This morning the boys and I made sugar cookies. Dough was eaten, icing was tested, and sprinkles were slightly over used. 😉
(just click on a picture if you want to see it bigger)
Yes I realize it has been almost a month since their birthday and I am just getting around to doing a post. We finally did their two year check-up this week and they are normal, curious, healthy two year olds according to our doctor. What can I say they keep me busy! 🙂 They are so much fun, I really enjoy them a lot. Yes they have their moments, they are two year olds after all, but I have my moments too.
They talk all the time now and try to copy almost everything you say. It is a lot of fun watching their language develop. Some favorite phrases and words: help you (which means help me), help with that (either they want to help you or they want help with something), no barking, side (inside and outside), more milk (pretty much more of anything), moof please (move please), slippery, knock knock who’s there, beep beep, up you (Ezra’s version of hold you), and many, many more.
When they wake up they just starting shouting words they know and listing out all their favorite people. They usually wake up happy and chat with each other for a bit before I go in and get them.
They are starting to wrestle more and they tickle each other. They love to run around the house and shout “boo” at each other or anyone else who is present. Playing outside is still our favorite activity, swinging, riding our trikes, the sandbox, and mowing are all awesome. They love books and are now starting to say words at appropriate times. Noah will read books to you and even say some of the words in the book he is reading.
Ezra is currently scared of real trains, but loves choo choos. They like Thomas items and like to watch the show with Papa.
Ezra has all his teeth except for his two year molars, Noah still has a couple more he is working on, but we are almost all done with teething!
Noah started jumping months ago and Ezra recently figured it out. They are both working on somersaults right now, Ezra can do them more consistently then Noah. They run everywhere now, and are becoming expert climbers. They are finally figuring out the steering on their trikes, they just scoot around on them though still a little too short for the peddles.
Noah loves to help, if we are ever working on something he wants to do it too. He even cleans up if he makes a mess. He is a cuddler and loves to be tickled. He loves to take care of Ezra, but will also boss Ezra around. Once he sets his mind to something it must be done.
Ezra is more of an independent, free spirit and loves to try new things (read: dare devil). He is shy in new situations and meeting new people, but if he knows the majority of the people in the room he is fine. He can sit for long periods of time and play legos quietly.
They eat okay right now, they are a little picky at times, but overall do pretty good. There isn’t a lot of vegetables they like to eat, but they are really good fruit, carb, and dairy eaters. They occasionally eat meat. I try to just fix what we want for dinner and hope they will eat some. I make sure there is some bread, fruit, or other side that I know they will eat.
This morning Nama and Papa took the boys, Abby, and me out on a little adventure. We went to see Santa at Bass Pro shop (but he wasn’t there, apparently he isn’t there all the time), but we did see lots of animals and fish. All three little ones had a lot of fun and all three adults were thoroughly worn out. We then went to Chik-fil-a for lunch, where all three refused to eat (who refuses to eat chik-fil-a?), and then Ezra fell off the play structure giving himself a bloody nose and fat lip. Here are some pics, the boys even got in a little volunteer time (someone even put money in the bucket while they were ringing the bell, then someone else put the candy that was in his mouth in the bucket, but I won’t name names).
Noah And Ezra Awake from nap to find the tree they helped pick out earlier in the day, all lit up with pretty lights. I have no idea why they felt the need to blow out the lights like birthday candles, but they tried anyway.
Ezra being a ham for the video camera, so i put him to work on saying some words
I first read about Ethiopia Reads in the beginning of our adoption journey. While I know it is very important to meet the basic needs of food and shelter, I also believe deeply in the power of education. When I originally heard about Ethiopia Reads I wanted to ensure a library was built in the area my children were from. I didn’t know where that would be, when I would know, or how I would accomplish it.
Earlier this year I contacted Ethiopia Reads and learned they weren’t expanding at the time. Instead they were working on sustaining their current libraries and work towards some collaboration efforts in the future.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by Jane Kurtz and she informed that Ethiopia Reads was expanding in 2011 through a collaborative effort with the Ministry of Education and USAID. They chose a school in each region to add a library and Sebeta was one the schools chosen! The program is developing textbooks in English for the primary grades (high school grades are already in English) and will also be providing them books in their native language. Ethiopia has several languages so each school will be provided books in the primary language of their region as I understand it.
The cost to plant a children’s library is $10,000 (complete with books). The really good news is another family has already raised $5,000 for a library in Sebeta. That means they only need $5,000 more.
