2010 Wrap Up!

Well I'm exhausted!

In fact, I've been working on this blog post for a while and kept getting sidetracked! Latest obstacle...the nasty flu! Blast You, flu germs!!

We certainly ended 2010 with a bang! What a year! It's hard to believe that the excitement started all the way back in April when we received our referral for a sweet little 14 month old girl. We decided to make her ours and by the end of the year we were celebrating her First Christmas and her 2nd birthday!

Des has really grown and changed so much since we stepped off the plane in early August. She's put on a ton of weight [maybe setting some sort of record.] and grown a head full of hair! [One of my new years resolutions should have something to do with learning how to style her fro! ] Plus she's really letting her personality blossom as well! The only thing we wish we were gaining more ground on is speech. But we're getting her evaluated for Indiana First Steps and hoping she'll qualify for some speech therapy.

I hadn't written about it before, but in October we ended up hiring a friend of ours, Emily, to nanny for us for 2 half days per week when I went back to work. We thought it would be best for Desi to be at home when I'm at work and we kept Emily home with her. It's been so good and the girls adore Miss Emily! She is a huge blessing!

Des got home just in time for a whirlwind of holidays including Emily's 3rd Birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and her own birthday! She's probably thinking that all we do is celebrate and party around here!

December ended up being quite the month! I did a lot of baking, which is one of my favorite parts of Christmas! As usual, the Christmas shopping got me really stressed out. I swear that every year the shopping is "this close" to ruining my Christmas! There must be a better way! I also loved having Jake home on Christmas break. I've missed having him around during the day this year. Big 1st grader. One positive of him being at school is that it's given me, Em, and Des some girl time! I think that only having each other to play with has been good for both Emily and Desi.

Here are some pics of our Christmas Celebrations and Desi's birthday! If you're my facebook friend you can check out more pics over there on my page!

The kids all dressed up before the Christmas Eve worship gathering....

Emily in her new leotard and tutus... Jake's favorite...wii games.

Desi did great with all the presents!

On the 26th we loaded up the van and drove to Missouri to spend time with my family. The kids had a great time with their MO cousins!

[and by great I mean LOUD.]

Em and Desi with Papaw Whitten

Hanging out in the TV room. Des and Hay were like peas and carrots all week!

Opening presents...

Em and Papaw Vinny.

That's a pretty crazy look that Des is shootin' at Cody!

Desi getting snuggles from Papaw Vinny.
We also got to go visit some good friends who also adopted from Ethiopia this year! The world really can be rather smallish. This is Ade. If long distance relationships work, this might be the beginning of something beautiful!

And this is the face that I refer to as the "stinky face". It makes frequent appearances..especially when cameras are involved. While you can't see it in photos....the right eye actually twitches during "stinky face"....nice.
Desi's birthday is December 31st. We spent it in the van...oops. We did have a pre-birthday celebration in MO with my family and a post-birthday celebration back home with our Indiana people.

I made the cake...kind of ghetto, no? It's not that I didn't try...

Desi with Papaw Sonny.

Another highlight of the year was when our good friends, The Fousts, brought their little girl home from Ethiopia. [I told you the world gets small-ish sometimes.] I'm sure in previous posts I mentioned that their daughter, Amaya, was Desi's bedmate at the orphanage in Ethiopia? Yes, super cool, I know! I can't wait for our first playdate! [which would have been TODAY had it not been for the blasted flu!!]

So that's the wrap up on 2010! On to 2011!