Christmastime!!!!!

My *F*A*V*O*R*I*T*E* time of year. Did you catch that? Yep, favorite. I am SOOOOOOOOOO happy it is cold outside, Christmas decorations are up (mine too!!) and shoppers are out in full force. I never knew how much fun it is to wrap a child's presents while they napped. I was smiling ear-to-ear wrapping the munchkin's presents while she slept this afternoon. She has Christmas pajamas. And yes of course there is a picture below!!

We have just been trying to keep up with the holiday madness. Decorating my house took a few days this year, as opposed to the ONE BIG DAY I usually do. It's hard to do anything when Little Miss is awake. But that's ok, I have found out how much I love playing "shopping cart" and "Mister Bear" and blocks. It's pretty awesome. But I go into power mode when she falls asleep! It's the only time I get *alltheotherstuff* done. You know, cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, blah blah blah. Anyway, we had our second post-placement visit a couple of weeks ago, that went really well. We are hoping to finalize the adoption in March of 2011. We gather all the necessary documents and go to a court hearing with our social worker and the judge declares Emma legally ours forever!!!! Then I apply for her citizenship and social security number. No, the paperwork never really ends, if you were wondering!

Emma is still rocking along, doing great. She can take EIGHT steps on her own now!!!!! I guess that makes her a walker. She loves all food. She has officially gone on strike from baby food-she only wants finger foods or something from our plate. That made me a little sad....signs of growing up already. I'm not ready for her to grow up!!!!!!

Ok, I'm starting to ramble. It's late. I'm tired. I played Santa today and cooked and did laundry. And took Em to get vaccines. I'm one pooped out Mama. BUT I get a new haircut tomorrow and I'm excited! Yep, it's the little things...

...like Christmas PJ's......

....and chubby cheeks.....

....hanging an extra stocking this year....

(Mommy, Daddy, Emma, 3 dogs and a cat)

.....taking that first picture with Santa....

...and the Christmas Tree...

Thank you Lord for Christmas....what a gift. :)