Our family Thanksgiving celebration

This was our second annual early Thanksgiving celebration in Oshkosh. Courtney takes part in a holiday craft show on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so last year we decided to have our family Thanksgiving after her show. It worked so well and we all enjoyed it so now we hope to make it an annual event. It also allows us to have a Thanksgiving even when the Van Aukens or the Hunters travel to other places for the actual Thanksgiving Day. Tizita certainly enjoyed hanging out with Lissa and Nathan. They participated in much foolishness over the weekend.

Tizita just could not wait to have a few cinnamon donuts, so she climbed up on the cupboard and helped herself to a few before dinner. The evidence was all over her face.

I enjoyed a pedicure courtesy of Tizita. Notice that Alissa has the important job of stocking the fridge with the beer.

Alissa had the pleasure of a manicure, too.

We used this very special tablecloth for our dinner. This is the tablecloth that people decorated at our Celebration before Tizita came home. It was wonderful to read all the messages again. What a blessing Tizita has been in our lives, what a reason to be thankful.

Here Tizita is writing a message for Natnael on the tablecloth, too.

Our little family all ready to eat the feast together.

Our thanksgiving dinner is always the same. We like it simple and easy. We have the turkey, of course, boxed mashed potatoes which we all prefer to real ones, boxed stuffing, canned corn, our only and preferred veggie, canned gravy, and cranberries. It just doesn't get any tastier or easier than this meal.

Tiz did not know what to do with this big drumstick.

We had the most amazing desserts brought by Alissa and Nathan from Simma's bakery. This is just a sampling of the yummy treats. We all enjoyed those sweets.

After John and I went to bed, there was some type of dance party going on and my two sons in law posed for this picture. I am not sure what was going on here, but I sure am glad they get along so well.

Sharing a brownie with Uncle Cheddah before he and Alissa head out on Sunday afternoon.

Paul and John enjoy the Packer game together. It was a sloppy game, but they did pull out a victory.

Tizita and I set up her Fisher Price Nativity figures which she gets out each Christmas.

It was a most perfect family Thanksgiving celebration. We all have much for which to be thankful.

Note to Natnael - we talked about you often at our Thanksgiving celebration. We miss having you here with us and we pray the wait will be short. We do know that next year you will be here eating turkey with us and our family will be complete because you will be here with us.

The Annual Zoo Trip

I like traditions. John and I started one three years ago when we took Tizita to the Milwaukee Zoo for the first time. 2009


2010



2011



On Saturday, Sept. 10, we took our third trip to the Milwaukee Zoo. We headed up to Oshkosh early on Saturday morning and took off for the zoo from there.

We always start our zoo adventure out with a ride on the train.

This year, Tizita chose the car right behind the engine. We were able to hear the whistle very loudly from this car!

We talked about the fact that next year we will have Nathnael with us on our trip to the zoo.
Tizita decided he would sit by Grandpa on the "man's" side of the train car and we would sit on the "lady's" side.

Now we don't have to concern ourselves with that, done, done, and done!

From the train, we head to the merry-go-round. Tiz chose to ride a bear this year while I rode a beautiful white horse.

Tizita's mode of transportation was the best place ever, up on Grandpa's shoulders.

This year Tizita discovered the plastic molding machines and let me tell you, there are a lot of them throughout the zoo. At $2.oo a crack, it is not cheap, but still the four animals she made were a better value than stopping in the gift shop. We did have one slight accident when the alligator got stuck in the machine. He arrived with a small hole in his back, but a band aid fixed him up.

We fed some goats and had our lunch.

It is now noon and we have not seen one animal (besides the goats and the ones on the carousal) and this is a Zoo!

Okay, on to the animals.

We did have to take time to ride Apache.

Here we go, we saw many, many animals.

It was a near perfect zoo day, weather wise and all the animals were active.

Grandpa's favorite, the Polar bear.

We did wonder what happened to the poor Preschooler who was sitting on that purple chair.

We decided that God created some odd looking animals, but they are all beautiful in their own way.

It is a well known fact among my family and friends that I do not like snakes. In fact, I am very scared of them. It is a phobia.

So, each year we take a picture by the snake sign.

2009

2010

and 2011.

What a fun, great zoo trip.

Building memories together.

John and I were discussing how much Tizita has changed each time we have taken her to the zoo.

This year she really enjoyed learning about all the animals and her vocabulary is astounding for a four year old.

It is so nice for us to share this day with her and we look forward to it for many years to come.

Note to Nathnael: We cannot wait to take you to the zoo with us next year. It will be so much fun to watch you see the zoo for the first time and to have your sister help you do all the things that she enjoys there.

Luckily, we have your spot all picked out on the train!

Hurry home and be happy and healthy until we see you!

