Josiah is 6 today!

My little boy is 6 today. I offer him up to You, Lord, and I pray special blessings over him today. I pray that he will become securely attached to me and Andy and I pray that You continue to work in his life. Not my will be done with him, but Yours. You know the plan that you have for his life and I know that I just need to continue doing my part and that You will work to make him into who You want him to be as well. I just pray that he will develop a heart for You, Lord, and that he will devote his life to You. I found myself thinking of his birthmom today. I haven't heard from her in quite some time. I pray for her and I am so thankful that she gave him the gift of life.

Emma's Alice in Wonderland Party

making birthday wishes and blowing out her candles...



Emma's cake


We had Emma's 6th birthday party today. She wanted to invite friends from school that lived in our neighborhood. We invited Clara, Hope (Hope's sister Taylor that's in Deidra's class), Eden (she goes to church with us and was also in her class), and another little girl named Jessica that lives up the street. Hope and Taylor were the only ones who came...I felt bad, but it is the summer and I know families have a lot of summer plans. Anyway, they had fun watching Disney's Alice in Wonderland, making princess masks (we got a pirate for Josiah), getting princess tattoos, and eating cake and ice cream. She was spoiled with the Alice in Wonderland movie from Grandma, the Disney version was from us, $6 from Grandma and a 4th of July shirt too, a gift card to Toys R Us from Cousin Hannah and Uncles Miles and Aunt Kellie, a Walmart card from Grandpa Hoffman, and a princess DVD player from Grandma Hoffman...Melina loves that thing so I have a feeling she's going to be fighting over it with her. She had a great day. It was nice to have my Mom here for the day too. She stayed and spent most of the day with us and we made dinner together...goulash, garlic bread, and salad. Mmmm!

Emily's Gifts

After Deidra's volleyball game and a coupon store run, we came home and let Emily open up her gifts. She had been asking for Alice in Wonderland (the theme of her party) for awhile, so we got the movie for her, some Fancy Nancy books, and some new clothes from Crazy 8.

Happy 6th Birthday, Emily!

We had a little mini-birthday celebration to celebrate Emmy's birthday since Daddy had to work and we had our first date night for 3 hours (we hadn't been out alone in months) and so we told her that she could open her presents tomorrow when Daddy was home for most of the day. I took her to Walmart and let her pick out some cupcakes and ice cream and then took them to get happy meals from McDonalds and she got to open her present from her brother and her sisters...a Barbie DVD. They watched that after lunch. Emmy said she wanted her cupcakes after lunch, but she was saving the ice cream for afternoon snack as she didn't want to get sick from too much sugar. I was kind of shocked that she said that and proud of her at the same time. Anyway, I'm proud of you baby girl. Happy 6th birthday!

Melina's a whole year old

Here is my precious baby girl on her birthday! Isn't she just the most precious little thing? She crawls all over the place. She is pulling up on everything and cruises around holding onto everything. Every once in awhile she lets go and will stand on her own for maybe 5 seconds before she sits down, but she's getting stronger. She walks around holding onto our hands too and she laughs while she walks everywhere. She stays busy checking everythign out and just learned how to open up the cabinet doors. I love to watch her play and take everything in. She's so smart. She babbles da da, ma ma, ha (her way of saying hi), and na na (I think she's saying night night as when she says it she's rubbing her eyes). She blows kisses, waves hello, and gives high fives. She is such a joy! She has such a happy disposition. We all just love her! I just can't believe that she's really a whole year old!

We had my father-in-law in from MI and Andy's Cousin Becky and her hubby and son came in from Lewisville and his Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike came in from Gun Barrel City and then my Mom and brother, Jimmie, came in. We all ate Easter dinner together and then celebrated Melina's first birthday! It was a very fun day. Little bittersweet for Mommy though. A whole year old...wow, where does the time go? Josiah got some bday presents too since he turned 5 the day before Melina. We have a special bday trip planned for him this next weekend though. More to come on that later...

Deidra's 10th birthday!

I sit here with tears in my eyes reflecting about Deidra's pregnancy and birth. I cannot believe that 10 years have already gone by. She is such a sweet little girl and so full of life and she has such a beautiful heart. She is an amazing big sister and looking back on all of those years that she wished for a brother and a sister so that she could have siblings like her friends...I'm so glad that she has a house full of them now. Yes, I'm sure there are times when she wishes she was still that only child, but I know that deep down she wouldn't trade them for anything. She is SO good (well, most of the time) with them. She loves to teach them things and to play with them. And to watch her with Melina....I'm so glad that she loves her baby sister! I was a little nervous that with the age difference between them, of how she was going to do with her. The first thing she does when she gets up for school is to come see her baby sister and love on her and that's the first thing she has to do when she comes home from school. She is a big helper with her too and she loves her baby sister. People ask her in public what she thinks of her and she acts indifferent, but I always tell them it's an act...she loves that baby SO much! I'm proud to see the person that she is becoming. Sure, that tween attitude I could do without...but she really does have a heart...she looks after the new kids at school and quickly becomes their friends and that makes me so proud of her. She is beautiful and I couldn't love her more or be more proud of her. 10 years old...darn, I'm crying again...they grow up too darned fast!

