Alex's 3rd Christmas!

I love his smile, eyes and cheeks!!

At church the theme for the Children's Church service was Christmas around the world... so everyone dressed up in outfits from all over the world. This little girl wore one of the dresses that i bought for Kimi when we went to Kaz for Alex
They all had flags from their countries. Alex can say "Kazakhstan" perfectly!!

When we got home from church, he insisted that he wanted to try on the dresses... silly boy!

he does NOT look one bit like a girl!!!!!

Alex Turns 3!!!!

This is the "Baja 1000" cake that we made... Jerry couldn't resist getting involved... haha! We made a hill, mountain, a bay, and it wouldn't be complete without a silt bed!!! We even made cactus looking things! The trophy truck was on the mountain, the quad (Jerry) was coming up out of the silt bed, the VW beetle was just going into the silt... and 1x was just coming over the hill... (1x always wins... Team Honda) Oh! and a motorhome! Because every team needs one of those to drive around on those narrow bumpy roads! We think the cake was the most amazing cake ever!!! Now what to do for baby brother's cake next month... humm?

Last year we were in Baja to race for Alex's birthday... and since he is in love with Quads we tried to do something representing last year. Do you know how hard it is to find toy quads!!!? very hard... The ones you can fine at the toy store are very cheap! As in $7 and Alex broke the handle bars off it with in minutes! So annoying! oh well!

Do you like the waves?

Hahaha! When Alex unwrapped this one, he said, "Envelopes!!!" It was hilarious... so cute!It was actually a Larry Boy Veggie-tale toy. He loves it!!!

Alex just had to drive the toys around just a little before we could eat it!!! I think if it was up to him we would have just kept it around to play with!

I still can't believe he is 3... and it has already been 2 weeks!

Alex's Adoption Day - 2 years!!!!!!!

... and we love him more than ever!!!! It's amazing when I look at those old pictures and see that little baby... and i thought he was so big when we got him! He turned a year old 2 weeks after we got him! Now he is about to turn 3!!!! He is so grown up and sooooooo smart! He has determined, from hearing Jerry and I talk, that "Our Government is broken!" We about died when he first said that! Therefore he repeated it as often as possible for the first couple weeks... There are 2 things we most commonly hear from People about Alex... "he is so cute!" and I can't believe his linguistic abilities! (they don't exactly say linguistic, but all different forms) Most people think he is at least 4! Nope!!! He is 2! Our sweet social worker that came for his post placement was asking Jerry if he was sure he was only 2, she seriously thought Jerry was mistaken! Anyways i don't really know how that happened, but he is just good with words, i guess! It is so much fun watching him develop!! He asks "but why?" all the time... even when he knows the answer! He also asks "what is that" all the time... He loves his cars and trucks and construction equipment, quads, and dirt! He can make his new baby brother Anthony laugh faster than anybody else! He and Anthony even play "commando crawling" tag in the house! It is quite hilarious! Anthony is 10 months!

Alex is enjoying knowing so much stuff... he knows it is fall and winter is coming! So far we don't have any big trips planned for this winter... We went to Kazakhstan this summer, so... we might have to skip a trip or two... We'll see...




This is one oof the last pictures at the babyhouse for Alex! That is the inspector, she was very happy to see Alex again this last summer! We really liked her!

Alex at 3!

Alex is soooo Beautiful....

2 Years Ago...

2 Years ago today we set foot in Kazakhstan for the very first time!!!! We arrived about 1am because our plane was late. We slept a few hours, had a meeting where we signed some papers, handed over the program fees and the cost of our apartments and interpreters and we had the rest of the day free. We had Vitali drive us up the mountain to the Ski resort where they were having some mountain biking "thing" for the day! We rode up the mountainside and walked around for a while... all the while having butterflies in our stomachs because TOMORROW we will meet our Alex for the first time!!!!!!! Oh my goodness!!!! It feels like it was yesterday... just thinking about it i remember the feelings!!! We set my camera on a rock and took our picture up there in the mountains on the OTHER side of the world!!! I can't believe we were there... We could only imagine what the rest of our life was going to be like!



Today... this feels like old news! Little did we know we would go back!!! Now having lived in Kazakhstan for not just one, but two months of our lives, we have 2 precious boys to show for it! THAT is amazing!!! Kazakhstan is our second Homeland! I would go back in a heartbeat!

A Special Visit.

A couple weeks ago we had a special visit from "Aunt" Lianro and "Uncle" Anthony! They used to live around here and then they got jobs and moved away!! We always try to do a photo shoot, because Lianro is good at photography too! So these are my favorite ones!

Isn't this just so cute!!!? Alex just loves them!

Play day!

Last week Ryleigh came over for a day again to play. As Heather and I were visiting our favorite blogs together... we looked over into the play area in the living room and saw this!

They were both in this metal tub that we use for his toys in the living room! They were goofing around and laughing! Of course I had to take several shots, and they got out and got back in about 3 times! So silly!

Alex in May!

