Hanukkah Blessings

Hanukkah has been wonderful this year. Obviously, the first thing that I am thankful for is that I have a healthy husband to share it all with. Marc's heart and health is completely back to normal and it makes my own heart sing.

This is the first year that the kids "REALLY" get it! They are beginning to understand the basis of the holiday and what the meaning of the holiday is. Of course, the gift giving has not been lost on them either.

One of the highlights of the holiday would have to be the party that we held here at the house this past weekend for 14 of the DD's friends and their parents. We served delicious food, played fun games with the children, did crafts and had a gift exchange, which was a big hit!

Another big highlight was gift giving each evening with the DD. Tonight was night 6 and it was a very special night; one that memories are made of.

After the candles were lit and it was time to give a gift to each child, I realized that I had one extra gift for each, so we decided to give them two tonight....well, that set off waves of excitement!

The first gift for Katie was an American Girl "Asian Bitty Baby" with a layette. I have actually had this gift for about 18 months but held back from giving it to her for two reasons; I wanted her to be mature enough to take care of it and second, I thought that Ethan would end up wanting to play with it too because when he first came home from China he wanted every doll that Katie had. I actually held it so long that I second guessed myself and thought that she was now too old for it. Well, was I wrong about that! She absolutely adores it and I think it will be one of her fav toys for quite some time. She named it Hong Shan, which is her Chinese name and Hong Shan is now sleeping soundly with Katie Starr Hong Shan.

Ethan got a Huge Tonka Crane....boy oh boy, did he love that!! This is the third vehicle or piece of heavy machinery that he has received for Hanukkah and he is just loving all of them.

The other two gifts were equally well received; Katie got dress up princess shoes and Ethan got a fun pre-school game called Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. We all played a few rounds of the game and had a lot of fun! I highly recommend it for this age group.

The icing on the cake came after those second gifts were given. Katie Starr turned to me with the most beautiful and sincere look and said "Mommy, thank you and Daddy for giving us all of these wonderful presents.

There is very little in life that is more gratifying than to have an appreciative child. That is a virtue that we model for them every day and I am very proud to say that we have not one but three appreciative children.

Here are a few cute photos from night 6 of Hanukkah...

and one last thing to add that we all are appreciative for and that is Nana. My mom and all of the grandparents adore our children; all of them. Here we are celebrating my mom's birthday yesterday. The whole motley crew was together but with all of the fun and frivolity, I just got a couple of shots of her and as well as my goofballs. Love them all!!