Welcome to Our World

Where did the year go?

2010-09-23T16:57:00.000-05:00

Oh my. I swore I wouldn't do this anymore.....I did it and I left ya hangin', didn't I. I'm blaming it all on Facebook! It's true. Since I have started using FB, my blogging has pretty much come to a stand-still.

Well, let's see if I can recap the year as it's been.

My last entry was about INSANITY. I said I'd post pictures, but I decided to only put them on FB....if you want to see them, check 'em out there! I finished it and will be doing it again in January. I'm thinking that this will be an annual event!! The workouts are still happening, they're just not anywhere as intense as what I experienced at the beginning of the year. My next venture will be TURBOFire. It looks like it's going to be a blast....I sure hope I'm ready for it! Here's the lowdown on the family:

Aanika flew through 1st grade like it was nobody's business and was all too ready for 2nd grade. She spent the summer going to Camp Lakewood, visiting her Oma & Opa at the lake, days at Six Flags riding her coasters and many a lazy day at the local pool.

My summer was busy with a bathroom remodeling that is finally finished. It's lovely and relaxing and that's exactly what I wanted for it!
Kevin, well, let's just say he's had an interesting year. He's busy, busy, busy but he always made time for the family.

Fast forward to the new school year~

Aanika's a 2nd grader, still a bookworm and has grown more in the last year than we can keep up with. At this rate, she's right on target for that 5' 10" growth chart prediction! We're not too sure she's going to keep on with violin. She doesn't seem to have the same interest in it that got us started down that road. Although she can play it "technically" she doesn't show the signs of having the ear for it. *sigh* Kevin is playing with the idea of starting back on piano....maybe Momma and Aanika can jump on that train when it comes through. ; )
Kevin got a new toy! Because he has worked so hard this summer and missed out on a lot of fun, I bought him his "dream" bike! I know that he would never have bought it for himself....he'd just keep going to the store and admire it from afar. The surprise was awesome! He was actually speechless for quite a while.
I've got some projects in the works for myself.

I'll do my best to post again soon to let you know how they're going....

INSANITY

2010-03-20T09:06:00.006-05:00

We've reached the end of our 60-day INSANITY challenge. http://www.beachbody.com/product/fitness_programs/insanity.do?code=GETINSANITYDOTCOM The little girl even gets into it a bit on the weekends! Here she is working out with her daddy the other day.

We'll be posting our before and after pictures so check back soon!

Aanika's 7th Birthday!

2010-02-09T15:26:00.004-06:00

Aanika had a fun-filled birthday! She picked Three Margarita's (Mexican) for lunch and then it was on to the big event.....THE PARTY!!

She invited 7 friends (7th birthday/7 friends) and all of them came! Here they are in the swimming finery and ready for a fun time.

Thanks to everyone who came and sent gifts....she had a wonderful day!

Little sick girl

2010-02-04T15:23:00.003-06:00

Little bugs make for nasty playmates. Aanika has been home from school for the last 3 days!! Augh! For a kid who LOVES school, this is like torture. ; ) Pediatrician checked her over and is treating her with some meds.

Next post:
SHE'LL BE 7 YEARS OLD!!

I'll post pictures then.....

The little girl and her friends

2010-01-18T11:17:00.003-06:00

It's been pretty quiet around here lately except for the amount of playdates that the little girl has been having. So, just for fun, I thought I'd show you some pictures of the little girl and some of her best buddies! We're so very thankful for these friends as well as their families. It's great knowing that she's growing up with such a great group of kids.

Joy and Aanika having dinner in her room - a very special treat!

Joy and Aanika selling flowers and seeds on a very warm November day. They made their own sign as well as a song that they sang at the top of their lungs as the cars went by. ; ) Best yet, they made over $6!

An after-school play date: Aanika, Kendahl, Joy and Jada. All of these sweet little girls live in our neighborhood.

Aanika and Kylie riding their bikes. Kylie lives two doors down....

The girls of summer....

Fun start to 2010

2010-01-11T12:41:00.005-06:00

Just HOW do you start a new year out? Working? Travelling? Nope! For us it's taking down the Christmas decorations and the tree and best yet, ice skating!

As Momma took down all the little things of Christmas, the boys of the family tackled the tree. As you can see here, Mr. Smudgy is doing a fine job!

Here is Kev and Aanika getting ready to skate. Sorry, it's the only picture I have of her since they wouldn't allow cameras on the ice.

I did however manage to sneak it out and take a quick video of her. Sorry, the picture is sideways....like I said, I was being sneaky!

Aanika did really well except for one monster fall. She was finally venturing out on her own and it was going to be the last time she was able to get on the ice before the session closed. She no more touched her second skate to the ice and .....brief silence....SPLAT! and then the tears came. She was a tough cookie though! We stood her up, wiped the ice shavings from her bootie, dried her tears, gave her a hug and lots of encouragement and then off she went! All in all, a very fun outing. ; )

Long time, no see

2010-01-05T09:11:00.004-06:00

Wow, it's been quite a while since I updated this! Facebook has kind of taken over as my posting site but I forget that not everyone is there....so, my new year's resolution is to keep this site current! ; )

We've had a lot going on this year. Aanika is now a FIRST GRADER and is a total bookworm. She loves school and says the library is her favorite class. Can that be considered a class? She thinks so, so I guess we'll just have to encourage that.

This summer was all about fun, fun, fun!! We spent many hours at Six Flags (daddy bought her and momma summer passes), bike riding - she's now confidently on two wheels, and all things little girls can do in the summer. We went to Oma & Opa Sprecher's house on the lake quite a few times and had lots of fun with her cousins, Aunts and Uncles as well as some new friends she met there. There were scooters to ride with the other kids, boat rides, dock jumping and even her first ride on a SeaDoo!! She loved her summer!

The end of our summer took us on a family trip to Wyoming to visit my nephew who is living and working on a beautiful ranch as well as a visit to Yellowstone. The trip went way too fast and we're looking forward to returning!

Now it's already past the Christmas season and we're moving full speed ahead into 2010....are we ready? I hope so! Violin is back in session for the Spring season, we're looking into Summer Camps for the little girl and tentatively making trip plans for something special next Christmas! We're also going to be starting some renovations on the house so that ought to be a ton of fun too.

Like I said, I'll keep this more up to date so be sure to come back often and see what's happening in our world!

Aanika's first BIG haircut

2009-05-21T09:40:00.002-05:00

She did it! She finally decided to cut her hair and it was so worth it! We all love it but can't believe how much older she looks.

First grade, here I come!

Dad's Spring 2009 vacation

2009-05-03T21:57:00.005-05:00

Well, the first week of Dad's visit was great (got to golf) but the second one was rain, rain, and more rain! We decided to take a trip down to Branson to visit with the in-laws and to play a little. Unfortunately for us the rain followed but we made the best of it and ventured off to Silver Dollar City.

The start of Dad's last week will be at a Cardinal's game on Monday night with Kevin. After that, the week remains wide open to the adventures we'll have! Check back soon for some more updates.

Dad on the tee

Travelling to Branson

Having some fun in the Funhouse

Dad, Tim & Kevin

Mary Had a Little Lamb

2009-04-19T19:40:00.005-05:00

Aanika's doing wonderfully in her violin lessons and wanted to post a video of her playing.

Here she is playing Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Cil's furniture redo adventure

2009-03-23T15:34:00.003-05:00

Wow, I got it done!

I bought some old and really beat up wicker furniture last fall with the intention of redoing it.

These are the before and after shots.

The BIG 4-0

2009-03-20T21:51:00.003-05:00

Kevin's turned 40!

After the super surprise he threw for my 40th, I wanted to do something fun for him so I tried MY hand at a surprise party. Somehow I managed to keep it a secret from both Kevin and Aanika (don't ever tell her secrets!) for several weeks and we had a lovely evening with a bunch of our friends.

(The little girl in the picture is our friend's daughter, Madeline....she loves Kevin)

I made a chocolate cupcake-cake for my chocoholic sweetie, we had food delivered in and many of us overdosed on Mousse Au Chocolat that Hendrick made especially for the occasion (it's soooo good).

All in all, a great night!

Sweet Faced Girls

2009-02-26T14:34:00.006-06:00

These are Aanika's best buddies, Joy and Kendahl. They all flew off the bus on Wednesday and managed to wrangle a playdate out of us moms. Since it was such a pretty day, they came over for some fun out in the 70 degree weather to play hopscotch and to jump rope together. I just couldn't resist getting a shot of them with their sweet little faces. They always have such a good time together!

I'm so thankful that we found this neighborhood.......

Happy 6th Birthday Aanika!

2009-02-09T13:09:00.004-06:00

Aanika's 6 years old already - how the time flies!

Watch her grow with us....

One year old

2 years old

3 years old

4 years old

5 years old

6 years old ..... going on 16!

The first baby tooth is gone!

2009-01-31T18:36:00.003-06:00

Aanika was cutting her eighth tooth when she was nine months old and she's finally lost her first tooth just before her 6th birthday!
After more than a month of having a very loose tooth, her new one came in behind her baby tooth instead of underneath it. By the looks of her dental x-rays that were taken the other day we think that three others on the bottom might do the same thing. Not a big deal but it draws out the process of actually losing the tooth. Fun fun.

Snow Day & Sledding

2009-01-28T19:32:00.004-06:00

I got in my exercise AND my fun today! I was out shovelling at 6:15 a.m. and 50 minutes later I was finally finished. We got about 5 inches of fluffy stuff last night on top of about 2-3 inches of sleet that fell yesterday. Two whole days off of school and only one of them was good for sledding.

We were out on the neighborhood hill this morning by 10:00 a.m with some friends and other kids from the neighborhood. After about an hour or so we headed back in for lunch, a bit of a rest for Aanika and then back out on the BIG hill with our little friend Kylie (we have to drive to that one). 1.5 hours later we're at McDonalds for French Fries and milk (bleah!) then home to play some more in the yard. I finally got them in the house around 5 pm for a hot bath! Sheesh, I'm pooped.....

Three Sickies

2009-01-23T07:21:00.002-06:00

Ever have one of those days? This is what I woke up to a couple weekends ago - my three sickies....Hubby, daughter AND the cat. It's been almost two weeks now and they're still fighting it - except for Smudge, he was only sick for about a day. Good time to be a cat I guess!

He's got the blonde girl thinking

2008-12-18T15:10:00.004-06:00

Many of you know that I'm a true blonde and often poke fun at myself for being flighty but I gotta tell you about a blog that I follow that kicks me out of my "not a thought in my head" kind of mode. I'm not a muller of thoughts or a deep thinker in any way but I soooo look forward to his posts because I know that I'm going to get a new perspective on things and love the challenge of being more in this world than who I am and of doing more for it than I ever thought I could.

