The love of a family

Our Max is one blessed boy!!! What a CHRISTmas he had! Here's a recap!

On Thursday morning, the 23rd, Stephen, Max and I woke up and in our little world, it was CHRISTMAS!!!! The night before we had made a birthday card for Jesus and left cookies and carrots out for Santa and the reindeer. The next morning, we had cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, while Stephen read us the CHRISTmas story. Then, Max opened his gifts from us. He had such a good time, and it was the PERFECT morning for just the three of us! Stephen and I threw caution to the wind and decided to celebrate Max's love of music! I'm sure our headaches in a few days will remind us how crazy we were! But, for now we're loving it! We got Max a guitar and a drum set, and he's a natural all ready! He plays his guitar constantly!!! In fact, the once six strings are now down to three!! We mixed in some not so noisy gifts with those, and Max was in seventh heaven! Stephen also got Max a super sweet gift. Max is OBSESSED with airplanes. He loves to talk about them, look at them, everything except for ride on them!!! Stephen found a model airplane of a Korean Airlines plane. Just like the one we brought Max home on!!!






That afternoon we headed to my folks house since this year was our CHRISTmas with them. Max was soooo excited to see his cousins Noah and Henry!!! Those boys get along so darn well, its awesome! Thursday night we just relaxed and frosted Christmas cookies. The next morning we woke up and promptly sang "Happy Birthday" to Pops!!! Max gave him a card he had made and Pops got to open presents with his boys!!! I think that was the best part of his day!! That night, we went to the service at our church, and we were so excited to have Meemaw and Pops along with us!! And, the best part of all.....our little Max was a cow in the Nativity Scene!!! Seriously, the cutest darn cow I've ever seen! And, he did sooo well! He just sat up on the stage and smiled!!! It was so surreal to have him there with us, on such an awesome, important night in the life of a Christian!!! Stephen and I had to keep pinching ourselves!






CHRISTmas morning was awesome! Max slept in a bedroom with Stephen and I while Noah slept in another room with his mom and dad. In the morning, the boys couldn't contain themselves! They kept yelling through the wall to each other!!! So stinkin' cute! Max and Noah sang happy birthday to Jesus, and then the present opening began! Max had so much fun being Pops' helper, passing out the gifts. He got soooo much stuff! After presents, we headed outside for some sledding. The boys had gotten sleds from Meemaw and Pops, and couldn't wait to try them out. This was Max's fist time in the snow, and he did so well! Stephen was so great with him! Running around pulling the sled. Max just laughed!!! Then, we all made a snow mound (it couldn't be classified as a snow man!) together! The rest of the day was spent hanging out, and eating a DELICIOUS dinner my mom made. A perfect family CHRISTMAS!!!








Then, to keep the awesomeness going, we headed back home on Sunday morning, for Stephen's side of the family! Unfortunately, we weren't able to be with them this year, but through the modern convenience of technology, they were all able to watch every moment of the present opening! We set up our laptop right in front of the tree and Max opened his gifts as Grandma and Grandpa watched! Then, we did the same with Aunt 'Ginia and Uncle Ryan. Its really great to be able to share that with them! And, of course, Max got even more great gifts. Believe it or not, he still had even more to open after we Skyped. He had gifts from Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and Great Grandparents! I know that a family's love is in no way measured by the amount of gifts they give at Christmas. But, it truly was overwhelming to feel the love that was sent along with each one of those packages! Max has an incredible family, and I know he knows it too!!!





A HUGE thank you to everyone who made this CHRISTmas season so special. Our Max is a one of a kind kid, and its still hard to believe God chose us to get to love and care for this incredible little guy!!! I can't wait for all the CHRISTmases to come, as Max continues to learn and understand truly what and whom this season is all about!!!

The coolest ornament EVER!!!!

Every year, Stephen and I get a new ornament to add to our tree. Well, you guessed it.....this year's ornament was pretty darn special! Max was so excited to help daddy put it on the tree!

I'm struggling this year a little because I want Max to understand the awesomeness that is CHRISTmas. With the move and all the craziness, I feel like I'm falling short. But, the night we moved into the house, we put our tree back up, and talked again about Baby Jesus' birthday. In some small way, I think he really "gets its"!!!

Max is adjusting beautifully to his "new house" as he calls it. Even amongst all the boxes, he's found a perfect path for riding his motorcycle!

Merry CHRISTmas!!!!

Building a "Doggie" house!!

So, that's what Max kept calling our ginger bread house, a "doggie" house. But, that's okay, we still had a blast!

The house is a TOTAL mess with us getting ready to move this weekend, and Max has been such a trooper, with all of his toys slowly disappearing into boxes. Stephen had bought us a ginger bread house kit to make one day while he was at work, and I figured today was the PERFECT time to take a break from all the packing and have some fun with my little man. He did so darn well following directions, and LOVED licking his fingers when he "accidentally" got icing on them!!! He was so proud to show it off to Stephen when we were finished!

Speaking of the move....Saturday is the big day. Stephen has already started his new job at Eastern Illinois University and he's really enjoying it. We're going from our little two bedroom rental to a big two-story, four bedroom house, so we're looking forward to giving Max lots more room to run around!!!!

