We were so lucky to have the Nickoloffs come to stay with us before they left for Malaysia. W celebrate a late Christmas together and the girls had a great time helping each other open gifts. Then it was NAKED TIME!!!! The girls ran up and down the hallway chasing each other and then slowly derobed before hopping into the wagon. They are so beautiful and it was interesting to watch them switch back and forth between fighting over a toy and playing together cooperatively. On Saturday Leah introduced us to Marbles, an amazing museum in Raleigh. Zawadi's favorite station was, of course, the water station. It was super crowded but we were able to see how much it has to offer and can't wait to go back again. The girls had fun writing "letters" to be mailed, chased each other around in the money room, drove a mail truck, and even played soccer with a real ball and net. Clyde drove them to the airport Saturday afternoon. We kept our fingers crossed for safe flights there and back and are excited to have them stay again when they return.
It is so hard to believe that our beautiful little lovebug is a year old! Christmas quickly turned into New Years, and right behind that was Z's big day. We planned a doggy themed party (Zawadi made the choice in the party store) and invited friends and family over for some snacks and cake and ice cream. We found a woman to make us an amazing 3-D dog cake, and couldn't have been happier with how the party turned out.We had around 30 people in our house, including Heather and Kenyon from Philly! We were so glad they could make the trip. The food was delicious, thanks to my mom and Shirley and Achieng, and the kids played while the adults ate. Then it was time for presents and the real fun began. Zawadi was the biggest ham you could possibly imagine, tearing paper off and clapping for herself the whole time. She appropriately held all of her new clothes up to herself to model them for us and LOVED each and every thing she received.She was starting to get sleeping so we knew cake needed to come next. After singing to her and helping her blow out her candle, we gave her her very own specially made smash cake and let her have at it. Needless to say, she was covered in cake and frosting and Grandma-Nana had to give her a quick bath. It was a wonderful afternoon and we appreciate all of the people who came and all they did to help make our baby girl's birthday a memorable one.
December flew by and before we knew it, it was time for Zawadi's first Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents house, where Zawadi opened enough presents for ten children. She got a new bike, a wagon, and a shopping cart among many other things. We couldn't even fit it all in our car and had to have my brother bring gifts to his house for Clyde to pick up later in the week.
Then Christmas morning we celebrated with another round of gifts at home, just the three of us, followed by a big Christmas breakfast. My favorite moment is when Zawadi sat down to open her first gift. It was a toy phone and when she squeezed it and it rang, she said "OOOOHHHH!" I was so excited I was able to capture it on camera.
Later Christmas night Shirley and Achieng came over with MORE gifts and we all had dinner together. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such amazing family to celebrate these special moments with. 
