Oh My Goodness

This was Annaka after opening her present from Judy. I was trying to get her to look at me so I took the present away.. bad idea~

Merry Christmas!!

Annaka had a wonderful first Christmas. She really liked Santa and even gave him kisses and hugs. She really likes presents and gets really excited when its time to unwrap them.
Its hard to imagine that last year she wasn't here with us. Thank God for adoption!
Tomorrow I will add one of Annaka while I tried to get her to look at me after she opened her gift from Judy (her daycare mom). Its a humdinger so I will let you look at these lovely ones first! Merry Christmas!

One Year Today

Today at around 10:15am my cell phone rang and our life's were never the same. We were sent the middle picture of Annaka and could only count the days until she was placed in our arms.

What a journey it has been. She has really changed our life's and our hearts.

Today she was up at 4:30am , i tried to lay her in bed with us but she wanted nothing to do with it. Now she is in our bed watching cartoons while we get ready to head to work. What a different life from the orphange when she would lay in her crib and wait to be held or touched by a cartaker. Breaks my heart....

For Judy....

We are thinking of you and wanted to send you a hug.

x0x0x0x Annaka and Heather

Congratulations!!

Our good friend Michaun had a baby boy on Halloween. Congratulations Michaun, Dan and Kaelyn. We cant wait to meet the new little one...

First Time Carving Pumpkins for Annaka Wanci

We carved pumpkins on Sunday. Annaka wasn't sure what to think at first. She laughed so hard when we started to get the pumpkins on the table. All the kids had there own pumpkins to carve. Annaka helped out by playing with all the insides of the pumpkin while I carved it.

Trick or treating went good. We went with Raina, Michon and Laney. The girls were cute together and got lots of ohhhh and ahhhhs. Ally and Andrew ran ahead of us and hit the houses before we got there. I think next year it will be a little easier with the kids having longer, longer legs!

Jackie Paper is here to stay

Well, we decided to keep the kitty. We named him after the story Puff the Magic Dragon. Jackie Paper is fitting in very well.

His first trip to the vet he weighed whopping 8 ounces. The vet thought he was around 4 weeks. One week later I had to bring him back to the vet (he was having a heck of time pooping) he weighted in at 1.3 ounces. He loves his milk, and he drinks out of a bowl now. I still cant get him to take any cat food but the vet thought that would come as he gets older.

Annaka is doing good with Jackie the only thing is he chases her and bites at her ankles. She tries to run away from him but he runs right after her. He loves to play and bite. Jade our golden retriever sure does like him. She is such a good dog, she plays with him at night and she is really gentle with him. She takes Scott's socks after he takes them off at night and lays them by him when he is sleeping. She used to do the same thing to Echo. I think it is her way of protecting them when they sleep.

so, we are back to a family of "threecatswilldo". I have to wonder if "Jackie Paper" will live as long as "My Echo" did.

First Annual Halloween Party, BOO!

Today was the first annual Halloween Party. The girls were soooooo cute!

We had lunch, played, then walked across the block to the house with the huge pumpkins. After that we went to visit Laney's Grama and Great Grampa. They were so fun to watch walk around and and listen to them talk to each other. They really loved being with each other. The hardest part was getting them to pose for the camera. I think between the 4 of us we took more than a hundred pictures.

They were all just so cute watching walk up the street with their costumes. The pumpkins were so big at the Raina's neighbors house. We tried to get the girls all on the same pumpkin ,but I had to hide behind them so they wouldn't slip off! All and All it was a perfect day for a Halloween Party! You can bet they all took really good naps after that!

It's not a done deal..yet.....

Okay, so this is how it happened. I got a call from Ally's friends mom, Julie. She asked me if I could take a kitten that she found at her brothers farm. She was watching his cats while he was gone. She said she had heard this little one crying a day ago but couldn't find it. Well, they found it tonight and I said I would take care of her and bottle feed her. "She" is only about 4 weeks old. She has does have teeth and is so cute. I don't know yet if we will keep her or not. Scott says we might has well buy a collar NOW but seriously I just don't know yet. Her are some pictures of her with the kids, they were all so excited.