Ryan's blog today is powerful - be sure to click the link and check it out. This is Reverb

The New Citizen Oath

2008-12-05T22:36:00.003-06:00

Today Aanika took the oath of an official "new" citizen! (Sorry, I have no pictures). Even though she technically became a citizen on the day that our plane landed in Chicago in 2003, there was still some final paperwork that would make it official. I've procrastinated for five years with getting this taken care of but I'm so glad I didn't get it done when she was a baby. After seeing her her stand there with her right hand raised promising to protect her nation, bear arms if necessary and to be a productive citizen, it was worth it! It was even better when the officials that oversee the process complimented her on how good she did with the oath....sure wish I could have recorded it!

First snow and other stuff

2008-12-03T10:58:00.005-06:00

SNOW!
We've gotten our first snow of the season so, of course, I had to stick Smudge out in to check it out. He wasn't too sure of it and I bet he's glad he's got a cozy house to go back into!

FAREWELL
We've had to say goodbye to a good friend recently. Vivian is a consultant friend of ours who lives in California, flies in each week and then would leave on Friday just to do it all over again on Monday. Well, we adopted her into the family and she and Miss Alex (another consultant friend) would come over one or two times a month for a home-cooked dinner and some fun on the Wii. She told us that, because of our family, she saw what she was missing in having a family of her own and that's why she resigned her position. We're sad but we wish her the best of luck in her new endeavors. Playing on the Wii will never be the same for us after having played with her! Check out the clip of her with Aanika playing Tennis.....
VIOLIN PLUCKING
Technology is a wonderful thing. Aanika has a program on the computer that she can play along with an orchestra for her at-home practicing. As her training advances she'll be able to analyze her skills with it. Very cool to say the least! The clip below is of her using it for the first time.

5 years ago today.....

2008-11-22T09:39:00.004-06:00

Five years ago today, as we landed in Chicago with our sweet little girl, Aanika became a US Citizen!

Here she is pictured at her homecoming with Auntie Sue (holding her), Uncle Matt and Aunt Chrissy. Lots of other folks were in the background but too many to write here. We were so happy to see all of you there!

Here she is today - all grown up! I can't even begin to imagine what her life would have been like......

Little Reader

2008-11-20T09:03:00.006-06:00

How old were YOU when you started reading? I started school when I was still four years old but I didn't start reading until first grade. Was I just behind or was that the norm back in the early 70's? I'm a bookworm now and love to read so hopefully Aanika will keep up her love of it through her life too.

Here's our little Kindergartener sounding out her words and reading a book. They have a reading log that shows how many books you've read for that month and if you fill every line you get an award of a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut with their Book It program. Boy, talk about motivation!

First Violin Lesson

2008-11-18T22:14:00.004-06:00

Violin. Who'da thunk it? I personally have no musical ability even though I was named after the patron saint of music, St. Cecilia. My daughter on the other hand is everything artsy that I am not so I guess I'll have to live vicariously through her.

She's asked for months to be able to learn the violin and she's finally gotten her wish! She had her very first lesson with Ms. Melissa but I think little miss Aanika was sorely disappointed when all she got to do was pluck some strings with her fingers and learn proper finger and hand positions. : )

Remember, she has visions of Celtic Woman dancing on stage with her violin and she wants to be HER! (check out this link, it's awesome)

My new obsession

2008-11-14T09:14:00.006-06:00

Confession: I'm obsessed with a person I've never met and her name is Ree. Check her out yourself at ThePioneerWoman.com.

I found her blog recently and am totally hooked! She lives on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma, is a photo nut (fabulous pics!), sounds like a hoot to know and is madly in love with her Marlboro Man.

If you're into reading and like great stories, you gotta read hers: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels. I started from the very beginning and (blush) haven't gotten a thing done in my house for at least 3 days!

Here's a link to all the chapters http://thepioneerwoman.com/category/black_heelstractor_wheels/the_night_i_met_marlboro_man.

My kitty's a killer

2008-11-07T15:23:00.006-06:00

He's a killer. That's all there is to it. After being with us for a month, I now know how he survived in the woods. I have to acknowledge that my sweet little kitty is a killer and can take out a small rodent in no time at all. This is only a toy .... yeah, it's best if I don't think about it.

I adore my husband

2008-10-31T10:48:00.003-05:00

I adore my husband. He's my sweetie. He's the kindest and sweetest man I've ever known. I've also never known anyone who actually lives up to his name....Kevin means KIND and Sprecher is SPEAKER. How cool is that? He's taken a few days off to play while my dad is in town.

I love these shots of him because he looks totally relaxed.

I'm so thankful for him.

Golf, Dad & Vacation stuff

2008-10-25T19:38:00.003-05:00

Cil's dad has been here for almost one week (two to go) on the second part of his bi-annual visit. We love having him here and we have so much fun together! We've been golfing twice already this weekend and managed to squeeze in a trip to St. Louis to go to Union Station on Thursday when it was drizzly. It's been about 62 years since Dad came through there (1946) when he was in the military. It was the standard norm to travel by train back in those days and was quite the place to be. It's very beautiful and I can only imagine how much life it had back then!

I've uploaded some new videos (look in the side bar for golf ones). Below are some pics from the last couple of days.

Union Station in all it's glory although the picture doesn't do it justice!

Dad/Leo on the tee

Golf buddies (-2 for the day!)

Vacation slideshow

2008-10-20T11:24:00.001-05:00

Eureka Springs Vacation

2008-10-19T23:26:00.005-05:00

Wow, what a great weekend we had! Aanika with Oma and Opa, Cil & Kev golfing and window shopping in Eureka Springs. Did I tell you it was gorgeous? We couldn't have ordered up a more perfect time to go because the weather was fantastic!

Aanika played at the local parks in Branson and got to take pictures with her very own disposable camera - pics to come later - and even made some new friends in their neighborhood. She said she had a real good time so it'll be interesting to see what her pictures are of!

Cil & Kev played golf Saturday and Sunday on Holiday Island but went in to town and window shopped and ate some awesome food on Friday and Saturday nights. We also skulked around some really cool, Victorian-style neighborhoods as well as one of the local hotels that they say is haunted. I never got the heebie-geebies so that was good!

Here's our view on Sunday morning on our way to the course. Psssttt....those are clouds, not water!

Here are a couple of other pictures but if you'd like to see more, I'll be setting up a photobucket account soon that you can go to. I'll update this when it's done!

Mountaintop golfing at it's best!

It's my Birfweek!

2008-10-14T10:53:00.004-05:00

Wow! Another year has come and gone and I'm a whopping 43 years old! Hey, I'm not complaining, I'm just wondering why I still feel like a kid and not the grown up lady I am. Age is just a number right? It's all about how you feel about yourself and where you're at in life. Right now I'm feeling great about the ME I am, I'm making progress in my fitness life and I have an awesome family. What more could a girl want?

My sweetie took me out for my birthday dinner to The Cheesecake Factory last night. Aanika picked Steak Diane for us to share and then Kev and I shared my favorite cheesecake - The Tuxedo. Yummy! Here's our self portrait to commemorate our fun evening out.

For those of you wondering, I have thus declared Birfweek! It started yesterday on my actual birthday and will go through Sunday. Kev's taking me golfing in Eureka Springs, AR and Aanika will spend the weekend with Oma & Opa. Yea! I can't wait!

For those of you who don't know what a Birfweek is, here's the definition:

Part 1: A birfweek is an extension of a birthday-day (as in “it’s my Birfday!”). It is up to the person celebrating to decide if the days preceding or following the actual birthday are part of said birfweek (the birthday has to fall somewhere within these days). Birfweek ‘start’ has to be verbally declared, with sufficient notice, for planning by the spouse or significant other.
Part 2: The person celebrating their birfweek is allowed to purchase at least one birthday item of their choosing (within reason) and not have to explain why it was purchased. This does NOT count as the gift from the significant other!
Part 3: Something has to be purchased for or done for, in regard to the person celebrating, on each day of the birfweek in recognition of said celebration. (i.e. massage, not cooking, salon trip etc.)

NOTE: No children are allowed in the practice of Birfweek. This is designed for spouses and significant others ONLY!

Teen Mania

2008-10-13T10:11:00.004-05:00

We were a host home this weekend for 4 amazing girls from a group called Teen Mania, based out of Tyler, TX (click on the title to check them out). They are 19-21 years old, live with 31 other people on a bus that travels all over North America and work hard to put on youth conferences called Acquire the Fire. These kids are working 17+ hour days to reach other teens for the Lord. How awesome is that?! It was great getting to know them and to hear them talk with such passion about what they are doing. We're sooo looking forward to doing it again next year!
Here they are L-R with their home state:

Danielle (MA), Andrea (CA), Jyl (OK), Joanna (MO)

My favorite time of year

2008-10-08T10:45:00.002-05:00

Everyone has one, right? Their favorite time of year - it's usually linked to a "reason" for having it. Is it the smell? The feel? A good memory? For me, it's all about change. What's my favorite time of year? Autumn, without a doubt!

I like to paint rooms of my house. Not for any particular reason, just to paint it. I like to see the transformation of something and it can't be subtle...it's gotta be different. My sweet hubby thinks I'm nuts, but I have to paint something if I don't get to do a room. Give me a basket, a picture frame, a candelabra - anything - I'll paint it.

It's a fantastic day outside today and the colors are starting to show in the trees by the river and in the hills by our house. I can't explain it but I get this silly kind of smile on my face when I see it. I guess it's the anticipation of the change that will paint our landscape in some of the most beautiful and dramatic colors you can imagine. Can you feel it? It's coming!! Yeah, I LOVE this time of year!

Strange, I never thought of it this way before but it sounds kind of like life and the people we meet, doesn't it? Hmmm....I'll have to think about that one a little more.

Oops, Ok - he's a boy

2008-09-30T06:21:00.004-05:00

Ok, so I've only ever owned one girl kitty - guess that explains why I and two other people didn't know Smudge is a boy! I wonder what he's gonna do about wearing the pink collar Aanika picked out......

He had his first check up and shots yesterday and got a clean bill of health. His ears needed to be cleaned and he did NOT like it one bit! For such a sweet kitty, he sure has got a loud voice when he's mad. He's gonna go for a snip-snip on Thursday seeing that he's getting close to "that age" when they start marking their territory. The vet thinks he's about 5 months old because he's losing his baby teeth (incisors) and has yet to lose his canines.

Check out his newest fascination:
Poor tree hasn't got a chance against those claws!

Our newest addition

2008-09-27T20:29:00.004-05:00

Meet Smudge.

