3 hrs and lots of hair pulling:-)

I have to say that this girl has the tightest hair I have ever worked on! Almaz had joked with us about the hours it would take, but WOW:-) Kaymi and I did have fun with this project this weekend and Kyah LOVES it.

Popcorn heads!

Thanks to my Mom we had a fun and wacky Friday night Family night:) She sent the kids a popcorn ball decorating kit, (harder than you would think) but soooo much fun. Here are some pics of their artistic abilities with candy:-)

New pics!!!

Fitting In

I am happy to report that all of the fears I had about Kyah starting Middle School have not came to fruition, Yippie! I worried that without being the "new girl", and not being in a small elementary school she might just get lost in the shuffle and not get the extra help she still needs. I worried for nothing, she has amazing teachers who are giving her the extra TLC she needs:) Fitting in with her peers has not been an issue either!! I just remember how mean those darn girls were when I was in Jr. High, Yikes! She seems to either let things roll off of her, or everyone is truly nice to her because she never has anything bad to say. Anyway, I am relieved because I don't think I have any energy left in these bones to go pull a mama bear down at the school:-) Adjustment at home is still a little tricky, but we are reaching the year mark and I am hoping that things might start to become a little easier........maybe???
All of the other kids have adjusted well to their new year too, no surprises there. Easie~Peasie, THANK YOU LORD, you know how much we can handle!
I am struggling through my VERY full credit load and wondering what in the world I was thinking when I registered for all of these difficult courses......oh ya, I didn't have a choice, heheeee.
I just hope my school year seems to go as fast as the kids always do.
Miss K is getting ready for drivers ed and trying to perfect the art of the manual transmission, I almost have a heart attack when we go driving , but she is doing well. Practice makes perfect:-)
Mr. C had his first football game yesterday and did amazing, boy is he fast!
Little man and little miss are kicking away at taekwondo; a great release of energy after school.
That is about all going on now, hopefully it won't take me another month to post!

Back to reality....for 3 weeks!

I had my last day of class on the 24th to finish up my summer semester~yahhhh! I am having so much fun being back in school, but it is nice to have nothing to do for a couple of weeks. (This explains my lack of posts!)

On the 25th we left town and headed for Vegas for some R&R...or so we thought:-) We ended up getting up bright and early everyday and heading from one activity or another; it was so much fun! We brought my parents with us, what a God send!!! They took the older kids on outings that the younger ones weren't interested in or it was to late at night for, (swimming with sharks, and midnight light shows!)

Here are just a few pics of our family friendly Vegas vacation!!!! (my parents took better pictures, so there may be more to come:-)

Yes, we are dorks!

Kyah is getting so tall!

New hair cut:)
Best buds
Chase at his Kindergarten graduation.....he was really embarrassed!

I have been trying to find time to blog......but I have yet to find the time! So here are some pictures instead:)

Last weekend we finally broke away from the craziness of life and snuck away to one of our favorite places. Caden's Birthday wish was to go fishing, and since his birthday fell on a Thursday we thought the weekend would be a better fit:-) (he turned 12) It was a great escape, and Kyah caught her first fish!

This weekend we are celebrating Kaymi's Birthday, (hers is on Monday and she will be 14) But the only thing on her brain is shopping! According to her this can only include her and I.....girls day out!

I think Kyah is starting to get a little jealous about the birthdays. Everyone in our family has a birthday before her, but at least by that time she will know exactly what she wants to do.

Yikes, I just realized that will mean we will have 3 official teens!!!

Silly update

As some of you know I am back in school now...that explains the infrequent blogging. It's bugging me that I can't remember things as well as I could when I was younger! I blame it on kids, I tell them they are brain suckers and they tell me I am the brain sucker. So I may be at times:-)

Life Update: (this week)

Mason: Ready for school to be out!!!

Kaymi: Enjoying the weather, and track

Kyah: Learning to be a pre-teen, a little snotty (unfortunately)

Caden: Won an academic award at school, and loves track too

Chloee: Excited for auditions in the youth worship band at church, snotty too:)

Chase: Finally loving to read! Got punched in the nose! can you believe in Kindergarten!?

Stacy: work,work,work

Me: study, yell, clean the house, study, study, study! heehee:)

Hope to write a real post here one of these days!

~All Because Two People Fell In Love~

I was so excited to have a "real" family picture taken with ALL my kiddo's! Our friend is a photographer and here are some fun pics she took:)

(Mom, yes there are more on her website: heidizphotography.com)

Kyah's First Feild Trip

Last week Kyah had another first~ a field trip:) The idea of leaving school with the rest of the class (and her mom) was funny to her, but exciting too.

