Happy New Year 2010!

Happy new year! It's so hard to believe it's already time for a new year to begin. We spent new years day at Futenma Shrine and then enjoyed a delicious sushi dinner in Chatan. We had our family picture taken in front of this shrine last year and included it in our adoption application to Taiwan. It was a great feeling to go there this year and have our adoption completed and Mika WITH US! Such a blessing.

Christmas videos 2009

Merry Christmas 2009

Merry Christmas! We are so thankful to celebrate our very first Christmas together since Mika came home. We had a wonderful day and it was great to see Max helping his little sister understand the traditions of the holiday. Mika wouldn't touch anything or open her presents at first, so Max opened his gifts and would show each item to her. After a couple of hours, we decided that I would start unwrapping her presents to see if she would be interested. Well.....once I opened a couple of gifts and she realized there were TOYS in there, she jumped right in and started opening her gifts!! Her favorite toys are the play kitchen and the little pink piano. Max's favorite gift was a new digital camera that he was hoping for.
It was a very special day and it was wonderful.

Max and Mika exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve. he gave her a Disney Princess book and she gave him a snowman ornament.

This gift was sent from the translator/guide that helped us while we were in Taiwan. Mika was very happy when she saw it and recognized it right away! This decoration hangs in most Taiwanese homes and is very traditional.

Trying new foods on Christmas Day......

Almost time for Christmas.....December 2009

It's almost time for Christmas and we went to our first Christmas parade with Mika. She was very excited to try to catch the candy as the holiday floats passed by. This is the parade they have every year on Camp Kinser-which is the base we live on. It was lots of fun!

Mika was trying to fix Max's hat because he said his ears were cold.

Mika put her candy in Max's hood!
She's very resourceful.

Mika's FIRST time to visit Santa!!
He gave her a candy cane and she said "thank you Santa Claus, Mika go bye-bye now." Everyone laughed.

She did NOT like the candy cane.