First School Christmas Party

Today was our first Christmas party for Nick. He looked so cute in cousin Zach's hand-me-downs! Nick was excited to go to his party and had been singing Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells for several weeks so I was hoping for a little performance at the party.



They marched into the chapel and I was so excited because I brought the video camera with me and as soon as Nick saw me, he broke from the line and came marching straight to me. No bonding problems here! He would not go back up and sing but did great hand motion and sang a few words here and there while sitting in my lap! Oh well, he still looked cute. He did walk up and get his jingle bell for the song so I snapped a picture for the illusion that he participated but then came straight back to me.


They had a cute little table all set up for them and he sat nicely for the prayer and the snack although he only ate the m&m's......the red and green rice krispie treat did not appeal to him (secretely, yeah!) he sniffed it and touched it to his tongue and sat it back down where it stayed until thrown away. It is still anyone's best guess what he will and will not try........


He loves his homeroom teacher, Ms Marsha and even left Mama's lap to go talk to her about Santa, who had just come in and freaked him and a few other kids out. He will wave from afar but won't even consider sitting on his lap. He is a GIANT after all?? Not too worried about this one either....would rather him learn about THE ONE that Christmas is all about vs. develop a deep affection for Santa.


He is standing here in the circle with both of his teachers, Ms. Marsha and Ms. Vicki. I am so thankful for these women who have been so loving and patient with Nick. A wonderful first impression of School and Teachers for Nick.


He looks pitiful here but actually, he was the first to get the present as they passed them around hot potato style. As the gift stopped with them, they removed the child from the circle. Here in this picture, he reminds me of our dog Amigo salivating over the treat that we are making him wait for the command to grab........can I open it, can I open it?? He and all of the kids did a great job waiting until all of the kids had received their present.



Nick makes us laugh all of the time with his facial expressions and funny creations. This is his pirate patch and he is yelling "ARGH".......I have no idea how the spoon reminded him of a patch but that is what we have to make it.....and only certain spoons fit just right under his glasses...So Funny!


This is our other crack-me-up look but because we were asking for it, the look is not actually completely authentic. When he does his "umm" while thinking of choices/alternatives, it is much funnier and more theatrical but you get the idea.

We are on the Christmas countdown! In less than 3 days, we will be headed to Ata Bob and Grandma Ruth's house. Nick is so excited about the snow and sledding. We are done with our Christmas shopping so should be able to relax once we get up there. I have already decided that I pretty much will be crying all the time because I can't even THINK of Nick running for his new toy with all of his multiple expressions without almost boo-hooing. As I commented on someone else's blog, even though momentous things have happened to him over the past 8 months, he (being a boy/male) will probably just be going wow, what a cool rocket but I on the other hand will be filled with flashbacks, thoughts, and remembrances of the litte boy walking in the room looking scared and lip quivering just a bit and not quite understanding who those people in that green room were....... He did not even speak much in Kazakh or Russian ......and now we are constantly saying "Nick, Volume Control" on the singing or proclamations of the moment. Nick has been a complete picture of the metamorphasis of a caterpillar to the butterfly. As many days as Pat and I feel like we have been horrible parents or made too many mistakes, we can't deny the fact that Love and simply Love has changed our little boy into the most interactive, jovial, "Mr. Happy" per his Teacher, affectionate, and mind-boggling creative and funny boy that we could have ever imagined 10 months ago when we met him. Many people have commented on how this will be a great Christmas because we can see it thru a child's eye now but I don't think that is it for us. Adopting Nick took us on an unexpected journey to ourselves. We came face to face with our God thru the whole adoption experience......the highs and the lows brought us into a place of understanding that we could not have experienced before going to Kaz. So we will not see Christmas different this year just because we have a child but because we have been taken on a life-changing journey by another child that came to this earth to become like us so that He could sacrifice Himself for us making a way for us to be "Adopted" into His family and have life everlasting. When I hear Nick say the name "Jesus", I get chills. Just like the song, there is just something about THAT name. To know that we were hand-picked by God to introduce Nick to the JESUS that can change and, in many ways, has already changed his little world forever is nothing less than momentous and if I never, ever feel any other God given purpose on this earth, I feel that I have experienced the greatest purpose already. God is so Good and He truly knows what we need and makes all things work together for His Good purposes. Thank you God for the best Christmas present ever this year!

