Preschool Party

Here are some pictures of Evan's preschool Christmas party. Sorry I don't have very many the camera battery died. It was a lot of fun. We had lots of yummy food! Santa came to see the kids and hand out presents to all the kids. My wonderful mom made the stockings for the kids that were filled with little stocking stuffers.

Cookie Exchange

Lillie got invited to her first cookie exchange this year at her friend Chloe's house! Since it iced that day Evan got to go as well (he was the only boy)! Laura did such a good job. The kids decorated their own cookie boxes then got to fill their boxes up with cookies that everyone made! Then they decorated cookies and we had some yummy food! It was so much fun and we hope that it will become something we do each year!!

Gingerbread Girl Birthday

On the same day as the horse riding party, Lillie's little friend Madden had her birthday party. it was a gingerbread girl party. The kids all decorated their own gingerbread man to take home. Lots of fun and lots of sugar!!! It was a busy weekend, we also went to a birthday party for Evan's best friend Blake on that Friday night I just forgot to take a camera!

Hobbit Hill

Evan was invited to a birthday party for one of his friends in preschool. It was a horse riding birthday. I had something else that I had to do that day so I asked my mom to take them to the party. She officially gets an award for taking them because it was freezing outside!! I really didn't think that the kids would even really want to ride a horse but they both surprised me! Evan rode first then when Lillie saw him she got excited and started yelling me too my turn my turn so she got her turn as well! I was sad that I missed them riding for the first time.

Look...

what Uncle Drew did to me!!!

Thanksgiving Pictures

Well since I never really got around to posting about Thanksgiving I thought that I could start here. We just went to my Granny's like we always do. It was such a pretty day so the little kids and the big boys got outside to play some football. It was so much fun. The kids had a blast running around in all the leaves. I had Lillie in her smocked dress which she was not happy about because it got in her way of running. She managed by pulling it up to her neck and running around!!!

Merry Christmas!

card by A Piece of Pope

Hope that everyone has a Merry Christmas. I hope to do lots of blogging this weekend! (Starting with Thanksgiving Pictures!)

Yes it is true.....

we were robbed today. The lady that cleans our house called me at about 11:15 to tell me that she thought our house had been broken into. When she got here to clean the garage door was open as well as our door going into our house. They took our tv in our living room (and were so kind as to not disturb my garland as they removed it from above the fireplace.) They took lots of random things but saddest for me was they took all my jewelry. I had some diamond earrings that I got for college graduation and a diamond necklace. The diamond in the necklace was my grandfathers and since I was his only granddaughter he left it to me. My parents had it put it into a necklace for me to wear on my wedding day. I also lost my braclet that Brad gave me after I had Evan. I know that insurance will cover some of these but I know in my heart that the diamond that I got from my grandfather can never be replaced. (I now have one pair of earrings and my engagement/wedding rings which will help with easy decision making in the mornings!) They took other stuff such as my mom's cricut machine so I hope they do some lovely scrapbooking with that!!

We are very thankful that we were home or came home while they were here. It was hard to come in and see what they did to our house and know they had gone through all of our things. I hate the fact that took the safety and security we felt here away from us. I know that one day we will feel normal here again but right now that is hard for me to not have an uneasy feeling in my stomache.

I just wanted those who have heard our latest bad news to know that we are doing okay and we appreciate you thinking of us! I plan on posting some Thanksgiving pics here soon. We had a great day that day!

Good News

Just wanted to let everyone know that Brad had his appointment with the ENT and everything was fine. He said that the PET Scans are very sensitive in that area and that he didn't see any signs of a growth in the area. He is now just waiting to find out when he starts radiation. Thanks you for checking in on him!

Halloween Pictures (Better late then never)

Sorry these are out of orderThe candy corn costume

Drew's house

Kyle, God's gift to Women, and Heather

Lillie and her costume!

At Spook City

Evan's preschool class (look at those cute buckets!)

At the parade

Look at all of those super hero's!!

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue

More from the Parade

Evan's classmates

I made these Franks for the kids

Lillie's KDO party

She was so ready for a cupcake!

