White Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year! Elkin had a great time getting his cookies and milk ready for Santa and carrots ready for the reindeer. He's come such a long way with his food issues and much to our delight didn't have any problems sharing the cookies with the big guy this year.



Santa brought Elkin a farm set this year and Elkin was a very happy boy.



Elkin loved lining up his presents from Mami & Papi and could barely stop himself from digging in before I could take a quick picture. I think his favorite was a Mack truck (from the movie Cars) and all the books he got.



We got a ton of snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and we weren't sure if we should venture out to go see Grandma & Grandpa. We went ahead and went for it and made it there safely despite how treacherous the roads were. Elkin had a very fun time modeling his new "outfit" he got for Christmas from Grandma & Grandpa.



Elkin got some very cool finger puppets from Grandma Pat. Mami LOVES these finger puppets and puts on plays with them on a regular basis. Even if no one else is watching. Sigh. At least I got a captive audience for my first play.



We got stuck a few times while in Eudora so we decided to stay the night until some of the roads were clear. We got home to some pretty big drifts in front of the house.



Elkin had a great time sledding in the back yard with the sled we swiped from Grandpa.



Overall, despite the weather, we all had a very merry Christmas. Here's to many more!

Getting Ready for Christmas

We've been busy getting ready for Christmas! First we had a photo shoot for Christmas cards. We took them a few weeks ago and it was actually pretty warm outside but Elkin was a trooper. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the shoot.

This was the winner...



and here's one where he's laughing at Mami's toilet humor... (hey a Mami's gotta do what she's gotta do sometimes!)



and one more with him looking a little ornery.



We went and saw Santa at Grandpa Snow's work. We took quite a few pictures but this was the only one that didn't turn out blurry. This is Elkin "smiling" when you tell him to smile. Can you see why I have to resort to toilet humor??



His present was an "Ants in the Pants" game which he wants to play ALL THE TIME. He didn't really talk to Santa, just looked at him a lot. Anyway, I think he liked seeing where his Grandpa worked even better then seeing Santa.

Yesterday Elkin and I decorated some cookies. We had a great time! He was in charge of the sprinkles and did a great job. While we were making them he kept asking me "Is Santa going to love these?". It was so cute!

Here he is at work. (This time I told him to smile like he was happy - a little bit better anyway!)



Here's all the cookies we made!



Elkin had to test them out to make sure they tasted good.

Happy 4th Birthday Elkin!

On Friday, Elkin celebrated his 4th birthday! Here's a shot of him posing with the giant M&M cookie he requested Mami make instead of a cake. We of course had to have some Cars themed stuff in there too!



For his birthday, Mami & Papi got him a big boy bike! We managed to keep it a surprise and here's the video of the big reveal.



He's still learning how to ride it but I would say by this smile that it was a big hit!



Grandma & Grandpa Fisher threw him a train themed birthday party which was a big hit with Elkin and his two cousins. Here's a picture of them getting ready to dig into the very cool train cake that Grandma made.



Grandma & Grandpa Snow also threw Elkin a birthday party complete with a taco bar and cupcakes. Here's Elkin blowing out his candles.



I dug up this video from us singing Happy Birthday to him last year for his 3rd birthday and took a new one for his 4th birthday. He sure is growing up!


Elkin's 3rd birthday.



Elkin's 4th birthday.



Happy Birthday Elkin!

Fall Happenings

We've been busy this fall! We started out the season by going to Mapleleaf Festival in Baldwin with Grandma & Grandpa Snow and Uncle James & Aunt Rebecca. We got a few good shots of Elkin with the turning trees.



Here's Elkin taking a break.



That same day the three of us went to the pumpkin patch. Elkin was pretty grumpy that day so we pretty much picked out our pumpkin and left.



Elkin was a race car driver for Halloween this year!



A few weeks ago we went to Boo at the Zoo at the Topeka Zoo with Grandma & Grandpa Fisher and Aunt Amy. Elkin got a sack full of candy and got to hang out with a bear...



and a robot!



On Halloween we carved our jack-o-lantern. Elkin wasn't thrilled about us electing him to be the one to get the guts out.



Here's Elkin & Papi showing off the finished product.



Elkin had a great time trick or treating that night. He would run from house to house and was great about saying trick or treat and thank you.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Now that Elkin's language has been getting so much better he's been able to learn some basic childrens' songs. Here is a very cute video of him singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider".

Gotta Getaway

Before winter set in we thought we would take a long weekend and drive down to Branson. On the way we stopped at Osceola Cheese (what's a trip to Branson without stopping there anyway?) and well, ate some cheese. Here's Elkin posing with the Osceola Cheese mouse.



Probably the one thing that we all like to do together the most is hike. It was pretty muddy that weekend but we did get one in. We had a tough time keeping up with Elkin - he's a fast little runner! This was the view of him most the time we were hiking.



It was very pretty with all the leaves changing colors. We got Elkin to pose for just a second before he finished his run.



Tim & Elkin rode a go cart which Elkin was very excited about - at first anyway. After a few laps he got overwhelmed and a little scared of the whole thing.



We also played some miniature golf. Elkin was quite the cheat!



We spent our last day at Silver Dollar City. We all had such a good time. Once Elkin gets older I think I'm going to have someone to ride roller coasters with! Elkin's favorite ride was the train - of course :)

Our First Year as a Family

On September 22nd, we celebrated our first year as a family. We had a great "Gotcha Day" or "Adoption Day"! We spent the evening looking at videos and pictures from our first few days together back in Colombia. It was a nice relaxing evening with just the three of us.

Here is our first family picture taken on September 22, 2008.



It feels so much longer than a year at times but sometimes much shorter. We look forward to all our future family anniversaries.