SNOW!

Missouri hardly ever gets snow and this winter we are getting a lot of it. I never realized how much I liked snow until we moved here and hardly ever got it. I know I'm in the minority when I state that I like it, but I really do. I'm of the opinion that if it's going to be cold, it might as well look like winter. Please don't throw stuff at me for thinking that way LOL! Because of the snow we had another day off from school. Yes, I know it'll be mid summer before we get out, but I still love snow days. I love them because it's unexpected free time just handed to me. I've gotten a lot done today because of it. I tried to take some pictures throughout the day to show how much we're getting, but it was really hard. I'm just going to post all of them. Here goes...

Big News!

Hopefully you've all been called concerning Kayla's big news. She and Nathan are officially engaged. I knew you'd want to see a picture of the ring so it's the photo of the day :0)

My birthday was wonderful. Jim took me to the Japanese Steak House for lunch. It was awesome! Best of all...Wii Fit says I didn't gain any weight! (I did my workout this afternoon before the ice cream cake that he brought home though LOL). He brought pizza and cake home and had all the kids here again plus a couple more. I love it when we're all together!

Much love,

Yvonne and crew

p.s. Ryan's present to me was dry pants for the day...woot woot!

Praying for Wisdom

Today was another rough day. I'm trying to find God's purpose in all of this, but some days it's hard. I have to just keep trusting that He has a plan even when I don't know what it is. His ways are way higher than my ways. Please keep praying for us.

Much love and g'night,

Yvonne and crew

Sorry...

I was gone all day and didn't get a photo of the day. I went with my boss and another lady to a food expo for school lunch products that are made with commodities. Wii knew that I had been at a tasting thing because well, I was asked why the weight gain. UGH...it's my best friend and worst enemy. Tasting food was part of my job today...really! I guess the Coke on the way home to keep me awake wasn't...(sigh). I'll have to be back on track tomorrow. The expo was fun, but I'm tired. There was homework and baths to be done when I got home. Jim was dad and mom today. H. got sick and came home from school. As soon as I got home he went back up to the church this evening. Anyway, not much else to report right now.

My biggest praise is that Ryan was dry again today. Please keep praying. I know it's working.

Love,
Yvonne and crew

Happy Birthday Jim!

Noelle was the photographer tonight for Jim's birthday. We had a house full :0) Joe, Charisa and Carson were here along with Joel, Kayla and Kayla's roommate Cathy. I was taking pictures as well, but I forgot that my disk was still in my computer from last night.

Joe and Charisa were in town for Joe to go to the stock yard. Charisa and Carson spent some time with us. Charisa discovered the Wii fit. She's addicted. We love it too. Even though we wanted to take today off since it's a birthday, neither one of ourselves could let that happen. I guess we're in the habit now.

Well, I'll leave you with some photos.

Love,

Yvonne and crew

p.s. Yes, you see it correctly. Joel has a haircut. He did it himself :0)

p.p.s. Ryan was dry all day :0) I guess it was his birthday present to Jim LOL

Quick Pictures

Well, I'm late with the photo of the day, but I thought I'd take a minute to put it on here before I went to bed. It was a highlight of the day to have Joel and Kayla and my second cousin Jessica here for lunch. Here's a quick shot of the crew. Joe and Charisa are here tonight and we introduced them to Wii Fit. I feel really worked out now :0)

G'night,

Yvonne and crew

Busy Day

Well, this Saturday wasn't a relaxing one...at least for me. I took an 8 hour training class (really 9 1/2 with the lunch break). The class was a requirement to be able to have difficult children come into our home. Jim will need to take it in a couple of months and then we can be licensed. We'll also have to complete CPR and first aid. Anyway, it was a LOT of sitting time and I think I'm more worn out from that than doing hard work. It was a good class though. Jim had the kids today and from what I can tell it went ok. Ryan did have one accident. We're still trying to figure out what the deal is with him.

Here's a photo of what I found when I came home. It looks like they had fun :0) When Kayla was here over Christmas break she would get out paints and a canvas and play (earlier posts about that). Now H. really likes to paint as well. You can see his creation on the table. The younger kids got involved too by practicing their cutting skills.

Noelle has been gone all day to a color guard competition. We'll see how her day went when she gets home. Those are really long days too.

Well, that's all for tonight.

Love,

Yvonne and crew

Well, I Had a Photo...

I had a photo of Lucky Dog to share with you tonight and it's nowhere to be found on the memory card :0( She must have been sniffing around and somehow picked up the back of a photo sticker on her nose. It was cute. I guess you had to be here to enjoy it.

