December 2013

Totally slacking on this blog for you guys, so here we go! December 2013. Always filled with parties and pre Christmas fun!  Of course, annual gathering at Nana's house.  It was wonderful everyone was together.  It was a hard Christmas since our cousin Gina passed away. It was sad not to see her, but it was great for all the family to be together and take this 5 generations picture with Nana!

We love hunting for the perfect Christmas tree.  It was cold but fun and we found the best one!! Then we got chinese food and went home for our annual viewing of Christmas Vacation!

December brought the first of many snows this winter--too many--but we will get to that eventually when I start posting about 2014!  The first snow is always fun and exciting and you guys love to sled, have snowball fights and play in the snow.

You guys have been good helpers this year with shoveling!

You were great helpers trimming the tree and keeping Chief away from the tree and the ornaments!

December we also celebrated Grammom's 65th bday and her retirment! It was a fun surprise for her and it was great to be around your cousins!

I love this picture of Nana and her great grandkids!

Grammom and her grands, well some of them!  December was a good month for parties! 
Next up is Christmas and what a great Christmas it was!!

Then and Now, 7 years home!

7 years you have been with us! November 20, 2006 we were in Murmansk, visiting you before court, one last hug and then hoping and praying all would go smoothly.

It was a long session, a bit nervewracking and tense. But in the end, the Judge said Yes and you became Maks-Joseph Kirill.

What a trip it was. Murmansk was cold, snowy and only 4 hours of daylight. You looked so much better than we we left you on our last trip. You were no longer sick and the little sores on your head were gone. You looked like you packed on more pounds from all your stew eating and you interacted with us alot more. It was awesome to see the difference!

You spent the remaining two days after court in the baby home so you could get to know us better before leaving. You were walking around holding my hand, you played with blocks and knocked them over and you snugged in my lap. It was perfect.

Then it was time to say good bye to all you had known, all the familiar faces, sights, sounds, smells. You braved it all like the tough guy you still are today. You went in a car, ate your first meal with us at a restaurant, and slept in an unfamiliar bed. You explored your surroundings and held on tight when you got scared. you braved a bumpy and scarey flight from Murmansk to Moscow and mommy braved that awful airplane bathroom trying to change you.

Once in Moscow we were one big step closer to home! You had to have a doctor exam and bloodwork drawn, you cried, mommy cried, you were so brave and strong. You crawled around our hotel room, you tried different foods, but turned your nose up to the milk and formula. Your belly was in turmoil, but you managed to give us some smiles and hugs.

Then we had two more plane rides back to the US, to Pennsylvania, to your new home. You were restless and had lots of diarrhea( you love hearing that part the best-of course). You were smelly and you ruined the the few outfits I brought on the plane, but you managed to charm the other people around you. You entered the airport to a bunch of strangers who were smiling and crying and waiting patiently to hold you and love you. You met your brother for the first time and watched as he cried in mommy's arms, then you started crying. I always remember those wet blue eyes and beautiful red hair looking up at me, as if asking me, what the heck is happening here lady? Again, you were resilient as you were strapped in your first car seat for the ride home, your tears turned to laughter as Alek and I made you giggle. That same night after all those firsts and all that stress, you came into your new home and met your first dogs, played with new toys and ate your first meal in America. You amazed us that whole trip. What a relief and dream come true to finally have you home, in our arms with Alek. From the moment you two met you were brothers and even though he makes you crazy now, he helped you so much your first weeks home. It was true love.

Fast forward 7 years, you are in second grade. You are still the toughest and most resiient kid we know.

You are smart, creative, funny and bright.

After trying out many sports you have found your love-hockey. It is awesome watching how hard you try and focus to improve your skating, your passing, your game.

You are also a great little artist. You love your art class, you love doodling, drawing, painting and working with clay.

You are always on the move, whether riding your ripstick or bike, playing in the creek with your brother and friends, climbing trees you are not supposed to and generally stressing mommy and daddy out with your antics. Maks-you are an amazing kiddo and we are so lucky to be your parents. You made our lives complete. We hope you always stay full of energy, enthusiasm and curiousity. We love you so much. Happy Family Day 2013 Maks! Love you to the moon and back!

