catching up

Wow, I have not blogged for a while. This summer has seemed to fly by very fast. Only a few more weeks and school will be starting up again. UGH..I hate that word. I hate it when my house is quiet and I am having a serious issue with my son going into highschool. How does this time go so fast. It seems like he was just 4. Seems like it took forever for the weather here to warm up , but once it did look out because it has been very hot. I love summer because it is my time to spend with my kids. Weve been to the pools and lakes quite often, Since Terry works late I took a trip with kids to my home town. It was fun to see family and friends.  No big vacation plans this summer unfortunatly :-(  Life it good and I can't complain about a thing. I also know I can't blog with out leaving you some photos. So here are a few from our summer so far.
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 Gracie loves the lake and going, but doesn't like to float really very much. She'd rather play in the dirt and rocks. No beaches around here. ...

 below, my best friend from forever ago reunited after 20 years of being apart. Dawn and I were best friends all through school ....and now finally we were both going to our home towns at the same time. IT was sooo amazing to see her, work out together, go to dinner, and talk about everything we could in just a short time. I miss her alot and it was hard to say good bye. Friends like this don't come around in my life too often. Sad we live far apart.

 My mom and i by her pool!!

 Gracie telling her Great Grandpa a long story. Can you tell she is very serious. I think Gramps got it all too.

 beautiful Amanda, can't believe she will be in the 7th gr.

 My aunt Sandy- someone who is like a second mom to me. For many years after my dad passed away she was the one i turned to and talked to about every day. All growing up she has been the one I knew I could talk to in confidence.

 This is my gramps...he is so special to me!! Can't imagine life with out him.

 sandy and amanda ...by sandys beautiful flowers!! So nice to having you live so close sandy.

 and this is what I do every morning..i wake up go for my run, and eat many eggs and oats for breakfast. I have been in two fitness competitions in the past 8 months and so living healthy, staying fit has become a huge part of my life. I couldn't do any of it with out God. He paves the way! I do the work it takes to get there. 

How Cute Is This!!

This year I decided to tackle taking our dance studio recital photos. Here are a few of Gracie that just crack me up. She was in a great mood as she always is and totally charming during her little photo shoot. She is so tiny and soo cute!

Gracies First Dance Recital

Since I teach dance for a living my sweetie pie has always been with me for many of the classes I teach. I started bringing her to the preschool dance class and she loved loved loved it so much. Even though she is just 2 1/2 she was catching on great and following along, having fun and making little friends. So this year was her first recital . My little peanut did great!! Here are some cute pics of her..

 This is Amanda's 11th Year dancing , she has been at it since she was 2. You can certainly tell all her years of dance training by watching her. She is amazing to see on stage! Im so proud of both my daughters!!

 Sister Love

 at it's best..

 Our family minus my teenage boy who was no where to be found after the show..

Gracie checking out the gift table and finding her gifts..

She said "Im so excited mommy"

 In jammies at home opening gifts..she was soo excited!!

Yes even I dance in our shows..:-)

While I can ...why not!

 me..

I had such a great year with all the kids! Great memories of a successful dance season!

Happy Mothers Day

 Happy Mothers Day to all the great moms out there. My kids are the best thing that has ever happened to me! I love them so very much!!

 Trying to get a photo with my kids is a challenge sometimes..Especially with one teenager and one tweener girl!! LOL

 I was lucky enough to have lots of family out to our house this weekend . Mothers day was extra special to me. Here in the photo is my mother in law, my grandmother, my mother, me, then my grandmother. They mean the world to me!!

Terry with his mom

Family Day/Gotcha Day 2 yrs ago...

 Above April 16, 2011 / Below April 16, 2009

The very best day of our lives was the day we held little Gracie in our arms forever!! SO many amazing feelings leading up to this day. Our sweet daughter is such a blessing in our lives. I am so thanksful for the miracle of adoption and how God really does place your child in your arms. No matter if they grow under your heart or in your heart, the feelings are all the same!!! We love you sweet Gracie!!

