圣诞节快乐! ---- Merry Christmas!

It’s time for my annual Christmas letter. Where should I even start? Well, I will just add some pics from each month and recap the year that way. Everyone likes to see pics of me (well, and my brother too) right????

January- This first month of 2012 was my last month of being an only child. So this month all the pics are just of me! (I kinda like that!) We got a decent amount of snow to start the year so I had fun playing with it. I was 1 ½ and loving it!

Lookin' good for church

Eating is fun, but it sure is messy

I love sledding!

February- I almost made it all the way through this month with no brother also. Good thing there was an extra day in February this year so Weston Kurk Scriver could join our family on the 29^th. I love my little brother (most of the time.) and our family can’t imagine life without him. Weston also became a child of God a couple days after he was born. What an amazing day that was!

Weston's baptism day

He was such a precious little guy!

Peanut!

March- Mommy and Daddy both got older this month since they both have birthdays in March. (Mommy would kill me if she knew I was writing about this. Don’t tell her that I am telling you that she and Daddy are both 27 now!!!) Anyway, I started learning how to be a good big brother this month. I am pretty awesome at it!

Kisses for my brother

Mommy's first time holding both boys

April- We got to see people in our extended families a lot this month. We traveled to Minnesota to see Mommy’s side of the family and also got to visit with Daddy’s family that lived near us. Weston got to meet so many new people.

Wes with Great Gma Wylie

In Gibbon with
Great Grannie and Gramps Kramer

Easter

Me, Wes, Daddy, Gpa Scriver,
Great Gma Scriver, Great Great Gma Borns

May-It got warm out this month!!! We got to do so many things outside. I especially liked to help Mommy with the flowers and Daddy with the lawn. I am such a big boy! We celebrated Mommy on Mother’s Day with a trip to the Botanical Gardens. We all really enjoyed that.

Daddy and Weston

Botanical Gardens

Gramma and Grampa K
came to visit

Planting flowers with Mommy

June- Many exciting things happened in June. To celebrate Daddy on Father’s Day we went to Regner Park in West Bend. It was fun to swim and play. Mommy and Daddy also took me to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I LOVED that! I was such a big boy on the elevated subway train and at the stadium. The Cubs even won!

Wrigley Field

Father's Day

Big Bay Beach in Milwaukee

Scriver side of the family

 July- On the Fourth of July we went to a parade near our house. It was SO hot that day, about 97 degrees! I loved watching all the cool things in the parade though. Then the most exciting thing about July happened—MY BIRTHDAY!! I turned 2 this year. We went to the airport to watch planes and then to an indoor playground. I also got to open presents and eat cake. I loved my birthday. I can’t wait until July next year! … Also this month we spent a couple days with Daddy’s extended family. We went to the zoo and had a cookout. We also cooked Chinese food one afternoon. It was good to see everyone. Then at the end of the month we moved out of our house in Milwaukee. It was ok to leave our house, but we were REALLY  sad to leave our puppy, Jayvee. Mommy and I especially, miss her almost every day.

I'm 2!!!

Great Gpa Kapanke with his grandkids

Happy Independence Day!

Last family picture with Jay!!! :(

August- What a whirlwind month! We spent a couple weeks at each of my grandparents house before we left for Beijing at the end of the month. I really liked all the time I got to play with everyone! We went to beaches, parks, the fire station, and a hotel. Everything was super fun. On the last day of the month we got on an airplane bound for China. My brother and I were so good on the plane. What an exciting adventure we were about to have!

Playing with Gma and Gpa Scriver

Wes & Aunt Emily at the beach

At the park with Gramma and Grampa K

Swimmin at Jackpot with
Mommy, Karissa, and Trisha

Weston's first haircut with Grannie K

Aren't we cute???

September - We spent a lot of this month settling in to our new life. Mom and Dad worked hard on our apartment and Wes and I worked hard playing with new toys. Our family also got to start exploring the city and Daddy started school.

First family pic in Beijing. At BeiDa University

Just doing some playing in our new room

October- October was really fun! China has a national holiday that lasts a week. That meant no school for Daddy and lots of time to do exciting things. Weston got to dress up for his first Halloween too. He and I were both Batman (Ok- will some one please explain to me why Mommy laughed so hard every time I told her that I was dressed up as Baseball Bat Man? It’s the same thing, right???)

