I realize that I just posted our Pumpkin Pickin' and Halloween photos in December :/

Can you believe its December??? OM! Time seems to be zipping by at an accelerated rate these days. Yes, I realize that I just posted our Pumpkin Pickin' and Halloween photos on December 7...no less :/

Anyway, recently someone had a 3rd Birthday, it was Lukey!!! I can't believe our baby is 3 years old! That is a miracle in and of itself! He came to us as a baby (who could run but still a baby in ohhh SO many ways!) but he's not a baby anymore, he's a little boy now. Also, he has been home 18 months and he came running off the plane at 18 months. I know I'm being way too sentimental, can't help myself.

Ryan is growing up too right before our eyes! Last night I came across a baby photo album of Ryan's, still not done unpacking :/ It's hard to believe that Ryan was once SO tiny, we came home with him when he was only 10.5 months and now he's 7 years old! I was crying my eyes out as I was looking at this particular baby album...where on earth did that time go?! Well, this past Sunday it cemented what a big boy Ryan has turned into b/c he was in his very first Christmas play :) Ryan's CCD (religious education) class performed the "First Christmas". Ryan was a shepherd and ohhhhh SO adorable.

As time races towards us and yet another year passes I want to take the opportunity to wish everyone who reads our blog, "Peace on Earth and Holiday Wishes"!!! Thank-You for sharing our WONDERFUL and AMAZING journey with us!!!

This morning I was saying to Lukey, "Ho, Ho, Ho," and he said to me, "You are not Santa, you are Mommy"! He told me, didn't he??? As I've stated he's become quite the little comedian :) Ron said, "Lukey if you only knew"! LOL!!!

Happy Holidays,

Jenny, Ron, Ryan, and Lukey :)

Pumpkin Pickin' and Halloween :)

A little late but here are photos of the boys pumpkin pickin' and Halloween. My sister, known as, Aunt Woo to the boys helped us this year with the pumpkin pickin' :) We had a lion and Bumblebee from Transformers visit us this year on Halloween. The boys were too cute! I think Lukey actually understood Halloween, he kept on going up to houses (of course, of family members and/or ppl. we knew) and said "gimme some candy, Oh yes TRICK or TREAT"! LOL!!! He truly has become our little comedian :)

Anyway, enjoy :)

HUGS,
Jenny, Ron, Ryan, and Lukey :)

It's OFFICIAL we have moved...

Many of our fellow bloggers are probably stating to themselves WHAT??? But YES we have OFFICIALLY moved :) We are now about a half hour south of where we used to be in NJ, it's closer to Ron's work (3 miles to be exact) and it's a better move for Ryan and the school district.

Our new house is still in disarray...I never thought it would come together but slowly and surly it is...did I mention it's happening extremely slowly?! We FINALLY have cable, well more like satellite tv now, after not having it for 5 days...we were "camping out" as Ryan put it :/ It took us a while to find the boys nuts and bolts to actually put their bunk beds together, they were a fun couple of nights :) We have a new phone number too and FINALLY have Internet...you never know how much you miss things until they are completely gone! Ron made a comment, at least in Russia we had "Russian TV"! HAHA! I had to chuckle to keep from crying my eyes out!

No photos of the new house...yet! I can't seem to find the cable that attaches to the computer and downloads the photos...that's our life in a nutshell for now :/

Love & HUGS,
Jenny, Ron, Ryan & Lukey

Summer can not be over?!

WOW!!! Is all I can say right now! Where on earth did this summer go??? Ryan will start 1st Grade on September 3rd, I know I can't believe we our the parents to a 1st Grader!!! Our school district starts a little bit earlier than surrounding districts, which if you ask me is strange b/c a town over starts on September 8th?! I will try and post photos of Ryan's 1st day in 1st Grade!

And believe it or not...Luke has now been home a year, to be exact 14 months! This I can't even get over or wrap my little brain around! It seems like yesterday we were on our way to go meet him for the 1st time! But in the same breath I can say that he "fits" into our family as if he has always been here :) WOW!!!

