Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday. We spent Christmas Eve at our house with my sister and her family. We ate our traditional Italian dinner with homemade ravioli. We then took part in another tradition of the children opening one gift. Owen and Aliya get to open their gift from Nanny which was awesome clothes.
That night, Owen set out cookies and milk for Santa. As I put him to bed, I told him that Santa can only come to our house if all the children are asleep. He didn't come out once that night. Can we use the Santa trick every night?
The next morning we went downstairs and showed Owen that Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk. He was so engrossed in the empty dish that he didn't even go look to see what Santa brought him. We finally got him into the family room where he saw his tools. Aliya received a dollhouse and they both got table, chairs, and play food. They then looked in their stockings.
After breakfast, we opened gifts from family. Every time Owen got a book, he had to stop and read it! And when Aliya got a book, he had to stop and read hers too! After a while Owen got tired of opening presents and just wanted to play.
We had lunch at my sister's and opened a few more presents before we headed home for a much needed nap. It was a very nice Christmas.

Pretty Aliya.


Owen opening his Christmas Eve present.


The family - as a good as it gets.


Which one should I eat?


Owen fixing the dollhouse.


Owen reading a book.


Opening a gift.


Playing with the new toys.


"Send it in Jerome"


Really, another picture?


Here are some more gifts.

Dancing Queen

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Tree Cutting and Snow

A couple of weekends ago we headed up to the mountains for our annual tree cutting. Aliya's first and Owen's third. We put Aliya in our backpack so that Dave could carry her and bring a tree back. I was in charge of Owen which meant that we would be behind several times, I would have to adjust his mittens every few minutes, and sometimes I would have to carry him. It is unusual for their to be snow on the ground, so it was nice treat to see it. Owen had a blast and even helped Daddy cut down the tree.

OWEN WITH HIS TREE

OWEN AND DAVE CUTTING DOWN OUR TREE

ALIYA AND DAVE DRAGGING OUR TREE BACK TO THE CAR

THE FAMILY



We also have experienced several one day snow storms recently. We bundled Aliya and Owen up and headed outside. Owen LOVED every minute of it. He made snow angels, played in the snow, rode on a sled, and made a snowman. Aliya didn't enjoy it too much, but we got a few photos of her smiling. Can't wait for next year when Aliya can walk in it.

OWEN TAKING ALIYA FOR A RIDE

ALIYA ENJOYING THE SNOW EARLY ON

OWEN LOVING THE SNOW

ALIYA TOWARDS THE END OF HER TIME OUTSIDE

I'm so big!

Aliya is 10 months tomorrow. I can't believe it. She is doing a lot of things. She is able to do a super fast crawl and get anywhere within seconds. She is especially fast if you open the dishwasher, refrigerator, and/or pantry. She is cruising on furniture like crazy and it would seem that she will be walking soon. She is saying mama, dada, and a bunch of gibberish. She loves music and dancing. She absolutely LOVES her big brother and thinks he is the funniest thing. We have been waiting for what seems like forever for her two upper teeth to break through. I'm pretty sure one is showing a tiny bit of tooth now, so hopefully no more pain for a bit. She loves to eat as well and prefers real food and none of that mashed stuff. We're pretty sure she is 20 lbs now!
Owen is doing well too. He is still really interested in letters and reading. Owen and I go to the library every Saturday to check out books. He is constantly asking what begins with the letter (put any letter after) and then asks how to spell words. He likes to pretend play which is a lot of fun.

Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Validation Day!

We went to court today to validate Aliya's adoption. We didn't have to go to court for Owen because the agency we used just sent our paperwork to a county that doesn't require the family to come to court. The whole process was very short and interesting. They called us into an empty courtroom. It was just us, a person from our local agency, the court recorder, and the judge. We had to take an oath first. Then, the judge verified that we were able to take care of Aliya. Then, he verified the adoption information which was incorrect. The paper stated that the adoption was done in Russia. So, they just changed that on the paperwork. He said he was signing it and then congratulated us on being a family. We then took a picture with him.
So, does that mean we are done? Nope. We still have to request a birth certificate, get a SSN, get a passport, get the Certificate of Citizenship and then send reports to Ethiopia until Aliya is 18. BUT, we are done with the local agency!

A poem

Rosa sat so that Martin could walk.
Martin walked so that Barack could run.
Barack ran so that my children might fly.

