Blessings Of Rainbows

Monday, July 18, 2011

Our Baby Birds

A few weeks ago we found a couple of birds building a small next in our hanging plant on our porch. About a week after they built it the Mommy started laying eggs. She laid 1 egg a day for 4 days! I forgot to get pictures of the eggs, but the babies hatched 2 days before we left for vacation so I snapped one of them!

Only 3 of the 4 eggs hatched. But those 3 were very healthy well fed babies!


By the time we returned home from vacation this is what we found. Fully feathered babies moving about the planter well!

2 days after us returning home we got to one by one watch all three babies fledge the nest! All three took very good first flights and we were sad to see them leave! Hoping a family returns next year!

Last Day Of School

Ryan trying very hard to be silly, but still not laugh because he "wanted it to be summer already!"

On Our way to school! So ready for Summer Break!!

Ryan being un-happy on his last day of school. He did not want to go into his classroom for some odd reason. Actually from what I understand this was kinda his mood every morning for about the last two weeks. Though he ended up having a very wonderful last day! :)
Dylan getting ready to go into class. He was so excited that it was almost summer break!!

This was something I found in his classroom on the last day of school...I guess someone had already touched it & broke it, but I still thought it was cool!

This was a quilt the class made for Mrs. Confer since she was retiring. (Dylan's is the last one on the right in the second row. A rocket of course!) They threw her a surprise retirement party too, it was so fun! She just needs to come back to teach 1st grade next year then again 3 years after that! ;)

Dylan & Mrs. Confer. We loved her so much! She challenged Dylan so much this year to be his best and work hard. I've been so worried Dylan is going to get bored with school because it somewhat comes easy for him, but she did not give him a chance to get bored!

Ryan's class play & singing!

Shortly before school was out Ryan's class put on a special presentation for the parents. They had little groups & did a couple of plays then together sang a few songs. It was absolutely cute! We got a bit of video too!



Ryan & his whole Pre-K class!


Ryan with his WONDERFUL teachers!


Be sure to pause the playlist at the left before watching the video!


"Going On A Bear Hunt!" - Just a small clip of the song. Too large to put the whole thing up!

Now un-pause the music on the left because it's great music! :)

Ryan's Birthday - 5!!!

Ryan was one lucky ducky this year because he scored himself 2 birthday parties! He ended up pretty sick on his birthday so his original party had to be re-planned. We ended up just doing a family party for the first one at the beginning of may (2 weeks after his birthday), then did the second party inviting all of his school friend and family friends was at the beginning of June. I only have pictures of the first one right now. I think the ones from the second party are on our phone so I'll upload those later...


Ryan & his GI-JOE cake.

Ryan with Nana! And his chocolate cake face...

Ryan & cousin Andrew! (W/ Grannie in the background!)

Ryan w/ Gamma & Grampa.

Ryan just loves having so many people around. He's very much a people person! He talked about his parties non-stop for weeks!

Dylan's 1st Grade Zoo Field Trip!

Dylan got to take 2 class field trips this year. The first was to the Pumpkin Patch/Corn Maze back in the fall. That trip had such short notice I did not get to attend. So I was sure to know a long time in advance for the Zoo so I could join him!
We also took Ryan out of school for the day since there was no way we could be back in time to pick him up at release time.


This year we met up again with some good friend we met last year when their son Garrett was in the same Kindergarten class as Dylan. This year their daughter & Ryan were in the same Pre-K class too! (Ryan was so happy, but that's another post entirely!)
I was so glad I had packed their coats just in case because it was SO windy & cold that day! Though it did start warming up a little after lunch.


Ryan & Emalee being Orangutans!


All 5 kiddo's on the Spider Monkey ropes!


At the end of the day the kids can either ride back to school on the bus or ride home with their parents. We chose to keep Dylan with us for a little extra zoo time.
After we were done we went to the movies to see Rio! It was such a cute movie and we had so much fun!

Working on the playhouse!

Dylan wanted to start working on painting and re-decorating the playhouse so we bought paint. Dylan & Daddy went to work painting while Mommy, Aydan & Ryan cleaned out the inside and vacuumed sand out of the carpet.

