On our Hike

I finally got my hands on the camera and was able to take a picture of Adam.

Taking a little break to enjoy the view.

Okay not everything went smoothly. I think I slipped three times throughout the whole process. I wasn't too happy about busting my butt, but I would do it all over again if I had to. I'm racing back to the car to go horseback riding in a few minutes.

All in One Hike

I often wonder if we could have done the majority of the hike if not all of the hike. A couple of miles was challenging. Adam said that when we came back he wanted to hike up and camp out at the top. I hope we can go back some time in the near future because I'm not getting any younger. By the grace of God maybe I can be one of those people who ages well physically. I do want to go back. I just can't imagine trying to tackle this when I'm close to fifty.

Our Hike Continues

Notice the edge. One slip and you could be a goner.

We saw people hiking as well and from time to time we were able to switch cameras.

A view when you turn around from the hike. This is what we saw when we looked up from behind us.

More Pictures of Our Hike

A little break along the way with a picture of the two of us.

Yep, Adam has the camera.

Imagine actually being there.

Our 10 Year Anniversary Celebrated in Hawaii

Adam loves the outdoors and did not want to miss a thing. So we attempted to hike on the Kalalau trail. We could not do the whole thing because we were scheduled for horseback riding at noon. We managed to get in a couple of miles. Below Adam could not resist taking my picture. Hey you better have an empty bladder before attempting this trail.

The trail was like the rain forest, very wet and slippery. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. It was a challenge. The whole time we were on our hike, I was thanking God for my arms, legs, and movements that allowed me to take in this breathtaking scenery personally. I felt like I had experienced a glimpse of heaven. I was also wondering who out of all my friends could have made this hike. It was a challenge bigger than what I expected, but I'm not a professional hiker so that may make a difference. Believe it or not we even saw people in flip flops. That was crazy. I didn't even have my hiking boots on, but my sketcher's seemed to hold up well.

The trail changed throughout the hike and these are some rocks that we had to hike on while on our journey. I will post several pictures of our hike. It was amazing how different the view was from different angles with each view taking your breath away. The whole experience cannot even be put into words.

More Pictures of the Kids

Ashlyn and her friends chillin after bowling and her party.

Alexandra's first Halloween. What else could she be other than a ladybug. She loved trick r treating and stayed up way past her bedtime. She had a blast and walked without assistance to all of the houses. She got lots of looks and smiles as people past us by.

Okay Landen and Aidan decided that they would be the same person for Halloween. Landen wanted to be Aniken Skywalker and Aidan wanted to be Darth Vader. Unfortunately Landen did not go trick or treating because he continued to get notes from school saying that he was misbehaving and not listening to the teacher. He was warned beforehand that if he came home with notes from the teacher for misbehaving he would not be allowed to go trick r treating. He got a note and we had to follow through. We have been having some issues and he has been doing better. We have an appointment later this month to see a child specialist regarding his behavior at school. He went from being a favorite in kindergarten to a child who receives conduct marks often in first grade. It's a little hard for me because Landen's personality and attitude is the mirror image of myself. He's definitely my child. It will be interesting to see what the specialist has to say. I think we will have to use our best judgement in the end. We are on a three month waiting list to see the specialist. She suggested that we do not punish Landen at home for his misbehavior at school because his punishment of the teacher moving his folder at school is enough. Hmmmm!!! I wonder what Landen's teacher would think of this. And to be honest I don't think Landen feels any consequences for bad behavior with a folder being moved. We are just taking it one day at a time with this one. It does seem that Landen is doing better. I am concerned, but not taken by surprise by the whole situation, because I do know my son, and as a parent I can only do the best that I can. And I don't expect my kids to be. It's all part of growing up.

Ashlyn as Hannah Montana. I was hoping that she would want to be something else, but nope this is who she wanted to be for Halloween. One of the grown up men passing out candy commented on Ashlyn asking if she was Britney Spears, his wife quickly said no she's Hannah Montana and I said, she does have underwear and shorts underneath her costume. It was hard enough letting her be Hannah Montana, but there is no way in H#ll I would let her be Britney Spears. I don't even think Ashlyn knows who Britney Spears is.

And here's Aidan as Darth Vader

My Babies Are Getting Older

I ask them every year not to do it, and every year they do it. They turn a year older. Aidan is now five years old. I told him "Aidan don't do it", and he looked at me and smiled and said, "I'm going to do it". Five is a big year for both me and Aidan. This is the milestone where my baby is now old enough to start school. It's a big change for both of us. Aidan will now have to go to school full time, no more days home with mom. He is going to preschool, but it is only part time so there were many of days that he and I would be able to spend time together - sometimes with Alexandra and sometimes, it would just be the two of us. This will all end next year. I know he's ready for school. It's just difficult sometimes to watch your children get older. I can remember his birth, just like all my children, like it was yesterday. I think that this is a moment that every mom will always remember and hold dear and never forget.

For Aidan's five year birthday party we celebrated at our house, and Aidan wanted another Spiderman birthday party. I don't think I know of any other kid who had the same birthday party two years in a row. But if this is what he wanted, it was fine with me.





The boys hanging out at the bowling alley for Ashlyn's eighth birthday party. They all had a lot of fun.


Ashlyn wanted her party at the bowling alley and it was Hannah Montana. It was nice because I just had to show up with the cake and the dad's watched the kids bowl and got in on the action as well. My only complaint though was I hated the smell of the bowling alley. It smelled like an ash tray, but I was told that no matter what bowling alley we went to, they are all the same. Yuck.

Ashlyn is now eight and she thinks that she is fifteen. She is no longer into Princess stuff and Hello Kitty - "that's for babies". She's into Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers. Is this what they call the tween years? She's also getting into the stage where she doesn't want me to show any public displays of affection. This will embarrass her. At least I know to ask her first before I hug her or give her a kiss around her friends. She will just smile and shake her head no. But she still wants me to go to her school parties and read to her class so I guess it's not all bad. My two boys though have not gotten into this stage yet. They both still love hugs and kisses. I can ask Landen at school if he minds if I give him a kiss or hug and he tells me, no he doesn't mind.

We have also decided to take our kids out one at a time by themselves with just Adam and myself to celebrate their birthday. It's their date night with mom and dad. We do this at the half year mark and a couple of weeks after their birthdate. We really enjoy doing this with them because it gives them time with just the two of us and they get all of the attention. They get to choose the activity and the place to eat.

A Lot of Catching Up to Do

Our little star soccer player Aidan with his cousin Conor. Aidan and Conor played on the same team this last soccer season. Aidan was the best player on the team. And I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom. He was really good and fast. We called him lightning. There were few times that he sat out of the game. He may have found his sport.


Below Aidan dressed for his Tae Kwan Do class. He and Landen both took classes last semester. I think Landen was having one of his moments this day and opted not to put on his uniform. Both boys seem to enjoy this class, especially Landen. Next school year I will be looking into some of the martial arts schools to see what they have available. We just registered the boys for a semester at our local YMCA before deciding to sign a contract and pay a lot more. We really do take advantage of our membership at our YMCA and I would recommend it to any parent whose child is thinking of sports, dance, gymnastics, etc.... It's not as competitive nor as professional as some of the other areas, but it is a lot cheaper and it's a way of knowing whether or not your child really likes the activity before having to dish out the big bucks.

A Lot of Catching Up to Do

Cha cha cha changes

Things are moving along and life is changing and getting busier everyday. The kids have started school and I have started working on Tuesdays and Thursdays. We are trying to get adjusted and back into the swing of things. The good news is that in spite of all of our business, my wonderful husband has took the time to schedule us a trip to Hawaii for our ten year anniversary. YAY!!!! I am so looking forward to going. And I'm hoping to drop a couple of pounds before heading out if that's possible, if not I'm still going to enjoy my time away. This will be the first time since Adam and I got married after our honeymoon that we have gone away together with just the two of us. Long overdue. So if any of my friends out there who have been to Hawaii have any recommendations or suggestions, please let me know.

Ashlyn and Landen have officially started school, with the exception of being out right now because of the hurricane, and for the most part seem to be enjoying being back. It took Landen all of four days before he got a note sent home from his teacher. He did not want to follow directions and wanted to do his own thing. Imagine that. So in return, Landen had to write his teacher a letter apologizing for not listening and promising to do better. So far so good.

Ashlyn on the other hand tries her best to be a people pleaser. She likes her teacher and is always trying her best to please her teacher. And with school comes all of their extracurricular activities -voice/piano, tae kwan do, gymnastics, soccer, and Adventure Guides. They don't all do this, but for all three of them this is what the activities include. I know it's insane, but sometimes I think I'm trying to make up for the things that I could not do when I was growing up. I was not completely deprived as a child but things like piano, gymnastics, or dance were never an option for me as a child. If I got to do something it was because a friend's mom would pick me up and drop me off. So I want to make sure my children have a lot of opportunities. I never force them to do anything (except for Ashlyn's piano and voice), but it's their decision on whether or not they want to do these extracurricular activities. Which I am totally for because I don't want them watching T.V. and playing video games all of the time.
Aidan has not started school yet. His first day isn't until October 7th and he is doing his best to stay patient because he enjoys going to school as well. It's hard for him at times to see his brother and sister going to school while he stays at home.

