Congratulations Jeff!!!

My brother is graduating with his master from Truett with his seminary degree. He just got a job in Indiana as a hospital chaplain. He is already doing an internship in Waco as a chaplain and really enjoys it. The high in Indiana in the winter is 31 degrees. YIKES!!! That is way too cold for me, but my brother LOVES the cold weather so he is very excited. The job starts in two weeks so he will be busy getting everything settled from Waco to Indiana. After flying into Dallas after interviewing my mom had a little surprise party waiting for him. She is so good about decorating the table with fun things and getting champagne to toast the celebration. Congratulations Jeff on your new job and new career. You are going to do great!!!

Notre Dame is in Indiana so my brother brought back the kids some shirts from the school. 

Vacation with Emme

My mom was going to visit my aunts and her BFF in Mineral Wells for the weekend and she offered to take Ryan. WHAT A GREAT EMME!!!!!!!!!!!! Scott was going on a guys trip that weekend so it was a nice break for me. They, of course, had a BLAST. Ryan went swimming, saw two movies, went to a birthday party and so much more. I love that my mom loves Ryan so much and loves spending so much time with him. She takes such good care of him and he thinks that she hung the moon. Mom, thank you so much for being the grandmother you are to my children. Thank you for making them a big part of your life. 

Emme & Ryan at the Birthday party

My aunt and Ryan. She cooked him a yummy breakfast every morning. 

Maria is an artist and Ryan loved her drawing so many things for him.

Emme & Ryan at Ice Age

Emme tells me that she makes sure Ryan eats healthy when he is with her. There is a picture to prove it. :)

Del and Ryan had fun playing with the dogs and swimming

Sounds like a good vacation to me..

Swimming

One morning before The Haynes left we went to my parents pool in their neighborhood. It was so much fun for all of us watching the kids swim and play and especially getting all of their energy out. Little McKenzie is our dare-devil and is not scared of anything. She wanted to rip those floaties off and go. She hated when I was holding her so thankfully there was a kid section in the pool where she could walk around. Lola is a little more cautions and enjoyed taking her Little Mermaid water can and making sure the flowers 

has enough to drink. Lilli and Ryan were little fish as always. 

Sad Goodbyes

With the car packed full of treasures and the kids tucked away in the middle of it all we said goodbye to the Haynes family. What wonderful memories we have had over the last 4 months. Ryan has already asked when they are coming home just as I knew he would. We will now establish our old/new normal again but not without a little lump in our throat and glassy eyes. They will truly be missed!!!

Misty put all of our memories at the Monaco compound around this frame. It will always be special to us. 

Ryan was helping the guys pack the car..he was wearing his new superhero gloves from Misty and his winter hat. Isn't that what you wear when you pack???

Each kid got a little gift at breakfast including a photo album of pictures through out the 4 months

Last family breakfast from Whataburger

The tears are coming...

About 4 months ago The Haynes family moved in with us as they were transitioning to Ron's new job. Their house sold faster than they thought and where else better to live but in the upstairs guest bedroom of our house. What's another two kids when you already have two. It has been an adventure of fun, confusion, stress, excitement, worry, singing, laughing, and crying. 

Misty and I taught across the hall from each other before we even had kids. We got pregnant about a month apart and out of 14 people having kids in our school we were the only ones to stay home at the time. Our friendship grew as we practically raised our kids together not knowing what the heck we were doing. We use to hold Ryan and Lilli in front of each other as infants telling them they were going to be friends whether they liked it or not and that is exactly what they became. It was precious to see their friendship form and now with our seconds it is egually exciting. Kenize and Lola LOVE each other more than I guess we ever thought they would. There was no time to even "make" them friends because we were busy with the 3.5 year olds, but every morning as Lola gets up her first word is Kenzie and when Kenzie sees Lola she squeels with excitement. How more precious could it be?

After months of establishing a "new" normal our second family only has one more week here. It is hard for me to even imagine saying good-bye to our dear friends who together we have been through more in the last 4 months then I could even begin to write. The number one question people always ask when they get one of us alone is "How is it REALLY...???" Here is how it really is...The noise level is uncontrollable, meal time is like an assembly line, bath time is a big wet mess, play time is either watching them all get along so well or breaking up the fights every 5 minutes. One second we are thinking how sweet it is that the big kids take such good care of the little ones and the next trying to peel them off of the babies as they are rolling around on the ground with them. It is truly sibling love around here. At times yes, it is very stressful and overwhelming, but it has also been 4 months of something wonderful I will never forget. In the mist of all the confusion we savored every moment. Just as much as there have been hard moments there has been 2 times as many precious memories to make up for it.

 Misty and I joke about how we are going to miss our "wife" because yes having another determined woman around here hasn't been bad. While one is cleaning the kitchen the other is bathing the kids. While one is mopping the floor the other is going grocery shopping. While one feels like a big scoop of ice cream after a hard day the other joins in just like girls do.  While one of us wants to complain about something random the other one is ready to listen.

 So even though at times both of us are ready to get back to our family of 4 I am truly going to miss my family of 8. And yes, that is exactly what they have become and will continue to be "Our Family". I love each of them so much for different reasons. 

Come next Saturday the house will be too quiet, bath and meal time will be boring and I am afraid we will all wonder what to do with ourselves. 

My heart is breaking not only for myself....(I am selfish with this one), but also for sweet Ryan who is going to ask me over and over when Lilli is coming "home" just as he does when she leaves on a trip without him. I am afraid Kenzie will walk around the house yelling for "yaya" which is what she calls Lola and Scott is such a family man that not having 4 kids and two wives greeting him at the door may put a little break in his heart. 

Haynes family you mean the world to us. I am excited for you as you begin your journey. Know that we love you and are here for you whenever you need. And of course when you come to Dallas your room/rooms will be waiting. :)

The days in the the life of Rogers and Haynes

BFF's

Family Breakfast

Swimming Lessons

Bath Time

Lilli was so excited Kenzie had matching pj's

Time out at the Rogers' compound....do you think it is working??

Painting the dining room. They are ready to dig in.

Ryan & Lilli loved to do this with the inside toys as well as the out. 

Good Morning

Superhero day...Lola is their bodyguard

We love you guys!!!!

Father's Day (just a bit late)

The Monday before Father's Day Ryan, Kenzie and I went to Target to get a few needed items. When we walked in Ryan said " mommy I want to get daddy a shirt. " I thought great that can be his father's day gift from him. So at first Ryan picked this really nice blue shirt that was plain, but classy. As we were headed out of the men's department all of the sudden Ryan started running full speed throwing the "nice and classy" blue shirt behind. He saw the ultimate perfect shirt he thought. Side note: Ryan is into superheros. He acts like a superhero, he dresses like them and carries his action figure superheros around with him everywhere. So to him seeing a baby blue shirt with a BIG "S" on it including the superman symbol was the best day of his shopping life. Well unfortunately they did not have that one in Scott's size which I knew Scott would be glad. He then found an Iron Man shirt that had Iron Man written really big across it in yellow and big red Iron Man faces all over it. Mom then decided they didn't have that in daddy's size. wink wink...So we settled on the one below. It has ALL the superheros on one shirt. PERFECT!!! 

I told Ryan we couldn't say anything to daddy because it was a surprise. So that day as he was wrapping it Scott called and Ryan took the phone went into the laundry room shut the door and of course told him with such excitement the great surprise. We ended up baking a cake (scott loves them) and cooking Scott's favorite dinner and we celebrated father's day that Monday night. 

Scott, you are an amazing dad. I could not imagine anyone else walking or running :) in this crazy adventure with me. Thank you for loving us and taking care of us and being the father I had always imagined my kids would have.  We love you so much!!