And the birthday celebration continued

Golly gee, I wish there were more hours in the day to get done what needs to get done these days.  Since that's not the case, I have gotten a bit behind in my blogging.  Anyway, to pick up where I left off last time...

Michele, John, and Lydia came down for a quick visit after Thanksgiving.  As such, we knew we would wait until the week after Havi's actual birthday to throw her a little party.  We spent the first few days of their stay just relaxing and enjoying the warm weather.  One afternoon, we headed over to our favorite park by the river.

Sunday afternoon was when we had her little party, just family.  My sister came with hers and her in-laws.  It was so cute to watch Caleb show Havi how to open a present.  Once she figured it out, she went to town. lol

For her birthday cake, I knew I wanted to make dark chocolate with a whipped vanilla buttercream and decorate it with a watercolor swirl effect.

The cake had sat out at room temp for a while.  So that's why the cutout slice in the photo above looks a little rough.  Although I love my swiss meringue buttercream to pieces, I knew that some people at the party prefer the sweeter traditional buttercream.  And since I only like to use that one sparingly when decorating (because it's so sweet), I chose to frost it using this simple watercolor swirl effect technique.  It was a winner.

Well, we did end up visiting the Mouse like I had said.  But those photos will have to wait because we have another busy weekend planned.  We had such a great visit with Michele, John, and Lydia.  I only wish it wasn't so short.  We love you guys!

Summer fun

Well this summer fun has kept us extremely busy since coming back home with Havi.  Oy!  It's like we haven't skipped a beat.  These photos I'm sharing are old, like 3 weeks old...but I'm sharing them because they happen to be the start of all this hot, outdoor fun.

I had determined that, since I had no jet lag upon returning from China, we would be spending time outdoors.  So we headed to our favorite park.

Caleb is such a great big brother, pushing Havi on the swing.

That bruise on her cheek was from when she fell at the pediatrician's office many moons ago.

We ended up seeing Stefan and his little sister Belle playing tennis, and that's when Caleb was approached again about lessons.   Well, you know what happened next.

 Madeline initially did some lessons with Caleb, but her time on the court was brief.

I spend my time either courtside with the girls or playing with them on the playground.  The court is adjacent to the playground.  So I can still see Caleb practice.  Love that.  I actually managed to videotape part of a rally that Caleb had going with his coach at his second lesson.  This was only half of the rally.

He really has learned so quickly.  So now Caleb no longer practices on the small court.  He's stricktly on the full court.  He'll be practicing every day this week because his coach will soon go away to college.  I'm so proud of his work ethic and attitude.  It's really quite remarkable considering just how hot it is to play tennis in Florida in August.  Lessons are right in the middle of the morning. So our school day today went a bit longer than I would have liked.  We might have to change to afternoon lessons next week.  

Anyway, we actually just returned from a weekend of "glamping", that's a fancy word for glamorous camping.  Friends of ours have an RV.  They also have a travel trailer so friends can tag along.  We were fortunate enough to be those friends this past weekend.  I took a bunch of photos that I will share soon.  The dumplings are already telling us how much they miss camping.  Some big time fun might be on the horizon for this bunch.

Her first trip to the park

I'm a bit behind in sharing about Havi's first week home.  That's because I have been busy in the kitchen or in the pool with the dumplings.  Anywho, last week when Bammy was here, we went to the park late one morning/early afternoon.  The lighting was harsh, but I brought my camera anyway.  Havi loved the slide and swing.

Now, don't get any crazy ideas, like I allow my kids to go down slides head first.  This is the toddler slide, so very short and low to the ground.  Madeline has to crawl her way out.  So she's completely safe going head first.

So there you have it.  A short, sweet little trip to our favorite-y favorite park by the river.  It's the first of many more for this little girl.  

This week saw Bammy heading back to Connecticut.  The dumplings were so sad to drop her off at the airport.  We hadn't even left the airport parking lot when they were telling me how much they missed her already.  It was a great visit!  

Yesterday Havi had a doctor's appointment.  She did fairly well.  She got 3 out of 5 vaccines in order to make her current for her age and to comply with the Hague requirements.  She did cry but not for long.  She cried harder and longer when she tripped in the waiting area and hit her cheek hard against the leg of a chair.  It bruised up right away.  Poor girl.  Oh yes, and right before our social worker comes out tomorrow for our one month post placement visit.  Nice.  Anyway, I plan on writing up a post to share with you more about our precious little Havi.  For now, I'll leave you with one word to describe her- LOUD!

Happy weekend everyone!