Well after three years of unsuccessfully attempting to send out a Christmas photo and letter I have decided that I will try to blog. Everyone says how great it is so I'm going to give it a shot for the upcoming year. Here are some memorable moments of our 2008.
Of course our most memorable moment this year was the day we got to bring Gemma home from China. This was moments after we first met her at the orphanage. It was a hard day for her, but she has come a long way.
Cole is 12 now and in middle school. His favorite thing to do is play music. He is part of a band called Random Sound which consists of four 6th grade boys, who all happen to be on the same soccer team as well.
They've had a few gigs and lot of time in the recording studio, their latest recording was Stairway to Heaven. They specialize in classic rock. Did you know that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are considered classic rock to a twelve year old today? Look for their CD's in the near future.
Cole also enjoyed playing on a premier soccer team - the Kahuna's - with lots of travel to Portland this fall. Then after the soccer season, the Kahuna's changed uniforms and played a short season of flag football together.
Gemma's (who is now 8 and in second grade) most memorable moment since she's been with us was meeting the "real" Cinderella at Disneyland. While in Beijing, we bought her a Cinderella DVD in Mandarin. She must have watched it at least 20 times since it was the only thing we had for her in Mandarin.
On our way home from Los Angeles, Gemma was able to reconnect with a very good friend from Beijing. Yu Wei (sitting to the far right who is now called Joy) has been friends with Gemma since they were very small. Their foster moms were friends and they both entered the orphanage on the same day. What are the chances that Joy would live in northern California. The other three girls are Joy's sisters, all adopted from China. And of course after the visit Gemma expressed her need to have 3 more sisters. I thought about that for a moment and Garin shut the idea down immediately.
Here's Gemma before her first dance performance. She is taking hip hop and swimming. She has learned how to swim in a few short months and loves it. I have a feeling this will be the sport she will stick with. And for those of you who are wondering how she is doing. Her English is really coming along, she can have full conversations with full sentences. She is reading very well, has some good friends and I believe the adjustment had been very smooth.
Kai who is now 5 and in Kindergarten has a very fury bedmate, our crazy dog named Mellow. Yes, we named him that on purpose just to make you wonder why. Kai and Mellow are inseparable, as you can see.
And they share everything, a bed, socks and toys-although after Mello is done eating them Kai can't use them anymore, and most of all vegetables. It's a good thing for Kai that Mello likes vegetables, especially one's that are handed to him under the dinner table.
Kai is also quickly becoming a super athlete. He plays almost every sport, but his favorite is flag football. Kai is wearing the silver Seahawks helmet.
Future Mariner....Maybe they'll win.
We stayed close to home this summer so we could spend lots of family time together getting to know each other better.
The Coster Family Reunion was held in Ashland this summer. It was a fun weekend of family time.
Garin turned 40 on December 6th. We were able to successfully pull off a surprise birthday party for the celebration.
The Oono's came up for Thanksgiving. With the help of Baba and Uncle Steve, I was able to make Thanksgiving dinner at our house. The last time I tried, I bought the dinner from a restaurant and all I had to do was warm up the food. The turkey was warming up in a cold oven for 2 hours and I couldn't figure out what the problem was. I forgot to turn it on. This year, I remembered to turn on the oven and we enjoyed dinner on time.
Christmas in Disneyland, well actually it was the week before Thanksgiving but looked like Christmas. It was beautiful and we had a blast.
Merry Christmas and May God Bless Your 2009!
Love, Garin-Sandra-Cole-Gemma-Kai and Mello
We woke up to a white Christmas. It was a nice surprise.
We found Santa downstairs this morning. May be the last year that Santa comes to our house when the kids are up since everyone thinks that Santa is actually Dad.
#1 on Kai's list this year was an Indiana Jones outfit. Thanks to Dad's creativeness we were able to find one. Hat from Bi-Mart, bomber coat from Macy's and the whip is actually a dog leash with the end cut off. But to Kai it was just what he wanted. Move over Harrison Ford, here comes the new Indiana Jones.
#1 on Cole's list was a new skateboard. I think he liked it.
#1 on Gemma's list was a big fat headband, which she got from Santa in her stocking. We thought she may like some other gifts as well. What every 8 year old girl should have, an Easy Bake Oven. She loves it. Thank you Jiji and Baba.
Kai giving Cole a big hug for the Club Penguin DS game Cole got him.
Thanks Uncle Steve for the Wall-E game. Just in case you "forgot" what you got him.
This was Garin after he opened his favorite gift, an electric shock bark collar for Mello.
Cole said it had only 9 grams of sugar. But he didn't read the fine print, 90 servings. YUM!
Gemma got the hang of Christmas real fast. Sporting her first Jonas Bro's cap.
So fun to dress your daughter when she will wear anything you put on her.
Can't you tell that they wanted to hug each other for this picture.
