Christmas 2014

We have had a busy, super fun, month! I have been looking forward to Christmas for a long time! Maybe it is all of the fun family time. Below are several pictures!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours! 

We finally found our tree! 

Frozen Birthday Party!

My daughter turned 6 this month and for once we had a perfect theme for her December birthday!

I was able to find a ton of snowflake decor on sale right before Christmas. :)

First let me introduce you to my favorite part...the cake! My sweet girl looked around online with me for inspiration and we both had high hopes for her cake. I was excited and nervous to try to pull some ideas together and I have to say I am pretty excited about our creation.

Our cakes are always gluten-free of course. I used a 9x13 pan for the bottom layer and I did a vanilla cake. The gluten-free vanilla mixes I use are usually more dry and I figured it would hold the weight better.

The top around double layer was chocolate. The towers are made of three gluten-free ice cream cones. I covered them with white chocolate melts and a bit of oil to thin it out. They worked great and hardened overnight.

Adoption Celebration & Circus Party!

What a weekend it has been! On Friday we had our adoption finalization hearing. What a fun day! We celebrated with family and had cupcakes and apple cider and took a ton of pictures. We took a wonderful family photo with the judge. 

I have spent the last four and half years going in that court room and spent most of those years imagining our adoption ceremony in there. But when I walked in and set up with the kids in the front, sitting at the table, all I could think about was the fact that their birth parents sat in those very same chairs years ago when I sat in the back. I recounted a handful of hard court hearings and all of the waiting and ups and downs in the case. At times, I doubted we would ever get to this day. 

It worked out that my husband was off that day, as were the kids. So we woke up and everyone crawled into our bed and we took our time starting the day. We sang "Happy Adoption Day to you!"

As we made our way downstairs I began picking outfits to wear and getting everything together. 

Along with the pictures and cupcakes to celebrate I brought to the court house, two books. One for each child being adopted. We did this with my other son a few years ago at his adoption. We bought children's books on adoption and asked everyone to sign the inside cover and blank pages. It was such a treat to have the judge and counsel and everyone who had spent the last few years working with these kids, sign their books. :) We brought them to the party the next day and put them on our welcome table for everyone to sign as well.