Alayna's Birthday

Can you believe it? Alayna is 10 years old!!!

Yummy chocolate chocolate cake!!!

Yea!!! She blew out all the candles with one breath!

She loves Littlest Pet Shop.

What nifty wrapping paper :o)

Hoop earrings!!! Just what I've always wanted!

First Day of School

The first day of school was today. The kids were so excited to finally be going back after a long, yet fun, summer. As tradition, I took their pictures. Enjoy!

See how excited Matthew is here, love the thumbs up.

Donovan - 8th Grade

Sean - 7th Grade

Alayna - 4th Grade

Matthew - 3rd Grade

Sad Day

We found out today that we will not be able to adopt Brooklyn. The family in MA that adopted one of her half brothers has come forward with the official paperwork and is interested in adopting her. DCFS has their committee meeting today and decided that it is in Brooklyn's best interest to be adopted by this other family.

We are beyond upset. We had an attorney and were only 1 1/2 months away from finalizing the adoption. Now, we lose her and she will not be a part of our forever family. She will remain in our care for a couple more weeks while the transition plans are finalized, then she'll be gone.

Just rip my heart out why don't you. I am definitely going through the stages of grief. I cry one minute and the next I want to throw something. I just pray for the pain to go away. What more can I say?

Matthew's Baptism

Saturday was such a wonderful day!!! Matthew was so excited, and nervous, to be baptized. He couldn't help but smile so big. Here are some pictures of his special day.

Look at that smile!!!

Matthew and Daddy

Some good looking gentlemen.

Matthew with Mommy and Daddy.

Pictures of Little B

Well, you asked for them so here they are. Isn't she the cutest thing you've ever seen?

March 27, 2009

B and "Daddy" - March 28, 2009

March 28, 2009

Matthew holding B - April 6, 2009

April 7, 2009

Matching dresses - Easter

B loves Donovan - Easter

After bath time - April 14, 2009

All pink - April 18, 2009

April 28, 2009

Halloween

Halloween this year was incredibly busy, but a ton of fun. The kids were able to wear their costumes to school, which they thought was a nice change from their uniforms. They had a parade at school followed by a talent show. Donovan was backstage handling all the CDs and Alayna played a piano piece, Ode To Joy.

We also had two new additions to our family for Halloween, little T, who is 2 3/4 years old, and baby A, who is 9 months old. They have been with us for a week now and we'll just see how long they'll stay.

The kids did a lot of Trick-or-Treating between our neighborhood and Grandma and Grandpa Burgener's neighborhood. Their pillow cases are sooooo full of candy, it's going to be awhile before they eat, or Jeff and I, eat all that candy.

For the break down of costumes: Donovan created his own costume this year, he was a Modern Day Hero. Notice the Red, White, and Blue hair coloring (mostly red though) and the knight's sword. Sean had to be a Skeleton Grim Reaper. The chest plate could ooze blood by pumping the attached heart. Very gross!!! Alayna was a Vampiress. We went with the white hairspray, because black would have taken forever to get out of her hair. Matthew was Iron Man, his favorite super hero right now. He didn't want to wear the mask because it was hard to see out of, so we sprayed his hair red. Little T was a Ninja. He spent most of the day trying to kick things. Baby A was a Pink Leopard. The hood was so big, you can't even see her face in this picture. As for Jeff and I, we didn't dress up this year. Although, Jeff did wear his bright orange "I Don't Do Costumes" shirt to work.

So, that was our Halloween. We hope that everyone else had a great and safe day.

Certificate

Yesterday, Donovan received this awesome certificate from school. He got it 2 years late, but at least he got it. I'm so proud of him and his hard work.