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!

Easter!

This year we went to Heather, Paul, Ryleigh and Dylan's house for Easter festivities! Heather's mom was there but baby Dylan was not... they are still waiting for him to come home from Vietnam. We had dinner together andf then colored eggs and then tried to get some pictures of Alex and Ryleigh together with their Easter baskets... that was a disaster, but they are so cute!!!


ok... ignore Alex's pink crocs! He and ryleigh always play with each other's shoes when they are over, so...
Alex's first black eye! he pulled a toy drum down on his face! It knocked him over and he took Ryleigh out on his way down! It was a mess!

March 2008!

Personally i can not believe it is March of 2008! Oh well, huh?

This is the way i found Alex one morning, when i went into his room to get him up... lounging against his blankets! Just chillin'!He is just so stinkin' cute... we were getting ready to go sledding with Alex's cousins, Robby and Maggie!Daddy took him down a hill it was warm out, but there was still some snow on a steep-ish hill to go down!

We went to Frederik Meijer Gardens one weekend... the park! Alex loved it! it was chilly out, but they have a lovely butterfly exhibit in their huge green house!

Florida in February!

We usually go to Florida for a week or two or 4 in February... we are going to try to go in January next year, maybe...

One of the reasons we go in February is because there are two huge construction equipment auctions and we can go look at all the big stuff, since that is our business and we enjoy seeing the huge stuff... so of course Alex is really into it!

This was the morning after a late night out at Disney's Magic Kingdom! Pajamas, mickey ears and jalepeno pringles... oh my!

We went to the zoo in Tampa, we had to let him play in the fountains some! He went nuts and loved it!

This was a typical day at the beach... he always ends up with buckets of sand on his face!

Alex loves going on the airplanes and he gets to bring his very own backpack with toys... He was saying "cheese" like a crazy person as usual... everyone in the terminal was staring at us, and snickering at how cute he was!

Alex Goes to Costa Rica!

These are the pictures from Alex's first experience zip-lining! He was sooooo cute, he stole the show! Everyone was just looking and looking at him and saying how cute he was! He is only 2!!!! He thought he was really something!

About ready to fly! Alex was totally into it!!!

Lounging on the platform waiting for mom and dad to come along!

Of course all the guides adored him!!! We all thought he was falling asleep up there!