Birthdays Birthdays Birthdays

Okay once again I am so behind on posts... I still need to post about our annual trip to Florida, Thanksgiving and Christmas!  ... and I will get there.  But, for now let's talk about Birthdays. We have a lot of them in our little family of four all at once.
On the 13th of December our first baby turned seven!!! Wow what a year this has been for our sweet Gracie. She has grown into quite the inquisitive, smart, self-confident seven year old. We love you so very much!!!

Grace was lucky enough to have a few celebrations this year. She started off with a small celebration when we were in Florida.



Next a pool party with classmates...

To wrap it up, a combined family party with Jackson.

 Our little man, Jackson, turned two on New Year's Eve.... our little NYE baby.  Last year he  was in Korea with his Foster Family on his birthday. Of course at that time, I wanted nothing more than for him to be home with us. But, I am now glad he was able to celebrate his first birthday in Korea, with Korean traditions and his foster family. We have pictures of this celebration and can tell it was more special than we can imagine. This year we were so lucky to have him home to celebrate with us! He knew right away how to blow out the candles and was so very excited to do so! Unfortunately, we ran into camera issues and don't have as many pictures of this as we'd like but, we do have some great video.  Happy 2nd  Birthday Sweet Jackson!!!! You are so intelligent, sweet, busy and wild! :) We love you so much!

On January 3rd, it was the old man's turn to celebrate his special day. Gracie helped me surprise him with breakfast in bed. We followed that up with a homemade cake and candles after dinner. Then Mommy and Daddy had a grown up celebration downtown with great friends.

 Happy Happy Birthday to three most special people in my life!!!

Two Special Days for Jackson!

On November 16th Jackson's adoption was official and finalized! Yippee!  We had our last few in home meetings with our Social Worker right around that special day. She mentioned a few times that she couldn't believe how much he has come out of his shell since the last time she saw him. This took me back a bit because I guess seeing him everyday, I didn't realize how much he has changed in just the last two months. But, after thinking I realized ..she is right. He is such a character...so much like his Daddy. He loves to laugh and make us laugh. He is curious and busy and can express himself so well through not only all his new words but, his actions.
Some of my current favorites about Jackson....
**He loves to Dance! He has a new fascination with the W*ggles and loves to shake his little booty with them. I tend to create little my own little jingles while we change a diaper or get dressed. Even these little (sad) tunes can spark a little booty shake.
**He mimics everything other Kids do, especially his sister.
** He loves Grace and looks to her for guidance.
** He is adventurous but, smart and cautious. He will try anything after surveying it.
** He is so affectionate and loves to give hugs, which are the sweetest. He hugs any part of you. One of the cutest is when he runs up and hugs your legs. His head comes up to just about most adults' knees. He'll swing his arms around both legs and squeeze tight.
** He has a new fascination with picture books. His favorites are those with cars and balls.
**On that note, Jackson loves anything cars. He plays with cars, rides his little red car all throughout the house, carries cars everywhere we go and points out every car he sees. Yesterday we were in the car and he saw one of those Semis that carry cars.  He yelled "Ma! Ma!...cars,truck" and laughed and laughed. I guess he thought seeing cars traveling on a truck was just too silly.


Yesterday we had our 6 month post placement visit with our pediatrician. Jackson has grown into the 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. He is doing so well and we love him so much!

On November 20th, we had Jackson baptized and welcomed into our church. It was a special day that we celebrated with some family and friends.
Isn't he just so stylin in that white suit? 

 With his Godparents and family...

 With his godmomma :)...

 And some family photos...we never did get everyone in all the pictures or everyone looking but, these are still good shots :)

Fall Fun...

To continue with my theme of trying to get caught up, here is a "fall fun wrap up" with photos ...

The fall started out with the beginning of 1st Grade...
Grace started out this school year with many firsts that she didn't have at the start of Kdg. She is now a master on the two wheeler. She has had two visits from the tooth fairy. She graduated to level 3 in swimming. That includes not holding her nose and doing the front crawl unassisted. And she is now a super duper big sister.

Apple Picking with some family....so much fun on a beautiful Fall Day.

I ran my first and hopefully, not last half marathon. I had some great motivation from my friend, Dee. I never thought I could do it but, was so happy after I had finished.

Our Agency's Annual Korean Celebration. The kids loved the food and crafts. We all enjoyed meeting friends face to face that we have only shared conversations with online.

 The Fall Weather was amazing this year and we tried to get out as much as possible...

Gracie enjoyed a very special day downtown with her Neena to see M*ry Poppins...

...and of course,Happy Halloween!!

A Video...

Jackson usually freezes or goes stone faced when he sees any type of video recorder or camera so, I was very lucky to get this video.

Please focus on the cute little man and ignore the lady in the background with no makeup on...

Really quick Summer wrap up...because I've totally slacked.

Well my plan to be a better blogger for myself, my family, and our memories has obviously not happened. But, I guess a blog here and there is better than none at all. It looks like my last post was almost two months I guess my only reason for this is we are keeping busy. The summer flew by and we kept very busy. Also, our little man  is very busy, so playful, and so speedy..... keeps us busy and moving every second that he is awake.... :)

We have waited a long time to become a family of four and we can't get enough of family time. Our kids are so much fun!
Since I missed posting about some of our great outings and adventures this summer. Here are some pictures and quick recaps...

We spent the weekend with Uncle M., Aunt A. Aunt R. and cousin Scottie in Wisconsin Dells. The kids all loved the water and running around the parks and villa together..

Gracie got to go to her first concert....

M*llenium Park Fun....

Jackson was soaked and had the best time splashing around with Gracie...

 Some just Mommy and Daddy fun, KJ and I met some famous peeps at an annual work celebration...

 Gracie Sporting the shirt after the celebration..

 Of course there was lots of water play and trips to the zoo....

 Thank you summer of 2011 for being the best summer yet.