Reagan's Spring Musical

Here is a little clip of Reagan's Spring musical. They are singing "Down by the Bay" I realize that the video quality is not so good but I thought for those who were not able to be there, it was worth it. Enjoy, and try and remember that they are pre-schoolers!

5 Generations!

So, we had a busy weekend! Sorry I haven't posted! Yesterday was Austin's birthday party and it was the first time in a long time that we have had the five generations of Chris' family in one room that I wasn't preoccupied w/ hosting duties! So we decided to take a picture. In it is Jack, Chris, Tim (Chris' dad), Larry (his dad), and Gene (his dad) five generations of men. Pretty impressive if you ask me. Austin had a great day and now I am definitely thinking I need to get going on planning Dee Dee's birthday. Today I went to visit my Uncle in the hospital and things are looking better. He got moved back into a regular room and they are controlling his heart rate w/ medication. Now he will finish of this round of chemo on Friday and then hopefully come home again! Thanks for all the prayers!

Uncle Tom

So, my mom called me tonight and told me that my Uncle Tom, who has cancer was put in the coronary ICU today. I have blogged about him before, but he has had his ups and downs lately. The chemo has weakened his heart and now it appears as though he is on a downward slope. He also has a blood clot in his right arm. Unfortunately this is all I know. I don't have any details. I have however made arrangements for a babysitter on Monday and I am going w/ my mom and dad to see him. I have been avoiding this, but I feel like if I don't go now I'll regret it. So once again, any prayers are greatly appreciated!

Congratulations Aaron and Jill!!!

Congratulations to our good friends Aaron and Jill McClone, they welcomed a bouncing baby boy today! Bryce Christopher weighed 8lbs and 5 oz. Jill is a trooper after waiting on him for so long he finally arrived in a hurry! She was only in labor for 10 hours and did it all w/ no drugs. Yes I said no drugs! I know I couldn't have done it. We are all so happy for all of you! Braeden is a big brother! Congrats again!

What a busy day!

Yesterday was a whirlwind! We did so much that last night all three kids we so exhausted nobody even argued about going to bed! We met Rachael and Austin at the park in the afternnon and let me tell you keeping your eyes on three kids that all want to go in a different direction is tiring! They had a great time though and I did have another set of eyes in Rachael. The park is definitely something I could not do by myself. We went to the grocery and then came home and made dinner. After that we all piled in the car to go to Valesca's soccer game, while Chris went to the movies w/ a friend. Lucky daddy huh! So the kids had fun, I sort of had fun, but hey w/ this beautiful weather it is just nice to get them out of the house and use up some of that extra energy they seem to have. Here are some pics from the day:

Austin...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Birthday Austin!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY to my nephew Austin! I remember waiting @ the hospital two years ago today for you to be born. How fast time flies! We have had so much fun watching you grow into such a big boy! Hope you have a wonderful day today, I am sure mommy has something fun planned for you! Any wishes? Maybe a baby brother or sister?

Hugs for my cousin

Yesterday we spent the evening @ Papaw and Nini's house enjoying this beautiful weather! It was the first time the kids had seen their cousin Austin since we got back from Florida so they were all excited. They we also excited to see Maggie the little girl who lives next door. Even though Maggie is a lot older than them she is always so good about playing w/ them. Maybe it is b/c she is an only child and she is just happy to have someone to play w/. They were all playing t-ball in her yard and it was hilarious. A 10 year old trying to keep the game together w/ four of the players under four. I can already tell that Dee Dee is going to be our little athlete. When it was time to go Dee Dee and Austin gave each other this big hug, which was just to cute for words. We didn't ask them to do it, I think they just have a special bond b/c they are the closest in age. Anyway I thought everyone would enjoy seeing it as much as Rachael and I did. :)

The Big Bang!

Last night Chris and I went to The Big Bang fundraiser @ Reagan's school. It is the biggest fundraiser the school does all year. Silent auction, raffles, dueling pianos, and free booze. That made Chris happy! Plus Chris loves an auction! For some reason bidding wars excite him. Which means we walked away w/ a pair of men's and women's Oakley's for $261 b/c he outbid the other guy by $1 at the last second. We also won a $25 gift certificate to a local cake shop in the raffle that will be great for Dee Dee's birthday coming up! So, all in all we had a great time. As you can see I actually allowed my picture to be taken which is not something I do often. Thanks for everybody who commented on my last post. I finally got out of my funk! I came home on Friday and opened all the windows and started cleaning. I felt much better afterwards! Have a great Sunday!

I'm not fine

When I was in Florida I went w/ my in- laws to a beautiful old Catholic church, and the sermon that day really spoke to me. The priest asked how often we really tell people how we are feeling. I think this was an interesting thing to ponder. You know, whenever you see somebody the first thing you say is "How are you?" We all expect the response to be "Fine." Does anybody ever want to hear that things aren't going well? Do we really have time to listen to other people's problems? Do any of you actually answer the question truthfully? Usually my response to this question is "I'm tired," or "I'm stressed." This is the truth, and to be honest there are times when I could answer that I am really depressed. This seems to be a reoccurring theme in my life. I battle w/ depression and sometimes it overwhelms my life to the point where I don't want to get out of bed in the morning. Right now I am somewhere in the middle, a funk if you will. I have been in this funk since we got back from vacation and I thought that maybe it was time to take that priest's advice. I am sharing my honest feelings with all of you in the hopes that it will help bring me out of the funk. So, there it is. Do me a favor, the next time someone asks how you are try not to answer w/ "fine" unless that is really how you feel!