We're going to take her out to Chili's for her birthday tonight and we have a birthday party planned for her on Saturday afternoon here at the house.

It's my birthday...

Andy had to run to the store last night for more dishtabs and he came home with 1/2 a dozen red roses as an early birthday present. They are pretty! He put them in a vase on the stove for me. This morning I woke up and Emma gave me my birthday cards from them and from Daddy. They were both really nice. But, I started throwing a pity party for myself. I know he's really not the gift giving type, but I set myself up every year that maybe he'll get me something and I know better. Anyway, I tried to be honest with him about it and wound up upsetting him a bit too. I watched my Joyce Meyer and afterwards I told myself that it was my choice on how to act today and that I had plenty to be grateful for. My husband may not be the gift giving type, but he loves me and he is faithful to me and for that I will be happy with. I chose to rejoice in the day and spend time listening to God and looking at the gifts that He has blessed me with. I went and deposited my birthday money that I got from my Dad and Andy's Dad and told Andy that my gift to myself was making another payment to my anesthesiologists bill from Melina's birth to be one step closer to having her birth paid off. So, today, I will spend with my children that God has blessed me with and I will be grateful for His gifts. He is speaking to me a lot today. I spent some quiet time in bed this morning asking what gift God had given me in life and as plain as day I heard "compassion." I asked him to reveal to me what my "talent" is and now I just need to be quiet and "listen" to what He reveals. And listening to the Christian station this morning, I felt in my gut that His birthday song to me this morning was this:



this song makes me tear up...I am beautiful in God's eyes! Thank You so much, Abba, for creating ME. :-) And give my Mommy up there in Heaven with you a hug from me and tell her that I love her and thank you for having me! :-)

I'm sorry for my poor mood this morning and I will delight in this day and all the blessings that I have been given and the people that love me. I don't need material gifts to know that I am loved. I am grateful for all that I have. :-)

Tracie's 4 today!

Tracie turns 4 today! She wanted a pony party. So, ponies galore she got! She got about 4 individual My Little Ponies, 2 My Little Pony sets...one is a car with a Mommy pony and a baby pony...Grandpa D got her another little set of My Little Ponies, Grandma H got her a coloring set, and Grandma D got her a Fur Real polar bear that she just loves. She sings Rock-a-Bye baby to it and does everything that I do to Melina back to her bear. She is just too cute! Deidra got her a couple of books and Grandpa H sent her some money. And we got her a unicorn pillow pet as well, which she promptly took upstairs to her bed. Of course, her birthday cake was My Little Pony as well. She told me all day long thank you for her birthday and how much she loved her presents and her cake. She was so excited too that so many people told her happy birthday. She grinned from ear-to-ear all day long! Happy birthday my little sweet girl!

I think Deidra has her first crush...

She is planning her 10th birthday party and wants to take a bunch of her friends in a limo to go see Justin Bieber in concert. I asked her if she was paying for it too...she says everyone can just pay for their own ticket. yup, sure...I told her she better get to saving then...lol

Just an update on how things are going...

My pregnancy is going well. I was 12 weeks on Sunday and it felt good to get to that mark. I can't believe that I'm already showing. (see picture). Still feeling very tired. I was really nauseated all week long. This was by far the worst week of nausea thus far. I had a few close calls of thinking I was going to barf while I was in the store or driving down the road. Thankfully, I was able to breathe threw them without any embarrassing incidents. Baby is doing well though. I've felt very faint flutters that I have been wondering if it's the baby, but I think it's still too early to feel movement and so I've been chalking it up to being gas. I am beyond excited about this baby and cannot wait for our big ultrasound to find out what we're having. I'm thinking about finding a place that does 3D ultrasounds too as I really think those are so neat. Deidra wants to go with me to see the baby. She's already informed me that she wants the baby to sleep in her room. I told her we'd just have to wait and see. She's been asking me little questions about the baby...how it eats and so forth. I'm hoping she doesn't eventually wonder how the baby got in there, but I guess the s-e-x question has to come sooner or later. She is 9 after all.

