Younger Kelly's graduation

Nearly all of us made it to help celebrate Kelly's graduation from Texas A&M. He received his MBA. Three different flights from 2 states and a vanload of family and we all converged on Dallas for a couple of days to have the world's biggest slumber party at their house. My sister Holly and her family came down from Oklahoma to help us cheer him on as well. It was a double celebration as Melissa had just finished her Associates degree, but chose to forgo her Commencement (scheduled just hours before his)and join us in Dallas.

My Siblings and I

We had a family reunion for the Woodard family up in Coalville Utah. Kelly's uncle has 11,000 acres and a house up there. I think the total with family and some "adopted" family members came to 53. It was a blast with jeeps, 4 wheelers, a rushing creek and lots of food. We brought home lots of memories (and about 20 extra pounds!).

Foreign exchange students from Mars

I know I continue to be pathetic in the blog department, but here's a quick update. We have added 2 boys with autism to the gang. They occasionally like to grab my hand when I'm typing so pardon the spelling. These boys seem to have their own languages......it sounds like they come from Mars, but they speak different dialects of martian. One sounds like a chinese version of martian while the other speaks russian martian. Having them in the home is rather like hosting foreign exchange students. We don't speak their language and they only speak a little of ours. They don't necessarily like our food but we are trying to be good hosts and find things they enjoy. Today for example, the younger one grabbed my hand and led me out to the van. I opened the door and he hopped in and climbed in his car seat and motioned for me to buckle him. He got really agitated when I didn't buckle him, so I finally gave in and then he was perfectly happy. The other boy came out the door and was very upset that he wasn't invited on the "trip", so I buckled him in too and then they were both content. The problem was I didn't need to go anywhere and even if I did I would need to take some support people to go anywhere, so I decided to clean out the van. They were delighted to have entertainment during their "trip" and happily let me clean vacuum and wash the van while they narrated in their parallel dialects.
We licensed about a year ago as foster parents to work with the handicapped and medically fragile kids who come into custody. I know I said I'd never go back to doing foster care, but it's kind of a long story. Can't post any pictures of the boys, but they are both 5 years old. The younger one just came a few days ago and we are still in a battle to help him get settled. Biting seems to always be part of the recipe......they bite people in the family and I bite my nails wondering why I am doing this (again!). Today has been a little easier. Only one nip and just a few attempts. A couple of days ago it was 2 major ripping bites and an aggressive attempt to crack my chest with head butting full force. This is not for the faint hearted.
The most amazing thing is watching the other kids love these sometimes almost unlovable kids. My older kids got this opportunity probably a few more times than they would have liked, but the younger ones are now getting an education as well. Boy, kids are amazing and they really make a difference in the lives of these kids.
This new fellow is a real challenge. He has blown out of 5 other homes in the last 2 months. I certainly don't blame the other families, we are just hoping we have the right combination to help him succeed this time.

Flea Market Update!

I just got back from 5 days of rummaging with my sisters in 2 different states. I think we went to 5 different antique/ flea markets in Oklahoma City,Oklahoma and Leavenworth,Kansas. We also spent almost an entire day at the Fort Leavenworth Army Base garage sales that are held twice a year. We talked, laughed, ate, laughed, talked, got into each other's business, shopped and laughed some more. We also hung blinds and recovered a pathetic ottoman that now looks fantastic (if I do say so myself). What we didn't do much of was sleep. I had to come home to do that.........and with 11 kids still at home, you can guess how successful I am with that!
We always have a contest to see who comes home with the most ridiculous item that we have actually spent money on. It was a tie this year between and old propeller from an antique toy airplane, and a perfectly charming (if not completely useless) rusty lawn sprinkler from the 1940's? in the shape of a propeller.I believe that everyone would agree that I won this year since I now own both of these items. Stay tuned and when I actually learn how to put pictures on my blog (or bribe one of my kids to do it)I'll show you where they ended up.

Sorry For not typing I'm heading out to see my sisters today ,and I promise to have a post once I get back. Thank you for coming here

This is just some of the Mckendrick's sweet 16