Catching Up...

Wow, it seems like it seems as if our updates are becoming less and less frequent. Life has certainly kept us busy…and away from blogging.

With so much time since our last post it is hard to know where to start. So I guess Christmas will be a good place.

We have a great Christmas, Liam had his first Christmas program at preschool, it was very cute! I (Craig) was able to take the entire Christmas and New Year week off to spend with the family. It was a blast, and of course very busy visiting all of our family (all 4 sets of parents). But we did take some time out to spend together as a family. It was really nice. None of us were ready to go back to work/school when the holidays were over.

Christmas morning at our house was a little wonderful. (Santa was way too good to us this year - he must not have heard about the economy. But he promised that next year he will be more conservative with the presents.) Liam was so cute, he methodically opened each present and came and showed us…and he would make comments like “Daddy, I got a cars game, I so cited [excited].” It was really neat to watch him be so appreciative for each and every gift. Aiden on the other hand tore through his gifts in a matter of minutes. It took almost a week to find all the toys and gifts a place in our home…we had to do some serious downsizing of existing toys.

Right after the holidays, we went to an open house at Aiden’s new school – in preparation for kindergarten. WOW – we can’t believe that he will turn 5 in a few months and be starting kindergarten in 6 months! He is getting so grown up and says the funniest things… I was talking with his teacher recently and she told me that one of the kids was telling a lie in class, and she was talking with the kid about it. Aiden came and worked his way into the conversation and announced “lying destroys relationships…you shouldn’t lie”. I was so proud to know that the things we say actually do sink in. Aiden continues to be very “spirited” [read: HYPERACTIVE]. He is so much fun, but it takes a lot of structure and work to keep him in check.

Liam is going still going to preschool at a local church 2 half days each week. He really loves it there. He has learned to recite the “Pledge of Allegiance”…there is just something amazing to about hearing him say it, knowing that just over two years ago he living in a communist country. He is a pretty good little boy with a stubborn streak. He never ceases to amaze me.

Several months ago, we were fortunate enough to exchange letters and photos with his birth mother. We were amazed to see how much he looks like his mother and her family. We are pleased to have more information about her to be able to share with him. We hope to keep in touch with her via letters and photos.

A couple weeks ago (in the dead of winter when we were having sub-zero temperatures), we escaped to Mexico for a family vacation. We had a wonderful time spending the week together and enjoying the warm weather. That is were these photos were taken.

As for our adoption, we are now officially at the top of the wait list for a girl. The family ahead of us received a referral 2 weeks ago. We suspect it will still be a few months as this particular Taiwan program has slowed down. We are starting to get anxious, but honestly the boys keep us pretty busy, so we don’t have a lot of time to get worked up about it.

That’s all for now!