Pumpkin Carving

A good time was had by all! Everyone really got into the carving. We toasted pumpkin seeds and had pumpkin bread with pumpkin butter. It was all grins as they showed off their handi work. This is a tradition to keep for sure!!!

His First John Deere Moment

A boy his dad and a John Deere tractor. Need I say more...

Sasha loves to drive anything!!!! This was the king daddy. Thanks Buck!!!

Great Pumpkin Weekend!

We went all the way to Louisville, Ky for our pumpkin this year. Our very good friends Buck and Keira and their kids Hannah and David helped us in our quest! We had a great time!

Putt Putt for the fun of it!!

We had such a good time playing putt putt that we did it twice during our trip. There were two and we had to see how they compare. One of them even had a place where you sign in and put a pin on a map where you were from. Can you believe we were the only ones drom Kazakhstan?

Sasha really enjoyed seeing his first palm tree and wanted his picture taken with it.

Mama really impressed the kids with her putt putt skills making the big win at putt putt. You can imagine the excitement. There were several hole in ones and many muti "bogies".

Feeling Beachy...

Here is the proof that I did get dirty. We put together quite a sand drip castle i must say!

Stella spent many a day in this position on the boogie board. She would stand for hours holding the leash waiting for a tiny wave and stand on the board riding the wave until it stops. She had a big time doing this and I think it will be the new big sport on the beach.

More Beach Pictures!

Oh the waves!!! They had a ball in the ocean. At first they were not sure about the water and said they did not want to go in. That did not last long! The boogie board was their friend and they wanted to start everything. Garrett got a great workout helping them catch waves and I was happy to sit on the beach and record the moment for you to see. It was a great sacrifice but someone had to do it. I did show them how to make a sand castle!

Our First Beach Trip!!!

This is Stella in one of our favorite pictures of her. We are convinced she is doing her best Godfather impression saying..."You tawkin to me?"

Happy New Year! Is it 2007 already?

It is hard to believe we have reached our 6 month mark! It is even harder to believe we have not updated our blog in a LONG time as I have been reminded many times from various people which shall remain unmentioned.

We are finally settling in to a "usual" routine for this new set of parents which are recovering from getting a set of "twins" as it has been referred to us. We are even returning phone calls at a reasonable time and being seen in public quite often. We continue the process of melding together and becoming a family.

The kids are great and are a tremendous blessing to us. We have had our first trip to the beach, first quarter of school, endless doctor appointments and getting to know all the family on both sides. We have celebrated all four of our birthdays, (five if you include Ali, our dog) Thanksgiving, all the other November and December birthdays in our family and Christmas and New Years. It has been quite a ride and we are still on it! God is so good!

They say pictures are worth a thousand words so we are including a couple thousand in this posting.

We covet your prayers and continue to need them. To say this an adjustment is an understatement but we can already see the rewards. We have had all our needs provided for like a great school, support of family and friends, healthy children and God's many blessings. We look forward to 2007 with eager anticipation of what is to come. We are expecting great things for our family and yours. May God richly bless you!