November 2009

November began for us with Boston's 3rd birthday and our parent/child dedication for him at church. We had a baseball theme for his birthday, since balls were one of the first things we knew Boston enjoyed when we met him back in May 2009. A special treat was to have the Minnesota Stenstroms visiting for a long weekend and all the fun. Below is a picture of Boston blowing out his candles:Here's Boston enjoying the cheese of a Chicago style-pizza for his birthday dinner.
We've had mild weather and have enjoyed more time outside in November than usual
The big kids have had a break from school this whole week of Thanksgiving so we've enjoyed some extra fun things, a trip to the zoo, the dentist (okay maybe not so fun!) and visiting family and friends.



Boston really likes playing with Zoe, our niece Andrea's dog. He calls her "woo woo".

We had a nice Thanksgiving Day celebration and below are two pictures of the kids enjoying their play at the Modicas.

Happy December ahead. I'll try and update the blog again soon! Lois for us 5

October fun

Hi Everyone - Can hardly believe the whole month of October is past. The kids all had influenza, plus a few other things...and so for almost 2 weeks they were at home except for doctor's visits. Lots of resting, watching movies, reading, etc. We are so thankful that they are all healthy again!

We had to cancel a lot of activities while the kids were sick, but the month still brought lots of great things. We enjoyed celebrating at some fun parties for two friends' birthdays this month. Also enjoyed seeing some of the beautiful fall color around the neighborhood and at the Morton Arboretum. We celebrated Hispanic Heritage month with our playgroup friends, and the big kids had some Taekwondo lessons and Jacob had some drum lessons. Boston started his first story time session at our local library too. A school Halloween party finished off the month and was a lot of fun. Although this room parent was GLAD when the party was over!! Below is a picture of the kids from Halloween yesterday. Jacob and Boston were football players, and Hannah was the fairy princess Fawn. They had a great time trick-or-treating even though it was a cold day. Bye for now - Happy November! Love, Lois

September scenes 9/30/09

Today marks three months since we arrived home from RMI as a family of five. We've had a great month of September. Jacob and Hannah are enjoying first grade. We celebrated Jacob's 7th birthday with family and friends. We have enjoyed beautiful weather and some fun Fall traditions like apple picking. Enjoy the photos!


A happy and healthy Boston playing in Grandma & Grandpa's yard this week.

Bowler Hannah!

Jacob's family birthday party - dinosaur theme!

Apple picking and apple eating!

Boston enjoying some ice cream for Jacob's birthday!

Jacob, Hannah and Boston - in their RMI tshirts and in grass skirts. Celebrating at our friends' for their son's "Kemmen" (a big 1st birthday party- Marshallese tradition). The kids were getting a hula lesson at the party.

Wishing you all a great start to October and the fall! Love, Lois

Six years ago today!

Six years ago today, on September 2, 2003, Peter and I arrived in Majuro, Marshall Islands. We checked into MIR (same hotel as our 2009 trip), rented a car and drove to this house where we met Jacob and Hannah for the first time! Jacob was 11 months old and Hannah was 4 months old. Our agency provided this home for waiting birth families, so Jacob and Hannah had been living in the same home for several months already. I thought you might enjoy these pictures of Jacob and Hannah as babies, as I am reminiscing today. The babies are growing up and are busy in first grade as I type this. Little Miss Hannah! Jacob and Peter

Hannah and Peter

All of us after Jacob's court date (same Judge presided in 2003 and 2009 for us!)

"reading" books together

Since we were all back in RMI this June 2009 to bring Boston home, the sights and sounds of our first RMI trip are very fresh. Doesn't hurt that the hotel curtains and bedspreads were exactly the same in 03 and 09!!

New USA citizens Hannah and Jacob in the Honolulu airport 10/1/2003 waiting to come home! ( This double stroller was great for us. After lots of miles and even some rust, it went into the trash just before the 2009 RMI trip! )

Here we are in O'Hare airport with the family that came to welcome us all home on 10/2/2003!

We are so very thankful to God for how he has brought our family together! Thanks for sharing in our joy! Love, Lois

New beginnings

Almost three months ago - Jacob and Hannah had their last day of kindergarten. They were absent the last 8 days of kindergarten because of our trip to the Marshall Islands. In those three months we travelled thousands of miles, visited their birth country and birth families, brought Boston into our family and home, and began our new life as a family of 5.

Today Jacob and Hannah began 1st grade. What a big step for them both - and very exciting to see them ready for it! Peter worked from home this morning until the big kids got on the bus. Boston was very curious about the bus and where Jacob and Hannah were all day.

The first day of first grade was a hit with both Jacob and Hannah. They got off the bus (again in the rain) and came home hungry to finish their lunches! Hannah told me it was "lovely" that I sent them food that they liked, but that spoons were not allowed at lunch! So glad I spent the money for the good bpa-free thermoses! She had not eaten her alphabet soup, and Jacob hadn't gotten to finish his mac & cheese. I've emailed with their teacher since and learned that food requiring spoons is fine for lunch - but is not allowed for morning snack...so just a misunderstanding! Jacob said it was all fun and he had lots of important work to do at his desk. He also said that the day went by fast! Hannah said that it was so much fun, she thought it was the 100th day of school (a big party day in kindergarten). With the rain today they couldn't go outside for recess - but they even said indoor recess in their classroom was fun.

