Matthews Family

would anyone notice...

2011-01-10T21:44:00.001-05:00

...if I start blogging again?? let's see if I'm still on anyone's radar....after 16 months' absence :)

just a little more craziness...

2009-09-20T18:59:00.004-04:00

some more house news! Because we weren't real confident the original house deal was going to go thru (for many reasons, mainly being the seller), we decided to keep looking at houses "just in case"....well, we found one we liked much better, was up for immediate occupancy, way less $$ (giving us more for renovations) AND in town w/ a large lot! Craziest part is it wasn't even on our list of homes to look at on Thursday - we just happened to drive by it while we were out w/ our realtor, stopped by & fell in love....our realtor turned to us right when we walked in the front door and said "I just got goosebumps - this is your house!"...talk about crazy! But she was right :) The next day (Friday), our realtor called the original house guy to see if he'd release us from the purchase agreement, (which he did thank goodness) so we made an offer on house #2 which was accepted yesterday (Sat.) - holy crap!!! All of this just proves once again that everything happens for a reason and there's a higher power watching out for us! I'll keep everyone posted as we move thru the steps...hopefully it all goes smoothly and we can start our renovations on the new house soon b/c I reallllly want to have it all done before we move in (including my brand new kitchen - woo hoo!) Oh - and I forgot to mention we sold our house too!!!

Thursday was my last day at Olon...such a bittersweet day for me. I have made such good friends there (which I know I'll keep but won't get to see everyday) and feel like I've learned a lot. I knew before the day began that I would end up being a baby at some point and I didn't disappoint! I probably had tears in my eyes 5 or 6 times...and I kept saying "I even put my big girl panties on this morning so I wouldn't be a baby!"....I guess even the big girl panties don't work every time! So I start my new job tomorrow...1st day won't be too exciting since I'll be in orientation all day but that's ok...I'm still getting used to anwering "Williams Bros." when asked where I work :)

Shane has worked hard the past month getting his S10 ready for the Car Cruise & Show this weekend...he & Nick were in the Cruise while the girls & I all watched from his grandma's house. Both of my "boys" had soooo much fun - neither one of them could wipe that grin off their faces! At one point during the build, we really didn't know if the truck was going to be ready or not but Shane was adamant that he would keep his word to Nick that they'd drive "Pedro" (yes, we name our vehicles!) in this year's cruise...I feel so blessed that my son has the dad that he does! While Shane may not have contributed "biologically", he has more than contributed in every other way in shaping who our son is! And trust me, they are two peas in a pod when it comes to "race cars" :) Here's a pic of my two grease monkeys from the Cruise:

Today was pretty quiet - the kiddos started Religion Class for the year this morning so I got the dreaded Walmart trip out of the way while they were there...then I caught up on laundry since yesterday was spent at soccer game/flag football practice/lunch w/ my girlfriends in Jasper/Car Cruise...Shane took Pedro over to the Carfest around noon so the kids and I spent the dreary afternoon just hanging out. After watching too many episodes of "Diners, Drive-ins & Dives" on the Food Network, I ended up making biscuits & gravy, fried potatoes & bacon for dinner :) Not exactly healthy but super yummy just the same!!

I know this week will hold more of the same craziness w/ the new job, houses, kids' sports, etc but I'll try to stay sane enough to remember it all to re-cap next post!

such a slacker...

2009-09-13T20:43:00.004-04:00

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth...just had a little craziness going on the past few weeks! Between accepting an unexpected new job, making an offer on a house, putting our house on the market and all the day-to-day normal craziness, we've been a little busy :) I'll try to tackle each subject one by one...

NEW JOB: so, I've been perfectly content at my current job, wasn't looking to leave but the phone rang on a Sunday night which lead to a couple of interviews and BAM - I start my new job at Williams Bros. next Monday. I'll be working for a company they own called True Rx which is a prescription benefit management company - this is the prescription drug part of your insurance...we process claims, work w/ the client companies and their employees to make smart prescription choices, etc. etc. I'll be the manager so keep me in your thoughts as I start a job I know NOTHING about :)

NEW HOUSE: Shane & I have been looking for awhile but finding a house w/ enough bedrooms in our price range w/ the other amenities we require has been tough! We finally found one that met our needs and after a couple of counter offers, we're good! Only downer is the seller is very difficult to work with and we're not confident the whole thing is going to go thru....what it boils down to is the wife wants to move to be closer to her family but we really don't thing the husband wants to b/c he seems very reluctant to find another home - obviously this needs to happen in order for us to get HIS house! Part of the negotiations was he has until mid-October to find a home; if that doesn't happen, the deal is off so keep your fingers crossed.

OUR HOUSE: The aforementioned buy has obviously led us to put our house on the market - Shane & I were in total "home improvement" mode for a solid month and its paid off - we countered an offer on Friday that we received within the first week on the market! We should know tomorrow night if the offer has been accepted...of course we had to ask for time to find out if we have the other house or not b/c we're not going anywhere if that deal falls through...so stressful!

OTHER CRAZINESS: Kate = volleyball practice or game 3-4 nights per week; Kate = braces week 1 & still going good; Twins = soccer practice 2x per week starts tomorrow w/ games starting Saturday; Nick = flag football starts Saturday; having to keep house spotless for showings; hiring & training my replacement at work; checking off several "To-Do's" before I leave my job - don't want to leave loose ends for the rest of the team; I'm sure there's more but my brain is fairly fried :)

We've been doing some fun stuff too though...Mom & Scott were home this past week so we had dinner w/ them Thurs. nite at our house...Shane is designing their new kitchen (with his cabinets of course!) so we were up until midnight doing that w/ them...I have to give Mom some major props though b/c she was ORGANIZED w/ her notebook full of dimensions, pictures, etc - I totally see where I get some of my "skills"!! I also loved getting to live vicariously thru them - nothing like designing a kitchen with a larger budget than I'm used to!! Can't wait to see the final product.

I spent Saturday morning at the White River Valley Antique Show helping my aunt Anna w/ her flea market booth - such fun hanging out w/ her, Abbie and all of the other family members that were roaming around. And can I say, the food at the Show rocked! I managed to "carb up" quite nicely w/ noodles over mashed potatoes for breakfast then curly potatoe chips w/ cheese for lunch...not exactly a "skinny day" since we also ate dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings but oh well - I've made up for it today by being "good". I also did a little shopping - by far the best purchase was the "retro" metal lunchboxes I bought for Shane & I...G.I. Joe for him and Strawberry Shortcake for me...the exact same one I had in grade school! Love the nostalgia - but feel old that something I had in my childhood qualifies as a flea market find!

So here I am on Sunday nite...trying to think if I've forgotten anything of any merit to mention...watching football w/ my husband and enjoying the quiet of 4 kids in bed...feelin' pretty good about it allllllll!

Weekend Rundown...

2009-08-24T20:45:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately, this post will be picture-less...mostly b/c I failed to pick up the camera even once this weekend :)

The kiddos all survived the first week of school...and were excited to be going back this morning so I take that as a good sign! Tonight was our first big night of homework (ugh) but we easily got thru it and still had dinner on the table by 6:15. Its so crazy to me that Katie is giving speeches (I don't remember doing that in 5th grade!) and Nick is learning to read...they're all growing up so fast.

Katie is starting volleyball this week - practice begins tomorrow and her 1st game is the 2nd week in September...my fab friend Steph is her coach so I know she'll learn a lot and (hopefully) enjoy it. Only negative is her games are all at 3:30 - kind of sucks for those of us that work until 5pm and even worse for Shane who works an hour out of town...oh well, its only 6 games in 3 weeks so hopefully our work schedules allow us to get to them all. I'll post pics as soon.

The twins will begin fall Rec League soccer as well as practices for spring Travel soccer here in the next month - nothing like year round soccer at 9 years old! Oh well - I love the game and am thrilled to have the girls following in my footsteps...I hope its something they stay passionate about through high school. I was never in better shape than when Coach Monty was making us run our butts off all season :) Shane will be coaching while I manage the family schedule...I think I need to get one of those SUV stickers that say "Mom's Taxi" b/c that's certainly how it feels sometimes!

Nick will be playing flag football through the YMCA this fall - not sure when those games start but he's all signed up so I'm sure we'll hear something soon. I hope he does well - he's not so great when people take things from him so I hope he doesn't get too attached to those flags!! It should be a character builder for him if nothing else.

We celebrated Shane's b-day w/ a cookout on Saturday - great friends, good food & awesome weather made for a perfect night...it was a late night but still a good one! There was more than one time that I was laughing so hard that tears were running down my face...nothing like making memories w/ friends. I'm sure there will be more made in two weeks when we have our 15th year class reunion...have we really been "adults" for that long??!!!

Happy Monday to everyone...hope the rest of week is good for all!

Back to School

2009-08-17T19:33:00.004-04:00

So - I've been a horrible blogger this summer but my "back to school" vow is to do a lot better! Here are the kiddos this morning - all were really excited to go back to school to see friends, meet their new teachers, and best of all...break out the new school supplies!

Katie is in 5th grade, Hannah & Em are in 4th and Nick is in 1st...all had an "awesome" first day (which is what a momma wants to hear!) and no one had any behavior issues..another good thing even though Shane doesn't think the 3 youngest can make it all week without at least one! We'll see!!

Shane's 35th birthday is tomorrow and since its a weekday, 2nd day of school, also his cousin's birthday, etc. etc., we went to Evansville on Saturday to go out to eat (Red Lobster - yummo!) and do a little shopping...can I say how much I love that my hubby likes to go shopping?! We took the kids too so it was some good family time. I'm sure the kids will say the 1st stop at the mall was their fave part of the evening - candy store :) I can't say I minded my custom Jelly Belly mix either! Tomorrow, the kids & I will all give Shane his gifts, eat dinner (his choice) then head to school for Open House...after that we'll head to his grandma's to celebrate his & his cousin's birthdays...busy busy (as usual!) We're also having a cookout this Saturday so he's basically having a week-long bday celebration...not a bad thing!

That's it for now but I'll post again SOON!

Yes, its been almost a month since my last post...

2009-07-10T19:26:00.002-04:00

What can I say? We're a crazy busy family of 6 and I'm just a bad blogger :) I always think I need to upload pics every time I post and that just takes forever on my PC so I always talk myself out of posting...silly I know but its the only excuse I can come up with! BTW - there won't be any pics w/ this post!

Here's what we've been up to lately...

The kids are having a great time 3 days a week at the YMCA day camp along w/ their Mondays at Gma Beth's and Thursdays w/ Abbie or Steph. Dad & Beth bought the kids a pool (one of those 3-4' deep, aboveground inflatable pools) so they have a blast swimming and keeping Gma on her toes :) Abbie or Steph take them to Summer Fun in the Park every Thursday...so far they've gone on a nature hunt, tie-dyed t-shirts, made arts/crafts...all fun stuff! They always have fun at the Y too - their days are pretty structured there but fun is part of the structure so we all win that one! Fridays are Field Trip Day so they've gone to Rainbow Beach a couple of times, Evansville Zoo, Spring Mill, the Loogootee pool and will soon go to French Lick for the train ride, McCormick's Creek and Rainbow Beach a few more times.

As a family, we've gone to a Dubois County Bombers game w/ Shane's parents (I highly recommend this for anyone who loves old time baseball!), made a trip to the drag strip in Lyons, hosted a very wet 4th of July cookout at our house, saw "Transformers 2", will be going to another Bombers game tomorrow w/ friends and Holiday World is in our future next Thursday.

We're also hitting our "House To-Do List" very hard b/c we're thinking of putting it on the market soon...our neighbor sold his house in less than a month - that's the good news b/c we think our's could go quickly too - the bad news is our new neighbors....really nice people but they took over 2 weeks to mow their yard and have their dog on a chain in the backyard. This coupled w/ a few other "issues" in our neighborhood have made us think we'd rather move than re-model our house w/ a huge addition.

This seems to be a fairly bland post - hopefully I can get some pics posted soon!

Happy 6th Birthday Nick...Mom is just a little late :)

2009-06-11T19:32:00.003-04:00

My baby isn't a baby anymore...that's all I can think of! Five years old still sounds young - SIX years old sounds like a big kid! Nick turned 6 on 6/6 - a very busy day for our household since five out of the six of us were very involved w/ my cousin's wedding. We started out our day having breakfast at Nick's choice of restaurant - he & Shane rode in "Betsy" which is our '67 Chevy pickup that Nick LOVES...we hope she lasts until Nick can drive her :) After breakfast, I took the girls to get their hair done for the wedding while the boys went to do some "guy stuff"...once we got home, I painted the girls' nails then got myself ready. Nick & I headed to Anna's to meet up w/ the rest of the wedding party for pics (the girls passed out favors after the wedding so they weren't required for pics at this point) then went to the church for more pics. The wedding was beautiful and went very smoothly - Abbie & I were Jess's personal attendants so basically, we got to tell everyone what to do :)

The kids all had so much fun at the wedding reception - especially Nick & Kate who danced the night away w/ Max! I'm thinking Nick didn't mind sharing his birthday w/ the wedding since he got to "rock out" (Nick's words, not mine!) all night...how many 6 yr-olds do you know that can sing the entire chorus to "Come on Feel the Noise" by Quiet Riot?! He was quite the hit...

We had Nick's actual birthday party the last weekend in May - we rented a gi-normous inflatable water slide and invited friends from his kindergarten class along w/ other friends & family...talk about madness! We had 13 kids vying for a turn but we managed to keep control...for the most part! Nick chose a baseball theme - I had fun putting together treat bags w/ baseball tattoos, rubber bracelets, baseball cards, bubble gum & a wiffle ball but the cupcakes were my absolute fave...I think they turned out sooooo well!

(Doesn't the look on the boys' faces just say it all?!!)

Nick has also already celebrated his birthday w/ the Coy's, us (twice), the Matthews', the Deitz's, my mom, the Otto's - this just leaves the Beasley's (Mom's family) which we'll celebrate w/ on Fathers' Day...he's literally had a month-long birthday! what a lucky kid...and we're pretty lucky he's our kid :)

Soccer & Tball pics

2009-06-02T20:00:00.003-04:00

As promised, here's some pics of Hannah & Emily playing soccer and Nick playing Tball...I've been a bad mom when it comes to Kate's softball games...I promise to take my camera to the next game!

The soccer season is over for now - we finished the season 5-1 so I'm very proud of our girls & our coach!

We're about 1/2 way through Tball...we got rained out tonight but that's ok - sometimes its nice to just have a rainy night at home :)

A weekend in Bumpus...

2009-05-28T20:19:00.007-04:00

Another fab weekend in the middle of nowhere! We headed out Friday afternoon after taking Sadie to the vet for boarding...kind of forgot about that little part of having an indoor dog and trips out of town :) We then made a mad dash to Henderson for some BBQ pork from this little hole-in-wall place Shane found courtesy of our Garmin GPS a month ago...let me tell you, I'm not a big fan of baked beans but I could eat a gallon of their's!! I guess all of the pork drippings and such give it something special! The "mad dash" part of it is b/c they close at 7pm our time and we didn't leave Washington until 5:30...that's 1 1/2 hours to make it through E'ville rush hour to the far south side of Henderson...we made it w/ 10 minutes to go - woo hoo!