Alex is POTTY TRAINED!!!!! Yes that is right! We did a 3 day intense-do-nothing-else-session! And it worked! Proof!


We took a weekend trip in the motorhome a couple days after Alex's potty training session and he did fine, we drove to Missouri where we went to a Spring Planting Festival that we had had our eye on all winter. While we were driving, it was so windy that we took a break only an hour into our trip... we stopped at the beach on lake Michigan! Alex loves the beach of course!

My mom and her hubby Dave, drove down and met us in the little town on Mansfield, Missouri. That is where Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote all her books, so we were able to go to the farm where she lived for 60 years! It was neat for me as i read and reread those books when i was a kid! Alex had fun playing with Grandma and Grandpa.

As soon as it started warming up in may Jerry built a Teepee out of re-rod in the back yard... we will grow pole beans around it, they will climp up and it will be enclosed! We did that when i was a kid too and we loved to sit in there and play "house" and stuff! This teepee is a lot bigger than the ones we had and definately stronger! Alex is going to have fun playing in there later this summer!

Alex is incredible! We are amazed by him everyday! He talks nonstop and already asks a lot of questions! He makes us laugh all the time! He has become a cuddly "big" boy!

Here is a cute example of a conversation we had one morning after i got him up and we went in our bed and "snuggled" a little...

mommy: "come on, big boy, let's go potty so you stayed dry all night!!"

alex: "no, snuggle minute" ( he snuggles in tighter, happy as a clam)

mommy: "you like snuggling, huh? I love you!" (I smooch on him a minute and try again)

mommy: " Come on, time to potty!"

alex: "no! snuggle minute!"

mommy: (laughing) "I love you!! You're a mess! Where'd i get you!?"

Alex: (giggling) and very loudly says "Kazakhstan!!"

I couldn't believe it! I laughed pretty hard! That seems to be his favorit thing to say! He frequently tells people he is from kaz and that baby Anthony is there too! We are looking forward to taking him back to his first country!

Other than that stuff... our lives have been consumed with the new business ( http://www.weedfreegardenbed.com/ ) and planting our gardens and hoping to be ready to go to Kaz when they call for baby Anthony!

Paintings.

When we went to Uralsk in October 2006 we had heard about families having a local artist paint a family portrait while they were there. We wanted to do that. After we were there a while we finally found a guy that did that. We had his paint some for us. We asked him to paint 3 but after we decided we didn't want to spend quite that much, we told him just 2. One of the 3 of us and one of just Alex. When we went to pick them up at his little studio he had painted 2 of Alex and one of the 3 of us! he gave us the 2nd one of Alex for Free... we are still not sure why! We decided to give it to Jerry's parents. Framing paintings is so exspensive!!!! So Jerry has become a framer now too!






When we were visiting the artist in his apartment/studio we were so impressed with is work that we bought another painting that he had hanging up in there. he had a hard time letting it go, but we promised we would treat it right and frame it beautifully, after much discussion he finally sold it to us for about $500. It is amazing, it is a story of a woman that suffers from an arranged marriage, because sometimes that still happens out in the small villages in Kazakhstan!

Then at the last minute we asked him to paint us a landscape picture of the Uralsk area. he painted the picture of the Ural river with a boat tied to the shore... he added the little Kazakh flag at my request. I love it!!! We picked it up the night before we left for Almaty... it was soaking wet, he had just finished it! We had to leave it behind and friends of ours, the Bucks brought it home for us a few weeks later with them! we picked it up last winter when we visited them and had it framed.

Spring!!

Lately we had our little friend Ryleigh over for a couple days while her mommy worked. We had a blast and I got a small dose of what it will be like to have 2 precious munchkins running around here! I can hardly wait! Alex had a couple break downs having to share all his things... he seemed especially interested in the dolls and kitchen toys those days. Silly boy! Yeah.

So we played outside one day for a while, it was warm and windy when we went out and within a half an hour it was so cold i got the kids jackets and hats and mittens! But they had a blast out there letting their noses get runny! yuck!

We have been gardening around here alot lately and Alex enjoys digging in the dirt too, although we have had to ban him from the actual garden now since there are things planted in there! He loves "to help" these days! Especially in the kitchen and on daddy projects. He and Jerry were building some trellises for the garden, Alex was so serious about it! Adorable!!

It has been one of the nicest Aprils I can remember! The Tulips that we planted while we were waiting for Alex are blooming in full force and they are so beautiful. For those who do not know... there are 2 species of tulips that were discovered in Kazakhstan up in the Tien Shan Mountains. The Greigii and the Kaufmann types. I look for them in the stores every year... there are many different kinds of those 2 species even! Last fall I found them at Wal-Mart and Meijer. This last batch i planted were in honor of our wait for the new baby.

Handsome!

Alex in his new Gap jacket! He thinks he is hot stuff! He is ready to go to Church! Where... when they asked in his class whom he loved, he answered Ryleigh and then Paul (Ryleigh's dad)!!! Every one laughed pretty good. All the other kids were saying "mommy" or "daddy" but noooooo not Alex! haha. It was funny and sweet!