Beautiful day for my beautiful daughter!!

Going Private

Certain circumstances from a very strange lady that has been stalking one of my other blogs, she lives here in my home town and this has caused me to decide going private with my blogs is the best thing. Unfortunately one person can ruin it for many other people. For now this is just what I have to do. I would love to still keep in touch with all my great followers. You all are absolutely wonderful. However I can not speak freely knowing there are people like her that are just waiting for me to fall and are just stalking my blogs to talk about me to others.

If you would like to follow our adoption journey and life as it is every day, then just leave me a message with your email and I will send you the private link you will need to continue to follow our blog.

hugs and love to you all!
Sincerely
Tina

I did it..My first NPC Fitness Competition

Last weekend was the NPC competition that I have been training for. It was a great experience and I can't wait to do another one. This was also our first weekend away in 17 years. Our kids were with the grandparents which made it much easier to not worry about them. I knew they were in the best hands they could be in. We had a long drive, but it was nice to just talk. When we got there we met up with old friends and caught up on life. I went and got a competition spray tan which was extremely messing by the way. I competed on Saturday and placed 4th in the bikini division! I had the best time and so much fun!! but.. It is great to be back home and with my kids. I swear Grace is talking even more ..if that is possible!! lol. I plan on training for another one June 4th. But also have my spring dance production I am working on. This is usually the time of year I disapear from blog world until the first part of May because I am so swamped! After that life slows down just a tad!

pressing on..

"Even the most daring and accomplished people have undergone tremendous difficulty. In fact, the more successful they became, the more they attributed their success to the lessons learned during their most difficult times. Adversity is our teacher. When we view adversity as a guide towards greater inner growth, we will then learn to accept the wisdom our soul came into this life to learn."

I came across that quote this morning and it certainly stopped me. It sure seems some days I feel I am holding on by one single thread. So many things going on in my personal life that some days I just feel drained from it all. It feels as if when I start to get strong and move past something then suddenly something els takes place in my life and once again I have to pick myself back up. Sometimes I just want to walk away from my goal, but I quickly realize and remind myself that this is the one thing I am doing for myself, it is my goal to be healthy and fit and I need to fight through to accomplish it! Life can be hard sometimes..but compared to what? There could always be worse right? In reality I probably have no right to complain. I know I am not only getting stronger on the outside, but I am being molded and becoming a stronger woman on the inside as well. It is true that difficult times do make us stronger! With Faith I believe in times of my weakness, He will carry me through!! He always has!!!

Happy St. Patricks Day

 It's been a fun day at home with my baby girl!!

Gracie 2 1/2 ..hard to believe she is growing up so very fast. She talks all the time :-) I think she leaves maybe one second inbetween just to catch her breath. She is so stinkin smart..I think smarter than me sometimes. LOL. Her personality is amazing, so kind and sweet..she has tremendous manners that are unbelieveable to me. Always a please and thank you very much comes from her. My sweetie pie.

The Famous "Wink" and more funny faces

Now this little 2 and a half yr old has a great wink. She winks better than any of us do. It is so funny and she does it on the most perfect times!! I just had to share some of her funny faces with you as I was trying to get a nice smiley photo yesterday!!..LOL

The goofy face...

The I'm taking your picture face...

The I think I'm kinda shy face...

Then Finally ..The I think Im kinda cute nice smiley face....

I love my little Gracie!!

Where Have I Been...

