Thanksgiving 2010

...otherwise known as the best Thanksgiving EVER! 

Seriously though, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday. What's not to like about eating lots of yummy food, and watching the Macy's parade and lots of cheesy holiday movies on Lifetime and the Hallmark channel - it's the best!  But in recent years, it's been tough for me. This was Steve's and my fifth Thanksgiving together, and although they've all been great - every year, I've wondered when we would finally add another chair to our Thanksgiving table - and this - of course, was the year! I could not remember a Thanksgiving when I was happier or more thankful than this year.  :)

Lia loved Thanksgiving. First of all, my parents, uncle and sister came to town, which means LOTS of extra attention and shenanigans for Miss Lia!  She was in heaven. Second of all - FOOD - one of Lia's favorite pastimes! We loaded her high chair tray down with a little bit of everything to try, but when it came down to it - it was having her own bowl of turkey gravy (sucked up with a spoon) and fistfuls of cranberry jelly that really made her day. We even had a cute Thanksgiving bib for her that said "Everyone is Thankful for ME!":

Finally - the "all done" sign!

We also had lots of snow this holiday!  In total, about a foot and a half on the ground by Saturday evening. Grandma and Grandpa couldn't help themselves but buy Lia a toboggan sled when they were out shopping on Friday. So on Saturday afternoon, the whole family hit our steeply-sloped front lawn and driveway for some fun in the snow. Lia was not a fan of the sledding, but she enjoyed watching everyone else - especially grandpa - flying down the hill in the sled.

With Grandma and Aunt Tracy - ready to go outside!

Fun in the snow with mama and Aunt Tracy

Disney on Ice

Two weeks ago, I won free tickets to "Disney on Ice: Celebrations" from a local radio station. When I stopped by the station to pick up the tickets (which happened to be on Lia's birthday), they also gave me a "swag bag" to go with them - including a stuffed Mickey doll and a program for the show.

Waiting with Mickey for the show to start...

She's been seeing the promos for the show on TV for a few weeks, and got really excited, as she now recognizes Mickey, and "Princesses"...when she sees them. Well, tonight was the show. So we dressed Lia up cute, and took her Mickey doll with us. To say she was mesmorized would be an understatement! She may have taken Mickey as her "date", but she fell in LOVE with Minnie during this show!

Mesmorized by a mouse

Being the suckers we are for this child, we ended up buying her a Minnie doll during the intermission (thank you Great Grandma D for Lia's birthday money!) She was in heaven the rest of the show - clutching her Minnie doll. When the show was over, she wasn't ready for it to end. She did NOT want to put on her coat or leave the arena. It was so cute. She was convinced if we stayed they would all come out again and do another show.

THE END. Hey - where did everybody go?

Snow Bunny

We awoke to our first snow of the season this morning. Not sure if Lia had ever seen snow in China, (I've heard it does snow in Xi'an occasionally) but if she had, she probably doesn't remember it because she was too young. It was so fun to see her reaction when we opened the curtains this morning:

We told her is was "snow" - and she immediately pointed to her nose. Okay, so "snow" and "nose" are similar sounding I guess...LOL.  After breakfast, we got her dressed up in warm clothes and went out on the back patio to explore the snow. She wasn't sure what to make of it. It didn't help that the new snow boots mama bought her for her birthday are still a little big... But she loves her flowered jacket (thanks Heidi!).

We had a hard time finding a hat and mittens that work for her. It seems these items are either in "infant" size (0-24 mos.) in which case Lia's head is WAY too big for the hats - or they are in "toddler" size (2-4 yrs) in which case the mittens are WAY too big. So we went with the too big mittens...and as you can see, they don't stay on (next time I will put her coat on over them).

She was too scared to actually touch the snow with her hand, but she liked it when I threw a snowball in the air and she watched it smash on the ground. So fun!

Birthday Weekend

Lia's birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, so while we had our own little private celebration that day, we waited for my parents to arrive on Thursday from Seattle to start the serious hoopla. Thursday night we opened her gifts. She received so many nice presents - here are a few of the highlights:

On Friday afternoon we celebrated with a cake, adorned with characters from one of her favorite TV shows, Yo Gabba Gabba. She LOVED the cake and the birthday tiara we got for her:

On Friday night, the biggest surprise came. Steve had entered an online contest to win Yo Gabba Gabba Live tickets since they happened to be in town for her birthday - and we WON four tickets!!!  So amazingly, we ended up front row center at Yo Gabba Gabba Live on Friday night...myself, Lia, Steve, and my dad!  We weren't sure how Lia would react to seeing her favorite costumed characters from TV in life-size. The confetti cannons startled her, but after a few tears at the very beginning - she loved it! She even got to "High Five" her favorite character, DJ Lance...so it was pretty cool. She is still playing with the balloons she caught at the show (they fell from the ceiling) - and saying "Yo!" with a big smile.

All in all it was great weekend. She may not remember the details of her amazing 2nd birthday, but Steve and I will certainly never forget what fun we had...in case you can't tell, we are madly in love with this child!  :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Lia!!!

You've come a long way baby!  Your mama and daddy and many, many other people love you very much!

Happy Halloween (from Princess Lia Ladybug)...

All dressed up and ready to go...

At the mall...where do we start?

Strolling the mall for treats

Look at all my candy!

Look mama, a pumpkin sticker!

Not taking her eyes off Spiderman...

By the third floor, getting tired. Riding in style...

Homeward bound, playing peek-a-boo with her tu-tu...

Ready to go to the neighbors' house with Daddy

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!

Checking Out Great!

Lia had her 2 year old well-check at our family doctor this morning. It was about 10 days early, but with so many doctor appointments on our schedule these days, this is when we could make it work. Our doctor was very pleased in the amount of growth and developmental milestones Lia has reached since she'd last seen her five weeks ago. We've now been home from China two months - I can't believe how fast the time is flying by! While at the doctor's office, Lia decided to try her hand at sitting in the doctor's chair and pretending to enter notes (don't worry - the keyboard was locked):

Lia is now off all of her narcotic pain meds. We are only giving her ibuprofen as needed about once a day. She doesn't seem to be in pain at all, and getting her off the narcotics has helped her get back to her normal napping and sleeping schedule (thank goodness!) She is still wearing the "no-no's" (arm restraints) when she is eating and sleeping, but more and more we are allowing her to go without them while we are in the room watching her. Luckily, she is not big on sticking things (other than food) in her mouth, so all is well during playtime.

She is still LOVING everything "pumpkin" right now. Daddy brought her some pumpkin balloons to the hospital last week, and now she has one in her bedroom and one in the playroom that she enjoys carrying around:

Although we are expecting rain here on Sunday, Steve is planning to take her trick-or-treating in her Ladybug Princess outfit, at least around our neighborhood. She can't eat the candy (more for mom and dad!) and she can't say "trick-or-treat", but I know the neighbors will still enjoy seeing her. Particularly those who visited our garage fundraiser sale this summer prior to the China trip. This week Lia also got her first letter in the mail (from Grandma & Grandpa):

In other news, Lia's friend Jack is still waiting for a family... I received this updated photo of Jack from the Starfish Foster Home Halloween photoshoot this week. Isn't he darling?

As mentioned previously on this blog, Jack has spina bifida and is paralyzed from the waist down, but he gets around well in his wheelchair, and he is one of the sweetest kids you will ever meet. Jack's favorite song is "Happy Birthday"and his is coming up next week - he will turn 3. A forever family would be the best present Jack could ever ask for!  Additionally, WACAP is currently offering a $4,200 grant to help with the costs related to Jack's adoption. Click HERE for more info.