Happy 2nd Birthday Geremu!

Geremu turned 2 today! He didn't totally understand what was going on but that didn't stop us from celebrating! This afternoon when Geremu went down for his nap Cullen helped me decorate the kitchen for his birthday. The entire time we were decorating Cullen kept saying, "Dis is so fun Mom, Geremu's gonna love it!" Our friends Billy, Katie and their kids came over for dinner to help us celebrate the day. We ended up having a great time.

Here is a picture of Cullen hard at work, getting the windows all ready.

Here's a picture of our hard work, you can't see all the signs Cullen made but take my word for it they were cute.
When Geremu woke up from his nap he was a bit crabby until we brought him downstairs. When he saw the decorations he just stared at them. Then because Cullen was so excited he got excited too but I'm pretty sure he didn't know the excitement was for him.

We spent a good portion of the afternoon outside enjoying the cool weather. Here Geremu is pulling along one of his favorite toys.Geremu and Cullen opening a gift, Geremu let Cullen help him open all of them. Geremu's new puppy that Cullen picked out for him. He loves it and now Cullen gets back his old puppy that Geremu had in a previous picture.

The birthday boy with his dirt cake. He ended up getting scared of the candles so Carson and Cullen took care of blowing them out for him.
The boys enjoying their cake.
One last shot of the b-day boy.

Back to School

Today both Nick and me started back at school. The summer was GREAT and hard to see it come to an end but it will also be nice to get back to a schedule. The boys had two days at the sitters last week when we had staff development and it went well. I'm not back full time yet, I'm only working two days this week then three days starting next week through October.

After school today we went for a walk to enjoy the warm weather, here are some pictures.

Geremu loves to run and he is pretty quick but check out this form... He looks like Phoebe from "Friends".
It's almost like is arms are weightless, they kind of float in the air. It's so darn cute! A few more random pictures from the beautiful day

Did I ever mention that I once had an Aunt tell me that she, "never thought I would grown into my teeth"? Perhaps from the picture below you can clearly see why someone would say that to me. Giddy-up, NEIGH....

Geremu + Belachew = FUN

I had trouble posting pictures and videos yesterday so I'm going to do it today. Geremu and Belachew are like two peas in a pod, they have very similar personalities (hence the reason it was so hard to take pictures of them both looking). It was so great to be able to meet Belachew and his parents and so nice of them to make the long drive up to see us, we had a lot of fun with them. Here is a link to their family blog http://www.paulandcindyadopt.blogspot.com/. When the boys were down for their afternoon naps we watched the DVD's of their time at the care center together. It was fun to see the two of them together getting into mischief in Ethiopia. It's good to know that they had each other while they were in care, they defiantly share a bond.

Here are how the boys started the day together yesterday.

So stinkin' cute!
Geremu and his shadow
The boys eventually made their way on top of the table to try and swim, jump and splash in the 2" of water.

Taking the car for a spin.

Lastly here is a video of Geremu and Cullen at the park- they would wait for one another at the top of the slide so they could go down together laughing each time. If Cullen beat Geremu back to the top of the slide Geremu would yell, "CULLEN, CULLEN" to tell him he was on his way.

Cindy also took a cute video of of the boys jumping up and down in the water table but I'm having trouble downloading it onto the page.

Kenyon Belachew Visits Wisconsin

Geremu's friend Belachew from Indiana came to visit our family for the weekend. Geremu and Belachew were very close buddies at the care center over in Ethiopia. It was so nice to finally be able to meet Belachew and his family. We have been talking about Belachew from time to time when Geremu brings him up. I told Geremu about a week ago that Belachew was coming to visit, we had to stop talking about it because Geremu would wait by our front door and say "Belachew na" meaning Belachew come. Anyways, here is the first photo from the boys meeting. Belachew was very excited to see Geremu and Cullen. Geremu was a little quiet at first but true to form he warmed up very quickly.

Cullen wondering where his feet went???
The boys walking home from the park
The pink bath tub makes another blog appearances!
Rub-a-dub-dub three boys in a tub!
We don't have any excellent pictures from the day, it's really hard to get both Belachew and Geremu to stay still long enough for a picture. Stayed tuned in to see for more pictures.

Geremu's Gift to Ethiopia

We are using Geremu’s birthday (September 5th) this year to support charity: water's September campaign to bring clean and safe drinking water to the people of Ethiopia.

More than 1.1 billion people in the world today don't have the most basic thing: clean water to drink. Over 4,500 kids die each and every day from water-related disease. To do our part, we've been supporting an organization called charity: water that has been making a real difference.

This year, we've decided Geremu really has everything he needs so instead of birthday gifts we are asking for donations. 100% of the money raised will go directly to building freshwater wells in Geremu’s birth country (Ethiopia), which will be proved with GPS coordinates and photos on Google Earth.

We are asking for Geremu’s age in dollars ($2.00 or more) to help us reach our goal. If interested please join us by making a donation on Geremu’s page:
http://www.charitywater.org/birthdays/fundraiser/sept/view/576

Thank you!

One of these things is not like the other...

At the beginning of the summer Cullen and Geremu were given these bubble wands as gifts. They are seriously amazing, they make bubbles like nothing I've ever seen without batteries and are very easy for kids to use. They also looked exactly the same when they both got them. After a summer of use Cullen's looks no worse for the wear, Geremu's on the other hand has seen better days. Geremu likes to make the bubbles then chase after them breaking them with the wand and whatever is in the way might also get whacked. Here are some videos of the boys in action.

Geremu's Baptism

Geremu was baptised on Saturday afternoon and we celebrated with family. Everything went off without a hitch and the meal afterwards we great. It was nice to see my sister Colleen and cousin Chad. Here are some pictures if his big day.

The Godparents Colleen and Chad.

When did Cullen get so big?

Nick, his mother and Geremu

Colleen hanging with G-Unit The boys hanging out waiting for dinner to be served.
Pop had no idea that Geremu was sampling the cake during this picture.