Party Time Again!

Last weekend we had a party with Daddy's family at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had another fun day. Yummy turkey lunch ("mmm"...thank you Grandma), played with cousins, and opened more gifts. I can't believe how everyone spoils our little girl.

Daddy and Grandma carved the turkey while Hope, Mitchell, and Great-Grandma had some tinkering to do. Nicholas wasn't too excited about all of it just yet.























A wonderful woman from our church made Hope's cake for this party. It was pretty tasty. Hope couldn't wait for it to be cut. She decided to help herself to a quick spoonful of the pink frosting before we could get it out of reach.


Here are pictures of more fun with hats, Great-Grandma, and a little bling from Uncle Brian and Aunt Tami. A girl can never have too many sparkles. :)

































We thought we'd try for a "cousins" photo.


Maybe Great-Grandma can help.

"A" for effort?

Time for a quick run around the yard and a ride with Grandpa.


Who's driving?

I ordered Hope's dress from Robin at Red Thread Stitches. Here are a few more pictures I took of her playing that day. There are a couple from church that morning and the others were taken at Grandma and Grandpa's house after the party.

She takes my breath away.

Birthday Girl

WATCH OUT!!! This girl is 2!!! I can't believe that a year has passed since Hope joined our family and we celebrated her 1st birthday in China. She's such a beautiful girl and brings such joy to our lives and everyone she meets.

Two weeks ago we celebrated Hope's 2nd birthday (the 1st time). We had some scheduling issues with trying to plan everything so we ended up having two parties. The first was on Saturday the 14th. Uncle Mark and Aunt Andria came up from Arena for a quick overnight visit.
Hope was pretty excited to see them!

Of course Stella came, too. :)

Hope got her 2nd haircut.




We had a yummy grilled chicken lunch ("mmm"...Thank You Daddy) and enjoyed Mom's attempt at birthday cupcake baking (still "mmm"...but MESSY).



After lunch we opened presents on the patio. It was cute how Hope set everything up so she was so on display. Of course most of the adults wanted to sit in the shade so it sort of naturally worked out this way, but Hope set up her own table and chair.



































These are a couple of my favorite photos from the day. This girl is so fashion forward!


One of the gifts from Uncle Mark and Aunt Andria came in the mail on Monday. Since it wasn't here for the party, we made sure to take extra photos. We opened it together with Ron when he got home from work.
Hope LOVED it!

























Where did your hair bow go?

OH :)





I think she's ready for a night in the great outdoors!

May Videos

Here are a bunch of Hope & Olivia videos to go with the May updates.

"WEE" - Remember what I said about the tire swing being entertaining? Check this out.

"Green Mill Giggles" - The girls were so funny, copying each other and taking turns laughing.

"Just Playing"

"Taking Turns Making Noise"

"Ring Around the Rosie"

"Piano Wiggles"

Gotcha!

June 4 was the anniversary of our 'Gotcha' day.
This was the very first family photo we took in Nanning the afternoon we met Hope.

This was our attempt to recreate it.



I couldn't let this day go by without a few more shots.
Here she is in all her cuteness.