Cute or Crazy?

Definitely a must read! Okay, now keep in mind that these two little bugs are both only "7" years old. I think this is so cute but I am still pondering my thoughts about all of this. So, the boy in this picture, his name is Drake and of course the cute little button in the pink dress is my Lacey May. On with the story of how this photo came to be. Drake and Lacey have a little "crush" on each other and they are also really good friends. His family has invited Lacey to go to dinner with them a couple of times and they have taken her to the mall with them also on some of their outings. The whole family just adores Lacey and they think she is so much fun and so cute. Well, Drake has an older sister, Kayla, whom Ashley is really good friends with and she also gets invited to go hang out with their family when they go out to eat or to the mall. On one of these occasions when they went to the mall, Drake decided that he wanted to get a gift for Lacey. So his parents bought her this adorable little pink dress and some cute little shoes to go with it. When Ashley got home she told me they had done this and I just assumed it was probably just a gift for Christmas. Apparently I was wrong! The next day, Sunday morning, Drake shows up with this gift box for Lacey and wanted her to open it so he could see her reaction. Of course when she saw the gift she was absolutely thrilled and Drake wouldn't leave until she went and tried it on so he could see her in it! It was so cute I couldn't resist getting a picture of them together before he went back home. So, do you understand my pondering thoughts about all of this? Lacey is only 7 and she is already being chased by boys! And boys who get her gifts even! That is truly scary! I think I am most certainly going to have to keep my eye on her, and my shotgun by the door!!

SWEET 16

So, Renae is officially SWEET 16 now! I am a little slow at getting this posted, but better late than never! Right? Her birthday was November 3 and from the pictures I am sure you can see why she is sooo excited. Yes, we broke down and got her a cell phone. She was so surprised she could hardly contain herself. We figured since she was 16 now and going to be out dating and hanging out with friends more that she would need to be able to get a hold of us if she needed to. Ha-Ha! Actually we got it so WE could get a hold of her when we needed to! So you see, it's just for more parental control!! It's also a good thing to hold over her head when we need to ground her for letting her grades drop. Isn't parenting just grand? But seriously, Renae is a great kid and I just love her to pieces. I just like to tease her and give her a lot of crap sometimes. I am so grateful for her and I feel so blessed to have her living here with us and for all the talks and fun that we have together. She is just the BESTEST and I really am proud of her!! I love you Renae-nae.

Mommy's Little Princess

Isn't she just so sweet? I have no idea what she is doing in this picture but I though it was so cut because this is typical of something that she does at any given time.

Yo Homie! What's happenin'?
What part of PRINCESS don't you understand?
I told you I would post pictures of Alaya in her dress up that she got for her birthday. I would have scrapbooked these pictures and made them super duper cute, if only I had Jill's Creative Memories digital program, but I don't, so the pictures are going to have to be cute enough just as they are. Which I think they are anyway, but DANGIT I wish I had Jill's program. She does the cutest stinking stuff on her blog with it and I am soooo jealous! One of these days I too will have that program and my blog will become utterly AMAZING! Well maybe, if I can figure out how to work the program as great as Jill does. She is incredible!

Another BAD Hair Day!

Another crazy hair day at school I just had to post about because they look so silly. Personally, I never would have gone to school like this, but the girls' love it and think it is so much fun. Ashley especially likes to go completely crazy, and she definitely has the hair to do it. These pictures really don't do their DO's much justice because they looked a lot crazier to me than the pictures really show. Ashley actually had little black plastic spiders in hers that you can't see in the pictures at all. It was pretty funny and she was worried about them falling out in P.E. I think she only lost one all day so that wasn't too bad. You go girls!!

Snow?

Are you kidding me? It's only October 12 for heaven's sake! That's Eastern Idaho for ya I guess, and I am not at all happy about this! I hate snow! I always have and I always will and nothing will ever change my mind about that. Including my husband who thinks it's wonderful. Of course he grew up in Bolivia where there was no snow until he was 13 and then the rest of his growing up was in Sierra Vista, Arizona where there obviously no snow there either. So he likes all this "beautiful snow". Yuck! I grew up here my whole life and you would think I would be used to it by now. NOT! I still hate it every year and winter is soooo depressing to me. Every once in a while I will go and build a snowman with the girls, IF I HAVE TO. The only thing I like about winter is getting to wear my sweaters and that is seriously about it. Thank the heavens that the snow was all melted later in the day. I was happy about that!

