Mother's Day 2012

Yesterday was my 6th Mother's Day.  The kids all made cards for me and we went and had brunch at the Shack.    I feel more and more blessed every year that I am a Mom.  I know my kids love and adore me as much as I do them.  I try and reflect on all of our blessings everyday as to not take things for granted.  Often when I reflect, one of my biggest fears is not getting to say the things I want to say to the people I love.  I was able to tell my Maw Maw Alice on this Mother's Day that although she is not my Mother, she has helped mold me into the Mother I am today and that I love her very much and have learned so many great values from her.  I also told her that as a Mom now, my kids often ask me where I learned this and that from and her name comes up quite a bit.  I realize more than ever today just how much she really taught me and I am so blessed to have had such a sweet amazing woman to help support me and learn from.  She told me that she loves us all so much and that she prays every night for our happiness and she is very proud of us.  I love her so much!

Arizona trip 4/22-4/30

This year Mike did his third Whiskey Off Road Race in Prescott, AZ.  He worked hard all year to train and lost 60 lbs.  His goal was to finish the race under four hours to better his time from five hours the year before.  He finished it in 3:58.  Since he planned to drive into Arizona for the race, we decided it would be a good opportunity for us to all go and visit.  We arrived at Cherrie and Brian's on the first evening.  Cherrie and Brian built a beautiful 8 bedroom house so it was more than accommodating for us :).  The first day we settled in and ate Cherrie's homecooking.  The next day on Monday, we were able to drop off all of the kids to Phoenix Children's Academy for the day.  Cherrie and I were able to go and get pedicures and manicures and have lunch at Nando's.  We closed out the night with a meal of Hawaiian food that Cherrie cooked and all the kids got to go swimming and play together.  The next morning, all of the kids had breakfast together.

Cherrie planned a playdate at her house so that I could invite a bunch of my friends over.  She had a nice spread of snacks and all the kids got to swim and play.  Those included were Rebecca, Gia, Cassie, Tatum, Alivia, Zander, Leslie, Skye, Kristina, Lawson, Aubrynn, Cherrie, Luca, Aidan, Maile, Miles, Stacey, Jack, Max, etc.

Lawson, Aubrynn, Anderson, Alivia, Roman, Alice, and Rose

Rose pushing Tatum on the swing

The next day, Daddy took us to breakfast at Liberty Market and then we hung out at Cherrie's all day and walked to the park.  That night we went to Amiee and Chris's house and had bar b q and visited.

Liberty Market

Liberty Market

walking to the park

The next day on Thursday, we hung out at Cherrie's in the morning and then Daddy took us to Joe's Farm Grill and we met the kids old babysitter Lisa there.  Mike met with his Casa foster kid that evening and we just hung out at the house the rest of the day.  Lori and Kale Wilson came and visited us at Cherrie's.

That night we went for a girls night at Firebirds restaurant and I got to meet up with some of my good friends.

the next day on Friday, Mike left for Prescott, Az for the race. Cherrie dropped off her kids at school and we took our kids to Harkins Theatre at San Tan Village and signed them into the play center and we watched The Lucky One and then had lunch at Some Burros after. We also ran into my friend Kristi Novac at the movies.

That night we moved over to my friend Stacey Durney's house.  We hung out and had dinner with her and the kids played together.  The next day Stacey made breakfast for us and we brought the girls to their friend Graci and Gweni's house to play.  Stacey and I took all of the boys to Harkins playcenter and we went and saw Mirror, Mirror.  Then we picked up the girls and took them back to Stacey's, let them swim for a while and cooked dinner and had movie night.

