A Special Class

Some of the students in Austin's Life Skills class graduated highschool. I had the honor of being invited to go. It was by far, the BEST graduation ceremony I've ever been to! The theme was Chinese. It was a ceremony all for them! Slide shows of each graduate. The teachers, other staff, even bosses of some of them who work ( Yes work! They all work at the university like three or more days a week! Awesome!), got up and spoke about each graduate. The students who weren't graduating, spoke too. Each of them said "Congratulations _____" to a specific graduate. Austin's line was, "Congratulations Blake!". He did great! There was so much love in that auditorium! Some of the choir sang a song. I had to take a picture of these girls. I was excited to see the girl in the pink shirt and the girl in the dress. They are twins. They belong to my mom's best friend. they were born after my mom passed away. One of them is named after my mom!
We had catered Chinese food and these fabulous and adorable cupcakes!I was at the school most of the day and thoroughly enjoyed it! It was great meeting all of his new friends and seeing him interact with them. It was also nice to see how all of the special needs staff know Austin and really care for him! The new-ness is no more. It's like he's always been there. Thank you God!

I also want to say this. Maybe I'm hopping on my soapbox?
I try not to "woa is me" and have pitty parties. I try not to complain about petty things or even talk about being "so busy", in a tired and irratable voice. You won't hear me talk about my problems. Sure, I have cruddy days. Sure I get mad/sad. But why voice them to the world? Your problems are no where near the struggles that a special needs child goes through on a daily basis. It takes so much for them to make it through a day. But these struggles (hard tasks/days) never ever get them down. You won't hear them complain. They go through their day with nothing but a smile. Just wanting to make people happy! Their major acheivements are small or un noticed to most people. Some people take many things for granted. I sure don't. I'm truly thankful!

Happy Birthday Gabby!

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY SWEET GABBY! WE WISH YOU A FABULOUS DAY! We love you!

Happy 5th Birthday Carli!

Five years ago...I loved being pregnant with Carli! It was the sweetest time. I was getting my shopping partner, ha! Kidding aside, I was getting a mother/daughter relationship. One that I had been missing since my mom passed away. The boys were getting passed the "needing mommy" stage and heading into the "hangin' with dad" stage. I was getting some much needed girly-ness in my life. At my job, the three year old little girls in my class were just gaga over me having a baby. Every morning, they would love on my tummy and say,"Good morning Carli Michelle!" We thought it was so funny how they would talk to her and call her by her whole name! They also would draw picture after picture for her (of course I kept them all). The parents of these kiddos (and the class parents from the previous year) and my good friend/co-teacher Miranda, threw me a wonderful baby shower! (Miranda and I at my shower)
(Me, the day before I went in to be induced with Carli)May 16, 2006 at 5:45 pm She was here!Also, here, was Carli's Godmother, Deyanira. It meant the world to us for her to have spent the night with me the night before and be in the delivery room when Carli was born! Very Special!The boys were and still are WONDERFUL with her! W-O-N-D-E-R-F-U-L!

We can not imagine life without her. She just fit right in, like she had always been there!
Now, having a girl is a whole new world! She constantly has us all shaking our heads at the things she says and does. Oh how we laugh all the time!

I've learned to cherrish each and every stage/day/minute! They grow so fast!I can not believe that this cute, teeny tiny, six pounds one ounce baby is nowa beautiful little FIVE YEAR OLD girl!

Choir Concert

Tyler had his end of the year choir concert this week. They were pretty good! I love seeing and hearing him sing! It was also a little strange sitting in the auditorium that I had all my choir concerts at.

Mother's Day

It was very special to get to celebrate Mother's Day AND Tyler's 13th Birthday on the same day!
I'm still not believing he's a teenager now!
We played hookie from church (I know, shame on us!), Carli gave me homemade lotion she made at school, all the kids gave me more charms, we went out to lunch, and then we came home where I took the best nap!I loved my Mother's Day, but more importantly, I LOVE MY BABIES!!!

The Newest Teenager!

We celebrated Tyler's 13th Birthday all weekend! Isn't that how it's suppose to be?Mimi came by Friday and brought him his presents.Then, for the eighth year in a row, we had Tyler's birthday dinner at Casa Ole'! This time, a little different. It wasn't in our old town AND he asked that we not tell them it's his birthday! WHAT?! :( Saturday, Grandma and Mimi came over to eat Tyler's favorite chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and ice cream.After opening his gifts from Grandma, Carli, and Austin, it was time for our gift... That's what was in that huge box. The newest teenager!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!

