Holiday Newsletter

This year we were going to mail out a holiday newsletter but I lost almost everyone's address when I lost my cell phone. So, instead I decided to post it and email it out. Hopefully, everyone gets a chance to read it. Merry Christmas!! Here it goes:

We hope that as we write this letter, you and your family are healthy and thankful for the blessings that you have. This year has flown by so fast that we can’t believe Christmas is right around the corner! This has been an especially trying year for us but also a very rewarding year. Many of you have been so important to the survival of our family and we truly thank you for everything that you have done for us - prayers, gifts, encouragement, support, a shoulder to lean on, and often an ear to vent to. You are all such blessings to us. Let us give you a brief update on what the Heppenstall Family is doing these days:

Taylor: Taylor is running his business in this slow economy. Business has definitely dropped due to the vast economical struggles but God continues to provide enough business to keep a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. This year Taylor has really been reaching out to our homeless community. He feels that God has called him to minister to them so he has been organizing food, clothing, and hygiene supplies to be given them regularly. For those of you that know the struggles that Taylor went through at the end last year and the beginning of this year, we want you all to know that he is doing MUCH better!! Praise God!!

Terecita: Terecita is working at a small manufacturing company that makes wire harnesses for old cars. The job is very simple and not that exciting but it certainly provides the opportunity to bring in some income while being able to be home with Tyler when he gets out of school. Terecita recently started coaching a basketball team at a small high school in Redlands and it has been quite an interesting experience so far.

Tyler: Tyler is currently enjoying the 4^th grade. He is getting great grades and has had perfect attendance so far this year. This is the first time in his school career that he has ever gone a whole month without missing a day of school! Many of you know the struggles we had when Tyler first moved in with us and he has practically become like a whole new kid! He has made so much progress in his behavior!! He is enjoying lots of sports and he loves all types of art. Tyler has been struggling recently with the fact that his siblings were adopted in November and our adoption with him is still not final. If you remember to pray for him and his anxiety with that, please do!

Little “T”: That’s right!! If you didn’t already know, we are expecting our first baby in March! By the end of December Terecita will be 7 months pregnant. We have not found out yet if we are having a boy or a girl and sometimes we feel like we should just wait and be surprised. We do have a name picked out if we are going to have a boy but we are struggling with a name for a girl. We would like to keep the “T” trend going but we have not been hearing any girl names that we like. We are certainly open to suggestions. As of right now, baby checks out to be completely healthy! Praise God!

So, that is a very brief update on the Heppenstall Family. We wish we could fit in everything for the year but that would take too much space. We truly are blessed to have you in our lives and we hope that you have an amazing Christmas and New Year!!

With Love,

Taylor, Terecita, Tyler, and Little “T”

The Heppenstall Family

Baby is A-Okay!

Just a quick update before I go to work! :-) I just got back from the Dr for my baby check up. My belly measures just as it should and the baby's heartbeat is strong. The doctor got the results back from the sonogram and baby is healthy! Woo hoo!!! And you may not be able to tell but I am now 24 weeks (at least I will be tomorrow). I still do not know if we are having a boy or girl but I will find out before Christmas. Here is my picture of 23 weeks and 6 days. I know it might not look like it but I'm actually 6 months!! It's so crazy! I hope everyone's Wednesday has started off right! And I will look forward to writing my next update. And I think I'm FINALLY starting to feel the baby move. :-) Right now it just feels like bubbles in my stomach. :-) Have a great day everyone!

December is Here!!

It's officially December! I think this is my favorite time of the year - probably because Christmas is my favorite holiday! This year we are really trying to start some of our own family traditions now that we have had Tyler for over a year and we have a baby on the way. In previous years we have always gone to my parents' and in-laws' and done whatever they do. But I think this year that we are going to stay home and make our own Christmas Family Traditions. I can hardly wait!! Last year, we already started one - which is to have hot chocolate with warm bread for breakfast on Christmas morning. We just dip the bread in to the hot chocolate. It probably sounds really weird but I really like it and always have since I was a kid. Mmmm!!!

And I think one of our new traditions that we started this year will be decorating on Thanksgiving weekend. We had our Staycation on Black Friday and we started our decorating on that day. And then we put up our Christmas Tree on Saturday. It was great! :-) I think that's the way to do it again next year! Much better for us than going out with all the craziness in the stores. We didn't do a lot of decorating but it is enough for us.