We made it Bumpus Mills, TN safe & sound...rocking out the last few miles to some 80's rock courtesy of a great radio station (97.5) somewhere out of Tennessee/Kentucky...nothing like seeing your 5 year old headbanging in the back seat! After a game of "pickup sticks" w/ Gma Cindy, the kids headed to bed...after a quick negotiation of who got the top bunk of course!

The kiddos got us all up bright & early Saturday - Mom & I then "escaped" for some much needed mother/daughter time...we headed to Paris...Paris, TN that is - hey, they had the required Eiffel Tower - to a really beautiful landscaping place for flowers. It was so hard to pick out what we wanted b/c they had sooooooooooo many to choose from but we managed. We then stopped by the Piggly Wiggly - love that place - so quintessential Tennessee huh? Where else would one find find canned pork brains in gravy?

Tim, Holly & the boys got there soon after we got back to the house - we can always count on the Evans family for some good times! They brought their go-kart to add to the 4-wheeler & Kubota all-terrain...nothing like outdoor toys for the boys! Several trail rides later - thru quite a bit of mud (ewww!) - we moved on to the "luau" portion of the evening...leave it to my mom to have a "theme" night. Tim definitely got the best dressed award :)

Nick & Scott after their trip thru the mud hole

Emily & Shane - she was the only girl willing to go thru the mud hole!

Cooling off in the sprinkler

Tim & Shane

The Luau Gang

We headed home Sunday after breakfast - pretty uneventful trip. Thankfully, our kids travel really well w/ very few "Are we there yet" comments...we were all still glad to pull into the driveway though The rest of the weekend was spent on normal weekend "stuff" like cleaning, laundry, Walmart, etc...nothing too exciting....nothing like the "luau" anyway!

I'm still here...

2009-05-19T21:12:00.004-04:00

Hi all...yes, once again I've fallen behind in posting...chalk it up to being very busy - does that excuse have a statute of limitations?!

Let's flash back a couple of weeks...I was in Georgetown, Ontario (near Toronto) for 3 days for work at the beginning of the month...nothing too exciting except I didn't get my passport until 3 days before I left and I got majorly delayed in Chicago coming home and didn't actually walk thru my front door until 2:30am Thursday morning...this was the Thursday that school got delayed due to the extreme fog - yes, that's what I drove home from Louisville in - FUN FUN! Thankfully, I made it safely and was able to get a little more rest than expected w/ the school delay. The rest of that week was spent hosting our Board of Directors and catching up at work coupled w/ Katie's orthodontist appt on Thursday (yes - its going to be braces...great.) and a Mother/Daughter banquet on Friday. That weekend was spent running errands Saturday then Mothers Day breakfast w/ Shane's parents and lunch w/ the Beasley's...followed by pictures w/ my brothers (courtesy of Abbie!) for my step-mom. Exhaustion set in somewhere in the middle of all of that...

While I was gone, Shane played "Mr. Mom" - he took 3 days of vacation from work to manage the household which made it a lot easier than trying to manage a 2 hour commute every day along w/ our family's crazy schedule. They all stayed busy w/ practices, games, etc. Nick had his first Tball game of the season which I hated to miss but he did really well according to his very proud dad. I talked to the kids each night but still missed them like crazy...Sadie (our dog) also missed her "momma" - she got spayed while I was gone and didn't recover from the anathesia (sp??) very well...poor Shane had to clean up a few messes :(

Last week consisted of soccer practice, tball pictures, 2 dentist appts (one in Evansville), two Relay for Life fundraisers (no work for me, just my contributions!), 2 softball games, my cousin's bachelorette party, the Team Andrea RFL Hog Roast and trips to drop off & pick up Nick from his weekend in Evansville....again, exhausting but all ran smoothly w/ planning - my specialty!

So far, this week has again been busy but manageable...last night, Kate had a softball game in Montgomery that Shane & Em went to and Nick had a Tball makeup game that Hannah & I went to...this has been pretty much the only conflict we've encountered so far so we've been lucky! The twins have a make-up soccer game tomorrow night and Kate has another softball game Thursday night in Montgomery - then we're off to Bumpus Mills, Tennessee Friday after work to visit Mom & Scott at their weekend home on Kentucky Lake - I'll have plenty of pics to post after that visit!

I know I need to post pics of the kids at their various sporting events and I promise to do so soon...needless to say, they've all been doing really well! The twins love soccer and are so competitive - awesome to watch. Kate is really catching on to softball...I think we've found a new love! Nick is crazy about Tball...he's quickly caught on to sliding into bases and now insists on doing it at EVERY base...gotta love that laundry :)

Next week promises to be just as exciting as the recent ones - I'm sure I'll have another "book" to post next time I get on here...once again, I'll try to get better!

Busy, Busy, Busy...

2009-04-29T20:41:00.002-04:00

The title of this post is really all I can say about our life right now! Between soccer, softball, t-ball, games, practices, birthday parties, baby showers, bridal showers, bachlorette parties, laundry, meals, housework, school, work and everything else that makes up our "Matthews Madness", I sometimes just have to stop. I have to stop and enjoy my family; stop and remember my blessings; stop and thank God that I have 4 crazy, healthy kids; stop worrying and start laughing more; stop growling at others when I'm in not so great of a mood; stop what-if'ing and start having more faith...I could keep going but you probably get what I'm trying to say.

I find myself saying the Serenity Prayer pretty often...sometimes just saying the first line gets me centered again - "Lord, grant me the patience to accept the things I cannot change..." but more often than not, I have to say the entire prayer :) Most of you know me well enough to know I'm a bit of a control freak - I like schedules and structure and lists and order...I have to work at being spontaneous - a bit of an oxymoronic sentence huh?! I sometimes feel I'm my own biggest source of stress. I have to remind myself that while "my" way may be the best for me, someone else's way can be just as effective. I also have to remember that my kids need to find their own way - again, not my way, their's. Just some things I've been struggling with lately - sometimes just "talking" (aka blogging) about them helps!

So - back to what my fam has been up to lately...last weekend was totally nuts so I won't go into the details...suffice to say that just about everything mentioned in the 2nd sentence of this post happened in 2 days...totally exhausting. I will mention our twins' birthday though - Miss Hannah & Miss Emily are officially 9 years old now! They shared their birthday w/ my cousin Jessica's bridal shower but I really don't think they minded too much b/c they got to dress up AND go to Aunt Anna's for the shower - two of their favorite things! Han picked our breakfast - bagels & bacon - and Em picked dinner - Mi Pueblo - so we ate pretty well on Sunday! Shane's family, my mom & grandma, my dad & step-mom plus my brother Jonah all came over for cake/brownies & ice cream after dinner. Let me tell you, if you aren't a chocolate-lover, my house was not the place to be Sun. nite...Han picked chocolate cake w/ chocolate frosting and coffee ice cream; Em picked double chocolate fudge brownies and chocolate champion ice cream...talk about coma inducing! They both got a lot of great gifts including clothes, girly stuff and cash - I feel a shopping trip coming on!

This week has been more of the same w/ practices and games for all of the kiddos. Kate had a "practice" game against the other Washington U10 softball team - she did sooooo well! Hit well and fielded what came her way...she may have found a new niche! She has another practice game tomorrow night then starts her season w/ a game against Barr Reeve next Thursday. Nick had his first tball practice of the season tonight and did really well too...let me tell you, that boy can hit the ball! His first game is next Tuesday. The twins did awesome last Saturday in their soccer game and have another one this Saturday - we'll be halfway thru their season at that point. I'm thrilled that all of our kids like being involved in sports/clubs/activities - we just have to find a way to manage it all!

Shane is in Talladega, AL tonight for work but will be home tomorrow - nothing like a 14-hr round trip drive for 4 hours worth of meetings! I'm heading to Toronto on Monday for a 3 day trip to our Corporate Office for training...at least as long as my passport gets here in time :) Its supposedly in route to me and should arrive by Saturday so let's keep our fingers crossed! Shane is going to take vacation while I'm gone - will definitely make it easier to manage our family with not having to make his 2-hr round trip commute every day. I was also worried about Sadie not getting her lunch-time potty break while I was gone so his being home means alllll of my kids will be taken care of!

I know this has been a long post that kind of jumped around and was sadly lacking pictures but my camera battery is dead and I knew I needed to get something posted before certain people started hassling me!

Hope all is well for all of you & your's...

Beach Monkeys on the loose!

2009-04-20T19:11:00.005-04:00

We survived the Beach Monkeys!!! We had the girls' "combo" birthday party on Saturday at the Y - a swimming party with 25+ 8-10 year old girls plus Nick & Max, Madi & Molly, Shane, Stacy, Steph & Abbie - what a crew!! Believe it or not, the two hours flew by w/ very little drama...trust me, I was expecting drama w/ that much estrogen flying around but a good time was had by all! I kept it pretty simple w/ just a few balloon bouquets, a beach monkey photo shoot, tiki hut gift boxes w/ all kinds of monkey stuff (tattoos, rubber bracelets, leis, banana candy & bubbles), homemade cupcakes & Capri Suns...clean up was a breeze - just wrap everything up in the tablecloths & pitch it!

Katie & her friend McKenzie

Nick, Max & Abbie

Nick & HannahShane & Hannah

Emily & her friend Joy

Madi & Stacy

Hannah & Emily also had their first soccer game Saturday - they won 3-2...wish I could have been there but I was busy making 4 dozen cupcakes...which were devoured by the aforementioned Beach Monkeys...all 48 cupcakes disappeared in 5 minutes! After the birthday party, Stacy, Steph & the girls came over for pizza & a movie - I want to give a big shout out to Fat Boys Pizza in Montgomery - yummo!!

We celebrated our Beasley Easter along w/ April birthdays (Papa B, Uncle Donnie & our girls) on Sunday at Gma B's - good food, great family and some new friends. Its always funny when anyone brings a new "friend" to one of our monthly family dinners...I guess the sight of 6 kitchen tables lined up end to end to accommodate everyone surprises most people :) We try to go easy on the newbies - no quiz to try to name everyone or anything like that! Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't want us to hunt eggs in the backyard so we shoo'd the kids upstairs and hid them all over the basement instead...they managed to find them all in like 3 minutes flat...gotta love the chaos.

This week holds all of the craziness as usual - soccer practices, softball practices, school, work, etc etc...but this coming weekend is far nuttier than normal...Relay for Life yard sale for Team Andrea at Jenelle's, soccer game, opening day for softball, 2 baby showers & a trip to Eville to pick up Nick (This is all Saturday btw) then religion class, Jess's bridal shower & cake/ice cream w/ Shane's fam for the twins' b-day (Sunday)...whew!

Twice in one week?!

2009-04-16T21:16:00.003-04:00

That's right...I'm actually posting twice in one week! Not b/c I have a whole lot to say, just trying to to be better at the whole blogging thing :)

Wasn't the sunshine wonderful this afternoon? Katie had softball practice so Hannah & I took her to that while Nick & Em went mushroom hunting w/ Shane...since he's a "guy", I have no pictures to chronicle their great adventure (lol) but they did come home w/ enough mushrooms for a maybe an appetizer for the 6 of us! The best part is Nick & Em both found some on their own...Em more so than Nick but she's got 3 years on him :)

Hannah is back under house arrest for the next two weeks...once AGAIN, caught hiding papers w/ bad grades in her backpack...I am so absolutely frustrated w/ her that I can barely stand it. We stopped "punishing" her for bad papers months ago (mind you, the "punishment" was no TV that night which she barely watches TV anyway) so the fact that she's pulled this just shows me we're dealing w/ a respect issue...so, other than her birthday party this Saturday, no fun stuff - including the very coveted trip to Wal-mart w/ Mom. I'm open to any advice on this one!

We have a busy weekend coming up - Soccer game & big "triple threat" birthday party at the Y on Saturday then Beasley Easter & a First Communion open house on Sunday. Let's hope the nice weather holds out for it all!

Kate's Birthday & Easter Weekend

2009-04-13T20:35:00.006-04:00

Our Miss Katie finally hit the double digits last week...only happens once in a lifetime! We had Shane's family over for cake & ice cream the night of her b-day...white cake w/ strawberry icing and neopolitan (sp?) ice cream at the birthday girl's request. This weekend is the big "triple threat" birthday party at the YMCA - all 3 girls have invited the girls in their classes plus some special friends & family...yes, we're talking about over 30 nine and ten year-old girls!

Katie & her new swimsuit - can't wait to see her at the Y!

Kate is also getting her ears pierced as part of turning 10 - trust me, this took extensive campaigning on my part b/c her dad was pretty adamant that she wait until 13...whatever! I gave him a slight heart attack when I (teasingly) told him she would probably be dating by then ;)

We also have a new member in our family...Sadie, our 1-yr old Springer Spaniel - currently in the house but will soon be joining our mini-daschaund Hershey as soon as we "re-model" the dog kennel w/ a new concrete floor. We lost our first springer Buster the week of St. Patrick's Day and didn't expect to have another one for a few more months but my aunt had another breeder call her needing a home for Miss Sadie...we love her!

We celebrated Easter yesterday with Shane's family (lots of together time this week!) - my fam is next week...the Easter Bunny was pretty generous w/ our kids - but not too much candy - then we went to Mass. Miss Em had an upset belly about halfway thru the service though...probably the 2 hardboiled eggs that she had for breakfast that had been in her Easter basket overnight - which, according to her father, should be safe...again, whatever! After Mass, we came home so I could fix my taco layer dip & spinach salad w/ hot bacon dressing before heading to Shane's aunt's house for a late lunch...way too much good food but that's an ok problem to have! I ate enough that I didn't eat dinner...

This week is fairly low-key for us...hopefully some soccer & softball practices if the rain ever stops then the birthday party & Beasley Easter lunch this coming weekend...hope everyone has a good week!

Looking at a busy April...

2009-03-30T19:23:00.002-04:00

Hands down, April is one of the busiest months of the year in the Matthews household...spring sports seasons are starting, all three of the girls' birthdays are celebrated, two weekends of Easter (Shane's fam then mine) along w/ all of the normal chaos of school, work & fun...I usually feel like I totally earn Mothers' Day when May roles around!

I just spent a good chunk of the last hour calling the girls AND boys (yes, we're co-ed this season) that will be on Hannah & Emily's U10 soccer team...no, I'm not the coach - Shane is :) there's no way I can coach in the spring w/ Kate playing softball and Nick playing Tball...my role in the spring is logistics coordinator/taxi driver/cheerleader/photographer - multi-tasking at its best! Shane's biggest challenge will not be winning games - I think we have a pretty strong team - it will be keeping our boy-crazy twins focused on the game and not the boys on the field! Coach Dad already struggles w/ his little girls growing up so this season should be fairly entertaining :)

As I mentioned, all 3 girls have April b-days...Kate's at the beginning & the twins at the end. We have cake & ice cream the night of their b-days and the birthday girl(s) pick what we have for dinner. This usually means two stops at local fast food restaurants for Hannah & Emily because, heaven help us, we can't agree on one meal - that would be crazy! They also pick their themes - last year we had a puppy party for Kate and High School Musical/Hannah Montana for the twins - teenage drama at its best. Each birthday kid also picks what flavor of cake, icing & ice cream they want...we've had some interesting combos over the years. Usually, we go every-other year on the party w/ friends - this is a party year so I suggested a combo party at the YMCA - throw the kids in the pool and let them get tired :) We're having a beach monkey theme and the girls are going to invite all of the girls from their classes plus some special guests so we're looking at 35+ kids being invited...I know they won't all come but still...the thought of 35 little girls is pretty scary!!

