Game on...be it basketball or cupcake eating!

Jacob had his first Basketball game last Friday and let me just say, he has some moves. NO idea, I mean absolutly no idea what he is doing, but he had the best time ever and ran like a pro and acted as he was blocking everything in site. It was great. In fact, one time the coach blew his whistle and on the video that we have, you see Jacob stomping his foot as though he was saying, 'oh man'. Then he proceeded to do everything with his hands that the coach did, including wiping his nose. It was so hilarious and we had the greatest time. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that I signed Robb up to help coach. He was a great sport about it all and he did a great job.













Now, that leads us to the other little one in the house. Isabella and Jacob recently attended Thier cousins third birthday party where They had a fantastic time. They had a Princess tea and Isabella managed to enjoy every ounce of sugar that she ate, including the cupcake that she was trying to devour before her brother came over to eat only the frosting. It was a fun time and nice to see all the kiddos enjoying themselves. That's our girl!

Recap - DISNEY-mania!

Left Shangri La (that is what we affectionately call our apartment) a week ago last Saturday with freezing cold weather and some snow on the ground and entered into the world where acting silly is a requirement, carrying magic wands and pirate swords is a must, following pixie dust isn’t some 60’s bad dream, and seeing exotic animals from your hotel window is normal and the was sun shining and 80 degrees…..only to enter the Mouse’s House of Disney.

We spent 8 wonderful nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in Walt Disney World resorts. We park hopped every day, dined with a Princess and her Fairy God Mother as well as the big cheese himself and his friends, watched parades, marched in a parade, saw unbelievable fireworks most every night, met up with friends whom we traveled to China with (that really are considered family), stayed up late, acted like kids….(each and everyone of us), watched zebra, giraffe, and ostriches alike outside our hotel window each morning, and swam outside in January.

It was our first family trip out of state on an airplane as a family of four. Robb nor the kids have ever ventured into the world of Magic and dreams coming true….only to experience the BEST vacation we have EVER had. Our entire family are believers now, there really is some kind of Magic there, Fairy Dust really does make you fly and milk coming out of your nose doesn't get you in trouble - you just giggle. If we could go back tomorrow we would.

The best way to sum up this trip is a pictorial view of the vacation and the expressions on the kid’s faces tells the entire story. We highly, highly recommend it if you have never been of it you have, go again. From our house to yours……you and never to young or to old to go. As a good friend told me, it’s a different trip, vacation, experience, and/or park each time you enter the world of Magic and Dreams based on your children’s ages.

Happy New Year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!

I feel like it was just the 2000, when everyone was freaking out with a bit of concern that maybe everything would come to halt as the new millennium rolled over. Not us, we had a Pajama Party - Shrimp Boil. Everyone wore their PJ’s, we covered the table with mounds of shrimp, corn, and potatoes…ate, drank, brought in the New Year with friends, family, and fireworks. Was it really 8 years ago?

This year wasn’t much different. We kind of bombarded on some friends (invited ourselves over accidentally, by running by their house to pick up some things they have been storing for us), cooked them some dinner, and brought in the New Year together. Difference from then to now, we are all parents, so the noise level came from the kiddos and the drinking was minimal. None the less, it was great. We toasted at midnight, danced to Auld Lang Syne, and made some resolutions to be better parents, better friends, better spouses, better neighbors, eat healthier, move more, watch less television, better to our planet, and just be an all around better person. You know the saying, ‘when you know better you do better’.

I love the whole “fresh new start" thing that comes with the New Year. Robb and I have been talking and we want to make this year awesome. We want to live life to the fullest, do a little more as a family unit, and maybe fly by the seat of our pants just a little more. We have many, many, new changes happening this year – We are in the midst of packing for one of my all time dream vacations (taking the kids to Disney), I have gone back to work part time and am loving it, Jacob will start Kindergarten, we WILL move into a house (working really hard on that right now…we have a place we like, a builder we like, and house plans we are loving), Isabella will begin pre-school, and someone I know…will be turning 40!