Our Christmas Tree with stockings hanging next to it. (I apologize for the bad picture. Trying to get use to the hubby's camera - very different than mine.)
The dining room table. Very simple but nice.
We also have some garland hanging up in a couple of various places and some Christmasy towels and oven mits in the kitchen as well. And we got some pretty cool Snowflake candles at the 99 Cent Store. They are great!

And since I already had marshmallows and Rice Krispies, I couldn't help but make another batch of Rice Krispy Treats! This time I added a couple of big spoonfuls of peanut butter. They were pretty darn good - although that slightly takes away from the ooey gooey-ness. But still very delish!

Another thing I love about Christmas is giving gifts. The reason that we celebrate Christmas is certainly not for the gifts but I still can't help but love to give gifts. It probably makes me feel better than the person receiving the gift when I know that it's exactly something they wanted. This year we are pretty tight on money so I'm trying to think of things that I can make for people. Some of the best things that I received for gifts in the past were things that people made. I just felt that someone put so much thought and effort in to the gift. I'm thinking about whipping up lots of cookies, brownies, and rice krispy treats to start with. But I know there's something else I would like to make for people that they can use. I can't wait!! :-)

Now, on to the reason for the season... I don't know where all of you bloggers' beliefs are but I am a firm believer that Jesus Christ is the reason why Christmas should be celebrated. I fully believe that Christ died for our sins and rose again three days later. He was the ultimate sacrifice for us so that we may join Him in Heaven. I truly believe that is the ultimate gift of sacrifice and the least we could do is celebrate His birth. Although, I must say that we certainly don't celebrate His resurrection enough. Perhaps that should change... hmmm...

What Christmas traditions do you love to do with your family and/or friends?

Operation Chocolate-Covered Kindness

This post is going to be extremely brief due to being short on time but I really wanted to take a moment to plug another generous blogger. Katie over at Chocolate-Covered Katie is hosting a pageview Charity Drive. The more people that visit her blog, the more money she will raise for The Enough Project. I wish that I would have found this out earlier because the drive ends today but if you have the chance, please do stop by her site and check out Chocolate-Covered Kindness!!!

I know she is blessing so many people through this and you can help to just by stopping by her site. I hope you have moment to do so!!! Have a blessed day everyone!!

Pajama Staycation

Hello Everyone!! I hope that you all had a splendid Thanksgiving!! Ours was great. Sadly, I managed to take ZERO pictures. We went to eat dinner at my parents' house. I wish I would have taken pictures cause everything was so DELISH!! My dad made one of his best turkeys this year! We also had all the goods on the side: stuffing, potato salad, rolls, collard greens, corn, sweet potatoes, gravy (of course!!), cranberry sauce, and let's not forget dessert - which we had pumpkin pie, apple pie, and rice krispy treats!!! Everything was so good that I wish I had more room in my stomach! For the most part, that is all I have to report for Thanksgiving since I took no pictures. Everything is always low-key at my parents' house. When we go to my in-laws' house there is a lot more going on. Maybe next year we will go there (or go to both like normal).

Oh wait! I did forget that the boys went outside and started working on our garden after we got back. I don't how they did that cause I was completely ready for sleep, even though it was only 4pm. All they did was start digging up the ground. They dug out about 10 of these 1-foot squares of grass. Taylor told me that he was going to use it to make Tyler a "Lawn Chair". While, I thought he was joking, he really did make Tyler a LAWN chair. It was pretty funny. It even included an end table. :-) Very creative!
On to our PAJAMA STAYCATION!!!

We decided that today was going to be an absolute chill day. Originally, it was going to be all three of us but then the hubby decided that he had to work. :-( But we still decided to make the best of it. Last night we prepared EVERYTHING so that today we wouldn't have to make anything, wash anything, or make any effort other than for our simple enjoyment. So, last night, we cut up fruits and veggies, made sandwiches, made a pumpkin, and made some rice krispy treats. We made sure that we had enough food for us to last through the day.

So, we started the morning with mini muffins, lots of fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, oranges), bagels, and some nature's valley trail mix bars.

At about 11:30ish, I started bringing out the sandwiches. We made tuna, PB & J, and just jelly. All the sandwiches were cut in to four squares. I don't have any pics of this because hubby had already left for work and I was using his cell phone to take the pictures (still camera-less).