Anyway, on to the day...It was Jim's day off so he and I went to Culver's for lunch and then ran a couple of errands; then on to pick up the kids. It was a pretty typical day off. We spent it catching up on stuff around the house and just hanging out.

Ryan has been dry for the second day in a row!!! He was pretty proud of himself too. Thank you to all that are praying. Please continue to do so. We are praying for complete "recovery" for both of our adopted kiddos. They just have so much catching up to do.

Well, Jim and I are going to catch up on an episode of 24 since it's now quiet around here.

Love,
Yvonne and crew

Not Much New

Seriously...not much at all. It was hard to find a photo of the day so I'm showing you a picture of my desk at work. See that little space in front of the keyboard? That's where I count scads of money for deposits. I sometimes wish I just had a little laptop computer so I had more room, but I love my job and love the kids so I don't complain.

I'm also posting a shot of my "office". It's full to the brim with boxes of snacks. See the big boxes? They are full of bags of chips. The kids go through one of those a DAY. We used to have a little vending machine that I filled every day. I had a brainy idea that if we got a bigger one I'd only have to fill it every now and then. It holds 100 bags of chips plus other assorted snack items. I fill it EVERY DAY. Me and my bright ideas... Again, I love my job so I won't complain.

That's it for today. Exciting, huh? I'll try to find something a little more exciting tomorrow.

Love,

Yvonne and crew

p.s. News on Ryan: No accidents today! Thank you for the prayers. Please keep them coming.

The Tooth Fairy

Ok, so the tooth fairy forgot to come last night...oops! Angie remarked this morning that she was probably on the other side of the world. I told her that I would send her an e-mail reminder. Angie decided that she'd add a dime to the tooth under the pillow to sweeten the pot and make the tooth fairy want to come for sure. Sometimes she cracks me up.

Here's a photo of the hole that she's pretty proud of. She lost it yesterday right as she was getting to school. The teacher put it in a cute little tooth shaped container that was a necklace and she wore it all day.

Tonight marked Wednesday nights starting up again. Jim had a LOT of kids there tonight. Say a prayer for him because Wednesdays are always tough...tough to get help and tough because it's a long day. And please keep Ryan in your prayers as well. We're still not any closer.

Much love,
Yvonne and crew

Spring Break

Ok, I know it's not March yet, but it's the photo of the day because we just booked a condo in Biloxi, Mississippi for Spring Break! We are so excited....excited for the following reasons:

1. ALL of us are going which might be one of the last times.

2. It's the BEACH!

3. H. has never been out of the 4 states and we love grand adventures and sharing them with others.

Here's the link if you're interested. There are more pictures of where we'll be staying. Check out the VRBO website. It's pretty cool.

The tooth did come out today, but that'll be another photo op for another day. It's almost my turn on Wii fit so I'd better go get ready.

Love,

Yvonne and Crew

p.s Yes, keep praying for Ryan :0)

Loose Tooth

Well, the photo of the day presented itself fairly early in the day. Right after lunch Angie had a piece of candy that she bit down on pretty hard and she ended up with a loose tooth. You can't really tell in the photo so I've marked it for you. You might have to click o the photo to enlarge it. I'm sure within a couple of days it'll show up again as the photo of the day with a big hole.

Jim was gone all day today and I was off of work because of Martin Luther King day. I worked a lot on my card workshop that kicks off tomorrow night. (See a couple of examples here). It was a beautiful day out. I don't understand why I had to keep convincing the kids to play outside though. They wanted to be right by my feet. I shouldn't complain. They'll be off to college soon too.

Thank you to those that are praying. It was a pretty good day. Ryan gave me a couple of fits about having to go to the bathroom, but he made it at least every time. I did contact a friend who has taken her child to an autism testing center and I'm thinking we might need to try that route too. It's so hard to know.

Tomorrow is back to work, so I'm going to try and go to bed earlier than I normally do.

Love,

Yvonne and crew

Group Run

Ok, It's usually not hard to figure out the picture of the day and today is no exception. I was just surfing along in the kitchen when all of a sudden everyone in the living room started running in place. Jim is doing is Wii workout for the day and everyone decided to run with him. It was pretty funny. H. is in the group too, but again, I can't show him :0( We do love our Wii fit!

Love,

Yvonne and crew

p.s. Yes, Ryan still needs prayer.

Gonna' Miss Her

It's been a wonderful break having the college kids home. They live 15 minutes away during the school year but sometimes it might as well be 15 hours since our lives and theirs are so busy. Joel moved back to the dorms last week for winter session and Kayla is starting that direction tomorrow. I don't know if a mom ever gets over missing her kids when they leave. Those two have plans to move to Asia somewhere. I'll probably have to follow just so I can stand it.

