Christmas Day!

Christmas was amazing! Lizzie has been beside herself with excitement for a while now. Christmas Eve, Guy's mother and sister stayed overnight so Lizzie spent the night in our bed. On Christmas morning, we were still sleeping at 8:30! I rolled over and whispered to Lizzie "Do you think Santa came?" She said to me, "I don't know", so I said, "go look"... she actually said, "I'm too tired, tell Daddy to go look!" Anyway, we finally got up and we all went down to the living room. She was so excited, she didn't know where to look first! The pictures will tell it all. Enjoy!

Milk and Cookies for Santa and some carrots for Rudolph and the other reindeer!

A little snack before bed...

Christmas Day!

Still more from December....

Couple of cute pictures before I continue....

On December 14, we went back to the Strasburg Railroad for the Santa Train Ride. It was the same train they use for the Thomas Train Ride. Santa came through and gave each child a little gift. They also had carolers walking through the train singing. It was really very nice and we really enjoyed ourselves. Just a few pictures!

(Almost forgot to mention, we got Lizzie's ears pierced again. We did have it done when she was about 18 months old, but it wasn't really successful...this time, she is doing really good and in about two weeks we can change out the earrings)

On December 17, Lizzie's class had a little Christmas show. The sang "I'm a Little Penguin" (I'm a Little Teapot) and Frosty the Snowman. It was really really cute.

More on next post.... :)

Final Post of 2008!

Well, there is much to catch up on since my last post.

Thanksgiving We spent a very nice Thanksgiving at Lisa and Rob's house. We had a great dinner and we all had a great time. Unfortunately, we didn't even think to take pictures!!

So, after Thanksgiving, we had the snowball to Christmas. We started the season with going to the mall on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and having Lizzie's Christmas pictures taken and the visit to Santa Claus! (We do have pictures of this!!). We had her pictures done at Sears this year. They were so good we bought the whole CD! Here are just a few of our favorites.

Here is Santa Picture 2009

Fall School Pictures

Teddy Bear Portraits came to school two weeks ago for the fall pictures! They turned out beautiful. She looks so big!!

Halloween!!!

Well, let's just say that Halloween in our next of the woods was very VERY exciting this year. As you may have heard, the Phillies won the World Series this year!!! Philadelphia through a spectacular parade on Halloween. The estimate was that at least 2 million people attended the parade. Here is the link to the pictures from the Philadelphia Inquirer. We didn't attend the parade, but the parade started right outside my office building. My firm held an open house for employees, families and clients and their families. Our day started by taking Lizzie to school in her costume, Sleeping Beauty so she could attend the Halloween parade and party. We dropped her off at school at 8:15 then came back for the parade at 11:00. After her party, we headed into Philadelphia to stop at my office for the party there. We got to my office around 1:30, had lunch and then headed back to New Jersey to get ready for trick or treat!

Miss Jannine

Ok. Now we our home for our costume change. She is transformed from Sleeping Beauty to Belle!

We visited our neighbors and had a wonderful dinner with them and then trick or treating with Aunt Lisa joining us! Lizzie got lots of candy, some of which I am taking to work!! She was so tired she fell right to sleep!

We had a fun and busy day!

We had a really fun and busy day!

Disneyland Adventure on Ice!

Well, we finally got to see a Disney Ice show. Disneyland Adventure on Ice came to the Wachovia Center this month. My sister, Aunt Lisa and I took Miss Lizzie. We had really good seats (second row from the ice). Spent too much money on Disney stuff, but had a great time! Now we are planning and waiting for Disney Princesses on Ice... coming between December 26th and January 4th!! Of course, Lizzie wore her Sleeping Beauty crown too!

My "Official" Birthday Party

Lizzie's birthday is September 20. So on September 20th our families came over to celebrate. Our very dear neighbors also came over. We had another Princess Themed party... Cinderella of course!

Lizzie had a wonderful time and we all collapsed afterwards!

Long Overdue Update!!

I know, don't say it. Here we go:

Lizzie's 4th Birthday: We can't believe that our baby is four years old! She has grown so fast. Now we know what it means when they say Time Flies!! Even though she is only four, she acts like a little old lady sometimes. She is definitely an old soul. She also is at that little girl stage where she talks constantly! Sometimes she talks so much I feel like my head is full of scrambled eggs. She questions everything and after we give her an answer we get "Why?" Truly it can be exhausting answering questions all the time, but listening to her little voice is so great. She has the sweetest little voice and her questions are always two or three minutes long!

Well, this year we had a separate kids party. We had the party at Build-A-Bear for about 10 kids. It was really fun. Each child got a bear and an outfit for the bear. We had a party host that stayed with us for the full hour. After the party at Build-A-Bear, we went to the mall's food court. We had pre-ordered food from Chick-Fil-A and saved some tables. There were lots of balloons and the kids really had a good time! The best part was that it wasn't at our house!! One thing you will notice, Lizzie is tiny compared to the other kids in her class. Her little boyfriend Anthonny, is the tallest!

Three Years Ago Today....

We finally got to see Lizzie's cute little face. Today was the day we finally got our referral. You can read the entry we made right after the referral call came and the pictures were emailed to us. The call came on Friday, September 2, 2005 at around 2:15 p.m. Our lives certainly changed that day! I didn't have a chance to post the pictures until two days later!

Our Mini-Vacation -- At Home!!

Lizzie has been asking us to go on vacation. We are not even sure she knows what vacation means. Anyway, we decided that Labor Day weekend would be our kinda sorta "vacation"!

On Friday, August 29th we took a family trip to Storybook Land. Storybook Land is an amusement park just for children that has been around for over 50 years. It is located outside of Atlantic City, New Jersey. All of the rides are child sized (but some adults can squeeze in). Well, Storybook Land was really really nice. It was a beautiful day, no crowds and we had a very nice time. Lizzie is still talking about how her favorite "vacation" was the horses (carousel ride). She wanted to go back the next day!

Unfortunately, the rest of our plans didn't happen this weekend. Guy has been sick for about two weeks and I of course, got it on Thursday. We are keeping our fingers crossed that Lizzie doesn't get it!

Here are some pictures from Storybook Land!

Summer School Pictures!

Here are Lizzie's new summer school pictures! Enjoy!

2008 Summer Olympics

I just had to write about the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Summer Olympics. I thought that they were just breathtaking! I guess because Lizze is from China, these Olympics hold a special place in our hearts. It was amazing watching TV and saying, we were there .. even though it seems like a lifetime ago.

Anyway, I decided I wanted to get some Olympic memorabilia to put away for Lizzie so I starting poking around the internet for the Olympic Mascots. I found them. Here are their pictures:





Like the Five Olympic Rings from which they draw their color and inspiration, Fuwa will serve as the Official Mascots of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, carrying a message of friendship and peace -- and good wishes from China -- to children all over the world.

Designed to express the playful qualities of five little children who form an intimate circle of friends, Fuwa also embody the natural characteristics of four of China's most popular animals -- the Fish, the Panda, the Tibetan Antelope, the Swallow -- and the Olympic Flame.

Each of Fuwa has a rhyming two-syllable name -- a traditional way of expressing affection for children in China. Beibei is the Fish, Jingjing is the Panda, Huanhuan is the Olympic Flame, Yingying is the Tibetan Antelope and Nini is the Swallow.

When you put their names together -- Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni -- they say "Welcome to Beijing," offering a warm invitation that reflects the mission of Fuwa as young ambassadors for the Olympic Games.

Fuwa also embody both the landscape and the dreams and aspirations of people from every part of the vast country of China. In their origins and their headpieces, you can see the five elements of nature -- the sea, forest, fire, earth and sky -- all stylistically rendered in ways that represent the deep traditional influences of Chinese folk art and ornamentation.

So, one of the Fuwa is named Beibei. That was name the nannies at the HengFeng orphanage used for Lizzie when she was there!! Here is a picture of Beibei:



In China's traditional culture and art, the fish and water designs are symbols of prosperity and harvest. And so Beibei carries the blessing of prosperity. A fish is also a symbol of surplus in Chinese culture, another measure of a good year and a good life.