Throughout the day, we spent the whole day hanging out. We played a couple of games of Yahtzee - I won once, and Tyler won once, we watched a movie (Disney's Tarzan), we did a couple of crafts, we started some Christmas decorating, and did LOTS of snacking!

We cut out and decorated some self-standing stars, using poster board, glitter and sticker stars. Tyler originally put puff balls on his star but then decided he didn't want them.

Later, we decorated our Christmas stockings. I don't know why we didn't do this year, but I guess that's a good thing because it gave us the opportunity to do it this year. We used glitter, foam stickers, and puff balls. Tyler and I decorated the hubby's stocking for him since he wasn't here (and he's not really that into doing artsy-craft type things).

After that, I started busting out some of the dessert-type snacks, like Chips Ahoy Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies, Rice Krispy Treats, Pumpkin pie.

I, of course, went straight for a Rice Krispy Treat!!

Amongst all this goodness, we managed to start putting up Christmas decorations, and we watched a movie, and just enjoyed each others' company. It was quite a much-needed, relaxing day. We should do this more often. We didn't have to once think of what to eat. We just snacked ALL day! It was the best way for us to spend BLACK FRIDAY!! Much better than crazy shopping. :-)

How did you all spend your Black Friday??

Tomorrow we are hoping to get in a couple hours up in Angelous Oaks to enjoy some of the great nature that we have out here while the weather is so nice out here. We're not sure if we are going to be able to do this cause hubby is planning on working a half-day, but that usually turns in to a whole day. Hopefully not this time.

I hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving and is enjoying the rest of their Thanksgiving weekend!!

Weekend Wrap Up

I know that Friday really was not that long ago but it seems like it was so far away that I really have to think about what happened. So, as I sit here I remember that I did not work at all on Friday. It was kind of nice to not work but at the same time we certainly need the money. I pretty much spent the day at my son's school. There was an Awards Assembly. It took like 2 hours!! The sad part is that the folders that were supposed to hold the certificates for the kids in my son's class somehow got misplaced so they actually did not get the awards until just before lunch. So, we sat there for two hours for nothing!!! But then after the awards assembly, Tyler got to run in his first official race. Every year his school holds an annual Turkey Trot, which basically is about a quarter of a mile. Tyler actually got 8th place out of all the 4th grade boys!! He was so excited! I unfortunately have no picture cause I lost my camera (or it got stolen - a whole other story). But his teacher took a pic of him racing but he hasn't emailed it to me yet. :-( But I will sure to post it as soon as I get it. As far as Friday night is concerned, I honestly can not remember what we did on Friday night. Hmmm.... I must be getting old.

Saturday was a relax day. We slept in and wore our PJs for the first half of the day. Tyler and I watched an old movie, Ernest Saves Christmas, while eating our breakfast. If you have never seen it, it is one of those movies that are so stupid that it makes you actually laugh. It's very cheesy. Taylor, unfortunately, had to work all day on Saturday so we didn't get to hang out with him too much until the evening. Tyler and I pretty much just lounged around all day. He had some chores to do that hadn't been done earlier in the week and then it was just hang out time. We did some cuddling up (which loves to do - but won't admit in front of friends, of course), drawing, and he played with his LEGOS. When Taylor got home, the three of us all had dinner together. And again, I have to say that I don't remember what we had for dinner. It must not have been very exciting. Then after dinner we played some Scrabble while having hot chocolate. It was some good family time. Then after that we were all pretty tired so it was time for bed. :-)


Sunday morning, I got up and decided that I wanted some pancakes. I just used the Bisquick boxed stuff where you just add water. But then I added some cut up bananas and pecans. It was sooo good. We even sprinkled some extra pecans on top. On the side we had scrambled eggs and some good, crisp grapes. Mmm.... Pardon the not so great pics as I am still using a cell phone since my camera is MIA. :-(

For lunch I made some PB & J sandwiches. I made Tyler's look like a face. I joked that it was his face because I made the Cheez-Its look like his teeth. We always joke that Tyler really big teeth. Does that make us bad parents???


Let's compare pictures.... Don't you think the sandwich looks like my son??? :-) j/k. We joke about this all the time. It's a good thing that he thinks it's funny, too!
Much of the rest of the day was pretty drained because Tyler started having attitude problems so that kind of cut his day short. Blah!!!

And then there is today - Monday. It was pretty uneventful. I went to work for only about 2 hours, which was not that exciting. And I came home to Tyler have an attitude with Taylor. More blah!! And then in the afternoon, I had to coach our basketball team. I am only the assistant coach (which is nice, since I'm pregnant) but the head coach is out of town for Thanksgiving. :-) It has been interesting getting to know the girls. I never really thought that I would want to teach or coach high school students but this actually could be a lot of fun - if we get a full team soon. It's a very small school and so far we only have four girls. We shall see...

For now, I am tired. It's only 10pm and I feel like it's midnight. I guess that's what pregnancy does to you. :-)

Oh! I almost forgot to post the picture of me wearing the maternity outfit that my awesome friend, Beth, got me. It's interesting how just simply wearing a maternity outfit suddenly just makes you look more pregnant. :-)


Happy Monday!!!

Blessed!!

This morning I was extremely blessed by one of my beautiful friends. Her name is Beth. She knows that recently I have been struggling with what clothes to wear due to the pregnancy and that I don't have a lot of money to be buying clothes. So, she showed up this morning with a wonderful gift for me. :-) She went out and bought me my first maternity outfit. I like it so much. I don't think the picture does it justice (since it was on a cell phone) but the outfit is right up my alley. She knows me so well!! I will be sure to take another pic when I wear it for the first time this weekend!!

Some darker blue jeans (with a stretchy belly) and a maroonish-red shirt - perfect colors for me :-)

What a wondeful treat to start my day with! She is so thoughtful.

Have a great Thursday everybody!!

'Tis Tuesday

** Just so you all know I wrote this email on Tuesday but for some reason I did not post it... hence the title, "Tis Tuesday"**

I am amazed that it is already Tuesday... but at the same time, I also think "Is it only Tuesday??". I can't believe that I am actually going to be able to write another blog so soon. I hope this means that I will be getting back in the habit. I was going to write this post last night but I just was exhausted once the child was in bed. Blah! No excuse, right?!?!? :-)

I did want to share what he had for dinner last night. I thought it was quite good. Something simple that I have never tried before. And it was especially good, cause my son decided he wanted to help. He really likes helping me cook. Maybe in a few years, he will be doing all the cooking for us. :-) Anyhow, here's what he had:

- Chicken wings baked with poultry seasoning and A1 Sauce.
- Green beans
- Steamed rice
- Strawberries (which by the way were a great deal at the 99 cent store.)

I was going to add some pictures right here of the meal but for some reason I can not find the cord that connects the camera to the computer. I actually took pictures of our meal and now I can't show them.... I am so lame. Totally slacking. I guess that's what happens when you take an unintentional hiatus. :-)

And as for dinner tonight, I made turkey burgers, homemade french fries, and we had some more of those delish strawberries. We had to make sure to eat in a somewhat speedy way as I had to be at an athletics meeting at 6pm. We did pretty good. We started eating at 5:20 and still made it on time. :-)p

So this week, on Thursday, we will be having our first actual practice. It should be quite interesting as only 4 girls showed up to the meeting. We will actually mostly be doing conditioning which kinda bums me out that I'm pregnant cause I would much rather be doing the running with them. :-) Just what I need to get my weight down to my goal but now I can't think about that because I am actually supposed to be gaining wait now. Grrr...

Anyhow, I hope everyone has had a great Tuesday.

Some pics of our boy

This is just going to be some pics of our boy and us. I don't really have much to report for the weekend. It was pretty much just spent enforcing consequences on our lovely child. He has a bit of a problem with the five-finger discount and we are trying to nip that in the bud early. It's really hard, though, cause he has been doing it for so long with his birth family. Anyhow, enough of that negativeness. Here are a few pics of us:

Our first family photo ever. July 2008

This is Tyler's first trip to a beach (and his first trip to San Diego). November 2008.



Tyler's first time up to Idyllwild for some hiking. March 2009

That will be all for now. I hope that everyone had a great weekend. As for me, it went by way too fast!

Opportunities Galore!!

So, here I am... writing another post almost a month after the last one. What is up with that??? I really want to write more often but it just doesn't happen as it should. One thing that should make it easier is that I finally have my computer set up.... Woo Hoo!!! So, in my last post, I actually stated that I don't want to work at my job anymore. Well, recently, I have been directed towards two GREAT opportunities that are definitely more up my alley. They are:

1) I've been volunteering in my son's classroom a lot recently. It is a Special Day Class for ED kids. Well, the teacher's assistants (or paraprofessionals, as they like to call them) are being forced to take all their vacation time during school days this year, due to budget cuts, instead of cashing out on them at the end of the year. So, my son's teacher, asked me if I would just apply to be a substitute assistant because he knows that I have plenty of experience with behavior challenges. He basically said that I help out so much in the class already that I might as well get paid for it. I thought that was a great idea! And it will work perfect with when Tyler is in school.

