Movin and groovin

Having fun on a rainy Sunday at home.

Aliyah's Village

Nick and Noah are on the far left on the couch and Aliyah is next to them between her two buddies.

We are fortunate to live in an area with a large adoption community. We have met a few other families near us with Ethiopian children and the moms and youngest kiddos try to get together for playdates as often as we can. Our last playdate was on Veteran's Day and since all of the schools were closed, we all had all of our older children with us as well for a total of 17 kids. My favorite part about seeing all these kids together is seeing how the older siblings look after all of the Ethiopian children, not just their own brothers and sisters. It is great for our kids to see other families like their own.

Sibling Love

One year ago on November 13, we arrived back in the US from our second trip to Ethiopia and Nick and Noah met Aliyah for the first time. When the boys woke up the next morning, they wanted to have their "baby sister" sit on their laps. I think they were little surprised that she wasn't really that much of a baby!

And now one year later, I would say the sibling bond is pretty strong. Aliyah copies Noah which drives him crazy, just the way that Noah has always copied Nick and driven him crazy. They all play and push each others buttons in only the way that siblings can.

I just asked Noah how he feels about Aliyah. He looked at me funny and said "She's my sister" in a "duh mom" kinda voice. That pretty much sums it up.

Halloween

This was Aliyah's first Halloween and she loved all of it.

Grandma Kathy came over on Halloween night to pass out candy so that both Pete and I could take the kids trick or treating.

Aliyah had thought the costume was pretty cool but then when she found out that you go to houses and they GIVE you candy, well, she took to it like a kid to candy :)

Half the people who saw Nick said "cool, fear the beard!" and the other half said, "Um, a Giants player with a beard?"

And since grandma was with us we got a rare family picture (just wish the lighting was a bit better.)