Dylan & Daddy hard at work!

They also got all of the trim painted , but I must have forgotten to take a picture!

We are planning to paint the inside with chalkboard paint so the are able to draw & do art in there. I also bought small curtain rods & have some old TMNT sheets to sew curtains out of for them.
We still aren't done because he heat has made it practically impossible to work long, but hopefully we'll get it 100% finished this fall!

Dylan's Birthday - 7!!

Dylan wanted to do an "Insect" theme for his birthday. We hired an Entomology student from OSU to come do a presentation for the kids. She brought a BUNCH of her insects and taught the kids all about them and the took the kids on a bug hunt! It was sooo much fun!


Dylan's cakes a white bug cake & a chocolate worm dirt cake!

Dylan with his Nana. Of course she got him Lego's! His favorite!

Dylan with Gamma and Grampa. (And more Lego's which they wrapped like 7 different times, took him 10 minutes just to get all the paper off!)

The "Bug Lady" teaching them all about insects & answering their questions!

Going on a bug hunt!
(We only allowed the older kids to go since there was a creek & I didn't want any 911 calls to have to be made...)

Dylan w/ Aunt Jamie. She got him a fishing pole for his birthday & he loves it! We haven't gotten to actually take it fishing yet because the pong behind our house got a bit snake-ish this year, but we have practiced a bunch & are hoping to go soon! (After Mom & Dad buy their fishing license that is required for the lake.)

He had a wonderful time with so many friends & family there.

Friday, July 15, 2011

Wow, long time no blog!

Feb. 15th was the last time I blogged! Gee Whiz! We've had two birthday's since then, kids got out of school for summer, got 3 new pet turtles, 1 new pet fish & took a summer vacation!

This weekend I plan on trying to catch up on the 2 birthdays at least - hopefully more!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

99 more to go!

Happy Birthday Grannie!

This past Sunday my Grannie turned 81 years old! There were many times over the last year that I wondered if she would make it to her next birthday. She overcame so many things this last year! Almost a pound of fluid removed from around her heart, surgery to remove tumors from both of her kidney's, and a few small skin cancers removed from her face. She's such a strong lady though so it doesn't surprise me at all that she's still here!

On her birthday we took her to her favorite food place ever! Whataburger! I remember the very first time we took her there a little over a year ago, she just couldn't stop talking about it! I think we've probably eaten there over 30 times in the last year because she loves it so much. It became the go-to place after each one of her appointments here in town. So of course when we asked her where she wanted to go for her birthday it was her first choice!
The boys had a blast with her too! She has them so spoiled to cookies. Every time we see her she gives them each a vinilla - creme filled cookie. Cookie was actually Aydan's first word, and he learned it from her....I was really hoping I'd get one of them to say Momma first, but no - two "dadda"s and a "cookie". That's okay though makes great memories!

She's going to live to be 180 though so 99 more to go! :) I wonder if Whataburger will stick around that long?

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Fun with my "sick" kid!


Well yesterday Ryan stayed home from school because during the night before he woke up crying and screaming that his throat was hurting. By morning he appeared fine, but just to be on the safe side we kept him home, but away from the daycare kiddo's.



We had a lot of fun! We made a volcano with baking soda & vinegar, learned how mixing the primary colors gets you the secondary colors using food color & water, & putty with cornstarch & water. Later we added food coloring to make the putty green and played in it even more - he even remembered what colors to mix to make green! Needless to say Ryan went to school today with green arms because he decided to paint himself!



When we were all done he learned what color you get when you mix them all together! "Yucky green brownish black!"

He ended up being perfectly fine. I enjoyed spending some special time with him though!

Ryan has been doing really good on his growing the past few months. He's grown almost 2 inches since last June! Of course I never really notice how tiny he still is until we are near other kids his age and he's about a head smaller than most of them, but that's okay! Makes him easier to snuggle! :)

Snowman Soup! Yum!

These boy LOVE Snowman Soup! I love the smiles that come from making it!
(Do not serve after 4pm though! LOL you maybe up all night!)
They had it around 9:30 in the morning and were still very wired by evening!

