Sushi Candy!

Went to a wonderful party on Saturday and got to try out a fun little treat I've been wanting to make. Saw the recipe here. It's total processed sugary junk food, but oh so cute so I just HAD to try it! Was a big hit with the little miss (who consumed far too many marshmallows and swedish fish...more sugar than I have ever let her have in one sitting!) It was hit at the party, too!

"Sushi" made of pound cake, fruit roll-ups, licorice, marshmallows, powdered sugar donuts, cinnamon candies, and swedish fish. Pretty much sugar, sugar, and sugar. And good luck finding enough green fruit roll ups. Think I went through 6 boxes just to find like TWO whole green ones and a few with some green mixed in them with another color. Two days later I went to another store (after I was done) and found a whole box of green! Oh, well! It was still fun to make and fun to share.

I made this one and the one below are for a small gathering I'm having tomorrow. Just the big swedish fish wrapped with a fruit roll-up over a half a mini powdered sugar donut.

This one is all marshmallows wrapped in the roll-ups, stuffed with licorce and fish, then sprinkled with little cinnamon bits to look like roe.

And this is the mess we made before it was said and done. Although I should say "me" and not "we". Ruby bored quickly of the making and was much more interesting in the sampling. After the sugar high started to wear off I plopped her in front of the TV for a Christmas special while I finished and cleaned up. I think next time I have to come up with a more clever, healthier way to make this. Maybe with sticky rice and fruit? Will be hard to find an alternative to those swedish fish. So maybe not. Maybe some things are not meant to be healthy. Maybe some things are just meant to be fun, messy, yummy, once-in-awhile things!

Somebody Made The Nice List!

Big time! I'm afraid she is going to be quite spoiled because of it, too! We can hardly resist. This is such a fun age and it's so sweet to see her excitment. Took her to Toys R Us last week to buy some presents for friends and family and she was SO good. She oooed and ahhed, but put everything back after looking and playing with it. Here are the presents "Santa" got Ruby:

Disney Magic Princess Vanity. I think she will flip over this one. She's so into makeup and dress up play. We saw one like it at ToysRUS and she yelled "oooooooooo!" Didn't know it's been in the closet for weeks. Wait till she see it Christmas morning! I watched this for a month till it finally went on sale after Thanksgiving.

This too. The Island Princess is her fav movie and we always sing the songs together. The doll actually sings 2 songs from the movie! Saw this on several sites going for $89-150. Figured there was no way we were gonna get it. Then somebody had it on Ebay for only $32! Score! So excited for her to see this one!

Been asking for the "purple dress!" since we saw the movie, Tangled. (Cute movie, BTW!) Got the dress big so it can serve as dress up play, princess b-day party dress and next year's Halloween costume, too!

Rapunzel soft doll. She carried this all through the store b4 AND after we saw the movie. Eventually I would get her to put it back each time and when she did she would kiss it and hug it b4 sticking it on the shelf. Seriously, how sweet is that? Daddy saw her do it only once and snuck it right back up to the register to buy it for her!  (Yea, we're suckers).

Buzz doll to go with her Jessie & Woody that are ALWAYS in our company. She's asked for this a lot and it will probably be one of her favorite gifts. That and the actual TS3 movie that aunt Tammy got her!

Just got this one yesterday after she played with a friends similar one for hours. This one is almost the same and comes with play money and fun accessories. Found it at JCPenneys for only $14! 

She always loves playing with this at the stores and friends houses. Gonna have Santa set this up for Christmas morning. 

These are all going in the stocking.

Jammies to give her from us Christmas eve. She's a big Jessie fan and runs around saying YEE HAW all the time. It's pretty funny. As you can tell we are BIG into Disney around here. Yes, they did shelf me but what can I say? We love all things princess and movies around here. Think we may have a little actress on our hands! Loves to repeat some of the lines from her favorite movies. Very entertaining!

Oh, and one last special gift to show you, lest you think we only get her blonde dolls around here. (Actually, it's the opposite but she LOVES blond dolls and all things Barbie). Guess I was like that as a kid, too. Anyway, I am saving this one for either her bday or a Thai holiday. She is one of the most beautiful Thai dolls I have seen yet. Was super expensive on Ebay but I found it for only $14.00 on this site. Isn't she gorgeous? 

So how is your holiday shopping doing? What did you get your little (and big) ones? What is the one big gift they are asking for?

Pre-holiday fun

I love her hair like this. When I do it now she says, "Mommy, I Thai Princess!" She does it to her dolls hair, too, now and says they are Thai princesses. I love that she is starting to recognize and embrace Thai things more. Saying SawadeeKa and kup kuhn ka lot more too at random times. I gotta take her to the Thai temple soon but we've been so busy lately. Gotta be more active with our local community in Jan!

Made some cute Santa ornaments this day and arts & crafts. She loves to paint.