She's the newest addition to our world and she's absolutely as sweet as can be! Much to Kevin's dismay, I've thrown caution to the wind (bad cat allergy), and went and got attached to her and refused to give her up.

I found her on the side of the road on Wednesday while I was walking along the river road. I carried her 1 1/2 miles home and she never tried to get away....she purred the whole way home! I tried for three days to find a home for her but I guess she was just meant to be a part of the family. : )

She's such a nice cat - only about four months old - very calm and loves to be held and snuggled. She loves to be held so much, I finally made her a little sling so that she could be close to me but yet I could have my hands free....Yeah, she's spoiled already.

This is a picture of contentment........

Remembering my Mom

2008-09-23T01:27:00.003-05:00

Wow, it's been five years since my mom passed away. Five years of no pain, no worry, no sadness....how could you ask for anything better?

She was a spitfire and quite a handful at times, but there are so many days when it'd be so nice if she was just a phone call away. I miss her checking up on me. I miss her birthday calls. I miss seeing her wrinkle her nose when she smiled at me. I miss watching her ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl because I'll never forget her laughter when she was on it.

These are the memories I hold on to until I can see her again.

My friend's song for me

2008-09-20T22:00:00.003-05:00

My friend, Doria, who lives next door recorded this song for me. It's her version of Martina McBride's song "In My Daughter's Eyes" - she posted it on her MySpace page and dedicated it to me. I am so touched; words really cannot express my feelings about it.

Listen by clicking the link below:
http://ksolo.myspace.com/ms/showSong.do?sid=24553&rid=453133&uid=4053101

Remembering Feather, the fish

2008-09-19T06:56:00.004-05:00

Sad day in our house. Feather, one of the funniest fish ever, died unexpectedly yesterday - we've had him for over 1 year. He was a hoot to watch swim because it was sort of this upright, wiggly dance-swim movement and then he'd add in a corkscrew turn to it. Very strange but very amusing! He's the orange one on the right in the picture below.

We found him just before bedtime so it was a sad and sniffly prayer time while we explained things to Aanika. She asked if I'd take her today after school to find a new fish-friend for Tiara and Chewie. At Aanika's request, we're going to print out a picture of Feather and tape it on the tank (picture side in) so that the other fish can see it. Too cute, but sad too!

Aanika's Hip Hop moves

2008-09-18T11:45:00.002-05:00

This is Aanika doing some hip hop moves. Too bad I didn't get any of her spin moves in the clip!

Kindergarten - First Day

2008-08-21T10:52:00.004-05:00

Wow, is this day really here?! It seems like she was just learning to talk and walk and now she's picking out her own clothes for the first day of school.
Did you notice the Cheetah print skirt? Yeah, we're letting go a bit and letting her show her personality through her clothes....within reason of course! Pictured is Aanika, Luke and Owen. Unbeknownst to the teacher, she put them all side by side in class but we parents are guessing that they won't stay that way for long. Let's just say that Aanika and Luke both LOVE to talk!

The video is of Aanika and her other great friend, Kendall, getting on the bus together. 55 kids, one bus driver - thank goodness that the school is only a few minutes away.

Practicing violin

2008-08-19T17:05:00.001-05:00

Check out this little video of Aanika practicing on her violin. We're still searching for a teacher but hopefully we'll get her going with one soon!

The Big Dig

2008-08-19T08:55:00.003-05:00

Yea! Ground has been broken this morning for our new patio!

We've come up with a lovely design with red stonework that will include a planter along the back of the house along with three light fixtures in short columns, a fire pit and a small stair leading out to the yard.

Now we wait!

Tug A Bug test ride

2008-08-17T11:20:00.002-05:00

We are in the market for a new ride for Aanika. She's getting too big to continue riding in the Burley when we're out on a bike ride so we're thinking of buying a Tug A Bug. Aanika's not too excited about it but everyone at the bike shop were rooting for her during the test ride!

The Hummingbirds Fighting

2008-08-08T14:24:00.006-05:00

Wow, I sure do love it here. A little mini-heatwave and now it's glorious and in the low 80's....perfect weather!

My hummingbirds have seemed to enjoy the change too because they're going crazy at the feeders. I have two feeders on my deck and you can hear their chatter that they do when they chase each other - they even take out feathers when they fight! You'd never know that a little bird could have personality, but they do! They're a ton of fun to watch and I'll miss them when Fall comes along.

Sleepover for Aanika

2008-08-05T17:18:00.001-05:00

Aanika has been invited for a sleepover (her second official one) at her friend Sophie's house tonight. When it was all finalized last night and I told her she was going today, I thought she was going to explode! She started doing some kind of crazy squealing giggle along with a wild little jig....Kev looked at her like she was insane - very funny!

Woohoo! Looks like it's date night for momma and daddy with a nice quiet dinner out without the chatterbox along (a.k.a. Aanika). I'm really looking forward to being able to have a whole conversation without having to explain what we're talking about. : )

Heatwave and the walker

2008-08-04T21:49:00.000-05:00

Yikes! It's HOT....I like it warm as many of you know, but this is even too hot for me!

We're under an advisory tomorrow because the heat index is supposed to be around 110 degrees and it's like pea soup because of the humidity. Bleah! It's been very up and down lately - one day it's in the 80's and the next day you're in a blast furnace. Hopefully it won't hang around too long because it makes for a miserable exercise companion! Tomorrow morning's walk oughta be pretty interesting. It's supposed to be well into the 80's by 9 a.m. and I'm sure it will be kicking my butt by the time I get to the end of my walk at 10:00. Bah! The things we'll do to keep our shapely figures....sheesh.

Aanika's Violin Fitting

2008-07-30T17:12:00.000-05:00

Today was the big day - Aanika was fitted for her first violin! You won't be fortunate enough to hear her first sounds on it in this clip but I gotta say, she did a pretty good job with it. It might not be as much of a noisy acquisition as I thought it'd be....time will tell! ; )

The Ballerina and the Violin

2008-07-29T07:20:00.000-05:00

Aanika had her dance recital for the year and she did wonderfully! The theme for the entire program was Fairies and Aanika's class were in Fairy School where she graduated and got her wings that were shaped like a flower petal. She was also a Chatty Elf for the Jazz section where they got to do a lot of sassy dancing and giggling. Too cute!
Sadly, Aanika has asked not to do dance again this year. If you've been reading any of the past posts you'll have seen that, for many years, Aanika has had an infatuation with Riverdance. There is a part in it where there is a violin player performing solo on the stage and, apparently, she really liked it. Fast forward to 2008 where she sees Celtic Woman on PBS and there is a very beautiful woman rockin' out on a violin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXanHvrjQO0&feature=related
Yup, Aanika's asked for violin lessons. We'll keep ya posted on how that goes!

Halloween and PreK Picture '07

2007-10-31T20:00:00.000-05:00

Well, we've had a busy year since our last posting. We've moved into our house (Feb '07), got into dancing again, found an awesome preschool and have made TONS of new friends.
Aanika's in her 3rd year of PreK and is growing like a weed. Check out her most current school picture and you'll see what a little lady we have!
Here's Aanika in her Halloween costume for this year - Mulan.

On the move to MO

2006-11-30T19:45:00.000-06:00

Big news! The Sprecher clan is moving to Missouri in early January 2007. Kevin has taken a new job that will bring us much closer to our families. We're very excited! Our days are now filled up with getting the house ready for selling and the beginning stages of packing...fun, fun!

There has been a TON of activity this past summer and regretfully we haven't kept up on our updates because of it. Aanika has grown so much and is well on her way to her projected 5'10" height. We've been very active with swimming and gymnastics during the summer, school in the fall as well as beginning in ballet classes. Aanika is a natural and has really wowed her teacher. Check out some pictures of her in dance class!

Gymnastics and Dance

2006-04-21T19:34:00.000-05:00

Golly, it’s been a long time since we did an update! Aanika is still doing great and seems to be growing every day. I swear she’s going to be tall like her daddy because most people think she’s at least four years old already. Here’s little side note on her “being like us” in that she could be our birth-child…When we moved here, we thought it would be noticed by a lot of people that she’s adopted. You would be amazed at how many people, when we’re not together as a family, think that the ‘other parent’ must be Chinese. Although it happens with Daddy (because of her height), it happens quite a bit more when she’s out with her Momma. It’s always funny when they get this look on their face as they say “You mean she’s adopted? Wow, she looks so much like you” and then they start apologizing for making the assumption. I have to say though that I think that’s an awesome compliment!
The big thing since our last posting is that Aanika has started Gymnastics. She is absolutely crazy in love with this stuff! She’s got the body that is built for it though and seemed like a natural thing for her to get into. In the pictures this week, check out the muscles and definition on her legs and you’ll understand what we mean! She also still likes dance stuff and so the poses are of “ballet toe pointing” but she’s wearing one of her leotards for gymnastics. I think in her mind, they go hand in hand…..she’s such girlie girl.

Birthday girl - Age 3

2006-02-11T19:20:00.000-06:00

Aanika and the kids had such a good time at her birthday party and the parents had fun too. We were missing 5 of the boys at the party because they were sick, but Joey who was the only boy there, had a ball anyway! He’s such a sweet little boy and the girls just love him. Actually, Joey, Aanika and Morgan are like the Three Musketeers…they just adore each other. Here they are playing dress up in Aanika's room.

The other big event for her turning three was that we took the guard rails off her bed. We moved her into a Twin bed when she turned two and decided that a year was long enough to have them on. The first night was a success so we’ll see how the coming nights go! She thought it was great too because now we’re able to put the bedspread on her bed.

Computer savvy kid

2006-01-28T18:49:00.000-06:00

Aanika got a late Christmas/early birthday present from us a couple of weeks ago. Kevin bought the Certified Home Manager (mom) a new laptop as her Christmas present this year so Aanika was the recipient of our 8 year old behemoth. It’s very scary to stand by as your almost-3 year old works the mouse and gets herself online, opens her games, manages to play the games without help and then close it all down when she’s done! Here she is on Momma's toy.

It’s almost Aanika’s 3rd birthday! I can’t believe how fast time goes when you have kids to keep you occupied. We’re going to have a birthday party with her play-buddies at Incredible Pizza Company which is a new pizza place here in town. They have kid-size bowling alleys, putt-putt golf, go karts, bumper cars and an arcade and it’s all set in the style of the 1950’s. We went to check it out a few weeks ago and she just loved it. We’ll do our next update with what should be some pretty fun party pictures.

With Aanika’s birthday coming up, we’ve been commenting a lot about how much she’s grown and changed. So here's a walk down memory lane with 3 pictures all taken on about the same day over the last 3 years.

