Andrew's Birthday Party

Andrew had his birthday on the 5th of November. With everyones busy schedule we really didn't have much time to celebrate. We had from 4pm to 6pm exactly. In that time he opened presents, had hamburgers for dinner, had cake and ice cream and then he watched part of Transformers (one of his presents) before he left for class. The cake that I made him was a German chocolate torte. He said it was very good and I thought he would like it because it included 3 of his favorite ingredients; chocolate, nuts and coconut! He was happy because the kids don't like nuts and I haven't been eating sugar so he doesn't have to share!

Raegen turned Three!

We celebrated her special day mostly on Sunday the 20th of September because that is the best day to get us all together.
Here is the cake I made. My first one with real buttercream icing. And check out the flowers I made..... I think they're pretty good for my first time.
Trenton was so happy to read the cards to Raegen. Malory and Raegen. These sisters love eachother lots!Rae Rae and her daddy. She has him wrapped around her little pinky. Not the best quality picture but cute anyway. Daddy was happy because She picked to have hamburgers for dinner. They are one of her favorite meals right now, without the bun! Daddy is so proud.
My baby girl and I! Well don't tell her that I said baby, she would say, "NO! I am a BIG GIRL!"Our Good friends the Nugents came down from Borger to celebrate the special day. It worked out great because this particular Sunday was Stake conference so they had come down on Saturday, spent the night at our place and then came back for the festivities. This is Lacee (Nice glasses Lacee) with their two sweet boys Kolby (in her lap) and Kaden. Thanks for joining us!Ready to make a wish??!Here is the inside of the cake. It was supposed to have more of a marbled affect but I messed up. It still turned out nice though. Luke Nugent, Daddy, Rae and Trent enjoying the cake! And Lacee in the background.Then we went over to the park for a while.All ready for bed in her new Dora Jammies.So the next day, on her actual birthday. I made her one of her favorite things for breakfast...... Smoothies! (Nice afro with the sun shining in on it huh?!)

Then she wanted to go to McDonalds for chicken nuggets, fries and a sprite. After that I took her to the cheapie theater at the mall to see Ice Age 3. And after we got there, got her a popcorn, sat down and 5 min. into the show she tells me......... "Mom, I gotta pee" and is uh uhh. I say, "Hold it" But it was a little too late for that. She had an accident. OOOPS. So I did what any good mom would do. Because she was sitting in one of those plastic booster seats, there were only 2 other people in the theater, the theater smelled like pee anyway (hence the cheapie theater) I wiped up the seat and we finished the movie. (Don't judge me, I know you would've done the same thing!) By the way...... Her hand in this picture shows how she does the peace sign.
One of her other favorite meals is spaghetti so I made that for dinner.

And of coarse we had to sing again. So we put the candle back in what was left of the cake, sang and she made her wishes again.

All in all, she had a really great birthday!! We love our little Angel and can't imagine our lives without her. Happy Birthday sweet baby Rae!

School has started.......... again :(

I don't know why but I was trying to write above the picture of Malory and Trenton but kept deleting the picture. Anyway..... the above picture of them was taken right before we took them to their first day of school. Malory 7th grade and Trenton 5th. So sad...... I can't believe that summer is over and school is starting. I really do miss my kids while they are at school and I love summer and hate having them go back. Maybe it's just that I like summer so much because there is no set routine to follow by and less structure. But it's probably everything combined.

Here is Raegen on the way to take them to school.

It doesn't look like she is to sad for them to be gone! Well she really was and kept saying all day, "Mommy? Mal and Trent at school??"
Right after we dropped Malory off she was walking up to the school and I called her name and she turned and this is the picture we got. How perfect, right in front of the school marquee and no other kids in the picture. I don't think I could do that again even if I tried. Did I mention she is in Jr high now?? Oh I think I did. CRAZY!!
As soon as we got home Raegen ate her breakfast and then enjoyed "her shows" (Dora) after a summer with mostly not getting to watch what she wants because of 2 older siblings! So I guess she isn't missing them anymore. And doesn't she look comfortable??? She is funny.
And here is Trenton after his first day of school. We just picked him up and he had a great day but said he was HOT! Can't imagine why??? He wore 2 shirts and one long sleeve and long pants. It was only 96 degrees today. Silly kid. But he looked handsome in his new school outfit!!

Baseball Season

It is Baseball season again!  Trenton really enjoys playing baseball.  This year he is on the Yankees, if you couldn't tell.  

Our first game was supposed to be last Saturday but the winds were 60 miles per/hour so it was cancelled.  So last night was the first game.  He plays mostly in left and right field, but last night he was short-stop for one inning.  And at practices they have had him practice catching.  He really likes to play catcher so hopefully they'll use him in a game some time.
He made some great hits the first two times he was up to bat, sending two other runners home.  But because league rules state that every time a team gets 5 runs per inning they switch to the other team. So that happened both times.  And the 3rd time he was up he walked to first base.  

