Christmas Program & Party {Sunday Snapshot}

This past Thursday, Milo's daycare held their annual Christmas program. All the kids practice singing Christmas carols & put on a small performance for their families & friends. Xandra participated last year, and was not at all happy that she couldn't participate this year. She tried her darndest to sneak up onto stage with some of her friends. Multiple times. 

She made it up to the top step before she got caught once again!

But this was Milo's night.

This was the first time we really got little man all dressed up. Isn't he adorable in his little sweater vest?
(Matt hates sweater vests!)

He just cracks me up with his stance. 

Rolling around on the floor when he got bored trying to sit still for others' songs.

Yes, we know this boy is in desperate need of a haircut.
But his hair is sooo soft & I just love running my hands though it!!  :)

He did really well, all things considered. He got up on stage with his teachers & friends. There were so many other kids who got up there, and came back down crying. Not our boy. He stayed up there the whole time! No stage fright for him! 

Xandra was a little upset with him because he wasn't signing. I had to explain to her that Milo is still learning to talk, so we didn't expect him to sing. :) But he did enjoy ringing the bell they gave him. I have a bunch of pictures of him & his class on stage, but there are so many other kids in the shot & I don't want to mess with anyone's privacy. So we'll just keep those to ourselves. 

And yesterday, we got to celebrate Christmas with our local FCC (Families with Children from China). I love our group so much!! Xandra & I have been going to the FCC playgroup for about a year & a half. So this is our 2nd Christmas party with them, though Matt didn't come with X & me last year. This was Matt's & Milo's first time. We all had such a good time!!

Our friends kiddos (Cullen & Keiran).

We were supposed to have a visit from Santa, but he unfortunately got very sick. Since we wanted to make sure he would be well enough for next weekend's BIG visit, we got the oldest kid of the bunch (Cullen) to be our elf! :)

The kiddos helped decorate a Christmas tree (1 of 5 in our lovely host's house)

And then the kiddos tore into the presents!! The kiddos were all very spoiled!! We came home with superhero capes, games, stuffed animals, dolls, & the hit of the day with everyone- marshmallow guns!! The kiddos got the hang of how to use them, and then began having "planning sessions" in a bedroom. Then they would all come stealthily out of the room & try to attack the adults!! They had so much fun! 

*Matt frequently was part of the whole thing- as much a kid as the others! I believe he will be confiscating Milo's gun (since he doesn't quite understand it yet), and having a blast with it. :)

Our days have been busy as usual- Matt & I have thankfully finished our shopping. We I just need to wrap everything up & get it ready for the big day. 

Xandra is now off school for Christmas break. And Milo will be as of this Thursday. 

It's always crazy with the kiddos home, but I'm hoping to be able to get a bunch more pics while I have so much time with them! I was able to rent a new camera lens, so I can decide if it's something I'd like to buy. I'm having lots of fun with it, but also realizing there's a learning curve to it. So, a lot of my pics are a little blurry :(  Hopefully, I'll be ready for Christmas morning... 

For more wonderful pictures & blog posts, click the link below!!

My Schedule Runneth Over

**Before I begin this post - please forgive me for using only stock photos. It's been crazy busy around here & the nasty weather has not allowed for many photo-ops.**

Today will be my last exam of the semester. Hallelujah!! I managed to pull a B out of my Anatomy class, even after my disaster of last week. That's a HUGE weight lifted off my shoulders... and another one has replaced it. Now I really need to decide if Sonography really is the way I want to go. I like the idea of it, but it's a crazy-competitive program. I spoke to three of my instructors yesterday to determine if I should switch my program to Radiology. It's a shorter program initially, though I could add other specialties (making myself more marketable), and it's a lot less competitive to get into. Hmmm... And I need to decide by Friday.

This, of course, is our next task. Matt asked me to write up a "To-Do" list so he could help me out (awwww!!). As much as I love the idea of this, I just don't know if I can really sit down & get out (legibly & rationally) all of the *need to do* thoughts sprinting through my head!

My incredible friends at our local FCC have been more than helpful! If I had enough time to stop & think about all of their generosity, I'm sure I'd break down in tears. We got 2 huge (I'm talking those massively large leaf bags) full of boys' clothing. These bags were so stuffed-full, we couldn't even close them! And HEAVY!! We also got an incredible baby carrier (all the bells & whistles on this thing!), space bags, money belts, and a airline child seatbelt. Wow! These families are so generous!!

One of Matt's friends also gave us a huge box full of boy's clothing! Our friends are so amazing!! I can't even put into words how grateful we are. It's amazing how many people are supporting us through this journey!

Of course, we're not content to do one thing at a time. That's so not our style! Nope- in the middle of this mad packing, we're having a birthday party for Xandra! She'll be celebrating her real birthday while we're in China (how exciting!), but we wanted to make sure she got her special time before we left. So, she will get to have her first "friend" party this weekend. She's so excited! We're going bowling. I have to admit, I'm excited too :)

FCC Chinese New Year

The Dragon that led the kids' parade

Xandra got a *little* overwhelmed with all the noise-makers at the end!

Danielle (left) & Kieren (right) - some of our friends from our FCC group

We had a great time at the Chinese New Year Celebration last night!! Unfortunately, my camera decided to get an attitude with me (as well as Xandra), so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted.

We had debated up until the last minute whether we would be able to go to the event, because the weather was awful! It was combo-snowing/sleeting as we drove the 40 minutes to get to the party. Matt was initially not thrilled about going. I think he was just really worried about the streets getting bad. And I'd had to wake Xandra a little early from her nap so we could leave early enough to compensate for the bad roads. So, I was the only one really excited to be going...

It took a while to get into the mood of the evening (cranky kid, and somewhat cranky husband). But as soon as the food was (*finally!*) served, we had a great time! Matt & I haven't had Chinese food for quite some time & Xandra's never had it before. (Quick back story: Matt & I had Chinese food on New Year's a number of years back, and we both came down with either a stomach bug or food poisoning the next day. Chinese food does not taste good coming out the wrong way... ) It was really good food, although Xandra pretty much only ate noodles & a couple bites of chicken & broccoli (pretty good for her!).

The best part of the evening was the tail end- the children's parade with the Dragon! We'd had to almost hold Xandra in her seat most of the evening - she was dying to go running around the "ballroom" like she was seeing other kids doing. Too bad for her, her parents are strict. We didn't want her to get into or cause any trouble. But when it was time for the children's parade, that's exactly what she was finally able to do. She was really happy, but got a slight bit overwhelmed with the loud noise-makers. She kept running back to me yelling to me that it was too loud in there! :)

Matt couldn't stop commenting for most of the night (& even today) about how absolutely beautiful all the kids were. He kept looking around & turning to me saying "There's not one child here I wouldn't snatch up in a heartbeat. They're all so beautiful!" I couldn't agree more! It was like a "Cute-ness Overload!"

Matt & I have ever-so-briefly touched on wanting to adopt again in the future. I admitted to him last night that I really want to get a sister for Xandra. Obviously, we need to complete Milo's adoption first. And we both need to complete our education & get on track with our new careers, but then I really want to do this again! We would most definitely choose a different agency to go through, but I'm actually looking forward to everything falling in place, and going again!