Gotcha Day plus 1 month

Well, 1 month ago today (March 8th) we picked up the girls from the transition house. What a month it has been! We "celebrated" by taking the girls to the UK International Adoption Clinic for their big post adoption evaluation. We arrived at 10am and didn't leave until after 1pm. It was a very long time to be poked and prodded, but the girls were real troopers. They didn't even cry when their blood was drawn or had the TB test (shot) administered. The doctor and occupational therapist were thoroughly impressed with our girls. We are of course waiting to get their bloodwork back to see what kinds of "little friends" they may have, but generally they are very healthy and on track developmentally.

Having fun spinning in the doctor's chair while we wait

I know Chloe looks ridiculous in this picture, but she's saying "monkey" and it makes me laugh

All smiles BEFORE the doctor comes into the exam room

Once we finally made it home this afternoon, we found a box on our front porch. It contained the picture book we created for the girls with the pictures of their birth family and village. Needless to say, they loved it and wanted to look at it over and over again. They also loved the bubble wrap that came in the box and once mommy showed them how to pop the bubbles, it was even more fun.

Oops

Ok, no more blogging while the girls are in the bathtub. I was making the post below while the girls were in the bathtub tonight and walked in to find that they had gotten out of the tub and grabbed all their dirty clothes and had them in the tub with them. They were washing them out and even had hung some up on the washcloth rod inside the tub to dry. It took all my will power to not grab the camera to take a picture, but the girls have learned that when mommy takes a picture it's for a good reason and I do not want them to be trying to wash their clothes in the bathtub with them. The floor was also covered in water and the bathmat was soaked which wasn't that big of a deal until Matt walked into our bedroom (which is located below the bathroom) and found water dripping through the floor. Then the story as not so funny. I told them not to do it again, but it's hard to scold them when for their whole lives they have seen women washing clothes out in the river where they were bathing. They were just doing what they've seen modeled for them. But I'm not sure my bathroom can take many more cleaning sessions like this.

SNOW!

That's right, it snowed today in Kentucky. Craziness! So we decided to introduce the girls to the thrills and chills of snow. Needless to say, they did not like it. We lasted about a minute and a half outside before they headed back into the warm house. They liked to watch it from the window though.

Back inside, safe and warm

Hoop it up!

In honor of the NCAA Tournament and the fact that we had 70 degree weather here on Saturday (today's high was only 40), Ababa (daddy) decided it was time to get the hoop out and get the girls practicing their basketball skills. Even though they are way too short to make a basket, they were undaunted by the task and tried very hard. Ababa finally had to help, much to the delight of the girls.

Today was cold and wet so we spent most of the day indoors. We did have a play date with the Maas family, which the girls thoroughly enjoyed. They cried most of the way home. The Maas family has five children and is in the process of adopting two more from Ethiopia (the main reason for our visit). The girls loved all the attention and new toys they got to play with. Of course neither of us mothers thought to snap a picture to post on either of our blogs. (Give us a break, there were 7 children running around the house!) Funniest comment of the day was Faith (3 year old adopted from China) calling my girls "Gabriel", her 2 year old brother from Ethiopia. What do you expect? Gabriel is the only little person she knows that has the same color skin and hair as my girls. Rebecca and I got a good laugh every time Faith yelled "Gabriel" at one of the girls.

A Fun Week

We had a fun week with Jen and Hunter that went too fast. They left Friday morning and Chloe cried for 20 minutes. Mommy decided we needed a fun distraction so we went to family story time at JCPL. This was the first time we'd been to family story time (ages 0-5), but we've been to the pre-school story time twice previously and the girls are really getting the hang of it. They actually are participating in the singing and dancing now. In fact, the hokie pokie is one of their new favorites. It's amazing that last week when we went to story time, they just clung to me and this week, they were trying to sing the songs and do the motions. They have a hard time sitting still for the actual stories that are read, but that seems fairly normal for the more active kids. I recommend story time for anyone with pre-schoolers. It is transforming my kids before my eyes. Friday also marked our 3 week anniversary of coming home from Ethiopia.

Aunt Jen is so fun!

Every time we pray before a meal, we hold hands as a family. On Thursday, Hunter and Essie did not want to stop holding hands. It was so sweet that mommy and Aunt Jen couldn't help but snap a picture.

Matt taught Hunter to say "cheers" while he clinks his glass on my sister's last visit. On this visit, Hunter taught it to our girls. My sister just laughed.

Hunter and Chloe became best buds

One last photo before we say good-bye

The Breakfast Song

As a brief break from pictures of kids, check out this video. I'm thinking of adding this song to my repertoire...

One Fun Day

Sorry it's been a few days since we posted. Tuesday was not a good day for me as my cold has returned thanks to a major lack of sleep. My wonderful sister took all 3 kids to the park this afternoon so I could get some rest, which helped tremendously.

Chloe with her painting she did at story time at the Library today.


I know you all want to see pictures of the girls, but I have to brag on my sister Jen's awesome artwork.

This picture makes it look like Essie is one amazing artist.