Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Grandma and Grandpa Garrett

Grandma and Grandpa stayed with us after Easter and we were so glad!  They went to Abby's dance and gymnastics, played outside and we even met Matt between classes on Tuesday, April 10th to take him out to Famous Dave's for his birthday!  Happy Birthday Mattie!  
















We are always sad to see Grandma and Grandpa go home.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Wonderful Easter

So I am obviously behind on the 2012 blog....but I have a very good reason!
 I've been finishing the 2011 blog book and here it is!  230 pages long!
 
 
 
Now to catch up on 2012.....
It would not be Easter without dying Easter eggs.  Abby and Grandma Barbara had so much fun together.  Grandpa Roger and Lily played around on the couch during the Easter egg dying.



Sunday morning (April 8) and the traditional Easter baskets with a few gifts--trains, matching dresses and.....bikes!  Yes, the girls were pretty ecstatic about their bikes.  Lily's stands up too and will help her learn to walk and chase Abby.  Abby got a Lightning McQueen bike and could hardly contain her excitement.  She told her Primary teacher, Brother Pitts all about it during the middle of Primary!






My Easter present--yummy recipes that I can fix in the morning and not have to worry about dinner after I finish teaching piano lessons.  Now I need a new crock pot.  Mine is old and it takes about 10 hours to get anything really cooked!

Pictures before Church










We did our Easter egg hunt after Church--we didn't do it before because I had a choir rehearsal since the Ward Choir sang for Easter. 
An unusual occurrence happened with the choir that day.  First of all, we sang on a Fast Sunday and usually there aren't special musical numbers on that Sunday.  But the Bishop thought there should be one since it was Easter.  But the really unusual part took place at the end of the testimony meeting....Bishop Holladay got up and said he was going to do something different and called the choir up to close the meeting with the song we sang at the beginning, "Come Unto Him."  I was shocked!  One of our best basses did not come up--he was outside with his grandson and did not here the Bishops request!  They sang very beautifully and the spirit was felt by all, I hope.  Later the Bishop told me he wanted the spirit he felt at the beginning to be there as we closed.  I've never had an encore performance in the same Sacrament meeting before!
Abby had so much fun looking for eggs and Lily enjoyed watching and holding her egg.




Look at the fish--they are growing.

Since Matt's birthday was so close to Easter we went ahead and celebrated while his parents were at our house.  He was very excited about the tactical vest which he's asked for, for a very long time.


Happy Easter and Happy Birthday Daddy!

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Alexis Imogene Garrett

Alexis Imogene Garrett
Born:  May 6, 2012
Weight:  7 lbs. 11 oz
Height:  20.5
 Place:  Kern Medical Center, Bakersfield, CA

Yes! Another gorgeous little girl has graced our home and it has taken me two weeks to write a post.  Obviously, things have been a little busy......very little sleep......but so much fun!
I guess I should explain:
We've known for a while that Lily's birth parents were pregnant again.  They told everyone they were having twins--we still aren't sure what happened there.  But we knew we would be receiving a phone call when the babies were born, so we were trying to decide what that meant for our family.  On Monday, May 7th I received a phone call from our adoption caseworker for Lily stating that they had the baby.  A little girl, 7 pounds 11 ounces and deemed healthy.  The caseworker said that the little girl may go home with her parents, which really surprised me due to Lily's case, but weird things happen.  She said if we did not receive a call again, she went home with the parents.  We did not receive a call.  But we did receive a phone call from another caseworker about a little boy named Daniel.  We really hoped that our next child would be a boy, so this was exciting.  Daniel was 1 month old and caseworkers said he looked like a for sure adoption.  To make a long story short, we went to pick up Daniel on Friday, May 11 after buying a new car seat, diapers, and some boy clothes!  When we arrived, the caseworker we worked with for Lily came out and said, "Oh, are you here about Lily's sister?"  We looked at her blankly and finally said, "She didn't got home with her birth parents?"  The caseworker looked at us like we were crazy and said, "No way." 
Again, to make a long story short, we took Daniel home with us only to find out that we did not receive correct information.  There was a paternity test ordered and if positive, the father wants him.  But we spent a few days loving him and taking care of him.  He was so little and seemed so fragile but had a head of hair you would not believe!  Our friend Lindsay nick named him "Mowgli!"  

 
 
So on Tuesday, May 15th a caseworker came to pick up Daniel and Wednesday, May 16th we picked up Lily's baby sister!  Her birth parents named her Nazarene, but we simply cannot imagine calling her Nazarene, so we spent until late Wednesday night trying to decide on the perfect name for her.  We finally decided on Alexis (we call her Lexy) Imogene (after my Grandmother).  This was the first picture we took of our adorable Lexy.
 
The girls were admiring her and checking her out when we got home.
 
 
Here is Lexy asleep on the couch on the 17th.  She has a lot of Lily's features--nose, mouth, eyes, etc.  But she has much longer fingers and toes.
 
Friday evening I played for a Cal State Bakersfield voice recital and the next morning we left bright and early for a Cal State Fullerton graduation for Matt's sister, Heather and her husband, Brandon.  We are so excited and proud of them.  Heather is due to have another baby boy in June, so I don't know how she managed!  Pictures of graduation will follow in another post--here is Lexy at graduation.
 
After graduation we went back to Garrett's for food and swimming and we took our first family picture of all five of us!


Lexy has visits with her birth parents on Friday mornings for 2 hours.  I honestly dread taking her to the visits because it makes me realize that we could lose her. Because Lily's case looks so bad for the birth parents, the county is not offering them services as of right now.  They are not receiving assistance for their classes and things like that.  They have 30 days to turn everything around and then the county may grant them services for 6 months as they did with Lily.  They say they are attending classes and drug free and the worst part is--his mother bought them a car which makes it much easier for them to get things.  I feel terrible about not wanting them to fix their lives, but we love Lexy to death and already we cannot imagine life without her.  Besides, she is with her biological sister!  Leave her with us please!  Lexy has the most sweet spirit and adds so much to our family.  We are so anxious for the opportunity to raise her and love her forever.  Pray for us please!
We love you sweet Lexy