Halloween

The kids had a great time on Halloween. Mia was quick to put aside her fears and take candy. She is terrified of any type of mask. Of course the boys terrorized her the week leading up to Halloween. Kyle left with his friends and spent the evening hanging out. Logan and his friends went trick or treating. Brayden and Graham ditched Justin and went with their friends. So Justin was stuck pushing Princess Mia around in her stroller.

My favorite picture of our Orlando trip

Mia had such a rough time while we were at Disney. She had hives and was miserable. She didn't care for the characters or the rides. We decided to spend a day at Sea world. She came alive there. She loved the rides and couldn't get enough of them. Graham, well he did Space Mountain, so why wouldn't he do this silly little lobster ride. He was terrified. You have to click on the picture to enlarge it so you can really see what they thought of this ride.

Mia and the Princesses

Mia was less than excited to visit with Rella, Belle and Aurora. In fact she screamed and tried to run away. Mia loves anything with a picture of Rella on it so we thought she would be thrilled to see Rella in person. Oh how we were wrong. These are some of the better pictures of her. After all the trauma associated with seeing these girls in real life, she was totally excited when we entered a gift shop and found some lip gloss with Rella on it.

Graham and Buzz

I think the highlight of Graham's trip to Disney was seeing his all time favorite character Buzz. Although he won't admit to still liking Buzz, he could hardly contain his excitement when he met him. His favorite thing to do was ride the Buzz ride. His brothers we very happy to wait in line to see Buzz. They all know how much Graham loves Buzz.

Quick stop at Daytona Beach

On our way to Disney World we made a quick stop at Daytona Beach. This was the first time Mia had ever been to the beach. She loved the water and the sand. We were only there a short time but she thought it was great. She rubbed her feet in the sand and she had a great time. I thought she would be afraid of the waves coming at her but she just laughed and made sure her feet touched the water.

Mia's new sleeping habits

I had taken her to the Ear Dr. for a check-up and on our way out they gave her a sticker. She was wearing a dress and she put the sticker on her leg. When I put her down for her nap I forgot about the sticker because it was concealed by the dress. I went up to check on her about 20 mins after I put her down and this is what I found...

Logan Football

You can click on the photos to make them bigger. The first photo was taken at Logans first game. The second photos was taken for the chicks!!

First day of school photos

Misc Info

The boys are in school and I love it. Mia has a great time during the day without them. Yesterday she tried to swallow her hair clip during nap. I heard her screaming and run up and found her sitting in bed choking. Then she tried to climb the stairs with her blanket,fell backwards and hit her head. When I woke her up this morning she had thrown her blankets on the floor and taken her earrings out and tossed them on the floor also. You would think that she was trying to make up for her brothers not being around so much.
Tonight Logan has a scrimmage game. He is very excited. He informed his coach that he met Bill Romonawski while he was in the hospital and he taught him how to tackle. He tried to teach the coach the Romo way but his coach told him that he needs to do it the coaches way. He was very impressed with Logan's energy.
I will post some pictures of the first day and of Logan in football gear soon. Tonight we have open house, football and Kyle has to be at his school for something. I don't know how to be in 3 places at once.

School is Starting

I have never waited so long for school to start. I remember as a child I was happy when school started but I always felt like I could use an extra few weeks of summer. As of today the boys only have 4 more sleeps until school starts. I am counting down the days til my freedom begins. This summer has been especially stressful for our family. Moving across the country and having dad leave 3 weeks later really knocked the boys out of wack. I know that they are just as excited to start school as I am. All 4 of them will be gone all day!!!! Mia will start a preschool program Monday and Friday mornings. So at least 2 mornings a week I will be completley free. She cried when we went to visit the preschool. She wanted to stay and play. So told me bye,mama and walked away. She was so sad when she realized that we were there only for orientation not to stay. I guess she is ready to have some time away from mom.
If on the first day of school I have tears in my eyes it is not from saddness. It is pure joy that I will actually be able to go to the grocery store and not have to hear "can I have this" and I will be able to take a shower and not be interrupted. The thing I am most looking forward too I think is actually drinking my coffee while it is hot. I have heard that people do that.

Riding a Bike with your Eyes Closed

In case everyone didn't know, it is not a good idea to ride your bike with your eyes closed. Just ask Graham. He was following Brayden and he closed his eyes, they opened back up after he had hit the corner of a mailbox. A few minutes and a lot of blood later he was brought home. I took him in and our great Dr put 2 stitches in his forhead. I told Graham if he had been wearing his helmet like he is supposed to he would be just fine right now. Now he thinks he is entitled to whatever he wants. He went to bed dreaming of having icecream for breakfast.

Future NFL Linebacker???

Does this face look like a pro linebacker??? Logan is so excited to be a linebacker on his football team. I guess the black eye helped make him look tough. If you ask Kyle what happened to Logan's eye his story is he accidently gave him an elbow to the eye. Logan's side of the story is that Kyle gave him a fist on purpose. Who do you believe??? The eye was very black 2 weeks ago.

