Back to school

Wow its nice to have the house almost to my self once more. I have Heidi home but she is easy to keep entertained, granted by me but then I guess I can't have everything.

All the girls were so excited to be going back to school. I walked them there this morning and that chattered all the way! They talked about every thing and nothing at the same time its funny how little girls can do that.

Autumn was a little nervous about it but way excited as well. She was worried about not having everything she would need in her back pack this morning. I told her all she needed was some paper and a pen, to write down what her teachers told her she would need to bring in for school supplies. Then she would bring them the next day. She freaked out and said "how in the world do you know?" I looked at her and said well this is not the first year I have had children in middle school. how many children have I had? and how many years did they all go to middle school? she just glared at me and thought I was crazy. Oh well.

Ben drove to early morning seminary today, out of all my kids he is the only one to have any interest in driving. He is always volunteering to drive Will or I when ever we go out. It was not too bad but I did worry about this big tree we almost took out!! Ben calmly stated that he had lost of room and that my screaming did not help he drive any. And for the record I did not scream. I just spook loudly.

This is Josh's last year in high school I can't believe how fast time has gone. He has decided that he wants to go into graphic design. He had been planing on being an Engineer. but he hats to do math. I suggested to him that perhaps he should major in Engineering and minor in graphic design that way he has more then one option in this big bad world. He told me he would think about it.

Court has been postponed for our foster girls until the 21st of September. That is the date that their parents could loose custody of them permanently. We have decided that we are not going to be adopting them and they know this and this did not seam to upset them too much. There is a family that has shown some interest in adopting all four of them. They are great kids and I think it will not be hard to find a forever family for them. But we have been getting a lot of pressure to adopt them. There is one person in particular that keeps harping on it. she tells me that we will regret not adopting them for the rest of our lives. Well I know this is not true. We do not want to raise any more children. I want to start my own life now and get a job and pay off the house and travel. Plus I know deep in my heart that I do not love the girls the way they need to be loved. I love them as a care giver not a mother. They deserve a family they want children desperately not settle for a family they just cares about them.

Vacation at last

I have been in the need of a break for a very long time now. But the opportunity to take one was just not happening, so my Mom came to my rescue and we both had a vacation from all the stress and upset this big bad world has to offer.

The weather was great! We had a lot of plans and more then enough days to do it in, or so we thought. It took a few days to really get up and going I think we just needed time to detox from life, so we sat and watched movies and t.v. Ok so waist of time in some peoples minds but just what the Dr. ordered in mine.

As always when my Mom comes to visit we have to do some craft project of once kind or another and this visit was not exception to that. We made witches hats. It was a awesome project


We started on the hat the second day of our vacation...I finished it on the last night of the vacation, you could say we kept getting distracted in a very fun way.

Mom wanted to go to Animal Kingdom. I was less then thrilled about the idea, as a resident of Florida I have always made it a rule to never go to a theme park in August!! One word here Hot!! I tried unsuccessfully to convince my Mom to the error of this plan, but to no avail so I determined to make the best of it. I was pleasantly surprised it was not too hot or to crowded. The best part was that around lunch time it started to rain there was a lot of thunder and lightning. We sat under a covered patio and ate lunch as we watched the tidal wave of tourists rushing out the front gate! It was greatI took this photo just before I trek up Mt. Everest! We left prayers to the Gods for our safe return. Everest is a new roller coaster and I would say it is by far the best one I have ever been on. I think one of the best parts it that at one point in the ride it comes to a stop because the Yettie has ripped the track apart and we were just about to plunge to our deaths when we started to go backwards. What a rush!!!!! We had so much fun.

