Birthday Fun

Morgan's birthday party went pretty well.  All of the girls slept in the family room right outside our bedroom.  Haylee and Hannah were more than excited about the sleepover.  However, they struggled in their own ways leading up to the party.  As we were eating ice cream, I noticed Hannah didn't look right.  I felt her head and she was warm.  She had a low temp.  She cried and cried because we told her she had to sleep in our room on a mattress instead of with the girls.  It is interesting how God takes care of things.  We let her stay in with the girls, but sitting by herself, for the first movie.  My husband stayed up for the second movie and Hannah and I went to bed.  She didn't like that either.  My husband handled telling her that she had to go to bed because she was sick.  She was very sad.  I explained to her that she wasn't in trouble and she didn't do anything wrong.  Of course, she was still sad.  I tried to make it a big deal that she got to sleep in our room, but she didn't care. When my husband came to bed an hour or so later, she woke up and started crying and sniffing again.  I suspect it was partly attention.  I got up and got her some medicine for congestion and amazingly, the sniffles stopped immediately, not about twenty minutes later when the medicine started working. 

After the guests left the next morning, a friend of mine kept Haylee and Hannah for the day and Morgan and I went to my mother's to go shopping.  Haylee and Hannah had a blast playing with our friend's daughter and Morgan and I had a wonderful time.

My mother, Morgan and I shopped and shopped and shopped.  We didn't purchase much, but we had a great time!  I am so glad I listened to my friends and spent time alone with Morgan and my mother.  As my mother said, "We were even able to eat at a grown up restaurant."  It was refreshing for all three of us!!  I truly enjoyed the day!!  We love desserts!  Look at what we had...

Morgan and I had a great trip!!  I was so happy and refreshed on our ride home!  Morgan and I talked about the other children some.  We got back home shortly after lunch.  The arguing among the girls started within five minutes of getting home.  Oh well, the low stress environment was nice for twenty-four hours at least. 

I discovered that Hannah slept without a pillow case.  Bless her heart!  Hers was being washed, but we have plenty.  She said she didn't want to ask for one.  This breaks my heart!!

Morgan's Birthday

Morgan will be eleven this Friday.  My, how time flies!!!  She is having a spend the night party again this year.  Last year Haylee and Hannah had to sleep in our room and Morgan and her friends stayed in the girls room.  However, this year I am going to have all of the girls sleep in the family room, which is right outside my room, so I can hear them.  I am going to let Hannah and Haylee stay with them.  Unless something happens between now and then for them to lose the privilege.  I think they will be okay and get to participate.  Sometimes when they are anticipating something like this, they struggle.  I pray they do okay.  We haven't had many girls spend the night since the girls have been in our family.  The dynamics are different and it makes having girls spend the night more complicated.  

Saturday morning after the guests leave, Morgan and I are going to visit my mother and go shopping.  Morgan asked to do this for her birthday.  I struggled with it for awhile because of not including the girls, but Morgan should be able to do this without the girls.  They can ask for the same thing for their birthday.  I have struggled with this type thing ever since the girls came.  I feel like Morgan should be allowed to do things without the twins sometimes.  I guess I am still trying to convince myself this is okay.  We will be home by lunch on Sunday.  It will be a short and sweet trip, I hope! 

Happy Birthday!!

Haylee and Hannah are ten years old today.  They have been a part of our family for 1 year and 6 months.  We are so blessed that they are a part of our family!  They have grown so much in so many ways since they have been home. 

We love you, Haylee and Hannah and are very proud to call you our daughters!!

10th Birthday

We celebrated the girls birthday last Friday.  They had about 10 friend join them at Chuck*E*Cheese.   The seemed to have a really good time.  He danced with them and gave each of them a birthday medal.  They are turning ten, which would normally be too old for this party, but they loved it.  I am sure they have not had something like this in the past.  Unlike last year, they invited people that they are friends with. 

Morgan's best friend went with us for the day.  She goes to church with us, so the twins wanted to invite her.  She and Morgan always have a fun time together.

 My husband and I with the birthday girls.

 After the pizza party, the party moved to the skating rink to celebrate the birthday of a girl at our birthday party.  Everyone continued to have a great time skating and just being together. 

Tucker was a good big brother and pushed all of the younger kids around on these little rolling carts.  A fun time was had by all.

The girls actually turn ten Wednesday.  We have something planned for that day, but Alex will enjoy it the most and his birthday is October 18th.  It happened to be the day it was available. 

They are doing pretty well dealing with their birthday.  A few old habits have slipped back in and a little testing is going on, but overall I can't complain.

I am very proud to call them my daughters.  I am so thankful God has blessed us with them!!

Baby Adoption

No, we aren't adopting again.  For their birthday, Haylee and Hannah wanted to adopt Le*e Midd*leton nursery babies.  Morgan adopted one when she was 6 and still loves to play with her.  So, we went Friday and they adopted their babies.  The lady at the store talked with them about how to take care of their babies.  It was a very sweet time for the girls. 

Haylee listened to the heart beat of her baby.

Hannah checked her baby's diaper and practiced buttoning her clothes.

Happy Birthday Tucker!!

My first born is 14 years old today!! I can't believe I have a child that old!! I am so proud of him! He is turning into a fine young man.

Rocking along...

Everyone is doing pretty well. Hannah continues to get in trouble because she doesn't want to use her brain to think. She would prefer to use Haylee's. She does well when she exercises her brain. She also doesn't think before poor choices and often forgets that the world doesn't revolve around her. For example, I told her not to let the dog get a bug outside. She got the bug on a stick and gave it to the dog. Needless to say, I wasn't a happy mother and the rest of her afternoon and evening wasn't very fun. I am praying that the confidence she has in herself will continue to increase and she will overcome her struggles. Some days are better than others.

Haylee is doing pretty well in school. She does well most days. I am really starting to see confidence issues in her as well. Since she has really improved her "baby talk" I am able to see that she uses it when she isn't sure about herself. I can always tell when she is afraid to tell me something or not sure of an answer in school. I have been reminding them this week to speak boldly and with confidence even if you aren't sure. It is better to appear confident and be wrong than not confident and wrong. The other benefit is that when she speaks boldly she can't speak like a baby.

All in all, they are doing pretty well if you think of them as their maturity age of about 7, instead of a young nine year old. Morgan is definitely more mature than Haylee and Hannah.

Morgan's birthday party went well. Feeding the dog the bug happened the afternoon after the party. Hannah always seems to have issues when something big happens and it isn't about her. She is doing much better. She usually takes her punishment well. She doesn't voice her disagreement, but you can see it all over her face. I believe I did see some repentance this time when I discussed the issues with her later.

Morgan's Birthday

Yesterday, Morgan turned ten years old!! I can't believe that she is already ten. I thought she would be my last child. I never dreamed I would have two more girls birthed from the heart! What a blessing!

Morgan is having some girls spend the night tonight. We are not allowing Haylee and Hannah to sleep with the rest of the girls. We have had problems with them when a guest is spending the night in their room. Hannah tends to smother them and tell things she has no business telling anyone. Haylee does okay, but we decided they would sleep on blow up beds in our bedroom. This is a treat for them because they have never slept in our room. Morgan slept on a mattress in our room when she was sick recently and would spike fever during the night.

Well, one friend came early to play today. Both girls have been in trouble all ready. The friend hasn't even been here two hours yet. Ugh!!! It may be a long night!!

They do not do well when someone else is the center of attention. We started celebrating Morgan's birthday Thursday and will end tomorrow morning when the guests leave. They have both been told that if they continue to make poor choices they will be separated earlier tonight.

I hope it all goes okay tonight. I will let you know...