I'm BIG Now

I hope your summer is filled with laughter, fun, popsicles and watermelon! We are truly savoring ours, its been a nice balance of fun and accomplishments! Though my personal accomplishments feel great, I'm prouder of our baby girls!  Chloe is our baby, though she quickly corrects me that she is not a baby, she is big now! She has grown so much this summer, I'm so proud of her!  A special thanks to Teagan for taking the extra time to work on Chloes, vocabulary, swimming and just helping with her general care. 

A little history, Chloe, came to us approx 1.5 yrs ago. She came with no eye contact and stiff as a board. She would hold her arms out like she was a cross. She had at least 4 mother figures including me in her short 15 months of life.  She had a few words, but then due to the stress of moving from her loving foster home to our new world, she lost them. 

Now look at our BIG girl:

I can swim!

Chloe can not only swim, she is potty trained and apparently is a real estate mogul! Every thing she sees is "my house, my building" watch out Donald, here comes Chloe!



2yrs old!

~ DeAnn
Proud Mommy

Before & After Doors

10 yrs ago I bought our home and had every intention of replacing the interior doors. Then life happened and I got used to my ugly doors, with only fleeting thoughts of replacing them. This summer, I decided it was seriously time to pull out this nagging thorn.  Here are some before and after shots.

Before

After

Master Bedroom ~ Before



MB ~ After

I'm enjoying the improved look. I can't believe I waited 10yrs to get this done! What are you waiting for?  ~ DeAnn 

Travel Lessons Learned

I enjoy traveling to see new parts of the country. I always learn a lot. Our journey to Mt. Rushmore was no exception.  Beyond some history lessons, like did you know Mt. Rushmore isn't done? I didn't know that before our trip, nor did I know South Dakota was so beautiful and green.   This suburban mom learned a few other life lessons on this adventure:

* Small towns really do close in their entirety promptly at 9pm. 

I did not feed my kids dinner out of the hotel vending machine.

*My bank and credit cards really do care about me.

They protected me from unusual spending and closed my debit and credit card leaving me with $7.00 dollars, 6 kids and 3 days left to drive home! They graciously let me have access to $600 dollars out of my own bank account! Lesson: Let them know before you head out of town.

*My gps found roads, through peoples yards, that I couldn't see. The upside, we saw some parts of the country, we'd never thought to venture too.

Explore America, we are lucky to have such a wonderful country.

~ DeAnn

Are We There Yet?

On the road again...seems to be the theme song for the last week as we headed to Mt. Rushmore! What a wonderful trip to see family, friends and new parts of the America!  America is truly beautiful, loved Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota. Though I'd have to say South Dakota was truly my favorite!

Here are a few highlights of our journey:

In Trinidad, Colorado we stopped at the Baca Home-Museum, to see the home of our ancestors. This was fascinating to see how they lived way back in the 1800's. 





The wild life was incredible!

 We saw Buffalo, wild turkey, deer, prong horn sheep, prairie dogs, and wild horses.

You have reached your destination

~ Thanks everyone who we visited along the way, it was wonderful to see spend time with you!

DeAnn

Key & Necklaces Holders

Sadie and I stayed up late and made these fun little key and necklaces holders with scrapbook paper, cup hooks and some modge podge. A simple but useful project!


Necklace Holder by Sadie

Before-ugly,ugly!



Our improved and fun key holder

Have fun!

Growing Up

I remember my first phone, a white princess phone and I totally would have loved a clear see all the wires ones that they came out with later.  I thought it was wonderful to have my own phone. A cell phone is what my kids are craving.  Brendan has opted to use the free text app on his Ipod. Teagan has been bugging me to get a cell phone and teasingly tells me the other kids have blackberry's and all she has is a little tikes toddler cell phone.  She is so abused!  

She has been saving her money and today proudly bought her first cell phone, no contracts and she loaded it with some minutes.  Here is her proud day:

I'm proud of the research she did, in comparing cost. Her work and patience to reach her goal. I'm thankful for her acceptance and willingness to do for herself!!  Whether she uses it or lets it deactivate, I see a lot of lessons that will come from this experience. 

Beach Time

My favorite vacations involve the beach! Beach trips to me are classic summer memories and a tradition we have as a family. Arizona has a lot of "beach" but no ocean :(  We make at least 1 trek across the dessert to San Diego to see friends and have some time to catch waves, play with little crabs and tide pool. This trip was no different! The water was cold, but the waves were amazing, even the littles did some level of boogie boarding. My favorite memory this time, was Lexi's confidently stated "Look out ocean here I come!"

Besides, youthful feelings and memories, waves, relaxation, the beach is a relatively inexpensive investment for our family bonding.  Since our family has a vast span of ages 2-15 its the perfect spot for each one to have their own level of fun. Some guidelines that make our beach trips enjoyable:

1.  Easy access, without a lot of stairs or blocks to walk.
2.  Bathroom facilities
3.  A playground is an added perk since we stay from 11-5:30 most trips.
4. We pack lightly, less to carry makes us all happier. I saw many families bring the tents, "recliners" seriously folks...we are at the beach, not the living room.

Enjoy these carefree days of summer!
~ DeAnn