Wedding Fun

This past weekend Monte was in a wedding for one of his good friends. He had to be there super early, so I just brought the kids right before the wedding started. It was only 45 minutes away so not a big deal.

Here are my loves before the ceremony...

The kicker was after the wedding and the reception. I had to entertain the kids all by myself while Monte had pictures and then he had to sit with the wedding party at dinner. That was the hardest part. LOTS of glass and fancy things with my five kids, that is an anxiety attack waiting to happen for this mother! Thankfully nothing was broken and I actually enjoyed the dinner!

Here are the fabulous five before the food arrived...

I seriously can't get over how big he looks here.

Yes, John is our comedian. Who would take him serious with that hair cut anyway?

My sweet little guy...

Hannah is in HEAVEN! More on that later...

Our other ham...

She is a hoot!

Then the party started... music and dancing. Here is Chloe getting down!

Monte dancing with his princesses. This is huge for Monte! Neither one of us were brought up dancing. We didn't even have dancing at our wedding, but he is an amazing Dad and will do anything for these two little girls!

Daddy and Chloe grooving.

Josiah even got in on the action a little bit!

Hannah went to her first wedding (at least in America) in July and she has been hooked on them ever since. She talks about getting married a lot. She dresses up as a bride. She plans on marrying all her brothers. She pretends her dolls are getting married. And most importantly is the dancing (Monte and I are going to have to take dance lessons before her big day). She loves to dance and she made her rounds at the wedding. Chloe mostly stuck by our family, but not Hannah... off she went to find others that could actually dance with her!

She danced with...

the bride (she calls brides princesses... yay I am thinking she'll want a Disney wedding? My wallet is hoping not!)

The groom's daughter and friends...

The groom's mother...

And of course the groom...

She is so funny! Weddings are something that she adores. I was NEVER like that (Chloe isn't either). We ended up staying until 10pm just for Hannah. She was having such a great time, we didn't want to pull her away. She is our girly girl and I wouldn't want it any other way!

Lovin' Life

There are many things that make the girls smile from ear to ear, but one of the biggest ones is swimming. I can't believe how naturally they have taken to the water. I am 99.9% sure they had never had a bath before coming to America, let alone put on a bathing suit and went to the pool. So, at 2 1/2 they were introduced to the water. They were a little timid when they first got in, but it didn't take them long to start jumping from the side and loving every aspect of the water.

Our neighborhood pool opened this past week and I have already been told multiple times that they are amazing and they can't get over the fact they have only been exposed to the pool for 10 months (with many of those months being winter).

I am excited to see how much their swimming skills improve this summer. Last night they started "diving" for diving stick in the shallow end, so I know they will take off in their abilities! It also helps that they are VERY competitive with each other and each of them wants to make sure they are not out done by their sister! Trust me, I have my hands full with those two! :)

Here are some pictures from their swim last night.

The next few shots are of Chloe doing her signature belly flop. I need to get video of it because it seriously is the funniest thing ever! She has the whole pool cracking up!

I LOVE MY GIRLS!!!!

Springtime F-U-N!

The other day the kids were biking out front and thought it would be fun to try to climb one of our trees. So one by one I lifted each each child up to the first branch and this was each child's reaction...

Isaac, 8 years- he thinks everything through and realized that climbing a tree could result on bodily injury, so he asked to be let down and I hadn't even let go of him yet.

John, 7 years- unlike Isaac he doesn't think through things at all and sometimes doesn't enjoy the situation he puts himself in, but thankful he loved climbing the tree. He had great fun trying to get as high as he could!

Josiah, 5 years - He is a natural dare devil. He will take on any adventure and not think twice about it.

Hannah, 3 years - this child knows no fear! It was her idea to climb the tree and she got VERY high. She was so proud of herself!

Chloe, 3 years - she wouldn't even let me let go of her. She is my fearful child and doesn't like heights at all.

Hannah blowing a dandilion... Monte HATES dandilions, so she got it from the neighbors yard (with their permission).

She may not like heights, but she can ride a tricycle with great determination!

The Lord has blessed us with five VERY different personalities! I LOVE my kids!

Readoption

Finally after being home for NINE MONTHS (today) our readoption paperwork has been filed. Monte went once to file it, but he forgot to put their names on one piece of paper so he was turned away. Since he was working from home on Friday (because of John's MRI) we decided that I would run downtown and try again.

Readoption is not a big deal here in Indiana. At least with the Visa the girls came home on. I went to probate court and waited forever because WHO KNEW the commissioner had a TWO HOUR lunch. Only a government employee gets a two hour lunch I guess...

anyway...

He looked over the paperwork, signed a few times, put his stamp of approval on it and sent me on my way. I then paid $20 to file and $20 for their birth certificates and I was done. No court appointment and very inexpensive! It'll take about a month to get the girls' birth certificates in the mail and then we'll go for their social security cards.

I wonder if it'll take me nine months to get their social security cards?

