Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Welcome Baby Sister!!!

We are delighted to share that Zander is going to be a Big Brother!!  We were recently blessed with the news that Baby Girl Wilson, born January 7, 2011, will soon be joining our family!
As those of you familiar with Korean adoption are aware, the overall wait time has been increasing steadily over the last few years.  Given that, the estimate is that we'll be waiting about ten months to travel back to Seoul to meet our Baby Girl.  Our best guess is that Baby Girl will be close to 21 months when we get to meet her in person (vs. 13 months for Zander). 

Baby Girl is described as 'full of curiosity,' and 'very active'.  She looks so sweet - we can't wait to meet her!!  What an incredible holiday gift!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Busy Thanksgiving Weekend

Zander was delighted with our mild Thanksgiving weather and made the most of the long weekend by cramming in lots of fun activities.  We kicked off the celebration with a lovely Thanksgiving breakfast at Baby Amanda's house:
Hi Amanda!  Zander enjoyed watching her play (and later nap) in her jumpy horse:
A Thanksgiving story with Dave:
Then it was off to a Thanksgiving feast at Uncle Bob's house.  Here he is carving up a delicious bird:
We had a wonderful time celebrating with family and friends:
Cousins Luke and Brady provides some lively Christmas carols:
Zander watching his cousins in awe (with Puppy and Dooly):
We gave thanks for all of our friends and family, including Dooly and puppy, as well as Zander's birthparents and foster family - they will always have a special place in our hearts.

On Friday, we headed out to pick our our Christmas tree - here Zander enjoyed the big Santa Claus out front:
In the afternoon, we visited Macy's festive holiday display:
Zander was really engaged by the display and enjoyed watching all of the elves in motion:
Nana Pat enjoyed the display too!
After a nice dinner, we headed outside for the first Holidazzle parade of the season.  It was unusual for all of us (except Zander) to be able to enjoy the parade without a coat!
Bullseye (the Target mascot) was the grand marshal to kick off the 20th year of the parade  - he's in the lower left of this photo:
Bullseye again (not a real dog this time) with Pinocchio:
Wow, watching illuminated floats is really fun!!
Gingerbread house - one of Nana's favorite floats:
Premium 'sky' seating!
Showing off his Christmas PJ's on Saturday morning:
Ready to go with some wrapping paper... too bad we haven't done our shopping yet!
Stirring up some eggs - yummy!
Adding the flour for french toast batter:
After enjoying Zander's french toast, we visited Excelsior (on Lake Minnetonka), to check out a very quaint festival called 'Christkindlsmarkt.'
 Running by the docks:
 Enjoying the open air market at the German Christkindlsmarkt festival:
 Zander was afraid of the reindeer, so we didn't get very close:
Zander's favorite part of the market was the German singing and yodeling.  We listened as this family of four (the Flemming Fold) perform some wonderful seasonal music:
Then was a ride on the Northpole Trolley with Santa Claus!
Zander picked up a penguin friend on the trolley (and Mommy picked up a new hat at the Christkindlsmarkt):
 Santa Claus!
 Zander and Daddy having a chat with Santa:
The street car:
As Zander grabbed his afternoon nap, Mommy and Daddy grabbed some lunch a the festive Galaxy Drive-In:
Zander snoozing in the back seat as Mommy enjoys some cocoa:
After nap, Zander ventured down to the Metrodome to get his first taste of live football at the Prep Bowl (state high school tournament).  Here he is clapping for the Bemidji team after a big play:
 Sitting down close to the action was fun!
 Even puppy got into the excitement:
 What a fun day!
Zander slept pretty well over the weekend - we definitely tired him out!  He also enjoyed hosting dinner on Sunday night - Nana Pat made a delicious turkey soup from the Thanksgiving leftovers - yummy!  And as usual, Zander loved playing with Cousins Luke and Brady. 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Tigers, oh my!

Zander wanted to share some more pictures of his fun-filled fall season since winter seems to be coming so quickly (we had our first dusting of snow yesterday)!  First was a trip to the zoo the weekend that Jim's super-fun cousin Kate came to visit in October.  Zander got a good look at one of the big tigers:
Here is Kate posing by the big moose:
...and surprising Zander when she popped our from the pumpkin maze:
High Five!!
Always a favorite stop - checking out a John Deere:
Working the stick shift:
Look Kate!
Zander really liked standing on top of and jumping off of some the giant pumpkins:
Whee!
Big jump!
Enjoying the fun animal scarecrows:
Waving to the zoo 'farm train':
Zander had a blast having a big 'leaf fight' with Kate - there was tons of giggling!
It was so much fun hosting Kate.  Zander was able to show her his favorite night out (Punch Pizza followed by Ben & Jerry's ice cream), as well as a nice evening out downtown.  We look forward to seeing Kate again sometime soon!
The week before Kate visited, Mommy ran the Medtronic Twin Cities 10 Mile race.  The day before, Zander enjoyed running around at the race Expo - here he is with his sneaker cheering sign:
Whew, taking a break:
Go team Medtronic!
Mommy with her finisher medal after the race the next day - yay!
After the Expo, Zander got to go apple picking - here he is checking out the pumpkins:
Entering the corn maze with Daddy:
Hi Nana!
Investigating corn... still on the cob:
And finally... picking apples!
Yummy!
Mmmmm... fresh apple cider!
Nana made some delicious apple crisp with the apples that we picked, as well as some yummy applesauce (which for some reason we were unable to get Zander to try).

Last Saturday, we caught the very tail end of the apple picking season at a different orchard:
 'Picking' some Honeycrisps:
 Sampling the goods:
Then on Sunday, we all enjoyed celebrating Nana Pat's big birthday!  Here was the beautiful cake made by Aunt Heather:
 Lighting the candles:
 Happy Birthday Nana!
'Yummy in my Tummy' - cake and ice cream:
Zander and Cousins Luke and Brady had fun riding Zander's Trunki toys:
 
One other fun September outing was attending Daddy's annual fall softball tournament.  Although Zander did a little watching and cheering, he spent most of his time playing.  Taking some practice swings with Mommy:
Such a serious stance!
Moving on to soccer:
Zander's interest in sports continues to grow - he loves playing with any sort of ball, playing on his bike/scooter/trike, running, reading sports-related books, and occasionally watching ESPN with Daddy. 

One last fun summer/fall activity was for Zander to watch Baby Amanda grow bigger than Dooly!  Here is a recent photo of Amanda with Dooly and Zander, compare it to the picture we took back in June!
Wow, how the time flies!!