Family reunion.... sort of :)

If only Lynz, Dylan, and Aiden T. had been with us we would have had our whole family together in 1 place... even with a small family that seems just plain impossible to do! We had such an amazing time out in Arkansas, it was even worth the 1000 mile drive to get out there (coming home the same distance was not so worth it!) It was so awesome to see my baby sister raising her babies, she is such a fantastic mom! Her kids are not only adorable, but they all 3 have the sweetest, loving personalities I have ever seen. I need to take a few notes from her on this one! Aidan, Zander, and I drove out there first, and had everyone to ourselves for a few days, then my mom flew out, then a few days later Adam and my dad joined us. Angie arranged for Aidan to take Tea Kwon Do lessons with her daughter Elizabeth who is 4 while we were there. It was awesome for Aidan, he just loved it, and he was GOOD! Elizabeth taught him to count to 10 in Korean in 2 days, and the instructor was super impressed. Zander got to play with his cousin Tristan who is 1 month younger than Zan, and everybody got to love on baby Cole. It was a time that we will never forget. My kids are devastated the last few days without their cousins, and my sister says her kids are to. I hope we can get together more often after this, it looks promising to me!

1 Class down!!

I just finished my first course on my path to my associates degree in business. This was a business and society class which I thought I would ace no problem.... imagine my surprise when the first assignment I did came back with a C! I later found out that this was because although my assignment was perfect, I used knowledge from my brain and didn't cite any references. I learned that lesson quickly! I got all A's and B's from there on and finished the class with a B+ Not bad considering I have been out of school for 13 years, and I did the class in 5 weeks, but I am determined to improve. I would love to get out of this with mostly A's. I feel so proud of myself, I am doing something for ME, I am not depending on anyone to help me through this. I feel very independent in this portion of my life right now, and it feels pretty darn good! I even resisted the urge to ask my husband to proofread my papers because he is a much better writer, and he is much smarter than me. I did this 100% myself! Now on to my next class...... please don't let it be algebra, that is the only thing I am really scared of!

Only 1 thing could make this week better

and that would be to have my hunny here with me. He will be here on Wednesday, and I can't wait to see him. I think this is the longest we have ever been apart! 9 whole days, and boy to I miss him!

The Kids minus Tristan

I have been having a fabulous time with my sister and her beautiful family. She has kids close in age to mine. Lizzie is 4 and her and Aidan are great buddies. Angie arranged with Elizabeth's TeaKwonDo teacher to allow Aidan in on her lessons since she is currently the only one in the 4 year old class and he has loved every minute of that. They play together all day long, and then they snuggle together all night, this is about as cute as you can get!

Tristan is 2, 1 month younger than Zander, and I can't believe the love between those 2! Little Cole is 3 months, and defiantly the cutest baby I have ever seen in my life. He is all smiles and coos, the only time I have heard him cry is if he doesn't get fed for about 10 minutes after he starts fussing a little.... he is PERFECT!

Beautiful baby boy!

Zander giving Tristan some love

Tristan and Cole Lookin good!

Zander loves "baby Cole"

The naughty Tristan and Zander have decided that they are super sneaky, and every night after we put them in bed we will hear noises and one or the other has climbed out of his bed and into the other's (Tristan has a tall loft bed and Zander is in a crib across the room) both boys can climb in and out of these beds at will, but most nights they end up playing instead of sleeping despite the warnings they get and we have to separate them. It is very cute and I need to get pictures. Last night I came in to find Tristan dead asleep in his bed and Zander shining a flashlight in his face saying "Tristan...... wake upppppp" funny but wrong :)

My sister and I have had some great bonding time. It is amazing to see my little baby sister all grown up. She is an adult! She is a mom, and a great one at that! She gets up and packs her husband a nice lunch every morning, plays with her kids, cleans her house.... all the things a mom and wife do, but this is my baby sister! She has grown up so much in the last 5 years, and I could not be prouder of the beautiful woman she has turned in to. I love her so much.

Her husband Mike is a saint. He works long hours, then he comes home and first thing he does is pick up anything the kids have left out before dinner, to give my sister a break. They have a nice family dinner every night, then he plays with the kids, gets them into jammies and read stories, he has included my kids in this routine since the moment we got here! I have never really got the chance to know my brother in law very well, but I am in love with him (in the sisterly way of course) He is the perfect man for my sister, they compliment each other so perfectly and the love they have for each other is obvious in everything they do.

More pictures will come in the next few days. Adam will be here Wed. which has all the kids very excited, but not near as excited as I am!

Off to see my baby sister!

Aidan, Zander and I left this morniny for our 15 day trip out to Arkansas (yeah this is about 19 hours cooped up in a car with 2 hyper boys... fun fun! I had to stop to sleep halfway through, and wouldn't you know it, I got checked into a hotel and am too excited to sleep! Just like me!) to meet the newest member of our family, Cole Wolfe Rogers. We will arrive late afternoon on Tuesday the 4th. My mom will be joining us on Saturday the 8th, then Adam and my dad will fly out on November 12th (this would be the day after Adam undergoes surgery for his shoulder... he is one tough cookie! The whole plan for this trip was for Adam to run in the Tulsa marathon on the 16th, but he injured his knee and will not be able to run as planned... what a bummer! My niece Elizabeth convinced him to join us anyway, she is 4 and has a way of getting her way... she is way too cute to resist!

