Little Wonders

Elitch's at OneTrueMedia.com

2010-07-05T18:41:00.001-07:00

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January to Easter

2010-04-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

We've been gone for a while, but now we're back.
Owen celebrated his 4th birthday with a Toy Story theme. We debated having the party at home or somewhere like Monkey Bizness, but the home won out. We slightly regretted that decision when we had 20 kids and 14 adults in our house, but it was a lot of fun and Owen really enjoyed it! I made Owen's cake. Andy's bed is a smaller cake that I then placed on top of the "floor". It took about three hours to make, but it was worth Owen's smile in the morning.

We then celebrated Owen and Aliya's birthdays together with friends and family. This was slightly smaller and I attempted a two part cake for the kids. Aliya was finally able to have her first cake and she thought it was okay, but then devoured her ice cream!

Aliya celebrated her 2nd birthday with an Iridessa theme. She was Iridessa for Halloween, so we put her in her costume for her party. She enjoyed playing with her friends.

Aliya is starting to smile again for pictures, so we have been able to get a couple of cute ones of her and of course her big brother wanted to be a scary vampire.

We started off Easter by dying Easter eggs and I had the kids use beaters to put their eggs in and it worked very well. The Easter bunny made a stop at our house and the kids enjoyed looking for Easter eggs and then hiding them again. We celebrated Easter at Grandma Diane's and Gene's new house in Colorado. My sister and her family also came over and we had a great time! It was fun to see all of the cousins play together and actually play together!

Our best family picture yet!!!

Christmas

2009-12-25T18:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas is magical when you have kids. On Christmas Eve we continued my family tradition of eating homemade ravioli. Owen "helped" me make it this year and I took the opportunity to tell him the history of the tradition. We had our good friend Jeff over for dinner and he became one of the privileged few to eat this delectable meal. After dinner Owen and Aliya were allowed to open one gift which is the one from Dave's grandmother. Then we continued our new found tradition of watching The Polar Express and Aliya watched almost the entire movie (albeit she was continually saying "Hi Mommy" and "I love you"). After Aliya went to bed, Owen chose two cookies that he made and poured the milk into the glass. We placed the cookies and milk by the fireplace and then he went to bed.

Owen came into our room at 5:30 Christmas morning and luckily we were able to get him to fall back asleep to a more reasonable time of 6:15. After convincing him to lay in bed until about 6:45, we went to get Aliya. Owen was really excited to go downstairs and he was very excited about what Santa brought. We had breakfast after the kids looked through their stockings and then we dug into the other presents. The favorite toy was the play vacuum. Unfortunately it does make noise and that is what we are constantly hearing. We ended Christmas with Philly Cheese Steaks and Christmas light viewing in the snow. It was a wonderful Christmas and I am looking forward to the new year.

Christmas morning

2009-12-25T13:09:00.001-08:00

Owen and Aliya awoke to gifts from Santa. Owen was very excited and Aliya followed along. They loved their gifts from Santa and family. Owen declared that it was the best Christmas ever! Here is a video of Christmas morning, I'll post photos later.

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2009-12-23T18:28:00.000-08:00

Here is our first video with our new camera.

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Halloween

2009-11-02T18:05:00.000-08:00

We started off the week by going to Owen's school for his Halloween party. Aliya loved being a big kid and hanging out with her older brother. Owen made a paper pumpkin, decorated a Halloween bag, decorated a cookie, and went trick-or-treating around the school.
We carved pumpkins the night before Halloween. Aliya liked spreading the seeds around on the table and Owen drew his own pumpkin face which Dave carved.
Thankfully the snowstorm ended two days before Halloween and it got warm enough to melt a lot of the snow. Neither kid needed a jacket which is always good. Owen was Superman and Aliya was Iridessa, one of Tinker Bell's friends. Grandma Panesi made Aliya's outfit not once, but twice due to a mailing mix-up (thanks Grandma for making another costume)!

Hair!

2009-10-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

Aliya has really been fighting me lately with doing her hair. So, today while Owen and Dave were at a birthday party, I put in Elmo's World and tried. Aliya doesn't really watch TV, but I remember that Elmo was the one that Owen would watch. I placed her in her Dora chair and began. I sprayed with water and detangler and began brushing. She didn't fight too much, so I decided to put her hair in four ponies instead of one. She was being so good that I decided to braid her hair. Here are the results!

Superman!

2009-10-21T18:49:00.001-07:00

Owen LOVES jumping off the stairs. So, after I sewed his costume, he wanted to fly like Superman . . .

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we went to the Pumpkin Patch. It was delayed a weekend due to the weather and it ended up being a perfect day. Owen and Aliya had a great time picking out pumpkins. Owen really enjoyed the carnival area. Next year will be a lot of fun because Aliya will be old enough to participate in more things.

Obstacle Course!

2009-08-16T18:22:00.001-07:00

We set up a really quick obstacle course today. Enjoy!

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A Twister, a Twister!

2009-06-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had front row seats to a tornado. At about 1:30 we put
the kids down for quite time and a nap. 15 minutes later heavy hail
started to come and Megan mentioned that she had seen paper or debris
flying high up in the sky. At about that time we heard the tornado
siren go off, so we did what everybody would do. We ran to the
upstairs windows to see if we could see a tornado.
We then got Owen out of his room so he could watch hail and the people
outside scrabbling to cover their cars. Megan then went into the
computer room to see what news she could find on the internet. As
soon as she walked into the east facing room she saw the funnel cloud.
Megan quickly grabbed Aliya and started heading downstairs. I, of
course, quickly ran to the window to see the tornado for myself, then
grabbed Owen and Bailey (the dog) and headed downstairs.
Owen was giggling the entire time and Aliya just look confused. In
the end we were in no real danger, Owen had assured us that he would
take down the tornado with a light saber, that and it was east of our
house and heading further east. We stayed in the basement for just a
few minutes before heading back up to take some pictures and watch the
rest of the storm. It did touch down a few miles east and damaged the Southlands mall.

