First Family Portraits

We took our first family pictures today. Even though we had an appointment, we waited 45 min for our turn at which point the kids' patience ..... and mine ..... was wearing thin. The children are wearing the Ethiopian outfits we purchased while in Ethiopia ....

Hanna's adjusting well. She's picking up English pretty fast. Many things she used to say in Amharic, she now says in English .... but for the most time we still mixed it up: English with lots of Amharic .... I guess it sounds Spanish to other people because I was asked on two occasions while out in public whether I was speaking Spanish with my daughter. We swam for the first time in the pool this Good Friday since it was sooo hot here in Montgomery, AL, and the kids were out of school for the holiday. She loves the water so I think, just like with Jalen, it won't take too long for her to learn how to swim. What I have noticed though ... and maybe because she's a girl .... she's not such a dare-devil like Jalen is .... thank Goodness .... and we've discovered yesterday that she's absolutely terrified of frogs and lizards, and she calls frogs "naveen" like "naveen" the frog from the Princess and The Frog movie .... too cute ....

We had Ms. Lisa with Shawn and Mykilie come and visit .... the girls played together so nicely for almost two hours .... I'll have pictures about that and the first pool day in another blog.
All in all, it's going good .... more to come in another blog post.

Random Pics and Happenings in Jan 2010

Diese Photos haben wir letzte Woche gemacht bevor wir ins Kino gegangen sind um "Alvin & The Chipmunks" (so'n Film mit sprechenden Eichhoernchen, gibt's vielleicht auch bei Euch in Deutschland, was dem Toti gefaellt ... mir nicht sehr ... veveritele astea in film au asa voci dinastea pitigaiate!!!). Wir lassen jetzt Toti's Haerchen wachsen und ich muss ihm halt immer die Frisur jeden Tag machen dass er so herrliche Loeckchen kriegt. Ich hab halt so extra gute Mittel fuer Kinderhaare. Er sieht ja so golding aus mit Loeckchen .... gelle ... und noch ist es hier nicht so warm .... aber bald ... letztens waren es jetzt immer so um die 15 bis 18 Grad Celsius?
Heute gehn wir wieder ins Kino und werde ein anderen Film gucken, den Toti sehen will, der "Tooth Fairy" heisst und mit dem The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) ist. Toti mag den Rock, denn er ist so stolz, dass "The Rock" auch ein "Johnson" ist. Vor laengerem haben sich die Kinder im Kindergarten immer ciufuliert = gehaenselt wegen ihren Nachnamen, und da hab ich dann dem Jalen gesagt er soll sich nie aergern oder schlecht fuehlen wenn ihn jemand "Jalen Johnson" nennt, denn das ist sein Name ein herrlicher Name und er is so wie der Rock, ein "Johnson" .... oder der "Magic Johnson" auch ein "Johnson" - na und seit her ist er so stolz und es scheint ihm nichts mehr auszumachne wenn die Kinder wieder haenseln .... er haenselt ja auch andere Kinder in seiner Klasse und nennt sie bei ihrem Vor- und Nachnamen ... und ich hab ihm gesagt, wenn die anderen Kinderchen das nicht moegen oder wenn sie nicht stolz auf ihren Namen sind, dann soll er sie nicht mehr haenseln .... na ja, was soll's .... so sind halt Kinder.

Following pictures below were taken last week right before we went to see "Alvin and the Chipmonks"...... Jalen loves this movie ..... Mama ..... not so much :) .... Today, we'll go watch "Tooth Fairy" so I'm looking forward to the movie since my boy, The Rock :) is in it .... he's just too fine for his own da*m good :) .....

Diese Photos haben wir gemacht als LaToya den Toti babysitten musste, und noch zwei andere Jungs mitgebracht hat, damit sie zusammen spielen.

Following picture were made when Ms. LaToya babysitted Jalen and brought along her nephew and her Godson for Jalen to play with. I think they had a good time

The boys playing Nintendo .... I guess this game requires these kinda of funny faces ... :) ....

... like Father like Son!!!!

Ok, so just about an hour ago I come in the bedroom after finishing up some chores in the kitchen and around the house ..... and this is what I found .... both my boys are tucked away in the bed: one's playing with his phone, the other with his Nintendo ..... I couldn't help but snap a picture ...... like Father like Son!

* Since it's not a school night, we let Jalen stay up a little longer than usual and hang out with us in the bedroom until it's time for him to go to bed .... I just didn't expect to find both of them tucked away this early and doing exactly the same thing and looking so alike!!!

