Happy Birthday Trevor!

Trevor will turn 11 on Oct. 12.   A group here in town decided to throw him a birthday party a little early.  Trevor seemed to have a good time (and so did my kiddos!!)

Tiana and her sweet mama.

Do you think my girlies love the face paint??  Oh, yes...they DO!

How funny is this?  They have no idea what these crazy things are, but they're happy to pose in front of them!  I love these girls!!

Tyson is Trevor's 4 year old brother.  Such a cutie!

My girls have never had cotton candy.  Can you guess why?  I can't stand the stuff!  Of course, Daddy was happy to give in.  Thankfully, they didn't really like it :)

My big boys probably had more fun than anybody!  There were a couple of those big balls that you roll inside of.  I was doing face paint with the girls and missed it, but they had way too much fun seeing how fast they could roll each other :)

Thanking everyone for coming.  What a sweetie he is!

Happy Birthday Trevor!!

Homecomings 1 and 2

This weekend has been jam packed!  I don't think I've taken this many pics in a LONG time!  Our biggest activities were Cade's and Bryce's homecomings.

Cade has his dance on Friday night.  They don't do the boy/girl date thing yet, so their crazy bunch got together and took pics :)

Bryce's dance was Saturday night.

This is my favorite picture of the night :)  The girls always call their brothers "my prince", but when they get dressed up....they go nuts!  They were so cute with their princess dresses on.

I cannot believe this is Bryce's senior year.  Where does the time go?

Braden's homecoming is next weekend :)

Trevor Update

Things have been crazy over here, as usual.  There is so much I could be posting, and will, but I want to update you on Trevor and his family.  He is not doing well.  The tumor in his throat is growing and it is believed that he now has tumors growing in his brain.  These are causing him to have horrible migrains.  Through it all, he manages to keep his positive attitude and embrace life to the fullest.  He has had many opportunities given to him lately by others who are moved by his story.  He has attended a Saints game, gone up in a private airplane, and performed a science experiment at a high school (yep...that's what he wanted to do!) lol...

Trevor's mom, Allison, has her hands full.  She is a single mom of 3 small children, one of which is losing his battle with cancer.  Allison's story has been a story of survival from the very beginning.  As she shares it with me, I just sit there with my mouth hanging open.  Nothing has been easy for this mom.  Through it all though, I have never heard her complain!  She is sad and overwhelmed, but she is dealing with all of this with such grace.  I am honored to be a part of her story.

Right now, her youngest child is staying with us.  Tiana is 3 and fits right in to this family.  We love having her here.  Her mom misses her so much, but right now she needs to be able to focus on Trevor.

They were all over the other night and I snapped some pics.  I have also enjoyed taking some pics of Tiana while everyone else is at school.  She LOVES all the girls toys and princess dresses!!!

 Trevor wanted to shoot the guns again :)  So funny that he doesn't have a shirt on...something about this house, I'm afraid!!

I love that my boys love to make these little girls laugh!

With the girls at school, I haven't had as many photo ops lately.  I have had fun taking some pics of sweet Tiana!!

I've had a crash course in African American hair this past week :)  How about this bedhead!!!!

Please continue to pray for Trevor and his whole family.  They need it!

Tonsils

So Wesleigh had her tonsils taken out Monday.  She was so big and brave.  I am always amazed when these girls are put in situations where their security is tested.  Wesleigh had that with the surgery, and Gracie has had it when she got on the school bus each day without Wesleigh and also when she had to get 3 cavities filled this morning.  I could not be prouder of both of them!

 This pic is from the ride home.  When it was time for her to go to the back, she got up and walked off with the nurse.  She wouldn't even stop to give me a kiss!  She blew me one as she walked out the door :)  She woke up very unhappy but after a little nap in recovery, she woke up as her sweet self.

She has been able to enjoy her frozen concoctions on the sofa (which is a big no-no!), and she's had her mommy all to herself.  She told me on the day of her surgery that "this is the best day ever!".   Poor baby!!  Has to have surgery to get some alone time!!

For the most part, she's been great.  We had one bad day, but other than that she's been good.  We did have a scissors mishap, however.  She's been doing her school work at home this week, and needed scissors.  I do not ever let them play with scissors!!  I had warned her that she had to watch where she put the scissors because she had gotten pretty close to her hair.  You can guess what happened!!!

(yes...that's my horribly messy closet in the background...that's real life, boys and girls!)

Yep.  She didn't even tell me.  I saw her hair and freaked!  She knew I'd be mad so she took the hair and threw it away in her bathroom trash!!!  I am just thankful that it wasn't higher up.  It could have been so much worse!  Of course, she sobbed and apologized.  UGH!!!!

