Today is Baylee Bear's Birthday!

It is so hard to believe that my baby is 12 years old today! Where has the time gone? We are iced in today! I really wanted to go to school because we will lose our Good Friday holiday now, but I have to admit, it was sure good to sleep in. Brian got me an electric blanket for Christmas! It was absolute heaven to stay under the covers this morning and not hear an alarm clock! Baylee was NOT happy about missing school, on her birthday especially! She didn't want to be stuck at home with just Mom and nothing to do! Her social life is about the most important aspect in her life right now! I woke her up with a candle in a warm cinnamon roll this morning and sang Happy Birthday to her. I fixed her her favorite potato soup for lunch and we will have cherry cheesecake in a little bit. We have been snuggled up under some blankets watching 7th Heaven, Little House on the Prarie, and Touched by an Angel too. She has enjoyed her day afterall! She is on the phone now though with her friends!! We are taking her to the city this Saturday for a shopping spree. She wanted clothes for her birthday and to eat at Ted's. Her party with her friends was this past Saturday at Sugar Rush! She had a ball! There were 11 kids running around crazy for 2 solid hours, but I didn't care, it wasn't in my house! Sugar Rush did a great job. She had a murder mystery party. They had to search for 29 envelopes with clues in them that led them to the killer. Oh what fun! Sugar Rush also had a dress up room and they had a lot of fun dressing up too! The boys looked quite cute dolled up in dresses!

Christmas 2008!

Mama, Daddy, and Baylee Bear Aunt Lynn and Baylee

Baylee always lines up her presents in order of how she will open them!

Uncle Keith and Baylee

Aunt Karla and cousin Cody

Cousin Jason with fiancee' Kelly

Grandma C and Baylee

Brian and I

Baylee with a very special quilt Grandma Margie made

Baylee with cousin Jordi

Baylee with cousins Jaci and Josie

New cousing Caroline

Christmas came and then left way too fast! They say the older you get, the faster time flies. Well, I believe it! I am just wondering if I will even feel the days when I am in my 80's as fast as the days are going in my 30's! I love Christmas! I love the whole month of December that leads up to Christmas. I enjoy the shopping, the making out Christmas cards, going to the mailbox and getting cards, hot cocoa, a warm blanket and Christmas movies. I love the Christmas trees and decorations in my house and going to see Christmas lights while enjoying a steamer from Starbucks. I love making Christmas goodies and wrapping packages while listening to Christmas music. I love looking at my ceramic nativity set my Great Aunt Twila made for me and remembering why we celebrate Christmas. Most of all, I love laying on the living room floor in the dark, looking up at the Christmas tree lights and remembering.........remembering being a child and doing the same thing, and just simply enjoying the wonder of it all and then seeing that same wonder in my child's eyes. Christmas is a magical time and I always mourn the loss of it! I always tell Baylee that I think that's why God gave her to me in January instead of March when she was originally due! I needed something very special that month, and then my baby's birthday to celebrate every January there after to get over Christmas being gone! I do have this saying with Baylee, because she is so like me.....which is "There is always something to look forward to!" .......And there is too!

I posted slideshows of our 4 Christmas(s). One is Brian's family. That is alway fun, because of the Mendenhalls.......they keep us laughing with their bantering! One is our personal Christmas. Brian always beats Baylee and I up......he's such a morning person. Baylee usually wakes me up and then we tear into our presents. I usually fix a big lunch and Marge comes over for the afternoon. Another Christmas is with my parents and sister. That is always a lot of fun, because my dad is "A man of Action"! He keeps us laughing. This year Baylee got a remote control helicopter and Daddy's wienie dog, Gus, was after it with my dad's coaching of course. Gus did manage to taste a little propeller, so Baylee decided to put it up! Mama, Lynn, Baylee, and I played games too. Our other Christmas is our Laverne one with my mom's family. Since Thanksgiving is a big celebration with my daddy's family, we spend Christmas with my mama's family. It is always great fun. This year, two of my mom's 3 sisters, and my cousin and her family didn't get to come. That was disappointing, but we still had a lot of fun at my Aunt Carolyn's house. We have a beautiful new addition to the family........little Caroline, my cousin Brody's baby girl. Wow, she looks exaclty like him! We all played games and Brandon and Brody played guitars and sang. We hope and pray we will have our new little guy next Christmas. What a blessing that will be!

Thanksgiving Fun at the Farm!

We went to Gate for Thanksgiving. As always, we had a lot of fun! This year, we had a lot smaller number of people because my dad's cousins and their families didn't make it out. We still so enjoyed spending time together. I am very thankful to be so close to my cousins still, so that Baylee can have the same memories I had growing up. We will be spending Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Can't wait for that too! I am very fascinated with these things!

Mom and IMom, Lynn, and Grandma Brown

Cousin Julie and Rustin

Brian as Ozzy and Dad

Baylee with cousins

Aunt Jo and cousin Jennifer

I got a kick out of the cows watching us play on the haybales!

Ali and Baylee

Haybale jumping

On the truck ready to go to the haybales!

Say turkey!

3 MONTHS DOWN!

Yesterday marked 3 months in our wait for Eli! The wait for referral is currently fluctuating between 6 and 9 months. A referral is the baby chosen for you. When you get your referral, you are sent pictures and information on your baby. After the referral, you wait aprox. 6 to 8 weeks for travel. (sometimes longer, but they are really working on that aspect) We pray that we will get to bring home Eli next summer or even sooner! Please remember our family and other waiting families in your prayers. Waiting is hard. Our wait for Maggie is nearing 27 months. It is hard to fathom that it could be another 2 to 3 years wait for her.

Thanksgiving was wonderful! It is so nice to spend time with family. Baylee had a ball with her cousins. I will post pictures later in the week.

Baylee's 6th grade program!

Halloween Fun!

Baylee and her friend Olivia at our church's Trunk or Treat! Baylee dressed up as a Chinese princess and Olivia as Dorothy. Right after Trunk or Treat, it was off to a big Halloween party! It was an exciting and fun night!

For actual Halloween, Baylee and Olivia dressed up as a Toothbrush and Toothpaste! They were so cute! We went on our annual Halloween hayride. This year our hayride grew to 11 kids and 9 adults! It was quite a night! Baylee counted 115 pieces of candy when it was over! Wow! Too much! I will have to recycle some at school! Once again we have to thank Larry and Jackie, our dear neighbors, for loaning us the trailer, and for giving Baylee something extra!!

50six Scavenger Hunt!