We hope you are all ready for one heck of a great year. We know we are. We wish you a new year of opportunity, a new year of hope, life, growth, adventure, challenges, and certainly a new year to remember…so here’s to 2008! May it be all that you imagine, hope and dream it to be!

Santa found out we moved....

We had a wonderful Christmas. It started with a very early awakening of two little ones more excited than most begging to come see.....Santa came, he found out we moved and he knows where we live. Proceeded to by opening stockings, and more presents than a two bedroom apartment can hold. It was a mass of paper, followed by screams of 'just what I always wanted'....including me...I have been asking for a new camera for a very long time and Santa delivered. Just in time for the Christmas holiday and vacation. Not just need some time to read the directions and figure out to use it.

We then went to Grandpa's house for more stockings and breakfast. We have a family tradition of opening stockings at Grandpa's House and a dutch breakfast of eggs and Balken Brij. Delicious!

We then headed over to visit with my family and exchange gifts. There was a puppy dog visiting so the kids had a great time playing ball with the new dog.

After the morning rush, we settled for the day and evening at our last location - Robb's brother's house for a wonderful day of lunching, present opening, and a fantastic dinner. Everyone had such a wonderful time, left with arms full of presents, bellies full, and tired as could be.

Christmas was a smash - out of the park. We had a great day and couldn't have asked for more.



Stockings at our place on Christmas morning.



Jacob's favorite present of the day....a LARGE firetruck.



Isabella's favorite present of the day....a kitchen.

Happy Christmas Eve!

Happy Christmas Eve!

A very good friend sent this to us this morning and I felt the need to pass the wishes and cheer along.

My Christmas wish for you,

Is not a simple one
For I wish you hope and joy and peace
Days filled with warmth and sun
I wish you love and friendship too
Throughout the coming year
Lots of laughter and happiness
To fill your world with cheer
May you count your blessings, one by one
And when totaled by the lot
May you find all you've been given
To be more than what you sought
May your journeys be short, your burdens light
May your spirit never grow old
May all your clouds have silver linings
And your rainbows pots of gold
I wish this all and so much more
May all your dreams come true
May you have a Merry Christmas friend
And a happy New Year, too! ~ unknown

Until tomorrow, have a very blessed evening and take some time out of this busy night to thank the ones you love and hug them even tighter.

God Bless you all,

Robb, Angie, Jacob, and Isabella

Move Over November...December is here...

We are in full HOLIDAY mode here. We have trimmed the tree, hung the stockings, did Christmas cards, visited with Santa, wrote our Dear Santa Letters, explained even though we don't have a fire place - SANTA WILL COME, and a dear friend had us over to decorate cookies today (and sent a supply home for Jacob to decorate since he was at school during the party), had our first snow, frost, freezing ice, and even a couple of snow days, and now to finish shopping...and get some things mailed.

Bring on Dasher, Dancer, Ho-Ho-HO, and so forth......

Instead of Christmas letters or writing on cards this year (frankly had the best intentions it just didn't happen), we sent out cards with our blog address...that way you can stay in touch all year long and contact us if you want.

So, I leave you with photos and Cheers from our family to yours:
Sharing with you the Glory, the Wonder, and the Miracle of this Holy Season...
We wish you and your family and Blessed Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!

Robb, Angela, Jacob, and Isabella

Time Goes Flying By......

Whew - where does the time go? I guess when your having fun, it just flies by. I won't bore you with the mundane things in our lives, just catch you up on some highlights of November:

1. No house changes yet. Made some progress by meeting with a couple of builders and picked out a lot in a neighborhood. However, it's winter here...so no one if really building much anyway, so we of course are taking our time. Just doesn't seem like 5 months...........NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2. Spent Thanksgiving with some wonderful friends in their new home cooking the day away. It was a wonderful day, great friends, great food, and of course plenty of room for the kids to play. We had plenty to be thankful for this year. Did I mention, we cooked all day.....it was heaven being back in a functional working kitchen with plenty of room and materials to use. As you can imagine, here in the apartment, it's small, the appliances aren't the greatest, and I didn't pack everything I thought we would need. It's like one big long camping trip with running water and a toilet.