Alaya's 2nd Birthday!

So, Alaya is officially two years old now! She loved her little birthday party that we had for her and it was so much fun watching her get so excited about her presents that she got. Her favorites were her baby doll, her dress up, and her Dora Doll (or should I say Dorla, according to her) that she got from Grandpa and Grandma H. She didn't quite know what to think when we all started to sing Happy Birthday to her and all of our attention was on her and her alone. We had to tell her a few times to blow out the candles before she figured out that is what she was supposed to do. Her daddy made the cake!

She was concentrating so hard on getting her presents open and she was getting a bit frustrated when she couldn't rip through them fast enough!

This is her baby doll that she absolutely loves. It was the first thing she wanted open and then her dress up was the next thing. She couldn't wait to get her clothes off and her dress up on. I will post some of those pictures later because they are just too stinking cute to pass up.

Daddy asked her she wanted money for her birthday too. She said yes and he handed her a one dollar bill. She was so excited she started jumping up and down on the chair and was so proud of her new money!

This is the face of an excited and very happy little two year old! I personally think she is just too cute for her own good. Of course Icould be just a little prejudiced!

Little Miss Aymara

Ever since Aymara started Pre-school she thinks I need to take pictures of her every morning that she has school. I take them just to humor her most days! I am posting these because she just looks so dang cute I couldn't resist. Plus, whenever I am working on my blog or open it for some reason, she says, "Mom, show me ALL of the pictures of me." It's so cute that she thinks it's so much fun to see pictures of herself, so I have to go through my whole blog with her and show her all of the pictures that have her in them. I am also adding this post because Jill said I need to get with it and post again!

I know, I know, I am kind of slacking these days. I have had a lot going on in my life and have been seriously stressed out. So, needless to say, it isn't just my family that is suffering, but my blog as well because of my lack of interest in waking up each morning to face a new day full of stress and depression. My poor house is also crying for my attention and I keep saying, "Tomorrow I will clean and get things done.", but then tomorrow always comes and goes and I still don't get the things done that I need to. Just ask Jill! She has been over to my house a few times in the last couple of weeks. She can vouch on behalf of my house!

Anyway, life must go on! Each day I am feeling a little better than the day before, so at least my laundry is slowly getting done and I am trying to get to other parts of my house as well. I think the girls are just glad to have some clothes to pick from now. Sorry this isn't a very upbeat or cheery post, but this time of year is just kind of depressing for me, and when I am doing even better and can manage it I will explain myself in a later post.

Holy Huge Marshmallows!!

Holy Marshmallows, Batman!! Can you believe the size of these things? When Fred was on his business trip in NM he saw them at some store and thought that the girls would get a kick out of them, so he bought them. When he pulled them out of his suitcase I almost fell over laughing. It was so funny seeing marshmallows this huge. Aymara's first remark when she saw them was, "AWESOME, Dad"! Aymara looooves marshmallows, so she thought these were GREAT! But trust me, they didn't taste as good as they looked. All the little girls liked them and it's a good thing or they probably wouldn't have gotten eaten. Oh yeah, and the neighbor kids thought they were pretty cool too. There taste was a little similar to the regular marshmallows, but they were not quite as sweet and definitely not as fluffy. These pictures are good, but they still don't do the actual size of the marshmallows much justice. You would have just had to seem them up close and personal. It was too funny! The little girls thought they were in Marshmallow heaven.

"Our Love Story"

I have decided to tell the story of how Fred and I met and fell in love. People still ask me, after five and 1/2 years of marriage to tell them our story. So, I will share it with all of you now and if you have heard it already then you don't need to bore yourself and read this post. Another reason I would like to tell it is because I have never put our story in writing and I would like to have it to pass on to our girls. Maybe it is a story that may also be used for Family History some time in the future. So, here it goes.

In my life, at the time, I was living in Pocatello and I had my three beautiful little girls. Katelyn-7, Ashley-4, and Lacey-18 months. In August of 2002 my husband at the time informed me that he wanted a divorce! In a way I was so hurt, but I also knew it was coming eventually. Anyway, I am not getting into that part of my life because it is in the past. Right now I am focusing on my life now and how grateful I am to have what I have at this moment.

