Two Year Gotcha Day Anniversary

 I can hardly believe that two years have passed since Amelia came into our family.  She truly is everything that I prayed she would be!  We celebrated our Gotcha Day anniversary on the 23rd, since it is really the 24th in China.  Although Amelia was definitely the best Christmas present I could have ever asked for, I really want to try to separate this celebration from all of the family Christmas festivities. 

We began our day with giving Amelia her Gotcha Day present.  As Amelia gets older, she will receive special items we bought for her while in China, but right now, we give her a China related gift.  Amelia LOVED a baby panda bear that she saw while shopping one day at the beach.  It talked and walked and was everything that she could ever want.  She loved on this panda throughout the store until David and I found out how much they were asking for it.  We told her that it was too expensive, and we needed to leave it at the store.  Amelia was sad, but she put it back on the shelf without a fuss.  David and I decided that it would be a great gift for Amelia to have for Gotcha Day, so David went back to buy it.  Needless to say, she was so excited when she opened the box, and a bonus was that she was wearing matching panda jammies!

 

 

 

 

Next, we headed for a manicure and pedicure.  Amelia is definitely a girly girl and wants to have her nails painted.  On the way back from the beach, she asked if she could go see Mr. Tim at the paint store.  I quickly realized that she wanted a real manicure and pedicure and not just some paint put on her nails by Mommy.   Since we were celebrating Gotcha Day, this was a special thing we could do together. 

After nails, we met Daddy and Poppy for lunch at the Chinese restaurant.  Unfortunately, Paw Paw has the flu and couldn't come.  We want him better for Christmas, so we excused him missing the lunch celebration.  Amelia really wanted to ride in Poppy's car, so we all headed to Target.  Poppy was already headed that way, and I needed to pick up a few things, so it all worked out.  While we were there, Amelia chose a "Frozen" cookie cake as her special dessert.  She was thrilled!

A nap was next on the list followed by a shrimp dinner with some fresh shrimp we brought back from the beach.  Our neighbors and some close friends who were in the country for the holidays were able to come over and eat dinner with us.  Amelia and Aidan had a great time playing together. 
 

Overall, it was the end of a wonderful Gotcha Day anniversary!  I still can hardly believe how much she has grown and changed over the past two years!  We are so blessed to have this wonderful child!