Directions:
*1 pack of Hot Chocolate made according to directions on package
*1 Candy Cane for stirring
*1-3 Chocolate Kisses(or flavored kisses)
*5-10 Marshmallows of choice (we used gingerbread flavored & chocolate covered mini's)

Mix together and enjoy!

New Years & New Puppy!

Aydan doing a puzzle with Nana at our New Years Party!

Grown up's playing Uno while the youngsters watched Ponyo in the playroom. It was fun teaching Grannie to play Uno. Our first few hands we showed our cards so she could see how you choose what cards to play. She got pretty good at it. Still learning to have fun even at 80! :)
Nana & Cheryl had fun too!
Symon & our new puppy Dyson. We got him from a shelter in OKC on Dec. 3rd. He came home with kennel cough & quickly shared it with Symon so our $50 (adoption fee) puppy quickly became a $200 puppy! But I guess he's worth it! ;) Symon very much loves his new friend!

Chilling out on the couch during party time.

More Christmas!

Cookies for Santa - Christmas Eve

Christmas Morning - We lock them out of the living room for Safety! :)

Aydan & his ball Aunt Jamie got him. He loves this thing!

Harmonica's from Aunt Jamie. I now have very musical children! :)

Okay time for some updating! :)

Where to begin....hmmmm - Christmas!
We are just beginning to get back into routine after Christmas & New years. Christmas was so busy with family, fun and lots of exciting goodies!
This year of course we made our annual trip to Quail Springs to get pictures with Santa.
Dylan asked Santa for Lego's and to Nutcracker. (The decoration kind) - Not sure why he really wanted one, but he did! He loves the things - I think it's because he see's JD somewhat collecting them. Although it's not really so much that JD collects them it's just that I keep buying them for him... :) Well, Santa came through on the Lego's but had a hard time and was unable to locate ANY Nutcrackers this year. But Dylan being the happy everything goes kind of kid really didn't mind - he absolutely loved the Lego's though! His second favorite gift was his clothes I know hard to believe a 6 year old would care much about that but he did. We got him a couple pairs of pj's, Gamma & Grandpa got him some Jeans & a couple of shirts which he very much loves!

Ryan asked Santa for a Build-a-bear gift card. Really he wanted to be able to pick out clothes for his bear Champ, but we told him that Santa couldn't deliver the store to our house for him to shop on Christmas so maybe a giftcard would be best - of course then we had to explain what a giftcard was. Santa came through with flying colors getting him a giftcard PLUS some shoes, clothes and a coat for Champ! Ryan was so excited! He very much loves Champ and has been asking to get Champ a coat for a LONG time - he was so happy Champ would no longer get cold! :)

Aydan didn't really understand who Santa was and really wasn't sure he liked the guy! He spent the entire time just trying to figure out what was going on. Though as soon as we left he started asking to "go back see Santa?" and every time he sees the picture hanging on the fridge he asks again! Aydan is really into Elmo this year so of course he got everything imaginable with Elmo on it - socks, slippers, Pj's, a backpack, books, pop up tent, coloring/sticker books, and an Elmo Dr. kit! And probably his favorite gift of all - a ball from Aunt Jamie!

We had a great time getting to spend time with Nana, Grannie, Cousin Cheryl, Uncle Ralph, Jamie, Dale, Alli, Derek, Gamma & Grandpa, even David & Mila via Skpe!

Christmas is my favorite time of year so I'm sad to see it go, but only 11 1/2 more months & we get to celebrate all over again!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Aydan's 2nd Birthday (family party)

Dylan & Ryan helping Aydan open his gifts! Such great big brothers!
Elmo Guitar & Elmo-doodler from Gamma & Grandpa!


