Our first Christmas together

A very merry Christmas and happy New Year, everyone! The Marsh clan has had an exciting week. Not only did we celebrate Christmas on the 25th, but our 4-month anniversary of being home as well. Thought you might like some pics and a little update. The boys did extremely well for their first Christmas. Six out of the last seven days have been spent driving to friends and relatives houses, and the boys got pretty worn out. So for the last few days, we've been taking it easy and kind of hibernating at home.


Santa hit the nail on the head when he gave the boys these working bulldozers. Way to go, Santa! The boys can't get enough of bulldozers, trains, cars, really anything big and mechanical! Mema and Grandpa gave them bulldozers too, and they love them. Here's a tip: getting two of everything discourages fighting over toys! Just hope one of them doesn't break...

Here are two little alligators having their evening milk. The Stewarts were kind enough to send us two alligator bath towels with the boys' names embroidered on them. They love them, and wear them every night before bed. Don't tell them, but sometimes Daddy puts the wrong alligator on the wrong kid. Maybe that's why we keep calling them by the wrong name! Connerson...uh, Carsner..

Sure, this doesn't look like a burrito, but that's what it is! Mummy's brother's family sent them some cool cars and a mat with a town on one side and a checkered flag on the other. When the boys want a break from driving the cars around town, they pretend their feet are cold and wrap themselves up in the burrito (pronounced "booyeetow")

Grandma gave them this cool and colorful toy that they enjoy exploring. They've learned their colors and like pointing out which things are yellow (bulldozer yellow), red (fire truck red), and blue (trash truck blue!). Amazingly, they have found a way to be a bit competitive with this toy. If you click on the picture, you'll see that the green wire is the tallest, and has the most rollercoaster-like action. The boys get lessons in sharing when they both decide the green wire is the one they want to play with.

Ah, this one might be what Mummy was most looking forward to. Our only tv is in a room that the boys aren't yet privy to, so Mema and Grandpa got the boys a tv/dvd player that goes in the living room. We chose not to hook it up to our cable, so the boys watch only children's videos. Props to Aunt Heather, who gave them a Veggie Tales dvd with "Oh, where is my hairbrush?" which is Mummy and Daddy's favorite!

Well, for all the wonderful gifts the boys received, wouldn't you know they had the most fun with some Jayhawk stickers?! Let's end the Christmas blog with a few pics of the boys being stickerheads. Again, they love Jayhawks, and Papa swears that they came from Siberia with this love. Has nothing to do with anything he has taught them...

An early Christmas present

Here's something we've been anxious to post since we returned! Way back in the August 27th entry, we mentioned that the FIFA world cup for women was in Moscow, and that several soccer teams stayed in our hotel. The boys met a large contingent of the Nigerian and Chinese women's national soccer team and won their hearts!

One of the most special connections was with Ngozi Onwuka, a Nigerian journalist covering the games. She was extraordinarily sweet to the boys, and they flirted with her every time we passed her group in the lobby. We've been emailing back and forth with her since our return, and she just sent us this awesome picture:


It is a scan of a negative, so you might want to click on it to see a larger version. In the forefront is the captain of the Nigerian team, and Ngozi is hiding behind Carson. Our camera was on the fritz, so this is the only visual evidence we have of that amazing day. We were basically cooling our heels in the hotel, afraid to explore much of the city with two little orphans in tow. So these very sweet women made our day much more pleasant.

Can't wait to share this with the boys when they are old enough to understand: not only did you come from an orphanage half way around the world, but before we brought you home, you chilled in the Moscow Marriott with the Nigerian and Chinese national women's soccer teams!

The most heartfelt wishes of a happy and safe holiday season for you all. We'll let you know how our exciting, crazy first Christmas goes! Here's a quick shout out to our Kras Connection, the Parracks, who this week celebrated their one year anniversary of "The Call." For details, check out http://www.parrackfamily.blogspot.com/.

Happy early holidays!

Is it ok to take a picture of a picture and put it on the internet? Who knows. Did it anyway. This was actually taken just over a week after we came home from Russia. The boys have that very stoic look that says, " I don't understand what you are saying, or why you are pointing that thing at me."


Fast forward to a more recent photo session. The Marsh side of the family decided to try and get all five cousins together for a Christmas picture. It actually worked! Above, we have the CNM boys showing off their sweaters and giving their usual look when the camera comes out. Conner has started smiling on command, while Carson at least half the time gives the deer in the headlights look. :-) At least he broke out the smile for us when all the cousins were together!


Two boys and three girls. Conner, Carson, Kyleigh, Alex(andria) and Casey. What a cute group! In the last few months, we took quite a jump from two cousins to five. It will be a busy Christmas. Kyleigh is the eldest, at eight years, Casey is almost three, and Alex is just a few weeks old! In case you forgot, Conner turned three on Oct 26 and Carson turned two on Sept 12.

Recently, the boys have started asking to be cradled like babies. They've met a few newborns, and have been very sweet to them. "Conner, baby...Carson baby..." It has been very nice to play baby with them, because they look into our eyes and let us really snuggle. The picture above is a rare moment when they both wanted to be babies together. The Curious George books, by the way, are among their favorites. They both have monkey dolls that look a lot like George. Carson has started calling his, "Mee mee," which we think is pretty darn cute.

Just another quick leaf pile picture. We had such a great, warm Thanksgiving weekend that most of it was spent outside. The boys played like Energizer bunnies in the leaf piles, and were even willing to bring individual leaves from other parts of the yard into the pile. Good thing we took care of the yard during the weekend, because it got cold real fast!

The first weekend of December, and it was cold! Here are the boys all bundled up to go see the Old Fashioned Christmas parade. We are so lucky to be within walking distance of lots of cool stuff, including downtown Lawrence. The parade is primarily horse-drawn carriages, sleighs and horseback riders. The boys totally loved it. "Another horsey, another horsey?...Big horsey!...Little horsey!" That night, the whole family went to a restaurant (only the second time) to celebrate the seven-year anniversary of Mommy and Daddy's first kiss. :-)