Wow I can not believe I have not blogged for over a month now..I use to live for blogging. Many people have asked me where I have been. Truth is I have a zillion irons in the fire right now. Life seems to be bogging me down alot. My personal life has been through some stress, I'm trying to prepare my students for our spring production and every year I wonder why I keep doing this when it gets to be so much pressure and stress on me. Im the only one that can pick out costumes, choreograph the dances and put the whole thing together. This is my 11th year and it is wearing on me. BUT, I love the kids and love to dance I can't imagine my life with out it either. So this time of year it is what it is!! Well, on top of that I have commited myself to a personal fitness challenge. I have wanted to do this for a long time, but finally had the guts to tell myself to dig my heels in and do it. I have decided to enter a fitness competition. I have been spending about 15 hours a week in the gym trying to make big changes in my body, to be healthy, toned, and fit. I have had interesting reactions from people along the way of this goal. Some of my family or friends never even ask me about it at all ..how it is going..how my goals are coming alone, or how the diet is going. Even though I have dropped about 19 inches and almost 16 pounds some still say nothing! Then I have some family and friends are huge support..they want to know what Im doing, want to know about the competition and how Im feeling! They are my cheerleaders and support system that are getting me through this.  The true friends are the ones that are still by your side no matter what you look like! They support your goals and dig in with you!  So to let you know where I have been I have been doing life..busy with my family..my work ..and my goal...My two year old keeps me on my toes. No matter what we are doing she is dragging out a zillion things around the house and I wouldn't have it any other way. Our nanny is working out good in the afternoons so that I can go to work. Basket ball season will end this weekend for Bailey , so we won't have that taking up our weekends. It is nice to watch him, but it is nice when they are done for the season too. Gracie has an apt his week to see if her collar bone is healed. She has done great with having to wear that brace!
She went to dance class yesterday with me and joined in with the little preschoolers..Here is a picture of my sweetie pie. I will try to keep in touch more..blessings!!

My Poor Baby....

Last Sunday Gracie tripped around the dog and fell on the tile in the kitchen, it was just a little trip..nothing unusual. But as the week went on she was more and more sore and pampering her left arm alot to where she did not even want us picking her up under her arm pit on that side. Now this was totally not normal so I finally got her in to the doctor today. They took xrays and yep her collar bone is broke.  My poor little baby girl. What a strong little girl she has been! So now she wears this brace for about 4 weeks. We will have a follow up apt next week to see how she is doing. Please pray it heals right and quickly. She is doing well with the brace on, and is taking a good nap right now. Amazing how little ones adjust to something so uncomfortable!!

2 years ago today...*new photos*

2 years ago our referral for our sweet baby girl finally came. I remember clearly hoping that we would get to see our babies face before Christmas. Well Christmas came and went, but soon after came our referral. I was dropping our other two kids off at school and just as they were about to get out of the car our social working called with the great news that we had a baby Girl. It was so exciting for the kids to hear. It made there day and they went to share the news with their friends. I remember feeling like I wanted everything to stop and just let me enjoy this moment in time!! But life keeps rolling...So ..I then rushed over to my husbands office (I couldn't get there fast enough) I walked in the door and told him the news. I had no pictures at that time. We shared a long hug and some very happy tears! By the time I got home the adoption agency had them to my inbox. Oh my goodness did I cry tears of joy on this day and many days after this I would just sit and stare into her photos now waiting for the day I would hold my sweet baby girl in my arms. Each little step in the adoption process is a celebration. I just remember this being a huge one because at last we had a photo of our baby!! Thank you again God for blessing us with such a precious daughter!!

 Top is our first referral photo we recieved. We got a whole body photo too and she was looking so very tiny. The one with her green top on was because I asked for new photos. The wait was getting so long and I wanted to see how much she had grown. Even the referral photo was not the age she currently was at the time of referral.

This photo below is one that the foster family sent home with her. We ended up getting over 300 photos of her from them. Bless their hearts for that!!

 Top photo is one of her while she was in Korea: She was 6 months old in that photo. From the time of our referral to the time we held her in our arms it was about 3 months! We got our referral on Jan 14, and Held her in our arms for the first time on April 16, 2009. The miracle of adoption is amazing!

 This photos are from our family vacation last summer...precious times and memories!

 she wears her sunglasses upside down because they sit on her little nose better!!

Cute Video of Gracie...(Turn music on mute at the bottom of the page)

I am lucky I can take my daughter to the dance studio with me to work. She is a cutie pie and is always having a conversation with me about something..:-)