The ornamental lines of the water-wave designs are taken from well-known Chinese paintings of the past. Among Fuwa, Beibei is known to be gentle and pure. Strong in water sports, she reflects the blue Olympic ring.

So now I am busy trying to find a plush Beibei for Lizzie!!

Singing Lizzie!

We finally got Lizzie on video singing! Enjoy!

Thomas the The Tank Engine Rules!!

On Saturday Guy and I took Lizzie to "A Day Out With Thomas". I don't think I could put into words how excited Lizzie was and how much fun we had! The pictures that are posted really don't show the sheer joy on her face!


It was a beautiful day, just the right temperature and not too humid! Our day started fairly early. We were on the road to Strausburg, Pennsylvania by 9:00 a.m.; our tickets were for 12:45 p.m. and it was about a 2 hour ride. We arrived a little after 11:00 and were surprised to find out that the primary parking lot was full. We followed the signs to additional parking and found that it was about 2 miles down the road at a farm. We parked there and they used school buses to take us back to the train station. Our bus was full with parents and children. As we were driving back to the station, everyone saw Thomas on the train tracks... the kids starting scream "Thomas", "there's Thomas!!" One of the parents shouted out..."Are the Beatles here!" The kids were just thrilled!


So, we are now at the station and there are literally hundreds of people there, parents, children and grandparents. Everyone was doing something. Standing in line for the next ride with Thomas, buying gifts, eating. It was really unbelievable. We got in line at 12:15 for our 12:45 ride. Everything was very organized and the children were all really well behaved.


As Thomas pulled into the station, all the children were waving and shouting!! We boarded the train and our ride started. Lizzie was just so excited (I will post the video once we download it). The train car was very elegant: velevet seats with beautiful hanging lighting. The conductors had old fashioned uniforms on and were just great with the children. The ride lasted about 20 minutes and went through all of the beautiful Lancaster, Amish farms. Lizzie got really excited when we saw cows outside of the windows!


When we finally pulled back into the station, we headed right to the Thomas store....well, $50 later... LOL! By this point, Lizzie was very tired and had a little melt down in the store. We decided it was time to leave. We headed back to the bus and back to our car. We both thought Lizzie would fall right asleep...NOT... she was still so excited. She kept saying her favorite part was when Mommy and Daddy and Lizzie were all riding Thomas and she said she had the best day! Then she wanted to know if we were coming back tomorrow!


Here are some pictures... enjoy! I will post some video later in the week.

Bathing Beauty!

Ok, the weather here in the mid-Atlantic is hot. Not just hot, but hot and humid.. the deadly duo. So yesterday, while shopping at Target, I picked up a 6' blow up pool. My sister, Lisa, bought us an electric air pump -- thank God! Anyway, we went outside this morning around 9:30 (not kidding) to get it set up. We went outside early because once the sun hits our patio around 11:30 am or so, the back of our house turns into a supernova! Anyway, Guy set up the pool, filled it with water, and Lizzie was out there splashing around by 10:00. It was actually pretty nice outside then. There was a nice breeze and we were in the shade. By 10:30, the humidity started to really kick in. Lizzie was still having fun so we stayed out for a little longer. By 11:30, we were getting ready to come in .. it was actually getting hard to breathe outside.

Of course, we took pictures! Here you go.... this is the first year Lizzie didn't need a pull-up in the bathing suit!! As you can see, the bathing suit is a little big!!

Just to Keep you on your Toes... Here is another post!

Just a couple of pictures from the weekend. You will see, we didn't do much...but sleep! Here is Lizzie sleeping. I call this picture "Lizzie's World". It is her room with captions.

The rest of these pictures were taken tonight after Lizzie's bath. Her hair kind of looked like "That Girl" !

Long Over Due Update Continued....

Ok, so I left off in March with some Easter pictures. We spent Easter at my parent's house and then went to visit Guy's Mother. We were home early, which was good since we both had to work the next day. Lizzie got candy from everyone, which wasn't too good. We kept some, but most of it went to work with me to give to the masses.