What have we been doing?

Well, Nick continued with his sickness for the whole week thus missing preschool and BSF. Mama was a bit stir crazy and cabin feverish so as soon as he showed signs of healing, we went out. We had plans to attend our church adoption support group meeting at Gattitown so we risked an assault of germs just to get some fresh air.

He loved riding the carousel with daddy and he was waving to me but I think they had it on speedy mode because I could barely get shots before they went flying by me.

Our next outing wasn't until a few days later since he had a spike in fever after gattitown...I know bad idea.....We went to Southern lights at the ky horse park. He loved the lights and thought the petting zoo was awesome. We also went to the model train exhibit and took video of that part so no pictures.

He liked the big camel and I could not get them all in the picture.

I can't believe we got him to do the elf and we were able to get a picture fast enough. If you look to the left, there is even a daddy elf! ;)

This week, he was finally able to go back to preschool even though he reportedly has a double ear infection and a new antibiotic. At least he is covered with drugs until we leave for Christmas. He made this little ornament at school for us and they used their fingerprints to make the snowman. They also gave us a shadow drawing of Nick but I am not convinced it is him....doesn't really favor him at all. Maybe they did this project when he was sick??

Couldn't resist this picture for Ata Bill and Grandma Martha.....this is his new Pooh that came in the mail a few days ago. He loves him and since Moose never became the sleeping buddy, we are going to work on Pooh being the sleeping buddy. It has worked two days in a row for nap.

And, for those of you who have been wondering, YES, we finally got our boy a real bed. He is off of the floor mattress and loves his new bed. Santa is bringing his bedspread and a March trip to Gatlinburg should help us put the finishing touches on the room's Northwoods theme. A better picture will come later when it is all put together. They put Nickle plated type knobs on the drawers which I feel ruins the "wood" theme so they have promised me that wood ones are on the way although I may look for some moose, bear, wolf ones in Gburg.

We got this great homemade (extra special) book from Cousins Rose Ella and Donna in Phoenix. I love it! It has pages for each letter of the Alphabet that explains Christmas stuff with pictures and little sayings. He loves the alphabet and it is a great way to talk about Christmas with him. He still is not liking Santa (thinks he is a giant). He already had a giant thing but we think because he keeps seeing Santa with Elves that he thinks he is a giant too. He will just have to see more of him in person, I guess.

We are on the countdown for leaving for the holidays.....cabin feverish Mama is so excited AND we hear that there is lots of snow up North! Hope everyone is not too crazy these last few days before Christmas and just enjoying time with Family and Friends!

Pics from the weekend.....

We had a calm weekend. We refuse to go out into the madness which is Christmas time at the local malls. Everyone, I mean, Everyone from all the surrounding small towns come to shop. I have lived in big cities all my life and have never experienced the mess that happens here in this medium sized city. So, Pat is taking off Thursday morning while Nick has preschool and we are going to shop some then. Much more tolerable! So, here is a few pics for the family to keep them up-to-date all of the "firsts" this holiday season.


My first Christmas tree putting up session.....lights are cool! He is singing a few bars of jingle bells that he is learning at school. He says Ho, Ho! but does not like Santa on TV. He thinks he is a giant! ?? Not sure how he will do when he shows up at preschool! ;)

Not a first but don't I look so grown up.....I will be 4 before you know it!


This is Nick's oven that I made out of his carseat box. He plays with it all of the time and I noticed him using his Kermit puppet as an oven mitt. He would pull the dishes out of the oven with Kermit's mouth and then hang it up in one of the slots on the oven. So funny!