In case you're wondering, Kayla was doing a mud treatment. She was scared at first because it seemed to stain her face, but with some good scrubbing it came off. Note to Nathan: This is what she does when she talks to you on the phone :0)

Today was really rough with Ryan. He didn't take himself to the potty at all. The only times he went were when we told him to. That equaled three accidents or "bad choices" as I call them. It's incredibly frustrating especially since he was doing so good. We are trying to figure out what's changed for him to make this behavior. I have a feeling this will be a fine example of the 70X7 forgiveness lesson.

Until tomorrow,

Yvonne and crew

Games We Play

This has become a popular game at our house...mostly because it's so incredibly easy that even Ryan can play it. It's called Garbage. As soon as Kayla walks in the door, Angie is bugging her to play. The little kids are in bed now and now and the game goes on. H. is our foster boy and it's against the law to post his picture. That's why the photo looks so odd.

Ryan had a better day today. There were no accidents. This morning he told me that he was sorry and asked me to forgive him. Who can resist that? I totally love this kiddo. I just wish I knew what was up. Tomorrow is another day. Thank you for the continued prayers.

Love,

Yvonne and crew

Yesterday

Sorry for not posting yesterday. It was another rough day with Ryan (and Angie). Please pray for us. It's not really fun potty training an almost 6 year old who doesn't care. I'm going to post a picture of the day for today later on so stay tuned.

Love,
Yvonne and crew

At this Moment...10:17 p.m.

Here's what's going on right now....

1. Noelle is practicing her French horn.

2. Jim is getting in his Wii exercises for the day.

3. Kayla finished a painting. (She painted over the one I posted earlier.)

4. The rest of the kiddos are in bed and I'm heading there shortly.

Night, night,

Yvonne and crew

p.s. Please keep praying for Ryan. It was another bad day. He just does not want to learn to use the toilet. He can. He just doesn't want to. I need a huge dose of patience right about now...please :0)

This and That

Tonight's post is Kayla's artwork. Right now Kayla and H. are doing paintings. Noelle is doing homework and Jim is on the Wii. The little ones are tucked into bed :0). Here's a list of good stuff that's happened today.

1. H. made the A/B honor roll. We celebrated with Sonic Happy Hour drinks!

2. Ryan stayed dry another day and had a good report from his speech teacher.

3. I achieved first place on the Wii Fit Advanced obstacle course.

4. Angie learned how to spell piece, circle and complete and had a very obedient heart.

That's our day in a nutshell...

Love,

Yvonne and crew

Ever Wonder...?

How much food it takes to feed our family? Well, tonight I made this pizza. Joel is at college already and Kayla and I had a meeting to go to right as this was coming out of the oven. That left five people at home...two of them little...which some nights makes no difference on the appetites between them and the older kids. Kayla and I had our taste buds set on a piece of pizza...even a small one when we returned home. Nothing...zilch...nada is left. This weekend I filled a pressure cooker full of chicken and noodles...gone in less than 24 hours. In order to save money I really have to work on not buying prepackaged stuff. Crazy! I commented to Jim the other day that when all the kids are grown I won't know how to cook for just he and I.

Love,

Yvonne and crew

p.s. If all of us had been home I would have made two pizzas.

Holding for Ransom

Joel moved back to the dorms today to do a winter session class this next week. I've totally loved having the kids home and it was sad when he left. He'll be back though because I have this guy I'm holding for ransom. He left his favorite mug on the counter. It'll cost him staying for dinner one more time. I sure love it when all my kiddos are around the table together.

Love,

Yvonne and Crew

Sad Day for My Sistah

My heart is heavy today for my best sistah friend who had to put her dog to sleep today. Lily was a constant companion through lots of ups and downs for her. It's hard to say goodbye. Lily will always be a wonderful memory. I love you Stacy! This photo wasn't taken today, but it is the photo of the day.

Jim took me out on a date last night to see Blind Side. I highly recommend it! It was actually dinner, a movie and a Starbucks date all for right at $20. We had band coupons to Arbys...yes it was romantic because it was just he and I without all the clammor noise of children...the movie was in Webb City for $5 a ticket and he had a gift card to Starbucks that had some money left on it. It was an awesome night. We came home to all the kids plus a friend of Kayla's eating ice cream that they had made out of snow. Give me Highland any day. I was not impressed, but they loved it.

