Sibling Love

Bradey and Brooks absolutely love their little sister. They argue over who's turn it is to get her out of her crib, who gets to unbuckle her from her carseat, who gets to hold her hand, carry her, etc. For the most part Anna too loves her brothers ~ about 90 percent of the time she tolerates them carrying her around like a ragdoll and manhandling her. As long as they aren't getting too much of mommy's or daddy's attention she's happy :-)

Comfort Food

Poor Anna had a cold this week and you could tell just by looking in her eyes that she felt miserable. I decided to make for dinner what we saw her eat in the orphanage with her group, mashed potatoes mixed with meat, onions and cabbage. We are not a big meat and potatoes family, but I wanted to try to give Anna some sort of comfort. Well as you can see, it worked! Little Anna ate the biggest portion of food we have seen since she was in the orphanage! She gobbled down every bite that was in her bowl and even finished some of mine. The boys were not quite as excited about the meal (they can't stand potatoes) but they saw how excited Anna was and it encouraged them to eat it too.




All mixed together potatoes, cabbage, meat and onion



Oh thank you mama, I LOVE it!



All Gone!!



Yeah for familiar food, lets do that more often:-)

Celebrate!!

Some pictures of Anna's first Independence Day as an American citizen!

We had a great day celebrating our freedom and this wonderful country. Ryan's mom is in town visiting, the kids decorated their bikes and rode in the annual neighborhood bike parade, then we barbecued and enjoyed the huge display of fireworks courtesy of all our neighbors.
















KABOOM!!