Time To Dance!!

All 3 of the girls LOVE music and dancing A LOT! Zoya takes a dance class once a week and Mila and Sofia go to the same place for a Mommy and Me class once a week. Their teacher Miss Erica is amazing!!! The girls all look forward to dance every week! Zoya asks if it's dance day about 4-5 times a week and Mila has started asking too! For about a week she was saying, "C-uh" and we had no idea what she was saying at first. Turns out she was saying "Erica" for her teacher Miss Erica! Sofia was slow to warm up to the classes and clung to me for the first 4, but has since been rockin' it as well! 

This week Zoya got to come to the Mommy and Me class since she didn't have school....that meant that Shawn got to go too since one of us didn't need to be at school to pick her up that day! Since Shawn was there, we got to take some pictures. Typically I don't have any free hands as I'm jumping back and forth between the two little ones (and sweating by the end of the class haha). 

Here are some pictures from our fun dance class! 

My favorite part is the princess walk! 

Last week was the first week Sofia actually participated in the princess walk! All the times prior she'd throw the crown off her head, toss the princess wand and glare at everyone! HAHA! 

When it came time to pass the wand to Mila, Sofia needed some encouragement ;) 

Pretty Princess Mila! 

Mila loves dance SO MUCH that when it gets close to the end of the class she pouts and tries to find Miss Erica! The funny thing is, typically, Mila is such a mama's girl and cries if I leave the house without her.....dance is the ONLY place where she would be perfectly fine if I just left her there! HAHA! 

Monkey Sofia jumping on the bed! 

My Mila girl is getting SOOOO big ! :( 

Dancing to Skidamarink! 

"I"

"LOVE"

"YOU!"

For recovering from having her tonsils/adenoids out just 6 days before, she looks great! 

As Zoya would say, "Oh, dancing! I love it!" 

Pumpkins and Uncle Bub!

The weekend before Halloween Uncle Bub came to visit for his birthday and we carved our pumpkins! Zoya got really into it this year and really enjoyed pulling the "guts" out and playing with the seeds! 

She did a little taste testing haha. 

She told me what shape eyes and mouth she wanted...no nose! I think the big cheesy grin looks a little like Zoya!

Uncle Bub carved the next one....

These two weren't too sure about the whole pumpkin experience! 

She was laughing because we had just brought the pumpkin in from outside and it was COLD! She kept hugging it so her belly would touch it and then she'd laugh! What a nut! 

Mila getting ready to make the first cut (don't call child protection, it's a wooden play knife!). The funny thing is none of us could cut into this pumpkin, it was ROCK HARD, so it remained uncarved! 

Sofia takes a crack at it! 

We quickly lost Mila to her own reflection in the oven!

What is this?!

"You touch it first!" "No, YOU touch it first!"

The finished products! One pumpkin for each girl! LOL, an uncanny resemblance to each that was NOT planned....well only the glasses pumpkin was planned by Bub, but the other 2 make me laugh with how much they look like Zoya and Sofia! 

Happy Birthday Uncle Bub! 

Mila's got her eyes on the prize....she didn't get to be 32 pounds by eating lettuce you know! 

 Sofia always finds the birthday guest....you know how? Because they get the first piece of cake! HAHA! She butters up the birthday guest in hopes that she can get the first bite...stinker! 

An attempt at a picture of Uncle Bub with the girls.....not entirely unsuccessful....now if I only had photoshop!

Stopping for a toe jam break! Clearly by that belly sticking out the bottom of her shirt, she is underfed!

Well everyone is looking, 50% smiles, not bad! 

Okay, moving on to some individual shots with Uncle Bub....surely we'll be more successful here! 

 Adorable! 

Mila looks thrilled....she was ready for a nap! 

Clearly everyone is worn out after my photo shoot attempt! HAHA! 

It's Happening.........Mila's Becoming a Walking Girl!

Check out the walking girl and her new big girl hair cut!!! 

I'm probably in even more trouble that we're THIS CLOSE to having all 3 as full time walkers...but I'M SO READY FOR IT! And so is my back! Mila is weighing in at nearly 32 pounds (!!!!), so you can imagine my need for chiropractic care lately! 

And because I cannot get enough of this most adorable big girl hair cut....here are some Mila pictures :) 

I have BIG PLANS you guys.....to make a blogging come back! Life's crazy as usual, but I'm going to try really hard to blog more frequently so I can have my blog books (in place of scrapbooks) to print out yearly! There's SO MUCH I've missed blogging about over the past year (seriously, I have half-started posts sitting in my blogger account from THIS SUMMER!!!....umm it's NOVEMBER PEOPLE!)...here's hoping I can get back in the game! 

Happy Metcha Day Mila! October 19

We met Mila TWO years ago! So many emotions have been swirling around my head remembering the day we met Mila. Many families in the adoption community choose to celebrate "Gotcha Day," but we've always chosen to celebrate "Metcha Day" instead. The days we met our daughters were the most special days of my life. Just reading my "Metcha Day Post" from Mila's adoption puts me right back in that tiny room laying my eyes on Mila for the first time ever. If you've been reading for a while, you'll know our road to Mila was very broken and didn't seem to make much sense. We had committed to another child and lost her several weeks before we were to travel. We were devastated to say the least. Mila, who had JUST been listed on Reece's Rainbow, was named "Harlene." When we were still committed to the other child, I remember seeing her picture and posting her on my facebook page-something I rarely do. Here is the story of how we were led to Mila. In only a way that God could do, He orchestrated everything perfectly because we needed Mila and she needed us....from the beginning of time-I'm sure of that! 

Mila is the only one of our daughter's whose birth name we changed. Her birth name was "Zlata." Already having a child with a "Z" name and knowing how tricky that name was to say, we decided to change it but keep a name from her heritage and thus chose "Mila" meaning "miracle." Indeed she is. I cannot adequately describe that initial connection with Mila other than to say it was an absolutely instant bond and no other soul on this Earth has ever spoken to my heart so loudly with just the look of their eyes. Her gaze bore deep into my soul and an amazing feeling of PEACE drown out all the worries about how sick she appeared. It seemed that every sound and every movement in the tiny room were quieted as I was completely entranced by her beautiful soulful eyes. She stared deep into my soul speaking louder than any words I've ever heard. 

It was possibly the most magical, captivating, "close-to-Jesus-this-side-of-heaven" experience I've ever been a part of. 

And then.....oh THEN! Seeing Shawn hold her for the first time and watching her melt into his chest as if to say, "I can finally rest...." well THAT was a beautiful sight. She was so tiny and looking at these pictures of Shawn holding her reminds me just how little she was. Her blue complexion was a sign of how sick she was, but WOW this child was and is a fighter. She held on just long enough and the Lord led us right to her not a moment too late. 

To celebrate we gave lots of extra hugs and snuggles and shared stories about her adoption journey. I told her her adoption story for the first of many times to come! We celebrated her LIFE and we continue to thank God that He chose us to be her parents!

Happy Metcha Day Mila Bean!