Mother's Day Giveaway!

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Easter

We had a good day and are all exhausted. Kids are sleeping in the back seats they have played well with there second cousins.

I wish we could do this more... the kids all had so much fun. There was a big easter egg hunt and the kids went out with their plastic shopping bags I had in the car.... had three so Reagan had one of those big black plastic bags.... it was so funny with him dropping eggs in this huge bag.

We enjoyed the wonderful brunch that Tammy put on for 300. It was beautifully put together and the food was excellent.

The kids loved sunday school and we enjoyed the service .... Steve did a great job preaching.

We met a couple who are new to their church and have two kids adopted and their son Luke is from China. We connected -- Luke is now 11 and has been home a year.

They joined us and all the Doerksen's for lunch and another quick Easter egg hunt.... the kids are all the same ages and did so well together. We realized we need to do this more often. Jacob and Reagan even played a game of chess.

Then we headed for Aunt Dee's place and met up with my 2nd cousin mike and his family. Again the kids connected and had a blast and their son Max and Reagan played a game of ping pong.

They all chased bunnies outside and then did crafts together .... I was so impressed at home well they did.

We hope to hook up again for the 4th of July. We'll also have Sandy from Australia and China with us then and possibly friends from Thailand .... will be a busy time.

Here a two pix from tonight my good camera battery died and the phone took iffy pics but you can see all the kids playing with popsicle sticks ....
Will have to look at getting the bulk packs for the kids.
So one more day and the kids are back to school and life returns to normal.
Lavonne

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Happy Easter

May God richly bless you all this special day...... He has Risen!!!

HE HAS RISEN INDEED....

Today we go to my cousins church he started it 4-5 years ago and it has done well. They have a big Easter Egg hunt for the kids and then a brunch afterwards then we head to their home for lunch.

Later we visit my Aunt Dee and her family. We did an early Easter dinner with Scott's mom on Wednesday.

It is a beautiful day and we are blessed!

May you all experience God's presence on this special day.
Lavonne

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It's been waay toooo looong!

Well I am testing this from my Droid phone .... if I can make this work I can post again regularly since last June I fell off the band wagon in posting as life became hectic.

We have had the kids spring break this week and have had a great time together and have enjoyed ourselves visiting with family and friends. Back to a normal schedule on Tuesday looking forward to it....

Well hoping this works and I will try to post a picture of Lily our cat.

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Chinese New Year Greetings for 2011

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We thought we'd go for a repeat picture this year - this time after 5 tries we just got tired and the smiles got serious - like to be saying..... "Hurry Up!"
You can compare and see how the kids have changed and grown in a year.........

Wishing you a wonderful year full of blessings and great joy
God Bless you all
The Dideon Clan :-)

surgery update 8:30 am

So we left for Children's at 5:35 am this morning and got there at 6:10 am for our 6:15 am check in. It was raining hard and i was not sure if we would be on time? but traffic was light this morning in spite of all the rain. They are expecting mud slides this wknd. At least it is not all the snow the mid-west and east coast are now having.

We went through all the usual check in- triple-plus check his id to make sure they have the right body going in. Lamie got a hospital neck braclet too -(she has made the rounds - this was a gift to Kaitlyn from their AZ cousin, but Reagan now has it and loves it) - thanks Caryn!

We got him dressed in his gown and waiting and cuddled until it was time to go. He did not want his picture taken. He is just starting to go through a no-photo stage (my boy is growing up) - so did not push and just got this lovely back end shot :-)

They got him around 7:30 am and i understand they were putting him under around 8 am with his choice of bubblegum flavor gas (we get to keep the mask later) - have a collection of them now!!

They said at about 9:30 am i would get an update and then around 10 am he will be done and head into recovery.  Then will be led to his room where Scott and i will be waiting for him. Thank goodness for WiFi.  Scott is just taking the kids to school now, so then will head our way and be here hopefully in time for when Reagan comes to the room.  I am ready for a nap - my Grande coffee is not working hard enough !!

So then we should be staying the night.  The top picture is from last night. The school had a PTA mtg + Speg dinner, and had an art show with all the kids submissions. This is Reagan with his snake watercolor painting.  He us so proud. Kaitlyn did a nice project and it was posted as well. Will show later.

