Alex and the Simba Cake

I am finally back to blogging. It has been a busy time around here. I was just looking at my pictures and realized that I have a few from Good Friday that I want to post. I am that far behind. Last week right after Easter Anika got bronchitis. I took her to the Dr last Monday thinking she had an ear infection. Nope bronchitis. She was doing well until about Thursday and it has been hard on her since then. Thankfully she is on the upswing. Alex woke up this morning with a fever so I kept him home today. Keeping my fingers crossed for him. Easter weekend Grandma Connie and Pappy came for a visit. We celebrated Alex's birthday with them on Saturday and Easter on Sunday. I have so many great pictures that I want to post from our weekend also but first "Alex and the Simba Cake"

On the 26th Alex's actual birthday we planned a quiet "family of four" dinner and cake-presents kind of evening. First let me say how fun it is to finally type family of four. WOW! We have dinner and we have fun watching him open his gifts. Time for the Simba Cake! He very carefully puts the "6" in just the right spot on the cake and I light it. As we are singing I am thinking "he is leaning over kind of far I should tell him not to." As soon as I think this he lifts his head and I see his hair SMOKING! I panic and yell " YOUR HAIR IS ON FIRE" as I dive over the table. He takes off running down the hall yelling "STOP DROP AND ROLL" as loud as he can. I chase him down and then manage to rub out the smoldering fire in his hair. THANK GOODNESS he was not hurt. It really was scary for a few seconds there. Never a dull moment around here lately.

Looking forward catching up on everyone's blogs soon. I will post more pictures in the next few days. THANK YOU for all the wonderful comments and Birthday wishes for Alex on my last post!

6 Years Old!!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!!!!!!!

Today you are 6 years old. I love you more than the sun, more than the moon, more than the stars, more than the universe. I am so proud of you zee zee. You are such a nice kid and so smart. I love how much you cherish your sister. I love your sense of humor and how you care so much about every living thing. I was not there 6 years ago when you were born but I was already waiting and dreaming about you. You were born in my heart and will always be my son. I am so thankful everyday that I am your Mom.
xoxoxoxoxo
Mom

Anika's Favorite Things.....

Plastic Easter Eggs
Boo-Bah
Her Big Brother

I am feeling so lucky right now. Happy Easter

Picture Post

Last Sunday we went to a local nature center. This is one of Alex's favorite places. The exhibit has been the same for a while but I love how he is always excited. He loves to learn about anything. Anika has learned to blow kisses this week. Super Super cute. I LOVE and am so thankful that she is now initiating affection on her own. In the bottom picture she was playing peek-a-boo with the blue bowl.

11 Months

HAPPY 11 MONTHS ANIKA!
We love you!
Mom Dad and Alex

Friday Flashback

I am feeling kind of sad that Alex will be 6 in less than two weeks! Where has the time gone. It seems like it was just yesterday he was as small as Anika and totally dependent on us. Now he is in school all day and reading! I was looking through all my old pictures tonight and found a few that I wanted to post. These two are from October and November of 2003. Alex was 18 and 19 months old in these pictures. What I find the most amazing are his facial expressions. That is how he still looks when he is happy. I am so glad that some things don't change. I love you Alex!! Mom

One Stroller two kids

Ok Alex is almost six and is long long past a stroller but he really enjoyed playing with Anika's this weekend. The stroller spent time in our basement last week drying out after I left it out in the snow. It made it's way upstairs where Alex got a hold of it and pretended he was the mailman bringing Anika her toys. While he and Jens were at the local musical I set Anika in it in the living room and she read her books. :) Too cute.





This is Anika after I put on Sesame Street. I think she must have seen this in Guatemala with her foster family. She was THRILLED. Definite Joy to see that show. Ok we watched about 10 min. Big Bird is a favorite. I so wish she could tell me what else she likes and probably misses and not just TV. What a change this little sweet thing is dealing with.

This is Alex and his snapdragon egg. I hope we will have a pretty flower to post in 10 days or so. He came home from school and went right to check on it. He was right that we needed to add more water and he took care of it. I love seeing him with projects like this. He is getting so big.

FFF

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from this week! Anika is doing so much better. I can tell that she is so much happier than even last week. The picture of her in her walker in the bathroom with Alex I just love. She follows him everywhere in that thing. He was showing her how he brushes his teeth before school. :)

Anika meets her Grandpa and Nana

We had a great weekend. Anika got to meet her Grandpa and Nana. Alex had fun swimming in the hotel pool and having a family snowball fight in the back yard. Thanks to Dad and Suzanne for making the trip up.

Things with Anika are getting better. Last night she slept from 7:30-6:00 only waking at 10:30 and 3:30. She went to bed fairly easily each time without the grieving that we have been seeing. It has only been a little more than a month with us and she is making big progress. This morning when she woke up we put her in our bed. She looked at the door and started YELLING "bro wa" "bro wa"! She was calling Alex. :) I melted.. He was still sleeping and had a 2 hr delay to the start of school today. We told her that "brother is sleeping" acting out the sleeping complete with snoring sounds. She looked disappointed and then starting playing with her toys. SO SO CUTE!