Shane & I had to face reality last week when Katie watched the "I'm becoming a woman" video at school...in the 4th grade. OMG - I thought I was going to have to pick Shane up off the floor when she brought the paper home for us to approve her watching the video. He had the most stricken look on his face that I had to laugh....no dad is ever prepared for his little girl to grow up and I think Shane might be worse than most! He won't even let me get Kate's ears pierced for her 10th birthday...I told him if she was old enough for "the video", she was old enough for earrings!!! I'm still working on him so we'll see. When we got home from school the day she watched it, she had her little bag of "samples" so she & I went in her room and had our "woman" talk...it was killing Han & Em that they couldn't hear what we were talking about! She had a little book for her plus one for me (thank you, I like instructions!), so we agreed to read them then get back together if there were any questions...her only comment was "This seems pretty gross Mom" - I would have to agree! Can I also point out that Shane totally lucked out when our families merged - he only has to have "the talk" w/ Nick but I get to have it w/ all three girls...doesn't seem quite fair does it?!

Its time for me to get the kiddos in bed...they seem pretty tired after a day at the Y's Spring Break camp - works for me!

I'm back!

2009-03-24T19:57:00.004-04:00

So, once again, I've been guilted into updating my blog by my friend Jen...who shouldn't have to remind me right?!! I was working on my blog background last week and my computer froze up which just irritated me so I boycotted my own blog!

Our life has been fairly busy but nothing compared to what we're heading into - spring sports season! Kate/softball, Hannah & Em/soccer and Nick/Tball will keep us running for most of April & May but I'm thrilled that they want to be involved...I'm sure I'll have pics to post like crazy so stay tuned for those. I'm not coaching at all this season so I'll be able to be a spectator again :)

Shane & I put the kids' trampoline together a couple of weekends ago - nothing like giving them this great Christmas present in a huge box then telling them "ok, now we wait for spring!" Shane & the kids got the whole project started but then I was called in as "muscle" (hahaha) to get the legs on & the net up...but before we put on the net, I had to perform some "quality control" procedures:

Shane & his work crew

Yaaay - our parents are the greatest!

What I don't have a picture of is the giant bump in the center of Nick's forehead after it was introduced to our neighbor's elbow later in the afternoon courtesy of the trampoline...Shane brought him in to me and said "Mom, I think he's going to have quite the goose egg" so I gave him a ice pack and he sat at the kitchen table....in walks Katie who hadn't been outside at the time and she asked Nick what happened...he proceeded to tell her he had a "chicken leg" on his head! After I stopped laughing, I reminded him it was called a "goose egg", not a "chicken leg"....oh the things kids say!

All of the kids have had some fun lately...the twins went to Evansville to see/hear the Philharmonic Orchestra with their classes, Kate went to New Harmony w/ her class, all of the girls had a "Just Say No" bowling party and Nick had his spring music program...this all occurred on back to back to back to back days...and Nick was sporting the aforementioned goose egg at his program. I believe the highlight of the twins' trip (unfortunately) was the puker on the bus on the way home due to overeating at the Black Buggy - soooo glad I didn't end up volunteering to chaperone that trip!

We had a good night tonight too...bummer that Shane wasn't here but he's still attending Dale Carnegie Leadership Training on Tuesdays thru April/May...the kids all needed "stuff" for their upcoming sports so we headed to Hibbets for cleats for Kate & Nick and pants for Nick...we're not sure what color Kate will need yet so we're holding off. Hannah's soccer cleats now fit Emily and Kate's fit Hannah so at least I got by w/ only buying 2 pairs. After that, we headed to Mr. Gatti's for pizza & salad then to Walmart for new soccer balls for the twins. The kids were all soooo well behaved everywhere that we went that we felt we deserved Scoops ice cream on the way home...it was our first Scoops of the season and it was wonderful! I managed to be good and avoid the "real" ice cream by having some raspberry Dole whip - not a big sacrafice if you ask me b/c its delicious!

So, now I'm enjoying the quiet house w/ all kids in bed...ahhhh, lovin' life!

Our Hawaiian Vacation

2009-03-01T18:29:00.010-05:00

What a fabulous trip!!! I'll try to keep my summary fairly brief but get comfortable anyway :)

I was very apprehensive heading to Shane's parents' house last Wednesday night to drop the kids off...I really thought Nick & Hannah would have a hard time w/ us leaving b/c they had both expressed their "displeasure" w/ us leaving them for a week...but they all surprised me! If anyone was teary eye'd leaving, it was Shane & I! The kids were all so excited to be staying w/ Papa Ed & Gma Theresa that we were pretty well dismissed...which was much better than tears!

Shane & I made good time to Nashville...stopping only briefly in Evansville at Target for swim trunks for Shane and Henderson at Rally's for dinner to go. We, along w/ Mom & Scott, were so excited about vacation that we didn't exactly get to bed early but it still wasn't hard getting up the next morning at 6:30am. The car came to pick us up at 7:30 and we were off to the airport...here's Mom & I in the backseat...

We got to Dallas w/ no problems but quickly found out we now had a 3 hour layover instead of a 1 hour so we killed time shopping & getting a bite to eat...by 4ish, we were back in the air headed for Honolulu! A quick note - if you ever have to be on an 8-hr flight, definitely go first class :) Free drinks, great menu to choose from and seats that lay allllll the way back - WOO HOO!! Have I mentioned how absolutely AWESOME my parents are for taking Shane & I on this trip??!! Shane & I in the airport:

I have to mention Shane's "star encounter" w/ Stacy David - Stacy hosts the Speed Channel's "Gearz" show which is in any "car guy's" top 5 TV show list...he was a little star struck but managed to "talk shop" for the shuttle ride to our terminal!! This may have been the absolute highlight of Shane's entire trip!!!!

I can't even tell you what time we landed in Honolulu but we headed to our hotel in Wakiki and grabbed a bite to eat then crashed into bed...of course, Shane & I woke up fairly early the next morning (Friday) given that our bodies were still on Indiana time (5 hours ahead of Hawaii)...it was still pitch black outside which is what it looked like when we arrived so we were dying to see what the island looked like...we weren't disappointed! Here's the view of Wakiki Beach from our hotel balcony:

Our time on Oahu was spent shopping, eating, walking on the beach, touring Pearl Harbor and taking a road trip in these cool little "mini coupes" which were glorified, 2-seater mopeds that didn't go over 35 mph...a real treat on the hills :) Wakiki was VERY tourist'y...crowded but still fun. We enjoyed meals at Jimmy Buffet's, California Pizza Kitchen, Duke's WaveRunner (we think thats what it was called!), Atlantis and at our hotel...hello, $30/person for a buffet breakfast...we loved the coffee/tea bar at the hotel though!

Scott, Me & Mom at the USS Arizona Memorial @ Pearl Harbor (note: height doesn't exactly run in our family!!)

Oil on the water surface from the USS Arizona below...so sad.

Scott & Shane @ Jimmy Buffet's restaurant

Shane & I in our mini-coupe

On Sunday, we grabbed a flight to Kauai which is a smaller, less tourist'y island to the west of Oahu. We had a rental car which was good since there was nothing within walking distance of the Hilton Resort...this was our favorite part of the trip because there were less people and the "Garden Island" was absolutely beautiful! One of the mountains on Kauai is the "wettest place on Earth" b/c it gets in excess of 450 inches of rain every year - wow!

Again, we spent time eating & shopping (two of my faves!!) but we also did a lot of sightseeing including Hanalei (for those of you who know the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" by Peter, Paul & Mary!), and some absolutely beautiful beaches w/ huge waves! On Tuesday, Mom & Scott went on an ATV tour for the afternoon so Shane & I were total slugs and laid by the pool alllll afternoon - the first time all vacation that we did that for more than an hour...I told him I didn't like the fact that the tan I came to Hawaii with was fading! The weather was great the entire time we were there but the water (both beach & pool) was freezing - I only got in the pool to cool off [quickly] then went straight back to my lounge chair :)

Shane trying out the pool slide

On Wednesday, our last day (boooo!), Shane & I went on a "zip line" adventure - nothing like being 100+ feet in the air zipping between these skinny pine trees on a cable! We had a blast though - although I knew I wasn't going to fall, the 40 mph gusts of wind we were having that morning still made crossing rope bridges and standing on itsy bitsy tree platforms a little freaky!!! We were in the air for 2+ hours and absolutely loved the entire experience - our guides, Hillary & Matt, were awesome which was a bonus too.

Wednesday afternoon, we headed to the airport around 4pm to head back to Honolulu...then to Dallas...then to Nashville...then drive home....whew! We finally got home at 7:30pm Thursday evening so we calculated that we had been traveling for almost 24 hours w/ only about 4hrs of sleep on the plane between Honolulu & Dallas...but were then too wired from the caffeine we'd been consuming that we didn't get to bed until around 11:30...at that point, total exhaustion took over!

While we had a fab time and would do it again in a heartbeat, we totally missed our kiddos - we talked to them every night (but one) and were a little bummed each time we hung up...but we know they had a great "vacation" from us too! The first two nights were w/ my in-laws, the weekend was w/ Aunt Anna & her clan then the last four days were here at home w/ my step-mom & Dad...thank goodness for our family! Though everyone said they totally understand why people have kids when they're young :)

So, its back to the real world tomorrow...I know the alarm will ring entirely too early in the morning!!

Angel Andon

2009-02-14T20:33:00.007-05:00

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

2009-02-09T20:55:00.004-05:00

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...

Fun, fun in the winter sun!

2009-01-28T21:02:00.004-05:00

Nick eating snow...not the yellow kind!

"Fun" isn't something I usually associate w/ winter but we had some serious fun today! Lot's of sledding, shoveling, digging, etc. etc. Our kids totally reminded me of how totally cool a "snow day" can be...as an adult/parent, I tend to dread winter weather since it usually leads to school delays/cancellations, horrible roads, blah blah blah - but, today, I thoroughly had a good time in the snow!

Hannah & Katie

Nick & Emily

Shane showing us how its done!

Some other random pictures from the past week...

What started out as Shane showing Nick some wrestling moves...ended up in a Matthews Family Piggy Pile!

The Beasley birthday kids...minus Kayna (1/17) who couldn't be there...Roger (2/2), Lauren (1/22), Hannah B (2/22), Chas (1/23), Gma B (2/8) and Chris (2/11)

Hannah at her friend's bowling birthday party...

Nick trying out his "Incredible Hulk" bathtime chemistry set...

Hope everyone is warm & safe tonight!

Nick's fabulous new bed...

2009-01-21T20:23:00.005-05:00

Yes...the bed project is done! Well, mostly anyway - a few finishing touches are required but then we'll call it complete. We didn't tell Nick that Shane was bringing it home so when we walked in and there it was - all assembled w/ his bed made, animals/pillows in place, you'd have thought Nick won the lottery w/ all of the whoopin' & hollering he was doing! Its like his own jungle gym - he's been up & down, up & down, tied ropes to it, sat underneath it & played Leapster, went up & down, then up & down again...you get the picture! I even got huge props for hanging his shirts up - as Nick put it, "That's just really cool how you're hanging my shirts Mom" - crack up! I think I could have spanked his butt and he would have thought it was cool as long as he could sit on his bed!!! Shane won some MAJOR points for building the bed too - not only did Nick get to help build & paint it, but just the fact that he gets to sleep in it makes Shane the coolest dad EVER.

Here's some pics of The Best Bed in the Universe:

Here's to a great first night sleep Nick!

Alright already...

2009-01-16T19:06:00.003-05:00

I know, I know...its been awhile since I posted...as many of you have been "reminding" me :) So, Mom, Peg, Jen, etc - this one's for you!

Shane & I had a blast last weekend in Indy w/ Steph & Stacy! Our first stop was delivering toys to Riley Hospital - Shane's work (MasterBrand Cabinets) had several gifts left over following their children's Christmas party and they decided to donate them. Riley holds a special place in Shane's heart since Katie was treated for an umbilical hemmorage when she was less than 2 mos. old. The staff person we delivered them to was so appreciative which just added to the experience.

After a little drama checking into the Westin (apparently Hotels.com didn't feel like passing our reservations on to the actual hotel - novel idea huh?!), we settled in to our upgraded-at-no-charge rooms then headed out to Circle Centre Mall for a little shopping. BTW - for anyone staying in downtown Indy in the winter, I highly recommend the Westin not only b/c its a fab hotel but b/c its connected by skywalks to Circle Centre! After a little shopping, we dropped off our goods then headed out to dinner at Harry & Izzy's - good food but a little pricey. After going across the street to Ram Brewery to watch a little football, we all agreed we'd eat there next time b/c the food looked awesome and was definitely more reasonable...the huge flatscreen TVs sure didn't hurt either :) After watching another football upset (so sorry about your luck Titans), we headed over to Howl At The Moon - we absolutely LOVE that place!! Those musicians are soooo talented - most played more than one instrument - and they're all such showmen...involving the crowd and singing absolutely any song request that was turned into them. Here's some great pics from our night out...

Shane singing along w/ the crowd

After breakfast the next morning, we headed home and gathered up our kiddos then spent the afternoon doing laundry, straightening up, etc.

This week hasn't been that exciting...Shane has been leading a kaizen event at work so he didn't get home until after 9 most evenings. I joined him & some of his co-workers at the Schnitz in Jasper for dinner last night - yum! Due to the bitter cold, we've had 2 hour school delays yesterday & today so at least I could be with the kids a little more than usual. Tonight, we're all sitting here in the dark watching a movie...ok, so I'm half watching it as I blog...multi-tasking at its finest! Not a lot going on this weekend - the twins each have a bowling party to go to for a classmate - Hannah tomorrow & Emily on Sunday. Other than that, should be nice, quiet weekend - my favorite kind!

Killin' time on a Tuesday morning...

2009-01-06T08:54:00.002-05:00

Another school delay has me home (again) for 2 extra hours today...not that I mind the time at home, it just puts me behind at work so the rest of the day will be crazier than usual...I guess I should be used to craziness by now huh? We all survived our return to the real world yesterday...the kids all had good days - all stayed on "green" all day in their classrooms so that's a pretty major feat right there :) Nick told us last night that his teacher said she'd "forgotten" some of the classroom rules since they had been off school for so long so the kids had to "remind" her of the hallway & bathroom rules...pretty sneaky way for her to get the kids to remember the rules!! I asked him if maybe that's what she was doing but he said "I'm serious Mom - she didn't remember!"...Nick & his "I'm serious" comments crack me up....here's a pic of our little man playing Leapster last night.

Shane & I are looking forward to our weekend trip to Indy on Saturday w/ Steph & Stacy McClure for Steph & I's birthdays....her's was 12/23 & mine is 1/23 so we picked a weekend in the middle! We're staying at the Westin (love love love their feather beds & dual head showers!) so we'll be downtown close to everything. We plan on a little shopping once we get there since we're right next to Circle Center Mall then going out to eat and heading to Howl At The Moon - its a dueling piano bar which, if you've never been to one, we highly recommend it! The musicians are so talented and they can play absolutely any song you can think of from the piano classics of Billy Joel & Elton John to rock songs from 80's "hair bands". We'll head home on Sunday so it will be a short trip but since we all have kiddos, we'll want to get home to them. Nick will be in Evansville visiting the Coy's and the girls are going to my dad & step-mom's so they'll all have a fun weekend too.