October-Fall Fun and someone turns 8!

So October can only mean one big thing--Maks' birthday! Hard to believe you are 8!!

For your birthday we had family and the Fillmore's over to celebrate. You had a great time with your cousins and the girls!!

As always you got to go to Hennings to pick out your cake and this year was a army tank cake. You have taken quite the interest in army things.

You received some awesome presents which just goes to show how spoiled you are!! So now for your 8 year old stats: You grew 5 inches in one year, the doctor was SHOCKED! you are 56 inches tall (98%) and 70 pounds (88%). You are one big boy and keeping you in clothes and shoes is no easy feat!!

So this fall has been crazy between Alek's fall ball and Maks' hockey. We thankfully were able to squeeze in a quick trip to Merrymead for some fall fun. You guys love the corn maze and the little carnival games. We also picked out our pumpkins, Maks you picked out this giant one which I told you was too big, you insisted and carried it, up to the register. I barely could lift it. Turns out it was a $92 pumpkin, I told you turn around lug it back! Your work out for the day! Maks you are doing awesome in hockey, it is so fun to watch you improve each week. You are now doing clinic on saturdays and scrimmages on Sundays. You are so focused and so determine to improve. It is the first sport you have truly been this driven in. It makes my heart so happy and proud watching you out there. Alek you finished up fall ball doing well. Your pitching arm needs a serious break, but your hitting picked up. It was a fun season. You are now working with a hitting coach indoors and waiting for basketball to start.

Mommy and daddy got to go on a little escape for just the two of us to Mexico! An early 16th anniversary getaway! Grammom and Poppy stayed with you wed-Fri and then Pop and Noni from fri-sunday. As usual you were spoiled all around!

We went back to the resort we knew and looked forward to pure relaxation. The first two days were beautiful weather and we enjoyed the beach and the pool.

Friday it rained ALL day, but we went to this great little town and shopped, ate and drank and had lots of fun. Saturday it rained again, but mommy got to enjoy a relaxing massage while daddy napped. We enjoyed our trip alot just wished we had better weather. It was great to come home and see you guys, we missed you so much!

Next up was Halloween. Alek you were some zombie Phillies player and Maks you were some special forces guy, again with the army theme!

It was quite the Halloween adventure. We walked around with Liam and the neighborhood gang. We went over to the bigger development so you could visit alot more houses. There were some great houses and you guys were having a blast! Until...the haunted house. You all decided you wanted to go through. You were scared but you had fun and came out laughing and then there was the clown. Mommy hates clowns, no good can come from clowns. This clown followed you guys to the next house and scared you all badly. I wanted to kick some clown butt! After some tears and yelling we all settled down and finished the night. It made for good writing in your school journals the next day!

So we made our way into November. The weather has been nice thankfully no early snow or cold.

School is going well for you both. We had your conferences. Alek you are going very well so far this year. After early concerns about your teacher you really like her. Science and social studies are your strong subjects followed by math. You continue to love reading and are doing alot of AR books, I am proud of you for taking on that extra work! You also started a hip hop class with Liam and you guys have a blast. It is fun to watch it!

Maky, you are doing so well academically in school. I know you have struggled a bit due to your ADHD but you are getting alot of support at school and things are going well. Your teacher tells me how great you are with math and how much your writing has improved this year. She said she always has to give you extra math because you are so fast and she doesn't want you to get bored. You are also reading alot more on your own now and chapter books, which makes me so happy to see. Your teacher also has raved about your art and encouraged us to find some art classes for you. You started a weekly art class which you love. You paint,sketch and work with clay. We are very proud of you!

It has been a fun but hectic fall. Between school, your sports and activities you keep us busy!

You guys make us so happy and so proud and as we near Thanksgiving, we are just so grateful and thankful we get to be your parents!

Next up is Maks' family day, going on 7 years home! wow!!

Happy Fall!!

Summer wrap up in pictures

Ok, I have been a really bad blogger, but it is only because you guys keep me so busy!!  So here we go, your summer in many pictures and few words! 

Maky, you ended your school year with the first grade author's tea. It was so fun to see your journal and your writing.  You did such a great job and we were so proud of you!!