Having lunch before the movie

Max, Roman, Rose, Anderson, Alice, and Jack

After the movie

Graci, Rose, Gweni, Alice

Rose, Graci, Alice

Little Burritos after swimming at Stacey's

The kids plates at Stacey's, should have taken pic at Cherrie's

The next day, Mike came back from Prescott, AZ.  We visited with Steve and Stacey and then headed back to Cherrie's to get our luggage.  We then headed out back to Oklahoma.  We stopped in Anthem, AZ and met Peter Abadie and Alex at Red Robin for lunch. 
Overall, it was great seeing all of my friends.  The trip was a little too long and it was hard to find stuff for the kids to do but in the end we created lots of memories and had a great time. 

Boudreaux's 6th Birthday 3/20/12

Every year Boudreaux's birthday slips right past us so this year we swore we wouldn't forget and that we would celebrate.  Again the day slipped past us, but we did remember the next day and we made up for it.  We took him to McAlister's with us to eat lunch and then we took him to get a birthday treat and to run around the dog park.  Boudreaux is very much a part of our family.  We call him our fifth child, middle child, and our spoiled child.  Nonetheless, he brings so much joy and laughter to us on a daily basis.  Here are a few pictures of our celebration....

Anderson's 5th Birthday

2/17/12-  Our sweet Anderson turned five and we celebrated at the house.  Here are a few pictures to share.  We gave him his bike before Daddy left for work as well as his flash costume.  Then later when we had cake, he opened up his spiderman alarm clock, heely's, spiderman book, spiderman knee pads and elbow pads.

3rd Adoption Anniversary

It has been three years already.  We always celebrate the kids Adoption Anniversary every year with presents and a cake.  We sing to each one of them separately with the Happy Birthday theme.  This is something that they look forward to days leading up.  We love y'all more and more everyday and we are so blessed that y'all are our forever family.  Here are some pictures to share...

Just a moment

Having the boys home gets boring after a while so when I have the opportunity, I like to throw a wrench in the everyday routine.  This day, they had fun putting their hot wheels through their own manual car wash.  Such a sweet moment and memory to treasure.

This next picture is Anderson sleeping under his tent that he made in his room.  Another sweet moment.

Alice and Rose for the 100th day of school dressed up as 100 year old ladies

Anderson sleeping with his car that he got with his birthday money

Just a day of playing

Spring Picture Day

Great Wolf Lodge

We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine Texas during the week of the kids Spring Break in March 2012.  The kids had a blast at this indoor water park.  When we first arrived, they got to color in the lobby while we waited to check into our room

Alice coloring

Once we got our room, we checked it out and the kids were really excited about their own little cabin.

 That night after playing in the water all day, we did some shopping at Grapevine Mills.  We also got to meet family whom I had never met and Mike had not seen for 15 plus years.  We met the Bowman family at Love and War in Texas Restaurant

Jason & Mike


It was so nice to meet all of them and it felt like I had known them for years. I can't say enough about how nice of a dinner it was. After dinner we went back to the lodge so that the kids could enjoy storytime in the lobby.

The next morning we had breakfast within the lodge and the kids got to take a picture with Violet, except for Roman who was unwilling.

 We then went to the lobby for story time again and the Wolf Walk.

Making paper wolves

Alice with her paper wolf

Anderson & Roman with their paper wolves

Rose and her paper wolf

 After that, we went to the water park again.  The kids went with Mike and I down the River Cannon waterslide, it was so fun.  Most of the time they stayed in the kiddie area where there was two small waterslides.  The girls loved the wave pool and they went down a big slide with Daddy.  After a few hours at the waterpark, we left and went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch and met Wally on the way out.  This time it was Anderson who didn't want to take a picture.

When we came back, we went to the water park again for a few more hours then we took a bath, got in our pjs and went and got ice cream within the hotel.  The next morning we woke up and drove 20 minutes to Renee and Brian Boudreaux's house for a fun filled day of grilling and visiting.

Lauren & Rose

Lauren & Alice

 Of course we picked up right where we left off with the Boudreaux's.  We are so blessed to have such great friends.  We met Lauren for the first time, can't believe she will be two years old already.  The whole trip was a blast and a much needed change from the everyday norm.