Christmas 2011

I really wish I could post the picture of all the kids in front of the tree but since I can't post pictures of our newest addition and it never occurred to me to take one without her, you'll have to wait to see that one. So for now here's a few of our Christmas pics.

Isn't she cute!

Still my baby, just not the youngest anymore.

Buster was the funnest this Christmas. So full of wonder.

Sissy got a doll that plays the itsy bitsy spider when you push down on her stomach. She kept pushing it over and over laughing and bouncing up and down the whole time.

Bunny got a new scarf with peace signs all over it.

Duckie got a shirt ordered from another country. Although it was ordered in plenty of time it didn't get here before Christmas. So he got a box with a picture of the shirt taped in it.

Tator loves doing hair so she got a styling head. I hope this is something that will keep her busy for hours.

Buc opening some hunting thing. I'm not even going to pretend I know what it is.

Both big boys wanted amps for Christmas. As if it wasn't loud enough around here.

Bubbas opening his bow he had been talking about for months.

He also got a bag full of bird decoys. Just what every 6 year old boy wants. I thought this would be the best gift. He is always printing out or making targets to shot his bb gun at. I guess I was right, because we were still opening presents when he already had them in the Christmas tree and was looking for his nerf gun.



Christmas Surprises!

 

I've finally gotten a chance to sit down at the computer and tell you all where I have been for the last few weeks.

I have been rocking our new baby girl! Baby Coco joined our family a few days after Thanksgiving.

We feel so lucky and blessed to have her. We had heard BM to our two youngest was pregnant again and prayed and prayed about it. We were so unsure if this was the right time to add another child to our family. The agency had told us before they didn't know if they would place with us anymore because of our family size and Tators special needs. But we were so sure God had kept us in this for a reason.

Tator was doing so good we just weren't sure what to do. So we prayed and asked God to place this baby in the right home and do what was best for everyone. We had a meeting with our agency and told them what was going on with everyone at the time and how everyone felt about a new baby.

We put the whole situation in God's hands and I prepared my heart to be broken into a million pieces when it was decided that the baby would be placed somewhere else.

A few days after Thanksgiving we got the call that the baby had been born and they were going to place with us. Some where along the way someone was wrong and BM was farther along than everyone thought.

We are still so excited. Everyone has fallen totally head over heals in love with her. So I apologize for not blogging about this sooner, but most of my time right now is being spent bonding with our new baby girl.

Thanksgiving Story by Tator

The other night while I was making supper Tator asked me if I wanted her to write me a story. This is what she wrote.
Once a pon a time thir was a turkey. It was Thanksgiving night. It does not whant to git eated. So, do you know what it will do? It has a fraind that is a indian. Now do you know what the turkey will do? You will laugh when you know it. So, it ran away. It ran so far it bummpt into a parade. It had pilgrims, familys, and indians. It was so interesting it ran into the parade. One of the indians had a gun and it was loaded. It saw the turkey. It shot the turkey. Then when the indian came home it ate the trukey for Thanksgiving. It had corn, pie, dressing, and a pumpkin pie. It had a big feast. The turkey did not like that. It invited the pilgrims, indians, and their family.
Then end.

Day 14- Thankful tree

I'm thankful for............

Dad- DVR

Mom- My husband who is my best friend

Duckie- My family

Buc- That great grandma is going to be ok

Bunny- My hamster Hershey and dog Sadie

Tator- Indians and pilgrims

Bubbas- Thanksgiving

Buster- Grandma and Grandpa

Day 13- Thankful tree

I'm thankful for............

Dad- A day off

Mom- Sissy's hugs

Duckie- Driving privileges

Buc- Buster

Bunny- Cousins

Tator- Food

Bubbas- Mom letting me play her Ipod

Buster- Buc letting me shoot his nerf gun

Day 12- Thankful tree

I'm thankful for....................

Dad- A great church family

Mom- Buster's smile

Duckie- My job

Buc- No school for five days

Bunny- That I got to go to a Tayl*r  Swift concert

Bubbas- That Buc let me video tape him shooting birds

Buster- Buc

Tator was having a very rough night and did not make a thankful leaf.



Day 11- Thankful tree

I'm thankful for.....................

Dad- My tractor

Mom- How Bubbas is protective of Sissy

Duckie- My musical abilities

Buc- My musical talents

Bunny- Giraffes

Tator- That my grandmas are safe

Bubbas- For E playing with me

Buster- I got to ride horses

Day 10- Thankful tree

I'm thankful for.....................

Dad- Park Street pizza

Mom- Tator's changing heart

Duckie- Coldplay

Buc- Seeing a big buck last night

Bunny- Basketball

Tator- Great grandma

Bubbas- Granola bars

Buster- Leaves

Stopping therapy

Things are going well here. Very well. So well I'm actually afraid to blog about it. I'm trying to figure out if Tator is making progress and starting to heal or if this is just another phase.