I need to go - I have 3 heads of hair to get styled, 4 sets of teeth to brush check, 8 coats/backpacks to find....and a partridge in a pear tree! Hope everyone makes this blah Tuesday a good one!

Last day of vacation :(

2009-01-04T16:31:00.009-05:00

Yep...I've been spoiled by being off work since Dec. 23rd...the kids & I are not looking forward to getting back to the "real world" tomorrow but I guess it had to come sometime! We had a busy start to our week but were realllly lazy the last half!

On Monday, I took the girls to Evansville to spend the Christmas money that was burning a major hole in their pockets...first stop - Build-A-Bear (of course!) Em "built" a cute little dog she named "Pookie", Hannah "blinged" out a monkey that she named "Pinky" and Kate "prettied" up a dog named "Angel" w/ pink sequins....that place was total chaos but the girls were all very patient while we waited...and waited and waited. We also went to Bath & Body, Victoria's Secret, Old Navy and the candy shop plus ate at T.G.I.Fridays...yum! After a stop at Shoe Carnival, we picked up Nick from the Coy's and headed home.

The girls prior to "stuffing" their animals

My baby brother Jonah came to spend the afternoon w/ the kids on Tuesday so I could meet Shane in Jasper for a "date" at the new buffalo wings restaurant (similiar to Buffalo Wild Wings). All it cost me was homemade tacos for Jonah for his lunch plus I made him my apparently "famous" cheeseball that all his friends are now raving about...just the same 'ol cheeseball I grew up eating but quite the crowd pleaser!

Wednesday & Thursday were spent at home - I don't think I got out of my pj's either day until well into the afternoon - what a slug! We did absolutely nothing New Year's Eve besides chill at home watching TV...we let the kids stay up 'til 8:30 - WOW, a whole 1/2 hour later than usual :) I promise - we are not "Hitler" parents...we just have more rules than most people - and for good reasons! We have 4 kids that are practically the same age so just imagine the chaos that we would endure w/out a fair amount of rules! And as far as the bedtime goes - we have kids that wake up at the same time each morning (7am) regardless of what time they went to bed...not usually worth the extra hour of "awake" time the night before if its going to result in cranky kids!

Shane's been working on a special project this week for Nick - a loft bed w/ a desk & closet underneath...Nick is so excited that he can barely stand it! He desperately needs a closet b/c his clothes are finally outgrowing his chest of drawers and the desk is b/c he also says he's "outgrowing" his Little Tykes tool bench...such a little man! Can I say how impressed I am by my husband's woodworking skills?! He's also built the twins' beds plus various bookshelves, end tables, etc. The bed is now done & just waiting for its paint - Shane & Nick took it out to my in-laws this morning b/c Shane's shop is too little to paint in but we need to wait for a non-rainy day to actually do the painting.

Bed-building at its finest

On Friday, I took our 4 kids plus 3 friends of the girls' to meet Abbie & Max at the movies - what a crew!! The girls were so cute w/ their purses & girly attitudes...we let them sit together away from us so they all thought they were pretty grown-up! We saw "Bedtime Stories" w/ Adam Sandler - pretty cute movie and only rated PG so its a movie that parents & kids can both enjoy. While we were at the movies, Shane lined up a babysitter so he & I could go out to dinner - 2 dates in one week!

Yesterday & today have been spent at home...nothing too exciting outside of laundry & a little house cleaning - just saving up energy for next week I guess. You may notice my new "vacation ticker" in the sidebar - its hard to believe that we've been planning this Hawaii vacation for exactly a year!! Absolutely CAN'T WAIT!!!

The best of '08

2008-12-31T17:57:00.003-05:00

So, I'm going to totally copy my cousin Cass's blog & try to creatively list my "best's" of '08...here goes (in no particular order...)

1. Getting to celebrate the 1st anniversary of marrying my best friend
2. Watching my "baby" Nick march into school to start kindergarten w/ his big sisters by his side
3. Finally getting my living room project done (by my handy hubby!) - new wall finished, crown molding & baseboards installed, new paint & new front door!
4. Discovering the awesome world of blogging & how it connects friends, both old & new
5. Coaching all of my daughters in both outdoor & indoor soccer...now I can say "NO!" the next time I'm asked :)
6. Cheering for Nick the T-ball player & Shane the T-ball coach
7. Finally getting some answers to Emily's behavior issues
8. Enjoying Shane & I's "date nights" - highly recommended for all married couples but especially those with children!
9. Road-tripping to Bumpus Mills, Tennessee for weekends w/ Mom & Scott
10. Watching 4 generations play softball at Shane's family reunion
11. Seeing the complete wonder on Shane's face as we first heard the roar of the dragsters in Indy
12. Experiencing Colts football in the glory of Lucas Oil Stadium
13. Eating a hot dog & drinking a cold beer while watching the Indianapolis Indians baseball team on a perfect September night
14. Hearing the collective intake of breath as our children opened their trampoline on Christmas morning...then covering my ears to the screams of joy!
15. Finally getting the perfect vehicle for our family - seats 8 w/ a DVD player & heated seats and its NOT A MINIVAN!
16. Half-heartedly supporting my husband's obsession w/ becoming a drag racer
17. Watching as my "everybody's party-buddy" brother-in-law Dave became one of the US Army's finest - so proud of you!!
18. Taking Hannah to the emergency room as she was awarded the "First Broken Bone" award - all healed now :)
19. Not only seeing Nick lose his first tooth but also trying to keep up w/ all of the teeth Emily, Hannah & Kate decided to lose this year...this all went along w/ reminding the Tooth Fairy (aka Shane) to put the golden dollars under their pillows before he left for work
20. Accepting the fact that its ok for a new washer & dryer to excite me as much as they did

That's about all I can come up with outside of the fact that I'm obviously very blessed to have a happy & healthy family...I know that 2009 will be just as crazy as 2008 - and I don't want to miss a thing!

P.S. I know I haven't posted about Christmas but we did sooo much that it would totally exhaust me to re-cap it all....safe to say we were all very spoiled, ate way too much and loved seeing all of our families!

Only 1 more day 'til vacation!

2008-12-22T18:53:00.007-05:00

That's right...one more day then I'm off work thru Jan. 5th...woo hoo!! Work has been soooo hectic with the staffing changes that we had to make so I'm definitely ready for the break...

Last weekend, the kids & I made the one & only Christmas candy that I can make on short notice...M&M chocolate pretzels. So simple - line a cookie sheet w/ little pretzels, have plenty of kids around to unwrap a bag of Hershey kisses (milk or dark chocolate), put a kiss on each pretzel then put in a pre-heated 250 degree oven for 5 minutes...no longer! Pull them out of the oven then press an M&M (any flavor but try to get red & green ones - the peppermint ones are awesome w/ the dark chocolate!) down into the kiss. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then put on cookie racks to finish setting up...simple & delicious!!

We had a busy weekend like most people this time of the year...the "sickies" hit Katie Friday night (that makes 4 out of the 6 of us!) and she was pretty puny all weekend long. We still managed to fit quite a bit in though!

We went to Huntingburg Saturday morning for Shane's company "kid" Christmas party - soooo many things for the kids to do like "elf" bowling, balloon animals (my hubby is the master balloon animal tie'er upper), letters to Santa, face painting, etc etc plus they all got a gift from Santa. The doughnuts & chocolate milk were good too...at least for everyone but Katie who "lost" her breakfast 5 minutes later - yuck! All she had consumed was the milk but we still had to make a run for the bathroom...and we almost made it....that's right, ALMOST. I had to do a little clean up...but she was a trooper and put her game face on for a little while longer until we could leave.

After the party, the kids & I headed back to Washington to take Kate to Shane's mom & dad's and Nick to Anna's so the rest of us could head to Evansville to finish up our shopping - we didn't think that a sick Kate nor a 5-yr-old Nick could hold up very well in the mall on the Saturday before Christmas!! The twins did great though and we finallllly finished our shopping - after the mall, we hit Target (one of the few things I miss about living in E-ville!) then went to dinner at Nagasaki. Its a Japanese hibatchi restaurant so the kids absolutely love having their dinner cooked right in front of them on the grill...its one of our family faves! Once we picked up Katie (Nick spent the night at Anna's) and got home, I wrapped gifts for 2 hours (ugg!) then crashed.

On Sunday, the twins & I went to church at Providence b/c it was Beth & Dad's 24th wedding anniversary and my brother Dan sang w/ the Praise Team and also solo...he did a great job! I was so looking forward to finally getting to hear Shawn deliver a sermon but no-go...his youth pastor preaches once a month and it was his turn....great message though! After church, we all went to Mi Pueblo and Shane & Katie met us there. Then all of the girls went w/ me to Anna's so they could open presents w/ Nick...such cute stuff! We headed home after a quick visit then I went to Wal-mart to stock up for all of the Christmas dinners this week. Once I got home, I made some more M&M pretzels then dinner then DROPPED on the couch....I was worn out!

The next week will be a busy as the weekend but I'm so looking forward to all of our family traditions...if I don't have time to post before Thursday - Merry Christmas to all of you!

Blog Award...

2008-12-18T19:42:00.002-05:00

Big thanks to Jenelle for the blog award nomination! Our boys were in pre-school together and now go to the same school for Kindergarten...I absolutely love checking her blog out for new pics of her gorgeous kids and love reading her stories about raising 3 kids under the age of 6 :) And I also went to my junior prom w/ her big bro Phil!

So, here are the rules to receiving this award:
1. You have to pass it on to 5 other fabulous bloggers in a post.
2. You have to list 5 of your fabulous addictions in the post.
3. You must copy and paste the rules and the instructions below in the post.

Instructions: On your post of receiving this award, make sure you include the person that gave you the award and link it back to them.

I'm going to nominate...

1. My cousin Abbie - love her blog for lots of reasons but mostly b/c she always seems to have something profound to say that touches me and all of the cute pics of Max make me smile...

2. Another cousin Cassie - we've lost touch over the years w/ her moving to Seattle but I feel we've re-connected thru blogging. Her posts from her month in Africa were awesome and I feel I get to live vicariously through her exciting "urban" life w/ PJ!

3. And another cousin Shawn - Shawn has a way of posting about his faith that makes you think and want to keep reading more. He sometimes asks tough questions but they make you look inward and analyze yourself. I just finished reading his latest post about cookie blessings - brought tears to my eyes.

4. My friend Jen (finally, not a family member!) - I'd like to think I had something to do w/ Jen entering the world of blogging...well, me & a requirement for her MBA CIS class :) Jen's blog is so heartfelt and I always look forward to reading about the Fab Miss Alex and Brady Bear.

5. And last but definitely not least, Tera - the first blog I ever read was Tera's when I was searching for news about Andre, Mandi & Gabe's accident. I absolutely fell in love w/ her blog and wasted no time starting one of my own....Tera - my husband said "Thanks!" LOL!

So - on to my five addictions...my kids & husband go without saying so I'll find 5 other "things" to confess to...

1. Diet Coke - nothing beats a big fountain Diet Coke w/ extra ice...preferably as soon after I get up as possible...this is one reason visiting Mom & Scott's Bumpus Mills house is tough on me b/c its in the middle of absolute no-where and there's not a fountain Diet Coke to be found within 30 minutes.

2. Mi Pueblo's Quesadilla Jalisco - order it everytime I go - no variations.

3. Dark Chocolate - hated it as a kid but require it as an adult. My hubby shares in this addiction which can be a problem b/c it doesn't seem to last very long in our house!

4. Sudoku - crazy little Japanese game! Sometimes I play it online but other times I prefer good 'ol pencil & paper.

5. Trips to Walmart - ALONE...that's right - no kids, no husband - just my "me" time. Sad, but true...

good night!!

Facebook rookie

2008-12-16T19:14:00.003-05:00

So I've ventured onto Facebook...I guess its about time given that I've been blogging for a few months now...totally different format but its fun! I couldn't believe how many people in my address book are on facebook...and how many invites to see other pages that come from them. Even my MOM has a page...LOL! Just kidding Mom - you know you totally rock :)

Good news on the "sick" front - Shane is feeling waaay better today & was able to go to work...even better news is, so far, no one else has came down w/ it. Sleeping on the couch last night wasn't great - especially since my "mommy sense" was tuned in to any sound I heard coming from any of the kids' bedrooms - I was so convinced one of them would come down w/ the bug in the middle of the night that I never truly went into deep sleep. I guess all of that Lysol is doing its job...

Short post tonight...need to work on my Christmas cards!

I think my house is infected...

2008-12-15T20:55:00.003-05:00

Seriously, how many strains of colds/flus/bugs/icky creepy crawly stuff is going around??! My poor husband has been quarantined to our room b/c he can't keep any food down and other gross details that I won't go in to...I think my nose hairs are permanently burnt by the smell of all of the Lysol I've been spraying. I even went so far as to pick up the kids after school, take them to Mr. Gatti's (or "Mr Daddy's" as Nick calls it) for dinner, drive thru the City Park not once, but twice (had to go out both exits to see all the lights) then take the long way home looking at more lights...all this just to avoid subjecting my kiddos to any more germs at home than necessary! This bug is on top of the extreme head cold Shane had last week....poor guy! Knock on wood though...the rest of us seem fine.

Our busy weekend went off without a hitch...other than missing Shane's Christmas Party Friday night for his management team...we didn't want to expose any "babysitters" to any germs hanging around. I got my hair chopped off at the salon Sat. morning - its now above my shoulders & just as curly as ever! A quick stop by Jess's jewelry party netted me a new necklace then I headed home to pick up the girls to head to Vincennes for my dress fitting. After a "treat stop" at Starbucks, we headed home to the boys who had been busy installing our new front door...love it!! We headed to Mass around 5pm then hit Walmart (for the 3rd out of 4 trips total this weekend - gag!) for a few groceries/dinner (love that deli chicken!). Katie, Nick & I went to Clay's graduation open house on Sunday afternoon - the twins were under "house arrest" for various infractions so they got to enjoy some quality time at home w/ dad....from what I hear, that "quality" time wasn't so pleasant for all parties involved :)

And now, its Monday night & I'm facing a night's sleep on the couch - trust me, I'll take the couch waaaaaay before I'll chance getting the 'creeping crud' from Shane! Hope everyone else is feelin' fine and staying healthy!

Fighting the winter colds...

2008-12-12T18:59:00.003-05:00

Yep, we've been hit...it started w/ Katie's head cold, moved to Shane's more severe head cold, struck Emily w/ nauseousness due to drainage (I'll spare the details on that one) and has landed on Nick who may have a slight ear infection along w/ his cough....so far, Hannah & I are ok - she's had a little bit of a runny nose but let's hope it stops there. I'm tempted to open all the windows on the house one day when we're gone to kill any bugs in here (thanks for the "tip" Lynn!). I was home w/ Em yesterday morning then Shane relieved me at lunch so I could go to work and he also stayed home w/ Nick today...he's still getting over his own cold so it gave them both the chance to chill out. They ventured out to meet me for lunch which was great - I don't usually get such handsome dates for lunch :) Nick picked Quizno's which is one of my faves...