Putting Up the X-Mas Tree & Going on a Date

In the 5 years since Jalen was born we haven't gone on a date to celebrate our anniversary. At first Jalen was too young for me to leave him with anyone (.... just couldn't) and then as he got older we didn't really have any one of his two grandmothers around to babysit. Well, this year since he's becoming a bigger boy, we figured we try Jalen's babysitter, Ms. LaToya. She's babysitted before for us when Jalen's school was closed, but never in the evening ..... so this was a first. He was crying at first, talking up a storm of why we shouldn't go, or why he shouldn't stay .... but in the end, once Toya got here he didn't cry .... Last thing he asked as we were leaving was: Mama, what time are you coming home? So we told him. Well, I must say, everything went smoothly and when we got home, Jalen was sound asleep, on the couch, feet on Toya, as she was watching tv ..... so peaceful .... I was at peace ... :). We're so blessed to have Ms. Toya ... and blessed to have such a big boy already.
Oh, what did we do? Well, we have to start babysteps right, with the going out .... so we went to see a movie: The Blind Side! We loved it!!!

Jalen snapped this one right before leaving.

This was the end product of our putting up the X-Mas tree minus the tree skirt which Jalen used as a cape for a while.

Big Helper!

Kreativ Blogger Award

Quite a long while back I received a Kreativ Blogger Award from a very good friend of mine and adoptive mom, Amanda, (sorry, no link as Amanda's blog is private). I am just now getting around to working on this post. There are a few rules though ... please see below:

These are the blog award 'rules':

1. Thank the person who awarded you the award and link that person's blog on your blog.

2. Identify 7 things about yourself.

3. Award 7 bloggers with the 'Kreativ Blogger Award" - post links to their blogs, and leave a comment on each of their blogs to let them know of the honor. [I don't really know what a 'Kreativ blogger' is, so you can just give it to whoever you like.]


So with that said, I'd like to thank Amanda for nominating me for this award. I don't think I'm a kreativ blogger at all, as all I do most of the time is post pictures with some text for all our family in all parts of the world to see, and know how we, or mostly Jalen, is doing.


7 things about me:

1. When people first talk to me they always ask me: "Are you Puerto Rican?" Then I tell them "no" ... next question is always "Where are you from originally?" And I tell them: "Guess!" and the NEVER ever guess correctly :) ..... I've been doing this for about 16 years now and it still never fails. Always the same 'where r u from' game.

2. The way I grew up, it was a necessity, a mandatory thing almost to speak more languages so I'm fluent (besides English, which is my 4th language) in my native tongues (Romanian and Hungarian), German and French. I'm ok, meaning not so fluent but can read, write and hold a very basic conversation in Spanish and Italian, very basic Arabic and work-in progress Amharic. I don't get any of the languages confused in my head (contrary to what people usually ask me) but counting money or any math I can only do in Romanian .... any other language I'd do it in I get bogged down, so I never even try ... I just stick to counting and math in Romanian.

3. I used to be a party animal, club-going, always out and about kinda gal, but now since I've became a mommy 5 years ago, I'm just a home body .... don't really go out, I tried it once I think in the beginning and I felt guilty for not being with my child at night in case he needs me, and guitly for being too tired the next day b/c I didn't get enough sleep and not well and rested enough to be there for my son. So I don't go out ... but I miss it sometimes .... mostly the dancing ... I used to dance all night and do all the dances that were out there from the Electric Slide to the Cha Cha slide, and everything else in-between ....

4. Pink and Purple are my favorite colors .... I know I'm such a 'girl'.

5. My favorite thing to do, which has never changed throughout my life, is getting some take-out like Chinese food or pizza, coming home and watching a movie or two and just chillin' with hubby. If I had the time I could be in bed all day just watching movies, or shows on DVD like (Desperate Housewives, Prison Break, The L Word, Big Love, The Sopranos, 6 Feet Under, Nip Tuck, and the list goes on and on).

6. I don't want much in life except for my family to be ok and live a confortable life within our means, which leads me to the last fact about me ....

7. I absolutely hate, despise, detest owing anybody any money .... therefore ... I don't (except I don't own my house yet) .... we (Geno and I) have always been this way ... if we couldn't get it with the money we had .... we didn't need it or didn't want it. I'm glad I never bought into the American 'Dream' [lie] of credit cards, loans, and all that other stuff, where you end up paying someone else more than what you owe to begin with ... so as my father would always say: "We only stretch ourselves as far as our blanket goes, any further and we'd have cold feet!" [It's a translation, it sounds better in Romanian].


