Happy Birthday, Lina!!!

Hey, you say you have something to tell me?

ooooooooooo it's something special??

It's my BIRTHDAY?

Not sure what this birthday thing is you talk about, but I GET TO BRING COOKIES TO SCHOOL FOR SNACK???? WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!

Is this day really here?? Is my babygirl really home to celebrate her birthday?? Hard to believe one year ago we were holding our big Birthday Bash fundraiser to raise money for Lina's adoption. We were still submitting paperwork to complete our homestudy, all the while dreaming of traveling for the first time to meet her. We did not know her actual birthday until we received her official referral just a couple weeks before traveling in November; we just knew it was sometime in September.

And now she is HOME celebrating with her family for the very first time. I don't know if the orphanages ever acknowledged the children's birthdays or if Lina even knows what that is. Wondering how she will handle all the attention from family and friends as we celebrate both her birthday and her Baptism this weekend. We haven't had any big holidays to celebrate yet since she's been home, so this will be interesting to see! :) We've had a few family birthday parties to warm her up a bit to the occasion.

Since Lina really has no understanding of the English words "Happy Birthday", we pulled up Ms. Google Translate to help us wish her a Happy Birthday in Russian. Yea, we played the audio several times trying to pronounce it correctly ourselves, and then we gave up and played the audio for Lina to hear herself. ;)

Happy Birthday: С Днем Рождения pronounced "S Dnem Rozhdeniya" - try saying that 10 times fast! Try this link if you'd like to hear Lady Google say it for you. Lina did smile when we played it for her, so we are thinking she may understand what it means... but still don't think she knows what all she's in for this weekend. ;)

Today at preschool we brought cookies to celebrate the big day. :) It's sometimes difficult for me to remember she is actually turning six years old.... She is attending a 4 year old preschool program, still about the size of a 4 year old just going into size 5 clothes, and developmentally she's about at the level of a 3 year old on average. We're still waiting for all the official assessments through the schools so I will keep you posted on all that.

Of course I forgot to snap a pic of the class birthday book- we completed pages with photos of Lina and listed all her favorite things... it was super cute. I did snap some pics of Lina throughout the rest of her day at school:

Listening at storytime

making a special birthday crown {that she only kept on for about 5 minutes}

playing in housekeeping

and making a craft- a self portrait :)

So, Polina Mae... you really are home, and you really are OURS. You captured Mommy and Daddy's hearts the first time we met you, and we're blessed to call you our daughter. Sure, your brother and sister may squabble with you from time to time as most siblings do, but they still tell us how much they love you and are so glad you are home with us too. Happy Birthday, precious girl, we love you SO much!!!