Year in Review 2008

Yikes! I was shocked to see that I only posted 4 times in 2008. I knew time was flying but that is just crazy. Below is the letter Pat wrote and we sent with our christmas card. Also included are a few recent photos. I hope I will do a better job of blogging in 2009.

Family and Friends,

What a year we have had! Home improvement and family matters dominated the landscape in 2008. Through all and throughout, Molly and Aidan, our reason for every season, continued to grow and to learn about themselves and the world around them: probing, pushing, testing, and bringing Mom and Dad equal measures of surprise, bedevilment and delight. Some blessings from this year nearly passed:

We had our home built six years ago and never thought four bedrooms, 3.5 baths and 3500 square feet of living space might one day be too small. Who knew we’d have two toddlers one day, much less how much stuff they can accumulate and how much room they need? So we began 2008 by having a substantial portion of our basement finished for living space, most of which is “Kidland” for now. The kids love the space, with room for play and crafts, Aidan’s trains and Molly’s kitchen, and Mom enjoys having some place the kids can be other than underfoot at every minute.

This summer was a wonderful collection of family get-togethers and celebrations. First, we spent the July 4th Weekend at Lake Canandaigua with the extended Reed and Reed-Hudson families. We stayed in a little B&B with Aunt Barbara and Uncle Charlie. The weather was good, the company and fireworks were great.

August began with cousin Sara Dwyer’s wedding on the first. Nearly one hundred family and friends from across the continent celebrated Mom and Dad Donohoe’s 50th wedding anniversary on the 10th: Laughs and tears flowed freely and a tableau of memories and recollections formed a fitting tribute to exceptional love and commitment. The family made the trek to Schnecksville on the 23rd for Dad Donohoe’s 75th birthday party. Finally, we spent Labor Day weekend with our Canadian family, the Petrachenko clan.

Molly and Aidan started pre-school in September! So far, so good: They love it. Coincidentally, we began the process of adopting a third child in September too. We are working with a new agency but plan to return to Kazakhstan and to Baby Home Delfin in Kostanai, from where we adopted Molly and Aidan. Molly would like a baby sister, Aidan a baby brother. In a moment of four-year old wisdom, Aidan suggested one of each, to be named – naturally – Molly and Aidan.

The kids turned 4 in October. We spent Thanksgiving with Barb and Charlie in Virginia and made a train trip into DC for “Black Friday” at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Molly is a study of emotion in bold relief. She’s sweet and kind and affectionate; she’s loud and boisterous and full of life, with a great sense of humor and a genuine, infectious laugh. She loves arts and crafts, particularly anything to do with glue and/or tape. Her new passions are dance and frequent costume changes and she aspires to a career as a princess or fairy.

Aidan is bright and creative, imaginative and outgoing. He is curious and observant: He wants to know how things work and why things are done. His new favorite word is actually, which is followed typically by a frighteningly accurate recounting of the earlier how’s and why’s. He continues to provide hilarious and engaging commentary on the events of his life whether or not anyone’s listening.

So here we are: Christmastime has come again. We wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and the happiest of new years. May God continue to bless us one and all.

With love,

Pat, Alli, Molly and Aidan

Update Coming Soon

I want to post. I really, really do. Until then here are a few recent photos.

Aidan's Artwork

Aidan is really branching out with his drawing. For a while it was trains, trains and not much else but trains. Here are a few of his latest works with some commentary from mom.



Rocket ships and bunny



Aidan waiting for an apple to fall from an apple tree into his bucket. Black clouds threaten.



Variation on a theme



Map to undisclosed location (signed by the artist)



Green house in watercolor



Happy family in our house. Pictured from left to right...Mo, Pop Pop, Mommy, Aidan, Molly and Daddy (we're holding hands).

A Bee, a Bee, a Bee

Molly is a lover of the outdoors. She picks flowers all day long. She loves digging in the dirt and mud. She picks up worms and ants. Any bug really that crawls inspires interest. But add some wings to said bug and the girl loses her mind. Anything that flies by prompts a shout of "abeeabeeabee!!!!!!!!!!!" (all one word). We remain calm and assure her that bees don't like little girls just flowers. This works until the next close encounter.

Last night we were awakened by Molly's screaming. Unusual as she hasn't woken up in the middle of the night for quite some time now. Daddy went to her room to investigate. Molly was convinced there were bees in her room. Big fat buzzing bumble bees everywhere. Poor girl. She really was frightened. Daddy did his best to calm her down and reassure her that there weren't any bees in her room (the wind was howling and rattling the window a bit making it "buzz") but after two trips back she still wasn't convinced. Mommy's turn as Daddy needed to get up for work the next day. The third time seemed to be the charm. I held her and stroked her hair until she was calm, put her back in bed (after a thorough bee inspection) and she drifted off the sleep. The whole ordeal lasted more than an hour. She seem none the worse for wear this morning but did wake up crying that there was a bee in her room. I'm sure this is just the beginning of the "somethings in my room" stage. We're actually surprised it didn't start sooner and we were expecting monsters not bees. Ya just never know.

My niece Danielle rows for Stetson University (FL). Her 4 person boat took the gold at the regionals and qualified to compete in the Dad Vail Regatta in Philadelphia which was held this past weekend. They won their heat on Friday so we got a chance to see her row on Saturday. Unfortunately, they placed third in their heat and did not make the finals. We did get a chance to spend time with Danielle her sister Nicole and my bother Grant and SIL Sue. We had a terrific visit which included cheese steaks at Pat's in South Philly. We'll see them again in July at the lake house.

