All Clear!!

Four Weeks later and she got the all clear to take the shoe boot off!!!

 

Her foot is healed...YIPEE!!!

(she was embarrassed that I was making her take a pic...I promise she was excited!!)

 

GA Cake Bake

Last week at church Dani got to participate in the annual GA Cake Bake.

 

GA's stands for Girls in Action and it is the group our church has for young girls ages K-6th grade. Once a year they have a cake bake that the girls can particpate in for small prizes for categories such as best overall, most creative, best tasting, and most colorful.

 

This is the first year and last year Dani will get to partipate so we went all out!!

 

 

We came up with our plan for the cake, gathered our supplies and started baking. I even got brave and decided to buy the professional icing so that we could mix and flavor it ourselves!

 

Dani mixed up the batter for the cakes all by herself. She decided to go with the key lime cake mix so that it would taste great and be colorful....

 

Then we mixed up the icing. She wanted it to be light pink, so she dropped food coloring in until it was the perfect color! 

 Daddy enjoyed the testing process for the flavor...he said it was PERFECT!! He was impressed by our real icing!

 

Next we had to carve out the two smaller crosses and put the icing on. The icing of the cakes was probably the toughest part! We both have a new respect for cake makers. I am sure there is some trick to icing the cakes but man, every stroke of the knife would pull up crumbs from the cake. We just had to take our time and try our best to minimize the crumb spreading.

 

They turned out beautiful!! She decorated with different colored icing, sugar flowers, and sprinkles. I did help write "He is Risen" on the cardboard backing. I tried to let her do the majority of the decorating and she did all of the mixing and baking.

 

Her finished product....I think it is safe to say she did a beautiful job!!

 

Here are some pics of the competition. The one on the right won for best overall.

 

 

This one won most creative....which I have to agree it is super cute!

 

Unfortunately Dani's beautiful cake did not win anything that night. However, she walked away saying "I still think mine was the best one there". We had a great time in the kitchen together making it so that's really what it is all about right?!!

 

 

Until next time....

 



Best Buddies

I had to give an update on my little men. The other day we were looking at pictures and Cade said "That's Cade and Brooks and they are best friends"

 

So I thought I could expand on that little comment and share some cute pics I have taken lately.

 

They love to play pretend together....

 

 

They love to make a mess with play-doh.....

 

They stick together at birthday parties, at church, and at daycare. They are always looking after one another....

They even like to dress alike sometimes....Okay well maybe I have a little something to do with those times, but I mean how adorable do they look, right??!!

They love playing outside together. Their favorites are riding the jeep, playing on the swing set, playing ball or feeding the ducks.

They love to read books together, Cade even loves to "read" to "Brooksy". He has several books that he knows from memory such as Go Dog Go, Brown Bear, and Green Eggs & Ham.

 

Cade has recently nick named him "Brooksy". We are trying to cut that habit real quick. We are not really sure where he picked it up from but none of us like the sound of it!! We are just encouraging him to call him either Brother or Brooks.



 

Cade loves to teach Brooks many things. He is a great big brother and always looks out for Brooks. Here is is showing him how to use the fishing pole the right way in the yard.

 

 

 

Brooks recently moved to his big boy bed which is the trundle under the bunk beds. Many nights after putting the boys to sleep we go in to their room and find them both snuggled up together. So sweet!!

 

I think this pic sums it all up well. Best buddies forever!! I pray that in 15, 30, even 50 years from now they can still say they are best friends and rely on each other through the good and bad times in life.

 

 

Until next time....

 

 

Dani's Choir Concert

Dani had her first choir concert on March, 7th.

 

Doesn't she look beautiful in her professional choir dress??!!

 

 

The concert was the Middle School and the High School. The 6th grade group went first. She is on the top row, second from the left.

 

We may be a little biased, but we all felt that the 6th grade did the best out of all of the Middle School groups.

 

 

 

This was a very proud moment for the whole family. Josh's family has always been very musical and it seems that Dani is easily following in the family foot steps. She has a very beautiful voice!!

Update on Dani

Dani has been with us almost two months now. She has transitioned VERY smoothly and seems to really be enjoying her time here with us and us with her!

The boys have gotten very used to having Dani around and still get very excited when they see her in the afternoons after daycare! She is so good with both of them and is always willing to help out while I make dinner or do laundry to play with them and keep them busy. She loves to read to them, inspire their imaginations and be a silly sister. Sometimes when they are fussing, she jumps right in to deter their attention before I can even react.

 



 

They love their sister!!

The hardest adjustment Dani has had is homework and frequent tests at school

  

Many nights consist of homework galore!! Josh comes home from work and will spend at least two hours on homework/studying. She started off the semester with transferred grades of B's. She has pulled all of her grades up to all A's and two high B's.

 

Before tutoring began....

 

 

After....

 

 

 

 

It has taken some extra time to teach her discipline, organization and study skills with her school work. We know she is very smart so with Josh's excellent tutoring skills she will have straight A's in no time. I told Josh if engineering ever falls through with him, he certainly has a gift in teaching!!

 

 

Josh has really loved having some extra help....here they are painting and installing gutters. Dani has been a great help though with his tasks. She always has a great attitude and really does love spending the time with him! I personally have enjoyed having her around to help him with things like that which he would normally ask me to do. 

Sometimes though she does get him back for all the hard work she puts in....hehe!! Below she "dressed" him up while he was sleeping!

 

 She goes to visit her mom every two weeks by plane. She is considered an "unaccompanied minor" until she is 12 years old. Which means we have to escort her through security and stay at the gate until it is time to board.  When it is time to board the plane we hand her off to an airline employee who takes her onto the plane and gets her seated. We then have to wait at the airport until the plan is in the air.

 

When she returns, we have to pick her up at the gate when she arrives back in Baton Rouge.

 

 

 

 

She has become accustomed to flying by herself and almost seems to enjoy it. She had her first layover flight at the beginning of February. She gets escorted through the airport on one of those little carts and has an airport employee with her at all times. She said that wasn't as great as the direct flights, but it is certainly better than driving 11.5 hours to her mom's new house in San Angelo, TX. Luckily on every third weekend of the month she gets to still fly direct to Houston, TX which is only 1 hour away by plane. 

 

 

Here is her little escort in the yellow vest....she was embarrassed of me taking so many pics of her, so I only got a quick shot!

 

And here is the view of what we get to see until the plane is in the air.....

 

Dani is always so positive about her circumstances. She has a great attitude most of the time and really loves living here with us now. She even told us the other day that she thinks she needs "more chores". Well okay then!! I think we can handle that!!

 

 One of Dani's desires is to become more involved in activities/sports.

 

During February she did try out for volleyball, but unfortunately did not make it.

She is in the choir for school and she does participate in leading praise and worship at our church. Last week she had her first chroir concert. See more about that here.

 

Next week she is competing in her first pageant for the title of Miss Zachary.

We are going to start up horseback riding again. She really wants to join a sport so we are looking into those options for next semester.

 

 

 I asked her the other day if she is still happy about living here and she said "Of course, what in the world makes you think I would have changed my mind??!" I was thrilled that she answered that way because it makes me feel like she has enjoyed the last two months as much as we have!!

 

Even though it has been quite a big change in all of our lives, we are absolutely loving every minute of having Dani here with us at home!!

 

Until next time.....