Category Archives: Family

Trip to Arkansas!!!!

Arkansas, Family, fun 1 Comment

A couple of weeks ago, we traveled to Arkansas. Mia’s first long trip in a car, our first long trip with our camper….THis is the creek in front of Grandma French Fry’s house..beautiful and calm. I will apologize ahead of time, the pictures werent that great. Thursday morning Blake woke up with a tempature of 102, Mia woke up the next morning with it..and the vomiting and all else that comes with the stomach flu…in a camper…without a bathroom …or running water….or towels…or extra blankets…or lysol….or a toilet..did I mention that??

All the kids were thrilled to see their Uncle Nathan and meet his new girlfriend Taylor, she was so nice and sweet. She meshed with the family perfectly.!:)

Paul and his cousin Austin spent the weekend catching fish, crawdads, snakes, lizards, worms…and what ever else crawled, squirmed, swam or moved…

Paul LOVES his many finds of differnet animals…ICK.

Also while on this trip the weather for the most part, was cold and rainy. On Saturday when everyone was okay feeling….the weather was beautiful. Thank you Lord!! However it was still cold, that did not stop my older 4 and my sister in laws older 3 from jumping right in for a cool Autumn swim;)


Daddy and Paul searching for little crawling treasures…..

Camye and Blake hugging for mommy…:)

Camye and Mia hugging on the rock bed of the creek, can I say we werent there 5 minutes and Mia sat right in the water and started picking up rocks and throwing them. She had a great weekend visiting with her cousin Amelia, who is only 5 months younger.:) And they are so cute together. I just didnt capture any pictures of it..when they were being cute together I am sure I was sterilizing something.

Mia and her daddy-appa!:)

Yes I am framing this!! GORGEOUS!!!

Chloe and daddy working on the fishing pole…:)
It was a great weekend. We did get to see some of our Arkansas family but we were busy with sick kids. We hope to go back next summer and spend more quality time with everyone.

Happy Birthday Grandma French Fry!!

Arkansas, Family, fun Leave a comment

Happy 90th birthday to a very special woman!!!! Grandma French Fry/Mcdonald!!!! All of her grandchildren and great grandchildren were able to travel to be with her!! This is a rare event as we all live in different states, with work and school, it doesnt happen very often!!!

I will blog on the details of this trip next, there arent many picture because the photographer (me), was a little busy cleaning up after sick children.BLEH!!!

Blake Turns 12!!!!

birthday, Blake, Family, fun Leave a comment

We have had busy busy days lately….between school, soccer, church, doctor appointments, meetings….but today we celebrated Blake’s birthday..his 12th birthday. Yes on Blake’s 2nd birthday, America was attacked by terrorists. Every year on Blake’s birthday, we also go over the events that happend on that day so that the kids will remember. I must say as we did that today, I still cry and cry when I see the terror that happened those days. To see those people running for safety and to hear those calls to loved from the airplanes that were crashing….to think that this happened to the best country in the world. It saddens me like nothing else ever had.

Okay back to Blake’s wonderful family birthday party! He wanted an Angry Bird cake..dont look closely…it was the best I could do. He loved it!! Blowing out his candles…looks like Paul is helping too!!!


Mia and Blake jokiing around playing around waiting for presents!!!

Blake soooo excited for his new engine for his Go Kart!!!

Blake is growing up so quick. He let Mia help him since he said it was okay…she could help!

Happy Happy!!!!!!

My 5 blessings!!!! I Love these kids so much!!!

Blake was so ecstatic about his birthday!!!!! He is such an awesome son.

Happy Birthday Blake! I love you more than I could say or show you!!!! You will always be my Blakester Boo Boo Bear!!!!

Picnicing the Summer Away

Family, fun, Picnic, summer 1 Comment

Church picnics, birthday picnics, friend picnics…what a great way to finish off the a fabulous summer!!! Blake in his creek boots..stopping to play around on the playground equipment. Camye and one of her best friends Heather. Cute as always…

My 2 littles…are sooo cute!!! I just love these babies!!!