Mia in Black and White

Photo shoot with Mia

Mia loves to ham it up for the camera.

Pictures from the Road

We are Surviving

We have been here for a little over a month now. The boys are busy making friends and getting into trouble. Kyle is being Kyle....He knows everything and I am just an idiot. At what age do they realize that their parents really are not stupid?? Logan starts football tonight. He is so excited to play. This will be his first year in full pads. Brayden is trying to break away from Graham and make some friends of his own. Graham is busy keeping tabs on Brayden. Mia, well Mia is busy being cute for anyone around. Her favorite friend is the baby next door. She calls him Maymie. She thinks that it is her job to protect him from her brothers. Justin is gone of course. He is in Texas until September. I am counting down the days until school starts. August 20th cannot come soon enough.

Mia's birthday--on the road

...Oregon,Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois,and tonight we are in Kentucky. We hope to roll into South Carolina tomorrow. Let's see..highlights. In Oregon, we visited with Heidi's family and friends. Her brother Jay and I, and the boys went fishing. Jay caught the biggest fish by far. But before he reads this and gets too cocky let me also mention it was just a carp. The boys and I all caught a couple of trout about as big as my...little finger. I can't think of a single highlight from Idaho or Utah. We did see quite a few antelope and wind farms in Wyoming.
We stayed a few days in Colorado to visit some old friends: The Ingles, the Evers, and the Meaux's. It was good to see those guys again. We visited the zoo, and Garden of the Gods. And last but not least, it was Mia's birthday!! She is 3 years old, and we have had her now for just over a year. Despite spending so much time on the road, Mia seemed to enjoy her birthday. Special thanks to Naomi for taking us to dinner--please tell Jose to pick on someone his own size--see above.
After Colorado, we spent an extra day in Lincoln, Nebraska to say hi to my siblings--never a dull moment with the Vaughn's even in Nebraska. Thanks to Emily for the last minute birthday cake in Nebraska. It was nice to see everyone again. Next we are on the road to Springfield Illinois to visit Grandma and Grandpa Vaughn. Or as my kids call him "Grandpa of Many Flavors".

We are moving to South Carolina

The good news is that the house sold. The bad news is that resulted in a 35 day hotel stay with five kids a dog and a wife. I am now ready for the Grecian Formula Gray hair kit. During the last month we had Kyle, Logan, and Graham finishing up their baseball seasons. Brayden is holding out for karate once we get to South Carolina, and Mia does what she does. Heidi managed to slip out to Jamaica with a couple of girlfriends for a week--that's the way she rolls.
We pulled the kids out of school a couple of weeks early and decided to spend a few days in Portland before we took off. But on the way out of town Kyle became an indentured servant. Apparently for causes that have yet to be determined, Kyle's French Horn received several damaging blows resulting in $365 worth of damage. So he is now earning it back at the rate of $5.50 per hour.
Here are a couple of pics from the hotel. And yes, that is Logan sleeping by the bathroom floor--try to tell him no. It is just not worth it.
Next stop--Portland.

Mia's Pigtails

Mia is doing really good. Her hair is getting long enough for pigtails. She loves it when I put them in. She touches them gently and says "pretty" or "cute"
In June we will be moving to Columbia, South Carolina. We are buying a house there with a lot of room. The boys are excited that they will finally be able to have their own rooms. Little does Brayden know that Graham is not about to sleep by himself. We are looking forward to living in a warmer area. Justin hates the rain. He complains everday about it. I think I am going to have a hard time trying to get him to come back here. Our official Vaughn Cross Country tour starts in June. I plan to post pics along the way. We will be driving 2 vehicles out there. I just didnt think it would be healthy for our marriage to drive over 3000 miles in one vehicle with 5 kids and a dog.

26 LBS and Shots

Today I took Mia to the hospital to get her shots. She has been with us for almost 8 months now. When we took her to the hospital when we first came home from China she weighed in at 22 lbs. Today she hit the 26lb mark. She was having a great time at the clinic up until they gave her the shots. She screamed for a few minutes then she wanted to let everyone know she was hurt. She had a very sad face and kept pointing to her legs. She came home and took a nice long nap. When I pulled her pants down to put her on the potty she discovered the wounds again. She has her brothers feeling sorry for her. I took some pictures of her feeling sorry for herself.

Potty Training

We are in the process of potty training our Mia Mei. It has been tough at times and I think it is the language problem. She is starting to communicate to us when she needs to go. She will either pull us to the potty chair or drag the potty chair across the house to us. She has her own potty "station" complete with toys, a blanket and a place to rest her cup. I really thought she would be very easy to potty train. I have resorted to a sucker jar that she can see from her throne. When she successfully goes she points to the jar and she is rewarded with a sucker.