Another creation for the weekend is the "space buggy" aka chip clip with screwdriver pinched in the middle. The yellow juicer thing is a "rocket". He is holding both of them currently and shooting them thru the sky. And people wonder why we are not buying many christmas gifts for his first Christmas....why?? I love his creativity more!


As of today, His first real illness. He did have a fever a month or so ago but this is all out stuffy nose and cough with fever. Poor little pookie! He is a cheerful sickie though. Last night at 3am, he was just all smiles and hugs while his fever was raging. He did have trouble falling back asleep with the fever but the Tylenol finally kicked in and he relaxed between 445 and 5am. So, Preschool was out and I let him put his new pajamas on from G.Aunt Nancy and G.Uncle John as his lounging clothes. Today will have to be a TV day since I have a pampered chef party tonight and was looking forward to the "free" time to clean while he was at school.


I almost have all of our Christmas Cards ready. A new record for me. I can't wait for everyone to see the cute pictures of Nick which is probably why I am so much more on the ball. I never figured everyone was that interested in just me and Pat! ;)

Also, if anyone is interested in unique donations this year, our adoption agency is collecting money for our specific orphanage in Zhez. So, new beds for all of Nick's "brothers and sisters". We of course think this is a very worthy cause so please feel free to go to the site and donate if you wish! http://www.adoptionark.com/public/pag192.aspx Thanks!

just a teaser......

We got our pictures back from our "photo shoot" with our friends. Nick was pretty good but did not like the camera as usual but did get a few good shots thanks to the persistence of our friend d'Art.....Thank You!

Here is just a few little teasers for the grandparents and other family because ....1. we have Christmas gifts to make and 2. we have Christmas cards to make.....so you can't see all of them!

Enjoy!

As if our volume-challenged child has any right to do this to Miss Emma! So funny!

Yes, I am cute!

For most of the phote shoot, Nick would not get 5 inches away from Papa! This one would have been great had he not had someone else in the pic! :)

He was so excited and he would get so tickled and cover his face. Another good way to not get the perfect shot but it is so cute!

I Love, Love, Love this picture. It is my Christmas present to me!

Emma and Nick had the best time running around and around!

They were so cute walking off in the sunset holding hands.....future prom dates maybe? :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so many things to be thankful for this year. I could go on and on and be super sentimental but I will save that for another post soon (this is National adoption awareness month and I have some thoughts that I am still putting together). We are truly blessed by our family and friends. We love you and thank you for all of the support this year.

Here are a couple of pictures of what I am most thankful for this year. I am the luckiest wife and mother ever. Pat cooked the best meal and watched Packer football. He was in heaven and so was I as I got the privilege of just watching my two boys play, laugh, and just be together as a family. Doesn't get much better than that.

We tried to give equal billing in this picture as both teams were playing today and Yeah! both teams won today. Now, I am not quite sure how we will dress next week when they play each other. :)

I love my boys. Thank you God for giving me such gifts!


We will not be joining in on the insanity that is the Day after Thanksgiving shopping like the rest of our family but will instead enjoy a quiet sleepy morning.....wait, no that was last year without a 3 year old....ok, this year it will be a snuggle-fest in the "little dark" of the morning with my sweet family. Happy Crazy shopping to the rest of you!

Who needs toys from China?

With all of the recent recalls on lead-laden toys from China, it is scary to think of buying any new toys for Christmas. But, I am pleased to say that we don't need to because of our Kazmaniac's incredible imagination....Love IT!

He found this piece of our leaf blower and said "TUBA" like on the Veggie Tales introductory song. He likes to play it to the song. He will play the tuba part that Larry the Cucumber does and then wants you to sing the Bob the tomato part. Then he wants to switch. Our goal is to get this on video so we can share it with everyone. I think he is so musical and this proves it.

Our next invention is the mini "GIANT" crane. We have so much construction going on in the city that he has fallen in love with Cranes. He had a drink from Sonic one day and took his head band off of his glases and stuck it in the straw and said "mama, Giant crane" I love his vision for what things could be.......I am thinking definitely Engineer, Architect, Researcher, Teacher, Preacher.....well, I guess this trait would be good in any field if allowed to use it, huh?