Speaking of being 9, my baby girl, Miss Deidra, turned 9 on Nov. 11. We took her out to Applebee's for dinner on her birthday and she opened her presents from us. We got her the movie UP and the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid. That's the only book series that I've seen her interested in and I really want to encourage her in her reading. Then, on Saturday we had a birthday party for her at the bowling alley, complete with a birthday cake that was done up shaped like a bowling ball. It was very cute! She had a few people from her class show up along with 2 of the neighbor girls. Grandma came too. It was fun! I really cannot believe that she is already 9. My how time flies! They grow much too fast!

Josiah is doing pretty well. I noticed that he is getting much better at transitioning from one thing that he likes to do to having to do something he'd rather not be doing. He is not throwing as big of a fit about it as he used to. He still is struggling with listening and following directions but the bribing of the gummy bears for completing tasks without incident is helping. I think mornings are the worst. That first hour until his meds kick in is hard. He's loud, cannot follow directions, he's running all over, I'm constantly having to remind him of what he's supposed to be doing and to stay out of the kitchen. I always have to tell myself that it will get better after the hour. That helps me to stay sane. :-) He is getting SO big. He is wearing big boy underwear as of last weekend. He still has a couple of accidents during the day, but for the most part he is doing great with using the potty. I am so proud of him!

Little E still struggles with listening and following directions and she still needs constant redirection as well. Her hands are always into something. But, again, the gummy bear rewards are helping her to somewhat stay on task depending on her moods. I'll take it. Things are getting a little better around here. I have to tell them somedays "Mommy, has to use the bathroom or make a phone call if you stay out of stuff and are quiet while I do this, I'll give you gummy bears when I'm done." And most of the time they are successful. They do not like missing out on their gummy bears. She is struggling in school with learning her letters and phonics. I told the teacher she can't very well be expected to learn her phonics when she doesn't know her letters. This is something we've been working on for a long time. Learning for her takes a LOT of repetition and she still seems to learn very slowly. OT has been working on it with her as well. She's only got about 3 letters down and even still she doesn't know them every time she's asked. I'm trying to do something with her daily that is alphabet/phonic related, but her attention span is SO short as well, that it's hard for her to grasp what you're trying to teach her. Yet, we plug on and I know she will get it sooner or later.

Baby T was doing better with all of her whining, but she seems to have had a relapse. My OT got on her yesterday about it and she looked at me and told me that she doesn't know how I've been coping with all of her whining as it gets to her when she's only here for a couple of hours and all she does is cry and whine over every little thing. I told her that some days are better than others. She told me just to keep staying consistent and when she does that and the warning doesn't get her to stop, to keep putting her upstairs in her room. I asked her if she thought it was just her age, or the fact that she is still struggling with speech. She told me that with the way she can turn it onn and off that she thinks it's behavioral. I was just curious as to what she thought. She can be so sweet and affectionate, I wish she would let this whining go. She is such a good girl for the most part.

I've been working on our adoption paperwork too and hope to send it in this afternoon. Hopefully then, we can get their adoption rolling. I really want them to be adopted before this baby is born.

I have my quarterly monitoring tomorrow morning, so I'm just trying to do some cleaning and get my house decluttered as there is too much paper clutter around here right now that is driving me nuts. Then, I just need to do the girls' clothing inventory and a fire drill and then we're good for this month.

I cannot believe that we're already getting ready for Thanksgiving. These past couple of months have flown by. Wow!

A Blessed Birthday Girl...

Yes, it's my birthday today. At 9:26 pm, I will be the big 33. Wow! I don't feel old at all, yet I look at that number and think wow, I am getting old. Andy had the kids bring me their birthday cards this morning and I got some new jammies. He said he had something else for me tonight and he was going to bring me out to Applebee's.

We had the girl's CPS worker out this morning for her monthly visit. Lots of questions that we had were answered.

Said a rosary this afternoon and a prayer to St. Gemma. Thanked God for His blessings over the past year and for my birthday today. I feel very blessed to have the family and friends that I do.

I feel old!

My baby brother turned 19 yesterday. Where does the time go? I so can remember him being born and going to see him at the hospital. I remember taking him to the park when he was little and having to babysit and now he's 19 and graduates from high school on June 7. I feel old!

Baby J celebrated his 3rd birthday on April 25!

April 25 was a big day in our house as it was also Baby J's birthday! He turned 3! He is very into Diego right now and that's all he talked about wanting was a Diego birthday cake. Since I already ordered a cake for Deidra, I saw the cupcake cakes and decided to do one of those for him! Soo cute! He was spoiled with lots of Diego gifts and he was very happy with them. I think the talking back pack is his favorite!