I kind of forgot my busy Saturday when I mentioned in my last post that we weren't that busy this weekend...I have a hair appt in Loogootee at 9am, Jess's jewelry party in Raglesville at 10:30 then we're all heading to Vincennes after that to order dresses for Jess & Big Nick's wedding (6/6/09!). Abbie & I are Jess's personal attendants and my girls (along w/ cousin Hannah B.) are the "favor-passer-outers" and "reception gift girls"(both are official titles BTW)...hopefully we can find what we're looking for w/ little to no stress....b/c we all know that there's no stress involved w/ weddings :)

We're almost done w/ our Christmas shopping...we've scaled back this year a little. I think I've mentioned my Excel spreadsheet Christmas list but maybe haven't confessed that I have every list from the previous 3 years saved along w/ this year's so I can see exactly how much we've spoiled our kids over the years...trust me, we had room to scale back on the purchases! We do "believe" in Santa at our house but don't let that overshadow the true meaning of Christmas. I don't recall when I discovered that Mom was really "Santa"...then again, maybe he does exist since my gifts from her still say "From Santa" on them!! Gotta love the kid in all of us I guess...

Keeping some of you in my thoughts tonight...Jesse & Sarah for the loss of Gma Eaton, Patty's step-dad as he recovers from surgery, Melissa & her family as they make some tough decisions re: her dad...thinking & praying for you all....

Out of hibernation....

2008-12-10T19:33:00.009-05:00

ok, so I haven't been hibernating...life has just been especially hectic for the last 2 weeks...good & bad but I'll focus on the good! This past weekend was a busy one...Friday night was our Olon party at the bowling alley - good food & a visit from Santa. Saturday morning, the kids & I went to see Miss Mouse at the Courthouse - we love going every year...cookie decorating, christmas stories, letters to Santa & a pic w/ Miss Mouse herself.

Enjoying our cookies

Posing w/ Miss Mouse

Saturday afternoon was spent at my Gma & Papa Beasley's for the annual Farley Christmas dinner...more fab food and another visit from Santa (a.k.a. Big Nick) - Nick did a great job for the 2nd year in a row and his dad Dan was visiting from Arizona so he got to enjoy the fun. My Nick (a.k.a. Little Nick) came up & very seriously said, "I think that's Big Nick, Mom" so I acted completely surprised even though I had just been upstairs duct-taping the pillow around "Santa's" waist to fill out the costume!

On Sunday, we hosted our 4th annual Cookie Decorating Party at our house - I hope this tradition continues for many years b/c I love watching the kids each year and how much they've changed. Cousin Max & friends Madi & Molly come each year too. Max wins the "Most Sprinkles on a Single Cookie" award while Molly gets the "I Licked Every One of My Cookies" award! I wouldn't be surprised if Max suffered from a sugar coma after eating one of his cookies :)

So, we took "The Picture" tonight - our Christmas card pic of the kids....I must say they did a great job & totally catered to their mom by wearing the matching jammies that I bought them...AND santa hats! I won't post the actual pic but here's a funny one showing their bellies. They're doing this b/c I had to keep tugging their jammie tops down during the pictures b/c these aren't exactly high quality PJs (they shrank horribly when I washed them - and no, its not b/c of how I washed them!)

This coming coming weekend isn't as crazy but busy nonetheless...Friday night is Shane's company party for the management team - appropriately enough in Santa Claus, Indiana. Nick is supposed to go to Evansville but we may have to re-schedule b/c he has the same head cold that Katie & Shane have...normally wouldn't be that big of an issue but he can't be sick around his baby sister Ana due to her being a preemie. So he may be joining his sisters in spending the night at Papa Ed & Gma Theresa's on Friday. Not much on Saturday other than normal chores (and my weekly 8 high capacity loads of laundry - yuck!) but we'll be heading to Anna's on Sunday for Clay's graduation open house. So hard to believe "Bubby" is old enough to be graduating college!! Makes me feel old that the kids I grew up baby-sitting are all grown up themselves!

Well, I hope this was a long enough post for all of you that have been nagging me to update my blog!! I'll try to do better!

Some cute kid stories...

2008-11-25T19:31:00.003-05:00

Its been awhile since I posted (sorry - writer's block) so I have a few stories to share...

The kids have been dying to play in the leaf pile in the front yard for over a week but its been too cold/wet/yucky/etc. This weekend was finally nice enough and they totally took advantage of it! Sometimes it was all four of them piled in it and other times it was just one or two. The funniest thing I heard the entire time came from Emily - they were playing store/house and she said "I'm making a 30-minute meal" - seems like she's caught on to my daily addiction to Rachel Ray on the Food Network :)

Saturday was Thanksgiving at my Grandma & Papa Beasley's...waaaay too much food but it was awesome! Mom came home too so that was an added bonus. Before we left home to head to Raglesville, Shane was teasing Nick telling him how "pretty" he was in his sweater...Nick promptly replied that "Dad, girls are pretty; boys are AWESOME" - Shane & I got a good laugh out of that one!

Hannah sat in the front seat w/ me on the way to Grandma's - only because her dad wanted to sit in the middle seat & watch "Transformers"...pretty sad that the newest TV & best sound system we own are in our Tahoe! Anyway, as they were all watching a chase scene, Nick comments on how fast they were going...this prompts Shane to lecture his 5-YEAR-OLD that when he's sixteen, he better not get caught speeding! I had to break the news to Shane that Nick barely remembers to flush the potty on a daily basis - I highly doubted this particular talk was going to stick for the next 11 years - LOL!

Katie & I's soccer team FINALLY won a game last night...you'd think we won a tournament the way the kids (& parents) were cheering!! The kids on my team are so great - such different personalities but all good kids. We have 2 more games in the season - let's hope we've started a win streak :) Kate has been such a trooper - for being the only girl on a team of aggressive boys, she's held her own...she had a chance to score last night but the shot bobbled off her foot - oh well, she still had that sweet smile on her face!

We're looking forward to Thanksgiving with the Deitz family on Thursday - more of my fave foods and good times w/ family. Shane & I will make our annual shopping trip on Friday - we don't go to Evansville (I lived there for close to 10 years - I REFUSE to shop there on Black Friday!) but we shop here locally & in Vincennes. I have quite a bit of shopping already done but we've got plenty more to do...we're cutting back this year like most people but trust me, we had room to cut back! I'm currently trying to convince Shane to buy the kids a trampoline...I've got a few more weeks to work on him...

Its almost bedtime here for the kids...better go start our routine! It takes a little bit of time to get all four thru teeth-brushing/potty/hugs/kisses/endless stall techniques like questions about tomorrow/etc. etc.

Hope everyone has a safe & happy Turkey Day!

Setting records

2008-11-17T19:43:00.003-05:00

Well - we had a couple of record-breaking events today...good and not-so-good!

First - the GOOD (which is where we should always focus right?!)....drum roll please...Nick has stayed on "green" for 3 days in a row!!!! He only stayed on green 3 times the entire month of October so we're on quite the roll! At the kids' elementary, the younger classes measure behavior w/ 3 colors - green = good, yellow = couple of warnings, red = obviously, not so good. For the most part, Nick is a yellow kid w/ an occasional foray into the underworld of red but not lately!!! GREEN GREEN GREEN...that's our mantra!

Now, the not so good...we had another indoor soccer game tonight and we lost - AGAIN. We're officially the worst team in our division...our record is 0-5. The worst part of the whole thing is we're a really good team but we can't catch a break! If there's a mistake to be had, we'll find it :) Oh well, the kids are great and the parents don't blame me so I guess we'll survive the second half of the season...my competitive side isn't too happy though!

Such a dreary day...

2008-11-15T19:17:00.002-05:00

what a yucky Saturday!! Maybe we needed more rain than I thought but I think we're good now! I went out this morning to check on Buster & Hershey (our dogs) and practically flooded them out when I dumped the water out of the tarp over their kennel...they were snug & dry though in their doghouse so I guess I shouldn't have been so worried about "the babies"!

Our day has been fairly uneventful...Shane & Nick went out to his parents for awhile so the girls & I hung out here doing the normal Saturday morning routine - laundry, cleaning, etc. Katie had a game around noon - we got beat (again) - but my Aunt Peg came to watch so that was a plus! Aunt Peggy has been the girls' biggest soccer fan!

Nothing else too exciting has happened since then...a trip to Wal-mart (Hi Renee', Honey & Lisha!) for some "me time"...how sad :)...but I did get a few small Christmas gifts out of the way. Hard to believe Christmas is only 6 weeks away...

I talked to Mom this morning...it must have been the weather but we immediately started talking about our trip to Hawaii coming up in February...absolutely CAN'T WAIT!!! While it will be hard to be away from the kids for 8 days, we're super excited about going! Our kiddos will get some quality time w/ their other grandparents (besides Mom & Scott who'll be drinking mai tai's on the beach w/ us!) though so I know they'll be fine. I rarely wish time away but February can come as quickly as it wants!

I guess I've rambled enough...we're all hanging out here in the living room watching a movie...almost bed times for the kids - then....peace & quiet :)

A reminder...

2008-11-13T20:28:00.003-05:00

I received the following in a "forward" email this week:

'When God takes something from your grasp, He's not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.'

Now, I have no idea who came up with this or what that person was writing this in reference to but it spoke to me. I feel like there has been so much "taking" lately - 3 young girls suddenly lose their father, a beautiful woman's marriage has fallen apart, the economy has caused hardships. But, in all this, I've said so many times that God will never give you more than you can handle - not just trite words but how I truly feel. There have been many times that I've felt I've hit my limit but before I know it, the grace of God touches me and I'm reminded of all of the joys, not the sorrows.

I'm glad I didn't just hit "delete" like I do a lot of the time when I see "FWD:" in the subject line...I must have needed the reminder.

Catching up...

2008-11-10T20:57:00.002-05:00

Hi all - nothing too exciting going on outside of the normal chaos! To catch up from my last post (a week ago - lazy me!)...Shane got home from his trip to Virginia Beach on Wednesday - the kids & I were very happy to have him home! Even though he works a lot of hours, he's always home by bedtime so we all had to adjust while he was gone. Wednesday night was soccer pics - which I remembered exactly 10 minutes before we had to be there and Katie & I were already in our jammies! A few crazy minutes later, we were out the door & made it just in time...thankfully we only live 3 minutes from the YMCA!!! Nothing too exciting happened Thurs/Friday. Saturday was another soccer game and Nick headed to Evansville for the night. I woke up yesterday totally sick w/ either the stomach flu or a bad reaction to the Long John Silvers we had Sat. nite. After the girls' religion class, I lazed around until I headed to Oakland City to pick up Nick - once home, I went to bed for a few hours to save up energy for Max's 3rd birthday party...which was totally fun :) Anna had a major houseful w/ Beasleys, Rabers & friends all crowding inside since it was absolutely FREEZING outside! Max made a haul and all of the kids had so much fun, especially on the hay ride...check out Abbie's blog for great pics!

Solo parenting for a few days...

2008-11-03T20:15:00.002-05:00

Yep - the kids are stuck w/ me as their only parent for a few days...Shane is in Virginia on a business trip so I'm flying solo until Wednesday. I wish I could take "business trips" to Virginia Beach and stay in a hotel on the beach! He's auditing their sandpaper vendor so I guess they had to "jazz up" the trip somehow to get him to go!

The girls had their fall music program tonight (yes, I video-taped it so Shane has 45 fascinating minutes to watch when he gets home LOL) which was entertaining as always. Emily really had the rhythm tonight and she was smiling the entire time; Hannah looked like she was in pain and only smiled when she looked at me (hello - I was the one w/ the camera!); and Katie...well, I couldn't decide whether she was having fun or if she was getting ready to cry! She said she had fun so we'll go with that...

I think I'm going to subject Nick & I to a little pain tomorrow night & take the girls to High School Musical 3...we hardly ever go to the movies - for various reasons including 4 trips to the bathroom since no one has to "go" at the same time - but I thought it would be fun & keep the kids' minds off the fact that Dad isn't home. So think of poor Nick and I tomorrow night around 6:45ish while a bunch of 20-somethings are dancing, singing and acting like high school kids - oooh fun!

Halloween pics

2008-11-01T16:01:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone - not a lot to say...just wanted to post a couple of Halloween pics from last night. It was great going trick-or-treating on a weekend night instead of a weekday...our kids actually got to enjoy a couple of pieces of candy instead of being told "No candy on a school night"!!

"Gabrielle" from High School Musical, Medieval Princess, The Hulk, "Sharpay" from HSM

Trick-or-treating on our street...

A good time was had by all...now we have enough candy to last us 6+ months!

God grant me the serenity...

2008-10-29T19:34:00.002-04:00

...to accept the fact the my 8 year old is a compulsive liar. Seriously - I'm at my wit's end w/ Hannah...I once again busted her this week for hiding papers w/ bad grades in her backpack. This is the THIRD time she's gotten in trouble for this and the THIRD time we've had to punish her for it....what am I doing wrong??!! Our standard "punishment" for papers w/ a "C" grade or worse is the child has to tell us what went wrong (i.e. rushing, sloppiness, not reading the directions), correct the paper then no TV for the rest of the evening. Of course, if the paper was related to a new subject or something they're having difficulty with, we just help them correct it and try to explain the material - then move on, no punishment.

The majority of Hannah's issues are directly related to rushing, not paying attention to the details, etc. The crazy thing is, Hannah doesn't even really like watching TV so why she hasn't caught on that she should just take the small punishment is beside me! Instead, she gets into waaaaay bigger trouble by lying...I'm very frustrated at this point. Not only am I disappointed in her, I don't know how to make her stop. We've tried what seems like everything - positive and negative reinforcement - however, we keep coming back to this same issue. With everything else, she's a great kid!!!

Of course, I'm thankful that I have 4 healthy, happy kids and I know I shouldn't be griping but I'm just reaching out to see if anyone has any better ideas....at this point, I'm open to any suggestions!

Weekend in Bumpus Mills, TN

2008-10-26T20:34:00.009-04:00

Yes, there actually is a place called Bumpus Mills in Tennessee and yes, before you ask, its in the middle of nowhere!! Mom & Scott have their "weekend home" on Lake Barkley and we love to go there to visit. Shane & the kids love it just a bit more than I do - I prefer to go to their "city" house in Nashville - hello, Bumpus is so remote, I can't even get a fountain Diet Coke! But I have to admit, the view is gorgeous and it is pretty fun riding around on the Kabota all-terrain & the four-wheeler...the kids stay outside the entire time and are absolutely filthy but boy are they havin' fun getting dirty! Gramma Cindy always has a "project" for them too so they look forward to that...this weekend we decorated halloween cookies and had a rock contest. The rock contest was for two reasons...1. Mom had cute little "1st Place" ribbons & some $1 bills burning a hole in her pocket so she was looking for a reason to give them to her grandkids and 2. Her rock garden was needing some more rocks!!! This apparently is going to be an on-going thing since she's given them each their own space to fill w/ rocks each time they come :)

Mom & the girls before "rock hunting"

Cookie Decorating

The rock contest winners!

The boys all went fishing Saturday morning while us girls went to the local Piggly Wiggly (love it!) to get the fixings for the cookies. By lunch time, the boys were home and we were making "mummy dogs" - hot dogs w/ breadstick dough wrapped around them - another "crafty" idea Gramma found in a magazine. Scott & Shane gave another secret fishing spot a try after lunch while the rest of us went on our rock hunt. 20lbs of rocks later (that's a guesstimate on the weight), Mom & I enjoyed a much deserved beverage while the kids cleaned up their rocks.

