The Justice Family Blog

Sledding

2011-12-28T21:44:00.005-07:00

I'm enjoying the week off between Christmas and New Years. Danica, Anneliese, Alexa and I were a bit bored this morning, so we decided to go sledding at a hill near to our house. We were lucky and had the hill to ourselves. It is amazing how fast the girls would get going. They were also real troopers, carting their sleds back up the hill.

Here are pictures from the fun.

Happy Gotcha Day

2011-12-04T14:37:00.003-07:00

Today our family is celebrating the 4th anniversary of Gotcha Day - the day we became the parents of Anneliese and Alexa and took them home from the orphanage in Perm, Russia. We all have been so blessed. Below is a video from our special day.

Update: Here is a link to a much higher quality version of the movie. Blogger likes to make your movies super small to save traffic costs on their servers.

Skiing at Loveland

2011-11-20T17:11:00.004-07:00

Yesterday my best friend Neal and I made our annual trek up to Loveland Ski Area for some early season skiing. This year we brought Neal's son Skyler with us. Skyler is 14 and has never been skiing, so Neal placed him in a lesson. The lesson was great, and Skyler only fell once, which is impressive for a first timer.

We all had a great time. The snow was pretty good for early season with no rocks to be found. A fair amount of terrain was open so we had a lot of fun, despite the windy and snowy conditions.

Here is a picture of Neal:

And me:

We were on a trail that runs past the entrance to Eisenhower Tunnel, which you can see behind us. The tunnel is at 11,158 ft in elevation (3401 meters) and we could tell it after a long ski run.

It was a great day of fun for all!

Master Bedroom and Halloween Costumes

2011-10-30T16:15:00.005-06:00

Were have I been? Well, Facebook finds more of my attention these days, and even there, I only post two or three times a week. Since our last post this summer, we have kept very busy. The girls enjoyed their summer, and then started Kindergarten in August. Anneliese and Alexa are in the same class together this year after being split up during preschool. So far it has gone well and the girls love school.

The week before last the girls were on fall break, and I decided to take the week off and we had a "staycation". Danica and I used it as an opportunity to paint our master bedroom, which we have been wanting to do for quite some time. The project took us the better part of three days. We paint on the slow side because we'd rather get it right the first time by paying attention to the details. We painted the ceiling as well, which added to the project. The room is much cozier now, and feels really warm, especially at night. The added bonus is that the room stays darker in the morning when the sun comes up. This is has been great for weekend sleep in days. Here are pictures after we finished.

Halloween is here, and Anneliese and Alexa had a party at school on Friday. Their Grandma Debby spent many hours making them wonderful costumes. Anneliese was Cinderella and Alexa was Snow White. They are looking forward to trick or treating tomorrow night.

The Justice Cousins

2011-06-18T22:27:00.006-06:00

My brother Mike and his wife Edie just spent the last week in Steamboat Springs, Colorado on vacation. About the same time he planned their vacation, Danica and I booked our vacation in Steamboat Springs for the week after theirs. We had no idea they were planning their summer vacation in Steamboat. It would have been nice if we could have overlapped a little more, but we did get to meet up this morning while they were getting ready to head home, and we were just arriving.

Steamboat is home to the Yampa River Botanic Park, and I must say it is just gorgeous and one of my favorite places in Colorado. We met Mike, Edie and his boys, Clive, Owen and Hugh there. Anneliese and Alexa were very excited to see them.

Here are some pictures from the meet up.

L->R, Anneliese, Owen, Alexa, Hugh, Clive

Hugh

Anneliese, Owen, Alexa, Hugh, Clive
Alexa

Anneliese

Hugh, Alexa
Anneliese, Alexa, Clive, Owen

Alexa
Anneliese, Alexa, Clive, Owen

Owen, Alexa
My brother Mike.

Alexa
Anneliese, Alexa, Owen, Clive

Baby Bunnies

2011-05-30T10:34:00.003-06:00

Yesterday while we were out working in the backyard, Danica found a den of baby bunnies. We've been overrun with bunnies the past year, and this winter they about destroyed our holly bushes. I guess mama had to eat to feed these guys!

Anneliese and Alexa's Pre-K Graduation

2011-05-27T22:05:00.004-06:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. Danica spent 8 days in the hospital this past March after a surgery that was much more difficult than expected. It took her a couple of months to bounce back to the energetic level she normal goes at. So it has been a busy time here, and I got to play Mr. Mom for a little bit.

Today was Anneliese and Alexa's graduation from Pre-K. They had a great year, and are very ready for Kindergarten. Their school and teachers this past year were awesome.

Here is Alexa

And Anneliese

The girls are looking forward to summer break, but are really looking forward to Kindergarten next fall.

Danica is in the hospital

2011-03-20T15:23:00.002-06:00

Danica had routine surgery this past Tuesday, and should have gone home Wednesday. However there were complications, and we are still in the hospital 5 days later. Thankfully we've had a ton of support from friends and family. My mom is staying at our house and watching Anneliese and Alexa for us. They are still too young to understand what is going on, which is probably a good thing.

Danica is better today, and with a little luck, we are hoping that she will get out on Tuesday.

Four Russian Ski Bunnies

2011-02-27T21:30:00.007-07:00

We just spent a wonderful extended Presidents Day weekend skiing with the Nash Family. Long time readers of the blog will know that Danica and I met Lisa Nash in Perm, Russia while we were adopting Anneliese and Alexa, and Lisa was adopting Abbye and Annie. This was our second annual Nash/Justice Ski Trip to Breckenridge, Colorado.

We arrived in Breckenridge late Friday afternoon, and we met Lisa, and her daughters Jessica, Abbye and Annie for dinner at a kid friendly pizzeria, that happened to have gluten free pizza crusts. The girls took a few minutes to warm up, but once they did, it was like they had been friends their whole lives. It was joyful to watch the girls play, and we enjoyed catching up with Lisa and Jessica.

The next morning, all of us put our girls in ski school, and then we headed up the slopes. The lift lines were the longest I've seen, but it gave us a chance to catch our breath and chat. Here are a couple of pictures of Danica and I.

That Saturday night we hosted the Nash family at our condo for a lasagna dinner. The four girls had a blast playing together, and were quite innovative playing hide and seek in a such small place.

Anneliese and Alexa seemed quite bored skiing the magic carpet at ski school, and didn't appear to be making much progress. So we decided to pull them out and have them ski with us. This worked out great, as we had Lisa and Jessica to help us with Anneliese and Alexa on the mountain. It started out a bit bumpy, with Alexa having a hard time keeping her ski tips together, and both of the them stopping consistently. After the first run, Alexa was a bit tired, so I took her in for hot chocolate, while Anneliese, Danica, Lisa and Jessica went back up for another run. They came back down and joined us for hot chocolate as well. We then skied two more runs, and the girls steadily improved, but Alexa still was having trouble keeping those troublesome tips together. So at lunch I bought an edgie-wedgie from the ski shop. The edgie-wedgie attaches the two tips of the skis together with a six inch bungee cord. It made all the difference in the world. That afternoon, we were all zooming down the mountain. It was really cool having our four year old girls skiing greens with us.

That night everyone was a bit beat, so we headed back to our condos and called it an early night. I was in bed before 9pm, a first for me in a very long time.

On Monday we flipped flopped the girls, with Anneliese and Alexa going back to ski school and Abbye and Annie skiing the mountain with the rest of us. Abbye and Annie really excelled at ski school, and were skiing really well. They were turning and stopping with ease, and were quite quick. We had a great day skiing with them.

Not only was Monday Presidents Day, it was Annie's fifth birthday. We met Lisa and her family at the pizza place again, and then we went back to her condo for a birthday party. Lisa did an excellent job with the birthday party. It was quite impressive especially considering she did it on the road. The theme of the party was princesses, and the girls started by decorating princess cupcakes.

This was followed by the girls doing a really neat craft, making princess crowns.

After singing happy birthday, the rapid consumption of cupcakes, and opening gifts, the girls played hide and seek again, and it was fun watching them giggle and run around. The joy in their young hearts was so cool. Happy Birthday Annie!

The next morning, Lisa and her crew had to head down the mountain to catch their flight back to Texas. Danica and I decided that we should go ahead and take advantage of being in Breckenridge and ski one more day. We took the girls out on the mountain, and after a bumpy first run, the girls skied very well. They were even skiing the steep parts of the trail unassisted. Anneliese and Alexa were very energetic, and when we told them at 2pm that we should call it a day, they insisted that they wanted to ski more. We didn't come off the mountain until almost 4pm. It was a great day, and Anneliese and Alexa are now bona fide skiers.

Our trip with Lisa and her girls was a real blast. Thanks Lisa for coming out to Colorado and skiing with us. The camaraderie between all of us was so nice, and it was great to spend a few days with a family we have so much in common with. I look forward to next year's trip, and all of us being able to ski together with Annie, Abbye, Alexa and Anneliese, our four Russian ski bunnies. :-)

I have posted many more photos from our trip.

Halloween Fun

2010-10-30T11:51:00.006-06:00

Anneliese and Alexa have been very busy this Halloween season. They both decided they would like to wear the same costumes as they did last year. Anneliese wanted to be Cinderella, and Alexa wanted to be a black cat (Lucifer from Cinderella?). So that made it real easy on us. Luckily the costumes still fit.

Two weekends ago we took the kids to "Halloween with Horses" which was held at the Colorado Horse Park, just south of Parker, Colorado. It was a really well run event, with lots of opportunities for the girls to ride horses and ponies, horse costume contests, bouncy houses, a pumpkin patch, lots of food, and of course trick-or-treating. It was beautiful October Colorado day with temperatures at about 70 degrees. We had a perfect day there.

Anneliese and Alexa also were able to enjoy Halloween parties at their Pre-K class and at the Castle Rock Recreation Center last weekend.

Here is a little slide show video of the girls enjoying their Halloween season.

And if Blogger/YouTube isn't cooperating or you'd like to see a higher resolution version (assuming you have a fast internet connection), you can view it here.

Message from a Penny

2010-10-29T20:01:00.002-06:00

I really enjoyed this story on Debbie's blog.

Наслаждайтесь!

Party Weekend!

2010-08-09T22:04:00.007-06:00

We've just come off of a crazy busy weekend that was full of parties and activities. On Friday night, we went to a Hawaiian party that our worship pastor put on for the worship team. It was a bit chilly out that evening (weird weather here in Colorado) but we still had a great time. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures.

The next morning, the family walked in the Douglas County Fair Parade with our church. Well, I walked, pulled the girls in their wagon, and Danica rode in the truck pulling the float. Danica's foot is healing, but she still can't walk long distances.

That afternoon, we went to my company's "Summer Event" which was held at Infinity Park in Glendale. They had a wonderful face painter who did a lovely job with the kids. Anneliese and Alexa were so excited to get them. They also had temporary tattoos to go with them. What was even more impressive was that the girls didn't protest when it came time to wash the paint off their faces. They were very cooperative, and were very big girls about it.

On Sunday afternoon, we took Anneliese and Alexa to Julia's 7th birthday party at mini golf park. Julia is my cousin Lori's daughter. We had a very nice time at the park, and the girls enjoyed mini golf and playing with all the kids. Happy Birthday Julia!

Here is Julia with her birthday cake. Lori did a fabulous job making it.

It has been an unusually rainy summer in Castle Rock. Tonight another string of thunderstorms passed through, leaving behind this gorgeous rainbow.

On vacation in Park City, Utah

2010-07-20T22:00:00.009-06:00

Danica, Anneliese, Alexa and I are in Park City, Utah on vacation this week. We drove out on Saturday, and it was an easy 9 hour drive from Denver. Park City is a ski resort town about 30 minutes outside of Salt Lake City where the 2002 Winter Olympics were held. Why go there when there are great mountain towns in Colorado? Well, we've been there, done that, and wanted to go some where different, but not have to fly. We were able to rent a nice condo, which is great for the girls. We can eat in frequently, which is nice since the girls have Celiac disease.

On Sunday, we went and had lunch with my friend Gary Dunn, who lives in Ogden, Utah. I met Gary while working on a contract that brought me to Ogden for a year in 2002/2003. Gary is a great guy, and it was nice to see him again. After that we went to the pool at our condo, and the girls enjoyed some swim time. Here are Anneliese and Alexa afterward, ready for bed.

Monday brought us to Utah Olympic Park, which was home of the 2002 Winter Olympic ski jumping and bobsledding events. They have an alpine slide there, which is one of Danica's favorite things to do. The alpine slide is stainless steel, and it is a bit smoother than your typical concrete or fiberglass slide. It was also very fast. The girls had a blast on it.

Afterward, it was back to the pool to cool down.

Today we took the kids to Hogle Zoo, which is very nice zoo in Salt Lake City. They have a baby elephant, Zuri that the girls were very excited to see.

And what zoo wouldn't be complete with out a carousel of animals?

The weather has been fabulous, and we are really enjoying our stay in Park City.

Russian Adoptions Are Still Open

2010-04-24T14:23:00.002-06:00

Russian adoptions have slowed but, not stopped. The US State Department has posted a notice.

The volcanic ash kept the delegation from the US State Department from visiting Moscow, but they will be going next week.

This is all good news.

I wonder what has happened with Artem, and with Torry Hansen?

Horse Riding

2010-04-17T20:26:00.003-06:00

Last Sunday, we came home from church, and found our neighbor Kelly out in the cul-de-saq with her cousin Brian who had brought a horse trailer, two horses, and his two young daughters. They had been out riding the trails through our neighborhood. Anneliese and Alexa were very excited when they saw the horses.

Brian was very very kind, and he let the girls ride the horses around the cul-de-saq. It made our Sunday!

Outrageous and Sad Moral Failure

2010-04-10T10:20:00.005-06:00

Yesterday I learned of the despicable and cowardly act of Torry Ann Hansen, the adoptive mother of 7 year old Artem. Ms. Hansen, after growing frustrated with her recently adopted son, put him on a flight to Moscow by himself, and arranged for a courier in Moscow to deliver him from the airport to the Russian Ministry of Education.

I do not understand how a parent could do something so callous. Children are a precious gift from God, whether by birth or adoption. If this child were your own, no matter how severe the behavioral issues, would you "return" them? Children are not material goods or consumables you purchase. They are a responsibility that require limitless sacrifice. When you adopt a child, you are making a promise to care for and love them. That means getting help when you are in situation that is beyond your capabilities. As a nurse, Ms. Hansen should know this. Sometimes parents do adopt children that they can not raise, and disruptions do occur. This is where professionals step in and help place the child with a family that can raise the child. Sending a child back like a defective product to its manufacturer shows where the mindset of Ms. Hansen was. She was treating Artem as a possession, not as her child that deserved so much more.

