Random Christmas Pictures Part 2

The Vancil Family Christmas - and very soon there will be 3 additions to this clan!

My nephew Trevor was so sweet and gave me a cute sock snowman he made!

Dalton was having a blast with the Christmas wrapping and bows!

 The kids have fun taking turns opening their presents so they can see what each other received.

What did Grandpa get?!?!  

Look at the twins in their matching jackets!  Their twins will be arriving any day now!

Check out those smiles.  Alexis and Trevor were shocked to receive the Nintento DS's they had been asking for!

Random Christmas Photos Part 1

There are so many Christmas memories from this year.  I wish I had time to write about all of them.  Here are a few photos to help us remember!

Brady, Madison, and their cousin Sydney enjoying a coconut they cracked open!  They love having Uncle Jake, Aunt Jackie, and Sydney stay with us!

The Sunday after Christmas, Alexis invited us to her church to hear her sing some songs.  She did a great job and we were very proud of her!

Christmas morning - we slept in until about 8:00 a.m. it was great!

Check out Madison's loot!  

Blake was so sweet and thanked Madison for the gift she gave him!

I love that Brady is so into reading!

Madison made Justin and I a calendar for us to hang in the office.  She did a great job!

Even Annie got in on the Christmas gift exchange!

9 months of chocolate

On our last evening in Vlad we took Irina and Lana out for dinner to their favorite Chinese restaurant downtown.  During dinner we got on the topic of what Justin and I had given up for about 9 months as a way to remain in constant prayer over our adoption.  Both girls could not believe that I had given up all chocolate for that period of time.  (Honestly – I think I need to give it up again as a weight loss measure!!!)  The next day we headed downtown to get one last document notarized before heading out on the plane that afternoon.  As I gave Irina a hug goodbye she handed me a gift bag.  She said she had gotten me 9 pieces of chocolate for each of the months I had given it up.  That was so thoughtful of her!  I wanted to include pictures as a reminder of how sweet those two girls are!   

Random Thoughts from Russia

Ussuriysk Baby Home (Little Guy's) vs Artem Baby Home (Blake's) 
Ussuriysk Baby Home Number 3 is in the middle of Ussuriysk City which has a population of several thousand people. Artem Baby Home is outside the town of Artem in a village which appears to be in the middle of nowhere. It took us 45 minutes to drive to Artem when visiting Blake. Because of the icy roads, it took us 2 to 2.5 hours to get to Ussuriysk. Artem’s Baby Home is larger and houses 120 children while Baby Home 3 in Ussuriysk houses 80 children. The director of Artem deals more with the business side of things and did not appear as hands on as the director in Ussuriysk. The Ussuriysk director is also a doctor and an adoptive mother and seemed very involved with the children.

Black American
On our second visit at the baby home, Lana – our interpreter – knock on the staff’s door to let them know that we had arrived. Lana began to chuckle. She said the workers had asked if she brought a Black American couple to visit today. They do not see very many African or other dark skinned people in Vladivostok. The only other ethnicity that can be seen besides Caucasian is Asian. They are very interested in other ethnicities and think it is intriguing that the US is a melting pot of people. We smiled at Lana and said we were sorry to disappoint them but we were not Black Americans.

Tori Hannsen
That is the name (maybe not spelled correctly) of the lady that sent her adopted son back on an airplane by himself in April. While this is a private blog, I won’t say much as there is nothing ever truly private on the internet. But while in Russia it was very interesting to hear another point of view on this situation. We had never even thought of a possible ‘conspiracy theory’ surrounding that situation. Very interesting.

Strollers
For those that have been in Vladivostok, you know that you must bundle up your child to go outside. Even in weather that many of us would wear a sweater or light jacket, it is expected that children wear winter hats and mittens. In the winter babies are bundled up very tight and then put in carriages that have wool lining. It struck me as funny that at the Vlad Inn couples would park the carriages outside the restaurant in front of a window. They would leave the baby outside and come in to eat. It was probably 15 degrees outside. Granted the baby had to be warm and I am sure they didn’t want to go through the trouble of unbundling them, but I still just couldn’t get over the idea of leaving a baby outside while going in to dine.

Blake’s Russia

First of all today is Justin’s birthday! All five of us are planning to go to dinner and do some last minute shopping for things we need for our trip.

Prior to about 3 or 4 days ago Blake appears to have no recollection of Russia. Well, maybe I should say he has had zero interest in taking about Russia at all. If we ask him is he remembers various things or if we show him pictures from our time there he just changes the subject or looks at us like we are completely insane. The other night Justin and I were looking for some papers in the office and came across the album we took to court. We were flipping through the pages and Blake came in. We showed him the pictures. He saw one of him and Justin and pointed to Justin. Here is how the conversation went…

Blake: “What is your name?”
Justin and I exchanged a puzzled look.
Justin: “What do you mean, what is my name?”
Blake repeated himself: “What is your name?”
Justin: “My name is Daddy”
Blake: “Papa, your name was papa and now it is daddy.”

Justin and I were speechless. This is the very first time Blake has made any reference to Russia at all. It took us by complete surprise. And then yesterday when we were talking about Russia to Madison, Blake piped in and said “My Russia? You goin’ to my Russia?” It will be very interesting to see what develops of the next several months. Thankfully Blake is very excited to have a new family member – especially one that is smaller than him!

