Santa Does Early Deliveries!

Heading in to the Head Start Preschool!

Sharing gifts with little kiddos!

"Hey, what's under this thing?"

This year Scott was able to help deliver gifts to a Head Start preschool in the area. He helped last year and really enjoyed it. This year was no different. This particular location is in a very poverty stricken area. The parents of the children who attend this school are so poor. It was so rewarding to present them with a few gifts.

Christmas Party!

Vanessa is standing in the back, on the left and Tanner is in all brown, kneeling in the middle.

We just had to show you a picture of Tanner's costume. He's a donkey, remember? Check out that tail!! It kind of threw us too!! :)

Last night was our Christmas party at the church. We had a few kids at home with Daddy and I took the rest with me. Samantha and Sabrina sang a couple of songs with the choir. Tanner and Vanessa also sang 2 songs with all the children. And then they helped act out the Christmas story! Tanner was a donkey and Vanessa was an angel. It was beautiful and they did a great job!

Only two more days of school for all the kiddos and then they are off for 2 weeks!

Thomas' Christmas Program!

Thomas is on the far right, top row, 2nd from the right!

This morning we went to Thomas and Vanessa's school to listen to the 4th grade Christmas program! Their school is only 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. The 4th graders get to do a program for their parents.

They sang 4 songs, I believe and the music teacher also had students accompanying them on several different instruments. The children were amazing! They sang so well and the instruments they used really added to the program. I was pleasantly surprised as they sang a song talking about the birth of the baby Jesus! In school????? Yes indeed!!!!

We forgot the camera but of course had our cell phones so the pictures were not great but the video shows the enthusiasm that the children had!

Way to go Thomas!!!

Christmas Is Coming.....

And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care.........

Tree is up, with only strong, sturdy ornaments!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas over here! A huge thank you to Sam for putting up the tree and helping with the ornaments and decorations! Every year we give our children an ornament. Their Nana (Scott's mom) also gives them an ornament. They each have a special box, filled with just their ornaments. It will be a special treasure for each child to take with them when they leave our home. Only the strong and sturdiest of ornaments was allowed on the tree this year. We still have two little ones (well to be honest, just one little cute boy) that is sure each ornament needs to be checked out by him. Maybe next year we will be able to put the pretty glass/ceramic ones on the tree as well!

I hadn't started my Christmas shopping until yesterday. Now that might sound like a reason to panic to most people with 10 kids but to be honest, it really didn't scare me. I usually like to have it done by now so I don't have to worry about it, but because of the way we do Christmas, it's really no problem.

Years ago we started giving gifts to each other the way the Three Wise Men brought gifts to baby Jesus, we give 3 gifts per person. We took it a step further in that each year they get the same 3 gifts: a book, a game or toy and a clothing item. Just like the ornaments, each child will have a collection of books to take with them when they leave to start families of their own. They will have books in each age range and (if they have survived the constant usage) a collection of board games to take with them. Our kids love to play board games and reading is a favorite pastime for several of our children.

On Christmas Eve they unwrap two gifts: their new ornament to hang on the tree and of course, Christmas p.j.'s! The next morning after we have eaten our homemade cinnamon rolls, we sit down together and open our gifts. It's great because they know what to expect, there is no disappointment that they didn't get some big item on their 'wish' list. I have always told them, making a wish list is pretty pointless. When we pick out their gifts, we pick things that we want to give them! I don't like to be told by someone, "Get me this, this is what I really want!" Gift giving comes from the heart. I try to always find things I think they will enjoy but if it's not exactly to their liking we are also teaching them to always receive a gift graciously.

I love that after Christmas we no longer need to spend tons of time trying to find places to fit all of our new Christmas gifts. The books get added to the shelves, the games go in to the game closet and the new clothing item gets hung up in their closet.

Oh and the stockings?? Santa fills those with yummy treats like little oranges, candy canes jerky, ( I know weird huh? But they love it!) and maybe a little trinket or two.

Anyway, there ya have it, a few of our traditions! Traditions are what our children look forward to every year. Putting together a gingerbread house and delivering it secretly to a family, making plates of Christmas goodies and delivering them to friends and neighbors, going to see the Zoolights, drinking plenty of hot chocolate, watching Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel.....I will try to capture as many pictures as I can this beautiful Christmas season!

Way To Go, Tanner!!

Tanner received a very nice award today at school during an awards ceremony. The school sent a letter in the mail, informing me about it so we could go watch. Isaiah and I got to go watch the presentation. Tanner had no idea he was going to be getting an award, so he was surprised.