The ramifications of Ms. Hansen's actions go well behind her family. She has outraged the Russian government and people, and set off an international incident. I can understand their outrage. Because of what Ms. Hansen has done, the Russian government has suspended all adoptions by Americans. I feel for all the families that will be affected. There are likely several hundred adoptions in progress, with parents who have met their children on their first trip, and are awaiting their second trips to bring their children home. My heart breaks for them, as this is horrible news. I pray that the U.S. Government can help right this horrible wrong, and work with the Russian Government to get adoptions back on track. Today there are 700,000 children in Russian orphanages. All of us as citizens of the world, and children of God, have an obligation to love these children, and find them homes.

What does the future hold for Artem? Because of Ms. Hansen's callous act, he faces some very hard times. First he was taken from his alcoholic mother in Russia and placed in an orphanage. This in itself surely was traumatic. Then to be placed in a new family, and then to have that family give up and send him back to Russia could only be further damaging. Artem will likely be placed in another institution now that he is back in Russia. I pray that a new family adopts him, and that he is given the love and help that he needs and deserves.

There has been little reporting of the possible consequences for Ms. Hansen. Apparently, she may have not done anything technically illegal. She has failed morally though, and her actions will have significant ramifications to so many orphaned children, and their prospective parents. I believe Ms. Hansen should be held accountable by our nation and government. At the very least her punishment should demonstrate to the Russian Government how seriously America's takes the responsibility of caring for adoptive children. If there is no meaningful punishment for Ms. Hansen, it would clearly signal to the Russian's that we don't care about their children.

I pray for young Artem, for all the children in orphanages in Russia and around the world. I pray that they would be shown love, and have families to care for them. I pray for all those who wish to be parents, and all those perspective parents who are trying to adopt from Russia.

Easter and 4th Birthdays!

2010-04-05T22:08:00.009-06:00

We started the weekend with an Easter Egg Hunt early Saturday afternoon. The Easter Egg hunt was put on by our church, and Danica was their organizer. Anneliese and Alexa had a lot of fun gathering their share of the 40,000 eggs laid out on the field.

Here is Danica, having to tell the crowd that the helicopter would not be dropping eggs this year because of high winds. The hunt was still fun with out it. The eggs were scooped up by the children in about 90 seconds. It was quite the site.

Later that afternoon, we held a small birthday party for Alexa and Anneliese. They turned 4 years old on Easter Sunday. Every young girl needs to play "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" on their birthday. It was impressive at how well all the kids did. Or maybe we needed a better blindfold!

The theme of the party was Princesses and Horseys. We made two cakes, one gluten free, and one not. This was also convenient, because one cake had horses on top for Alexa, and one cake had a Princess crown for Anneliese. All the kids dressed for the party in either princess or cowboy costumes.

Eating the cake.

Danica and I gave the girls their first bicycles for their birthdays.

It is amazing at how much the girls have changed and grown in two years. If you look back at the pictures from their birthday party in 2008, you'll see how remarkable the change has been. It has been a great year, and we look forward to seeing Anneliese and Alexa blossom into little girls this year. Their toddler years are almost over.

I'm working on a new morph video of the girls. Look for it soon.

Skiing in Breckenridge with the Nash Family

2010-03-31T20:37:00.010-06:00

Last week, we met the Nash family in Breckenridge and joined them for a few days of skiing. Long time blog readers will recall that we met Lisa Nash in Perm, Russia while we were adopting Anneliese and Alexa, and she was adopting her girls Abbye and Annie. All 4 girls are very close in age, with Annie being within 3 weeks of age of Alexa and Anneliese, and Abbye 1 year older. We thought it would be a great idea for all 4 girls to be in ski school together, and to get to know each other, as they share a common background.

Danica had foot surgery the week prior, and wasn't able to ski with us. She took the opportunity to relax and get some quite time while everyone else skied.

Breckenridge has a ski school just for little ones, and they do an excellent job. They have thought through all the little details, and made it fun for everyone. There were a couple of things that I thought really stood out. The ski instructors put vests on each of the children. On the back of the vest is a handle, and when a child falls, the instructors just pick them up like a piece of luggage and set them back up on their skis. It is hilarious, and mighty efficient. The other slick idea is they have a moving walkway that the kids ride back up the hill on. They just walk onto it with their skis, and it gently takes them up the hill with no fuss. A picture of that is upcoming.

Here is a nice shot of Anneliese in all her ski gear.

And Alexa skiing down the hill.

Here are all four of our girls at the top of the hill, from left to right: Anneliese, unknown, Alexa, Abbye and Annie.

Anneliese and Alexa riding the magic carpet back up the hill. You can see the handles on the back of their vests.

Anneliese having a ton of fun.

Alexa getting some one on one instruction.

Abbye and Annie. Abbye was a fast learner, and on the second day she was riding the lift and skiing with her instructor.

After our first day of skiing, we went out for fondue, and had a great time, even though we were all exhausted. The girls all got along really well.

Anneliese, Alexa, Annie and Abbye got a lot of smiles while we were out and about. They are all so adorable. Here is Danica and the girls in front of the Swiss flag at the fondue restaurant.

The second day of skiing was just gorgeous with big blue skies. The view down the mountain was spectacular. You can see Lisa on the bottom right.

Lisa and I at the top of the lift. We had a lot of fun skiing together. I hadn't skied in 8 years, and it was great to knock the rust off.

Annie, Anneliese, Alexa and Abbye after skiing on the second day.

We all stayed at Beaver Run, and the convenience and amenities really made this vacation stand out. Beaver Run is a large complex next to the ski lifts. It has a ski rental shop, restaurants, a pool and hot tubs, a game room, and a small convenience store. Our room had a mini kitchen and a table that made eating meals in our room possible.

We had a fantastic time with Lisa, Abbye and Annie. The skiing was great, the company even better, and the chance for all our girls to get to know each other was priceless. We are talking about making this an annual event, and I'm excited for next year.

Arizona Vacation

2010-03-29T21:09:00.010-06:00

I've fallen way behind on our blogging, so it is time to catch up. Danica, Anneliese, Alexa and I took a road trip vacation to Arizona in early March. We left Denver after work on a Friday, and drove down to Santa Fe, NM where we spent the night. The next morning we quickly left and hit the road for the long drive to Phoenix. We encountered a variety of weather, and even some snow outside Flagstaff. However, we arrived in Sunny, warm Scottsdale that evening. The nice weather didn't last, and it was rainy and cool for the next few days.

We visited Danica's father, Vern. Vern took us to a nice park that had lots of birds to feed, and the girls decided the birds would be quite happy with a loaf of their gluten free bread. :-)

The next day we went to McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, which is a very nice park in Scottsdale that has a miniature train and a carousel.

It was still chilly, and you can see everyone bundled up. We still had fun riding the train.

Shortly after this, I received a call from my best friend Neal Thompson. I have known Neal since I was 11, and he is like a brother to me. He had bad news, and told me that his father had unexpectedly passed away in his sleep. I was majorly bummed, and my heart really hurt for Neal and his family. It was hard being in Arizona and not able to come help. Neal's dad lived in Texas, and Neal headed down there to take care of his dad's affairs. They will be having a memorial in Denver for him next week in Denver. God Bless you Mr. Thompson.

Later that night we headed over to Vern's for Dinner. Anneliese and Alexa love to have Grandpa Vern draw for them. He is pretty good at drawing cats, dogs, pigs and cows.

After a few days we said Goodbye to Grandpa Vern, and headed to Sierra Vista, home of my Aunt Denise and Uncle Terry. Sierra Vista is an hour southeast of Tuscon, and not far from the Mexico border. Here is Alexa and Denise. We had a nice time visiting and the weather started to warm up.

Denise took us to Bisbee, which is an old mining town in the southern Arizona mountains. Danica's grandfather immigrated from the Isle of Man and worked in the Bisbee mines for several years. It was neat for Danica to see a little bit of her family history.

Not far from Bisbee is Tombstone, famous for its turn of the century gunfights, and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. We watched a comedy gun fight around the corner from the O.K. Corral.

The girls also learned what happens when you get into trouble in an old western town. :-)

After visiting Aunt Denise and Uncle Terry for a few days, we headed back to Denver, via Albuquerque. I spent some of my early childhood in Albuquerque, so we drove by my old house and elementary school. It was nostalgic for me, and it was neat to show the girls.

We drove over 2000 miles on our road trip. What was really amazing is how well Alexa and Anneliese tolerated all the time in the car. We brought lots of toys for them, and when they needed something very distracting, we let them watch cartoons on our iPhones. We had an excellent first family road trip. I'm sure we will have many more in the future. I'd like to take road trips to see Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore and the Grand Canyon.

Fun Dressing Up!

2010-02-04T21:31:00.008-07:00

One of Anneliese and Alexa's favorite activities is to play dress up. For Christmas, their cousins Julia and Ben gave the girls a set of dress up clothes and it has been a hit. And their other relatives have also given them some fun clothes, so they have quite the collection.

I came home today, and Danica showed me some great photos that she took today. I also have some from the last couple of months, so I thought it would make for a great blog post.

Here is the picture Danica took this afternoon. Anneliese loves her Unicorn, and Alexa loves her horse she named Cactus. They are off for a ride...

The magical Anneliese...

The two fairies. They love Tinkerbell.

Fairy Alexa

I'm not sure who Anneliese is here. We got the hat in Boulder, Colorado. Go figure. :-)

Visiting Santa

2009-12-19T12:59:00.004-07:00

My company throws a Christmas party every year for the children of the employees. Santa always visits, and they have a pro photographer and free pictures for the families. We went last year, and the girls really didn't understand Santa. This year that all changed, and the girls knew exactly who he was, and what to do. Anneliese asked for a stuffed unicorn, and Alexa asked for a stuffed horse. We had a nice time with Santa and his elves.

The children's program at the Community Bible study Danica goes to also put on a show, and the girls learned "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". It was very cute.

Gotcha Day 2nd Anniversary

2009-12-04T21:58:00.003-07:00

Today was the second anniversary of Anneliese and Alexa's gotcha day. It is hard to believe it was two years ago that we became the proud parents of Anneliese and Alexa. I vividly remember the day we drove to the orphanage, bundled Alexa and Anneliese up in their new snow suits, and said goodbye to all the kind orphanage staff. It was so euphoric finally accomplishing our mission and adding Alexa and Anneliese permanently to our lives.

Anneliese and Alexa have had a great fall. They are in their first year of preschool, and their teachers tells us they are leading their class academically. We couldn't be more proud of them. They just about have their alphabet down, know their colors and each can count to twenty. What really thrilled me was when their teachers told us that both Anneliese and Alexa have very good self esteem.

Tonight the girls went to a "Birthday Party for Jesus", put on by our church. Our church has many wonderful volunteers, and they did a great job with it. Anneliese and Alexa won a book at the party, and were excited about the goody bag each got to take home.

Here are a couple of recent pictures:

Lots of birthdays

2009-11-08T21:00:00.004-07:00

This weekend we celebrated four birthdays. On Saturday, Anneliese and I went to her cousin Clive's birthday party. While we were there, Danica and Alexa went to her friend Jasmine's birthday party (you can read about that here ).

We had a great time at the party. All the girls' cousins were there, including Julia and Ben, Clive, Hugh and Owen. Clive turned 3 and is just a few months younger than A&A. For entertainment, the kids got to take turns whacking a Jack O' Lantern pinata. We have some real sluggers in the family.

Clive enjoying his new train set.

Today we celebrated my Grandma Hazel's 88th birthday, my Dad Floyd's 67th birthday, and Clive's 3rd birthday. We skipped the candles this time, because that would have been one big fire!

Grandma Hazel opening her gifts.

The cousins all eating ice cream.

Watching a movie together.

Aren't they all cute!

Halloween!

2009-10-31T23:31:00.005-06:00

Anneliese and Alexa really got into the spirit of Halloween this year. Danica started early, and had taken the girls shopping for costumes back in September. The girls were very anxious to wear them and go trick or treating. Alexa was a black kitten, and Anneliese dressed up as her favorite princess, Cinderella. Late this afternoon, we took the girls over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for their first trick or treats. Afterwards, Danica took them trick or treating in our neighborhood. It was a beautiful night, with temperatures in the 50s, which is great considering it snowed two feet just a couple of days ago.

Grandpa Vern Visits

2009-10-31T22:47:00.004-06:00

Danica's dad, Vern, came last week to visit the girls. We had a great time, but we had a very unusual snow storm for October that dumped over two feet of snow in our yard. Vern lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, so this was a little more than he bargained for! We ended up snowed in for most of his trip. The girls also got very sick this week, and we aren't sure if it is the flu or just some virus. They are coughing a lot, running a temperature of 101, and are congested. Anneliese and Alexa felt a bit better today, but still have a way to go before they are well.

Here are some pictures from Grandpa Vern's trip. This one was taken a couple of hours before the snow started to fly.

Anneliese and Alexa reading Grandpa's newspaper. We have very smart girls. :-)

Steak night!

Children Seeking Familes

2009-10-31T22:31:00.006-06:00

My adoption agency, Alliance For Children, sent me this letter below, asking me to post it on my blog, which I'm very happy to do. Alliance For Children is a first rate, very professional adoption agency, which helped Danica and I adopt our wonderful girls Anneliese and Alexa. If you have ever considered adopting, please read on:

A few months ago we participated in a program called the Journey of Hope. It took us to China to meet 28 children in need of adoptive parents. This professional commitment has become quite a personal mission for us and we are turning to you in hopes of helping to make 28 dreams come true.

These boys and girls, simply put, captured our hearts. They charmed us with their talents and inspired us with their spirit. Many of them (16 boys and 12 girls, all between the ages of 3 and 12) had some sort of special need earlier in their lives but do not have ongoing issues anymore. Some continue to need extra support or medical care. All of these children will do so much better with a family of their own here in the US than in an orphanage in China… a 5 year old boy bursting withpersonality who had esophageal surgery when he was a baby but needs no other services; a 12 year old girl with a cardiac condition, sweet, eager to please, who loves to sing and dance; a 10 year old girl, shy, nurturing, kind-hearted, whom teachers describe as honest and strict with herself-she has cognitive limitations but is completely independent and is so responsible in tending to the needs of theyounger children. The list goes on and on.

