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My friend Tricia tagged me for this post about your favorite or sentimental Christmas ornaments. I thought it was a fun idea since I love getting everything out to decorate the tree each year.

This is the first ornament that Mike gave me the first Christmas that we were married. The funny thing is that it was on the tree for at least 24 hours before I noticed, even though Mike had put it in a very obvious place…and it MOVES!!! I can’t believe I missed it, but it’s true.

In the photo above, the egg is a gift that was given to me by a friend of my mom’s when I was 5 years old. I just love it and think it’s so pretty.

The Mickey Mouse was given to us by Kim and Eddie in 2002. I love this guy because it makes me smile and think of them and their kids.

The cross we bought in China this March. I really wanted to find one there because of the other crosses we have collected, but man we got down to the wire before I found this one while shopping with Kiki at the Silk Market.

Nadia’s 2008 ornament is a drum. I embossed her name and the year on it. In the future she will be able to pick her own, but for this year I wanted something to represent her favorite thing…and drums is IT! (a close second would have been a pair of boots).

We got this bell in Solvang, California on a trip to introduce Mike to my family in CA when we were engaged in 1994.

These are of the yearly World Vision ornaments. So far I have Peace, Joy and Hope. The one for 2008 is Hope. Donors can get these by making a donation to the maximum impact fund. These obviously mean a lot to me because of my being a Child Ambassador for World Vision.

And like my friend Tricia, we handmade ornaments for friends and family the first few years we were married, but we no longer have any of them…if we even ever did. They may have gotten lost or broken, or we may have just given them all away and didn’t think to keep any for ourselves.

And I have to say that I am really looking forward to making ornaments with Nadia in the future.

Nadia went to the TCU early education music classes every Tuesday this semester. For the last day of class we were allowed to bring cameras. Nadia has totally loved the class and it has really brought out what some call her “inner drummer”. I think her favorite thing in the world right now is music. If we would sing to her for hours she would let us.

In class the theme was Bongos and most of the music on the CD featured drums in some way. The children were allowed to learn about and use all kinds of instruments this semester. Nadia was really shy for the first few weeks, but once she felt comfortable with all the kids and parents she really had a great time! Here are a few photos from our last class. The teachers often tell you to bounce the balls on different parts of your body to the beat. Nadia thought this was funny on our feet.

Her and Reagan had a blast all semester and we are signed up again for next semester. Plus 3 of Nadia’s other friends from playgroup will be in the same class. It’s going to be so much fun to know so many of the kids. Next semester is going to be “Bells” and I know she is just going to have a blast!

P.S. I am thankful for my friend Tricia telling me about the class, it turned out to be a wonderful time for Nadia.

Today we had a PJ/Book exchange party. Both the children and the mommies wore jammies and everyone brought a book that would be good for any gender. We also had a pot luck lunch and lots of laughs. I made up another batch of Pumpkin Spice lattes in the crockpot. YUM! And our friend Stephanie and her kids were there and had a blast, but until they are adopted we can’t put their photos out there.

I would love to make this a yearly tradition. Thanks Tricia for finding such a good idea for us!

Here we are opening the books.

P.S. For those of you who know me very well, the answer is “yes I had a hard time deciding which jammies to wear”

We have been busy with all the fun holiday happenings, so here is a little update and some photos of Nadia from last week. First little monkey needed a diaper change - notice the diaper is twice the size of him.

I was in the kitchen and heard a little voice yelling, “Mama, camera!” So of course I snapped a photo.

Getting ready to go shopping one evening.

Helping me make Christmas cards.

Worn out after a hard day of volunteer work on Friday. Next year I hope that she understands even more why we were out doing things for less fortunate children. So sweet that she fell asleep with her sunglasses on.

Anyone who has visited our house has met “The Babies”. These little guys (they are giraffes…though it’s hard to tell) are what Nadia needs at bedtime and naptime. Eddie and Kim gave the yellow one to us before we left for China and it was the toy I gave her in the Gotcha Day video shortly after we met her. She grew to love it and always wanted her “baby” at bedtime, and I therefore thought we should get another one in case it was lost. Well…you guessed it, they didn’t have anymore. Months later Target had it again in Green.

So we bought the green one and introduced it to Nadia for her to be used to seeing it, since it wasn’t exactly like the yellow one. Then, “baby” became “babies” and she had to have BOTH all the time. So we got ANOTHER green one and it’s hidden in the closet in case one of them gets lost or damaged.

So here is the Thankful part. I am thankful that our sweet girl wants to take care of her babies (and all her other stuffed animals) like we take care of her. When leaving to go Christmas shopping the other night she told me that the babies needed to take a nap on momma’s side of the bed. It’s cute that she sees them as hers to take care of. So I had to snap a photo.

Oh, and one little sidenote…she calls them “Yellow Baby” and “Green Baby” and does treat them slightly differently in a number of ways. For example, sometimes she will pretend she is taking a nap and wants you to pretend too. But of course that means you also need a baby. So, she will give you the yellow one to use, but she must always have the green one…you DON’T get to borrow that one.