#happytobehere: holidays.

One of the best parts of being stateside are the holidays. We miss so many being away from family–the big ones, the small ones, the ones only America celebrates. Either way, it was so fun to be a part of some of these over the past few months.

{Birthdays}

We caught a number of birthdays while were back, but also missed five–yes, five!–by just three days. So, y’know, you win some. And you only take pictures at some, too.

Stephen’s family also surprised me with a birthday celebration before we left!

{Gender Reveals}

We knew Stephen’s sister was pregnant before we left. Just a couple weeks in we got to be a part of the surprise that she was having twins! And then, we got to participate in a gender reveal, which might be our first live gender reveal that we can recall. (We’ve Skyped into a few before. It’s sometimes difficult to tell what is going on.)

They came with balloons…

And we came with guesses! We were mostly wrong. Rex & Madeline were the only two guessing two girls were on the way!

{A Mini Baby Shower}

After announcing the adoption, my family asked about a baby shower. However, knowing so little–timing, gender, age–it seemed challenging. Instead, everyone went together to throw us a mini baby shower as a family, to celebrate with us!

This was so unexpected and really such a gift.

This gift was the best: a Trunkie. It’s a little suitcase, this one decorated like a bumblebee, that is a carry-on but also can carry a child’s weight. They can ride or be pulled through the airport! For our future traveler!

And these cookies–whoa! For those who haven’t heard of Willflowers Bakeshoppe, you should find them on Instagram and be amazed. They are simply incredible, and ordered to fit us perfectly–they had pictures of Thailand, “love” in three languages, and the cutest little elephant family I’ve ever seen.

And while the gifts were great and the cookies were spectacular, what really meant the world was just celebrating together. It’s been a challenge to determine when & how to be excited and anticipatory without hesitation or self-protection. This was a kickstart to unabandoned excitement!

We also later received a beautiful gift from Stephen’s mom–a hand sewn & embroidered baby blanket! It’s beautiful, and she made it extra-think for our tile floors! It was really fun to have people celebrating with us.

{Easter}

We were able to just sneak in Easter before we left this past week. We decorated lots of beautiful hardboiled eggs over the weeks before.

We celebrated with my family on Saturday, with a day at soccer games, an egg hunt & family dinner.

We were at Stephen’s parents for Easter lunch and another egg hunt.

This little guy was oh-so-adorably calling out, “Eg-ggg, where aarrree you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!”