Christmas 2011

Another Christmas has come and gone. We visited with family in New Orleans over Christmas break and it was a wonderful visit. In addition to visting family, we got to see the Saldana family again as well as the Morales Family and Castex Family. As I sit here and try to reflect on our visit, it is such a blur, not to mention that all four kids are home right now, Rose is in front of me crying and complaining, Anderson is crying because Rose hit him, Alice is in front of me ready to confess to all that happened between Rose and Anderson, and Roman is hugging me grateful that this time, it is not him that is in trouble. Anyway, thought you would like that little window into our life. The kids all got a Leapster 2 with a case and game from Santa. They have been enjoying playing with them. The challenge is getting them to keep them in their case with they are not being played. They also got a karoke machine from Aunt Amy which has been pretty fun hearing them sing. Another stand out is their pillowpets from Granny and harmonicas from Uncle Randy. Mommy was very happy to get a Coach gift card from Daddy and Mignon Faget jewelry as well as a Magic Bullet, kitchen batter dispenser, and pajamas. Daddy got everything on my list.

Our beautiful Family
Maw Maw and Paw Paw with the Grandkids

Roman on the zip line at Clyde and Allyson Morales' house

Thinking of Sweet Christopher

It has been about a three months now but Christopher went back to live with his biological parents. I spoke to Reilly and it has taken a toll on her and it is difficult for him not to be a part of their everyday family. They love and miss him so much. We also love and miss him. Our hope if for him to be safe and loved and to grow up into a fine young man. We hope that he can be strong through any negative influences and know right from wrong. Our hope is that one day we can reunite with him and have him be a part of our family once again. We love you Christopher!!!

Thanksgiving 2011

For Thanksgiving, we decided to go to New Orleans to be with family since we live closer know, 11 hours vs. 25 hours. The kids had a great time. They got to spend lots of time with their cousins. Besides regular family we usually see, we also got to see the Frederick Family (met Emile for the first time and fell in love) the Saldana family and Terry and Allie LeSieur. We took the kids to Cafe Dumonde, Prejeans, Drago's and Audubon Park just to name a few.

We had an experience hitting a deer on the way back from Granny's house. Mike managed to not hit it head on but we had damage on the Toyota Tundra on the front bumper and side. It was $5,000 of damage. Alice was the most scared but overall we were just thankful that we weren't hurt. On the way back to Oklahoma, we also hit bumped in the back while exiting the interstate. Lots of excitement. Anderson enjoying beignets at Cafe Du Monde

Rose playing at Audubon Park

Our visit to Drago's restaurant

Anita and Alice, the twins....

Here are the kids playing duck duck goose with their cousins

Chris

We did get to see Christopher before we left Arizona. Alice cried when we left because she was sad that we wouldn't see him for a long time. Here are some pictures.

Eaux K in OKC

It has been a while since I have written and when I think about writing I am overwhelmed at trying to catch up so I'm not going to catch up. This is better than nothing right? Well we are now living in Oklahoma, Daddy got a promotion and we are happy to be closer to Louisiana and back in the South. Rose and Alice are enjoying their new school. Anderson is in Pre K and Roman is staying home with Mommy because Preschool was full. We went to Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch this weekend and we took ya'll to Pops to eat lunch. We are excited for the holidays and we are definitely in the spirit. Random: Alice has lost four teeth, Rose has lost two. Anderson has bald spots from rocking and rubbing his head on his bed, Roman still puts his shoes on the wrong feet and can't button his own pants, urgh! Anderson has just learned how to snap and loves to show us all the time, see picture below. We love you all, our family has never been closer and happier.

Visit with Christopher (Tag)

We had such a great time with Christopher and as always I am reminded of why we decided he would be better off with another family. We love him dearly, he is so sweet, good, hilarious, etc. but this situation is so much better than if he did live with us. I want to be the best mother I can to our four kids and I feel that if we had him right now, I would lack a whole lot at that. Anyway, I do miss him already, he fits right in and is so drawn to me and hugs me and reaches for me, too cute. The first day we had him we went to the splash pad and to the park and then got happy meals. The second day we went to the mall and played in the play area, had lunch, then went to a different mall and played in that play area, and then went home and went to the park. We did so much and the visit was everything I needed it to be and the kids had such a great time visiting with him. They were ok when he left. I was worried that they would be upset. He left this morning and I took the kids out to lunch and to Walmart and we just hung out at home and we had such a great day. They got a box from Granny with clothes and Easter treats. Then we had a nice St Patricks Day Dinner and I gave them a green donut and made them Shamrock Milkshakes. The day couldn't have been any better. I love our kids, we are so blessed, xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Well Hello!

Disneyland was a blast. The kids loved seeing all of the characters. Rose was the only one ready and willing to go on any ride. Everyone loved the tea cups the best and also the carousel was a big hit. Five days was a little too much for them, they were quite overwhelmed the last couple of days and behaviors started erupting mostly in Rose and Roman.

It turns out that Rose's leg was not fractured but that she has juvenile rhematoid arthritis. Her knee continued to be swollen she got her cast off so I took her to multiple follow up appointments and then to a Rhematologist who determined she has JRA so she had a procedure done to remove the fluid and inject a steroid to stop the swelling. She still has pain in different joints several times a week so we will have to monitor everything and continue to follow up with the rhematologist as well as the eye doctor. We are hoping she will grow out of it.

In October, Dad and Paula came to visit in AZ. We went bowling, cooked out a couple of times, went swimming at their hotel, the Legado, and had some good quality time with them. In November we visited Oklahoma to scout the area because Mike has a job interview with Cox there and we may have a prospect come up soon to move there. We had a great time, everyone there was really friendly and it reminds me of Louisiana.

In December we went to New Orleans for Christmas and New Years. It was nice to visit family and see tons of friends but as always, it is nice to be home in Arizona as well.

We currently have our house for sale. Our intent is to let it forclose if it doesn't sell because at this point, we owe 268,000 and it is only valued at 136,000. We can pay our housenote but we rather move closer to Mike's work and just rent and then start over. We would still be better off even with the hit to our credit. Right now we are waiting to hear something from Oklahoma and if that doesn't happen, we plan to move June 1st after Alice is out of school to Anthem, AZ. It is an hour from here but only 15 min to Mike's work.

Alice is doing great in Kindergarden. She is reading a bit, spelling words, knows 100 sight words. She also follows direction really well and she enjoys it. Right now she will be off this week for spring break. We had Rose at American Leadership Academy for half day Kindergarden (we were using it as a pre k) but the classroom was not disciplined, organized, or structured enough so she was not doing well and it was actually doing worse for her behavior rather than better so we decided to pull her out and just wait and start full day kinder when Alice enters 1st grade next year. Anderson is in preschool at Kinderbugs right now and is doing so great. He tells me "I love you" in sign language all the time and today he showed me the sign for "more". Too cute!

As the kids get older and more self sufficient, some things are easier and some are more challenging. I would say the biggest thing that is hard is all of the fighting between them which I would have never thought. We just took them on their first hike last weekend at San Tan Mountain for a one mile hike and they did great. Hopefully we can do more hiking with them, especially when we go camping more this coming summer.

Christopher (Tag) is still with my friend Reilly. He will be spending two nights with us this week so the kids are really excited. He has not been to our house since last year but I see him at least once a month when I get my hair done and the kids saw him before Christmas. I miss him so much and I have a really hard time periodically with the fact that he is not with us. It feels like he just belongs with us. I know that we made the right decision but it is still hard to deal with and it will be for the rest of my life. I love him so much and just want him with us. He is doing great with Reilly and Travis and he and Tommy are little buddies. It is so cute. I know after he spends the night this week, I will realize once again why we couldn't keep him as I am sure it will be hard to have all five kids.

Alice and Rose joined the girl scouts this past Friday, they are Daisys. I am happy they will be able to socialize with their friends and learn some good core values. Alice's friend Ellie is in it with them, she is in Alice's kindergarden class.
Boudreaux is still Boudreaux, follows me everywhere, farts, eats the kids food, barks at everything, drinks toilet water, takes up his share of the king size bed (Mike says his share or more).

Mike just got a new mountain bike. He will be doing the Whiskey Off Road for the second time . He will also be hiking the grand canyon for the second time, all in April. He had a blood clot that has now gone away and also just had another kidney stone two weeks ago that has passed. I can't think of anything other updates off hand but will update again if I do.

I want the kids to know that we love them very much. Lots of questions have been coming up lately about when they were babies and about adoption. The truth is that none of that bothers me and I don't even think about it, to me it seems like I gave birth to them and I love them so much. I have been reassuring them that we are their forever family and will always love them no matter what they do or say. We will always be family. We look forward to the future and spending time with them and helping them flourish into themselves. I just can't express enough how happy we are that they came into our lives. p.s. Alice is sleeping in Rose's bed tonight and they were holding hands, too cute.