Before I moved to Idaho Falls, I had just got a new job in the shoe department at Kmart. I didn't know where my life was going and what was going to happen to me and my girls, but I knew somehow we would be okay. I had to work and didn't have a choice under the circumstances and it actually ended up being a blessing. My District Manager came to work with me and train me. I asked him if there was any way that I could be transferred. He then asked me what city I was considering and I told him that the Idaho Falls area was where I wanted to be. It didn't look promising and I thought I was going to have to be stuck in Pocatello and have to stay there and deal with all of my drama there. My luck would soon change!

A few days after I mentioned a possibility of being transferred my boss asked me to take a break with him and that there was something he would like to talk with me about. We went on break and he then told me that the Department Manager in the Ammon store had fallen and broke her foot, and therefore couldn't work. He said that after working with me for the few days that he had, he was very impressed with my work and that he felt I could go to Ammon and be the temporary Dept. Manager until the previous one was completely healed and had a physicians okay to come back. I was ecstatic! As you can imagine. I almost couldn't believe my luck and thought it was too good to be true. He said he was serious about this and that he had all the faith in the world that this is something I could do, and do well. I accepted his offer immediately and was so grateful to him.

I ended up having to stay in Pocatello for a about two more weeks to finish my training there. I had to send my three daughters to Idaho Falls to live with my brother and his family because I was working full time and school was starting up there. Katie was in the 2nd grade and needed to start school. I new I would be moving to IF soon but at the moment was unable to do so. My sister-in-law, Camille was awesome. She took in my girls and was so willing to help me out and to get Katie registered for school. I will never be able to thank her enough for all of the love and support she gave me at a time in my life when I needed it. Her and my brother were the best!

On September 8, I finally got to come up to IF and start my new job and be with my girls again. I too moved in with Clint and Camille until my parents moved up here and got settled. I went into work that day and there was a manager from Logan that was there covering until I came up to take over. She was showing me around and started training me on how to be a Dept. Manager. She asked if I would like to go to the office so she could introduce me to the Store Manager, I said "Of course", and we were on our way. We got to the office and that is where I first met Fred. We were introduced and we shook hands. At that very moment I knew that there was something special about this man I had just met and that I had to find out what it was.

I started asking questions about him and found out that he was divorced. A found out that he was also asking questions about me and wanted to know what my situation was. The woman he talked to just told him that all she knew was that I was going through a divorce and I had 3 little girls. I couldn't shake the feeling that I had met him for a reason and that there had to be something to all of this.

I started finding reasons to go to the office just so I could see him and maybe even talk to him while I was in there. On my days off I would make up excuses that I had to go into the store for something, and would hope that I would run into Fred while I was there. We started talking more and more and every time I would here his voice over the PA system I would get that tingly feeling inside of me. I'm sure you all know what I am talking about. It was crazy! After a few weeks I noticed that when he would get to work or before he would leave he would either walk passed the shoe department or through my stock room where I would be working on freight. He would stop and talk to me for a minute and tell me to have a nice day. It started getting to the point that I wanted to see him all the time, even though there was really nothing between us yet, that he knew of anyway.

I was still dealing with my divorce and wasn't sure I wanted to start a relationship that soon, but I was so drawn to him and even though we should only be friends I knew there were feelings beyond that, that were starting to surface. We started talking more and more, but it was hard because we were both at work and didn't really get to have any major conversations. I did find out that he too was a Mormon (which I was thrilled about), and that he had 4 daughters from a previous marriage. After talking we learned that we had both been through very similar situations with our first marriages and the heartache we had both been through. The more I got to know him, the more my feelings grew, and I didn't know what to do because I didn't know how he was feeling about all of this. Or his feelings towards me.

It seemed we were getting pretty close and I wasn't about to give up on what I felt was happening. In November, on Thanksgiving Day, we both had to work in the morning and while at work I asked him what he was doing the rest of the day. He told me that he didn't have his girls with him and that he would probably just come back in to work to keep himself busy. I then told him that he better not. It was a holiday and he should just go home and relax.

When I got home I couldn't quite thinking about him and wondered what he was doing. I decided to call him! I didn't know his number so I called information and got it. I then dialed his number at least a dozen times and would chicken out. I finally got up the guts to let it ring and when he answered it my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. He was surprised to hear from me, but once we started talking we didn't really stop. We were on the phone for THREE hours! I guess you could say that was officially the beginning of our relationship.