I have so much to do...

I have so much to do and I just don't have the gumption to do anything. My hubby was really sweet and cleaned the house, did some laundry, and did the kiddo duties while I was out with my Mom for awhile yesterday. The girls had speech therapy this morning. I've played with the kids, played with the rats, checked my email, and I should do some digiscrapping so I can get the kids lifebooks up to date, but I don't feel like doing anything. I need to get the kids some lunch, change some diapers, and get some stuff together before I go get Deidra from school, go get our reimbursement check, run to the bank, and then get back home to get ready for our foster parent association's thanksgiving dinner tonight. Then, I need to run to Wal-mart later to order Deidra's Littlest Pet Shop cake for her birthday tomorrow. My baby is going to be 8 tomorrow!

My birthday celebration!

Well, I am officially 32. My birthday was yesterday. It was a pretty low key day, but I received some very nice cards and gifts. My Dad and I's relationship has been pretty rocky for a few years now, but he sent me the nicest birthday card that literally made me cry. He handwrote some things on there that were very sweet and meant a lot.

Andy came home from work with a dozen red roses for me. They are striped in lighter shades of red and they were just beautiful. I've never seen roses like that before. Anyway, he also had a birthday cake for Baby T as she turned 2 on Saturday. So, we headed to Applebee's for our birthday dinner. The girls do not wait patiently for food at all, so we had to try lots of distraction techniques while we waited for our food, but once dinner came it was all good. We came home for cake and gave Baby T her presents and I opened my cards and the present from Andy's Mom that she sent. I went to bed feeling very blessed. I was scared to death to turn 30...but I have to say the 30s have been very good to me and I have learned a lot about myself.

My Birthday Song

1976 - 2007

Year Age Artist - Title Weeks at number one
1976 -- Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music 3
1977 1 Andy Gibb - I Just Want to Be Your Everything 4
1978 2 Taste Of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie 3
1979 3 Knack - My Sharona 6
1980 4 Diana Ross - Upside Down 4
1981 5 Diana Ross and Lionel Richie - Endless Love 9
1982 6 Chicago - Hard to Say I'm Sorry 2
1983 7 Michael Sembello - Maniac 2
1984 8 John Waite - Missing You 1
1985 9 Dire Straits - Money for Nothing 3
1986 10 Huey Lewis and the News - Stuck With You 3
1987 11 Michael Jackson - I Just Can't Stop Loving You 1
1988 12 Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child o' Mine 2
1989 13 Gloria Estefan - Don't Wanna Lose You 1
1990 14 Wilson Phillips - Release Me 2
1991 15 Color Me Badd - I Adore Mi Amore 2
1992 16 Boyz II Men - End of the Road 13
1993 17 Mariah Carey - Dreamlover 8
1994 18 Boyz II Men - I'll Make Love to You 14
1995 19 Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise 3
1996 20 Los Del Rio - Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix) 14
1997 21 Mariah Carey - Honey 3
1998 22 Aerosmith - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing 4
1999 23 TLC - Unpretty 3
2000 24 Madonna - Music 4
2001 25 Jennifer Lopez - I'm Real 5
2002 26 Nelly feat. Kelly Rowland - Dilemma 10
2003 27 Nelly, P. Diddy and Murphy Lee - Shake Ya Tailfeather 4
2004 28 Ciara feat. Petey Pablo - Goodies 7
2005 29 Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger 10
2006 30 Justin Timberlake - SexyBack 7
2007 31 Soulja Boy - Crank That (Soulja Boy) 7

Little A's 7th Birthday

We picked the girls up from Montessori a little early on Wednesday (the day of Little A's 7th birthday) and Little A was so excited about her birthday. She greeted me with a hug and we went to Chuck E. Cheese. We ordered pizza, breadsticks, and the salad bar, but she was too excited to eat much. So, we ate and then played games and we got lots of tickets. The kids all had a blast. We came home and she opened her presents and she was actually quite happy with what we got her (Littlest Pet Shop house and 2 kits with additional animals) and then we had her close her eyes while we brought her cake out. She was like "how did you know that this was totally the cake that I wanted?" I told her that I knew that Hannah Montana was her thing and she had told me awhile back that she wanted that cake and so that's the one that I ordered. She was absolutely psyched! So, we had some cake together and then got the kids ready for bed as it was already way past their bedtime. The girls played a bit before bed and then they went to sleep. When I tucked her in she was extremely grateful for all that we did for her birthday and it was nice to see that she had a change of tune. She even apologized all on her own for the way that she had talked to me earlier in the day and I thanked her for that.