Here's what the award said:

Helpful, motivated, organized, interested, dedicated, respectful, energetic, enthusiastic, honest-the list of words to describe this student could go on and on. In every subject, he does his best at all times and is a motivated class participant, raising his hand to offer insights or ask questions that demonstrate he is listening and processing information constantly. When things don't come easily, he perseveres and digs in until he gets it. He has a great sense of humor and comes to class with a positive attitude. I really appreciate this student's obvious appreciation for learning and his enthusiasm for each new area of study. Thanks for being a pleasure to teach and to know, Tanner.

Wow, if I was ever looking for a way to describe Tanner, that would be him in a nutshell! Love you Tanner!!

Christmas Programs!

Savannah singing, "Ring your bells"

Cute little girls

Mary and Joseph

Her whole class!

Talisha with her class!

Singing a sweet little song about the baby Jesus.

That little character next to Talisha stole the show a couple of times!

Singing her solo!

Talisha and Savannah attend the same school. Talisha is enrolled in the private kindergarten and Savannah is in the pre-school class. Both classes are taught by the same amazing teacher. One girl goes in the morning, the other in the afternoon. They love their school and their teacher. We have had some great teachers in the past and this one ranks right up at the top!

Monday evening we went to their Christmas programs. Savannah's class was first. She got to play the part of Mary in their program. It was a sweet little program, with a handful of 4 year- olds singing songs about Jesus and the night of His birth. Savannah did a great job and really enjoyed having her whole family there to watch her!

Talisha's class was next and they did a great job singing different songs but all still focused on the night of His birth. Talisha had a solo in one of the songs. It brought me to tears. She has a beautiful, clear, strong voice that could be heard through the whole room. She is very much into singing, performing and everything that goes with it.

They had been looking forward to their program for the past month and it was a great way to spend our Monday family night! A perfect way to kick off our Christmas season!

Iron Chef, Part....???

I love their faces in this one! So serious! Tanner's 3 plates are the ones closest to them. Levi's are the middle 3 and Vanessa's are the last 3.
Something was funny!

I really love this shot!!!! These kids have sooo much fun in the kitchen. It always amazes me what they come up with! We may have a little too much competitive spirit in our home....hahaha

Merry Christmas 2010!

Well, here it is! Our family picture for this year!

This year in an effort to relieve some holiday stress, we decided to simplify our Christmas and just refer people to our blog to catch up on our latest happenings instead of including a traditional Christmas letter with our family picture.

I will do my best to update this more often, especially during the holidays.

Wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas and best wishes for The New Year!

Love,

All of us!

Building Bridges!

Tanner's bridge held strong until about 110 lbs. Wa-hoo!

Thomas' bridge (made by Dad) held steady at 200 lbs. plus. We ran out of ways to add more weight!

Levi's bridge held strong at 180 lbs. plus......probably would have held 200 as well.

Scott always comes up with projects for the kids to work on when they are out of school for a few days. This past week it was building bridges. Tanner and Levi took the challenge and went crazy with it. Plenty of wood glue was used in the creation of their bridges! We had a great time sitting around tonight, watching Scott test the bridges. Good job boys!!

"No Mess"

What happens when you turn your back on a curious little girl??

I had to laugh when I saw the slogan on the container, "no mess"......they obviously never had a 2 year old helping!!

Sorry Kitty. You were in the wrong place at the right time!!

Lil' Cuties

Just had to post this picture of Talisha and Savannah. They were all dressed and ready for church in their matching dresses. Whenever I shop for them, people always assume we have twins because I buy everything in two's. We just happen to have two little girls that are 8 months apart and think they are twins!

Iron Chef Pumpkin Style!

I will try to remember what each dish is.....but heaven knows, I will probably miss something. So when Levi gets home from school, he may change a few things. The first dish on the top left is dessert. He whipped up a chocolate pudding from scratch (just threw some ingredients in the bowl and somehow it made pudding!!) It has sliced pumpkin on top that was baked with cinnamon and sugar before he added it to the pudding. The next dish to the right is pumpkin, sauteed' with olive oil and soy sauce. On top of it is a coleslaw/broccoli mixture with some ground beef (ok, that he pulled out of the fridge. It was leftover from dinner the night before but the fact that he thought to put that on top is crazy!) and then it has a raspberry vinaigrette dressing around the edge. The last dish is thinly sliced pumpkin and red/yellow peppers on a bed of kale!

A few of us tried bites of everything before he devoured it! Shockingly, they were all amazing!

I had to post these pictures before I forgot about them. The night we carved our pumpkins, Levi decided to take his pumpkin carving a step further. He cut out a few big chunks from inside and brought them inside.

He worked like crazy for a few minutes and came up with this!!! Who does this????? I have never met anyone like him! Amazing!!

Sneak Peek!

