Wild West Extravaganza

On March 29, we are having the kids' birthday party. The picture is the invitation that I sent to family and friends. It is Luke and Grace dressed up as outlaws. I am so excited for the party. We are going to have a wild west bbq. Luke really wanted to play games so we are going play "Panning for Gold", "Pin the sheriff badge on Luke" (I made a life sized poster of the invitation picture at kinkos), "A Shooting Game" (with water guns), "A Gold Hunt", and of course a Cowboy boot pinata. I am making a horseshoe shaped cake complete with a wild west scene on top (I will take pictures). I ordered a ton of stuff through Oriental trading company, but I think my favorite thing is the boot shaped mugs that I got for all the kids (we are expecting 12 kids), so our Wild West Party will be a Wild time! I can't wait to post pictures.

Pictures From Wal-Mart

I took the kids to get their pictures taken for Easter and their birthdays. I was looking to save money so I went to the portrait studio at Wal-Mart. I can't believe how well they turned out. Apparently the studio just went digital. Anyway, my kids are freaks for picture taking. By the end of the session Luke was, "ok, take another one of me" and he started posing himself. Yikes! Here are a few pictures but expect to get some hard copies soon because you get like 900million pictures at Wal-Mart. Enjoy!

My baby is 3!!!!

It is official. I no longer have a baby in the house. She is three years old. I can hardly believe it. She is using the potty and sleeping in a big girl bed. She is so funny and such a girly girl. We are celebrating the kids' birthdays at the end of the month since they are so close with a Wild West Party. But on her actual day we picked up our copy of 101 Dalmations (also know as "the puppy movie"). We got cupcakes and happy meals. She also picked out some princesses at the Disney Store. A girl can never have too many princesses.

(Princess Pocahauntus, Mulan, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Sleeping Beauty (aka Peeping Booty), Snow White (aka Snow Wipe), and Jasmine)

And of course front and center with a princess pose

PRINCESS GRACE

Dishwashers Are a Blessing

I have been wanting a new dishwasher for a year now. My old dishwasher sounded like a tractor everytime I ran it, and the dishes had to be positioned just right so that the water would spray them for optimal cleanliness. Anyway it has been fun have a dishwasher that is bigger and has more space. It also has all these cool buttons like eco wash, and it is also a steralizer option. The main reason I chose this one was because it was an energy star appliance. It is the little things :)

A Baby Shower For Me!!!!

I could hardly believe that the ladies in the church wanted to give me a baby shower for Luke and Grace. It is the last thing I ever expected, but a complete fulfillment of a desire in my heart. After the dedication, the put on a whole Italian Feast and shower for me. I was absolutely overwhelmed by their sincere hearts and generosity. 30 ladies showed up for the shower. I shared about how we adopted the kids and about foster care. Then, they "showered" me with gifts, gift cards and cash. I recieved gift cards to Fred Meyer, Kohls, Walmart and Target, an along with the cash that I was given, it totaled over $250 dollars. I could hardly believe their generosity. But, the gifts I was given was incredible too. I thought I was going to be buying the kids some summer outfits for their birthdays next month, but not now. Luke got 4 pairs of pants, 8 shirts, 1 heavy hoodie, 1 pair of church shorts for Easter, 1 pair of Cars pj's, and 1 sweater, along with bubbles, tools, kinex toy, an Easter book and puzzles. Gracie got: 6 complete outfits with pants, t-shirts and hoodies, 1 summer skort with matching top, 1 pair of princess pj's and 1 princess night gown, puzzles, dress up clothes (including a pink glitter boa), a princess book, bubbles and more kitchen accessories. I am still shocked and overwhelmed with how blessed we truly are.

"The Lord is God, and He has made His light shine upon us. . .You are my God, and I will give you thanks." Psalms 118

Grace's Dedication

Grace was dedicated today in the main Sunday Service. It was a really wonderful day. My mom and Roger came. Pastor Mark did a wonderful job. We knew that Grace probably would not let Pastor hold her, so it was incredible that he just went right along with the kids and sat down with them on the floor and dedicated her to the Lord. He involved Luke by holding his hand and patting his back to keep him quiet and calm. It reminds me of the scripture when Jesus tells the diciples to "let the little children come unto me." Anyway, my Mark gave announcements and prayed over the offering and then I sang a song. It was just a really special service.