Playing the Piano

2009-05-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, I created piano music for two songs: Hot Cross Buns and Jingle Bells. I showed Owen how to play them, but didn't push him with it. Now, he will go to the piano and play them on his own. He even creates his own music. Owen is playing Hot Cross Buns first and then Jingle Bells. I could have edited it so that he played them both perfectly, but I love when he messed up on Jingle Bells and he knew it. Check out his expression when he plays the first wrong note! The piano needs major tuning but, enjoy!

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Which dress should Aliya wear for pictures?

2009-05-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

I can't decide which dress Aliya should wear for pictures. Please help by voting. Thanks.

YELLOW DRESS

YELLOW DRESS WITH POLKA DOTS (please ignore the crying)

WHITE DRESS WITH POLKA DOTS

The Big 35!

2009-04-28T14:39:00.000-07:00

Dave turns 35 today! His mom sent pictures of him when he was younger, so how could I resist?

Aliya is walking!

2009-03-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

Aliya is officially walking. She can turn, stand, and bend down. She prefers walking to crawling. However, walking in shoes appears to be more difficult. Her favorite thing to do is to walk to her brother and hold on to him. Since he outweighs her by only 7 pounds, he is unable to hold her up and she usually pushes him down much to his annoyance. Now if she could only get potty trained . . .

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2009-02-10T13:50:00.000-08:00

Aliya's first year has come and gone. In just 12 short months of life
she has many accomplishments. She has stepped foot on 3 continents
(if you include a short layover at the Amsterdam airport). She has
learned several words including Ma Ma and Da Da, no mention of Owen
yet. She has learned to sleep through the night, which was no small
feat. She has graduated to most non baby foods. And boy has she
grown. Now standing at over 30 inches and weighing over 22 pounds she
has already started to bully her older brother, who better starting
eating all his dinner or he will always be differing to his young
sister.

Her first year of life was celebrated last weekend, with pictures to
follow. Aliya had a great time and had little problem with being the
center of attention. For the most part Owen also enjoyed the day and
was perfectly willing just helping Aliya with her big day. Although
he did make a small effort to steal the show by standing up during the
opening of gifts, and singing "Shake your booty" while performing the
dance as well. But most people could not be turn from watching Aliya
enjoy all the wonderful gifts our family and friends brought over.

Much like her brother Aliya enjoyed a sugar-free cake for her 1st
b-day. She reveled in the sounds of everyone singing her happy
b-day, laughing and smiling through the whole song, before diving into
her surprisingly tasty sugar-free cake. The rest of the guests enjoyed
a properly sugared cake made and excellently decorated by Megan.

Now with her first year behind her, she is off to a great start on
year two. Her goals for the year are: walking, talking, learning to
say "no" to her brother, and potty training (that ones a management
encouraged goal.) One thing is for certain; much like in year one, she
will have no problem making mommy and daddy smile and laugh.

Opening gifts on her own - she couldn't wait!

Playing with a new toy.

Opening gifts

Guests' birthday cake.

Aliya excited for her birthday cake.

Owen helping blow out the candle.

Hmmm . . . not too sure.

Tastes pretty good . . .

Yummy!!!

Don't take my cake away!!

Daddy serving the cake.

I love my new chair!

Owen is Three!

2009-01-18T17:56:00.001-08:00

Owen turned three last week. We celebrated with friends and family. Owen chose to have a Diego birthday and his invitations were a hit. One girl called it her journal and wouldn't put it down! This year Owen really understood what a birthday party was. Prior to his party, he went to three friend parties and got really excited for his. When opening his presents, if he got a book, he insisted upon reading the book first. He even told his friends to back-up so he could read his book by himself. Owen received the game Cariboo which he loves to play with. We have to play it everyday. However, he now has discovered that he can look inside for the balls, but he hasn't really cheated yet. He also got a Diego play-doh toy where you can mold animals, tires, and more. He now loves to play with play-doh. We made it through the cake without tears which was exciting. He did like blowing out the candle.

We went to the doctor for his three year check-up and he is doing great. He had to read the eye chart for the first time. He had a hard time covering one eye at a time. He kept uncovering his eye because it felt weird. He also had his blood pressure checked for the first time and I don't think he really liked that. The questions were certainly funny. He really didn't want to answer them and it took a while to warm-up. He did get all of the opposite questions quickly though. He is now 36" tall and 29 lbs. Unfortunately, he did have to get one shot. He was not pleased at all and in fact he said "Why did the lady hurt me?" while crying. It was very heartbreaking!

He is potty trained. Whoo-hoo!! And we went to Build a Bear to get a bear today. The deal was that he got one and then he would have to "pay" for it with his binky. So no more binky either. At nap, he asked what he can put in his mouth and then decided not to take a nap at all. We'll see tonight how it goes.

Opening presents

Reading a book.

Blowing out the candle.

Family

Getting a piece of cake.