2) My wonderful friend, Bobbi (who you may all know from N Her Shoes), told me about a great opportunity where she works. She told me that her hubby is going to be coaching the girls' basketball team and would need an assistant, and they both thought of me to do it. I wouldn't get paid much but I would get paid a little to do something that I really enjoy! There is a coach's meeting this week and I'm already excited and nervous!!

Both of these opportunities were presented to me this week and I couldn't believe it. God just works in amazing ways. I am definitely more inclined to work with the youth than to do a mindless job day in and day out. Now, don't get me wrong, the people that I work with and work for have been amazing but the actual job that I have to do everyday is not fulfilling in any way. So, those are my wonderful opportunities.

UPDATES:
My last post stated that two important dates were coming up for our family. The first one was the day I was supposed to find out if I was having a boy or a girl. Well, unfortunately, the technician said that the baby was not in a position where they could tell. I personally took that to mean that we are having girl but that is certainly UNOFFICIAL. So, as of this time, I still don't know. :-(

The second important date was for our court hearing with our son. We are very happy to report that the judge FINALLY terminated parental rights... it only took them 4 years after Tyler was pulled from their home... i just don't understand that. Anyhow, the birth mother was at the court hearing and she appealed - just as we expected. This is actually a good thing because now we can move towards just getting the appeal over with. The judge set another court date for Dec. 14th for the birth mother to present any evidence she may have as to why the courts should not terminate her rights. I can't believe that she still expects to get her son back after all this time of her not getting it together - and still not getting it together!! Anyhow, we are moving a step in the right direction. Now all we can do is wait right now. But if any of you remember on December 14th, we can certainly use your prayers.

I wanted to close this post with some pics of us with Tyler but they were taking FOREVER to download so hopefully I will be able to post those tomorrow. I do apologize for the lack of photos. However, if you are interested, you can see the short video from the day that we told Tyler that we were going to be his parents. Click here if you are interested.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!! :-)

Kreativ Blogger

Just today I was ready my beautiful friend, Bobbi's, blog over at N Her Shoes. She was given the Kreativ Blogger Award and then Bobbi so graciously awarded it to me. So, with that award comes the responsibility of sharing 7 things about myself that almost nobody else knows about. And then I award this to someone else who will share 7 things about themselves. I am honored that Bobbi would think of me but I certainly don't think that I am a creative blogger by any means, but I kind of think she was graciously trying to give me more exposure as I try to re-enter the wonderful blog world. So, here we go....

7 Things That Nobody Knows About Me:

1. If I could, I would adopt many, many children.

2. Babies seriously scare me. I hate not knowing what they need when they cry.

3. I often wish that I could be an actress on a family-friendly television show.

4. I prefer not to have cheese on anything but LOVE it on pizza! (But will still eat food with cheese when I am guest in someone's home).

5. I was in choir in high school but I really can't sing.

6. I want to learn how to ballroom dance.

7. I don't want to work at my job anymore. People are really nice but job is not rewarding or fulfilling in any way.

Now, 3 Bloggers to give the award to:

1. Kamran at The Sophisticated Gourmet

2. Lacey at Common Objects and Everyday Events

3. ALL OF YOU!! (Totally taking Bobbi's idea cause you are ALL creative and I would love to see all of your answers)

So, that was the Kreativ Blogger Award. Again, I will say that I am honored that Bobbi would choose me. I gotta get back in the habit of writing. At least this time it only took me a little over a week (thanks Bobbi!!). We still haven't hooked up my computer but that will change things a lot when that happens. But if I don't write this weekend, I will definitely be posting next week for sure. We have two big events coming up next week:

1. October 27th - I will have my sonogram where I find out if we are having a boy or a girl. I can't wait to find out!!

2. October 28th - This is our next court date in the adoption process with our son, Tyler. This court date should terminate the birth families parental rights for good. Once that happens, the birth parents have the right to appeal, which they probably will. We have to wait 60 days just to see if they appeal. So, we are ready for the next phase but after that it is just a waiting game for us. So, if you remember, please do keep us in your prayers.