We could not make the mtg since we headed off to get a new car!!! Yes, we were blessed with a wonderful gift of a BRAND NEW mini van, a 2011 Sienna XLE AWD, with only 20 miles on it. So they are detailing it and prep'g it for us and we will pick it up on Saturday after Reagan is released. So last night i drove home in a new Versa which is also very nice - Scott even talked the manager to treating us to a McDonald's dinner since we had not really eaten and the kids were hungry. Got an amazing deal and just so grateful for this gift.  We at this point with keep our 1999 Sienna with 235,000 miles on it as Scott's back-up car - until this one dies. It has served us very well and we just fell in love with how well it performed and low maintenance.  I am thrilled to have a new car again.

Lavonne

6:15 am

At 5:30 am - just hours away we will be leaving the house.... Reagan and I to drive to Children's.
At 6:15 am we check in
At approx 7:30-8 am Surgery will begin and Dr. Egbert and his intern in training will work at scrapping bone from Reagan's left hip (opposite side) and then the other doctor will be taking this bone and put it into the whole in his upper gum on the right side.  This will take a few days and will mold like cement and the bone will set and hold Reagan's teeth as they move them about to straighten them.  They will also be removing one more tooth - which will make it 5 since October.

This should be his last surgery for now - which is #8 - he should have one more when he is about 16.
So continue to keep our little guy in prayer!!
Lavonne

Reagan's surgery tomorrow Friday the 21st

Our precious Reagan (8)

will be having surgery tomorrow morning!

We have to arrive at 6:15 am and he will be first in.

This will be his 8th Surgery and the 2nd in 3 months.

He will be having a bone graft from his hip bone to fill the hole in his upper gum line

We will be staying the night and will go home hopefully Saturday

Prayers are requested for our precious little guy.

He is such a trooper - he does not think much of this - we know his hip bone will definitely be sore

for a while after this.  Will try and post and Facebook updates from Children's

Thank you for your faithful prayers

Lavonne

Way overdue - Wishing you all a great 2011 from the Dideon's

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I know I have been almost 5 months missing in action - but I vow to get back to blogging this year and in the next few weeks will be catching up with snippets of the year for you and then starting fresh for 2011.
It amazes me how many people over the years have followed our family - many I never knew before and have become friends via the internet.

May this year be an awesome one for each one of you - full of adventure, God's wonderful blessings and grace for 2011.

Christmas got the best of the Dideon Clan with a full schedule of activities - so here is wishing you a wonderful 2011 - praying that God will bless you and give you great joy and happiness throughout this year.


Our greeting card includes our family photo with Santa (including Winston with "Green" teeth) decided to not photoshop it :-) - thanks to some wonderful green candy !!!

The kids wishing you a greeting, their own Christmas Cards and lastly - Taylor sharing the Christmas Story in fast play mode !

Scott, Lavonne

Reagan (8), Kaitlyn (7), Taylor (6) and Winston (6) + Odessa and Lily (our cats)

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A touching story of Zac who's life was touched by cancer

The Story of Zac Smith from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

The mess... and an entertaining story of pets in our house

Well will try and post pix tomorrow - but we now have a red fence?

Scott bought some stain on sale cheap - i know why!! i think it was clearance of a non-selling item which is a nice barn red color - for me it is far from my color of preference - and we are over half way done and i am hoping they still have more of this ugly color to finish the fence.

Scott only bought 2 cans i knew it would take at least 3 - so he goes back today to get some more and then a bit of some brown for me to tone it down!?



With every step we uncover more stuff in need of repair. Scott started at the back-side of the house yesterday - we have this little closet thing for the power... to the hot tub - when we moved in the door was just hanging there - well it is desperate need of painting as is many things - we have learned lots in purchasing this house :-)

Well as Scott was working on it - he found all the roof tiles rotten and in much need of replacing and the walls warped and in need of replacing - it needs to be taken down, but on our budget it will get rehashed??????

Well a funny story about rodents... Scott is an Entomologist which is a bug man in the killing form as he works for a pest control company here. Well in Feb he found a deer mouse running across our laundry room floor - so the next day set up traps in the crawl space and then closed up holes and killed about 6. A week later found the food stash of cat food in the shoe closet. So i thought we were done!!

Well last week Sat night (9 days ago) I woke up at 3am to hear Lily busy chasing something near the staircase. I woke Scott up and we watched as Lily caught a Deer Mouse in her mouth - tail hanging out until she tried to re-grip and lost the little guy who went under the stove. So the next day Scott pulled out the stove and closed up the area and cleaned and sprayed. Well we though we were done! the next day i was cleaning our bathroom floor and hit the wall by the shower and a bunch of ants fell out -once i got the floor cleaning solution near the moulding i had a ton of ants come out which once i got Scott to check - we discovered they are moisture ants - so now have to pull back the wall and see how much damage we have. Scott when we moved in had to replace the flooring and prob should have done the wall too - so we may have a major task/project ahead of us - not something we are looking forward too.
More for my bug man to do - humm - hope it happens soon!!