2006 - off and running

2006-01-16T18:38:00.000-06:00

The holidays are over and we’re already halfway through January…where does the time go? Christmas with Aanika was an absolute blast this year! We weren’t pushing the whole Santa issue but when we told her ‘Santa’s coming to bring presents’ she declared that she didn’t want him in her house! Ok then. Aanika got NO gifts from Santa this year but plenty from all the people that she knows and loves. Here she is decorating mama on Christmas morning.
She’s turning into a big girl and is really starting to show us what she’s going to be like as a person. Her language skills are advancing all the time and she doesn’t miss a thing when you’re talking to her. She’s getting very independent in taking care of herself and is not afraid to say what she does and doesn’t want or like. Luckily for us, she’s very sweet about it and uses a lot of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when she does it. She still loves school and gets really excited when she knows we’re going to see Miss Cathy and Miss Tammy. They do a great job with her! I can’t imagine what she’s going to be like when she starts school full-time.

Here come the winter holidays!

2005-12-03T18:32:00.000-06:00

Well, it’s been a wonderful couple of weeks with beautiful weather and a change in the seasons. It’s finally feeling like fall around here with nice days anywhere from the 60’s to the 80’s. We’ve also had a lot more play-days in the park lately and have loved having the house open and airy…Ahhh!
Thanksgiving was nice for us (hope it was for you too). Kevin’s boss invited us again this year and Aanika was old enough this year to drive the kiddie Jeep all by herself. She’s got to get the steering concept down, but otherwise, she had a ball (it’s been decided that she’s not getting one any time soon).

She also helped me do some baking this year and we made pumpkin pies as well as a blueberry pudding cake. Yummy!
The day after Thanksgiving, Aanika was my little helper elf and we brought down the decorations out of the attic. We’re finally getting in the mood for Christmas and have managed to get the house decorated. It’s really hard to get in the spirit of things when you’re walking around outside without a coat on and wondering when it’s going to get cold!

Last Sunday we were able to get our lights up on the house because Kev was brave enough to climb to the peak again for me this year. It was absolutely beautiful that day and Aanika even helped put the lights in the bushes.

Whew! Too much happening

2005-11-21T18:09:00.000-06:00

Wow, it’s been months since our last update. Things got crazy around here with hurricanes and such that I just got out of the routine of doing these. I’ll do my best to catch you up on everything. We’ve had vacations, hurricanes, a huge growth spurt, visitors from out of state (2 states, actually) and Aanika started school and goes two days a week. On top of that, we’ve got playgroup, playdates, Mommom’s functions with the MOMS Club (welcome committee chairmom) and the neighborhood women’s group (social coord.) and general fun days with Daddy when he’s home. Whew! That’s enough to keep anyone busy…and compared to other families, we’re not busy! Down here in Texas, we’re finding out that it’s all about ‘bigger and best’ and your kids have to be busy and occupied every day of the week. Thankfully, we deliberately keep ourselves from being too busy and are quite content with our nice peaceful family life!
Aanika is getting very tall, is learning sign language (at least 30 words already), and is smarter than a whip. She’s keeping us on our toes because she picks up on everything you say! She’s also developing a great sense of humor too. She was always quite funny, but now she makes jokes and teases and tries to pull the wool over your eyes with her tricks! Check out her sense of humor in the picture of her dinner plate....those are grapes in case you're wondering.

Little Hula Girl

2005-09-09T18:26:00.000-05:00

Here's Aanika and momma after a women's group party - it was a Luau and momma was the party greeter.

This is Aanika doing her own version of the Hula!

Do as I say, not as I do

2005-08-08T18:01:00.000-05:00

Aanika's really talking! Lately she is saying her name “Anka” in just about every sentence she uses. It’s really cute because instead of saying ‘I’ or ‘mine’ it usually comes out as “my Anka” and it’s almost always at the END of the sentence. Here’s a typical sentence if Daddy’s playing with her toy ice cream cone (see pic): “No no Daddy ice cream cone my Anka” – it’s not grammatically correct but she’s very clear on what she means!
Seeing it’s been so hot lately, it IS August in Texas you know, we tend to stay inside during the hottest part of the day and play in the morning or early evening before the mosquitoes come out. The picture here involves an after dinner shot of “the kids” playing in the backyard. The third kid that I have (you know the big one as Kevin) is an 8 yr old boy that we watch a couple days during the week, Cameron, and he loves golf. After a few crazy hits with the practice balls, they decided that they needed to be retrieved…hey, have you ever heard the phrase “do as I say, not as I do”? Well, Aanika was getting an early lesson in it!

Camping on the beach

2005-07-11T17:44:00.000-05:00

This week has been relatively uneventful so I’ll give you a recap of our trip to Michigan and our recent camping adventure. We had a great time in MI even though the weather was unpredictable. It went from the high 50’s to the 80’s while we were there…we even had the heat on! June in Michigan…did I tell you that that’s why we moved? Well, winter’s the other reason!
Our camping adventure was just that. OUR part of it was fun and relaxing, but it’s those pesky neighbors that you can’t control. Between the 4 (yes, four) barking dogs on one side and the very intoxicated neighbors on the other with their late-into-the-night screaming/fighting, well there isn’t much else to say! Oh, I forgot to mention the mariachi music at 4a.m. – that was the final highlight of the night. All in all we had fun but one of the best parts was the water fun. We were camping in a county park and it was only a short walk through the campground to get to the Gulf. The water was hot like bathwater and you actually had to get OUT of the water to cool off. I guess that explains why there was a tropical storm this week!

The picture is at the campsite and Aanika on her way to the beach.

The little singer

2005-07-02T17:34:00.000-05:00

Someone turned on the furnace down here! Ouchie…been in the high 90’s this week and it’s not gonna change for a while I think – we’ve had no rain for several weeks so it’s keeping the humidity low (for the time being). This is the time of year when you plan your afternoons around staying indoors between the hours of Noon and 3pm! Hot as it is, we’re planning an overnight camping trip to the coast today (Saturday) to see how Aanika does. We’d like to eventually take a week-long trip somewhere but we need to see how well she’ll adapt to a tent. She thought it was fun enough when it was set up in the living room (Kevin’s idea) but it might be a whole other issue when it’s surrounded by “nature” and other people. Actually, it could be interesting because of it being so close to the 4th – we’re hoping it won’t be too bad because the county we’ll be in has a burning ban enacted because of the dry conditions but time will tell!
This is one of Aanika's favorite activities lately with her daddy....FLYING!

Our trip to Michigan went well, but it was quite chilly and cool. We’ll do pictures and an update of that next time. I must say, the trip did nothing to change the still active obsession with Aurora (Sleeping Beauty). We’ve attached a short video clip this week of Aanika showing off her singing skills. In the video, they’re singing ‘Hail to the King, Hail to the Queen, Hail to Princess Aurora’ and it’s all done with much pomp and circumstance. Well, she’s been working on her singing and it’s the part about Princy A-Roar-Aahhhh (you’ll understand this spelling when you see the clip). Over and over and over…all day long…everywhere.

Thumb Sucking Solution!

2005-06-11T21:31:00.000-05:00

Aanika is doing wonderfully since her surgery and is sleeping and resting much better. She’s even starting to lose the dark circles that were always under her eyes! Our ‘big’ event going on now is that we’re trying to stop the thumb sucking that she does when she’s waking up in the morning. Several months ago, Kevin got her to stop the nighttime sucking just by leaning over her and saying “Don’t suck your thumb”…she hasn’t done it since! The task for morning sucking is harder because we’re still in bed too, so we’ve come up with something that Aanika thinks is fun ~ she wears a sock on her hand. It’s so cute, when she gets up in the morning, she puts it back in her sock drawer and at night, she reminds us to put it on her. She’s just a hoot of a kid.
This week we had Aanika's first "lesson" in swimming....she loved the splashing!
Aanika and Mommom are off to Michigan next week (looks like it’ll be dreary and cool) for a visit. Kevin has a monster of a week with 2 large hospitals “going live” with their new computer programs in the Units. Needless to say, if we were still here at home, we wouldn’t be seeing much of him! We might even be going over to Grand Rapids for the Bethany International Festival, which is the agency’s big event of the year. This is who we used for her adoption and several of the families we traveled with to China are coming in from out of state. Oughta be fun!

Adenoid Surgery

2005-05-21T19:33:00.000-05:00

What a time we’ve had since our last update! Aanika came through her surgery with flying colors (this past Thursday) and was back to acting like her old self by that evening. We are so pleased with the results…it’s amazing that her speech and sleeping have already both improved. We could hear a difference in her breathing immediately as well as hearing air movement through her nose when she spoke! It’s kind of strange though because it sounds like bubbles gurgling when she talks…hopefully that’ll go away when the swelling goes down.

Well, we’ve been here one whole year already (can you believe it?!) and we’re set for a record-breaking week of high temperatures (93/71 through Wed). The neighborhood fun pool isn’t open yet, and if you remember from last summer, a critter popped our little play pool so we went out today and bought a bigger and better model! It’s actually large enough for all 3 of us to lay in it and more than enough room for romping around.

1st Emergency Room Visit

2005-05-04T10:45:00.000-05:00

The things going on at the moment is that Aanika is slowly getting over her separation anxiety, still growing like a weed and is scheduled for Adenoid removal surgery on May 19th. She has almost complete closure of her nasal airway. Her tonsils should come out too, but she is at least one year too young for that procedure. Hopefully this will help solve the sleeping issues that has bothered her for so long! The other thing that happened recently is that Aanika had her first trip to the Emergency Room. She popped her elbow out of place (Nursmaid's Elbow), just before bedtime, while teasing her Daddy. Luckily it was a quick and simple fix and 5 minutes afterwards you would never have known anything was wrong.

Happy Spring

2005-04-10T23:22:00.000-05:00

Happy Spring! It’s been a great couple of weeks here – warm, sunny & breezy. Sorry for no update last weekend, nothing huge went on that week I guess! This past week was another one for projects. We’ve been wanting our back patio to be more ‘welcoming’ and comfortable but haven’t really been sure what to do back there. In the late afternoon and early evening, the sun makes the patio brutally hot and you can’t enjoy the space. Well, we were watching a program together and saw something we thought we could pull off – it took me a while to figure out exactly HOW to do it and only a few days to actually pull it all together. The sheer, white curtains you see in the picture can be opened up to make a wonderful shady area that blocks out the sun but still allows you to see through them into the backyard.
Events going on in Aanika’s life this week are kind of limited at the moment. She’s going through some separation anxiety and won’t even let us leave her at one of her favorite places, the kids play space at our gym. Seeing that we’ve never had to deal with this before, we’re kind of at a loss as to what triggered it (we think it might have something to do with Mama's grieving over Girlcat). The other day we were at the pediatrician’s office for an immunization and she stuck to me like glue when she saw the toys…I guess she thought it was another play place I was going to leave her in. It’s really kind of funny though because every time we get somewhere, she starts pointing at herself and saying “me me me” which, in Aanika language, means take me with you! Hopefully she’ll get over this soon…

Easter

2005-03-27T23:26:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter! It’s been a quiet week for us here as Aanika has had a bit of a tummy bug that she decided she’d share with her momma. We’re on the mend thankfully and are looking forward to a wonderful week with the temps forecasted to be in the 70’s-80’s all week and mostly sunny. This week has also involved a huge jump in language use for Aanika. She’s starting to put together sentences that tell you exactly what she’s wanting. It’s so great to see the changes - I’m really looking forward to the days that I don’t have to be a mind reader or an interpreter!