Aydan was SOOOO excited about his cake, he actually when I wasn't looking did get his finger into the yellow icing on the bottom - very proudly! (Notice the lovely Elmo shoes he refused to remove!) :)





Okay don't have a heart attack!! I know I very rarely post pictures of myself & I sure don't post pictures of myself wearing pink, but I was honestly just surprised when I started removing the pictures from the camera that there was one of me on it!! I'm always the one behind it.... So though I'd share..LOL


Spining on his new Sit & Spin - loves this thing! I'm surprised he can walk without falling he uses it for such long periods of time! Aunt Jamie knows how to get good gifts for active little boys!!

Aydan's Birthday (friend party)

The weekend before last we celebrated Aydan's 2nd birthday. If was a wonderful day filled with friends, family, and fun!! Here a few pictures to show all the events!
The theme for the party was Elmo - of course! So Elmo juice, plates, napkins & if I could have found cookies we would have had those too! But couldn't so sugar cookies with blue frosting is what we had! (Aydan with his Juice, Mara with her cookie)

Dylan sitting by Kaylee(his g/f), he's had it planned that she's the one he's going to marry for years now & he's only 6. She's 9 months older than he is, but they were very close from the time he was born. She feels the same way about him...should I be worried?? Is it possible to know you love someone when you are so young?? I guess time will tell, but I do approve! :)

The whole gang! Waiting for their yummy treats!


Aydan's with his best friend Roderick. These two I swear are conected at the hip! They are happy together, sad together, naughty together & even try to bail each other out of time-out. Wonderful to have a friend so close! (Lets just hope the time-out thing isn't a show of their future! LOL) :)

More pictures to come from his family party!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Wow, it's been awhile!

First of all I'd like to update on Sonny. The family that was working to adopt him lost him through "blind referral" - not good, but God still has great things planned for this little boy. His forever family is still out there somewhere! Please keep him in your prayers to be held in the arms of a family soon. Also please keep the other family in your prayers that they will soon be matched with another waiting child!

Well, Aydan did it! He turned two! I can't believe my baby is two! Where did the time go?? He's getting so big. He's talking a ton, running super fast(getting faster everyday!), and we think he's part monkey because he loves to climb!
These days he's all about Elmo & Sesame Street - which is great with me because I've found it to be very educational! He lives in a pair of red Elmo slip on shoes that he pretty much refuses to remove from his feet and even sleeps in them! Bath time is rough because he doesn't understand why his shoes can't go in too! For his birthday we bought him a new pair because his first ones are beginning to get a little snug. Luckily he was pleased with the new ones & gladly accepted them!

Ryan Started Pre-K this year. As far as we know he's doing well with school. He likes it and that's a good sign, right?? He absolutely loves his teachers! And truly we couldn't be happier! We have been very blessed with both boys getting wonderful teachers who fit their personalities so well to bring out their full potential! Ryan's been growing some too! He's now in 4t clothes!! This is a huge deal for us. For those who know Ryan has always struggled with his size & weight. He's still very tiny but he's getting there! Though I have noticed we are having some trouble with the weight thing again, but it is most likely due to him not eating too well at lunch time at school. We are working on making up for it at home though so we'll see! Recently he started writing his name & I couldn't be more proud of him. I worked with him all summer and more trying to get him to write & he wouldn't do it(he's not at all hard headed), but now he's doing it. So far I've saved every paper he's written it on! I'm just so excited! :)

Dylan started 1st grade this year. He's reading like crazy! He's grown a ton! I reach down to hug him and realize I'm not having to reach far! This makes me sad & realize how quickly he's growing up. He's extremely interested in entomology right now. Our freezer is full of insects waiting patiently to be pined. He's also been doing a bunch of origami with J.D. lately. My house is covered in small paper creations! He's been working very hard at school learning about Christopher Columbus - excitedly coming home telling us everything he's learning. He's just such a little sponge with a zest for acquiring knowledge. At his parent teacher conference his teacher went on and on about how eager he is to learn. I hope this follows him all through school. I know he can achieve anything he wants as long as he puts his mind to it and works hard! He's such a blessing!

