David's First Week at Kids Day Out

I absolutely love having all 3 of my kiddos at home with me every day!  But, one of those tough things about being a parent is doing what is best for your kiddos instead of what you want.  I know David really needs some positive interaction with children his age.  After calling around and visiting some places, we decided to send him to Kids Day Out 2 days a week.  

On the way out the door.

On the way to the car.  Followed by his little sister, of course.

He insisted on carrying all of his own stuff.  He was very excited about taking his back pack, lunch box, and nap mat that his Memama made him.  

Walking into Kids Day Out.  He is getting way too big!

Think he might be excited to be there!?!

MB Walked in and made herself right at home.  She would love to be there!  Next year sweet girl, next year.

He had an absolutely great day!!  And was very ready to go back!  On his second day, he jumped on the bike, waved, and said, "Bye, bye mama!"  

I'm so glad he loves it!

Rae

Weekend with Nanny and Poppy

Our fun weekend started off with the ASU game on Thursday night.  Then Friday we spent time at Nanny and Poppy's.

And Friday night we went out to dinner for Joe's early birthday dinner.

After Joe's birthday dinner, Daniel spent the night with his cousin Jordan.  This was Daniel's first sleepover and a huge milestone!  I am so proud of him!

He had such a great time!

Then Saturday morning we went to Jordan's soccer game.

The weather was awesome and Jordan played some good soccer!

Saturday afternoon Joe and I spent some time together (thank you Nanny and Poppy!).  We went by the new Delta Zeta house at ASU while we were out.  It is beautiful!  Can you say jealous!?!  :)

We also ran into Darby and Tara at Target.  :)

 Saturday night we had a fun supper at Nanny and Poppy's.  MB and Darby had a blast playing!

This big boy pulled his second tooth while we were gone.  So, the tooth fairy came to Nanny and Poppy's house.  The tooth fairy has yet to visit our house.  Go figure.

Sunday morning we went to church with Nanny and Poppy.

MB wore her celebratory football dress to celebrate ASU's big WIN!

MB and Darby at church.  We are so very thankful that our kiddos have some great cousins that they get to grow up with!

We had such a great weekend and can't wait to go back and visit Homecoming Weekend!

Rae

Go stAte Go!

Last Thursday we went to our first ASU game of the season.  It was a great game and we WON!  The Hooker's only made it to half time, though.  I had a great idea that we would leave right before naptime and the kids would sleep in the car.  Boy was I wrong.  Daniel is the only one who slept and he is the only one who could have made it without a nap!  Ha!  But we had a great time!

On on on to victory,

Our team is second to none.

Lets make this game history

Like all the others we've won.

Fight! Fight! Fight!

With all you're might!

So that the world may see that...

 

That Red-W-O-L-V-E-S

Spells VICTORY!

Rae

1st Soccer Game of the Season

Saturday, September 7th was Daniel's first soccer game of the season.  He played last spring, but it was very new to him.  Not only soccer, but playing any sport was very new to him.  Joe worked very hard with him, and Daniel ended up really loving it by the end of the season.  Joe came home from Daniel's first soccer practice this season and told me how much Daniel had improved.  How he remembered everything they had worked on and "Even kicked it all the way down the field and scored once!"  :)  Does that give you any indication of how many times he did that last season?  

Daniel was SUPER excited to show me how he could score a goal.  He really wants the whole family to come to every soccer practice and every soccer game, but that can't always happen.  We make it a top priority to make it to all of his games, and his daddy makes it a top priority to take him to all of his practices.  It is great for Daniel to get that Daddy time.  

It was VERY sunny and VERY hot!  But this kid played his heart out and never complained.  I am so very proud of him.

He ran SO hard!  Water was very important during the game.  He has quite a few kiddos on his team, and they rotate players to give everyone a chance.  So, he played half of the game.  And in that half of the game he scored not only 1 goal, but 10!  Yes you read that right...10!!  I'm pretty sure I had to pick my chin up off the field a few times.  :) 

Look at that KICK!  And, I'm not just proud of him because he scored quite a few goals.  I am very proud of him because he really did his very best.  It was awesome to watch him try very hard at something and succeed.  That has not always been easy for him.  He really wasn't quite sure how to take all of the praise he was getting for his success.  He still gets a little embarrassed to talk about it.  He told me that at his next game he was going to share the ball with his team sometimes.  :)

And of course he can't play without his cheering section!  

Did I mention how HOT it was?  But they were great sports and both cheered for their brother.  David wants to know when he gets to play a soccer game.  Oh goodness.  I can only imagine what that will be like.  :)

I'm so glad that he had such a great first game!  We are ready for game #2 this Saturday!

Rae

Mary Blanche's First Pageant

This baby girl loves to dress up!  And she loves attention!!  So, after seeing so many posts from my friends on facebook about fair queen pageants in other counties I decided to find out some info about the Fair Queen pageant in our county.  It was the next week, so I thought there was no way.  I assumed the deadline had passed and she didn't even have a dress.  So I just let it go and decided we would try for next year.

Well, when mama, Marianne, and I went to the Rhea Lana Consignment Sale mama found an awesome pageant dress!  I love the bright color and knew Mary Blanche would like it, too.  (It might sound crazy that an 1 year-old has an opinion about her clothes, but I promise you she does.  Her opinion doesn't always count, but she definitely has one!  Ha!)  So, we bought the dress hoping the deadline hadn't passed for the pageant, and it hadn't! 

So, Saturday morning August 31, MB made her pageant debut.  :)

She loved the stage and had a great time!

I finally had to pick her up and carry her off stage.  Girl loved it!

She enjoyed clapping for everyone!  :)  Even herself!

She won second alternate.  (Yes, this is a $1 platter from Dollar Tree with a sticker stuck to it.  Really!?!  Ha!)

And prettiest Smile and prettiest eyes.  :)

And, in my opinion, this particular pageant was poorly organized.  It started 45 minutes late.  10:00 am and 10:45 are very different in the life of a toddler.  And, it was burning up!!  Poor girl never gets hot and she was sweating.  But, I'm still glad we did it, and we both had fun! (despite the disorganization and feeling like we were in a furnace)

Mary Blanche says this is definitely not her last pageant.  :)

(But, she promises her mom is not going to become a crazy pageant mom....no fake hair or tan or eyelashes or any of that other crazy stuff!)

Rae

Mary Blanche Gets Her Ears Pierced

I have wanted to get MB's ears pierced since well...the day I met her.  :)  But because of reasons out of my control that wasn't possible.  I kept meaning to take her right after the adoption, but life is busy!  Ha!  So we finally made it on August 27th.

I took pictures with my real camera, but I forgot to put a card in it so now I have to find the cord before I can get those pictures.  Someday.  :)  

Yes, those are band-aids on her ears.  We got them pierced at a doctors office.  I'm sure getting them pierced anywhere would be fine, but it just made me feel better to go there.  They put a numbing cream on her ears so it didn't hurt when they pierced them.  But, of course, she would leave it alone so they had to put band-aids over the cream.  

Sweet baby girl.  Not gonna lie....she screamed when they were done.  But, I really do think it was the noise and not the pain that got her.  She loves her "pretty ears" now.

  She was smiling before we left the doctor's office.  :)  She has already stopped pulling on my earrings.  If she grabs them, she will say "ears owww!"  Ha!  

I do have to admit that I felt HORRIBLE the night after she got them pierced.  She woke up screaming around 4 am.  She has been working on getting her K9s, so I thought she was probably teething.  When I went in her room she had a crocheted blanket wrapped around her earring!  I never even thought about that happening.  But I got it off, gave her some motrin, and she went right back to sleep.  I was worried that that ear might try to get infected since the blanket pulled on it pretty hard, but thankfully not.  The only thing the nurse told me to do is turn the earrings a few times a day.  The one that the blanket was caught on has turned SO easy since the blanket incident, but the other one has been much harder.  And thankfully we have had no problems with infections.  I plan on leaving these earrings in for quite a while, but we can change them after 6 weeks if we want. 

Mary Blanche and I are both very pleased with her "pretty ears!"

Rae