We’re pretty excited that we were able to get Aanika’s tables completely finished this weekend. The picnic table is stained ‘Rosewood’ and has a nice varnished finish on it. The white play-table was quite fun to do too. I cut up a wallpaper border and did a decoupage technique with it (just a fancy word for tons ‘o glue) around all four sides of the table and down onto each leg. When I was thinking of how to decorate it, I could see it being fun and playful with a bit of a whimsical flair…mind you, this is a huge feat for me seeing that I like everything symmetrical and linear - we think it turned out great!

The picture is of Aanika wearing her new easter hat from Bompa Marx.

Furniture 101

2005-03-21T09:41:00.000-06:00

Well, things are back into the groove again this week. Kevin’s brother and his wife (they’re from Kansas) came to visit us this past week for spring break. We went to Rodeo Houston and saw some awesome bull riding, spent an afternoon on Galveston Island and ate some fantastic seafood ~ basically we had a really great time. The guys actually managed to get in a round of golf on Friday before they had to leave. We’ll have some pictures later to show you. Aanika sure loved having them here!

The last two weekends were spent doing projects…Thankfully, Aanika is such a Daddy’s-girl on the weekends, I get to do the household projects with little interruption. Oh, in case you’re wondering, the bathroom is now Bullfrog Green (you gotta see it…very cool) and the office is almost the color of butterscotch. Both colors are very unique but they “fit” the rooms they’re in. Yesterday and today were Furniture Building 101. Kevin and I built, from scratch, a child-size play table that Aanika can use for drawing, Legos, or her little people village. The other item is a picnic table (just her size) that is absolutely adorable! Aanika was very helpful too! She would hand Kevin screws and was helping me with the sanding. We had to draw the line though when she wanted to play with the wood glue and paint!

Aanika is doing really well and is still just the sweetest little kid. We truly are blessed to have the opportunity to have her in our lives. The other day we were trying to remember what we used to do before she came ~ she has given us so much!

Girlcat

2005-03-06T16:21:00.000-06:00

Aanika turned two and suddenly became a comical and funny kid. We always thought she was silly but it’s like something clicked and she knew she was funny! One event that really tickled me was that she was trying to stand like me one day as I was waiting in line at a store. I have a tendency to lean my hip into things and rest one foot on top of the other and, like I said in one of my other posts, she wants to do everything that Mommom is doing…well, after falling over a few times, she decided she couldn’t do it and gave up. It sure gave everyone around us a pretty good chuckle! She’s really quite amazing and continues to thrill us. Last night we were watching a movie that she had never seen and, as the music crescendo’d as the movie came to a close, she hollered out “all done” and looked to us to turn it off! We have no idea how she knew it was done, but she did…we can’t figure it out. Every day it’s something new!

On a sad note, another event that happened this week was that our sweet little kitty “Girlcat” unexpectedly passed away during the night on Wednesday. She was almost 15 years old and had been with us since she was only a few weeks old. It’s crazy how attached you get to a pet but, needless to say, Momma did not and handle it very well and cried for 3 days. She had a great year though and really seemed to enjoy it here. She was a sweet natured and lovable pet and will be terribly missed.

Salon de Momma

2005-02-05T11:13:00.000-06:00

Wow, Aanika’s almost 2 years old already! We’re having a little party with some of her friends from church and we’ve ordered our first official theme birthday cake – The Three Princesses. This is her new obsession…Cinderella (her favorite), Belle, and Jasmine. We were shopping for ‘big girl’ diapers the other day and she started going crazy! Sure enough, there was a box with the 3 girls on it, which means that they’re also ON the panties. She was so excited, when we got home, she ripped the package open and was playing with the panties like they were toys! So, to sum it up for you, we have the diapers, the invitations, the cake and the decorations. What’s gonna be next?

This week we got haircuts at Salon de Momma. She saw me cutting mine and of course, being a 2 yr old, had to do the same thing. Well, you know I’m not going to turn the scissors over to her so I gave her a bit of a trim on her bangs. She’s looking so grown up now! Where’d that little baby go? The picture of the little sweetie is above.

On a funny note, after I cut my hair, it seemed very familiar to me so I went to check it out…yup, I gave myself my 7th grade haircut but without as much length! Check the picture out for yourself. Kevin thought it was amazing that after 27 years, I don’t look that much different - I’m just thankful that I have great genes!

Big Girl Bed

2005-01-23T16:45:00.000-06:00

This week was kind of a quiet week in regards to what’s happening in Aanika’s world…only 1 real big event. I mentioned a while ago that we were trying to get her bedroom put together, décor-wise (it’s being decorated ‘adult enough’ to be a second guest room). No character theme rooms yet! Well, we’ve made a huge transition for her – she’s in a big girl bed now! We couldn’t really go forward with our plans for the room until we knew what kind of arrangement we would do with a real bed. So, about 2 weeks ago we made the leap and did it – the crib was taken apart and we did a few nights of a test run with a mattress on the floor to see if she’d stay in the bed without getting up (success!). She thought her new arrangement was pretty great seeing she could play on the bed with her best friend, Teddy, the big yellow bear. We did decide to put up some bed rails on it though because she’s a total wiggle-butt when she’s sleeping. It’d be quite a long drop if she wiggled into the wrong spot! So after a few practices of getting in and out, she’s become quite comfortable with it. It’s so cute, when she’s done sleeping, she knocks on her door until we come and get her! I have to admit though, I am NOT looking forward to the day when she can turn that doorknob.

Post-Holiday breather

2005-01-16T19:07:00.000-06:00

Wow…it’s been over 1 month since our last posting! The holidays were quite busy around here and we were steadily accumulating pictures to send. Now that I’ve finally gotten a bit of a breather, I figured I better get to it! Sorry it’s a bit long, but hey, it’s been a long time…

After our last post, we went on a whirlwind weekend trip to MI for some final adoption paperwork (yea!) with Joy, our social worker, in Grand Rapids and an oh so very brief time of visiting family and friends. On the way home we avoided a snowstorm in Chicago (thanks to Continental Airlines rescuing us), we hurried back for Kevin’s office party that we hosted at our house a couple of days later, one final week of Christmas shopping, then we packed it all back up again and headed to Oma & Opa’s cottage on the mountain in Missouri for Christmas. WHEW! It was crazy for a couple weeks but it was worth it. On New Years eve, we had an early dinner out at my favorite restaurant and came home and relaxed until the new year rang in. New Year’s day was absolutely beautiful here and Kevin and Aanika decided they were going to wash Daddy’s car. Needless to say, she was completely soaked shortly into it!

The next weekend was warm and wonderful too so we decided it was time to do our winter plant maintenance. Aanika was a great little helper with her little mini rake and broom and she’s also a great stick pile builder. We’re enjoying the time that she wants to be around us to “help” because we know soon enough that we’re not gonna be cool enough for her to be around all the time!

December Weather

2004-12-06T17:59:00.000-06:00

What a time we’re having – a fun little girl, a great place to live and blessed beyond what we can count. We hope that this season is more to you than getting presents and that you stop and take a look at the blessings that are in your life and in our world, all because of one very special child that was given to the world so long ago.

This weekend was so great. Warm, humid and best yet – no snow! It was 9:30 at night and we had our windows open for the 73 degree air that was gently blowing around outside. Aahhh! Can you feel it? Oh the joy of not having to layer on the down comforter and the heavy pj’s just to keep warm. I must say that there is a down side to the warm weather. We had a visitor Sunday night around 1:30a.m. Our KCWS (kitty cat warning system) is fully functioning and pulling her weight around here. Girlcat (now 14 years old) came to our room and howled a very distinct cry of alarm of "Mama", so up I hopped out of bed and followed her to the kitchen. There, in the glow of the nightlight, I saw him. No, not bug, not an earthworm, but a very small, full-grown, snake. He was less than 12” long and about as fat as a pencil. I personally have no tolerance to critters so luckily for him I went and got Kevin to help me figure out what exactly he was…Kevin saved him to slither another day by checking some pictures on the internet. We figured out that he was a harmless critter called a Texas Brown Snake who likes dark moist areas – much like the new mulch we put down a couple weeks ago.

Other than that, the week has been pretty uneventful. Aanika is growing every day and is just a hoot to be with. The picture is of her and her new “desk” that Momma made for her.

Aanika with Cameron and his Jeep

2004-11-27T12:03:00.000-06:00

Happy belated Thanksgiving! We had a nice day at Kevin’s boss’ house which is north of Houston and about a 1.5 hour drive from our house. They were kind enough to invite us but had a crazy turn of events…it was a beautiful sunshiny day and they had no power! They have no idea why but they made the best of it. Luckily, they have a gas stovetop and grill so they could finish cooking everything. The power eventually came on after everything was finally cooked and going on to the table. Isn’t that usually how things go? :) Aanika had a ball with their grandson, Cameron, who is almost 5 years old. They have lots of toys for the grandkids so they had plenty of things to keep them occupied. The best toy is in the picture above. Cameron has a battery-powered Jeep and was more than willing to take Aanika for a ride in it. We got some great video of Aanika riding next to him with her arm around his shoulders! He’s a very polite driver…Aanika had been holding a chalkboard eraser and accidentally dropped it while they were riding. He turned off the jeep, got out and picked it up for her and then hopped back in and put on his seatbelt and off they went again! What a hoot.

Other than Thanksgiving, it’s been pretty quiet around here this week. I’ve done more painting (our bathroom) and have started getting the house ready for Christmas. We’re having a couple of get-togethers here for the holiday season so I’m trying to get everything finished ahead of time. I don’t generally work well under pressure so I try not to procrastinate too much! Kevin’s going to help me hang some lights on the house today because I’m too chicken to climb to the rooftop! I’m also planning on painting Aanika’s bathroom today too as well as getting out for a bike ride. It’s absolutely gorgeous weather today (sunshine and low 70’s) and we’re planning on getting out to enjoy it! The little one’s a bit under the weather today but hopefully the fresh air will do her good.