Excellant job in first grade

Alek you were selected for the all star game.  It was alot of fun to watch!

Maks got some batting action in.

Daddy was super proud of your spring season!

 And even Big Mike came to watch the all star game.

Your pitching has improved so much since last fall!

Proud of our awesome writer!!

Alek you also made the 9u tournament team.  You were so pumped.

You pitched alot.  It stressed mommy out, but you seemed to thrive on it!

Your tournament team got to travel to Cooperstown NY and go to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  It was a blast!

Maky stayed back with Grammom and Poppy and Chief and was spoiled for the weekend.

 Of course we had to stop for any Pete Rose, Reds, and Phillies displays.

Love the Phanatic!

You and mommy outside the Hall of Fame.

Of course we were up there for a tournament.  The Hawks did so well! We were so proud of you guys. You battled back and made for some exciting games!

And or course you pitched alot and mommy hid her eyes.  But you guys made it to the semis, it was exciting and a great way to end an awesome trip!

Way to go Hawks!!

We enjoyed back yard time and lots of fun in the sun.  Maks-you love to jump around the pond looking for frogs.

Maks, you also made Nana so happy by visiting her after she hurt her knee.  I think you entertained everyone there with your handstands and walking on your hands!

We also got to go to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs game with the baseball league. You were both selected to be on the field with the players during the National Anthem.  It was pretty cool!

Maks-you participated in the school districts tri-athlon.  It was a longer course this year and you had to stop for your inhaler, but you battled and hung in there. I was so proud of you!!

You guys love the water and we are thankful for friends and neighbors with pools!

You spent the summer with Jessie instead of going to day camp.  You spent many days at the swim club and just relaxing. 

Alek-you did baseball camps and Maks you did a cartoon drawing camp.  Your artistic skills amaze me!!

For our summer vacation we went to the Outer Banks again, Nags Head this time and we got to bring Chief!

Chief was very afraid of the ocean and pretty much any water other than what he could drink.

We had an awesome week, just playing on the beach and relaxing around the pool/.

The weather was perfect, it couldn't have been any better.

You guys got lots of great boogie board action!

You are definitely both part fish, or shark I should say!

You love catching the perfect wave!

Maks you LOVE to dig big holes in the sand and you always recruit daddy for some extra muscle!

Alek, you are like me, lets just relax and catch some rays, let someone else do the work!

Chief loved to bark at you when you were in the pool.  One time he even fell in and almost scared himself to death!

You loved doing your silly jumps into the pool.

The Running Man!

A trip to OBX wouldn't be complete without some ghost crab hunting. The one night we saw alot of them.

Jeanette's Pier was pretty cool, fun watching people fish and checking out the people getting ready for the surfing tournament.

Silly boys!

Alek you took a great pic of us!

This was probably your favorite night. Go kart racing!

Maks we think you had a dud of a car, but you hung in there!

Chief loves the sand, but stay away from the waves--tooscarey!

On our way back from Nags Head we stopped at Pop and Noni's for our annual Labor Day weekend at the beach.  It was so awesome your cousins could be there too!

You guys had a blast together and I know how much Pop and Noni love having you all there!

We even got to watch turtles hatching during our picnic.  I think we saw a total of 12 crawl out.  It was probably one of the coolest things I have seen.

Fun in the bay, you guys all love swimming and playing on the sand bar.

 It was a great weekend and the perfect way to end the summer!

Crazy Chief and his soccer ball!

Maks you were trying to coax Chief into the hot tub.  He just wants to drink it.

Alek, forgot to sneek this in earlier, but you went back to Phillies camp and one the batting champion award this year! Too cool!!

What a great summer it was, lots of sports and lots of fun in the sun.

And you know what happens next.....BACK TO SCHOOL!!

4th grade and 2nd grade--here's hoping for a great school year!

In the mean time we can still have fun outside with our new ripsticks!

And Maky you started hockey again. You are in the instructional program and you are doing so well. 

So guys that was summer in a nutshell.   Life is still busy, between school, baseball and hockey, but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Here's hoping Mommy can keep up with this journal for you guys a little better!!

Love you guys!