February Pictures

February was really cold, but we managed to get outside a few times... Alex is our cold blooded little Kazakh! He does not like to stay out long! Which is fine by us, really. Anthony, could really care less... he was stuck in that huge fluffy suit! He wasn't cold that's for sure!



This is Anthony's new smile for the camera! I think it is so hilarious! So forgive me if i put a bunch of these on here! They make me laugh!



This was a quick family picture outside!



Alex in his snow cave! There was so much snow piled up from the plow! so Jerry and Alex dug through it as Anthony watched form his stroller!


See how tall the snow was!



Another day, they made a snow man! I think it is the cutest snow man ever! Alex said he looked like the penguin on "Surf's up"... big Z i think...



Because that is what boys do... destroying the snowman!!!



A perfect smile from Anthony... the only way is to actually make him laugh or smile on his own... instead of saying "smile"


Attempting to get some cute pics of them together... which is nearly impossible these days...


Anthony walked for good on February 24!!! That was the day that he walked more than he crawled... he would get back up if he fell... But he had been taking steps since January 16. it was very exciting!!! he was so funny! so tense and had his little arms up in front of his chest... bent at a 90 degree angle most of the time... so cute!




A normal day of play...


We had to get our fingerprints taken for the 3rd time for our China adoption! Both boys came of course... They were very good in there... we had the same security guy as we have had every other time... all 4 of them...

The one below is for Carla Higgins... notice the double chin going on... haha!!



This is Lucy! 5 months old already and so big! we were watching this video about birds migrating and she was going berserk! she was chattering away and wanting to attack them! It was so funny!


We decided that we needed to get rid of some trees... there was one that died a couple years ago, one fell over when we got a bunch of rain, and the other one was perfectly fine, except it was shading the garden!! So Jerry brought the excavator out, Anthony loved it! Alex was riding in there with Jerry! Oh! and I have to tell you this... Jerry is the best excavator operator of all!!!!

This was the perfectly-good-tree... He dug out the side and then pushed it over in the opposite direction... it didn't even break the concrete edging around it...

Then they put the chain around it and lifted it away!


Anthony watched it all from the comfort of his stroller... in the rain! Just before jerry took the excavator away, Anthony got his first ride! He LOVED it!!!! he was sooooo excited! as you can tell.

Just Beautiful Alex... I love those eyes and those cute ears!


This was goofing around with one of those ace-bandages...
After each of the boys had a chance, they decided to do Jerry!!! They thought it was soooo funny that he couldn't see where he was going... he of course played it up by running into things.

Funny boy!!!!


I just thought he looked beautiful, and serious!

Cute Boys...

Some Random Pictures

We had Anthony's dedication to God at church... we had our good friends Pastor Anthony and Lianro come up to have the service! Anthony did a very nice job... It was soooo very meaningful knowing how much they love our kids! I made a video of pictures from our journey to Anthony that we showed at church as part of the dedication. I will see if i can load that to you tube and put it on here... this will be a new one for me! :) By the way... baby Anthony just woke up from his usual morning nap in church and when Pastor Anthony took him in his arms... poor Anthony started to cry sooo hard! If you look close in the picture you can see his eye squinched up!

Alex eating his olives at the Dedication Celebration Luncheon! Silly boy!

The amount of snow we recieved in just a couple days before Anthony and Lianro got here from a very warm climate! They were a little horrified! It was the coldest week of the season so far... go figure!


We transformed Alex's crib into his "big boy bed" on new years... we put the toy chest into the closet so incase he fell out he would not hit his head on the corner in the night! He says he only fell out once.

One last picture before we took them back to the airport! The boys LOVE them!

The two Anthonys

The boys in the shirts Aunt Lianro and Uncle Anthony brought them.

Lucy... sleeping in the seed-garlic box... silly kitten.

Family workout time... Anthony on the Ab-Lounger and...

Alex on the tread mill!

11 Years!!!!?

Good Grief! I can't believe Jerry and i have been married 11 years! That is crazy... it only feels like a couple! This year we really didn't do anything special for our anniversary... we drove all the way to the middle of Nebraska that day... with Alex and Anthony in the back... and no kidding... Alex started asking if we were there about an hour into the trip! It was a 12 hour trip!!! Jerry and i were laughing... about how true the joking is about "are we there yet?"

I guess you could say we spent some quality time together though! We read and chatted nearly the entire way! Well, I read to him and he drove mostly...

