First Day of School 2011-2012

On Sunday we got together with PJ's travel group.  We had a great time catching up!  Here is a cute picture of the 3 kids adopted on that trip.

David, Annie, PJ

Today was the first day of school... Alicia started 2nd Grade and PJ starts Early Childhood.

2nd Grader and Early Childhood

Walking to School

Approaching the school

Mrs. Louthan (her teacher)  and Alicia

2 Christmas celebrations 2010

We had a chance to celebrate Christmas on both sides of the family this year!  The first 2 photos are with Greg's family.  The rest are with Judy's family in Minnesota.  We had a Great time!  

Pillow Pet!!

 

I think I know what's in this box!

Showing her pink hair!

There is Greg at the top of our sledding hill.  Can you see the hole he dug below?

Alicia at the bottom of the hill after a fun ride!

Me and PJ getting ready for our turn!

weeee...... this is fun!

and there we go!

Making a snow angel.

Playing in the snow.

PJ

Cousins!

Christmas 2010

Auntie Beth playing with PJ.

Rich's prize hunt

It has been a busy week.  Monday I was able to go along to bring Alicia to school, not my normal day but PJ had his pre-surgery doctor appointment that day so I took some time off work to bring him.  That wasn't until later in the morning so we had time.  The next day was re-adoption day so we went downtown for our court appearance.  The Viteks were part of our first group to China, it was fun running into them while we were there.  They just got home a month or two ago with their new son so it was great to meat him.  Then on Friday the 12th, PJ had his second surgery on his palate.  It was a longer surgery than I expected, but they were done after a couple hours.  The surgeon said it went like clockwork and all looked good when he was done.  PJ took it like a Champ!  He was a little fussy at first, but that was expected and understood!!  He quickly quieted down however and was happy with me just holding him.  He was awake most of the afternoon and even ate some applesauce and pudding.  I slept with him in his big boy hospital bed in the 24hour observation unit.  No, not much sleep but it could have been worse. The next morning he was all smiles and ate some eggs, pancakes and yogurt!

November 8, on the way to school.

Look who we ran into----The Viteks!

PJ being served his papers.

While we wait to be called into court.

After our court appearance.

post-op.

Two hours later in the 24 hour observation room, bed #7 out of 11 total.

Next Morning he was all smiles!

More Smiles!

Halloween 2010

 Here's the crew this year.  The plan was that Alicia was going to be a zombie, then it got to be Thursday and she said, no she wanted to be a cheerleader.  So with Dad's help she is a cheerleader turned zombie. She has yellow hair coloring, dirty teeth, dirt on her clothes and ripped pants.  Of course you all recognize Yoda in the photo. 

When we started out at the first house, PJ couldn't understand why only he and Alicia were going to the house so he stopped and wouldn't move.  So I went up to the house with the kids and showed PJ what to do.  After the second house, he caught on to the idea and would run to the next house like any other kid.  He lasted for about 1.5 hours when he decided to quit.  I brought the stroller along so that I could home with him easily.  We had gotten far from home and had about 7 blocks to walk so I'm glad I had the stroller. 

The kids got lots of compliments on their costumes and one lady even requested to take their picture.

FYI---around here it is pretty common for people to sit out on their front steps to hand out candy.  It was a fairly nice day as you can see, but it was a bit cool and Alicia ended up with her jacket on.

Playing in the park

Last weekend we drove around the city to find parks.  We were curious to see if there were any better than what we had close to our house.  The kids had a ton of fun playing on something different and spending so much time outside on a really nice day.  Needless to say, they slept very good that night!

On this day....

...5 years ago we met our daughter for the first time.  She has a wonderful heart and we love her soooo much.   I am glad Gotcha Day happened on Sept 11 because now when I hear that date, my first thought is of the day we met Alicia.  No, I haven't forgotten about the day when the towers fell, never will. Gotcha Day for me 'brightened' Sept 11.

On the bus to get our daughters.

Our first sight of Alicia.

Family of 3

Playing

And here she is today...

Our beautiful girl.

PJ

I really liked this brown shirt on PJ so I just HAD to take a picture of him with it on!!