Ski Trip to Lutsen

We recently had the chance to go to the Lutsen Ski Resort with our our church group. The ski hills were awesome, It was definitely a step up compared to the smaller ski resorts we've skied at: Afton, Trollhaugen, Spirit Mountain, and Giants Ridge. It was the first time skiing for the boys. They did really well, and we definitely had a blast!

On the way up, we went bowling, which was also a first for the boys.

Ari, Me, and Meagan

Most of the skiers

We stayed at an AmericInn that was about 20 min. away from Lutsen.

After we got back from skiing, we played lots of games.

After our last day of skiing, we went to an adorable little pizza place called Sven and Ollie's.

Top: Mrs. Wanschura, Mom, Lucas, Jacob, Jonas, Dad, and Mrs. Ostby

Me, Jesse, AnaLise, Daniel, Bill, Meagan, Christina, Nikia, Ari, Amanda, and Hannah

Lucas, Rob, Isaac, Dan, Phil, Jarek, and Dan

Memories from the Christmas Season

As you probably can tell, by the lapse of time on our blog, we have been very busy! So I thought I should do a quick snap-shot of things we have been up to recently.

Cutting down our Christmas tree in our back woods

Jacob with his "mini" snowman (due to the lack of snow we've been getting) :P

 

Christmas concerts also kept us busy.

Mom and Dad went into court for the second time, to officially finalize our adoption.

 Here we are, going out to eat, to celebrate the two new additions of our family that have been such a blessing to us.

Then, on top of that we hosted Christmas. We had both sides of our family over for a joyous celebration.

AnaLise and our cousin, Jack

Jonas, Jenna (cousin), and Jacob =P

Mom  is a wonderful chef! 
We celebrated with sparkling pear juice.

Mama, Uncle Mike, and Grandma Pat

Our cousin Shane, Isaac,  Eric (cousin), and Lucas

 Grandma Dolores opening up gifts

Posted by Tessa

Happy Birthday, Jacob!!

Happy 10th Birthday, Jacob!!!

It's been fun to get to know his personalities over the few months.  Jacob and Jonas stick together basically all the day. Whether it be hopping in the car with "Pop" as they call him, or throwing snowballs at each other outside, or building neat machines with different odds and ends. :)

Jacob is a very sweet and sensitive boy.  Yet, when it comes to boy things like baseball, he is all boy. :D   He is very caring.  For instance, when Jonas falls down or gets hurt, he'll be right there to comfort him.  He likes to be active, so I have fun jumping on the trampoline with them or simply playing with Legos.  He is very creative, Jacob has built several bow and arrows with sticks and string.  For his birthday he received his own real bow, so he has been doing that a lot.  Outdoors is one of the things he loves to be doing.  He always tells us that he wants to hunt like Papa, which he sometimes does by going out in the woods sitting next to Dad just waiting and watching. :)  He has been such a sweet brother to me.  I love having younger siblings!

Isaac enjoys playing catch with the boys or, in this picture they built a giant snowman with the little snow we had. ;)

Mom and Jacob when we first got introduced to them in Ukraine.

Jacob and Jonas enjoyed to make "pillow forts" in our little apartment in Kiev, Ukraine. =D

Posted by Tessa

Family photos

I finally got all of our new family photos uploaded on this post! :) This is our first photo shoot with the boys. They're taken in Biwabik MN, at Storybook camp. We go there twice a year for our church family camp, and the T.E.A.C.H retreat. So we thought it would be a fun idea to take them up there. Thanks to Meagan Wanschura who did a great job on these pictures! Visit her blog http://www.meaganwanschura.com/ to find more information about her photography.

Enjoy!

 

Posted by Tessa

Georgia Relatives

We have relatives from Georgia that came up to meet Jacob and Jonas, and for us to meet their two-year-old, Charlie. Charlie's dad, Nick is my dad's nephew.   Our house was full of life with a two year old, Mr. Energetic, in our house!

 Here's some pictures from their visit:

Jonas with his huge tower...he didn't have any trouble grinning in those pictures!

Nick and Jacob

We played a little bit of football. Here we are high fiving Charlie for his touchdown :)

Grandpa and Grandma took everyone out to eat at the end of the visit

Carly (Nick's wife who is pregnant with a girl :D), AnaLise, Grandma, Mom, and I

Big smiles!

Posted by Tessa

Catching up on the Alzen Family =)

After completing our adoption of Jacob and Jonas about a month ago, (you can read all about that process @ http://www.alzenadoption.blogspot.com/,) we have been so busy adjusting back to our regular and busy lifestyle, that I thought I would share some of the things we have been up to.

 

Fishing!! One of the boys' favorite hobbies.

Canoe Race

Tubing

Family Reunions

Tis the summer for weddings!

On the mini train at Lake Itasca music festival

Jonas, zipped up in Isaac's bass case!