Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thanksgiving

We had a great time decorating cookies during Thanksgiving break with Stacy and Humberto and girls :) Aren't they beautiful? Family is a blessing!




Friday, November 28, 2008

New Life

A very good friend had her baby on Thanksgiving. Addison Elizabeth was born healthy and on a perfect day! Her mom, Andrea and dad, Rob are very proud first time parents. I was blessed today to see and hold Addison. Thank you for allowing me the privelege :).
She's perfect!!
Disclaimer: I think I spelled her name right ?!?

Friday, November 7, 2008

I'm Thankful for Adoption


I'm not sure my girls will be thrilled that I posted this picture but here they are in Africa. Bill took this picture while he was there. Aren't they little? I'm so thankful that the spirit of adoption is something that God has for us. I'm glad that he decided to do everything he does just for me (and for you).
I'll post current pictures of them tomorrow.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

I Am Thankful for Knights!






This is my knight in shining armor. He's quick with his sword and swift on his feet. He's getting so big. Cruz is doing well in kindergarten. He tells us every morning that he hates school but he gets up and gets dressed. When he gets home in the afternoon, he always has lots of stories about the day. I am thankful for Cruz.



Wednesday, November 5, 2008

I'm Thankful for Flys



Isn't he the cutest fly you've ever seen? Brooks had to pick an insect to find facts about and to attend Mrs. Spider's Tea Party. This is the end result. Brooks is 6 years old and in 1st grade. He's a very intelligent boy who loves to read and to play lacrosse. He's my unique child. He definitely follows the beat of a different drummer. I love you Brooks!



Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Thankfulness


Today, I am thankful for my husband's football team. I know that sounds crazy but the boys are awesome. Sometimes I could do without the parents but the boys are great. Bill and his team won the Doc Martin Sportsmanship Award. They were nominated by teams they had played throughout the season. It was awesome to watch them accept their award. So I am thankful that the time and effort that Bill has put into this team has come back in a great way. A life long lesson that the boys will take with them, sportsmanship. How to get along with others and deal with things that you'd rather not. These boys have gotten a seed planted in them. I hope someday that the seed will blossom for each boy. How are you thankful today?

Monday, November 3, 2008

Thanksgiving


I was reading another blog this morning about the things she was thankful for. She gave a challenge for others and I'm accepting it. I want to NOT rush this holiday season. I want to make sure my children know what and how to be thankful, even for the small things. So today I begin my once a day blog on things that my family are thankful for. Please accept my challenge to you and let me know or tell others of your blessings.

Today, I am thankful for my husband. Sometimes it's easy to forget all their needs and desires because we go through day to day life just "getting through". So I'm thankful for all the things he does day to day. He is the sole provider for our family. He works very hard making sure we have everything we need and lots of things we want (and there's a lot of us :)) He is a very smart guy. I'm thankful that he's full of common sense and and is able to think things through to the tiniest detail. He's a great dad! Thanks for working so hard for all of us. I love you.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

10 Things You May Not Know About Me


This is for Jessica (my sweet sister in law):

1. I am older than Bill.
2. I have a degree in Social Work with a minor in Psychology.
3. I have never worked in my "field".
4. I want to dance. (But I have no and I mean no rhythm.)
5. I love bananas but not banana tasting things. i.e. runts, candy (YUCK!)
6. My parents live with me.
7. I have two older brothers.
8. I tried out for a woman's football league right after Brooks was born. I even made the team.
9. I can play the clarinet.
10. I've been on the Oprah show.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

A Visit From Wyoming


I haven't been so good in the blogging world lately. Here's a picture of Bill's grandparents when they came to visit this summer. It had been awhile since Bill had seen them. They had never met our adopted girls and the the three younger biological kids were too young to remember them. It was great to see them.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Kids


I just wanted to let everyone know that we're still alive and very busy. Sports and school dictate our life right now. Bill is coaching William's football team. They're both having a great time and learning lots. Brooks is playing lacrosse. He is definately aggressive! Afton is playing softball and her time has gotten lots better. She plays 10u now and she's the youngest one on her team at 8 years old. Patience is in the pep band. They get to play at the JV games and will get to play for basketball this winter. Kolu spend most of her time growing. She is sooo tall! Everyone comments on how tall she's getting. Zinnah is a social butterfly (surprise, surprise). Working on school is a full time job. Last bus not least is Cruz. He's in kindergarten and doing very well. We wern't sure how he would do but he fits in. He has lots of (girl) friends that keep him in line. They tie his shoes and make sure he gets where he needs to be.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Emergency Room Visit For Cruz


We haven't had to visit the emergency room at all for hurt children, although there were a couple of split heads that probably would have warranted stitches but Bill's great with butterfly bandages:) On Sunday night we put the kids to bed and not even 10 minutes later Brooks came running out yelling "Cruz is hurt bad!" I went to check on him and he had his hand over his mouth crying. When I had him open his mouth I knew there must be teeth missing. He had blood, lots of blood. You know the thick dark red kind that oozes instead of just being there? After assessing the situation, Bill & I decided it was best to go to the emergency room. After waiting for an hour and the Dr. looking at it, it was determined that he had ripped his lip completely up so that there was a hole in the area where his nasal passage was. The Dr. determined that he wouldn't put stitches in because it would probably cause more problems than fix them by trapping bacteria in it. Your upper lip lies down and is tight so he thought that it would probably heal o.k. After looking at it tonight it looks pretty good. It's definitely bruised inside and his lip is still slightly swollen but not bad like I thought it would. Kids are incredible.

