Christmas

We celebrated Christmas Eve at home with about 30 friends and family. It was a fun night and Lily was able to meet more family. The kids could wait no longer for Christmas morning and after laying out cookies and sprinkling Reindeer food on the front lawn it was off to bed. Christmas morning was great and the boys were so excited. Lily is still to young to understand what the hoopla was about but enjoyed the wrapping paper. Christmas afternoon was spent at my parents house and the boys had a blast with their cousins. Lily was great all day and continues to bring so much joy to our family. The last two Holiday seasons were difficult..there was just a void and every time I looked at our family picture I knew someone was missing. I LOVE taking family pictures because I know my family is together. I still have friends waiting and I remember how hard it is and all I can say is don't give up because your baby is waiting for you!

Christmas Eve photo

Shea LOVES his new Patriot uniform from Uncle Brian and Aunt Kate

Nans and Papa with all 8 of their grand kids.

Lily enjoying the wrapping paper!

Bryce trying out his new Smart Cycle

Family photo on Christmas Day with our family clown, Bryce, in the back.

Look Who Came Knocking!!

We were all dressed in our PJ's and getting ready for bed when there was a knock on the door. Imagine our surprise when we saw Santa standing there with a bag of gifts! The boys could barely contain themselves and Shea was just giddy. Shea LOVES Christmas and you can see the joy in his eyes as his sits with Santa. A six year old at Christmas is truly magical! Lily even decided she would give the big guy a chance. A few weeks back she wanted nothing to do with Santa but tonight she thought he was kinda cool. We are all very excited for what's to come this week but unfortunately Lily is a teething mess. Hopefully Lily will get some teeth for Christmas!

The boys and their cousins getting ready to make Christmas cookies.


Lily can now clap!!

Lily clapping for herself with her Nana Donna after spilling all the sprinkles onto the counter!

The Fun Continues

Its been kind of a whirlwind since we've been home but I am starting to feel like that even in the middle of Christmas preparations that the new normal is starting to come together. Lily continues to do great! In the past week teething has really begun and the drool is never ending. I think one of these days a tooth just may appear in her mouth. Lily can stand on her own although much prefers to be on all fours crawling around. The most exciting thing that has happened is she is beginning to point..this is a big developmental milestone and as a special needs teacher one that I eagerly await! I think she may even be getting on some sort of nap schedule which makes for a very happy baby and even happier mommy. This past weekend we started some of our Christmas traditions and it is so nice to really be in the spirit after the last 3 years of waiting. This year I can truly feel the joy and not think about the baby that is missing..I have all my babies home with me this Christmas!!

Picking out the Christmas tree. This year Bryce;s tree was picked!

Teething on her doll's bottle. I have her dressed in her Hannah Andersen dress..just one of those things I could not wait to do. The dress and leggings just scream out girl to me!


Shea, Lily and Bryce with their cousin Tommy. The first picture with all 4 Devine cousins together. Lily is obviously the princess around all these boys!

I LOVE this ornament because I still love seeing Lily's name in print!

The kids in their Christmas pajamas after decorating the tree. Bryce loves to have his hands on his sister and I am always telling him to be gentle. The funny thing is that the harder Bryce plays with his sister the bigger the laugh we get from Lily! She was so meant to have 2 big brothers!!

It's a Girl Thing

The boys just can't understand why Lily has so many shoes and all I can say is "its a girl thing". In China you can buy squeaky shoes (really cute shoes that squeak when the babies walk) for around $3.00; so that meant I had to buy like 10 pairs! I have a few different sizes and styles and we will be getting our wear out of them! Lily LOVES her shoe basket and really enjoys playing with them. I just have to say that after 6 years of trucks I am more than happy to play with a few pairs of shoes! Lily continues to be just a bundle of joy. She is so happy and easy going and just makes me smile all day. Her smiles come a lot easier now and she always has one for the men in her life; aka daddy and brothers!
Lily attended her friend Lia's second birthday last weekend. Lia's mom and dad are one of the "99ers" and she came home last December with Caroline and Sophia. Now that Lily and Wren (mom and Dad are Dave and Sandy from our trip) are home we finally had a chance to get a group photo and it was hilarious. The girls had matching dresses and we tried to do a red couch photo on the Bordens brown couch. It was so heart warming to see all five girls together and I couldn't help but think that exactly a year ago on 11/30/07 we had a Birthday dinner and send off for the 99ers that were leaving in a few days to get their girls. A year lady the party had a much different feeling with 5 babies crawling and walking around!


Wren, Caroline, Sophia, Lia and Lily