The day we met Superwoman...and one of her sidekicks

For the past few months I've been following the blog of an amazing family, and on Wednesday I got to meet, in person, Valerie, the mom of the bunch. When I say "bunch", I mean it. She was here in Bulgaria to pick up their newest daughter, 7-year old Alexis, whom we also had the pleasure of meeting. She is just a beautiful, lively little girl! Here they are:

You can read all about Valerie and her family at their blog, From the Trenches of Adoption, but I'll sum up a little here. She and her husband have 5-year old triplets, and have adopted 5 children (all with special needs), ages 4-8, including Alexis. That's eight kiddos! And there are a couple of more in the works. AND, she's a very fun and sane person! ;) Honestly, they're amazing. I felt like I was meeting a celebrity...and darn it, I forgot to get her autograph... I'm sure there'll be a book or movie about them some day. Anyway, we got to hang out on Wednesday! She and Alexis met us at my friend Cindy's house for a playdate.

Bran and William, Cindy's cute little fella, having a blast dressing up. We did crafts, ate yummy food, and played. A lot. Cindy knows how to host a playdate!

Here are the kiddos turning the shower into a space ship. And Maeve having fun in the toilet. Yuck. Note: If anyone's toilets are spic-n-span, Cindy's are. But...a toilet is a toilet.

Evacuate! Evacuate!

After that, we piled into the trusty Explorer and headed up to our place. The kids swung in the ship swing, played with playdoh, did some makeup, and generally had fun. And they ate an onion. Alexis is a very curious little girlie, and is not shy about it! She wanted to try an onion, and did, and didn't like it much. She's a little sweetie, too. Nuala was having one of those afternoons... you know, where whines and tears spring readily to the surface... Anyway, all the apple slices were gone, and Nuala was sad, so what did Alexis do? Came over to her and offered her the chunk she was eating. It was really the sweetest thing ever. I was very impressed with how thoughtful Alexis was!

Then... we took them back to their hotel. Sigh. The day went quickly. We had so much fun! Alexis is truly wonderful, you can't help but smile at her. She's so...sparkly? That's a good word for her, actually. And Valerie... well, you have to be pretty awesome to be her. I go back and forth on trying to decide who's luckier, Alexis for "getting" the Rieben family, or the Riebens for adding Alexis. It's a tie. They're all incredibly blessed! Thanks, Valerie, for hanging out with us! We'll hafta do it again sometime...