We had a great time yesterday taking our family picture!! This is just a preview of how they turned out! I won't be posting them until our Christmas cards go out.

Speaking Of Braids......

Speaking of braids......looks like he's next!! Ha ha.....what a funny kid!

Braids!!!!

Just getting started!

All done!!

And Miss Talisha with her braids.

We finally attempted to braid Vanessa's hair at home. We have always taken her someplace but it's so hard to schedule plus it takes all day and costs a ton of money......but more importantly.....it hurts like the dickens!! The end result is that it looks amazing for at least 8 months but for the reasons listed above, we just haven't had it done since last year!

A month or so ago, I actually cut her hair. That was an experience!! It didn't actually turn out too bad. She has been wearing it in a huge afro, which was cute but was getting old.

A friend that I went to high school with posted a video on Facebook of how to do a particular type of braid (she has beautiful little brown girls too!) and has spent quite a bit of time in Haiti. After watching her 4 minute video I figured I would give it a try. What did I have to lose, right??

The end result was that Vanessa loved her hair!!! I wish I would have kept track of how many times she said, "I feel so pretty!" Doesn't get better than that!!!

We ended up doing Talisha's hair as well! Her's went much faster because she has a different type of hair. The amazing thing was I got them both done without any tears being shed!!! That was worth every minute!!

So......Sweet?

A boy and his "hat".....it's a bizarre thing!!

So Sweet!!

A girl and her steer......it's a beautiful thing!!

Wow. A Must Read!

This morning as I was browsing FB, I came across a post by a friend. She linked a blog article to her status. I don't usually take the time to read things like that but this one caught my eye. I pasted the link below. Yeah, it's long, I know. Get over it and read the whole thing. It might be the most important thing you do all day. It was for me. I have never read his blog before but I will be checking it out in the future.



www.danoah.com/2010/09/you-just-broke-your-child.html

What DId He Say???

The other night, Samantha and I were discussing her upcoming visit to the Oral Surgeon to have her wisdom teeth extracted. Thomas was at the table, finishing up his dinner. After listening to us discuss the details for awhile, he piped up, "Mom, can I just go have my Wizard teeth pulled now so I don't have to worry about them later???"

Hmmm, "wizard teeth".....he just might need those later on! We better hold on to those! Tee hee.....

His New Love

This boy loves his ball!

Even if it is almost the same size he is!!

Taking a breather....

And when you get tired, just sit on your ball!!

But only for a minute, then you have to get back to the game!

Scott put up a "scrubby" hoop for the kids to use until the "real one" is ready. Isaiah is in heaven!!! He loves to go out and dribble around and then every so often he actually shoots!!

While You Are Waiting.....

We thought maybe while you are waiting for us to update our blog, you might enjoy a little music!!

Hello, Anyone There??

We are still alive.....

New updates soon!!!!!!

Summer, Summer....Wherefore Art Thou?

Anybody know where our summer went??? Time has flown by and it's now time to start the "back to school" shopping. But wait! We didn't go to the beach nearly as much as we hoped to and we didn't go hiking at all!

We did go swimming......a lot. And we did have several lazy days. But this summer was so very different than last summer.

This summer seems to have been filled with sorting and packing! We celebrated 4 birthdays in between the packing! In fact, cute Jasmine Belle turned 2 last Sunday! She was our last birthday for the year. Do you remember how tiny she was when she first came home?? She's a little spitfire now!!! But more about her later.....when I get to her birthday post.

Speaking of that.....my computer is not being kind and won't let me load pictures on my blog. So I haven't wanted to post anything since I don't have pictures to go with it. Sigh.

We have so much news to catch you up on but I just haven't had the time.......

Let's see if I can do a short and condensed version.

Back in April, our home was on the market. We were looking forward to selling our home and moving back to Arizona. Scott's job was such that he was able to work remote from.....anywhere! Towards the end of that month something changed and on a Thursday I felt prompted to tell Scott that we needed to take our home off the market. It wasn't the right time for us to move.

The following day, through a series of miraculous events, we found ourselves doing respite care for 3 very special little boys. We ended up keeping 2 of them for a month as we searched for new adoptive families for them. It was an amazing month, full of learning and prayer. We have done respite care in the past but this was the first time we were asked to help locate new permanent families for the children to go to.

The amazing thing is after the month was up and we were adjusting back to life as knew it, we felt prompted that now the time was right to sell our home. We had every intention of going back to Arizona to be around family, enjoy the beautiful weather and find a much larger home but then life as we knew it changed again!

This time Scott's job was the reason. There were many changes going on at his job and it was not a good time to be leaving the area. His boss told him that he could still go but it might be career limiting if he did. Considering how blessed we are to have a job, we spent many hours on our knees to know if it was still a good idea. But of course, no sooner had we put our home back on the market, we received a full price offer and had 30 days to be out.

