Angel Andon

Never has someone I barely know touch me as much as Chelsa Knepp has...she and her family (husband Ryan & son Brycen) have recently experienced what no family should have to endure - having a precious baby born after already becoming an angel. Courtney Owens has created a memorial blog for Andon and has encouraged other bloggers to dedicate today's Valentines Day posts to the love of life...I choose my family, for without them, I would be so much less than I am...

My husband Shane - hands down the best dad...EVER! He raised his three daughters as a single parent for many years...imagine, 3 girls under the age of 3...and all they knew was love, adventure and security. He packed those girls wherever he went and oh, the stories he can tell! Single-handedly, the most wonderful man in my life! Bless his perseverance, dedication and sense of right.

Our oldest daughter, Katie - we always say that Kate marches to the beat of a drummer the rest of us have never heard of! Bless her creativity, imagination and heart.

Our oldest twin, Hannah - we will have our hands full in the next few years as our "social butterfly" spreads her wings to their fullest! Bless her outgoing personality, love of a "good time" and fashion sense.

Our little twin, Emily - she may be small but she's certainly mighty...in heart, in energy and in mouthiness! Bless her intelligence, energy and fearlessness.

Our little guy, Nick - as the only son in a houseful of girls, Nick can giggle like a girl but he's also a boy to the core...loves to wrestle w/ Dad, hang out in the shop and be dirty 24/7. Bless his quick smile, love for all things race cars and many "love you Mom"s.

For all that I am blessed with, I thank the Lord every day...and for all the Knepp family has been thru, I pray for them every day. Celebrate life every day - no matter the stress or headaches that you have; cherish those that matter...

Catching up...again

Wow - I'm getting realllly bad about keeping up w/ this blog! As my friend Jen stated in her email to me entitled "Harassment"...as in she was harassing me about updating my blog! So Jen - here's to my new found commitment to keeping Matthews Madness more current!

Life has been pretty crazy lately but that's really not anything new around here...the snow days & school delays got a little out of hand and totally messed w/ everyone's schedules...needless to say - I'm one happy momma now that we're back on track.

Our twins had a sleepover this past Friday night so we had not 2, but 4 eight-yr-olds running around here...madness :) I was going to take them to the movies but decided that sitting for two hours for a movie then coming home didn't make for the best "time for bed" scenario so we decided to take in a WHS game instead. I took the "sleepover" girls w/ me and Shane brought our other two...we could have all fit in our Tahoe but we knew Kate & Nick would be ready to leave the game before the other girls would. On our way from dinner to the game, those 4 girls were hilarious in the car - extremely loud but funny anyway. I just cranked up the "Kids Bops" to drown them out :)

Emily, Shaina, Lauren & Hannah

Lauren & Hannah playing dress up

Shaina & Emily getting ready for bed

Both of our guests had things going on w/ their families Saturday morning so they weren't able to stay long but really, that was ok b/c I also had a busy Saturday. Our Rotary Club has a Gala Fundraiser every year and this was my 3rd year planning it...Saturday night, we had a "Beautiful Italian Night" at Mulligans and raised a lot of money for our Rotary projects. Afterwards, Shane & I met up w/ my bro-in-law Dave who will heading back to Afghanistan later this week..here's Dave & our kids - they all luuuuuuvvvv Uncle Dave!

I'm absolutely stoked that our vacation to Hawaii is coming up so quickly...only a week from Thursday...woo hoo!!! Even though our weather today was pretty fabulous! After dinner tonight, we took the dogs for a walk for some much needed exercise...for all of us :) Let's just hope it hangs around for awhile...