Update on kids

Well, I had to cancel my Glamour Photo Shoot... Oh well, just didn't have enough interest and I didn't want to buy a bunch of stuff just for a couple of people. I would have lost money on that deal.

But I have senior pictures lined up for next Thursday, and a photo session on Saturday in San Saba. Then I have some Sweet 16 pics to do on the 26th. So I think we'll be having a lot of fun by May!

Henry is almost walking on his own now. He took about 7 or steps yesterday, before he tripped. He only had one shoe on so that edge of the shoe made him lose his balance. He is so cute! And he is really happy, just like Bryce.

Bryce is even more independent now and he has a mind of his own! He'll tell me to "Say mark set go, mom." And if I say it wrong he will let me know it. He'll say "Don't say that, ma!" When I do say it, he pushes his firetruck as fast as he can through the house like he is racing. And he also tells me to "go faster, ma!" when I'm driving, or he'll ask me "Are you racing?" He gets that from watching Cars!

Brytini is reading Charlotte's Web right now, along with some other books. She is the bookworm right now, and Bryce is definitely imitating her... She is hyper as always, but she is doing pretty well in school. We just have to make sure that we remind her to get her homework out and actually do it :)

Ashilee doesn't have any extracurricular activities going on right now since basketball ended a while back. So things are pretty relaxed. She is looking forward to the summer, as we all are!

Here is a picture of the kids a couple weeks ago at the park:

Spring Break Corpus Christi

We had a great Spring Break visiting down in Corpus! We left town Friday afternoon and headed to San Antonio for the night. We got to eat at the Rainforest Cafe there and that was a lot of fun! They have lifelike animals all over the place and about every 10 minutes they "come to life." The first time Bryce saw the gorilla start jumping around he nearly jumped out of his seat. Poor baby, it was so cute, though!

The next day we went to the zoo and got some cool pics there. We rented a wagon for Henry and Bryce, but Bryce preferred to pull the wagon "for myself, Mom" Apparently he is a big boy now and we better not forget it! :)

Ashilee pulled them some, too, and helped carrying Henry when he didn't want to be in the wagon anymore! Brytini liked looking at all the animals and she even got to put a bird on her shoulder in one of the bird areas. All four of them fed the fish, too. It was a lot of fun.

From there, we headed to Corpus Christi to spend 6 days. We went to the Texas State Aquarium, we swam in the ocean, and we visited the mall a couple of times. The girls spent one night with my mom while Shawn and I went on a late night cruise. It was nice, but wow, you could feel every pitch and roll, as they called it. Luckily neither of us got seasick or anything! We were out for about 6 hours.

Alas, now it is back to school...

Photography Dreams

Well I got my business cards in the mail yesterday, and I had a lot of fun passing them out to people at school today. I had several people mention they'd like to get some pictures done, so now I need to follow up on that and get them some information. I think since I'm just starting out that I don't want to charge too much so we are both getting something great out of the deal :) I just need to cover gas and expenses of printing of course :)

And April 5 I set a date to do some glamour shots at our house. So I need to get a background, some boas and glamourous fabrics for costumes, and some bling jewelry. I'm excited to get started!

New Header

Ok, my header has finally gotten a picture... Bryce's expression is so cute, and we couldn't help but crack up when we saw what finger he was holding up! :) (By the way, Shawn took this picture!)

Starting a business

I am researching what it would take to open a photography business, and I am planning on trying it out this summer! So if I can get some people to take a chance and hire me, I will be making a little money off of photography! That is exciting, I just hope I can hit the ground running. The only problem I see is living in the middle of nowhere. But maybe with the right advertising that won't be a problem. I don't mind travelling, after all. If it looks like I could make some money, I might be able to jump in full-time and try to make a go of it! I have been scouring photographers' websites and looking at printing services online. I'm still looking into startup costs right now... Business cards, website hosting and setting up my own domain name (www.diamondlphotography.com?), flyers, a copy of photoshop, etc... And maybe a lens or two. We've got a couple of good ones so far.

Thank you Mom!