...and make messes with glues and stickers! (And, no, I did not leave her alone with those big scissors!)

Had a princess tea party (her idea). It was so cute. There wasn't a princess in the land - big or small -who didn't come out for the event. At one point she stopped dead in her tracks and said "uh oh! more cups!" and ran out to the kitchen to produce a few more. I love her imaginary play. It's so sweet!

Max was not impressed with the princess invasion

Playdate with BFF Brianna. They disappeared upstairs for a bit so I went to check on them and found this.

Silly little princess have a ball together.

Ruby gives Brie a ride around the house on her bike. They did this on their own and thought it was the most clever idea. Ruby kept saying "look! Brianna backwards! heeheehee!"

Fun little Kailan hair we did this day. Took her to a local landscaping place that has a wonderful holiday display.

Checking out the train

One of the nice scenes they have set up

Lovingly pet all the animals on display

Could hardly pry her away from the tiger. You know I wanted to buy her one like this but where on earth would we keep the thing? Made a wise decision to keep walking!

Polar bear was also a hit

But the nutcracker was probably the favorite. So hoping we can take her to see that this year. She just LOVES all things nutcracker. Santa has a special one for her at Grammy & Pappy's this year and we got her little ornament ones that are going to magically appear on the tree Christmas morning. So fun all this planning!

Being silly at home. I love these next couple shots cause they show her silly/sassy personality.

I asked her to look at the camera and she gave me this silly pose instead. How I love this silly little love bug. Can hardly wait to see her face Christmas morning. Santa Mommy has been doing some serious shopping!

Still Funny

This elf thing just doesn't get old. Was great doing it with Ruby this year. She thought it was the funniest thing. Giggled and danced along and at one point said, GO RUBY! hahaha. Fun stuff.

Christmas Kitty & Snow Dog

Okay, Mireille, these are for you! Was going to post anyway, but been so busy I nearly forgot until I saw your post!

My tough little guy was not feeling so tough after he got shaved down. Poor thing. His fur was really getting too long and knotting up so we took him in but then the weather took a serious turn to frigid! So in a silly moment I got this little dog shirt at Target for $2.50 doubting he would actually let me put it on him. LOL, he loved it!

Wore the thing for a week b4 finally tugging at it so I took it off. Haha. Isn't it cute, though?

Chloe got groomed too although I have no idea why Jeff told them to shave her at this time of year??? Usually, we only do that in the summer. Oh, well, luckily we have a little Land's End doggie jacket that a friend gave to us years ago.

A rare moment where my furry children actually lay close to each other. They must have been cold!

Hope your pre-holiday planning and doing is fun, silly, and happy!

Ruby & Santa

Very happy with Ruby's "Santa" picture this year! Last year she was scared and wouldn't sit on his lap unless I did. This year she was all giddy. Here's a short video I took. Very sweet!

Visit With Santa from Maci Miller on Vimeo.
Thanks to Christina for the Vimeo recommendation. Easy to use!

Happy Holidays!!!

Flashback

Okay, so I promised you a peek at our wedding photos last month on our anniverary and I finally got around to it! Here they are...

Married at sunset on Paradise Island in the Bahamas, November 4, 1995.

We had about 30 family members and friends join us on the island, then a big cocktail party reception when we got home for everyone.

Sun goes down quickly there and it rained like crazy AFTER the ceremony (thankfully) so we had a champagne toast that lasted an hour under the hotel's covered deck, then all headed over to a quaint little Restaurant & B&B call the Buena Vista. Here is a pic I found online. I believe it was painted pink back then but just as charming.

A wonderful time in our lives!

Great News Abounds!

I heard the BEST news yesterday! A dear friend is finally going to be able to get her baby girl! Ellie and her wonderful family got their paper work and will be traveling in 10-12 weeks! We couldn't be happier for them and their sweet girl. So long has been their wait. What a wonderful thing for them to get this news right before Christmas! What an incredible blessing for their news to finally arrive! It's just awesome.

The 2nd best news I got yesterday was from Asia. I got a contract the other day from an indie label and had been going back and forth on the terms the last couple days. Signed it and sent it back tonight! Woo hoo!  It's a really great opportunity. They plan to release my 1st 2 CD's (my jazz CD's) as a compilation CD this month in Singapore. Then they will expand into Malaysia and Thailand. How cool is that? My deal with Disney was exciting and I got paid to record the new song, but in the end my song got shelved because new execs came in and wanted to go in a different direction. Ah...such is show biz! But, when one door closes another opens! My song didn't make it to a Disney product, but now my older CD's are going to sell internationally. It's really cool and I am so grateful for this opportunity!

Now we are just waiting for good news for Jeff and his business. Crossing fingers and saying prayers. But either way, we are very thankful for the life we have and all the good that has come our way. And we are so grateful that one special little girl in Thailand will be reunited with her sweet parents and finally go HOME.

