A Special Christmas

We had a wonderful time with the kids this year. Just to have Anika here this year was such a special gift. She really enjoyed opening her gifts. Christmas Eve we had our family of four Christmas. It was really fun to see the kids so happy. Anika had a bawl and even wore the HO HO HO Jammi's that Alex wore when he was one on Christmas. It is the little things like that that I love. She made a sled out of a box herself and asked Alex to pull her around the house. It was so precious. After the gifts were opened and the cookies left for Santa. Alex went out and left food for the reindeer as is our tradition. Anika will have to start this next year since I forgot about it until she was already sleeping. I felt bad but Alex enjoyed doing it since he was the big kid so all was not lost. Christmas morning was fun seeing how excited they both got about Santa's gifts or "ho ho" as Anika calls him. Jens was sick so we had to postpone our trip to see Grandpa and Nana. We had a quiet day here enjoying the kids. We had a wonderful day with Grandma Pappy and Uncle Adam yesterday. We are really making the fun last this year. I had so many pictures that I decided to make a movie. This is only pre-Christmas and the 24Th and 25Th. I think the Grandparent's special days will be part 2. We are all very blessed and thankful. Wishing you all happy days.
Tracy

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I wanted to finally get back to this long silent blog. I have missed it. It seems that having two kids and one that likes to be up from 1-4 am for some reason is harder than I thought it was going to be.

We are getting ready for the holiday's. Alex's last day of school is Friday and he is so excited about Santa coming. The tree is up and he has told Santa what he wants.

I will have to catch up with the pictures. Alex loves winter and getting all ready to go outside. The picture is one of his latest creations. Happy Holidays!

Outside

Halloween Pictures Finally

We had a nice time going out on Halloween. The kids were happy and Alex got two buckets filled. He has candy to last until next Halloween at this rate. Anika had her first taste of Mini M n M's and was thrilled to just ride along and eat and point at all the cats she could find. She fell asleep and missed the last half of the night.

The big kid in the house

It is hard to believe that Alex is already done with three months of first grade. He is doing great and has made friends. Other than school he is in boy scouts and we are all really enjoying that a lot. I never realized how involved I could be in it. I thought it was a father/son activity only. It is really for the family as a whole. Lot of good times to be had. Last Friday while he had a day off of school we went to the playground and he made this "campfire" out of sticks and leaves. He amazes me with his creativity all the time. He also spends a lot of time outside in the playset mixing up things and making "potions". He has a huge interest in science right now. Just a few new pictures of him that I wanted to share. It is a bit bittersweet how independent his is getting this year. I know this is only the beginning.

Happy Girl

Anika was so happy today when I got the crayons out and gave her a piece of paper. I have tried before but today was the first time she had interest in doing anything other than eating the crayons. She was so excited. We were at the little kids table where Alex usually does his homework and I am guessing she was thrilled to be writing there with me like her beloved brother does. When she was done she put the crayons down and waved goodbye to them. SO CUTE.

More Weekend Fun

On Sunday after the camping trip we all went to a fall festival here in our neighborhood. Alex was really excited about the chance to wear his Halloween costume in the kids parade. Anika was less than thrilled with her cat attire. After marching around the park following the high school band it was time for the bounce house and slide. Anika loved the little slide in the park and is now climbing the stairs and sliding herself!

Weekend Fun

This weekend was a first for our family. It was Alex's Fall Cub Scout camp out. Very early on saturday we hit the road for the trip to the camp. It was a great day. Anika and I stayed until late afternoon and then left for home after it was clear that Anika was not going to shut her eyes for even a minute and risk missing the fun. The boys stayed overnight and were home before lunch on Sunday. Alex had a blast with some of his new friends and can't wait to go again next year. It did my heart such good to see him with his friends from school and see that he has made some good friends here in the short time since school started.

Playing Together

I am having so much fun watching Alex and Anika play together. Alex is a wonderful big brother and the majority of the time is really nice and loving with Anika. She adores him and follows him around the house now hoping for a spin on her little big wheel. Alex had his first cub scout meeting this month, his Halloween costume is all ready to go and Anika is loving being outside and playing with sticks and leaves. We have starting to hang out in the front yard after dropping Alex off at school in the morning. She just beams the whole time. Have a great weekend.

We are still here and She did it!

Wow it has been such a long time since I have posted anything. I have thought of about 20 posts in my head during the day and then by the time I am able to get to the computer at night I am just beat. I have a lot to catch up on but for now some pictures from today...

She did it! Anika was happy and into getting her picture taken at the studio. We have tried 3 times before and she was always terrified. They took 99 different shots and boy was it hard to choose. We finally have our yearly picture that we take every August around Alex's family day. This year we are a bit late but I think it turned out great. I wanted to post a few of my favorite shots.

The last few weeks have been really busy. Shortly after our visit with our Guatemama friends Jens parents came to visit. It was the first time they had the chance to see Anika making it a special visit. During the two weeks they were here. Hurricane Ike or what was left of it blew through and left our area largely without power. We were lucky and were only without for a few hours but just a few streets over many were out for over a week! Alex's school was in the hard hit area and he had an unexpected week off of school. Things are getting back to normal now. Anika is starting to talk more and now is into climbing everything that she can. I will post more often I hope and thanks for still checking in on us.
Tracy

A great day

On Saturday we got to meet some of our blogging friends in person. It was really a pleasure to spend the day with Nicole and Dominic www.nikicoli.blogspot.com and Steph, Jason and Eli! www.journeytoeli.blogspot.com

It was emotional to see Dominic, Eli and Anika all in the same house playing together. There were days late last fall when we wondered if any of the babies would be here. Thankfully those days are behind us all and we have a lifetime of enjoying our kids to look forward too. It was so fun to see everyone in person after reading about them for over a year. Both boys are adorable and I can't wait until we can do it again. Thank you Nicole for a great time and all the work you did getting ready for us.


This is the best group shot that I have. Anika was so mad that I took her away from Eli and Dominic she was going from one to the other and hugging them. Maybe we will take one first next time.


How neat is this to have all 3 in the same picture..


All 4 kids in one picture. Alex loved the pool.


It was really a neat day and I look forward to seeing you all again.

First Grade

It is hard to believe that my baby boy is in first grade. Alex started at his new school last week. I was so proud of him on the big first day. He was nervous being new here and not having a buddy in his class. He walked into school with his head high and sat at his desk. I waived from the door and Anika and I walked home as fast as I could go. I didn't want to cry on the way back. He was so brave and I know it was hard for him. He had a great first day and loves his new school. He is already making some good friends. The other day when I asked who he played with at recess he said " oh you know mom the same old, same old" That is my Alex. He really does go with the flow. He has made friends with a girl in his class that was adopted from China as an infant. How neat is that? Having him love his new school is such a blessing. It is easy to send him when he is so excited and I know he likes being there. I also think this part of town is going to be like our wonderful small town we just left in time. The first day of school all the kids along our way to school were running and hugging each other and everyone seemed to really know each other. It made the walk hard for us last week but I kept telling Alex that soon you will have lots of friends here too.

Anika is doing great. She was 16 months old a few weeks ago and is starting to blossom. She is having a ball playing with me while Alex is at school. The first day she just kept saying "awek awek awek" to herself in such a sad little voice. Picking him up is still the highlight of her day. She is starting to run now and says a new word or two everyday. This weekend we are going on a little trip to visit with some of our blogging friends with Guatemalan children. I am so excited. I hope to get some good pictures to post too. Here are a few pictures from FIRST GRADE I just can't get over it and Anika's new dew...