Halloween and PreK Picture '07

Well, we've had a busy year since our last posting. We've moved into our house (Feb '07), got into dancing again, found an awesome preschool and have made TONS of new friends.
Aanika's in her 3rd year of PreK and is growing like a weed. Check out her most current school picture and you'll see what a little lady we have!
Here's Aanika in her Halloween costume for this year - Mulan.

On the move to MO

Big news! The Sprecher clan is moving to Missouri in early January 2007. Kevin has taken a new job that will bring us much closer to our families. We're very excited! Our days are now filled up with getting the house ready for selling and the beginning stages of packing...fun, fun!

There has been a TON of activity this past summer and regretfully we haven't kept up on our updates because of it. Aanika has grown so much and is well on her way to her projected 5'10" height. We've been very active with swimming and gymnastics during the summer, school in the fall as well as beginning in ballet classes. Aanika is a natural and has really wowed her teacher. Check out some pictures of her in dance class!

Gymnastics and Dance

Golly, it’s been a long time since we did an update! Aanika is still doing great and seems to be growing every day. I swear she’s going to be tall like her daddy because most people think she’s at least four years old already. Here’s little side note on her “being like us” in that she could be our birth-child…When we moved here, we thought it would be noticed by a lot of people that she’s adopted. You would be amazed at how many people, when we’re not together as a family, think that the ‘other parent’ must be Chinese. Although it happens with Daddy (because of her height), it happens quite a bit more when she’s out with her Momma. It’s always funny when they get this look on their face as they say “You mean she’s adopted? Wow, she looks so much like you” and then they start apologizing for making the assumption. I have to say though that I think that’s an awesome compliment!
The big thing since our last posting is that Aanika has started Gymnastics. She is absolutely crazy in love with this stuff! She’s got the body that is built for it though and seemed like a natural thing for her to get into. In the pictures this week, check out the muscles and definition on her legs and you’ll understand what we mean! She also still likes dance stuff and so the poses are of “ballet toe pointing” but she’s wearing one of her leotards for gymnastics. I think in her mind, they go hand in hand…..she’s such girlie girl.

Birthday girl - Age 3

Aanika and the kids had such a good time at her birthday party and the parents had fun too. We were missing 5 of the boys at the party because they were sick, but Joey who was the only boy there, had a ball anyway! He’s such a sweet little boy and the girls just love him. Actually, Joey, Aanika and Morgan are like the Three Musketeers…they just adore each other. Here they are playing dress up in Aanika's room.

The other big event for her turning three was that we took the guard rails off her bed. We moved her into a Twin bed when she turned two and decided that a year was long enough to have them on. The first night was a success so we’ll see how the coming nights go! She thought it was great too because now we’re able to put the bedspread on her bed.

Computer savvy kid

Aanika got a late Christmas/early birthday present from us a couple of weeks ago. Kevin bought the Certified Home Manager (mom) a new laptop as her Christmas present this year so Aanika was the recipient of our 8 year old behemoth. It’s very scary to stand by as your almost-3 year old works the mouse and gets herself online, opens her games, manages to play the games without help and then close it all down when she’s done! Here she is on Momma's toy.

It’s almost Aanika’s 3rd birthday! I can’t believe how fast time goes when you have kids to keep you occupied. We’re going to have a birthday party with her play-buddies at Incredible Pizza Company which is a new pizza place here in town. They have kid-size bowling alleys, putt-putt golf, go karts, bumper cars and an arcade and it’s all set in the style of the 1950’s. We went to check it out a few weeks ago and she just loved it. We’ll do our next update with what should be some pretty fun party pictures.

With Aanika’s birthday coming up, we’ve been commenting a lot about how much she’s grown and changed. So here's a walk down memory lane with 3 pictures all taken on about the same day over the last 3 years.

2006 - off and running

The holidays are over and we’re already halfway through January…where does the time go? Christmas with Aanika was an absolute blast this year! We weren’t pushing the whole Santa issue but when we told her ‘Santa’s coming to bring presents’ she declared that she didn’t want him in her house! Ok then. Aanika got NO gifts from Santa this year but plenty from all the people that she knows and loves. Here she is decorating mama on Christmas morning.
She’s turning into a big girl and is really starting to show us what she’s going to be like as a person. Her language skills are advancing all the time and she doesn’t miss a thing when you’re talking to her. She’s getting very independent in taking care of herself and is not afraid to say what she does and doesn’t want or like. Luckily for us, she’s very sweet about it and uses a lot of ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ when she does it. She still loves school and gets really excited when she knows we’re going to see Miss Cathy and Miss Tammy. They do a great job with her! I can’t imagine what she’s going to be like when she starts school full-time.

Here come the winter holidays!

Well, it’s been a wonderful couple of weeks with beautiful weather and a change in the seasons. It’s finally feeling like fall around here with nice days anywhere from the 60’s to the 80’s. We’ve also had a lot more play-days in the park lately and have loved having the house open and airy…Ahhh!
Thanksgiving was nice for us (hope it was for you too). Kevin’s boss invited us again this year and Aanika was old enough this year to drive the kiddie Jeep all by herself. She’s got to get the steering concept down, but otherwise, she had a ball (it’s been decided that she’s not getting one any time soon).

She also helped me do some baking this year and we made pumpkin pies as well as a blueberry pudding cake. Yummy!
The day after Thanksgiving, Aanika was my little helper elf and we brought down the decorations out of the attic. We’re finally getting in the mood for Christmas and have managed to get the house decorated. It’s really hard to get in the spirit of things when you’re walking around outside without a coat on and wondering when it’s going to get cold!

Last Sunday we were able to get our lights up on the house because Kev was brave enough to climb to the peak again for me this year. It was absolutely beautiful that day and Aanika even helped put the lights in the bushes.