Gotcha Day - First Anniversary

2004-11-14T20:18:00.000-06:00

Homemade ballet shoes

Have I mentioned lately that Aanika is growing like a weed? All of a sudden it’s like she’s turning into a little girl (who loves dance) instead of the sweet little baby we went and picked up almost 1 year ago. Yup, this time last year we were in Beijing, China and getting ever closer to meeting our little sweetie. Gotcha Day is on Tuesday and we’re planning a fun evening out at one of the restaurants here in town.

The week has been kind of crazy around here…I’ve been in a purging mood and have stripped out all of the closets and dresser drawers and starting pitching things. We both had our things to be gotten rid of - for me, things that are much too small (face it, I’ll never be that skinny again!) and for Kevin, he had things in his drawers from as far back as 1988! I swear the man is a packrat. On top of that, Aanika’s room has had a once-over as well. One of her walls has now been painted purple, her closets and drawers stripped AND her toys have finally found some temporary form of organization (let’s see how long it lasts) so that they actually have a place to be put other than on her floor! The only thing left is to go through years of papers and lack of filing in the office. Does everyone put off the worst task for last? : )

Pigtailed Cutie

2004-11-03T02:20:00.000-06:00

Another week has come and gone…boy, how the time flies. Not much has happened since our last update. Aanika’s hair is finally getting long enough that we finally have been able to put her hair up in pig tails – totally changes the way her face looks…And how totally cute she is with them!! Halloween was interesting for us this year. We don’t normally celebrate it (that’s a whole other discussion) but Kevin thought that we should pass out treats to the little ones. So, to avoid having people ask us why Aanika wasn’t dressed up, we did her up in one of the outfits we bought for her in China. Boy, did she look cute!

The weather here is finally changing to feel like autumn. Apparently we had one of the warmest October’s on record. The rest of this week and weekend look like they’re going to be beautiful with temps in the mid 60’s-mid 70’s. The other thing we’re getting accomplished around here is adding some furnishings and changing out some of the curtains that came with the house. We’re just not navy blue kind of people! The house is really feeling homey and cozy now that we’ve added some warm lighting and warm/dark woods into the mix. We just never really had the space for much “stuff” in our other homes before so it’s been nice to be able to finally fill the rooms with more than just couches.

The only other thing that’s going to happen around here this week is to put up Aanika’s new purple curtains in her room. We’re getting ready for the transition to a regular bed and have started purchasing the bedding and décor that will be used. Right now it’s pretty much a blank canvas so it ought to turn out to be quite a cute room when it’s all done.

Teeth dents and the hardwood floor

2004-10-27T07:57:00.000-05:00

Those little light marks are from Aanika's front teeth!

Things have been pretty quiet around here this week. The Riverdancing has slowed down a bit (thankfully) but now she’s moved on to ‘Angelina Ballerina’ which is a bit more annoying. It’s a British-done cartoon about a mouse (Angelina) who loves ballet. At the end of the program, they actually teach you ballet moves and positions of the feet etc. Aanika is so cute with it though. When she wants to watch it, she either will hold up the remote for the DVD player or she brings it to you. All this is done while she’s nodding her head ‘yes’ and saying “Leena” along with some other stuff we have yet to figure out. Of course it’s all followed up by a dramatic “Mmpwease” which is ‘please’ to you and me. When she was learning to say please, it started out with her wanting more of something. Thus, we get ‘more, please’ as mmpwease. Really very cute when you see it all together.

Well, we’re moving into a new stage with Aanika lately…toddler mishaps. Usually it’s just a scraped knee, or a pinched finger but we’ve had two owies in two days. The first one was a tumble off of a chair because she’s finally discovered climbing – she ended up with just a little bump on her noggin. The second one was yesterday - see picture above. Look directly in the center and you’ll see two little marks. This is what I saw left behind on the floor as I picked Aanika up off of it! Luckily it wasn’t a full-force fall onto her teeth…she had already fallen and as she was trying to get up, she fell again so it was really only from a few inches off the floor that resulted in this. She was very lucky to say the least.

Grandpa Marx and Aunt Ria visit

2004-10-20T10:11:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in updates. We had some special visitors from Michigan last week! Bompa Marx and Aunt Maria came down to celebrate my birfweek* with me. We had a great time while they were here. Kevin took us to San Antonio the first weekend that they arrived (first missed update). The weather was perfect for our adventures. We went to the Alamo (very cool) and also spent our two days exploring the Riverwalk and still didn’t see all of it! It was very lush and green and absolutely beautiful.

The rest of the week we spent closer to home (within 1 hour’s drive). Saturday the 16th was going home day for them and it was also a recovery day for me from all the running around we did all week (second missed update). Aanika had a ball having new playmates for a whole week. The girl is absolutely crazy over her Bompa (see the picture above). After he left, she went into his bedroom a few times looking for him. She thought it was great when we called him and she was able to talk on the phone with him.

Definition of "Birfweek":
Part one: A birfweek is an extension of a birthday-day. It is up to the person celebrating to decide if the days preceeding or following the actual birthday are part of said birfweek. The birthday-day must fall within these dates.
Part two: The person celebrating their birfweek is allowed to purchase at least one birthday item of their choosing (within reason) and not have to explain the purchase.
Part three: Something has to be purchased for or done for/with, in regard to the person celebrating, on each day of the birfweek in recognition of said celebration. This is to be negotiated between the two parties. NOTE: This celebration is only to be practiced between spouses or significant others.

Treehouse breakfast

2004-10-02T10:44:00.000-05:00

Boy, another week has come and gone – time flies when you’re having fun! Aanika and I finally found a new family doctor and were able to go and get her next round of vaccinations taken care of. It went pretty well – to get the tears stopped, we called Daddy on the cell phone and let her chat with him while I paid our bill. It’s so cute because she talks up a storm but we really have no idea what she’s saying. There’s usually a lot of hand motions and pointing, giggles and you can always pick up the “goodbye” and ”see ya later” when she’s finished. She’s currently 33½ inches tall and weighs 26 pounds, has at least 16 teeth and is in very good health.

This evening we’re heading back to the county fair for duck racing (that oughta be interesting) and a professional Rodeo! I’ve never been to one and am really quite excited about it. Kevin says that if I like watching it on TV (which I do), then I’m really going to like it in person. That’s pretty much going to be the fun of the day except that I’m making one of my “experimentation meals” that I’m famous for. Hey, don’t snicker and feel sorry for Kevin…more often than not they turn out great.

The picture today is Aanika and Daddy doing one of their new favorite things – hanging out on Saturday morning and snacking on breakfast cereal in the tree house. The Riverdance obsession continues. It’s the first thing she asks for in the morning! She grabs her apple juice, giggles a bit and waits for it to start. I’ve finally convinced her that she can actually sit and watch it because normally she’ll stand in front of it through the entire program…it’s 1½ hours long!

Remembering my Mom

2004-09-25T11:46:00.000-05:00

Wow, it’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since my Mom passed away. There were days when it felt like the year would never pass and yet it seems like only yesterday. On the anniversary day (Thursday) I thought to myself that I should do something that my Mom would have loved to do. Well, I don’t like chocolate malts so the next best thing was to ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl at the county fair! My mom absolutely loved this ride – the only one she would ever ride on and she would squeal with laughter. We went last night on opening day to take Aanika to ride some of the kiddie rides and to see the animals. As most of you know, I’m a ride freak – the faster, the better and if you don’t know what the Tilt-W-Whirl is, it’s one of the oldies-but-goodies of fairs. Most anyone can ride it…yup, you guessed it, I took Aanika on it with me! I can just hear you now “She did what?!” ~ but she loved it! She started clapping her hands afterwards and when we asked her if she had fun, she looked at the operator and thanked him…she’s a true child of my own!

Other than the fun of the fair, it was a pretty quiet week. The weather is great and is cooling off to the 80’s and will probably stay that way for the remainder of autumn. Aanika and I rode our bike down to the lake yesterday to feed the ducks, turtles and even some carp. She loves the animals but she keeps pretty close to me when she knows that they’re too close. At the petting zoo last night, she was having a ball. It was called the “Unique Petting Zoo” and had a lot of animals that were her size. There were fawns, baby llamas, pigmy goats and a fuzzy cow calf…very fun. She and Daddy were even brave enough to feed some of them! I was busy defending myself and the stroller from the deer…they liked the straps of the stroller and I even got my backside nibbled on a bit! Yikes.

The picture this week is of Aanika lounging in one of her favorite chairs that our friends, the Vaughan’s, gave to us before we brought her home. The funny thing about it is that she wasn’t posing for the pictures…she just likes to sit that way…she’s sure is a funny little girl.

Riverdance obsession

2004-09-18T11:11:00.000-05:00

Watching Riverdance.....again.

Another quiet week (we’re still Riverdancing), we’ve had beautiful weather and another encounter with Mr. Opossum. Those little critters are tough! Kevin was actually thwacking him on the head and feet with a broom and he’d look at Kevin like he was crazy ~ it was quite hysterical to say the least :) He never did get him off the fence…

Aanika is still growing like a weed. She was looking pretty sassy yesterday in her neon green sandals Aunt Chrissy bought her. They’re still a little bit big for her (size 5) but she loves ‘em and will wear them any chance she gets. I think she likes them because they make a good sound on the floor when she walks. We also discovered that Aanika is double-jointed in her thumbs….I swear this child is genetically ours – Kevin’s thumbs are the same way!

The Opposum Fight

2004-09-11T21:15:00.000-05:00

It’s been a pretty uneventful week here unless you count my 2 a.m. fight with beady-eyed Mr. Opossum in the backyard on Thursday. The neighbor dog wouldn’t stop barking and we couldn’t sleep, the more I couldn’t sleep the angrier I got! Well, I was bound and determined to find out what had this dog so fired up so I threw on my robe and went out ready for battle. Well, I only managed to pelt him with some wood chips and he scampered down the fence figuring that I’d leave him alone…. I guess he wasn’t counting on the fact that I don’t care for rodent-type critters and I came back with a broom, swung it hard like a baseball bat, and smacked him clean off the fence! Things quieted down quite a bit after that.

Aanika does have a new obsession that we’ve been dealing with…actually it was my fault that it got started. Many of you probably know that I absolutely love Riverdance (the Irish Dance production) and I have it on videotape. Needless to say, Aanika got hooked and tries to dance with it – even to the point that she moves her head like they do in the opening dance! It’s now to the point that as soon as their feet stop moving, she’s running for the remote to fast forward to the next dance…it’s cute and funny but this goes on all day long! I swear I can hear that tape in my sleep… I’ve created a monster. The picture this week is of the little one all dolled up in her new ‘pretties’ that Crazy Aunt Chris sent to her. The bracelets/ankle bracelets are a huge hit!

Oma and Opa visit

2004-09-04T20:48:00.000-05:00

Oma and Opa Sprecher were here last weekend so I didn’t get an update out. We had a great visit with them and had some really nice weather and temperatures while they were here. Saturday we were at Kemah on the boardwalk and got rained on a bit but we had a nice lunch at Joes’ Crab Shack. We sat out on the deck over the water and were able to watch the boats come in and out of the channel while we ate. Opa was amazed at how much food one little girl could consume!

This week started with them driving home on Monday morning and they arrived safe and sound later that evening. The rest of the week had the three of us fighting the mullygrubs and feeling like we were all sick with various levels of a cold [bleah!]. Today was adventure day again so we took a drive west of Houston to a little town called Bellville. They had an open market with crafts and such (didn’t find what we were looking for) and some nice little shops and restaurants. Aanika didn’t last long after lunch so we headed home before the rains came and I had a chance to get in a nice little nap when we got home!

Potty training and boo boos

2004-08-22T22:52:00.000-05:00

Well, it’s been a pretty quiet week here. The temps went back up and it got nice and steamy and so it made the weekend kind of rainy and gray. We made the best of it though and got some things done in the yard and around the house. The Olympics have been on here at our house every day since they started and they seem to be pretty entertaining for her… gymnastics and the diving seem to excite her. She starts jumping around, waving her arms and running in place like she’s trying to do what they are! Very funny to say the least.

This week she also figured out how to swing like a big girl – leg pumping action and everything! The other fun thing that has been going on, for a while now, is potty training. We started her early (16 months) to see if she’d take to it….if she keeps on like she is, she just might be in big girl pants by the time she’s 2.

On another note, we discovered yesterday that she has a phobia of band-aids! Months ago at her last vaccination appointment she had a pretty traumatic experience. One of the shots was very painful (the nurse had warned me it would be) and she didn’t handle it well. That night at bath time she saw the band-aids and absolutely freaked out…screaming bloody murder – the works. So, to make a long story short, for the next 3 days whenever she’d see something on her body that was round-shaped like the band-aids (her belly button), she would go nuts. Needless to say, Saturday’s booboo didn’t stay covered with the band-aid I so lovingly applied.

Galveston

2004-08-15T23:15:00.000-05:00

It’s been a beauty of a week here, weather wise….only in the mid 80’s. Today was no exception so we went off on another excursion to the Gulf coast town/island of Quintana whose history dates back to 1528. There isn’t much left to see of its history because of hurricanes and yellow fever wiping everyone and everything out, but it was fun nonetheless. We took our bikes with us and were able to ride on the beach, had some lunch and even chased down an ice cream man for some frozen goodies.

The photo of Kevin and Aanika was taken on our beach trip today….we thought it was funny because it mentioned Kalamazoo. After our ride, we parked our bikes and played in the waves – the water was 84 degrees! It’s amazing what’s within an hour’s drive of here!

Earlier in the week, Kevin was trying to show Aanika how to do a headstand but inadvertently taught her how to do a forward roll. Now she does it every chance she can! Of course she’s still obsessed with the car and I’ve managed to rig up a way to take her ‘driving’ through the neighborhood….she took her buddy Pandy with us the other day. Her other love in the household is Girlcat. Mind you, she’s 14 years old and had the run of the house her entire life and now there’s this little creature that is intent on giving her hugs!

The car incident

2004-08-07T09:45:00.000-05:00

The brand new car

Pretty quiet week for the little one. We went to a neighborhood "National Night Out" gathering on Tuesday evening to get to know some our neighbors - it's a crime prevention thing. It was pretty uneventful except for the one little incident that seemed to irk the daughter. Remember the new car that I told you about? - yeah, the one she's obsessed with - well, I managed to rig something up so that we could pull her in it like a wagon (it's now decorated with red and silver curly ribbons hanging from it). Well, she just thought she was the bees knees and was tickled to death that she was still able to be in her car and not at home. You know, I had a niggle in the back of my brain that said 'maybe you shouldn't take it' but, I did anyway. Fast forward a bit and imagine a STRANGER getting in her car..... The look on her face was priceless! She was completely frozen in place and you could see the look of disbelief on her face. I was able to distract her during this little bit of stress but it didn't take long for her emotions to take over the second time the little girl tried to get in - Aanika showed herself a bit and she managed to give the little girl a shove! All of us adults were snickering a bit, waiting to see the outcome. It turned out to be a non-event but it was a good chance for her to have a lesson in "sharing" - even when it's your most prized toy.

Today we're loading up the bikes and heading to Houston and will be riding one of the trails that is quite popular. Should be a fun day! We had a cold front come through last night so it should be a nice day for riding....it's only gonna be in the low to mid 90's.

Gators and Swings

2004-08-04T09:50:00.000-05:00

Saturday was another expedition into the wilds of Texas. We went biking in the Brazos Bend State Park which is about 15 miles from us. That's an easy thing to say but I gotta tell ya, I was chewing my nails by the time we got there....there's Gators in that there park!! Yup, big teef and beady little eyes were staring at us as we rode by his position which was about 3 feet from me. Yikes! Kev figured he was about 6 feet long. We saw another one floating in the middle of a marshy area as well as a littler one (maybe 3 feet) who was sunning himself on a high piece of ground in the middle of a swamp. I wasn't about to stop and take pictures so there won't be any to show ya of our bike ride.

We'll go a more sedate route today with pictures. The photo today is of Aanika's swing that she has in the backyard (no gators there!). It's getting to be an evening ritual of her and Daddy going out to play.

Texas Heat & our "pool"

2004-05-22T22:41:00.000-05:00

What a great day! We drove an hour to Galveston Island on the Gulf of Mexico today for a beach outing and had an absolute blast. Aanika LOVED the waves! The water was a balmy 79 degrees, wavy enough to make it fun and there was a great breeze to keep it refreshing. Unfortunately we didn't get her first salt water experience on film but we figure that it won't be her last time there! We're already looking forward to the next time we get to go and are planning on taking our bikes.

We've made Aanika a temporary pool out of a floatable tanning lounger....the community pools aren't open yet during the week. We had temps up around 92 the other day and we had to come up with something fun to do.

Sugar Land House

2004-05-15T18:45:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been quite a year so far and I haven't done much updating to the page like I intended!

As many of you know, we've gotten moved in to our new home in Sugar Land, Texas and are absolutely thrilled. We couldn't have been more fortunate with how everything worked out for us. We listed our home and it was sold within the first week, travelled here to find a home and had our offer accepted before we had to travel back home and even had one of my sister's come home from Oregon for a visit before we left. My sister, Maria, drove down with us (what a blessing she was) to help with Aanika and to be my relief driver. Poor Kevin, he and the cat had quite a ride in that truck! It was 3 very long days of fighting the wind, not moving very fast and being just plain cramped, between Aanika and the cat I think that neither of them is looking forward to any kind of trip in the near future! Maria really kept things moving once we got here - you'd think that we've lived here for years! It's really quite amazing....the house looks like it was built for us and for our furnishings. The curtains that were left behind match our couches perfectly, the main paint color is EXACTLY the same as in our condo with a lighter shade in the other areas and it's scale is wonderful for our oversized furniture. We're really looking forward to living here ~ who knows what might be in store for us!

On the move South

2004-04-03T09:04:00.000-06:00

Wow! We've sold our house already ~ it was only on the market for 1 week! We had a wonderful realtor named Jason who came in with a great attitude and got it done. We are so relieved to know that we can go into our house-hunting venture knowing that things on this end are set and ready to go. Well, we're taking Aanika on some more airplanes and she isn't the quiet "sit still" kind of girl anymore...it oughta be a very interesting trip considering that our seats aren't together - hopefully the airline will be able to fix our seating!

With the weather finally getting nice enough we've been able to get out for some afternoon walks. We bought a Burley (bike/run/walk) stroller this past Christmas so that we can take her with us no matter what we want to do outside. We've got to get her a little helmet so that we can go riding with her but until then she loves going out running with Daddy. It's been wonderful for her because she can take a snack/drink, toys or blankets and is totally comfortable. It has shaded screens to keep out the sun and bugs and it even has a windshield you can pull down if the wind is too chilly!

Walking

2004-03-22T22:54:00.000-06:00

Aanika's a certified 'walker' now and is making up for lost time! The other day she walked around the dining room table for 2 hours while we talked with a realtor. At the end of the two hours she was literally stumbling and falling down but simply refused to stop. I was getting tired just watching her!

Well there's big news in our family as many of you know. We're on the move again and heading south to the hot and steamy land of Houston, TX. Kevin is taking a new position with Memorial Hermann Healthcare System in Houston so that we can get out of the cold! We're not looking forward to another long, cold winter here in Michigan - we got very spoiled living in North Carolina! We both love the hot and hate the cold so we're pulling up stakes and hitting the road.

We're looking forward to "vacationers" looking for somewhere fun and warm to visit. Apparently the winters there are great so we'll plan on seeing some of you next winter!

Baby Dedication

2004-03-15T09:25:00.000-06:00

Well, we have a ham. Aanika was dedicated to the Lord on Sunday, March 7th and brought down the house! She and her "cousin" Hannah (also from China) were up front with Pastor Tim when Aanika decided to be funny and start flirting and making faces at everyone in the audience. Wouldn't you know it, it's a very serious moment and nobody can keep a straight face (laughing out loud), I'm hiding behind Kevin's shoulder because I was laughing so hard and Kev's doing his best not to look at her (he was holding her). Yup, you guessed it - the more we laughed the more she did it! All in all it turned out wonderfully and we have some great video to show her later.

The newest thing is that she's very aware that she's funny. A couple of days ago she was showing off, covered her mouth with her hand and doubled over at the waist with laughter. Let's just say that it's gonna be an interesting ride! She's an absolute riot.

Our other big hurdles are finally coming together. It used to be that we couldn't get her to put things in her mouth to eat and now we can't stop her! Oh the joy of Cheerios and Cheddar Gold Fish from Peppridge Farms. The other thing we had trouble with has now been solved with something as simple as a straw. Aanika simply would not drink from a sippie cup and was a disaster without a lid so out of desperation I tried a straw. I've never seen a one year old able to master a straw but hey, yeah for us!

Cheerios!

2004-02-17T02:27:00.000-06:00

All smiles after the Cheerio eating lesson!

Aanika is now a whopping 24 pounds and growing like a weed! She's generally happy and cheerful but, unfortunately, the girls of the household (even the cat) have been battling a cold these last two weeks. I think our bodies are rebelling against us for being cooped up for way too long! I can hardly wait for Spring to get here so we can get out and play.