In a Funk!

I am still in a funk from Florida! I can't seem to get back into the routine of life. I am so jet lagged and overtired. I have gotten the suitcases put away and a little bit of laundry done. But, my house is a mess and I can't seem to get motivated to do anything. Scratch that I did vacuum. I am hoping the guilt of putting this out there will motivate me to get moving! We even had some friends stop by last night and I honestly didn't care what my house looked like. Any ideas? I swear I just want to crawl back into bed!

Our trip to Florida

Hope you all enjoy these pictures form our trip to Madiera Beach. We had a great time and we wanted to share it with everyone! Now I have to go unpack!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We're Baack!

We are back from Florida! Just wanted to let people know. When I dig my camera usb cord out of the suitcase, I will post pictures.

My Top Ten

So, my friend Sara made a list of the top ten (or fifteen) baby related items she couldn't live without. She suggested it would be fun for others to do the same. This strikes me as funny b/c my favorite "products" changed w/ the arrival of each additional child. But, I thought maybe I could come up w/ a list of my favorite things. My list does however encompass a few preschool age items. So in no particular order here they are. Explanations follow.

1. Sippy Cups
2. Gerber Flannel Burp Cloths
3. The womb sounds Teddy Bear
4. Easy Link Internet Launch Pad
5. Playtex Bottles and disposable Drop-In liners
6. Mylicon drops
7. Dora the Explorer
8. Bubbles/Sidewalk Chalk
9. Pampers Sensitive Baby Wipes
10. The Frog Pod


Sippy Cups, no mom could live without these. I think they are the best invention ever!

Gerber Flannel Burp cloths, I loved these when my kids were babies. They are so soft! Plus, all three of my kids spit up a lot and these helped keep everyone's clothes cleaner cuz they are thicker than other burp cloths.

Womb sounds Teddy Bear, I am not sure if that is exactly what he is called but I couldn't have lived w/ out him when Jack was a baby. Sara (same one) gave it to us when he was born. It's a teddy bear you attach to the baby's crib. You turn it on and it makes that wooshing sound like inside mommy's tummy. I didn't have the time to rock him to sleep, so teddy did it for me. I am convinced this is why Jack is still such a good sleeper to this day.

Easy Link Internet Launch Pad, is my new favorite thing. The kids got it for Christmas, and basically it allows them to play preschool age games on the computer while restricting their access to anything other than what is programmed into the different character keys that come w/ it. The girls love it and Dee Dee can do a forty card memory game in about five minutes. Impressive!

Playtex bottles and Drop-Ins, I swear by these! Everyone has their own favorite bottles, but I personally loved these. Given that I couldn't breast feed, they at least made bottle clean up quick and easy. The only down side is you have to keep buying the disposable liners.

Mylicon drops. Great for fussy babies, they settle tummies, and help w/ colic. Need I say
more?

Dora the Explorer. I would never get anything done w/out Dora. Not only has she taught my kids a little bit of Spanish, but she somehow manges to mesmerize them. Even Jack!

Bubbles/Sidewalk Chalk, cheap and fun. These are great to have on hand for those early days of spring when it is starting to get warm but still a little too muddy to play on the swing set.

Pampers Sensitive Baby Wipes, I still use these. Even though I know they probably don't need them anymore I think they are the softest and they smell good too!

The Frog Pod, also a new favorite. For those of you who don't know this is a frog that holds bath toys and attaches to the wall of the bathtub. When the bath is done you cane scoop up all the toys and the water drains out. No more scummy toys!

Tricia's new lungs

For those of you who check in often, you know I have blogged about Nate, Tricia, and Gwenyth before but I just wanted to let those of you who might be interested that Tricia got her double lung transplant last night! According to her family (the ones who are blogging about it) she is finally awake and aware and doing well. She still has a long road ahead, but from what I can gather everything has gone smoothly so far. If anyone else is interested in sending up a prayer for them I am sure it would be greatly appreciated. I plan on going to church to light a candle tomorrow! Have a great day!

1000 Hits!!!

I just logged on this morning to check out my comments and My hit counter was at 1000 hits exactly! Kinda cool I think. It is still amazing to me that when I started this blog less than two months ago I had no idea how much I would enjoy doing it. I find myself enjoying my kids more and I also have my camera out more. It has forced me to document their lives which is something I desperately wanted to do for them, but could never find the time for. If you ask Chris I spend too much time doing the blog and not enough time on other things. I don't care, I love it! Thanks for loving us enough to check in on us a thousand times!

A Different View

Okay so I realized that the after shot that I posted was not a very good one. He actually does still have some hair left. I thought this picture might be a better view of it. Not that anyone probably cares. :)

Jack's Haircut

So, I did it, I had all of Jack's hair cut off. He wasn't very happy about it at the time but he looks so cute. I think I may be the only one who likes it, but the good news is that I do. Everyone who has seen it already today hates it, but I really don't care. It was worth it just for the fact that it will make my life easier. So don't worry about his head getting sunburned b/c I promise I will put sunscreen on it. Plus his hair grows really fast, he got his first haircut less than two months ago and it was already getting in his eyes again. Here are some pictures of before, during, and after the haircut. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.