OK, this one is kind of mama's imagination but I love that he can go with it. We did try and find a mini leaf blower at the Toys R us but they didn't have one so I said "who needs it". We can make our own. Pat laughed because he knew I would find a way.....and I did. Turned out pretty well and Nick was totally happy with his "leaf blower" like daddy's. And, we put it to work immediately!

Nick telling Papa that we need to go over there next!

There are leaves everywhere!

And, the way to end all leaf gathering activity......JUMP! Well, he looks cute here but actually he busted out crying. He just could not understand why we would do this. We kept explaining to him that you were supposed to do this and that it was FUN! I had one of those "lesson" moments when I realized that my little boy was still learning how to have fun and what playing and being silly was all about. It made me realize how important it is for parents to teach their children how to have fun..... how to play. We do not autimatically know it unless we learn it from watching others. I hope that we can spend many days teaching Nick how to laugh and be silly and to have FUN! I sometimes shake under the pressure of all that we have to model or imitate for Nick to learn......He watches it all and is a fast learner. We just have to make sure that we reflect the ONE that we want him to learn about and to be like....what a big but awesome responsibility. Do we reflect God's Love? Do we reflect God's Forgiveness? Do we reflect the Light and Joy that has been given to us? Will Nick and others see that being a Christ-follower is everything to us and decide to take the leap and enjoy the journey with us?

We hope that as he decided that the leaves were FUN, FUN so will he also join us on this journey called the Christian life.....scary and unknown at first but well worth the risk and surrender to the JOY and FUN!

We are going out today to try and take some fun fall pictures with our friends d'Art, Dana, and Emma. Hopefully we will have some fun photos to share of the beautiful trees and equally beautiful kazmaniac! Love to all!

Quick Post but Cute Post

We were invited to a Princess and Prince party last weekend and I thought it would be a good time for Nick to where his Kazakh stuff although he would have nothing to do with it. He wanted a baseball hat! At the party, he was only interested in reading the books from the Nursery (party held at the Primary Princess's church) and I finally got the hat on him but he refused to look up....so funny! But how cute does he look in his hat. Definitely Prince material!

Now for Ata Bob and Grandma Ruth.......Does he look like a mini Favre or what? I love him in the football jersey. He looked so cute! The Hilarious thing was that he ran around most the day with his Dallas Cowboy hat and Packer Jersey.....now we just need to add our collegiate loyalties to his wardrobe and we will have a very colorful boy indeed considering we have 8 colleges between the two of us.......but Pat's count more...he actually got degrees from all of his....me, well, no! ;)

I tried to get a front and back view and he would not stand for a nice full shot......you gotta go with what you can get.

We got our hubby/daddy back on Tuesday from his trip to San Diego. We are very glad he is home. Every time we drove up to the house, Nick would see his car and get all excited that Daddy's home and I would have to remind him that daddy took the airplane. He would then say "Daddy far away". We were shopping on the day that Pat was to get back. It was one of our first really cold days. Nick was just shivering and warming up as we started through the store. A man sitting in the Deli commented on how Nick was shaking (yes, he had the appropriate clothes on.....he just has no body fat and always shivers when it is windy) and I smiled and said something back to the man and Nick turned around and said "Mama, no talk man, Daddy!". I just cracked up and told Pat when we picked him up that he had his own private security force in Nick. No inappropriate activities for me. While the big Cat is away, this mouse will get reprimanded and told on! ;) We do worry about the things he is going to say at preschool as his English gets better.

We thought we were going to get Nick to start going to bed earlier with the time change. Well, it worked for two or three days until last night when it seems he has now adjusted to the change. Last night, it took him over an hour to fall asleep and tonight seems to be a longer one too. We are still trying to leave him after a short time of laying with him. Most nights he goes on to sleep by himself so we are still hoping to get him to that point where we say good night and leave the room at a normal hour!

Have a good weekend Everyone!