Angel Andon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Catching up...again

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

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

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

Emily, Shaina, Lauren & Hannah

Lauren & Hannah playing dress up

Shaina & Emily getting ready for bed

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

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

Fun, fun in the winter sun!

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...

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...

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...

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 :(

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!!!