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A couple of weeks ago we went to a charity fundraiser that was called “High Tea with Santa and Mrs. Claus” It was the most adorable thing and they had Colonial Country Club decorated with all sorts of Christmas Trees. For the children they had a buffet table that was their size with snacks and fruit. They also had hot cocoa and spiced cider.  There were truffles at every seat in addition to coloring pages for the kids while the Grinch Who Stole Christmas was in the background.

They had a whole bunch of activities set up, but the first thing Nadia wanted to do was meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. The people who were playing the parts were perfect! They were totally in character and did such a good job with the kids. Nadia knows that Santa is just a storybook character so she gave him a funny look when he asked what she wanted him to bring her for Christmas. She did end up telling them “I just want my sister.” Which led them to ask me questions and I told them that we were going to adopt a little girl from China soon. Mrs. Claus gave Nadia a lollipop and they posed for a photo and she was good to go.

Then Nadia made Reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn so they have something to eat on Christmas Eve. Nadia really enjoyed this and we already sprinkled it on the lawn. She wants us to make another batch with more glitter to put out on Christmas eve in case the birds eat what is out there already

Grammie came with us and said that she enjoyed every minute of the event.

Emily brought her boys and they were so cute running around.

They also had a Flip Book station set up. Nadia did not want to do one with me until she saw me do one with my “mommy friends”. They both turned out really cute and it’s such a fun thing to do. Kerrie and her daughter made a book and I snapped a photo while they were being filmed.

Oh my list could be gigantic but here we go.

• For Mike and Nadia, oh how I love them.
• For Amelie Wang Lei waiting for us in Ningxia.
• For my family and friends.
• For Scottish Rite accepting Amelie for her hand surgeries.
• For our church and all the wonderful people we have met there.
• For the HUGE success of my water well birthday fundraiser. 2 full wells!
• For our house, cars, food and everything else in our life that makes our life so easy.
• For organizations like World Vision and International Justice Mission that are making a difference around the world.
• For my KIDS HOPE mentors.

I picked this cookie pop craft kit for .90 after Halloween. Nadia and I had so much fun putting these together.

Prep time. (notice that all the Zhu Zhu’s are watching)

First one done.

By the end Nadia was doing everything herself. She even had the twist of the decorator bag going on!

Close up shot of the one she did herself from start to finish.

The day before Halloween we decided to go to Grapevine Mills Mall for their trick or treating. Nadia wanted to wear her dragon costume from last year and we headed over. When we were getting out of the car she said, “I hope no one steals my stuff.” And I said, “Who would steal anything from you?” Nadia said, “Emperor Zurg!” (from Toy Story) We had a good laugh about that and headed in.

Most of the candy was gone by the time we got there, but we went ahead and walked the mall and bought some popcorn. As we came up on the Rocky Mountain Candy company I asked Nadia if she wanted to share a caramel apple. She said “YES!” and we sat down on a bench to eat it. A while before this she had asked to take off the top of her dragon costume because she was hot and I set it behind me on the bench. After eating we went to wash our hands in the bathroom and left the mall. Once we were on the road I realized we didn’t have the Dragon top. So Mike turned around and dropped me at the entrance again. I asked customer service if anyone had turned in the costume and they said no. So I ran back to the bench where we ate and it was gone.

I walked back to the candy store to see if I left it there. No. I went to the bathroom to check. No. Customer Service asked security to check their lost and found. No.

It was gone and I asked myself, “Who would STEAL a child’s costume the night before Halloween?” And not a complete costume because Nadia still had the pants on. But Nadia had a great attitude and said, “It’s okay, it’s just a costume.” Several times over the next week she commented that it was sad that someone took her costume and what were they going to do with no pants?

The ironic thing about the whole night and why I am blogging now is that we started our trip to the mall with her mentioning someone stealing something. When that has never happened to us!