We didn't start dating until my divorce was final on December 17. But we talked on the phone all the time and at work we agreed to stay away from each other so other employees wouldn't have any idea we had anything going on. That was fun! It was kind of like we were being naughty and trying to get away with something! After my divorce was final we started dating and our relationship escalated pretty quickly after that.

Around Christmastime all of our girls met and got along famously. I felt like I had known Fred forever even though it really had been such a short time. I fell in love with him before I even met him (which is strange, I know, but that's how I feel) and I am so incredibly grateful to have him in my life. He has made me a better person just by knowing him. In January he proposed and on January 29 (my birthday), he made it official and gave me my engagement ring, which was absolutely beautiful. There's not much more to tell at this point. Our engagement didn't last long either. We were married on March 4, 2003 and now 5 1/2 years later we are still happily married with two more children that we share together. Nine beautiful daughters in all!

I truly believe that God had a plan for us and that everything happened the ways it was supposed to happen for Fred and I to be together. He is the love of my life and I know that we both went through what we did in our lives to finally find each other and to bring our two families together. I believe I have become a better person just by knowing him and I feel like my life is now full and complete. I love him with my whole heart and soul, and I am so proud of who he is, and I am grateful for all of the love and understanding that he gives me. Sometimes I don't feel like I really deserve Fred all that the Lord has given me, but I do know that I am truly blessed every day. I love my Heavenly Father so much and I know that I wouldn't be where I am today and have the beautiful family that I do if it weren't for Him.

Happy Birthday Kelsie!

Last Wednesday was Kelsie's Birthday, but because Fred was gone we waited until Saturday to celebrate it. Fred made her cake and Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Lorraine and her kids all came and we had a little party for her. I can't believe Kelsie is 14 now! She gets to go to Mia Maids now and I think she is excited about that too. I think she liked the gifts that she got. They were all pretty cool. Besides the pictures below, she also got a new fishing pole and $20.00 from Grandma and Grandpa. Alaya thought she had to get in on the action so she helped Kelsie blow out the candles.
This gift is one that Kelsie has been wanting forever! It is a 7.1 megapixel digital camera, and she was so excited when she opened it.
The gift she opened here is really cool alarm clock that reflects the time on either the ceiling or the wall, depending on where you aim it. She liked this gift a lot also because she needed an alarm clock for her bedroom.
This is a new DVD player so she can watch movies in her room, when she isn't reading, that is! Her dad also got her a TV from work for a pretty good deal.

Crazy Color Day!

Last week at the high school they had "Spirit Week", where each day they have a theme that they get to dress up to. They have a few of these weeks during the year and Nichole and Renae seem to get a kick out of dressing up. These pictures are from "Crazy Color Day", which is obvious from what they are wearing! Nichole is so funny on these days because she goes all out and is always so excited about dressing up to most of the themes that are chosen. On Thursday it was beach day and Nichole dressed up for that day too, and I forgot to get pictures of her that day and I am so mad because she was so adorable. I love the girls in these pictures! Nichole is little miss model and Renae is like a colorful little gangster! I love the outfits they picked as well. Especially the little touches that I added!

Ouchie!

This is quite the BooBoo that Alaya got about a week and 1/2 ago. It was just an accident that just so happened to be caused by Aymara. Alaya was in Aymara's bedroom and she wanted her out, so she got her out and then proceeded to shut her door, rather harder than necessary. Alaya's little finger just happened to still be in the door when it was shut and it wasn't pretty. I was in my bedroom folding laundry when I heard Aymara state that "she had shut Alaya's finger in the door". I started walking out just as Alaya came walking in screaming and holding onto her hand as blood is running through her fingers. I grabbed her and took her to the bathroom to wash it off and to check out the damage. Ooooh, I kind off started to FREAK OUT when I saw what had happened to her poor little finger. It is hard to explain by writing exactly what it looked like, but I will give it a shot. Somehow the way her finger got shut in the door it pulled her nail clear out of the nail bed and the nail was just hanging on by the tip. When I would pull up the nail it would pull off almost the whole tip of her finger. So, if it wasn't for the fingernail holding her finger together then the tip of her finger would have been cut right off. In the midst of a bit of panic I called her doctor's office and they told me that I couldn't bring her to their office and to take her to the ER or to an Urgent Care where they could do X-rays. Well, Fred was still out of town and I then called him and was almost in tears asking him where I should take her. We decided to take her to an Urgent Care instead of the hospital which was a good choice, financially anyway.

