Monday, January 03, 2011

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Tahoe Part 1

We went to Lake Tahoe back in September. I am finally getting around to posting some of the pictures. Hopefully I can post the rest this week. We enjoyed a day at BEAUTIFUL Glenbrook and also went on a hike. We weren't prepared for the weather to be as nice as it was when we were at Glenbrook and the kids couldn't help but get in the lake!!

PresleySistersLandonGlenbrookGlenbrook pierPresleyCarsonKendallMarshlandKidsKendall

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Our new puppy!!!!

Our new puppy!

This is our new puppy!!! She is 4 weeks old in this picture. She is a goldendoodle and will be joining our family the week before Christmas. Right now her name is Ginger, but we haven't come up with a new name for her yet. The kids just love her!!!

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Kendall's conscience

Kendall (age 9) - "I was going to go to sleep because I thought you guys were mad at me. Then I had a good discussion with myself and myself made me come down and say I'm sorry."

It is so nice to have a daughter that is so trustworthy. Thank you Kendall for being such a wonderful daughter!!! We love you!!

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Apple Hill!!

Saturday was a beautiful day and we were sick of cleaning our house, so we loaded up the kids, left our messy house behind, and headed up to Apple Hill. We have decided that we need to do things on the weekends besides clean our house. If we were to spend all day cleaning, you know what?? Our house would look exactly the same the following Saturday!! Right now we are in a tough situation. Our kids are young, I am working from home, I have preschools, elementary schools, therapies, and doctors appointments to go to and I spend much of my day dealing with Landon's meltdowns or trying to prevent them. Things are getting better and they will continue to get better. We have just 2 1/2 years until all 4 kids are in school all day. Until then, we are going to enjoy the wonderful place that we live and all of the things there are to do here!

We had a great day at Apple Hill. The weather was really nice and I think all of Northern California also decided to go to Apple Hill that day!! But we were in no hurry and really enjoyed ourselves! I got some great pictures of Carson, despite his long hair!!!
Carson AHKendallCarson Hay!! PresleyCarson

Thursday, September 09, 2010

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Friday, August 13, 2010

Karate Kid

Carson went to his first karate class today. He LOVED it!! Derek said he was beaming during the whole class. He loved the exercises and really paid attention and tried hard to learn the moves. He was in a class with 7-12 year olds. Since he is just 7, they are going to move him down to the 5-6 year old class until he gets caught up and then they will move him up to the more intense class when he is ready. I have been wanting to get him into karate for a long time. It is a perfect sport for him. A sport where he can advance at his own pace and not feel like he has to compare himself to others. I am so happy he has found something that he seems to really enjoy that doesn't have a joystick or screen attached!!Karate kidCarson

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Presley

Presley
When I resize my photos on Flickr so they will fit on my blog it reduces the quality. Is there a way to resize them and keep the quality? You would think if I was making the pictures smaller and not bigger that the quality would stay the same?? Anyone know??? Here is the original size down below. You definitely see that the quality in the photo below is MUCH better, but it is too big to fit on the blog. I am copying and pasting the HTML. Should I use the photos URL instead?? What does everyone else do??

Presley

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Our first broken bone.....we think!

Almost 2 weeks ago I was trying to get the all the kids and I down for a "family nap" in my room. Whenever we try to do this there is way more noise and giggles than resting. Landon was running around the room like a mad man when he tripped on a stuffed animal and fell right into the box spring of our bed. Blood was gushing and he was crying. I cleaned him up, he cried for about 10 minutes and then laid down and took a nap. When he woke up this is what I saw and I decided to take him into the ER.
Nose day 1
In the ER the doc looked at him for about 60 seconds and told me to try and put ice on it, that he would probably get 2 black eyes, not to worry, and made an appointment for the ENT for 6 days later.

Here he is on Friday.
Nose day 2

On Saturday, the day of our neighborhood 4th of July parade he looked like this.
Nose day 3

This is on Monday, probably the day it looked the worst.Nose day 5

I took him the the ENT last Wednesday and the doctor looked at it, felt it a little bit, and told us that it was probably broken but that it was healing well and looked like it would probably heal straight. A week later and the swelling has gone down. It is still green and he still has black eyes, but they are finally starting to fade some. He has bumped it a couple of times in the past couple of days and it has bled a little. But he started to look like himself and not Rocky Balboa!!

Oh, and if you're wondering why he has blood coming out of his nose....he wouldn't let me touch it. I gave him several baths to try to get the steam to clean it up a bit, but he wouldn't let me go anywhere near it and the doctor said to try not to touch it so that it wouldn't bleed. So he looked a little gross for a few days!!

Monday, June 07, 2010

Photogenic

Some kids are just born photogenic. I am not a not a photographer in any way, but I don't think H-man could take a bad picture!!Harrison

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Just because.......

......she's so stinkin' cute!!!
Just because.....she is so stinkin' cute!!Just because....she makes us laugh!!Just because......we love her so much!!Just because.....she is so sweet!Just because....she won't have pigtails forever!!

Monday, May 31, 2010

Happy Gotcha Day!!!

Two years ago yesterday we first met our precious Presley!! Can you believe it? On Saturday I took a picture of her in her Gotcha Day clothes. I had to bribe her with a lollipop to even get her to try them on. So I didn't get a great picture, but you can tell how much she has grown!! She tried really hard to put her shoes on. We love you sweet Pres and couldn't imagine life without you!!

Presley's Adoption Timeline

  • 8/15/2007 - Received referral for Geneva!
  • 9/13/2007 - Sent LOI (letter of intent) to our agency
  • 9/29/2007 - LOI was sent to China!
  • 10/08/2007 - LOI was delivered to the CCAA in China
  • 10/29/2007 - PA (pre-approval) was issued!!
  • 1/15/2008 - DTC (dossier to China)
  • 1/18/2008 - Dossier delivered to CCAA
  • 1/25/2008 - LID (log-in date)
  • 4/1/2008 - LOA (letter of acceptance)
  • 4/25/2008 - CCAA issues TA (travel approval)
  • 5/22/2008 - Leave for China!!!
  • 5/25/2008 - Met our sweet Lexi!
  • 5/26/2008 - Discovered Lexi had brain damage
  • 5/30/2008 - Met precious Presley!
  • 6/7/2008 - Arrived home

My Family

My Family
My favorite people!!