Videos

While I was attending a tea party today, I asked the girls if I could video them reading me a book.  It ended up being one of the cutest videos I have :)  Wesleigh's is a little long, but here it is, in case you want to watch:


Gracie ended up reading me the same story. It was funny to see the differences between the two of them :) Gracie's got cut in 2 because I ran out of room on my phone!

3 Years Ago...

Three years ago today, in a small room in Nanjing, China, we met this scared little girl...



Just look at her today!!










Boy has Miss Wesleigh turned this family upside down...for the better!  We never knew what we were missing before she came into our lives.  I cannot imagine life without her.  Thank you, Lord for calling us to adopt.  Thank you for choosing this precious child just for us!

Winter??

Well...true to S.Louisiana form, our weather has taken a 180 degree turn...and I am NOT complaining!  We went from 2 of the most miserable rainy, cold weeks to feeling like spring.  It is amazing.  As I type right now, I am sitting outside, soaking up some much needed vitamin D while watching the girls ride their trikes.  We had the same day yesterday so I followed them around with my camera for a while.  Here are some of my captures:














Thanks for your excitement about my upcoming trip to China!  I just can't get over that it is actually going to happen!  April is turning out to be quite a month as the girls were just asked to be flower girls in my cousin's wedding!  To say they are a little excited, would be an understatement!  I brought out our wedding photos to show them and they were beside themselves.  Wesleigh stared at one of my bridal portraits and said, "Mom, you look just like Cinderella!  Do you have on glass slippers?"  I can't even tell you how happy that made me.  I think it's probably every girls' dream (either conscious or unconscious) is  to look like Cinderella.  She kept looking at everyone and saying.  "He looks a little...different".  Yep...she's right...we were all almost 20 years younger!!!  It's amazing how time flies!!

I do have to admit, my first response to being asked was sheer panic!  Surely, they hadn't read the last post about someone TP'ing the bathroom at preschool!!!  Hoping the performance at the wedding will be a little less post-worthy.  :)

2013

I know it's been 2013 for 19 days already, but I just have to tell ya...I am excited for this year!  We have some very exciting things happening this year.  Both girls will start kindergarten, the same day Bryce starts his Senior year and Braden starts high school!  I would be lying if I did not say I was looking forward to the girls starting school.  :)  Not so excited for Bryce to begin his senior year :(

Obviously, that is still a ways off, but there is one big event coming up that I am beside myself excited about! I'm going to China!!!  NOT to adopt!!!  I am going to be able to make a trip with Pearl River Outreach to love on the children we support.  I am also going to be able to visit with the foster moms...including Gracie's!!!!  How cool is that?!?!  When I started working with PRO, I never imagined it would bring me a new daughter, new friends and amazing opportunities like this one!  We're thinking it will be sometime in April.  I cannot wait to get dates because then it will be official!  I cannot wait to experience China without the stress/excitement of adopting.  Just me, my camera, and a couple of my BFF's....and, of course, some of the cutest children in all of China!!!  HEAVEN!!

We just had 16 days straight of rain here.  To say that we were about to lose our minds is an understatement!  In fact, Gracie even TP'd the bathroom at preschool with 2 entire rolls of toilet paper!!  SERIOUSLY!!!  I am going to blame it on being stuck inside for 16 days because surely, I would not have a child that would actually do that!!  RIGHT???  Lord, help me!!

Because of the weather, my camera has hardly come out of the bag.  I did snap a couple though:

Wearing our Team Ivy "Joy" shirts to support her as she had another heart surgery.  (She is doing great, by the way!!)


Our oldest girl.  Britney is 13 years old and is definitely showing her age.  She can't hear and can hardly see, but she's sweet as ever.


I love this shot of Wesleigh loving on her.


That's all I got.  Thankfully, the sun has been out for a couple of days and things are starting to dry out a little.  Maybe I'll get some gems to share with you soon :)

Happy Saturday!!

T-O-E-O-Y

As parents of preschoolers, we often find ourselves spelling words we don't want the girls to understand.  We did this with the boys also, as I'm sure you do at your home as well.  The boys never seemed to care.  In fact, who knows if they actually knew what we were doing :)  The girls, however, are a different story.  Wesleigh, especially, becomes quite agitated when we spell words and she doesn't know what we're saying.  She knows that the letters make sounds and together make words, but she's not there yet...and it drives her crazy!

I don't know if you've watched Toy Story a million times like we have here, but there is a point in the movie where Woody says to Buzz, "You are a TOY!  T-O-Y toy!".  Wesleigh loves that line and has now adopted her version of it when she wants to spell words instead of say them.  Her version is "T-O-E-O-Y".  It's always the same and she uses it quite regularly.  I even hear her saying that when she and Gracie are pretend playing.  I guess that's what moms do.  Spell words...they just all happen to be spelled T-O-E-O-Y :)

We have been rained in for a couple of weeks now, so opportunities to snap a couple of pics outside have been few and far between.  These two are always game, though.  :)




A couple of months ago, I posted a video of Wesleigh.  I finally sat with Gracie for a couple of minutes and interviewed her.  Here is that video if you want a peek at my crazy girl:

Basketball???

I am so proud of my Cade. He decided last year that he wanted to try to play basketball. You see, my boys played basketball one year when they very young. We were at the gym every single night between the 3 of them and we decided that basketball was not our family's sport :) We wanted a break between football and baseball.

 However, when Cade decided he wanted to play, he began to practice in the driveway constantly. We laughed about the fact that basketball did not seem to be his particular talent and really laughed when the coach (after football season) asked him to play on the basketball team without trying out. When Cade told me, I laughed and said, "Did you tell the coach that you stink at basketball?" His response, "I KNOW!!" lol... So funny.

Fast forward a couple of months and I can truly say, we have so enjoyed basketball season! Cade has improved SO much and not only plays on the 6th grade team, but also the 7th grade team! I do have to say that he plays basketball like a true football player :)  He leaves it all on the court and I will admit that I cringe numerous times a game.  Let's just say...I'm glad I'm not on the court playing on the other team!!

I am so proud of him. Not for playing well, but for being willing to put himself out there and try something out of his comfort zone. I also love that he is willing to put in the hard work to see the rewards. Here are some shots of my boy in action :

 











Love that boy!