Happy Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Love,

The Bowens

A couple of videos ...

...and a few Holiday activity photos to enjoy!

Santas little helper ballerina decorates the tree.

Kate making a gingerbread house at Opryland. We went as part of a Families with Children from Asia event. It was so much fun. Luckily most of the candy went on the house instead of into Kate's mouth!

Kate putting her gingerbread house on the tree.

The happy Bowen family.

November 16, 2008 Kate is Three

Here are a few photos from Kate's birthday party. She had one of the best days of her life. There were 16 kids at a place called Monkey's Treehouse. It's the greatest place on the planet for a childs party. We had it all to ourselves and the kids were super happy. The adults enjoyed having the Titans game on the big TV.

Kate danced and played and loved every minute. The puppet show was a huge hit and the pizza and cake were also popular. Kate still talks about the day.

Kate and Jacob

Cute story: Her current boyfriend from school is Jacob. His mom and I were talking as they played. She was explaining that they were teaching Jacob about Thanksgiving. When asked what he was thankful for his answer was "Kate B. and dinosaurs." Is that not the cutest thing ever?

It was a truly happy birthday!

Two Years as a Forever Family

On November 6, 2008 we celebrated 2 years as a family. We had a special dinner with fellow travel mates David and Lydia Byrne. The date fell on a Thursday this year so after we finished Kindermusic class (which the girls take together), we headed to dinner. They played and had a great time.

We began a tradition that we hope to continue forever. We take a family photo in a similar position as our first official family photo taken moments after we got Kate. Here are the photos in order.

And yes...Eddie and Christi are wearing the same clothes in all the photos. This may be the last year for it but we thought it was fun. In fact, I wore my shirt one day and Kate looked at me and said, "Mommy, your shirt!" and started rubbing my shoulders. The look on her face was amazing. It was like she actually remembered it from the first day we met.

Some days it seems like it was yesterday we were in China and others feel like it was so long ago. Kate is a true joy and we love our life with her. We're looking forward to the years ahead.