oh anne!!

look what just came in the mail!!! a little slice of you-you heaven! anne had all the downstairs children make cards for me with stickers and she did handprints of all the upstairs children!! (except for stephie because her hand doesn't open so well! i got her footprint!) oh anne!! this did my heart so much good!! i miss my kids terribly and it was fun to guess who had made which card! i'm pretty good at that game! bethany is making arms and hands on people! what a surprise! and mia is still misspelling her name, but her drawing is surely improving! daniel really likes stickers and naitile uses the leftovers from the sticker page!! oh, thank you so much, anne! i LOVED this present!!!

blessed

this is my friend, cathryn achilles. i have known cathryn for about 11 years. she is now 16. cathryn has been diagnosed with Ataxia-telangiectasia. which i cannot pronounce! it is commonly referred to as AT. you can read her story here: webpages.charter.net/jachilles.

when cathryn and her siblings were younger, i used to babysit for them once in awhile. now they are growing up so fast and it's been a privilege to see them become the young adults they are now! last week i was in hollister and i was able to spend some time with her and her family. cathryn greatly surprised me by making a quilt for my baby!! (looks like she thinks it might be a girl too!) needless to say, i cried when she gave me (us) this incredible gift!! thank you, cahtryn!!







i have also been blessed by all of you. i know that you have seen the pictures on this website: blessingyouyou.blogspot.com and i can't thank all of you enough for your gifts!! i set up the crib, you know, just to test it out. and the quilt looks wonderful in the crib! thank you, colleen!!
thank you all for the presents and for your support!



***disclaimer*** just because we have pictured here two winnie-the-pooh bears DOES NOT mean i want to run with that theme!! i'm much more for the vintage piratey and cowboy (girl?) things if we have to do themes at all! :)

here's looking at you!

okay, i don't have a scanner, so i know this is poor quality and i know it's backwards, but i also knew if i didn't post some of you would be a bit upset! i have already had some threatening emails!!

so, here (she?) is!! i was in the ultrasound room for so long! and the tech was being real quiet so i finally asked if everything was okay. she said, yes, but the first shot she had let her know the sex of the baby and so she was being quiet to make sure she didn't slip and tell me anything! i was a bit jealous that she knew what i am having and i don't. and she can sit there and think to herself, "that silly girl thinks she's having a girl! ha ha ha!" lisa, the lab tech, said that at this stage they all look like skeletor because they don't have any meat on their bones! nice description, eh? :) made me smile!

anyhow, i was on the table for a whole hour and she said everything is fine; praise the Lord!! and i know it's not the best picture, but it's her face! can you see her eyes and nose?

how amazing is our God?!!!

thanks for all your prayers!

so, i have been. . . not so busy. i have had a lot of time to play on the computer and look for great little items like these. what do you think?! :)
but it turns out a lot of these are fairly pricey so my friend emily suggested getting iron on paper and printing and making our own onesies!! how cute is that?!
i know that a lot of people wouldn't even think about dressing their kids in skulls and crossbones, but to me it just seems to fit! i don't like the scary ones and i don't like the ones with the three teeth-like things coming down from the bottom of their heads, but these guys just seem piratey to me!
in the absence of my 44 children and 58 employees, i seem to be at a slight loss as to how to fill my time. so between making Christ-mas cookies with my mom, reorganizing the closet, unpacking, and becoming prom queen, i've been looking for onesies. if you have a better project for me, by all means, suggest away!!
and don't you worry, i have been reading my bible aloud!! :)

prom 2007

for all of you loyal (and i really mean loyal) blog readers, you must be aware that last night was our 5th annual martini party. brendie and i love to take a theme and run with it. we have done "vintage hollywood" and a "masquerade ball." but THIS YEAR we threw prom!




every prom has a theme itself and our prom was "starry night." it came complete with corsages, spiked punch and a ballot box. we made posters campaigning for votes and even danced to boyz to men! (did i mention we go all out for our parties?!) i know that every year we say is our best year, but seriously this was an amazing year! we were thrilled with how many people embraced the theme this year and came dressed up and ready to party. we discussed college applications and what we hope to be when we grow up!

and after the ball dropped it was time to count the ballots for prom king and queen.

i will admit, brendie did call my campaign slogan "propaganda" however i found it to be terribly convincing. and clearly, it served it's purpose: