This Week's Scripture
"Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it." Deuteronomy 7:26
This Week's Prayer!
We invite Your Holy Spirit to dwell in these rooms, which belongs to Henry, Anthony, Zoë, Asa, Rose, Grace, and Elijah, and in Heidi, Angel, and Angela's room. You are Lord over heaven and earth, and we proclaim that You are Lord over their rooms as well. Flood it with Your light and life. We pray that You, Lord, will make their rooms a holy place, sanctified for Your glory. And may You also dwell in our room and in each one of our extended family and friend's rooms.
Love is in the air!!!!!
we dealt with a few meltdowns and this was one of them! :)
Asa's second tooth was hanging and of course on picture day he decides almost every picture he will
smile like this!!!!! :)
Thanks to Jenny my sisnlaw, she took on the role of photographer recently!! Thanks, Jenny! these times always make me so stressed! To get everybody to smile and be happy just does not happen with these ages. Again I was wild stressed Mommy but all in all we got a few good ones out of the 347 that were taken!! These are a few pics. The real good ones to come later. One of the family pictures will be our Christmas picture and I have ordered some poster size for our home. I am excited. The only thing I wish is that Heidi is in the pictures.
Thank you Teresa for letting us take pictures at your beautiful home!!!!!!!
Much has been going on since my last post a month ago. My sweet dear 92 year old GrandMother (MawMaw) on my Dad's side of the family passed away on November 8. Just an awesome faithful woman of God. I hope to post some pictures of her in a post soon. And another great woman on my Mom's side: Dee! I have a little of both in me ;)
We are blessed to be able to have a booth at HPC's next Live the Dream Women's conference which is this Thursday-Saturday! Awesome Awesome! You can read more about what we are doing
here.
After this week I should be able to update this blog more regularly! Children are great! We are all loving this cool weather. We even had our first hot dog and marshmallow roast Friday night!! Fun Fun!!
Dress for Kylie! Grace giggling as I take pictures of her in the dress!
My new friend!!!!! HA! find out more on
SewSensible blog!
The new school morning chart!!
they love making checks when they complete something on their morning list of to dos!
our first family photo album! love this book!
two of our handsome boys! trees trees!!
two of our cute girly girls!!
love this picture because it depicts exactly how far each of them go in this tree!
these birds made the house smell soooo good!!
Good ol'family life going on over here!
Kylie, a family friend's daughter and our children's friend, has been asking me for the past 6 months to sew her a dress for her birthday and here it is! I dropped it off to
Stephanie and Randy yesterday and the party is today!! Happy Birthday, Kylie!!
I have been having a little difficulty on school mornings with getting 7 children ready for school to leave at a certain time every morning. I literally was not looking forward to school mornings!! HOWEVER!!!!! I decided to make a chart and give checks and x's to good or bad behavior and IT WORKS!!!!! It has been just a few days but those few days have been awesome and yesterday the children even had 15 minutes to spare and played some games before we left! So awesome! I will let you know if it continues to work!
I finally have one family album I personalized on snapfish! This book is random pictures of 2005-2006. I love it and can't wait to make some more!!
Tree climbing is the thing these days! I love seeing them up in the trees. It reminds me so much of when I was little! I LOVED being in a tree! They are so cute to watch up there!
Baked some chickens the other day and decided to take a picture! The casseroles are great for me but they just don't work for our kiddos or for Tommy! So back to chicken, rice, brocolli and any other simple dish.
I pray all of you are doing great!!!!! Looks like a little cool front came in last night which any "cool" is welcomed this October. This has been a really hot October so today it should be in the low 70's which we welcome!
I have been having a hard time figuring out what to cook so I bought this magazine cookbook and decided to try the tater tot casserole first. Mine is below. It was Ok but not a super duper dish that the children loved. I'll try another one this week.
Farm Day Fun: this is about as close as Zoe would get on this horse!
Rose and Asa loved riding the horses!
Asa on his horse!
Rose in heaven holding a baby chick!
Zoe (with two dots over the e) for some reason I can't copy and paste in blogger anymore??
Anyway, a note came home from school to come out and enjoy Mrs. Becky's farm and we did!! I took Zoe, Rose, and Asa while Grace and Elijah took a nap however if I would have known they had so much more than horses to ride I surely would have taken the others!! I felt bad! But Asa, Rose, and Zoe had fun!
Zoe kind of stood around the miniature horses but I don't remember her touching one.
Rose was scared at first but quickly started loving the little horses.
we brought Grace and Elijah home a stick horse and cowboy hat!
