Happy Birthday Cade!

Cade is 12 today! To be honest, I can't believe he's only turning 12. It seems like he's been 12 forever :) Cade is my homerun hitting, football throwin, beast of a boy. He came out huge and hasn't slowed down yet. He just passed me up in height (I'm 5'6") and wears a size 11 shoe. I adore him! He acts like a tough guy but is a sweet ole' softy on the inside.

 



 (Cade's the one doing the hittin')

Last weekend during a baseball game (I was not there), he smoked a line drive foul that went screaming over the back fence. (It would have been an amazing homerun had it not been foul!) There was a team warming up back there behind the fence and a little sister who was sitting on an ice chest. The ball hit the little girl and knocked her off the ice chest. She started screaming crying. Richard said Cade was visibly shaken and went on to pop out on the next pitch. By the time Cade made it back to the dugout, he was sobbing. Richard thought he must be hurt but instead he was upset about hitting the little girl. I love that about him! He was still shaken hours after when he got home when he replayed it for me.

 

My boy has a style all his own. He's the only boy I have that cares about his clothes, hair and shoes. He's definitely got some "swag" going on :) He's not afraid to start the trends...and usually does. This school year, it's been high socks and sperrys so far. (This was the first day of school. I can't believe how much he's grown!!!)

 



He's not afraid to try new things.  This year was basketball.  It didn't take him long to get the basics down.  He ended up playing on the 7th grade team too!  We were very impressed :)


 My boy loves babies...and they love him right back. Yesterday, I posted that top picture on facebook. My sil commented that my 4 yr. old niece said "Hey that's Cade. I love him. I want to kiss him all over the cheeks."! lol... LOVE!!

 


He's my all-American boy...and I love him!

Happy Birthday Cade!!!

We love you and are so proud of you!!

Spring Has Sprung!

I know there are many of you who are still covered with snow.  I can honestly say...I can't even imagine!!  We have been pulling out the shorts here and exposing our white pasty skin to those unfortunate enough to see it :)  Like everyone, I love the spring.  We'd better enjoy it while it lasts here.  It won't be long and we will be melting when we walk outside!!

Here are a few pics from the last few days.

I bribed Cade to model for a few shots.  I wanted to try a couple of things with someone who might actually sit still for more than 10 seconds!!






LOVING this shot of the swing!!!




Our exciting news is that this cast comes off WEDNESDAY!!  Whoo Hoo!!  We only have to have it for 2 weeks thankfully.  I can't imagine what it would smell like if we had to keep it longer!  UGH!!  I'm going to video her running around in it.  You wouldn't even know she had it if it wasn't big and purple!  lol...

I just saw on facebook that the average 4 year old asks 437 questions per day!  That would be 874 between the 2 of mine!!  Holy Moly!

The Princesses

I'm sure most of you know that princess dresses are a big deal in this house! We have a very impressive collection of dresses, and I can assure you that there's not a day that goes by that those dresses do not get played with.

 In the beginning of March, Lisa challenged us in a photography class I am taking, to find an inspirational image and try to shoot our own take on it. I found an image with an adorable little girl and some princess dresses. I knew I had to do this!

 This is what I came up with:

 I have to say...I love it!
 At first, I was disappointed that Gracie would have a cast on but now I just think it adds to the whole feel of the image. I even love that she has some mud on her toe! 
This image shows what life is like with these two: naked girls surrounded by princess dresses, being prissy and crazy all at the same time :)

 I just ordered a huge canvas to go over my tub. I can't wait to get it!!

Western Day

We had Western Day last week.  I have to admit, this is my favorite preschool day!  I can't believe this is my last year of preschool!!!

Here are some pics of my cowgirls :)

Don't you love these pants??  I found them on Zulily months ago and knew they'd be perfect for this day!




Wesleigh just happened to be the leader, so I was able to get some pics of her doing her "duties".




Gracie was belting out the pledge.  Just hearing those little Chinese girls saying the pledge of allegiance makes me smile :)








Learning how to do laundry "back in the day".


Western dancing.  The cutest thing ever!!


They were short a boy, so Gracie got to dance with Ms. Dupuy.




That cast has not slowed Gracie down for a second!

St. Patty's Day

What a great day we had yesterday!  Richard and the boys were out of town for baseball, so the girls and I hung with my precious friend, Laura, and her family.  They live on the parade route.  The weather was perfect, we ate way too much and we all had a blast!

