Thursday, December 6, 2012

December Already!

Well it's officially December so time to get ready for Christmas!

 We took the kids to visit with Santa at the Appleton Mall and then to Build a Bear. As this has been a tradition for Makenna for many years. Makenna made a Peppermint Pup and Robbie made Rudolph as Makenna has Clarice from a couple years ago. Although Robbie calls him his "Big Buck" instead!
Kids on Santa's Lap

Makenna making her Build a Bear Peppermint Pup

Not sure he was as into it as his sister

Time for a bath!


 We went on a hunt for our Christmas Tree. In 50 degree weather and a slight rain! Very unusual for December but was nice to have the kids out and not worrying if they were going to freeze. We decorated with all the shatterproof ornaments as "Wreck it Robbie" is in the house and I didn't want to chance my good glass ornaments. We did this for a couple years when Makenna was little too.


Getting our Tree
Finished Product!



Makenna had her program at School and did a wonderful Job.
Makenna's School Program

I attended an assembly at school yesterday for Makenna. She was chosen Citizen of the Month for her class for the month of November! There theme for the month was Problem solving! We are so proud of her!


 I also volunteered at school yesterday and cut fleece for blankets that the kids are going to tie and then send out east to a school that was hit hard during hurricane Sandy.




These are a few photo's I took the other night before Makenna's program to try and get a few good photo's for our Christmas card.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Thanksgiving and Deer Hunting....It's Tradition!

We have survived the very long week of the Wisconsin Gun Deer hunting season with Thanksgiving thrown in right in the middle. We have so much to be thankful for this year!!

My Mom returned from taking her cousin to Florida just in time for me and the kids to move in for the weekend. This is tradition so that I can get up and hunt and she stays with the kids during the day. Derek was able to shoot a nice buck and also a couple of does. I never fired a shot. I could have but let a few smaller bucks go waiting for the big one to show up. The weather was too warm early in the week, 50's which makes the deer less active and then took a plunge later in the week. I took a few days off in the middle as I still had to work and Makenna had 2 days of school. All in all it was a successful hunt as Dad was cutting up venison last night during that horrible Packer game.

Robbie loves to see all the Big Bucks and loves to be at the farm to see all the cows and ride on the "vroom vroom"

I'm ready to go uncle Chad!

Dad skinning deer

Derek's Buck

    
Thanksgiving Fun with Uncle Travis
It was 60+ degree's on Thanksgiving Day. It's tradition for the guys to go hunting and then everyone comes to my parents house for dinner and we proceed to eat until we can't move. Then we go back out and hunt in the evening. We also made a stop at Grandma Diane's house in the evening to partake in Thanksgiving festivities with that side of the family as well.Grandma Diane headed back to Texas for the winter but is coming home to celebrate Christmas with us all in January.



This is Robbie yesterday at nap time. He was done with Thanksgiving and all the festivities that come with it. For some reason he has latched onto this doll and loves to cuddle with it, this is how he fell asleep on the couch and I couldn't resist.
I Love my doll


And this last photo is from last evening...
Robbie is sleeping on the couch and we have officially entered the Christmas Season
at the Dombeck House!


Tuesday, November 6, 2012

A Monkey & A Witch

For Trick or Treating this year Makenna decided she wanted to be  a Witch and since Robbie is such a little Monkey I found a costume that suited him perfectly!
Makenna also had a party at school on Wednesday afternoon, I went to school to help out and we made monsters and vampires our of rice crispy treats. They all got dressed up and then paraded from room to room, had lots of snacks and got treat bags to take home.
Trick or Treating went good and Robbie quickly got the jest of it and each time the car would stop he would yell..."Done...Bag,,, Candy!!!"  It was so cute and of course he wanted to eat it all right now!
Vampires
Frankensteins


My good little witch

Ms. Koch Kindergarten Class

Monkey!

Trick or Treat

Halloween Fun

Halloween...

Despite the cooler weather I do like fall and am a fan of Halloween. This year we went with some friends to a new corn maze near our home. They also had a barn full of things for the kids to do, hay bales for them to play on and a petting zoo. Robbie saw the corn and was sure that he needed to eat his way through the maze! He chewed on a cob of corn for most of the time and if he saw another cob he tried to carry that as well. It was too cute.

Putting punches on our punch cards

I will eat my way through this maze!

Oh NO a Head!

Makenna & Marcus enjoying the day

Can we take him home?

   
Huge Pumpkin

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Fall

Fall has defiantly come to Wisconsin. We had wonderful fall colors this year. Now most of the leaves have fallen but that didn't stop the kids from having some fun in all the leaves.
Jump In


Can you find me?


Let me rake Mom!

The beautiful Fall colors behind our home


We were supposed to take the kids to the Pumpkin Patch a week ago but we had a very rainy weekend and decided not to go. But, thanks to my wonderful friend Nicole the kids do have a couple of pumpkins that we will carve this weekend.

October has been a busy month for our family. Robbie had a minor surgical procedure done early in the month so it took him a couple weeks to heal up but he is good to go now. Derek is getting ready to head out to Colorado next week to do some Elk hunting, so right now everything revolves around getting him ready to go. Hopefully he will have a successful hunt!

Kids are ready for Halloween. Robbie is going to be a monkey and Makenna a witch. Derek leaves on Halloween night so I will be taking the kids trick or treating on my own but we just make a few stops around the neighborhood.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Makenna Turns 6!

Another busy week in the Dombeck household...

