Megan was wearing a darling pair of green cargo capris today. She was tucking washcloths into her waistband, so I asked her what she was doing. "I'm Indiana Jones' sister" she replied.
I had no idea she even knew who Indiana Jones was!

Keena's baby

My Friend Keena from High school delivered her baby prematurely 6 days ago at just 31 weeks gestation. Two months too soon. When she first went into labor last Thursday she was at Baby's R us registering for her baby shower another month and half away. She felt some cramping and after talking to her OB's nurse she jumped on her scooter, yes I said scooter (insert unbelieving snickers and giggles here) and she drove herself to the hospital. They tried fervently to stop her labor and had thought they had done it. three days later She had been discharged by her Dr and was waiting for the nurse when she started cramping again. It wasn't long before she was in labor and delivery. It was very scary for her, he was a mere 3 pounds 12 ounces and I think somewhere around 17 inches long. Tiny little thing. But, thank God.. He’s here.
He’s doing very well considering and although he’s in much need of some baby fat he’s a healthy baby boy.

Chandler Jay Evans
I have seen him twice now, and today I brought my camera in for his first official photo shoot. It was fitting considering I was scheduled to take Keena’s maternity pictures this weekend.

He is in an isolate until he can maintain his body temperature

Keena gets to hold him a couple of times a day. I came at one of those times.

Since his suck reflex is not quite there he is getting her breast milk through a tube in his nose.

Keena does Breastfeeding therapy by just lying him next to her bare milk supply. They want him to recognize the smell and be familiar with her so that when he can start to nurse in a few weeks he'll know where he's going.

Mommy's hands cover his entire head and then some

I just love how he is holding her finger and looking up at her.

And LUCKY ME! I got to hold him! I didn't expect it, and when I picked him up it literally felt like I was picking up one of Megan's dolls. He was so light and tiny. If it weren't for the slight protests and flailing limbs I would have mistaken him for one!

Such a sweet face...

Keena can't wait to get his tube out.. The goal is for him to maintain his own temperature and to be able to eat all his feedings from a bottle or breast. When those are met, then she can take him home.

Look how sweet his little foot is below!

and a little bit of Mama love. She loves him so much you can just see it in her eyes.

oh and this was to show just how really small he is, because its hard to tell in most of the pictures. we were trying to think of something that we could compare him to and then keena pulled her brush out of her bag. It really shows how tiny he is. that's just a normal sized brush!

Painting. I HATE painting!

Craig and Merry stole our baby away from us again today,and since the girls were home this weekend they took them too. This gave Taylor and I the perfect opportunity to do some MAJOR projects.

We've been slowly working on painting over the Pink fairy walls in Matties room. I took over that project and finished painting the walls a dark blue on the bottom and a lighter blue on the top. We pulled out the old carpet rug, and I cleaned up the hard wood floor.

I'd bought this darling quilt a few weeks ago to pull his room together, and although it will be another 6 months or so till he transitions from his crib, I wanted to put his bed together to bring out the colors.

I really love how it turned out.. I was so happy with the color combination, and the Car rug that we got him for Christmas last year works perfectly in there.

I had my laptop in with me while I painted most the day, watching chick flicks.

When the kids got home I set Mattie up with Finding Nemo to watch while I finished cleaning up.. the girls joined him on the bed and I just loved how they were all hanging out together, so I had to take a picture..

While I was doing Matts room, Taylor was in our upstairs bathroom changing the color of the walls from the ugly old green that I had done when I first bought the house, to a nice neutral "canvas". It looks SO much better, I love it. We also splurged on a new mirror and new light fixtures. We were both very tired of the large ugly cabinet mirror, and vanity lights that used to hang there. We just love the new look and it makes the bathroom look twice its size. I love it too because the color is so neutral that I can choose just about any other color combo to accent it.. Its like having a fresh Canvas to paint.... ha ha..... get it? Canvas? I kill myself!!

We have spent quite a bit of our tax money doing projects like this that we've wanted to do for a long time.. I am really quite happy with all that we've done.. You always think of Big things to use taxes for, but its been so nice just getting all the little things done that make a difference through out the entire house.

its good stuff.

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So as we were wrapping it up for the night Megan came into the bathroom dressed in this interesting ensemble and announced that she was a "fan".. she stood primping herself in the mirror for a good five minutes posing, and talking to herself..

She's such a character!

