I really like to

Create! ReCreate! This is the doll house from my childhood. My dad bought it at an auction atleast a couple decades ago. My sister and I used to hand sew pillows and comforters, making little pieces of furniture. The house remains and I hope that the girls find a love in making this a home, but so far it is just waiting for renovations, thinking glam with pink and glitter?! It needs some work, but I am thankful to have it and hope that we will have some inspired girls to deck it out. The cats like sleeping in the rooms! I have pictures on my phone that may prove it someday:)

Cuddles! Snuggles! Giggles!

Going Places! Traveling! This action shot was from a trip this fall we took, and evidently there was some concerns, by the looks of my mini me. I love going places and getting out of the house, probably to make up for days like today when someone is home sick and it is so frigid cold outside- record lows this week- that I can't go places. I am looking forward to a trip with Luke this year, we are in the works of figuring out something and it sounds like Momma wins and the fraidy cat will be flying, for our anniversary I am really pressing that:) In the mean time I will take little trips to visit family and stay in hotels and adventure with our kids, trying to be a good sport when the dynamics challenge our expectations or ideas.

Upgrade! I enjoy saving money and being logical, efficient, and reasonable. The old van had seen it's better days and with our latest additions we upgraded. By fourteen years! And Ford has made some improvements I would say! Sonny is enjoying the old club wagon, and we like the newer model. Here is the generational picture, for all you sentimental readers. Oh how special!

Giving! I really like to give things to people, preferable things they like. I like making things and investments of my time to help others. I want to be a generous person, but these little bags of popcorn are the best I can do when I have tons of kids to give gifts at Christmas for teachers and such. Everyone loves the popcorn though! I did 5 huge bags this year, the jumbo bags of old dutch popcorn. It is drizzled and mixed with melted white chocolate chips and then sprinkled with crushed candy canes. NUM NUM!!

Some Captured Moments in Time

The littles, their last school year of full days together. Mommy savors this time because they are so sweet together. Fonzie just likes to have his picture taken.

Lillie went through a little stinker stage and would sit and protest naps, only to exhaust herself to sleep in gymnast positions; hence, her foot is up at her head. instead of waking her (rule #5,) I grabbed my camera. This little bundle is like another limb to me and I take whatever breaks she gives me!

The girls at church in their coordinating dresses. I know what you are thinking, how can we afford beautiful Christmas dresses, but I got all 4 of these formal style dresses for less than $25.00 total. SCORE! Plus, they can wear them more than at their formal events and look absolutely stunning. Thanks Sams Club and Kohls ridiculous clearance, you make people like us look good:)

He is ready to go for the knees, so stay clear! This little champ is rearing to get a trophy someday, and in the meantime just looks cute in the singlet...don't ya think?!

2012 and Happy 2013!

First of all I would like to thank God for his new mercies each and every day, I could not survive this world without knowing where my treasures are. I know we seem like celebrities, so popular and well put together, in our name brands for less, various vehicles, and cheerful faces. This is not a brag letter, but proof that we are survivors! This past year brought us unexpected gains and losses, we live a tough life and we are constantly reminded our needs of a savior. Our blended family has a fair share of pain and suffering, something that is not topic for a Christmas letter. We have countless temper tantrums, from the most and least expected. We have multiple weekly appointments for various ongoing therapies; we have some long term candidates here. Things are not always pretty, but we do pull it together for the most part and this is some of the more positive things to share with you We learned in February of Matthew, one of the original siblings to our adopted group, needed to be adopted again. Lillie Marie was born March 5th. Two months later Matthew moved in and we have been figuring out our new lives since then. With much to grieve, we as a whole family have navigated ourselves in and out of learning many new things. We continue to try and be a healing home while offering opportunities for growth and development to the scattered levels under this roof. Adam has joined adapted floor hockey, what a fun game that is! He looks forward to games and getting his picture taken. David is really excelling in his academics, the best thing for both boys was returning to the larger school district. Matthew keeps busy with his love for reading and playing with cars. He has bonded well and has a great security with our connections in the community. Lexi went out for swimming this year and took some first places, we are rooting for her to join other sports and continue swimming as well. Aubrey is on the dance team again this year and is doing some performing with the JV team, she loves it. Libby has taken up sewing and is very creative and even has a British accent down. Reany has been working on her dance routine and both girls continue with piano and look forward to basketball starting soon. Noah has been doing lots of bike tricks during the summer and is now enjoying wrestling and keeps us all on our toes. Naomi is growing fast and is eager to learn. She looks forward to dance class next year when Noah goes to kindergarten. Lillie just got her 7th tooth and is a very expressive vibrant baby. Luke will have been with the same company for 13 years in work, does that make him a teenager? We daydream of both working part time jobs and better parenting this wild brood; however, there has not been much alternatives to his hard labor field at this time. He was baptized this year too, which was a great testimony and example for many. Some have told him to be a street preacher, only the Lord knows! Katie is trying like mad to hold down the fort and keep everyone fed and in clean clothes. Most days she showers, but is ever thankful for the ymca membership that allows for greater occurrences of that. Her zumba addiction is at full force. We are still living in Clearwater, also day dreaming of finding acreage in the country and teaching the kids hard work and responsibility, shoveling dung, of course. Speaking of, we lost our beloved Bruno this April and he will forever be missed. He was the best dog in the world with no possible competition. In the mean time we have begun a little cattery of ragdolls. Hoping Ms.Lola and The Fonz make some pretty kitties this summer. Hobby breeding can be a rewarding experience; we are more than thrilled at the prospects. As usual, there is an open invite to those who dare. Just promise you will not snicker or stare. Our lives are rich with emotions and experiences. You will learn much. We are well, kicking off 2013, and awaiting the promises that God has for us, that we might serve and honor him the days of our lives, that we might further the Kingdom, that we might set good example, that we might walk in light and love.

