Can you believe that it’s been a year?

It’s really hard to believe that this was the last full week of September….where is the time going? It snuck right up on us, but this week marked the one year anniversary of our first trip to Russia, the first time that we set our eyes on our beautiful little girl. There was so much reflection this week and we have really come so far in the last year. Take a look back at the first blog post and see for yourself…it’s really amazing!

Victoria is still enjoying school and gets more comfortable by the day. This week, we had our first “Back to School Night” where Mommy and Daddy went to Victoria’s school to meet with her teacher and get a feel for what her daily schedule is like. Later in the week, we were able to have a meeting with her principal and teachers to discuss their specific plan for Victoria. We walked into the meeting very confident and left even more so. Our school system here is excellent and it is obvious that Victoria is in good hands.

While at school this week, Victoria lost her third tooth! As usual, she was very excited about what the Tooth Fairy would bring her. The Tooth Fairy was right on mark…she gave Victoria a Thomas book (we just saw him last week) and a few items from her elementary school, including a shirt and a cup (the school’s mascot is a star). Needless to say, Victoria loved it!

At week’s end, Victoria went to a classmate’s birthday party. When we went to Toys-R-Us to pick up a present, we ran into Geoffry (the giraffe)…turns out it was his birthday! Victoria was very sweet and said “Happy Birthday” to him and even colored a picture for him (they had a table set up for the kids). While at the store, we actually used the opportunity to pick up Victoria her first birthday present…her first bicycle (we wanted to pick it up now so she could use it before the weather gets too cold). When she realized it was for her birthday, she got extremely excited. We said “Happy Birthday, Victoria” and she smiled, said “Thank You” and gave both Mommy and Daddy a kiss. We cannot describe how excited this little girl is about her upcoming birthday!! Oh yeah, the classmate’s birthday party was a hit. They had a clown who did face painting and made balloon animals. Victoria had her face painted like a tiger. It was a lot of fun watching her run around and enjoy herself.

Over the weekend, we stayed home to have some relaxing family time. Of course, we did have one surprise in store for Victoria. With Halloween coming up, we took Victoria to visit a local farm where they have a large pumpkin patch for us to pick some pumpkins. There was also a hay ride tour of the farm, a number of animals to see (and pet), a hay maze and a pony ride. They grow corn on the farm and Victoria was floored by the height of the corn stalks. There was even a sandbox filled with corn for the kids to play in. We even ran into our neighbors, who have a boy (3) and a girl (5). The kids had a great time playing on the farm.

Here are some pictures from the week…

Victoria’s school desk…with a note from Mommy and Daddy (and pictures drawn by Mommy):

A very nice school outfit:
Our little tiger enjoying her classmate’s birthday party:
She still can’t see over top of the corn!
Neighhh…our tiger became a horse:
Those were some big pumpkins!
With Mommy on the hay ride:
Have you ever seen a “Zonkey”…seriously, it’s a donkey bred with a zebra?
Victoria thought the Zonkey was funny:
Petting a friendly calf with Mommy:
She never passes up a pony ride:
Poking her head up to find her way out of the hay maze:
Who knew it was so much fun to play in corn?