Zoo

All ready to go! THEY WERE SO EXCITED!

Looking at the fish! :)

"Hmm, where should be go NEXT?" :)

This is as close as Chava would get! :) She went NUTS, scared, when little kids would run by and splash water on her! It's going to be a LONG summer! :)

Belle & Laine

All five of the kids after playing in the splash pad!

Don't I have the cutest kids!? :)

My dear friend, Tricia & I! Brave moms! :)

Oh my! Been a long time since I've posted! SORRY! I was going to post on the wedding and there are just SO MANY PICTURES I can't narrow them down with our post! I'll try and work on that still. Until then, here are some pictures of our zoo trip! :) We had so much fun! Our friends, T, I & J invited us to go to the zoo with them last Friday and WE HAD A BLAST! We packed the sunscreen, water and picnic lunch and off we went! Got there at 9:15 and stayed until 1:45! Need I say more!? :)

WOW!

Time has definitely been slipping away from me faster than I'd like! :)

Been busy! :) Chavalah's tubes were successful, however, straight from surgery we went to her pediatrician and found out she had pneumonia, so been busy with getting her well! She's doing much better now! So thankful!

Celebrated a big birthday yesterday in our home! Boy did we have a fun-filled day! We woke Ezra up by going into his room and singing Happy Birthday! :) Oma was here to do that with us. Then we all ate donuts (one of Ezra's favorite breakfast foods). I finished his birthday cake with the help of my mom. We had to do the letters for his cake. He was SO EXCITED about his Veggie Tales birthday cake! What a doll! :)

Ordered in pizza for lunch because that again is one of Ezra's favorite foods! :) Ate quick, then our birthday party guests started arriving! :) Just family, but guests nonetheless. We played outside for awhile then came in to cut the cake and open presents. Then played outside some more. Our guests left around 4. I started dinner, we grilled out, and then daddy started a fire. We all went outside to sit around the fire.

Daddy & Laine went on a Starbucks run for this tired mommy and turns out our Starbucks closes at 7!!!! WHAT!? SERIOUSLY!? Guess I've never wanted one this late here in Maricopa! :) My dear dear husband ran all the way into town (15 miles one way) to get me a Starbucks. He didn't want to come home empty handed! :) What a man! HE LOVES ME SO MUCH, I KNOW! :)

Daddy & Laine then camped out the rest of the night! Laine could hardly sleep he was so excited. Their lights went out at MIDNIGHT! :) They slept until 8 this morning! :) Came inside and both of them are sleeping again this morning right now as I type this! :)

Must go start lunch! :) Lots to get done today! Hoping to accomplish a lot of packing for the trip we leave on in 4 days! :) Yippee!! Iowa HERE WE COME! :)

Tubes

Well, Chavalah is scheduled to have tubes put in her ears tomorrow morning at 7AM. Not too sure she'll be leaving the surgery center with or without them at this point. She has been fighting something all weekend. I took her to the doctor on Wednesday PURPOSEFULLY for this, but at that time she didn't have anything to be treated for bacterial. It was viral! NOW, she's gotten worse just yesterday and has been running a consistent fever now for 48 hours. She is coughing a lot worse now and has some yucky stuff coming out her nose! Poor thing! We'll see what tomorrow brings! Please be praying for them to be able to do it tomorrow! I really want this done and off my mind. Too, we are flying in less than three weeks and that makes me nervous if we're unable to get the tubes in before the trip! Will post tomorrow after we're home.

Week thus far.........

...........has been different than I thought it would be! That doesn't mean it's all bad, just different than I had anticipated.

Not much to report. Taking the littles' to the pediatrician tomorrow. Both struggling with congestion, nose and not so good coughs. Today I took Ezra to gymnastics and didn't realize how bad his breathing had gotten. It's quite labored, and I'm anxious to see what his pulsox (sp) is tomorrow at the doctors' office. Poor guy! He has asthma, so it doesn't take him long to turn down like his daddy. He started running a fever yesterday. It has been quite low like 99ish, but still it's elevated and you and just tell he doesn't feel well.