We already have found families for 13 children, which means that we are half way there. But that also means that 15 children do not yet have any prospects for adoption. And that breaks our hearts. We are hoping that you might write something about these children and that someone who reads what you have written will come forward to adopt them.

The agency’s website is: www.allforchildren.org
People can see the awesome children who are still waiting for families at: http://www.allforchildren.org/minisite-china/children.html
And they can read all about our Journey of Hope trip to China at: http://allforchildren.ning.com

We can be contacted by phone at 781-444-7148 and via email at:
LinJing, China Program Coordinator: ljing@allforchildren.org
Vivian Cone, Director of Professional Services:
vivian@allforchildren.org
Renee Lubowich, Adoption Specialist: rlubowich@allforchildren.org

Thank you so much for anything you can do to on behalf of these children. Not only will you be giving a child the gift of a family but you will also be giving a family something that is beyond measure in return.

A few more pictures from our vacation

2009-08-23T22:31:00.009-06:00

Danica, Anneliese, Alexa and I had a great time in Steamboat Springs on our vacation. Here are few more pictures from our trip.

On the playground one afternoon.

Mount Werner seen from downtown Steamboat Springs. You can see the ski slopes.
Danica took the kids outside to play with Playdoh after their daily nap.

One of the prettiest places in Colorado - The Yampa River Botanical Park.
Alexa and Anneliese playing at the Botanical Park. The park is free, and so well done.
Danica ran into this critter out walking early one morning. We have no idea what it was. It looks like a cross between a fox and a deer.
This chipmonk is enjoying a grape from the girls' lunch.
And our vacation had to come to an end. See you next time Steamboat Springs!

Fun in Steamboat Springs

2009-08-12T22:12:00.008-06:00

Danica, Anneliese and Alexa and I are on vacation in beautiful Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We came here last year for our summer vacation and had such a relaxing time we thought we would do it again. It is about a 4 hour drive (with a stop for lunch) from Castle Rock, so it is easy to get here. We are staying at a condo on the the ski mountain, which is really great for the girls. We can cook meals in, and we have a second bedroom for A&A, which makes the evenings easy, since we don't have to worry about bothering them after they go down for the night.

Danica and I were just reflecting on how much Alexa and Anneliese have changed since we were here last summer. We had been home from Russia for about six months then, and the girls were still in diapers. They were changing from babies to toddlers. Now the girls are firmly in their toddler years, speaking in sentences, counting, sharing their emotions (not always in a fun way!) and very much wanting to do things for themselves. It is amazing how fast they have grown and developed.

Here are some pictures from our trip so far:

Riding the Alpine Slide:

Getting Sundaes at Lyons in downtown Steamboat:

Pictures

2009-08-02T23:11:00.002-06:00

Hey Marlowe Family, would you invite me to your blog again? My email changed, it is now tophertec@gmail.com. Thanks!

Here are some fun recent pictures.

Fourth of July Pictures

2009-07-21T22:26:00.005-06:00

I took these photos of the fireworks over the Meadows in Castle Rock, Colorado. It was my first time shooting fireworks, and I think that came out pretty good.

Catching Up

2009-07-21T22:07:00.007-06:00

It has been a long time since I have posted. I guess we have just been too busy to keep up with blogging. I've also had a hard time keeping up with other blogs. Facebook may also be to blame!

In June we all went to St. Catharines, Ontario to see Danica's cousin Danielle get married. We had a great time, and Danica got to see many of her relatives who she hadn't seen since we got married. So this blog post will be pictures from that trip.

The newly married couple, Danielle and Federico Andersen, with Danielle's parents, Celesta and Scott Wilson.

Danica's Aunt Doranna with Anneliese

Danica's Aunt Velsa with Anneliese

Danica's Uncle Oz and her Mom Bertina, with Alexa

Danica's Uncle Scott with Anneliese

Uncle Oz with Alexa

Danica and Anneliese

Uncle Ozzie and Uncle Scott with Alexa

More pictures can be seen here.

Recent pictures of Anneliese and Alexa

2009-06-14T20:44:00.001-06:00

Lisa Visits Denver

2009-05-02T21:31:00.003-06:00

Last night, Danica, Anneliese, and Alexa and I had dinner with our friend Lisa, who we met while adopting Anneliese and Alexa. Many of you probably follow Lisa's blog, Journey of Faith. Lisa worked with the same adoption agency that we did, and adopted her two children, Abbye and Annie from Perm, Russia, which is the same city which we adopted Anneliese and Alexa. Our adoptions were so close together in timing, that we were able to meet Lisa, and her mom Barbara, in Perm while we were on our trips to bring our new daughters home.

Lisa was in Denver for a conference, and it was the first time we had been able to get together since we met in Russia. We had a great time, and it was nice to be able to find out how she and her daughters have been doing, and share all the wonderful developments all of our girls have made in the last 17 months since their adoption. Lisa's older daughter Abbye is 4, and her younger daughter Annie is 3. With our girls being 3 as well, they have a lot in common.

I'm convinced it is a small world - Lisa, who hails from Texas, meets us in Perm, Russia, and we meet again in Denver. I doubt this would have ever happened if it weren't for our blogs.

Danica and I were very happy to be able to see Lisa again, and maybe someday, not too far away, all our daughters will be able to meet each other.

Re-Adoption

2009-04-24T19:12:00.006-06:00

Today we had a court hearing to re-adopt our children in the State of Colorado. We had been putting this off for sometime, and we finally got around to taking care of it.

The adoption of Alexa and Anneliese was formally granted by the Russian government and recognized by the US government. We received US citizenship certificates not long after we came home with the girls. However, we only have Russian birth certificates for the girls. This can be problematic when the birth certificates are needed to register the girls for school or anything else. Since the certificates are in Russian with a Cyrillic character set, nobody here can read them.

By re-adopting the girls in the state of Colorado, the girls will be issued birth certificates by the state, which are also easily replaceable. If something were to happen to the Russian birth certificates, they would be extremely difficult, if not impossible to replace. So that is a huge relief.

Here we are after the hearing. Behind us is the judge, who was very kind to us.

After Snowing All Night

2009-04-18T09:38:00.002-06:00

Snow shoeing anyone? It snowed all night, and is still snowing. It isn't forecast to break until this evening. That is okay, I get to hang out with three babes today. :-)

Birthdays, Easter, and Spring Snowstorm

2009-04-17T21:20:00.007-06:00

Much has happened over the last two weeks. To start, we had a birthday party for Anneliese and Alexa, and it was a great time. Danica found a bakery that makes gluten free cakes, well actually gluten free bundt cakes, so she got the girls one. It was a bit unusual for a birthday cake, but it was nice looking, and really really good. If you didn't know it was gluten free, you wouldn't have guessed.

Here we are, getting ready for Anneliese and Alexa to blow out their candles.

Last Saturday, the day before Easter, our church had an awesome Easter Egg Hunt. Danica organized it, and tracked down a Helicopter for an aerial egg drop. It was a lot of fun for the kids. Here is Danica getting after it, letting the kids know they could start.

And here is the chopper dropping the goods.

And Anneliese and Alexa all bundled up. It was a cold, windy and bitter morning.

And that brings us to today. We had a monster spring dumper. It is still going, and the forecast is for 12 to 24 inches before it clears out on Saturday afternoon. We've already hit the 12 inches. No worries though, the forecast for Monday is 70 degrees. The snow won't last long. That is spring in Colorado for you.

Happy 3rd Birthday Anneliese and Alexa!

2009-04-03T23:39:00.009-06:00

Saturday is Anneliese and Alexa's third birthday! We are amazed by the amount of changes that have occurred in Alexa and Anneliese since their last birthday. At their second birthday, they had been home for just a few months, and were just transitioning from the baby stage to the toddler stage. Alexa and Anneliese were also adapting from life in an orphanage, to life as a family with us. Their health and well being was starting to greatly improve as well. They had just been diagnosed with Celiac Disease, and we were grappling with how we needed to handle it.

The last year has seen them fully transition into their toddler years. Their ability to speak and communicate has grown tremendously, and they are firmly attached to Danica and I. We fall in love with Anneliese and Alexa more every day, even when you couldn't imagine being more in love with them.

I don't have the capacity to articulate the ways the girls have changed in the last year, or since we first met them. So this video, while it only shows their physical changes, will have to suffice.

Blogger publishes a reduced size version of videos. If you would like to see the video in a higher resolution, it is posted here.

Anneliese and Alexa, we love you so much, and we wish you a very Happy 3rd Birthday!
-- Dad and Mom

Gatorama

2009-03-02T18:59:00.006-07:00

A weather front clobbered the east coast today, and it resulted in cold temperatures and windy conditions in Florida. So we decided to skip the beach today. We were bummed, but it was a bit of a drive from central Florida, and the girls probably would not have enjoyed the beach. So we decided a trip to Gatorama was in order.

Gatorama is an alligator farm in Central Florida that also has presentations and some exhibits of exotic animals, including Florida Panthers, bobcats, turtles, crocodiles, alligators, and racoons.

A couple of the presentations allowed you to hold some of the aligators. Our Alexa was very brave, she immediately stepped up and wanted to hold one. So here she is. I couldn't believe how calm she was.

And here a few gators that she didn't get to hold.

Tomorrow morning we head back to Denver. We've had a great time in Florida, with my dad Floyd, and mom Debby. They have been really great and it has been nice to visit.

Florida Family Vacation

2009-03-01T19:00:00.015-07:00

We left Colorado last Tuesday for sunny Florida. We flew from Denver to Orlando, and the girls were marvelous on the airplane. I had recorded Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cartoons on my Tivo, and then transferred them to our iPhones for the girls to watch on the airplane. That worked pretty well, and the girls slept for about an hour of the flight as well. The flight was the best kind, uneventful. My parents drove up from their winter home in Sebring and picked us up at the airport.

My parents arranged for us to stay at a timeshare not to far from Disney World, but the catch was that we had to listen to a 90 minute "presentation". The presentation turned into a high pressure sales pitch, and all it did was irritate Danica and I. Luckily it was short, and we were off to enjoy our vacation. That night we met our friends Carlos and Brenda for dinner. They moved from Colorado to Orlando a few years ago. They both work for Disney, and are doing great. Here are some pictures of them with the girls.

Thursday morning we drove to Deltona, about an hour north east of Orlando to see Danica's high school best friend Katie, and her mom Mary. We had a nice lunch with them and Danica got to catch up with Katie.

On Friday we took the girls to Sea World. Here I am with my parents strolling along with the girls.

Check out this sea lion. He was taking a happy nappy in the sun with his buddies.

Anybody know what kind of birds this is? It beautiful but fierce at the same time.

The dolphin show was amazing.

The trainers performed fantastic stunts. This man was launched by the dolphin into the air.

And the killer whales were even more impressive.

Here is a shot of Anneliese and Alexa in front of a garden at Sea World.

On Saturday we drove down to Sebring and stayed with my folks. Debby's mom Barbara and step-father Richard came to visit us, and they got to meet Anneliese and Alexa for the first time.

On Monday, we are headed to the beach. It will be the first time the girls will see the ocean. I can't wait to see how they react.

First Haircut, Cookies, and Valentines

2009-02-14T14:55:00.007-07:00

This morning we took Alexa to get her first haircut. Her hair has grown really slowly compared to Anneliese. Some of you might remember that Anneliese had her first haircut back in September. Alexa wasn't scared at all, and was mostly interested in reading her book. Here she is before the cutting started.

And here she is during the haircut. She was so was such a good sport.

We have been reading to the girls the book "Cookies, Bite-Size Life Lessons" by Amy Krouse Rosenthall, off and on this week. It is about the things that making cookies can teach you in life, such as cooperation, patience, modesty, and fairness. Their Grandma Bertina (Gramma Tina to the girls) sent it to them. The girls have been wanting to make cookies all week, and I promised we would make them on Valentine's Day. So when we got home from the haircuts, the girls made chocolate chip cookies. Since the girls have Celiac disease, they can't eat wheat. We used a gluten free flour that is made from sorghum, tapioca, garbanzo and fava beans. Here are the girls making the cookies:

Anneliese enjoying the fruits of her effort:

And a happy Alexa!

Since today is Valentine's Day, they dressed up in red. Don't they look beautiful!

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

Good Times

2009-02-04T20:19:00.007-07:00

Anneliese and Alexa have had a great month. Their speech continues to improve, with Anneliese stringing together several words in a sentence. Alexa is now saying two and three word sentences. Potty training started in earnest two weeks ago. Anneliese now stays dry through the night, and is just about finished. Alexa hasn't caught on yet, and we will probably try again with her in a month or so.

Here are some pictures taken since my last post.

Christmas Morning and Day

2008-12-29T22:03:00.004-07:00

We brought home the girls from Russia in mid December of 2007. So when we celebrated Christmas, it was new to them, we were still adjusting, and to be honest, still overwhelmed. So this year was entirely different. Anneliese and Alexa have grown so much in the last year, and understand so much more. We have been reading Christmas books for the last couple of the weeks, and the girls have started to understand Christmas, Santa Claus, presents, and that it is Jesus' birthday. The girls even left out cookies for Santa. Christmas morning was spent by just the four of us, and the girls really enjoyed opening their presents.

We hosted Christmas dinner for our extended family. Grandma Loretta, Grandpa Floyd, Grandma Debby, Great Grandma Hazel, Cousins Lori and Charles, and their children Julia and Benjamin came over. We made a prime rib, and everyone brought something to share. It was a great time.

Here are the kids eating at the kids table, with some help from Aunt Lori and Danica.

Here is Grandma Loretta.

And here is Christmas Dinner table. From left to right, Lori, Loretta, Hazel, and myself.

And here is Floyd, Debby, Charles, Lori, Loretta and Hazel.

Danica, Floyd, Debby.

Charles playing with the kids.

Danica

We hope you all had a merry and blessed Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2008-12-29T21:24:00.006-07:00

Anneliese and Alexa had a great Christmas. We went to Grandpa Floyd and Grandma Debby's house for Christmas Eve. We were joined by their Great Grandma Hazel, their Uncle Mike and Aunt Debby, and their cousins, Hugh, Owen and Clive. The kids enjoyed opening presents from their relatives, and we had a fantastic meal together. Here are pictures:

Grandma Debby reading the Christmas Story:

Grandma Debby got a new Sparkly.

Grandpa Floyd, and Rico the Siamese Kitty.

Uncle Mike, Great Grandma Hazel, and Anneliese.

Great Grandma Hazel.

Cousin Hugh.

Anneliese

Cousin Clive.

All the kids, playing train. From left to right: Anneliese, Owen, Alexa, Hugh, and Clive.

And Christmas Eve Dinner:

Fun Christmas Questions and Answers

2008-12-22T23:01:00.010-07:00

My friend Rachael posted these questions and her answers on her blog. I liked it so much that, I thought I would add it to our blog as well. Rach, thanks for this great idea. Hope everyone else enjoys.

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

I enjoy wrapping paper more. It's more fun to wrap and tear open the wrapping paper. Now that we have kids, I enjoy having my girls help me tear the wrapping paper off. Gift bags are okay if I am in a huge hurry.

2. Real tree or Artificial?

I love real trees but I am not a fan of the cost every year. Ouch! We have a beautiful fake tree that we got 2 years ago. I also bought Pine Scented candles that makes my house smell just like we have a real tree. It smells so nice in my house.

3. When do you put up the tree?

Usually we put the tree the day after Thanksgiving. I turn on the Christmas music, sip on some wine, put up the tree and decorate it with our pretty ornaments. This year we had my mom and brother visiting for Thanksgiving so we were able to share this fun with them. My mom and I also went to Saint Nicks (a Christmas Shop) and bought a few Russian ornaments.

4. When do you take the tree down?

After New Years when I am not feeling too lazy.

5. Do you like eggnog?

A little bit but it is so rich it is hard for me to drink very much of it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

A beautiful plastic red purse. I thought I was styling as a kid. My mom probably has it in her storage unit.

7. Hardest person to buy for?

Hmm, this is a tuffy. I better not say.

8. Easiest person to buy for?

My husband. He always has a list. I tell him that he has to give the list to Santa. Santa will determine if he has been naughty or nice (I usually give my input to Santa as well).

9. Do you have a nativity scene?

Nope, but wishing I did have one.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Email? No way. I love to either be given Christmas cards or receive them in the mail.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

I have a couple in my lifetime but I better not say.

12. Favorite Christmas movie?

Scrooge.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

Most of the time I start shopping the day after Thanksgiving. This year, I bought my first gift last week.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

Hmm... I never thought of doing this. What a great idea. I will have to see what I get for gifts this year and maybe recycle one or two for next year.....just kidding.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

I can't eat red meat so usually I like to treat my self to crab legs. Yum.

16. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

I think I have only traveled three times at Christmas. Twice back home to Boston and once to North Carolina to visit my husband's family.

17. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?

I used to be able to name them all when I was a kid. I wonder how Santa came up with these names?

18. Angel on the tree top or a star?

We have a beautiful Angel on the top of our tree and it is holding two candles that light up. I love it and gaze at it all the time.

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

When I was a kid, my mom would hide my Christmas Stocking on Christmas Eve. If i found it (and I always did) I got to play with everything in it. So this was kind of a gift on Christmas Eve. All the other presents were opened on Christmas day. Now that I am married, the new tradition is to open presents on Christmas Eve. I think I am still partial to my memories as a kid and opening the presents on Christmas Day.

20. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

That I don't ever get to see my mom or brother for Christmas.

21. What do you want for Christmas this year?

I really couldn't come up with anything that I wanted for Christmas this year. (Really, it's true... just ask my husband). Thinking about it now though, I would like to have a wonderful time with family, and see my little girls eye light up when they get to open gifts from Santa Claus. Finally, to celebrate the day Jesus was born.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I have been tagged!

2008-12-10T22:10:00.006-07:00

I have been tagged by our friend Lisa whom we met in Russia that also adopted sibling girls in Perm, Russia.

What you do is ...
1. Open the 4th picture folder on your computer.
2. Choose the 4th picture and post it on your blog.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same

Here is my picture.

This picture was taken from our first visit with the girls on June 8th 2007. This is me getting to feed my little girls for the first time. Don't ask me what they were eating. It just looked like mush to me.

I tag Rachael & Troy Williams, Carey & Norman , Rachael & Jason Shelton, and Ted and Kathy McShane, and bonus, the Marlowe Family.

Christmas Cookies

2008-12-09T17:45:00.004-07:00

I came home from work tonight,well, more like walked out of my home office and into the kitchen, and found Danica making Christmas cookies with the girls. They were having a blast. It was very cool to see them enjoying some Mommy - Daughter time together.

The cookies were gluten free, so we didn't have to worry about the girls' celiac disease.

They had a hard time resisting eating them before they were finished!

I love you Danica! Thanks for all you do!

Anniversary of Gotcha Day

2008-12-04T15:14:00.014-07:00

Today is our anniversary of Gotcha Day. Can you believe it has already been one year? If you want a trip down memory lane, here are the blog posts from Gotcha Day. The girls are so amazing and have transformed from toddlers to little girls.

I remember the first day we met the girls. We felt like we had just won the lottery. We visited them every day for one week in the orphanage. Having to leave the girls in the orphanage and go back home without them, tore my heart. The day we flew home, we just hoped and prayed that we would get a speedy court date. We prayed so hard that no one else would adopt our girls while we waited and prepared for them to come home and join us as a family. Little did we know, we would wait 6 months for a court date. This was one of the longest and most painful waits I had ever experienced. I knew that God's timing was the perfect timing, but it sure didn't make the wait any easier.

Now, here we are, a year later with theses little angels of ours. It is amazing to see how much the girls have changed in a year. We thought about having a big party for the girls but we just didn't get our act together in time. Tonight we will be having a small but important celebration with Christopher's parents. They are coming over for dinner. We love you Anneliese and Alexa. You have blessed our lives.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T17:53:00.007-07:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had a packed house with twelve adults and five kids. Danica's mom Bertina flew out from Boston. Vern, Danica's brother took the train from San Francisco. We also had my mom Loretta, my grandma Hazel, my dad Floyd and my mom Debby, my brother Mike and his wife Edie, and their boy's Hugh, Owen and Clive. Edie's parents, Fleta and Jack also joined us. They all brought something to contribute to dinner, and it turned out fabulous. The girls had a great time with their nephews and all their grandparents. The girls had 4 different grandmothers there. So when ever we said something like "go give your grandma a hug", they would look confused!

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving:

Busy Busy Busy

2008-11-18T22:27:00.003-07:00

Sorry we haven't posted for so long. This is just a quick little post to let everyone know what we have been up to.

Halloween was great - we took the girls to a party at the church my parents go to.

We remolded my home office - it looks fantastic now. We put in a chair rail, crown moulding and painted. The color below the chair rail is hunter green, and above it is a light pale green. The office is very cozy now.

Danica's dear Uncle Jim died. He was one of the kindest, most sincere people I have ever met. We miss him deeply. Danica flew out to Los Angeles for the memorial service this weekend. I had a conference (local) over the weekend that I had to attend, so we had lots of help babysitting. Thanks to Rachael, Laurel, and my parents Floyd and Debby for watching the girls.

Danica's Mom and Brother arrive from out of town next week to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. We are all very excited for that.

I'll post more later, along with pictures. What is a blog post with out pictures?

Halloween Playgroup Party

2008-10-21T19:56:00.005-06:00

Boo!

Danica took the kids to her Mothers of Multiples Playgroup on Monday, and they had a Halloween party for the kids. Here are some pictures of the girls.

First was the girls in their pre-costume costumes:

And here are Alexa and Anneliese in their costumes -

We will post more pictures as we get closer to Halloween!

Busy Weekend and Lots of Pictures

2008-09-21T22:02:00.013-06:00

Let me start by warning you. This blog post is filled with pictures of our two gorgeous angels. I dare you, go ahead and scroll ahead. :-)

The Justice Family had a very busy weekend. I'll start with some silliness and fun from last weekend. Here is a picture of Anneliese and Alexa showing off their first pair of sunglasses. Don't they look hip in their Dora the Explorer eye wear? Eat your hearts out, Blues Brothers.

Now on to the weekend. Saturday morning, we took Anneliese to get her very first haircut. Her hair has grown considerably over the summer, and she was starting to get ragged around the edges. And you can't be a Princess if you don't look like one.

Anneliese was so calm and cool. She even let the hairdresser shampoo her hair first! No tears, no fuss, just smiles.

The bottles above are shampoos scented with all kinds of fun smells - banana, grape, cherry, etc. Anneliese chose banana.

The haircut place was for children. It was painted in all kinds of bright colors, with TVs playing cartons at every station, and lots for children to see and do. Very impressive, but a bit pricey.

After the haircut, we took the girls on a picnic to Castlewood Canyon State Park, which is about 20 minutes from our house. The weather was absolutely perfect, with temperatures in the low 70s and barely any wind.

The girls loved running around and playing with the pine cones, rocks, bugs, and wild flowers.

On Sunday morning, Danica decided to dress the girls up for church. Anneliese and Alexa are growing so fast that Danica thinks they probably soon won't be able to fit into the dresses they wore at Easter. She decided to get some more use out of them. But what do you do when you have two beauties all dressed up? Have a photo shoot of course!

Wow! I think I'm going to have a problem with all the boys chasing after the girls soon.

It has been amazing how much the girls have grown over the summer. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. The girls are now learning their colors, and their verbal skills are exploding. They have also gotten so much more affectionate the last couple of months. It has been really wonderful. Anneliese and Alexa now play together instead of the parallel play they typically have done in the past.

Tonight, we took the girls to go see their Great Grandma Hazel. Grandma loved visiting with the girls. We all went out to dinner, and the girls behaved very well, especially for being two!

So after all this, I'm exhausted. Time for bed. Have a great week!

Tragedy in Perm, Russia

2008-09-14T22:15:00.004-06:00

I was quite shocked yesterday while checking the news online that a Boeing 737 crashed on approach to the airport in Perm, Russia. As most of you know, Perm is where we adopted Anneliese and Alexa. The crashed killed all 88 on board. Fortunately, no one on the ground was injured. Russia Today has the most indepth coverage I have seen so far. CNN has posted an article about the crash and a video.

Our prayers and thoughts are with the families and friends of the victims.

Our friend Lisa, who we met while in Perm while we were all adopting our children, has been hit hard by hurricane Ike. She lives with her two adopted children in Galveston, Texas. Fortunately, she was safe in Florida with family when it hit. Her world has been turned upside down. So please send her your prayers as well.

Tornado!

2008-08-24T21:28:00.005-06:00

Today was a whirl wind of activity. I'll jump to the exciting stuff first. Late this afternoon, we took the girls to our neighborhood pool. The clouds rolled in very slowly, and about 5:15 we were forced to pack it in because of approaching lightning. We came home, and about 30 minutes later while making dinner, we saw a Castle Rock police vehicle come down the street into our neighborhood, going real slow with his lights on. He pulled into the parking lot at the park across the street, and dispersed all the vehicles that were there. It was very odd. Then we looked out the living room to the north, and their was a massive TORNADO! It was about two miles from us. We back to ranch land and the Colorado plains. There was nothing but plains and this very long spout and tornado whirling out there. It wasn't moving very fast, but I wasn't about to stick around to see where it was going. Danica and I grabbed the girls, and scrambled for the basement and hid under the stairwell. This is the closest I've come to the real deal. Thankfully it dissipated and caused no damage to any homes or any injuries.

You can view some very cool video of the tornado shot by the Sky 9 Helicopter. It is posted on CNN. There are also many pictures posted at Channel 9.

This morning we went to Belleview park to meet a play group that Danica takes Anneliese and Alexa too. Belleview park is in Englewood and has a barn with a petting zoo. Here are some pictures of the girls visiting with the animals.

Sushi for Tots

2008-08-23T20:46:00.006-06:00

Danica and I were out and about this afternoon with the girls, and it was getting into the dinner hour, and we were far from home. So what to do? Go for sushi of course! The girls were good sports and tried some of the California rolls. Anneliese was very adventurous and asked for some of my tuna sashimi, which she just loved. I only gave her a little taste though. When she gets older, she can have more. The girls also loved the edamame that we had as an appetizer.

We have had a great summer, and a busy one at that. The girls love the warm weather and the park across the street. We take them just about every day. It is amazing how much their motor skills have developed over the summer. They are now kings of the playground.

Here are some pictures of the girls playing in their "car". We hope everyone had a great summer!

Time flies!

2008-07-13T22:52:00.004-06:00

Sorry it has been so long since we lasted posted. Danica, Alexa, Anneliese and I have been enjoying our summer, and it seems like I haven't had much time to blog or read blogs. I tried to catch up on my adoption blogs tonight, and I had 300 posts to read. Several more families are bringing children home. Awesome.

Danica's mom visited us for three weeks. She lives in Boston, and usually makes a trek out to Colorado about once a year. We had a great time and she really doted on the girls.

We don't have a lot of other news. We've been up to the usual stuff - family gatherings, trips to the park, evening walks, and chores. We've been pondering trying to contact the girls' biological mom. We think it would be great to get some more family medical history for the girls, and to find out about their family. I'm sure when the girls get older, that they will have a million questions. However, this also seems like a Pandora's box. So we will have to think and pray more about it.

Here are some new pictures of the girls.

More Fun in Steamboat

2008-06-21T13:53:00.013-06:00

It has been a wonderful week in Steamboat Springs. The weather has been fabulous, with daily highs in the upper 70s, no humidity or rain, and big blue skies. We've spent a lot of time together as a family, and just relaxing. This hasn't been a vacation where we did a lot of sight seeing or went to a lot of places. Just a lot of low key family activities. It has been wonderful. The girls are napping right now, and I'm sitting on the balcony of our condo, reflecting on all the fun we have had this week.

On Wednesday, we rode the Gondola up the mountain. Here is a view of Steamboat.

And here is a picture of Alexa on the Gondola.

On Thursday, we took the girls to the Yampa River Botanic Gardens. The gardens are just gorgeous, and very well taken care of. It was a perfect sunny day for a visit. Here is Anneliese:

In addition to seeing the gardens, we also got to see the Yampa Valley Boys perform while we were there. The Botanic Gardens was having a summer concert series. We picked out a nice spot before the show. Here is a picture of Bertina, Danica, Alexa and Anneliese taken from a distance, through a strand of aspen trees.

And here are the Yampa Valley Boys. They were a cowboy duo who sang classic cowboy songs, and were quite entertaining. The girls enjoyed it too, and they danced and clapped with excitement.

On Friday, we went to Howelsen park, and the girls had a blast on the playground. Here I am with Bertina, Anneliese and Alexa.

And with Alexa on the seesaw.