3. Robb has been traveling a lot with work...so he is a bit scarce these days. However, the wine business is treating him kind and he is loving every bit of it. So keep drinking.

4. Jacob is doing great in school and loving every bit of it as well. In fact, on days that we don't have school he is mad. It could however be that he has his first little crush on a little girl in his class that has glasses just like him, or his teacher is nicer than I am. We took Jacob to his first concert in November - Garth Brooks. It was wonderful. He had so much fun. In fact, they taped his show to put on a television program that we also taped. So, Jacob asks to watch it all the time. Because I packed all the musical instruments away, he runs around with a wooden spoon and pretends it's his guitar, fiddle, and/or microphone as he is jumping off the couch yelling. It's a site to see.

5. Isabella continues to grow and learn. She is enjoying her weekly gymnastics class and in fact is the class clown. She will do anything for a laugh, including making me chase her all over the place when she is suppose to be sitting still.

6. I am doing great. I continue to stay at home with the kids, watching them grow up way to fast and dream/think about what I want to do when I grow up.

7. Oh yea, we are taking a family vacation in January. It's Merry Christmas to us and then some. We are going to spend a week at Disney World, submerged in the magic. I absolutely can't wait. I am so beside myself. I know a lot of you don't care for it, think it's crazy, and blah, blah, blah....but this is a dream come true for me. To go on a Disney Adventure with my family. Best part, Robb has never ever been. So, he has no idea what is instore for him. He will be a kid again and love showeing our own kids these wonderful new things. We also are meeting up with two families that we traveled to China with who live in the area. We can't wait to see the girls again and see our friends. I will keep you posted on our adventures.

So all in all, we are doing great and wishing you all a Wonderful Holiday Season.

Jacob before the Garth Brooks Concert:


Our Turkey's at the very end of a Wonderful Long Thanksgiving Day:


Trimmed the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving:

Boo Halloween!

Whew – We recovered from the Halloween festivities and October itself. Seemed like it as a busy crazy month with all the events of work, school, Robb’s travel schedule, activities, house hunting and a big finish with Halloween.

We had a blast. Couldn’t ask for more perfect whether for this time of year, 65 and low wind. We spent the evening with family and meeting some new friends having dinner and then of course, Trick or Treating.



Jacob enjoyed Halloween like no other this year. His costume was a Police Officer, but it was more than a costume. It was a character….one that he took very seriously and took on the responsibility of directing traffic and directing the kids. He was such a big boy this year, he insisted on going up to each house alone this year.

Isabella was a Good Witch this year. She had a lot fun and thought she looked ‘pretty’ as she danced around the room telling us all. She also was in character for the night as well. If you asked her, ‘what do witches say’…she would reply in a crackly fast paced voice…’I’ll get you my pretty’. She also figured out just how to get ahead of her big brother. She would ask Robb to carry her by saying, ‘up daddy’. He would pick her up and walk with her to the doorway of each house. She would then say the magic words, and would insist that the person answer the door didn’t pick her treat, but she wanted to pick it. Once she got to put her hands into said treat area, she would smile at them and then take two of them. She would then reply politely, ‘thank you’…and turn to daddy and say “up daddy’. So, she got carried for the most part from house to house and doubled her take from her big brother.



The kids weren’t the only one in character for the night, Robb also go into the action and dressed up along with the kids. He went out dressed as a Cat Burglar. He was dressed in all black, including a stocking cap and flashlight and was a burglar to go along with the Police Officer for the night. Then I drew some whiskers on his face so that he could be the black cat that every little Witch needs….hence, Cat Burglar. He is a great daddy and the kids loved, loved his costume.



