Taniyah's First Lost Tooth

A few days ago Taniyah said "You want to see my shark teeth?" I thought she was being funny and said "Sure"

She opens her mouth and has a second row of teeth growing behind the first row on the bottom! She said they are "shark teeth" because sharks have two rows of teeth. That might be true but little girls aren't supposed to!

So we've been diligently wiggling her bottom teeth to get them to loosen up. This morning we got up early to take Jaleel and Makkiah in for a doctors appt. She was eating her cereal and all of the sudden says "My tooth. It's GONE!"

Do you know how hard it is to find a little teeny tiny white tooth in a bowl of cheerios and milk? Let's just say it's not easy.

She's so proud of her missing tooth!

Update on us!

I've finally made it back here. I'm going to try to get back into the habit of posting here on my blog. I'll post an update on how everyone is doing and then I'll move forward from here.

In June 09 Tyreque graduated from high school! We are SO SO SO proud of him! He's overcome so much in his life and it was an awesome accomplishment for him!


Right after graduation Rod, the six youngest kids and I piled into the van and headed off towards Washington for our big move. The Navy had decided after 12 years to move us in a new direction. We've now been in Washington 9 months and are loving it!


Cavelle is 2.5 years old and is growing so fast! Last time we measured him he was 42 inches tall and weighed 32 pounds! He's such a happy boy most of the time and so very smart! He's got an incredible vocabulary and can't wait to start preschool in the fall. He gets upset when he can't stay at preschool with Taniyah on school days.


Taniyah is 5 now and in Headstart. She's got quite the personality. She chatters all the time and is a leader in her class. She knows how things should be done and gets upset when others don't do them. She loves all things girly, the neighbors dog and church. She played soccer last summer and can't wait for the new season to roll around so she can play again


Makkiah is 9 now. He's been through a LOT in the last year. He's been on a special formula for a year now. He had major surgery in October. I'll do a post to explain what's been going on with him as it will be long. He's gained almost 2o pounds this year and grown 2.5 inches! He's in 3rd grade and has an awesome year in school this year. He scored in the top 3% of the district on their standardized tests for his age. He played soccer and basketball this year and is currently playing baseball for the first time.


Jaleel is 12 and in 6th grade. He's excited for the school year to be over so he can go to middle school. He's such a sweetheart and has a very caring spirit. This year he's played football and basketball. He's currently playing baseball for the first time. He's also learned to ride the unicycle this year and surprised the instructor with how quickly he picked it up. He's so proud to be riding the 6 foot "giraffe" and is practicing juggling while riding.


Destini is 12 and in 7th grade. She's making great progress in school and has made many friends. So far this year she's been in a play and played basketball. Her basketball skills improved greatly this season and she was awarded "Most improved player" by her team. She'll start track next week and is looking forward to it.


Brayana is 13 and in 8th grade. She's also the oldest at home now. This year she's played football, soccer, basketball and will start track next week. Her basketball coach said she's the most athletic 8th grader she's ever coached and looks forward to having her play next year. She's also in honors classes and doing well.


Raquel is 16 and a Junior this year! It's hard to believe that it's been 3 years since she entered our life! She chose to stay in San Diego when we made our move to Washington but we love her and claim her as one of our own! We will always be Mom and Dad to her and we are so glad that she claims us also! She's doing great in school, playing baseball, staying active in her school and even finds time to call us and chat. She came to visit us over Christmas vacation this year and hope to have her back this summer.


Ladaria is 18 and a Senior this year. She decided to stay in San Diego with family to finish out her Senior year. She's taking AP classes and has maintained an awesome GPA. She's done basketball and track this year. She's applied to and been accepted by several colleges. We are so proud of her! She also came to visit us during Christmas and we had a great time.


Tyreque is 19 now and graduated from high school last year. He's turning out the be an incerible young man and we are so glad to have had the opportunity to play a role in it. He's currently working at In & Out and joined a band Lindburgh Skies. They've been on the radio a few times and done several shows! He's also an incredibly talented artist and is considering becoming a tattoo artist. Whatever he chooses to do I know he will be great at it. He also came to visit at Christmas and it was so nice to have all my kids home again even if it was for a short time.

Decisions

So I'm trying to decide if I want to continue on with this blog or start a new one since we no longer live in the money pit!

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Honoring those who Served and now Rest

If you click on the photo you can see the entire thing

Memorial Day

Today is my brother Jeremy's 37th birthday! Happy Birthday Big Brother! I know you are watching us and close to us. We love you and miss you dearly!