This woman Mary, the mother of my husband, my children's only grandmother, and one I'm proud to have as my mother in law, is having a birthday today! She is truly the sweetest, most caring, person, so genuine! She will give you the shirt off her back! She absolutely loves everyone, EVERYONE, with all her heart!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA! WE LOVE YOU SO SO SO MUCH!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!

1998, We went from a family of three, to a family of four! That's THIRTEEN YEARS AGO!How is possible that 13 years ago, Austin and I were taking this picture just hours before I went into labor with Tyler?But it was! We welcomed our baby boy Tyler on MAY 8th! Our hearts immediately doubled!
How could it not? Look at these blessings!

HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY BOO-BOO BEAR! WOW, you're a TEENAGER Tyler! You bring such joy to our lives! Really, you are so funny and keep us laughing! You're an absolute sweetheart! We sure hit the jackpot with you! WE LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH!
I'm so blessed to spend this Mother's Day celebrating you! God Bless!

Teacher Appreciation Week

As you know (or hope you know), this week is Teacher Appreciation Week. We always acknowledge our teachers for every occasion and sometimes for no occasion. We just love teachers! So, for this week, the kids took to school a little somethin' for them. Austin and Tyler took each of their teachers a Reese's Fast Break candy bar, with a tag that read, "You deserve a break!". Carli took her teacher some yellow mums.

Architect

I love taking pictures of Carli's creations! I've posted some of them on here before. She LOVES to make and build things. She saves every little piece of paper, ribbon, cardboard, etc. and keeps her glue and scissors in her room ( I totally trust her). Her building is usually with Lego's or blocks. Sometimes with my Scentsy boxes, her toys, you name it she builds with it!
The other day she had been playing so quietly, for quite a while. You know as a parent, that's a sign to go check! Well, I went into the restroom and found that she had been building this:Pyramids out of their rinse cups! Awesome right?
We always say she's going to be an architect!

Weekend Ramblings

Let's start our weekend with Friday! A GREAT day for a wedding! Carli and I were consumed with all things royal that day! She was just as excited as I was, so it made for a nice, mother-daughter memory. Much like the one I had with my mommy when we watched Princess Diana's wedding.It was gorgeous! Perfect! I loved everything about it!

Saturday and Sunday, we were super lazy...or we could say relaxed. We had nothing planned this weekend, which was nice!
I did however receive a wonderful piece of mail on Saturday:This Scentsy award and lapel pin! I was pretty proud of myself! I covered my name on it-it had my whole name on it.
This is what I received it for:
Scentsational Start Awards Program
The Scentsational Start Awards program provides incentives for new Consultants to do those things that will have the greatest impact on their future success—bookings, sales, and sponsoring. Even though there are three levels to the Scentsational Start Award, you can only earn one. You will be awarded the highest level award you achieve during your first 70 calendar days—Day One is the day you enroll and order your Scentsy Starter Kit.

Scentsational Start Award—Level 1
Qualifications
• Within 70 calendar days of enrollment
• 1,250 points in Personal Retail Volume (PRV) or...
• Three personally sponsored active Consultants
Award Received
• $50 Product Credit
• Green Scentsy Scentsational Start lapel pin
• Certificate of Achievement

We visited Great Grandma and Aunt Rachel for a bit and I delivered a few Scentsy orders.
So, it was a good thing we rested all weekend, because May is really busy for us, more so then Christmas time, I believe!

National Dance Week

This week was National Dance Week. My good friend who owns a dance studio (Tyler actually took dance from her when he was four) had a "Bring a friend to dance" day. Carli was invited to go with Conlee (another good friend of mine's, six year old daughter.) I sure didn't think Carli would want to go. She surprised me and said yes! She had her outfit planned as soon as she woke up that morning! Then that evening, when class started, she walked right in with Conlee and then saw Camden, as well as a room full of little girls and had no problem what so ever! She didn't dance, but did everything else. She wasn't shy at all! I was so proud of her! She even said she'd go back to do it again! My little girl, in MY dance leotard from when I was little!

Softball

Last week, we went to see Gabby and Rachel play softball.It was cute and so was their cheer:

We don't play with barbie dolls
we just play with bats and balls
we dont wear no mini skirt
we just wear pants and t-shirts
we dont drink no lemonade
we just drink our powerade!

Pre-K Easter

Carli had her Pre-K Easter last week. She took her teacher and class gifts. Um, yeah...no pics of Carli. Sometimes she just does not want to have her picture taken. :)

Happy Birthday Rose!

We love you Rose! Have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!