Christmas

2008-12-29T18:03:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday. We spent Christmas Eve at our house with my sister and her family. We ate our traditional Italian dinner with homemade ravioli. We then took part in another tradition of the children opening one gift. Owen and Aliya get to open their gift from Nanny which was awesome clothes.
That night, Owen set out cookies and milk for Santa. As I put him to bed, I told him that Santa can only come to our house if all the children are asleep. He didn't come out once that night. Can we use the Santa trick every night?
The next morning we went downstairs and showed Owen that Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk. He was so engrossed in the empty dish that he didn't even go look to see what Santa brought him. We finally got him into the family room where he saw his tools. Aliya received a dollhouse and they both got table, chairs, and play food. They then looked in their stockings.
After breakfast, we opened gifts from family. Every time Owen got a book, he had to stop and read it! And when Aliya got a book, he had to stop and read hers too! After a while Owen got tired of opening presents and just wanted to play.
We had lunch at my sister's and opened a few more presents before we headed home for a much needed nap. It was a very nice Christmas.

Pretty Aliya.

Owen opening his Christmas Eve present.

The family - as a good as it gets.

Which one should I eat?

Owen fixing the dollhouse.

Owen reading a book.

Opening a gift.

Playing with the new toys.

"Send it in Jerome"

Really, another picture?

Here are some more gifts.

Dancing Queen

2008-12-11T15:10:00.001-08:00

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Tree Cutting and Snow

2008-12-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of weekends ago we headed up to the mountains for our annual tree cutting. Aliya's first and Owen's third. We put Aliya in our backpack so that Dave could carry her and bring a tree back. I was in charge of Owen which meant that we would be behind several times, I would have to adjust his mittens every few minutes, and sometimes I would have to carry him. It is unusual for their to be snow on the ground, so it was nice treat to see it. Owen had a blast and even helped Daddy cut down the tree.

OWEN WITH HIS TREE

OWEN AND DAVE CUTTING DOWN OUR TREE

ALIYA AND DAVE DRAGGING OUR TREE BACK TO THE CAR

THE FAMILY

We also have experienced several one day snow storms recently. We bundled Aliya and Owen up and headed outside. Owen LOVED every minute of it. He made snow angels, played in the snow, rode on a sled, and made a snowman. Aliya didn't enjoy it too much, but we got a few photos of her smiling. Can't wait for next year when Aliya can walk in it.

OWEN TAKING ALIYA FOR A RIDE

ALIYA ENJOYING THE SNOW EARLY ON

OWEN LOVING THE SNOW

ALIYA TOWARDS THE END OF HER TIME OUTSIDE

I'm so big!

2008-12-04T14:00:00.001-08:00

Aliya is 10 months tomorrow. I can't believe it. She is doing a lot of things. She is able to do a super fast crawl and get anywhere within seconds. She is especially fast if you open the dishwasher, refrigerator, and/or pantry. She is cruising on furniture like crazy and it would seem that she will be walking soon. She is saying mama, dada, and a bunch of gibberish. She loves music and dancing. She absolutely LOVES her big brother and thinks he is the funniest thing. We have been waiting for what seems like forever for her two upper teeth to break through. I'm pretty sure one is showing a tiny bit of tooth now, so hopefully no more pain for a bit. She loves to eat as well and prefers real food and none of that mashed stuff. We're pretty sure she is 20 lbs now!
Owen is doing well too. He is still really interested in letters and reading. Owen and I go to the library every Saturday to check out books. He is constantly asking what begins with the letter (put any letter after) and then asks how to spell words. He likes to pretend play which is a lot of fun.

Elf Dance

2008-12-01T19:18:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy Validation Day!

2008-12-01T12:37:00.001-08:00

We went to court today to validate Aliya's adoption. We didn't have to go to court for Owen because the agency we used just sent our paperwork to a county that doesn't require the family to come to court. The whole process was very short and interesting. They called us into an empty courtroom. It was just us, a person from our local agency, the court recorder, and the judge. We had to take an oath first. Then, the judge verified that we were able to take care of Aliya. Then, he verified the adoption information which was incorrect. The paper stated that the adoption was done in Russia. So, they just changed that on the paperwork. He said he was signing it and then congratulated us on being a family. We then took a picture with him.
So, does that mean we are done? Nope. We still have to request a birth certificate, get a SSN, get a passport, get the Certificate of Citizenship and then send reports to Ethiopia until Aliya is 18. BUT, we are done with the local agency!

A poem

2008-11-05T12:48:00.001-08:00

Rosa sat so that Martin could walk.
Martin walked so that Barack could run.
Barack ran so that my children might fly.

-Unknown

Budding Musician

2008-11-03T18:17:00.000-08:00

Owen singing a couple of songs while playing the piano. Ignore the phone ringing in the background.

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Halloween

2008-11-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

Owen and Aliya had a good time carving pumpkins. Owen liked pulling out the seeds and Aliya wanted to eat the pumpkin. For Halloween Owen was a dinosaur and Aliya was a bunny. Owen LOVED trick-or-treating!! He kept shouting to everyone that he was a dinosaur. Owen also helped pass out candy and asked the kids what they were. It was almost like they had to answer in order to get candy!

How Fun Is This?

2008-10-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

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Playing in the Closet

2008-10-17T14:57:00.001-07:00

First Time Making Cookies

2008-10-12T17:41:00.001-07:00

Owen and I made cookies today. Owen helped by pouring in the sugar, butter, vanilla, flour, salt, and he helped break the eggs. Owen helped stir the cookies with his own spoon until he took it out and licked it. Then he was done. Owen was very patient while we waited an hour for the dough to chill. Then he helped roll out the cookie dough and started cutting cookies shaped like bats, pumpkins, and witches. Apparently Owen thinks that after every time you cut a cookie, you then get to have some dough. So, Owen had to learn that he couldn't have dough every time. After we baked the cookies, Owen helped frost the cookies. He was doing good until he decided to lick the knife. Owen was then able to enjoy the cookie after dinner.

