Life is Good

Everyone has been healthy until yesterday. Alena has a cough and I think a sore throat. She had a tough time today off and on, but slept well last night. As a result we missed Carolyn and Ty's wine tasting party. : ( (We all know how much I enjoy my wine!!) HOPEFULLY you didn't all drink it all and there are some bottles set aside for me!!
We are all enjoying the off and on spring weather.
We had a great time celebrating Sophia's 8th birthday last weekend! Nana and Papa took us all out for her annual birthday dinner at Bugaboo Creek on Friday night, her Magical Fairy birthday party was Saturday and Sunday we went on a shopping spree in ToysRus!!
We spent some time visiting with the Ronk's and Palen's on Sunday also. It was so nice to see everyone.
Sophia wanted to celebrate Earth Day as well on Sunday, so when we went for our evening walk, she brought along a garbage bag and picked up litter along the way. Have I mentioned what a great kid she is??!! I am always so proud of her. She has been surprising me on our walks with her jogging also. We usually alternate walking/jogging and she has not only been keeping up, but initiating a lot more of the jogging!! She'll be leaving me behind before long.
Alena LOVES to be outdoors, so this is going to be a great season. She has been running around the back yard enjoying herself with balls and pushing around her car instead of riding in it. I have to start bringing my camera outside with us.
Denise and I took the kids out for chinese the other night and Alena was quite entertaining. She likes to dip the crunchy noodles and then feed them to everyone but herself! Aunt Denise even accepted a few soggy ones that I would have a hard time with!! She ate some lo mein, pork, scallions and tried some broccoli. Sophia and Jordan are compaining to save "Old Okey". Too funny. It's an old oak tree at their school. Evidently he may have to come down and they are not happy about that. They made necklaces and hand held trees, yelled out the van window on our way to Ming Jei's to "Save Old Oakey" and then brought their gear into the restaurant!
~I have put together two video montages of Alena. The first one is her crawling our first morning together in China, playing with her finger puppet from David, Liza & Sofia and all of us "singing"!
The second is somewhat annoying- I can't rotate it! She is playing, dancing, loading her bottle up with cereal and blowing raspberries!

~Hope you enjoy the pics and videos. Pictures are from the chinese restaurant and Sophia's birthday mainly!

Love to all,

Jenni

Picking up the pace

With spring, things always pick up around here. More birthdays, activities, projects, etc..

Easter was beautiful. Aunt K had her annual Easter festivities at her house on Saturday. The kids decorated eggs, enjoyed snacks, had a HUGE egg hunt with cousin David and Marcus's help and the highlight of the day: Aunt K took all of the kids to a local farm and let them pick out baby chicks and ducklings to be raised at her house!! They got to name them and spend time with them under the warming light back at the house. They have open visitation rights!! LOL

Easter Sunday we all went to breakfast at the firehouse. Lots of fun and then a quiet dinner here with Mom, George and Aunt Denise.

Fred and Sophia attended a Father/Daughter dance put on by the Girl Scouts last week. The theme was to dress like you are attending the Academy Awards. They both looked so nice and Sophia was so excited to dance some slow dances with daddy.

Yesterday, Sophia went to her friend Jake's birthday party at ChuckEcheese and she had a great time. It was Alena's first time there and she just loved it. I find it so hard to tolerate that place!!

Alena is totally walking now. She is such a character and is sooooo proud of herself.

It's hard to believe that in two days she will be with us for four months already. We cherish everyday with her. She has brought us all an unbelievable amount of joy.

Mom & George and myself & the girls all went out to dinner the other night. Fred had to work overtime. Alena kept insisting that she wanted something on the table. She had food in front of her on the table and utensils (she loves trying to use them and has gotten quite good with the fork!). We kept giving her some of all of our food and she was still reaching and whining. I finally figured out that she wanted a plate!! She saw that we all had one and she didn't! We got her a plate and put her food on it and she was as happy as can be sitting there trying to use her fork!! As it said in her referral, she is obstinate and we love her!

We are sinking in flood waters here from the storm that has been passing through over the past two days. Yuck. We could float a boat in our back yard. Bring on the spring weather!!!

Pictures:

-"Hello, China? I LOVE it here!"

-"I should have started walking long ago, mobility is wonderful!!"

-"Move it Clifford!"

-"Can this thing go faster?"

-"Hop in sis!"

-"Hey! Get out of my car!"

-"I love Dunkin Donut muffins!"

-Sharing my first ice pop with Aunt Denise

-Sophia looking beautiful for the father/daughter dance

-"Why is he touching me?"

-The baby chicks!

Love to all,

Jenni

Happy Easter!

Welcome Spring!

Well, spring is here and it's supposed to snow today. Ugh! We have had a few really nice days though. I've been able to get out for a couple long walks/jog with Alena and it's so much more refreshing than the treadmill.

Hasn't been all that eventful around here. Soph is off this week for Spring Break. She went to the Museum of Natural History with Uncle Rich and the kids on Monday and loved it. She also had a sleepover with her friend Jesse and came home with a Webkins Frog! She is having a ball with that thing!

Sophia managed to escape the stomach virus that the rest of us had. Talk about ugly!! It was awful. Started with my mom, then Alena, then Fred and last but not least, me. YUCK!

Everyone is doing well now with the exception of Alena's teething. That poor baby is working on her four first molars and two anterior teeth and she's pretty uncomfortable at times.

The van has been wonderful and Alena has learned that as soon she is seated to point at the video screen and say "that" and mommy might turn on her Little Mermaid movie!! She also loves her big sister's DVD of music videos. She dances away and claps in her carseat. It's hysterical!!

Looking forward to getting outside and doing things in the yard. Fred is anxious to get working on the koi pond as well. All of our koi survived the winter and we can't wait to be able to sit out there and enjoy them.

It's about to get pretty busy- Sophia will start tennis soon and we think we have finally found a new ranch for her to start horseback riding lessons again. Fred has been working a lot of overtime lately and I will be doing a little traveling May-July.

Can't wait to get the girls out to Connecticut to do some camping too! Alena is going to love the beach as much as Sophia does and I would like to get them to Mystic Aquarium this summer also.

Hope everyone is well and maybe enjoying some nice weather!!

With Love,

Jenni