Asa's first trip to the dentist!! He was so brave!! He did awesome and no cavities!!
getting xrays
Asa showing me his picture he drew at school of he and Poppy fishing from a boat! too cute!
Princess Grace being Mommy to her baby bear (legs crossed and all!) love this!
Anthony begged to help with my
Sewing business and his wish came true!! Thanks, Anthony, and he gets paid doing it!!
Anthony loves to be in front 0f a camera!
Henry had a birthday a couple weeks ago and I forgot to post it!! Happy Happy Birthday, Henry! What a handsome young man you are growing up to be!
WOW!!!!! all those pictures and not one of Elijah!! Must take some of him and post!! I believe I have some of him on cell phone. Will need to check and come add.
I can't have him without a picture with all the rest!! :)
And Happy Happy Birthday, Grandma (Mom Trixie, Mom!!!!!) .....
the many hats you wear! We pray your day was awesome!!
and the zoo day begins.....
this is a great picture spot right when you walk into the zoo!
our first stop of the day was the Sea Lion show!
the misters are awesome for a quick cool down
just came out of the reptile exhibit.
The Grand Caymon Blue Iquana is directly across this rock.
getting ready to eat lunch! Ok waiters..... where's the food?!
Oh, yes, we are the waiters! excuse me while I serve my family!! :)
we had ham sandwiches, chips, cheese, juice drinks and oatmeal pies.....
Rose and Grace had their first trip to the dentist and they were so brave!! Rose had one scared moment but the dental hygienist was amazing and gentle and explained everything so well! Thanks, Dr. Braun's office!!
School is going great! Asa and Rose love their teachers and they love their friends! The wonderful thing about their friends is that two are their cousins Ethan and Mia. They come home everyday and tell me how they played with them at recess. I could not be more excited about their first year at school. And actually we love all our children's teachers. Anthony has an awesome teacher who is working hard with Anthony. Zoë is in a special needs class and her teacher and paraprofessionals are awesome. She loves them and so do we! And Henry is in a great Christian high school where he is doing awesome! We could not be more proud of our children in their school. Grace will be homeschooled this year K4 Kindergarten. She is so excited and I expect Elijah will be sitting by her side during "class".
I cannot believe this week is already here! They are babies one day and then BOOM they are old enough to go to school!!!!! wow!! They are loving school. This is their first year "in a real school" as Asa says. I homeschooled him for the past two years. I miss them so much during the day! They each have a teacher that I believe is a Godsend and answer to prayer! Rose's teacher adopted her daughter from Guatemala so she has a heart for adoption and an understanding that is so important to us. And Asa's teacher I have known for a while. I taught with her when I was teaching and she was there every step of the way during our adoption journey of Asa! She actually held Asa when he was wee little little..... wait! he was never wee little little!! LOL he was a chunk chunk baby..... all 9 lbs 6 oz! Precious memories! Thank you, Lord, for these teachers!
Happy Happy Birthday, My Love, My Man, My SoulMate!! HA!!
Tommy got a birthday greeting from Mickey Mouse!
A little pda love!!
Eating at one of our favorites: Coral Reef (spectacular food!)
Coral Reef helping us celebrate Tommy's Birthday!
I was able to stop and smell the roses!
Tommy and I going to "What's Your Problem" comedy play.
..... And becoming part of the comedy. We were in competition with two young girls and we had to see how fast we could pack and stick to our teammate. It was a tie for us and a blast! 
a little Tom Petty tribute! "there ain't know easy way out..... yeah, baby!" "and I want back down...."
On Sunday, Tommy joined me in being 40!! Yay!! It felt so good to have him catch up and share this birthday with him!!!!! We celebrated, just the two of us, in Disney. Can I say we love Disney! Really!! It is one place that I just get lost in the cartoon characters, atmosphere, food, and people!! Love it! We both wore Happy Birthday Disney buttons but I did take mine off on Sunday so the day could be Tommy-focused! The Disney staff are the most courteous and so friendly and we always have the best food! And how can we do all this with so many children? Well, family is the best!! Tommy's Mom and Dad got up 4:00a early and came over until my Mom came over. Mom Trixie and Pop took Henry and Anthony and my Mom was with all the rest!! Many many thanks Moms and Pop for letting us run off together to Disney! Wonderful wonderful trip!!