Happy Third Tiziversary to our sweet little Tizita Desta

Three years ago today, on September 12, 2008, this is the face that greeted us as she stepped off an airplane in the Appleton airport. This little lady had just completed the longest trip of her life, all the way from Ethiopia to Wisconsin, USA. She had been on different airplanes for many, many hours and yet she was bright eyed and busy tailed that first time we saw her. We had been in love with her from the first time we saw her picture and knew her name, but now we had a real smile, real eyes, real hands to hold, real arms to hug us. It was a magical moment, one which I will never forget. On September 12, 2009, I decided we needed to celebrate the Van Auken Family's Tiziversary commemorating the day they brought our first grandchild home.

This is the beautful dress that Courtney and Paul had brought home from Ethiopia for Tizita and she wore it for the first time on her first Tizitversary. She looked just like a little Ethiopian Princess.

Since she liked Curious George so much, I used him as the theme for our first Tiziversary.

On September 12, 2010, we celebrated our second Tiziversary with a dinner at the Ethiopian Cottage in Milwaukee. This outfit was another one that Courtney and Paul had brought back from Ethiopia and this was the first time Tiz wore it.

This year she was in love with pandas ever since seeing the pandas at the zoo in Washington D.C. so pandas became the theme of our second Tiziversary.

This brings us to the celebration of our third Tiziversary. John and I began the day with a fun trip to the zoo. I will cover that trip in my next post. Taking Tiz to the zoo has become a yearly tradition for John and I. This year it just happened to fall on her Tiziversary weekend.

After the zoo, Courtney, Paul, and Gigi met us and we again ate dinner at the Ethiopian Cottage. It was a yummy wonderful meal.

In true Ethiopian tradition we shared a common plate with many Ethiopian dishes and injera.

Tiz and I share a moment. Unfortunately John was not able to join us due to a flat tire after the zoo. We felt it best that he head home and tend to that tire. We missed him, but we did have a great day with the three of us at the zoo.

Gigi and Tiz share some coffee after we were able to experience a traditional coffee ceremony at the restaurant. She is wearing another dress brought back from Ethiopia.

On Sunday, we continued our celebration with church and a Princess party

This was the year of the Princesses, so the cupcakes and decorations were all about Princesses.

And there in the midst of it all, was our very own little Ethiopian Princess! Happy Tiziversary Sweet Tizita! We love you more than you will ever know.

Note to Little Nathnael: Remembering the happy, happy day that your sister walked off of that plane and into our lives makes us so much more anxious to meet you. We are already in love with you, but cannot wait to see your real eyes, real smile, real hands, and to give you a big hug!

Another Labor Day weekend put to rest

Our Labor Day weekend is winding down. It has been a fun weekend. We started with Friday night movies at home while enjoying some BBQ pork sandwiches that I made myself. They were yummy if I must say so myself.





On Saturday we went to Pam Wilke's wedding. It was a nice wedding, just rather odd to see her married again with her daughters and grandchildren standing up for her. I am happy that she met Doug, she deserves some happiness after losing Bob to cancer. I am so thankful that Pam and I have reconnected after all these years. I think God brought us back together so I could be her sounding board about another guy that she had met and almost married prior to meeting Doug. We had fun at the wedding reception visiting with lots of friends from our church. On Sunday after church we visited John's mom and dad at the care center where both of them live now. We did not know what to expect when we got there. MaryAnn had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer and was only given months to live. (See my prior posts to read more on this)


We weren't sure how she would be feeling about this news or how her medications would be affecting her, but we were so pleasantly surprised to find her in great spirits with her sense of humor intact. We laughed with her about many things. It was a good visit.

Courtney sent her a hand crocheted hat and she proudly modeled it for us. Her comment was, "Yep, not sure if I will look better gray or bald!" She has always been a bottle blonde until now.

After our visit, we rewarded ourselves with a shopping trip to Toys R Us. We are on the hunt for boys toys and clothes. It is so much fun to see what is out there for little boys after shopping for sweet Tizita for these past three years. Now we can add trucks to the princesses and dinosaurs to the Barbie dolls. We found some cute T-shirts on the clearance rack and

these fun trucks and cars. I remember how buying things for Tizita just seemed to make the wait go faster, so that is my theory this time around, too.

We enjoyed hamburgers on the grill on Sunday night, took a long walk on Labor Day morning, and John washed three cars in the afternoon. He has not washed cars as often this summer as he is used to, so it was good for him to be able to spend an entire afternoon washing, polishing, shining, and waxing the cars. He used the car wash gift set he received for Father's Day from the kids which made the task easier.

Tonight we will finish up our summer with brats which have been soaking in beer all afternoon. Great way to finish up our summer.

Tomorrow I go back to school. I am as ready as I can be at this point. Hoping for few criers.

Note to Nathnael: Grandpa and I are having so much fun shopping for clothes and toys for you. We found you some cars and trucks that we think you will enjoy. I see that you are holding a red car in your picture. We did find a red car for you, hopefully it will remind you of the one you are holding. Stay healthy and happy. We will see you soon!