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Friday ,Meg had her Kindergarten end of year testing appointment. She passed with flying colors of course, and her teacher was very impressed with her.

While she was doing her thing with Mrs Carter, Mattie and I were walking along the halls of the school. One of the second grade teachers walked by and I smiled and gave her a "hello". She turned and stopped me saying "oh, I have to tell you, you were the topic of conversation yesterday". I thought maybe she had mistaken me for someone else, and questioned her awkwardly.

she said that a group of teachers had been sitting around talking. Mrs Giles (Ali's teacher from last year) was telling them how when she had just come back from her maternity leave she was beside herself with things to catch up on. She was very overwhelmed and didn't know what she was going to do. I had called to ask her a question about Ali, and she had mentioned to me that she had a lot to do and was overwhelmed. She told the other teachers how I had said that I would be right there and ten minutes later I was in her classroom putting up a bulletin board. It had been no big deal for me.. Taylor had just happened to be home at the time available to watch the kids, and I just happened to be able to run over for an hour......That had meant the world to her according to this other teacher. I seriously felt so good that I almost cried all sappy right there. I never realized that it had meant so much to her and that a year later it was still in her mind. Something so small. It is a good reminder of how much we don't realize we can touch peoples lives by just reaching out a little.

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Baby Talk

.So Mattie’s new thing is to cock his head and ask "ah you hungy? wan eat apple?" (which is actually a popsicle cuz that’s his favorite thing to eat),. and " whey da girls go?, owside pay?" (outside to play)
he says Hungy and eat like a billion times a day especially when he's going night night he says "eat?" and I say no, you already ate" and so then he'll say "gink, Waar?" he's already learning the excuse tactic!
He always wants to go "bye bye" and will insist "go bye bye? "-n- go bye bye? yes?" "-n-car?"
He loves his daddy and when he's not home will say "whey Daddy go? owside? Daddy Go bye bye?"
He knows the meaning of the word "MINE!" and uses it when defending his possessions from the girls.. Especially his woobie.. Don't even think about touching his blankie!
Still jumps and squeals when he sees a Bird, "Birdie, Birdie!" and then chases it and gets sad when it flies away. "Birdie Go-oo!"
He just got into the Movie Finding Nemo, and although he still loves his choo choo trains, I think Thomas the tank bores him. He carries around his cars and occasionally still asks to watch the Car's movie but I think that’s worn out its welcome as well.

Sick baby

He has finally kept water down for longer than 5 minutes now.
He's exhausted
Its been a long night.

9 month old Beauty

and more Here...........Click here

Catching up...... A butch of randomness

Care Bear lovin

The other day we were out Thrift shopping. The entire time we were walking through the store Mattie insisted on pushing this pink and blue care bear scooter. Taylor kept trying to distract him with other things but he just kept going back to it. Taylor wasn't all that thrilled about Mattie's excitement over something so "girlie" and didn't want to purchase it even though it was just 2 dollars. I stuck it up on the counter anyway, and I'm sure glad I did because Matt LOVES this thing.. He puts his cars in the little compartment and pushes and rides it all over the backyard. I told Taylor he could spray paint it if he was really all that worried!
Megan and Mathew were running through the sprinklers this evening. I stripped him down ready to take him up to the bathtub. While I ran in to throw his diaper away he decided to jump on his favorite toy and give it a commando test drive.
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New Shoes

Our neighbors grandson has these shoes, and every time Mattie sees them he points them out and admires them. While shopping at Target yesterday we stopped to look for some sandals for the girls. There in the isle were these shoes. Matt was excited but as I looked on the shelves I noticed that they started at size 7 boys. I was disappointed because Matt is a 5. Then as I turned around to push the cart out, I noticed there in a size 9 box sat a pair of size 5 Car's shoes. He wore them out of the store, and has had them on ever since. He looks so cute with them on even if they are super dorky.
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Bubbles!

We found a bubble machine at Wal Mart today! What a blast!

blowing bubbles
chasing bubbles
popping bubbles
pointing at bubbles
Chasing bubbles

Megan likes bubbles too!
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What a big boy!

so my baby boy is growing up entirely too fast! I cleaned the back yard up and got the picnic table ready for summer eating. All the girls were sitting happily eating their breakfast and Mathew being the big boy he is climbed up all by himself and asked to "eat". I handed him a plate and there he sat eating just like one of the big kids. Since then his favorite thing to do is climb up and sit just like the big kids do. I've had to put something against the table so that he can't climb up and scare me to death anymore.


