Chavalah

Chavalah is just too cute! I can't quick squeezing her! Just lovey! Scrumptious!

She has a new thing that she does and that's scrunch up her cute little face and inhale and exhale through her nose! Watch! :) She has also figured out how to click her tongue!

Spaghetti Man!

Ezra LOVES spaghetti! I usually strip him down to just his diaper when he eats it as he gets it EVERYWHERE! :) He's such a dolly! I love him so much! He's just growing up SO FAST!

Mmmm, mmmm, Mommy!! :)

GNO!!!!

Much needed Girls Night Out happened last night! What a delightful time! My friend Amber and I went out WITHOUT our kids! WOW! It was so wonderful! THANK YOU ROB AND BENJAMIN for watching the kids while we got out. We went to a really good restaurant called Z Tejas first and enjoyed a PLEASANT surprise when we got our bill. We ended up ordering appetizers from the menu cause that's what we wanted and they ended up being half price as it was "happy hour." Didn't even know it!!!! What a blessing!

Then we went to As You Wish which is a paint your own pottery place to paint a birthday plate for our families. I will serve all of our family a piece of cake on their very own birthday! Should be fun! I just want my kids to have special memories of growing up just as I do! As you can see, they turned out pretty cute, but you really CAN'T tell what they'll look like until you actually see them glazed, which we can pick them up on Tuesday, so I'll take another picture and post when we get them back.

Thank, Amber, for a great night!

Weekly Update on Benjamin's Garden

So, I think it's SO INTERESTING to see the growth of a garden from seed to full growth, so I'm going to try and take a picture every Saturday to show you the growth! This is yesterday's shot. I'm a little late, I didn't have the first few pictures as seed really other than them planting, but I'm starting now. So, in the pictures, you can see a little bit of green. He planted half of the garden about 2 weeks ago, and the rest throughout this week. Farthest away are two full rows of sweet corn, then there is broccoli, green beans, shell peas, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, green onion, garlic, a whole row of tomato plants, and an entire row of strawberry plants! Should be yummy!!!!!! Can't wait! The black strips that you see along the garden are drip tapes that allow us to set our water on a timer and it will start watering on its own and just DRIP the water through so it's not so "flooded." It's more even. There is a drip tape for every row of vegetables on each side. So fun! I'm learning so much! My husband is AMAZING in the garden. This is his first "Arizona" garden, so he's very unsure of himself, but I have confidence he'll do amazing. Come along on our journey if you feel like it! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAMA!!!!!

TODAY, is my mama's birthday! Actually it is now 12:10 AM, but I still consider it her birthday since I'm still awake!!!

Mama, I LOVE YOU so much, it makes me cry! You are the best mom in the entire world EVER! I couldn't ask for a better best friend! You care about me more than anyone in this world but my husband. You make me feel SO SPECIAL! So happy to still have you. Looking forward to celebrating your NEXT birthday! :)

Miss you! Can't wait to see you a week from today!

Outer extremities! :)

Ezra is pointing to his outer extremities for you here in this video! :) He still gets a little confused, but for the most part is quite familiar! :)

Big Update

Our fabulous school boy!

Boy is that ice cream cone GOOD!!!

Ooop! Helping daddy with the garden!!

Laine helping daddy plant the strawberry bushes.

Chavalah snoozing in her jumparoo!

KRISPY KREME!!! Enough said! :)

These boys are INSEPARABLE! They are AMAZING!
Praise God from whom all BLESSINGS FLOW!!!

Brothers! Did you hear that?! Brothers! Takes time for these adoptions to SOAK IN! Sorry for the repeat! I just like to hear that! :) BROTHERS! :) AMEN!

Mommy & Chavie!

It's been a GREAT week, but BUSY, and I'm ready for a weekend to recuperate! Benjamin has worked for almost 9 days in a row again and I'm ready for him to be HOME! :) Laine has been on Spring Break this week, it's been nice not to have to hurry up and get him to school by 11:40 every day, then hurry back to get him by 2:40. Had NO IDEA how much that actually disrupts my day! Shew! Nice break! Although, our sweet school boy has asked EVERY MORNING if he goes back to school yet! :) Such a cutie.

So, we started our week at church. Great service. I got some more Pampered Chef from my cousins' party and am always a very happy baker/cook when I get new things! :) People think I'm nuts, but I USE EVERY SINGLE PIECE, MANY TIMES, WITHOUT FAIL! :) Worth every penny.

Monday was a "prep" day for a freezer meal cooking day on Tuesday! My sister-in-law, Aubrey, and I planned an ALL DAY cooking day for Tuesday! Can I just say, that was one of the most rewarding days of my life! I felt SO SUCCESSFUL! I was so proud! And I think Aubrey would agree with me. We prepared meals for our families' that will probably last spread out about 2 months. We even did a batch of Slush and Chocolate Chip Cookie dough. Plus TONS of meals! They all smelled and looked SO YUMMY! I'm just hoping they last me through my 2-4 weeks of no cooking after surgery on Thursday! Eek! Probably not, but I"m going to really make them stretch! I just refuse to let my family eat out for the for sure 2 weeks that I can't cook. Can't afford the cost of eating out or the cost of the calories of eating out! Aubrey and I were in the kitchen from 10 until 7:30 with two short breaks, otherwise. Once Aubrey left, I was still in the kitchen until 1:30 AM finishing everything up. Shew! LONG DAY!

Today I felt we needed to GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! So, I decided I'd take the boys to Krispy Kreme. My original thought was that I'd take them there so that they could have fun watching the donuts being made, etc. To my suprise, this location only had donuts and a cafe, no manufacturing! :( I was SO DISAPPOINTED!!!!! The boys still had a fabulous time and we all enjoyed a special treat!

Last week, was busy as well. Benjamin planted most of his garden, with the help of his assistant sons! :) It was so cute, Benjamin would give Ezra a seed (corn) and tell him to plant it and Ezra would put it in the ground, cover it up (barely enough so daddy would finish), but he felt "so accomplished." You could just see the pride in his eyes! I LOVE seeing that in my children. Self-confidence! Good to teach them young. Ezra, after covering his seed up said, "Ni Ni, seed, Ni Ni" as he pats the dirt!! Too cute! They had SO MUCH FUN! I will take pictures tomorrow of his BEAUTIFUL GARDEN and post them! My baby is AWESOME when it comes to gardening and I can hardly wait to eat, can and store his goods! :) Thank you, sweetie!

Our baby girl is now 7 months old! Time is FLYING! Shew! She gets cuter and cuter every day! Can't stop loving and kissing on her. Pour baby was sick last week with an ear infection. She is starting to get over that now, but I think there might be some teeth coming through! We'll have to see. It seems to take forever.

Last week, also, our dear sweet Laine had an INCREDIBLE report home from school! He was SO GOOD, so focused, so kind to others, so much so that his principal got called to Ms Carvell's class to give Laine a great huge hug! Laine was pretty proud. We celebrated with an ice cream cone out on our patio in the 80 degree weather! WAY TO GO, LAINE! Mommy and daddy are so proud of you!

I think this brings you up to speed! Sending our love to all!