the hill in the front yard.


Weeeeeeee!!!! This is lots of fun!!! Can we do it again?? Please!!!

I'd say this little girl who was once one of those left behind is enjoying NOT being left behind any longer. In fact she makes sure she is never left out. She loves life! This amazing little girl has grown so much in the short time she has been home. And we are all loving that she is now a part of our family.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Milana's First Christmas

We had a really wonderful Christmas this year - minus the fact that I got sick Christmas night and am just starting to feel better. (And now Chris is sick).

Other than the illness that is spreading through our house like wildfire we had a great day. On Christmas Eve we went to our friends house for their annual Christmas Eve Party. Milana enjoyed the party very much. She made sure we stayed in the room with the food :)

She had a blast munching away and of course got upset with me if I tried to eat. Even with a big cookie in her mouth she decided the carrot I was eating would be tastier. Fortunately she likes fruits and veggies as well as the sweet stuff!

We also went to church Christmas Eve and it was jam packed. The evening finished up with some Chinese food at home. I had hoped we would go out and have someone sing to us like on A Christmas Story - no duck thank you very much, but we stayed home and ate. Then we watched some Christmas shows - Santa Claus is Coming To Town and sent the small kiddos off to bed. Milana first followed by Riley and Peyton. Karissa stayed up a bit longer with Chris and I to watch Christmas Vacation. Oh that Cousin Eddie just crack me up :) When Christmas morning arrived Milana was a little unsure of all that was going on. Peyton & Riley were of course THRILLED that Santa had come to visit them during the night. They woke everyone up and as you can see from the pictures Milana really got in to opening presents. She eventually started opening anything in sight - regardless of whether or not the gift was for her. So some things we weren't sure who they were from or if they were for Peyton or Riley. Regardless we were all so thankful for all the wonderful gifts we received this year. (Including our newest addition to the family - Queen Fussy Butt aka Milana).
Milana also seemed to think that as she opened gifts she was supposed to try them on. I hadn't realized she was such a fashion diva. You gotta love the RUN DMC shirt she is rockin'. Wait til you see the sweet Puma sweat suit she got. This girl is going to be stylin' for sure! I love this picture below where she is holding the picture of Theo who we are Chrismas Warriors for. Our goal (which by the way we are falling incredibly short of) is to raise money for him during the holiday season in hopes that he will find a family and they will have some of the burden of the huge cost removed. We do hope that Theo finds a family and is able to celebrate Christmas with them next year.
What a beautiful picture of my 3 youngest little ones. (My oldest is a bit camera shy and my gift to her today is to not post her picture - it won't last I've got some good ones of her in the snow sledding in our front yard).
These 3 angels each picked out a kiddo (Milana with my help) to send some money to Andrea at Reece's Rainbow as a gift to a child in need of a home.
It's not too late for you to donate to Theo to help him find a forever family or to donate to any of the kids in need of a family. Feel free to browse the website www.reecesrainbow.org and donate to any child or children you feel led to helping out. Or of course donate to Theo and help us raise money for him as well. You can mail your check to Andrea Roberts c/o Reece's Rainbow P.O. Box 4024 Gaithersburg, MD 20885.
I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that none of you get this nasty bug that I had.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

First Snow - A Week Late

We got our first snow of the year last Saturday. Riley & Peyton were so thrilled and couldn't wait to get outside to play in it. Milana really seemed to enjoy her first snow in the USA! As for me...we've had the first snow, it was pretty, and I hope it is our last! I prefer the warmer weather.