This post is a little late, but better late than never! As of December 30, 2009, Vera had been home with us for 1 year. It has gone so fast and Vera has changed so much! You can read about our trip home HERE.The month of December was a busy one, of course. Christmas was much different from last year for us. We had many family gatherings, church, and lots of presents to open. Much different than last year when it was just the 4 of us eating Christmas dinner at the McDonald's in Russia! You can read about our Christmas in Russia HERE. We enjoyed being home for the holidays. Vera wasn't much of a fan of Santa. As you can see, the only way we got a picture was including Ryan in the picture.
Below are the girls with Great-Grandma Edna.
Our family of 4 above. Below is the girls on Christmas morning. Go HERE to see some pictures from our belated Christmas morning last year.
Instead of a gingerbread house this year, we made Rice Krispy houses.
Vera also experienced her first movie this month! She saw Alvin & the Chipmunks. She did great! I couldn't believe she stayed for the whole movie. Ryan was prepared to leave and go to Dollar General while Kiara and I finished the movie.
Vera also got to play in the snow. She wasn't too sure of it at first, but it didn't take her long to dig right in!
These 2 are my most favorite girls! I love that they love each other so much. Kiara is a great big sister. Very rarely does she get tired of having her little sister around. Vera also looks out for Kiara. If I give something to Vera, she then points to Kiara and says, "KiKi". She also gets very excited when we go to pick Kiara up from school. I don't know what Vera will do next year when Kiara is gone all day!
Vera continues to grow and change right before our eyes. Last year she was a baby, now she is a little girl! Vera has been getting speech therapy for about a month now. She LOVES it! The therapist comes to our house twice a week and brings 2 big bags of toys with her. She is saying more and more each day. She attempts to point out different colors and it is hard to know if she knows them or not. Half the time she gets them right and half the time she doesn't. She also loves to count. She also has learned her shapes and will point them out whenever she sees them in her environment, especially a heart. She is still a handful, but I think a lot of that is her personality. She is very strong willed and likes to push her boundaries as far as she can. Lately, I think we have reigned her in a little better by being more consistent and united in our discipline.
It seems unreal that just a year ago we were just returning from Russia with this little girl. That whole experience seems so long ago.