I don't know exactly on what criteria to award my 7 Kreativ Blogger Awards, so I'll just tell you my favorite 7 blog I love to read in no particular order:


1. Amanda's Blog [she keeps a very detailed private blog, and mostly I always know how this family is doing and what they're up to ... just by checking her blog] ... through her blog, comments, emails and phone calls we became friends and I can only hope that one day the two of us along with our families can meet.



2. Elisa's Blog [I love reading her blog ... this is a military family, we both have 5-yr old boys who have first/middle name in common ... I spoke to Elisa on numerous occasions on the phone, and she seems like a down-to-earth girl .... I just like her; plus she's the very first person I know who laid eyes, hugged, took a gift to, and spent time with my little girl and broght me back pictures and video to prove it .... this alone in the adoption world is ... priceless].


3. Missy's Blog [I love reading her blog .... this is another military family getting ready to pick up their daughter over X-Mas in the same orphanage our daughter is in. Over the months waiting for our referral, we became friends primarily through reading each other's blogs, leaving comments, writing emails and talking on the phone. Missy will be the second person who will spend some time with our little girl and who is taking her some X-Mas gifts from us. She's leaving soon ... in only 5 days ... and I can't wait for her to get back safely].


4. Meg's Blog [I love reading Meg's blog, especially finding out how her little boy Sam is doing and how he's growing and developing and the funny things he does, says .... oh, he just seems like such a joy, and I know Meg loves him to death ... Her boy reminds me very much of Jalen when he was that age ... I also love Meg's writing style: funny, sarcastic, very serious when the situation calls for ... but mostly just funny ... hillarious ... always putting a smile on my face].


5. Toni's Blog [Toni's another adoptive Mom, waiting for a referral. Now she is really creative in her blog always finding treasures, Ethiopian or otherwise to relate to her future little girl, she's very positive and uplifting on her blog ... plus I like listening to reggae which she has playing on her blog].


6. Kate's Blog [Kate is another adoptive Mom, who has a beautiful little girl and is in the process of adopting 2 more siblings for her lovely Meron (in Amharic Meron means "God's Gift" ... I love this name). I am excited to continue to follow her journey.


7. Courtney's Blog [I love reading Courtney's blog, even though I hardly ever leave comments, but I love her genuine, innocent, honest writing style .... her honesty and openness have caused some controversy in the past, but she stays true to herself and her blog voice ... and that's why I love reading her blog .... plus I always like to see how little Sol is doing].


Disclaimer: Ok, I think this was the longest post I've ever posted, and now my wrist hurts from so much typing :) .....

At The Pumpkin Patch at Dreamfield Farm

Jalen went on a Field Trip to Dreamfield Farm Pumpkin Patch and he liked it so much, that I had to go back with him a few days later. Below you'll see pictures at the pumpkin patch.

*Jalen ist mit seiner Klasse auf ein Ausflug gegangen zu einem Pumpking Patch auf der Dreamfield Farm. Es hat ihm dort sehr viel Spass gemach, und wir mussten paar Tage drauf wieder zurueckkehren. Es was mitten in der Natur, umringt von Natur und einem kleinen See, frische Luft und keine Autos .... nichteinmal ein Handy Signal gab es dort .... so tief in der Pampa waren wir .... aber es hat sehr viel Spass gemacht dem Toti .... und das war mir ja wichtig ... und natuerlich die frische Luft am Land. Da seht ihr paar Photos, die ich gemacht hab ... viel Spass, ich hab Euch lieb und vermisse Euch.

Jalen and Christina (das ist die 10-jaehrige Tochter von der Dorina die auch aus Rumaenien sind und da neben Montgomery wohnen).

Jalen and Elias petting the sheep.

In front of our house before leaving out to go to the pumpkin patch.

*Vor unserem Haus before wir los fuhren.

Jalen and Jeffrey, his best buddy in school, milking a fake cow.

In the cornbox!

*Im Mais Kasten!

William, Jalen, and Jeffrey - his classmates.

Jalen and his classmate Sidney.

Jalen and Jeffrey holding hands, walking ..... I thought it was so cute and innocent ... love it!

Raquel, Jalen and Jeffrey.