More To Come

It's been a long absence and I do intend to post a proper update but until then I thought I'd at least put up a few pictures.....

O Christmas Tree

Remember Us?

Hello to all who are still checking in on us. We've been super busy leaving little time (and energy) for Blogging. Now, where to start... Molly and Aidan turned 3 at the end of October. So hard to believe they are 3. People are forever remarking how quickly time flies as your children grow and man are they spot on. What an amazing age. Everything is a wonder. Their imaginations are in high gear and they are fascinating to watch. Aidan continues to refine his train drawings and has started to write letters. He also can write his own name. Molly and Aidan are babies no more. They are really neat little people. We celebrated their birthdays with a family party with all the trimmings including one Thomas and one Princess cake. The kids were showered with gifts and lots of love.



Molly and Aidan had their 3 year well exams and both are healthy and growing like weeds. Molly is in the 75-95th percentile for height and weight. Aidan is in the 75-95th percentile for height and 25th for weight. The Kazakh man is lean and mean. We had been practicing what to expect at the doctor's office with Molly and Aidan's toy doctor's kits and the doctor chuckled when the kids said ah before she even had to ask. I told Molly and Aidan that they would probably get a needle at the doctor's and they both received two. There were tears but cool band aides and lollipops helped to lessen the sting.

Pat has been doing a bit of traveling so one of the weeks he was away we headed to VA to visit Aunt Barbara and Uncle Charlie. This trip I left the pack-n-plays home and brought Molly and Aidan's kiddie-sized blow up beds. We set them up in the same room the first night. DUH. Do you really expect two three year olds to stay in their beds? There was much hilarity despite multiple visits and request to stay in bed by all three adults. On occasion Uncle Charlie saw two faces peeking out of the door (which was quickly shut when they spotted him). Charlie opened the door to find two kids in bed. When he asked "what are you doing?" they replied "sleeping". After two hours of partying Molly and Aidan finally fell asleep. It was funny but not conducive to a good nights sleep for anyone. We put them in separate rooms for the remainder of our stay and that worked out much better.



November 18th marked the arrival of Torin Daniel Evans, my niece Kristen and her husband Russell's new baby boy. I had the honor of being present at his birth. Kristen did wonderfully and when it was time to deliver she pushed the boy out in about 20 minutes. A beautiful, healthy baby with a full head of wavy black hair. Hearing his first cry was amazing. Torin is doing well and the new parents are happy and exhausted.

In other exciting news, our dear friends Bob and Beth welcomed home from Guatemala their daughter, Grace. They're getting settled in (including big brother Nicholas) and we can't wait to finally meet her.

Holiday preparations are underway and the kids are having a blast. This is going to be one magical Christmas. We've seen Santa several times already. Aidan leaps on his lap ready to chat and recite his wish list. It's hit or miss for Molly. Pat think the length of Santa's beard is a factor. The longer the beard the scarier the Santa. She's doing better than last year and actually sat on his lap on two occasions. Rudolph, Frosty, and as they call him, The Little Boy Who Drums are big, big hits. Their not big fans of the Bumble or the Winter Warlock as one might imagine.

Mo and Pop Pop arrived at lunch time on Sunday to baby sit while Pat and I did some shopping. Molly was headed to the potty as we were leaving when we heard her begin to wail. I thought she must have seen a spider in the bathroom as she did once before. I peek my head around the corner to see two little feet wiggling up from the toilet seat. The poor girl sat back too far and dunked herself in the toilet. Mo quickly rescued her and she doesn't seem to show any lingering effects.

Other than that it's been the normal whirlwind of life with our two 3 year olds.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow. Has it really been two weeks since my last post? Time has been just zooming by. My dad and step mom were here from Florida for a visit. We had a really nice time and Molly and Aidan enjoyed spending time with their "other Pop Pop" and grandma. Molly is now fond of telling everyone that she has two Pop Pops. Aunt Barbara and Uncle Charlie also joined us for a few days.

Next on the agenda was preparing for my niece Kristen's baby shower. It was held at her house in Harrisburg on an unseasonably warm and beautiful Saturday. Kristen and Russell now have all the gear. The only thing missing is the baby. Torin Daniel is due at the end of November and we can hardly wait for him to arrive. Molly has been pouring over catalogs remarking that "Baby Torin will like this". Aidan's think what more could a boy want besides trains.

On Sunday we took the kids to a local farm that has a pumpkin patch. The weather was beautiful. Molly and Aidan picked out pumpkins, went on a pony ride (This is the first time Aidan wanted to ride after the incident at the zoo this past spring), and picked apples. Sunday was also our 18 year wedding anniversary. Who could ask for anything more.

Pat was out of town for a few days so I was flying solo. It's been a bit dodgy with Molly at bedtime but both kids were good a gold going down for mommy. And at a reasonable hour too. Whew! Daddy arrived home this evening to much hopping and dancing. Molly and Aidan missed their daddy and are glad to have him home. That makes three of us :-)

Next on the agenda...3rd birthday celebration. How did they get to be 3??? We'll be having a combo party. Now I just need to figure out how to make a Thomas The Tank Engine cake with Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty riding on top. No small task.