My big 4 year old

Four years ago (yesterday) a sweet baby girl was born in South Korea in the outskirts of Soul. I very brave mother made a very hard decision, one that I am grateful for but I am not unaware of the hurt and pain that came with this decision. I think of her always especially the week leading up to Malias birthday and on her birthday I always sit and pray and give thanks to her birth mother.
Here is an update for her..
Malia is so smart, I mean so so smart. The kind of smart where other people notice right away. Ive gotten so use to it that when we are around other kids her age I am shocked at how slow they are and then remember just how smart Malia is!
Malia is funny, she has this hidden humor about her where she doesnt even want you to realize she is funny, but she is. And when I get a peek of her hidden sneaky smile it cracks me up!
Malia is still a super healthy eater, she loves all veggies and fruits, she is not a big fan of bread.. what in the world!!
She is a great singer, memorizes songs after hearing half the song.. seriously! She is very musical.
She is obsessed with smells right now. In fact her teacher told me last week that when kids that arent quite potty trained have an accident in class Malia lets them know right away. This is sometimes embarrassing because if something stinks she pipes in and says whats the yucky smell.. and there is no fooling her, she knows exactly what it is!
Malia adores her brother and sister, they have their moments but they are so sweet with each other and seeing them play and giggle is always a sweet mommy moment.
She makes friends really easy, everyone seems to be driven towards her (kids and adults) and she eats up that attention.. when she feels like it. Sometimes it takes her a minute to warm up, she plays hard to get but really she turns on her charm pretty quickly.
She is a challenge at times I wont lie, her and I sometimes butt heads and I think its because she is so smart, but I just love this little girl so much. Rich and I adore the heck out of her.
She is the world and is ready to let herself be know.


We had a little photo shoot for the big 4 year old! It was fun, she was acting shy with me until I told her to pout and then I started getting real smiles and lots of laughing!

Malia wanted pancakes for breakfast so Daddy made them, fruit for lunch so I made her shortcake with fruit and whip cream.. big hit! And then we did Qdoba for dinner, her fav beans and rice!

After eating she opened her gifts. The biggest hit was her leapster ipad! She is going to end up with a very sore neck everyday because of this toy I think.

For the first time ever I had to send one of my kids to school on their bday, I was sad about that but Malia was excited! She had a fun sash to wear so everyone would know and make sure she felt special, then she got to hand out fun little cookies to everyone!

She was very excited when daddy brought in the mail and she got to open all her cards!

For weeks prior I kept asking what she wanted, the only thing she could come up with was CAKE!! Well thats easy! We had someone make this cute little cake for her, it had strawberry filling which was a big hit for this little one!

She was very happy all day! It was a good day and its always good to see her so happy!