Happy Holidays!

Hello and Happy Holidays! We have had a wonderful Christmas full of fun new toys and best of all family. Here's how we celebrated this year...

Before all the festivities began Cameron had to go to the dentist to have a cavity filled. He was a very brave boy and now has a "star" on his tooth (as his dentist told him). One more cavity to be filled in February. He will be glad when all these dentist visits are over.

Cameron is on a three week break from preschool. He misses class and all his friends but loves spending time with his family.

We began our Christmas family visits with a visit to Albany, MN to spend time with mommy's family. We stayed with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Al for a few days. Uncle Steve, Aunt Angela, Uncle Dan and his girlfriend Tina and her little boy Wyatt helped us celebrate. Cameron loved his new transformer and Hungry Hippo game. Kyle's favorite was all his new trucks. You can't have enough trucks according to Kyle.

Boy, was it cold when we were in Albany. We had to go pick up Grandpa Al from his heart rehab program one morning and it was 22 degrees below zero. Both of us cried because it was so cold.

On Christmas Eve, just after opening presents from mommy and daddy, Grandpa Bill and Grandma Maggie arrived at our house after a long drive from New Hampshire. We were very happy they made it safely to our place in time to celebrate Christmas with us. Our favorite gifts from mommy and daddy were a race track for Cameron and a remote control car for Kyle.

Christmas morning we learned that Santa visited the night before. Cameron was surprised by a new bicycle and Kyle received a new Geo Trax train set. Later that day we opened presents from Grandpa Bill and Grandma Maggie. Cameron loved his new Spiderman transformer and legos while Kyle liked his new mega bloks Cars sets. Mommy and daddy said they need to add a room on the house for all our new toys but we are not complaining.

Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Bill are staying with us for a week and we love it. Grandpa and daddy have been remodeling the upstairs bathroom while we play with mommy and grandma. Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.

Update on Grandpa Al

Sorry its been so long since our last post. Since we last wrote Grandpa Al had his open heart triple bypass surgery. He is doing well now but it was rough with lots of ups and downs for several days. We got to spend some extra quality time with Daddy while Mommy was up in St. Cloud with her family. Thank goodness Grandpa is now at home after a very long 10 day hospital stay. We went up to visit him the first few days after his surgery. He said we helped to cheer him up and he loved all the art work we made that decorated his room.

Cameron had three birthday parties over the last few weekends. How can a five year old have such a busy social schedule, mommy asks. For Eirwyn's party they went to a great indoor play center in Edina. Next came Masyn's party at her house. Noah's party was the last of the bunch at Midwest Gymnastics Center.

We have also been busy with shoveling snow, trying to keep warm in subzero temperatures, getting haircuts, going to preschool and having playdates. Cameron has a new favorite adoption book. Its called "Seeds of Love" and it describes how mommy and daddy have to go away to pick up their new child.

Bad news to report, our camera is broken so you'll have to view some old photos or videos until we get it replaced. Here's a video of us doing some animal actions in September 2008.

So Excited for the Holidays!

Hi everyone - How was your Thanksgiving? We had a good time at Great Grandma Betty's house. This is mommy's side of the family in Albany. We really enjoyed playing with all the other kids and eating the yummy food. Our favorites were the lettuce and broccoli salads plus the pumpkin bars. It was a lot of driving that day but worth it to spend time with our loved ones. Our new family photo was taken that day.

Mommy came down with a bad sinus infection this past week. The only one not sick is daddy so we are waiting for him to come down with something where he'll need medicine like the rest of us.

Cameron had a great play date with his friend Masyn on Friday afternoon. This was after we decorated the whole house for Christmas. Later that night we drove around the corner to our neighbor's house who does a fabulous light show set to music. Its so beautiful. Check it out at http://www.mnlightshow.com/ They even have a web cam so you can watch online.

Saturday night was beautiful so we went into downtown Minneapolis for the Holidazzle parade. All the floats and people in the parade are decorated in lights plus there is Christmas music. The streets were packed so we had to be held up by mommy and daddy to see. Cameron's favorite float was the Circus Train and Kyle loved Santa's Sleigh. Everyone clapped and screamed with Santa made his appearance. We love Christmas!

We have a quick update on the adoption. We are number 47 on the list for a little girl referral. The list is a very flexible thing and changes all the time based on what families are open to and the kinds of referrals the agency receives. There are so many variables in all of this so we can't say how long it will be but it gives us a good reference. Cameron has a new favorite book about adoption "Waiting for May". Its focus is China but it helps explain the long wait that occurs in international adoption.

What a week!

What a weeks its been. Here's a low down on what's happened...

Cameron's friend Charlie (from preschool and our neighbor) started coming to our house on school day mornings. We play together and have lunch before school. His mommy is working in the office for a few months so my mommy is helping out with Charlie. Its fun to have another friend to play with at home.

