Happy Halloween (2nd post for today....=)

Happy Halloween everyone!! My guys were football fans!! Cullen sported his Cowboy love and Christian his Texas love!! Miss Clara was a dragonfly and a beautiful one at that. By the time we got around to trick or treating she was already ready for bed. As usual she was a good sport and hung in there. It was a nice evening shared with Meemaw and Pawpaw and even more blessed by the fact that we met up with Cindy, Clint, "prisoner" Katelyn, and "pumpkin" Pierce. Pierce and Clara both celebrating their FIRST Halloween!! It was a great evening! I hope you enjoy the pics!!

I had to show off the back of her little costume. She looked so cute in it!! She just was not in the mood to pose for pics at all.

I will try to finish up posting about the wedding and our weekend at the Cowboy game and The Great Wolf Lodge...Fun, Fun, Fun!!

Busy, Busy, Busy...celebrating Mac's birthday and wedding rehearsal!!

Okay...I am going to cram a lot in this post as usual. Last weekend my baby brother got married to his high school sweet heart, Candy, and it is about time. They will be getting back tonight from their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic. They stayed at the Paradisus in Punta Cana. This place is great. Clay and I have gone there for work and probably will again this year.

My oldest brother, Mike, and his kiddoes flew in Wednesday night. Thursday night we celebrated Mac's 5th birthday which I believe is Nov. 5th. We just wanted to have a physical celebration with him though. Mac loves Pokemon so I made him a Pokemon cake. Here are a few shots from that evening.

We had the rehearsal dinner Friday night. It was very nice. Mike worked very hard to put together a slideshow of pictures for Matt & Candy and their lives growing up with family, friends, and together. It was EXCELLENT!!! Here is my girl dressed for the evening. She behaved so well all weekend as it was a LOOOOONG, BUSYYYY, PACKED weekend!!! Great though.

Here are the guys in their Cowboy jerseys Matt & Candy got them for participating in the wedding. Clara got a pink one but she did not put hers on for this pic. Mac is not in the pic either because.....

He was out for the evening. He had a rough night. He ended up throwing up in the corner of this nice little winery we had the dinner at. No one noticed though. =) He was OUT!!

I will post more later. We are going to go trick or treating and I will hopefully finish this up tonight or this weekend!!! =)

Playing catch up again.....

I am trying to play a quick catch up. ;) I will probably try to post multiple times today. First off the kids spent the night with Meemaw and Pawpaw on Saturday night. Clay and I had bachelor and bachelorette parties we got to attend. My brother is getting married this weekend to his high school sweetie, Candy!! =) Here is a shot of the bridesmaids with the bride...excluding Casey as she lives too far to make it. =)

Also I had to show pics of Clara in this outfit. Let me explain....yes I know the outfit is on the verge of being too small. This outfit was the outfit that I bought when I knew we were missing our little girl but felt it would never happen. We had decided a LONG time ago that 2 children were in "our" plans and Clay definitely was okay with that. He was also terrified of having a little girl. Needless to say I was the one who insisted on the vasectomy as I was also terrified to have a baby girl. Why would I want to fight the battles I had with my mom growing up?? I was HORRIBLE!! (note: my mom is my best friend now Praise God) I bought this outfit with the idea that it would probably end up in my closet forever and I would look at it wondering who was missing. Let me remind you I was pretty peeved at God for putting "dreams" of a little girl in my head. I knew it would be much more difficult with 3 children. Why me?? Well, let me tell you...as if you don't already know.....God is absolutely amazing!!! When I thought it would never happen and I gave it over to him.....low and behold, just like the gentleman He is.....He came in and began to work when I asked Him to. You know, I had heard the saying, "God is a gentleman. He will not just barge in. You have to ask Him in and allow Him to work in your life!" This saying has stuck with me and forever will. I struggled so much and patience is not a strong suit in my life. But I prayed and asked others to pray!!! I can never tell you how many people were praying for this decision and I will probably never know how many actually were. The tears we cried and the emptiness that was there some days was just overwhelming!! The loss of a little girl after caring for her for 3 days was about unbearable, but I did have peace. My God was working!!! You know, we can never know the perfect plans He has in store for us. Well, as you all know our precious, perfect, most beautiful baby girl was brought into this world by one of the strongest ladies I have ever met!!! Miss Tierra with her precious little kiddoes touched our world FOREVER!! Never thought we would fall in love with them too. God blessed us with an extended family that will forever make our family stronger and that much better!! We finally were blessed with our baby girl that was the perfect little puzzle piece made just for us!!! I cannot tell you or put in words how much this blessing has grown our family beyond any type of measure!! I will sum it up in the words of Clara's oldest brother, Christian......"Mom, you want to know the best thing we ever did? Get Clara!" That says it all!!! God is GREAT!!! Praising Him today and always!!!! (note my baby girl is standing!!!) I want to say thanks to all those that prayed Clara here and supported us through the journey of adoption that is so difficult. Thank you for praying for our peace of mind, our hearts, our baby to be, and most of all praying for Tierra and her family!!! Thank you ALL!!!

More Pierce pictures, flag football, randomness, and tons of pictures!!

We had Taffy & Papa Dave (Clay's mom & dad) and Clint & Cindy (Clay's brother and wife) and Katelyn and Pierce over for dinner Friday night. It was a great evening and something we need to do more often. I was able to get more pics of Baby Pierce and a pic of all the cousins together. Now, wouldn't it be a miracle if at Matt's wedding we were able to get a pic of ALL the cousins together from both sides!! That would truly be a miracle.

