Mystic Photos Cont.

The Very Best of Brothers

Happy Birthday Alex!

The Very Wet Birthday Boy

The Birthday Boy Sleeps

Vacation and Alex turning 2!

Boy am I behind! We went to Mystic, CT with my parents, Kristen, and her family a couple of weeks ago. The kids had a wonderful time, with the ocean being the highlight. Zach boogie boarded, Alex enjoyed the waves, and girls loved paying in the sand and finding shells. We went to the Seaport and besides looking for jellyfish all day, Zachary was in a play and hammed it for all to see. The aquarium was great; the kids touched sting rays and millipedes, fed birds from their hands, and Alex kept saying,"ish" every time we saw something in water, which was all day. Of course the kids sucked us into all kinds of shopping, which made the all of our pockets a little lighter (Nana and Papa's especially). Alex also found his inner two year old (a week early mind you) and began having tantrums which made for very happy parents;) Overall we had a wonderful time and were very sad to go home.
The day after we got home Alex officially entered the terrible twos. He is such a big boy now, and my baby is not so much a baby anymore. It has been such a joy to see him grow and change over the last year. The bottles are gone, Alex feeds himself (for the most part), and potty training is imminent. Let me tell you, I cling to the bedtime routine with all of our cuddling. I will not let go that easily!
Pics to come!

Making Money and Hiding Out

Zachary has set up shop! If anyone is in our area in August, Zack's Place will be open. He and his father bought candy to sell to neighborhood kids and we had a family meeting to determine price, profit margin, and to decide what will be done with the profits. I am proud to say that Zachary will be donating a portion of these profits to a children's charity or to Malutka Baby Home in Karaganda. He is very excited about the "store" and was so happy when he got his first customer.

Alex and Zach continue to make us laugh every day. You have to love those disguises:) Our days have been fun, tiring, and exhausting all rolled into one. Now we are getting ready to vacation at the ocean and Zachary seems to be bringing everything but the kitchen sink. We all can't wait to play in the ocean and relax around the campfire.

Fourth of July (1 of 2)

Fourth of July (2 of 2)

The boys had a great time in Cooperstown over the fourth of July weekend. Alex got to ride a pony and seemed to love it. We enjoyed the Baseball Hall of Fame and spending time with Don's family. Zach had a ball fishing and even caught five fish! The boys played ball with Daddy and spent some quality family time around the campfire. Don't you love the picture of Zach in the stroller? I always tell him that he'll always be my baby. He just proved it:)

We had more to celebrate on the 4th as it was one year from the the day that Don got Alex in Almaty. It seems so hard to believe that Alex has been our son for a whole year. I look at the blog from last year and see how little Alex was, and then see what a big boy he is now. Alex is a fun loving, giggly, spirited boy (my work is cut out for me, as has a temper), who has a great sense of adventure. He will do anything that Zachary does, and then look to Zach to see if he approves. I was listening to them play on my bed the other day and they laughed and giggled for an hour. Yes, there is quite an age difference between the two, but there is also a lot of love. One of Alex's favorite things to do is to crawl on top of Zach when he is laying down. Once he's on top, he sticks his thumb in his mouth and all is right with the world. Zach gets his hair pulled the whole time this happens but he takes it like a man and I think that he loves the fact that Alex finds such comfort in being close to him.

Happy Birthday Zachary! I can't believe that our boy is now 9! It seems like yesterday that he was a baby, not a crazy, adorable, nine year old boy. Zachary did have a great birthday, partying all weekend at various celebrations. He loved laser tag at his party with his friends, and enjoyed baseball cupcakes at his game:)

One more week to go before summer vacation and we are all chomping at the bit. Soon the boys and I will be off and can enjoy ourselves.

The Baldwin Brothers are Back!

Summer is so close we can taste it, and Zach and Alex have been taking full advantage of the good weather. Between Zach riding his bike and Alex saying, "Side, side", we feel like we are never indoors. Zach is almost done with baseball and although his team really is this generations version of the Bad News Bears, they have shown improvement and Zach loves being the team's catcher.

We have already been camping and Alex loves it as much as the rest of us do. Zach played with buddies all weekend and Alex did his best impression of Pig Pen. Alex continues to do well and is going through a big growth spurt right now, eating us out of house and home. He is talking more and more and loves to imitate everything his big brother does, including a somersault this morning! Maybe I'll get my Olympic gymnast yet:)

Zachary had his spring concert and true to form his teacher continues to put him behind taller children. He did a great job and we did the bob and weave so that we could see him show off. His birthday is coming up and he has given us ideas daily for gifts (far more than we have the money for of course:) Soon Zachary and I will be done with school and we have some great camping trips planned for the summer.

BTW The nail in the finger is NOT real, just our son's sense of humor at work.

Toodles!

Spring has sprung!

Baseball season has begun! Zach had his first game tonight and did really well. The other team was really good so we won't talk about the score, just that my boy had a single and made some good plays. He continues to do well in school and reports that science is his favorite subject.

Alex continues to grow and thrive. He does tend to be in the dog house (hence the picture) but is such a lovable little boy. Alex is talking more and more every day and is quite spirited ( my nice way of saying that he has a temper:) It's hard to imagine that in a few weeks we will have known Alex for a whole year. It seems like yesterday that we saw our beautiful little boy sucking his thumb, wearing his famous pink outfit. Toodles!

My Boys!

I have nothing exciting to post, just some cute pictures of my boys. Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

The boys had a ball decorating eggs at Em and Kara's house on Friday; though I think we wound up wearing far more dye than they did:) Sunday can quickly and Zach was more than willing to tell us when it was 6:00am so he could get up (nice try Bud). The boys had a ball searching for their Easter baskets and eggs, and Zach was so cute helping Alex. Every time that Alex found an egg, he thought it was a ball and threw it across the room. Unfortunately we will have less egg salad this week as he cracked about 5 eggs;) The boys looked at their stash and chased each other around the house playing cars.

Soon it was time for church, which was slightly disastrous. Zach was great, Alex was another matter. Many shrieks later we left and brunched with the Hines' at our house. Even though there were only four kids; boy are they loud! In the afternoon we traveled to Don's grandmother's for a visit. Zach and Alex both had a ball playing with their cousins, and we all came hope happy and very tired.