Wednesday, February 21, 2007

End of Week 3!

Haha! This week we (Jerry) decided that Alex can probably handle playdough if we show him what to do with it and we will watch him carefully while he plays! Jerry is itching to play with it too... Alex sure enjoyed the box so far! Check out the crazy hair, that is after a nap, before it... the hair was laying down all nice-like!

This week we spent time in Orlando, near the Florida mall. We have a favorite store here called World of Decor, they sell amazing stuff from all over the world that is priced reasonable for what you get! We found out that as a contractor we were eligible to shop where World of Decor shops! We saved about 25%!! So that was cool! Here is their website...

www.shopworldofdecor.com


We decided that it is time for a new sofa set at home!




We also ordered a bed for us! We have wonderfully comfortable mattresses and the metal frame that goes under it, but no head/footboards, we thought it was time, plus we found one we LOVE!






We ordered several picture frames, we need to frame all the paintings from Kazakhstan and some others that we have around the house! The frames we bought ranged (in picture size) from 8x10 to 36x48. The prices varied, but averaged out it was about $100 per frame!



We plan on posting pictures of our Kazak done paintings when we have them all framed and such, so you can see how beautiful they are!






Paintings from foriegn countries!



In the future, we suggest that anyone travelling to Uralsk (or anywhere) where you are planning on having art made for you, take a US tape measure and get your painting made in the standard US frame sizes! That has been the biggest challenge in framing our wonderful art! It was done in centimeters and completely different sized... some typical sizes here are 16x20, 20x24, 30x40, 36x48. Much more cost efficient for framing!!!


Week 3... Part 1...

Notice that Alex's crazy hair is actually laying down... it is quite a procedure to get it to lay down... we have to put a very warm wet wash cloth on top of his head for a few minutes... I don't know... it works though, and it looks so cute! However we can't decide if we liked it sticking up better or not! Either way he is adorable to us!

His laugh is the sweetest sound to our ears!


He thinks he is hot stuff now, because he can walk for a long way before falling!

This his standing-back-up-from-a-fall-stance!



Alex and the amazing Belly Dancer at Morocco! He was thinking about grabbing her earrings!!!



Our Chinese New Years Celebration as a family at China in Epcot! Next year Kimi will be with us! It is the Year of the Pig now! *snort snort*

Watching the fire works at the end of theday at Epcot! The really big bangs would make him jump and grab for mama!

Week 2... Part 2...

Isn't he BEAUTIFUL!!?



Beach LOVER!!!!

The birds were practically attacking us, because we took some bread out to feed them so Alex could watch them, we under-estimated these crazy birds!!!

Mr. I-Can-Walk-Now!!
I can't help being so cute!


Sunday, February 04, 2007

Week 2... Part 1...




More pictures...

Week 1...




Playing at the Atlantic Ocean!!! We LOVE sand!!!



We have been having so much fun!!

Vacation!

Week 1 of our 2007 Winter Vacation

We left on Thursday and headed toward Chattanooga, TN area. We arrived Friday afternoon and, Boy!! was Grandma and Grandpa Cook happy to see Alex!! They had been in Florida for the month of January, so they were missing Alex something fierce! Jerry’s sister and family were also quite anxious to see Alex, since they had not met him yet. Of course they love him, they can hardly keep their hands off him! Alex was especially enamored with Uncle Greg, and would go to him… climb up him to a standing position and then beg for him to pick him up! It was very sweet! We finally headed South and spent some time with Kami and her new baby then had dinner with the Stegarp family near Atlanta. On Wednesday we drove to New Smyrna, FL. We stayed in a Bed and Breakfast there called Night Swan. It was a very comfortable place to stay. The next morning Jerry introduced Alex to “relaxing in a hammock” Alex actually fell asleep in it and he looked adorable lounging on that hammock. Later we shopped nearby, where we bought Alex a little shovel to play with at the beach. We also bought Kimi her very first Tea Set, with Ladybugs on it! It even has tiny silver ware! Then we drove on the beach there and let Alex play in the sand and water. Oh Boy!!! Did he LOVE that!!! He went crazy and ended up all wet and then covered in sand and eventually almost naked. I can’t even explain the joy of watching him play. He went nuts! He even tried to eat shell full of sand that we showed him. It was GRAND! I took almost 200 pictures. Shocker… Finally we went to Blue Springs State Park and looked at the Manatees that hang out there for the winter. Alex also has gotten his first “cold” too. Yucky!!

Friday, we checked out and headed down to the Kennedy Space center. On the way, Terri called to check on us, a tornado had gone through New Smyrna at about 4 am. We had no idea. We are just thankful to God that it didn’t get us!!! We had a pretty good day at Cape Canaveral. We took a tour and saw a ton of stuff. We moved to a resort for 4 days, so that will be nice we can settle in for a while. Ron Jon Resort near Cocoa beach. It is beautiful here and we are going to rest and have a fun time playing here.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Alex!!


Is this not such a Sweet face!!!!!?

Photos from Home!!









Alex's first time home!!

Finally Home!!

For Aliya!! We rode a CAMEL!!!!
We are finally Home!! Alex is now a US citizen!!!!!




