April - Nov. 2010

Our family.

Grandma and Grandpa Halls and Grandkids.

Sister & Brother.

Birthday Boy, age 4, October.

Mother & son on kitchen floor.

Decorating gingerbread men.

He watched Shrek 2 and decided we had to make Gingerbread men THAT DAY. He wants to make sure they don't escape from the oven.

A playdate with girls. Ick!

Pirate Halloween costume from Costco. He had all the sounds down. Argh! Ahoy Mateys!

Queen costume from Marshalls.

They love dressing up.

Robot Jack o Lantern and regular.

This is now tradition: he carves the pumkins with the kids, I take the pictures.

Came home from Latin American and Belly Dance class at school with makeup on her eyes and didn't want to wash it off!

Kissing the pumpkin.

Pumkin picking near Delano, MN.

Two four year olds and a 6 year old.

We will be hosting a teaching assistant from Siena's school this year. Her name is Nieves and she is from Madrid. She is staying at another family's house right now in Hopkins but will move in in January.

Helping Cristine get ready for her first big date with Donnie!

A park photo session with a moms group.

He posed all by himself!

Alistair at first day of school. Mis Amigos, Spanish immersion preschool in Hopkins.

Front steps shot, first day of school tradition.

Bakogan backpack.

MN State Fair!

First day of first grade. Riding the bus.

Fellow bus riding 1st graders.

Front steps traditional shot.

Siena posed by her new bike so he had to pose too.

New regular sized bike, a bit too big.

All the Halls grandkids in new duds from Grandma Halls. She gave them a gift every day for the whole week we rented a cabin on Gull Lake, Brainerd, MN.

Mini golfing at Pirate's Cove, Brainerd.

All the golfing lessons with Grandma Current paid off.

Halls cousins mini golfers.

Father and son by the go-carts.

Neighbor kids and Washington DC friend spashing in back yard.

NS has only gained 1 pound since her mom and I went to India to adopt her over a year ago!

Loving brother and sister.

Running through the sprinkler in regular clothes...

Horseback riding at the cousin's farm.

Going out to lunch after raspberry picking. Siena took the picture.

Clowning with a classmate at a summer get together.

Neighbor boy over for some swimming and splashing.

She mastered the monkey bars this summer and did them every chance she could get. She went from blisters to calluses.

Grandma Carol and Siena at Yunker Farm, Fargo, ND, on the train

A golfer.

A free golf lesson.

A Jackson Polluck lesson at Kiddywampus, St. Louis Park, MN.

Kazapalooza, a weekend long party for kids adopted from Kazakhstan and their parents. This year held in Milwaukee, WI.

On a bus to Sprecher Brewery, Milwaukee.

Many teeth have come and gone.

Alistair and Grandpa Wayne.

Cousins play on the front porch.

--------------------------------------------------------

{Kids climb in bed with us in the early morning and Erik snores a little.}
S {firmly} Dad, you need to stop that or move to another room.
A Siena, we don't harass grown ups.
C That's true, Siena, this is Daddy's bed.
S No, it's the family bed.

Alistair

-Tells me he wants to be a cooker when he grows up.
-Starts making maps and likes looking at maps.
-Tries to pet a bee and gets stung on his finger.
-Got a red star on his forehead for speaking a lot of Spanish.

-That's Daddy's mopper (when I used it once.)
-Mom, I love you. But I don't love my Daddy.
-You're my best friend.
-Alistair and Alan start the same.
-I gotta go pee. I gotta go poop. I gotta headache.
-Justin Bieber is a beaver that's why they call him Justin Beaver. I'm singing Justin Bieber. {Babble sings nonsense, only recognizable word is nation.}
-In Spanish, leche means milk.
-I'm Jack, your son.
-I big love my sister. I big love my dad. I big love my mom. I big love myself. And I big love the world.
-When I was a baby my birthmother put me in a basket and then you came to Kazakhstan to find a baby. You wanted two babies: Alistair and Siena.
-When I grow up, I want to be a doctor. Actually, I want to be a man tooth fairy.

Gma C I'm going to a meeting.
A To Fargo Weight Watchers?

C What are your Dad and Siena doing?
A They're picking up things. I'm allergic to things.

A Hi Mama. I'm doing great. I'm feeling a little bit game-ish. I want a game.

C Pick up your toys Alistair. You dumped them out, you put them back in the basket.
A I didn't dump them out, I throwed them with my hands.

A Are we on a highway?
E Yes.
A Are we on a long highway?
E Yes.
A We watch movies on long highways.

A Here's a boat.
Teacher Si, es un barco.
A No, it's a boat
Teacher Si, en Espanol, barco es boat.
A {Looking at her like she's dim} It's a boat.

{On the phone with Grandpa Ed.} Why are you so old? Bye.


Siena

S I kissed Nate.
C Why?
S Because I'm a girl and I can do whatever I want and you can't do anything.

-Kareem is my boyfriend. Kareem kissed me on the mouth. Kareem kissed me on the butt. He really did.
-We sang Lady Ga GA on the bus yesterday. Play some Lady Ga Ga!
-If I was a teenager I'd drive a car and go to Weight Watchers.
-Mom, I'm going to do some research. Got my computer -- my laptop. Let's see.... gushers.com.
-I'm gonna marry Nate.
-I don't want to be tall like Daddy, I want to be small like you. But no boobs. {Makes a face.}
-But how does the baby get IN the mama's belly?
-You really can cut with sharp knives, can't you Mom?
-When I was 13, I had my first love and I kept singing baby, baby, baby, baby...

-Rides bike on her own.
-Opens window and walks out onto the roof to get toys she has thrown out the window.
-Asks to take a shower.
-Sneaks out living room window at 7 am to play outside.