3 years!!

Three years.

It's been three years today that Richard and I met Gracie Joy in China. 

Hard to believe.

What a little firecracker...then, and now. 

 

Here are a few pics we took last night to document this day.  This is her Elsa nightgown.  She LOVES this nightgown, although she really uses it to dress up instead of sleep :)  She told me yesterday that I should have named her "little Elsa" lol...  I think a "real" Elsa dress might be on the Christmas list this year!

 Gracie Joy...we are so thankful that God chose us to be your family.  We would not know what to do without you!

 

I walked in my room yesterday and this is what I found :)  This is our sweet new addition Hazel!  I have not posted about her yet, but I will.  She is such an amazing dog.  She lets these girls do all sorts of things.  Yesterday...she was Princess Hazel :)

Gracie's Birthday Party, Part 2

More (lots more) from Gracie's party!  I don't think there are any captions needed for these pics.  Gracie's face says it all!

 

Sweet Sara...our friend who was adopted last year from India.  What a little joy she is!!!

This was the first year the girls had their own birthday parties, with their friends.  They loved every second of it...and I love that I have an amazing group of friends that I can text 2 days before the party and they show up!!  :)

Gracie's Birthday Party (part 1)

You'd be hard pressed to find a little girl who loves her birthday more than Gracie.  Of course, every child loves her special day.  Gracie just takes it to another level...of course, Gracie takes everything to another level! :)

I have tons of pics to post from this party.  It was pulled together in 2 days, and was everything Miss Gracie had imagined. 

The party was at a "pretend play" place.  Everyone seemed to have a good time... young and old!




Richard worked hard on the Lincoln logs!

The boys found a checker's game.

And Gracie found a stage!  Go figure!!






Of course, we had to do the Frozen theme again!














Happy Birthday to you...


Happy Birthday to you...


Happy Birthday...



to Gracie...



Happy Birthday....


to you....


Ahhhhh......




Gracie had to steal Olaf's teeth :)


I know there are way too many pics here, but I just can't help it.  I don't ever want to forget how excited she gets when we sing "Happy Birthday" to her... So fun!

My goal is to finish blogging April by the end of May!  I know I'm behind, but wow has life been busy!!  So good....but SO busy!! 

Gracie is SIX!!

I cannot lie...this child absolutely takes my breath away. She is so full of joy at all times.  It is amazing! 


I love this set of images because she was literally doing cartwheels all over the yard 30 seconds before.  I threw the tutu on over her shorts and stuck a headband in her hair!  Her hair is stringy because it was not combed...and I love it.  This is Gracie...a natural beauty.










I won't lie about the other side of Gracie either...maddening!!  lol... There are times that I want to sit on her to get her to stay still!! 

This morning we all went into the girls room and woke them up singing "Happy Birthday" to Gracie.  She sleeps completely covered with her blankets, so as she emerged, it took her about half the song to wake up enough to understand what we were doing.  When it hit her, she got the biggest smile on her face I have ever seen.  It doesn't take much to make her happy... in fact, it doesn't really take anything.  She just is....happy.  She opened a few gifts from us and said "This is the best birthday party...ever!"  We are going to have a party for her, but honestly, I wouldn't have to. 

I pray, somehow, her birthmom knows that she is healthy, thriving, and happy!  I wish, somehow, I could thank her for choosing life for Gracie six years ago.

Theme for the New Year?

I hope it isn't, but I'm afraid it might be!  I knew Wesleigh's top two teeth are loose.  In fact, I am not happy about it at all!  I have been dreading the inevitable "snaggletooth" phase :(  I told her she has to wait until her birthday (Feb 12) to pull it, but I don't think it's going to stay in that long.

But...that's another story!  The real story here is that Gracie lost her first tooth Friday (Jan. 3)!!  I had wiggled her teeth many times, but none of us knew her bottom teeth were even loose... not even her!  Braden was home with the girls and Gracie walked in crying with her mouth bleeding.  She was biting on a blanket and it came out.  Braden had to call Richard to get him to talk Gracie off the cliff :)  She was not happy at first, but when she realized this meant a visit from the tooth fairy for her...she changed her tune!!


The tooth fairy came through with a special pixie dust dollar, and a sprinkle of pixie dust on the bed :) I have to say, at 11:00 that night when the tooth fairy remembered she had a special job to do, she was not very happy! But seeing this precious smile makes it so special :) I have a feeling though, that the tooth fairy had better be prepared to make multiple visits to this house this year! She'd better make sure she has a stash of pixie dust dollars on hand!!!