Cutting cookies

Frosting cookies

"I didn't lick anything"

My cookie

YUMMY!!

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-11T18:10:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. It was a cold, foggy day with very light showers. Owen was a fireman and Aliya, a bunny. Owen had fun picking out his pumpkins, but when it came down to paying for them, he was very upset that they took up space in the wagon. In fact, he tossed a pumpkin out and kept saying "No pumpkins in the wagon". We were finally able to go pay for them when I picked him up. I think he was just frustrated that he kept tripping in the pumpkin patch, so it was difficult to walk.

Owen then rode another train which he loves. He has no qualms about getting in by himself. They actually took the train away so that he wasn't able to see us. He had his first funnel cake and loved it even though he was freezing by this point. It was a lot of fun and Owen is excited to "put shapes" on his pumpkin.

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Still Growing Like Crazy!

2008-10-10T13:08:00.001-07:00

Aliya had her 8 month check-up today. She is very healthy and just keeps growing.
Height: 27" (50%)
Weight: 17 lb 12 oz (45%)

She is doing a lot of things. She can feed little puffs to herself. She is crawling and pulling herself up to a standing position. She took her first few steps of furniture walking yesterday. She can also clap which is pretty cute. She loves to watch Owen sing, dance, and just be silly.

Check out Owen's new I-pod!

2008-09-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it isn't an i-pod. I found my old tape player and some children tapes. He loves to listen to the music and he patiently waits for it to rewind and fast forward. Hi favorite song is La Cucaracha. Maybe we can find an old atari too.

So Happy Together

2008-09-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Owen and Aliya really enjoy each other's company. Owen is the sweetest big brother and is always trying to make Aliya laugh. He also tries to comfort her when she is upset by saying "It's okay". Aliya always watches Owen play and talk to her. I certainly hope this lasts.

Owen calls this "seesaw".

Family Picture

2008-09-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

On the fourth try this is the best we can get for a family picture. Maybe some other day . . .

Rub-a-dub-dub . . .

2008-09-05T12:21:00.001-07:00

Two kids in a tub!

A Part of History

2008-09-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

Dave and I had the great luck and opportunity to attend several of the DNC events held in Denver last week. Dave's mom was a delegate from New Jersey, so she was able to sign us up as guests. As a guest of a New Jersey delegate we were able to attend everything hosted by New Jersey. On Tuesday, Dave was able to attend a breakfast and then a roundtable with many political people. That evening, both of us attended the "Four Star, Four State Event" with the delegates from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. The event was held at Invesco in the luxury suites. We had appetizers and drinks. We also listened to speeches from Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton. At the end of their speeches, they went and worked the crowd. Dave and I were able to shake Former President Bill Clinton's hand. It was so great.

As a delegate, Dave's mom was given a guest pass for Thursday night's event at Invesco. As soon as she heard that she would receive one guest pass, she called her co-chair and asked her for her guest pass. I was so lucky that the lady gave me her pass. So, Dave and I were able to attend the event at Invesco. We were able to listen to a lot of speakers including Martin Luther King Jr.'s son and daughter, John Lewis - one of the speakers included in the March on Washington, Al Gore, Joe Biden, and others. We were also able to see Will.I.Am, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, and Stevie Wonder perform. The best part of the evening was hearing Barack Obama give his acceptance speech. It was AMAZING! I am so honored to have taken part in such a momentous occasion.

Aliya Trying to Crawl

2008-08-16T13:07:00.001-07:00

Aliya is trying so hard to do a real crawl. She can scoot, roll, and twist her way around the room. Owen is trying to encourage his sister too.

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So Lucky

2008-08-16T08:53:00.001-07:00

Reading with Daddy

2008-08-09T14:45:00.001-07:00

Owen just LOVES to read books. Every Saturday morning Owen and mommy go to the library where we pick out eight books. Just recently Owen graduated from board books to picture books!! We read the books many, many times a day. So much, that Owen starts to read the books on his own. His recent favorite was One Bear in the Bedroom because the ending had the bear poop on the bed. He would say "That is so disgusting!" Aliya likes to listen to us read the books to Owen and sometimes likes to sit with us.

Aliya sitting

2008-08-08T12:45:00.001-07:00

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Why am I so happy?

2008-08-07T12:04:00.001-07:00

Because I am still growing!!

6 month check-up results:
Height: 25 1/2" 45%
Weight: 14 lbs 10 oz 25%

Aliya is now eating oatmeal which she loves. In fact, she gets upset when I'm trying to get the next bite! Saturday we'll try sweet potatoes.

She's sitting!

2008-07-31T11:44:00.000-07:00

Aliya is now sitting. She sits pretty well for a fair amount of time. When she leans over, she is able to pull herself back up to the upright position. She is also rolling to her stomach very quickly. She is continuing to gain weight and grow. We'll know for sure the stats on Tuesday, but we're pretty sure that she has reached the 15 lb mark. See below for sitting pics.

Kids Spree

2008-07-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

Owen and I went to the Kids Spree in Aurora a week ago. It is huge carnival type gathering that is free. They had blow up bouncy houses and slides, painting, a maze, sandbox, life size Hi-ho Cherry-o and Candy Land and much more. Owen had a blast. We went down this huge bouncy slide and laughed so hard. He loved the Candy Land and kept wanting to run in it. He had his first snow cone as well. Owen had a blast riding in the train by himself. He was really sad when we left. Here are some pictures.

