Happy New Year 2009!

Steven, Andrew and Evan wanting to help Daddy

Happy New Year everyone!

We kept it low key and stayed home for New Year's Eve and spent New Year's Day getting the house and Steven and Evan's room organized. Robert finished assembling Steven and Evan's new dressers and bookcases for their room and the boys all joined in to take part in the fun. Here are a few pictures of the boys helping Daddy.

Evan really got into pretending he was helping Papa assemble the dresser

Evan was very comical and hamming it up in front of the camera. I must say, Evan just melts my heart with his adorable self, all of his expressions, his personality and his affection he gives to me. I questioned when we were visiting him in the orphanage how difficult it would be to bond with him once we got him in our care since he always seemed to be so independent and stubborn at times. Don't get me wrong, he is still very independent and stubborn at times, but Evan and I have bonded very well with each other. He is so funny with all of his facial expressions that I can't stop taking pictures of him. Here he is in rare form.



Silly Evan

Cheese!

I Love You This Much!!

I Don't Know??

Evan Hamming it up.

I thought it would be fun for the family to break out the fondue pot to celebrate the New Year as a family. We did it last year with Andrew for New Year's Eve and it was hilarious to see him practically swimming in melted chocolate. It turned out to be another big hit at the Millilo household. We dipped pineapple chunks, banana pieces and sliced apple into the chocolate marshmellow fondue and boy was it tasty. As soon as Andrew saw me preparing the fondue pot he got so excited he was squealing with delight and jumping up and down. Of course Steven and Evan didn't understand what was going on but Andrew did.

Enjoying Every Minute...Like Who Wouldn't!

It's going to be a while before I come down from this chocolate high!

YUMMY!! Smachno!

Once Steven and Evan understood what to do with the fondue sticks they wanted the fondue pot next to them the whole time. Of course we all took turns passing the fondue pot around the table and Steven and Evan were so anxious to dip their next piece of fruit that they were trying to climb over the table to get to it. I told them to sit down and to repeat, "Mama, please pass me the chocolate fondue". It was so cute to hear them say that phrase so quickly. They are so adorable.


Fondue Firsts

Fondue Fun!

Earlier that evening as we were putting our coats on to go outside Steven burped, covered his mouth and said (in English) "Excuse Me". I was floored. First of all I remember telling Andrew a couple of days ago to cover his mouth and say excused me when he burped but didn't realize Steven was so intently listening that he remembered what to do and what to say. I praised him and told him how proud I was of him. Also, I overheard Steven tell Andrew, "Come on" as he was trying to get Andrew to come over to play with him. He also says on his own "Bye, Bye" and he surprised me again when I was putting them in bed recently by saying back to me, "Love you"...after I told him in Ukrainian and in English that I love him. Again to my surprise that same evening, Evan said it to me the best he could in English with out me asking him to say it, "I UV OO". How precious are they.

Yes we have our challenging moments as a family (like what family doesn't)....but it's times like these that make it all worth while. Happy New Year Everyone!!