Last Day of School

Well, the kids have come to the last day of school for Chrsitmas break. They return to school on Jan 7th, so everyone pray I still have a sane mind when that far, far, far away day comes!:) I am sure they will have so much fun it will pass to quickly for them.

I wanted to do this post to share a picture of Keely's hair that her teacher/aides did for her today at her class Christmas party. It was fixed so cute up on top in a high ponytail and they beaded a strand of hair as you can see in the picture. She got lot's of other treats at her party and painted us a Santa piggy bank for her gift to the family, it was so cute. I think it is great they take the time to help the kids do that for the parents. I will try and post a picture of it at a later date.

So hope you all enjoy Keely's picture! Only 7 Days till Christmas!!

Happy 16th Birthday Keely!

Keely feeding the giraffes.

Showing off her Sweet 16 necklace from Mawmaw and Pawpaw.

Loving her birthday zebra.

Wow, 16 yrs old! Keely is such a sweet girl who is happiest playing outside with the dogs or inside on the couch watching her favorite show, and watch the same episode time after time and be just as happy it's on for the 20th time as she was the first! She would rather eat icecream than anything else and will often steal her brothers if they aren't careful! She is also the only person who can take a bite out of every apple in the bowl without anyone noticing! Watching her grow and progress has been quite an experience. She is so smart, yet stubborn enough to only show you what she wants to. That is usually when you least expect it or in ways that catch you off guard, when she's doing something sneaky!:) She has most of her family wrapped around her fingers, and toes for that matter. And she knows it too. She makes an impression on everyone she meets from drs and nurses who have cared for her and then years later recognize her, and teachers and aides who have connected with her and been able to to reach her and teach her things and care for her beyond our expectations. She loves her brothers so much and she is very lucky to have 3 brothers who are so protective and take such good care for her, even when she is beating them up! She is also a daddys' girl and believe it or not at 16, still gets so excited when he gets home from work. While some days are more trying than others, it has been a blessing to be her parents the last 16 yrs. She keeps us on our toes and guessing what's next pretty much day after day, and has taught us lessons of tolerance and compassion and simple happiness!

She is our Angel!

Christmas time again!

Well, I realized today it has been 1 yr almost to the day that I started this blog. I haven't been the best at keeping it up as some people remind me, I hope to do better in the new year. Although that may be tougher to do with Kelcie coming into the world soon. Monday is Keely's 16th b-day and the first entries were done last yr on her 15th b-day, looking at her pictures she has changed so much in a year. Hopefully over the next few days or weeks I will have new pictures of all the kids to put on here and some more updates. It's hard to believe that it is Christmas time again, wow this yr has flown by, guess they do as you get older:(, but I wouldn't know about that! That really only means we have a whole new year to make more memories, what can be bad about that? This past year we have seen new places, reunited with missed family, had new babies come into the family, witnessed some special people who worked so hard to concieve a baby get their dream, and have worked to bring our own special addition into the world. Not bad for only 1 yr, can't wait to see what the next one bring! Happy Holidays