In the meantime, I have started a new blog. This time it's filled with RECIPES. I will still maintain this one as much as I can with our family stuff, but in the past, I have had so many people asking for recipes I have prepared or even just talked about so, I decided I would just do a blog so that everyone could have access to my recipes and all the time. The blog address for that is: http://www.jojosnumnums.blogspot.com/. Go check it out! :)

Will check back again when I'm not taking care of my sick sweet babies.

Saturday

WOW! What a day and it's only 6PM! I was in bed at 2 this morning and up at 7 to go get our produce basket this morning. Decided not to go back to bed (even though the entire house was still sound asleep) and get some stuff done. Haven't stopped since! I LOVE IT! :) We have just and incredibly FUN, relaxed and non-committed Saturday full of lots of memories with the kids.

Kids have played outside nearly most of their "awake" hours! They are so lovable! Have I mentioned how much I am so grateful I have them in my life!? Oh man, not a second goes by that I take for granted what God has given me to nurture and care for! HE IS SO GOOD! Anyway, the kids played out back while daddy has been working on planting our spring garden! Mmm! 6 BEAUTIFUL tomato plants, I think some corn, green beans, pumpkins, broccoli, carrots, cucumbers, red potatoes! WOW! It will be so yummy! :) Gave the kids Popsicles to eat after they rested in their rooms this afternoon!

Been posting things on Craigs List all afternoon as I've been cleaning out our bedroom in hopes of getting it ready to paint and ready for a fresh new bedspread decor. Still no new bedroom furniture until after we've gotten some for Laine at least, but we're getting there. Just need to keep saving! :)

Need to run! Need to figure out dinner! :) Then give the kids baths, they are sticky and dirty, and put them to bed. Then keep going on my stuff. Oh yeah, did I mention that Laine and I completed 9 lessons in Language Arts!?

Here is a video of everyone from today! :) Enjoy! I tried posting pictures, but can't seem to get it to work with the video. Might post just the pictures next without verbiage! :) Probably do it tomorrow, need to be with my sweetie tonight.

Success

Well, it's been a busy few days, but many things accomplished.

First, today, we finally saw an ENT for Chavalah. She's been struggling with lots of ear infections and such, and it's time now to put those silly tubes in! I was THRILLED to hear you could do it so soon. We're scheduled for the morning of March 8, so that will be plenty of time before we leave for the wedding and we can fly without any trouble whatsoever in the ear department! :)

Also have been going through LOTS of stuff in the house and am gradually getting rid of some things. Some just the Goodwill, just dropped a huge tote of stuff of there this afternoon, and some by selling it on Craigs List! This is crazy nuts! Have you ever sold anything on Craigs List!? I'm having a BALL! Have already sold two items, gone, out of the house, cash in an envelope GONE, and I have something that has been spoken for and will be gone this coming week, I've listed several other things in hope to sell those, but is amazing! :) Stoked. Probably items I'd have thrown into the Goodwill box and already I've made a good chunk! GLAD I DIDN'T!

So, that's basically what's been going on! I'm still doing lots of organizing, going through and cleaning. Hopefully by the time we leave for Iowa, everything will have been gone through, organized again, and then when we come BACK from Iowa, I can start working on some more "home decor" projects that I've been holding off on.

Ready for another QUIET weekend. Not exactly sure how that happened two weeks in a row, but I'll take it. We will be getting a garden planted and some stuff moved around. See you in a few days.

Weekend of NOTHING

Mama & her babies! :) Pure bliss!

The boys playing outside in the 80 degree weather! :)

Well ALMOST! :) Wow, what a wonderful weekend! We did lots of loving on our cuties, playing outside, took walks, RESTED, watched movies, grilled out! Amazing weekend.