After the big boys got home, we had a pretty competitive game of wiffle ball that was, thankfully, injury-free for us old folks!

After dinner & showers, Hannah & Katie played checkers w/ Grampa Scott while Nick & Emily played "Go Fish" w/ Gramma Cindy...Shane & I just sat back & watched all the fun going around us! It was a nice break from having the be the entertainers :) After breakfast this morning, we packed up & headed home. Its always great to visit family, but its always good to get home too!

We had a visit tonight from my other parents (Beth & Dad) - they stopped by w/ Halloween bags for the kids - very little candy (thanks!!) and some "fun" stuff like Floam & Silly String (no thanks!!) - Beth is paying me back for the years of me giving my brothers "fun" stuff like Play-doh & finger paints!

At last, its quiet in our house...w/ the exception of Shane's comments to the TV re: the poor calls by the umpires in the World Series game. What is it about men talking to the TV like the people can actually hear them?! Like if he says "Bad Call!" loudly enough, the umpire in Philadelphia will look up & say "My bad"....must be a guy thing!

Happy Fall Y'all!

2008-10-20T18:55:00.012-04:00

I've said it before but I'll say it again - I LOVE FALL! I could really do without the other 3 seasons but I guess that wouldn't be much fun. The girls & I went to Etienne's & got pumpkins/gourds on Saturday so I've actually, for the first time, got a "fall scene" on my front porch...corn stalks, straw bale, mums, etc. The corn is courtesy of my father-in-law and the straw was picked up by Shane so this has truly been a family effort! After school today, we decorated pumpkins w/ the kids...I found these totally cool "Mr. Pumpkin-Head" kits at Walmart and the kids had a blast picking out the eyes/ears/nose/mouth combos for their pumpkins.

The fun didn't stop w/ the pumpkins...the kids have been trying to rake together a pile of leaves for a week but the trees weren't cooperating. But today, they were finally successful - of course, this meant raiding the neighbor's yard but I really don't think they'll mind!

Here's our weekend re-cap...

We went to Buffalo Wild Wings Friday night w/ the girls then stopped at Lic's on the way home - pumpkin pie ice cream - YUM! I started fighting a head cold on Friday and it stuck w/ me most of the weekend but the ice cream helped :)

On Saturday, Shane headed to the race track to drag race his newest creation - did pretty well for his class. The girls & I had our last soccer game - beat the only undefeatable team left! Our record ended up being 4-1-1 so I was very proud of our team. After the game, the girls & I had lunch, went to Etienne's for pumpkins then came home where this momma took a much needed nap b/c my cold was kicking in. After Shane got home, I got the girls dressed in their costumes for Ed & Theresa's "Hallo-wienie Roast" and we headed out - the weather was absolutely perfect for hotdogs & marshmallows.

Nick went to Evansville this weekend to visit his baby sister Ana and they went to the zoo and got their pictures taken. He brought home a lovely rubber snake from the zoo (watch out Gramma Cindy - he says he's bringing it w/ him next weekend to Bumpus Mills!). After I picked him up Sunday, we came home & gathered the rest of the gang to go out to Beth & Dad's for lunch...it was great to visit w/ them & Daniel...our lives are all so busy that sometimes the weeks get away from us so I'm glad we were able to spend a few hours with them on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.

And now we're here...another work week. Not so busy this week which is absolutely fine w/ me!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

2008-10-16T20:18:00.002-04:00

For those of you who know my children, you can imagine my, um, let's say, "anticipation" re: attending parent/teacher conferences! Not that I have bad kids; I actually have absolutely great kids but, they also have a great amount of energy & precociousness! Especially the younger three...

Here's a rundown of the conferences:

Katie - her teacher referred to her as an "angel" - no surprises there! Teachers always love Kate b/c she's such a sweetie and wants to please. She's doing really well in keeping up with the class but does need to work on her speed & reading comprehension.

Hannah - our social butterfly! Thankfully she's improved her mid-term grades - really had nowhere to go but up on one of them :) She's reading very well and loves her "chapter" books. Her area of opportunity is definitely in paying attention to the details...something Miss Ants-in-Her-Pants struggles with.

Emily - my combo kid - Katie's sweetness & Hannah's energy! Em is in 3rd grade and reading at a 5th grade level which thrills me to death - my fave thing in the world to do other than spend time w/ family & friends is reading a good book so I love it that my kids enjoy books too. Em's teacher describes her as "bright but bossy" - that's our Emily! She needs to work on keeping on task but other than that, her grades are very good.

And finally, Nick - Mr. Kindergarten. Nick has a first year teacher so I didn't know what to expect but it went well - she thinks he's very smart but doesn't always want to share what's in his head. I don't know where he could possibly get any stubbornness...LOL! He's all boy which leads to rough-housing w/ other boys so he needs to learn to keep his hands to himself, but all in all, he's doing great!

So, another round of P/T conferences done with...can't wait 'til the next one!

Catch up...

2008-10-13T18:59:00.006-04:00

So, it's been entirely tooooo long since I've posted! Last week was absolute chaos at work (I termed it "A Week of Mondays" if that gives any indication...) and we had soccer practice, a make-up soccer game, haircuts & school pictures, Nick's first official Kindergarten field trip (Shane chaperoned) then finally...the weekend!

The weekend didn't prove to be any calmer...Saturday brought us laundry, a soccer game, laundry, Shane & Nick to the race track, laundry (we have a loooot of laundry around here!), lunch at Snack Shack for the girls & I, Wal-mart for Halloween costumes & the required accessories (hello - I have 3 girls), Kate to a friend's house for a few hours, the twins & I to buy mums then went to Mass, picked up Kate then went to Shane's aunt & uncle's house for a wienie roast. We got home around 9pm then 6 showers later...fell into bed!

THEN, Sunday started with a monumentous event - Nick lost his first tooth! It was a little traumatic on both Nick & I (for different reasons of course) but Shane came in for the save & yanked the tooth out...thanks Dad! After that drama, we took the girls to Religion Class then headed north to drop Nick off at Anna's so Shane & I could head to Indy for a Colts game....totally sweet seats too - free tickets sitting in the corner of the end zone! A double plus! Theresa picked up the girls and kept them all day so all 4 kiddos had a great day. We all got home around 7pm which gave us enough time for another round of showers before hitting the sack. WHEW - what a weekend! Here's some pics...

I don't think this week is going to be much calmer...we had another make-up soccer game tonight (played muuuuuch better than Saturday, thank goodness!), tomorrow starts the Book Fair at school which I will be working at for my required 2 hours, then the Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet tomorrow night (I'll definitely have a picture of me from that event to post but I'll save the details for later), Parent/Teacher Conferences on Wednesday along w/ 1/2 school days Wed & Thurs and no school on Friday...wowza!

I think that's enough for now...I'm going to go catch up on everyone else's blogs that I haven't read for a week!

You're my inspiration...

2008-10-02T20:34:00.005-04:00

Do you all have those people in your life that inspire you? It could be someone you barely know or one that you've known your entire life...I have several and they all inspire me in different ways and for different reasons...

My parents - for obvious reasons! My mom & dad faced a tough decision when they found themselves expecting me - young, not married, conservative families - but they gave it go and did what not everyone else would have done - got married, moved to Alabama for Dad's work & had me! While they didn't stay married, they made me feel loved and both went on to marry other people MUCH better suited for them. They've inspired me to be a loving, tolerant parent - who is still working on having more patience!

Nancy Epperson - my boss at my first "real" job out of college. Nancy was my mentor and such a strong woman in a very male dominated company. She wanted us all to keep learning - she involved us in things that she didn't have to because she knew we would take that knowledge with us. She inspired me to be a strong woman, a compassionate boss and a good friend.

Abbie Raber - my cousin & little sister. Ab's easy going demeanor may fool a lot of people into thinking she's a pushover but she's surprising a lot of people lately...her faith leads her and she's an amazing mom - two things that will guide her in her quest for answers in this rough time in her life. She's inspired me to stand by my beliefs no matter what others are telling me to do.

Jennifer Zimmer - my closest friend from college. Jen worked full time and went to school while being married to her best friend...her & Tony provided a safe haven for Nick & I when we left Steve. Her unwavering support was priceless and her work ethic inspiring! Now, with 2 beautiful kids, a full time career and that same best friend, she's working on her 2nd Masters degree while coming to terms with her son's developmental delays. Jen has inspired me to never stop wanting more in life - even when we have to work hard to get it.

Ernie Beasley - my maternal grandpa. Never have I met a more tolerant, patient man who's quiet strength has led our family to be the solid group that we are...I should include Grandma Grace too b/c we all know that half of a man's strength lies in the woman who stands beside him. My grandparents are supportive even if they may not agree with our choices. They have inspired me to always value family, the good, the bad & the ugly!

I could keep going...but I'll leave those for future posts! I hope all of you take some time to think about your inspirations in life...and don't take them for granted.

School delay...

2008-09-30T09:00:00.005-04:00

Since I'm home this morning w/ the kiddos due to the 2-hour fog school delay, I thought I'd post...not that I have a lot to talk about but hey, I can always find something :)

Nick absolutely is not understanding the whole school delay concept - he keeps telling me we're late for school! Which is funny b/c he's the one kid who asks e-v-e-r-y morning "Do we have school?" - not because he wants to go; he'd much rather hang out at home! Or go to Abbie/Anna's - if I had a dollar for every time he has asked to go see Anna/Ab/Max/etc., I wouldn't have to work!

Hannah is grounded....AGAIN. I did a random backpack search Sunday nite & found school papers w/ bad grades stashed in a pocket. I don't mean 1 or 2 papers - try 10 of 15 papers...all w/ a grade of "C" or worse. The little stinker! We have a rule here at home that if you bring home a grade of C or worse and I know that it was something you rushed through or just didn't follow the directions, you don't get to watch any TV that night. Now, if it was something difficult/new/etc., I can understand so we go over the paper and all is well. Hannah had been stashing these papers away for a few weeks - only giving me her pretty little A's & B's...well that sure backfired on her! She's grounded from going anywhere and no phone calls to friends thru this coming Sunday. What am I going to do with her?! The worst thing is - she doesn't even really like TV much (she can't sit still) so she would have been much better off just taking the punishment each time it came around!!

Emily & Katie are maintaining the status quo...no major issues at school and minding their Ps & Qs at home too. Of course we'll always have Kate's never-ending fascination w/ TV (um, I think she would watch corn growing if it was on TV!) and Em's "big" personality (i.e. sass-talker!) but hey, that's who they are and we love 'em!

Yard Sales & Family Reunions...

2008-09-28T19:58:00.005-04:00

Wow - what a busy weekend! Abbie & I spent a lot of quality time together this past week getting ready for our yard sale on Saturday - which was totally great b/c I don't get a lot of time w/ Ab without others around so it was good to just hang out; albeit surrounded by TONS of yard sale stuff! We had a great turnout - they started coming around 7:30am and didn't stop until after noon. And...we'll be doing it again next weekend :) We didn't realize this coming weekend (10/4) is the Annual Cumback Yard Sale which is an organized "neighborhood" yard sale so we're cleaning out closets and finding more stuff to sell! I went thru the girls' rooms/closets this afternoon so we'll have girl clothes this weekend which we didn't have the first go'round. SO - if you know anyone needing/wanting the following, send them our way (Troy Road south of the Bypass to 400S - follow the hot pink signs!): boys clothes (newborn-4T), girls clothes (4-6X), household items, toys, womens clothes (S/M), baby items, etc. etc.

Today was Shane's family reunion (his Gma Lela's side of the family) at the Conservation Club in Washington - complete w/ the required pickup softball game w/ 3 generations playing & the 4th cheering them on...love it! Though I have to say...my hubby is getting older! Shane & his cousin Jesse (who talk a lot of 'smack' to each other) both agree that the game gets harder as the years go by. Katie played too & did a great job; Hannah & Em were taking a walk w/ Mickey, Sarah & Deanna and Nick was pouting b/c he didn't want to play the field - he only wanted to bat so I told him he couldn't play...I know, I'm such a mean mommy.

Here's Shane rounding the bases:

Tonight - Shane is totally indulging me by letting me watch the brand new VH1 "Behind the Music" - NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK! Can't you just hear the girlish screams?! I'm totally cracking up that they're releasing new material but hey, props to them for giving it a go - I can still remember Abbie & our cousin Cassie Trueblood in their NKOTB t-shirts when they came to see us at cheer camp my freshman year in high school...too funny!

October is almost here...my favorite time of the year! We're heading to Mom & Scott's "country" house at the end of the month & the kids are pretty excited - they love going to the house in Bumpus Mills, TN (Kentucky Lake) b/c they get to play outside allll day long, riding the Kubota all-terrain & the 4-wheeler. Gramma Cindy always has a great craft project for them too which they totally dig. While I prefer the "city" house in Brentwood (south of Nashville) for the restaurants & shopping, I usually get out-voted by Shane & the kids on where we visit my parents...5-1 isn't great odds! Oh well, I guess I can "rough it" in the country every now & then!

Here's to another week - hope everyone has a good one!

Family weekend...

2008-09-23T20:21:00.009-04:00

Back to real reason I started this blog...my family! We had a great weekend w/ lots of running here & there...Saturday morning was spent at the soccer field (we're 2-0!) then the rest of the afternoon was centered around getting ready for the car cruise. Shane & I "cruised" w/ Gma & Papa Beasley in Great Grandpa Beasley's '67 Ford Galaxie...only 70,000 original miles! We had such a great time - from the chili supper beforehand to all of the candy we threw. The kids were all at Gma Lela's (happy belated birthday Grandma!) for the cruise then went home w/ Gma Theresa & Papa Ed for the night. We met up with Mom (yay - my mom was home!), Peg & Sharon at the park after the cruise then ended up at Sharon & John's for her fake margarita's...who would have ever known Squirt made a good margarita?!

I picked the kids up Sunday morning then got the girls to Religion class...Nick & I picked them up after class & headed to Anna's for another famous "Beasley Birthday Lunch"...yes, there are enough of us that we have to get together every month for birthdays. Love it! Not sure what I do without my family or what kind of person I'd be...I truly believe we are a product of how we're raised so kudos to my fam that I'm fairly normal :) This month was Big Nick, Tracy, Delbert & Clay's b-days...the food was great, the weather was beautiful and the family was fabulous! Nick & Max were typical boys - filthy head to toe - and the girls ran around w/ Hannah B (cousin) being silly girls riding the golf cart.

Abbie & Mom (Cindy)

Speaking of all of my family...the kids & I had a pretty funny conversation Saturday morning. Emily asked if they were spending the night with "Grandma" that night...I asked "Which grandma?" and she got irritated w/ me for asking what she thought was a silly question. I then had to remind her that she has: Grandma Beasley, Grandma Lela, Gramma Cindy, Grandma Beth & Grandma Theresa....what lucky kids!! The even have Grandma Gloria in California (Scott's mom) that they haven't been able to meet yet. And - they have almost as many grandpas to go with them....how blessed we are!

If you have time - check out my blog list - I've added my cousin Lauren's who decided to join the crazy world of blogging. I'm sure she'll be able to entertain us w/ stories from IU...keep it clean sister - you never know who's reading your posts! I've also added "Delaney's Dream"...tragic story of a young man who passed away recently and his fiancee's struggle to cope. Patrick's aunt Patty works w/ me and I think of her family everyday...keep them in your prayers.

