Dance Recital

I know, I know... I have been MIA for a long time now. Things have been crazy and I honestly haven't been able to find the time to write blog posts or read any blogs. We have a lot of fun things coming up, so I hope I will be blogging with more regularity {don't hold your breath}.

I just wanted to take a few minutes and update you with some pictures of the girls. Today they had their first dance recital. They attend a Christian dance studio that is very inexpensive. We didn't even have to pay for recital outfits... LOVE IT!

Here are Hannah and Chloe right before the recital started.

Here are some of their dance moves... they did very well and I love seeing them dance to songs that are all about worshipping God...

I hope that you all have a very blessed week!

Mommy Date!

I LOVE Mommy dates! It is a great way for me to spend alone time with one or two of my children. When you have a large family and you homeschool them all, you really need to get creative on how to spend quality time with each of them. As with all children, they are so different and I enjoy spending time with them doing the things they love. Now it doesn't always work like this. Sometimes I will just bring one child with me when I am running errands, but I cherish it nonetheless.

This past Friday I surprised the girls with a mommy date. Our homeschool group goes to a local theatre each semester. This theatre is amazing and puts on kids productions so that children get exposed to the arts at a young age. I LOVE IT! This semester they are doing The Little Mermaid. I know the boys would of enjoyed it too, but I thought it would be special for the girls and I to have some time together.

I didn't tell the girls what we were doing until we were in the parking lot! At first they thought we were going to Disney World (we are in the midst of planning a DW vacation for next year so I know that is why they thought that first), but they were still excited about this new experience.

Here we are before the show started...

THEY LOVED IT!!! We have always known that Hannah would love theatre. She is our drama queen and also loves to sing and dance. I kid you not when I say she did not move during the whole production. She was in HEAVEN! It was adorable to watch.

Here are the girls with the Little Mermaid and the Prince.... Then they HAD to get their picture taken with every actor. The actors {OF COURSE} thought they were the cutest things ever and spend a lot of time with them. We were one of the last to leave.
It was a great morning. One that none of us will soon forget!

Look who starts dance class tonight...

Yeah... they are just a tad excited!!!

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!!!!

He has come a long way...

We went to the zoo yesterday and I had to share these photos with you. For those of you who have been reading this blog since we have come home, you know that Josiah had a really hard time at first. He was the baby for 5 years. All he knew was being the youngest then he was thrown into being a big brother of TWO toddler sisters. It was not easy on him. I am pretty sure I would have a hard time too. I am so thankful that is behind us and he can embrace the sisters God has given him.

This was ALL them. I didn't stage any of it, but my heart was melting as I witnessed the love these two have for each other.

Josiah you are an amazing big brother and your little sisters think the world of you!

Ethiopia Tshirts

I know I have turned into a horrible blogger. To say that five kids keeps me busy would be an understatement. It was easy to blog while we were cocooning. We were home all day long. Each. And. Every. Day. Then winter set in and as you know, the cold and I do not get along. So again... plenty of time to blog. Now that spring is here we have no reason to be inside and it has been great. But I miss you all. Not only is my blogging lagging, but also my blog reading.

I have been meaning to blog about the girls' new shirts. How adorable are they?

You can order your Ethiopian princess or prince one HERE! They are an adoption fundraiser for the Rossi family. She is very talented and also has adult shirts, infant onsies and headbands. Thanks Megan... we LOVE them!

My Beautiful Ethiopian Princesses...

Big hearts and Honesty Part II

Yesterday I felt brave and decided it was time to put up the Christmas tree! The boys were such a big help and all I really did was string the lights. We also have a small tree with the kids' ornaments on it. I think it is time to get a big tree for their treasures because almost every limb is taken.

I can honestly say I feel blessed that we adopted toddlers. I love the fact that they get excited about EVERYTHING around them. They couldn't get enough of the Christmas tree and they had so much fun getting out all the Christmas decorations. They are such a joy. They asked over and over again how to say Christmas tree and ornaments. Christmas is going to be so much fun this year with our family finally complete.