ShiJingShan Park. aka Fake Disneyland

Happy Halloween

Fragrant Hills

November- Since Wes was 9 months this month it really seems like he grew up. We have started to play a lot together. I really like to boss Wes around and tell him “Have good listening, Wes!” when he doesn’t do what I want him to. He started crawling so he tries to get my toys. Mommy says that I have to give him something else to play with if I don’t want to share with him at that moment. So I always make sure to give him a spoon, a baby rattle, or something super fun like that. I am not sure why he doesn’t think those things are as interesting as my train set or my cars.

Giving Wes a bath in the sink

Wes crawls now

Brothers!

December- I love Christmas time! I had a blast decorating with Mommy and helping Daddy with the tree. I also really like hearing the advent devotions and snuffing out the candles! It snowed earlier this month too! Wes and I both played in it and it was awesome. Since it is the end of the month we are having many Christmas celebrations. Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Helpin Mom decorate

Putting the star on the tree

Weston stands now!

I love the snow

Snow is fun!!!

Playing

Laying in bed together

Now that I am 2 ½ I am really into playing cars. I drive them around and say lines from the movie Cars. I also really like to read books. I ask Mom to read at least 5 times a day. I am also really into cooking. I love to help Mom in the kitchen with making supper or baking anything. I like to have my own bowl and spoon for pretend cooking. Some favorite things to make are eggs and bacon, quesadillas, and cereal. One other thing that I want to share is that we went to the doctor for check ups last month and I am in the 97^th percentile for height!

Weston is almost 10 months. He is saying more words all the time. He likes to say “Na na na” when he wants more banana (which is all the time!) and also can imitate other words Mom or Dad say. His favorite thing to do right now is pull himself up and anything and everything. He will be walking soon! I can’t wait until we can run around together.

I have been learning about faith in our family devotions. I always say it means to “love Jesus” What a wonderful blessing that he loved us first and came to be our Savior ( I also just learned that word!)  I can’t wait to think about that wonderful gift when my family opens all our presents soon.

Merry Christmas to you!! May your life be filled with HIS love this new year and always!

It's a little blurry, but wanted to share our Christmas card!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 Today is Thanksgiving. There are so many things that my family and I are thankful for! What a wonderful God we have who gives us so many blessings!!!

Today I am extra thankful for:

·         ---My brother. Lately I have been having a hard time sharing with him now that he is crawling and getting into my things, but I still love him. I try to remember to give him hugs several times a day.

·        --- My cars. I know these are just toys, but I am thankful for them nonetheless. (Yes, I use that big word!) I am especially thankful for my Lightening McQueen, Tow Mater, and my Beijing Bus.

·         ---Beet and Deet. I KNOW that they are really called blanket and nuk, but I like my words better. I would have a really hard time getting to sleep without them.

·         ---Traffic. I love traffic. The area near our house had terrible traffic especially in the evenings. I love all the cars, busses, bikes, motorcycles, and people going every which way. There is so much honking and noise. What a wonderful thing!

·         ---Jesus. I like to recite one of my books, “Jesus loves to hear me pray. He died to take my sins away. I’ll live with him in heaven some day.”

·         ---Books. Listening to Mom or Dad read is one of my favorite things.

·         ---Cereal, oranges, cookies, toast, eggs, quesadillas, bacon, chuar bread, pancakes, and broccoli. YUM.

·         ---Mommy and Daddy. They said they are SO thankful for smart, healthy, and sweet boys like me and Weston too!

·         ---All of our friends and family back in the States. I love that we have the technology to see and talk to them often. I miss them, but Skype has been wonderful.

·         ---Playgrounds. They are fun.

·         ---My new friends here in Beijing. My family and I have been so blessed to have Friends of China members here to help us and make us feel like we are all a family. Everyone is so helpful and fun. … I also love our new Chinese friends. What a blessing to have them in our lives too!

·         ---The moon. I just really like finding the moon.

There are so many more things that I am thankful for. Mom and Dad say we should say thanks to God every day, and not just on Thanksgiving. What a great idea! :)

Weston wants me to tell you that he is thankful for: food, (Cheerios, banana, and bread especially.), his new ability to say “Mama” “Dada” and “More”, and his stacking cups because they are so fun to knock over.