I am currently working at a MDO program for a little extra money every month. Even though it is taking me a while to see the benefits of working part time because of the cost of finger printing, Alexandra's deposit and being out a week because of the hurricane. I am with ten two year olds. What a challenge. I enjoy it, but come home tired because of all the running around I have to do. The hardest part is bringing them all to the bathroom. They run all over the restrooms, play in the water and almost always need assistance. And for those little ones who have to wait while the others are going to the restroom, they have a hard time being patient.

When Alexandra turns eighteen months old, she will be coming with me. I think she's ready because she has become so independent over these last couple of months and she's like a little sponge. She still loves books and at times I will find her sitting down looking at a book pretending to read. So I think she is going to enjoy going to preschool. She's getting to the point where I can now go to church and the YMCA without her crying when I drop her off. It's strange because we have only had our daughter for six months, but I can't imagine not having her before. It's like she's always been part of our family. She's such a blessing and joy. Adam tells me she was the longest delivery ever. That's true. Both of my girls were a lot of work, Ashlyn with IVF and waiting for Alexandra for three years.

Yikes it was Ike

Here are some pictures of our yard after Ike came through.

The renovations moving along in our house. A couple of doors and a huge window so that I can now watch my children as they play outside. There's still a lot more left to do.


Alexandra eating her first chocolate popsicle. I think she likes it.

August News

Unlike last year we didn't let this summer pass us by without a trip to Sea World. We all had a good time, with the exception of Landen and Aidan not being able to ride a lot of the rides. It was very very hot, but we managed. We will go again when the boys are a little taller, not in August and not on a weekend.

Ashlyn and Alexandra displaying their gifts of love given to them by their dear friend Ms. Stephanie and Harper.
Our family photo taken for our Social Worker's visit the next day. We have plenty of photos of everyone, but very few of all of us together. (Someone has to be on the other end of the camera). This is one of Alexandra's favorite thing to do, play rough with her dad. The visit went really well with the exception of me wanting to choke Ashlyn. The social worker has to come and see how we are all doing six months and then a year after our arrival from China. While conducting her interview with me, the kids did not want to leave the room. I asked them to leave, but they wanted by all means to stay. I told them they could stay if they promised to be quiet and listen. Well about two minutes into the interview, the boys had had enough and left the room. Ashlyn on the other hand stayed and decided that she would answer the social worker's questions. I told her several times that the social worker was talking to me, not her, and I asked her to leave more than once. She just out right refused to listen. Okay let's just stop the interview with the social worker so I can strangle my daughter. The social worker asked if Alexandra was sick since we brought her back. I answered no, she just had a bout with allergies that I needed to check out, I noted she was allergic to peanut butter and possibly had some outdoor allergies. And then Ashlyn chimed in, "Oh remember Alexandra was really sick when she had a fever of 103." (I forgot about this), and then she proceeded to say that Alexandra had a black eye too. From that point on, I just wanted to say yeah, and we lock our kids up on the closet too. Let's just say I wasn't a happy camper with Ashlyn after the interview. I wanted to tell her that if she really wanted to do an interview with the social worker then she would have to go to China and get her own kid.

This is what we did during the summer. I cannot tell you how many Saturday's I had to show up at the gym at 8 o'clock in the morning for the games. I don't think we will be doing any summer sports again. This was the first season that the kids played basketball and for the most part all of the kids seemed to enjoy basketball. I think Aidan was kind of in la la land about half the time - he was with the four year old team. Ashlyn and Landen played on the same team. They both did really well. Every time Landen got the ball, he ALWAYS passed it to his sister.

This was a wonderful treat for us. We had a mini reunion with some of the families that where with us in China. We were able to meet in Austin before going to Sea World. It was so nice to see everyone again. My only complaint was that it was not long enough. I got to talk to everyone, but couldn't really speak to just one person in depth. I really did miss these guys. You wouldn't believe how close you can get to someone after spending three weeks together and having to share the same experiences together. This is just a small portion of our group. We are trying our hardest to have a reunion sometime in the future with the whole group. The baby being held in the back by her dad, Julieann was Alexandra's crib mate.