RIDING IN THE TRAIN

PAINTING A CARDBOARD HOUSE

How is Owen adjusting to his sister? You be the judge.

2008-06-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

We're Home!!!

2008-06-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

Aliya is finally home. We flew in June 6th and are slowly adjusting. We had a wonderful time in Ethiopia. The program has changed so much since we last went two years ago. It ran much smoother and they included a lot more.

Day 1
Arrived at airport around 9 pm. Stood FOREVER in line to get our visas and then had to stand in another line to get through immigration. We found all of our luggage and made it through "security" (just a mad dash to get through 1 scanner). After waiting for three more groups to join us we finally made it to the guest house around 12:30 in the morning.

OUR GUESTHOUSE

LILY THE GUESTHOUSE DOG

THE MAIN GUESTHOUSE

Day 2
Woke up and had breakfast at the main guest house. We stayed in the extra guest house with another couple. We went to the office for an introduction and we found out that our daughter along with two other children were at the embassy getting their final check-up for their visa so we would not be meeting them that morning. So we went back to the guest house pretty bummed and waiting anxiously for the afternoon so we could meet her. We were finally able to meet her and words cannot express how it felt to hold her for the first time. The video crew took video footage and took a still picture of our meeting. We stayed with Aliya for about an hour and we then had to go back to the office for the orientation. At the orientation we handed over our paperwork and registered for the trip south. Our orientation person, Jo, went through what would be happening the rest of the week, what to expect at the embassy and anything else.

Day 3
We spent the morning with Aliya. We had lunch at the guest house and then went for an afternoon of shopping. That evening we went to the Crown Hotel for authentic Ethiopian food (although the guest house made much better food) and traditional dancing. We were able to do this last time, but the dancing is still pretty amazing.

Day 4
We woke up at 4:30 to take the trip south to Hossana. Both Aliya and Owen are from this region so it was nice to see their birthplace. It was about a 2 1/2 - 3 hour drive. Our driver was very friendly and very interested in the politics of America especially the race between Clinton and Obama. Dave filled him in and then our driver basically gave us a tour of the country. Ethiopia is so beautiful and it so sad that so many people are living in poverty. We were able to see teff (the main ingredient in their "bread" injera) fields, enset (false banana) fields and the hut housing of the Ethiopians. In Ethiopian society, families will live with their extended relatives and just build another hut on the land. A man builds his own hut when he marries. The drive from Addis Ababa to Hossana was met with small towns very far apart and people walking on the road to and from them. Our driver was very fast and a few times we almost hit dogs, mules, and goats.

IN FRONT OF A TRADITIONAL HUT

Day 5
We spent the morning with Aliya and were able to take her back to the guesthouse. Time for pictures!! After lunch we had to bring the children back to the care center. We then went to AHOPE and the facilities that CHSFS is supporting. This included the hospital that is open to the public and the school for the local children. Then half of the group went to the museum while the other half went to the Entoto market and for coffee. We were in the latter group since we went to the museum two years ago.

Day 6
We toured the care center which was pretty interesting. The morning entailed the going away celebration which was very emotional. They dressed up all of the kids in traditional dress and presented them to the parents. They took a handprint from each child to keep at the care center. They filmed and took pictures of this. The nannies love all of the children and were going to miss them. She was finally in our care!! In the afternoon we made the embassy trip. Two years ago this took forever and we had to wait in an extremely hot room. This time it went much better. The entire group waited downstairs until they called a family. When it was our turn, we went upstairs to the window. The lady asked us a few questions, we signed a paper and we were done!

Day 7
All day with Aliya. We watched a person braid a woman's hair. She went very fast, so I'm not sure I learned anything.

Day 8
There was a cooking class in the morning. I stayed at the other guest house with Aliya because she was taking a nap. Dave went and made some injera. They also did a coffee ceremony which was very neat. We packed and Dave went to the office to get all of her paperwork in the secret envelope. We took some last minute photos and headed off to the airport. Dave and I had a difficult time getting our tickets at the airport because for some reason Aliya's address didn't match our home address? I don't know why this had anything to do with flying home, but it did. We finally got it resolved and headed through. Our entire group flew KLM to Amsterdam. We didn't get a bassinet, but the flight was pretty empty so a stewardess moved us up several rows to a row of four seats and we got all four. Therefore Aliya was able to lay on a seat and sleep. We landed in Amsterdam and said our goodbyes to Savannah, Seattle, Texas, and New York. Three groups plus us were flying to Detroit. Again Dave and I did not get a bassinet, but they moved us to a row of three and we got the extra seat to lay Aliya down.

DAVE MAKING INJERA

COFFEE CEREMONY

Day 9
We made it through immigration rather painlessly. I have to say and we did tell our immigrant guy, that Detroit immigration was very easy and nice. We then said goodbye to the other three groups and headed for our last leg. This time Dave and I didn't have seats together so they moved us and we got almost a bulkhead seat that had three seats and we were again able to lay Aliya down. The entire time neither Dave or I were sick and then we landed in Denver and I vomited several times in the airport. My parents and nephews were there to pick up Tim and Karleen. Diane and Owen were there to pick us up. Finally home!

Day 10
Dave got sick.

Day 11
We are still adjusting.

Day 12
Finally feel like we don't need to take a nap upon waking up.

We're leaving!!!!!!!!

