Why, yes it is a new post.....

I knew all of you were tired of looking at my mug, so since all of you come here solely for pics of the children, I can say I have now appeased the masses.

Obviously by the pictures, it was Brooklyn's 2nd birthday a few weeks ago. It was her first bday with us, and the last of our "firsts" with her. Then August 29th was the anniversary of when Brooklyn was placed into our family. Of course the day after that was also significant- she had been with our family longer than she had been in an orphanage. So boomboomboom non-stop celebrations. This year has been full of joy, but also a long year of adjustments for both her and I. I promise I will elaborate more on the adjustments at a later time. It really is hard to believe that one year ago we were in China. It truly was the trip of a lifetime.

So the birthday party. It couldn't have been more beautiful. We had family and close friends over to celebrate with us. She enjoyed chowing down slice after slice of pizza, playing with her friends, making sure she socialized with the adults, and ripping open presents. She now fully understands the concept of opening presents. Christmas will be even more fun this year.

She has played with every single toy she received and has worn every outfit given to her. Not to my surprise, her favorite toy was the asian baby doll we got for her. (Don't get me started on how difficult it was to find an asian babydoll!) She will not put her baby down. In fact she is the only baby Brooklyn will even hold now.

Stay tuned because shortly (!!) I will be posting more pictures of the day we had today---the zoo! My favorite part of the day was watching my kids and hearing them laugh, play together, and then break out in little screams of excitement. Can't get any better than that.