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SLUMBER PARTY!!!!!
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So Ali finally had her Birthday Slumber party last night. She got to invite 5 friends to come over and spend the night.
They had a great time eating pizza, painting each others nails, and jumping on the trampoline in the dark wearing the glow in the dark bracelets.
This is what 9 years old girls look like when they get really hyper and excited. Be grateful you can't hear them because they were so loud that Mattie dropped his sippy cup right after this picture and came running to me crying.
GIRLS!!!!!!!
We found this t-shirt when we were thrift shopping last week. I love it because I've called Ali my Sunshine since she was a tiny baby. Its always been her song. I had to take a picture of her wearing it.
It was fun to watch them jumping with all the glow lights bouncing and flying around.
This was right before the parents came to pick them up.. I felt bad for any of our neighbors that might be trying to sleep in.
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What I learned from a house full of 9 year olds?
That I am so extremely grateful for my little girls. They really are so well behaved, and comparably so much more caring and respectful than some children out there. I sat watching them play and run around last night and listened to them interacting. One girl in particular was such a Rude, bossy, and demanding child that I wanted to take her out front and lock the door. She had to announce that she was a Model, and took acting at least 10 times through out the night. She had her own cell phone and threw at least 3 fits that I witnessed alone.
Another of Ali's Friends we've known since birth. she lives next door to my parents and she's an only child who is in just about every extra curricular activity you can imagine. Her parents have her in the accelerated learning program at school, she goes to after school programs (not the free kind), she's in dance, ballet, gymnastics, soccor, etc etc etc.. this girls schedule is so packed that she doesn't even have time to think. She arrived at the party at 9:45pm.. she's a very high maintenance child and has always been exhausting. Watching her last night boss everyone around , yell and scream (obviously not used to a baby in the house sleeping) drove me crazy. Then their was poor Izzy. This was her very first sleep over ever. Her mother warned me that she had some bowel issues, but hadn't packed any extra underwear or clothing. um... all I can tell you is that after the other girls complained of a horrible odor for an hour, I pulled Izzy aside, took her upstairs , handed her a washcloth with instructions to clean herself and gave her some fresh clothes. She was SO sweet thanking me sincerely when she was through. I have to say I was proud of the girls for not making her feel bad about her problem. (yes, even the Bratty one). I let them all pick from my prize box because I wanted to really reinforce the respecting others, and kindness.
okay, so then there is Alora. . I love Alora. She and Ali have been friends for a few years even though Alora moved 20 miles away. She's a sweet girl and I don't mind her being around so much that we invited her to stay with us another night.
She went with us to see
Chronicles of Narnia
Prince Caspien
today. And is sleeping over and going to church with us tomorrow..
I guess they weren't all that bad, just the two of them that drove me crazy and made me thankful that Ali and Megan aren't' Brats.
By the way, I loved the movie. It was fun to watch . I love watching things that keep me on edge. I was biting my knuckles through out parts of it, and the end even made me tear a little.
Craig and Merry asked to take Mattie for the day again.. I think they're addicted to his absolute cuteness. When they called to check in he was giggling up a little storm in the background. Its really good for him too to be away from Taylor and I once in a while.
They're going to take him next weekend while I'm at work so Taylor can hopefully finish painting Matt's room.
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More Parties at Grandma's and Papa's
We are seriously so spoiled!
this was Last Sunday but Its taken me awhile to catch up on all my pictures.
It was a busy weekend of Birthdays and Mothers day. I felt so special when they presented Ali and I with separate cakes.
Mine was Chocolate yum!
Ali was spoiled as usual and with exactly what she wanted. Lots and lots of Art stuff!
Megan couldn't get close enough to the goods, so she climbed right up onto the table. I tried to scold her but Grandma came to her rescue and told her it was fine.. Grandma's always doing that!
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Grandma's book
I gave Mom her book. I think she likes it.
Papa was pretty impressed with it..
I'm glad..

