Meeting the Big Guy

We took the girls to see Santa on Saturday. Victoria sat right on his lap and told him a few things she wanted. She told him the one thing which she has been saying over and over that she wants, which is a phone - go figure. The other things she mostly repeated what Morgan was saying.

Then after we were done, as we were walking away she looked up at me with almost teary eyes and said "where's the presents". Poor thing! We have been telling her about how Santa will bring her presents and so she expected that after she saw him and told him what she wanted that he would give it to her right then and there - LOL. I had to explain that she was just telling him so he knew what she wanted and now he would go back to the North Pole and get the gifts together and bring them to her house on Christmas.

It is so special to "re-experience" the holidays for the first time through her eyes.

Here is the picture (it is scanned, so the quality isn't too great).

Christmas cards sent

I finally sent my Christmas cards! I am usually one of those people that mails them out the first few days of December, so I feel like I'm running behind this year. I usually have Morgan's pictures done professionally and send out really nice cards. This year I cut it back a little. The cards are still nice, but I decided to just take the pictures myself. Victoria is so shy around strangers still that I thought I would be wasting my money to try and get their pictures done. I will wait a few months and then take them.

We went to Longwood Gardens a couple weekends ago and I am using some pictures from that day for the cards. There were a lot that I liked, but these are the ones I used for the cards.

** People tell me a lot that the girls look alike. I noticed in these pictures that they even act alike - notice their hands in some of the pictures. I never told them to hold their hands, but they both do exactly the same thing.

A wonderful weekend of firsts

We had an awesome weekend!


On Saturday Joe took Victoria to get her ears pierced while I had Morgan at cheerleading practice. She was so excited. She had been asking to get her ears pierced and he said she did really well. She didn't even cry. We had warned her ahead of time that it would hurt and she told me "it little bit ouch", but otherwise was okay. She now has very pretty ruby earrings (her birthstone).


But, Sunday was the really big day of our weekend. We started out bright and early for a girl's day in New York City. It was me and the girls, along with their cousin Kayla and her mom and their friend Ava and her mom. All four of them are pretty close in age (from 4 to 6). We took the train, and it was Victoria's first train ride. We went up to go see the new Disney movie, The Princess and the Frog, which comes out this Friday. They had preshowings for the last few weeks in New York and Los Angeles. This was Victoria's first time seeing a movie in the movie theater. She really enjoyed the movie (we all did). After the movie, they had what was called the "Ultimate Disney Experience". It was at the Roseland Ballroom and it was a lot of fun. They had a play area, a craft area (all themed like the movie), and best of all meet and greets with all of the disney princesses (including the new princess from the movie Princess Tiana). This was Victoria's first time meeting the princesses and she had a wonderful time. Cinderella was her favorite.



After all of that we grabbed something to eat and then went to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and of course had to stop in American Girl (since it is just about right across the street from Rockefeller Center). Morgan loves American Girl and Victoria did too. She wanted everything in the store of course - LOL.


Everyone was really tired after a long wonderful day, so we headed back to the train station to come home. Then, to top it all off, when we got home Morgan lost her very first tooth!!! Because, after a day like that it only seemed fitting that a fairy come to visit our house.


Outside of the movie at Ziegfeld Theater (Morgan on the left in the off white coat, Victoria on the right in the maroon coat)





Tiana





Aurora



Mulan



Cinderella



Snow White



Belle



Pocahontas





Jasmine

Ariel




Me and the girls in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center (not the best picture as I was trying to hold both of them up and all of my bags - LOL)



Outside of American Girl

Sisters

I sat down last week on Thanksgiving to try to write a post about what I am thankful for. As I sat here, I was a little overwhelmed by it all and just couldn't find the right words. I could have written pages of things to be thankful for, but I couldn't sum it all up in a way that would do justice to the joy that my heart feels. We are blessed beyond measure and I feel that especially this year. I thank God every day for these two wonderful girls He has given me.

When I took these pictures the other day I realized they sum up perfectly what I am thankful for.

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. My heart has been touched by orphans with HIV. I made a little video of some orphans in Eastern Europe that are HIV positive. Not all of the children in the video are available for adoption, but many of them are. If you see a child that you want more information on, please let me know and I will try to point you in the right direction.

** Mute the music on my blog before playing the video.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Straight A's

Morgan got her first real report card today (since Kindergarten doesn't really count) and she got all A's! I am really, really proud of her. Her teacher said she is a pleasure to have in class and she is doing very well. It's nice to hear that with all that has happened in her world in the last few months that she is still a happy, well adjusted child that is doing well in school.

Thank you all

I just wanted to say thank you all for the prayers and well wishes for Victoria.

I did want to stress that Victoria is in no pain at all. She is mildly itchy but it seems to be under control with the prednisone and some benadryl before bed. She is actually back to her old self as far as energy, being happy and her appetite. The week on the medicine was bad, but the last few days (other than the rash) have really been good for her.

While it is extremely hard for me to see my baby girl like this, I really have to give a lot of credit to our wonderful medical team for helping me get through this. I am able to stay calm for her and help her get through all of this because of their support and reassurance. I also truly feel that they care about Victoria which makes me know that they really have her best interests in mind. You don't always find that with doctors, so we are really blessed. They even called first thing this morning to see how she was doing.

So, between the medical team, my friends, family and the prayers and support of my online friends, we are all getting through all of this without too much stress!