Valences and birthdays!

With the arrival of our stuff, life has become a bit busy around here, attempting to get organized. But I must say what a difference it makes! Amazingly, as a result of finally having our things, it seems (but perhaps also due to the natural progression of time) the girls are acting much more settled. And so am I! WOW! What a transformation! I was beginning to develop strategies for an attempt to cope with this new way of life I thought we were entering into: continuous melt-downs, tantrums, and an inability to fall asleep at night. But alas, that was short-lived! Praise God! It seems we all finally feel at home here now that our things are here. A wonderful feeling. The girls can sleep in their own beds and play in their playroom with their own toys and read their own books.....ahhh! Peace has come to this house! :)

And so, here are some pictures of the developments:

Ellie and Siri's room:

The girls' room with a view of the valence:

The playroom:

The playroom valence:

And two posts in one.....Siri turned TWO!! Happy birthday, Siri!

There are several MAK staff family members who had birthdays this week and last week, so we had a nice big combo party for all of them! And here they are:

Believe it or not, Siri was first to dig into her cupcake!

We had lots of fun! We even played a few games:

This game was called "musical mats":

Yes, even the dads got to play:

The bigger kids seem to really like Siri, and Siri seems to really like them (and perhaps all the attention):

Siri had a great party!

We thank God for our little girl and another precious year we were blessed to spend with her! May there be many more!

Birthday Party!

     So Ellie turned one on Friday! YAY! It's so hard to believe that it has already been a year but at the same time hard to believe that we've known this wonderful person for only a year! Ellie is doing so well and we are so incredibly thankful for her and for her health.  Work for me has become a spiritual time of thanksgiving in my heart for the health I have been blessed with for so many years as well as for the health of my husband and our families and now even our child. It has been an amazing year! I would say the best in my life! Ellie has already changed so much and she is becoming more fun everyday! Ok so now for the birthday party pictures!

Here is Ellie and her daddy eating pizza.  

And this is Ellie's friend, Gabe.  He was the only friend her age at the party! :)

Ellie is trying to get the hat off and Gabe is being good and keeping his on.

Here is Ellie reading her cards

I thought this was so cute! Gabe eating fish and Ellie opening her presents one small piece at a time in the background.

This is a good shot of the party guests and you can see some decorations in the background. (And our nativity scene is up!)

Ellie and her cake.  She did try several times to grab the enflamed candles despite my warnings that it's "hot."  

Of course she wouldn't keep that hat on for anything!

This was Ellie's point of view during singing.

And finally her first cake eating experience!

Yes, she pretty much stuffed her mouth!

And finally in case you all forgot, Ellie is "so big!" (notice her foot)

Thank-you to all who came to Ellie's party and for all the gifts (even the one from grandpa Steve and grandma Merrilee in Hong Kong)! She had a wonderful time and although SHE won't remember it, WE will!