Anyone have any big plans for this weekend??

Have a Great Night Everyone!!

Finally...

I am writing another post. It took me about another month and a half but I am here at last. It has been really hard for me to blog because since we moved, we haven't set up my computer so I have had to use my husband's computer. I haven't realized how inconvenient that is - especially when he is home. But this week we are setting up my computer so hopefully I will be able to get more posts in on a regular basis - instead of once every one to two months. So, let me see if I can catch you up on what's been going on. Really, right now, there are two big things that I want to share with you all.

First, I will start with MY NEW (USED ) CAR!!! Just about a month ago, we finally got a car to replace our van that was out of commission. I love my new car. It is a 2000 Toyota Camry. I haven't taken any pictures of it yet but I will try to post some tomorrow (for real this time). I don't know if any of you read my other blog, The Three T's but a little over a year ago I posted a picture of my old Camry completely crushed under a tree branch that fell on top of it. If you would like to see it, feel free to check it out. The post with this picture is kind of a long post because I recapped my whole month of August of last year. That was a busy month for us. But feel free to check it all as it gives a little glimpse of me and my family.

So, now on to the BIG NEWS.... As of this coming Thursday, I will be EIGHTEEN WEEKS PREGNANT!! For the last couple of posts, I was constantly posting about how tired I was all the time... Well, this is why! :-) My due date has changed from March 27th to March 18th to March 22nd. So, I'm guessing some time in March :-). I got some sonograms at a Free Clinic in San Bernardino that I am happy to post. I apologize if they are hard to see. Sometimes sonogram pics are hard to see the baby anyways but these pictures were in and out of my pocket for a couple of days before I scanned them. These pictures were taken at about 13 weeks.

I like this one the best because looks like he/she is sitting ready for the world. :-)

In this one the baby appears to be laying down. I think it's harder to see the baby in this picture.

Well, finally after a month and a half I have finally told you all the big news that I wanted to tell you (if there is anyone left still reading).

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week and feeling blessed!!

Where Have I Been????

I can't believe that I went from M.I.A. to falling off the face of the planet!! So many things have happened since my last post that I don't even know where to start. For one, our family van totally broke down and is out of commission. We have not had it for about two months so we have been relying on other people to get all over the place. Ugh!! But tomorrow we are getting our replacement vehicle so I can hardly wait!!

My son finally started school. It seems like it took forever for the first day of school to come, but I was so excited when it finally got here.

I guess it hasn't been too big of a deal that I haven't been blogging recently because I haven't really been making any great meals throughout this summer. It has just been way too HOT!! Every Saturday we have a barbecue and cook lots of extras so we can have leftovers for a few days. Then everything else we eat is frozen foods or sandwiches. Pretty lame, huh?

I do have more news that I will be looking forward to sharing but that will have to wait until my next post!! Right now I am going to try to get caught up on what's been going on with all of you!!

Happy Monday!!

M.I.A.!!!

Wow!! I can't believe that it has been over two weeks that I have been Missing In Action (MIA)!!! It seems like it went by so fast! The last time I wrote I talked about my son leaving for camp. Well, he came back so fast. It was amazing how tired I felt while he was gone. I thought that I would do so much while he was gone but as soon as I had the time, I just felt exhausted. I guess I didn't realize how tired I was until I actually had a moment to rest. And before I knew it, I was already picking my son up from camp. That week flew by in the blink of an eye. I did manage to get some time in to do stuff that I don't always get to do. On that Monday night, I went out to dinner and a movie with my wonderful friend, Beth. We went to Rubio's and chatted it up, grabbed a Mocha Frappucino from Starbuck's, and then headed off to the movies. We went to see The Proposal which was REALLY funny. Also, during the week that my son was at camp, my husband and I managed to find some to go eat at Pick up Stix and get some Frozen Yogurt at TCBY and were just able to relax... a little. Before we knew it, Tyler was back and we had to get back in the groove of things. Don't get me wrong... I absolutely love my son, but it was really nice to have a break.