Individual, beautiful, unique

Snow! It's finally covering our ground and slowly burying us. As much as I envy a climate where I would not have to organize a whole separate wardrobe for everyone in my household, have to buy heat, replace mittens to often, shovel or delegate the chore; I love the tranquility and peace a snowfall brings. The ecology behind snowfall in the Lords care taking of the Earth reinforces his blessings with each tiny snowflake. It's freaking awesome! So, where are everyone's snow pants? I still reminisce our old home, half the size (and half the kids, har har,) in that we had the cubby storage in the upstairs bedrooms, the slanted ceilings and cubby doors. I loved my cubbies! Throw some 13 gallon trash bags in there and I knew where to find them. Here I have umpteen Rubbermaid containers that seem no rhyme or reason to which closet or they are in, I have great spots for everything until I try finding it. Urge! I need a day home alone to just chart out my stuff. It's such a progressive task too, so all you Cali moms, enjoy missing the seasonal changes in MN! Luckily newby fits right in line and I had outer ware for him, so everyone is looking good. I bought clearance boots last year and we are ready for this snow day!! I have bought meats and plan to finish the rest and work on some freezer meals and try that round of things. Or schedule changes enough that now for a few months I will need at least one day of crock pot supper, ready for us upon returning from activities. Libby is going to join a gmnastics class during Reany's time. The high school league takes off for their actual season so that left her empty handed. Reany gets a ride there after speech therapy and so I have it figured our that I can drop Libby off a little early, take the littles to the YMCA, bust out some Zumba, and then hustle over to get both girls. So naturally some grub ready to dish up will be my goal for the earlier part if the day! Or perhaps the boys could work on some menu planning and do some cooking as they are staying home with a helper. The other advantage to my freezer meal plans are that maybe I can feel more willing to drop meals off for friends in need, my style of cooking doesn't usually make for much offering, I wing everything and have starving children that eat anything put before them, so I always think other families wouldn't like my food!

Preschool Mornings

These little girls get some extra time with mommy, as you can tell Lillie is easily smothered and just loved too much. Naomi is learning her alphabet and is potty trained too, she is going to be 3 this month too! They love on eachother and it is so fun to see their bonding through laughter and snuggles.

This little man got his invite for kindergarten registration, and couldn't be more thrilled. He loves school and I am glad that next year I will not have a preschool schedule but will miss him dearly! I wish that we would have done the school program last year though too, as the Montessori program proved ineffective for his overall academic progress, and he is now getting the most progress in a traditional program, mainly with fine motor. The babies grow so quick! Him and the newby are best friends and he is also enjoying neighborhood friends and wants to have friends over all the time too. He started wrestling too, so that is fun to see him be more mature than the last organized sports we tried:) I love my littles and am so blessed to have them, I know that God planned our family perfectly and it is great that he gave them to me!!

AlfonzoAzuel "Fonzie"

Seriously cutest thing in the world, Fonzie was in one of six litters! Luke and I had a riot playing with these kitties! Fonzie is the one on his hind legs. I would never venture to this size of a breeding program either.

This is Fonzie's mother nursing a bunch of kittens, she was the wet cat and evidently would nurse any kitten, funny!

He came home a couple weeks earlier than Lola at 12 weeks and has been a charmer since the day we met:)

He has found his sanctuary, the crib! He is a smart fellow, and knows that no one can get him when he hides in there, so he has been found a couple times catching up on some sleep in there. No, not with the baby and that is a wives tale about cats suffocating children, have no fret.

No wonder he needs a retreat ever! He will get darker and their full colors come in by the time they are 2-4 years old. Fonzie is a blue lynx mitted with a blaze (his colors will be a grey/blue tone stripes with white mitts and a little patch of white between the eyes.) Ms.Lola is a seal point (the color seal is that richer brown tone and point means her face is dark and ears and legs/paws match the same dark color. This is the fun part, the genetics of breeding. We might have a litter as soon as this summer, so if anyone needs a genetics project for their kids we will be learning all about that here. Fonzie carries "chocolate" too and there are a variety of color patterns we will be seeing. Science and hobby, suddenly I'm edumacated. This is just a little glimpse of our little cattery ideas, stay tuned if you are interested as I plan to develop greater sharing techniques. Meow!

Ms.Lola

Lola at 14 weeks, still unsure of the new family!

Lola and our handsome Kalu, 8 years her senior, grandpa

Check out that flop, hence the breed "Ragdoll," these cats are limp and make great playmates, incase my kids ever tire of eachother, or needed something new to fight over.

Beauty perch

Lola and the Fonz, Kalu welcomed him because Lola is finally off his back. Eventually Fonz will be on Lola's back and we look forward to sharing great cats with other families too. The cattery commission has began:) Meow!!