The boyfriend's birthday

Before we left for vacation, Lexy was invited to Brandon's birthday party for the day after we returned.  She was so excited.  While on vacation Lexy searched for just the right souvenier for Brandon and found him a sharks tooth necklace (and got one for herself as well).  Along with the necklace, she gave him a couple of gifts that she thoughtfully chose for him at Wal-Mart and a handmade card that said "I love Brandon".

Lexy had a great time and thought it completely normal that she was the only girl...she is his girlfriend after all!!  It was so cute to see them together, they're like a little old couple always looking for each other in the crowd, never too far from each other.  At one point Brandon came and got two chocolates and called Lexy over so they could share them :)  Another time they were laying on the trampoline by themselves talking while the party was going on around them.  So cute! :)

Brandon's mom shared with me that she thought Brandon would probably wear the necklace everyday.  She has a necklace from her husband that she wears everyday and she said Brandon has told her that he wanted a necklace that was from someone special that he could wear everyday!

After 4 hours I had to practically drag Lexy away from there...only after I promised that we could get together with Brandon again soon!

Myrtle Beach, SC - Summer Fun Week 4

When we decided that we needed some R&R we knew we should head to a beach.  We had been to a FL beach so we looked into other places and found Myrtle Beach.  We're so glad we did, we had a fabulous time reconnecting as a family for the week we were there!  It was so relaxing and yet there were things to do when we wanted to.

Highlights of our days:
Friday - arrived in the late evening, had dinner at the pier and walked out to the beach/ocean
Saturday - played on the beach all day only stopping to do a little shopping
Sunday - celebrated Father's Day at Broadway at the Beach (got caught in a major storm!) and then went to the hotel pool
Monday - started the day out early walking on the pier, then spent the day on the beach under our pricey rented umbrella :)
Tuesday - we slept in, stayed at the hotel all day and then went to the mall to shop, Lexy went on the indoor trampoline and we watched "Mr. Popper's Penguins"
Wednesday - We spent the morning at the beach, went walking around and then back to the beach for walking on the boardwalk and fireworks
Thursday - We went to Wonderworks and then back to the hotel pool
Friday - packed up and headed home :(

We did a lot but there's still so much more that we would have liked to have seen/done....maybe we'll go back!!!

Here's a few pictures of our time at Myrtle Beach...

First time

to swim in the ocean and play on a beach...

Myrtle Beach, SC

and Lexy LOVES it!!!

And here's a (very blurry) picture of the first time Brooke visited the ocean/beach in 2000...

Marco Island, FL

I think both my girls could stay forever...

We made it!

We decided that our family needed some R&R so we headed to Myrtle Beach, SC for a week!

our first look at the ocean...

It was late and dark but we just HAD to take a close up peek!

Summer Fun - Week 3

This week we went to Monkey Bizness (an inflatable place)...

and Brooke performed in the local parade while the rest of us watched...

and we are LEAVING FOR VACATION TOMORROW!!!!

Lexy's got some high tops...

Yesterday while we were shopping, Lexy found some new shoes that she just HAD to have!  They're not what I would choose or wear but I'm all about my girls getting the opportunity to show their own personality and style so buy them we did!  I kinda like that she's got a totally different style than Brooke!

Summer Fun - Week 2

For our summer fun this week...

We made flarp...

and Lexy LOVED it!!  The recipe is:

1 c. white glue

1 c. water

food coloring

1 c. warm water

1 1/2 t. borax powder

Mix the glue with 1 c. water in a large bowl.  Add a couple of drops of food coloring, set aside.  In a small bowl, mix warm water with Borax.  Add to the glue/water mixture and stir for 2 minutes - it will go from liquid to a nasty stringy mess then at the end of 2 min. (ours took 4 min.) it will be putty.  Knead to smooth putty out.

Stuff putty into a small cup (we used a film canister and a cup).  Friction makes the putty make "fart" noises.  Store in an airtight cantainer.

We went to lunch, shopping & bowling with Robin, Kenzie, Ryan & Molly....

We went swimming at the local pool...

And we went shopping for vacation items!!

Adoption Update

Sooo...We got more information on the two sibling groups that I wrote about before, (g-5, g-4, g-2, b-1) and (g-3, b-1).  There are some developmental and medical issues but nothing that stopped us in our tracks :)  We had our homestudy submitted for both sets.  (g-3, b-1) has an appeal going on so it may take longer but they did accept our homestudy so that's a good sign!

We also got a profile for a 1 yr. old little girl.  We chose not to submit our homestudy because her medical issues are extremely severe.

Finally, we received a profile today for a sibling set (b-4, g-3).  We have a couple of questions to be answered but will most likely submit our homestudy on this group as well. :)


What a roller coaster ride!  No possible situations to multiple possible situations to almost being chosen as the family for a situation to no possible situations again to multiple possible situations again.  This ride just seems to keep going on and on...we're ready to exit to the right and begin the next ride!!! 

Summer Fun - Week 1

Summer usually ends with me and the girls wishing that we had done more.  So to help keep us on track of doing fun things and going on fun outings every week, we created our summer fun jar.  The white slips have fun things we can do at home and the yellow slips have fun places to go.  Right now I'm letting Lexy pick one white and one yellow slip per week and Brooke can either pick a slip or just come up with what she wants to do.  We also go swimming once a week...something I am forcing myself to do more often b/c the girls love it so much!

This week we went to watch the movie Soul Surfer - Brooke's pick, good movie but a tear jerker!  We also went swimming at the local pool.  We didn't get around to doing Lexy's pick for something at home (chalk art in the driveway) we are saving this slip on the fridge until she has a friend over per her request.  For Lexy's outing we went roller skating...

Brooke, Suzy, Lexy & Avree

Photo Shoot

Lexy + Mommy's camera = Rex's summer photo shoot :)