Hannah and Jacob posing for a picture before heading to the bus this morning in the rain.

Boston and Peter waiting on the front step to wave goodbye to the bus one more time as it heads to school a few stops after ours....

Boston playing with the grocery bags after a trip for groceries this morning.

Here are a few other pictures from our terrific summer!

Fun in the sun with the North Carolina cousins Anna & Jared at Lake Michigan earlier in August
All three kids passed out in the car on the way home from more fun with the North Carolina cousins and other family. (I was at a stoplight when I took the picture - fyi!)

Fun with the Minnesota Stenstrom cousins Isabella and Maxwell at Brookfield Zoo just this past weekend!
Hope the new beginnings in your lives this fall are going well too! Here's to the second day of First Grade!!

Love, Lois

August Fun

Hi everyone - Hello from our family. We are fine here and enjoying the last weeks of summer before school begins again. We've had great weather and have spent time at parks and splash pads and the pool.

The kids and I just spent part of two days in Michigan with family - enjoying the sun, sand and water at the beach, and blueberry picking. There were 7 cousins together on the beach - ages 4 months to 6 years old! Here's our first-time blueberry picker, ready with his bucket.

Here's Jacob and then Hannah enjoying the wavy and cool Lake Michigan water!

Boston and Jacob are searching for something in the creek. After our Michigan trip - Hannah was ready to get a short new haircut for 1st grade!

Bye for now! Lois for us 5

July at home

Hi everyone - We are all fine here and thankful for the past three weeks of our new "normal life" since coming home from RMI. We learned from a family that is currently in RMI that there is water rationing going on now there - and they only can use the water in the hotel for 5 hours each day. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately!

Here's Boston in his new Cubs hat and shirt (thanks to Daniel & Tina!) - while playing empty-water bottle/splash ball baseball at home on 7/8/09! He wanted to put the new shirt and hat on immediately after opening them. He has had a lot of fun getting to know the extended family, our playgroup friends, and our routines at home.

It was fun to introduce Boston to our Kane County Fair - here are the kids as we took a break from the rides and listened to some music at the Fair on 7/15/09.

Here are Jacob and Hannah with their new stuffed friends while at "Build-A-Bear" for a friend's birthday party 7/19/09:

And here are our three happy kids - playing after music class and lunch with friends! Thanks Kerry for the photo!

Bye for now!

Settling in to Life at home 7/9/09

Hello everyone - Now that we have been home for nine days, we are feeling like we have adjusted back to the time change, etc. Here are some more pictures from our airport homecoming and some random pictures from our first days at home. Boston is doing well and seems to be enjoying every new experience! I'll try and update the blog again in a week or so! Lois
Above are pictures of some of the airport greeters before we arrived. We actually came in a different door than they were expecting - so we saw them before they saw us!

A happy Boston on Peter's shoulders at the airport - sorry Peter you were caught mid expression!!
Boston with Auntie Joyce above

Boston playing with Maddie

Boston with Kerry

Boston in his pjs and in the laundry basket

Boston in the squeeze of siblings!

HOME!

WE'RE HOME! It feels great to be home - our new family of 5!

About 12:30pm on Tuesday 6/30/09, our flight from San Francisco touched down at O'hare. It had been 36 hours since we left our hotel in RMI (on their Monday night). Only about 8 of those hours were spent in a hotel, the rest of the time was waiting in the airports and riding on airplanes! Changing the dates of our flights home from RMI with two different airlines proved very very challenging. So it was terrific for us that we were ready to leave RMI two days before our original scheduled departure date....but Continental and United didn't agree!! Our bags came to Chicago on a flight we did not get on, and we spent 5 hours after not getting on that stand-by flight getting to know the Honolulu airport (mostly Gate area #8!!) The two pictures below are of the kids and the hours waiting in the Honolulu airport!

Two overnight flights in a row are tough - but Boston slept almost every minute of the three flights (RMI to Honolulu, Honolulu to San Fran, and San Fran to Chicago) and Jacob and Hannah slept a good part of all three flights.

It was fantastic to be met at the airport in Chicago by family and friends. We came into the baggage claim area from a different door than they expected. So we saw all of them before they saw us!

We came home to more balloons, flowers, signs for the kids on their rooms from their friends, a refrigerator full of food, etc. We are catching up on our sleep and adjusting to the time change too. Hannah slept from 7:30pm Tuesday night until 10:00am on Wednesday morning, just getting up once. She's never slept that long in her whole life!

To land at O'Hare airport to 64 degree temperatures was a nice feeling too! Today on July 1st the temps. have been the coolest here for this date since 1930. Boston has probably never felt such cool temps. He also has never seen a microwave working, or a stove - from his staring at them at home.

I'll post again soon with more homecoming pictures! Love, Lois