We got there and she got right in and got X-rays before they decided to do anything else. No, her finger wasn't broken, but the bone was cracked. After the X-rays I took her into see the doctor. This part was not fun at all, and it didn't help that the doctor chose not to numb her finger before he tortured her first. He had her arm pinned down so she couldn't move and and then proceeded to shove her fingernail back into the nail bed. It was so sad, and Alaya kept sceraming at the doctor to "let go", and as soon as he would let go for a second she would say, "get down, a go bye-bye". I was so mad! Alaya was screaming and I was crying and then I finally told him to stop and numb her finger before he did anymore. He stopped, per my request and gave her some shots to numb her finger. He then worked on getting her nail back in the nail bed after he numbed it, it only took a few seconds to get it back in. So, you ask why they put her through that instead of just taking her fingernail off? Well, If they would have removed her fingernail they would have had to stitch the end of her finger back on, and because the nail was ripped from the nail bed there would have been a chance that it never would have grown back, and if it did, it would probably be deformed. That being said. I told them to go ahead and try to get the nail back in and pull it off as a last resort. When they were finished they wrapped her hand in what they call a soft cast. They didn't want there to be a chance of her nail coming back out or her hitting her finger on something and having it hurt because of the cracked bone. Alaya was such a trooper through everything and she was so good about not trying to pull the cast off.

After a few days we had to take her back in for a recheck. They took the little cast off and said it was looking great. They decided to put a splint on her finger and wrap it a little just to protect the finger (because of the cracked bone) for just a couple more days from being hit or bumped. She now has that off as well, but she still babies her finger somewhat and when I change the bandaid on it and she looks at it she says, "Ugly, Mama". It's not really ugly but it is still healing.

A Pigeon for A Pet?

This is kind of a funny story I thought I would share. About 2 weeks ago, on a Monday, Fred went out to the garage and found a little feathered friend. He and Kelsie shewed it out of the garage and thought that would be the end of it. Well, Tuesday morning Fred had to leave at 6:00 in the morning to catch a flight to Albuquerque, NM for business. Later I had to go somewhere and went out to the garage to leave. The Pigeon was back! It almost scared me to death! I didn't see it at first and when I pushed the button to open the garage door I saw feathers start flying around. I was like "what the heck?"! So I went to look to see if the Pigeon had been hurt, but it was up walking around on the top of the garage door. When I got back from doing what I was doing it was still there. I shewed it out again and thought I had scared it bad enough by chasing it around the garage with a broom, that this time it wouldn't come back. No such luck. It won't go away! If it's not in our garage, it's on our roof or the neighbor's roof watching and waiting for me to open the garage door again so it can get back in. I tell you, I think the little feathered fowl thinks it has a new home. Little does it know... So anyway, a week of shewing it out I finally called animal control to see what we could do about our new found friend. They came out but the little bugger must have known something was up because right before animal control got here it flew out and over to the neighbors roof! She couldn't get it from there so she told me she would call me in the morning to see if it had come back yet, and if so, then she would come back and try to catch it. It's like the dang thing has a sixth sense or something! The Pigeon stayed away the whole next day, well until evening came around anyway and animal control was closed. Go figure! By that point, I figured it was probably long gone and had found someone else's garage to poop in and I was glad. But Noooo, it really couldn't be that easy now could it! Wednesday it showed up AGAIN, back in the garage, pooping all over! GRRRR!
What to do, what to do? The girls all love it and want to keep it as a pet. My opinion on that, WHATEVER! Alaya keeps saying "See a chicken mommy". So I take her out to the garage or outside (as it sits on our roof, waiting) to see the dang bird that has now become VERY irritating. It is now Friday morning and I haven't checked to see if it is still lingering anywhere close by, but my bet is, it is. I think it is probably a homing Pigeon because it has identity bands on both of its ankles. And it has definitely made a home with us, which is a bit annoying when you have to clean up its poopies all over in your garage! So, you have now met our new little feathered friend. AAARGH! Please, let me know if you have any suggestions on getting rid of a Pigeon. Besides shooting it!

