Meg's Volleyball team takes 2nd place!!!

Meaghan's volleyball team ended up taking second place in their last tournament. It was a fun season and Megi learned lots of things. She made some great friends and had the best time. These girls spent lots of nights and entire Sundays together, they would laugh, play games, dance and practice hard!! Now she will know lots of girls at other schools when she plays against them during school. I am very proud of you MiMi. I love you and now go set and spike that ball.

Happy 15th Birthday Meaghan!!!!!

Today Meaghan turned 15 years old!!! There is to a new and wonderful year and to all the new things that will be coming your way. Love you daughter!!!

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Ryan Jayden!
Happy Birthday to you!

Oh my goodness Ryan you are 5 years old. Where in the world did the time go little boy? I hope that you have a wonderful day and enjoy your new bike. We spent the day at the Children's Museum with your class for a field trip. You enjoyed playing in the fire truck and building a bird house, I could not believe that it won over the trains. You sure do enjoy your friends at school and what a great way to spend your birthday.

Love you,
Mom

911...how may I help you!

Tonight we were at Walmart buying Ryan's birthday present and Mackenzie wanted these tasty sugar cookies. When we got home Kenzie opened up the package and we had cookies. Within a few minutes Kenzie was screaming that her throat was on fire. I could not get her to calm down and she was having a hard time breathing. We ended up calling 911 and they loaded her up and took her to Avista for treatment. Kenzie ended up having an allergic reaction to something in the cookies. Well I was the fortunate one to drive to the hospital and was able to take pictures. Hehehe...Kenzie was NOT happy about that but oh well. I told her that she was lucky that I did not take pictures here in the house when the emergency workers were here. They loaded Kenzie up with lots of drugs and once everything started working like it should they sent her on her way.

Introducing...Matthew Ryan Jayden Barker

On January 30th we were finally able to complete Ryan's adoption. He came into our lives when he was just 5 weeks old and he will be 5 years old on the 10th. We have climbed mountians and tryed to hang on during the storm with him. It has been a tough road but I truly feel like we are on the right road. He and I still have lots of issues but we are working on them everyday. I know that my parenting skills need to improve but there are lots of things that need to improve. We do struggle everyday with his Sensory Issues but that does seem to be getting better the older he gets. I am very pleased to call him my son and to know that he will be a part of my life everyday. We hope that he enjoys his name of Matthew Ryan Jayden, now it fits with the girls and their "M" names. That was a nice surprise that we kept from him and the girls until the day of the adoption. He was not presented with his name like we had hoped but he seems to like it. Every now and then I will call him Matthew or Matt, his school asked him what he wanted to be called and he said "Ryan". So Ryan it is...but since I am your mom I can pick which name I want to call you on that day. I love you Matthew Ryan Jayden!!!!

Sadie Hawkins

Today was Meaghan's Sadie Hawkins dance. She looked just beautiful all dressed up, they all looked beautiful. The girls all went to Brooke's house to get ready and the guys meet them there later. The kids had Chipolte for dinner. All the parents worked together to pick up dinner, drive the kids to the dance and bring them home. The dance is at the The Denver Mart, this is were Tiffany works and she said that it looked really nice with a real big dance floor. Just as I was leaving I informed Lucas (Meaghan's date) that her dad was a very big guy and I was using my hands to show him. I told him to use his best judgement and keep his hands to himself and treat my daughter well (I also informed Meaghan that she never knows when I will be there to check in and make sure everything is going well.) One of the mom's laughed and said oh yeah he is a big guy...another one of the kids also told Lucas that he saw Meaghan's dad at the wrestling match and he is big. Anyway this explains the picture at the bottom, Meaghan was more than ready for me and my camera to leave.

Happy 39th Birthday to me!!!

Today was my 39th birthday. I had a wonderful day with my family. Corey and the kids made dinner and Kenzie & I made a cake. Yummy!!! I was surprised to see that my sister wrote on my car that it was my birthday...Thanks!!! Frank and Donna sent me a beautiful flower arrangement that was much appreciated and what a surprise. Mackenzie stayed home with me also, she used her free day on me...how sweet of her. Well one more year until I am 40 and boy do I have mixed emotions on that one. So much can happen in our 40's...kids can move out of our home, they can get married, I can become a grandparent and so much more.