Another Late Birthday Blog

Big Family Birthday Party

For Bethany, Jared, and Jessica

Jared just loves to make silly faces!

Auntie Sandy made the cakes!

Thank you. We think their beautiful!

Jessica plugged her ears for the B-day song

Bethany held her hair and was soo cute and shy.

They all got cool gifts from their Aunts and Uncles!

Thank you everyone. We love our gifts.

Jared loves his Aunt Theresa!

Thank you for the Cool Tools!!!

Jessica giving Aunt Theresa a hug!

I love my mimzy dog and purse.

Jared and Jessica's 5th and Bethany's 7 Birtday Party at Keys Park

Iwas only going to post one picture of each but these of Jessica are just toooo cute!


Here is Jared! He is hanging from a moving handle! Just as happy as can be!


Bethany Playing on the bars! Wow I can't believe she turned 7 already. If you look close you might see her earrings that she got for her present.

We had cupcakes and juice with the few friends that we invited!

Alecia even joined into the fun!

Brandon acting weird. It is hard to get a good picture of him. He always wants to act funny!

Katie walking! I can't believe that I didn't get a better one of her.

Here is Alecia, Bethany, and two of the friends that came with them. They had a wonderful time!

Jared and Jessica's first day of school. Late!!!

Jared and Jessica's First Day of School, August 20, 2008! Oh my was that a hard day for me!!! Jared looks tired.
Here they are proudly showing off their new lunch boxes! They had to wait sooo long to get them!
Okay this picture says it all. Isn't he just precious.

Well this one justs adds to it! She is gorgeous!! I am totally a proud momma

Happy Thanksgiving

So I thought that it was time for me to post again. I want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. This is one of my most favorite times of the year. The holiday parties start up and everyone is in a service oriented mood. What a great way to celebrate the end of the year. Hopefully our house will be put back together before it is time to decorate for Christmas. David and I have given up on trying to do it ourselves and have hired some help. Hopefully with time and effort we may have a nice place to have Christmas however even if we don't it will still be a great time as I looooove Christmas and the whole point of it is to celebrate Christ's birth. How can I complain about a messed up house when He was born in a stable!!
Anyway, I still haven't up loaded the pics that I wanted to share so it may take me a while longer to get some pics up. Enjoy the holiday seasons and know that I am thinking about you all and you are all in my prayers

Update

So life at the Alford home has been pretty hectic for the last couple of weeks. We are all doing well and the kids are enduring our crazy house pretty well. Many people have been asking me how the house is coming along so I will give a little update. My brothers Ron and Russell and my brother in law Jake came over last Saturday and patched my roof. So now we can get started on the inside. We only have to figure out when we will be able to start on it. I am hoping to have it all put back together by Christmas so we had better get a move on. Anyway that is the update on the house.

The kids are all doing well. They were all on the honor roll for their first 6 weeks of school. Alecia is doing great. She seems to love being in Highschool and has been enjoying a little more freedom while I on the other hand would much rather her stay my little girl. She went to the fair last night with and friend (the friends mom went with her). She also went to a football game with friends and NO PARENTS. Okay all of you moms out there with little ones wait until your little ones start flying the coop and then you will see the big deal of this step. I have never sent my kids any where that there wasn't some kind of adult supervision and I just about didn't let her go until I thought about the fact that she is getting older and in highschool and oh my goodness It was time to let her have a little space. Brandon is doing great in Jr. High. I was a little worried but he got all A's and 1 B on his report card and the B may be turned to an A if the 1st and 2nd 6 week grades average to be an A. He was moved around a lot during the first 6 wk period so he was 2 grades short and the teacher thinks that he would have had an A with the other 2 grades so we shall see. He is riding his bike to and from school and enjoying the freedom that gives him. He also is in band. He is playing the clarinet like his dad did and seems to be picking it up quickly. I am soo excited that he is learning to play a musical instrument. Katie is doing well too. She is a junior officer in 4-H and is a great help to her teacher. She loves to spend time with her friends and loves to talk. Her spelling grade has picked up and I am happy to say that she is doing a whole lot better this year than last. Krystal is still doing great and loves to spend time at activity days at church. Bethany, Jared, and Jessica are all enjoying school and are great fun to be around.

