What a busy, busy, busy month. This post is a bit lengthy (lots of pics) but there were so many things to choose from. We had Kai and Sierra's 18 mo pics taken, attended our adoption agency's (World Partner's Adoption) annual reunion, had a visit from Pawpaw and of course Halloween.
The pictures tell the story this month. |
Kai and Sierra 18 month pictures - by Mendy Indek (Willow Photography) - For Kai and Sierra's 18 mo pics, we wanted to reflect where they were developmentally, so we went to the park and Mendy chased them around. She got some great shots and we had fun.
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World Partners Adoption Reunion - Our adoption agency hosts an annual reunion for all their families. This was our first and is definitely a tradition we plan to continue. Pawpaw came down and drove up with us for the long weekend. We had a great time.
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Friday was "Zoo day" but it rained. We put coats on everyone and went anyway. It ended up being a fun day.
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The Higgins' family in our Kazakhstan t-shirts.
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Pawpaw and Sierra at the bubble machine.
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Kai and Sierra liked the pony rides and were quite upset to have to take turns with other children.
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Kai had great balance and was able to ride the pony by himself (with dad close by to catch him in case he decided to get off).
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"What the heck is this fury thing coming my way?"
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Look, no hands... our little dare devil!
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Dilnoza, Sierra and Carla. Dilnoza was our interpreter in Almaty. She came over to visit the Kaz families at the reunion (and to serve as interpreter for the Karaganda Ministry of Education representative who was also visiting).
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Even though it had been 9 months since we've been home, Dilnoza remembered us and the Richardson's. She was happy to see the kids.
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Sierra discovers Caprisun! They don't usually get straight juice and have never had a Caprisun. Sierra took one taste and ended up sucking it dry without coming up for air.
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Everyone liked the big blow up slide.
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Pawpaw dishing out more Caprisun.
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"I need more energy...how about another Caprisun?"
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Big bird was fun to look at but as soon as he turned towards Kai and Sierra, they came running. Sierra continued to "stalk" him from a distance but was scared to get too close.
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5 minutes after we left the parking lot...Kai and Sierra enjoyed their first WPA reunion.
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While we were in Atlanta, we stayed with our friends Ilene, Jim, Sam and Cora Adkins. This is our big night out at the Mexican restaurant.
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Jim and Ilene had a great back yard. Kai and Sierra had fun playing with all of Sam and Cora's toys.
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Killing time on our 8 hour car trip back home...Sierra figured out that she could get her toe in her mouth.
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When Kai tried it, he wasn't quite as limber so Mom helped him.
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Fun miscellaneous stuff during the month
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Self Serve applesauce. Kai fed himself with no help. It was a little more messy but he thought he was "hot stuff.".
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Sierra did too. She also now says "Sauce." Dad was very proud of this and makes her say it for everyone (of course she doesn't always cooperate).
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Lunch with Ligia.
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Dick, Putter and Kai at our picnic at the park.
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Kai and Sierra fighting over the slide - they pick on each other quite a bit now... --->
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but can quickly switch gears and have fun with each other a minute later.
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We got a chance to visit with Jim's Uncle Don and Aunt Micki (and family) while they were vacationing at Disney.
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The kids made Halloween cookies. They did pretty good with the cookie cutters and rolling pin.
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We were pretty productive until Kai and Sierra decided to taste the dough. It was downhill from there.
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After we finished cutting all the dough, we had to quickly finish up and get them in the oven before we lost all the dough to four little hands..
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We tried finger painting with dyed pudding. Sierra wasn't too interested in our little project.
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Kai did pretty good with his project until he decided to taste the "paint pudding." He then started scooping it up in globs and shoving it in his mouth. Big fun and a big mess!
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Our Halloween festivities - we had a fun Halloween season. Kai and Sierra went to a Halloween party, we carved a pumpkin and of course they went trick-or-treat.
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MeMaw making Kai and Sierra their Fred and Wilma Halloween costumes.
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The only thing we were missing is orange hair for Wilma (we decided to go with a brown haired Wilma and spare Sierra the orange hair spray).
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Sierra bobbing for applies.
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Success.
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"Hey look at mine."
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The "scary" decoration fascinated them both.
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After the Halloween party, Sierra decided to take on her apple. We were so proud. She finished the entire thing all by herself. As you can see, she was "into it."
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Kai followed suit. We never would have thought of giving them a whole apple at this age. Now we're wondering what else we're holding them back from..
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"Who can finish first?"
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John Smith and Pocahontas at the pumpkin patch.
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"I don't know what these orange things are, but they're pretty cool."
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"Mom, look at this mini-pumpkin I found."
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Dad carved us a good one.
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Sierra one her way to house #1. She was more concerned about picking up rocks than candy. Kai enjoyed throwing his pumpkin like a ball or just grabbing handfuls of candy from the bowls (he also learned to enjoy putting it back).
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After we visited a few houses, we played in the driveway and passed candy out to everyone else. We had fun doing "drive-bys" in the wagon with Dick and Putter next door.
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Making Cheerio necklaces in our cool Halloween t-shirts.
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