Christmas at the Crists!

Ok, now say that 10 times fast! We celebrated Christmas at Mike's parent's house the weekend before the 25th. The kids had tons of fun and got so many wonderful presents! Nathan was very pleased with his Visa gift cards - he had some things he was saving up for and wanted cash or gift cards this year. By the way, his present to himself (and all his friends) was Rock Band for the XBox360. Of course, he is the drummer in the band, and his friends will be having fun singing or playing the guitar. It looks like tons of fun, can't wait to see it in action.

Faith drawing in her art kit prior to opening presents.

Oh, it's time for presents now?!?

Faith had quite a mixed group of toys. She received an American Girl Bitty Baby and some outfits. She is just starting to play with dolls, so we will have to see how this goes. She still prefers her stuffed animals. She also got a very cute outfit and a ton of Dora stuff from Mike's sister. She loved her Dora ball! She was also excited to get a Dora DVD - its been played over and over already! She is now counting in Spanish and using the Spanish words for up and open. She has a ton of fun - along with Molly.

Molly is very into dolls, and got an American girl doll also. She received Ivy, the Chinese American doll, with . . . pierced ears! We knew that she would be so excited to have a doll with pierced ears, and she was even more excited to have a Chinese doll with long hair! She has been playing with it every day, and I think the doll changed clothes just minutes after she arrived! Her hair has been styled and combed into multiple styles every day and Molly cannot get enough of her. She also received some very nice outfits for both herself and her doll, some books and a stocking full of goodies. She was very pleased with every gift!

Molly checking out her stocking from Aunt KuKu and Uncle Jack

Molly's new best friend - Ivy!

Here are pictures of the kids with all their loot at home. As you can see, they are very happy. And to think, Santa hasn't even come! Can you say toy room! We are taking down the tree and creating a toy room in our dining room (which has never had a table) once the furniture in the dining room has moved.

Decorating the tree

Here we are with a start to decorating our Christmas tree. This was Molly's first Christmas and she was very eager to help with the tree. Faith was also very helpful this year and the two of them had tons of fun putting ornaments on and checking out all the different ornaments. As you will see, they did not reach much higher than they could seen, so the bottom of the tree was quite decorated, where the top just had a few pieces put on by Mom. Once they went to bed, mom finished up decorating the rest of the tree, but we did leave the ornaments down low - it was just too precious. Nathan was happy for a reprieve this year I think. He just put a few of his ornaments on and was done. Mike hates hanging ornaments too, must be a guy thing!

Faith and Molly's section of the tree

Didn't we do a great job!

Long hair

I don't know if I have related this yet on the blog, so I thought I would tell you why these pictures are so important. When we adopted Molly, while the guide was still translating, we asked her if she liked her hair short (she has had it short all of her life). She indicated to us then, by using our guide's long hair as an example, that she wanted to grow her hair long. It has been the one thing that she asked for while joining our family - so we have been trying to be patient as it grows. I have tried a few clips and bows in her hair, but I don't think she feels they are fancy enough. I think she has been longing for me to do her hair like when I do Faith's - up in pony tails with rubber bands and pretty ties. Well, one afternoon I stated that we might be able to try some short pony tails - and I haven't seen her move so quickly as she did to get all the things we needed to put it up. Once it was up, she turned to Nathan and Mike, held up her hand and very firmly stated "Don't touch". There was no way that she wanted those pony tails ruined. So here are the pictures of the big day!

First snow for Molly!

Molly has been asking and asking about snow. They sing a song in school about what the weather is like today - and she couldn't wait to see a snowy day. Well, she finally got her wish! She loved the way the snow looked, but didn't really want to play much in it. It was too amazing to her, I think, after living her whole life until now in a warm climate. She definitely did not like even a gentle snowball hitting her cheeks (Mommy tried to introduce that fun pastime - but no way!!) Hope the next snow will allow us to make a snowman - that is more her style I think.

What is the weather like today? Snowy!
Can you see her delight?!?

A picture taken down our driveway

Portraits!

It was time for our yearly pictures of the kids - and we thought that this year we should take a pictures of the complete family! This is the first time in a while that we were not in the adoption process, waiting for our little ones to come home. Boy, has life been shaken up around here. It is hard to imagine that just 2 years ago we were just a family of three - all of us very content in our ways, mostly an adult household because Nathan was to begin his high school years. And before we knew it, we have been blessed with 2 additions to the family. God hasn't been tapping me on my shoulder (at least not yet), and is allowing us our time to settle in with all the ups and downs since we adopted Molly. I feel that our family is complete in God's eyes - and I hope that I can live up to His gifts.

Sorry for the sideways pictures - meant to turn them before posting...

A visit from Kaylei!

We were very blessed to have the Sandersons come visit us this weekend. We had lunch, then had a great time at the Franklin Park Conservatory, where amongst the greenhouses they had an exhibit of far away places made from different plant materials. We were pleased to see the Great Wall of China and a temple while there. There was also an exhibit of trains and fairy tale lands that the kids enjoyed, even Nathan. We loved posing with the plants, although we found that it is very difficult to get all the children to look and smile at once!! We so enjoy being able to spend time in fellowship with Darrin, Becky and Kaylei. We can't wait to see how the kids feel about each other as they grow up. I will say, Molly and Kaylei got along very well. It usually takes Faith a little while to warm up to people, but Molly is very outgoing and doesn't meet a stranger. We are still in awe every day at how she loves to talk to people. You wouldn't believe that she had only been here a few months.

Darrin and Becky with Kaylei

Faith likes to pull off the labels first. Takes a while to unwrap presents this way!

The girls playing in the kitchen before we left.

Molly and Faith, 2 wonderful sisters!

Molly, Kaylei and Faith, such beautiful gifts from God!

A pretty picture of Molly in her Santa hat


The Great Wall of China


The whole gang - Kaylei, Faith, Nathan and Molly

Yes, this was my idea - thought it would make a cute shot!
(and no, no one fell in or got wet!)

Faith using her 'noculars to see the trains