I never told you the reason for the bleeding, suffice it to say that his 2 older brothers were involved:)

Boy I love them

Thursday, July 31, 2008

School Starts

No the picture has nothing to do with the topic :)

School started for us on Tues. Cruz's first half day was yesterday and he did great. No holding on to me and clinging. After I left he even decided to talk to his teacher (who he hadn't talked to ever). He had a great time. He told me he might even like school. His first full day will be tomorrow.

Zinnah and William are in 5th grade this year. At Union Academy that's middle school. They have their own lockers and travel from class to class for the different periods. William thinks he's all that! Hopefully he can stay focused.

Patience is in 6th grade and is definately the big sister at the middle school. She lets both William and Zinnah know "how to do it right". Sounds like an awfully big job :).

Afton & Kolu are in 3rd grade. They both enjoy school. This will be their first year with EOG (End of Grade testing). They begin their pre-tests next week.

And finally my Brooksy; He's in 1st grade. He is soooo big. He loves having his own desk instead of tables and his own agenda. He knows he's in the big league.

Have a great summer! It'll be over soon.



Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Softball, softball and more softball



Afton had the 2nd of her three allstar tournaments this past weekend. They did very well on Sat. beating every team they played. That set them up for a great seeding in the single elimination tournament on Sun. They played a team they should have squashed first but pulled it out in the end. So that meant on to the championships against their biggest rivals Mint Hill. Every time they've played this paticular Mint Hill team they beat them by 1 run. It's their time :) The girls played a great game but came up 1 run short with a score of 5-6 in the end. That's o.k. though, they took second and got trophies. They were excited. Mint Hill, you better watch out for the hurricanes, here they come!!!




Cruz's Bling


Cruz had a cavity in his back molar (bummer). After the whole fiasco of finding a dentist without dental insurance he went and got his first (and hopefully last) baby root canal and his silver crown. So here he is sporting his BLING.


Sunday, June 15, 2008

Happy Father's Day




Today Bill & William are on their way back from Annapolis, Maryland. William had a lacrosse tournament there over the weekend. The boys lost but had a great time. They got to tour the naval academy and William is star struck. He's already worried about picking the right college. :) Afton had a softball tournament this weekend close to home. They made it to the semi-finals but couldn't beat that darn Mint-Hill team. (We WILL get them :)) So, all of that being said the kids are wondering if they'll get to see daddy today at all. They're supposed to be in about 8:00 p.m. if all goes well.


Happy Father's Day to the men in my life. May God bless you both another year.


Thank You Bill for being such a wonderful father. I certainly couldn't do this without you. I love You!




Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Silly Kids, that's what suncreen is for!

Yes, these are two of my beautifully red (white) children. Now they know why I insist on sunscreen. I'll bet they'll remember next time. :)




































It has been 95 -100 here everyday. It's soooo hot. We need the rain. Anyone want to help with a rain dance?

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Discovery Place

Bill's Mom is here visiting from Utah. When she comes to visit we always try to "do it all". Today we went to the Discovery Place and had a great time. Discovery Place is a science and technology center with hands on exhibits. The kids loved it.



William was all tuckered out after pedalling this bike to make the blender and drill work. Doesn't he look like he's working hard?


Here is Patience just chilling. She's just too cool.


Zinnah's working hard:)





Kolu just sat down and watched the movie on the heart. Doesn't she look comfy?




Don't worry, Brooks is fine:) They have a pretend PET scan machine that the kids could lay in. Doesn't it look real? Afton kept asking, "Does is hurt?" She finally laid down in.





Here's my wonderful husband and his friend T-Rex and Triceratops. He's just loves having his picture taken (just kidding).



Here's Afton brushing this big mouth's teeth.


Cruz is flying high. He thought he was "big stuff'" getting to go up in the vacuum chair by himself. He did great. This was his favorite part of the museum.







I had to add this one. I wish it was on video though. Cruz was using a blue screen to snow board. All he could see was his body on a snow board and he had to miss a bunch of obstacles and jump off of jumps. He did great. He looked like a snowboarding fool!








Here they all are. All seven kids enjoying vacation.



From our family to yours; Happy New Year!!