Matching Dress

Here is Elizabeth in the beautiful dress that Joanne and family gave her for her birthday ...and it is stunning I must say. It is also adorable that it comes with a matching dress for the doll. I can't wait for the weather to get just a little warmer so she can wear it.

I also have realized that I can no longer save her "good clothes" for special occasions--since Elizabeth doesn't go to that many fancy dress parties or events and by the time she does --she has outgrown her fancy outfits. So, if you ever see her at the playground in a satin dress--you'll know why!

Also...we did a pretty good job of matching up presents with cards but somehow the pretty pink Princess frame and the Dora play figures set got separated from their cards. If you were the sweet person to give that to E, can you let me know! :)

Some more photos

I have posted a few more photos from our party on Sunday--I have more but will have to post those later. I put Marty in charge of taking photos and realized about 3/4 of the way into the party that he had decided he was actually going to enjoy the party and not worry about taking pictures.

I do regret not getting more photos of Elizabeth and her friends. And there are a couple of the girls that I didn't even get a photo of on the White Couch. We will have to do it again.

All in all the party was great fun. Although I have to admit that I messed up on a few things. I realized that I forgot to put all the juice boxes out for the kids to drink so I have no idea what those poor little darlings were drinking all afternoon. And there were a few kids who didn't get their goodie bags because I was so distracted--of course they will have to be personally delivered! And then there was the sad fact that I just couldn't get to visit with everyone that I wanted to. I likened it to a wedding where you have all of these people that you want to spend time with but are lucky if you get to say hello.

However, in the end, it was all fine and I think most everyone had a good time. And guess what? I can't wait till next year's party. Oh, and I will be sure and put those juice boxes out!


Here is Elizabeth in all of her birthday glory....




Okay, so I had to throw in a photo of some of the food since it turned out that everyone seemed to enjoy it.




Here is Mei Mei (Maria) looking so cute in her Chinese red outfit. She wins the prize for best Chinese outfit!




Here are Kenya and Charlotte--like mother, like daughter-both pretty as a picture. And when you see Charlotte you just can't resist the urge to hold her--although she isn't too fond of being out of mama's arms!




Here is Hope playing with Elizabeth's toy tuba. That is a tuba isn't it. I called it a trumpet but realized that wasn't right. In any case, all the kids loved this little instrument.




Here she is with Joanne...don't they look so cute together! And we were lucky that Joanne helped us with a lot of the Chinese New Year decorations. And in the future we hope she can help Elizabeth once she starts to learn Mandarin.




Here are a couple of photos of Elizabeth with her grandma and grandpa--whom she affectionately calls "uma" and "umpa".





A few photos of Elizabeth in her "party" dress. It really was the quintessential party dress. Oh, and the patent leather shoes were such a hit with her, that she has decided she will be wearing them "all the time". That means even to the playground when we are playing in the dirt. Have you ever tried to tell a two year old that she cannot wear her black patent leather shoes to the playground? It isn't pretty I assure you.








Here are the girls looking at their red envelopes.

The White Couch

Here are the girls on the couch opening up their Red Envelopes with dollar bills in them. We lined them up on the couch to replicate the "red couch" photo that is well known among all the girls adopted from China. Usually the group that traveled together to China gets the girls together on the Red Couch for a group photo. Well here they are on an American White leather couch. Plus Hope, of course.

Elizabeth and Kaila doing the Chinese Money Dance

If you wondered if Elizabeth had a good time at her party --well here she is with her "cousin" Kaila after everyone had left. They are playing with the dollar bills that they got in their "red envelopes" which are a tradition of the Chinese New Year--more on that later.

As you may know we celebrated Chinese New Year this weekend and combined it with a celebration of Elizabeth's second birthday.

I have a lot more photos to post but wanted to let you know that she had a blast with all of her friends.


Here is a photo of Elizabeth's "Elmo" cake. I think this is the biggest birthday cake I have ever seen. And I think I got as big a kick out of picking it out as Elizabeth did in seeing it--and eating it!



Here are the girls on the "white couch" photo. All of these gorgeous girls were born in China and as you can see they are all flourishing in the U.S. with their families. Oh, yeah, the gorgeous blond girl is not from China--that is Hope-which is quite an appropriate name since seeing all the babies on our couch really gives me hope about the world and the fact that yeah, great things happen in this world!


Here is Elizabeth with dada and Kaila playing in front of the Elmo cake.

She's 2

Here is a quick photo of Elizabeth. It has been a hectic week so I will write and post more photos later but here she is on her actual birthday January 15th.

Yesterday she decided she was going to prove to momma that the "terrible twos" really do exist. But it may have had something to do with the fact that she had to give up her morning half hour with Elmo to watch the inaguration. That did NOT sit well with her. I tried to explain to her the historical significance of the event and that we would finally have a new president and vice president and that it could change the world. She looked at me, rather annoyed and screamed, "ELMO!".

Ah, I suppose children know what is truly important in life.

The Last Day of Being One

So...I am feeling sort of nostalgic and oddly sentimental about the fact that tomorrow Elizabeth will leave the one year mark and become an official "two year old". Am I sad about her not being a baby anymore? Sure, in some ways. But I am more excited about seeing her grow up. Everyday she does so many things that amaze me and make me smile. She is really starting to talk now and is pretty much understanding everything--which continues to amaze me.

Sometimes it is the littlest thing that she does that really gets to me. Like today I had my wallet out and license with my picture was on the outside pocket of my wallet, Elizabeth exclaimed "mama" grabbed the license and kissed it. I kind of wanted to cry at such a simple, sweet and innocent gesture. Yeah, she is a sweetie.

Here are some photos taken over the last week or two. It has been pretty amazing how much she seems to be turning into a little actress who loves to pose for the camera. Not that she was ever a wallflower but suddenly she is really loving the limelight. And please excuse the fact that none of these photos have been edited or photoshopped...I now am lucky just to get the photos posted and hope one day to have enough spare time to fix up my photos before I post them. Maybe once Elizabeth is off to college--or Hollywood.


Here is Elizabeth in the darling tutu that Aunt Rita and Uncle Bill sent her for Christmas. I think this skirt may have been part of what has ignited the performer in her over the last couple of weeks. She loves to wear this skirt everywhere. At first I would only let her wear it in the house since I didn't want her to get it dirty but then I realized she isn't going to be able to wear it when she is tweleve so she may as well enjoy it while she can. And we have learned that a fancy pink tutu can really dress up an old pair of jeans!








She seems to think she looks pretty darn good





Here she is happy as can be --having discovered that dressing up is something she loves to do. And being the center of attention--oh yeah, she will take it.








Oh Really?


Here Sandra got Elizabeth to put on her "Dora" sunglasses and pose for the camera--yet again



Oh yeah, I'm a ham!





Here we told Elizabeth to put on her best "woe is me" face--this is what she came up with...