Out of order Christmas

I really did get out of sorts this year.  I didn't even do our annual Christmas photo, so no cards this year.  But, I mentioned doing a Christmas video card and the girls wanted to do that....SOOOOO....the choreography is totally them.  I just bought the music and Jaemin was in charge of operating the tablet while I video taped.  They had such a great time!  Christmas was good and I got to have some time with my sweet new nephew (Godchild).  Love him too!

Christmas card 2016!

K and Aunt M

 C and Aunt M

 C and Aunt M (She got 3 of the 5 with her)

 She's so good with the baby!

J's Christmas Party.

 More Christmas Pics

My Christmas Elf (2016 Program)

I'm officially

that blogger and that mom.  I no longer have (and sometimes just choose not to) time to take pictures and definitely not post.  I'm sorry if the foster moms try to read this and I've been totally neglectful.

So what's happened....hmmmm.  I don't even remember my last post.

So, the kids started school a week ago....yeah, I've had a hard time catching the younger 4 together to take a school photo.  I finally grabbed Chase as soon as football practice was over (after school) and took their pictures.  Jaemin was invited to his FIRST birthday party.  I was SO excited for him.  And at the party they had the biggest fireworks display I've seen outside of our city fireworks.  WOW!  Jaemin is usually petrified of the things.  But, of course, he wanted to go to the party and didn't want the other boys to really know.  He did AWESOME!  He covered his own ears and didn't need me to for once.  I asked him when they were over if he was okay and he was so proud of myself.  He said he was good and he wanted to see more next year.  That's huge progress and what a hurdle he overcame in one night.

Today was Kaelin's official birthday.  We had her party a couple of weeks ago, but she is now really 13!  I had 3 gold rings with opals, pearls, etc. from when I was a teenager that I had kept and she got to pick one those out for herself for her birthday.  It fit her perfectly.  Her hands are every bit as big as mine.  She's not perfect.  What kid is.  But, she's one heck of a helper around the house and doesn't let people do all the work themselves.  We can always count on her.  Can't wait to see what's out there for her.  She'll have a great life if she stays outgoing and keeps trying hard.  Ignore the bun square on top her head.  She really is a pretty girl.  :)

Jaemin and his best friend.  That's Jaemin's real smile and it's so GREAT!

The one I took this morning in case this evening's backup plan didn't work out.  We knew big college dude wasn't going to permit anyways, so just trying to get the high schooler.

The final picture.

 The 4 youngest when I said "one more".  I was actually the last.

Early Birthdays!

Their birthdays are not for a month and month and 1/2, but with school, volleyball and football, we decided it would be best to have their combined 10th and 13th birthdays now.  They had friends over and I took them to town to swim.  Came home to pizza and then family joined us for ice cream and cake.  The cake took a little tumble when someone pulled out in front of Brian, but it still was good.  The girls had such a good time and went outside for a quick silly string fight.  The girls were all great!

We're waiting for their real birthdays to give their presents from us.  I don't want their real birthdays to go by and risk everyone forgetting.  Great girls.

The Party

All graduates deserve one last party from their parents.  We tried to keep it inexpensive by getting decorations at Dollar Tree and Oriental Trading.  I thought it turned out great.  We kept it simple to avoid major stress.  He just wanted his Godparents, aunts, uncles and Grandparents, so that was it.  He said all of his friends had their own to go to.....such a boy.  A lot of the kids had left and my kids remembered we had silly string, so they had a quick silly string fight and poor Jaemin got hit hard....sometimes because he would just turn the bottle toward his own face on accident.  We barbecued some chicken quarters in the morning and picked up some Little Caesar's in the afternoon.  We really had nothing left.  But it was GOOD.