I would love to recap you on all that has been going on since I last wrote but in all honesty it seems like such a blur. There have been barbecues, fireworks, swimming, meetings with social workers (blah!!), work, and so many other random things (some fun and some not). So, at this point I am hoping that I can do some major catching up on all of your blogs and perhaps gets some regular posts started up again. I will have to post some random pics up in one of my next blogs so that you can get a little dose of what I've been up to but as of right now, I want to catch up on what you have all been up to. And hopefully, you all haven't given up on reading my blog! :-)

Camp and A Wonderful Treat

So, yesterday morning I dropped my son off to go tocamp. He was so excited! He has never been to camp before and he has never stayed overnight anywhere without us since he has moved in with us (about a year ago). As soon as I woke him up, he bounced out of bed with a huge smile (which has never happened before) so you know he was excited. Here's a pic of him with his sleeping bag as we were loading up the van. He could not stop smiling and saying "thank you for letting me to go camp."

Once at the meeting location, it did not take him long to make a friend. In front of us in line was a boy that Tyler instantly bonded with. They were like two peas in a pod. And they were instantly asking the camp staff in they could be in the same cabin together. And when they got on the bus they just had to sit together. Here are the buddies together on the bus.
We were pretty excited about camp, too, because we needed a break. Tyler is a great kid but he really can wear on a person. He's much better than he was but in the beginning he had us crying out to God daily. It's amazing to see his transformation (and ours). I definitely miss Tyler but it is nice to be able to relax. :-)

A Wonderful Treat

So, when I went to go check my mail today, I was delighted to see that I had a nice package. Recently I entered a give away for some Trader Joe's goodies over at Faith In Food. And to my surprise, I actually won. I was wondering when I would receive the package and today was my lucky day. I was so excited! Here's all the goods:

In the package was:
- Perk Up Your Trek Mix
- Gluten Free Granola
- Sun Butter
- Thai Style Lime Pilaf
- Island Soyaki
- Pasta
- Dried Fruit Bars
- A handy-dandy Trader Joe's tote bag
- And a really sweet note that made my day!!!

So, I'm going to get going on a high note. I gotta get some rest. Have a wonderful night everyone!

Weekend Wrap-up... Finally :-)

I hope that everyone's weekend was absolutely wonderful! As I was glancing over everyone's blogs, it looks there were some good times being had. I will definitely have to really sit down and catch up on what's been going on with everyone. My weekend was pretty jam-packed. I will have to figure out how to get some rest from my weekend. But hopefully that won't be too much of a problem since my son will be at camp all this week until Friday afternoon. So, on with my weekend wrap-up! (finally)

FAMILY FUN FRIDAY

This week we actually decided to do Family Fun Friday outside of the home. Usually we rent a movie and order a Little Caesar's Pizza but this week we decided to splurge a little bit. We decided to go get a Costco Pizza (which I absolutely love) and then go to the drive-in. i really love the drive in because it is WAY cheaper than going to the movie theater and you get to see movies. So, we went and saw UP and NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 2. All three of us enjoyed both movies. I personally enjoyed UP the most. It was absolutely great!!

After the movies were over, we headed home pretty late. We were pretty tired afterwards. And I was definitely ready to go to sleep.

SATURDAY WEDDING

After we slept in a little bit we got ready to head out to a wedding in San Diego of some very dear friends of ours, Jon and Emily. It was such a beautiful wedding and they absolutely deserve it!! These are two down-to-earth, God-serving, generous people. They had the most God-centered wedding/reception that I have ever been to and that was AWESOME!! I love these two dearly. In addition, they have also stepped up and said that if anything were to ever happen to us, that they would take care of our son. That is amazing!! They had their wedding on the Sunset Cliffs in San Diego. It was perfect weather and a perfect view! Here are the some pics of the wedding. I didn't get too many cause we didn't get a good seat up front (since we were trying to save some seats for some friends that were late). But here's what I did get.

The view is beautiful!

The handsome groom - Jonathan
The absolutely beautiful bride - Emily (with her father)
Husband and Wife - Mr. & Mrs. Jon & Emily Shum!!!!

We also took advantage of the fact that we were all dressed up and on the beautiful Sunset Cliffs. So, we got some nice family pics.

The Fam :-)

Me and the Hubby

Father and Son - Two Good-Lookin' Fellows if I do say so myself! :-)

After the wedding, we headed over to the reception at a Chinese Restaurant. I think it was called the Emerald Kitchen (but don't quote me on that). But they had a great amount of food. I didn't pictures of everything as my camera batteries were starting to die.:-( Here's what we had to feast on.