Afterwards we had lunch on the deck at the Yampa River Yacht Club. The deck is right on the river, and it was gorgeous. Here is Danica with the girls.

That afternoon while the girls were napping and Bertina watching them, we went and rode the Alpine Slide on Howelsen Hill. Here is Danica getting ready to race me.

Last night Bertina watched the girls for us and Danica and I went out for a date. We had a romantic dinner and walked around downtown Steamboat.

Our vacation has been a blast. I wish we didn't have to leave tomorrow. This trip has been so relaxing.

One of the really cool things that has happened this week is that Anneliese and Alexa have started to play together. Before, it had been mostly parallel play. Now they run around and chase each other and giggle all the time. It has been really fun to see.

Fun in Steamboat

2008-06-17T21:25:00.007-06:00

Danica, her mother Bertina, Alexa, Anneliese and myself are all in Steamboat Springs, Colorado on vacation this week. We left on Sunday afternoon, and it was a bumpy trip. I borrowed my parents minivan for the trip. While loading it up, I managed to hit the hatch with the garage door, shattering the glass. It was a mess with glass everywhere. We cleaned it up, and after my mom spoke with the insurance company, we decided to tape plastic over the back and make the drive anyway. The drive went okay, but between Kremmling and Steamboat, Anneliese threw up all over herself, twice. We've been lucky, the girls haven't vomited in the six months since we have been home.

We settled in on Monday, and took it easy. Today we headed out to Fish Creek Falls, which is a few miles outside of Steamboat. It is a spectacular 283 foot waterfall. We had a nice picnic lunch, and enjoyed the beautiful day. Here is a picture of Danica and the girls with the falls in the background.

Later in the afternoon, we went down to Rotary Park, which is on the Yampa River. Here is a great shot of Alexa that Danica snapped.

It was a bit hot at the park, so we took the girls to the Lyons Drugstore in downtown Steamboat. Inside they have an old fashioned soda fountain. The girls had their very first ice cream sundaes. They scarfed them up in no time. Smiles were everywhere!

Bertina Visits, Pictures, Vacation

2008-06-10T22:08:00.004-06:00

Today, Danica's mom Bertina arrived for a three week stay. She was very excited to meet Anneliese and Alexa. They had a nice time playing this evening. This Sunday we all leave for week long vacation in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We are very excited to go on our first vacation with the girls. We picked Steamboat because it didn't require another trip on an airplane (coming home from Russia was enough), and it was close enough that it wouldn't require a long road trip. It should take us about four hours to get there by car.

Here are some recent pictures of the girls.

One Year Ago...

2008-06-03T21:35:00.005-06:00

We met Anneliese (Dasha) and Alexa (Masha) for the very first time, one year ago, on June 4th, 2007. I went back and read the blog entries from that week. (Scroll to the bottom they are in reverse chronological order).

It was a very exciting, yet scary time. The girls' medicals were a bit overwhelming. We had traveled to Perm, Russia blind - we knew basically nothing about the girls, other than they were "healthy". We had gone to the Ministry of Education that Monday morning to formally receive our referrals. The director there read some basic information about their health, and it didn't sound so good. But we didn't go half way around the world to say no. So we went to the orphanage, and got confirmation and more that their medicals weren't so great. Dasha had open heart surgery right after she was born. She had an inter-atrial septum defect that was repaired. That was the worst of it, and she was doing well, and had gained more weight than her sister. They both had numerous other things on their medicals, most of which were the typical stuff that is common for so many children from Russian orphanages. So we brought in a young Russian pediatrician, who had good intentions, but she scared us tremendously. After her initial exam, she was concerned the girls had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). We stopped posting on the blog in fear we might have to reject the girls, and basically went into overdrive trying to get confirmation and help. We contacted doctors in the US, and brought in a Russian neurologist with orphanage experience to check them out. They all said nope - they didn't think there was any evidence of FAS. And the pediatrician, after consulting with her mentors, came back and agreed. So we said yes, and agreed to adopt them. It was a very scary and stressful time. Thank you Lord, and to all our friends and family who were supporting us. It helped so much. Today, Anneliese and Alexa show no signs of FAS. They are learning so fast, and developing so quickly. Anneliese and Alexa were both checked out by a pediatric cardiologist shortly after we got back, and both got a clean bill of heart health. The only issue we've really had is the celiac disease with Alexa, but we have made a lot of progress there.

We thought we would be going back to Perm that summer. It would have been so nice to get the girls home sooner, and also to enjoy nice summer weather in Russia. It turned into a long 5 month wait before we would return for the girls. But it was so worth it. Anneliese and Alexa are awesome, and we are all so blessed.

Its been an amazing year. The memories are incredible, and for me, extremely vivid and detailed. These past six months home with the girls have been filled with so much joy and growth.

Happy Anniversary

2008-06-01T09:53:00.004-06:00

Today, June 1st, 2008 is our 6th wedding anniversary. Thanks Danica for 6 wonderful years!

We went out last night to celebrate. My parents, Floyd and Debby, came over to watch the girls for us, which was great. They had a fun time with the girls, and we didn't have to worry about them. Danica and I went to Union Grill in Castle Rock for dinner, which was yummy. Afterwords, we raced up to Highlands Ranch to catch a movie. We saw "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". The movie was forgettable. It was a romantic comedy, and pleasant, but nothing fantastic. We still had a great time.

This week Anneliese's blood test for Celiac Disease came back. Her results were negative. I was surprised, since Alexa, her twin, has it. We are going to put Anneliese on a gluten free diet too, so that they are treated the same by everyone, and each other. It will also help ensure we don't accidentally give Alexa something with gluten in it.

Other than that, the girls are doing great. We have a really cute, beach themed growth chart on the back of the girls' bedroom door. Later today we will measure them and see how much they have grown in the last month. It is exciting watching them grow, and to see the progress.

It is so worth it

2008-05-25T23:04:00.002-06:00

This is a picture of Anneliese and Alexa that Danica took after their baths tonight. Anneliese is wearing the shark towel, and Alexa is wearing the duck towel. They love bath time.

So this week was hard at the beginning, but things got easier. On Friday morning, after breakfast, I told the girls good bye, that it was time for me to go to work. With out prompting, Anneliese blew me a kiss. This was a big surprise, and I blew one back. Then she waved at me and said "bye Daddy". This was the first time she has strung two words together. She usually just says one word. So it was very cool, and helps smooth over the rough times that we occasionally have.

Our weekend has been very relaxing. We haven't done a lot, other than a few chores, and a trip to the park. It has been very relaxing. We are usually constantly on the go. It is good to get rid of some of the busyness of life.

I hope you have a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend!

Two year old tantrums

2008-05-20T20:53:00.006-06:00

It's been a long week for me with my daughter Alexa. We both seem to be going through a time right now. She is beginning to have more and more screaming tantrums.

This morning it started out with Chris picking her up for a few minutes and then putting her down. She cried and screamed. Later she decided that she wanted to eat what Chris was eating for breakfast which was a Cliff Bar. Unfortunately Cliff Bars are not gluten free so Chris asked her to finish her gluten free waffles. This also made her mad and she cried and screamed. Another tantrum started when she was putting a toy on the dishwasher that would scratch it and I asked her to put the toy on the floor and explained to her why. Today I had reached my limit of her crying and screaming over every little thing and I put her in her room. I sat on the floor and asked her to stop crying. This just made it worse. I told her that if she did not stop crying, I was going to leave and that when she was done crying, she could come out. She kept crying and screaming so I finally had enough. I left her in her bedroom with the door open all the way. The screaming and crying went on for about 10 minutes until Chris came home from work and went to talk to her. I was on the couch crying while she was in her room crying. These tantrums have been increasing as the days pass and she is screaming harder and harder each time.

I love Alexa soooo very much but I am out of ideas on how to tame the tantrums. I am with her all day. I hold her, kiss her, tickle her, play with her and give her lots of love and attention. I have tried talking to her, holding her, time-out and having her cry or scream in a different room than where I am. Nothing seems to be working.

At this point in time, my heart hurts when she cries and screams so much. I end up having a good cry myself.

I am hoping that some of you fellow adoptive parents/bloggers have had experience in this area and can give Christopher and I some well needed suggestions and guidance.

It Is Confirmed

2008-05-05T22:41:00.003-06:00

We finally heard back from our doctor's office today, and the results of the EGD and biopsy were positive for Celiac Disease. We will be meeting with our gastroenterologist next week to talk about the results, and how to treat it. We will also ask to get Anneliese tested as well. We've had Alexa on a gluten free diet for about 10 days now. We haven't seen a lot of improvement yet, although the diarrhea has been gone for the last three days. Alexa still bloats up like a big ballon after she eats though.

We had a very busy weekend. Our church has been going through the 40 Days of Community, and our small group that we participate in had our community service project. On Saturday, we spent the entire day renovating the landscaping in a courtyard at a nursing home in our town. Two other small groups joined up with us, and we had a great time doing the work, and accomplished so much. Many of us were skeptical about how much we could really do, and if the nursing home was willing to trust us to do so much. Well, it turned out like the parable in the bible of 5 loaves and 2 fish feeding 5000. God provided for us, and our little effort turned into a lot. The courtyard came out beautiful, and I hope it serves the patients and their families well.

We missed our nephew Owen's birthday party on Saturday. Happy Birthday Owen! We love you!

We had the girls evaluated by Early Intervention/Child Find in our county. They came back with a recommendation for occupational therapy for the girls. They have some issues with fine motor skills and spatial/sensory awareness. The occupational therapist came to the house for the first time today. It went well, and she gave Danica some techniques to help the girls. Danica also has enrolled the girls in a tumbling class.

We are really looking forward to summer. The weather is finally becoming very nice here, and the trees are finally budding out. Can you say BBQ!

Esophagogastroduodenoscopy

2008-04-24T22:14:00.002-06:00

How is that for a mouthful? Well, little Alexa endured one today. To confirm that she has celiac disease, the pediatric gastroenterologist wanted to perform a Esophagogastroduodenoscopy. The anesthesiologist put Alexa under using gas, and then a scope was inserted into her mouth, down her throat, past her stomach and into her bowels. They took several pictures, then did a biopsy on her small intestines. The pictures didn't show anything, so we will have to wait for the biopsy results to come back. We should hear something in a week or two.

The doc said go ahead and start a gluten free diet. So we have a lot of learning to do. Danica went through the cabinets today, and oh my, do we have a lot of food with gluten in it.

Thanks to everyone for you tips on celiac and gluten free food.

Two Weeks Too Long

2008-04-21T21:49:00.006-06:00

It has been two busy weeks since we lasted posted. Sorry for the delay, especially if you had been frequent readers of our blogs.

The weekend of April 12th we spoke in front of an international adoption class for our homestudy agency. We shared our experiences and answered questions. It was an honor to be asked to do this. The class thought the girls were adorable, and I hope that we were able to give some good advice.

Our social worker, Denina, came and visited us in preparation to do our 6 month post placement report. Denina thought the girls were doing very well and was happy to see the progress they have made. We will have another visit or two before she completes her report.

Alexa had an appointment with a pediatric gastroenterologist on April 1st to find out what is causing her distended stomach and her constant diarrhea. The doc thought it might be celiac disease, and ordered blood and stool tests. They came back positive, but the doctor wants to biopsy her intestines to confirm it. The biopsy is scheduled for Thursday. If you have no idea what celiac disease is, the short answer is that an autoimmune reaction to gluten, the protein in wheat. It is likely why Alexa is so much smaller than her twin sister. There is no cure, but it is preventable by eliminating wheat from your diet. I'm not very happy about all this, but it does beat having many of the much worse diseases that are lurking out there. I love food very very much, and I get very bummed out thinking about all the wonderful things she will never get to try and come to love as much as I do. I know there are a lot of alternatives to wheat, like rice based breads and pasta. Its just not the same though. And she will be faced with having to constantly monitor what she eats for the rest of her life. Each restaurant she goes to, she will have to quiz the staff to make sure there is no gluten in it. No spontaneous hot dogs at the ball game, or pizza after practice with the other kids. It does make me very sad.

Last Tuesday the girls had their 2 year old well check up visit with our pediatrician. He thought the girls looked great, and were doing very well, other than the celiac disease. He suggested that we have the gastro doc go ahead and test Anneliese for celiac as well, since she shares the same genes as Alexa. So we will get that done. The girls had more immunizations, and that wasn't much fun for them. They both ended up running fevers that night.

Today we took the girls to an evaluation for entrance into our county school district's Early Intervention program. We were concerned that the girls are behind developmentally due to their time in the orphanage, and with the language change. The evaluation was done by a speech pathologist and an occupational therapist. The results were the opposite of what we expected. The speech pathologist thought the girls were doing great, given the change from Russian to English. They are behind what a normal two year old would be at, but not by much. She thinks they will be closing the gap in the next few months. She said that cognitively and developmentally the girls were doing very well. The sign language classes and reading we do with them at night have really paid off. We were surprised by what the occupational therapist found. She said that the gross and fine motor skills of the girls seem fairly normally but their balance and spatial awareness are behind. Anneliese is constantly tripping, more so than normal for a two year old. And Alexa isn't really running yet - she has more of fast waddle. She said they are almost like "drunken sailors" in their movements. She suggested some tumbling classes, and they are going to send out a therapist once a week to work with the girls. This was all very interesting. I've noticed that the girls fall a lot, but I figured it was normal for their age. I'm glad that we are going to get some help.

It was very cool during the eval. It really showed that the girls have come so far in the 4 months since they have been home. The bonds as a family have grown. They have learned so much. The giggles just put endless smiles on my face. It is so cool.

Now for the fun stuff! Pictures! This first one is of Alexa. I have these ridiculous slippers, of my hero, Homer Simpson. Alexa found them in the closet, pulled them out, and put them on. It was too hilarious not to take a picture and share with you.

And of course, some recent pictures of the cutest angels on earth.

Baby Dedication and 2nd Birthday!

2008-04-06T21:53:00.013-06:00

It has been a crazy hectic busy last two weeks. The weekend before last we dedicated Anneliese and Alexa to the Lord. Our church had a baby dedication, and we were excited to promise our intentions to raise the girls in the training and instruction of the Lord. It was a wonderful morning. Danica bought the girls two very pretty dresses and they looked so precious.

Here is the ceremony at church.

