Charlotte is TWELVE today!!!! (just posting 2 hrs early, it's really the 14th)

Charlotte we love you so much!! You have been such a blessing for me to get to know over the past two years. It brings your mother to tears just thinking about all that you have brought to her life! You are wonderful, beautiful, intelligent, creative, caring, and sensitive. You are the most amazing daughter, granddaughter, great-greatdaughter, sister, niece, cousin, friend, and PERSON!!! We love you Charlotte. Happy 12th Birthday. :)

Easter in Pictures

5 mile walk

Delaney and I went on a 5 mile walk on Saturday midday. We walked to a grocery store, went shopping for a few things, and then headed home. During the process she did great until she got hungry. I stopped on the side of the road in an empty lot and breastfed her. Never thought I'd breastfeed in public but seriously I wasn't going to listen to her scream for the 45 minutes it was going to take us to get home and settled. She enjoyed grabbing for her bug chime toy...however when she grabbed a hold of it she couldn't figure out how to let it go and became quite upset. LOL

And this is how she looks at me when I'm breastfeeding her. Gosh I love her!!!

Happy Holy Week & Passover!!

Gma Belinda, Charlotte, and Julia picked out Delaney's first Easter gifts. They got her a bear wearing bunny ears, a lamb, and her very first set of bunny ears. :) We hope that everyone is having a blessed Holy Week & Passover!

Pictures from my walk with Julia and Delaney

New books

I just read a really awesome book called Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. I love the way she writes and this book is amazing. I read all sorts of novels and this one is probably one of my favorites. It's so real and touches on so many social issues. You should pick it up and read it sometime!



Now I am reading Keeping Faith. It's a good book too, but I'm not too far into it yet. I don't really turn on the tv during the day at all anymore because reading is providing me enough entertainment (well that and Delaney and blogging :) )
Anyone have any other suggestions for good books? I love James Patterson and Jodi Picoult. I love reading everything from religious books to Harry Potter LOL.

Peace

Busy Busy Busy Sunday

Yesterday we went to church. I went to change Peanut's Diaper and came back to find Jess missing from the pew and the older girls looking like a deer in headlights. Overhearing talk about who called 911 and when will they be here. Finally after some looking around I spotted Jess. She was in the back of the choir section talking to some people who were surrounding a woman on the ground. I guess this woman passed out (Jess thinks it's probably due to an underlying heart issue). The only person in the entire sanctuary other than her that was medically trained was a doctor who also came rushing over. Church continued as usual, singing and communion as the paramedics came in, removed the woman, and took her to the hospital. Boy aren't I lucky to be married to a nurse! :)

Julia's soccer game was canceled but that didn't free up any down time unfortunately. We were having guests over to the house last night and this was the first time we'd have people over after the dogs were no longer residence in the home. The carpet in our back living room is old and awful and we're just waiting to have enough money to either put in new carpet or change to hardwood floors. In the meantime its a pain in the rear to vacuum. So I got down on the ground and spent nearly 3 hours with the hose of the vacuum...cleaning every square inch of that floor. I couldn't let our guests come in and see our green carpet covered in dog hair. We don't make the kids clean the carpet like that...just run the vacuum over it. But mann does that carpet look nice now. :) While Jess' mom took the big kids to spend some time with them...Jess and I proceeded to do every single one of the girls chores. I cleaned the kitchen, their bathroom, vacuumed, did some dishes. Jess dusted, vacuumed, and did the laundry. Mann it was a lot of work (especially since we had to make up for the fact that the bathroom was awful and we're not sure if either of the girls know what "clean" means and the laundry had piled up and the kitchen was a disaster).

Jess' friends came over last night to have dinner. We made veggie tacos (squash, zucchini, mushroom, and black beans) a side of sauteed onions, fresh/homemade salsa, fresh/homemade guacamole, and refried beans. And for desert brown bites. The kids ate great and Char thought it was sweet and gobbled it up. Julia ate it slower but it was because she was having issues with her stuff staying inside her taco. The kids had fun playing with Jess' friend's daughters. They didn't end up leaving until 8:30 and the kids were in bed promptly upon the door closing and our guests pulling out of the driveway.

Popcorn and yogurt for dinner?

Yep that's right our kids ate popcorn and yogurt for dinner. We don't often do weird things like that, but we thought it'd be fun for them. So we popped in Nim's Island and then Big Fat Liar, curled up in bed, ate popcorn, and hung out until bedtime. They said they had fun.



Today we went out and took some official Easter photos and then the kids got dressed for the day and wanted to take more pictures. I swear I think our kids are as obsessed with pictures as I am sometimes. :) The girls came in our room declaring that today was "Tomboy" day. They both wanted to dress like tomboys and I said "hey whatever floats your boat". So here is a couple of Easter type pictures and a couple of Tomboy pictures.

Charlotte made that scarf for Delaney

Humanity

Lately Jess and I have been really stressed (especially Jess) about how we are going to make ends meet. We are by no means on the verge of foreclosure, repossession, hunger, and joblessness like so many of our fellow Americans, but we are definitely feeling this recession in our home. In the midst of struggling with financial matters we have had to find a new home for our beloved puppies. It's been a very overwhelming year so far. Baby being born, baby in the hospital, financial struggles, adopting out our doggies, Charlotte turning 12, Charlotte flying to Chicago by herself for the first time, death, etc. Some have been overwhelming in a wonderful and positive way. Some have been overwhelming in a drain the happiness from your soul kind of way. However throughout it all we've see the works of God....the beautiful wonderful works of God.
We had amazing friends and family celebrate with us in January because of Delaney's arrival. We have had friends and family worry with us when she was admitted to the hospital in February. We have been surrounded by friends and family as we mourned the death of Jess' grandfather. We had friends help us find a way to place our dogs in a good home. We've had family sending us clothes for Delaney so that we dont have to worry about spending money on her clothes. We've had family and friends give us toys for Delaney as she grows so that she can have things in her life that are entertaining and help her reach her milestones effectively. We've been given so much this year.
I sold our 10 x 10 dog kennel on craigslist and the woman came to pick it up yesterday with her daughter. It cost us something like $125 dollars and I sold it for $50. This woman has devoted her life to rescuing dogs from bad situations. I was excited that the kennel was going to her. She came to our house and I felt awkward about her finding out we were a nontraditional family. I was holding Delaney when she pulled up. Once she got there I told her that Jess and I had decided to not accept her $50 and to donate the kennel to her cause. Julia quickly came outside to see what was going on. As soon as Charlotte was done with her homework she was outside helping to take down the kennel. And then Jess walked out to help while I cooked dinner. This woman and her daughter did not bat an eye at our family make up...and then I received this email this morning...

Kathy,

I just wanted to email and tell you again how much I appreciate you donating this kennel to us. Because of what I do rescueing dogs from horrible situations I'm afraid I don't often have much faith in people, then someone like you and your partner come along and a bit of my faith in humanity is restored. It was very generous of your family and again there are no words to express how much it is appreciated. This will allow us to bring a couple more into the program and keep them safe until they can find wonderful forever homes.

You have a beautiful family,

Warmest Regards,

C

God is powerful. He compels us to help one another. He ushers us to be our best at all times. We all fall so short of these two things... but sometimes we get it right, and my family got it right yesterday afternoon. My daughters and my wife are absolutely amazing people. Thinking about how blessed I truly am makes me tear up.