Friday, the kids and I went shopping in Casa Grande with my Granny, mom and dad! Had a FABULOUS time! The kids did great and I got some things I needed for the wedding and just in general! Only got through 1/4 of the stores, but did well, nonetheless! I even found a few darling summer dresses for CHEAP in a much smaller size than I'm used to buying! Have lost quite a bit of weight since January 1 and am excited about that! Let's just say I haven't shopped in a "normal size" shopping store in WAY TOO LONG! In fact, my hubby has barely seen me this small! :) Gotta love that! But it's about time! New year, new me! :) Time to get this nasty "baby weight" off that I gained with having 5 pregnancies within 4 years, then bad eating behaviours to support the grieving we went through! We're onto a new chapter of life with the sweetest family there is, and now it's time for a new mommy to go with that! :) No asking for pictures yet, you'll notice I haven't posted many of myself, probably the first you'll be getting is my sisters' wedding! :) So, don't be pestering me about that! :)

Anyway, then Saturday we stayed home ALL DAY! Didn't leave ONCE! Oh, how amazing that was. The kids played outside, we slept in, watched movies, and Ben got a little yard work done. Much needed! :) It's looking better! :)

Sunday we had a sweet baptism service of a friend of ours. Isaiah was baptized on Sunday at the sweet church that Laine attends AWANA at. It's one of his AWANA friends actually! PRAISE THE LORD FOR HIS PUBLIC PROFESSION! He's a sweet boy, and it just gives me hope and more reason to be praying for my own children! Went out to lunch (haven't done that in quite some time), then came home and did naps. Laine went to AWANA and Benjamin worked on tilling his garden! It looks so refreshing! Time of Spring is here. LOVE seeing that garden freshly tilled and ready for planting. He will plant gradually this week! Praying now for an abundance of produce! :)

Today we're back to the grind. SCHOOL, SCHOOL & MORE SCHOOL! :) Learned last Friday from our teacher what our percentages have to be and we have a lot of work cut out for us, but WE CAN DO IT! :) Thanks for checking in again!

Oh yes, one more thing! Thinking about starting a Recipe Blog! Would anyone be interested!? I just have so many people always asking for my recipes and I have a feeling a lot just don't ask. My only "condition" is that I have COMMENTS in the comment section of if you've tried, what you thought, any feedback, etc. I like an interactive blog! This one is not as interactive as I'd like, but I'll take what I can get! :) I'm still trying to figure out how I'd "organize" a blog. Any thoughts!? They'd be random.

Weather

I often question why we moved out to Arizona almost 4 years ago! And when I question, I just have to remind myself of the unbelievable weather we have 9 or so months out of the year! Truly! This week we've hit upper 70's and even low 80's! LOVE IT! Makes me happy, makes me want to CLEAN AND DECORATE this house like crazy and lots of other funny things! Like play with my kids outside for HOURS! The kids love me a lot more I think too! :) LOL!

Yesterday, daddy was home all day with us. Those are huge happy days in our home. Often in the morning when Benjamin is still home, I schedule the appointments I need to get done so I don't have to take all three kids with me everywhere. Nice, but not so nice when looking for more times to be together as a family. Thursdays we've pretty well committed to scheduling NOTHING purposefully so we can have a family day all to ourselves. LOVE THEM! After daddy left, the kids and I ran to Fry's to pick up some ingredients I needed for my latest "craze." Oh man, I seriously need some help! :) I'm in to Caesar salads now. Fresh Romaine Crunchy Lettuce, homemade dressing (to die for) and homemade croutons! Oh my goodness. SERIOUSLY! Anyway, so after we stopped at Fry's, I took the kids to our first "spring treat" of DQ! Oh were they happy! :) You should've seen the looks on their faces when we drove up to DQ! :) These are fun mommy moments! They sat and ate their ice cream with huge grins and with chocolate dripping down their faces, but they were in Heaven! How couldn't I just let it happen! :) We visited and laughed. Came home and put the littles down for naps, and did 11 lessons in Language Arts with Laine! Shew! He was a trooper! Finished our day out with watching the Olympics together, cozied up on the couches with blankets! :)

Have I mentioned, I'm so grateful God gave me the most AMAZING husband I could ever ask for, and the most perfectly CHOSEN three children I could ever ask for!? WOW! I'm speechless!

Today we again have our windows and doors open to the beautiful weather and sun, and are headed this afternoon to the Casa Grande Promenade (similar to an outlet mall) and then to dinner with daddy at work! YAY!