Angie has a special bond with all of our kids, Aidan's bond to her is the strongest because she was very involved from day 1. She was there for his birth, and when she was taking child care classes at the local college his was her official test subject (meaning they got a lot of time to play together! He adores her to this day, and that feeling is returned. When she was pregnant for the first time she was scared to death that she would never love her own child as much as she loved Aidan.... she was wrong of course.

Lyndsay and Dylan have deemed her the "fun Aunt" she will climb trees with them, get stuck in trees by herself, she is always up for a wrestling match or just chasing wild boys around a park for hours.... I have no idea how she keeps that level of energy up, but she does rock with the kids!

Angie and Aidan at his 7th B-day party Angie letting those grubby fingers feed her cake

The beautiful Elizabeth


Tristan and Zan Summer 07 Tristan and Zander hanging on a tree

Can you believe these 2 are only a month apart??

I am so excited to see my sister after over a year, I can't wait to see her new baby boy, and I just love my niece and nephew...... living far apart is sooo hard, and I am about to make this aspect of my life quite a bit harder in the near future. that I admit does make me sad.

Angie and I have had this love hate relationship all our lives.... we hated each other growing up, then right about the time she graduated high school I was getting divorced..... we both saw a pretty good roommate opportunity, so we jumped on it. It didn't last long, but we bonded. Then in 2003 her and her boyfriend took off to Arkansas to help take care of his dying grandmother (there were other reasons but we won't discuss them here) The grandmother died in about a year, but by then her and Michael were married and happy with their lives. They have truly thrived in Arkansas, and I am happy for them ..... I wish they could have thrived a little closer, but we have to take what we can get!

Ang and Jen - Wedding day The new bride and groom - Angie & Mike

This is my first trip out there since Adam and I went for their wedding in August 2003. Actually this is my first trip without my husband.... I miss him like crazy!

She had beautiful wedding, and her and her husband love each other as much as the best couples I have come into contact with... they are truly happy! By this time tomorrow I will be hugging my baby sister and snuggling with her darling kiddos... I can't wait!!

Halloween fun

I have to admit I love Halloween.... I know it is a kids holiday, but there are just some things I have never gotten around to growing up and getting over (Parades, fireworks, and Halloween come to mind) Now that I have kids it is so much more fun. I love to let the kids pick out what they want to be, and I usually go with whatever they want (unless it is a very immodest costume or something really really bad) My mom is pretty awesome at making costumes, so she is able to make pretty much anything the kids want if she has a picture to go off. 2 years ago the kids got this great idea to all 4 dress up as Nintendo characters. I am not sure who's idea this was, but it was sure cute. My mom made all the costumes, and the kids just loved them.

Unfortunately my pictures from that year are currently buried deep in storage, which is a shame cause they were dang cute! I will have to post them after we move

Lynz was Princess Peach from the Mario Games.... she won the costume contest at church, I think she won a large handful of candy... just what she wanted!

Dylan was Charizard from Pokemon (and yes I just had to ask Aidan what that costume was called)

Aiden Tanner was Donkey Kong

Aidan Wolfe was Picachue from Pokemon.

Last year the kids were all different but darling...


We also carved some super awesome pumpkins last year, we each picked a stencil... I think Aiden Tanner did the bat, Adam did the cat in the window, Aidan Wolfe did the scary face, Lyndsay did the coral reef, I did the honu, and Dylan did the spider. It was a great family activity and every single person had a ball.

Lyndsay was a 50's girl my mom made this costume for her. Isn't she the prettiest poodle skirt wearing girl you have ever seen?!?!?!

Dylan was a ninja ... very dangerous and very sneaky!

Aiden Tanner was a samurai, and he won a brand new bike at the trunk or treat! I am not sure what a samurai is, but according to Dylan they are mortal enemies of the ninja.... great!

Aidan Wolfe was Link from the legend of Zelda for the 2nd time... Grandma worked hard on this one to, and he pointed out to Adam and I exactly which sword and shield he wanted, Adam carved and shaped them and I painted them.


and cute little Zander was a super cute little spider.

This year it was just Me, Adam, Aidan W. and Zan. Adam humored me and let me take the kids over to the trunk or treat early, then trick or treating in my favorite trick or treating neighborhood from my childhood. He stayed back and handed out candy... what a cool guy I have to just let me go with whatever I want to do... I sure love him! :) My mom's sewing machine was unavailable due to us completely destroying her house for the remodel, so we had to go with store bought costumes this year. The kids were just as happy.... Lynz is the one who gets sentimental about stuff that is made for her, by her grandma, I love that about her!

