So Short a Visit

Last night we said goodbye to D as he was reunited with his birthmom. He was with us for 3 1/2 weeks, and it was wonderful to have him. The house is soooo quiet now, and the kids are sad that he's gone. He will always be a part of our family, our foster family.

A Day at the Park

A couple Fridays ago the kids and I went to the park. I'm just now getting around to posting the pictures. It was a beautiful and warm day, perfect park weather. So, without further ado, here are the pictures.

Somehow, I didn't manage to get any pictures of Donovan. He wasn't in the best of mood that day, so he didn't stay close to us.

"What's hanging?"

Lil' Miss Sunshine

Isn't her hair cute? We curled it for school

and the curls stayed in all day.

It's Sean's hanging buddy, Matthew.

D on the big slide.

Alayna was playing peek-a-boo with

D around this pole.

Look What We Made

Last Friday, we were at my parents house and my brother, Richard, generously gave us some puzzles and games. We went home, and on Saturday began working on one of those puzzles. It is a 3D puzzle of Mont-Saint-Michel. For information on this island, click here.

It took Donovan and I, with a little bit of help from Alayna and Matthew, two days to complete this puzzle. Boy, those 3D puzzles are tough. Our next one will be of the Millennium Falcon. Wish us luck on that one.

Anyway, here's some pictures of our handiwork.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. As usual, I took the kids' pictures so you can see how great they look in their uniforms.

What a stud!!!

A lady's man!

Pretty princess!

Where'd his teeth go?!!!

Memory Lane

Several of my friends have this on their blogs and it has been awesome to see their responses remembering great times that we've had together.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory you and I have together, whether you know me well or hardly at all. Just anything that comes to mind... that's nice and good and happy, please. ;o)

2. Next, repost these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me I'll assume you are playing and I will come post my memory about you on your blog. If you don't have a blog, I'll post my memory of you here on mine!

Different Day at the Zoo

July 3rd was Military Appreciation Day at Hogle Zoo. Even though we already have a membership, we really wanted to go on this day and participate in the military events. It's always a different experience when you're with other members of the military. The day at the zoo was no exception. As soon as we entered the gates we noticed the Humvee. The kids had a hard time waiting for their turn to sit inside.

Here's Donovan dreaming of driving.

Watch out for Matthew, he's manning the guns.

Oh, how cute. Nothing scary here.

Now we're getting serious.

Oh yeah, he's armed.

They had a High School Marching Band play for us.

It was awesome to see Donovan and Sean dreaming

of the day when they will have their chance to play

in a marching band.

These young men are members of CAP (Cival Air

Patrol).

This was the most fabulous picture during the entire day.

We attended the bird show and afterwards they invited

members of the military to come up and have their picture

taken with the Bald Eagle. How cool is that?

Sniffles

A couple months ago we got a hamster. On the way home from the pet store, Alayna came up with the name Sniffles. During the second to last week of school, Alayna was able to "teach" her class and she chose to teach on hamsters. At that time we took these pictures.

This is Sniffles cage.

Don't fall.

"Hello"