I think we're going to have a 'talker' in the family. Already she can say Kitty, Daddy, good job and a variation of it's all gone and I'm all done. She's also been learning some sign language so that we can have a two-sided conversation. Her comprehension of what you say to her just amazes us. It's great to see her react in positive ways when you mention something that she enjoys. Seeing that big grin is a great payoff!

We've also (thanks to Holly) finally gotten her to start putting things in her mouth. She's still working on letting GO of the Cheerio, but at least she's understanding that there's a benefit to it. I don't know how she learned NOT to put things in her mouth, but I must say, it's been a challenge assuring her that it can be a good thing when it comes to eating.Sounds like someone's waking from her nap - gotta go.

First Birthday

2004-02-07T21:12:00.000-06:00

Today is Aanika's 1st birthday! We had a little celebration - just the 3 of us. She didn't seem to interested in her cupcake but we had fun nonetheless and got some cute video and pictures.

What a sweetheart of a child. We've been so blessed by having this little one in our lives. Our days are spent playing, sleeping and eating but boy, do we have fun in the process! What did we do with our time before? She's growing so fast it's just amazing. Her hair is becoming very thick and dark, her skin is soooo soft, and she's really becoming a beauty.

Christmas was spent in Missouri with Oma and Opa. It was a wonderful trip and we really enjoyed our time with them. They will be making a northward trip in March for Aanika's dedication. We've got the basement finished (finally) and have really made a great space for ourselves and visitors - it's quite cozy.

First Week Home

2003-12-06T18:26:00.000-06:00

Well, it's been a few days since we've posted. Things have settled down nicely and we seem to finally getting into a family groove. Mom and Aanika had their first full week alone while Daddy went to work (dad didn't want to go). With both of us learning schedules it was pretty interesting but we were able to go out on a couple of adventures together! (very successfully we might add!)

The sickness is finally making it's way out the house and we're all pretty excited about how things will be with all of us well! We think Aanika is cutting another tooth because the drooling has started. We've been pretty fortunate not to have gone through the previous 8! With all that she puts out, she's gonna be drenched by noon.

We're making plans for a trip to Oma and Opa's (Grandma and Grandpa Sprecher) house in Missouri for Christmas. We'll be driving over the course of 2 days with a stop in the Benton Harbor area to see relatives - oughta be interesting. Aanika did great on planes when she wasn't strapped down...I don't think we'll have as much luck with the car seat. She hates being sedentary AND strapped in!

HOME!!

2003-11-23T01:11:00.000-06:00

Wow, what a trip! We've made it home finally though a little worse for wear. I'm fine (surprisingly), Aanika has a cough and the sniffles and Kevin has taken a beating! To start, his wife (ME) is to blame for his first injury. As we were waiting in one of many lines at an airport I decided to sit on a luggage cart while Kev was holding Aanika - well, after sitting for quite some time, I had forgotten that Kevin too was sitting/leaning on the same luggage cart up near the handle bar. Did I mention that he was holding Aanika? Leave it to the blonde to stand up which in turn sent Kevin crashing to the floor! Luckily for us one of our travel partners helped to break his fall as he landed on his backside... Did you ever have someone give you a look like 'I can't believe you just did that' as something awful was happening? Yup, I got THAT look. Soon after this incident, while wandering around Nanjing and carrying Aanika in the Snuggli, he managed to throw his back out and put himself out of commission for a bit. Sheesh....to top it all off, after worrying and fretting that someone was going to get sick and possibly prevent our group from leaving China, guess who gets violently sick? KEVIN. Needless to say, Aanika didn't get to spend much time with her daddy on the way home to America. But, we're home safe and sound and simply thrilled to be in our own beds!

Thank you everyone for praying for us while we went through this process and during our trip - it's truly been amazing!

(Pictured are Auntie Sue, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Chrissy with the panda bear)

Stranded in Hong Kong

2003-11-21T22:12:00.000-06:00

Well, it's November 21st and we're delayed in Hong Kong (in the hotel lobby because we already checked out) because a flight issue from Chicago (again). We're trying to remain positive but it's really hard when you only want to get home! Hopefully, we'll only be delayed about 5 hours....

Guangzhou - Hot and Steamy

2003-11-20T00:43:00.001-06:00

Well, we're in day 2 in Guangzhou and boy, is it STEAMY! We're very glad that this is a November trip - just can't imagine how hot it truly gets in the summer...

Medical's and visa pictures were done on our first day here and most of the paperwork is finished. We'll going later today to take "the oath" where we promise to take care of her etc.Shopping is underway, plenty of exploring to be done still and just some general relaxing until we fly out tomorrow to Hong Kong. It appears that we'll be arriving relatively early in HK and will be able to take the express train into the city - we hear it's just amazing and we're looking forward to it.

On another side of this trip, we just found out today that another group is under quarantine because of chicken pox that put one child in the hospital. We're under strict orders to keep to ourselves and to keep the anti-bacterial hand cleaner with us at all times. Unfortunately for them, they have to remain for another 10 days....lucky us.

Aanika is making great strides. She's finally decided to start crawling for us and is just an hysterically funny kid. She has such a ready smile and is so mild natured, we just can't believe how blessed we are!

Nanjing - first business day

2003-11-17T03:00:00.000-06:00

Well, it's our first official business day in Nanjing. First thing this morning we were off to sign papers and give our thumb prints for the province officials. After a very brief questioning of why we were there and would we truly accept Aanika, we were sent on our way. It was a bit stressful, but otherwise painless. At the moment, we're waiting for the Notary Officials to arrive from Aanika's home town to sign some other documents. I believe that this is all of the paperwork that needs to be done in this area.

Tomorrow is a touring day....it ought to be wonderful. It's a very lovely area with much to be seen.

Gotcha Day!

2003-11-16T07:52:00.000-06:00

What a great day! We received little Aanika into our arms right at 3 PM China time (about Midnight EST); they came to our room with one of her caretakers to give her to us. The "nurse" said to Lian Yi Mei, "This is your mama", and handed her over. She was clutching the pink elephant we had sent over 3 months ago.

She was quite calm and inquisitive. She was just as big as they had said (I had expected a bit different); I'm guessing she's all of 18 pounds and plenty chubby cheeks. After studying Cil's blue eyes for about 5 minutes, she started looking over the goofy looking guy with the camera. She didn't make a sound, and just played with the toys we gave her.

About 15 minutes later we were able to meet the "nurses" who took care of her and the director for the orphanage. On the way over to visit them, she feel asleep in Cil's arms - apparently quite tired from the 5 hour drive to the hotel. They gave us details of her schedule that she typically keeps (we still haven't figured out how she has her first feeding at 5 AM and gets up at 6 AM), and gave us some of the formula that they use. They also had used up all the pictures of the two cameras we had sent, and also gave us more pictures of themselves and the orphanage that they had taken. They were great. Then some more pictures right there - so we had to wake her up for that little event. We then went back to our room; played for a good hour, got her saying things like "da" and "ba" and giggling. At that point we saw that she has 7 teeth, with the 8th erupting on the lower left, and that she has a dimple on the right cheek.

Then it was the first bottle. Gulped that down - she had a little cough and sounded a little congested (plus pawing at her right ear); gave her a some medicine and after 1/2 hour, she's right back to playing with all the toys we give her. She's very attracted to red - we see in the pictures that the cribs that surrounded hers were almost all painted red.About an hour later, she's breathing better and slowing down; so a couple minutes of rocking, and she's asleep. She's very sweet; Cil's calling her "sugar bear" because of the outfit she was wearing. I'm working on getting the pictures uploaded. I'll post another update when I get them on board. It was quite a flurry between arriving from the flight, to going to the store, finally back just in time to prepare. It all worked out beautifully.

Travel and Arrival!

2003-11-14T17:47:00.000-06:00

Well, the schedule did not go as planned. First, things were going great! Got to the gate and walked right up, 2 hours plus early. Things got ugly in Chicago....engine problems. After sitting on the plane for hours, they let us off the plane for a few minutes to make calls etc. After doing a reload of the plane and sitting for a few MORE hours they decided that having BOTH engines with trouble wasn't a good thing. Yup, you guessed it, both engines went crazy!So they put us up for the night and told us to be back for an 8:00 flight - nope, 9:45. Ugh.Needless to say, we finally have made it!

Beijing is an amazing place. There are sooo many people, cars and bikes - it just kind of boggles the mind. Note: if you come to Beijing - don't drive! Or walk for that matter. It's the most terrifying thing to do around here - nobody will stop for a bike, pedestrian or car no matter how big (buses included!). Whew...Because of the time that we arrived yesterday and the fog issue that we landed in, we haven't gotten any pictures yet to show you. We were fortunate enough to be able to still do the Hutong tour and were able to visit a Kindergarten (ages 2-6). You have to see the video of that one! The kids are so interesting and gregarious. We were able to visit one of their "dance" classes and were greatly entertained. The Rickshaw guy was an absolute hoot. You could tell he could pick up on a few of the things we were saying or commenting on because of his chuckles though he never really spoke to us....hmmmm

Today is a new adventure: The Great Wall and Tiananmen Square and possibly an acrobatic show this evening. We'll keep you posted as to how it went.

Travel Dates to China

2003-10-31T02:40:00.000-06:00

Well, we've gotten our itinerary!

11/13: Arrive 3:35 pm – Stay at Jianguo Hotel. http://www.hoteljianguo.com/default.htm
11/14: Hutong Tour. The Hutong Tour is essentially a tour in residential areas. Some of the houses there are hundreds of years old and still under disappearing. It is the place where you can feel the local culture, tradition and the informality of ordinary life.
11/15: 7:00 am visit Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City11/16: Fly to Nanjing at appx. 10:30. Stay at Hilton Nanjing. Get Aanika in the afternoon!!!! http://www.asiatravel.com/china/nanjing/hilton/
11/17: Adoption registration and notarization
11/18: Half-day city tour of Nanjing. http://www.chinapages.com/jiangsu/nanjing/nanjing.htm
11/19: Fly to Guangzhou at appx. 8:00 am – Stay at White Swan. Med check and visa pictures in afternoon. http://www.white-swan-hotel.com/eng/Public/index.asp
11/20: 3:30 pm to go consulate to take the oath
11/21: 3:00 Pick up visa and catch flight to Hong Kong. Stay at Regal Hotel http://www.regalhotel.com/mmm/site1/en_US_main.html
11/22: Come home! See ya the airport at 3:15 pm on Saturday!

Travel dates for China

2003-10-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

Wednesday, October 22, 2003
We've got travel dates! We will leave for Beijing China on November 12th and will probably get to meet Aanika on November 16th in Nanjing, the capital of her province. We'll be heading for Guangzhou (southern China) for final proceedings and then on to an overnight stay in Hong Kong. We'll be back on Saturday, November 22nd!