Great memories: Toy Story (I am a Cosmic Commando at 741,000), Splash Mountain, Lava Cake, up at 5a and not seeing the room again for 13-14 hours later, watching all the people, Everest 4 times, Rockin Roller Coaster, Steamboat ride, One Man's Dream (my favorite story), Beauty and the Beast, the Muppets 3D, Mickey's Phil Harmonic 3D, It's a Small World (favorite too), Hall of Presidents (ok, slipped into sleep couple times), Carousel of Progress (appreciating it more each time but still doze off), Street comedy, the roses, the cola's around the world tasting, Soarin!!, (the land/hydroponics tour closed. I love that one!), lots lots more, and of course spending day and night with just Tommy and no interuptions!! Thanks, Tommy, for a great trip! I am so in love with you!
"I command you--be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
I am putting a picture of me when I was 39!! LOL Cannot believe I am having such a hard time with this birthday (the big 4-0). I have always been a "celebrate your birthday months in advance" kind of girl!! As hard as it was to swallow, God showed up and encouraged me and carried me "over this hill!" I still don't know how I got here and why all of a sudden I am getting "Mrs." Aimee' and yes ma'ams! I want to tell people that if you are within 20 years of my age please spare the ma'am and Mrs. So much for Southern Hospitality. I can surely do without some of those! HA!!
And in a way only God would do it, He managed to first encourage me with Joshua 1:9 which I desperately needed and then He very creatively reminded me of all the scriptures of my 30's that shaped my last decade! John 10:10, Jeremiah 29:11, Hebrew 11, Psalm 139! Only God would be so specific !! I felt so loved by Him on my birthday! Thanks, God!! And thanks to my family who are a huge blessing in my life!!
And Yay!! Henry graduated from HPC's Saturate Summer class! Congratulations, Henry!!
Mom Trixie (MIL) sent me this link to a 365 day CrockPot Recipes called a Year of Slow Cooking! I don't have time tonight to look at it but surely there will be plenty of supper choices to choose from. I hope to check it out tomorrow!! Sounds interesting!!
Homemade cheese pizza! Made the dough in the bread machine (does that still make it homemade?? :) rolled out the dough while little fingers licked the flour and begged for a bite of the dough!! then added some sauce and mozzarella cheese and baked it!
That's the way they like their pizza!!
My Mom had given the children a Easter Cookie House kit and we just made it the other day!
Not exactly like the picture but they loved their creation!! me too!
Eating the fruits of their labor!
HPC VBS!
They had so much fun!!
Anthony even got a reward gift for being a great Junior Counselor! Yay, Anthony!!
Rock the River doing sound check
The people were coming. Overall, there were about 10,000 people that showed up!
Busy Busy Summer!!!!!..... but it has been all good! We just finished up Vacation Bible School at
HealingPlaceChurch. I volunteered in the CRAZY and LOUD snack tent while all our little ones enjoyed water games, singing, dancing, crafts, and learning about Jesus! Yay!
Yesterday was Rock the River. I volunteered in a hot dog vendor while Tommy took the little ones to visit Grandma and Grampa. Me and Henry and Anthony got to hear some great music while doing that! Henry and Anthony went their own way and had some fun with some friends. It was super hot but wow to see all the people come together and rock for Jesus was awesome. Governor Bobby Jindal gave a great talk, Mayor Kip Holden was great and then Franklin Graham was amazing. Just like his Dad the message is simply you need Jesus! What a great event in our city!!
Oh, and I had to add the picture of Elijah's sweet time on the chair playing in the sink water. I looked over from being at our island and saw those cute little legs and instantly thought about how fast they grow!
We had our adoption fellowship at our home last week! You can go to our
orphan adoption blog and see all our blessings of the day! Also, our 4th was great..... no plans (I mean absolutely no plans)..... we did not even know what we were eating for lunch until Tommy went to the store at 10a that morning!! We sat outside relaxed and watched the little ones play in their kiddie pools and that was it..... so I have to say it was a great day!! Hope yours was great too!
Oh, and I have a new
SewSensible sewing pattern that I released last week and I am actually working on a Women's Dress Top! I made a couple for me which I enjoyed so much!! I had to use whatever fabric I had so this one was made using different prints!
Sun in our eyes!
A little over a week ago Tommy and I were going to take the children to see UP but we remembered that Elijah and Zoë do not make it through movies and I end up taking them out and missing the movie. So we decided to go to the movies two different days. Tommy and the boys went on Friday and me, Grace, and Rose went on Saturday. It was so much fun to spend time with them and to actually get to watch an entire movie and eat all the buttered popcorn I could eat!! Mom came to say hello to us before the movie!
Oh, and UP was excellent (except for the sad part!!)
Swinging together like we used to do but I believe they are almost too big for this!
Asa swinging in the backyard! They love this swing!
Zoë on her favorite mode of transportation!
Asa and Elijah's new favorite way to help Mommy in the kitchen!
content with NO water in the pool! Love them!!