Emily's curious mind...

2008-09-16T20:25:00.003-04:00

Ok, so I thought I had fielded my share of "Questions" (notice the capital Q) when my girls first asked me "Where do babies come from?" "But, how do they get in there?" "Then, how do they get out?"...well, today took those types of questions to an entirely new level. Granted, the questions weren't directed to me, but, more embarrassingly, to the kids' after-school program director, Miss Karen. Let me tell you the entire story...

I went to pick the kids up today and they were playing outside on the playground. They ran in to the school to get their backpacks & Miss Karen came over to talk to me. She said Emily came over to her and asked if she knew what "gay" meant...Miss Karen is a retired teacher so she's used to these types of questions but I was still slightly mortified by this conversation already! Miss Karen replied to Emily that yes, she knew what that was. Em then went on to ask if Miss Karen knew what "S-E-X" was...yes, she spelled it out instead of saying the word (oh...my...goodness). Miss Karen replied again in the affirmative and asked Em where she had heard that word. Em explained that her "best friend" who will remain nameless had told her that she likes to throw boys on the ground, kiss them & have S-E-X with them...at this point in the conversation, I'm wishing the earth would open up & swallow me whole. I mean - this is my baby girl!! She's not supposed to be asking this at age 8...Miss Karen apparently saw my now complete mortification and assured me, in her own words, that my kid wasn't going to turn into some sex fiend by her next birthday!!! Needless to say, Shane & I plan to talk to Em about what she's heard from the other kids, if she has any questions, etc. etc.....please be thinking of us & pray that we say the right things and don't confuse her any more than necessary! I really didn't think I would be having this conversation at this point in my children's lives but unfortunately, I feel society has made kids grow up so fast...but I'm sure parents for many generations have felt that way. Why can't they just stay innocent forever?!

Family walks & Christmas shopping...

2008-09-09T19:17:00.003-04:00

We just got home from from a walk...I think we're quite the site walkin' down the street...Dad, Mom & 6 kids! haha - of course I'm counting our 4-legged kids Hershey & Buster. Hershey is our 9-yr old dauschaund (i.e. wiener dog) and Buster is our 18-mo old springer spaniel....just guess who is better on the leash! I told Shane tonight that if I was on a skate board walking Buster, we'd probably be going 50 mph down the sidewalk! We all enjoy our walks - at least I do when the weather is nice :)

I could feel Fall in the air today - my absolutely fave season of the year...I love jeans w/ sweatshirts, wienie roasts w/ marshmellows, football games w/ hot chocolate...I could go on & on! Pretty soon, I'll plant our mums, take pics of the kids in the leaf pile, get out the fall decorations...of course fall just leads up to my favorite "eating" holiday - Thanksgiving! YUM!

People may think I'm nuts but I've already started Christmas shopping - hey, w/ 4 kids I can't afford to wait until November to start!! I guess I should confess that my "list" is actually an Excel spreadsheet w/ separate columns for each kid and 2 separate worksheets for Shane and the rest of the family. Oh, it doesn't stop there - I have a color-coding system showing what's from us and what's from Santa, bolding & italicizing to show what's been purchased & what still needs bought....I have everything we've bought for the kids since we started shopping together (2005) - let me say, we've got some pretty spoiled kids! Kevin, the Wal-mart store manager, looks for me every year on the day after Thanksgiving just to see my list...he's in Rotary w/ me so he razzes me all year long about my infamous Christmas list! Yes, I'm anal-retentive and proud of it!

We have soccer practice the next 2 nights then the homecoming parade Friday so it may be a bit before I can post again...I'll try to have pictures next time!

I'm Baaaack!

2008-09-07T19:00:00.005-04:00

Yes, I know....its been 2 weeks since I've posted - sorry!! I worked on a post for 20 minutes after Shane & I got back from our anniversary weekend in Indy - it had pics & all - but my computer "hiccuped" and I though I lost it all....leading to me getting fairly ticked off so I shut down the computer!! However, I just found that post in my "drafts" so I guess I shouldn't have gotten ticked huh? I'll post it separately here shortly once I get the pictures in place.

Anyway - short re-cap of our Indy/Labor Day weekend - had a great time at Oliver Winery, shopping, Indians baseball game, Howl At the Moon, 13 (yes, 13) hours at the drag races then back home to get the kids, visit the Round Barn Centennial celebration, have Ed & Theresa over for lunch on Labor Day then back to work. Woooo - busy 4 days!

This past week was pretty busy too - Soccer draft Tuesday night, Evansville for kids' dental appts Wednesday afternoon, first soccer practice (I'm coaching!) in the pouring down rain Thursday night (hey, we lasted longer than some football boys that were practicing nearby!) then a fairly low key weekend ever since.

The kids have been fairy rambunctious (sp?) lately - typical kid stuff but I do have a couple of cute stories to share. Last Monday, I took Em to Wal-mart with me b/c she had $10 burning a hole in her piggy bank from selling her Go Diego! playset to Patty for her grandson...we were at the checkout and she dug her wallet out of her purse & handed over her hard-earned cash. As the checkout lady was finalizing the transaction, Em turned to me and whispered, "How much do I tip her Mom?" - cracked me up! I whispered back that we don't have to tip the Walmart lady & she very seriously said "Ok, I just wanted to make sure."!! Ah the innocence of kids!!

Cute kid story #2 - I was in our bathroom putting on makeup this morning and the window was open which faces our driveway. All 4 kids were outside when our neighbor Avery and her two cousins came over, one of which was a first grade boy. I listened intently as my two 3rd grade daughters proceeded to flirt with him (yes, its started already) then he had to leave. I started teasing them thru the window by saying I couldn't believe they were flirting w/ a younger "man" - of course they started squealing & laughing when Nick piped up and very seriously said "What's flirting??" I couldn't help but laugh b/c I'm sure our son will figure out flirting very quickly when his 3 older sisters start bringing their friends home!

This week starts Jump Rope Club (Mondays) and Just Say No Club (Tuesdays) for the girls, soccer practice Wednesday & Thursday for the twins, Homecoming parade (Just Say No Club is marching in it) on Friday then our first soccer game Saturday morning. Never a boring moment around here!!

The lost post....

2008-09-01T16:17:00.009-04:00

Wow - its been too long since I sat down & posted! It's been a great four day weekend....here's a rundown of what we've been up to:

On Friday, Shane & I headed to Indy for our "anniversary weekend" - we dropped the kids off at school, went to breakfast at the Steamer then headed north. Our first stop was Bloomington where we did a little shopping then stopped by Oliver Winery for tastings, shopping & a snack - yum! Here's a couple of pics...

We headed to Indy after Oliver...we were able to check into our hotel early then stopped for another "snack" (what happened to regular meals??!) before changing our clothes & heading downtown. We checked out Circle Center Mall for awhile - totally looking for a pair of cheap shoes since the impractical sandals I was wearing were causing blisters - hey, I'm a girl and sometimes, well, fashion hurts! Anyway, didn't find any I was willing to drop cash on so I suffered on...

We headed over to Victory Field - Home of the Indianapolis Indians - for a perfect night for baseball...the weather was great, the hotdogs were hot & the beer was cold....awesome! Here's a couple of pics our "section usher" took of us.

We headed over to "Howl at the Moon" after the game - Shane & I first went to one of these "dueling" piano bars in Chicago a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it! If you ever get a chance to go, do it! The musicians are very talented and put on a great show!

We were up the next morning - bright & early - to head over to O'Reilly Raceway Park for the NHRA Mac Tools US Nationals...yes, drag racing. This was my gift to Shane for our anniversary - the traditional 1st anniversary gift is paper so he got paper tickets to this event! Anyway - after stopping at Starbucks for a very necessary caffeine boost, we headed to the track and got there @ 8am. I won't go into all of the details but the day was pretty cool - Shane was a like a little kid in a candy store and I was amazed at how close we could get to the drivers/cars. We had great seats right on the starting line. Here's us in the stands:

After THIRTEEN hours and a nice sunburn...we finally left! We were so tired when we left that all we could manage to do for dinner was stop at the first Hardee's we found, got to the hotel, showered & hit the sack.

NOTE: This is where I thought I lost the post so that's all I've got!

Our 1st Anniversary...

2008-08-25T20:59:00.002-04:00

Happy 1st Anniversary to us! I sometimes try to remember what life was like before Shane & the girls became part of Nick & I's life and I just struggle to remember that time because we're such a perfect fit. We all became what each other needed...a husband to a wife, a mother to daughters, a father to a son, a brother to sisters. As corny as it sounds, I feel we were all meant to be exactly where we are today; even though the road here was preeeetty bumpy at times!

For those of you who don't know Shane & I's story....we actually dated briefly my senior year of H.S./Shane's freshman year of college but life happened and we went our separate ways. We both went through college, married people totally not suited to us, had beautiful kid(s) then divorced. I was ending my engagement to Wrong Guy #2 around the time of my 10 year class reunion in 2004. Shane's best friend Tim graduated w/ me so he & his wife Holly invited Shane & his floozy of the moment (totally can't remember her name!) to our reunion. I was leaving to return to Evansville at the same time Shane was heading to the ATM (to get more $$ to by the aforementioned floozy another drink!) when we stopped to talk on the sidewalk, shared pics of the cute kids we both were raising and exchanged email addresses. I moved home to Daviess County a month later in October and Shane & I started talking via email & text messages. We had our (2nd) First Date on October 30th, encountered some ups and downs over the next few months then before you know it, were engaged exactly one year later on 10/30/05. Nick & I moved in w/ Shane & the girls in Feb. 06 and this crazy family was born! Now, here we are, 1 year after our "I do's" and I can't imagine my life without these 5 people. They make me laugh, make me cry, stress me out, keep me grounded, remind me what is important about life every day, give me stories to tell for the next 50 years.....and totally complete me. This isn't just Shane & I's anniversary, its our family's....

Another weekend that flew by...

2008-08-24T20:15:00.003-04:00

Another great weekend @ the Matthews house...nothing too exciting but a good one nonetheless. Yesterday was spent on chores (yuck), my weekly trip to Walmart (my "me" time - how sad!) then Ed & Theresa (my in-laws) came over for dinner to celebrate Ed's birthday. His b-day is actually tomorrow which is also Shane & I's 1st anniversary. We told Ed that by getting married on his birthday, we were giving him the perpetual gift of his grandkids every year on his b-day....so Shane & I could go out to eat :) Well, that's already backfired b/c they've gone out of town!!! Sneaky little suckers aren't they?! Luckily, Shane's aunt (Mickey) is going to come take the kiddos out to eat so Shane & I can go out for dinner....love her!!

Today was a fairly low-key today - I went to Lisa's bridal shower this afternoon which was fun - young love is too cute! Em was gone most of the day b/c she spent the night w/ a friend; Shane & Kate helped Gma Lela & Aunt DeeDee move some furniture; Hannah is still on house arrest so she was around the house and Nick was just hanging out...nothing much phases him as long as he has his trucks & cars to play with!

The house is quiet b/c the kids are in bed...and of course, we're watching pre-season football - fun! This week is another 4-day week for Shane & I b/c we're heading to Indy on Friday to celebrate our anniversary - think of me while I'm at drag racing alllll day on Saturday!!

Deep Breaths

2008-08-22T18:42:00.002-04:00

Dove Chocolate wisdom for today..."Take an extra deep breath whenever you need it"...that had to be written with mothers in mind!! Surely I'm not the only one worn out at the end of the week...while its been a fairly good week around here (minus Hannah the Liar and Emily the Incredibly Slow Eater), its still been tiring! I'm not sure that will change anytime soon though...oh say, for the next 15 years! I guess I'd hate to be bored....

I'm glad to report that we're full into the swing of school - every morning gets easier & easier as far as getting my 4 little soldiers through our [carefully orchestrated] routine...I absolutely love it that my kids hop right out when we pull up in front of school, yell "love you Mom" and run in - what more could I ask for?! I think its every parents' dream to have happy, healthy, well-rounded kids - we've got that times 4 in our house!

We've got a pretty quiet weekend planned - no complaints about the quiet part :) We went to the K of C for dinner tonight - the kids ate great! Hannah absolutely cleaned her plate of shrimp & chips...she said "I'm not going to be wasteful"...amen sister! We were going to go to the 1st WHS football game tonight but decided to wait until true football weather, i.e. sweatshirts & jeans, instead of going in shorts & Tshirts. Nick was worried that he'd get in trouble though b/c his teacher said he "had" to go to the game and wear black & gold - it was really hard to convince him that the football game wasn't homework!

The rest of the weekend will be spent on laundry (me), cleaning (me & the girls), mowing (Shane), working on the race truck (Shane & Nick) and some fun stuff...watching movies as a family and I have a bridal shower to go to (cousin Trent Otto's fiancee') on Sunday. I'll try to take some good pics to post soon.

Uh oh....not a good day for Hannah!

2008-08-20T19:15:00.003-04:00

Well, our little liar is back....some of you might know about Hannah's short trip to the dark side of lying earlier this summer and the subsequent punishment (remember her having to go to the county fair w/ us but not getting to ride any rides??!). Well, she's back at it - I won't go into all of the gory details but what could have been a fairly minor infraction - having to write a few sentences for flipping a behavior card in class for talking - has turned in to a month-long grounding for not only not telling us about the sentences but then proceeding to sign Shane's name to the parent signature line, insisting for 10 minutes to her teacher that "that's just the way Dad writes his name", not bringing the sentences to us for a 2nd time then telling her teacher she didn't know where the paper was!!! Oh my....talk about a sinking feeling when your daughter's teacher calls you at work to tell you all this....I was not a happy camper in the least bit. Just so you know - I'm sure Shane & I's parents find this funny and are thinking "what goes around, comes around"!!!! I know that's how I'll feel when my kids call & tell me these stories about my grandkids :) Needless to say - Hannah has been writing sentences since we got home and will be writing until she goes to bed...writers cramp for sure!

Busy few days...

2008-08-19T18:45:00.004-04:00

Wow...what a busy few days!! Shane spent Friday painting our kitchen - looks fabulous BTW then played a round of golf w/ Jonah. Saturday consisted of taking the kiddos to Anna's for the day so Shane & I could get the house ready for his birthday cookout. We had a really good time at the cookout - good food, good friends & family, good times! Sorry but I didn't take any pics...for those of you w/ access to Abbie's Snapfish page - check out the slideshow entitled "Shane's Birthday Cookout"...funny thing is there's only one pic of Shane in the entire album :) As usual, most of the pictures are of all the kids...

Sunday was fairly quiet - Shane took Em & Nick fishing while Katie, Hannah & our neighbor Avery went w/ me to Walmart...should have went to church since it was St. Mary's last mass before closing but, for various reasons, we didn't go. I spent the rest of the day catching up on laundry...fun fun!

Monday was Shane's 34th birthday - happy b-day babe! We both took the day off from work and, instead of canoeing which was the original plan, Shane decided he wanted to go to Evansville shopping & eating at our fave pizza place, The Slice....no complaints from me!! We had a great time shopping at several places and just being together as a couple...we're coming up on our 1st wedding anniversary which seems kind of crazy since it seems like we've been together for so long...comes along w/ having known each other since we were 15 I guess! Shane totally scored as far as his big b-day present - I finally caved & bought him Guitar Hero - Legends of Rock...as yes, its been hard for him to put it down ever since! Check out his reaction as he opened it:

Just like a kid isn't he?!