A Dress For Grace

Well...I discovered that I may have a hidden talent in sewing. After searching all day last Saturday for the perfect dedication/Easter dress, and not wanting to spend 75 dollars, I decided to make one for her. Yes, it is a pretty simple pattern, but I enjoyed doing it so much and it turned out so cute. There is an underdress in pink eyelet with a pink ruffle around the bottom, and the pinafore is done in old fashioned Easter bunnies that ties with light pink ribbon. It turned out so cute. I even managed to double line everything to with in a light pink cotton. Anyway, in case you can't tell I am proud.

Gracie's New Hair Cut

Gracie got a new hair cut. Her hair was really long and very tangly after a bath. So, she was more than excited to have her hair cut. She usually tags along with dad and Luke when they go get their hair cut, but she never gets her hair cut. She was more than happy to let me play beauty salon with her hair. I think it turned out super cute!

Luke's teacher/Job Update

It was an insane week last week with my job. I learned a lot about government and politics. I wasn't too happy about it either. Nothing is ever about the kids, but about making sure the school district doesn't get sued. Honestly I am quite disappointed with my job. It was nothing like I thought it would be. It is more about paperwork than kids. The kids are wonderful but very challenging. They should be the top priority in the district but they are not (their paperwork is). The teacher before me did nothing with the kids and never collected any data. I had to write two IEP's and hold meetings on kids I didn't even know. By the skin of my teeth I pulled it off, but I am sure my blood presure was up last week. But I am only signed to be employed through June 18 and then I am done. I won't be returning. I plan on stealing as many good ideas and resources that I can for my files.

As if the stress of last week wasn't enough, I had a call from Luke's teacher about his placement next year for kindergarten. She is considering wanting to put him in a developmental kindergarten. I couldn't believe what I was hearing because Luke has the skills and cognitive ability to be in regular ed, but not the attention span (which I agree). What I don't understand and don't agree with is why placing him in a self-contained classroom would benefit him at all. I also don't think regular kindergarten will work either. His lack of attention and 25 kids to one teacher will lead to behavior problems. So, it looks like I am going to be his teacher next year. I thought about private school, but most of the teachers will not have the education that I have and I would be having to tutor him too. So, I am going to school him at home with socialization built into his school day (sports, playgroups, homeschool resources, swimming, etc.) Mark and I have been talking, and he is going to build me a school room in our garage. It won't be through the whole garage but through about 1/3. He is going to put in a window too. I am excited at this prospect. So we will see.

Our 9th Anniversary!!!!

We decided to go to Long Beach for our anniversary. We took Luke and Grace too. I don't know if it is all the years of not being able to have kids, but sometimes I just want them close to me. We had a great day. We took the car (which is something that hasn't happened for a long time because we had more than two kids) and drove to the beach. The beach was pretty and stormy. It rained, but I always like it when it rains. It reminds me of right after we got married. Mark took me to Long Beach. On the way to the beach Mark had me look in the glove compartment. I found a jewlrey box. He has had this thing lately of just randomly surprising me with jewlrey. I opened the box to find a beautiful pair of emeraly and diamond earings. I was shocked because I wasn't expecting anything. We had a great day!

The Kids Were Spoiled Rotten

Well. . .the kids were offically spoiled rotten during Christmas. They got so many gifts that I had to put some away for their birthdays. We all had a wonderful time and enjoyed seeing our Uncle D (my brother David). Time just seems to fly by. Luke's big present was a tool bench and the tools in the picture went with it. Gracie's big present was a princess bike complete with matching knee and elbow pads and a new bike. Mark got motor bike boots for his dirt bike. I got a new sewing machine, perfume and gifts cards. My mom also surprised me with a COACH bag. I too felt a little spoiled.