A Whole Hand!

My little girl is now 5 years old!! Yes, she is now a WHOLE HAND! I can't even believe it. You know the idea, "it seems like just yesterday...." This year her birthday was on a Sunday, and 5 years ago, she was born on a Sunday. Last night would have been exactly 5 years ago, day and date, that we got the call that a little girl had been born the day before and that her birthmother had picked us. Last night, 5 years ago, was the night my parents came home from visiting friends and we had them come up so we could tell them we were adopting, oh and that they already had a granddaughter. :) We had just had our homestudy visit exactly 2 weeks prior to that phone call. This past Saturday, we had Isabella's birthday party, 5 years ago on that Saturday we were painting the nursery and setting up a couple things thinking we would just be telling my parents we were adopting -- not even knowing that we would have a baby girl so quickly. I thought we were getting a good head start on painting the nursery and painting a small armoire. I had no idea that I actually would end up being SO far behind. As I sit here typing this, Isabella and Amelia are playing tea party and I've been thinking of all the "5 years ago" things. Its hard to believe that 5 years ago today I was frantically trying to get things organized while my baby girl was in the NICU all the way across the country. We had pictures of our beautiful girl, but hadn't held her yet. Its amazing to think about the blessing God has given us in this beautiful girl. I praise Him for the wonderful, perfect job He did in planning this child for us. Her little personality and spirit amaze me on a daily basis -- to be fair her little attitude can frustrate me on a daily basis as well. :) She keeps me on my knees, both praising God for the gift He gave us in her and praying for her to have a heart longing to serve Him and to be like Him. Which is exactly how we named her with her first name meaning "Devoted to God" and her middle name meaning "Gift from God". Thank you Lord!

Now that Isabella is 5, she is old enough to realize what a birthday is and she expects that we should spend lots of time celebrating her. :) She asked us "So, since its my birthday weekend, I can do whatever I want, right?" Kenny told her "Sure, as long as you ask mommy or daddy and we say yes." :) I don't think that's the answer she was hoping for. I think she was pretty well spoiled this weekend. We started with Friday taking her to get her haircut. She's never gotten her hair cut - other than mommy trimming it. I didn't actually plan on it being RIGHT before her birthday party, but with her being sick, it just ended up that way. To her, it was a special treatment to start off the birthday celebrations. Mommy and Noni also got special treatments that day because a chiropractor's office was set up doing free massages that day as well. Sorry, no pictures of that. :)

Friday night, we gave Isabella and Amelia their big birthday present. We told them that in 3 weeks we are going to.............

...Disney World!!! Can you tell that Amelia is excited about seeing Cinderella, Snow White, and Mickey Mouse? We're all pretty excited. I don't think it really sunk in for Isabella at first because she kind of looked at us like we were crazy or like we were teasing her. So in just a few weeks we will be down at Disney World! I'm looking forward to it, we've been talking about it, thinking about it, saving up for it, and now we're finally going to go. We decided to go before Amelia turns 3 because she's free until then, so it makes it a little bit cheaper. I can't wait to see my girls faces when they see things like the castle or some of the princesses.

Then Saturday, we had her birthday party. The day after Christmas we had taken her ice skating, so she decided she wanted an ice skating party. Which I thought was good for mommy, because I didn't have to do anything. They provide the food, the cake, the ice cream and obviously the entertainment. It was fun, but it was our only ice skating party we will do because it was chaotic there and the room was very loud. You live and learn and Isabella had fun, so I guess that's what matters. I think my mom and Meredith got better pictures than I did. In the midst of trying to get things done and not be so chaotic, I was glad they were taking pictures. Plus, I couldn't seem to get in the door way and take pictures of the kids ice skating so alot of mine are through plexi glass. Here are a few anyway:

The birthday girl, concentrating hard on her ice skating -- tongue out and all. She had fun going around without the "walker" with her daddy too. Her favorite part was trying to get and eat "snow"

Other pictures here are my mom helping my niece, Olivia skate. Olivia, showing you just how cold it was. :) Isabella and my nephew Garrett. Papa and Amelia -- Amelia actually skated for a little while, but only long enough for mommy to put some stuff in the room, watch her go around, go get the camera and come back to get no pictures. My dad was sick, but he toughed it out, he didn't skate so he watched Amelia for me. Isabella's friend Makenna with her cousin, one of our teens in our youth group, Lindsay. My friend Shelli with her middle son, Noah. Shelli's oldest son Chase, with the same concentrated, tongue out pose as Isabella. Could barely get a picture of him because he was just flying around the rink. Isabella and one of her little friends from next door, Alaina. Then we have the birthday girl with her cake and blowing out the candles. The adults probably noticed the crazy crowds and the chaos, but the kids seemed to just have fun and Isabella was happy to be the center of attention. :)

To end the weekend, on Isabella's ACTUAL birthday, we woke up to Snow. Now how many little girls actually get a present from God on their birthday. She thought that was pretty cool. Hope she knows just how special (and rare) this birthday weekend celebration was!