The Skateborder in Action

Spending time outside on Friday Annaka thought she would show off for me.
She was actually pretty good!!

I made it!!

I had surgery on August 10th and because of that I couldn't lift Annaka for 6 weeks. She has been going to her daycare mom, Judy's house 5 days a week. You don't realize how much you lift your child until you can't do it. I really miss not having her here with me. I can not wait to have her back home with me on my days off. She is so fun and so happy.

Surgery was a lot tougher than I had prepared myself for. Unfortunately, I had to have another surgery on September 6th for a complication that came up. Its been a long road but we are getting to the end. I am just glad that I don't have to start the 6 weeks over from the 2nd date of the surgery. Annaka is getting so grown up. She says so many things and has such a personality. Her favorite words are .. moo, meow, sissy, bro-bro, no, mine, mama, dada, nana, dudu for Judy, night-night...

Her favorite things are books, her blankey, stuffed animals, chocolate milk, dancing, and being around her big brother and sister.

She has tantrums now. Falls to the ground, arches her back and lets out a scream. She can get really mad if she doesn't get something she wants. If her big sister has a stuffed animal and she wants it she will defiantly let her know! And if you don't give it to her she will start the tantrum, watch out!

For Halloween she is going to be a cow. She LOVES to say MOO. She thinks everything says mo0 and will look at pratically any animal and say moooooShe has a Halloween party to go to at Laney's house and there will be 2 of her other friends there. They are going to decorate pumpkins and play. I will take pictures to and post them to show you.

What a joy she has brought to our family. Scott and I wonder when we will look at her and not think about the 1st year of her life. She has blessed us so much.

Okay, I wrote that about 1 week ago and today was my first day home with Annaka. WOW, what a difference from being home alone. Her new thing today is to hit me and then look at me and say "no, no" and to stand and walk on our couch and to say "no,no" the whole time she is doing it. Oh, and she throws her food when she is done eating, and her fork,and her spoon.. She's a cutie, but a stinker to! SO, here are a couple pictures of her. This is her halloween costume I was talking about. I got it off of Ebay and it is really cute. She isnt to fond of it on, but everytime she sees it in her room she looks and it and says MOO. Another picture, is of her Uncle Kip who she adores and wants him to hold her the entire time he is here. The reason he is not smiling is because everytime he comes to visit he buys a ice-cream cake and had a mouth full when I snapped this shot!

Then one of her, Jade and Ally walking on our road. I love these kind of pictures.

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Two Peas in a Pod

Check out my Slide Show!

Bath Time

We decided to give Annaka a bath in the sink last night. She absolutely loved it! I think this will be our new way of giving baths. Its much easier for us to.

From then to now

What I love about her......

It has been 6 months since Annaka was placed in our arms. I can hardly believe it has gone this fast. For over 2 years we waited for this little person to come home. Now, I can't imagine a day with out her in our life. She has fit in like she has been with us all of her 17 months of life.

There are so many things that amaze me about her.
I love the way she knows she is home now.
I love the way she sleeps in her crib and knows she is safe.
I love the way she cries to tell me she is awake after a nap.
I love the way she plays with her brother and sister.
I love the way she giggles when I take her out of the bathtub and wrap her up in a towel.
I love the way she tries to copy what we say.
I love the way she loves her blanket
I love they way she sucks her tongue when she is tired
I love they way she goes to Judy in the morning and I can tell she feels safe.
I love the way she dances to music.
I love the way she tries to imitate what we do.
I love the way she loves the baby pool in Kasson.
I love the way she smiles at me when I pick her up from daycare.
I love he way she loves her feet tickled.
I love the way she loves ELMO!!
I love the way she is learning new things everyday.
I love the way she says LaLa for Laney.
But most of all I love the way she knows I am her Mommy.......

Some of my favorite pictures

Happy 4th of July