June 2009- Summer Fun!!

June started off with a rip roaring trip to Dallas to help my nephew celebrate his high school graduation. Yep, Graham made it with excellent grades and is on his way to USC! Berik passed the time waiting for Graham's name to be called by sticking stickers on Uncle Reid's forehead. He was really pretty good and not as squirmy as we had thought he would be.
Right after graduation was over, we headed out to Tennessee for the Kazapalooza!! We made it to Texarkana, spent the night and got up early Sat. and drove all day, to make it to Nashville, in time for a dinner and dance Kazapalooza style!
With upward of 50 families and their Kazak's kiddos and bio kids too, running rampant, the ballroom was one loud and rowdy place to be. They had a DJ for the kids and she had the kids dancing and following along with the songs. We met people that we had known only over the Internet, Susan and Leeza, and hung out with Berik's soulmate, Andrew and made some new friends too. Sunday morning, most of the Kazapalooza peeps were leaving and we all meet up and tried to take group pictures but that was not as easy as it may have seemed at the time. Seriously the parents trying to take the pictures looked pretty funny trying to squeeze out the best shot of the group! We did meet some people staying an extra couple of days and decided that we would hang out with them. We had loads of fun! The hotel, The Gaylord Opryland, was beautiful with waterfalls and a cool view from our balcony, which Berik enjoyed immensly! Each trip out of the room involved a race to see who could get to the elevator first and push the buttton! Berik had funny with Tony, (Taylor's daddy), and had fun on the boat ride inside the hotel with his daddy! The Hoffa's went too with their Kaz cutie, Rustam. We loved the Gaylord Opryland hotel and got to see the water show synchronized to music. Berik was in awe! Berik didn't lack for any attention!
We went to eat at Macaroni Grill with 4 single moms and their Kaz kids and helped Serena celebrate her 3rd birthday :) Our adventures in Nashville were, lunch at the aquarium restaurant, feeding the stingrays (of which I was scared of ), so I had Jaimie do it. We visited the Grand Ole' Opry and got to go on stage and took a backstage tour. Berik peed all over me about 3/4 of the way through, lovely! Almost potty trained but not quite.
Tues. quickly arrived and we decided to make our way to Chattanooga and then on Wed. we checked in in Trenton, GA for a few days of camping !!
We picked a KOA campsite close to Chattanooga and had loads of fun! Berik caught fireflies and dug in the dirt, got sticks and poked at bugs. He was amazing! He was so intrigued , he entertained himself for hours. He helped his mommy with the smores and we meet a single mom and her adopted girl from Russia, who just happened to be camping next to us. We had lots to talk about and enjoyed them alot but unfortunately have since lost their address.
In Chatanooga, we went to Ruby Falls and the Incline Railway and went to a local park for fun in the water and a picnic.
Camping ended to soon for all of us but we decided we best start heading home. We opted to go to Alabama and stay with Jaimie's mom. We had a nice but short visit and took advantage of the beach while we were there. This would be Berik's first trip to the beach and I would say he loved it!
On the way home we stopped by and visited with some friends in Louisiana and had a shrimp fry! Berik had his first fried shrimp, he gobbled them up calling them chicken nuggets, lol! It didn't matter to us what he called them as long as he didn't whine about it. We headed home and had a day to rest, before returning to work. WE HAD A FANTASTIC VACATION!!!!!!!
Berik is continuing to grow bigger by the minute. His new shoes for vacation were size 12. He is on his way to a 5T but we are still in 4s right now but barely. His vocabulary increases by leaps and bounds daily but with it has come some attitude. Ugh! Mainly the attitude comes with dropping him off for school. He doesn't seem to like it and they say he is a hand full at times.
Since we left for vacation the daycare has switched directors and we aren't so sure about this one. I just don't feel the "love". We all loved the old director, Lorrie and appreciate all that she has done for Berik!
Berik's new fashion statement is, shorts with cowboy boots! He looks silly but we are just going with it.
While on vacation, I scratched down something that had been whirling around in my head. Of course it was while we on the road, in the dark, so I wrote it with the help of a flashlight before I forgot it. It seems like thoughts dart in and out of my brain in flash so I have begun to write everything down now, no matter how inconvenient. Here is what I wrote about my precious baby Berik.
I love the way you cross your legs and wiggle your little toes. I love your sparkly dark eyes and your cute little button nose. I love you when you are happy and even when you are mad. I love that God made your for me I am so very glad!
We had so much fun in June, can't wait to see what July brings!


