4 Graduations, one sweet gift, a Birthday and a California trip

So, May was an extreme month for me! I had so much to do in so little time :) The end of school for the 2 families I take care of means studying for tests, end of the year banquets, contests, assemblies and graduation for the oldest of the 8!

                                               Maddy and Brayden before the Band Banquet

So Pretty!

Can't have a fun night without Philly Willy!!

For my preschoolers it meant endless hours of practice for our end of the year program! Let me set the scene for you on that, Imagine with me if you will, 17 three and four year olds a small stage and lots of parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles and lots of friends. Every year has its own funny moments, this year it was one of the cutest little boys announcing to everyone that he had to "PEE"! LOL, like I said it can get pretty funny but I must say they were all little troopers and did so well, they learned all of their songs and sang them loudly for everyone to hear!

My very Bestest friend Graduated from nursing school with her BSN! I'm so proud of her! I was really excited for the big day just as she was.. 1. because I love her and I knew it was big deal for her, and 2. because the whole Blandamer family was coming in from all over.. And boy do I just LOVE those folks lol :) My best Alabama friend was here for almost a week!!!

There were so many flashes going on I think we are all looking at someone different and smiling! lol Mickey and I are so proud of Diane!

My Alabama Best Friend Marissa, the Graduate :) and MUAH!

 My second family! The Blandamers/ Wilson with the duggers added :)

 Diane, Travis, Doodle and Shaney

Marissa and Kevins Family! Jacob, Ethan and Julianna with Aunt Diane.

Also during that week, Madison (our Doodle) was baptised. The whole family was there to see her make such a big decision in her life. Needless to say. Mickey and I are very proud of her! Us along with the rest of her family :) lol.

Now she and the kids are off enjoying a fun filled and well deserved vacation in Hawaii where her mom and Dad John and Midge and Nanny LIVE! Just thought I would share with you some pics she sent me! Wish I was there!!

Diane and Doodle on the beach in Hawaii :) I MISS YOU GUYS!! 432

On May 13, the day before my own Birthday my very Sweet, Beautiful Niece was born! We left at 4:30am and drove to Nevada, and got there just as they brought her into the nursery.. Perfect timing to see the most perfect baby girl I had ever laid eyes on!

                                                          Introducing Isabella Brooklyn

                                                    Noah meeting his baby sister!

                                                      Aunt Brookie and Isabella Brooklyn

                                              Aunt Brookie and Uncle Ippy saying goodbye

      Pretty in Pink

   The most Beautiful Baby Girl in the WORLD! and Aunt Brookie's best birthday gift EVER!

It was really hard saying goodbye, but I had to get back for Preschool graduation the next day. Like I said Preschool graduation went great. That Friday the oldest of my families Brayden graduated from High School I'm having a hard time coming to grips with that! lol. I along with lots of family and friends are so proud of the man he has become! And I know we can all speak for his Mom when we say she was always so proud of him and knew how special he is. He is planning to attend O.B.U. in the fall! I know we are all going to miss him around here, but thankfully he is only about an hour and half away from home!

Will, Maddy, Brayden, Grant and Jim

                                                            Maddy and her Big Brother

                                                         My Wise Guys, Girl and Buss :)

    Brayden and I the first of 8 to graduate! 

The very next day at 4:00am Mom, Monmon and I packed up and left for the airport to fly to California!
                                    
 We had come up with the plan months ago to surprise my Cousin J.D. since he was graduating also. My Aunt Lala and Uncle Mark had the great task of keeping this huge secret from him and Alex for a LONG time! I am terribly afraid of flying so that was an experience. I will say I cried a little on the way up! lol.. Mickey had to work so he stayed home, our trip lasted 10 days. It was the longest Mickey and I had ever been apart!

This was the first text that popped up on my phone when I landed in Las Vegas on our first stop. It almost made me cry lol

 The boys were both shocked. We got to surprise them separately so that was really fun! J.D. graduated as a Valedictorian with Suma Kum Laude honors along with lots of other honors from Paraclete High School! We are so proud of him!

                                                        Ya, he seriously has a LOT of cords

                                                      Monmon, Mom, J.D. and Aunt LaLa

                                                     Monmon waiting to see J.D. walk out

                                                        Graduation on the baseball field

                                                                  Everyone say cheese!

                                                                       I LOVE this pic!

                                              Brothers don't shake hands... Brothers HUG!

                                                        This picture is why we came!

                 Have you ever notice the person with the camera always misses out on the family pics! lol
                                     

J.D., Me and Alex

                                                               

Alex was still in school, but I got to spend lots of time with him in between! He is a fantastic artist! We will be making another trip to California in 2 years when he graduates.

  
                                     

Aunt Donna and Uncle Randy drove 5 hours from Santa Cruz to stay the week too! They stopped on the way and bought about 10 pounds strawberries! They were the best strawberries I had ever eaten in my LIFE! and they were HUGE!!

      J.D. drove Alex and I all week, and he introduced me to a whole new genre of music, I came home to download about 12 different bands!! I love that him and Alex love music like me!!!! Every drive was great!

                      coming home from watching Pirates of the Caribbean 4. Driving in the Antelope Valley

      Mom made friends with the craziest dog since RUBY... this is Angel she's scared of everything :)

Me enjoying the Cali Sun. But I think I enjoyed a little to much. As of right now I am just starting to peel after about 4 days of soaking my legs in black tea and aloe!

