nine!

Laila turned 9 years old on October 29.  The day before Laila's birthday we celebrated Laila's as well as Ava's birthday with lots of cousins and family members, followed by a Halloween party that night. They had such a fun day!  Laila's birthday fell on a Sunday this year and in church the primary children had their annual primary program.  Laila did such a good job reciting her part and looked so pretty in her new birthday dress.  My Halloween baby is growing up way to fast!

pumpkin patch!

six!

Dahlia turned six years old on Friday.  It's hard to believe my once tiny baby is now a big six year old!  We are so thankful for the six wonderful years we've been given with Dahlia thanks to organ donation. Dahlia was so excited for her birthday this year.  She was able to have two fun parties with both sides of the family.  Dahlia just loves playing with her cousins so much! On Friday, we took her out to eat at her favorite restaurant, which serves Chinese food.  Dahlia loves Chinese food! When we got out of the car she said, "I can smell the rice!".  She has been eating so good this year and we have barely had to use her feeding tube.  She has also had a good growth spurt.  Here's to another wonderful year, with lots of new adventures, growth and no hospital stays!

finally the first day of school!

School here finally started on Tuesday, almost one month late, due to all the damage our town received from Hurricane Harvey.  I think this is the first year the kids were more than ready to go back!  Ava is now in 5th grade. Her school was so badly flooded that the 5th graders will be attending school in a building on the high school campus for several months.

Dario started 9th grade and is now a big high schooler! He finally doesn't have to ride the bus.  The high school is so close to our house that he can walk home.

Laila is now in 3rd grade and is our only child in elementary school this year.

Aiden is now an old pro at junior high school and is in 8th grade!

one!

Evelyn turned one year old today.  This little girl brings so much joy to our family.  She is just the sweetest baby and has everyone wrapped around her little finger.  I had planned a big birthday party for her and invited lots of family, unfortunately it was all ruined by Hurricane Harvey.  Good thing she doesn't really know it's her birthday!  I'll probably wrap up a couple of old toys for her to unwrap, sing happy birthday and call it a day. Our little town of Vidor got hit so hard by Harvey.  It's like something straight out of a horror movie.  When the remnants of Harvey moved over the Houston area and started flooding them, we also received a lot of that rain.  Then, it went out to the gulf for a bit and turned into a tropical storm and hit right near us and didn't move.  It down poured for almost three days straight, I have never seen so much rain in my entire life!  The water kept on rising and flooded many homes to the roofs. People lost everything and where evacuated out on boats and helicopters, many with just the wet clothes they were wearing.  It's so heartbreaking.  Many of the schools are flooded and there is no telling when the kids will go back to school. I am so grateful that our home did not flood at all.  We don't have power right now, because many of the substations are under water, but we were able to borrow a generator from a very generous friend, he even gave us gas. There are a couple stores open and the line to get in is hours long, but we have running water! The town next to us wasn't so fortunate.  Going through something like this sure does make you thankful for things that are often taken for granted.

video of the flooding in Vidor

dahlia & evelyn

Evelyn giving Dahlia hugs

Dahlia loves being a big sister.  These two are so cute together.  Sometimes they fight over toys or Dahlia gets a little jealous,  but for the most part they happily play together.  I'm so glad these two have each other!

10 months!

I love this age, Evelyn's little personality is really beginning to shine.  She is a really playful, curious, cuddly baby.  She has learned to clap her hands and give kisses.  She can say mama and dadda. Evelyn also loves playing with my makeup and will grab my makeup brush and act like she is putting on makeup.  She loves crawling into the kids rooms to see what they're up to and explore their rooms.  We'll be celebrating her first birthday before we know it.

fourth of july

cousin photo

We had a great fourth of July, with lots of food and lots of family.  The fourth of July is always the highlight of the summer for me.  We also went to the July 4th symphony concert in downtown Beaumont.  During the concert Dahlia said it was too loud!  After the concert we watched the fire works, it was a great show.

thirteen!

We now have two teenagers in the house! Aiden turned thirteen on June the 13th. His birthday was while he was away at scout camp.  Which was a bummer, but he had lots of fun at the camp which was up in the Ozark mountains.  Aiden said it actually got cold at night.  When he returned from camp, Brian put together a party with some of his friends and they played Nerf gun wars with black lights.  Of course when I took his picture, in typical Aiden style he had to do some silly poses!

eight months old

Evelyn is growing up so fast.  She has  become really mobile lately, crawling everywhere she isn't supposed to, walking along the couch while holding on to it. I have to be sure people don't leave their shoes lying around or she will find them and chew on them, yuck!  I also have to make sure nothing little is lying around or she will try and stick it in her mouth.  She is just a little ball of energy and loves getting into everything.

eight grade banquet

Recently Dario went to the eight grade banquet.  All the kids get dressed up all fancy and have a dinner with an awards ceremony.  Brian got Dario a tuxedo to wear, which I though was a little ridiculous because it's eight grade!  However,  Dario was so excited to wear it, that I guess it was worth it.  After the banquet, Dario and a big group of kids from church had a get together at one of their houses.  He had lots of fun. I can't believe Dario will be in high school next year!