And here we are after the ceremony:

This past Wednesday my Grandma Hazel had what the doctors are calling a mini-stroke, and was taken to the hospital. She stayed overnight, and had some tests done, including an MRI. The doctors think she will be fine, and sent her home on Thursday evening. She is a bit worn out by the stress of all this, but she is doing well. If you could add her to your prayers, we would be grateful. I want to thank my brother Mike, who did a super job looking after her.

On Friday, the girls turned two, and we had a big party on Saturday afternoon. We had a great turnout for the girls, and we are blessed to have so many friends and family who care about the girls. Here is a short video from the party.

And here are some pictures from the party:

Oh NO!

2008-03-25T23:25:00.003-06:00

Uh oh! We are in trouble now! We heard Anneliese say "No!" for the very first time today! I'm guessing that is going to be her favorite word soon. In the last 10 days, Anneliese has started to speak. She now says "Pweese, Uh Oh, Ball, Bye, Up, Duck, Mommy, Dada, Milk and More". She is trying really hard. Very cool. Alexa is a bit behind her, and is only saying "Up and Mom".

I'm so excited to see them starting to speak. Did you ever wonder what your child's voice would sound like? I've been very curious to know.

The girls turn two in about 10 days. This is so much fun.

Wonderful Easter Weekend!

2008-03-24T20:49:00.029-06:00

Danica, Anneliese, Alexa, and I had a wonderful Easter weekend. We started Saturday off by going to the Easter Egg Excitement in downtown Castle Rock, where we live. The girls had a nice time on the Easter Egg hunt, and got to meet the Easter Bunny for their first time, as you see above.

On Saturday afternoon I took Alexa over to my Mom's house. She was having trouble with her wireless network, so I fixed it up, and she got to see Alexa. In the meantime, Danica stayed home with Anneliese, and she got to spend some quality one on one time with her. It can be very hard to give each of the girls individual attention, so this worked out great.

Sunday morning was a very big day for our church, Plum Creek Community Church. Plum Creek is a church plant, and meets in the local movie theater. We have only been meeting for about a year and a half, but have been steadily growing. For Easter, we were expecting a larger than normal crowd, so we planned three services instead of our normal two. I volunteer on the sound team, so I was there at 6am until noon for the services. Jason, our resident sound guru, called in the big guns, and had a friend of his bring in a massive sound rig for the services. I was worried ears were going to bleed with how much power we had. No worries though, we had it under control, and it came out great. We had our biggest record attendance ever for our little church, 765 people! Wow! God is amazing, and we are blessed to be able to serve him.

Anyway here are some great pictures of some of the wonderful kids in our congregation.

Here is Jasmine, who is the daughter of Jason and Rachael.

Here is Evelyn, who is the daughter of Denise and Christian, who just recently domestically adopted their son Garrett (not pictured, see previous post).

Here is Zach and Anneliese. Zach is the son of Doug, our pastor and his wife Beth.

Here is Megan with both Anneliese and Alexa. Megan is also proud to claim Doug and Beth as mom and dad!

Here is Luke and Alexa. Luke is Zach and Megan's older brother.

And finally, the girls after church, at home.

The worship team at church opened up with "Beautiful Day" by U2, and boy did they get that right. It had snowed on Saturday night, but by Sunday morning, it was a gorgeous Colorado day, with great big blue skies, and all the snow melted off, and it was really nice. After the girls' nap, we took a nice long walk around the neighborhood. We pulled the girls behind us in their red flyer wagon. After we got home, I cooked us a great dinner of linguine and shrimp, with pesto that I had made and frozen last fall. Yummy. Then our good friends Neal and Laurel dropped off their dog Sally, as they are leaving town for vacation. We had a great chat with them and wished them a great trip.

It was another awesome weekend, and especially great because of Easter. He has Risen!

New Begginings

2008-03-18T14:07:00.019-06:00

Last Thursday was my last day with Aurora Loan Services due to the layoff. Everyday for the last week and a half, there were fewer and fewer people left in my area. Most everyone had left the company to seek employment elsewhere. A few of my friends found temp jobs and a couple others like my friends Holly and Brent, decided to start a new career in the nursing industry and get out of the unstable Mortgage Industry. It was a hard day packing up all my belongings and cleaning out my desk. I said my last goodbyes to my boss Rita, who was very good to me and to my remaining co-workers and and a couple associates that did not get cut at this time. I held it together until I turned in my badge and walked out the door. Then it was difficult to leave what I have known for the past 4 years. Even though I was one of many leaving that day, it still didn't make it any easier.

I am excited for new beginings and God has given me a new focus and a new challenge. I will be a full-time, stay at home mommy for a while and am excited to spend lots of quality time with the girls so we can bond and attach as a family. I hope that with lots of patience and love, they will be happy and grow into beautiful, smart young ladies. They truly are my angels and can't imagine my life without them. God has given me one of the greatest gifts ever.

Last Saturday, we took the girls to an Easter Egg Hunt in Butterfield Park, here in Castle Rock. It was the first egg hunt for the girls. It was pretty crazy with all the parents and kids but we didn't care as we were excited to share this fun event in their lives. There were a couple hundred Purple and Orange Eggs all in a big circle (I know it's hard to see, but the first picture is of the circle of Purple and Orange eggs before the hunt) waiting for the kids to pick them up and put them in their baskets. They were all so excited. It was pretty cute. Annelise & Alexa only got about 5 eggs each due to the mass amount of kids but that was just fine for their first Easter Egg Hunt. We did wait till we got home to open the eggs as we expected them to be full of candy and we wanted to dodge most of it. Next weekend will will be visiting the Easter Bunny and we will celebrating Easter at Plum Creek Community Church. We are having three services on Easter as we expect to exceed our maximum capacity. The girls will be looking so pretty in their first ever Easter dresses.

Last Sunday, we hosted a baby shower for our friends Christian and Denise. They just adopted a son, Garrett, domestically from Hope's Promise here in Castle Rock. Their daughter Evelyn, is now a big sister and loves her baby brother who just turned 6 weeks old. What an awesome blessing for them. Welcome home Garrett.

Another Wonderful Weekend

2008-03-09T21:30:00.008-06:00

Our weekend started off great with a visit my Grandma Hazel. Danica, the kids and I took her to lunch and then we visited with some of her friends in her apartment building. To the left you can see Anneliese and Alexa taking a ride on my Grandma's walker. They had a great time visiting. Since Danica and I came home from Russia with the girls it has gotten a lot harder to visit Grandma. It was great to see her!

We also met a good friend of my Grandma's, Arlette Gowins. This is a really cool small world story, as Arlette is the Grandmother of one of Danica's really good friends, Rachael. Rachael goes to the same church as we do, and her husband Jason and I volunteer together on the sound and media team. Anyway, Arlette and Hazel both live in the same retirement home. Last fall, they figured out their grandchildren new each other, when Hazel told Arlette that her grandson and his wife were adopting twins from Russia, and that we live in Castle Rock. Rachael had told her grandma previously about us and our adoption. So they connected the dots. Very cool! It was nice to meet Arlette. It is a great privilege to be friends of the Gowins/Shelton family.

After visiting Grandma, I went and visited with my mom, and helped her hang some new drapes. So it was a great family day. That evening, Danica and I fed the girls, played with them, and put them down for the night. We then watched a DVD - Dreamgirls, but didn't finish because it got too late, and Danica had to be at church early in the morning to teach preschool.

Today we went to Costco, and then to the toystore, and treated the girls to a couple of new toys. After the girls afternoon nap, we took the girls on a walk, and ran into two of our neighbors, who were glad to see the girls. It was a nice day outside today, so it was great to chat, and go for a walk.

My buddy Neal has a deep freezer he was looking to get rid of, and we could use one (too many trips to Costco!), so he brought it over tonight. The thing was a tank, but we managed to get it into my basement with out loosing any fingers or breaking any toes.

And tonight I finished our taxes. Our congress has done a wonderful thing, and they provide a very large adoption tax credit. So we are getting a huge refund. We racked up a fair amount of debt traveling to Russia twice last year, plus all the adoption fees. So it will be great to pay this off. I'm also glad to be able to cross my taxes off my list of things to do.

So it was a very good weekend. It seems the last three or four weekends have just been outstanding. I think the combination of our wonderful little girls, my awesome wife, great friends and family, and a God that loves us must be why. :-)

I hope your weekend was outstanding and blessed!

Keeping Busy

2008-03-05T20:29:00.005-07:00

It's been a very busy couple of weeks and I am now finally making time to update our blog. I spent a couple of wonderful days at the park with the girls last week as the weather in Colorado was so beautiful. I took the girls for a long walk in their red flyer wagon for a couple days in a row, and we went to the park across the street from our house almost everyday.

Last Thursday was my last day on Child Care Leave of Absence. I struggled with the thought of having to go back to work and leave the girls with someone else. Thank goodness I will only have to work until March 17th (as my company laid-off 1300 people including myself). Friday was a pretty easy day for me at work. I got to see some of my co-workers that I hadn't seen for a while. A few of my co-workers had already left as they found other jobs (and I am so happy for them). There was lots to talk about and catch up on. I called Aimee, the lady that is taking care of the girls, about 3 times on Friday to see how my girls were doing. All I heard from her was how wonderful they were, and how sweet they were. When I came to pick the girls up, I got the warmest welcome from my little girls. It was so awesome. I couldn't wait to get them home and play with them. When I arrive at Aimee's home, she told me how good they were and how much fun they had. She also told me that the girls didn't have even one tantrum. Wow. That was kinda a shock, but I am glad the girls are happy with Aimee.

Last Saturday was our last sign-language class. The classes have been fun, but I would say that it was not worth the cost. The girls do not learn anything in class. The teacher just tells you what sings to teach the children each week. I found that by me taking time at home to teach the girls signs, it was more effective than taking a class.

This week has gone by pretty quick so far. I have kept very busy at my office and it helps to make the time fly. I was informed that I have 3 personal days and one floating holiday left to take before I am released from work. I plan on taking Friday and Monday off for the next two weeks. That should make my time go even quicker.

Finally, we have decided to switch pediatricians. We decided that we need a pediatrician that is a little more proactive and a little more helpful. We want to see our girls thrive and grow and with the Giardia seemingly still hanging around, this is not happening.

All in all, it's been a good couple of weeks. I look forward to spending more time with the girls in the next couple of weeks.

Wahoo!

2008-03-04T21:33:00.004-07:00

Troy and Rachel got their travel dates, and leave for Izhevsk, Russia on Saturday! They have been waiting a mighty long time for the referral, and their patience has paid off. Congrats Troy and Rachel, we're so very excited and happy for you.

Happiness is...

2008-02-24T21:35:00.011-07:00

Happiness is friends, family, and our daughters. Danica and I had a great weekend. On Friday night, we watched our best friend's kids, Britanni, 14, and Skyler, 10. We played Monopoly until 11pm, and they whooped our butts! I hadn't played Monopoly since I was in high school. It was a lot of fun. I can't wait until our girls are old enough to play. The reason we were watching them is because their mom, Laurel had taken their dad, Neal out for a night on the town to celebrate Neal's 40th birthday. On Saturday afternoon, Laurel arranged a surprise party for Neal, and we really surprised him, and it was a great time. Neal is the smiling tall guy in the photo below.

Last week my sister in law Edie came over with her boys to visit Danica and the girls. Hugh and Owen really dote on Anneliese and Alexa.

After church today, we had a video conference over Skype with my dad, Floyd, and mom, Debby who are in Florida for the winter. Anneliese and Alexa were waving and signing for them. It was very cool.

This afternoon, my Mom, Loretta came to visit us and the girls. We had a great time and here are some of the pictures.

The girls are on their second round of medicine for the giardia, which is being very persistent. I may have caught it, as I had an awkward couple of days last week. The giardia isn't outwardly slowing the girls down. They are are as bright and effervescent as can be. They play, laugh and smile so much. And everyday, they learn something new. This weekend's sign language class was on animals, and Anneliese was signing me animals today that I had already forgotten. Alexa is a little cuddle bug, and she is quick to give you a hug and kiss.

A quick shout out to many of the families that I've been watching who have made great progress or finished their adoptions recently:

The Ginsbergs will be traveling in March to Russia to meet their son.
Carrie and Michael should be heading to Tver to bring their son back anytime now.
The Kouri family brought their soon Creed home two weeks ago.
Randy and Susan just returned from Moscow where they met their son Artem. They head back to Russia for a court date on March 31st.
Tricia and Michael brought their daughter Rita home from Pskov on February 16th.
The Goeppners are in Krasnodar, Russia, where they have completed court and will be bringing their son home very soon.
Carey and Norman just completed court in Vladivostok and will be bringing their little girl home in a few days.
Susan, who brought Alana home in late December.

A big congrats to you all!

There is so much to be happy about!

Snow Angels

2008-02-16T21:50:00.002-07:00

Happy Valentines Day from Anneliese & Alexa

2008-02-14T14:04:00.012-07:00

It's been a crazy week so far. To me, it's kind of ironic how busy I am even though I am not working. I am still on my Child Care Leave of Absence and I will be going back to work on the 29th of February. I always seem to have lots of errands to run, Dr. Apt's for the girls, grocery shopping, dinner and cleaning to do. It's amazing how fast the week flies. This week I am trying to get my house in shape as on Sunday, I am hosting a Baby Shower for my friend Christy and her baby girl Harbor. I was able to meet little Harbor last Friday and oh...what a doll she is. So tiny and so cute. This week, I was tagged by my dear friend Kathy and Early Childhood Pastor at Grace Community Church.

So here are my instructions:

* Pick up a book in my house of 123 pages or more. No Cheating!
* Find Page 123.
* Find the first 5 sentences.
* Post the next 3 sentences.
* Tag 5 people.

I didn't have any books laying around (otherwise my girls would destroy it)so I went into my office and pulled out a book that I am about to read called "Keeping a Princess Heart".
Page 123 sentences 6,7 &8 are:
Change our hearts, and our faces change too. In fact, the way we view life and God changes entirely. What is in our hearts reflect how we view God.

What an interesting statement from this book. Something for everyone to ponder.

Well, with that being said, I am going to tag my friend Brent & his wife Courtney and I am also going to tag my friend Pastor Doug Miller as he is always reading the most interesting books. So, Brent and Doug, Tag your it.

One last thing to make you smile are a couple cute pictures of my little girls. The first picture is my little Alexa asleep in her high chair after eating lunch.

The second picture is Annelise in the recliner crashed out after rocking the girls before nap time.