                       Cute little lizzard, sitting outside of the house! Those little guys are everywhere!

 scary cactus!

           I dont know what these trees are called but they are really freaky and grow straight up in the air

Me kickin up my feet on the back patio!

 On our last day, just about to leave for LAX to come home! Sad to leave my family, but sooo excited to go home to Mickey!

Me, J.D. and Monmon

On the Plane about to leave on our last leg home from Denver international. I watched my luggage being loaded mine is the turquoise one :)

We had a wonderful time in California! the ride home was a bit scary as we went over the Colorado Rockies. I had never experienced turbulence.. It was the scariest thing I had ever been apart of!!! I cried lol lol.. I was never so happy to touch down in Tulsa! I told my mom I knew as soon as we flew into Oklahoma because everything was so green just like I like it! Mickey was waiting for me as soon as I got of the plane..
I am happy to be back in my own bed and while I was gone Mickey cleaned out the pool and got it ready and surprised me by fixing up one of our guest rooms upstairs. Him and my really awesome dad in law worked extra hard and made it look so beautiful :) I have the best husband in the world!

Now to start my actual vacation! I think I will be making good use of our pool these next few days. Mickey and I are going to start putting up trim in the living room, getting ready for a massive yard sale before the Oklahoma heat is to much to fight lol, and very soon I will be taking a few trips to Nevada for awhile to hang out with my family and spend some time quality time with Noah and Bella Brooklyn. And in between just enjoying the summer with friends :)
                                                              

Happy Spring and a whole lot of catch up :)

Hello friends,
It's now April, so many things have happened in the last few months, good and bad but I guess that is the flow of life.  Let's begin with the December. Mickey and I got to spend a fun filled weekend in Branson with Garrett and Michelle. It started the Christmas season out great!

Christmas was wonderful as usual! My sweet Nephew and my brother and sister in law came to spend it with us.As well as my middle brother Peter

Getting to be there for Noah's very first Christmas was pretty awesome!

January brought about the new year and with it a chance to start over in the things I didn't do very well the year before :)

 February brought about the biggest snow storm Oklahoma has seen in many many years, ive been around for 28 years and I had never seen anything like it, our pipes froze and busted so Mickey spent day's trying to fix them. Made harder by the fact that no one could get around anywhere so no plumbing stores were open for a few days. That was a hard few days but alas my Mickey is amazing and our friend Bill too fixed them in a timely manor lol :)

We were getting worried when the snow hadn't melted yet and there was another storm on the way! We were planning to leave for Missouri for Noah's 1st birthday. You better believe there was alot praying going on that week!

 Thank heavens for a few sunny days, we made it there with a day to spare.. Cake and all!



Speaking of cake, I am going to show you how totally awesome and amazing my baker and very good friend Laura Talbot from mslaurascakes.com is!

This is a draft design I made of the cake I wanted for Noah's birthday (which was one of his gifts from me and his Uncle Ippy).

This is the actual cake Ms. Laura made for us!

Yes folks! She is that amazing! and with that I'm also going to say with the new year also came a chance of a lifetime for me! Laura being as great as she is has had many many cakes featured in the Brides of Oklahoma magazine.  She asked me in 2010 if I would like a chance to help her design the cake for the January copy for 2011 using sweet tarts as the inspiration! I almost fainted lol, I had such a wonderful time helping her come up with a few ideas! Then I had to wait quietly (cause you cant tell before it comes out) and patiently for MONTHS! So when I finally saw it in January! I screamed, like actually screamed like a little girl at a Justin Beiber concert! lol :) Hands down one of the coolest days of my life! I am so thankful for such a wonderful friend who thought of me to help her do something so COOL!



March was, and will continue to be one of the hardest months our family has gone through. My middle brother who has made many bad decisions under the influence of one of the worlds biggest problems (drugs). And in the course of those decisions was given a sentence of a few years in minimum security prison. I will not be embarrassed to say I have a brother in jail, because I know that he is a great person when not under the influence. We just have to believe that God knows the plan better than us, and in the long run this time will be a learning experience for him. We will all appreciate your prayers through this difficult time. As we continue to love him and want only the best for him.

April although going through serious family issues, we are celebrating the coming of our Niece who will be here in 2 weeks! I had the pleasure of throwing my sister in law a baby shower! It was so fun and crazy since I was so far away. You should have seen my small compact car packed to the brim, with lots and lots of stuff that had to travel :) The theme was Owls and Birds!

I had a wonderful time making fun stuff for Isabella's shower! I was the first one to find out that she was gonna be a girl in December. And I am honored to say that her middle name will be Brooklyn! hehehe...

Just 2 weeks away now and I am ready to meet her!

It's now the last week in April and I have been a busy bee with graduation announcements! SOO fun, although for the younger folks graduating from High School, they make me feel old lol

I had the pleasure of creating my best friends graduation announcements for her Bachelors in Science for Nursing! I am so proud of her!

along with getting ready for the end of school  and preschool graduation and lots of busy business going on :) My 2007 Jetta had catastrophic engine failure out of nowhere! Leaving us one car down and one on its last leg! Since Mickey has insisted to continue driving his ford ranger with 400,000 miles on it lol UG stubborn man :) And after a 2 week praying fast and a few answered prayers, I am stranded no longer! meet my new
crossover! She has been wonderul so far lol

Okay thats all ive got folks. Thanks for listening while I rambled on and on about the last 5 months of my life! You guys are the best!