TAG....You're It!

Miss Janet! Thanks for the TAG! I don't really want to do this, but I guess I will just to humor all of you. I have no idea how to answer these so I will just wing it and give it my best shot.

TAG....You're It!

Rules: List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 current goals, 3 current obsession, and 3 random facts about yourself. Then tag at least 5 people at the end.

3 JOYS:

1) My Husband...the love of my life

2) My belief in Christ and my testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

3) My children

3 FEARS:

1) Saying anything out loud for fear it will really happen.

2) Becoming a Grandma too soon! LOL!

3) Not being the mother and wife that my family needs.

3 GOALS:

1) To lose weight! Someday anyway!

2) To be a better Mother and example to my children

3) To have a lot more patience!

3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS:

1) Finding an interesting book to read that compares to the Twilight books,

(I feel for you Janet) I too am stuck!

2) Donating Plasma, without being REJECTED!

3) BLOGGING

3 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT MYSELF:

1) I can't run without throwing up! Can you say "Out of Shape", or what?!

2) Scrapbooking is my total obsession

3) Poetry is one of my passions

I Tag: Hillary, Becky, Kim, Jessica, and Kelsie

She's A Big Girl Now!!

Hurray!! Alaya is completely potty trained now and she won't even be 2 until October! This is a first for me. All of my other girls were potty trained within about one or two months after they turned 2. Aymara was even a little longer than that, just because she was so stinking stubborn. I haven't even had to buy Alaya any pull-ups! She was so easy to potty train, I can hardly believe my luck. Once she decided to go on the toilet that was pretty much it. She thinks she is such a "big girl" that she won't even let me put the potty seat on the big toilet to make it easier. She doesn't ever see anyone else use that dang potty seat so I guess she figures that she shouldn't have to either. She thinks she is soooo big!I am so proud of her and I am so excited that I officially never have to do the whole potty training thing ever again!! No more diapers! Until grandkids anyway.
She has been wearing her little panties (not the same pair) now for a good week and she loves them. I went and got her a package of brand new panties the other day and they are so cute. I handed them to her and she was so excited, she made me open them and she picked what pair she wanted to put on and even though they were a little big (until I wash them anyway) she thought they were pretty neat. These aren't here new ones, but I wanted to get a picture of her cute little Bootie in them because I want to remember how cute a tiny little bum looks in panties for the first time. And it is dang cute if I do say so myself!

Aymara's 1st Day of Pre-School

Today was Aymara's first day of Pre-School and she absolutely loved it! She has been so excited to go for weeks now and last night before bed she was so cute. She got new school clothes like the other girls did and before she went to bed she picked out what outfit she was going to wear today and she layed it all out on her floor so it would be ready to put on when she woke up this morning. She asked me if I would put makeup on her too, but I told her that she would need to be just a little bit older before she could wear makeup to school. She just replied with a "Dangit"!Isn't she just the cutest little thing you ever did see? Maybe I'm just a little partial, but I think she is pretty stinking cute! She loves her little Dora backpack and she was thrilled to finally get to use it!
This is a picture of her class. She should be used to all of the girls, since that is all she sees around our house anyway! Besides her daddy. Those poor "2" little boys, or maybe they could consider themselves lucky! I guess you could look at it both ways.
She was so excited to come home and show me what she worked on. It was the letter "A" and she was pretty proud of herself because that is a letter she already knows! Hence the name "Aymara" and all the "A's" that are in her name. She already knows how to write her name so this was a letter that she obviously knew how to do all by herself and was easy for her.

These books ROCK!

OMG! I totally love these books! This is the best series I have read since Harry Potter. I loved them all, from the first page of Twilight to the last page of Breaking Dawn. From the minute I started reading I was totally addicted and just couldn't put them down. This is crazy, but when I did have to take a break and stop reading, I thought about them constantly and wondered what was going to happen next in the story. This probably isn't the best way to describe these books, but I am going to use the analogy anyway. Once you start reading them they are like a drug and you just want more. I am so sad the series is done because I would have loved there to have been more to it. Like something about Renesmee and when she gets older and her story with Jacob! I do have to admit I was a little dissapointed in the grammar of the books. I think Stephenie Meyer could have picked a better editor, because obviously the one she has doesn't know how to edit very well! She missed a ton of grammar mistakes in all 4 of the books and that kind of stuff just really bothers me. Grammar aside, the books were awesome and I highly recommend them to everyone! I could go on and on about these books, but it's better if you just read them yourself and then decide if you agree with me or not.