We have stopped going to therapy. Tator's therapist and I had a disagreement where I felt I had been, basically stabbed in the back and it caused me to lose all trust in a woman that I had trusted so much for the past year.

There were also things that went on in therapy that I did not agree with. The therapist was mean to Tator, but I never said anything about it because she was the professional and I thought she knows what she's doing. There were things the therapist said about her birth mom that I didn't agree with. I don't think it mattered how bad of a parent she was the therapist did not have the right to say those things about her over and over again.

A child wants to believe their birth mom loved them no matter how bad they treated them and Tator was constantly being told that bm did not love her. I let this go on for a year.

After the therapist and I had our disagreement, which caused me to lose trust in her, I wondered how I would ever go back to her. (Our disagreement did not have anything to do with what she was telling Tator) I went to our psych doctor and asked him what I should do and he recommended we quit seeing her.

Tator had not done anything but get worse for the entire year we were seeing her. She raged all the time. We were living a nightmare. She was mad about everything. It effected everyone in this house and I didn't know how we were going to get through it.

So we quit going to therapy and things are getting so much better. I can't help but wonder if the therapist wasn't feeding into her anger.

Tator's asking me to hold her again and she's talking a lot about things at school that are bothering her. Last night she let me blow dry her hair and she even asked me if I could brush it in the morning and put a hair beret in it. Her hair has been off limits to me for a very long time.

Last night I went to bed feeling very good about the decision we made to stop therapy.

Day 9- Thankful tree

 

I'm thankful for................

Dad- That we live in the country

Mom- Bunny's helpful hands

Duckie- A roof over my head

Buc- For Sissy

Bunny- Freedom

Tator- My heart for heart doll

Bubbas- For Sissy

Buster- That Bubbas hugged me and said he was sorry

 

Day 8- Thankful tree

 

I'm thankful for......................

Dad- America

Mom- Buc's sense of humor

Duckie- Deodorant

Buc- Duckie

Bunny- My subway cookie

Tator- Cool, because I'm cool

Bubbas- Buc spent time with me today

Buster- I didn't get hurt when I fell off the trampoline

Best and Worst Wednesday

For weeks now I have wanted to join in with the blog Baker's Dozen and Apollo XIV Best and Worst Wednesday post, but have not had time. So today I had some extra time made some time and I'm jumping in.


Best part of this week? We had a play group on Monday and the kids and I met some new friends.
Worst part? We didn't get any school work done, so now I feel a day behind.

Best part about today? The kids have AWANA tonight and I can go to the store with only one child.
Worst part? I have to go in the rain.

Best part about homeschooling? I was the first one to hear my son read.
Worst part? I spend the afternoon cleaning up the mess from the morning.



Day 7- Thankful tree

I'm thankful for..........

Dad- My dad

Mom- Duckie's kind heart

Duckie- God's guidance

Buc- Grandpa buying me a 22 250

Bunny- My family

Tator- Love

Bubbas- Everything

Buster- Toy dirt bikes

Day 6- Thankful Tree

Bunny and my dad. Summer of 2003.

I'm thankful for.....................

Dad- My job

Mom- My parents health and that they spend a lot of time with the kids

Duckie- My awesome girlfriend

Buc- Grandpa

Bunny- I got to see my friends today at the homeschool meeting

Tator- Animals

Bubbas- My new friend T

Buster- My new friends

These are some pictures I found from our family camping trip

the summer of 2003.

Grandpa letting Buc drive the boat.

Grandpa roasting marsh mellows while talking to Duckie.

I am having a real hard time finding time to put what we're thankful

 for on my blog every day. Anyone notice?

 

Day 5- Thankful tree

Today I'm thankful for................

Daddy- My wonderful wife

Mommy- That my mom was not hurt in the car accident she was in today

Duckie- That I get to spend the evening with Belle

Buc- My mom

Bunny- That my grandma was safe in the car crash she was in today

Bubbas- That daddy took me to the new house to play outside

Buster- My brothers and sisters

Tator is in respite this weekend so she did not get to fill out a leaf today.

Day 4- Thankful tree

Bubbas picked out this picture for todays post.


Today I'm thankful for..........

Daddy- Buster's hugs and kisses
Mommy- A peaceful afternoon
Duckie- Food
Buc- Deer
Bunny- Cross Country
Tator- Stories
Bubbas- Daddy
Buster- Mommy & Daddy



Learning to read & Day 3 of our thankful tree



I'm proud to say I have another reader in the house.

Bubbas can officially read.

He's mighty proud of himself.

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I'm thankful for...............

Dad- Great kids

Mom- My family

Duckie- Sleep

Buc- My bow

Bunny- Dad taking me hunting

every day this week

Tator- A new family that is good

Bubbas- Daddy taking me places

Buster- My trucks

Gee, if it wasn't for daddy being on vacation,

and the deer being in full rut,

what would we blog about?