2008-05-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

I know it has been forever since I last posted, but things have been crazy around here. We got the news Monday that we will be traveling to Ethiopia in one week!!! We have so much to do. I can't believe we are finally going to meet our daughter. Dave and I will be going and leaving Owen with his Grandma. I know he'll be fine, but it is going to be so hard to leave him for ten days. My sister and her husband are traveling with us. All of us will be staying at the care center which works out so nice. Got to go and start getting things ready!

We got our referral!!

2008-03-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Finally, after 8 and a half months we received our referral. Here's the story:

Last Thursday I came home to a message from our local agency requesting translated paperwork for the child. I called them back stating that we didn't use them for Owen and that we had not yet received a referral, so I didn't know what they were needing. The woman put me on hold and then came back stating that someone would call me back to talk about it. About ten minutes later, she called back apologizing that she was new and that she meant to call our agency. I called Dave immediately and related the story. We both came to the conclusion that they must have a referral, but were missing some sort of document. So, the rest of the day and into the evening we anxiously waited for our call. By 9:00 pm we hadn't heard anything, so we went to bed sad and confused.

Dave decided to call our local agency the next morning to find out what was going on. He didn't get much information so he emailed our agency that deals with Ethiopia stating what had happened the day before and asked if we had a referral. The woman at that agency emailed us back saying how sorry she was that we went through that, that they did hand out a lot of referrals that week but we didn't have one. She also stated that we were number one on the list and that she hoped that she would receive more referrals by the end of the month.

Dave emailed me saying that he was taking a half day. So, Owen and I came home at our usual time and had lunch. Owen laid down for his nap while Dave watched TV and I worked on a blanket. We sat there very bitterly. At 2:15 the phone rang and I expected it to be our realtor to set up a showing for our house. To my surprise the caller ID said it was our agency in Minnesota. I answered it quickly and our representative said "You're not going to believe it, but we received a handful of referrals today". I quickly got Dave on the phone and we listened while she told us about her.

We are naming her Aliya Agegnehush Zitek and she was born February 5, 2008 in Morsito, Ethiopia.

When Owen woke up, we showed him her picture and the first thing he said was "She needs socks" and then he said "She needs a hat".

We are so thrilled and we hope to travel late May/early June.

Still waiting . . .

2008-02-15T13:00:00.000-08:00

So, I thought for sure that we would have a referral by today. I even thought that it would be exactly today since two years ago today is when we received our referral for Owen. We have actually waited 7 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days longer than we had to wait for Owen's referral. It has been a really long week and now that today is half-way over, I have given up hope for a referral this week. And as the wait for referral gets longer, so does our travel date and now I don't think I will miss any part of work. I sure hope next week brings news.

First video online

2008-02-11T18:40:00.000-08:00

I finally figured out how to download videos. Here is one to start. Enjoy.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We are done with all of Owen's "official" paperwork!

2008-01-30T15:52:00.000-08:00

We received Owen's Certificate of Citizenship today in the mail. This was the very last document that required "official" put together and involved our government. It only took 7 months to get. By having this certificate, the US government can never say that he is not a citizen. He will have this the rest of his life with a picture of him at 18 months (a very cute picture though).
Although we are done with all of the "official" paperwork, we will still have to submit a written update of Owen with four pictures every year until he turns 18. These will be sent to the government in Ethiopia. A small price to pay to have such a wonderful person in our lives.

What is a referral?

2008-01-28T06:48:00.000-08:00

If you are unfamiliar with the adoption process, then you don't know the steps. What Dave and I are currently waiting for is a referral. A referral is when we are matched with a child. Our agency receives information about a child that is eligible for adoption. They then look at all of the applicants to see who best matches up with the child. So we are waiting for an infant girl (0-12 months). The ticker above shows how long we have been waiting. Our dossier (all of the paperwork we had to collect) was approved on June 26th.
After we receive our referral, our case has to go to court in Ethiopia. We wait for our court date (up to two months after referral). Once we get through court, we then wait about two weeks for our child's birth certificate. After we receive the birth certificate, we then wait for a tentative travel date. So we can expect to travel approximately 12-16 weeks after we receive our referral.
We are so close to getting a referral!

Owen is Two!

2008-01-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

Can you believe it? Owen had an "Elmo" party last weekend and really enjoyed himself. He is just so smart. He loves to complete puzzles and finds it funny when he puts a piece in the wrong place. In fact, he will look at you to see if you noticed. He loves to sing "A, B, C, etc." and "Twinkle, Twinkle". His favorite songs to listen to are "ABC" by Dora, "ABC-DEF-GHI" by Elmo, "Sunshine on My Shoulders" by John Denver and "Sweet Escape" by Gwen Stefani.

Current stats:
Height: 34" - 35%
Weight: 23# 10.5 oz - 7%
Head: 49.5 cm - 70%

Funny things Owen is saying

2008-01-03T14:43:00.000-08:00

"I found it!" (in reference to whatever may be missing)
"Bless you (whoever sneezes or coughs)"
"I did it!" (In reference to using a spoon or fork successfully)
"Where (anything that is missing) go?" (while holding up both hands in confusion)
and my sister's favorite:
"Elmo sleeping" (or replace Elmo with anything that he can't play with or watch at the moment.)