Continuing in March... Lizzie's school had a "Spring Formal". All the children came to school all dressed up for their dance. They had a nice little lunch and then the children did a little dance. Here is a picture of Lizzie and her "boyfriend" who she says she is going to marry and have 14 children. The girls will be named Mommy and the boys after her "boyfriend". I have hidden his face, but he is only 7 months older than Lizzie and he towers over her!

April was a slow month. Guy and I celebrated 15 years of marriage. We actually went out to dinner by ourselves and Lizzie stayed over night with her Aunt Fran and Uncle Lance. No pictures though!

May

Well, May brought us Mother's Day. We hosted our mothers and family on the Saturday before Mother's Day for a brunch. It was very nice and Lisa and I made some great food.

Lizzie, Aunt Lisa and I made some cupcakes and Lizzie really enjoyed icing and decorating them too! Here are the cupcake pictures and of course, more pictures of Lizzie!

Two weeks ago, we took our annual ride to Hazelton, Pennsylvania to visit Guy's relatives. It was a very nice ride and visit.

These pictures of are Lizzie, of course, she is trying on some new dresses and brace yourself, I have also put a picture of me! Yes, I actually do exist. Since my lapband surgery in January, I have lost 44 pounds. I am down a whole size in clothing .. which feels really nice!

We also went to Build-A-Bear for the first time and went to town. We thought Lizzie was going to want a little puppy, because she has been asking for a dog, but she surprised us and went for a cat. The cat is now named Princess Kitty. We got a couple of outfits, one of which being a "Little Mermaid" outfit. Well, it came with a red wig. The pictures speak for themselves!

Well, I hope I have made up for my lack of blogging for the past couple of months. I could promise to update more often, but I just don't know if I can keep that promise!!

Kelly, I miss you!!

Cathy

Ok, Three Months Is A Little Long Between Posts....

Once again, it has been a while since I posted ..... once again, I am sorry. No excuses! Get ready for some updates:

March

Well, in March we our one and only snow fall of Winter 2008. In reality, it could barely be classified as snow. Nevertheless, Guy got out there to shovel and Lizzie was right behind him "helping".

Next, we had our Early Easter....and typical unpredictable weather here in the mid-Atlantic, it was cold...cold enough for Winter coats (with a Spring time hat!!)

Well, it is almost 10:30 and I am tired. I promise I will finish the update tomorrow!! Here is a tidbit... Lizzie had a Spring dance at school...formal!

That's it for now! Cathy

Almost Forgot to Mention....

I had weightloss surgeryon January 17 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. The surgery I chose was Lap Band surgery. To date, I have lost 33 pounds! I have found clothes in my closet that still had tags on them. You know, you buy clothes, bring them home and then realize that they don't quite fit. I have gone down a whole size! I am not ready to divulge my starting or current weight yet, maybe in another 50 pounds or so!!

Cathy

Great New Show on Nick Jr.!

This morning we watched this great new show on Nick Jr. It is called Ni Hao, Kai-lan. "Ni hao!" That means "hi" in Chinese--and that's how Kai-lan greets you every day! Kai-lan Chow is an exuberant Chinese-American preschooler, almost 6, who wants you to come play with her and her best friends. Kai-lan's world is infused with Chinese culture and is brimming with magical sights and sounds, and everywhere you turn there's something amazing and beautiful to see. Along the way, she and her bilingual buddies speak in English and Chinese, but they always need kids' help to find creative solutions to the daily dilemmas that come their way!

Lizzie absolutely loved the show. She was mesmorized!! I think she like it better than Dora. They teach Mandarin and learn Chinese customs!

Chinese New Year Dinner

Happy Chinese New Year -- The Year of the Rat 2008!

Today our family got together at the Mandarin Court Chinese Restaurant in New Jersey to celebrate the Year of the Rat with a special meal. We all had a wonderful time. Lizzie wore a special chinese outfit and she looked absolutely beautiful!

















The next post will have additional photos from our dinner! Enjoy