It is Giardia

2008-02-08T20:58:00.000-07:00

The Upper GI Series that the girls had last week came back normal. It showed nothing unusual. So the doc ordered another round of stool samples. So yesterday they came back positive for giardia. We just knew all along it was giardia, but it took a lot of hoops to prove it. The girls started a prescription today that should kill it off. I'm very excited for the girls to get past this, and for the bloated tummies to go away, and the girls to start putting on weight.

We also got over our colds this week. It is nice to see everyone healthy!

Our friends Kevin and Christy had their baby girl a week ago Sunday. So a big congrats to them!

Sunday was a big bummer day for Danica. We watched the big game, and Danica was on the edge of her seat the whole game. She was sorely disappointed. But she can't complain, since she does have the Red Sox.

Last week Danica saw a helicopter hovering and buzzing around. The local power company has been putting up some new power lines not to far from the house. Danica grabbed the camera, and shot some great pictures for me. I'm an aviation buff, and love this stuff.

Here are some cute pictures of the girls taken over the last week.

Our Week So Far....

2008-01-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, two of our good friends, Andy & Barbara came over to visit the girls for the first time. It took the girls a few minutes to warm up to them, but once they did, they both wanted Andy & Barbara to keep picking them up. They also started to play peek-a-boo with them. It was so cute. Andy & Barbara gave the girls 2 giant stuffed animals and the girls were so excited. The girls hug and kiss them everyday. They love to lay on them and they love it when I tickle their belly with them. It is so cute. I don't think they have ever seen a stuffed animal that was bigger than them. It was so nice of Andy & Barbara to come visit us and it was so nice to catch up now that we are back from Russia.

On Monday, I went to my church playgroup with the girls. The girls played with Rachel Heldt's daughter, Aubrey and Rachael Shelton's daughter, Jasmine. The girls had a blast and were wiped after all this fun.

Yesterday, we took Alexa & Annelise to our pediatrician as we have been concerned that the girls may have Giardia. The results came back negative but when we showed the doctor how distended Alexa's belly was, she was concerned. She sent us for X-rays right away. We went down a block to one of the local hospital's branches and got the X-ray's taken. The radiologist must have had some concerns as he called our Dr. with the results and she requested us to come right back to her office with the disc they made of the X-ray. She reviewed the disc with the pictures of the X-ray and stated how amazed she was to see such a large belly on such a tiny girl. She contacted our local hospital and got an urgent appointment for Alexa to have an upper GI this morning with the barium in her belly. For Alexa, this meant no breakfast. Poor little girl. She hardly ate any lunch yesterday and wouldn't eat what we had to offer for dinner last night and didn't get to eat this morning. I was worried that we would have a very tough morning.

This morning we had to be at the hospital by 7:30 a.m. This meant that we had to get the girls up by 6am, feed Anneliese breakfast and be out of the house by 7 a.m. so that we could get to the appointment on time. Alexa did so great at the hospital. She drank the barium like it was a milk shake and she only cried just a tiny bit because the radiologist needed to hold her legs and arms still so they could take the pictures accurately. Alexa was a trooper. After we were done, the radiologist gave her some Apple Juice and she sucked that down in two minutes. We are just waiting for the results from the doctor. Hopefully we should hear something this afternoon.

Today at lunch for the first time, Alexa not only ate some lunch and liked it, she ate every thing I gave her (chicken strips, pita with humus, strawberry milk and the girls shared a fudgsicle. Yeah!!! She must have been one starving little girl.

We think we solved the problem of Annelise and Alexa taking their pants and diapers off at nap and bedtime, I have been pinning the zipper at the top of her Jammie's as one of you fellow bloggers suggested. This has worked great so far, they haven't figured out how to get it undone yet (but i have seen Annelise trying). Thanks again for the suggestion. There will be no diaper diving this week.

Getting into the Groove

2008-01-26T20:16:00.000-07:00

Anneliese, Alexa, Danica and I are getting into a pretty good groove. The daily routine is solidly established. Danica is enjoying being a stay at home mom, and has done a lot with the girls. They are little sponges, soaking up so much.

Today was our first sign language class for babies and toddlers. Danica has had the material for the class for a couple of weeks, and she has been teaching the girls several signs just to get a head start, and out of necessity. A&A aren't speaking yet, so we get a lot of whining, grunting and crying when they want something. So Danica has taught the girls how to sign for these words: more, please, thank you, cracker, and eat. Today in class we learned a variety of signs, including bear, hello, here, what, and ball. Class was a bit challenging. Anneliese and Alexa were the oldest kids in the class, at 21 months. Most of the other kids were in the 10 to 12 month range. We all sat in a big circle, with the kids in front of the parents. There was a fair amount of introductory material, so the girls got a little bit bored, and were getting up to go find toys or look around. All the other kids stayed put, probably because they weren't walking, and were probably shy. Our girls have the classic post orphanage behaviors - they will go up to anyone and ask to be picked up, and they aren't shy about anything. If they want something, no matter who has it, they will go and try to get it. It can be cute and charming at times, but at others it does give some pause. We tried to not restrain the girls, in fear of a meltdown, but at the same time, tried to keep them from being too disruptive during class. I think the other parents were probably understanding, so we didn't sweat it too much.

I was thinking during the session, that this is the first class of many many to come for the girls, and for Danica and I as parents. Every parent wants to see their child do well, yet you really never know how hard to push them, or to not push them. How do you motivate them? How do you handle it when your child misbehaves? How do you keep their activities balanced so they don't get overwhelmed, and can enjoy just being a child? As our kids grow and learn, I see Danica and I learning so much.

On to the good stuff! Pictures! Below are the girls wearing the sweaters that Danica's co-worker Tammy made for them. They are just beautiful, and very elegant. I almost cringe at letting the girls wear them, for fear of them being destroyed. But the girls were relatively gentle with them.

This afternoon, the girls went down for their nap a bit late, and were very cranky. They were crying a lot and after a few minutes we went back to check on them, and they had stripped down, out of their clothes, and had taken their diapers off. Alexa went diaper diving, and had poop all over her forehead, her hands, her legs, and all over her crib sheet. Uggh!!!! So it was off to the bath for her. I hope they don't get in a habit of this. Tonight when we went down, Anneliese was trying to get her pajamas undone. We put onesies on them to make it more difficult. Hopefully we don't have a repeat performance.

This afternoon, after naps, we took them over to the park across the street from our house. It made it up to a blistering 50 degrees today, and it was quite nice. Here are some pictures of the fun:

Mixed week

2008-01-20T20:57:00.000-07:00

This past week has been pretty mixed. Danica received some very bad news on Thursday. The company she works for, which is is in the mortgage industry, is laying off 1300 workers, and Danica is among them. They have given her 6o days notice. It looks like she will go back to work after her maternity leave ends and work a couple of weeks and then will be done. It is difficult, because Danica really enjoyed her job, and her company has been great to work for. We are at a crossroads now. It is hard to know what to do next. Look for a new job, full time or part time, or be a stay at home mom for a while. The expensive cost of quality day care (for two) also weighs in.

The other bad news we received was that a very good friend of my father passed away on Friday. My dad and mom spend winters in Florida, so my dad flew back today so that he could attend the funeral on Wednesday. My dad has known his friend, Fred, for 43 years. They served at the Air Force Academy together in the 1960s. I was born at the Air Force Academy while my dad was stationed there. I'm glad to see my dad, but I do wish it was under better circumstances.

Our good news this week is that the girls had a few trips to some specialists. The girls saw both a pediatric cardiologist and a pediatric ophthalmologist, and received clean bills of health. Alexa also received two more immunizations. We also got two stool sample kits to test the girls for giardia. So those will go back to the pediatrician tomorrow.

Today our homestudy agency threw their annual "Frosty's Birthday Party" for the kids and families they have worked with. They do this in lieu of a holiday party, since the holidays can get so busy for everyone. We had a very nice time, and met several nice families. Some were in the process of adopting, others were finished, and their kids were growing up. It was very nice to spend some time with people who have been in our shoes.

Here are some pictures of what happens when you mix twin girls with pudding. :-)

Only in Russia

2008-01-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

Being a guest in Russia was fascinating. Last year during our adoption process, Danica and I had the privilege of visiting for 5 weeks during our two trips. There were many odd things I noticed. Some were amazing, others bewildering, and some just funny. Here is a list of things that come to mind. I'm sure there are many more. I wish I had written this list while I was there.

Chris' Russian Curiosity List:

1. Russian cuisine has lots of pickles. Pickles in soup, salads, and on pizza! The pickles were ok on the soup and salads, but not on pizza! Ick! Other things I hope to never have on pizza again: broccoli and corn.

2. Light switches are almost always on the outside of the room by the entrance, instead of inside. This makes a lot of sense. You can illuminate the room before entering. I don't know why we don't do this in the States. The only time this might not be so great is if you have a prankster turn off the lights when you are in the bathroom. :-)

3. Smoking is allowed just about anywhere. The Russians are heavy smokers, and you can pretty much count on being exposed to smoke in all public places.

4. There was fur on just about every ladies coat we saw. And on many mens coats as well. I have never had fur on a coat. I guess it must be warm.

5. All women under 40 wear high heels, all the time. Even in snow. And if they are wearing boots, they are high heeled boots. The ladies seem to do fine, even on ice. But I bet the emergency rooms must be jammed with ankle injuries.

6. Blini is Yummy!!!! Blini is basically a crepe, and you can get it stuffed with just about anything. They have breakfast blini. Lunch and dinner Blini. Dessert Blini. And one of the blini chain restaurants we went to had English Menus. Wahoo!

7. Every car made in the world can be found in Russia. I saw more variety in cars there than I have seen anywhere else. If it is made on our planet, it is in Russia. German, American, French, Japanese, Russian, Italian, British, they were all there. From all different eras. Many old, and many new. And I saw several right hand drive cars as well. What we saw hardly any of were pickup trucks. I don't think I saw a single Ford F-150. Plenty of SUVs though. We did see many American car dealerships - Ford, Chevy, Jaguar, Hummer, etc.

8. It is brutally cold in the winter, but it doesn't slow anyone down. There were many people out walking and waiting for buses. I saw several repairmen and construction workers bundled up and working outside when it was zero degrees Fahrenheit. Burr!

9. Because there is always snow and slush on the ground, you constantly track in muck when you enter a building. So they are forced to constantly mop the floors in public places, especially by the entries. At most malls, restaurants and stores, there was always somebody on duty mopping. That would be a monotonous and back breaking job.

10. There were private security guards at all the stores and malls we went into. And lots of them. Generally they were very young men, with walkie talkies that would just wonder around.

11. The Russians are into uniforms. Many many people wore uniforms for their jobs. I believe this was more common in the US a few decades ago, but with our lax and casual work clothing styles, you don't see it so much here. All in all, I would say the Russians dress much nicer than we do.

12. Juice. At the grocery store, they would have a great selection of juice, and I'm not just talking orange, apple and tomato. They had all kinds. Mango, pineapple, carrot, peach, pomegranate, you name it. It was great. And they didn't seem to be loaded down with a ton of sugar either. They were typically in colorful tetrapak containers. When I came back to the US, and walked down the juice lane at our grocery store, I was painfully disappointed. Maybe it is because they aren't as much into coke and pop as we are.

13. Blueberry milk! Oh I miss that! In addition to chocolate milk, they had blueberry milk. I couldn't get enough of it.

14. English signs everywhere on store fronts and on goods. But hardly anybody spoke English, and I doubt they could read the signs.

15. Casinos only a couple of hundred yards from the Kremlin. Actually there were casinos all over - we saw many in Perm, and several in Moscow. I don't think I could ever imagine a casino in Washington DC, next to the White House or the US Capital.

If you have been to Russia, maybe this evokes some memories. What were the curious things you saw? If you haven't been, and are going soon, maybe you can look for these, and find others.

Thinking fondly of Russia,
Chris

40 is the new 30

2008-01-13T21:49:00.000-07:00

Half way done? Or just beginning? Today was my 4oth birthday. As a friend of mine told me, I should feel blessed. There are many who don't make it to forty.

Danica tried to throw me a surprise party. I had a feeling something may be up, and last weekend I started telling her I didn't want a party. She finally fessed up this week and admitted she had invited a few people over to celebrate. I relented, and said ok, to just keep it small. She was in cahoots with my brother, who asked me to come help move a swing set on Saturday afternoon. It was a ploy to try and get me out of the house. Anyway, I went and helped, but the surprise was already gone. However, I was surprised at how many people came. It turned out really nice. We had lots of family and friends over. There were lots of kids too, and Anneliese and Alexa are probably beginning to think that it is normal to have 10 kids over at the house every week! Danica made a bunch of lasagna and ravioli and it turned out to be a very nice time. However, we didn't get any pictures to share. Thanks Danica for throwing me a great birthday party! And thank you to all of you who came!

Danica gave me a new digital camera for my birthday. Our old camera was a Kodak that we have had for a few years, and I haven't been that happy with it. We get a lot of blurry pictures, especially in indoor light. This new camera is a Canon with image stabilization built in. So I'm looking forward to some great pictures of the girls. Here are a few to start.

This weekend turned out to be a great weekend. Besides getting to spend a lot of great time with my family and friends, I got to spend my first birthday with my girls. Tonight, Danica and I were in giving the girls a bath, and it was just a wonderful time. The girls were splashing and playing with their rubber ducks, having a great time. The smiles on my face were going ear to ear, and I couldn't help but think about how great our God is. With all our faults, all our shortcomings, he still loves us so much. He has given Danica and I the gift of our beautiful girls. They are so precious, so curious, and so lovable. Thank you Lord, your love is amazing.

I also thought about all the adoptive parents that are waiting for children. I still read many blogs of families who are on the adoption journey, and I read several on Friday night, and they have been on my mind. Some of you may be reading this blog. We waited and worked for 18 months before we could bring our girls home. At times it was miserable, and it tried our patience. But now that the girls are home, the memory of the adoption slog is fading, and watching our girls laugh and play has made every second of the wait so worth it. If you are waiting for your adoption process to wind its way through, stay strong. It will be done, and you will be rewarded for your patience. There is no obstacle that you can't overcome.

40 isn't so bad. I have the majority of my hair, it isn't gray yet, my wife loves me most of the time as she jokes, my girls are beautiful, and my family and friends are awesome. I'm looking forward to the next 40 years.