Day 2- I'm thankful for.........

Dad-Family
Mom- Good friends to spend the evening with
Duckie- Music
Buc- A dad that lets me do a lot of fun things
Bunny- Sissy
Tator- Mom
Bubbas-That daddy jumped on the tramp with me today
Buster- Sissy

This should have been posted yesterday, but not everyone filled out their leaves.

Somebody needs a new pet

A couple weeks ago we feed the neighbors animals
 while she was on vacation.

Buster enjoyed it the most. He would ask every day,

"when are we going to feed the shickens?"

He is so cute!

He is afraid of the sweeper and mixer, but he would

stand in the middle of all these chickens while they

pecked at the bucket.

Bubbas would hunt for the eggs everyday. He, on the other hand, was terrified of the chickens. He would wait until Buster was feeding them to find the eggs.

Bunny found a new friend.

 

Tator turns 8 and our thankful tree

Yesterday my parents took Tator and some of the other kids horse back riding for the first time. It worked out good because this gave me time to get ready for Tator's birthday party.

She did so good. I didn't tell her we were having the party when they got back. I just let her be surprised. She was a little wound up, but she did fine. With having a very over stimulating day I was prepared for the worst.

I was really proud of her. She's doing really well right now. As I type this she is playing upstairs with Bunny, which hasn't happened in a very long time. I hope this is the beginning of her healing.

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We started a thankful tree tonight. Over the weekend Buc cut a tree out of construction paper and hung it in our dinning room. Today Buster and I cut out a bunch of
leaves. We're planning to write something we're thankful for on a leaf every night and hang it on the tree.

Today we are thankful for...........
Mom: Gods forgiveness
Dad: Shooting a Buck this morning and getting it on video
Duckie: The cross
Buc: That we live in the country
Bunny: Jesus
Tator: God
Bubbas: For my crossbow
Buster: God

Can you see where some of our priorities are right now?

What we do on warm November days........

We practice shooting our bow,

we do a lot of talking about hunting,

we get mad when mom interrupts us to take a picture

 on the way to our tree stand,

we practice shooing our BB gun,

we try to move daddy's targets around because

we think he'd like them somewhere else,

we jump,

we skate,

we swing,

we smile because we feel happy,

and some of us are so cute it doesn't

matter what we do.





Brownie sundaes and hatching triops

Sorry I haven't been back to fill you in on Tator's birthday evening. Tuesday night was rough. She came home in a mood and I knew it was going to be a hard evening. She got mad about little things here and there all evening. There was a lot of yelling, running through the house and slamming things. I tried to be patient and for the most part I was. But after her continually calling me a horrible mother and telling me how I have ruined her birthday and ruined her life I could only take so much. I very calmly told her she needed to go to bed. When she finished shoving her bed against the wall over and over, she did. She put her pajamas on and got into bed. I told her if she didn't stop yelling at me I was leaving her room before she was even in bed and I would see her in the morning. As she continued to yell I leaned over, kissed her head, told her I loved her, then left the room. I sat outside her door until she calmed down, then came down stairs and ate half the dessert I had made for her.

I had a hard time sleeping that night, wondering if I had handled things right. We got up the next morning and she was fine, she was back to the same mostly pleasant attitude she's been in the last 6 to 8 weeks.

Wednesday night we had AWANA so we weren't home to do anything. So today I made brownies, and although we had a rough evening, we made it. We had brownie sundaes to celebrate her 8th birthday.

I don't know how we'll handle her birthday party this weekend. Last year we had a surprise party at grandma's house. I know I won't be telling her about it before hand.

I have also decided that next year I'll be having a party for her at the beginning of October. She will never be expecting it then.

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Update on the hatching triops. We went from having 3 babies swimming around in the bowl to 5 then down to 1. I don't think we're doing something right.

We'll see how it goes

Tomorrow is Tator's birthday. I'm not at all excited about this and let me tell you why.

About three weeks ago her attiude changed. When I really thought about it I could almost pinpoint it right back to a certain conversation we had around that time. She was going on and on about her birthday and how she wanted her party and what she wanted for her birthday. I reminded her that her attitude would determine how her birthday went. After 6 months of pretty bad raging I did not have a problem telling her that. My apologies to anyone who doesn't agree.

My fear is that her attitude changed because of her birthday and will change right back as soon as her party is over. Her change for the better has made things so nice around here and she is pleasant to be around. I pray she is really changing and starting to heal, but only time will tell.
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Grandma and grandpa brought Bubbas a kit for some hatchingTriassic Triops home from vacation. Bubbas and Bunny had fun setting them up today. We are on day one and they are still eggs. We have never done anything like this before. I'll keep you posted.