We had a wonderful night with family, friends, dinner, pumpkin carving, and treats…but the night did not end with out a ‘trick’. As we left the festivities from one location to another to visit some old neighbors, I (yes it was all ME – only because I failed to mention that along with family, friends, kids, and Trick or Treaters….we had a 'Beer Wagon' for all the dads following us in tow – therefore, I had to drive), turned a corner and hit the right rear tire in Robb’s truck against a curb. Therefore, after the huge bump in the night…the tire went flat (I completely destroyed it). So, Robb dressed as the Cat Burglar, was lying on the ground on Halloween night in the dark of it all changing a tire. Therefore, we missed a visit to our old neighbors. Sorry, but it was a school night and everyone was tired and wanted some candy, maybe next year.





All in all it was a wonderful, exciting evening had by all.

Trip to Pumpkin Patch and a Farmstead....

Been busy with fall activities, took a trip to the local Pumpkin Patch (which just gets better and better each year) and a trip with some friends to the a local farmstead to feed as many goats as we could. Now, we are trying to see home many times we can wear our Halloween costumes from now until next Wednesday night....(trying to get our monies worth)....look for more photos as we have a busy weekend planned.

Make your own slide shows and scrapbooks

Whatch been up to?

There’s a part of me that feels silly writing a blog. To me, it implies that I think I have something brilliant and important to say. I just feel that I can’t live up to that standard. Now that you know that I’m not planning to be brilliant, I can relax a little and enjoy the more informal nature of our blog.

Fall is wonderful here. I love it. It’s starting to get cool, things are still green, and the smells and colors are great. We have been busy living life and having some fun.

I got to get away for a day with some friends and do some scrap-booking, a wonderful fall rainy day, surrounded by lots of creative people, no drama, no hard work…just fun, pure fun. It was a nice day and of course as usual, didn’t get much accomplished but a lot of chit chat. I did manage to create two layouts on this great day.

The first layout is for this year’s Halloween photos, so it not being Halloween yet –not photos of the kids, but stay tuned….I will get photos.







The other layout titled “Red Couch” has no photos, because let’s face it…our China photos are a mess. Something I had hoped to make the time for with apartment living (not as of yet). However, I do have photos from China of the Red Couch and someday will put photos on this layout. I don’t really know how the Red Couch Photos started, perhaps it began because of the "Red Thread" legend (Ancient Chinese Legend says there is an invisible red thread that connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place or circumstance. The thread may stretch, or tangle, but never break.) It could have been because the lobby of the White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou, China just seemed a convenient location for a group photograph. I am unsure. But I do know that American parents adopting from China look forward to their "Red Couch" picture, which includes all of the children adopted alongside their child from the same orphanage. We were no exception. It is fifteen minutes of absolute chaos as parents place their children together on one of the White Swan's many red couches (which btw, before we were there…I thought there was just one infamous couch) before snapping a few photographs. Babies crying, parents not moving out of the way because they are afraid their child will fall, babies attacking other babies, mothers not liking their children crying and all the flashes from all the cameras. There is just something about these Red Couches, most every time I see photos from other families, it looked chaotic and there is always some child screaming. We experienced the same thing the day we took our photos. It makes for an incredible keepsake.

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We had a couple days off last week from school so we decided to make a big track all over the living room floor with every single train track piece we have. We then did not do the typical train, train station, and all aboard lingo….no this track was for a construction zone to be used only by Lego’s and Hot Wheels. Isabella has also taken up photography and is now our resident picture taker. However, if you ask me, I think she likes the sound her camera makes, so she just goes around pushing the buttons.














We also made some cupcakes for a friend’s upcoming birthday. My two chefs ate more than they helped, making 4 dozen cupcakes in our tiny kitchen, not being used to this particular oven, and our expectations were set high, but it did make for a fun day. Therefore, our ode to the Cupcake.













Then this past weekend we all took the opportunity to cheer on our favorite NFL team. It was a nice day; the kids had fun being out at the game and THEY WON. Hip, hip, hooray!