-Unknown

Budding Musician

Owen singing a couple of songs while playing the piano. Ignore the phone ringing in the background.

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Halloween

Owen and Aliya had a good time carving pumpkins. Owen liked pulling out the seeds and Aliya wanted to eat the pumpkin. For Halloween Owen was a dinosaur and Aliya was a bunny. Owen LOVED trick-or-treating!! He kept shouting to everyone that he was a dinosaur. Owen also helped pass out candy and asked the kids what they were. It was almost like they had to answer in order to get candy!

How Fun Is This?

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Playing in the Closet

First Time Making Cookies

Owen and I made cookies today. Owen helped by pouring in the sugar, butter, vanilla, flour, salt, and he helped break the eggs. Owen helped stir the cookies with his own spoon until he took it out and licked it. Then he was done. Owen was very patient while we waited an hour for the dough to chill. Then he helped roll out the cookie dough and started cutting cookies shaped like bats, pumpkins, and witches. Apparently Owen thinks that after every time you cut a cookie, you then get to have some dough. So, Owen had to learn that he couldn't have dough every time. After we baked the cookies, Owen helped frost the cookies. He was doing good until he decided to lick the knife. Owen was then able to enjoy the cookie after dinner.

Cutting cookies


Frosting cookies


"I didn't lick anything"


My cookie


YUMMY!!

Pumpkin Patch

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. It was a cold, foggy day with very light showers. Owen was a fireman and Aliya, a bunny. Owen had fun picking out his pumpkins, but when it came down to paying for them, he was very upset that they took up space in the wagon. In fact, he tossed a pumpkin out and kept saying "No pumpkins in the wagon". We were finally able to go pay for them when I picked him up. I think he was just frustrated that he kept tripping in the pumpkin patch, so it was difficult to walk.






Owen then rode another train which he loves. He has no qualms about getting in by himself. They actually took the train away so that he wasn't able to see us. He had his first funnel cake and loved it even though he was freezing by this point. It was a lot of fun and Owen is excited to "put shapes" on his pumpkin.

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Still Growing Like Crazy!

Aliya had her 8 month check-up today. She is very healthy and just keeps growing.
Height: 27" (50%)
Weight: 17 lb 12 oz (45%)

She is doing a lot of things. She can feed little puffs to herself. She is crawling and pulling herself up to a standing position. She took her first few steps of furniture walking yesterday. She can also clap which is pretty cute. She loves to watch Owen sing, dance, and just be silly.

Check out Owen's new I-pod!

Okay, so it isn't an i-pod. I found my old tape player and some children tapes. He loves to listen to the music and he patiently waits for it to rewind and fast forward. Hi favorite song is La Cucaracha. Maybe we can find an old atari too.

So Happy Together

Owen and Aliya really enjoy each other's company. Owen is the sweetest big brother and is always trying to make Aliya laugh. He also tries to comfort her when she is upset by saying "It's okay". Aliya always watches Owen play and talk to her. I certainly hope this lasts.




Owen calls this "seesaw".

Family Picture

On the fourth try this is the best we can get for a family picture. Maybe some other day . . .

Rub-a-dub-dub . . .

Two kids in a tub!

A Part of History

Dave and I had the great luck and opportunity to attend several of the DNC events held in Denver last week. Dave's mom was a delegate from New Jersey, so she was able to sign us up as guests. As a guest of a New Jersey delegate we were able to attend everything hosted by New Jersey. On Tuesday, Dave was able to attend a breakfast and then a roundtable with many political people. That evening, both of us attended the "Four Star, Four State Event" with the delegates from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The event was held at Invesco in the luxury suites. We had appetizers and drinks. We also listened to speeches from Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. At the end of their speeches, they went and worked the crowd. Dave and I were able to shake Former President Bill Clinton's hand. It was so great.







As a delegate, Dave's mom was given a guest pass for Thursday night's event at Invesco. As soon as she heard that she would receive one guest pass, she called her co-chair and asked her for her guest pass. I was so lucky that the lady gave me her pass. So, Dave and I were able to attend the event at Invesco. We were able to listen to a lot of speakers including Martin Luther King Jr.'s son and daughter, John Lewis - one of the speakers included in the March on Washington, Al Gore, Joe Biden, and others. We were also able to see Will.I.Am, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Wonder perform. The best part of the evening was hearing Barack Obama give his acceptance speech. It was AMAZING! I am so honored to have taken part in such a momentous occasion.