Can it Really Be?

Hello everyone! Can you believe that it has been a year since we had our day in court and got to bring Victoria home with us forever? We surely can’t. As we think back about the year that was, it is so completely amazing how much Victoria has grown and how far she has come. Yet, here we are on our first official anniversary of “Fantozzi Family Day” and we are so pleased!!

Victoria continues to do well in school, she is still quite the social butterfly (everywhere we go someone knows her) and she starts softball this weekend. Our little Russian princess has truly become an all-American little girl.

January Highlights….

Hello, hello everyone! Is it really possible that it has been a full month already? Amazing, but true…February is knocking on our door! Victoria had a great January. Here are a few of the highlights from this past month:

• Victoria had a blast with her grandparents and cousins when they went to see Disney’s Nemo on Ice. She could not stop talking about it and really enjoyed bringing all of the memorabilia in to school for Share Time (Show and Tell).
  Victoria was very excited when Mommy volunteered to teach an Art class at her school. As the day drew near, Victoria kept asking her teacher “Is my Mommy coming today?” It was very cute…Mommy had a great time with Victoria’s class and the kids definitely did too!


• On a slight aside, Victoria’s teacher was voted Teacher of the Year for her school and was selected as a Teacher Who Makes Magic by one of the local radio stations. To be totally honest, we could not be happier with Victoria’s current school situation. It just seems like everything fell into place….every bit of her educational support has been absolutely fantastic!


• During the week of NFL Conference Championship games, Victoria came across a Jets balloon at school. At first, we didn’t think much of it, but Victoria was very excited to see them play. She knows the letters to spell Jets and she deliberately spelled it out…”J...E…T…S…Jets”. Of course, that is hysterical, because of how close it is to the actual Jets chant. When it was game time, she sat in her cardboard car (which she made) with her balloon and some popcorn to watch the game with Daddy!


• Last week, we had some snow…perhaps you remember just how much Victoria likes the snow? Victoria, who is typically very excited to catch the bus, was even more excited on this particular morning. As we walked to the bus stop, she kept laughing about the snowflakes that were landing on her nose. When she got to the bus stop, she joined the other kids in a friendly little snowball fight.


• This past Friday, Victoria, Mommy and Daddy attended a school function known as PICTO (which is Bingo with pictures). All week, Victoria was very excited to go. Any child wearing a school T-shirt was entered into a raffle. Much to Victoria’s surprise, Mommy and Daddy had picked one up for her! It’s really amazing how much more social little Miss has become. Everywhere we go, someone knows her and says hello. It runs the gambit…teachers, kids, parents, etc. (Daddy likens it to Norm from Cheers…even down to the song…”Where everybody knows your name…”). PICTO was more of the same. Kids and teachers were all coming up and saying “Hi Victoria!” She had an absolute blast and even won one of the rounds of PICTO (she won a cool watch). While at PICTO, the school Principal told Daddy that Victoria is the “happiest kid in school”…he said that she is always smiling and skipping down the hallways! When Victoria’s teacher saw us come in, she cleared some space for us to sit by her family…which was really nice because the place was packed! As if the night could not get any better, Victoria’s favorite team mascot (Sparkee from the Somerset Patriots, a local minor league baseball team) was there. Sparkee walked up to Victoria and gave her a high five. Truly, this was a great night!


• On more personal notes, Victoria continues to make phenomenal strides in school. All of her teachers are extremely impressed (as are we, of course). She’s learned all of her letters and their sounds. She’s sounding out her words and is on the cusp of actually reading. She is even starting to write short sentences. Math, in her own words, is “easy.” She is a non-stop talker who has lots of questions (she wants to know what everything does and how it works). She is one smart cookie and doesn’t miss a beat!

Well, that about sums it up for now. Hope you are all well and here are some pictures from the month…
Getting cozy to watch some TV with her cousins:
Here’s her Jets balloon:
In her car, getting ready for the Jets game:
Sitting with Daddy at PICTO…just about to open her prize:
Think she had fun at PICTO?
Playing 3 PICTO boards with Mommy:
Is this Victoria or Nemo?…your call:

Happy New Year Everyone….

We want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! We began 2010 by celebrating Mommy’s birthday (her birthday is January 1st). Victoria was so excited…she made Mommy a card and gave her a nice pair of earrings. Since this was an off week from school, Victoria and Mommy got to spend some nice quality time at home. Over this past weekend, Victoria had a blast at a gathering of family and friends that included her grandparents who she had not yet seen for Christmas. She was so excited to see them and really enjoyed herself.

We’ve enjoyed posting updates on this blog throughout the year. We sincerely appreciate the interest and support of everyone. However, as the new year dawns and the cold days of winter are upon us, we are going to be posting a little less often. Rather than every week, we’ll likely cut back to once a month. So keep an eye out!

Here are some pictures from the week…

Making Shrinky-Dinks with Mommy:

All smiles with Mommy:
Helping to make cupcakes and dressed for the part:
A happy family on our first New Year’s Eve:
Celebrating Mommy’s birthday:
Hanging with her cousin and Daddy:
Striking a silly pose with her cousin:
A nice pose with Grandpa:
Our 1st family photo in 2010: