Playing with his sisters and brother

Kylie and Brie spent the night Sunday. We had lots of fun. There was so much giggling that a little before midnight I had to move Sean to our room and lay down with the girls so they would go to sleep. They were so excited to see each other. They still got up at 7.

On the way to pick up the girls Sean asked if Luke was coming he said "Luke's my family too." I thought it cute that he considers Luke his family. When I told Lanette we'd have to have Luke come next time Kylie and Brie were not in favor. "Sean's ours not Lukes." They do not want to share their little brother.


Lanette said they chosen new names for the girls post adoption. Kylie is Kylie McKell and Brie is Brianna .... I can't remember the middle name it is Lanette's mother’s middle name. It was an old name, very pretty. Brie's middle name is the letter Z and Kylie's is Marie so I really like the new names. Brie will still be called Brie. I like the change to make them part of Lanette's family but not so much of a change that it would be confusing. It was easy for us because I like the name Sean and his middle name was already William which is the same as Don's so his name was perfect for our family.

We went up to the lake to swim and play. Heather met us there with Holland and Ryder. The kids played so well together. I love how seamless the relationship is. While the girls don't want to share Sean with Luke they have no problem whatsoever including Holland in their play. They love her. They all played so well they even played "house" at the condo which I thought was cute. Sean and Ryder were the babies.

All five of them. We tried to set them on the log but it wasn't comfortable so this was the pose the kids came up with. I think Kylie and Brie had forgotten Ryder was their brother.  Or maybe they just didn't realize he was the "baby" they had met before but was big now. Didn't really matter, they liked him no matter what. Kylie looked at Ryder and said "that boy looks like Sean." Heather explained that they all came out of Jenny's tummy (but not at the same time). I  love how Holland accepts all Ryder's "other family." She thinks they are great fun there is a real connection. There was no division when they played, not even a boy girl division they were just a happy group of kids. I hope that the relationship between Sean, Kylie, Brie and Ryder keeps them from ever feeling like they are missing a connection with their biological family. I want them to always be a positive and healthy support for one another even though they are being raised by different families.

It was cool when we got there but got hot fast. By the time we went back to the condo the sand was burn your feet hot!

Ryder protecting our picnic from those rascally seagulls. He had fun throwing food to them.

We started at the pool and finished at the pool. It felt really good after walking back from the lake in the heat. Heather and all three girls. 

Sean and Ryder playing in the baby pool.

The four siblings watching TV. I'm not sure why they are sitting so close. Maybe because Kylie and Brie didn't bring their glasses and Sean and Ryder haven't gotten any yet. Despite all Jenny's failures in life she sure made some great kids who are very loved by their families.

Beyond pathetic

Watching Jenny's life is kind of like slowing down to look at a wreck. You know what you see won't be pretty but you look anyway.


I've been wondering why Jenny was still in jail. She had been released to Odyssey house by two separate judges .I figured something had to be brewing. Today I found out what. She has new felony fraud charges. Not the credit card fraud charges, they still haven't charged her with those. (I don't know why they haven't)

A man called the police this month and reported that Questar had called him saying his daughter owed them over $400 for gas. He told them his daughter was handicapped and lived in an assisted living center. (I bet you see where this is going.) They traced where the gas was turned on and it was Jenny's house. They listened to the recording when the gas request was made and it was Jenny's voice. She has her first court hearing tomorrow. Honestly, how dumb is that. Steal someone’s identity to turn on gas in your own house. Did she think she wouldn't get caught?

When I had the girls this week they talked a lot about their mom. They were just vomiting memories and none of them good. Sean kept asking them questions and the conversation went on and on. None of the memories were good. They all involved, screaming, hitting, punching, hiding under beds and being scared. I would just say "yes, your mommy Jenny made poor choices but she loves you." The flood gate opened when we passed a police car and Sean said "Daddy got a ticket." The girls asked "did they take his car? Did he go to jail?" Sean said "no." The girls asked why not and I told them that if you got a ticket and paid a fine you didn't go to jail. That set them off "Our mommy Jenny's in jail because she did bad stuff."

After we dropped the girls off Don and I were driving home and Sean started sharing his "mommy Jenny" stories. Stories about screaming, hitting, fighting and being scared. I don't know if these are real memories or if he is just parroting the girls. Though Sean did tell me he has the best memory in the world he said "I remember when I was growing in your tummy. I was an egg. I'm glad no one ate me." Grandma explained to him that while we start as eggs we are not as big as chicken eggs and no one eats us.

He finished his memory about yelling and being scared with "but mommy Jenny loves me." Don then said "and I love you." The mommy Jenny loves me just struck me wrong and I didn't know why because I'm the one who always says it.

I called Lanette today to talk to her about how I should handle the girl’s memories and what the therapist thinks. She said they don't refer to Jenny and Ryan as mommy or daddy anymore they just say Jenny and Ryan because they want the girls to associate mommy and daddy with them and not Jenny and Ryan. Excellent point. I told her I was telling the girls Jenny loved them and she said they don't do that either. When the girls bring up Jenny they say "she made poor choices and we feel bad for her but we are going to make good choices." They don't use the word love because they don't want the girls to associate love with abuse and hitting because then the girls will think if someone abuses them it's ok because "they love me." Dang, Lanette and Beck (the girl’s therapist) are sure smart.

babycakes

I saw this little gadget called baby cakes at Kohl's. It makes cake pops. You know the As Seen on TV things.  I debated as to if it would work, if I would use it or if it would just be more kitchen clutter. 

To answer the question does it work, the answer is yes. It makes cute little round cakes. It uses regular cake batter. It doesn't stick even if you put in too much batter and they are still round if you don't put in enough batter. It cooks really fast, like two or three minutes per batch. They come out of the cooker easy and they are really moist.



I found this cute little post on the Internet with instructions on how to make Bee pops. You dip it in yellow chocolate, add white chocolate wings and then paint faces with black edible paint. The kids thought it was great fun. To answer my question I think it's a pretty fun gadget and will use it again. There is really no end to cake pops. I picture Halloween spiders and pumpkins, winter snowmen......The melted chocolate isn't too hot so the kids can dip them. Any mistakes, any thing that get broken in the dipping must be eaten immediately. That's a plus in the kids eyes. I was kind of nauseated by the time we were done. The kids were too, they didn't want to eat the final product they were too full of chocolate.



They ate the wings off the bees but that was about it. They then downed a couple of glasses of milk to counter all that chocolate.

Tulsa Zoo

We went to the zoo.  It wasn't 100 degrees like it was the last time but it was still hot and humid. We still made it four hours! Then the kids were ready to head back to the pool.

The boys in front of the penguin scale. What kind of penguin are you?

Waiting for the seal show. Not a great seal show. We've been spoiled by Sea Park and Sea World.

AJ asked me why I rode a camel. Well why not, it was there and I hadn't done it. Maybe we will have a camel party though I'm not sure where one would rent a camel and if we did I'm sure Don would be allergic to it.

Pete and Nancy watching the camel silliness.

Alexis friend Rachel took the boys for a camel ride. She knows a good time when she sees it.

After the camel the boys all wanted to ride some animals without pulses. Sean chose an alligator.

Donavon got a shark.

Kalvon AKA Shorty went for the sea horse.
Add a little pizza, some fries, some ice cream playing in the park and that's a zoo wrap.

Pool Party

We had to eat to have strength for our time by and in the pool. Dava brought her two foster kids Donavon and Kalvon. They are three and four. They are two of 16 living children their mom gave birth to. She's been pregnant 20 times and has custody of NONE of her children. There is SO much wrong with that story. These boys are pretty darn cute. You just want to squeeze them. They are naughty and then they look at you with this cute little smile and bat their long eye lashes. They are very sweet boys and Sean loved playing with them. They made the trip tons more fun for him. They left a day before us and Sean kept asking "where are my new friends."

Alexis (Dava's daughter) and her friend Rachel

Uncle Pete with Don and Sharon

Dava and the boys

Kalvon and Dava

Sean and Donavon rowing their boats.

Pete and Don watching the action.

The boys.

Kalvon being cute.

These water guns were the source of much drama. In retrospect we should have put them away when the boys were in the pool. Though Kalvon did find them tasty.

Sean isn't swimming but he finally learned to kick his legs and propel himself in the water with the floaty.



One of my favorite pictures. Kalvon peeing on the basil. We were all yelling "NOT THE BASIL". There were lots of inedible plants to pee on. At least he didn't pee in the pool.

Rachel and Alexis (Dava's daughter)

Kalvon getting a little love.

Don with Kalvon and Sean

The girls had fun with the squirt guns. Addie and her friends Isabella and Felecia.

Addie and Felecia playing volley ball. Addie's team just won their tournament.

Nancy and Pete in the pool. First time Nancy was in this year.

The Foster all inclusive resort

 We flew to Tulsa and stayed with Don's Uncle Pete (his mom's brother) and his wife Nancy. We met up with Don's mom and sister and family there. It's a great place to meet because Pete and Nancy have a really nice resort. Pool, lots of beds, towel service and some great buffets. I especially liked the ongoing ice cream buffet. Kind of like on a cruise ship, the ice cream is always available. Nancy was trying to count calories which was kind of a joke. If eating the most calories was what it took to win I won:)

We had a couple of favorite pass times on this vacation and the first was eating. We did a lot of it. We had a sandwich buffet, Italian buffet, Thia buffet.

Honestly, I tried to get pictures where our foods were not stuffed with food but it was hard. There was a narrow window of opportunity.

Ivy the human dog joined us. She was good natured about sharing her home with a bunch of noisy children.

Happy birthday Addie.

Nancy, Addie, Rachel, Kalvon and Alexis.

No one said it but we were all thinking this is Addie's second birthday without her mom. Her mom sure got cheated. Addie is 14 and six foot tall. She plays volley ball and basket ball. She is totally an athlete. She always made her mom proud and if her mom was here she would continue to be proud.

Don's sister Dava.

Donavon insisted on eating his cake without a fork or spoon. He wanted the full cake experience. Before we started he announced he was going to eat it with his fingers. And he did a great job.