Bits of everything..

 My littles as I call them.. These are the youngest of the bunch.. Tayva is 5, Aiden is 7 and Caleb is 8..

The boys playing a little football with Dad..

 Running errands with the babies..

 We went swimming almost every weekend during the summer! It was too hot for anything else.

 We went to a little event where they had food and face painting... all the kids got their faces painted expect...  you guessed it, Justin. :)

 Aiden got a Tiger..

 Cameron got a shark..

 Xavy got his Army camo on...

 Caleb as a Tiger..

 It was fun but SOO HOT that day... By the end we were all ready to go home and cool off..

 Flowers were blooming and let me tell you.. The south has some of the craziest storms! Thunder so loud you think your house will blow up! It's crazy, yall!

 Aiden lost so many teeth.. and they are taking forever to grow back.. Don't you love his toothless grin?

And we have lots of tortured loves.. Ping's way of showing love is by pinching, holding, squeezing and torturing the kiddies.. Good thing they are used to it now! Look at Aiden's face! lol.. Poor guy! :)

May 2012

The 1st encounter-Tayva's Preschool Graduation..

 The kids eating dinner at Cameron's football practice before we head off to Tayva's Preschool Graduation..

 Watching our girl sing her songs and getting her diploma..

 The Graduate with her bouquet of Blow Pop's..

 Pictures with Daddy and all her brothers..

We get the kids every Tuesday and Thursday night and Tayva's Graduation happen to fall on one of those days.. So we got ready and picked up the kids and ran through McDonalds and went over to Cameron's football practice to eat. We then headed over to Tayva's school for her graduation. I was filled with anxiety.. You see this would be my first encounter with the EX (aka the kids mom) WARNING: This Blog is about to get very REAL! I had in my head how it would go....I would walk up to her and introduce myself to her and she would want to meet the person who cares for her kids, feeds her kids and drives her kids around and gives her weekly breaks..(Keep in mind I don't get those breaks ever).. I would if I was in her position and have done it in the past with my Ex's girlfriends. I come from a divorced family where everyone gets along and all my parents go to events and even get together on some occasions. That is what I'm used to and that is what I want for our family. I want the kids to feel like they don't have to take sides and can see ALL their parents get along and come together for their functions.... BUT BOY WAS I DEAD WRONG! After the graduation we went out to where the kids were and I noticed she was with Tayva taking pictures so we respected her time with her and when she was done we got our pictures and then came the moment... I saw an opportunity and we made eye contact and I started to walk over and had my hand out and she turned and walked away and even did a little shimy of some sort while walking away.. and that was that! The first snub of many more to come. I understand some people are different but I'm really having such a hard time with this because it is not in my nature at all to be mean or unkind to people. especially people I'm going to have to deal with for the rest of my life. I feel like if she would just give me a chance she would see who I really am. I guess all I can do is be the best wife and mother I can be and maybe one day things will get better. This is all so new to me, being a step mom or bonus mom as I like to call it and dealing with an ex.. It's hard... I just need to keep being myself and remember that not everyone in life will like me no matter how hard I try.. That second one is hard for me..

May 2012

Mother's Day...

 For Mother's Day.... We went on a weekend getaway to one of my FAVORITE places.. Callaway Garden's. It's so beautiful up there and makes me feel I'm in the mountains which reminds me of "home" in Utah..

 The boys were excited for an adventure..

 We went to the butterfly museum and saw lots of pretty butterflies but my favorite one was this blue one and I tried following it around to get a good picture.. this is the best one I got.

 My cute boys..

 The whole time in there, Aiden was saying how he wanted to hold a butterfly and they just kept flying away... On our way out Ping saw one sitting on a leaf and just put his finger over and it moved on him and then Ping put it on Aiden's finger.. You can see the excitement on his face! He loved it!

 We then went out to the bridge and saw all these baby turtles! They were so cute!! I wanted to take one home!!

 There is this beautiful Church in the middle of the park. surrounded by trees and a lake.. You can actually get married there if you want.. It is beautiful!

 Stained glass windows inside and pews..

 Just me and the boys! I love their faces off!

 Some cute Mother's day shots.. I love these pics.. We have come along way.. :)

 Me and my Love.. He is such a sweet and loving guy.. I'm so lucky! He makes me feel so content and safe and he works so hard. I love our relationship and how easy it is.. We get along so good and we both are wing nut's so it works out great!

We got home and I got to open my cute Mother's day gifts from the kids.. I'm one lucky mama! :)
May 13, 2012

Movies, BBQ's and Paper Airplanes...

 I'm still not used to having such a LARGE family and was shocked when we decided to take the kids to see The Advengers one day in May to see that it costs $98.00 for all of us to a movie! Geez!  We will proly have to wait till movies come out on apple tv from now on.  Haha.. But we had a great time and we all LOVED the movie.. Thor was gorge, Ironman was funny as ever and Hulk was my fav! Who knew I would like that movie so much?.. :)

 We have had lots of cookouts/BBQ's this spring/summer.. Ping is a beast on the grill and cooks us up yummy food! The kids love playing outside. One thing I love about the weather is dusk time.. It starts to cool off and it's just perfect outside..

 Aiden LOVES art and so we pleased to find out his school has art and he gets to make things. He made a snake with wings. :)

 One day the kids wanted to make paper airplanes and so Ping made them each a airplane and then they went outside to test them and then the whole neighborhood of kids wanted one.. So my sweet hubs sat there and made one for each of the kids. He earns cool dad points for that one. One of the many reasons I love him so!

I was on a baking frenzy and finally perfected my chocolate chip cookies! They looked and tasted delish! Proly why I have gained so much weight since I got here! ;) Love weight! I was on a cooking and baking frenzy the month of May! :) lol..
May 2012