Looking forward to finally being settled! I feel like we've been in transition ever since Max came home. Its been wonderful....but crazy!!!!!

My little dancing fool!

So, Max loooooves Jingle Bells! He sings it ALL the time, so when this song came on, he just couldn't keep from dancing! Thought I'd share this super cute moment with all of you! Hope you are having a wonderful CHRISTmas season!!!

Christmas tree #1

Well, I just couldn't wait any longer! As a lot of you know, we're in the middle of a move for Stephen's new job, but I still had to put a tree up in our current place! So, what we decided on was using a pretty crummy looking fake tree from Stephen's college days here at the duplex, and then we'll put up our nice, fancier tree at the new house. I was just soooo excited about sharing this super fun tradition with Max! I can't believe he's here, decorating the tree with us! I remember last Christmas like it was yesterday, praying that it was the last one we'd spend without our boy!! And, yay.......he's here now!

So, we had a nice little family time decorating our less than stellar tree....but that's okay! Max didn't seem to care at all! He kept saying "Christmas tree!!!" over and over again! And, he's already a pro at all the Christmas songs, with his favorite being "Jingle Bells." He'll literally sing it at the top of his lungs! Such a cute guy!!!!! We've also been reading all our Christmas story books and Max likes to remind us that Christmas is "Baby Jesus' Birthday!" Love, love, love that boy!!!!!

Thanksgiving 2010

We celebrated our first holiday as a family of three, and it was AWESOME! We had a great trip to North Carolina, and spent a great couple days with Max's Grandpa and Grandma Kull and Aunt Virginia. The weather was great and we had a ton of fun hanging out!

Max continues to amaze us every day. He's speaking more and more everyday and he's such a fun kid you can't help but smile whenever you're around him. We're planning on putting up our Christmas tree tonight, and I can't wait to introduce Max to that super fun tradition. We've already been talking about Santa Clause, and about Baby Jesus' birthday. Soooooo excited to share this Christmas season with Max!!!!

The Magic House

This week we had a super fun day out with our really good friends Matt and Carrie and their two beautiful girls Addie and Ella. Addie and Max are the same age, and the two of them had a great time! We had never been to the Magic House, and it did not disappoint! They had a ton of real world scenarios all set up in toddler size, it was awesome! There was a restaurant where the kids could make pizza and work at the cash register, a bank, a post office, a grocery store, a hospital with a new born nursery, and a pond where the kids could fish, and then take there fish "up stream" and follow them back down to the pond. Max really had a great time!!!!

The weather is really cooling down around here and Max has perfected his "brrrrrr"!!! Poor guy, I'm not sure he's too fond of the big winter coat we got for him, but I know he appreciates the warmth! Next week we are headed to N.C. for Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Kull! It should be a blast!!!

And look at him now!!!

Wow, its hard to believe that it was one month ago today that we picked our shy, quiet little boy up from the babies home. Wow, have things changed!!! Max LOVES, and I mean LOVES to entertain! If he's getting a laugh, then he's done his job!

He's always singing, or dancing, or being goofy somehow. I love it!!!! He's such a happy kid, and hopefully that's a reflection of his happiness being with us! He's talking a ton now, and always wants to learn new words. I never thought he'd catch on so quick! Yesterday he went to childrens' church for the first time, and he did great! God's word is so true. He knew the plans he had for us, and they sure were plans for our good! Max is the best gift we could have ever received, and we are a PERFECT fit!

Thought I'd share a little video of his latest "performance"!!!

Our little rock star!

I know its hard to hear, and the quality isn't great, but he was just so proud to sing his "A B C's" I just had to post it! Can't believe how fast he picked it up! Still needs some work on a lot of the pronunciations, but hey....I think its pretty darn good!!!

Two peas in a pod!

So, we hoped it would be the case, but it was AWESOME to see just how well Max and his cousin Noah got along. Max still can't stop talking about him! While all our family was still in town, we all got together at my folk's house for a barbecue. We also all headed to the park across from their house for some good ol' fashion fun! The boys had a blast!!! Where one went, the other followed! That was also Halloween night, and while Max wasn't quite ready for trick-or-treating himself, he had a good time checking out Noah's dinosaur costume! Max also LOVED checking out Pop's motorcycle!!

In the one week that we've been back in the states, we've noticed an INCREDIBLE boost in Max's English! Seriously, he keeps blowing us away! He's just so darn smart!!!! We're having an absolute blast just being a family of three, and settling into our own little routine at home.

Enjoy the pictures!!

Life as a family of 3......perfect!!!

Well, we're back in our own house, and it feels great! We had the most amazing homecoming with all of Max's closest family meeting us at the airport. We had given them all blue t-shirts with their "titles" on the back and it was awesome to see them all there waiting for us!!! After the homecoming, we had a welcome home/ belated birthday party for Max. It was a blast!

Max was a little shy at first, but warmed up quickly!!! He's especially enjoying his time with his cousin Noah!!!

We're settling into our routine at home nicely. There just doesn't seem to ever be enough time to sit down and type out a really good blog! I promise I'll keep sharing lots of stories and pictures!!!! Love you all!!