Christmas 2005

Annierae's first Christmas with us was magical.

First, we celebrated Christmas Eve with Mass at St. John Vianney, then went over to Aunt Judy & Uncle Bob's for our family tradition of ordering Pizza! Annierae had a wonderful evening with family & friends and fell fast asleep on the way home.



On Christmas day, Annierae was up early to open presents with Momma & Pappa before the family came over. She was definitely spoiled by all involved, including Grandma & Grandpa via special delivery from Vermont.

Shortly afternoon, Aunt Pat & Uncle Tom along with Aunt Judy & Uncle Bob, Great Aunt Sister Marie Jude and cousins Matt, Sandy and Sara came to our house to celebrate with Annierae.

We had a fabulous meal, dessert, then Annierae opened more presents. She was overwhelmed, but very happy! Once again, all of us present received the best gift by having Annierae in our lives!

What a wonderful gift from God!

Annierae's First Birthday

Annierae had a truly special first birthday (beside being the first one with us in America as a U.S. citizen). She had two birthday parties!

Her first one was a few days before her actual birthday with her Great Aunt, Sister Marie Jude (SMJ) in Spring Lake. SMJ and her friends Sister Mary Lou & Sister Rosie put together a delightful birthday party at their house when we went to visit them. Annierae had a wonderful time and really enjoyed the cake & ice cream (she has a HUGE sweet tooth!).











Her second party was on her actual birthday of 12-16. We had Aunt Judy & Uncle Bob over to our house for a nice dinner, cake & ice cream and opening of presents. Of course, Annierae got a little cake all to herself, and enjoyed devouring it...







All in all, she had a great birthday, but Kristine & I are the ones that got the real present!

Tis the Season

I thought I was doing so well having all my Christmas shopping done and all the presents wrapped before we left for China. Unfortunately, being without a car for the past two weeks has put me behind in my Christmas planning. I am happy to report that Greg did get a new car Wednesday and Annierae and I have been running all over town to get our final Christmas preparation done.

Annierae is doing great she is very social and loves to be out and about. Her favorite thing these days are to go out to eat in a restaurant. She loves all the attention she gets from the wait staff and other diners. We are realizing she is a big ham. She also loves cake and ice cream tonight we went to Aunt Judy's to celebrate Judy's Birthday and once again she got to have her cake and ice cream. I am amazed at how well she eats and it’s beginning to show her face is really starting to fill out, watch out Bryson I'm catching up to you.

Today we tried to have a photo session with Annierae for our Christmas cards but it is so hard to get a good picture of her without the fingers in her mouth. We did get a pretty good one but you will all have to wait for your Christmas cards to arrive to see it. Below are a few of the photos that were taken.

Hope all is well with all of you still visiting our site. We will try to continue to update the site weekly.

Home Sweet Home

Yes we did make it home safe and sound and all is well now. The flight was very long and Annierae being the busy body that she is decided she wasn't going to sleep so as not to miss a thing. We were greeted at the airport by many of our family and friends. I think that was more emotional for me then Gotcha Day.

Annierae is really starting to show her personality, she never stops talking and will be walking here very shortly. She laughs and smiles all the time except when we are taking her picture, some how the fingers always seem to be in her mouth when the flash goes off. Her and Harley are getting along well, especially when its time for Annierae to eat. Harley is the clean up committee. The three of us get bundled up everyday and go for a walk usually just up the street. Annierae is still getting use to the cold but she does love being outside.

Grandma and Grandpa were here for our first week home and unfortunately we had a car accident the day before Thanksgiving. Grandpa ended up with a cut forehead and a broken wrist, the rest of us had a few bruises but nothing serious and Annierae was fine. So now I truly am stay-at-home mom because Greg is using my car to get to and from work. We hope to have another vehicle by next week which will be nice because I am going a little crazy.

We had a great Thanksgiving at Aunt Judy's! She just remodeled her home and it is beautiful and the food was delicious. Unfortunately due to the snowy weather the Zwier family and Auntie Sister were not able to make it. Aunt Patti and Uncle Tom did stop over this weekend when they were in town and Aunt Patti gave us a beautiful scrapbook she put together for Annierae, thanks Aunt Patti!!

Well that's it for now we will continue to post as we have the time so you can all see how our little angel is doing. Thank you all for the comments we love to hear from you.

More pictures to enjoy.

God Bless.