Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

It was great (although noisy and chaotic) to finally enjoy Christmas at home with the kids. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas activities.

Finally a decent Christmas card photo taken on a frigid night at Dutch Wonderland.

Hope's and Matt's first visit with Santa (Hershey Park).

Matt and Hope decorate a (real) tree for the first time.

Hope puts her first ornament on the tree.

The kids were very proud of their beautiful tree.

Christmas Eve breakfast with Grandmom

Opening presents Christmas Eve with Nana and Pop

Santa came!

Matt is more interested in Tim's pirates than his own gifts.

Oh, this is mine?

Midway through opening gifts, the 2 big kids went around the house to see if baby Jesus was in the manger now. (We have a few - Mike's mom's, my granny's, a few others that baby Jesus doesn't come out of, and a new outdoor set from Nana and Pop.) As Tim explained to Hope when they were setting up the outside nativity, "On Christmas Eve Santa will bring baby Jesus and put him in the manger. Well, I don't know why Santa would bring baby Jesus, but I can't think of any other way for him to get here." So, for now, we are going with Santa puts baby Jesus in all our mangers when he delivers gifts.

The kids in their Christmas outfits with Nana and Pop

Happy 2nd Birthday, Matt!!

Matt's Sponge Bob cake for the family "party" at Thanksgiving.













Hmmm, why is my cake on fire?


















Hey, this cake is pretty good.














What do you mean I don't have to put the card back in the package when I'm done with it?














Sesame Street cake for his school party.

















Apparently, turning 2 is very upsetting to Matt.

Happy 1st Family Day, Hope!

November 27 was Hope's 1st Family Day. This last year has really flown by!

Thanksgiving 2006 - We hadn't gone to court yet so we visited Hope during the day and then when back to the apartment for our Thanksgiving "dinner".

Thanksgiving 2007 - How it's supposed to be.

Hope sitting between Nana and Pop enjoying her antipasto before the turkey and veggies that Pop and Nana made were on the table.

The kids doing some artwork in our apartment in Kaz, November 2006, and in our kitchen November 2007.

Kazakh Friends Old and New, So Much Catching Up to Do

Here it is November and I still have pictures I wanted to share from May through the summer. So, here's the thumbnail recap of the kids' adventures for the last couple of months.

May
Hope's Kindgarten Celebration Night and Spring Concert


Tim's Pre-K Graduation

Tim and good buddy Jake

June
Matt's and Hope's Baptism



July
Zarena (who came home from Hope's group at the orphanage in 2004) - 1st thing they said when they looked at each other: "She looks like me!" It was great to finally meet Zarena and the rest of her family!


Zhailau with the Kazakh Aul at Geneva Point in New Hampshire

Hope and Tim enjoy their introduction to the dombra, the national instrument of Kazakhstan

August
Kaz Kids Gathering at the Hoffman-McFaddens

Kaz Kids Gathering at our HouseIt was great to reconnect with folks we already knew and to meet so many new friends that we only knew through email and internet. We're really looking forward to making this an annual event and connecting during the year some more. All but 3 kids in the picture are from Kaz.

Dutch Wonderland with Justin and Aunt Carolyn
Tim, Hope and Justin - the daredevil kids - couldn't get enough roller-coasters and whirling, spinning rides!


Kindergarten Orientation and First Day of Kindergarten for Hope
Despite having learned an amazing amount last year, we decided that Hope needed the opportunity to experience the entire year of kindergarten.

September
First Day of Kindergarten for Tim
Tim misses the cutoff for our district, but he is eligible for the Kindergarten class at daycare so he, too is in kindergarten this year (as a head start for his official Kindergarten year next year).

Everyone is doing great! They're into their school routines and we're back to soccer and swimming. After soccer ends we head straight into basketball. Hope and Tim are both very excited for basketball. They all really missed Daddy during the 3 weeks in August/September that he was in Spain. It was doubly exciting for them when he came home because 2 days later we left for a trip to Disney World so that Hope has the opportunity to go while she still has a passion for Princesses (and because Tim has already been 2 or 3 times!). The trip was great. Disney through the eyes of 3 young kids is even more fun. All the kids were real troopers going from early morning till late at night on very little sleep and yet still all very well behaved for the whole week. I'll post more pictures from that later.

Say Cheese

Last week all the kids had picture day at their respective schools. Everyone looked so good I couldn't resist sharing the pictures.

Tim insisted on wearing his suit instead a more "business casual" outfit that I would have chosen so that meant having to find a dressy outfit that also matched Tim's suit for Matt. I was so happy to see that Matt fit into this outfit. It was handed down from my former nursery school teacher from her grandkids and Tim wore it for Christmas a few years ago. Hopefully at least one of them will put their own kids in it some day.

Hope flashes her sparkling smile to go along with her new sparkling red dress and gold princess shoes.

Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat!

The gang just came back to unload their first bag of candy - what a pile of loot already and they've only done 2 streets. Tim, of course is an old pro at the Halloween thing, but Hope and Matt have definitely embraced the concept and both have mastered the art of an enthusiast "Trick or Treat!"

The kids are very proud of how they helped decorate the yard for fall.

Hope with
"Princess Pumpkin" that she decorated for the school decorating contest.

Matt enjoying the Fall Festival at school.

Hope and Tim
collaborate on the decoration of a Halloween gingerbread house for a Saturday afternoon craft project.

The proud artists