This blogspot was really dedicated to Alex, our journey to Ukraine to adopt him, and updates on how he was doing. Our family is about to change, though, and we are beginning a new adventure so we are starting a new blog, and I will probably "blurp" this one into a blog book for us to keep.
Come check us out at our new blog:

www.thesixsnows.blogspot.com


See you there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! We had a great trip to Texas to spend the week with Chris' family. The drive was long, but the time there was wonderful.






Alex discovered this old bee costume in the attic. He loves any costume he can find!

















Grandpapa made Alex a computer so he could be just like his Uncle Jeremy




























Alex also tried some rock climbing! I thought he did a great job!











































Talking to Grandpapa















Did a lot of playing with Grandmama

TRIP TO SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Chris has been doing some traveling for work this fall and Alex and I were happy to tag along with him to Southern California! We had a great time showing Alex where I grew up, visiting old friends and the best part for him- going to Disneyland!
















Laguna Beach-
unfortunately it was way too cold to get in the water
















Disneyland!! Can you tell how excited Alex is?!!!
















We went on the rides that usually have the longest lines first thing in the morning- Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn... Space Mountain. I couldn't believe Alex was big enough to go on Space Mountain! Alex loved the fast rides so much. I think it ended up spoiling him a little for the others. He didn't understand why the Haunted Mansion, etc.. were such slow rides.































One of Alex's favorite parts (and the one we waited longest for)...
meeting Mickey Mouse. He also loved the parade and meeting Goofy and the other characters.








































My closest friends from high school, Heather and Rhonda and their kids. It was so fun to get to spend time together and have our kids be together.
















Huntington Beach
















Nothing like a west coast sunset

This picture says it all!!!

Alex's front teeth have been wiggly for a while, but we went to the dentist the other day and he told us we needed to work on wiggling them out. Well, after we put Alex to bed that night he evidently decided to get to work. 20 minutes later he came out with his two front teeth!
He was excited about the "toob fairy" coming- he can no longer pronounce "tooth"!

First day of Kindergarten!!

Alex was so excited! We had a great orientation yesterday and I think his teacher is going to be wonderful. Today was hard for Mama, though. I didn't even get to hug him goodbye because as soon as he saw his classroom and teacher he ran up to her, she started showing him where to put his backpack and lunch bag, and he never looked back at me again!






































Look at how he's grown since last years first day of preschool picture!

Happy 6th Birthday, Alex!

Alex woke on his birthday with his room decorated. This was a tradition in Kim's family growing up. He really loved it. After that he had a birthday donut (he had told us the day before that his birthday wasn't going to start until he had his birthday donut). We met Chris at Waffle House for a late breakfast, and then later that day had family over for a Scooby Doo birthday party!

















































Alex loves to dress up...
thanks for the Spiderman outfit Mike, Susie, and Sophie


























Scuba Spidey with his Scuba diving Gramka































Guess who?!








The day after Alex's birthday we visited Lake Winnie amusement park with our good friends the Cooks































The cutest part, which I did not catch on camera, was that Alex and Hannah held hands the whole paddle boat trip as they sat in the back




















































We had a great time!! Thanks for coming to visit!

Soccer and swimming

We have been having a great summer. I can't believe Alex starts Kindergarten in two weeks. He is very excited! I had to be careful because for a while I kept saying how much I was going to miss him when school started, etc.. and so he would say "I'll just stay home with you Mama, don't worry. I don't want to go I'll just stay home with you". So now that I have kept my selfish thoughts to myself, he is definitely excited to go.
He has also just started soccer- we thought it would be good for him to be around some other kids and continue learning teamwork. It is going okay. He kicks the ball well with me and Chris around the house and at practice, but he's not really getting into it at game time. He is busy watching the kids running around and investigating the soccer field. Also he is such a talker that the last game he spent most of it with a little piece of wood in his hand he was using as a microphone and giving commentary on everyone else's plays (and telling them what to do). Oh well.. he sure is cute!















































And now to what he really loves to do....
Swim, swim, swim

Beach trip to Jekyll Island

We went to Jekyll Island again this year for the 4th of July and had a great time! Before we left Alex said he was not going to get into the ocean this year. As you can see from the video below, it didn't last long.
As we left Alex told us "Just say the word and I'm ready to go on vacation again". Sounds good to us!
































































































The alligator we saw on our bike ride