So now we knew we were moving, we just didn't know where. We started searching the area to find something that would fit our needs. We came across a beautiful brand new home on an acre in a small town and I knew immediately that was "home". It was a bank owned home and the bank took their own sweet time to respond to our offer. Finally after two weeks of waiting, we got the good news! But now we were down to the wire on getting the process started and only had a few weeks before we had to get out of our current home. Thankfully the new owner has allowed us to stay two weeks, rent free in our home while we wait to sign papers on our new home. Again, what a blessing.

We are planning on moving this Friday. The kids are excited to go. Of course they are nervous to start new schools and make new friends but I'm not worried about any of them. They make friends easy!!

We are going to miss our friends here. We have been back from Arizona for 7 years. When we moved back we only had 6 kiddos!!! We have made amazing friends here. Our kids have wonderful memories from living here. We have lots of happy times and even a few hard times tucked away in our hearts that have helped each of us grow in to the people we are today. We wouldn't trade any of it!! The good news, we are only moving 30 minutes away. We will stay in touch.

I hope to have my computer figured out soon so I can post pictures......stay tuned!!!

A New Teenager In The House!!

Levi turned 13 last week!!!! My laptop is acting up and won't let me upload any pics.....but I will figure it out and get them on here!!!

He is such a joy to have in our family!! Levi makes us laugh all the time. Oh, don't get me wrong....he is acting every part the teenager but for the most part keeps us laughing!! :)

He has passed me on height and weight and can probably finally beat me at arm wrestling, but I'm not going to let him try anytime soon!!

He walked into the kitchen the other day and it hit me that this kid is really growing up!! It's hard for me to accept that fact. For some reason I just always picture him as 10!

He will be an 8th grader when school starts and is looking forward to football starting next week!

He's still Jasmine's favorite and he makes the best chocolate chip cookies (or just about anything else, for that matter)!

We love you Levi!!! Happy Birthday!!!!

Thomas Has A Birthday!!!

Cute boys, waiting for the party to start!

The birthday present he had hoped for!!

In our home, some of the best birthday gifts are when your brother gives you his Nerf gun that you love! Thanks Tanner!!

"My new bike!!!!"

Happy Birthday Thomas!!!! We love you!!

Thomas turned 9 on Sunday!!! Hard to believe that's possible!! Seems like only yesterday he was the tiny little preemie in the NICU, covered in wires, fighting to live!

You have come a long way Tommy Tom and we are so blessed to have you in our family!!! We love you!!!!

Thought You Should Know......

After much discussion and thought, Vanessa has decided to give birth to "only brown boys" and will adopt a little white girl so that she doesn't have to "do" hair.

This is a constant topic of conversation whenever we are doing her hair. "Mama, I don't want to worry about doing hair when I'm a Mom. If I just have boys, then that's easy.....but I want to have girls too. But doing brown girls hair is sooooo hard and it takes sooooo long."

I'm looking forward to her only "giving birth to brown boys"!!!! That I gotta see!

Ahhh, Summer!

First day of summer vacation and the kids were just sure it was time to do Iron Chef again! Thankfully Nana is here and she helped clean up the kitchen when they were through.....what a mess!

But I have to be honest, these kids can cook!!! Vanessa was the only one that I got a picture of.....the boys inhaled too fast, there was no evidence left!


Happy Summer!!!!

Heaven Help Us!

"Isaiah, what are you doing???"

Long pause...........

"Um, getting dressed."

Actually, he was headed to some gum that I tossed up on my top shelf in my closet for safe keeping! He spotted it and made his way up the shelves on the side and across the top to the gum.

Now to find a new spot to hide the gum! Ha ha....

She Did It!!!!

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

The Senior members of the choir performed The National Anthem as well as Seasons Of Love. Sam is in the front row, first on the left.

Full house

The whole kaboodle of us with our Graduate!!

Samantha with her proud parents and little monkey brother!

Samantha with Nana and Papa!

She did it!!!!

Always need balloons for a celebration!

And of course, a cake!

Saturday was a perfect day for graduation! The sky was blue and there was not a cloud to be seen! We debated on finding a babysitter for the youngest 2 but ultimately decided to take the whole family. It just didn't feel right to leave anyone home. We did ok for a few minutes and then Scott ended up out in the hall, while the youngest two ran wild. Sabrina texted him to let him know when it was getting close to Samantha's turn.

We took a couple of pictures afterwards and then we took everyone home for a bbq and swimming.

It was a perfect day! It was so nice to have Scott's parents here to share the day with us. Family always makes everything better!

Congratulations Samantha, we are so proud of you!!!!!