My little love bug is currently snuggled up with Daddy on the couch watching Kipper. Her favorite before-bed show. Jeff was upstairs printing my contract so I could sign, scan and send back. In the meantime it had gotten rather chilly downstairs. Ruby was snuggled under a blanket next to me on the couch when Daddy came down and casually mentioned it was chilly. Ruby lifted her blanket in a gesture to hand it to him and said "here Daddy...blanket. Share!". What a sweet, sweet girl. Daddy got his own blanket and Ruby promptly crawled right up there next to him.  Life really is so beautiful. :-)

Can't Believe I Forgot

Today is Dec. 5th! It's the King's Birthday today in Thailand and shame on us cause we didn't show Rubes a picture or talk about it at all. I don't even have his picture. We should have a picture! So wrapped up in Christmas that I totally forgot until now. Didn't do anything for Loy Krathong either. It's such a nice holiday and I was sorry to have missed it. We tried to get together with some friends but in the end the plans fell through and we had no where to float our krathongs. That is if I would have figured out where to find all the stuff required to make them in the first place. Hopefully, we will get our act together by next year!

Today also marks an interesting anniversary. This is the day we started the adoption process. We signed our agency agreement and sent it in to Wacap on this day... 3 years ago. Amazing, what a different life we are living now vs then. Bliss. Through life's ins and outs, ups and downs...there is bliss. Ruby will randomly (and often) come over and kiss or hug me and say "I love you, Mommy".  Tonight I left the room to go get something. She came running after me a minute later saying "Wait, Mommy! I miss you so so much" She never said that before. It was so darn sweet. And so amazing. How lucky I am. How far this sweet, brave, loving little girl has come in a year and a few months. I found myself teary-eyed a lot this week watching her eyes light up at this or that...hearing all the sweet or funny things that come out of her mouth...watching her grow into this awesome little person. There is nothing in life so amazing as that!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Main Christmas tree in the living room.

The "before" shot with us just getting started. She was rather annoyed that we didn't let her help with the lights. So when I asked her to help with the ribbon she was so happy she practically jumped the whole way around the tree with it.

A happy little miss excited to decorate the tree. Wish I had the camera out when we got to the balls. Her face was so priceless. She oooed and ahhhed at all of them. Beooful!, she exclaimed at a few really sparkly ones. She is very careful so I even let her hang the special glass balls. I handed her one of the red glitter covered balls and she literally gasped. "OH!" she said. She held it with 2 hands very carefully with her mouth shaped like a perfect little "O". She walked it over to the tree slowly and we put in on the tree together. She was so excited to see each new ornament. Of course, they all went in pretty much one area in a big clump that I later moved around just a bit. She didn't even notice and I made sure to leave her favorites right where she left them.

Daddy gets in on the action.

Later, one snuggly lil reindeer getting ready to watch Rudolph the Reindeer.

I can hardly get a candid these days as the little miss has become quite the poser. She was watching TV in this position but quickly turned and smiled when she saw the camera!

Snuggling with Daddy for movie #2...

This time it was Santa Clause Is Coming to Town. 

Decorating the little pink tree in her bedroom earlier in the week.

Excited to see the little Thai doll ornament. She wanted to play with each "toy" before hanging so we were up there for awhile! I didn't mind though. Love how she is enjoying it all so much.

Here's how the tree and fireplace look all dressed for the holiday. I hung the stocking up last week and before I had a chance to explain she noticed. Looked over one morning with a puzzled look on her face and said "Sock. BIG sock!" LOL. Wait till she sees it Christmas morning! 

Here's a close up of the "Princess" tree. 

Marshmallow snowmen. Yea, I know. They look more like marshmallow aliens, but hey, the kid likes 'em. Tried to copy off the supermom over at Salsa in China blog (she has the BEST ideas!) but we didn't have all the right supplies. So we improvised. Alas, you get snow aliens. Anyway, we had fun!

Giggly girlie with Santa Claus. Tried to upload the video I took but can't get it on here for some reason. Anyone have tips for easy video uploading? Tried U-tube but want to charge me a monthly fee and i just don't upload enough videos for that to be worth it. Open to suggestion!

Anyway, as you can tell we are having a blast around here getting ready for Christmas! It's going to be the best one ever! So magical to see the holiday through your child's eyes. Ruby really gets it. Only a week into the merry making and she seems to understand both the story of Christmas and the whole Santa bit. Boy, is she just the happy camper. Heck, who can blame her? Trees lit up, Christmas music playing, baking cookies, cute holiday movies, marshmallow crafting (and eating). What's not to love? Lots of fun events, too. Hit Sesame Place last week, the mall this week to get pics with Santa, a parade, and a house light up where Santa came in on a fire truck amid much fan fair. I'd say it was quite the happening holiday week around here!

Hope you and yours are having a blast, too!