Before you know it we will be 20 years and Alex will almost be a teenager!!! Ahhhhhh!!!!!

Snow, Snow and More Snow!

Watching Daddy remove the tons and tons of snow from the driveway! It's so cool that daddy has a backhoe! We could watch this for hours! Since we had about 2 feet of drifting snow in 24 hours... we might need to! Anthony of course is banging on the window yelling... "da-da!!" in his cute squeal-y voice.

Sad Heart...

My paternal Grandma died Christmas night this year. It was sudden and VERY unexpected... heart failure during her sleep, she was healthy, working, very active and only 71!! I am in complete shock... still not sure i really believe it... and we have already driven all the way to Nebraska for the funeral and back. The saddest part is that we were not very close. we sent Christmas cards and maybe one other correspondence during the year. I regret that. Why was I not more diligent? Our story of course is very complicated and there are several people involved... but in the end I am a grown woman and should have done more... The complicated part is the fact that my parents divorced when I was about 5 and i lived with my mom and you can imagine the rest. ( i already see the opinions that have rubbed off on Alex that are my own although i am trying very hard not to that too much) So sad how that happens... Anyways... i got her Christmas card 2 days after she died... she didn't write anything extra in it... just signed it "Grandma ****" That made me sad, i am afraid she was mad at me for not keeping in touch more... I didn't write anything extra in my card either. I just sent pictures.

At the funeral I noticed a few things... she was very loved and everyone's friend. My dad, I learned, was supposed to spend Friday with her for Christmas. My aunt and cousin had been with her on Christmas day and spent the night there... when she didn't get up in the morning, they found her... Therefore my dad was VERY sad... he did not at least get her last Christmas with her. That broke my heart... mostly because i know they are all hurting so bad... since they were much closer to her. I noticed that my dad's wife is really part of the family... i saw her tears flowing more than once. I realized that my dad and his wife really love one another... i guess i never thought about it before... not sure why. They have been married for probably 20 years at least! It was refreshing...

The whole thing is just very sad... i had to erase her name from my address list... I will never go to her house again... or see all the pictures she had on her walls or see how much she loves her kitty-cats. She will never send me a letter again, telling me all about what my cousin has been up to. My sister, April had the video half done that she always sends G-ma after Christmas of the kids. just not right. I didn't even know her birthday until the funeral.

What was nice was being "forced" to drive out there for a day... we were able to see everyone... my dad's side and then we stayed with my other grandparents (mom's side). Everyone was able to meet Anthony and see how much Alex has grown and how delightful they are. Too bad Grandma didn't get to meet Anthony before...

I definitely plan to communicate more this year.

Christmas Photos

Here are the Christmas pictures that I took of the boys! I think they turned out wonderful... Since it is really so hard to get them to look at the camera at the same time AND SMILE! :)

They are such cute little guys! When i printed them for my family for Christmas, they made me fill out all these crazy releases saying that i owned the pictures and that i took the pictures, yada yada yada... boy does that make one feel good! :)

Merry Christmas!

For those of you stopping by for the first time... Welcome! We have several blogs that we keep, feel free to explore and read as much or as little as you'd like! Here's a list below.

http://cookfamilyadventures.blogspot.com/ - This is the one you are at... It was the start of tracking our adoption... but has grown to a miscellaneous Family blog.

http://cookfamilyadventuresinkaz.blogspot.com/ - This was our blog when we traveled to Kazakhstan the first time to adopt Alex. This is a really big blog with tons of pictures.

http://cookfamilyadventuresinchina.blogspot.com/ - This is the blog that will follow us to China to adopt a daughter or two... there is a little bit there now, but it will be a few years from now that we will actually get to go to China.

http://cookfamilyadventuresinkaz2.blogspot.com/ - This is the blog to follow our second adoption from Kazakhstan. We traveled in July to Uralsk Kazakhstan to adopt Anthony! This blog is private and you will need to email me for an invite.

http://cookfamilyadventuresinmexico.blogspot.com/ - This is mostly photography from our trip to Mexico for the Baja 1000 race. We did visit an orphanage while we were there and we met our sponsor children.

http://teamgodspeedbaja1000.blogspot.com/ - This is my public blog about our race in the Baja. Other team members belong to the blog and can also post things on there about the trip.

New-ish Photos...

These photos are already a month old... But so cute...













Snow Portraits to come soon!!

Alex and Anthony!

Here's my beautiful boys!