Miracle on Avella Drive

WOW! Truly speechless. Today was Chavalah's follow up/brace fitting appointment. We walked in expecting to walk out with a new brace for her leg and walked out with NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you hear that?! NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God is doing some HUGE THINGS! THANK YOU for praying! Truly, this is miraculous. Her doctor looked at me and said, "You do realize today was her day to fit for a brace, right? Don't very often see this happen, I'm amazed, but pleased to say, I think her leg is healing and she still won't need a brace today." UNBELIEVABLE! Truly! He couldn't believe it! I also couldn't believe it! I had psyched myself up for a brace on that leg these last three months since our last appointment and was "over my pity party" about it and here God knew all along she wouldn't even need that brace because HE IS CAPABLE OF MORE THAN THAT!!!!! That's all I have to say! We serve a God of MIRACLES! PRAISE THE LORD!

Valentine's Day at the Baltzly's!

Our "first course."

Salad course.

Annual Red Velvet Cake for Valentine's!

WOW, this brings me to tears! My four favorite valentines!

Laine liked his cupcake!

Ezra

Chavalah was so intent on her cupcake. She doesn't like messy fingers, just like her brother and her Oma, so had a hard time picking it up! :)

I think she liked it! :)

Ezra's valentine from mommy and daddy!

Laine's valentine from mommy and daddy!

So, we didn't do a whole lot this year. I got the kids a cute little valentine each, I did my usual heart shaped Red Velvet cupcakes for the family and that's about it. Benjamin and I got a special dinner though the night before. It was FABULOUS! You can see from the pictures! :) My man was HAPPY! :) And so was I! I'll let the pictures do the talking! :)

Things I LOVE! (In honor of Valentine's Day)

Yesterday, as everyone knows, was "Valentine's Day." I was thinking all day yesterday of things that I love and thought I'd share a list with you so you can get to know me better. :) Although I think most that read this know a lot about me, but perhaps you will learn something new about me! :)

Here goes:

• Jesus
• Benjamin Alan Baltzly
• My children
• My mama!
• My God-given friends!
• Starbucks Double Shot Espresso over Ice, no classic, breve! :)
• COOKING
• BAKING
• ENTERTAINING!
• Naps
• Fondue
• Celine Dion
• PIZZA
• my nephews
• someone cooking for ME
• reading blogs
• HUGS
• Bible Study
• MOM'S home cooking
• board games
• COUPONS! :)
• Saving Money
• Author Karen Kingsbury
  

This is only listing a few things, I love LIFE in general, but these are a few specifics! :) So what's the scoop. Did you know most of this about me!? :) What DIDN'T you know about me that you learned from this list! Write me back in the comment section! :)

Catching Up

Been a pretty good couple of days! This week has been really busy! Have had numerous doctors' appointments for Chavalah, have had therapies, and lots of a few "extra" things. All okay, just don't particularly care for "busy weeks." Benjamin has worked ALL WEEKEND AND WEEK! Ready to have him home for the weekend! As is he!

Been busy firming up our reservations for our trip back to Iowa for Anissa's wedding! Getting REALLY excited! Super excited! Hard to believe we fly out 6 weeks from TODAY! Can it be real!? I was beginning to feel a little anxious about not having any place to stay reserved, etc. Also hadn't found a dress yet. Things are falling into place this week. We've now confirmed all of our hotels, and just today I stopped by a mall CLEAR NORTHEAST area and found a dress I really liked, but they didn't have my size. They looked to see if any other Dillards had it and they didn't. I was so bummed because I really liked it! It is REALLY HARD to find dresses that are DECENT! I mean, c'mon people. I'd like to wear SOMETHING to the wedding, not nothing! That's been frustrating. Out of an ENTIRE store, I find MAYBE 1 or 2 that are halfway decent, then to find the size. Oh well! So, today I came home and googled it! Not an easy dress to find. When I found a link that had the exact dress, I clicked on it only to find it had been SOLD OUT! Grrr. Did some more searching and FOUND one in my size! YAY! It's ordered, now hopefully it's right when it comes and the fitting is perfect! VERY excited.

Now, to find something for the boys! :) Then I'll be set!