If you are interested in helping the library in Sebeta get built please donate to Ethiopia Reads. To ensure it goes to the library in Sebeta please write “TLMP Sebeta Library” on your check or in the “In Honor of” box on the online donation form. Thank you for whatever support you can give, Sebeta will forever hold a special place in my heart.
Chances for Children is trying to gather 400 boxes of food for Haiti in 45 days. I am sure you are aware that Haiti needs some love and hope right now and maybe you were wondering what you could do. The box drive is something that is easy and tangible! Even toddlers can join in and help out.
The boys were very helpful and I just had to rearrange a little to get everything to fit. 😉
The last day to ship is December 15, 2010 so you have plenty of time!
We took the boys on their first hike today, okay really a walk through the desert. They had a lot of fun and really enjoyed all the sand. Ezra saw his first jack rabbit, then chased after it. Don’t worry the rabbit was much faster than him. We packed a picnic lunch and the boys scarfed it down! For the most we were able to keep them on the trail, and they walked almost the whole way. We had to carry them for a bit when we were almost back to the car. Here are some pictures of our little adventure, just click on a picture to see it bigger.
Yet another wonderful thanksgiving. Pics to prove it happened.
Crash and Danger have started to really like coloring. They usually only do it for 5 minutes or so, sometimes a little bit longer. Danger discovered the joy of breaking crayons in half, so their Nana bought them some of these Crayola Twistables 
Crash showing off his red tongue.
Demonstrating how he got red.
Danger showing off his green tongue. (Don’t mind the interesting paint on the wall.)
I first read about these salmon cakes over at Musings of a Housewife last month and finally gave them a try last week a (and again last night). Matt and I love them! Noah and Ezra are the true test of any recipe though. Their opinions? On their plates absolutely would not try, but off of mommy’s plate some of the best food they have ever eaten. Ezra even ate the leftovers with me for lunch today.
If you are like me and often just read the ingredients’ list to make sure you have everything and the instructions while you are prepping dinner, I’ll give you a heads up. You have to chill the cakes for 20 minutes before you cook them.
Ingredients:
1 (14.75-oz) can salmon
1/4 red pepper, small diced
1/4 onion, minced
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or other)
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tsp dried)
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup butter
3 Tbsp olive oil
Instructions:
1. Saute onion and red pepper in olive oil/butter. Let it cool.
2. Combine salmon, egg, bread crumbs, sauce, cheese, parsley, salt and pepper. Add onion and red pepper and mix well.
3. Form into four patties. Dust lightly with flour. Chill for 20 minutes. (The chilling is important. Otherwise they fall apart.)
4. Heat butter and olive oil in skillet on med-high heat and cook patties until browned on both sides, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels and serve with veggie. (I’ve never drained them and haven’t found them to be overly oily when I cook them. I don’t think I used a 1/4 of butter and 3 tablespoons of olive oil though.)
Matt and I have never done a photo card to mail out. We usually just do an email (yes we are cheap and procrastinate so email is easy for us), but we know people love receiving pictures of the two little cuties that live in our house (Noah and Ezra if you are confused, sorry Matt it’s not you). When I heard about Shutterfly’s Holiday Card promotion I got excited! 50 free cards! I am so excited to print some this year, choosing a photo will be so hard. We have a lot of great photos of them. Of course, there are lots of ways to utilize all those photos. Photo books are our gift of choice for grandparents, but I also think the desk calendars would make a good gift.
We also love receiving pictures of all the little cuties in our life, so go here to receive your 50 free cards.
Thanks to the government for a deadline! Without it I would have put off applying for the COC forever. For those of you not in the know the filing fee for the COC is going up next week by $120 and since we had to file two that would have been an extra $240. I am so happy that our agency sent out an email notifying us because I would have had no clue. By all the discussions of FB this week I was happy to know that we were not the only procrastinating parents out there! I am pretty sure USCIS will be getting a flood of applications. 🙂
I spent the better part of nap-time Monday filling out the applications and looking for the supportive documents, calling USCIS because they have Noah’s birthdate wrong on his green card (hooray another form to fill out!), and chatting with other mommies on FB doing the same. (I love our little community and that we all got to do this together.) The most fun those was taking the boys to get passport photos done for the certificate. I am fairly certain the lady taking them thought toddler boys should just stand still and get into the perfect position and that she didn’t have to do anything but push the button (very slowly I might add). It was a lot of fun, really.
I tried to get a few cute photos of the boys with their applications to properly document this part of the process, they were not super cooperative. Apparently it isn’t a big deal to them.