Up to bat.........
waiting at first........
Coming in after a 5th run was made.  
The final score was 15 to 2 for the Yankees!  Go Yankees!!

FINALLY!!

So we are finally, FINALLY.  Approved for foster care/ adoption!  We started the process last October so it has been 6 months.  For me it is like seeing a long awaited pregnancy test that reads positive!!  I am so thrilled, nervous, anxious all of those feelings right now and can't wait to see what is in store for our family.  We will keep you all posted.  

She's in braids!

So here are some pictures of my First attempt at corn rows!  I have been researching and wanting to try for a while now and I finally got ambitious today and gave it a whirl!  They're obviously not the best but I think for a first shot I did pretty good.  What do you think?

Isn't that the biggest grin you have ever seen?







10 rows total and it took me about 2 hours!  Thanks to popcorn and Dora Raegen held still and was a real trooper!  And she thinks she looks pretty good.  After every braid she would ask, "What doin' mom?" then she would want to see it in the mirror and would grin from ear to ear!  

Oh the things they say

Trenton really has a funny sense of humor and has great come backs.  But he usually only shows this side around close family.  So the other day Raegen was on the toilet (working on potty training).  I told her if she went I would give her a treat.  Then comes this conversation with Trenton:

Trenton:  Mom, what kind of treat are you giving Raegen.

Me:  A tootsie roll.

Trenton:  Can I have one?

Me:  No, they are for her if she goes potty.

Trenton:  Well, I go potty on the toilet all of the time and have for years.  Don't you think I should get a treat too!

 Trenton, you are sooo silly!  So I gave him one for being such a goofball!  

HOLY CRAP!! He's 10!!

Only 11 days late for this post but I have been trying to post it for 4 days!  Computer issues!!  

Anyway, Trenton turned 10 on Jan. 18th.  His cake was easy because he really isn't a fan of cake and just wanted a pan of brownies.  Now I can handle that!!  

He was very happy that his Grammy was able to make it for his birthday!  And if you can't tell it looks like she gave him a baseball bat!  When he asked for one I said, " I thought you already had a baseball bat?"  He said, " Mom, that is a T-ball bat!"  all in a DUH mom voice.  OOPs sorry, what do mom's know anyway right?  
He was very excited for Indiana Jones lego for the wii!  I think he may have already passed the entire thing.  Or he is close to finishing it.  I don't know.  He stayed up til 1 am on his birthday playing it.  Only because he didn't have school the next day and his uncle Alex told him to tell me to let him stay up that late and told him to go for it!  It was a struggle for him but he was determined.  He kept asking what time it was and I would say, "oh 12:30"  And then he'd reply "ok, only a half hour more"  It was funny.
He got a rip stick.  He had mentioned before Christmas that he wanted one.  So being the great mom that I am I picked it up the day after Thanksgiving at a smokin' deal!  When he opened it he didn't seem as excited.  We asked if he really liked it/wanted it and he hesitated not wanting to hurt our feelings.  We told him to tell the truth and he said, "not really".  So we told him we were glad that he shared his feelings rather than pretending it is what he wanted and then letting it collect dust and never get used.  So we returned it and he got the cash.  He is still trying to decide what he wants instead.  He may save up for an ipod.
On the 17th, the day before his birthday it was the Pinewood derby.  Being the chocolate lover that he is he went for the Hershey bar car.  His car came probably in the middle of the rankings.  He won some and lost some but had a great time!  His car was voted the "Most Tasty" car.  

only a month late

So I am a month late.  It's not procrastination it's called busy mom of three!  Whatever makes me feel better right??  Seriously though we used to use a pc laptop but have been having troubles with it so we are using a mac now and I am still trying to figure the whole thing out.  

We had a nice Christmas.  We stayed home and stayed in our pj's all day playing games, eating yummy food and enjoying each other it was fantastic!  Although we missed being with extended family it was fun to just relax and not have anywhere to go.   Malory wasn't feeling well anyway and spent most of the day on the couch.   But she still had a great day.  

Here the kids are Christmas Eve in their traditional new Christmas pj's.

Raegen was excited to see that Santa brought her a hee hee (horsey).  She loves to sit on it and pretend to ride and give it loves.
Trenton was thrilled that Santa brought him a guitar!
 Malory was equally and surprised that Santa brought her a keyboard!
Raegen gave Malory and Trenton new calenders.
Raegen loves her new elefun game!
Come on Trent.....  you can open it!!  Use all of your strength!

Mal loves her new bracelet.
Trenton was happy to get a new wii game.

Raegen was hamming it up in her new baker's dress up!  
And she was really excited about her Mr. Potato head set and had to stick her tongue out just like Mrs. Potato head!
Malory got her own Twilight book and a journal.  She was very very happy!
Again, we had a nice Christmas and hope that all of you did as well.  And we wish everyone a happy new year and hope the best for everyone!