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T14:35:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it is already 2008. As you can see by the ticker, we have been waiting just over 6 months for the referral of our daughter. When we first submitted our dossier, the wait time was 5-7 months. It has now increased to 6-9 months. Not only has the wait for referral increased, but the wait between referral and travel has also increased. Luckily we have our darling Owen to get us through the wait. I believe that we will get a referral on February 15th (that was the date of Owen's referral) and Dave thinks it will be March 15th. I guess we'll have to see.
We had a wonderful Christmas. Santa brought Owen a choo choo and he was excited. Diane and Gene visited from New Jersey and were able to enjoy the White Christmas that we had in Denver this year.
Owen will be turning two in a week, although if you ask him how old he will be, he responds "Three".

A Visit with Santa

2007-12-02T18:56:00.000-08:00

We visited Santa yesterday. We have found a place that is never busy (there was one person in front of us in line) and the picture with Santa is free. Can't beat that, especially when you don't know how an almost two year old will react to Santa. Dave brought him to Santa and I was in charge of the camera this year. Owen did not cry at all. He just sat there and looked at Santa. By the end he was smiling and liked the fact that Santa gave him a candy cane.

Tree Cutting

2007-12-02T18:48:00.000-08:00

It was that time of year again. When we travel up to the mountains to cut down our Christmas tree. Owen is now in the transition period of that he is old enough to walk, but slowly and clumsily in the mountain terrain and he is too heavy to carry, but it goes much faster. So, we went back and forth on walking and carrying. We did end up visiting two sites to look for a tree. The first one was too rocky and didn't have the ideal Christmas trees. So we got in the car and traveled back toward the entrance a bit and tried again. We were able to get a great tree, it is tall and skinny. Perfect for our house.

Owen thought that it was pretty neat that a tree was in our house. He wanted to touch it a lot, so we're going to have to watch him. We decorated the tree Sunday evening and Owen "helped" by trying to take off ornaments.

Owen's new bed

2007-11-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

Last night we made the big move of putting Owen in his big boy bed. We've been prepping him for a little bit by purchasing a mattress and having him play in his new room and go on his bed. I think he was a bit confused because even though we did his same routine, it was in a different room and there wasn't a chair or crib. Instead of reading in his rocking chair, I read to him on his bed. When storytime was over, I turned off the light and crawled into bed with him. We laid there for a bit and I talked to him about his new room and then said good night. We heard him playing and talking for about an hour, then he began to cry. Dave went up and laid with him for about five minutes and then we heard nothing more. He was still sleeping when we went in this morning, so I've attached that picture.

We were originally going to have him sleep in his bed at night and his crib for naps, but he did such a good job that we decided to try nap time in his bed today. We heard him for about 45 minutes talking and playing and then he went to sleep. Tonight we heard him for about 30 minutes. We really can't believe how smooth a transition it has been, but when he ran to his bed after brushing his teeth we saw that as a sign that he liked his bed.

Halloween

2007-10-31T18:56:00.001-07:00

Owen helped us carve pumpkins. He liked the goo and the fact that we carved out triangles. This year he really wanted to touch the pumpkin when the candle was lit, even though he knew it was hot. For Halloween night we put Owen in a leopard costume and he was very cute. Owen stayed in his costume for 3 and 1/2 hours. We went Trick or Treating to a couple of houses. We started at our next door neighbor who we know and actually went inside their house. Owen played with the little boy's toys for a while, so at one point we thought that he may think that Trick or Treating meant that he went inside someone's house and played with their toys. Fortunately this didn't happen. We went to a couple more houses where he did say "Trick or Treat". One of the houses was like ours so it had steps going up to the front door. As we were walking up them, Owen kept saying "Trick or Treat" over and over again, so I think he got it. We then came home and passed out candy with Owen's help. Our neighbor that we first went to came to our house and they came in for a while. It was a lot of fun.

First Snow of the Season

2007-10-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

If you don't live in Colorado, you really can't appreciate our weather. Yesterday's high in Denver was 80 degrees. Today it is in the 30's and snowing! At this point we received about 4-5 inches and it is still snowing. The forecast has us in the upper 60's by Tuesday and the 70's by Wednesday. Owen really enjoyed the snow this time and really liked eating it. Doesn't he look like the little boy from A Christmas Story?

Pumpkin Patch!

2007-10-13T15:10:00.000-07:00

We went to the Pumpkin Festival today at Chatfield. We put Owen in his Halloween costume and he went around the festival in a wagon. We went back to the pumpkin patch first to pick our pumpkins. Owen had a good time walking around touching all of the pumpkins. He tried to pick up several, but was only successful with small ones and gourds. We then had Owen go to the petting zoo and he is definitely not afraid of animals. He was trying to hug all of them like he hugs Bailey. At one point he wedged himself between two rather large sheep. Can you believe that he kept his costume on the entire time?! However, as soon as we got in the car, he took of the hat! We'll be carving our pumpkins in a couple of weeks.

Playing the Piano

2007-10-13T15:05:00.000-07:00

Owen enjoys playing the piano and wants to play it everyday. I have to leave the keyboard open because if he wants to play and the keyboard is closed he tries to open it himself which has almost led to pinched fingers. Below is a picture of Owen having his baby play the piano.

Upcoming NBA Player

2007-10-06T18:42:00.000-07:00

I think Owen may be ready for the NBA. He jumps about an inch off the ground and is able to throw the ball. Maybe in a few more years . . .

New Bedroom Set

2007-10-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

We purchased a new bedroom set for Owen. I can't believe he will be two in three months! We will be transitioning Owen to his new bed as late as our referral or if he decides that he can crawl out of his crib before then. The bedroom set barely fits his room since it is connected to a Jack and Jill bath, therefore having two doors. He likes to jump on the bed and pull out the drawers of his dresser. We'll see how he transitions.

