Taniyah's 4th Birthday

Today is Taniyah's 4th Birthday. I decorated her cake in her favorite color - PINK!

She's growing up so fast. She's very smart and can't wait to start school.

She made a wish and blew out her candles - over and over and over again.....silly Daddy!!

Then she opened her presents. She got a dance mat from Amah and Poppa, Princess coloring pages and Rose Petal cottage stuff from us. She loved all of it!

13th Anniversary Weekend Getaway

This year we celebrated our 13th anniversary.

My Mom and Poppa were here and they agreed to watch the kids for a few days while we had a small getaway.

We went and stayed at the Bahia Resort in Mission Bay We had a beach front room that opened onto a private beach.

They have a pool with seals that have been rescued and rehabed

We went to Mission Beach and played glow golf and since there wasn't anyone else playing we took some photo ops


We went on the big roller coaster that's been there since 1925
The weather was beautiful

Found this cool shack thing on the jetty

USS Mobile Bay Christmas Party

For some reason my dear husband does not like to go to his work Christmas parties. Something about spending months on end with them being plenty for him. A few weeks ago though he made the mistake of showing me the ship's schedule and it had the party on it. So I convinced him to buy tickets since it will be our last year there and we haven't been to one in several years. So we got all dressed up and headed out.





We got there and met up with some friends


Danced the night away



And even if he's already spent time with them I think he still has fun with at least some of them.

He loves the water

And I guess he decided that since no one would take him to the pool for a swim he would take himself

Taniyah

She's getting so big!!

Today after church I took some pictures of her near where we park. I wanted them to show off the bow that I made to match her outfit.

Happy 11th Birthday Jaleel

Drop Dead!!

I actually made it back here to update!

You can pick yourself back up off the floor now!!

I have so much updating to do and really need to find the time to do it.

So much going on and not enough time to get it all done.

I will be back though

Melt my Heart!

I made four Remember Me pillows for my sister in law Melissa.

Justin headed off to "over there" from North Carolina the day Chloe was born in Arizona so they have not met yet. They also have two little boys Brandon and Levi.

Melissa saw the pictures of Taniyah with her Daddy and wanted four of them - one for each of the kids and one for herself.

She got her box today and said she was shocked when she opened the box -"It's just perfect size for the children and I love them. Thank you!"

Brandon started crying when he saw his and said "I miss my Daddy so very much".

Levi almost jumped into the pool at the beginning of swimming lessons with his Daddy and immediately exiting the pool grabbed him up even though he was soaking wet.

And sweet Baby Chloe well she's not big enough to talk but a picture is worth a thousand words sometimes.

Rod goes to school

Just thought I would share some fun pics of Rod on the go:


Cavelle wants to share her Daddy


She LOVES her Daddy. Hope he enjoyed his time there. It's nice to have him "with us" wherever we go and the kids have fun talking about how much Dad would like being there.

Remember Me Pillows

My kids all love their Daddy and miss him a lot so I thought I would try to come up with a way for him to be close to them. He has sent them several dvd's where he talks to them and they LOVE it.

One day I was making pillows for Ladaria and Raquel's room while the kids were watching a dvd and I was thinking of a way to put Rod's picture on a pillow for them. I did some research and found some fabric sheets that you can print on. I knew that there were iron ons as my Mom has used them several times to make shirts for Rod and I but I was pleased to find fabric.

I thought some more and decided that something that was small enough to carry around with them would be great. If it's small enough to carry then they can take him anywhere without really being in the way.

I told a friend about my idea and she suggested a ribbon on it so that it could be easily carried around. That made me think of the "bite toys" they used when we were teaching our dogs personal protection. They were long, skinny stuffed canvas with a canvas handle that you held while the dog bit. I used the same idea but with Rod's picture printed on the fabric, a colorful background and a loop of ribbon at the bottom.

This is what I came up with:



Taniyah hugging her Daddy for the first time in two months


I think she loves him


I asked her if I could see it for a minute after I gave it to her. Her response:

Hairbows and Bowholders

I made some hairbows for Taniyah









Along with the hairbows I'm making bow holders to sell. Lots of people make the initial holders which I can also do but I thought I'd try something a little different and fun. I went to the store and bought some picture frames and wall plaques to make.







My SIL Melissa and I are working on an online store. When we get it put together I will post a link to it.

Prom 2008

Tyreque went to Junior Prom last night.

Him and his date looking all purdy!!

Best group shot out of the pictures that were taken on my camera (not by me)

The three couples

They took limos to the prom