Woohoo!!

We are HOME!!

November 11-20, 2006
Well, since we have gotten home, we have been having a blast with our new family member!! Once we all got sleep, there really was no "adjustment". It seems like he knew he was "home", he has just moved right in and made himself comfortable here! He has been so good, except for a few tantrums here and there...probably from tiredness, but he sleeps all night 10-12 hours and a couple naps a day, he eats almost anything... doesn't seem to care for green beans though. He is so happy; he laughs and giggles all the time! We are having a lot of fun around here!

My grandparents came to visit from Nebraska last week and we had so much fun, with them. Alex loves them! They love Alex, too!!! We also took Alex to the Doctor here and he got his USA check up, to make sure he is fine… silly people they had to take 3 vials of blood from my little blood curdling screaming baby!!! About 40 minutes of that and I was ready to pass out!! What a mess!!! Anyways, he is fine, as we already knew!!! The next day we celebrated Alex’s first birthday!!! We gave him that rocking horse that he loves so much and went to see Jerry on the jobsite in Grand Rapids! Alex was just taking it all in!!!! He can be very sober at times… but his “wheels” seem to be turning all the time… he just watches everything new with such seriousness!! It is rather funny!

Alex also turned 1 year old on November 8. Grandpa and grandma Nosal bought him a rocking horse, it is beautiful and while with a mane, tail, eyes and ears! He loves it! We went to dinner at Clementines in South Haven, with Heather, Ryliegh, Grandma and Grandpa Nosal, and G & G Cook. Alex tasted lemons for the first time… sour face. He also had Macaroni and cheese for the first time… it was ok. We are going to have a little birthday party for him on the 18th though, with cake and ice ream and all… So, we had the party… Tissiana and I found an accordion at world market the other day, considering that I wouldn’t let him play with the one at the baby house, we bought him his very own!! Ha!!! He was scared of it!! Poor kid!! But he liked the tambourine and percussion set that we found as well as the LeapFrog ABC set!! Bergmanns brought him a little John Deere farm set, and Bonnie (and her family) brought him bibs and a picture frame!!! We had a fun time!!! We made him a 2 layer Pomegranate cake and put a horse on top!!! He was such a mess!!! He loved the cake! But he got tired of sitting in his high chair. He feels confined in there! He hates that!!

Boy does he know who his parents are!!!? He will go to anyone, but they don’t have him but a couple seconds and he is looking to see where momma or papa went!! Then he is squirming to get to us!! It’s rather sweet!

At some point this week he decided that he LOVES his blankie!! I took away his one that we had at the babyhouse, so we could wash it… I pulled out a different one from Aunt Tissiana, made from fleece and he suddenly grabbed it and buried his face in it and made all kinds of happy noises! Now you can hand him almost any of his blankets and he will do that! It is adorable!

This week our friends, Travis and Tissiana came to visit us!!! We were so happy to see them! Alex loves them, he giggles like crazy when they play with him! He is just the perfect little baby!!! He loves them!!

Our little Julliette kitty has disappeared!! The last time we saw her was on Alex’s birthday. So she has been gone for a week!! We have looked for her everywhere and asked as many neighbors as we can find! Jerry walked the woods looking for her and I called the “pound” and the humane society as well as talked to the Vet’s office! No sign of her!! We think someone stole her!! She is so sweet and cute! None of the deer hunters have seen her out in the woods either. No sign of her anywhere!! She has just “poofed” into oblivion! It makes us very sad! We hope she is at the very least ok, and with someone who will love her, but really we would like her to come home! She was the one that would actually “play” with Alex. They would take turns chasing each other around the house.

Alex has been experiencing some falls! Poor kid, he tries to stand on his own quite a bit. This week he actually drew blood for the first time, he fell on his mouth and must have bit his little lip! He was so pitiful! He even looks cute when he is screaming! We actually think most of the “blood” was slobber! He seems to be teething too! Not sure what teeth are coming next but something!!

This week he has started saying “mama” it is the sweetest thing in the whole world!! I had been telling him our names… Alex… Mama… Dada. I came in the room from working in my office for about an hour… Uncle Travis was watching him upstairs, when I walked in, he went crazy and yelled “mama!!!” When I bent down to kiss him, he suctioned his little lips to my cheek!!! It was most amazing!! Also this week, one day when I was feeding him breakfast, I said “good job!!” and the next thing I know he is clapping away!! So I tried it again! Sure enough, he did it again! He has been doing it all week!! He will even drop stuff from his hands to do it!! We brought out the “walker”, that thing that he walks behind while holding on. Uncle Travis worked with him on that for a while too… He is getting better! He leans on it a little too much, so it goes too fast for his little legs! So he often ends up on his knees trying to crawls behind it… But we are working on it!! Everything is just so delightful!!

We are looking forward to a relaxing week ahead, we are staying home for thanksgiving, Jim and Ruth will be with us. We will have fun!!

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Last Day!!!

October 31, 2006
We leave at 12:30 in the morning! We will be home to Kalamazoo, November 1st! About 3pm!!
Woo Hoo!!!! We will post the last day from Home... no time!

Still Almaty!




We are coming home!