Thursday, January 27, 2011

It's Official!!

Today was a very special day for our family - we officially finalized Zander's adoption with an Adoption Hearing  at the Hennepin County Juvenile Court.  From the "all rise" as the judge entered the courtroom to the "I do" as we took our oaths, it was a very significant event in our lives.  Zander played quietly (with the airplane scribble board he received on the Korean Air flight home back in June) while Mommy and Daddy answered many questions pertaining to the adoption.  The judge ruled favorably to grant our adoption request, and then allowed us to take a photo of the momentous occasion:
 Here are the boys outside of the building:
We celebrated with a big family breakfast - we had a great time, and a delicious meal!
We love you Zander!  We are so thankful you have 'officially' joined our family!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Art

Zander loves art class!  His teachers tell us that he often needs to be one of the last ones to take his turn during art time because he enjoys himself so much that he's not willing to get up to give someone else a turn!  True passion, perhaps - or maybe just another example of how challenging it can be for toddlers to share!   Here Zander is painting with some fun watercolors:
Upright painting:
Layering tissue paper:
Building a snowman with cotton:
Decorating his Christmas tree:
Trying his hand at 'Mitten Painting' (sorry for bad pun):
Fingerpainting (the table, apparently):
More painting - this time at the Children's Museum:
Zander also enjoys expressing his artistic side at home.  Here he is creating with his new Do-A-Dot applicators from KK and Randy - he loves painting with them in his 'Mighty Truck' Do-A-Dot book:
Showing Nana how it's done in his new art smock:
 We're still debating - does this qualify as art?  What a mess...
...but boy is it fun!

Saturday, January 15, 2011

School

Zander is really enjoying school - the structured learning, music class, art class, yummy food, nap time (he naps better at school than at home) and most of all, his friends an teachers!  Friday was "Pajama Day" - here are a few shots of Zander and his friends in their fuzzy jammies:
 Yummy Frosting!  From the Toddler Holiday Party back in December:
 Frosting holiday cookies with Daddy:
 Back to November - Zander's Thanksgiving meal:
Zander definitely loves to play outside - unfortunately some Minnesota days are too cold for the Toddlers to venture out!  Here he is bundled up in his snow gear with one of his favorite truck toys:
 Rugged terrain!
 Dancing with friends (love the 'striped boys'):
Stay tuned for some photos of art class - currently a favorite of Zander's...

Friday, January 7, 2011

Meeting Ethan

Our post dated 10/29/10 shared the unlikely story of Zander being reunited with the foster sister with whom he lived during his time in Seoul.  We were amazed to learn about this special connection, in particular the fact that his foster sister lived so close by!

We recently made another amazing connection with the assistance of our adoption agency - we met Zander's birth cousin Ethan!  Zander's birth mother and Ethan's birth mother are sisters, and Ethan is less than a month older than Zander.  Ethan's family lives in Rochester, MN, and was in town to visit the Children's Museum. The boys spent a lot of time playing at the water tables in the World Works exhibit.  Here are Ethan (left) and Zander playing in their water aprons:  (Unfortunately Mommy didn't have her camera that day, so the quality of our photos - courtesy of Daddy's phone - aren't great.) 
 Ethan:
Zander and Ethan's older sister Ellie play with suds:
Short video clip of the boys together:



 The boys moved onto the 'sand table' where they enjoyed playing with vehicles:
 Hello!!
 Teamwork!
Parallel Play:
 Zander trying out the easel before heading out:
What a special day!  We look forward to seeing Ethan again before his family moves out of state later in the year.. 

All of the excitement proved to be exhausting!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Ringing In 2011

Happy New Year!  Today marks the one-year anniversary of Zander's blog - it was a year ago today we electronically shared our first photos of Baby Wilson - long before we settled on his name (forgot what those pictures looked like?  CLICK HERE).  And what a journey it has been:  January-March, we impatiently waited for news of when would be traveling to Korea.  In April, we named Zander on his birthday and celebrated his big day with mixed emotions.  At the end of May, we finally received our travel call and flew to Seoul the first week in June.  June 11th was the day our lives changed forever - we arrived home with Zander after a long flight.  June 11th is our 'Gotcha Day', or 'Forever Family Day' - we remember it so fondly!  And since then has been a blur... learning our way through parenthood and enjoying everything about Zander - his giggles, his smiles, his monster appetite, his recent dance moves, his snuggles, his first day of school, his growing vocabulary, bathtime, stories, etc., etc. (this list goes on and on!).  Such a blessing he is and we can't imagine life without our precious Alexander Kim!

Here is Zander getting ready to shovel snow with Daddy one afternoon (yes, again!).
After shoveling, Daddy took Zander for a quick wagon ride - clearly Daddy had him doing too much of the heavy lifting!
Zander has been enjoying his new Mickey Mouse laptop from Uncle Bob, Aunt Heather, Luke & Brady.  He has just started busting out some fun dance moves when it plays music - very cute (and yet to be photographed):
 Zander enjoyed watching our Amaryllis bulb grow and bloom at New Year's:
Playing on our new iPad - a generous gift from Daddy's parents:
 Zander's favorite so far is the interactive version of  'The Wheels on the Bus:'
On New Year's Day, we hosted a family brunch - Luke enjoyed a game of catch while Zander did some New Year's shopping and Brady drove the choo choo train:
Nice catch, Luke!
The boys had a blast playing on the trampoline, who knew it would be big enough to hold all three of them?  Note Zander's hair in motion:

 Whew!  A much-needed Milk Break...
We know Zander would have really enjoyed watching Cousin Luke play hockey (yes, at four years old!)... but unfortunately he was catching a serious power nap at the time.  Luke wears #13:
Great work Luke!
Zander loves his new official NFL Vikings jersey - a very special Christmas Gift from 'Aunt Kim' and 'Uncle Dave.'  Here he is modeling the jersey for Kim and Dave during today's big loss (which clinched the Vikings last place in the division, ouch!):
Side and back views of the jersey - we think that after watching the game, Zander wanted to craft some tools to assist the Vikings during next year's training camp:
Zander, it's going to be a wonderful 2011 - we can't wait to share it with you!  Love, Mommy & Daddy