SAMANTHA SURVIVED!!!

Wonderful news to report! After our bike ride to the park, the girls wanted to play in the backyard. Before I let the kids play back there by themselves, I wanted to check on Samantha to see if she had emerged yet (Samantha is Niah and Aliya's turtle). There she was--sticking her little neck up!!! I AM SOOO HAPPY THAT SHE IS ALIVE!!! This is an answer to prayer. Neither TJ or I wanted to tell the girls that she didn't make it through the harsh winter.

Niah tried to feed her a few worms, but she didn't want to eat. Hopefully, it is because she has already found some food for herself. We will try in a day or two to feed her again. She might just also still be groggy from her hibernation.

Read more about Samantha on the other blog site.

It's HOT Outside!!!

The weather has finally heated up! We now are averaging 50-60 degrees--feels like a heat wave!!! Today I was tempted to go through all the clothes and put the winter ones away. Then I remembered that this is Oklahoma and by tomorrow we could have more snow. Okay... maybe not that bad, but it wouldn't be unusual if we had one more snow before spring officially arrives. Usually the last snow comes after the flowers have bloomed or after you have packed all the warm clothes up in the attic, way in the back, on the bottom, piled with all the other winter stuff.

TJ and a friend of his were in the garage working on the car brakes...Aliya and Kiahna had to "help". Kiahna gets excited now to go outside because all the really fun toys are outside with Daddy. Here is a video clip of Aliya driving Koni around town.

Happy Birthday, Niah!!!

WOW!!! Hard to believe that Niah is 10 years old! I still can remember holding her on the day she was born--she weighed a lot less and wasn't quite so tall!!! She was adorable then, and she is even more precious now.

The whole day was dedicated to Niah--even her school closed in honor of her...they said something about President's Day. That is how special Niah is--even her school thinks that she will be the future President!!!

We had family pictures taken first...then we went to eat at Niah's favorite place. After that, she beat me at a game of laser tag. Finally, we returned home to open up presents and eat the ice cream cake.

Aliya was so excited to give Niah her present...it wasn't really a surprise because Aliya told her over and over that she had a frog present. The word "secret" is not in Aliya's vocabulary yet.

The favorite present award goes to the ant farm from Daddy and Mommy, but the best supporting sister award goes to Aliya and the coin dollar cake card from Nana and Papa.

WE LOVE YOU, NIAH!!!

Daddy, Mommy, Aliya, and Kiahna