So Monday night at 11:30 pm - i see Lily's back and tail sticking out of the Living Room sofa and Odessa sitting nearby watching tentatively as we are climbing the stairs and i say to Scott this is not normal and I think i know what is up.... so we head down and only mins later a little Deer Mouse runs across our living room - i grabbed my camera and we all start running around the room like a circus act - Scott, the cats and I - it was very funny chasing this mouse with containers trying to catch it - finally we did and the cats found it all very interesting. Scott had a cage and thought it would be nice to keep the little guy? not me!
So off to the garage the little went and Reagan named it for his birthday.....

Then Tues night Scott came home with a house mouse he caught on the job and so we had two cages of mice - I am definitely not thrilled with my Entomologist and the thought of hiring someone else crosses my mind.

So for the next few days we enjoy these two mice??? and the kids want to show them to everyone who comes by. So Reagan heads for camp last week and Tues or Wed night we are outside and Scott sees another Deer mouse scurry on the deck to the BBQ Grill - ugh!
So between him and I we try and catch it and he finally does and puts it in the cage with the other deer mouse - this guy jumps really high and we have concerns the house mouse is stressed and could die.

So by Friday we get Reagan and show him our new pets - by Friday night I go to bed and hear Kaitlyn say to me - that when they checked in on the mice - the house mouse is dead and the other two are missing ???? did i hear her right? so i was going to ask Scott and fell asleep and then on Sat ask Scott and he confirms that the 2 Deer mice had chewed their way out of the plastic cage ... you have to almost laugh at this - I now have no idea where they are and they are either in the garage or the house?

Sat night - Scott sets out glue traps (human) - now these guys are no longer cute! we find that they have chewed a hole in our plastic door sweep to get into the laundry room from the garage and are back eating the cat food. Scott had not thought through all the circumstances and as we just got to bed we hear a thump and a bump.... and we run downstairs to find Odessa our cat stuck to one of the glue boards and we have to pull out the veg oil etc to clean her up - thankfully she was not to traumatized by this - i am just laughing yet feeling sorry for my cat.

Sunday morning - Scott checks and we have one little Deer mouse caught - but the smarter of the two figured out things and chewed more of the sweep to get past the glue board and not get caught. So as of today he is still on the loose - but has left his poop markings all over - we even think he has gone back into the cage to get some food?

So one is still out there and i am sure there are more in the crawl space and i am hoping my husband will get his tools and resolve my issues of having my cat bring a dead or live mouse onto my bed to show off her prize!! Not something i will want to wake up to :-)

Lavonne - 8-2-10

Missing in Action?

Is Lavonne Missing?

So in the past week i have been asked 3 different times what has happened to me and if I am ok?

I guess I did not realize that June 21st was my last post - a week after school ended? Hummm

I wonder if something happened that has taken my time?

Well I now have 4 "needy" children home all day long every day all summer that is 2 MONTHS!

Counting the days until September when i can have more order in my life again :-)

Then we were starting to countdown my unemployment and really had to look at selling our home and also continue to look for jobs all over including out of state.

So with trying to do interviews at home, arranging with Scott to watch the kids or locking the bedroom door for quite (which Kaitlyn now has figured out how to open!!!)

while i do a phone call or interview... it has been interesting. then for the past 3-4 weeks we have been working on our yard - yes - photo's to come (Have been still busy shooting - just not posting) So have stained the deck, we are almost finished washing and staining the fence, i pruned 2 years of overgrown trees in the front and back of the house and just have a few more to clean up.... we removed 20 years of bark and roots from our backyard garden which was about 2 inches of the topsoil - now having to be removed..... then removing dead or unwanted plants, weeding, and today putting in 4 large ferns we got free from Scott's brother Chris with more to come.... installing 12 - 12" bricks as new steps in our back yard to the power lines, fixing the fence and gates, making a path behind our fence, cutting back 5-6 trees behind our fence which were dying..... then we tackled the garden (growing) and removing years of moss from our bricks (pathway) ---- all which are almost done but not completed.

Some days i have been outside for 8+ hrs working - also have been paying the kids $ .5/hr so on a good day have had all 4 working 2 hrs for me weeding and picking rocks or cleaning moss.