Clara was not too keen on sitting still for the pics. She wanted to touch and look at Pierce and then she wanted to take off. She does not like to sit still for 5 seconds. That is my girl!!! She really could not stop looking at Pierce the whole time. Her fascination with him was really neat!! Then it was over when Pierce spit up and the kids had had enough. =) I have video and hope to upload it soon.

These are some shots of all the Daddy's with their new babies and Papa Dave in one too. Clara was too cute. She had a fascination with Pierce but it did not stop there. I don't know if she just now noticed or what that Daddy and Clint look and sound just a like. She could not stop smiling with Clint. She would just stare at him like, "No, you're not Daddy, but man, you look like him and sound like him." She is very much a Daddy's girl and also is not keen on people other than Daddy, Momma, Christian, and Cullen (in that order). She decided she would accept Clint and that he would be an okay substitute if need be. Note: Clara had gotten ready for bed and had her PJs on and her sleep cap. I think her sleep cap has got to be the cutest little thing. She also leaves it on overnight 98% of the time. My perfect little girl!! =)

Here is a shot of Clara before we got to flag football. She was lovin' the headphones and her own music. I could not believe she left them on as long as she did.

Every year the boys sign up for our homeschool flag football at the local high school football stadium. They really have a LOT of fun. Here are some shots from Saturday.

Here is a shot of Daniel and Clara. Jaiden was right there but as soon as I wanted a picture she was out of there!! Jaiden and Daniel came to their family through the blessing of adoption too. God is truly AWESOME!! He knows exactly who is supposed to be a family and will bring a family together even from the ends of the world!! =) They are as big of a blessing to their family as Clara has been to ours.

This is Clara and James. She usually prefers men over women so Sherry was out of luck to hold her without her getting upset, but Clara would stay with James as long as James would bounce her up and down and make her laugh. I will give Sherry credit, she was able to stroll Clara around the track and Clara went to sleep. =) She will one day grow out of the clingy phase. The boys never really went through the clinginess as we readily shared them. Clara was such a long wait that by the time she made it into our family Clay and I really struggle sharing her! I know, pathetic!

Well that is it for now.....more to come later.

My Chef and student

This post is to brag on my Christian. He planned a meal for us based on the book he is reading for English I, The Redwall. He planned fish cakes, lemon n' butter tilapia (supposed to be trout) and Cherry Crumb Cake. He had a little help from me but he did an excellent job!! Dinner was absolutely delicious!! I did also make him clean the kitchen and dishes so he could see how much work it really was.

Here is the main meal. It turned out perfectly. He was so proud of himself as he should have been. We had corn, salad, fish cakes, and tilapia with lemon, butter, cayenne, pepper, and parsley.

Here is his Cherry Crumb Cake. It was really good.

Here he is slaving away at his wonderful meal. I am so proud of him!! This was an optional assignment for his class so I was proud of his initiative to do it.

We have a busy day of a Science test that is due and much studying still needs to be accomplished, school is starting late, and gymnastics is tonight. I also still need to get a social security card for Clara, take my car in for an estimate so insurance can fix it.....Yuck!! Pray we can get most of it done. Until next time....

Birthday at Meemaw's & Pawpaws

Yesterday was my 33rd birthday. Clay let me sleep in late (one of my favorite things). I rolled out of bed around 12. Yes, I said 12. =) We then got everyone ready and headed for Meemaw & Pawpaw's house (my mom & dad). Matt & Candy met us there also. We had a great evening of cooking out, watching them watch football, and playing cards. It was nice to just spend the day with them all. The family God has blessed me with is definitely my best asset!! =) Here are a good handful of pics from the day we had.

Everyone around the TV spending my "possible card-playing time" watching football....yuck. I got burned out with all the football I had to watch growing up with Mike & Dad. I don't mind watching them get all ticked off and bicker over the teams that are winning/losing according to their football picks. ;)

Here is Candy....this is her "I am pissy that the Cowboys are losing pic!" LOL =D

Here is Clara wrestling uncle Matt down on the floor.

Pawpaw is cuddling and tickling Clara's little feet. Here is the gang getting ready to load up! They cooked steaks for me...I had not had a steak in forever. This week is definitely going to catch up with me at my weigh in for Bible study tonight. This was my plate....yes I know. that is more meat than a handful of people should eat combined. I am glad to say I did leave some behind. Notice the sweet potato instead of the loaded one like on Matt's plate.
My plate.

Matt's plate...Yummy loaded baked potato and sauteed mushrooms and onions. Texas garlic toast...man I want another plate today!

This was Clara's buffet of banana, dried blueberries, sweet potatoes, and cheese...mmm, mmm good!

I thought this was a great shot of Clara....she was not 100% cleaned up after her buffet experience. =) Look at those little eyelashes...She is just our little miracle....but then of course God has blessed us with 3! Who knows what the future may hold?? Meemaw is rocking Clara to sleep. She successfully went down for bed over there!! YEAH!! Planning for the cruise in December! I cannot wait!

Here are my guys bringing me my birthday cake. Clara did not make it this late. She did not have a good nap at all and was out around 6:15 or so. As you can see we only were able to eat the top part. I knew it would be too large a cake but I wanted to practice tiering/doweling/decorating a bigger cake. I thought it turned out very good if you like mocha and chocalate-hazelnut mousse.
After cake, we the got a round of cards in. It was a great evening that went by too fast!! Now it is a new week and back to work. I hope everyone had a great weekend!! Until next time....