My 3 year old...

She reads some sight words and sings songs like no one.  This isn't the best example, but she's really awesome.  Some of the words on the computer screen were words she'd not seen before, so she was trying to sound them out.  Which, is pretty incredible for a 3 year old.  She loves to tell us what letter, every word we say, starts with.  She's very good at it.  Just a little off with Sh and Ch.  She can sing so many more songs, however, she picked a Christmas/Winter song.  It's still an really sweet little voice she has.

You have to admit, my baby is **CUTE**!!

Leapster Junkies

These are my two.  Kaelin likes hers too, but these two are using there a lot to draw and write.  Well, worth the money Santa invested.  ;)



Deep concentration.

Happy Birthday to my oldest baby

Wow....one year from official teenager.  Not that he doesn't act like it already, sometimes...anyways.  All-in-all, we're blessed because he's a pretty great kid that seems to be growing up nicely.

Happy 12th Cole!!



The cleaning of the candles.

The littlest worker

Chelsi loves to help out so much.  I was washing windows after I unloaded the towels out of the dryer.  I went back to my bedroom to fold them and she was just about done.  :)

Lost and Found

Our Lucky left us and is in puppy heaven.  He died, unexpectedly on Sunday morning.  Chase went to his kennel to find him lying by the gate.  The boys took it so badly.  Cole, as usual, took it the hardest.  He's generally the pet caretaker of the house, so he gets very close.  We will all miss Lucky.

Cole had been begging us since about October or November for a beagle pup.  Apparently, his bus driver raises them and had pups at the time.  We kept telling him no because our two dogs were enough.  Well, now that Lucky is gone and his birthday is next week, we felt it was okay to go ahead and let him have one.  So I called them up and apparently they're trying to get out of the business and get rid of all the dogs and pups they have.  So, Chase and Cole, both now have a beagle each.  They're not pups, but the little sisters are 2 1/2 years old, but small.  I think he said they were miniature??  They're cute and seem pretty well behaved so far and the boys are getting them for their birthdays, so they were happy.  The guy raising them likes the boys and felt the dogs would have a good home with fun boys to play with another beagle to teach them to really hunt, so he gave them to us.  They seem like happy little girls, so hopefully, our nights are too loud.  The boys well know it's their responsibility to shut them up at night, so they'll be getting up to yell at them.  :)  This ought to be interesting.  :)

Here are the girls. 

Two Sweet Valentines

I picked up a couple of tshirts right before Valentines, this year, for the girls.  They wanted to go ahead and wear them to church and they were so cute, I had to take a pic.

Positives of being shy

I was always a shy child.  I remember hiding behind my mom's legs even as my aunts and uncles would talk to me.  These were aunts and uncles that I saw often, not just once a year or something.  I never made friends easily.  I don't have any idea why I was afraid to talk to people, I just was.  I kind of followed other girls around if they seemed to be friendly to me.  That, I guess, meant "friend" to me?  I don't know.  Who knows what a child thinks.  Even in high school, I was terribly shy.  To my closer friends I could talk, but I never really spoke my mind, that I can remember.  You know, when you actually feel free to say what your opinion is instead of worrying if it's the popular opinion or not.  Or share your troubles and know you can all really talk about them openly and support each other and vice versa.

As I got older I came out of my shell a bit, but now I think I'm starting to realize a benefit to my prior shyness.  It kept me from getting hurt in some ways.  I know on some adoption boards I used to frequent I wasn't "popular" so my posts were 95% of the time just plain overlooked.  Even at work, I don't speak loudly enough, so my opinion is left aside.  I guess, it seems that it's best to either be really loud and get your voice heard, which I just can't do  OR, be quiet, sit back and don't say much and don't get your feelings hurt.  If you don't say much, then it just seems harder to get hurt.  I've been going through a hard time lately, where every facet of my life has been this way and for the past week I've drawn myself in...except at home.  It really does seem to be helping.  It seems kind of silly really, but we all have our own way of doing things in life and dealing with things. 

I just always thought that it seemed so many people were close to their families and were able to go out and have a good time with friends....lots of circles of friends and keep up with it all, happily.  I have realized that I don't have the energy to do all of that, so my family comes first.  Not that I was ever a partier. :)  I was just trying to branch out more and push myself to be more social, when possible.  I like it the way it was.  Going home and staying home with my family.  Especially, as the kids get older and there is so much to do with and for them.  I have my best friend living with me.  I have kids that I can talk to all the time and they're fun to be around, so really why would you have to have fun anywhere else? 

Lisa