Today all 4 worked at the moss and grass in the bricks near our shed. Yet are getting rich from mom :-)

So with that and all the other things going on - on a daily basis including Reagan at 2 camps, today was a Rodeo for the boys and a birthday party for the girls..... we have just been plain busy. It is looking better - my unemployment ran out in July but was able to have it reinstated up to early Nov I believe so that takes some pressure off us. It is nice to actually have this work done, but have done little play time with the kids and feel a bit bad, but trying to get all this work done and find work as well. It has been a growing time for all of us.

Pray for us and me next week as i have a 3rd interview for a job in Phoenix AZ - there are a few of us candidates and i am hoping to clear this hurdle and then fly there. If this would happen I would move out there and Scott would look for work and we would possibly rent this house out?

We had a house sell 3 doors down from us at a total loss - i believe close to $80-100,000 below value so that really affects us trying to sell this place. So still working through a lot of stuff and figuring out our options. I thought i had some freelance work coming in but got an email tonight they lost the contract - so will see what else is out there. Have one interesting job i want to apply for tomorrow that i think I'd be a great fit for, and reworking my resume and stuff since you have to really market yourself and be quick..... it is a very different market and for me harder since i am looking at re-positioning myself in a whole new industry and field and how or what skills do i have that can transfer over? Lots of self evaluating.

Taylor has Surgery on August 16th to release the automatic sensor on her Veptr titanium bar to assist her growth, and we just had Reagan to the dentist and he will be having dental surgery on Oct 27th just before Halloween (poor guy) to have 4-5 teeth removed and revisit a bone graft so never a dull moment for us and then School is a month away, preparing for school getting supplies and stuff on their lists.

So Scott and I usually crash in bed - in total exhaustion these days - I miss my down time but find time in the yard a bit calming for me - so this is where my rest comes from :-)

I hope to start posting again since we are now in August - was really hoping to have most of this yard work done so we could move to new projects - I am hoping by the wknd end? that is a stretch - but it is a goal!!

Should have pix up and views of the changes in our yard soon!!

Hope all are well and please stay in touch

Lavonne 7-31-10

Winston's 2nd Gotcha Day

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Happy 2nd Gotcha Day Winston

Hard to believe that last Tuesday the 15th it was our anniversary of celebrating two years having our precious Winston join our family. June 15th, 2008 was Father's Day and Scott and Grandpa Jim flew to Xi'an city in Shaanxi Province, China and walked into the Civil Affairs office and saw our precious (An, HuJun) Winston who was suppose to be 3-1/2 but later we found out he was actually 4. He was very sad - since he had lived pretty much his whole life living in an orphanage and all that he knew and loved was there.


He took Grandpa Jim for a walk the next day heading back to the Civil Affairs office looking for his nanny. He grieved pretty hard and was a true challenge for these men those first few days :-)

He was such a precious little guy who bonded right away, but tested boundaries and was covered head to toe in open sores which we learned was a bad case of eczema with a staph infection. They almost were quarantined at the hotel - but managed to have this confirmed.

The last two years this little guy had more surgery that was unplanned to remove his tonsils so he could start to grow, was fully speaking English in 2 months, and gained a passion for anything fast - esp. race cars!! The first few days home he had to adjust to "live" animals which he was terribly fearful of, but now loves our cats and other kinds like dogs and horses. This year finally got over the fear of swimming and now loves it. This little man can pack away the food and loves his "meat" there is not much he won't eat!!!

Small in stature but this guy has a huge confidence level, and is very strong. He is an avid talker and is best friends with his virtual twin Taylor - yet can be arch enemies as well. Competition is fierce for these two.... who will start Kindergarten in September together. He loves his big brother and wants to do everything Reagan does, yet his daddy can do no wrong! He wants to be just like daddy when he grows up and at his graduation noted when he grows up wants to be a scientist. He loves to have holding time with mommy and we often get snuggling time in bed together. We had a difficult journey getting our 4th, but after viewing 4 other boys God directed us to this guy and the process was quick and easy and 7-1/2 months later he was home!

We now have a lifetime to get to know him and continue to see him blossom into the man God wants him to be.

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Mom and Dad and Siblings - 6-21-10

Father's Day 2010 at the Dideon's

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Today was Father's Day - for Scott this is #6 - yet we also celebrated our 2 year anniversary of getting Winston (posting will come shortly) - on the 15th which was Father's Day that year (2008) and Grandpa Jim, Scott and Winston were all in China - 3 generations!

