Happy Memorial Day

Today is a beautiful day, full of sunshine and picnics, water fights and hot dogs, friends, family, and fun. But before it all gets started, I want to say Thank you.

Thank you to those who have served our country, protecting our safety and our freedom. You have made it possible for the fun of today to even occur. Thank you and God bless you for risking your life so that my life and the life of my children could be enjoyed with liberty. And for those families whose loved ones have paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms of this country, Thank you and God bless you for your sacrifice. We have not and will not forget.

Happy Birthday, Denae

My baby turns 3 today. She is getting so big and acts like it too! She told me a couple of days ago that she was already 3 (she got her b-day present from her aunt early). I told her not till Saturday and she said yes she was. I told her we didn't have to have her birthday on Saturday then if she was already 3. She thought for just a second and said, "I just kiddin'. I not 3 yet." She's not gonna miss out on getting to have a birthday!

Mommy and Daddy love you, Little Angel! You bring such joy to our lives. You love to be the center of attention and make us laugh. Most of the time! You are such a big helper when I need something. You love to cuddle and wrestle and play with babies and cars. A princess in pig tails, wearing fluffy dresses and church shoes one minute, and a country girl, running around outside barefooted with dirt on your nose the next. Can't wait to see what the next year holds, especially since Dallas goes to school, leaving you with nobody to play with but me! At least we will be doing preschool together in the fall for 2 hrs, 2 days a week at Miss Dawn's, you as a student and me as the teacher. Should be lots of fun!! Happy Birthday, Denae Alysse. So glad you are ours!

Note: I typed this on the laptop, so no pics. See two previous posts for the two different sides of Denae, the princess and the country girl.

Denae

Okay, I couldn't resist posting some more recent pics of my baby. Kids are so fun to photograph at this age. It's like they can't take a bad picture. And Denae loooves to have her picture taken. She really hams it up! Grandma and Poppa, these pics are for you! Hope you like them!

Denae showing off her pretty new dress.

Being Silly after church

Now that's a pretty smile!

And another pretty smile!

Caught her in action

So sweet!

Our borrowed pet

Hey, Denise! These pics are for you! My kids are sure enjoying taking care of your "baby" while ya'll are on vacation. These pics are from last week. It didn't take long for Denae to warm up to Bo, and Dallas has taken a real ownership of the dog. He takes his turn feeding, checking water, and basically spends all day outside playing with Bo. He makes sure Bo rests too, finding nice, cool, shady places for him to lay down and then sitting beside him, petting him. The girls play with him too, but with school, quizzing, etc they don't have as much time. The kids are really going to miss him when take him home. Now we'll have to get a dog!

Southwest Regional Tournament Results

1st place - Sac 1 (Delaney and Ranier)

3rd place - Sac 3 (Darilyn, Kayla, and Bethel)

All tournament team
Delaney - 1st, Oriana - 2nd, Darilyn - 3rd, Billy - 4th, and Kayla - 5th

This past weekend we had a Bible Quizzing tournament here in Sacramento, and boy did our beginners do a good job!! Our Sacramento Rock Church Beginner teams took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place with a competative team from Rialto taking home the 4th place trophy. Sacramento quizzers took 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th on the all tournament team. Of course, I am especially proud of my two quizzers. Delaney and Darilyn did a great job on their teams. Delaney and Ranier (Sac 1) took 1st and Darilyn, Kayla, and Bethel (Sac 3) took 3rd. Delaney was the highest scoring quizzer of the beginner tournament with a 131 point average. Four of her 6 quizzes were perfect quizzes, meaning she hit 6 questions and got all 6 right, earning 10 extra points for quizzing out (the max # of questions a beginner can get right is 6, at which point they "quiz out" earning 10 extra points and recognition for the acheivement). In each of those four quizzes Delaney hit 4 twenty pt questions and 2 thirty point questions (her Dad's game plan) and earned 150 points for her team. Darilyn was 3rd highest scorer of the tournament, with her teammate Kayla taking 5th. They are a good team, very well matched. We go into each game with the job of each girl getting 3 ten pointers, 2 twenty pointers, and 1 thirty pointer. They work their hardest to do this and come pretty close most of the time. Darilyn had a one quiz where she scored 100 points for her team. All in all they did an excellent job and we are very, very proud of them. Sorry if it seems like too much bragging, but as this blog was initially for the benefit of the Grandparents, others will just have to understand! lol

Happy Mothers Day to all you awesome moms out there! Especially to the moms in my life: Mom, I love you! Wish I could be with you today!; Katrinia, Love ya! Take some time to pamper yourself! Raising 1 kid is hard, much less 6, like you do!

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on.
Chewed on.
Peed on.
I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth,
The joy,
The love,
The heartache,
The wonderment
Or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,
Before I was a Mom ...

Happy Mothers Day!!