French braided Chavalah's hair for the first time! SHE IS DARLING! Love this girl! Her hair is long, but just BARELY long enough for french braids. It was falling out about 2 hours after I braided it. It was fun though!

Have a wonderful weekend planned. Looking forward to it very much! Get to go out with my bosom friend tomorrow night, in the four years we've known each other, we've NEVER been out alone! We've always had our kids with us! So this will be a treat! Then Saturday there's NOTHING on the calendar except for a special Valentine's dinner that I've planned for my amazing hubby! The kids will be at something through the mom's group at church for a few hours and we're going to come back home and just have a nice quiet dinner at home together. Then Sunday is church and AWANA.

Probably won't have time to blog until Monday! Check back later! :)

Super Bowl Party

THE FOOD! :) NOT a Super Bowl party without it! :)

Banner above the tv.

The ladies! :) CLEARLY outnumbered the men! :)

Two of the many cuties. Juliet and Emma!

The Men!

Had a blast! Too tired to write about it! Thanks everyone for coming! Poor men were out numbered, but I think they still had a good time! :)

Alone Time!

Hair not looking the greatest, but at least you get to see I MADE IT TO THE TOP!

Benjamin works this weekend, so he had Friday off. Mom GRACIOUSLY came over to watch all three of our little monkeys! :) THANK YOU, Mama!

We left at 10:30. Stopped to get our favorite drinks from Starbucks on our way out of town, then went hiking South Mountain, Telegraph Path!!!!! It was GORGEOUS weather, and being outside was what we both needed in the worse way! I CLIMBED TO THE TOP! I was so proud of myself. Never climbed a mountain before. I FELT SO GOOD! My hips today are telling me something different, but nonetheless, mission was accomplished! The weather was low 70's. Perfect. After coming back down off the mountain, we stopped at a gas station for some water, then headed over to get some massages! WOW, those felt great after hiking! :) Each of us got an hour massage. Then we finished our time off by going to Paradise Bakery for a late lunch. It was delicious! Got home around 4:30!

Had a great visit with my in-laws last night via webcam! I think we talked 2 1/2 hours or so. All the kids got to see all the aunts, uncle, and grandma and grandpa! Very special. Gotta love technology!

Last night we ended our day with a movie. Just the two of us after the kids went to bed! Great day!

Today I've been preparing some food for a Super Bowl Party we're having at our place tomorrow night. Not a huge one, but some special friends. Cleaned up the downstairs. Set everything up tonight so I didn't have much to do tomorrow since there's church in the morning and the party starts at 4.

Good night for now! :)

I'm on a roll! :)

Our karate kid!

Granny & my sweet sweet boys!

How's this for a change! :) I used to be SO GOOD at this. Three little ones has been more and more challenging! :) But three days almost in a row of posts! :)

Today we had a special day with my sweet Granny! She comes to Arizona to see THREE of her daughters living here and stays and rotates between each daughters' home for about a week, then does it again. Usually stays between 6-8 weeks! WE LOVE IT!

I got her all to myself today and had so much fun! She keeps me laughing, she is an AMAZING Woman of God, and I don't know where I'd be without her. Certainly not here.

Both Benjamin and I had our physicals' done today to get our "Physicians Statement" finished in our re-licensing packet. I don't' know why, but I was procrastinating BIG TIME on getting in there and doing that and it was so easy and I literally feel so much lighter with that "huge task" checked off my list! It was so freeing. Odd, I know! :) It's the simple things in life! :)

I'm posting a few pictures from today with Granny and the boys, and Laine before karate class with his uniform on. :)

Paperwork.........PaPeRwOrK..........and MORE PAPERWORK!

Benjamin and I have recently had to make a HUGE decision. It's one we've debated over and over and that's whether or not to continue being foster parents. Our license is up for renewal in March, and this is the FIRST YEAR in all the years we've been in foster care (since 2004) where we've actually had an OPTION on renewing, because all of the kids in our home are OURS!!!!! That's a great thing, but on the flip side, it forces us to make a HUGE decision. This decision, for lack of a better explanation, is the same discussion most normal families would be having when it's time for deciding whether or not to have any more children. In essence, our decision NOT to renew would mean, NO MORE CHILDREN for the Baltzlys'. That's a huge thought for me to put my thoughts around.

