Easter Weekend 2012

Easter weekend was just AMAZING!!  We had Mike's family over on the Friday which was also the day we were going to show them all her picture!  We had told them about her but avoided showing a picture, we just said "we hope to have one for Friday" LOL  Mike really wanted to surprise everyone and show them all at once.

One Table set!

We went out and got little Easter themed Chinese Take out boxes and put her picture in it with some chocolate etc.. for each family.  When everyone came over Mike gave them all their boxes and showed them a large blown up version of her picture!  He was sooo excited and so proud to show it off it was sooo cute!

Aunt Amy, Uncle Chris, Meghan and Mathew brought this cute little pig toy for Mhyia for Easter!!  So cute, we had actually registered for it and they didn't even know!!

 We also had a little easter egg hunt out in the back yard - Mike had hid a bunch of the plastic eggs, and by hid I mean laid them throughout the backyard!  It was sooo cute they wer sooo excited to get out there after dinner!

On the Saturday we did some running around, shopping, baking etc...  Had to make another carrot cake! 

 

mmmm Carrot cake!



Sunday we headed to my brother and sister-in-laws.  They were hosting dinner this year so it was a nice treat!  Mike had brought down a bottle of wine that he has been saving for our referral.  A good friend of mine had donated it as a raffle prize at the fundraiser and another friend of ours had won it and gave it to Mike knowing how much he would LOVE it!!  Mike wanted to share it with Rob to ccelebrate and thank him for all his hard work with the fundraiser etc...  We also brought them take out boxes with Mhyias picture and also did up this little card for my mom and dad (aka Grandma & Grandpa).  We had a great meal and a great visit!    



Granma and Granpas Easter card!

Loves a good bottle of wine!!

Mhyia's First Easter!  Next Easter will be soooo much better when she is actually here with us!

Mhyia's Nursery!

Well I have been working on Mhyia's room and it is about 98% done!! I have a few more little things to do and of course I need to organize her closet! It has everything we have in there right now and I need to organize the sizes and the seasons etc... and really see what I have and what we will still need!

As for the nursery - we cut her closet door and made it larger which turned out great - you can see it here! Then I found a small night stand that someone was throwing out and I re-finished it as well as I re-finished my old dresser from when I was little and painted it a soft pink - they both turned out great - you can see them here!! My Mom and Dad bought us the crib which is absolutely beautiful and will turn into her bed afterwards!

I painted two very light green stripes on the walls, put up the crown moulding, we built a window valance and I covered it in the co-ordinating material we purchased approx 5 years ago! I painted a pink scroll design above the bed and put the words "such a big miracle in such a little girl" I love this saying! I also covered a little footstool and made a cushion cover etc.. in the co-ordinating material - I have to make a couple of armrests as well - not done yet!

All in all it has come together very nicely and we are very happy with it - now all we need in there is Mhyia!!

Her Royal Highness

I re-finished an old kitchen light

Without the pink scroll design

tracing out the design

done!

We also hung some large white frames with "mommy", "daddy" and "baby" in english and chinese and then put our handprints in them! I will try to post a pic of them tomorrow!

The crib is up, the stroller is assembled and the diaper bag is ready!!

Well the last couple of weeks we have got quite a few things done. I am not completely don the nursery but as soon as I am I will post some pics. It was very exciting to get the crib up and now we also have our stroller and the diaper bag!!

I am feeling like even though we have so much done we have SOOOOOO much to do. I just really want to try to get so many things done around here before we go to China. I don't want to come home to a list of things we need to finish or get. When we get home I just want to concentrate on us for the first little while!!

Our next purchase/must have is a carseat - as soon as we have our referral we will have to make a decision as to which one we want so stay tuned!!

here is one quick pic from the ipod of the stroller!!

Six years ago today!

Six years ago today Mike and I headed to London for our agencies information session on adoption – it was the start of what has turned into this incredibly long journey. Although we have hated the wait I kind of feel like now is the perfect time for Mhyia to come into our lives – I am in a job I love, we have completed things we wanted to get done around the house, we are more mature, we have met so many amazing friends along the way etc… the timing is Great!!