Today was also the day that we took Raquel to her new "home". She'll be staying here in San Diego to be close to family. It was sad to take her and leave her as she's just like one of my own. My Mommy heart didnt' want to do it but it was a decision that she made and her worker backed up. Doesn't change the fact that I will always be there for her just like I am for all of my kids but I will miss her.

And today is also Memorial Day. A day to remember all those who served our country in order for us to have the freedoms that we sometimes take for granted. There are many costs to those freedoms and to those who have served our country in the Armed Services - Navy, Marine Corp, Air Force, Army and Coast Guard I say thank you!

We want our children to understand the true meaning behind the day. We don't want them to think that it's just another day off of school so we took them out to Rosecrans National Cemetery. We want them to understand the sacrifice for their freedom and hopefully they will never take it for granted. It was amazing to see all of those flags out there and it makes you stop and think about all those who have served. Breathtaking. And it was awesome to see lots of people out there doing the same. So with that here are some photos from our day!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there but most especially to my Mom!!

This year I decided to do something really different for my Mom for Mother's Day.

She loves wolves so I made her a nice warm wold blanket for the house in Coos Bay.

I also took one of the family photos that we had taken and made it into a pillow using material that matched the blanket


I thought it turned out great and she loved it! YAY!

Rod was gone for Mother's Day but he had my gift delivered to me



It was very yummy!

The kids made enough breakfast to feed a small army, cleaned the downstairs and then made everyone lunch.

I wasn't supposed to do anything but I had to get the car packed for Mom's trip north. She left shortly after lunch.

Then Destini took some of the little kids to the park near us. Tete ended up running into a pole, knocked herself and so my Mother's Day ended doing the motherly thing of sitting in the ER with her. She got a minor concussion but all is well!

Titan Football 3pm

Mak before the game in his one size fits all jersey


The three smallest kids on our team for the coin toss




What happens when your smallest player plays center




He says "Look you get this ball and I WILL pull your flags"


But he stayed on him


Ok Coach I need a break



And the two boys he was guarding - one in the front of the photo and the other next to their coach

Warrior Football at 8am!

Our tackle team is the underdog in this league, big time. All the other teams in our division are "stacked" teams. Basically they are teams that play all year together and use this time as off season practice to train the new players that they recruit. Our team is made up of 8 players - 1 player has played 2 seasons, 2 players (Brayana and Jaleel) have played 1 season of football, 1 player has played soccer and the other 4 players have never played sports at all. We had two other players who had never played either but they quit. We are required to have 8 players on the field so our kids play the entire game. The other teams all have 14-16 players so we are REALLY the underdogs.

Today our team got out there and played the best they have played all season. The team we played is undefeated.


Up until today our team had never scored a touchdown. The most yards we had gained was 40 which happened during our game last week where we got massacred.

Today it was 4th down and 20 (thanks to an offsides penalty). Brayana got the ball, cut to the outside and RAN. She kept running for about 60 yards and literally 2 ft from the end zone she stepped to the side to keep from getting hit and got tackled from behind. She was SO close to that first Warrior touchdown.

So the next play the ball made it no where as they were watching Brayana. So they changed the play AND
Darius scored the FIRST Warrior touchdown!!

Then there was an on side kick and Devin caught the ball and made a SECOND Warrior touchdown! Two in one day.

We lost the game 12-24 but it was still an AWESOME game

Just thought I'd do a quick update and post some things that I've made.

Mom and Poppa made it here safely on Monday from Florida. Mom is here for a week before she heads to Coos Bay with Rod's car. Since Rod is not a good distance driver she volunteered to drive one of our vehicles up there for us. Thanks Mom!! Poppa is is staying until June 8th when he'll fly back East for his class reunion.

Rod is off to Virginia for his school. As long as he passes this class we'll be headed to Washington in a few short weeks.

I'll be wrapping up selling things in my stores here shortly as we prepare to make out move. I've got some things that I'm hoping to get sold prior to our move though listed either on my etsy cart - Buttinskys Bows & More or Made by Military Wives

Rainbow of Bitty Baby Clippies


Made to Match Carters Dress and Bow




Crayon rolls for the purse or diaper bag


My Mom has started crocheting the cutest little newborn and infant sized caps. I absolutely love them


And I just finished this set today for a little girls 5th birthday. She's going to Disneyland and will be wear this "Sleeping Beauty" tutu and hairbow set to meet the princesses

Did you miss me?

