2011 in Pictures (and video)

The year in pictures...

January

It snowed. A lot. Funny, each time we added a new son and brought him to America, we told him "it doesn't really snow where you'll live." And for each of them, their first winter included some pretty decent snow! In January we also celebrated Daniel's "first" (6th) birthday. He was in heaven!

February

Daniel participated in his first "church performance" - as all of the preschoolers helped with worship one Sunday morning. The video is about 10 minutes long. He is right in the middle, wearing a dark green sweater. He appears throughout, but there are some really good shots at 7:40 and 8:25.

March

Daniel went to his first hockey game. We also went to the MLK memorial in Atlanta.

April

We did a big Spring Break road trip, driving to New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. We got to see a lot of cool things, and got to spend a few days with some awesome friends!

May

William turned 9. His last year in the single digits. We had a fun time celebrating with good friends. We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. Josh (Zack's brother) & Savannah got married. Daniel completed pre-k.

June

I travelled on my first official international mission trip, to Ethiopia. While I was gone, the fellas enjoyed a few days at Hilton Head. We also had some family pictures taken.

July
We celebrated one year with Danichka! Zack and I had a weekend alone in Memphis. The boys participated in a photo shoot at the church for our Orphan Care Sunday. And I got to meet Vera in person, in the arms of her forever family! We spent some time at the lake and visited some historic spots in Milledgeville.

August

Back to school! William began third grade, and Daniel started his first year of public school as a kindergartener. We also went to a great conert at a local church where the boys got to meet their favorite artist, Josh Wilson.

September

Overall, September was a fairly quiet month... picture-wise anyway! We actually had A LOT going on and we simply didn't get a lot of photos taken. The month ended with a bang: our first trip to the ER. The boys playing in the front yard resulted in a broken collar bone for Daniel.

October

Zack and I started the month by heading to Germany for some missions work with friends in Jena. We stopped off in London on our way there. It was a great trip! Later in the month, we all spent a weekend in Knoxville with Josh, Savannah, and some of the extended family. This was the first UT game for the boys.

November

Thanksgiving, plus some time off of school. Daniel performed in his class Thanksgiving play (he had the same role that William had when he did this play in kindergarten at a different school - funny thing is it's the only part that is reserved for a single player - the rest are groups - so Dove boys must just do well in this particular role!). The boys also got to go to Zack's aunt & uncle's farm. And they got to go to their friend Brayden's super fun birthday party!

December

Started off with a big Gotcha Day - #4!! - for William. We went to see Santa at the mall, and then headed to the Fox Theater to see How the Grinch Stole Christmas the Musical. We also spent lots of time with family, saw the Nutcracker, and just enjoyed Christmas with a little more simplicity.