I think that one of the highlights of our journey to Animal Kingdom was seeing all the animals. The Tigers were out and right next to the windows. I love tigers! they were so magnificentWe saw giant fruit bats. I have seen photos of them and even movies about them but there is nothing like a up close personal experience. They are HUGE!!After the bats I took this photo of Mom on a bike. I told her she needed to work a little or she would not enjoy her vacation as much. We saw a lot of other animals and went on other rides. it was a wonderful day. I have always enjoyed taking the kids to theme parks and seeing the excitement and feel their energy. But I can't tell a lie going to a park with out small children is the best thing EVER!!!! Mom and I enjoyed sitting and watching other families battle with their children. "Get off of that!", "You had better eat that! you told me you wanted it and now you wont eat it! (angry eyes glaring down at small child no longer wanting the red Popsicle that cost $4.00 and only had one lick of off it) LOL it was priceless.

We drove to Tampa and spent two days and a night with Jessica. we went to the beach the next morning! It was wonderful the water was so clear that you could see the fish swimming around you in schools. After the beach we went out to lunch and then to a movie Juli/Julia. It was so much fun all of us together, the only down part was that we were all sick! It was silly but oh well its always ok to be sick when with family. This is Jess out side of her apartment. Another thing we did is go and see the light house. I have been there once before with Alan when he came a spent the day with me when he was in town for a nursing conference.Mom and Josh climbed up to the top I had done that with Alan and did not feel the need to do it again. Here they are way up top.Here I am way down on the ground. (you can barely see me) The two white fenced places buy me are not graves. They are around two anchors one from a ship wreck int he 1600's and the other from the 1800's.In a building just the the right of the light house they have displayed the crystals that were once used to help magnify the light in light houses they come in all kinds of sizes. the largest one is from St. Augustin. They no longer use them in the light houses. One thing that Florida coast lines are know for it finding Cuban refuges. here are two boats that were actually used to bring people from Cuba to America. When the Coast guard finds these rafts they rescue the people and let the boat drift, they wash up on shore where they were found and placed on display. the first raft we know that the people on board were rescued because of the life vest that was left on it by the coast guard, but the fate of those on the other raft is not know. It was getting late and so we walked to the beach for some last photos before going home. The last big thing we did was go to the springs, Mom loves to ride on the boat they have there. It has become a tradition for her to ride it, she has every time she has come down. The oak trees here are hundreds of years old. and they are giant!! Ferns grow up their long branches. The boat ride was so relaxing the cool air blowing our hair as we sailed smoothly down the river.

It was a wonderful vacation. I'm looking forward to having another one. So who's up to a week in Florida???

Budding Photographer

This post is mostly about Autumn She is such a wonderful young lady and I'm so glad that she has been able to live with us. Here she is with her new hair cut she just loves it and so do I.
Autumn has a lot of talent in art, directing, hair and costume design. But I would say that her one great love is photography she loves to do photos shoots. she is always trying to get her sisters to be the models. Hannah is always willing but Abby and Heidi are not. It's funny to see Autumn trying to get the girls to pose just the way she wants them to.

One day she got all of them dressed up as dinosaurs. Abby and Heidi lasted two photos but Hannah spent most of the morning with her.
It was suggested to Autumn that she should try working in black and white. Autumn was thrilled that Abby wanted to help so Autumn dressed her as a unconvetinal bride and they spent over an hour taking all kinds of photos.
Autumns next victim oh I mean next subject was Heidi, Autumn wanted to take photos of her dancing, so she took Heidi up to her room and put on some music and then tried to get a three year old to cooperate.

She was met by some resistance at first. But after a while Heidi got into it and had a lot of fun.

Autumn then focused on the wild life in our house and yard, I think she is realy good.

I feel that one day Autumn will be famous...I just don't know in what, she has such wonderful talent that there is no way she could not be.

Fun at the BEACH

We all got up bright and early this morning so that we could go to the beach. We have found that if we get there early there are less people and finding a parking place is much simpler.

The weather was perfect, the water on the cool side but the waves were just the right size. We walked way out into the waves, the water got deeper and deeper when suddenly it got more and more shallow. We had walked out onto a sand bar, it was so much fun. I love the beaches in Florida because it does not get deep very fast.

We would float on the waves it was so relaxing, I've never been one for big waves so this was perfect, I could have floated there all day.