It's been so long since I updated here that I actually forgot my password!! That's bad! I'll try to be better about updating.

I was going to try to go back and bring things up to date but I think I shall just start here with an update and move forward.

Tyreque - Can you believe that in 6 short weeks he'll be graduating from high school! I sure can't! I'm proud of him though. He'll be starting at Mesa College this summer and has a job at In & Out that he enjoys. I'm not sure that he enjoys working but he enjoys the benefits that come with having a job! He's such handsome young man and so very talented in Art. He's thinking of going into graphic design and I think he'll be awesome at it.



Ladaria is getting ready to finish up her Junior year and looks forward to the coming year as a Senior!! She'll be staying here in San Diego with her Aunt Marsha and Uncle Will to finish out her year. She doesn't want to move to a new state and a new school her Senior year and I can't say I blame her. Thankfully we have awesome family whose willing to let her stay so she doesn't have to. She's such a sweet person and I know that she'll do fine although I know that she'll miss us and be ready to come visit when she gets a chance. She got straight A's on her last report card and we were SO proud of her. Her hard work in the books really paid off!



Raquel is just finishing her Sophomore year and is doing well in school. She's made lots of friends at the high school and enjoys hanging out with them. Typical teenage girl stuff! She'll be staying in San Diego as well and heading to an awesome program where she will learn great skills for living independently.



Brayana will be heading into 8th grade next year! Where does the time go? Seems like not so long ago I was bringing her home from the hospital! Brayana passed her GATE testing -Gifted and Talented Education - and has been moved to advanced classes. She still plays the sax and gets better every time I hear it. This year has been a busy one for her. She played tackle football with the Clairemont Hawks, then she moved on to basketball with Tierra Hoops and is now back to playing football with National Youth Sports. She definetly stays active.



Destini is chugging along in the 6th grade and is bummed that next year she'll be back at the bottom of the totem pole. The school she'll be going to is a middle school 7th-9th grade instead of 7th-8th grade. She's been busy as well with choir at the school, basketball with Tierra Hoops and she's currently doing cheer with NYS. She's really enjoying playing sports and expanding her horizons.



Jaleel is finishing 5th grade up and is equally as bummed that he'll be in elementary school again next year. The current school is K-5th grade where next year it will be K-6th grade. The good thing is that he'll still be at the top of the totem pole and get to do all of the graduation stuff there. He's been equally as busy with sports playing his first season of tackle football with the Clairemont Hawks, then on to basketball with Tierra Hoops where his team earned 3rd Place and currently is playing football with NYS.



Makkiah is whizzing through the 2nd grade. His favorite sunject is math and he's a whiz at it. He loves doing mental math and being challenged. He's learning to tolerate when others make mistakes and is making great strides in this area. He's still a little guy and he continues to struggle with medical issues but it doesn't hold him back. He played basketball with Tierra Hoops and was pretty aggressive out there on defense. He's currently playing flag football and made a touchdown the first game!!



Taniyah started Headstart this year and is absolutely loving school! She goes half days in the afternoon. She's learning quickly and has made many friends. We are hopeful that next year she'll be in as great of a preschool as this one. She's a spunky little thing and takes after her big sister Destini as the girly girls in the house. Earrings, make-up and dress up and they are both in heaven.



Cavelle is coming up quickly on his second birthday! Can't believe my baby isn't such a baby anymore. He's by far my tallest one at this age currently over 3 feet tall. As Marsha says "he broke the mold". He's such a ham and he LOVES to dance. Turn on some music and he will get down and has a great sense of rhythm. He even does the stinky leg!!



As some people know Rod is being transferred. After 12 years in San Diego we will be packing up our household and heading to Silverdale Washington. He'll out to Virginia for 3 weeks for school, return here and shortly afterwards we'll be headed off for out new destination. We thought that we would never be going anywhere but San Diego so we were surprised when the Navy decided to send us off. It will be great to catch up with old friends up there and closer to home.



As for me I've been busy keeping up with the family, sports, getting people to doctors appts and being crafty. I started making bows and tutus for Taniyah and have since opened up an Etsy cart to sell things. The name of my store is Buttinskys Bows & More!! Mom has even joined in with me and is making the most adorable baby caps ever!!



And here's a few more photos from the photoshoot that I did with the kids. I enjoyed taking them all out to the park one Sunday afternoon and getting some great photos of them!

My BEAUTIFUL bunch!



My Handsome Guys



My Gorgeous Girls



Like Father, Like Son



Sister Love!



And in true Cavelle style


That's all folks!!