Final days of summer vacation

We made it back from Idaho with tons of memories and pictures. We all had alot of fun and did so much in the 3 weeks we were there. We wish we could have spent 3 more! We enjoyed spending time together most of all. The kids had so much fun with their cousins, playing and getting to know each other again. Keely was back in her element and as always took over MawMaw and PawPaws bedroom, staking out her territory as usual. She warmed up to the girls fairly quickly and loved playing dress up with them. They would do her hair and put jewelry on her, it was very sweet. The boys went to Boondocks, a game type park, with PawPaw and had a blast. They had lunch together and then went out for icecream. Shane and Denise took Kyan one day and the boys another to Roaring Springs,a waterpark and they all loved it. MawMaw took Keely to the zoo and spent alot of time outside with her. Josh has a really nice boat and Rob and I went out on a couple of fishing trips with him and had so much fun. Josh is doing really good and we are so proud of the progress he has made. Of course he was just happy to see me!:) Dad and Rob went to a shooting range and shot some guns, and apparently Rob impressed him with his accuracy. He has been looking at gun clubs in the area, hopefully he will take up a new hobby. Rob and Shane put on a entertaining 4th fireworks display after we spent the day hanging out together. We held a Davis olympics for the kids, we may have enjoyed it more than them but they loved getting those gold medals. We actually got to celebrate an ann., 4th of July, Josh's 23rd b-day and Christopher's 10th b-day together, which was special to all of us, as it doesn't happen often. Dad and the boys went shooting the guns up at the cabin and hiked out to find 3 perfect branches that he cut down and made handmade slingshots for each. What boy doesn't love a slingshot, and they are proud of them. Needless to say it was a great trip all around and it will not be as long until we do it again! The kids start school soon, Thursday, can you believe it! We will be getting ready for that, a 5th grader, 7th grader, and Keely is going to High School! We are excited but just cautious for her, hoping the transition is smooth, new teachers and kids and new place. We will sure miss Mrs. Matz, her teacher for the past 2 yrs, she was an angel! Well, as you may have already seen some or all, I have put 6 slide shows on here of our trip. I tried to group them so they wouldn't be to boring if you choose to look at them I hope you enjoy sharing some of our memories!

Flowers

On Sunday, June 22nd, we celebrated our 12th anniversary. Rob bought me some really pretty flowers in a unique "vase", so i thought I would share a picture of them. We had a nice relaxing day, sitting in the swing and watching the kids play outside. Keely and Kyan playing in the pool and having fun. No better way to spend the day!

Kids and Cameras

Well, sometimes the greatest tool to save your favorite memories is a good digital camera. Sometimes that same digital camera is your 12 yr old sons worst nightmare,oh the laughs we had! When will they ever learn to not dare us? :)

We have a busy week ahead of us as we pack for our trip to Boise. Sadly, it has been almost 7 yrs. since we have been up there, and over 2 yrs. since my family has seen the kids, and the kids seeing their PawPaw and MawMaw. Life gets in the way and sometimes you just have to stop and remember what's important. It's not like they have had the opportunity to come here, because understandably they have been going to rehabs with Josh. As it should be! We are just all very excited to all be together for a few weeks. Fishing and birthdays and good family fun! I know we will have tons of photos to share and many adventures to write about, can't wait! Hope your all having a great summer!

Daddy

We have the best daddy. He loves us, plays with us, and takes good care of us. He is the best from playing games with us or dressing up for Halloween we always have fun. We love you Daddy! Keely, Caleb, Christopher, and Kyan

Pictures of the Past

Hope you all are having a great summer so far. We have had sick kids since school has been out, so we have no new pictures to share. We were looking at old ones we have taken and couldn't believe how much the kids have changed, so we thought we would share some of our favorites. The boys have been going to summer camp and learning to design and build model things. Keely is the last one of the kids to get sick and it has hit her the hardest. She took a spill and split her chin open on Sunday and had to go get sutured up. She is such a tough girl and is doing good. Rob finally got someone hired at work that can share some of the work responsibilties, so we are finally planning our vacation to Boise. The boys are so excited to see MawMaw and PawPaw and everybody else, (Uncle Josh the most) shhh! Rob picked some of his favorites to make this slideshow, so hope you enjoy the picture tour of the past!

Trip to Memphis Zoo

On April 1st, Keely had to go to see Dr. Wheless and it's about a 2 1/2 hr. drive to Memphis. We decided to make the most of the day and go to the zoo. Kyan has never been and we love to go to zoos. It was a beautiful zoo, all of the exhibits are made to look like Mayan ruins. The panda exhibit was like stepping into China, it was magical to say the least. Keely was squealing and running when she saw the elephants, it is so sweet how excited she gets. Kyan loved it he couldn't stop saying awesome and amazing. He walked the whole way, well ran, and was so tired when we left. Hope you enjoy the show!

Check out my Slide Show!