We started with Makenna turning 6 on Sunday so we had a big party of family and friends for her at our house. The weather was a little cool but the sun was shining so the kids did get some play time outside.
Makenna also go to be Super Star of the week at school this week. On Monday we filled out a sheet of all her favorites to share with the class, took cookies to school for her class and she also came home with a star sticker on her shirt that said it was her birthday as well as a birthday hat.  Tuesday she took pictures to share with the class, Wednesday I wrote her a letter that the teacher read during snack time, Thursday she got to take 5 things for show and tell and Friday she got to bring a snack and I got to go in and read her favorite book to her class. She had a wonderful week!
6 Candles on the cake

All the cousins and friends at the party
Robbie & Makenna when she got off the bus on Monday


Tuesday we helped my good friend Paula celebrate Adoption Day for her son Marcus!  We attended his adoption hearing and then took the kids to Monkey Joe's to celebrate. Paula's daughter Maddie was adopted 6 years ago and Marcus was placed with her when he was 7 months old and now his adoption day arrived. 
Maddie, Marcus & Makenna

Robbie in the bounce house







Robbie & Mommy
Ready to go hunting Dad!
Robbie has started trying out his little potty in the bathroom this week! He is interested in it so we will see where it goes, I don't expect him to be out of diapers anytime soon but it's a start in the right direction. Derek has started bow hunting and got a doe last weekend. Robbie is also liking his camo attire for fall!

Friday, September 21, 2012

End of Summer

Wow!
Where has the time gone...I looked at my last post and that was July, Sorry people!
We have had a very busy summer!

We took in as many Rodeo's as we could in our area and did some camping. We had a trip to the Milwaukee zoo and a trip out to Green Bay for the Miracle Baby Celebration and took in the zoo there as well. Makenna tried T-ball this summer. Mom and I took the kids up to Minocqua WI for an overnight stay, late summer get away. A couple weekends ago Derek and I had a Mom & Dad get away of our own and spent a long weekend in Nashville and attended a PBR (Professional Bull Riders) event. Derek and I also got to go to Lambeau Field and watch our beloved Packers beat the Chicago Bears in a Thursday night game!

So with all that going on plus everyday life with 2 kids seems I have gotten behind on my blogging.
Now with the weather turning cooler and Makenna in Kindergarten all day I may have some more time to keep things posted.

The kids are both growing and changing so much...

Robbie is talking a lot. I don't think there is anything that he doesn't say or at least try to say. Now granted it's all not prefect but for his age and only being in the USA since March I would say he is doing awesome!
He had his first real haircut this week and looks so much older now. He is still very attached to Mommy and doesn't let me out of his site for too long. He is getting much better about riding in the car and that is a big plus as we are a family that is always on the go.





Makenna started Kindergarten on Sept. 4th. She rides the bus to and from school. So far so good. Other than being a bit more tired and realizing that she can't go and do with Mom all day like she used to. We will see how many years it takes before school and riding the bus are not so fun. Our little Miracle Baby turns 6 on Sunday!  Now I would really like to know where all that time went!

Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Vacation Bible School

This week we have Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church.
We are doing a Rocky Point Lighthouse theme.

We have 13 de"light"ful kids in our group

The kids are having lots of fun and Robbie is getting in on the action too!




Monday, July 16, 2012

Forever Hope

Just wanted to share something with all of you in the adoption world.

The Kratzer family was along on our journey to Robbie and they adopted a beautiful little girl they call Madelyn. We were truely blessed to share our journey with family. Amy has now started a wonderful support for adoptive families called Forever Hope:


Forever Hope is a Christian adoption support ministry. Our vision is to carry out God’s care for orphans by coming alongside adoptive families with post adoption support. The mission of Forever Hope is that adoptive families should never walk alone, especially when beginning life as a new family.
Forever Hope seeks to provide adoptive families 1) personal care and support  2) connection to valuable resources 3) a network of supportive relationships.
We understand that many adoptive families begin their life together as a new family feeling alone, stressed, and inadequate.  The first months of adoption can bring stress to children, marriages, and extended family relationships.  From financial burdens to unforeseen challenges, as the adrenaline of pre-adoption wears off, Forever Hope desires to come along side and minister to adoptive families.

I hope you will visit their site today:

 http://www.forever-hope.org/

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Happy Life!

Life has been crazy in the Dombeck household as of late.
We are adjusting to life as a family of 4 and all is going great.
I am sorry for not posting in a long time, not enough hours in the day!
This past weekend the Rodeo's finally came to Wisconsin. Friday night we loaded up the family and drove out to Medford. Robbie still has issues with riding in the car for a long time so he pretty much screamed from Wausau to Medford. Derek had to pull over so that I could climb in the back with him and eventually got him quieted down.   Once we got to the Rodeo all was well and we had a good time. I know Derek didn't get to watch as much of it as he would of liked but that is life with two kids on the run.
Saturday night Robbie stayed with Grandma and we just took Makenna to the Rodeo in Merrill. We had a good time. It was really hot and the sun was in our eyes for a while but we got to watch the show!

Sunday we were up early as it was Robbie's Baptism day!!!
It was so awesome to have so many people join us for this great day.
Pastor Amy gave a wonderful sermon about family and our journey to Robbie.
It was a beautiful service. Although Robbie was not to fond of getting the water on his head, he wanted to play in it!  Afterwards we had a nice party at our home. It was a wonderful day!

Robbie's First Rodeo!
 I love Dad's hat!

Baptism 6/10/12
                                                             Not so sure about all this!


                                           With Pastor Amy

                                               Grandparents

                                           Godparents: Katy and Uncle Scott


Robbie had his 15 month checkup on June 1st and he weights 25 pounds and is 32 1/2" long which puts him in the 87% for height and 57% for weight on the normal USA kids scale!  We defiantly have a big boy!
He is learning so many words now, I would say he knows about 30 and he is starting to put them together to get what he wants. Like "Ba Please" Meaning he wants his cup and please sounds more like "peas" It's so cute! We took him for a hearing test as he had never had one and all is well with that so no worries there.