Today we will mark this special day by assembling her crib, I/we have been slowly working away at her room (pics to come soon) and we thought that this would be a special day to assemble her crib!! I am soooo excited!! Even though we have had the crib in the house for a month or so it hasn’t hit me like I think it will when it is set up.

Thanks soooo much to my Mom and Dad (aka Grandma and Grandpa) for buying the most beautiful crib for Mhyia – we love it and we love you – Thank You!!!

This was an exciting purchase - the mattress - I didn't want to put the crib up unitl I could put it all together




This is her crib before and after assembly!!

New carpet, fresh paint and a long list in waiting!

We have a 4 page list I have had posted on the fridge for a year or more. I have it broken out by room of the house and "cost money" and "doesn't cost money" - until lately we have not been great at knocking things off.

I feel with our referral getting closer I am almost in a panic - I feel like I have soooo much to do and not enough time to do it.

We are getting new carpet up the stairs and in two of the bedrooms and I can't wait!! We repainted the hallway, repainted the banister and now the new carpet - it has forced us to clean up all the rooms and get rid of stuff we don't use etc... it is such a great feeling!!

Once the new carpet is in I will work on finishing Mhyia's room - sooooo exciting - I don't want to post pics until it is finished but as soon as I am done I will post pics! I am loving it so far!!!

Getting Ready for Christmas and our Cruise!!

I have just finished decorating the house (two trees, two floors) I am so late this year - I usually try to start right after Halloween but things have been a bit crazy around here so I finally get things done today!!

I feel like I am constantly rushing around - I have a "to do" list on the fridge and I need to get to it - I need to start crossing things off. I am so looking forward to our Christmas holidays I think it will give us time to get a good handle on some much needed organization.

I now need to start packing for our Cruise - we leave this Friday morning and I/we haven't even started to pack or gather things up - I am hoping we can get most of it done tomorrow night - Mike has a meeting Thursday night and I have an app't this Wednesday night (not great planning) - I feel like this vacation has just snuck up on us. For so long it was so far a way and now it is here and neither one of us have prepared very well. Oh well I am sure everything will be fine - off to pack!!

Our first concrete project!

One person's trash....

New Bed - KING - YAHOO!!!!!

After 10 years we are FINALLY getting a new mattress - YAHOO!! I don't know why we just don't like to spend money on things we literally use everyday. So we finally bit the bullet and went out to get one - then the dilemma became Queen or King??

We currently have a Queen and it is fine but oh how we have always said we would love a King - the only problem is if we go to a King we need a new bed, sheets, comforter etc... but we decided to go with it!! Also with Mhyia coming there will be that little bit of extra room to sit and watch Saturday morning cartoons!!

We also bought a new bed frame which is a 4 poster black bed - LOVE it!!! Can't wait - 2 weeks!

Mhyia's closet

I am not exactly sure when I will do Mhyias room but I knew that before anything I wanted to cut the closet opening to make it wider. The closet itself isn't a bad size but the 1 door opening was ridiculous.

I am surprised by the amount of people with August lid's that have their nurseries started and even finished - I was planning on maybe starting it in the Fall/Winter but I thought I would do the closet while on vacation this summer. To be honest now that we have done the closet I just want to keep going and do it all!!! I need to start by cleaning out the room, up to this point we have used this room as kind of an extra large closet. After that is done I can start painting - hopefully this Fall.

So far this is what we have done with the closet!!

Before:

Mid Construction:After:

Living Room Re-Do!!

We have been wanting to re-do the living room for so long now and this weekend we finally started - it is going to be a work in progress for a while - we have it painted now but there is a lot to do. We want to put up the crown molding this week, rip up the carpet, lay the new floor, have shutters installed and then the hardest part - find some furniture!! We have also decided to re-paint the hallway - it is currently red and I love it and it looks great with the new colour also but I just feel like it we are going to re-do it then why not do it all!! Stay tuned for pictures - I need to find some of before and then I will post both!