Katie....the ROCKSTAR!

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

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...

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.

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

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

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...

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!