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Cason Sitting (as opposed to "baby" sitting)

since January Taylor and I have been watching the Cason girls each week one, two, and sometimes three times a week.. Its hard some days managing 6 kids under the age of 8 all at once. Ang drops them off around 6:30 in the morning so getting the two girls off to school some mornings can be a bit stressful. (Especially when Mattie is being demanding). While the girls are at school they usually eat and just hang out with Taylor or I, playing or doing projects. We usually have to arrange for someone to get Megan for us because we can't fit all the kids in the van, and walking all of them to the school and back is not fun. (Trust me, We've both done it). Jeanne (My neighbor) is a Godsend because she takes the girls to school in the morning and picks up Ali for us in the afternoon. Its been difficult for me because I am such a schedule person. I have Mine and Taylor's schedules mapped out months in advance and thrive on knowing what my days are going to be, even if it means I get to sit and watch my favorite TV show that night. sometimes when it changes on me, it throws me for a loop. Ang isn't as scheduled as I am, so she likes to change her schedule around to fit her week. that means doing some graveyards. She then drops the girls off around 6:30 in the evening and then gets back around 8 in the morning. When that happens I just throw them into the nighttime routine right along with my own three, including the bedtime stories and tucking in. I usually make her sleep a few hours in the morning before driving home so she doesn't kill herself at the wheel.
When all is said and done I usually adjust just fine. I have to say I'm pretty good at managing everyone, and they mind me very well so they aren't a problem. When Ang works day shifts by the time she arrives in the evening they've woken up, eaten breakfast, lunch, and dinner, done homework with the girls, played with half the toys in the closet, done at least one art project, and watched at least 2 movies. I bathe the three of them and do their hair right along with my own three before Ang arrives a little after 8pm. It can be pretty exhausting for both Taylor and I. Most days though we get through just fine, and the girls love having them around to play with. They're just like cousins, and sharing everything comes natural to them. Megan is always asking "are the Cason's coming tomorrow?" and she thinks it is pretty cool when they sleep over. I like knowing that I am helping my friend out and that she appreciates how much I do for her.. That's a good feeling for me, and I know how expensive daycare can be because I paid $900.00 a month for my two girls when I was a single mom. that just about killed me! She does not have to worry about that huge expense. I Also love those three little girls immensely. I treat them just like I do my own when they are here, even kissing and hugging them when I see they need it.
Ang in turn watches Mattie and Megan for us a couple times a month so that Taylor and I can get our hours in at work. We've worked around each others schedules for so many years now, its nice to have a couple days off together a month I know we won't have to do this forever, but for the time being, we'll all keep working together to make it work. ...
We've got our entire summer schedules written out already. I've already started mapping out the days for outings, and hopefully a few camping trips. I'm looking forward to getting out more this summer. My parents opened their pool so on the days that we're home we're going to walk over and swim whenever we get too hot.
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Living room
I wanted to give our front room a make over. I moved everything around all by myself. including the 300 pound piano!
I think it looks pretty good..
what do you think?

Dinner out

My Brother and his Wife Merry took my Mom and I out to dinner last night to celebrate Mother’s day, and my birthday. They took us to Benihana’s an expensive restaurant where they chop, cook, and throw things right at your table. . The Girls were with their dad, Taylor was at work, and so Mathew came with us. He was such a good boy. He liked watching the chef chop things up in front of us, but got more satisfaction out of continuously handing my mom food. I was sitting in between the two of them and Every time he’d stretch his hand out full of food, he’d say “gwama” and refuse to let me take it for him, so my mom had to reach across me to take whatever he was giving her. I feel bad because I’m sure my mom’s leg is bruised from me tapping her leg every time that he was dangling food over my lap. He loved the rice, and devoured most of mine. He even ate a few pieces of my delicious filet mignon. It was such a good dinner, I ate SO much, and I’m definitely feeling it by the way my pants are fitting today. (Can we say bloated?). I had a good time, and I’m so grateful to my Brother and sister in law for spoiling me for my birthday
I’ve had such a good birthday this year. I don’t know if it was because it was Mother’s day, or because so many people made me feel special this year. I had calls from so many of my friends on Sunday and that meant so much to me to know that they remembered me on my Birthday. I also got wishes left on my blog. When I got into work on Monday I was working on the floor and my friend Jamie (who I also share a large office with) asked me if I’d been there during the weekend. She then told me “it looked like someone had trashed my desk”. At first I was irritated, but then I walked in and saw this!

What fun! ( oh, and Don't mind my messy desk. Its organized to me)
Thank you everyone for making me feel special, and for caring about me so much.

Post Science Fair pictures......

Her science fair project was a hit.

"63" people come to her table. (She counted).

She did a great job, and even got a blue ribbon for her work.

I left work early so that I wouldn't miss it.

I got there with only 5 minutes to spare! PHEW!

I was glad I didn't miss it.

Great Job Ali!