Our summer of 2009 was spent by the pool, down the shore (Lukey did not like the ocean this year because a wave came along wiped him out and took his beach toys...he was not a happy toddler at that point!), adoption picnics, farm fair, Sesame Place, and this year we saw the Crayola Factory for the very 1st time, again I forgot my stinking camera SO what else did I have but my cell phone and the same exact thing that happened on our trip to Chicago, where I can't get the photos to download to the computer!!! Anyway all in all we had a fun, fun, and more fun summer...at least the boys had a great summer or so they told me :)

Love & HUGS,
Jenny, Ron, Ryan, & Lukey :)

Azerbaijan Reunion Chicago 2009

This year the Azerbaijani Reunion was held in Chicago. We didn't fly to Chicago, nope I thought it would be much more fun to drive 13 hours :/ Honestly, Ron and I talked about flying but we both refused to pay 800.00 and that was only 1 way...not round trip...yep 1 way! So, in other words YES it would have cost us $1600.00 to fly round trip, as a family, to Chicago...for a weekend?! Just way TOO much money! So, we endured the car ride. It truly wasn't an awful experience, now I didn't say it was a great experience just not awful :)


We started out late Thursday night, July 16, 2009. By the time we had left it was already creeping into Friday morning, probably left about 2 am. We didn't arrive til almost 6 pm on Friday, July 17, 2009. Luke cried the last 40 minutes of the car ride and then some :/ Our nerves were frazzled at this point! However, the great thing about Chicago is that they are an hour behind us, so it was actually 5 pm not 6 pm...still didn't make a difference we were ALL exhausted. We had a meet and greet to do down at the hotel's pool with other families who have adopted from Azerbaijan, which Ron and Ryan happily were up for while I stayed behind to TRY and calm the screaming baby, aka Luke :/ I will state that chocolate does wonders for screaming toddlers or I should say chocolate chip cookies...we too were off to the pool party :) Except it was freezing at the pool, due to a cold front and the fact that Chicago is on a lake, and Mommy didn't pack any jackets/sweatshirts for anyone :/ Who would have thought to pack jackets/sweatshirts when it was the middle of summer?!

I must say the next day was much better! We spent the day, Saturday, July 18, 2009 with other families who have adopted from Azerbaijan and most importantly Ryan was able to see his "Baku Friends"! We walked the "Magnificent Mile" and went to Millennium Park...all extremely cool!!! We let the children run around in the fountain, we were told that this fountain is famous in Chicago. We took pictures of the children in front of the "Bean". We ended the day by going to lunch with some of the other families. Unfortunately, I am an idiot and forgot my camera, however I did have my cell phone but can't seem to download the pictures I took that day onto the computer :/


That night we all met at EFES Restaurant and the owners were an amazing couple, one was from Azerbaijan and I believe the other was from Turkey. Just an amazing couple, who were absolutely endeared by the children. We had amazing Azerbaijani food, as is the tradition at the Azerbaijani Reunions and there was the silent auction (my personal favorite!), where the proceeds benefit those children in the Azerbaijani Baby Houses. It felt extremely good to spend time with others who have had a similar experience to you, truly an amazing experience! It's quite funny how all the stories about Azerbaijan were the same, yet they all had a piece that would always make these stories unique because it is your child's story of how they came to your family :) To end the night we went to an amusement park where we watched fireworks, which btw Ryan now adores fireworks...ever since Walt Disney World :)

We woke up on our final day in Chicago and I will say I was sad knowing that today we would be leaving Chicago but happy to get back to our life. We did spend the day sightseeing in Chicago, an amazing little tid bit of trivia for all those who are interested...the Sears Tower is NO longer the Sears Tower but rather the Willis Tower as of that Thursday it had changed names. We took a ride on the lake and saw the architecture of Chicago. That day, as a treat to the boys, (and yes I mean Ron too) we stopped at the Lego store, which was impressive. I have the cutest picture of both Ryan and Luke hugging R2D2 totally made out of legos, that was extremely cool! We left Chicago later that evening, we wanted to go to the free zoo but there never seems to be enough time in the day! A friend offered us her hotel room where we could shower and change but we were exhausted and decided to get on the road. I will say that it was much better driving home than driving to Chicago. Chicago will always be remembered fondly :)

Love & HUGS,

Jenny, Ron, Ryan & Lukey (I don't know if anyone noticed but we changed the spelling, do you like this spelling or the Lukie spelling?)