I am now subbing for the elementary school. I have been in Katie's and Jared's classes and will be in Krystal's by the end of the month. I am enjoying the work and love to be around other people. The house is soooooooo empty without the kids in it.

I have some pics I want to post but I have to get them on this new computer. So I'll try to do that later.

Hurricane Hit

Well were do I begin. Life has a way of making you realize what is important and what is just excess baggage. We are having some struggles right now but with the Lords help we will overcome them quickly. Last week Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana and did a lot of damage. David and I were busy helping with the evacuees at the church from Saturday until Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning David called to check on us because he was at the church and saw flooding. I woke up and put my foot in water and at first I thought the kids had been playing in water and left the floor wet. It took my brain a few minutes to wake up but when it finally did I realized that the house was flooding and that I needed to get the kids out. Needless to say it was quite an experience and will be something that affects us for a while. Jared was soo cute. I had put him on the couch to sit for a minute while we got the other kids together and he said, "Momma! I want my swimming suit so I can go swimming in the house!" Boy they can be cute. Our house is drying out but in order to get it dry we had to take out all the carpet, our new laminate flooring, the bottom 12 inches of sheet rock, the paneling in the living room and the laundry room. We still have to take out the sheet rock in the 2 bathrooms and the cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. I have a mess it looks like someone just decided to destroy the whole house. We brought the kids to mom and she watched them from Wednesday until Sunday. She also did all the laundry. Thank you Mom. WE have a place to stay thanks to some very dear friends and all will be well. It just is a matter of remodeling and hopefully it will be better off when it is done than it was before. However because of this major problem I don't have a computer at home and it will probably be a while before I get back to blogging better. I love you all and hope that you are all doing well.

Lots of Love
Teresa

Wow!! I'm Back!

Okay so we all know those times in life when it gets so hectic that you can't think. Well that has been my life for the past month. We had a wonderful time on our vacation and I am planning on posting some pictures soon. We were enjoying ourselves so much that we extended it by one week and didn't come home until the week before school started. Needless to say with seven little ones starting school this year I had to hurry to get School clothes and supplies bought. Then I had to help them with their first week of school. Let me tell you sending Alecia to highschool for the first time and Brandon to Jr. High was really overwheming. I can hardly believe that Alecia is old enough to be in the 9th grade (gosh forget about her I don't feel old enough to be the mother of a high school student LOL). Anyway she started seminary (it is an early morning scripture study group that our church has that helps the teens learn more about our Savior and the gospel while helping them to gain a stronger testimony and by doing this it also helps them to make better choices throughout their time in H.S.) I was really worried about how I was going to get her to seminary and then to school while still helping the others get ready for school and to school. Well I really shouldn't have worried our Heavenly Father knows what we need and David was called (asked) to teach this class. Well now he takes the responsibility of taking her there and then to school so Woohoo I don't have to do it and I can sleep in as seminary starts at 6am. Brandon is now in Jr high and wants to be in band. We signed him up for it last year and He still doesn't have it on his schedule so I am having to do all the work to get the guidance counselor to change his schedule. Not very fun but definitly necessary. He is going to play the clarinet like his Dad.. WEll you would think that this would be enough firsts and all but nooooo I have the twins who start kindergarten this year. They do some kind of staggered entry so they haven't gone to their first day yet but I know that I am going to feel completely lonely when they go on Wednesday. I will no longer have any little ones at home. So before you ask what I am going to do with all my time I am going to remind you that I still have 7 children and they still need to eat, have clothes and have help with homework. I will not be bored and I will still be very busy only this time it will be without the littleones to keep me company. I am also going to volunteer at the school and do some subbing to fill in any time that I feel is left over. I am truly one of the most blessed women in the world (I know we all think that but well its my perogative to voice it Hee hee hee) I have 7 of the most well behaved kind kids and yes they do misbehave but overall they are sweet kids and I am always told how good they are. I have a husband who loves me very much and treasures me and our kids. and I know that my Heavenly Father loves me and wants what is best for me. So yes I am truly blessed just like you all are. I love you all so much and hope that you are all doing well. Ya'll take care and I will post pics of the vacation sometime this week.

Lots of Love
Teresa