We have all been sick this week with a cold (well except for daddy). Cameron and Kyle's cold both led to double ear infections. Its our first ear infection. So now we both have to take medicine everyday for 10 days. Cameron even had to miss school on Friday. He was very sad.

We also learned that Grandpa Al is sick. He needs to have open heart bypass surgery next week. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. We are worried about him but know he will be OK.

Our biggest news of the week we posted separately...we are going to have a baby sister from Korea. We are both so excited, as are mommy and daddy. We went to the library today and checked out a few books about adoption. We read "Jin Woo" and "We Belong Together". Tonight, mommy and daddy introduced us to Korean food. We ordered from Kings Restaurant in Fridley, MN. Cameron thought it was so yummy and even tried to use chopsticks. Kyle only liked a few things but he is sick so not very hungry. Our favorites were japchae, goon mandu, bibimbap, and chicken bulgogi. Mommy says she is going to try to learn how to cook some Korean dishes for us to enjoy at home more often. Yummy!

Hope you enjoy the photo of us goofing around in the bath with our goggles and funny hair.

On The List

We were approved today by our social worker to move forward with the adoption of our baby sister from Korea. So as of November 20, 2008 we are on the Korean adoption list with our agency. We are working with Children's Home Society and Family Services out of St. Paul, MN. They are a wonderful agency to work with and have taught all of us so much. Now we move onto completing US government paperwork, getting fingerprinted, and waiting. Since international adoption can be unpredictable we can't give you an exact time frame of when she will be home with us but we can estimate that we will wait about 12 to 18 months for a referral and that travel will occur about 3 months after that. We will keep you all posted.

Changes

Hi Everyone - All is well here in Minnesota. We are keeping mommy and daddy busy as usual. Here's a few highlights from the past few weeks...

Daylight saving time has thrown Kyle for a loop. He still hasn't adjusted to sleeping into a normal time. He is up bright and early and usually cranky. Plus now he has figured out how to get out of bed on his own and open the door. Mommy and daddy have to keep putting him back to bed until he relents and falls asleep.

Election day was exciting. We went to vote with mommy and daddy right away in the morning. We didn't have to wait in line which surprised us all. After we voted we drove daddy to work and then went to the MN Children's Museum with mommy. We ran into some friends from Cameron's school so that made it even better. The new ball exhibit was the best! We were happy to find out the next morning that Obama is our next president. We are so excited and were chatting Obama, Obama, Obama.

Cameron went to the dentist a few days later. Cameron found out he has two cavities that he needs to have filled. Too much Halloween candy. Kyle even let them look at his teeth and showed them how he brushes his teeth.

We had a fun afternoon with a new babysitter on Veterans Day. We loved playing with her. Mommy and daddy went to meet with our adoption social worker to begin the homestudy. They said it went really well and it was easy.

The next day we awoke to a nice surprise...snow! It was only a few inches and it was warm that day so it melted quickly but not before we played outside, shoveled, threw snowballs at mommy, and built a snowman.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween everyone. What a fun week it was for us.

Sunday we went to a friend's house in Wisconsin for a fall potluck. We had a great time playing with all our friends we don't see too often but boy it was a long drive.

We went to a neighbors house on Tuesday for a Halloween party. It was so nice to wear out costumes a lot this week.

Kyle now loves to play house. It started off with him treating his teddy bear like a baby but now he has moved onto putting all of us to bed. He'll have us lay down for "sleep" as he says and then cover us up, read a story, give kisses, and sing a song. He then decides when its time for us to get up. Its very cute but he is all serious about it.

On Friday Cameron had a Halloween party at school. It was complete with costumes and trick or treating throughout the building. Kyle even got to join in the fun.

We, of course, went trick or treating throughout our neighborhood on Friday night. We love our neighborhood. It was such fun to walk around with all of our friends. Kyle walked the whole way and carried his own bag (it sure was heavy and we walked a really long way). There were less kids this year which we can't figure out why since it was beautiful out and a Friday night so we have lots and lots of leftover candy. Hope you enjoy the photos of us in our costumes.

A Baby Sister for Us

Hi All - Not much going on here. We are enjoying the last few warm days of fall. Suppose to get some snow tomorrow...can you believe it. We have been raking leaves and enjoying jumping into the big piles. Cameron's been continuing with preschool as usual and is loving it. Our big news is that mommy and daddy attended two days of Parenting Adoption Classes last week. Yes, we are adopting a little girl...a new sister for us. We are both very excited. While mommy and daddy were at class we stayed with Uncle Dan one day and had lots of fun playing with him at home and at the park. He did really well. The second day of class we stayed with Grandpa Al and Grandma Judy. We went to the Community Center for pop-in & play and also out for ice cream. Yummy. Mommy and daddy have been working on lots of homework for the adoption. Its a long process but so worth it. Off to do some reading.