Our New Little Wonder

2007-09-25T12:05:00.000-07:00

We are currently in the process of our second adoption. We are requesting an infant girl and hope to have a referral by the end of the year or early next year. So when we finally travel, it will be about two years since we last went to Ethiopia. We think Owen will be excited because he loves kids. In partial preparation for our new edition, I found a doll that my grandparents gave to me a long time ago. Owen loves to hold her while he is watching Elmo. In the picture below, Owen has that look because he's annoyed that I was interrupting Elmo.

New blog and stuff

2007-09-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

We decided to change to a free blog, so make sure to save this address. We received Owen's passport in the mail on Monday! The new ones are very fancy. This may not be exciting to most, but those who have adopted know what a relief it is. We had to send in his Permanent Resident card that we just recently found to verify that he is a US citizen and we were a bit nervous sending this off since we need it back for Owen's Certificate of Citizenship. We got his passport and resident card and now we are only waiting for the letter from USCIS stating that we need to send in his resident card to receive the COC. The COC will be the FINAL piece of paperwork for Owen (besides the yearly update to Ethiopia).
Owen is now 20 months old and LOVES Elmo. He has Elmo shoes, 2 dolls, a couple of books, a video, and he watches Elmo on You Tube (Elmo and Chris Rock and Elmo and Andrea Bocelli).
Below is a picture of Owen and Bailey. Owen loves Bailey and Bailey is tolerant of Owen.

The referral of Owen

2007-09-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here is an old post from our previous blog. This tells the story of the day we received our referral for Owen. It's hard to beleive this was 15 months ago.

On Wednesday night February 15, 2006, Megan and I were watching the Olympics, specifically freestyle moguls.

The day before we had received word from our agency assisting with the Ethiopian portion of the adoption that our dossier looked great and that we have been officially added to the wait list and a huge weight was lifted with the relief that the major paperwork was done. When we started the process many months earlier the wait time for a referral was listed at 0-2 months. A few days earlier we had received the February newsletter that listed the referral time at 0-4 months. Many people waiting for referrals had requested girls or siblings and some had already been waiting two months for their referral. While we knew the referral of a boy would be quicker we wanted to set a realistic time frame so we wouldn’t start getting to anxious. One month seemed reasonable.

On the morning of the 15th somebody on the message board of the agency’s website had listed out those people she knew to be waiting and asked if she had missed anybody that they to added their names. After seeing a list of about 15-18 people I noticed that none of them were currently waiting for the referral of a boy. Now trying to keep with the previously decided upon month, I tried not to think much of this. That lasted about two minutes before I decided I needed to call Megan and share with her the news. About this time I started to think, maybe any night now Peggy will call with the referral. Peggy was our social worker that conducted the three home studies and she would be the one to deliver the good news when the time came. I needed to settle down I was setting myself up for a completely unnecessary disappointment every night.

When I got home from work that day, the adoption is all Megan and I could talk about, that in and of its self is not that unusual, but we just kept talking about how there might not really be any people waiting before us in line to receive a referral. I didn’t really let Megan know that I was starting to think maybe it could even happen tonight or tomorrow. I called my sister to wish her happy birthday and we talked about her pregnancy, she is due on March 20th and the adoption process some, with me giving her the same month or so until a referral story. While I was on the phone the door bell rang and the first thing I thought was, “is it Peggy with the referral.” Okay, so I wasn’t doing very well with the whole lets try not to obsess over the referral thing. Well if you are thinking the doorbell is what I have been leading up to you would be wrong. It was just the delivery of a book I had ordered from Amazon.

After dinner we settled down into the family room and Megan started grading papers while I sat back and watched the Olympics. This was the perfect distraction, Megan could spend her time trying to decipher 7th grade handwriting while I sat and listened to the placid sounds of Bob Costas. At about 7:45 the phone wrung, Megan looked over and saw that the caller ID showed Peggy’s name. We both just looked at each other for a second, before I picked up the phone.
“Hi Dave, its Peggy, how are you?”
“I’m doing well, how are you?”
“Good, do you have a moment?”
“Yes”
“Is Megan around?”
At this time I started to shake (even more then usual). I had a pretty good idea what this was about.
“Yes she’s here”
“Can she pick up another phone?
Now this is a reasonable question to ask of just about anybody who owns his or her own home in 21st century America. But keep in mind we do have a dog that is just under two. Bailey several months earlier, apparently over the frustration of not having the opposable thumbs necessary to dial a phone decided to eat the phone. So we only have the one phone.
“Um, I can’t believe this but we don’t have another phone. Maybe we can put you on speakerphone. Wait, no the phone that had that option is the one that broke.”
“Just have her tell you.” Megan says
“Megan said its okay to just tell me.”
“Okay, well we have a referral for the two of you. It’s a baby boy born on January 12.”
Both Megan and I have a smile ear to ear as I look over to confirm with Megan the news. Megan then hands me paper to start writing down what she is telling me.
“His name is Joseph.”
I believe the call went on for another minute or two with both Megan and I relatively speechless. We set up a time on Saturday for us to meet and get all of Joseph’s information and the one picture they had.

After I hung up both Megan and I just looked at each other and started mumbling something along the lines of it’s happened, this is it, and we have a son. Both of us looked down at the paper on the coffee table that just said Jan. 12, Joseph and Boy. With that paper, a few tears in our eyes we hugged and we had become parents.
Editor's Note - Later Megan and Dave saw that the babies name was Yoseph not Joseph, although the social worker was saying Joseph.