This morning Mommy, Weston, and I met Daddy, all the teachers and kids from Homeschool at the Preschool. We had around 35 kids and 15 adults there to give thanks together and eat a meal. There was SO much food! I had a great time seeing everyone. Weston and I were really good boys, but we were SO tired when we got home since it was WAY past our nap times... Tonight we are heading over to some friends' house to eat and hang out with all the Americans. We will be thankful there too! :)... Not this Sunday but the next we will have our Official Thanksgiving meal and get together with turkey and everything. That also will be fun.

Mommy is INSISTING that she write something:

Happy Thanksgiving to our family and friends back in the States! Safe travels, and God bless you!!

I Get Around

Go, dogs. Go!

Go on skates or go by bike.

Go by foot- run, skip, or hike!

Go by scooter! Go by skis- bundle up so you don’t freeze.

Go by blimp, by boat, by car. Go, dogs. Go! It’s not too far!

In case you don’t know, that’s a quote from one of my first favorite books, “Go Dog, Go!” I often repeat this in my mind as we travel around Beijing. Here’s why:

My family and I use many means of transportation. In a country where it’s just not that convenient to have a car, we sometimes have to get creative when it comes to how we get around. I mean, I am really good at driving the Little Tykes car that I had when we lived in Milwaukee, but somehow I don’t think I would get too far here.

The main way my family gets from here to there is by zi xing che. Mommy detests hers and even convinced Daddy that she didn’t need one for the first 2 weeks we were here. BUT since it’s free to ride a bike, and faster than walking she had to give in. By the way, I LOVE IT!!!! I have my own seat on the back of Mom’s bike. I hold on to my little handle bars and always say “Go fast, Mommy.” and “Race, Daddy!” What is really funny is when Mom wears a button down sweater and it flies our behind her. The other day I let it flap over my head like a cape! I was laughing so hard! Weston rides on Daddy’s back in a backpack while he bikes. At first Mom was not big on this idea. But so far it is working out well. Wes sometimes falls asleep while he is in there so it can’t be that bad. We both like to look around at all the buses and other bikes while we are riding.

 

Side story: So the other day I was riding on the back of the bike while Daddy was driving. I started hitting his back and saying “Stop Daddy! Stop Daddy!!” He pulled over and asked me what was wrong in a very concerned voice. I turned around and looked at the traffic light and said “It’s red, Daddy.” … Jeepers, I was just looking out for our safety!!

Mommy says she thinks walking is best. I don’t mind it usually because I sometimes get to run ahead if Weston is in the stroller by himself. Often I will turn around and run back to Daddy and say “Watch out for bikes and cars, Daddy.” Then I hold his hand because I sure don’t want to get run over!  I don’t mind  riding in the stroller either, because then I can have a rest. My favorite times are when Wes and I get to ride in there together. I “take care” of him by craning my head around his and saying “Hi Weston” (only a few…ok maybe a few more than a few… times in a row) and sometimes taking off his hat. I am a really good big brother!!

Every once in awhile I get to ride in a taxi. CABS ARE HERE!!!!! The driver is usually a nice man who doesn’t understand a word of what I am saying, but likes to laugh anyway. I am a funny guy though, so who wouldn’t? My whole family gets to ride in the back together. I like this better than when we drove our car in the States because I can have Mom and Dad’s full attention. I like that, in case you didn’t know…. Cab drivers usually don’t drive as politely as most people in the Midwest, but that’s fine with me! That just means they honk even more than Mommy did in Milwaukee! … The other night while we were riding home we were singing Jesus Loves the Little Children. The driver was tapping his hand along to the beat. Maybe the words reached his heart!! :)

I saved the best for last---- the subway!!! I really, really, really like to ride on the subway train, as I call it. My family has two subway stations that are near our house. It is less than a 10 minute bike ride to either one. There are SO many subways lines in Beijing. We can get pretty close to anywhere in the city by riding on them. Most of them are underground but one of them that’s near our house is an elevated train. I like to ride on either kind. The people here are very kind and most of the time someone gets up to give me and Mommy seats. Then I get to play cars or just make new friends. Sometimes the trains are pretty crowded but during the day, when Weston and I travel with Mom and Dad, they usually aren’t too bad. 

By the way- Wes and I are Really good at holding on on the subway train!

Here's a video I wanted to share. The subway doesn't usually look like this, but on National Holiday there were a lot of people in Beijing who wanted to go places. 

Well that's about all I can tell you about how I get around. Soon I want to tell you about all the foods that I like to eat (and some that I don't really like to eat) so be on the lookout for that blog!