Nov. 14, 2010 Brady's Baptism

Sunday was a very special day for us!  Brady has been asking for quite some time to get baptized.  He was able to explain all of his reasons why we should let him do it and he was full of emotion.  We felt his heart was finally ready.  It was an honor for Justin and I to have him ask us to be the ones that were in the water with him.  I was very emotional.  To see Justin baptizing our first born son was quite special.  The day was made even more special by the family and friends that attended.  It really meant a lot to Brady to have everyone there.  After church we came back to the house and had pizza, cupcakes, and brownies to celebrate!  It was a great day!!

Halloween Fun!

Having dinner before trick or treating... Madison thought the lemons we had to squeeze on the fish would be fun to play with!

Our zombie, soldier, and ballerina!

The loved not only dressing up but also acting out their characters.

We went trick or treating in the dorms on WIU's campus.  It is fun for Justin and I to reminisce about our time in the those dorms.  Plus it is fun to be inside and out of the wind.  Brady's friend Ezra (the mad hatter) went with us too!

Brady had the zombie act down!

It took some convincing to get Madison to dress up as a ballerina.  This was her dance recital costume last year, I was looking for a way to get some use out of it since it wasn't cheap!  I told her she could be a ball'oweeeeena and she seemed to think that that was ok.  :o)

Blake loved taking treats to his school Halloween party!

The speech clinic hosts a Halloween night for their clients.  Blake got such a kick out of this bowl.  When he would put his hand in the green hand would come down on his.  He loved it!

It's funny how the jack-o-lanterns reflect each child's personality.  Brady's pumpkin reads 'Let it rip' which is what you say before battling beyblades (these are toys that he and his friends - and Justin! are into right now).

Blake wanted a traditional jack-o-lantern.  He does not like getting his hands dirty so reaching in and pulling out pumpkin goop was not fun to him at all.   He didn't mind if he could use a spoon though!



Madison had Justin help her with a cat carving.  She is our animal lover through and through!

Party Prep

Last Saturday we were stuffing the goodie bags for Brady and Madison's birthday party on Sunday.  We got these funny glasses to put in the boys' bags.  They are funny!

Love this!

This makes a mama proud!  They sat quietly and read to Blake.  Brady would read one side and Madison would read the other.  They tried to use dramatic voices to make the book even more interesting for their little brother.  I love these guys!

Double Digits!

Our big guy turned 10 last Sunday, October 3rd. It is very scary to me how fast time is going by. He is showing signs of making the change from Justin and I being the coolest and smartest people in his life to his friends being the coolest and smartest people. He is still very sweet and respectful, but in the slightest ways I can see that he is beginning to test some limits. He is becoming independent in many ways and in other ways he needs our guidance more now than ever. Parenting can be such hard work!

We learned early last week, that our good friend Bill Buchanan had 4 tickets to the Nascar Race in Kansas City. He asked Justin if he and Brady would like to go. We don’t really follow Nascar but the trip was too awesome to pass up. Not to mention that Brady thought the entire thing was planned specifically for his birthday since the race was on Sunday. They had such a good time and received royal treatment in the Sprint Suite at the race. Here are some of the pictures they took!

The boys got to sign the finish line!

Here is Justin and Brady with Tanner and Bill.

Great times with a great friend!

 

I love how Brady is hangin' with the big people!



Such a big boy!

Today is Blake’s 5th birthday. He has been so excited about turning 5. He wants to be big. (We hear that at least 15 times a day.) The changes that he has made in the past year have been amazing. He seems to understand the meaning of family now. He knows that Brady, Madison, Justin and I are super special to him. He has even begun to show some shyness in public around strangers. This is a very healthy development. We have continued with speech therapy. He has an outstanding teacher this session. She lets Blake be the teacher. So for example she will have him show her a picture of a horse. She will say “Hort” which is how it sounds when Blake says it. He will then get very serious and say “No, that is not right! It is horsssssssssssssssssssse.” This is a great strategy and seems to really be working for him. He is also continuing swim lessons this year. He is not afraid to have his face in the water, and he is getting more coordinated which is helping. Blake seeks Justin’s approval on everything (and dad is happy to give it!). If Justin puts his foot up on a bench, you will see little Blake right next to him copying his pose. When I pick him up from school, he will tell me that he has been good all day. Then he quickly follows up by saying, “Let’s call dad and tell him I be good!” He and Brady crack each other up. Brady is so patient with him and loves to include him in on things. Blake and Madison have a very typical sister – little brother relationship. She loves him to pieces and will read to him. But she is easily annoyed by him and she does not want him anywhere near her things – that is unless she wants someone to play with. As for me and Blake…. I just love him so much! He is the baby of the family right now. While I wouldn’t say that I spoil him, I would definitely say he gets some special attention. (0:  He is still just as light as a feather which makes it so easy for me to pick him up. I tell him that God made him tiny so I could pick him up and hug him for many years to come!

Happy Birthday Blake! We love you.

Birthday Bash for Lil Monkey

Today we had a birthday party for Blake's 5th birthday which is on September 30th.  We have been calling him our lil monkey lately since he is so energetic and climbs on everything.  We used that as the inspiration for his party.  This is the first year we have made our cake.  Usually we just buy them from the bakery since that is a lot less stressful, but we got brave this year (and saved some money too!).

Blake was really concentrating on his monkey.

They kinda look alike!

 

Madison added earrings to her monkey.

  For some reason Brady's monkey was sad.

 We were happy with how they turned out!

 One more candle to go....

 Blake with his cousins and buddies Dalton and Dawson!

 Madison was a great big sister and read his cards to him.

This was a fun puzzle to put together!

 

 This smiles sums up the day!