This is Scott's 2nd Father's Day with 4 children. This morning we all slept in a bit - so Kaitlyn was the first to great Scott at about 7:15 am and slowly they all came in a bit out of it and climbed into bed and presented Scott with his wonderful homemade cards and gifts.

The photo's are of this morning before getting out of bed :-)

Then the kids helped mom make breakfast - and a hot mocha - it was one big breakfast - it was suppose to be in bed, but Scott landed up joining us downstairs, and then we were off to church. Later he chose to work outside in the rain, digging up rocks in our garden???

After that we headed to the Dideon/Dailey clan Father's Day BBQ in West Seattle for dinner and then after that headed to church for our class and home. Then Scott had to work until midnight - on Father's Day??? oh well it was a good day and a busy one. Scott loves being a dad and is a wonderful dad to our kids - they love him so much xxxxxxxx ooooooooooo

Lavonne 6-20-10

It's time to catch up....

So May and June have been especially busy for the Dideon clan.... as you can see below by the Smileboxes - we had field trips, birthdays, Mother's Day, concerts and the sort and I am still trying to catch up on all the hundreds of photo's I took during this time.

Today was the final day of school for the kids - Reagan and Kaitlyn will be in daycare until Friday so I can manage a few more job searches and interviews and then the next two weeks Winston and Taylor stay at school to help me out. Then praying I will have a job or an extension to my unemployment so can spend some quality time with the kids.... before going to work, or selling the house, or moving? still not sure what our outcome will be! Hanging in there....


Last week we had Taylor and Winston's graduation to Kindergarten, and yesterday was Kaitlyn's graduation to First Grade, then was Winston's 2 year anniversary to his Gotcha Day and next week is 5 years with having Kaitlyn - so still lots of parties and celebrations. Reagan celebrated his birthday early at school and I was busy scrambling making invitations to his birthday party early for the end of the month - which he handed out today at school. His birthday hits the busiest weekend in Seattle and so decided to make it so that his friends can come - and of course he wants a Terminator Party - so still working on a plan for the party and cake - the cake makes me a bit nervous since that is not an easy subject.


Today I had a doctors appointment to follow up on my medication and all is fine and the stuff is finally working and i am feeling more and more "normal" again! Praise God - it sucks when you just don't feel yourself. I suffered for 3 weeks with side affects and that was not fun either.


I also finally learned about my tremor that i have. It is called ET or Essential Tremor - thankfully it is benign (I have had it 13 years now) - it may have started from my over active Thyroid? but the medicine definitely made it worse but now have it more under control. It is similar to what Katherine Hepburn had - so I jokingly say I will one day have a bobbing head - but honestly when I have watched video's on this - it can be bad - so hoping it won't get much worse. Since being adopted I don't have much history on this - it is mostly genetic so glad i can't pass it along. I do know it has gotten worse over the years but very slightly - it is a bit embarrassing when someone stops their conversation with me and says "Whats wrong with your hands?"

We were suppose to have some really nice weather this week, but it decided to wait - so we are still waiting for a nice day to get the yard back in shape, I will post photo's of our cleaned and repaired roof, it looks like new and are so thankful for the "gift/help" this was too much for Scott to do, we are still working on the staining and have the first coat on the deck and hoping we can tackle the fence soon.

Scott eliminated a ton of branches hanging over our fence and also cut down/back some trees. I have been busy when there is no rain, cutting them down to fit in our yard waste box - that has been a workout in itself! So I am hoping soon we can actually sit back and enjoy our nice yard - we have so many long term plans for it - but now just focusing on the basics - also plan on taking Fern plants from behind our fence and use them to fill in our garden since it is a bit bland and needs plants - but the budget this year is for creativity only!

This weekend will be a full one with the yard, helping out at the kids school in cleaning, bible study at our place, friends for dinner and Sunday - doing Father's Day at home and then with Scott's family and our class. (Oh and 2 birthday parties on Sat). So never a dull moment here.
Hope to continue to post more stuff and get caught up. Thanks for your patience!!

Lavonne - 6-16-10

Reagan's Field Trip to the Zoo

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At the end of May - Reagan and his class went to the Zoo for the day. I was one of the parents who went and had Reagan and Carter with me.


Reagan is totally obsessed with Sealife, especially sharks - so we spent most of our time in the Aquarium. They had a great time in spite of the rain.

Lavonne - 6-16-10

Boy Scouts BBQ

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This is Reagan's Tiger Cubs - Boy Scouts BBQ on May 27th. Still Catching up on all the events and postings - it has been a very busy month!!!