Well my mom is leaving today after being at our house a whole week! She kept all four kids by herself while Shawn and I went to San Antonio for four days. And not only that but she bought us all kinds of groceries and even left fully cooked meals in the freezer!! Thank you, Mom!

The San Antonio Stock Show was fun, although we spent more time doing things other than the stock show. We went ice skating, we saw a movie, we visited the Alamo, and we braved a mirror maze. We had a lot of fun :)

I definitely missed everyone, though. When I got home Henry motioned for me to come get him and then when I put him down he screamed. Poor baby. I had just stopped by the house to drop off formula on the way back to school. I had to go put in a few more hours before I could come home. Today is school as normal, darn it. The picture is of all 6 of the kids who showed from Star.

Complete Turnaround!

Ok, so yesterday I talked about how the girls may not be able to be adopted after all. But Shawn just called me and the judge has ordered mediation, which means that we will be having a meeting with the girls' mom and basically trying to come to an agreement that would make it possible for us to adopt the girls. maybe we would agree to some kind of contact, like letters and pictures, or something like that. So we will see! Shawn got to testify... I am sure it was a scary experience!! I'm glad it was him and not me! Anyway, I am much more optimistic about everything now :)

Court Date

Today is the girls' court date at 11:30. Shawn is there to see what happens and possibly testify... We'll see what they say.

I found out that my friend Brandy is going to have her reception on March 22, 2008. They got married December 22, 2007 in a small ceremony that I was able to attend! And she is expecting again! Leigha is going to have a baby brother or sister :) She called me last night and was wondering about a book I read once that she wants to read. It is The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. I really liked it, it was straightforward and honest, and biblical. That is a good combination...

They grow up so fast!

I know everyone says so, and it's because it is true!! A week ago Bryce was terrified of showers. Now that he knows we have a handheld shower head, he begs to take a shower "in you shower, mom" He loves it! And he is talking about everything now... He just told me "I almost slipped on that, mom. It's macaroni!" He is now calling me mom. Mature for a 2 year old, don't you think? It is of course because of his older sisters. Oh well, maybe Henry won't catch on :)

Henry is crawling all over the place and now he's pulling up on everything, too. While Bryce was playing in our shower, he was pulling up on the side of the tub watching all the fun, and begging to get in. It sounded like this "Ta-ta? Taaa-Taa!" He's just so cute I could eat him up. Seriously, he is the cutest baby ever (since Bryce of course). He is laying on me right now sleeping and I have the computer almost too far away to reach, but its propped on my knee and I am typing two-handed. Pretty good if I do say so myself! Shawn is in Odessa without us, eating pizza and watching movies. I am jealous!

Reading blogs... interesting

Wow, I have been reading a lot of blogs lately! I have mainly been reading foster care/ adoption blogs. Hearing everyone's stories is somehow comforting. We aren't the only ones dealing with everything in "the system." Shawn is in Odessa as we speak because the girls had a court date and we didn't want to miss it. All this time it seemed termination of parental rights (TPR) was imminent, but now the judge says "it has been too long" and the case they had 2 years ago is no longer going to work. Their mom apparently does care for them, she just isn't able to take care of them, if that makes sense. Which I understand. I just wish the girls could have permanency instead of having to be foster kids til they are 18!

The sad thing is that the girls are now not going to be able to be adopted. They will be under permanent custody of CPS (and hopefully us) but they are still kind of in limbo. Adoption means something, even if they are going to be with us, it just isn't the same if they don't have our last name and they aren't legally ours. For one thing we can't parent them the way we feel is best because of all the things we have to adhere to as foster parents. Plus we will have to keep everything locked up indefinitely... I was kinda hoping to adopt them and then not have to do all the "foster parent stuff" anymore. I was looking forward to FREEDOM! Inspections, caseworker visits, psychological evaluations, it never ends! And God forbid you don't turn in a form that says they had their yearly physical. Ok, the court date isn't even til tomorrow but all this info is from their new caseworker...

On a different but related note, their sister may be coming to visit over Spring Break for a few days...