Thursday, she went to her visit and her Mom had brought her the same cake and she got a bunch of Hannah Montana music toys and a game and a couple new outfits. She had a good visit that day and she was very happy. I was glad that her Mom was out of the hospital so that she could celebrate her birthday with her. I knew Little A would have been very disappointed if they missed another visit because Mom was in the hospital. So, I was happy for her. Her Mom was happy that she had had a good birthday.

Little stinker is too funny!

Thanks. Baby J is so cute. He came downstairs from his nap and saw Little A's presents on the table and he said "my birthday?" I told him that he just had his and that it was Little A's birthday. I put him in his high chair to eat his lunch before speech and he just kept eyeing those presents. Before I let him down, he kept yelling "open, open." So, I knew we had to go put the presents up out of reach so he couldn't get into them. He walks into the pantry when I let him down to go see where I put them and he comes back to the kitchen looks at me and says "Mommy, I love you more." We play that game all the time "I love you, Mommy." "I love you more, J." and we go back and forth. So, it was so cute to see him trying to win me over. I giggled over that one. But, I told him that it was Little A's birthday and that those were for her and he says "awww". He's getting too smart, but it's hysterical. Stinker!

My baby is 7 years old!

Our darling little girl turned 7 years old yesterday! I can hardly believe it!

She woke up early because she couldn't sleep because she was too excited. She came in our room around 6 am asking if it was officially her birthday yet. Andy set his alarm for 6:15 (the time she was born) and told her when that went off it was officially her birthday. When that went off we cuddled her and gave her hugs and kisses and wished her a happy birthday. She was so excited that she couldn't go back to sleep.

We told her she had to stay upstairs for awhile though as we had her gifts to wrap and wasn't counting on her being up so early. So, Mommy got to wrapping her gifts as Daddy got our pot roast going in the crockpot. Called my Mom to bring over some extra chairs and I took the girls to church and Sunday School.

Shortly after that people started arriving. Grandma Hoffman and Hal surprised her by coming in from Phoenix for her birthday. Great Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike came too and Grandma Davis and Uncle Jimmie were here too. She was spoiled with gifts...a new soft blankie (so Mommy could have hers back), Barbies, a Strawberry Shortcake bath set, bath foam, a new outfit, a beautiful pink and black dress and new dress shoes to match (Daddy better set up the shot gun and keep watch on the porch), some very neat books that fold out to make a play area (these are so cool...I've never seen anything like it before), a book of favorite children's stories that teach morals, and some new stuffed animal horses, money, and a gift card to Build-a-Bear. She had a lot of fun opening everything.

After that we had her cake and ice cream and visited for awhile.


I really can't believe that my baby is 7! I am so proud of the little girl that she has become. It just doesn't seem possible sometimes when I look at her that she's so big now and saying and doing the things that she's doing already.

Happy birthday to the best daughter a mom could ever ask for my little Deidra!

Busy Weekend Ahead

And it all starts today with the craziness. So, I got up and took the girl's to school this morning. Deidra is all excited for her birthday and can't wait to see what her presents are. Little J wants to help her open presents (I think I'm going to wrap her dress up so she has something to open when Deidra is opening hers). Baby J has therapy today from 10:30-11:30 and I have the security people coming between 10-12 to install the security system. Baby D has been clingy, whiny, and throwing tantrums left and right all over the candy...I'm about to dump the rest of the halloween candy in the trash. Everytime I've put homemade food in front of Baby D or Little J they don't want it...they will start crying that I won't give them chips and candy or doughnuts. Well, except for my pot roast...Baby D had 3 helpings of that. Little J has at least been attempting to eat some things...I told her that she has to at least try what I put on her plate. I gotta go get the girls from school at 2:40 and 2:50. Put the boys down for a nap and then I gotta clean bathrooms and finish laundry as Andy's Mom is flying in this weekend to surprise Deidra for her birthday. Then, I gotta run to the agency to get a couple of things, make a bank run, and then when Andy gets home at 6, we'll eat dinner really quick and then I'm going to go finish getting a couple of things for the house and getting Deidra her birthday present from the kids as Little J told me what she wanted to get for her this morning.

Saturday, will be more cleaning and house stuff to prepare for MIL's and Hal's visit. Then, Deidra has her football game that she has to cheer at at 4pm so we'll be going to that.

Sunday is church and Sunday school and then home for Deidra's birthday party with the family...us, the kids, my Mom and brother, Andy's Mom and Hal, Andy's Aunt Nancy and Uncle Mike. I still can't believe that my baby is going to be 7! Little stinker is already past my chest too. She's probably going to pass me in height here in the next couple of years.