The paperboys

So, we're totally blowing our tradition of one entry per month. But it is for a good cause. It was a beautiful day yesterday, and we needed to rake leaves. The boys are great at helping, and they know that the reward for helping is getting to dive into the leaves when they are done.

This activity attracted the attention of our local newspaper. Yes, the boys were in the paper...again. Here's the link. Truth be told, we live three blocks from the paper's hq, and the boys are always outside. So, the photog is told to go out and get outside pictures, drives three blocks to our neighborhood, and sees the CNM boys shoveling snow, riding bikes, raking leaves, etc.

The only other news of note is that we have some very sick little dudes. You can't tell it by the picture, and they certainly haven't slowed down much. But when we finally took them to the doctor last week, Conner was diagnosed with double ear infections, tonsilitis, and pink eye! Hopefully we are getting past it, and can put our attentions towards fun fall activities again.

Baby picture day

Hi there! How about some early pics of the boys? Last week was bring a baby picture to school week in Conner's class, so we pulled together some pics we were given from the orphanage. Thought we might share them on the blog.



One of the first things we were told to expect while in Kras was that for the most part Russians think Americans smile too much. It is a bit evident from all the boys' baby pictures. It was explained to us that if you smiled at someone you didn't know, they thought you were laughing at them for some reason. Just wanted to provide some perspective as to why there are so few smiles in the early pics.



Already looking over his shoulder! The funny story about Carson is that during several of our first meetings with him, he was extremely introverted. Couldn't get him to play, couldn't get him to speak. Not so much the case anymore...in fact he has been on a tear recently. He lost his bike privileges, which is a big deal since he got a big boy bike last month for his b-day...



Hard to believe he was ever this small! When they came to us, both boys were around the third percentile in height and weight. They are now in the thirtieth, if not the fiftieth. We'll leave you with a fun pic of the two of them in their farmer overalls.