Mia had no interest in the creek, but loved watching her Oppa catch all sorts of critters!



Yes she is so beautiful and so is the background!!

~Chloe Turns 15~

Chloe, Family, fun 2 Comments

July 11th, 1996, I became a mother to one of the most beautiful baby girls in the world. She is a wonderful,christian, loving, sweet, compassionate and beautiful daughter. She was an awesome baby and is an awesome teenager!! I know that I have 3 very short years until she is 18.. 18!!!! OH be still my heart… She decided she just wanted a family party because next year she is wanting a massive Sweet 16 birthday party ! She invited her Gran to come and stay for a few nights and she had her best friend Kianna stay all night too.I am thinking luau themed party for her 16th will be fun!!!

First she wanted Pizza Hut, and we got it free because the electric went out and they couldnt run debit card.

As soon as Chloe’s family party, Paul ran and wrapped up his Nerf gun in her blanket and brought it to her as her first present to open! She loved it and the wrapping paper, she said!

Chloe and Mia..who sang Happy Birthday in Korean to her big sister!!! It was so adorable!1

Chloe got lots of pretty clothes and jewerly. She was wanting money for her mission trip to Mexico.

Our family picture!!!!

~Flight 93 Memorial~

Blake, Camye, Chloe, Family, FLight 93 Memorial, Mia Grace, Paul, vacation Leave a comment

After our fabulous camping trip, we decided to go over to the Flight 93 memorial, which was only about 30 minutes there. On the way there, Kenny asked me if I would like to tell the kids about what happened that morning. I immediately start crying. I cant even talk about it. I can not imagine how the families feel. I didn’t know anyone directly involved in any of it. I am still a basked case over that morning. I am ashamed to say this is our family standing in front of the temporary building for the memorial. We can spend millions of dollars on Casey Anthony, millions on a failed foster system, millions of dollars on gay rights and abortions. This happened almost 10 years ago. Why is this taking so long? Why is the 9/11 memorial not even have restrooms??????

Off my soapbox…this is the actual site. My friend Lori, was in Shanksville on 9/11. She heard the plane crash. She was there for her mothers funeral. After her mothers funeral, she took the flowers from the funeral and took the crash site and started the memorial site.

Cute pictures of our families, sad building behind them.!!


The boys thought they were talking to this Park Ranger…you know asking what kinds of weapons he carried??? It was hilarious!!!

Some of the different things from the days and weeks following..and Camye reading the call log from the people who died on Flight 93….heartbreaking!

Mia and Mommy inside the memorial reading what happened on that day.

~Vacation Bible School Fun~

Blake, Camye, Chloe, Family, fun, Mia Grace, Paul, VBS 3 Comments

We have such a busy week this week!! My friend Lori and I committed to planning VBS, and then we decided to adopt! Who would have thought the process would have taken 7 weeks from HSTK to get her!! Well it did…so directing VBS with Mia has added a little challenge…but with a challenge this cute, it doesnt matter!!:)

This morning Mia had her foster parents album out and was looking at it. She looks at it everyday! She always kisses her Omma and Appa. She loves looking at her album and showing us how cute she is!

We are so thankful for the fabulous job Mia’s foster family did with her. They have showed her such love that has helped so much with her transition and her outgoing personality!

She is so funny with her albums! My friend thinks she did such a great job with Mia, they want to adopt a baby from the same Korean foster family. If only it worked that way..:)

Above is Mia riding on Caleb’s scooter. She loves Caleb..as all the toddlers do. Last night he ran by her and she yelled Caleb come here!!!

Daddy and Camye girl!!! Having fun at VBS!!

Mia is so precious…she just runs around and plays!! She is a little chatterbox!!!

Paul has been having a blast all week at VBS!!

Mia and Daddy-Appa!!

Me and Mia Grace!!! She was loving her snack last night! She had a Lucky Charm marshmellow in her mouth!

