Isaac's 7th Birthday

Isaac asked to have a birthday party at the park this year! Which worked out great cause our little house just isn't big enough for everyone. AND... it was free, LOL! The kids had a blast!! And thanks to Nana and Papa Owen for thinking of bringing the kites! It was a huge hit and the kids loved it.

 Here are all the kids playing on the playground

My sweet adorable Lily pie! She is a big girl, and no one will tell her differently! She tries everything the big kids try! Lily is Katie's daughter.  

Aunt EmmaLee is the coolest Aunt ever! The kids loved being buried in the sand. 

Isaac's birthday cupcakes, with a backwards 7 :-/ 

 Singing to the birthday boy!

The best adopted parents, grandparents me and the boys could ever ask for! We love them so much and the have truly become a part of our family.  

 My sweet Benny. He sure does love his momma.

Tyler (Auntie Jill's oldest).  

Opening presents 

 Nana got Isaac a new suit for church for his birthday!! He is such a stud- muffin in it!!

 Abigail (Becca's oldest) flying a kite!!

 Isaac in action :-)

Uncle Taylor flying kites with two of his kids, Ashton and Peyton.  

And here is my little sweetheart in his birthday suit! Well, his OTHER birthday suit. Nana will alter it soon so it fits a little better.

Isaac is such a blessing to us and I can't believe it's been seven years since he made me a momma. I would have never guessed how much happiness and heartache motherhood could bring me. I can't express enough how thankful I am for the opportunity to be a mother and raise these boys in righteousness. I have been thinking a lot about my mother this week, and I really do feel like she would be proud of the mom I am becoming. And that makes me one happy daughter/mommy. 

Benny's 5th Birthday Party

We always have such a hard time when it comes to Benny's Birthday because it's so close to Christmas. It's hard for everyone to find time to fit in a birthday party that isn't combined with a Christmas party. This year he decided he wanted a Mickey Mouse birthday. We planned pretty early this year and a lot of our friends and family were able to come!! My family had a Christmas party the next weekend, and since my sisters were in town, we decided to do a birthday party for him then as well. I still can't believe that my crazy little worm is 5 years old.

The yummy food!! Grandma Phyllis made the chicken salad. It was very tasty!

Elias

Present time!!! I sent Tom to the store with Isaac to pick out a present and OF COARSE, they come back with something that shoots :-P

Auntie EmmaLee helped Ben open all of his presents.

Grandma Phyllis gave Ben this really cool book. It's the night before Christmas and her voice is recorded reading it. He loves it when Grandma Phyllis reads to him.

Princess Payton. She's so silly. We were excited when we found out that Sarah and her kids would be here visiting the same weekend as Benny party. Yay!

EmmaLee playing with my other niece named Payton. I have two Payton's, kinda confusing, i know.

Mickey Mouse sign

The cupcakes were nothing special, but Ben was excited about them and boy were they yummy.

Bad picture, but the only one I have of Ben blowing out his candles.

Auntie Theresa, Nama Dena, and Papa Randy

Nana, Auntie Sarah, and Auntie EmmaLee

WILD party, I know :-)

Ha ha, Benny got caught in his holster, and he's not a happy cowboy.

What a blessing he has been to us these last 5 years. We love his crazy little personality. Boy do I love being his momma.

Bragging Moment!!

So as everyone knows, I am diabetic and work really hard to take care of myself. It is an overwhelming task and some days, I just don't feel like worrying about it. After Aunt Bev died in August, I kinda went through a slump and didn't care about anything, let alone exercising and eating right. As a result, I gained some weight and had a hard time controlling my blood sugars. After much prayer for strength and just sucking it up, I am back to myself again!! Tom and I had our labs drawn this last week for our health insurance and I was so excited with the results! Here is what a few months of HARD work can do.....

Height 5 feet 3 inches
Weight 153 (was 170)
Waist 37.5 inches (was 41)
Blood pressure 106/70
Total cholesterol 181
HDL cholesterol 38
LDL cholesterol 118
Triglyceride 124 (was 211)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fasting blood sugar 86!!!!!!!!!
BMI 26.9 (was 31)!!!
Visceral fat (fat around belly) 6%- normal is under 9%
Muscle 22.4%- normal is 24.3%- 30.3%
Body fat 44.4%- normal is 21.0-32.9% (so I still have a long way to go on this one :-/)

I am on cloud nine! The pounds are coming off slow, but everything else has changed drastically!!! Still have a long way to go, but I am up for the challenge!!! I feel great and my blood sugars are better than ever!!!

Family Pictures 2011

 I apologize for how many pics I posted, they just all turned out so good! We went to my sister's grandparents house to take these pics. They live on a farm. The boys made me want to pull my hair out, but all in all, they turned out great. You would think pictures would get easier as the boys get older, but that's not the case with this family!! Urrrrrg!



Thanksgiving 2011

The Rogers family had the most wonderful Thanksgiving this year! We actually started the holiday on Nov. 20th with my adopted mom and dad. We didn't take any pictures of this dinner, but we had a great time and loved being a part of that family.

On Thanksgiving day, we celbrated it with Tom's family. His mom's parents do thanksgiving at their house every other year and it is HUGE!! All the aunts and uncles and cousins come and it is a blast.

Here is Uncle Lamar and my father in law carving all the turkeys. They made 4of them!!!

Benny playing outside!

Benny's true side (crazy)

Isaac enjoying his yummy dinner! The weather was so beautiful, we all ate outside!!

Boys playing frisbee after we ate!

My stud muffin :-)

Benny enjoying his pumpkin pie!!

We have made a tradition in my family of getting together for dessert on Thanksgiving night! It works out great. Hopefully one of these years we can all get together for an actual Thanksgivng dinner, but this works for us for now :-)

Toms made the pies this year and he did a great job! They were so yummy! This one is apple.

Lemon Meringue

Princess Lily and her mommy, princess Katie!

Me and two of my sisters!! My BFF's!!

Auntie Alecia is so much fun! She played games with the kiddos after dessert. The kids LOVED it! She is gonna make one great momma!

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and were able to have time with your families. We love you and are thankful for and the support you give us!