Carissa 2nd Birthday!!

Waking up on her birthday (not a happy camper)

Carissa with Pastor Eric

Beth Evans, Sunflower Swan and Carissa

They both have adopted Chinese daughters

Some of Carissa's guests enjoying a cookout

Erika has the coolest shirt that you can change around

The Pink Panda Cake

Carissa with her adopted "Auntie" Michelle

Her Pink Panda Cake made by her adopted "Auntie Michelle"

Getting ready to cut the cake

Posing with all of her "STUFF"

Trying on the outfit given to her by one of her Hunan Sisters, Alyssa Allen

Playing with her back pack and new cell phone

Today we celebrated Carissa 2nd Birthday with a cookout at Rycenga Park. We missed her 1st birthday by four days last year and even though we celebrated when she was 13 months old, it wasn't the same as the "first" birthday celebration every child should have. We decided to make this a big one for her and we had a wonderful turn out of families and friends that have been with us during this long journey and have welcomed Carissa into their hearts over this past year. We are so blessed to have wonderful friends to celebrate with!! She also got a ton of "stuff" for her birthday!!

It has been a tradition since Ryan was a baby to tape him first thing in the morning on his birthday (he was born at 8:17 in the morning so we try to get him up at the same time). We don't know what time of day Carissa was actually born so we went into her room as soon as we heard her getting up. She wasn't really fond of being video taped but we did it any way - LOL!!