Happy Birthday Cobi!

I can't believe he's 10! Double digits. That makes 2 of my kids now. Cobi is such a joy. He's funny, smart, sweet, and such an easy child. We are all blessed to know and love him.
We'll be celebrating with family and a few friends in a couple of weeks. I took cupcakes to school today. It's easy to see that the kids in his class enjoy him as much as we do. For dinner he wanted shrimp from Tokyo Joe's, his sisters got him Pokemon cards and we gave him Guitar Hero for his Nintendo DS. He's easy to please! I love this boy so much!! Happy Birthday Buddy!!

IT'S A GIRL!

Otis has a sister! She's a cockapoo and her name is Mollie. She's just 3 months old and clearly very adorable.

We have been discussing a playmate for Otis for a couple of days and decided to take the plunge.

Otis is enamored and we hope they have a long and loving relationship!

That Was Fast!

Summer vacation is over. It seems like we just finished last school year. As usual I'm very excited for school to begin. But that means getting up earlier every day. The kids are so anxious to start and part of that is of course the school supply shopping. This year was not as difficult as past years. We were able to recycle a lot of our stuff. But the things that I will never get used to providing for school are tissues, wipes, and ziploc bags. Did we do that when we went to school? I sure don't remember that!

So, the kids start this Monday. I will miss the first day of school as I will be at my own orientation for my school year at Cherry Hills Christian.

Right of Passage?

Bailey's Gam took her shopping yesterday and Bailey came home with more jewelry than I own. OK, maybe not quite. But she felt the need to clean out her jewelry box and put her unwanted earrings in a ziploc. She then gave them to Maggie and told her "for when you get your ears pierced." I've been asking Maggie for years now if she wanted to get them done but she was adamant about not doing it yet. Too scared. But when she saw all that could be hers... she decided she was ready. So off to Claire's where a delightful young lady did the deed. There was only an "OW" from Maggie and that was that. Now she wants to know why I'm telling everybody. I told her "because it's a big deal!"

Bailey then asked if she could get double pierced. Oy vey! I said "not this young!"

I know, I know...

It's been a very long time. Hope everyone is doing well. I've been very busy since last post. My bestest friend Shannon came for 5 days and we scrapped our hineys off. It was great to scrap with her again- the last time being last December-January in Kansas. Even Rachel came over and did some creating. That was fantastic!
We had a very successful garage sale and got rid of a lot toys. Feels very good to clean up the clutter.

My dear Grandma turned 80 this month. I did the math and figured out she was only 43 when I was born. That's only 6 years away for me! Frightening!! So I've put one of those ankle bracelets on Bailey like juvenile deliquents get so I can keep track of her for the next 6- 10 years. Hah! Just kidding. Sort of.

The kids and I went to the zoo last Sunday with Dad and Carolyn. My other brother Greg and his adorably expecting girlfriend were there, as was my nephew Sterling. It was so hot but a ton of fun.
Unfortunately, Bailey was not able to eat that day as she had to be cleaned out for a colonoscopy and endoscopy the next Monday (yesterday).
All went well and he took some biopsies which we will get results from in about a week. I really am hoping they find something so they can fix it and we can move on. I'm very worried that this is going to run into school starting and that will be so hard to schedule appointments. Thankfully, her stomach pains are not bad enough lately to keep her in bed. But it's a constant thing still.

I had a wonderful lunch today with my former teacher's assistant friends and Betsy my 5th grade teacher. She's not my teacher of course, she's the wonderful teacher I work for! It was so good to catch up with everyone and I get more excited about school starting with each day. I'm really anxious to start my new position being a helping friend to a girl going into 7th grade. Her name is Rachel and she has Down Syndrome. She is so loving and affectionate. I will make sure she gets to the right class, help with class work, keep her on task and just be there for her.
So I think that brings everyone up to date. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Photos from zoo courtesy of Bailey!

A New Addition To Our Family

After years of thinking about it and doing nothing. After a church service this morning that made me realize we CAN and HAVE to do this.
We have adopted an 8 year old girl in Uganda! Her name is Susan. She is an orphan living with her grandmother and 2 brothers. We'll get more info on her in the coming weeks and the kids are so excited to begin writing her and sending small gifts.
We had a guest speaker from Gulu, Africa today. He is a pastor of a church there. With his wonderful accent, he spoke of children as young as 10 being pregnant. Giving up their bodies for 1 meal. I immediately thought of Bailey. I got sick. Children who are as young as 3 who have AIDS through sexual contact. How can I sit there and be o.k. with this?? Even writing about it now makes my heart pound. Jesus said that when we feed, clothe, house, and give water to those in need, we do it to Him. When I thought of how quickly I can spend the money it takes to support Susan for one month, I just couldn't stand it any more. Such a small amount. Yes, things are tight right now. Bailey's Dr. bills are pouring in. I'm not bringing in the income I do during the school year. But we eat every day. Susan gets one meal every 3-4 days. We have closets full of shoes and clothes. Does she even own one pair of shoes? I don't know yet. I think probably not. We can go to the movies, soccer games, shopping, (I could go on and on) and she loves to jump rope. We are blessed to be able to do these things.
We are all so excited about Susan and hope we can make her life which is so precious to God just a bit easier to live every day. God calls us to love those as we love Him.
Is your heart pounding?