We still do have some hard days, but they are now few and far between. I do know some of their issues will come and go, but overall I think the seven of us are adjusting well. I would say it took 3 solid months for me to finally feel like I had a grip with being a mom to five. I had some wonderful friends that guided me along the way and there are so many of you that have been praying for us and I am so thankful for each one of you. I also had to learn that everything they were/are doing is normal and that I am NOT a bad mom. We moms put a lot of undeserved guilt on ourselves. Why do we do that?

They are beautiful girls with huge personalities and I am so proud to be their mom. The boys have really stepped up and are awesome big brothers. The girls adore them.

I just had to share these. Josiah brought this to me today. He has such a big heart!

Isaac decided TODAY that he wanted to start cursive writing. This was the first thing he wrote. I love my kids!

First hair attempt

I did my fair share of hair research when we found out that we were the parents of girls, but obviously I need to go back to read everything again...

Yes, Chloe... Mommy is sorry... so so sorry!

Hanna and Chloe's room...

I realized that I had never posted pictures of the girls' room. This was an open room before and was considered a loft. My father walled it in and made them a closet. Because it is a smaller space, we got them bunk beds. Both beds are on the floor until they are old enough to have them bunked. It'll give them a lot more room when we are able to do that.

My parents got their bedding for them. My Mom helped me pick out the color for the walls. Before our referral they had 7 grand kids and 6 of them are boys. So, to say they were excited about having more granddaughters is an understatement. :)

I "drew" the flowers on the walls. I actually traced them from their bedding and used a transparency and traced it onto the wall. It was the first time I have ever done anything like this. It was extremely time consuming, but was super easy and it cost under $15 to do. I got the idea from Angie's daughter's room. I was going to do something similar, but then the flower idea came to me. There is a big button in the middle of each flower.

How cute is this bookcase? I have had my eyes on it for a long time, even before our referral. I could of made it work in a boy's room. :) Pottery Barn Kids has one that cost a small fortune (I wish I didn't love that place like I do). I found this one at Target and it is just as cute. I know imagine that... me in a Target. Anyway, it was waiting for the girls when we got home from Africa.

THANK YOU Pappy and Nana!

So there you have it. Their room. As you can tell they are pretty proud and despite the size, they spend a lot of time in there.

Four months...

Four months ago today we received five pictures that changed of lives forever! We received our referral on April 27, 2009 and here are two of those pictures.

I was immediately in love with these two little girls that were 8,000 miles away! God is so good.

We have been home five weeks and five days. I believe that things are starting to settle down a little bit. We now have more good days than bad, I am so thankful! We had our first post placement visit yesterday and it went really well. I always worry about how well the kids (the boys) will behave. Can you believe all five of them sat on the living room floor and played with beads for the whole two hours she was here? AMAZING! I am going to leave you with a couple of my favorite pictures!

So Proud...

Tonight I came home with new winter jammies for the girls. They are always so excited about their clothes and can't wait to try them on. These new pajamas were not different. They are so precious because as soon as they try something new on they both run to Monte saying, "Daddy U (look)". They are always so proud to show their Daddy and to get his approval.

My original thought was to have them just try them on to make sure they fit. That is not what they had in mind at all. There was no way they were going to bed wearing their season appropriate attire.

They are both sound asleep now... in their new fleece jammies. Good thing it is suppose to get down in the 60s tonight!

Have a great weekend!!

"I love Ethiopia"

The Alexander crew

Remember this post about not having a good picture of the girls or kids? I decided that I was going to take them to get their pictures done. Lets just say it was not fun experience. I thought I was being so smart by having all five of them photographed together. It was a disaster! The poor photographer, my poor children.
A couple of examples of the what we all had to endure.

This is the best picture of the five of them...

After an hour of trying we ended up leaving, without any pictures. I did reschedule for last night and decided to just bring the girls. It was not stressful this time around, but it still wasn't fun. Is photographing children ever fun? I did end up getting a few nice ones, but without some drama to go along with it!

We did get ONE picture of the two of them smiling. Success? It'll work for now!

Most of the nice ones we got are of them alone. I can't believe how much they have changed in just three short weeks!