Nicky, Reagan's cousin is also in the group which was mostly boys from Reagan's school - Daddy was the den leader this year.

He really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun, and got some nice awards.
Lavonne 6-16-10

Kaitlyn's Field Trip to the Fairgrounds

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I spent the day with Kaitlyn a few weeks back and her classmates and we went to the Puyallup Fairgrounds to the Farming section to learn about Agriculture and Farming.
It was sprinkling off and on until lunch and then it rained hard - we were lucky the other school was leaving as we arrived so we had shelter then. Later the rain lightened up so the kids could visit the ducks and play in the playground.

We had a great time and learned lots - took lots of pictures as usual.
Lavonne - 6-15-10

iVote - check it out

I encourage you to go check this new grassroots movement at iVOTE

Lavonne-6-15-10

Taylor's Prayer

We got this note on Friday from School. On Friday afternoon, they had read a book to the kids in school about salvation, there was 31 Pre-K kids who were there and Mrs. Drew decided to ask the kids if any wanted to pray the prayer in the book. Twelve of the kids decided to go with Mrs. Drew into the other room and pray with her. Taylor was one of them.

The teachers then quickly had to make a note to let the parents know what happened since this was so unplanned - yet so wonderful to make an imprint in these wonderful kids lives.

We are so fortunate to have the opportunity to have our kids in this wonderful private Christian school where the teachers not only educate but invest in our kids lives and eternal salvation. What regular school would you see something like this happen?

We have been blessed and hope that i can find a job so we can continue to have them stay there to shape and mold our kids into wonderful servants of Christ.

Lavonne - 6-14-10

Taylor's 6th Birthday Party

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This is Taylor's 6th birthday party 2-3 weeks ago. We did it a week early at a newer McDonalds - the invite said another McDonalds which use to have a playground but we went the day before and found out it was gone. So Scott sat at that McDonalds to redirect, we got one family by phone before the party - ugh!

This one had a nice playground and it was empty when we got there so i could get a whole bunch of tables together and set it up while the kids played. It worked out well and we had a $10 gift card to buy ice cream with and then paid for the drinks and i made the cake for $3 so it was a bargain of a deal party!

I even hit big lots for the favors and Taylor's presents. We ask at all our parties to give to Love Without Boundaries instead of gifts for the kids since Winston had surgery through them. This keeps the gifts to a min. and the kids more focused on the event vs. the gifts and greed. Also it is a great cause and this helps them to give back.

The kids had a great time, it was a nice small party and did not run too long since we had a class to go to that night. We met a wonderful women at McDonald's who teaches Chinese and has offered to teach all four kids for free. Her studio opens up next month so we are hoping it will work out.

Lavonne 6-14-10 (May 24th)

Cousin Nicky's 8th Birthday Party

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This is a slideshow of cousin Nicky's 8th birthday party at the Metropolitan Gym last month. He is a few months older than Reagan. We had two parties that day so I took Reagan bowling first and then met up with Scott and the kids at the gym where they all had a blast. Kaitlyn use to be a regular there and is a natural. Reagan is too and showed off some flips. Enjoy - i am slowly catching up between things - have many more shows to post for you all.

Lavonne 6-14-10

Odessa the small cat

Odessa who is almost 11 has been with us since a year after we got married

She has traveled from Nashville, to St. Louis and then to Seattle, she has learned to accept Leopold our other cat, then Oliver and finally now Lily who has been with us the longest at 3 years in July. She has put up with 4 kids taking up mom and dads time from her and other interesting pets who have come and gone.... Yet at night she knows it is her time to hang with Mom and Dad....

Odessa has an interesting fetish and that is to crawl in things - yes it is a cat thing - but she can not resist and Lily is nothing like our baby. A week or so ago i bought some small shoes on sale for my birthday and she could not resist the box they were in. So now the box is at the end of our bed and she happily squeezes into the thing as you can see above. We laugh since we know it is her only domain, there is NO WAY that Lily at almost 17 lbs could fit in this thing.... Odessa is 7-1/2 lbs :-)

Lavonne 6-13-10

A crowded bed?

Ok, last week Scott took this photo around 5 am and as you can see i was "dead"

to the world..... did not have a clue that my husband was photographing me while I am sleeping!

This however is a somewhat "normal" shot of our bedroom -

Here is me, Taylor, Reagan and Lily our "Big" cat

all enjoying some sleep since daddy is heading to work.

Saturdays our bed becomes a "Family Affair" our kids will definitely have memories of

Mom and Dads bedtime moments.

Lavonne 6-7-10