The "Kokie Mobile"!!

I promised to blog about the lovely vehicle that Nichole gets the pleasure of driving to school. Yes, she is really and truly driving a "Mini Van"! Fred has had this van for quite awhile now and we just had it parked so instead of getting her
a car(which we couldn't afford anyway) we decided to give her this van to drive. She didn't even care. She was just grateful to have something, anything to drive. My dad does vinyl graphics on vehicles so she asked him to do something cute
on her back window and this is what he came up with. I think that is probably the only thing she really likes about it! I had to put these pictures on of the two side views of the van so you could get the full effect of what she is actually driving around! Ugh. She is so cute about it though and is totally okay with all of it. What a sport! I guess on the upside, when all of her friends want to get together to do something fun without all having to drive. They can all just pile into the sweet old "Kokie Mobile" and away they go!

My Daughters

I have written a poem that I have dedicated to all 9 of our beautiful daughters, and I would like to share it with all of you who read my blog. It's not the greatest, but I hope it will mean something to them. I was going to post a picture of all of the girls together with this, but I couldn't find one.

My Daughters

My daughters are like the sunshine

Each one a beautiful ray of light,

Shining each and every day

They make my world so bright.

Their smiles just simply sparkle,

And their laughter fills the air.

Sometimes they like to taunt and tease

But it is mostly love they share.

Each daughter is incredibly lovely,

And unique in her own little way.

They are so much fun to have around

And their hugs just make my day.

Nichole is such a sweetheart,

Always willing to help me out.

Renae is fun and energetic,

And always has something to talk about.

Kelsie is definitely one of a kind,

She's the peacemaker among them all.

Katie is full of so much life,

And with her we have such a ball.

ChristyAnn is such a cutie.

Mostly quiet, but fun in the same.

Ashley is probably the craziest,

With her, everything's fun and games.

Lacey is quite the mommy's girl,

With kisses and hugs to share.

Aymara has attitude all her own

Like a cute little feisty bear.

Last but certainly not least is Alaya,

She is the baby, so you see.

She always has us smiling,

And she's as spoiled as can be.

All of my daughters are special

And I truly love them all.

I'm so grateful for each one of them

And for my blessings, big and small.

They make my life worth living,

With all the joy they bring to me.

Each one of them has stole my heart

And they each complete our family.

~Janae~ 8/15/08

First Day Of School!

So, school has finally started up again and the girls were all so excited they couldn't hardly wait. Katie, Kelsie, Ashley and Lacey all started yesterday and Nichole and Renae started today. Katie and Kelsie were bummed when they got home because they said that nobody talked to them all day. Ashley and Lacey had a lot of fun and they both really like their teachers, so I am glad about that. I am excited for Nichole and Renae to get back today so they can tell me all of their exciting news about their first day. I will be waiting by the door!!

This is Kokie's Senior year and she is so excited! She even has her own vehicle to drive this year and it might not be the "Coolest" ride but at least it is something. I will post about that later and I will have to include pictures so you understand what I'm saying about it not being the "Coolest" ride in the school parking lot!

Renae is going into her Sophomore year at Hillcrest and she is totally excited to be going back to school. Of course her excitement is due to being back together with her friends and all the socializing! We know it certainly isn't for the education and the learning part of it! That's okay though, I completely understand, that was exactly how I was back in the day.

Kelsie is here with us this year for the first time and she is in the eighth grade at Sandcreek. She is so cute and we are so glad to have her here with us this year.

Katie is also in the eighth grade at Sandcreek. So her and Kelsie should have fun seeing each other around school. She was also extremely excited to start school again, but she somewhat enjoys the educational part of going.
Ashley is starting the fifth grade and she is also more like me when it comes to going to school. She wasn't that excited to go back and only does it because she has to. She likes to see her friends but that is pretty much the most of it!
My little Lacey May is starting the second grade and she is one that just loves everything! She was also excited to go back and couldn't wait to see her new teacher and all of her friends. Isn't she just soooo stinking cute?