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!!!!

Some much needed family time!

This was where we spent our afternoon...

Josiah's one wish as a five year old is to go to the beach. We have no plans to go to the ocean anytime soon, so we thought Lake Michigan would work. As you know from this post, Josiah has not had an easy time since his sister's have gotten home, so we thought it would be great to do this for him.

We got a late start today. Our plan was to get there when it opened and stay till it closed. Well, when we saw the high was only going to be 66, we decided to sleep in a little, but still be out the door by 8am. We left at 8:45am and when we were 45 minutes from home, I realized we forgot our bag that had the towels and bathing suits in it. I couldn't believe it. How in the world did that happen? Oh, right... we have five kids now! We decided it was worth it to go ALL the way back home and get the rest of our things. So, we didn't make it to the beach until 1pm. When we got to the entrance gate, the park ranger (or whatever that person is called that collects our money) told us that because of rip currents there was NO SWIMMING TODAY! Yes, you read that right... no swimming, but the beach was still open. We decided we'd make the most of it and all I can say is, we had a BLAST! I will use pictures to tell the rest of the story...

This was when we first got there. I LOVE these six people!! Chloe has been a Mommy's girl lately, so that is why she was way behind everyone else. She was hanging out with me.

Josiah knew we were going to the beach, but we wanted to get his reaction on camera...

I am so glad we did! His eyes were huge...

They couldn't get enough of the water. Well, everyone except for Chloe...

She was content to sit in the sand and not worry about the big waves!

Josiah loving the beach. It was his most favorite day ever.

My guys getting ready to check out the dunes.

Look at that face! She loved the waves. We really had to keep an eye on her.

Once again, preferred to be on dry ground...

I think I may give up getting a picture of the five of them together. This was the best one. The sun was directly in their eyes, but still.

Now some random pictures...

That is Chicago on the horizon.

The rip currents that kept us from swimming. They got worse at the day wore on. The kids (minus Chloe) all ended up getting soaked. The wash back (under tow) would literally knock them over when they were getting their feet wet. They didn't mind and neither did I.

It is so pretty there. I can't wait to go back!

My babies fast asleep! Chloe is sportin' M&M cookie residue on her face. That's my girl! :)

Even though we got a late start, had to go back to the house, and couldn't swim because of the rip currents, it was a perfect day! I love my family. I am blessed.

Say Bye Bye

We have had so much fun in the pool lately! I still can't get over comfortable the girls are in the water. They act like they have been exposed to the pool since infancy.

Here is a video of Monte and Chloe doing their father/daughter thing. Monte tells her, "Say bye bye", but instead of her saying, "bye bye", she says exactly what he said, "Say bye bye". It is adorable. You can hear her say it if you turn the volume up high, but it is hard to hear over Josiah's laughter!

Where is Hanna during this time? She is hanging out poolside. The water has been a little chilly because we have had cooler evenings and because Hanna is so stinkin' skinny she gets cold pretty easy. If she wasn't cold, she would be right in there with them!

Jumping in...

The girls cannot get enough of the water. Because of sickness they haven't been able to go too much, but I am amazed at how well they are doing. They have only been to the pool six or seven times and they are already doing this...

How adorable is that? Chloe starts wiping her eyes when she is still under the water, so that is why we have to "save" her.

We love the pool and go as often as we can. This is our neighborhood public pool, but as you can see we are the only ones there. It is never crowded and we love it that way. The boys are very good swimmers and the girls are quickly following in their footsteps.

I am sure you are wondering if I bring all five by myself. The answer is... of course! I have only done it two times because of illnesses. I mostly worry about Josiah because he thinks he can swim in the deep end all by himself, but he can't. He has no fear and doesn't understand the danger he sometimes put himself in. So when Daddy is not there I have very strict rules. Even with the more ridged rules the boys would still rather be at the pool, but they do have more fun when Daddy is with us.

UPDATE: Chloe is doing so much better. You only notice the Bell's Palsy now when she cries. Thank you so much for your prayers. That was a very scary experience for our family.

Hangin' Out

Here are the girls at our neighborhood pool last night. They still talk in Amharic, so I have no clue what they were talking about, but how cute is that? I just love them.

Thanks Dawn for such a great picture.

Goodbye summer, you will be missed...

I am not the type of person who looks forward to fall. I don't because I know that winter comes soon there after and I am not a fan of winter. Now maybe if we lived in Arizona or Florida I would like winter, but not here in Indiana.

So we will be swimming for the last time this weekend. Our days are getting shorter while are pant lengths will be getting longer.

Goodbye summer, you will be missed by this mama!

In honor of the last days, here is a recent video of Josiah diving in the deep end of the pool to get a diving ring.

Michael Phelps you have competition

Well, maybe in a few years you will. He needs to work on his form!

Another swimming video

I wanted to post a video of Josiah swimming since I haven't done that yet. I took this video at the beginning of their swim last night. By the end of the night Josiah was jumping further out and then swimming to the side. Keep in mind this is in the deep end.

Isaac's video...

Here is a video of Isaac snorkeling in deep water. He started swimming under the water last night!!!!!!!!! This is HUGE for him. He even went under for a dive stick. It was in 3 feet of water, but I never dreamed Isaac would do that this summer. Needless to say we are VERY proud of him!

Swimming...

Here are some are pictures of the boys at the pool last night. The pictures are not that great, sorry. I will get a good ones by the end of the summer, I hope!

I have to brag on Isaac for a minute. He has never been a huge water person. He loves to swim, but wants NOTHING to do with getting is face or head under the water. We bought John a snorkel set at the beginning of the summer and Isaac tried it once but said he didn't like it. Last night we asked him to try it again and this time he got the hang of it pretty quickly and had his head in the water the rest of the night. I am SO VERY VERY proud of him. We are going swimming today and I am hoping to get both video and pictures of him. I will be sure to post them!

Josiah loves the water and is getting pretty brave going under. I still make him wear floaties even in the shallow end, because he seems to think he can swim where ever he is. When we were in Florida, in December, the house that we stayed at had a pool. Well, one night Josiah just thought he could go in without floaties on and he couldn't even touch. So I, who was NOT planning on swimming, had to jump in with ALL my clothes and shoes on to get the little guy. The good thing was he got right back in the water!

I have also included a video of John. He is becoming a very strong swimmer and we are amazed at how much he improves each time we are at the pool!