Me and my boys getting ready for trick or treating... Thanks to Adam I got a new haircut that I love, and my mom dyed it for me... gotta fit in with all the blond babes on the beach!

for this years costumes the boys were quite opinionated, Aidan decided that iron man was the costume for him, but just asking for it would have been a bit too normal for this kid... he had to drop everything he had in the isle at walmart and sing and do the air guitar very loudly "I am Iron man" He sang more than that but I just am not cool enough to know the words :) After that display I kinda had to get it... people were looking at us and quite a few were laughing.

Zander wanted to be a crab..... I tried to sway his decision, but he was set on it. No matter what I suggested he just said "no, baby a crab" so we went on eBay and found a crab costume that was not too expensive, so I went with it. Well on the afternoon of Halloween his costume still had not come. I had contacted the seller a few times, but could not track it down. I was certain it would arrive the day after I needed it, just my luck. I went through all my old costumes looking for anything that might fit, and lucky for me he hasn't grown much this last year, so the spider still fit him. I was working on convincing him that it was still a crab, just a black crab when the mailman came up our street and saved the day!

The boys had such a good time, the highlight for Zander was when tigger and pooh gave him candy, he was just in awe! He was so cute saying trick or treat and thank you like a good little boy. We shouldn't ruin his good boy rep with the story of him running right into a house while trick or treating, but I can't resist. When the guy opened the door he just darted right in, and right down the hall, as fast as lightning I swear! I actually had to go in and drag him out, while he was telling me that no, he was looking for the kitty (which I assume he must have seen run that way when the door opened) We stayed out later than we should have, and it was totally dark by the time we were walking back to the truck. Aidan fell down and I thought he was going to loose it, his candy spilled and his hand was scraped a little, but he said "It's okay, I'm iron man!" and got right back up.

We totally spaced on the pumpkin carving this year... or just plain ignored it. I like to do things like that when all the kids are here to participate, I just hate to leave anything out, so I kinda skipped it this year... next year the kids should be here and we will rock the jack o lanterns again!

So I guess now its time to start prepping for Christmas (not my favorite holiday, but the kids do have fun, so I like that) There are already Christmas decorations out in every store I go into..... Jeez they don't waste a minute! I hope we are in our new home by then and get to make all sorts of new memories!

Having one of those feeling sorry for myself days

I hate days when I feel like this! I don't really have a valid reason, I am just feeling overwhelmed and down on life at the moment.

I am 1 week from being done with my first class, and I am doing well, but it is ALOT of work! I have to read 3 chapters (usually 30-50 pages each) a week, plus I have a short project and a 3-4 page paper due every week. I have an hour long class twice a week, that falls right around dinnertime, so I am trying to feed kids and pay attention at the same time. With no one to take care of Zander this is prooving to be quite a challenge.

Yesterday Adam and I both went to the Dr. and he was told that he needs surgery on his shoulder and physical therapy on his knee, this is okay except that they said he absolutly cannot run the marathon that he has been training on and so excited about for a year. He is devastated, which makes him a bit on the grouchy side. This is something that I have never dealt with well. When he is grouchy, I get sad, and I cry at the drop of a hat...

It is getting cold here and I am sick of cold. We were supposed to be moving in about 2 weeks but now we are being dragged back into a custody dispute so we are waiting to get that taken care of before we leave.... I am sure that this person has a reason for doing this, but I can't understand it to save my life.... this is a coming from a good parent who always puts the interests of kids as a top priority, and I just don't see how what they are doing is good for any kids. So that frustrates me.

I am worried about the transition of our medical care. I am trying to get everything taken care of now, but there is just so much! I can't wait until we get into a bigger place with all the Dr's we need in one town!

Having no car is the biggest frustration in the world to me. I have no place to put my stuff.... I can't just get in the car and go somewhere whenever I feel like it, and even though adam says I can use his truck anytime it is still his truck, and it just feels wrong.... plus I need a ladder to get up there! It ticks me off so much that I was sitting there doing nothing wrong, and some inattentive kid just slams me and drives away leaving me the only one out anything.

On a good note zander has been naked all day (it is almost noon now) and had no potty accidents, I don't even have to remind him, he just goes when he needs to. Unfortunalty if he has a diaper or pull ups on he is lazy and will just go in them. Aidan got his report card this week and has straight A's again, and I get to leave Monday to see my sister!!!

Sweet reminders

Since I am the worlds worst journal keeper (believe me I have tried, I even kept one for a while but then when I went back and read over it I relized that I only remembered to write in it when I was sad, so it was depressing to read, so I threw it out) so I decided to put a post up here for each of my kids, with memories and to let them know just how much I love each of them. I am so very grateful that I have this family that I do. We are not conventional, and I know that blended families are not thought of as a good thing, but I really believe that god had a hand in this, and we are exactly as we were meant to be. We have blended as seamlessly as I think is possible, and I know that every one of us loves and respect every other member of this family.... so here you go my lovely kids!
xoxo