Yesterday was also Shane's cousin Gabriel's birthday so we all went over to Grandma Lela's for cake & ice cream...here's the birthday boys:

All in all - a great weekend!

Closing in on the weekend...

2008-08-14T19:22:00.002-04:00

We're almost at the end of the first week of school and so far so good! We went to Open House tonight at school and met w/ the girls' teachers...Nick's teacher is also an asst coach for the WHS varsity volleyball team and they had their first away game so she wasn't there. All good news so far from the girls...Nick unfortunately had a note sent home today - yes, its the 3rd day of school - apparently he was a little chatty :( I hope he continues to mature this year - he's one of the youngest (if not the youngest) in his class and he's the baby of our family...we'll see! Hannah & Emily both had really cute "all about me" papers they'd done...Emily describes herself as smart & cool while Hannah says she's "freaky" - when asked what freaky means, she had no answer - kids! Kate of course had all good feedback - that's what we expect from our "good kid"!!

Shane has a four day birthday weekend coming up...he'll be spending Day 1 painting our kitchen (fun fun!) but then the festivities begin! We're having a cookout Sat. then Shane & I are going canoeing on the Blue River on Monday...last time I was canoeing on the Blue River involved Steph, Kim &...well, never mind! oh the memories from that trip!!

I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about after this weekend! Look for lots of pics & funnies here early next week....

1st Day of School

2008-08-12T20:11:00.003-04:00

We all survived the 1st day of school!!! I actually think...check that - know I had the hardest time of us all! The girls were fabulous "big" sisters and Nick was such a little man - I was the baby!! I knew it would be hard...heck, I cried last year and the girls were in 2nd & 3rd grades...we alllll knew this year would probably be the hardest on me - at least until Katie graduates high school!

I was so anxious to pick them up from after-school care so I could hear about their days...Katie's best part of the day was seeing her friends, Hannah loves her teacher and classroom, Emily was excited about her friends and recess and Nick....well, Nick couldn't name a favorite part but his friend Luke from the YMCA is in his class so I'm thrilled that he had someone he knew close by. When I picked them up, they were all playing and looked like such happy kids...made this mom's heart smile :) Now, let's just hope Day 2 goes as smoothly!

Simply be...

2008-08-11T19:06:00.002-04:00

More Dove chocolate wisdom...Simply be, rather than do, for a moment. I don't know about everyone else, but this very simplistic concept is hard for me! There's always something that needs to be done, someone who needs attention, a phone ringing, another email needing answered...its hard to find the time to "simply be"...I guess I should say its hard to make time because its all about choices. I've said it so many times - life is about choices. Often its a choice between two options that are both unappealing but yet a choice has to be made. And once the choice is made - stick to it! I have very little patience for people who are wishy-washy and second guess themselves (and others) after every little decision....make an educated choice and MOVE ON! ok....I'll get off my soapbox now....

We just got home from Mr. Gatti's - we wanted to take the kids out for one last "hurrah" before school starts in the morning. We even played in Gatti-land...woo hoo!! Shane always stays home the morning of the 1st day of school so we can take them in together - of course there will be the required picture on the front porch w/ their new outfits and loaded down backpacks...too cute! I'll make sure & post a pic w/ tomorrow's message.

Fun family weekend...

2008-08-10T12:26:00.004-04:00

Weekends just fly by don't they?!

Shane took Em & Nick golfing Saturday morning while Hannah & I went to breakfast (White Steamer - yum!) then went to Walmart to get picnic supplies. After picking up Katie from her sleepover (FYI - the sleepover girl got verrrry little sleep!), we headed to Spring Mill. We ate our lunchables (all 6 of us - even Mom & Dad!) then hiked down allll the steps to Donaldson Cave. We then had to hike back up allll the steps to the top :) From there, we went to the Pioneer Village - we love going to the Grist Mill w/ the huge wheel outside...this was the first time I was able to hear the "miller" describe how the Mill worked and see the corn actually get ground up - pretty cool! Like I said to Shane though, I would have been a horrible pioneer! Give me running water & electricity please!! We all took a wade in the creek which was absolutely freezing but fun nonetheless...at least until the snake came floating down! Needless to say - that put an end to the wading...

We all chilled for awhile once we got home...Shane is hooked on the Olympics so we watched that for a bit...we made Kate take a nap which ticked her off but she went right to sleep! After resting for a couple of hours, we got cleaned up and went downtown to the Block Party/Cruz-in. We drove "Alvin" - Papa Beasley's Ford Galaxy - so we fit in pretty well! There were sooo many people - way more than I expected. There were a lot of really cool cars and the free Kramers Coneys definitely made the waiting in line worth it. The girls got beads in their hair and we got to visit w/ friends (Steph & fam; Kim & fam) plus we "cruised" over to Scoops for ice cream when we left. After a drive out to Ed & Theresa's, we headed home & everyone crashed - quite the busy day!

Today we're just getting caught up on household chores and enjoying the beautiful weather...the kids are getting anxious for school to start and I'm ready to get back into "school routine"...its still hard to believe we have a 4th grader, two 3rd graders & the little man is a Kindergartener...I guess its not just the weekends that fly by huh?

Katie....the ROCKSTAR!

2008-08-08T17:50:00.004-04:00

I guess you all probably didn't know that our daughter Katie is actually mega-rockstar Miley Cyrus but I had to let out our secret since there's now picture evidence! Kate's friend Emma is having a "Hollywood" birthday party/sleepover tonight and all of the guests are coming as their fave star so Kate chose Miley....because she has brown hair unlike Hannah Montana who's blond (Kate felt the need to explain this to me)! Not sure who Emma is supposed to be but, oh well! The limo arrived to pick Katie up and they're on their way to the red carpet at Emma's house where the "paparazzi" has staked out the party....I'm sure they're going to have soooo much fun!

Today is also my mom Cindy's birthday - HAPPY 51ST MOM!!! Talk about a gal who doesn't act her age!! As she always says - you're only as old as you feel...why do I feel like I'm 90 some days?? Oh yeah...I have 4 very energetic kids between the ages of 5-9...I forgot - must be getting senile :) Back to my mom - I doubt I tell her near enough how absolutely fabulous she is - she's always so positive about life and can always cheer me up...she even tries when I want to sulk - this usually leads to a slight disagreement but we get over it quickly! Shane & I are so looking forward to our vacation to Hawaii w/ Mom & Scott in February...I don't usually wish days away but I'd really like for Feb. to get here sooner rather than later (!)...not just for the opportunity to see Hawaii but also to hang w/ Mom & Scott. I'm sure we'll have some stories to tell after that trip!

I better get outside...we're roasting wienies over the fire pit tonight since the weather is so beautiful...s'mores too! Hope everyone has outdoor plans this weekend - we don't often get such gorgeous weather in mid-August....

Downhill slide

2008-08-06T18:21:00.002-04:00

Its Wednesday so we're on the downhill slide of the work week! Shane & I both deal w/ the "working parent" guilts so we're always glad to see Friday come. I long for the day that I can go part time so I don't have to juggle work/home priorities quite so much...our kids are getting to the age that they're starting to get involved w/ more activities and our family schedule gets pretty hectic. I can't even imagine how it will be as they get older! Shane & I were both really active in sports/clubs/friends so we hope for the same for the kids. My Dove chocolate wisdom for today was "Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can" - there are definitely days that I feel I can't fit it all in but I guess I should "trust the chocolate" :)

Its pretty quiet here in the house right now...the three younger kids are outside w/ Shane - they absolutely love being outdoors and will stay outside pretty much all day if you let them. Katie on the other hand is more like me - we don't like to sweat/get dirty so we're the insiders! Its absolutely crazy b/c I was such a tomboy as a kid - I've said it before...the older I get, the prissier I get!! I think we're going to take the kids to Spring Mill State Park on Saturday to hike/cave/picnic and I'm absolutely thrilled that the weather is supposed to cool down majorly - I'll definitely enjoy it better at 82 degrees than 95 :)

Shane's birthday is coming up on the 18th along w/ our 1st anniversary on the 25th so we have a lot to celebrate this month...we'll be having a cookout on Saturday the 16th for his 34th b-day then we'll both take Monday the 18th as a vacation day to do whatever he wants to do...just the two of us! One of our "happy marriage" secrets is we make it a priority to be "Shane & Chasity" sometimes, not just "Dad & Mom"...we've done that ever since we started dating since we were dating w/ 4 kids! He's mentioned canoeing on Blue River as a possiblility but I'm secretly hoping he goes w/ his other idea - road trip to Bloomington to go to our favorite winery (Oliver) and eat at a good restaurant. We'll drop the kiddos off at school then be back in time to pick them up when school lets out (instead of at 5:15 when I normally pick them up). We all win!

We also have plans for our anniversary...since the traditional 1st anniversary gift is paper, I bought tickets for us to go to the NHRA drag races in Indy....I know, not exactly my fave thing in the world but I'll enjoy it b/c Shane is so excited. We're going to stay in Indy for 2 nights so I know we'll eat well & enjoy some other activities too. (i.e. SHOPPING!!)

Failure is only the opportunity...

2008-08-05T19:55:00.002-04:00

Some more Dove chocolate wisdom..."Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently." [I can't go wrong w/ these things!! Chocolate PLUS great quotes - someone at Dove needs a pat on the back for coming up w/ this combo!] I think we all face certain failures in life but I guess they're only true failures if you don't learn from them. Shane and I feel we both definitely learned from our diabolical first marriages...we're much better spouses to each other than we were the first go 'round. I wouldn't change my path in life for anything...I think everything happens for a reason - even the crappy stuff. I can't count the number of times I've told myself (and others) that life will never throw anything at us that God doesn't think we can handle.

Enough philosophical stuff...

Today was a pretty normal day other than my trip to the salon for a much needed perm/cut. Major bonus that Angie also scheduled Abbie to be there so we had a chance to catch up w/ life...we had fun talking about how Max follows Nick around just like Ab used to do to me! Of course I totally couldn't stand it when we were kids but I think its the cutest thing ever when Max does it to Nick! What did we ever talk about before we had kids??!

Its Monday...again.

2008-08-04T18:55:00.004-04:00

Another Monday done with...work-wise anyway! Dinner is done, kids' showers are started, laundry can be dealt with later....one of my favorite times of the day. Today was a "2-chocolate" day at work - I love the Dove dark chocolate Promises so there's a bag of them in my drawer - the messages on the inside of the labels are great. Some of my faves:

Own all the moments of your life

Laugh uncontrollably...it clears the mind

Love is not getting, but giving

And my personal mantra: Hey, why not?

The kids are having a lot of fun w/ Jonah babysitting - for those of you not up to speed, the kids were all at the YMCA for most of the summer and Jonah was a camp counselor there...the kids loved it but Jonah approached us about watching the kids and we saw it as a way to pay less per week while he made more $$ then working at the Y. Plus, it gave the kids a chance to spend time w/ their uncle while having a few weeks of "typical" summer activities; i.e. sleeping in a little, going to the park, lunch at McD's, etc. Here in Washington, a group of people got together to have "Summer in the Park" which is planned activities at the City Parks Monday-Thursday. Today the girls made tie-dyed Tshirts which they thought was, quote "totally awesome" while Nick & Jonah played on the playground. I guess Nick isn't quite into fashion just yet!

I hope everyone has been checking our website out....please feel free to post comments!

Day 3

2008-08-03T20:04:00.003-04:00

Well, its already happened - my husband totally doesn't get why I want to blog but then again, I also don't understand his need to build a race truck when he already has one so I guess we're even!

We've had a good weekend in the Matthews household....we went out to eat last night @ Mi Pueblo w/ Ed & Theresa then went bowling....Theresa & I were the cheering section for the girls, Shane & Ed and they gave us plenty to cheer about :) . I have slide show at the bottom of the page w/ pics of the girls. The girls & I went to church this morning then I got my "me" time at Walmart. After unloading groceries, it was time for me to head to Oakland City to pick up Nick...2 days is really too long for him to be gone - he said to me on the way home "I thought I was never going to see you again."....absolutely broke my heart. But he's home now so I don't have to think about him going to Evansville again for a couple of weeks at least.

Bad news for all of the "football wives" out there...pre-season football is officially back on TV - we're getting ready to watch the Colts vs. the Redskins....woo hoo! Here's to the next 6 months of pro-football every week! Don't get me wrong - I enjoy watching it about 1x per week...its when we get to Sunday, Monday & Thursday that it gets to be a bit much!

One more week until school starts....we get different answers each time the kids are asked if they're ready for it to start....Katie is ready for Art class, Em can't wait for recess but is so-so for the rest of it, Hannah is ready to see her friends and I don't know if Nick knows what to think about Kindergarten! I'm just ready to get back into the routine of school...

Hope you guys are enjoying our page...I'm having fun with it!

Girls Day Out

2008-08-02T12:38:00.003-04:00

The boys are gone & we are having "girl time"! Shane has a golf scramble in Jasper today and Nick is in Evansville (yuck - a topic for an entirely different post) so the girls and I went shopping in Vincennes this morning for back-to-school clothes....got some totally cute outfits for them at Goody's [and new cute shoes for me!] then went to Kohls for new tennis shoes (mostly pink of course) and a couple of things for Nick. Shane was definitely the biggest loser in the new stuff department but oh well! After shopping, we lunched at Applebee's and shared a yummy dessert "four spoons please!" of molten chocolate cake w/ ice cream - YUM! Other than the twins thinking that playing tag in Goody's was a good idea (um, NO), we had a good time. They're now chilling in living room watching "The Last Mimzy"....its just too hot to do anything outside that doesn't involve lots of water...we may go swimming tomorrow at Rainbow Beach (Vincennes...and its a pool, not a beach) after we pick up Nick in Oakland City but we may also not feel like driving over there!

My first blog...

2008-08-01T21:44:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone - I've decided to enter the crazy world of blogging to keep the world up-to-date on the Matthews' family "madness" - definitely how I describe Shane & I's world w/ 4 kiddos between the ages of 5 - 9!

We're getting geared up for school to start on 8/12....each of the kids went w/ me alone to pick out school supplies so that was a little one-on-one time that doesn't happen often enough in our household. I don't know what they enjoyed most - new school supplies or getting to pick out whatever drink they wanted at the gas station on the way to Walmart! I didn't even veto the caffeinated drinks like I normally do :) Katie will be in 4th grade, Hannah & Emily are heading into 3rd and our "baby" Nick is finally going to "big school" (his words) and starting kindergarten. Finally - all four kids in one location...I won't know what to do with that extra 20 minutes a day!

Shane is working like crazy at MasterBrand but he likes his job (most days anyway) so that makes the long hours ok sometimes....of course he'd love to work closer to home and has "working dad guilts" on a weekly basis but he knows my anal-retentive self is keeping the homefront organized. The kids are always so excited when he gets home - I hope that never changes!

I'm still at Olon and, like Shane, enjoy my job for the most part...I work w/ good people and we don't have the BS that most jobs have - at least we don't at our Washington location :)

I better sign-off now so I'll have more to talk about later....now the fun part of setting up this blog page how I want it!