~Summer Fun~

Blake, Camye, Chloe, Family, fun, Kids, Mia Grace, Paul 3 Comments

What a great week!! Mia is still doing fabulous. She is bonding with the boys alot more! We had a picnic to invite friends over to meet little Mia. It was great fun! More mommy-omma!!

Mia and her new friend Ellianna!!

Mia loves jumping in mud puddles!!!

Paul loves this chair…he pretends it is turtle shell.

Paul and Mia love piggy back rides…

Mia loves giving kisses…

~Mia’s First Trip to West Virginia~

Blake, Camye, Chloe, Family, Mia Grace, Wes 6 Comments

Today, we took a quick trip down to West Virginia for Mia to meet my parents, brothers, 2 grandmothers and grandfather. It was a very quick trip!! We were wanting to keep Mia’s world small for awhile, but with her doing so well we felt we could squeeze it in. Mia loves to run and play outside. She even went to the creek and came back after sitting in the muddy water!! Paul being as cute as ever!!

Mia went a little crazy with my camera and took about a thousand pictures..I like this one of my mom and Camye. My mom is simply crazy about Mia and even had was able to hold Mia for a few moments. Of course, I didnt have my camera handy for that moment!

My mamaw will not like this picture being on here, but she LOVED Mia. She couldnt get over how pretty and smart she is!! Mia even kissed her goodbye!!

My two babies, looking at a book together..they are so sweet.

Mia was a little shy at first, but brightened right up with all her attention! My dad thought she was so pretty and smart. Uncle Wes was real nervous to meet Mia. Uncle Rob even closed his store for an hour to come and meet her. And of course, Papaw Buck thought she was sooo adorable!!! He loves his great-grand daughters!!

Miss Personality!!

~Second meeting with Mia Grace~

Family, fun, International Adoption, k, Korea Adoption, Mia Grace, South Korea 7 Comments

Today was a little harder with our meeting with Mia, her foster father was there and they are extremely close. He said she is very smart and she was emotional today because she knows something is about to happen.:(
This is Kenny sitting on the floor waiting patiently for Mia to walk in..he even had the Pororo plane on his lap. Of course, she didnt warm right up to us today. We weren’t in her home and was a little leery at first. She immediatly chose another toy!

Mia came in today carrying this massive muffin!! I mean it was half the size of her head..crumbs were falling everywhere. She kept telling the Foster mom to clean up the floor and wipe her hands.

Starting to warm up…foster mom kept pulling her pant legs down. Mia kept pulling them up…she definetly has a mind of her own!

We found the way to get her to open up….the cameras. She loved watching herself on the video camera. She loved looking through her pictures..because she is CUTE you know…She informed us that today over and over and over..I think she has been told that before!!


All my close friends know my favorite bracelet, the Menagerie bracelet by Lia Sophia. Guess who LOVED it…yes you got it Mia. She wearing and letting the menagerie of charms and chains cling all around. I knew there was a reason for that ‘camp’ word and the reason I loved that bracelet!!


She finally warmed up to her Appa…

The camera had her in hysterics!! She laughs all the time!!

We have quite the musician! She would play a song..not pounding but actually play a song with fingers and when she was done. She turned and waited for applause. The foster mother told us she thinks she will be a musician because of her love for music.

She loves playing with toys…I mean LOVES toys!!


It was time to go and she came over to hug us goodbye!!

I even got a kiss without being prompted!! She is sooo adorable!!

When it was time to go she threw a fit!! I see a temper temper here…We have our work cut out. Kenny and I were sitting in the room while the foster parents said Bye and that they were leaving. We couldnt understand what everyone was saying…as much as we wanted to believe that she wanted to stay with us. She didnt want to leave the toys. She loves coming to SWS and playing and loves seeing all the babies!
I did think it was good she wasnt worried about being left in a room alone with us. Thursday is going to be rough…I didnt take pictures but there was one meltdown…that had me and her crying. I know it will all be fine. But I am more nervous for Thursday morning than I was for meeting her the first time. The foster parents treat as a little grandchild…so when she was throwing a fit, her foster father offered his cell phone and off she went! Oh my..