Now onto John...
We had to be at the hospital at 6:30am. They put numbing cream where they were going to insert the IV and we hung out and watched tv. The nurses were A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. I have never had that level of service before and it was such a blessing. He had 3 nurses with him the whole time and an intensive care pediatric doctor was with him before they gave him the sedation medicine and through the procedure. When they put the IV in him, he didn't even flinch. He is a great kid. They just kept saying how awesome and laid back he is. He was fine during the procedure (he slept the whole time) and we were walking out of the hospital by 10a... well, I was walking while one nurse pushed him in wheelchair and another accompanied us.

We should know the results tomorrow. I will let everyone know once we do!

neurologist, cardiologist and optamologist... oh my!

This spring is proving to be a very busy one. We have been to a lot of doctor's appointments for different children for a variety of reasons. I blogged about the upcoming appointments HERE!

I received medical forms in the mail to fill out before their appointments. You know how it will ask you the health history of the patient and the patients great great grandparents (basically), but with the girls all I can put is "unknown". I think as an adoptive parent (at least for me), it is hard to not know things about your child. Where they full term? What was their birth weight? When did they smile the first time? What was their first word? When did they walk? The list can go on and on. I don't dwell on it, because it is something we'll never know. I also don't dwell on it because I know my God knows and I am content knowing that my girls were able to spend their first years with their birth family.

Our worst outcome thus far is that Hannah will probably need glasses by the time she is school age...not a big deal at all and I am so thankful!

My middle son, John, does have an MRI scheduled for today because he has been having some issues with migraines. They think it is heredity (I get them), but because of his medical history they just want to make sure that everything is ok.

We have been enjoying the time on the road. Most of our appointments have been at least a half and hour away. I have been getting the kids books on cd from the library and they are addicted. It really helps pass the time. We do some school while we are waiting on the doctors and that helps keeps the noise levels to a minimal. When you are in a small room with five kids, it gets loud...fast! They all do very well... I am one blessed mamma.

I hope each one of you is enjoying the spring! It has been beautiful here in central Indiana...

Weekly Hair Style

First off I want to thank everyone for the thoughtful comments and emails regarding the children's recent doctor's appointments. Thank you for praying for our family. The prayers are felt and I will keep you all posted.

I originally planed to let Chloe's hair take a rest this week, but Teresa blogged about this site and I really wanted to try the flat twists. They looked pretty easy to do and were cute. Well... they were easy to do, but I think Chloe's hair is still too short. They didn't stay in at all and just didn't look good ( I didn't even take pictures). I kept them in for two days and this afternoon I was done with the shaggy look, so they came out.

Tonight I decided to try something new. I put on the Olympic closing ceremonies hoping she would sit still and for the most part she did fine. The style took me one hour, so my fastest yet! I do think her hair is still a little too short for this since it is already popping out in places, but hopefully it'll stay until wash day. I don't even know what this style is called, can someone enlighten me? At the end I did a double twist.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I personally am sad that the Olympics are over. We love the games and all of us are sleep deprived trying to watch as much as possible! I am so proud to be an American!

She loves it!

I can't get over how well Chloe does when I do her hair. She gets squirmy at the end, but today it took me TWO LONG HOURS. I am sure I would get restless too. This time obviously I did braids and her hair is a lot longer than I thought. I truly didn't think I was going to be able to braid it, but I was wrong.

I would like to finish it off with some fun clips or pony tail holders, but I don't think her hair is long enough yet. Any suggestions?

I recently bought a sleep cap (the only reason I attempted to style it today). I found one at Walmart for $2, so I thought it was worth a try. I'll let you all know how well her hair does over the next couple of nights.

Hannah's hair is now starting to get out of control, so I guess it is time to figure out some styles for her too. Fun times! Have a great weekend everyone.

LOOK WHO IS THREE!!!!!!!!

CHLOE DESALECH

and...

HANNAH AMARECH

(no she doesn't have a headache, she is just into doing some crazy posing lately)

The beautiful Birthday girls

Their party invitation

We had their party last Sunday (2/14/10) at a gymnastics facility. We had Josiah's birthday party there the day after we came home from Ethiopia, so I thought it would be nice to go back and the bonus is not having to clean up after.

My first attempt at making the birthday cake

Having fun...

Blowing out the candles. I had to explain to them why there was fire on top of their cupcake and that they had to blow it out. How cute is that?

I am new to the twin thing, so I wasn't sure how to do the birthday song. We ended up signing it twice, so each girl could get a moment of individualized attention.

Chloe's turn...

Chloe and her friend, Beza

As you can imagine the girls have been so excited for their birthday. It has been the talk in our house for many weeks. I have often wondered if they truly understood what it meant to have a birthday. If you ask them how old they are, they will tell you that they are 6! I think we have finally gotten it through to them that they are 3. I am pretty sure they didn't celebrate their birthday in Ethiopia, so for me this party was a big deal. It was 3 birthdays wrapped up into one. We had a great time and thanks to everyone that was able to be there!

Today is their actual birthday. We are going to enjoy the afternoon at the Children's museum and then finish our day at a Ethiopian restaurant.

Happy Birthday Hannah and Chloe, we love you and you have richly blessed our lives!