Cameron's 5th Birthday

Cameron is now 5. Where did the time go? It was a fun week full of lots of celebrations.

Things all started on Wednesday, October 8th with Cameron bringing birthday treats into school. The kids sang to him and all enjoyed the fruit snacks he picked out to share.

Later that day seven of Cameron's neighborhood friends came to the house to help him celebrate. We did an art project together (decorated door knob hangers and pirate loot bags). This was followed by a yummy dinner of Cameron's choice...pizza, bread sticks, strawberries, pineapple, chocolate milk, and rainbow chip cupcakes. The kids enjoyed a pirate treasure hunt around the yard led by daddy doing his best pirate voice. We also read pirate books. Enjoy the picture of all of us posing with our loot with our best pirate faces on. We also had some time to play in the yard. We enjoyed jumping in our bouncer and playing sports. Cam says his favorite part was opening presents.

Thursday mommy, daddy, and Kyle gave Cam his presents. He enjoyed riding his bike with the new bike horn Kyle gave him.

Friday brought not another party but another part of turning five...his five year old doctor appointment. Cameron was very brave during all his shots but they wiped him out. It was a long day of preschool that afternoon for him and his arms hurt to move. But the doctor thought he was very healthy so that is good news.

Saturday ended Cameron's birthday celebrations. We hosted Grandma Judy, Grandpa Al, Uncle Steve, Aunt Angela, and Uncle Dan for lunch, cake and presents. Mommy attempted to make Cameron a Speed Racer car upon his request. It tasted yummy but wasn't so pretty. Cam's favorite gift of the day was a remote control robot named Wall-E.

Signing off for now. Take care everyone.

Fuzzy Friends

Hi All - Things have been pretty quiet around here lately (although mommy and daddy would say its never quiet). So here's what has been going on since our last post.

Daddy was gone for a few days and nights for a conference. We had fun with mommy especially since she took us to the park, out for dinner and let us stay up late to watch Survivor. Uncle Dan came over one day to play with us while mommy mowed the lawn. Then another day Grandma Judy came to visit. Before daddy left we took his luggage to him and had lunch at his office. We love the city.

Our whole family participated in the St. Cloud Memory Walk for Alzheimer's Research. It was a chilly Saturday morning but walking kept us warm. We walked with a lot of mommy's family in memory of Great Grandpa Ervin (Kyle's middle name came from him).

After the walk we spent the night at Grandma Judy and Grandpa Al's house. We helped them pick vegetables in the garden, went to the park, played, and roasted marshmallows by the fire pit. We even found some fuzzy caterpillars and jumpy grasshoppers. We caught them in bottles and watched for awhile. Kyle really enjoyed the ice cream cake we had for dessert there (see picture above).

When we got back home we set a trap to catch some red squirrels that have made a home under our shed and are eating away at the wood. Daddy didn't have much luck with the trap. So mommy set it and less than an hour later we caught one of them. We had fun watching him in the cage all day. He really wanted to get out. Daddy "relocated" him at night after we were in bed. Daddy left the cage out overnight with no food in it so to our surprise there was a baby raccoon in it the next morning. We also watched this little guy all day and fed him crackers. He growled at us if we got too close. When daddy got home from work we all drove the raccoon over to a wooded area and daddy released him. He went running into the woods so fast.

A preview of our next blog: Cameron's 5th Birthday!!! Stay tuned.

Two Wheeler

Hi Everyone - So we are still trying to get caught up on our postings. So here's what has happened the third week of September...

Kyle had his stitches taken out on Wednesday. He was so brave again. The doctor was so impressed that he didn't cry or even move that he gave him lots of stickers and a yummy freezee. When we got home Kyle loved showing everyone his "battle" scar. He turned around and pointed to his head to show all the neighbors.

Cameron learned how to ride his bicycle without training wheels. Hope you enjoy the video of him in front of our house. He was so proud of himself and learned very quickly. Now mommy and daddy just have to put their runny shoes on to keep up.

We had a few playdates with some of the neighborhood kids this week. We love our neighborhood.

We had our birthday photos take at the mall on Saturday. We follow directions so well from the photographer we should be models.

Mommy and daddy went out to dinner and a movie to celebrate mommy's birthday. Grandma Judy and Grandpa Al stayed with us. We had lots of fun at the park with them.

What a fun week!

Seven Stitches

Still trying to update everyone on things that have been happening the past few weeks. There is so much to share.

So the day after we got back from NH it was Kyle's 2nd birthday. We had a nice small family party at the house.

The following day was Cameron's first day of preschool. He loves preschool and even made a new friend on the first day. His name is Blake. There is a great mix of new children and kids from last year's class. Hope you enjoy the photo of Cam's first day of school.

