Vacation to California and Arizona

A couple of weeks ago we traveled to CA and AZ to introduce Anna to all of her extended family. She had already met her grandma's and grandpa's, but there were many Great Grandma's and Papa's, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. waiting to finally meet the little one they have all prayed for so long for. It was 2 weeks of lots of new faces, but Anna did great and loved all of the attention. There are SO many pictures to post, but here is just a sampling of the loving family that Anna now has forever!



Anna and her sweet cousin Megan



"Anna Christine" with her Aunt Christine



The boys with their cousins Collin and Joshua



The adults out celebrating Christy's birthday!



Anna smooching her Great Grandma O



Anna and Grandpa



Playing with Grandma



The boys with their AZ cousins Ben and Sam



Anna and GaGa



Great Grandpa Vogel and Granny



Gaga and Papa

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!!

Father's Day

Here are some pictures of how we spent Anna's first Father's Day!



Life can be crazy somedays with three kiddos!



Daddy's little shadow



Bradey challenged daddy to a game of Mario Kart Wii...daddy lost :-(





Out flying kites after dinner



One tired baby...

Bradey's Recital

Bradey had his second recital this week. He worked so hard and we are busting with pride!

One Month Home!

Anna has been home with us one month today! It is interesting being on this side of our adoption process. I followed so many other families journeys and watch them bring their children home and sometimes doubted if it would ever happen for us. Now she is here where she belongs, and I sometimes still can't believe it! The other day I was driving around and looked in the mirror and saw her sleeping peacefully in her carseat and couldn't help but cry. She is REALLY here, in my car! a place I have prayed for her so many times while driving carpool, running errands, etc. Thank you Lord for bringing Anna home, you have been so faithful even when my faith was weak.





As you can see Anna is not such a fan of her crib (yet!) She made the transition from our room to her room this past week, but is still in her pack-n-play.



I know I am a big meany for taking this picture of her crying, but it was so cute I couldn't resist. Someday she will love her crib, I am sure of it:-)



She has gotten over her fear of the carseat! YEAH!



She decided to join her brothers in the sprinkler and she LOVED it!