Our Fab 4th of July

Cobi pulls a popper and I catch the action on camera!! Woo Hoo!!
Miss America Maggie. She's so close to losing that tooth on the bottom!! One of the few photos I got of Bailey since she is still not feeling great.
Maggie and her friend Lili passed out in the car on the way home from watching fire works.

We had a pot luck-cookout with our neighbors. This marked our third year in this house. Can't believe how fast time flies! The 4th is my 2nd favorite holiday. I love the colors, the summer night, our friends, and thinking about the wonderful country we live in. Hope you had a fab 4th too!

We're Baaack!!

This is our whole group from our trip to Avon/Beaver Creek. We had 22 people at one time!

This was our Hummer tour outside of Avon. Beautiful scenery. Sadly, one of the 3 Hummers broke down and we had to cram all those people in the other truck. We still had a blast though.

We spent the days swimming, eating, playing Guitar Hero, Wii, eating, shopping, eating, making crafts, eating, sleeping, eating, watching soccer, eating, paddle boats, eating, riding the ski lift, eating, rodeo, and horse back riding. Did I mention eating?!? Holy cow. Literally.

I never grow tired of the beauty of the mountains. We are so blessed to live in this state!

The whole reason for this trip? Dante's parents own a time share in Avon. We go every year. This year, Dante's younger brother had some of his friends come too. Lots of teens! We were also lucky enough to have his grandparents and uncle all the way from Maine! I love them! Unfortunately, Dante's grandma cut her leg on the free bus and had to have 13 stitches!! She'll be fine- she's very tough!

The highlight of the trip for me was watching Maggie on our trail ride. She is a horse freak. Loves them. She had done lessons but hasn't been able to ride since. She had her own horse- Jasmine, who she was in complete control of.

That's Maggie on the white horse!

I love going on this trip and look forward to many more. It is good to be home though!

The Hummer trail.

Our family!

Pickle

A few nights ago, we all ended up in the backyard. This is rare only because there are either some of us missing or we have extra bodies belonging to neighbors here. Dante was working with Cobi on catching and throwing. The next thing I knew, the four of them were involved in a game called "Pickle." For those not familiar: there are two bases with a person on each one. A runner tries to get from one base to the other without being tagged. Thus creating a pickle. They were having so much fun! I love to see them all playing together with no fussing or fighting. I even got into the act a few times. Of course I had to work on grass stains later that night, but who cares?! It was so very worth it!

Amazing People

I have amazing people in my life. My family is so wonderful. I am so thankful I was raised in a home where we were taught to pray. Between my family, Bailey's soccer team, my co-workers, Dante's co-workers, and all our friends, Bailey is covered in prayer. I know that she will get better and live a normal life once again. God is good.

At this very moment I have 7 children in my house. They are playing "Resteraunt" and having a great time. I don't know why they all end up here. But for now I'm glad. I know where they are and what they're doing!

To Rachel and Houston: Thank you for your support on this deal! I hope to be half as good as you both are someday!

Whew....

My oldest, Bailey, was admitted to the hospital on Thursday the 5th. We have been battling pancreatitis but there were other problems. She had a bacterial infection and a few other nasty things that were making her very sick. Once we get those things cleared up, she will have an endoscopy to try and find out why she has had pancreatitis twice in 2 years.

Needless to say, I'm very tired. We were released from St. Lukes yesterday. Wow. It's amazing how much you miss being at home!

Dante and I spent some really great time together today. We hit Walmart, had Arby's, and then to Lowes. I got just a few flowers for the house. A few odds and ends and then home to do yardwork. It was so nice and cool outside, it made the work a bit easier.

Unfortuately, I missed the "frenzy" at my store, so I was unable to do my layout with customers. But the fabulous ladies I work with took care of it! I'm feeling more and more confident about the things I'm making for the store.

Here's a house I made with a little book inside. I love the warm colors and think it turned out pretty cute!

I don't know why this picture is way over down here! I'm still

trying to figure this stuff out!!

I'll get there! I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of trial and error.

My family is out back hitting wiffle balls. I think I'll go and watch!

My very first post!

I've been thinking about this for a awhile now. What took so long? I'm not computer savvy. Seriously, not good at this technical thing. So it's a little scary. It will probably be boring for a while until I get the hang of it. Sorry about that.

So here's the background:

I'm 37 and have been married to Dante for 13 years. We have 3 children. Bailey, our beautiful red head is 11 and going into 6th grade. (yikes!) Cobi, the best boy in all the land, is 9, going into 4th grade. Our baby, Maggie just turned 8. She's heading for 3rd grade. They are all delightful. More on them at later dates.

I work at a Christian school as a 5th grade teacher's assistant in the mornings and then at a fabulous local scrapbook store in the afternoons. Details on that later...

So this is just my first try. I need some lessons from the fabulous ladies at my store. They are amazing. Yes Rachel and Christyn, I mean you!