It's been a very stressful few months around here for the "parent folk", we've been busy taking care of grandmothers...
J.D.'s grandmother is doing well. She's finally on medications that are very helpful holding back and slowing down the progression of her Dementia/Alzheimer's symptoms. It's been a long year so far with a few bumps, but in my opinion a very good year. We really couldn't ask for better results. She keeps the 2 oldest boys every now & then to get in some good Nana time so JD & I can go out on dates. They con home so spoiled rotten, but I guess that's what Nana's are for right?? Currently we are in the process of planning her a surprise 75th birthday party for later this month. Going to be so much fun!! I hope she loves it!
My Grandmother just last week finally had surgery for her kidney cancer. She's doing well & has yet to take a single pain pill. I wish I had the strength she has. She takes a lickin' and keeps a tickin' nothing can keep her down. I'm just sad to think about how she gained such strength and if that's what it takes I just don't want it. Shortly before her kidney surgery we were informed she now how spots on her lungs that they think are just "environmental deposits" which I don't understand, but they say it's nothing to worry about. They also discovered her thyroid is now enlarged on both sides(I guess that's worse then it being on just one side??), we are scheduled to go it to meet a thoracic/cardiac critical care(?) surgeon on Dec. 3rd. We are strongly hoping this is just to talk and that they aren't planning another surgery. She still has the spots on her adrenial gland but after a couple more CT scans they feel those seems to be fluid filled cysts and not cancer so we are very hopeful there will be no spreading.

So many things though seems to finally be coming together from where they were just a little over a year ago. For some reason I've had just a huge sense of peace the last few days. I can't explain it, but I feel like either something really great is about to happen to turn our lives upside down and inside out (in a good way), or maybe it's the calm before the storm, but either way I'm ready to take it on full force! I've needed this though for a while I feel like I have time to just stop and breath. Like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders and I'm filled with a new sense of urgency to get things organized.

I will be adding pictures soon! So many wonderful things to show & share!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

He's going home!!

Sonny's forever family has found him! I've kept him in my prayers constantly hoping he would be adopted soon. I check the website almost daily with two hopes, one to see his picture still there because that way I know he's still okay, but two that his picture is gone from the waiting children because he's not going to be waiting much longer and his family has come.
Earlier this week I went on Reece's Rainbow to discover his picture was gone. I couldn't find him anywhere on the site - my heart sank because for some reason my first thought was that he passed away alone & an orphan.
Today I went on to find him in the "committed families" section - he's not going to be an orphan much longer! He has a wonderful family working hard to bring him home. He's going to have a Mom, Dad, Big Sister & a Big Brother.
I can't wait until his family gets him home, he gets to feel the love of a family & more love than he'll know what to do with!!

Please keep this family in your prayers that everything goes through smoothly and Sonny makes it home soon!

To donate to help bring Sonny home to his waiting family please click here! http://www.reecesrainbow.com/familysponsorshipnew.html

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Reece's Rainbow - Sonny

Back a few months ago we discovered Reece's Rainbow. A website dedicated to finding homes for children with special needs such as down syndrome or birth deformities - living outside of the US.
Anyone who knows me knows I was given a love for children and a heart for adoption.
Recently I came across the picture and story of a one year old little boy named Sonny. He has the smile of an angel and if we could we'd bring him home this second hug him never letting go and while right now we don't have a way to afford it I decided I can still help by praying for him to find his forever family. I also wanted to share his picture and story with everyone so you can also keep him along with all the other little ones in your prayers.



Sonny (41)
BOY, born February 5, 2009

This muffin has a whole host of health complications, but what a SUNshine he is!

Diagnosis: congenital malformation of urinoexcretory system: bilateral terminal hydronephrosis to the left, secondary chronic pyelonephritis, chronic nephrism (kidney failure), aplasia of muscles of anterior wall of stomach, cryptorchism, systolic murmur, brain affection of unspecified etiology, iron-deficiency anemia
He has $500 in his grant fund towards the cost of his adoption!

To donate towards the cost of his adoption please go to:
http://www.reecesrainbow.com/newsite/angelboys.html


You are the helper of the fatherless. LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, To do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.

Psalms 10:14,17-18


Dylan's birthday ticker

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Ryan's birthday ticker

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Aydan's Birthday Ticker

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Eyvan's Ticker

Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Angel and Memorial tickers