Birthday party, Pops, Lis, LIghts, a Big Weekend

It is Sunday night, we are waiting for a pizza to be delivered while watching a rather stressful Packer game. Courtney, Paul, and Tizita left a bit ago and we are tired from our very full weekend spent with Tizita.
It started on Saturday morning at Mehandis' birthday party which was held at Your Big Backyard in New Berlin. Since Courtney and Paul had a big craft show in Madison, John and I were given the job of getting Tizita to the big birthday bash. I have been FB friends with Mehadis' mom and grandma for a long time now and I was very excited to meet them in person at the party. I had never heard of Your Big Backyard and I was not sure what to expect, but as usual with these kid friendly places, I was not disappointed. The building is a big warehouse which has a huge playground structure as well as many riding toys for all ages, an area for basketball, and an area for younger children. A great place for little ones to run around, climb, and have fun. The staff, especially our hostess were so helpful and friendly.

Tizita enjoyed some time with Mehandis' little brother, Aberra. He is the cutest little thing. Both Mehadis and Aberra are also adopted from Ethiopia. Aberra is actually just three weeks younger than our Natnael. That really put things in perspective for me!

Here Tiz is taking part in a lively basketball game with Mehandis and some of his other friends.

After an hour of playtime the cake was served. It was a yummy ice cream cake.

Mehandis and Tizita having some fun together.
After our fun time at the party we were off to visit Pops at the Care Center.

He had some crafts that Tizita worked on while we were there. Pops was unusually quiet and said he was missing MaryAnn. That is understandable especially at this time of the year. We hope Tizita cheered him up at least a bit.
We spent an hour or so at Alissa and Nathan's apartment. They gladly took a break from packing for their move to spend some time with Tizita. It was good to see them, they are so excited for the next chapter in their lives and so are we.

We headed over to Candy Cane Lane to check out all the beautiful lights and decorations. Tiz was thrilled to sit up in the front seat with us. The cars drive so slowly through streets of Candy Cane Lane that we figured she would be safe out of her seat.

Then it was on the the light show in Waukesha. It was awesome. We enjoyed some hot chocolate and cookies before heading home after our long day.

Santa came and filled stockings for Tizita and Natnael. Tiz was excited with all her gifts.

I also wanted to add that on Friday night we all watched the Live Nativity at St. Luke's. What a wonderful presentation about the true meaning of Christmas. We ate dinner after the nativity at El Mariachi where we were seranaded by the Mariachi band. It was a great night.

Note to Natnael - We cannot wait for you to join on all these fun activities next Christmas. Your name came up so often this weekend. We love you so much already. Stay safe and healthy. We will see you soon!