7 birthdays a year, but each one is special

Our Sweetie Pie, Autumn, turned 9 years old this week. 

The birthday girl awakes to surprise decorations. 

Her sisters help her to make dirt pie (since she doesn't like cake).

Ms. Sassy herself.

Even with just our kids, it's always a party.

And the big 9 candle is blown out. 

May all your wishes come true baby girl. 

She is so proud to be 9. 

Today she said that she would walk into Girl Scouts and loudly exclaim 

"I AM NINE YEARS OLD." 

A new school year has begun! 2012-13

I have FIVE, yes 5, school aged children now. I am yet to see how a full blown day goes with all my little ones because we are easing back into our studies. But the year, none the less, has begun.

We had to say goodbye to our former Co-Op of three years because we needed something a bit different for right now. We joined a Tutor Academy that is nationwide called Classical Conversations. They provide a tutor that tutors our children once a week in all subjects and then we come home and work on what was introduced and we add on-level extra math and language arts for each child.

Here are my sweeties, all of them, starting their first day

 at their new Classical Conversations Tutor Academy. 

~ My (three!) 3rd Graders and (two) Kindergartners ~

Waiting for School to Open

(because we were actually early)

Kindergarten class checking out their beans in science

Lunch with friends is always fun. 

And, finally, Joy is a Girl Scout! And All American Girl Scout. 

She's very happy about it....

(but very confused in this pic as to what mom is asking her to do for her "pose")

THE FUN HAS JUST BEGUN.

A Princess Turns 5

Happy Birthday to our Lily-Bug. What a delight is to watch this sweet girl grow up. She giggles more than any child I know but could take down a giant in a fight. She is sweet and she is tough. And I adore both qualities in her. She loves all things pink and pretty. She is our princess. Happy Birthday Sweet Girl. We love you.

Birthdays are special

Every year in October, our family treks from Florida to spend Autumn's birthday with her. It's always a special time. So special and filled with family moments that I get too busy and then too tired to post her birthday pictures. This year, I remembered!

Autumn had spent a week in Florida, drove 15 hours straight to get home with the grandparents and as she arrived we suprised her with a Mini Birthday Party Celebration.




On her actual birthday Autumn chose to spend it at the Chinese Buffet with friends of the family and then come home to open presents.


The day after her birthday she chose to go shopping and buy her first Skate Board with her birthday money. Sister, Kya, decided that was a great idea and pulled money from her own savings to also buy a skateboard.




Happy 8the birthday baby girl. We love you!

Our Joy Overflows

Well, because I don't have enough to do or enough confusion: Not only do I have a website for Joy but now I have a blog for her too. My logic was this: The website is nice to have all the various pages for updates, fundraising, cost analysis, time lines, etc. BUT, when I travel to China the blog will be nice and simple (and easy) for uploading pictures and updates about our first few days together. BUT, since I started the blog, I have found it easy to use it to pour out my heart. I miss my girl. I have so many thoughts, feelings and words and very little outlet for them. A journal is hard for me anymore. For some reason, my hand cramps with extreme pain when I try to write more than 1/2 page in my journal. But, my blog allows me to type with comfort. Then as the year rolls to an end, I am able to copy/paste my words from my blog into a photo album, a keepsake for our Joy.

So here is her blog: http://joyfromtheeast.blogspot.com/

For now, the blog has only tidbits of info, a few pics and later as I travel it will be how I communicate daily.

Today, I was blessed beyond blessed to post updates photos of our waiting Joy to her new blog.



~ She is beyond precious. I am beyond blessed to have these photos. My heart is overflowing with pure Joy today! And, as I want to cry out in anguish over the wait, I try to focus on the thought that 'soon Mom and daughter will be united, soon'! ~

It's Spring

From time to time, I look back at my blog here and think "Wow, I have some beautiful kids. And beautiful memories." I don't update much. We all have this thing now, you know, called "Facebook" and it's seem easy to post a picture each day or an album there on a special day. And, well, blog-land gets forgotten about. But what a beautiful collection of memories we gather here on these blogs. Let's be honest, it's really for us, not for the world. We like to look over our entries and remember how precious time is. How fleeting it is that our kids grow up and change. How blessed we are to have these special moments worthy of blogging over, worthy of capturing on camera. Worthy of remembering.

Today I post a few special memories from the past few months.

A family field trip to Annapolis...my sweeties, all 5 of them...how I adore them.


Another family field trip. Washington, D.C's Cherry Blossom Festival. Me and my Bug. She's grown so much and just celebrated her 4th birthday.


My son. My heart-throb. Running through the sprinklers on a warm Easter Sunday. I love him. Oh, I love him!


Look at my beauties. Kya and Autumn, all growing up, becoming such wonderful little ladies. Here they are on Easter Sunday in their "twin dresses". They just bless me so much. It's amazing to watch them grow.


Lord, thank you for these little ones, for my love Dale, for all the blessings you bring me each season of my life.

Suddenly My Girls are Seven

I'm not quite sure what happened to the 11 month old baby I once held or the two 2 year old toddler I once chased. I loved them dearly. They grabbed a piece of my heart I may never, ever get back (and quite frankly, I hope I don't get it back since I gave it to them forever.) But, here in front me now, stand these two beautiful, striking young ladies that I love in a vastly different way. In a way that says "you're not just cute, you're not just cuddly, you're mine. You're mine forever. In every way you grow, in every way you change, in every season of life, in all you do, you're my child and I love you."

A blessed little visit

My 13 year old brother, Joel, visited us for just over three weeks this summer. We had such a sweet time with him. We celebrated the 4th of July, caught lightening bugs, roasted s'mores, went to the movies, fishing, washed cars, attended VBS, made a trip to Washington DC and created wonderful memories. He, Kya & Autumn all caught their first fish, rode the metro for the first time and had their first slumber party staying up late in pj's and watching movies even after mom and dad were asleep. It's hard to say goodbye, but we enjoyed our visit and look forward to next summer.

Here are the photos from our last fishing trip to celebrate Joel's 14th birthday.