Here's the menu. Basically, it was like a round robin. Everything on the menu was brought to your table at different times and you got to try everything. It was pretty cool.The Shrimp which I think was my favorite
The Vegetarian Dish (which I surprisingly liked more than some of the other stuff)

The duck
The head of the chicken was on the plate!! Crazy! And Tyler's reaction to seeing it! :-)

Almost everything else. As we got closer to the end, we were pretty full. But in this pic is we have fried rice on the top, in the back is the flounder and the vegatarian dish. Up front is the chickena and the lobster toward the front right.

And finally here's a pic of our family with the newly joined family. We love them!!Congratulations Jon & Emily!!

SUNDAY SABBATH

On Sunday morning we woke up really late since we didn't get home until probably one in the morning. So, because of that we went to the 11:00 am service at church (which we were late to). After church we all went home and crashed. We were all so tired that we pretty much slept through the afternoon. When we got up, we started packing Tyler up some stuff for camp. He was getting so excited. After we got his stuff packed, we headed over to my parents's house to eat dinner. My parents ordered Kentucky Fried Chicken (no pics, sorry... but it's just KFC). IT was great cause my bros were there, too, who I don't really get to see too often. It was great catching up with them and relaxing. A great way to end the weekend!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Mine was great but exhausting!! I still have to update on yesterday, too. Will do that this evening. Have a great day everyone!!

Last Day Of School + Pool Play Date + Hubby's Birthday

** NOTE: Hello wonderful bloggers! This week has been so exhausting for me. I can't even believe it. I do want to apologize. I actually typed up this post yesterday but didn't have time to download the pictures. So, today (6/28) I am uploading the pictures but I'm not changing any of the text. So, some of the things that says that I am going to do may have already been done. But I will write a weekend wrap up either tonight or tomorrow as well. Sorry for the bad blogging. I am amazing by those of you who do it everyday and especially those who do it twice a day!**

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL

Wednesday was my son't last day of school. In honor of it, I made some marble cupcakes with chocolate frosting. The kids devoured them.When I went to pick up Tyler (showed up a little early) they were watching The Sandlot. I wish I would have showed up even earlier cause I love that movie! I even remembered to bring my camera. I asked Tyler if he wanted to take any pictures with his teacher or staff members and he said yes (while almost crying). This was such a big year for him and he got his best report kid ever since he started school. And he didn't get suspended once this WHOLE year!!! (He used to get suspended at least once every other week before he moved in with us.) Tyler was kind of sad that he may not see his teacher anymore. He's going to have a different teacher and a different school next year. Here's a pic of him and his teacher.
And then we were walking to the van, Tyler was almost crying. But that didn't last long because of what was planned for after school...

SWIMMING!!

After school I had planned a swimming play date with one of the girls from our soccer team. So, right after school, I took Tyler over there and they went swimming and had some hot dogs, chips, strawberries, and some ice cream. No pics of any of the food. Don't really know why I didn't take any. But did get some pics of the kids playing. One of the girls was on Tyler's soccer team and our families totally bonded. It's great because Tyler actually has a real friend - and it's one that he can see during the summer.That was a pretty tiring day. I was out in the sun for a long time and didn't think to drink any water. BIG mistake. When I got home I knew I was dehydrated. I was extremely tired. But it was worth it. The kids had a great time!

HUBBY'S BIRTHDAY

Thursday was hubby's birthday. We had a BBQ (just hot dogs and hamburgers) which was a lot of fun. Taylor really enjoyed fellowshipping with everyone. Tyler made him a pretty cool birthday card. And then Tyler made a gift together. For some reason I had not picture of the spread (sorry). But we had plenty of fruit, chips, cheez-its, jelly bellies, and the hot dogs and hamburgers. The jelly bellies were the first things to disappear. Here are the other pics of the party.

Taylor's Birthday cake. Stater Bros (grocery store) marble cake with chocolate frosting. It was SO good!!
Everyone chatting it up. Friends and Family!
Some good hockey games... Grandma v. Grandson
Me and the hubby at the end of the party. As you can see, he came straight from work. :-)

So, that catches you up for most ot the days. Yesterday we did Family Fun Friday but I will have to write about that later when I wrap up the weekend because I don't want to make the post too long.

But here are the plans for the rest of the weekend:

- Cut boys' hair
- Buy a wedding gift
- Leave to San Diego by 12:30 (1:00 at the absolute latest!!!) today
- Wedding in San Diego tonight
- Church tomorrow morning
- Hopefully somewhere in there is rest
- Get Tyler packed for camp
- Blog
- Clean

So, I am off to get started! I hope you are all having a great weekend!