So...one of our days was spent at the salon getting Ms. Faith to help a sister out!  She just tapered the sides so it's not a blunt cut, and you would never know.

That same day, we decided to treat ourselves to a mani/pedi.  She was so happy to finally get out of the house.  She said "I get to get out of this house, finally??"  lol...

I bought a Hillsong CD a few weeks ago and the girls and I have been listening to it non-stop.  We have a favorite song that we belt out whenever it comes on.  Gracie has always loved to sing.  She sang when we were in China and had this exaggerated brovato.  I am not even sure we got any video of that in China, but I decided to video her singing last night.  She absolutely cracks me up!  Enjoy!!


Pray for me!  We have family pictures scheduled for Sunday!!!!  You might not remember how our last attempt went.  Let's just say....it wasn't great!  I hired someone my kiddos do not know in hopes that they will be willing to listen to her better than me.  If I can just keep my mouth shut and let her do her job, all will be good!!  I'll let you know!!  :)

All About Me

The girls had their first "project" for kindergarten last week.  They were so excited to work on their posters.  I printed a bunch of pics and let them choose the ones they wanted to use.  I also wrote exactly what they said about each one.  So cute!

They each wanted to add pics of them in China :)

We are having a great time in kindergarten so far!  The school just added another kindergarten teacher so starting Monday, their classes will be smaller!  YAY!!

Wesleigh is having her tonsils removed Monday!  They don't make her sick, but they are so large that they make her gag constantly.  I'm not looking forward to the surgery, but I am looking forward to having a week at home snuggling with her :)  She knows that the reason she gags is her tonsils and that we are having them removed.  The other day (after she gagged), she made the comment, "I am through with these tonsils!!"  So funny!

I had to bring Wesleigh to a pre-op appt. Friday morning, so I dropped only Gracie off at school.  Before we left home, Wesleigh went to Gracie, put her hands on her shoulders and said, "It is going to be ok.  Mommy is going to bring me to school after the doctor and I will see you at recess".  Then she hugged and kissed her.  Before Gracie got out of the car, she had to go to the back and give Wesleigh a kiss goodbye.  I love watching the relationship between these two.  I can't imagine one being without the other!  God knew...I'm so thankful we listened!

Balance

I cannot believe I have become a cell phone picture blogger!! I'm going to have to invest in one of those little lenses so at least my pics don't look so "cell phone-ish"!

 Finally....I feel like there might be a little balance back in my life... at least at this minute!  With all the kiddos in school, I have finally been able to do some of the little things... like make my bed, and pick up the house after the morning rush, read my Bible, check the boys grades regularly.  These are all things that are important to me, but have been lost in the crazy that has been my life.  I write about the range of ages that I have at home alot.  It is still an amazingly huge part of my life.  For the past couple of weeks, I've been working on this:


That is the college binder I have put together for Bryce. I'll be honest...it reminds me so much of the adoption process!! I will be honest, I'm pretty impressed with myself and how organized I am! I am so thankful that I have some extra time this year to help him prepare and make these huge decisions that are upon us.

 Of course, then.. there's this:
 

 Little 5 year olds with homework of their own to work on. This day, we were working really hard to get Gracie to write her "G" facing the right direction. I thought I might absolutely lose my mind doing this yesterday.  Of course, Wesleigh is sitting close by saying "Gwacie, just let me do it for you!"  lol...

 Lo and behold, though, look what she did this afternoon:

 Sweet Jesus!!! I don't think I've ever been prouder of her! (or happier for me!) lol... Progress!!

 I was a substitute teacher at the girls' school today. I can't tell you what a kick I get out of those girls. They truly are little celebrities there. Almost every teacher at that school has known about these girls before they even came home. They have seen them in the halls with their brothers and they are so loved. Not to mention, those two are a total hoot all on their own! ;) I got the biggest kick listening to Gracie in the bathroom talking to one of the custodians. I stood outside the door and just listened as Gracie questioned her on everything she did. Even the custodians have known these girls for years...and I love it!

 The boys got to go dove hunting last weekend and had a blast. I love to see them getting older and really becoming friends.  Look how Richard is almost on his tip toes!  Funny how he doesn't look so tall anymore :)

 

I'm not quite sure what they're going to do with those!!  They brought them all home.  Richard can't even eat them because of his allergy to anything with feathers (Yes...I'm dead serious... it's bizarre!).  I don't think I will be partaking.  I was brave enough to eat a sea worm in China, but I'm going to draw the line at this one :)