In one year...a year filled with "firsts"

I know it's been a really long time since I have posted here on my blog.  The only excuse I have is to tell  you we have been busy loving and enjoying life with our precious Ellie, and the rest of our crazy gang!
Tomorrow is our Ellie's 4th birthday!  She is so excited about her big day. In fact she has been (with the help of her big brother) counting down the days until her birthday.  So I thought in honor of her special day... I would share a glimpse into the wonderful year Ellie has given our family!

Last year at this time we celebrated Ellie's first birthday with us.  She was the cutest, tiniest 3 year old!!!

Then shortly after her first Halloween.

In November our brave girl endured her first surgery with us.  She has proven over and over again to us how strong she really is.....

 Here was our first family hike.... at the Valley of Fire!!

One of the greatest joys of this past year was the day our sweet girl was baptized.  Such a joyful day!!

Here are pictures of her first Thanksgiving.  You can see how she felt about our family tradition of the baby getting a turkey leg of their 1st Thanksgiving.   She was much happier with her apples!

Christmas was amazing!!!!!!!!  We loved every "first" with her... first time decorating the tree, first ornament, first gingerbread house, first stocking, first gift exchange, first Christmas with HER family!

  This is  how she felt about her very first time at one of Clare's band concerts!

First time sharing with friends about Chinese New Year.

First time playing in the snow.  It was actually many of our "first"snow days.  We had a little dabble in snow while we were in Maryland.  But this year, we have been able to enjoy sledding and snow tubing!  Ellie love her very own blue sled.

Her first Mardi Gras was spent with a party at our house.  We brought a little New Orleans tradition here to Vegas.  One of the guests of honor was a fellow friend who recently joined her family through adoption too!!!!

First day in her brand new wheelchair!  She loves her chair. She can zoom all over the place, keep up with all of the kids, spin circles, and cause some nasty bruises to big people's legs!!  Her favorite part about her chair is the little wheels in the front light up, and sparkle.  Everyone who catches a glimpse of our amazing girl in action....stand in awe and amazement. 

First Easter.  She loved dying eggs, and hunting for them.  It was a special treat for me this year to have all 5 of my babies with me for Easter Sunday Mass.

You can see from the picture below how she felt about her first confetti egg!!!

Here we are enjoying Spring baseball season with Ellie for the first time.  She absolutely loves going to Jon's games!

Here we are enjoying one of our summer favorites.... movie in the park. We bring a big picnic blanket, and play until it's dark. Once the movie starts we snuggle and enjoy the cool desert air.  During her first movie, she spent the first half of the it with her fingers in her ears, then she really enjoyed the show.

  Ellie has fallen head over heels for her first pet.  We found Fitz one day in June.  Ever since, Ellie says she loves her "Fitzy".

Here is our first family vacation.  We visited San Diego, CA in June.  We enjoyed Legoland, Sea World, Historic Old Towne, a tide pool and much more!!  In the above picture the kids made their own candles in an Old Towne shop. 

Apparently one of Ellie's favorite events that took place this summer was our trip to Oregon to visit her cousin Hayden, Aunt Jenn, and Uncle Scott.  She talks about this trip to everyone she meets.  We began our trip with a visit to the Redwood trees. Then drove up the breathtaking Oregon coast.  We enjoyed our visit with our family tremendously.  Ellie's favorite part of the trip was the day we spent at the beach, hunting for agates.  She even flew a kite for the first time!  It was a very memorable trip. 

Here is the very first day of our school this year.  Ellie LOVES to learn. Whenever the big kids are doing their school work, Ellie wants to jump right in too.  She pulls her little lap desk over, and starts her "work".  She learns so quickly!!!

 

September 3, 2013

A big day of celebration for us was Ellie's Gotcha Day.  We celebrated the one year anniversary of Ellie being apart of our family!!  She helped Daddy make a cake with a big"E" on it.  Then we all looked at pictures from our journey to China.  She has grown so much in one year!!!

We have made it back around to this year.  Here she is with the "baby" pumpkin she picked out this year at the pumpkin patch.  In this picture it amazes me to see how big she is today.  To know all of the challenges she has faced in her tiny 4 years in our beautiful world, and yet she smiles, laughs, and loves fully!

 To celebrate her birthday we visited build-a-bear this past Saturday. Ellie picked out her very first Build-A-Bear, and black cat she named "Meow".

As I was listening to her play later in the day, I heard her signing to her new "baby" her song....

Every day I have died waiting for you.  Darling, don't be afraid, I have loved you for a thousand years, love you for a thousand more.  
All along I believed I would find you.  God has brought your heart to me, and I have loved you....
For a thousand years, love you for a thousand more.

My prayer is that she feels every bit of the deep love we have for her.  That she knows in her soul how long we waited for her, and how cherished she is every day.   In fact I pray that each of us know how very deeply our Heavenly Father longs to hold us and sing this same song to us.  He loves us deeply, completely, and without end.

Happy birthday to our sweet Ellie!!!!  YOU are our wish come true.