Audra's Birthday Portraits

Simply too cute for words....

 

 

 

 

 

He or She??

Tonight we hosted a "Gender Reveal Party" for my sister and her husband who are expecting their first child together in February.  She had her ultrasound last week and asked the technician to write girl or boy on a piece of paper and seal it in an envelope.  I took that envelope to a local bakery and had them make the cake....with the inside dyed either pink or blue (per the envelope).

The cake:

Team Girl:

Team Boy:

Enough already...I'm so happy to announce that...

It's a....

GIRL!!!

 

 

Happy Birthday, Audra

Audra is SIX!

Our sweet, tiny, little princess is 6!

She is six years old today, but...
today is the first.time.ever that her birthday has been celebrated.

Birthdays are usually not celebrated in China's orphanages.  Usually, the child's actual date of birth is unknown.  A birthdate is assigned to them based on an estimation of how old the child is when they are found.  Audra was found on October 6th and estimated to be 9 days old.  Thus, a birthdate of September 27th was given to her.

Regardless, September 27th will forever be the day we celebrate HER. 

So today, 9-27-13, we celebrated Audra's sixth birthday with:

Her 1st ever birthday balloons,

Her 1st ever birthday cake.

and

Her 1st ever birthday presents!

She woke up to a balloon bouquet in her room...

and she was super excited. 

Since I knew she really wouldn't understand that today was HER day,

a day to celebrate the blessing that she is,

I was hoping that balloons in her room when she woke up would help her realize that today was a special day.

 

Then it was on to breakfast, a very favorite of her...

donut holes!

 

She wore a adorable birthday girl shirt with matching birthday hair bows.

This was Maura's birthday outfit from her 4th birthday.

The shirt was definitely a bit too big for my little munchkin!

 

 

Aunt Brandie, her four kids, Grandpa, and Aunt Kristy joined us for dinner, cake and presents!

 

Audra was not sure what to think of everyone singing to her...

My heart was about to burst as we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Audra...

knowing that this was probably the first time she had been sung to,

the first time she was being celebrated!

It was overwhelming, and my mind raced thinking about all she has been through in her short six years of life.  And how, by the grace of God, we have found her and she has found us.

Simply Miraculous!



She loved the candles.

She alternated between trying to blow out the candles,

trying to touch the lit candles,

and clapping with excitement!



 

Presents were a hit!

I was wondering if she would understand the concept of unwrapping a present.

Well...she caught on really quickly! 

This look of excitement lit up her face with each and every present she opened.

Absolutely priceless!

She melts my heart...

 

Happy, happy birthday my sweet, beautiful daughter.

 

 

I will always be amazed at how lucky and blessed we are to have you.

You are ours...and we are yours...

forever and ever and ever!

 

tiny dancer

Today, Audra had her very first dance class.

 

Yesterday I took her to the cute little dance store in town to get her a pair of ballet slippers...

We ended up coming home with:

 

ballet slippers

tights

a pretty purple leotard

AND a matching purple tutu!

 

It was just not possible to resist,

besides...

a girl only has her very first dance class once in a lifetime!

 

I wasn't able to go because I had to work today, so Pop-pop took her.

But lucky me...picture texts kept appearing on my phone during the class.

(thank you Miss Shannon!)

 

That smile says it ALL!

Mid-Autumn Festival

Today we celebrated the traditional Chinese "thanksgiving" holiday...

Mid-Autumn {Moon} Festival

 

Today also marks 5 months since Audra and Charlotte arrived home forever!

 

We have sooo much to be thankful for and celebrate!

 

 

Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month.  The traditions and myths of the holiday center around the moon, which is always full on the night of the festival.  The roundness of the moon symbolizes harmony, and it's fullness symbolizes wholeness.  Families pay homage to the moon by eating mooncakes (small, round pastries with sweet fillings).  Children are allowed to stay up late and parade around with lanterns in the moonlight.  And everyone sends a secret, unspoken wish up to the moon with the hope that the moon goddess will grant it. 

 

 

The girls wore their Chinese silk dresses.

 

We read the book "Thanking the Moon" by Grace Lin.

 

We feasted on Chinese take-out...yummy!

 

I was unable to find mooncakes locally so we ate small round sponge cakes and cookies instead.

 

I ordered sky lanterns to release towards the moon at nighttime...

but they still haven't arrived.

So we released red balloons, with our wishes attached, into the sky instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year, our celebration of Moon Festival was not quite all I had hoped it would be.

But we have these two, sweet, beautiful girls here with us now...

and a lifetime of Mid-Autumn Festivals to get it right!

The sweetest place...

...on earth!

Since Elizabethtown is so close to Hershey, PA we decided to make a little weekend out of trip to Central Pennsylvania.

After yesterday's Walk of Love we drove north about 20 miles to Hershey Park.

The whole town of Hershey has a chocolate theme...

from the street names (Chocolate Ave.)

to the street lights (Hershey kisses)

After checking in to our hotel our first stop was...

Chocolate World!

 Maura and Charlotte did the Kisses Factory Worker experience...

where they helped "make" Hershey kisses,

and got some Kisses to take home too,

in a container personalize with their very own photo!

After we had our fill of the chocolate aroma we headed over to the park for preview night.  We enjoyed a couple hours of rides, but it was a bit chilly.

 

 At the "Official Measuring Station" both Charlotte and Maura measured in as a Reese's Cup

 Audra surprised us all when she measured in as a Hershey's Kiss!  If it weren't for those pigtails she might have been a Hershey's Miniature.

 

 

We had a quick night's sleep and then went back to the park for a Sunday packed full of rides, fun and of course...CHOCOLATE!

 

An instruction sign seen while in line for the Kissing Tower:

 

Charlotte and Maura puckering up as instructed:

 

At the top of the Kissing Tower...

through the Kisses shaped windows was a view of the entire Hershey property