Gena

May 2009

Now that's it's 09-05-09, May seems like a lifetime ago. I remember that every single weekend except one we had to go out of town for one reason or the other. I also remember that Berik was very, very, very, well behaved for all of the trips!
We went to Dallas and had our annual social worker visit for our post placement report. Next year should be the last one and then we will be on our own! He was beyond well behaved during the visit which could have thrown off Mrs. Lewin, as she thinks he hung the moon and does nothing wrong and said so in the report! It didn't hurt that we met at a park where he could run and play and be "all boy"! It all ended about the time he whacked his head on this cross bar of the play structure and was screaming his lungs out, don't know who ran faster, me or daddy. Being hard headed has its advantages for B, as he didn't suffer any major injuries, just a big ol' bump.

He is still lining up things like his cars especially, not all the time but enough to where you need to watch your step while walking through the house. You know one could never have to many cars!

He is still getting plenty of mileage out of his play house, that we picked up for $30 bucks at the city drop off center. Someone dropped off all the pieces, daddy, Mr. eagle eye saw it leaned up against the building from the road and then called and made an offer and it was just that easy! Glad I didn't spend $300 or more on one. He loves this one just fine!





He continues to love to play with bubbles and thanks to Wal-Mart we now have a collection of bubble wands to choose from, some are still in tact, some now have teethmarks or chewed up handles all thanks to Duke, our beloved pup!









Speaking of loves.. he loves his robe that came to us from Matthew. I wonder if Matt loved it as much as B does. He asks us after every bath for his "whoab". His speech is getting better but those r's are hard for him.

We still opening up new toys from B's birthday in March as we got so many I had put some up. We had used the chalkboard side of the easel that we got from 'Auntie KK" but had never painted so,we painted for the first time this month and boy does he love to paint!! He told me one piece was a tractor and the other a carrot! ? ok, they look like tornadoes to me, but being the good mom I went ahead and labeled them as such. I know later on he will wonder why I keep all this art work but he is just so precious and I can't help it.
He also still likes us to say, "Fe Fi Fo Fum.... I smell the blood of a Kazakhstanian.. and I am going to grind your bones.. and make Berik bread.... ahh ha ha ha..." He runs from us, (daddy mostly) and squeals and giggles as we tickle him. Daddy made this up and Berik is now getting better and better at saying it to us. I am glad he didn't chose to repeat this to the social worker though she might want to add an additional page of questionable remarks to the report!
The old laptop is still down and I am sure that I wrote down some of Berik's funny comments but can't get to them just now so you'll just have to believe me when I say he can come up with some funny stuff! He seems to still be able to get himself into situations that he can't get out of.... like getting trapped in the spare car seat we had sitting in the living room. He was just a calling me and I kept telling him to come to me, until I saw him and figured out he couldn't, poor guy...lol!



We went to Alabama to see, Jessi,( B's step sister) graduate from high school. She looked beautiful and she beamed from ear to ear as she walked to get her diploma!! NHS student, 4.0 graduate!!!! You go girl!! Her mom, step dad had a graduation party for her and Jaimie and I chipped in for food, cooked out and had some fun. We sure enjoyed our visit although it was pretty short, 4 days. 10 hours in the car each way kind of eats up the time. Berik adores Jessi and was wrapped around her as much as possible.We always talk about her to him so he never has a chance to forget. She has 3 half siblings and then Berik. They all decided to try out the slip -n- slide, which had a water gun thing attached. You can see he is most amused with himself spraying Abbie in the backside!!!!
Well, let me hurry up and finish this so I can blog about June, which seems to be fresher in my mind..I think! Love to all!!

April 2009

Well since it is August I only know what went on in April based on some pictures. That's a real blog slacker for ya!
Berik is getting hip to the holidays now. Last year he wasn't into them all that much but this year we are hearing about the Easter Bunny and some eggs! He hunted eggs at daycare with such skill this year! It must have been those bunny ears that he made that helped him out so. He was into the goods from the daycare Easter party and that's what he thought he was having for breakfast, lunch and dinner, candy.... or Cannnny (no D ) that's what he calls it.
It rained all day on Easter Sunday so we hunted eggs inside and we hunted them again and again. He thought it was great!
We rescued a boxer dog from someone who couldn't take care of him. He looked so sad on the internet I just had to have him. His name is Duke, he is 11mths and hopefully he will be a good friend for Berik. We had 2 Boxers before, but had to put one down right before we left for Kaz and the other right after we returned from Kaz, due to cancer. We feel that Berik is big (old) enough to handle himself around a dog and Duke came from a family with 2 toddlers so this should be a good mix.
Berik finally got on the 4 wheeler (mommy not so happy) after Duke actually got on with daddy. Berik wasn't having any of that so he got Duke off and put himself up there. Now, he wants to be on it all the time.
We had B's 3 yr old check up and he is 41 3/4 inches tall and weighs 41 1/2 lbs. He is in a size 11W shoe now, growing everyday! He still has some nosebleeds and it seems like is really tired afterwards. We will have his iron checked at the next Dr. visit as his veins wouldn't cooperate this time around. For now he is on an iron supplement.
Some days he is so stubborn he will not take a nap and he ends up sacking out in the car on the way from daycare and not waking up until the next morning. The Dr. says that is ok, that he just needs lots of sleep. I think the 3's are going to more challenging for us than the 2's were as Berik is becoming more and more vocal and gets more and more clever everyday. He still likes his blocks and is determined to fit them all on the itty bitty 4-wheeler trailer. Great when they are on but he doesn't like it when they fall off. Wish us luck that we can stay one step ahead of him.

March -09 Berik turns 3 !!

We took Berik for his hearing tests and they hooked him up to the wires and gave him some knock out juice and proceeded with the hour long test. The results......................................................................HE CAN HEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, he must just be ignoring us, hmmm? typical selective hearing maybe?
We are just really happy that he didn't have any nerve damage from all of his ear infections, we can work on the ignoring part :) .
Berik is really into playing with my knee highs stockings as he wears them on his arms and legs. I took a couple of pics one day so I can use them later on in his life to show his girlfriends. He still loves playing outside in his house and loves to play hide and seek. This is the smile you get when you bust open the door . He is so cute!, of course I am not biased a bit. :) When he finally stops playing he makes sure that Diego also gets a good nights rest too!! Too cute!!
We took a few pictures in the bluebonnets this year as they were so so pretty! There were tons of them everywhere but the best patches were right beside the highway and we opted not to stop there. We also went to the park to take a few pics and he enjoyed playing on the split rail fence. All 100% boy I'd say!
I spent most of the month planning for Berik's birthday. The big # 3 ! March 27! At first I was going to do a train themed party but trackless trains were really expensive and so we the party favors etc. While looking around at bouncy houses, I found this really cute barn shaped one and decided then that the farm was going to be the theme. After all Berik had be singing Old McDonald over and over and he was really into it so we went with it and it was so much fun!! We took cupcakes to daycare on Friday, his actual birthday. One of my friends gave B an easel and wrapped it up very cleverly!!
We named the party Berik's bouncin' barnyard birthday bash!! We had the bouncer, two goats, one miniature horse, a bale of hay with a saddle so the kids could pretend they were on a horse, farm hats, farm coloring pages etc.. As my luck runs, it rained the night before and was cold cold cold the morning of the party. All the party goers stayed inside the house for the first bit of the party but ventured out after a while to bounce and play with the animals. Thank God, as they were about 20 kids and 25 adults.
My friends are too cool!, as one friend brought both of her tamed goats, Simon and Alvin and my other friend brought Shadow, the mini horse, which the kids brushed and fed snacks to. Every kid played in the saddle and colored and bounced to the hearts content!
We had "chicken" nuggets, beanie weenies, and Mac/Cheese to eat. We also had "chicken feed" ( peanuts and candy corn mixed together) and hay snacks (old fashion potato snacks). I found mini barns for party favors and filled them with, John Deere fruit snacks, chicken marshmallow peeps, plastic farm animals and old fashion fun toys, either a top or a ball and some farm stickers. I "bawk bawk" bags for the older kids, that consisted of all the pieces necessary to make a chicken that makes chicken sounds.
We gave B, a Lego/train table combo and he got a stick horse, trucks, cars, adventure sets, crayons,puzzles, books etc.. you name it.. he got it. We will have to play with these a few at a time as it is even overwhelming for me. You may notice that he started out in a really cute tractor shirt but after a bit he a little accident so we had to get out his farmer overalls.
He did a great job blowing out the candles on his cake and last but not least Daddy took all the kids on a hayride! Wow , it was so much fun!! I was exhausted but it was so worth it because Berik had a really special day!! Happy #3 to my B !!