I am realizing I have become a lazy mom for my youngest two. With the older three it seemed I was always the class mom, going on every field trip, planning all the holiday parties, etc..... This year I am really trying to be "that Mom" again, and finding my way back has been tiring! It's not that I didn't do those things with Chloee, and Chase, it just wasn't with the same pizazz and perfection. (probably because I knew how much effort it took, and because we were home schooling) It's kind of funny, but I think it took less effort when we were home schooling:)

Anyway, the field trip was wonderful, thanks to the beautiful sunshine! We went to an art museum and the kids were able to make sculptures with clay, Fun! I wanted to dig in , but I was supposed to be helping the kids:) Then on we walked to the city library where Kyah found as many books on Ethiopia as she could. It was so cute because all of her classmates huddled around her while she showed them pictures and told stories.... Oh, how I hope she holds on tight to those memories. The bus ride home about put us adults to sleep, and I have to say I don't know how those kids make it all day with just lunch. I was starving!!!

~Another wonderful memory~

Thank You Cindy!

As I am now getting ready for my summer semester, going on field trips, track meets and soccer games, and business is finally picking up, I have some how spaced posting about our son Mason! So thanks to Aunt Cindy for your e-mail, and the same goes to you:)

(do you think he likes that sweatshirt or what!?! I just noticed that in every picture he has that thing on!!!!)

Our "hairy man boy," aka: Mason.

Wow, as I am thinking of what to write the thought that keeps circling my head is 15 (and the 1/2 of course!) Where did the time, years, go??? The once mischievous, hyper, goofy, super active little boy that once was has now grown into a mellow, and quite hilarious teen. Mason is a blast to be around and a WONDERFUL big brother.

This past year Mason decided to finally take up football, it had been almost 7 years without a sport. He loved it and did very well keeping his team motivated:) Who would of thought! He was a lineman because of his size, but that boy can run and we thought he would have made a great receiver.....coaches know best! Computers still continue to be his love. We are hoping he will find a career in the cyber world that he will truly enjoy.

What in the world! I thought it was Spring!

I am not a big fan of snow in the winter...I know I live in MT. get used to it right:-) But I am even less of a fan when it snows 2 inches in April!!!

Just yesterday we were out working on the tree house and it was a beautiful spring day. When I woke up this morning there is a full white blanket of fresh snow laid out on our yard that was trying really hard to turn green:( I won't include any pictures.....too depressing, but here are some of the crazily high tree house my husband and kids are building). I am not completely sure why it is so high, but my hubby reassures me that he is taking safety precautions! For those of you who don't know, my husband is a contractor so every project he does turns into an elaborate piece of art. I will post more pictures when it's completed, these are of the first day he started:-)

Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, Soccer!!!!

Yes, that would be 4 Soccer's in the title because that is how many soccer games we have each and every Sunday! I really am not complaining, this past Sunday was absolutely beautiful (we all have painful sunburns as proof), but it does make for a long day.

I have to brag about Chase! My little man is such a little stud, the only two goals his team scored were from his little (yet powerful) foot:) He is one tough little man. In the picture above he is stopping the only goal the other team "almost" scored.

Off to bed for me, just thought I would share a little piece of our weekend:)

Straight teeth HURT!!!

It is almost a right of passage in America to have braces....,or at least in the Lockhart Household:) Kyah is now the 4th child in our family to have metal cemented to her teeth. After being in school for around a month Kyah expressed to me that her teeth were crooked and that most of her friends were in the process of having theirs fixed. I explained to her that the dentist had referred her to an Orthodontist but that I thought she might want to wait for a little while, and that it hurts too. She jumped up and said, "I want braces, it is OK if it hurts"! So here we are a couple months later and another $5000 in the hole:) I know how it sounds, but she did "need" to go. Because of her age they said if we waited to long she would have a lot longer process and it would be even more costly. I am happy for her too because I know this is something that she only dreamed about in Ethiopia.

On a side note, I promise I will get around to the story of My love and I. I just seem to never have the time to even turn on my computer. I have to give credit to you mom's who keep up on their blogs, I truly don't know how you do it:)

Another Inch!

And the inches keep on coming! I still can't believe it, but Kyah had another round of shots this week and she grew another whole inch!!! I thought her first spurt was going to be a one time thing, but I guess we were wrong:) We have been home just a little over three months and everything seems too good to be true. As I said before we didn't really have the "honey moon period", but Kyah is definitely part of the family. I was so sure that with 6 kids we were completely done, but I think I am loosing my mind because a couple of days ago I started having babies on the brain! YIKES!!! The funniest thing is that Stacy has always had an open mind about adopting again, so maybe when the credit cards are clear again we will be on our knees seeing if God has the same idea:)

Miss Chloee

Ok, so I am only a week late!!! My sweet baby girl just turned 9!!! I still am having trouble wrapping my brain around this. I have this funny problem with my 2 youngest kids where I still see them as little toddlers, I don't do this with the older ones and I don't even realize it until I look at pictures:) Maybe it's my way of coping with not having little ones anymore, but it breaks my heart at how old they are all getting!

When we asked our little princess what she wanted to do for her big day she simply replied, "sushi & a movie.....with a friend of course."

So our girl had her big day and is now a year older and sassy as ever!

Love you sweetie:)