Kyle had his 2 year old doctor appointment the day after his birthday. We are going to have a tall man on our hands one day. He consistently measures in the 95 percentile for height.

Tuesday was very eventful. At dinner that night Kyle was goofing around and tipped himself back to the floor while buckled in his booster seat. When we picked him up there was blood rushing from his head. We rushed him to Urgent Care where they cleaned the wound and gave him 7 stitches. He was such a strong brave boy. He only cried when it first happened and when they gave him the Novocaine shots in his head. He laid so still during the stitches and actually fell asleep. What a scare this was for all of us.

A few days later we moved Kyle into his big boy bed. He picked out a sports theme. He is doing so good and staying in bed. Check out the photo of him relaxing in his bed.

Wow, what a week that was. More to come soon.

New Hampshire Vacation

Hi Everyone - We're back! Sorry its been so long since our last post. We were out of town visiting our family in New Hampshire during the last week of August/first week of September. We had a wonderful time. So here is what we did...

Flew on an airplane. We loved looking out the window and rolling our own bags. Mommy and Daddy said we were great travelers.
Spent the week at Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Bill's house. It was so much fun to play with them.
Visited with family and friends that Mommy and Daddy haven't seen in a long time.
Celebrated both of our fall birthdays along with the birthday of our cousin Maddox. Yummy, cake! Hope you enjoy the video of us playing with cousin Maddox.
Mommy and Daddy had a mini-vacation during our vacation. We stayed with grandma and grandpa while they went to Boston to see a Red Sox game, go out to dinner and spend the night at Uncle John and Aunt Ali's place.

We will post more soon to catch you up on everything going on in our lives. There's lots to report.

Preschool Olympics

Hey Everyone - Sorry its been a few weeks since we lasted posted. Don't really have any good recent photos so he's an oldie but goodie of Kyle's crazy hair. Here's what has been going on with us the past few weeks...

We participate in our neighborhood's national night out event. It was a great time to get to know more neighbors and play with all the other kids. Plus we got the climb in the fire truck. We missed the police car and mayor since it was past our bedtime.

We had a fun time at the MN Children's Museum a few weeks back. We love that place. Thanks to Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Bill for the pass.

Kyle smashed his thumb (yes the one he normally sucks) in a draw. Its all better now but looked pretty bad for a few weeks. Needless to say he does not suck his thumb anymore.

Cameron took swimming lessons and did wonderful. He's going to continue in level two to get stronger on his strokes but is making great progress.

We went to Albany for the weekend to attend the 20th annual family lake party and fish fry for mommy's side of the family. We had lots of fun playing in the sand and swimming.

Kyle learned how to climb out of his crib. Luckily mommy was there to catch him. He's only tried it once so far much to mommy and daddy's relief.

Cam has had a blast watching all the Olympic coverage. He loves to re-enact all the events.

Well that's about all for now. Keep Smiling!

Playdates with Friends

Kyle here with your weekly update...

Mommy and Daddy celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary last Monday. Cam and I went to play with our friends Matthew and Zachary while they went out for a quiet dinner. We took this family photo that night.

Cameron finished up his last week of sports camp this week. The last t-ball game got rained out which made my big brother a little sad. But he got to finish out the week with a great soccer match in which his team won 11 to 2. Daddy was even there to watch. At the end of the game he was awarded a medal and certificate. Then later that day Cam and Daddy went on this big slip n' slide at the park. They loved it.

We went for a nice walk in the woods with some friends we haven't seen in awhile and then they stayed for lunch and some playing on Wednesday.

Thursday night we hosted a fun bbq with our neighborhood friends. Mommy and Daddy said all the kids played so well with each other and really let the adults talk. We had lots of fun.

I got my final two year old molar in this weekend. Glad to be done with this teething for now.

Signing off to start some new adventures. Talk to you again soon.

Bugs, Ball, and Board Games

Cameron here, this is a summary of what we've been up to this week...

We caught some bugs and a frog in our yard. - see picture above

Kyle got his hair cut - he loves to get his hair cut and always says "more, more".

I played t-ball and soccer through my summer camp program. My coaches say I'm a really good soccer player. I love to play goalie.

My friend Matthew and his brother came over to play and for dinner. It was so much fun.

I got a new board game - Monopoly Junior. I love it and almost always beat mommy and daddy.

We went to a penny carnival at our community center and today went to our city's parade. After Kyle's nap we will head to our city's annual festival and go on all the rides, see the animals, have dinner, and test out the giant slip n' slide that the fire department operates with their fire hoses. I can't wait.

Welcome Family and Friends

Hi Everyone - Cameron and Kyle here (along with mommy). We are attempting to set up a new blog for our family to share with you our adventures. Hope you enjoy it and come back often to visit.

Here we are showing off our new baseball shirts Grandma Maggie and Grandpa Bill sent us.