Somebody put us back on the planet, we fell off

2008-01-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry you haven't heard from us in so long. We didn't fall of the planet, we fell into parenthood! :-)

Our New Years was nice. On New Years Eve we actually were able to stay up until midnight. We were quite shocked since we have been literally crashing at 10pm most nights. So we aren't so old after all. On New Year's day, my very best friend Neal (I have known him since I was 11) and his wife Laurel, and their kids Britanni and Skyler came to visit us. They were very excited to meet Anneliese and Alexa. Here is a picture of Laurel and Skyler with the girls.

On Wednesday evening, January 2nd, we had a get together with some of our very good friends that we hadn't seen in a while. Jess and Tia were in town, and we hadn't seen them in a couple of years. So with not seeing them, and a lot of our mutual friends who hadn't met Anneliese and Alexa yet, it was a great time to get together. Sharon and Paul came with their kids, Ben and Edward. My brother Mike and his wife Edie brought their boys, Hugh, Owen and Clive. Neal and Laurel also made an appearance with Brittani and Skyler. And Jess and Tia had their boys, Albert and JT. So we had a 9 kids under age 6 running around all evening. It was a hoot, and it was sure nice to catch up with the old gang. We have all started families and our lives have changed, but we will always be friends. What an amazing blessing. Unfortunately we didn't get any good pictures.

My Mom, Loretta, came to visit the girls this last Saturday. She came during the girls nap time so that we could chat first, and then play with the girls once they woke up. My mom fed them some dried blueberries (yum, brainfood!) for snack, and the girls took to her very well. She had a nice time playing with the girls.

Danica and I have managed to make time to get away and see friends individually. Danica got out this last Friday for a girls night out at Applebees with her friend Rachael, and then got out again Saturday morning to meet her good friends Esther and Grace. I managed pretty well, and even managed to give the girls a bath on Friday night with out help. Just call me Mr. Mom. I got out tonight to meet my college roommate Tim, for an adult beverage and to catch up. I'm really glad that Danica and I have been able to support each other with time away.

Danica and I have signed the family up to take a sign language class. We think it will really help with communication and keep the whines, cries and tantrums down. The girls are starting to make some verbal sounds and noises, but aren't speaking yet. They are quickly understanding English. We can give them many requests and they will do what you ask them. It is amazing to see how much they have learned in the month since they have come home. Danica has already taught them signs for "more", "please", and "mommy". They have really caught on to those, and they sign us "more" and "please" frequently, especially when hungry.

We've had some really bad poopy blow out diapers, especially this last weekend. Alexa's tummy has been frequently distended, especially after meal time. We were very concerned that they might have giardia that they could have caught at the orphanage. Danica took them to the pediatrician on Monday to have them checked out. The pediatrician wasn't particulary concerned, and said that based on the symptoms, they don't have giardia. We were hoping for some stool or blood tests to confirm, but she assured us it wasn't necessary, and that we should keep an eye on it. We still are getting an occasional blow out, which the doc thinks is likely due to the variety of new foods we are giving the girls. We have pretty much started to feed them what we eat, except for the sugary stuff (chocolate) and junk food (which we have mostly cut out of our diets too). So they are probably getting a gastrointestinal workout. We will keep an eye on things and see how they do. The girls have settled down, and are eating more things, and not being as picky. They have their moments, but meal time has gotten better.

I went to the doc today. I've had some lingering crud since we got back from Russia that I just can't seem to shake. It turns out I've got a low grade sinus infection, which I figured was the case. My doc prescribed an antibiotic and I hope to be all cleared up in a few days.

One last thing on my long winded, wandering post. What do most of you use to edit photos? I've been using iPhoto on my Mac, but I'm thinking it would be nice to have something a little more sophisticated. I was considering Adobe Photoshop Elements. Post a comment and let me know what you use.

Sushi or Mac & Cheese

2007-12-29T21:35:00.000-07:00

Danica and I had a great Saturday with Alexa and Anneliese. This morning after breakfast, we packed everyone up in the car, well actually two cars, and headed to Costco. Two cars? Yes, two cars. With the girls in the back seat, and the double stroller in the trunk, there wouldn't have been anywhere to put anything we bought. So I drove separately in my car and followed Danica and the girls. Sounds like we need a minivan! Its not in our future, but I can now see why a lot of families have them.

Anyway, we got to Costco, signed up as new members, and spent a small fortune. Actually, we didn't do too bad. We didn't buy much food, as our freezer just isn't that big. So we did buy lots of other stuff, like diapers and wipes. After that, we zoomed over to Babies R Us, and bought the girls some more clothes with some of the gift cards we had left from the baby showers that were thrown for us. Alexa needed a few more outfits. She is 20 months old, and she fits into 12 month clothes. She is so tiny. After that we went out to lunch for the very first time with the girls. We stopped at Heidi's deli, and we got chicken noodle soup for the girls. They had never had it before, and at first they were a little unsure, but they warmed up to it. We were pleasantly surprised at how it went, especially for being out all morning.

After we got home, it was nap time. Danica stayed home with the girls, and I ran out for a haircut and to pick up dinner. We both have been craving some good sushi, so Danica called in our order and I picked it up. When I got home, Danica and I played with the girls the rest of the afternoon - lots of chasing, silly games, horsing around and just loving on them. It was great. An afternoon of giggles. :-)

Dinner time came, and Danica made the girls mac and cheese, because we didn't think they would be too keen on the sushi. Alexa has become super fussy, and I think she likes to play games with her meals. For many things, she will refuse to eat it, thinking she might get something better. Meal time has become a bit of a struggle. So tonight, she tried the mac and cheese, ate a few bites, and then refused to eat any more. So I gave her a piece of my avocado roll with my chopsticks.

She actually ate it! And then ate another piece, and decided she didn't want it anymore. Then it was back to the mac and cheese, and then back to the Avocado roll. With the attachment issues, and control battles, we don't want to get into it over food. So we just try to roll with it. In this case, it was a sushi roll! ;-) We've been trying to figure out what they each like, with out being short order cooks every meal.

We had more fun after dinner. The girls are now responding to commands, like "give this to mommy", or pointing at something and asking "please bring me that", and they will often do it. It is so cool. And Danica did something wonderful the other day. She taught the girls to give kisses. So you can ask each of them for a kiss, and they will gladly give you one. They are comprehending English quick. They aren't really speaking much though. For the most part it has been "DaDa" and some babbling. However, Anneliese has surprised me, and said "duck" a couple of times, when pointing out the ducks in one of her story books. It was out of the blue, and very cool. I can't wait for the girls to start speaking more. I think it will really help with the tantrums and whining that we get.

Not to leave Anneliese out, here is a fun picture of her taken at my cousin's house the day after Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-25T21:47:00.001-07:00

Gearing up for Christmas

2007-12-23T22:03:00.001-07:00

Let's start with the fun stuff, pictures!

Grandpa and Anneliese!

Grandma and Alexa!

Danica and I have been extremely busy the last week, so it's been hard to post. With the addition of our angels, we have found our free time evaporating. Actually, more like gone. It hasn't helped that we hadn't done any Christmas shopping before we brought the girls home from Russia. I've been venturing out to do my shopping after the girls go to bed, and Danica has done her shopping during the girls' nap time. We both finally finished our shopping today.

We took the girls to the pediatrician on Thursday to get checked out and start their medical care here. The pediatrician was surprised at the state of the girls immunizations they were given in Russia. The girls are twins, and yet they had different immunizations at different dates, and Anneliese had fewer. They both had insufficient immunizations for their age. So both Anneliese and Alexa had 4 shots that day. Ouch! They were troopers though, and they were over it in about 5 minutes. The worst part was the next day. I think their little immune systems went into overdrive. They were very tired and cranky. Since the girls have some issues on their medical reports, our pediatrician referred us to 4 different specialists, just to make sure nothing serious is going on. We will be running around for the next few weeks with doctors appointments. There is no fooling around with this, and we are anxious to get it done.

The girls have gotten a bit more finicky about their diet, and we can't always predict who will do what. In general, Alexa is much more picky. Anneliese eats like a horse, and I think she may have a hollow leg, because I don't know where all the food she eats goes. However, tonight they really surprised us. Suzette from our church brought us a pot roast tonight. I thought Anneliese would chow it down, and Alexa wouldn't eat it. We were dead wrong on that. Anneliese didn't like any of it, and Alexa loved it. Anneliese wouldn't even eat the potatoes. What Russian girl doesn't like potatoes? The pot roast was great, thanks Suzette! And thanks to the Plum Creek Meals Ministry who have taken great care of us this week! It has been a huge help to us as we adjust to our new life.

This afternoon our social worker, Denina, from our homestudy agency visited us for the first time since we got home. She was able to help us answer some questions about what we are experiencing, and validated our approach to many of the issues we have had since we have been home. I'd say that the issues we are experiencing are about 75% toddler related, and 25% post institutional (orphanage) related. Denina was very pleased with the girls and how things are going. She had some great suggestions for us.

Tonight was a really fun night with the girls. After dinner, we played chase, played with blocks, read books and just had a joyful time. We tired them out, and by the time it was ready for bedtime, Anneliese and Alexa were crawled up into our arms, holding their baby dolls, sucking thumbs, and soaking up our love. It was pretty awesome!

Danica is wrapping Christmas presents right now. Tomorrow brings the start of our families Christmas festivities. We have so much to be grateful for. God has blessed us so much this year. We have an amazing God, who loves us all so much!

The Broccoli and Green Bean Debacle, Part 2

2007-12-18T22:07:00.000-07:00

After trying to get A&A to eat broccoli and green beans, and failing miserably, one of our friends suggested melting velveta over them, and trying again. So we went for it. Same miserable result. The girls tried to get some of the cheese, but immediately spit out any cruciferous offenders. We have very smart girls.

Danica and I are were a bit clueless on what to feed the girls. So we've been reading up on what to feed the girls, and have found some useful links we thought we'd share for those of you who will be in the same boat.

Health 24 - Menus for Toddlers
Toddler Menus
Feeding Your Toddler
Gerber Menus for Toddlers
Feeding Toddlers: 17 Tips for Pleasing the Picky Eater

Danica tried feeding the girls avocado yesterday, and they wouldn't eat it either. I came home, saw it on the counter, and started munching. The girls saw me, and then wanted some to. They chowed it down. Then today, they didn't want it when we served it again at lunch. Go figure.

We are settling in, but Danica and I have really noticed that our free time has evaporated. That is why you aren't seeing as much on the blog. The last two nights, after the girls went to bed, we worked on our Christmas Cards, and I got to enjoy the fun that is Mail Merge in MS Word while trying to print labels.

We haven't started Christmas shopping yet. I'm not looking forward to dealing with the masses. I think we are going to have to keep it simple this year.

I hope all of you are getting into the festive spirit for Christmas and the Holidays! We are looking forward to our first Christmas with A&A, and spending it with our family.

I thought we left the Russian Cold...

2007-12-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of back behind my house this morning. Last night it snowed three inches and it was 6 degrees out this morning. Burr! It was warmer in Moscow!

It did warm back up this afternoon into the 30s, and the streets are clear.

Anneliese and Alexa are doing well. We still deal with the occasional temper tantrum, but we are getting better at handling and preventing them. We are still trying to figure what they will and won't eat. Unfortunately, broccoli and green beans are on the will not eat list. So far they love grilled cheese sandwiches on whole wheat, spaghetti, oatmeal, and bananas. We are still trying new things out every day.

Today we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for a Christmas picture photo shoot in front of their Christmas tree. Here is one for you:

And here are some of the girls playing before bedtime tonight. Enjoy!

We Are Home!

2007-12-13T12:26:00.001-07:00

There is no place like home! It feels so good to be in our own home, and to have a safe place for the girls.

Our trip was as difficult as other adoptive parents have said it would be. Traveling with twin girls is hard work! We left our apartment in Moscow at 4am on Wednesday, and headed for Sheremetyevo Airport. We arrived a couple of minutes before 5am, and then the fun began. We had nothing but headaches in Moscow with Lufthansa. First, they had problems with Alexa's infant ticket to ride on our laps at home. I had called ahead and booked it, but we need to pick up her ticket. It took 30 minutes just to get it sorted out at the ticket counter. Then we went to baggage check in, where they moved us to the front of the line because they saw us with the girls, which was really nice. However, they had "computer problems" and it took another 30 minutes just to get our luggage checked and tickets issued. This was really hard, because both of the girls had gotten up at 3am, and were tired and fussy. They wanted to be held the whole time. We got to the gate, got in line, and again, they moved us up to the front of the line. They took our tickets, and then told us Alexa's is missing, which we had just issued. They moved us over to the side, and let everyone else on board, while they tried to figure out their screw up, likely related to their "computer problems". This was unreal.

We finally made it on board, and flew on to Frankfurt. Alexa and Anneliese played some, and slept some. They were pretty good. The airport in Frankfurt is a real bummer for waiting passengers. We had a 5 hour lay over, and there really aren't any places for passenger to crash out, especially with toddlers. The girls were restless and irritable, and didn't want to sleep. So we ended up walking them, carrying them and feeding them. We never got umbrella strollers over there for them, because they were useless in Perm, with all the snow and ice. And it would have been just one more thing to schlep around the world. They would have been super useful in the airports. Looking back, I wish we had spent the money on them.

The flight from Frankfurt to Denver was really long. The girls slept a bit more than half the flight, and they were overall pretty good. We only had a couple of screaming fits, but nothing for too long a duration. For as tired as they were, they did great. My second mom, Debby, helped us with the girls on the flight, and helped us haul bags and look after the girls.

After landing at DIA, we went through immigration, and the customs officer who handled our paperwork from the girls was really nice and professional. We did have to go through an additional customs screening because of the baby food and bananas we had brought with us from Russia. They made us toss the bananas and some of the baby food that contained beef and chicken.

When we cleared customs, we were surprised by our pastor, Doug Miller. He was so happy to see us, and us to see him. He snapped this great picture of us and the girls.

My father, brother and my mom were waiting for us and had two vehicles ready to haul us and all our luggage home. It was so great to see them, and to be back in America. The girls fell asleep in about two minutes in their car seats. It was a quiet ride home, since everyone was exhausted.

We crashed at about 9pm last night, and everyone including the girls slept hard and long. This morning has been so nice with the girls. We are trying to get them adjusted and acclimated. They have been through so much for the last two weeks. Their whole world has been turned upside down. All they have ever known is a few rooms in an orphanage. Now they have been all over the world, met many new people, have a new mommy and daddy taking care of them full time, and a new room to themselves. I can only imagine how traumatic this must be. So we are going to take it easy for a while, try to keep their world a bit small, and try to get them attached to us.

We are so happy to be home with our little angels!