Part of me is saying, "YOU'RE DONE. DONE with foster care. You KNOW how much work foster care is, and how EMOTIONAL it is. BE DONE." The other part of me says, "Just look at all of those waiting children in Arizona. You are completely capable of taking more, why stop NOW!?" Can you see this battle playing out in my mind? THIS IS SO HARD! The state of Arizona has the 2nd HIGHEST amount of waiting children in foster care in the United States. Pushing 4,000 now! Please don't get me wrong. I KNOW that I cannot save ALL of these children, but the thought stops me in my tracks, that's for sure! This is not my intention, but I could at least help ONE more, right!? :)

So, the decision has already been made, ultimately, but until it is final and we are "relicensed" it remains a question in my mind! Yesterday and today has been spent rounding up all the paperwork needed to file for a foster license renewal.

At this point, we are on a "sabbatical" at the request of us. We have been, actually since November after Chavalah's adoption. We definitely recognized our SERIOUS need for NO INTERRUPTIONS in our very new and sweet and perfect family for several months, but this happened to come in the middle of that "R&R." We will still most likely stay this way until end of April, then open our phone back up for calls. We'll see!

Would you do us a favor!? Would you pray very specifically about this for us. Would you pray that IF IT'S GOD'S WILL for our lives that He would bring us His chosen one for us and that we would feel PEACE about this! And if it's not that He'd make that clear by bringing us no more children and a peace that this is what's meant to be for us so that we can officially move on?!

Benjamin & I so covet your prayers. I will keep you posted! :)

Hmmm.........

......looks as though the blog writer has been SLACKING! :( So sorry! I feel terrible. No "real" excuse here, so without further ado, here is what we've been up to since um............December 15! :)

December 19 we left for a nice 9 day trip away from home to Colorado! We rented a cabin there and got an opportunity to be ALONE! Just the five of us! IT WAS FABULOUS! Nothing wrong with be with friends and family, but we had had SO MUCH going on these last few years that we needed a break away with just the five of us! True bliss! It snowed (we were really praying for that), we were cozy, we all slept well, we went to Focus On The Family (VERY COOL), road the Pikes Peak Cograil, these were a few of the fun things we got to do while we were there. We did also get to see some very special family friends while we were there. They were gracious enough to open their home to us for a very yummy dinner! :) THANK YOU, McCraleys!

Upon returning, we brought in the new year! No huge celebration, but I am always happy to close off a year and open a brand new one! :) :) So far this year, we've almost all gotten sick with something (except Laine), but are on the mend, Laine just started his ORANGE belt karate class, Ezra starts another round of Gymnastics tomorrow morning, I've started my new Bible Study "Living a Life of Balance" which I'm already learning TONS from, Benjamin went back to work after a nearly 4 week break/time off. So far, that's about it! Things seem to be quieting down some for us this year. We have taken a "sabbatical" per se, from foster care and are still licensed, but not taking any placement phone calls, probably until end of March! Just needed a break from the craziness of things to really get our "official family" on our feet in the right way!

We DO plan, however, to relicense at least one more year! This has been a REALLY tough decision for us this year! We're due in March, so we really needed to decide and get moving if we were going to do this again. We'll see what happens. Still following the Lord on this to the core, and we're open to what He'll show us this year!

Not much happening this month! That'll be nice.

Next month, however, my sister is GETTING MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Truly amazing! We will ALL fly back to Iowa end of March for about 5 days! Not a very long trip, but the point of our trip is to be there for Anissa and MARK! We absolutely LOVE Mark! He is PERFECT for Anissa! They will tie the knot on March 27! More on that to come!

I hope this helps catch everyone up! I'm hoping to stay more diligent. I have to be honest, I felt like I needed to "catch up" and therefore I had been procrastinating FAR MORE than I should've. I won't necessarily be having tons of pictures with every post, but I will try and document more of our every day life when I can and throw in pictures when I can! Thanks for your continued interest in our lives!

Love to you all!