Love,

Yvonne and crew

Another Snow Day

It's a pretty day here with light snow flakes falling. Jim took the kids to House of Bounce and I went to breakfast with my sistah Stacy. Makes you wonder why they called off school, huh? I'm looking forward to a date with Jim tonight :0)

Until Next time,

Yvonne and crew

Vegging

Jim read my last post and commented that it was kind of a downer. I apologize. I decided that with this daily journal of our lives via pictures there might be some good, bad and ugly. God didn't promise us all good days. The bad and ugly days are just reminders for us to cling even tighter. A good friend reminded me that we just have to keep knocking and seeking. Tears flowed down my cheeks as I read her words, but they are so true.

So, on to today. As the title suggests, it was a vegging day since they called off school. We've lived in Colorado and Nebraska before this and we've never had snow days for a skiff of snow, but hey, we'll take it. Actually Missouri isn't equipped to handle much snow since they don't usually get a lot. The day was spent playing video games for the kids. Jim and I did get on the Wii for our workout and I also did some stamping to get ready for an upcoming workshop. The highlight of the day was the potato soup for supper...which creates more Wii time, but it sure hits the spot. Jim and I were good and only ate one bowl :0)

They've called off school again for tomorrow so I'm guessing tomorrow's picture might be a lot like this one. It's freezing here! We're just thankful that the power is on.

Until tomorrow,

Yvonne and Crew

Prayer Requests

Today is a rough day. Ryan has messed his pants for the upteenth time. He will be 6 next month and I've gotten the run around on what the deal is. I keep getting, "He's a boy." I'm just frazzled with that answer. No kid does what he does and is "just a boy". Please pray that he gets this before I lose my mind.

Angie is struggling in school. Her teacher sent a note home today to tell me that she's not focusing. It's so hard when I know that part of the deal is the fact that she was neglected as a baby. How do I fix that? I can't. I am asking for prayers for healing for her.


Both kids seem to have deep seated emotional baggage which on a daily basis just gets so old. Some days I just want a "normal" day where it's not such a constant struggle. I love them dearly and I just pray that they can have normal lives. Please put them/us on your prayer lists. We could really use it.

Love,
Yvonne and crew

Company for Dinner

Today was a back to school day after Christmas break. It's hard getting back into the swing of things. I definitely need to get to bed earlier. We slipped into staying up way too late over Christmas break. Everyone is hoping for another snow day tomorrow. We'll see.

Nathan came over for supper and he and Kayla made a spaghetti dinner for us. As soon as we put all of the little kids (aka those under 12) to bed we're going to watch a movie. I might fall asleep during it though LOL.

Until tomorrow,

Yvonne and crew

Snow Day

Today would have been our first day back to school after Christmas break, but they called a snow day because of the rural roads. So as tradition has it, I have to make a pan of cinnamon rolls. I barely got this picture before they all disappeared. Anyone have a guess as to who has a hard time staying out of them? I'll give you a hint....check out my post for January 2nd. She admitted to losing count of how many she had. The rest of us just got one. I keep telling her that it's going to catch up with her LOL. Thank goodness for the Wii Fit Plus that we got for Christmas. Maybe I'll be able to keep from gaining weight if we have lots of snow days coming up.

Love,

Yvonne and Crew

Noelle's Home!

Finally, after several hours on the road with the band, Noelle made it home from the Rose Bowl parade. They were supposed to be home around 4:00 a.m, but because of weather it took them until about 8:00. We're glad she's home and it was good to have everyone accounted for around the lunch table today.

Love,

Yvonne and Crew

p.s. Edited to add photos of the after lunch scene :0)

Wedding

Today a really good friend of Kayla's was married. Lyndi and Kayla have been friends since the fourth grade. It's so hard to believe they've grown up this much. Here's a photo of the pretty bridesmaid.

Until next time,
Yvonne and crew.

Starting Up Again

I know I've let this blog thing slide and it was unintentional. Life gets kind of crazy around here. So here's to New Year's Resolutions...ok, well, I'm going to try...to post at least one photo a day. Here is today's photo(s). This is my office. You might think I would get upset about such a state, but I'm pretty laid back about it for two reasons. First, it means my college kids are home and second it means I'm taking a little break from "work/play". There will be plenty of time for stamping, but for right now, I'm enjoying the company of my kids...and (sigh) yes, I wish I could figure out how to get him to pick up, but I guess some other woman is going to have to tackle that job.


This morning we went up to the church where they have cable TV and watched the Rose Parade to see if we could catch a glimpse of Noelle with the Webb City High School Band and Color Guard. No such luck, but someone posted this link that shows her somewhat. At about one minute it shows her in the lower right corner. She has long hair. We can tell it's her by the slight lift of the chin and flair of her arms because she takes her job seriously :0)

Until Next Time,
Yvonne and Crew