West Mississippi

So, if you know us, you probably know we love to go on drives and see new places. It's fun to see the different towns, or states and the neat things we come across. Even though the boys complain, and say "It's so boring", they get very excited when they find cool stuff too. This trip took us west to Arkansas, we had not been west of Hwy 55 in Ms yet so we decided to go. It was a really nice drive, beautiful hills and lakes along the way, and it was early spring so everything was turning green. We made it to the Ar. border and crossed the Ms river bridge, that was the same time it was flooding so bad from all of the snow storms up north. It was amazing how far out the river was on each side, and you could see tons of debris and whirlpools raging, it was almost eery. So we drove on about 20 miles and turned around, there was nothing to see, it wasn't the best trip for sightseeing, but we can say we've been! The pictures we took are from Greenville,Ms right on the border, we stopped at the visitors center because it was the neatest one we've seen. The kids thought the paddleboat theme was so neat. The picture of the "alligator head" was from a cypress tree park we stopped at too. It was actually a cypress stump, but man were the boys excited when they found an "alligator"!

Kyan's 3rd birthday

Kyan turned 3 on March 28th, and he had a fun day. He loved blowing out his candles but didn't want any lights on! He was setting the scene for his photos. He got a big boy bike and a basketball goal. He was very proud of the fact that he could slam dunk and make backward shots. He also got a train from his mawmaw and pawpaw which you can see he loved. His terrible twos also came on that big day, funny how that works. Just when you think he missed them they finally catch up! He just wants to be big like his brothers.

Snow Chaser 2

These pictures were from March 9th, when we actually got some snow at home! It was out of the ordinary for this area and we heard that there was more snow headed north, so we drove the Natchez Trace Parkway all the way up to Nashville. These are pictures from the waterfalls we found along the way in Tennesee. It was so much fun, cold but not bad, and the sun was shining making everything glisten. The kids were just as excited this trip as the last, and we made alot more memories!

Lot's to share

I have been horrible about posting as you can see. I am vowing that within the next week to have added the last 4 sets of pictures we have taken since January. Which will include another snow trip, Kyan's first trip to the zoo, and some birthdays. The end of another school year has arrived so I'm sure we'll have lots of summer fun to share as well!

Snow Chasers

This past Saturday was an unusual weather day in south Mississippi. For the first time in 10 years or so they got snow. This crazy weather we are having lately was supposed to drop snow in Starkville, in north central Ms., the boys were so excited and stayed up until 2:30 a.m. to welcome it in, unfortunately it went about 2 hours SOUTH, go figure, of us around Meridian. So we got up, got breakfast and hit the road. It was about an hour drive before we reached the areas where snow was still in the trees, as you see in the picture. It was a such a nice drive the last 45 minutes to Meridian. When we got to Meridian we couldn't find a place for the kids to play, so we went east about 20 miles to the Alabama border and found a perfect place for the kids to get out and play at the State line rest area. The open areas were covered with beautiful, powdery snow, until all the kids were turned loose! Kyan had so much fun, he made a snow angel, and had a ball throwing snowballs at mom(me) he was a pretty good aim too! He got to make his first snowman and loved doing it. We had a really fun, cold of course, day but it was worth every mile it took to get there. The kids had so much fun and it made for some really wonderful memories! Christopher said"Even though people are out having fun screaming and having snowball fights, the snow made the world seem more peaceful." and in a way it did. Isn't he sweet?! I posted a couple of pictures and will work to get more on later, enjoy! For now I am caring for 3 sick kids, a souvenir of the snow? Who knows!

Checkin' in

Hope you all are having a great January. The kids finally went back to school on the 8th, man what a break long break they had!!! They are getting back into the swing of things, homework and early bedtimes, both of which they hate! Monday is report card day, we hope all of the hard work paid off. Keely is doing good in school, too. She was very happy to go back and see her friends, and her teacher, Mrs. Matz. I'm sure Keely will miss her when she goes on maternity leave at the end of the month. She has helped Keely so much the last year and a half, we hope she continues to progress with her gone.
The boys had another sleepover last night, 4 boys age 9-12, enough said! They were up until 4:30 a.m. playing each others video games, pool and computer games. Kyan tries to play with them all too, but they just think he's in the way. Plus, he kept stealing the pool balls and putting them in his pullup!

Leave some kisses for the boys!!

Happy Birthday Alexandria!
We Love You and Hope You
Have A Very Special Day!

Love- Aunt Christi and Uncle Rob