Josh found a sea star!! I have never seen one before in Florida. A sea star is something that I think of finding on the west coast.
It is beautiful!! Josh said that it did not want to let go of his hand. He found it washed up on the beach, once we were done looking at it he took it way out and let it go.
The girls had a ball, there was not summer camp today and Will had the day off so it made it a perfect day to go to the beach. Autumn is at a camp for the weekend but she, Josh, Ben and I went last week.

Heidi loved playing in the waves and she collected a pile of shells she found. Nothing was too small or broken for her LOL she loved it.
Hannah also had a great time finding things on the beach she was especially proud of the crab shell she found, she ended up finding two but she gave one to Abby, because she did not find one. Hannah is very sweet and will share almost anything at a moments notice.
Abby is our little mermaid she would have stayed out swimming all day if she could have. Once on the beach she was fascinated by the tinny fish that swam up with each wave and then race back out to sea when the waves went back out
After we were done on the beach we all washed our feet off so that we could go and play in the fountains they have up on the boardwalk.
The water was warm the girls had a great time running in and out of the fountains. The best part for me was that it washed the rest of the sand off so that once we got home we did not have half of the beach with us.

All done and ready to head home for lunch and a movie. It was a wonderful day we all had a great time. The only thing that was wrong with it was you all were not with us.
We hope you had a wonderful day as well.

I hate daycare

I hate daycares. I have yet to be in one that I feel actually cares for the children. They tend to smell bad, be dirty and have broken or old toys to play with. Heidi has been in daycare for over a year now. The first one she was kicked out of due to her behaviors, unfortunately those behaviors were one that the daycare taught her.

At first they were like she is sooo sweet we don’t want to make her behave and we feel sooooo sorry for her and what she has been going on that correcting her in any way makes us feel bad. But when she starts hurting other children they went to the other extreme and declared she was uncontrollable. Mind you we never had the level of problems they reported to us.

Well we got her in a new daycare and things were good for about 5 months then the behaviors started up again, granted it was after visitation with the bio father started again. But this place is out of control they no not have any routine or consistency. Heidi needs consistency more then anyone I have ever met. She needs academic stimulation and this place does not have any of that its kinda free for all, kids doing what they want when they want and the adults basically watching from the sideline.

I want to move her. I also want to keep her home, but her therapist want her in daycare for socialization because there is no one in our home or even in our neighborhood her age to interact with.

I just hate daycare and wish that I could find one that was wonderful. The ones that have been recommended to use are so expensive we can’t afford to have her there. That makes me feel bad.

Morning photos of Florida

I was in the mood to take photos the other morning, it had been raining all night and the yard looked so fresh and new. I don't know what it is about being outside and seeing all the glory of our world, but there just is nothing quite like it.

This butterfly lay's its eggs on the Passion flower it is the purple flower that looks so crazy that I posted a photo of before.
This is just one of the many bugs that likes to crawl around the yard.
I found this mushroom next to the fort Will built with the boys. Its amazing to me that they come up and die in one day.

This is a flower on a vine that I have been working on growing for about 3 years now, and it is finally blooming I'm so happy.

This bush blooms all year round. the only time it did not have flowers was after the freeze that killed so much of my plants.

This flower is on that I have not looked at much it is a wild flower and it grows all over the yard it likes to grow in the middle of the lawn and unfortunately it gets mowed over.

This flower blooms in big bunches all over the bush. Butterfly's love to drink the nectar.

This is also a flower that grows on a bush in my yard. This is also a tasty treat for humming birds and butterflies

This flower is called a Dutchman's pipe. the Caterpillar below eats this. I have not been able to take a photos of the butterfly yet but later this summer they will be all over and I will post a photo. The green thing hanging down in the front of the bloom is the bud you can see how it looks like an old time pipe. This flower is over 10 inches long and 5 to 6 wide.

This is a kind of Swallow tail butterfly.

This is a male lizard. It flaps the orange thing down to attract the girls...ooo lala

Eating some nectar from some Porter Weed.

If you click on the photos it will make the larger so you can see them better. I hope you enjoyed a trip into our backyard.