Laura and Burke are waiting for their approval to travel to India to pick up their little girl, Sara!  Sara just happens to be the exact same age as my girls!!  :)  They have been waiting since before we traveled for Wesleigh!  I cannot wait to see them get off the plane with their sweet girl!!

In the meantime, they loved on my girls and helped them get some major loot at the parade :)


















Mary Margaret with the girls.  They LOVE each other!  Wesleigh kept calling her "Mary Momison".  I have no idea why...but it sure was funny!


Hope you all had a very fun and very green day :)

A New Accessory

 I have to admit, when Richard and I were in China getting Gracie, we discussed the fact that we were pretty sure Gracie was going to be our ER child. I am reluctant to even speak it, but seeing as she is the first child in our family to wear this beautiful purple accessory...it seems fitting :) We spent the weekend at the ballpark...just like every other weekend. Gracie was running a few steps ahead of Wesleigh and I (nothing out of the ordinary) and she turned her ankle. It immediately swelled up really big and after a trip to the dr., she now sports this lovely purple fashion statement. She has taken it all in stride and it has not slowed her down one bit!

This is burry, but it shows her mood in the dr. office.
 

Our sweet friend, Jeff, put the cast on her leg.  She was so hysterical bossing him around the entire time.  I think I might make Richard take her to get it off!!


Gracie's teacher sent me this from school yesterday...so funny!


 These were taken yesterday. Today is Western Day, but we started celebrating a day early with our attire!! (Wait 'till you see what they're wearing today :)



SO silly!  These two are nuts!


I know...so tacky.  I guess when you live with a house full of boys...this is what happens!


One sweet story:
When I told Gracie we were going to the doctor, she immediately got nervous and saying that she didn't want to go.  Wesleigh put both hands on Gracie's shoulders and said this, "Gwacie, it's going to be all wight. I'm going to be with you the whole time because that's what fwiends do".  Then she gave her a hug.  So stinkin' sweet!  What in the world would they ever do without each other???

Focus

 I have been thinking lately that this might be my problem.  Focus...or the lack thereof.  Actually, more than lack of focus, a division of focus.  There are so many things on a daily basis that I have to and want to focus on.  These focal points range from laudry to baseball and photography to Downton Abbey :)  I keep hoping I'll turn into a person who only needs about 4 hours of sleep a night.  Maybe then I could spend a little time focusing on everything.  I am afraid that by the time I've finished with the "have to's", there's only limited time for the "want to's".  I have to pick and choose.  I guess it's no surprise that my blog has been at the back of the list for a couple of weeks.  So what has been getting my "want to" focus??  Let's see...photography has.  I am taking a class presently and this month's assignment has me very excited.  I'm sure I'll be sharing it here soon!  Exercise has.  I started working out at a gym when the girls started school in Sept. and I am proud to say I am still spending many hours each week there.  The girls' spring/summer wardrobe has :)  I'm pretty sure you know I'm not joking!!  I'm not ashamed to admit that I have spent many hours lately looking at new spring lines of clothes and making choices :)

Here are some random pics from the past couple of weeks:

This might be one of my favorite shots of the girls.  It was completely spontaneous and I love that their hair is all over the place!  They had gotten back from gymnastics and were enjoying the warm weather we've been having :)


Wesleigh's "tiny hiney".  I can't help but squeeze their hineys when they wear these little shorts!!


Spending some downtime in their room.  Notice Gracie's quilt?  Yep...even princesses get hand-me-downs from big brothers :)


Did you notice all the princess dresses?  I do not know why they started doing this but Gracie is adamant that every dress has to be on a hanger and she hangs them all here on Wesleigh's bed every single day.  And I move them all back to their spots every single night.  Who knows??


I love this of Wesleigh and Britney.  Just relaxing early in the morning :)


I added this because I thought it was a neat project.  I initially had a bad attitude about it because it forced me to find snapshots which sometimes don't exist because of our house fire years ago.  This timeline was different though because Braden had to divide the events into positive and negative events, and some of them needed to be negative.  I was happy that Braden had a hard time coming up with more than one negative event.  As you can see, our adoptions rank right up there to his own birth and then all of his deer are next :)  Love that boy!!


So, now that cute spring clothes are ordered and the weather is warming up, that should lead to some more focus on photography, which hopefully will yield itself to some pics that I want to blog!!!