My Man the Man!!!!! HA!!
teaching them patience!
Buddy
Aiden came over one day!
Tommy took the boys fishing at the neighbor's pond!
All the kiddos LOVE the lizards and frogs around the house!
Can't say I do!!
Got to
serve a free lunch to our local foster care workers!
Cooking for Christ brought the delicious food and we served it to the awesome OCS workers!
opening up his family coffee mug and family mouse pad
taking a break from building the shed door.
Grampa riding the plasma car his way!! (GiddyUp!! HA!)
Grampa opening up his present
Dad taking time out of his 10 minute visit to take a picture!
Yum!
Yum!
Yum!
Yum!
We had a great and wonderful Father's Day! Tommy spent the morning after church bbqing some delicious steaks, chicken, fresh corn, and potatoes. Delicious! Mom Trixie and Pop came over for lunch and we all enjoyed a great time together! She brought the dessert and it was very good! After lunch, Tommy and the boys built a shed door and then he spent the remainder of the day relaxed on the back patio lounging in front of a fan because it was HOT for Father's Day!! Happy Father's Day, Tommy! You are the best!!
My Dad showed up later and mananaged to break his record of visiting us to a whole 10 minutes!!!!! Thanks Dad and Happy Father's Day! and Happy Father's Day to you, Pop!
Angela and Angel turn 2!! Wow!!
Can you believe it?!!!!! Finally we have a garden! We LOVE IT!!!!! We have been eating the squash..... fried squash! Tomorrow we will have some cucumbers ready to pick and eat which Asa has been waiting patiently for. The beans are coming slowly but not as slow as the okra. The lettuce we have to say was yuk! I must have bought the wrong kind because the two I bought has a bite to it when you swallow. So what kind do I buy?
Grampa is giving Anthony a lesson in picking the sucker plants while we all admire the garden! I can't believe we did not do this a long time ago!!
Preparing for Kim Possible mission!
Do the boys look tired? they were!
At magic kingdom waiting for a storm to pass! Beautiful picture though!
Cinderella! The girls loved her!
Hot and humid but the kiddos handled it well and we all had lots of fun!!
Some alladin fun!!
Splash mountain!! Tommy with hands up!! They loved this..... and where is Grandmother CC? look close! she is behind the green poncho!!
Daisy Duck at Tusker House!!
A drum roll please!!!!!
I love this picture!
Taking refuge in a bathroom as a storm passes through. We got soaked before making it to the bathroom! Hail and all!
A little Monster's Inc.!
One day Heidi and the girls will have to join us!!
At Hollywood Studios park!
Loved to see this! Thank you, God!
Eating at my favorite Crystal Palace!! and the kiddos loved it too!
a common look: the stroller trail!!
Wooohoooo Grandmother CC and Asa!!!!!
We had so much fun!!!!! Really, we LOVE Disney!!!!! The weather was a little stormy at times and the humidity was high but the time there was awesome and I look forward to going back!!!!! A few items that helped us enjoy the trip: strollers!!, tennis shoes!!, doggy and monkey backpack leashes for kiddos!!, ponchos!!, frozen coke!!!!!, and of course my Mom!!!!! Oh yea!! and the noopie was a must on this trip!!!!! Those are necessities of a family Disney vacation for us!!
There are many more pictures and many more memories to remember but this will give you small look into our wonderful trip! Some of our favorites with no pictures were Soarin!, Rockin Roller Coaster, the hydroponics boat ride (The Land in Epcot). We are so blessed and I thank God we get to have these kind of moments together!!!!!
Have I ever told you how much I LOVE this man!!!!! ALOT!!!!!
Tommy and MomTrixie on Mother's Day!
Shhhh, they don't know there are bigger pools at Wal mart!! LOL
Fun holding our breath the longest!
Poppy squirting kiddos with water hose!! fun fun!!
Grandmother CC over for Mother's Day!
My Mother's Day banner from my precious children!!
The little ones getting rid of some energy while they wait for swimming lessons!
Princess dress up!
Swimming lessons have begun and it so feels like summer! Our days have been swimming lessons, mcd's, parks, and Grandmother CC quick brunch visits!!
What else has been going on? water hose fun, gigantic slip and slide fun, dress up fun, basketball fun, Mother's Day fun, little swimming pool fun (which is really getting way too small for all of them!)
the fruit of our labor..... or the veggies of our labor! 
had to start canning some!
Asa, Elijah, and Grace peeling cucumbers!
Grace and Disney
Anthony working the garden!
Asa's new favorite veggie: green beans!
sweet Elijah!
yes, they are just like that!! LOL
