Pretty girl!!!

A few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of meeting Eric's cousin's wife and daughter (Geraldine and Ella). They were in Seattle (from NY) visiting family and my mom-in-law hosted a dinner so we could meet them and reconnect with Eric's aunt, as well. Ella is one month older than Annika and the girls played together beautifully. It made us quite sad that we live on opposite sides of the country; we'd love to have more frequent opportunities for the girls to get to know each other and play together.

Geraldine surprised us with an INCREDIBLE gift this week. I went outside to get the mail and found a FedEx box on our porch; it was from Geraldine. I opened it and found an exquisit dress that almost brought tears to my eyes; her note explained that she had the dress made for Annika by someone in the Dominican Republic (where Geraldine is from) and Geraldine's mom (who still lives in the Dominican Republic) picked out the fabric for the dress. We are beyond touched by such a generous and beautiful gift. Eric and I quickly voted for Annika to wear the dress for her Santa pictures on Saturday.

This morning, Annika and I were up early (4:30 AM) - hence the "bed head" hair do, so I had ample time to put the dress on her to confirm that it fits. It does!! Check out our little princess...

Of course with tomorrow being Thanksgiving, I had to make cookies to celebrate the holiday! I made up some leaves and turkeys to bring to work and to send to Annika's day care teachers.