Winter Marches On..

It has been a long....cold....snowy winter in St. Louis. Old man winter is about to get a beating from the Belz! Keeping busy is never a problem for us, but finding warm things to do OUTSIDE is a challenge.....Snow play has been fun. Sophie was up to her waist last week in it. Today was amazing though and a nice change of pace. It made it to 51 so a zoo trip was in order. There was a black rhino born last week, but not on viewing yet, but there was also a baby Amur Leopard and Tree Kangaroo which was fun to see.

Sophie is getting ready to undergo major dental work in two weeks. One of the challenges with many internationally adopted children is oral health and Sophie ranks up there at the top. She will be having 14 fillings and 9 crowns....all necessary work. We knew it would need to happen as we could see the issues on our Gotcha day. Lack of all the vitamins, flouride etc we all take for granted was not available to her, thus.....4 hours of dental work :-(
So below are some photos of the past few weeks for us. Hey Spring? WE ARE REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEADY! Oh, wait......old man winter is gonna throw snow and ice at us...Monday through Wednesday!

JUST...COLD!!!!!!

Silly times with Poppa

I AM a total ham though.....

Are you talkin to ME?

Petting the goats at the zoo is always a favorite for her.

My resident gray squirrel in the back yard....He's ready for warm too.

GUINEA PIGS!!!

I....think....the....snow....was...YELLOW :-)

Fun in the snow.....

Snow "Angel in the Moon"

ITS UP TO MY WAIST!!!!

Driving home from school. :-)

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

We love you so very much. Today we honor and celebrate you as well as a special young woman in Vietnam who gave you life.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOPHIE LEE-NGUYEN BELZ!!!!

Playing Catch-Up

We have a back log of photos etc to share, so to catch-up with everyone, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Sorry for the lack of updates, but we have had a ton going on in our lives. Time really has flown by! We spent Thanksgiving in Mississippi and Christmas in Tulsa. Hank started a new job, we celebrated two years as a family and just enjoying our little girl as she continues to blossom. She is just a pure joy and we love spending time with her.

She is a huge fan of art, music and really loves fashion. She will say "Mommy, I love your dress. That is cute!" When She and her Mom go get nails done the workers are teaching her Vietnamese and she can count to 10, say thank you and you are welcome. Growing like a weed to say the least with two spurts, two sets of jeans are high-waters :-). Soph is a healthy 28.5 lbs and just under 36"!

So, from all of us to all of you, may 2011 be a healthy and happy year for you and yours. And now to catch up, a plethora of photos.

Fall leaves, full of smiles

Enjoying 80 degree weather on Thanksgiving!

With Bear, Belle and cousin Jack. Mason was running around in the back.

A make-shift sled on our first snow of the year. Sophie braved single digit temps for about 20 minutes.

St. Nichols made his annual stop! SCORE!

December 9th will ALWAYS be special for us. HAPPY GOTCHA' DAY SOPHIE!

Santa made a stop to our annual "Jingle Belz" party.

A nice raccoon eyed make-over.

A family tradition of making our German Christmas Cookies. A recipe from way back when. Love 'em or hate 'em fun was had by all!

A family photo op in the center of Tonkawa, OK under the tree (which is in the middle of the street).

Helping Grandad pass out gifts at the Smith's annual Christmas Eve Party in Tonkawa.

Spending time with a few cousin and giving them lessons on how to make pasta.

Merry Christmas!

Hanging with Grandad at the Oilers game.

Yeah, the Queen of the jumbotron strikes AGAIN!!

Her first time on the ice...

Mommy and Aunt Jenny lend a helping hand.