Well sorry that it is almost Thanksgiving and I am just now getting to Halloween pics it has just been a crazy past few weeks!!! Here goes on our Halloween festivities...... On Wednesday the kids had parties at KDO. I thought that they were both a 1:00 but I was wrong so I have zero pics from Evan's party. Lillie's class just did cupcakes and other snacks after nap time. She loves her new class and her teachers. She was so ready for her cupcake she didn't even know I was there!!!! Thursday we had Evan's preschool party. All of the kids dressed up and went on a parade through downtown to trick or treat with some of the businesses. It was a lot of fun but I think that Evan was bored by the end. When we got back we had a party and the kids got all of their goodies!!!! That night Brad and I took the kids to Spook City downtown. All of the business set up tables for the kids to trick or treat at. It is a fun safe way to take your kids trick or treating. We met up with their buddies, Blake and Ty, and while the adults enjoyed corn dogs and nachos the kids ran around crazy on the courthouse lawn! Since we only have 2 neighbors we headed back to the old neighborhood to trick or treat with Blake and Ty. Lillie refused to wear her costume so she just wore her whites!! (I brought a tutu and wings for back up and she refused to wear those as well!!! This week though she has worn the wings to fly around our house and her candy corn costume!!!) That following Saturday Brad took me out for my birthday!! (I will just say felt a little harder turning 31 since I am now officially IN my thirties!!!!) But anyway we went to Cantina Laredo with our friends Heather and Kyle, then we headed over to my brothers for Booz at Drew's! His Halloween party was lots of fun. He was God's gift to women! I forgot to take pictures but his house looked amazing and there were some of the funniest costumes!!!! If you would like to see more visit the Coon Family she was better at pictures than I was. She did a little dance with her sister and husband that is funny so go check it for a good laugh!!

News about Brad!

I promise to do Halloween post in the next few days. We had a great Halloween. I have lots of pictures of Evan from his preschool parade and party and from trick or treating. In case you are wondering Evan was Buzz Lightyear and Lillie was going to be Candy Corn but refused to put the costume on. Gee was a little disappointed since she made her costume! But anyway more on that later.

On to Brad news. He had his PET Scan yesterday and his follow up appointment today. Good news is that all of the infection that was originally there is now gone!!!! Big Praises!!! But his scan did show something in his nasal area that was questionable. He is now being referred to an ENT to see what this is. His white blood count was still very low and so he got another shot today to help give him a boost. He will go back next week to have it checked again. On another not so happy note she is going to have him do radiation. He will have to do this for five weeks and it will be done everyday for those five weeks. He did really good with the chemo and so I hope that he will do the same with the radiation. Basketball season is getting started and I know that he is ready to be healthy so that he can get to being a referee and me and the kids are just ready to have him back to his healthy self!!!!

Please keep praying for him that this thing in his nasal area is not going to be anything serious!!!

Check back for Halloween post in the near future (hopefully)!

Update from the Gaston Gang!

Sorry that I have been a bad blogger!! We have been busy around here. I have been busy painting Halloween buckets!! Everyone is doing great here. Brad will be having his last treatment on Tuesday the 21st!! I can't believe how quickly it has gone by and how lucky he is to only have to go through this for two months! I was watching Good Morning America last week and Robin Roberts was talking about her treatments and said she had 7 months worth. I realized how lucky Brad had been by only having 2 months! He will go for another scan on Nov 3rd (my birthday) to see if the chemo has killed the infection. If we get good news it will be the best b-day present that I could ever get! And by the way the man has not lost one single strand of his hair! I told someone that his roots must be in his feet. I think that everyone has been surprised by this because there was like a 90% chance he would loose his hair!!! Maybe this means he will never become a bald old man! We are both very hopeful that he will not have to have radiation and that this will be the end of his illness.

I feel like we can never say thank you enough to everyone. We have had such an amazing support system through all of this. We are so blessed by everyone in our life! Please keep praying for him over the next few weeks. Pray that his scans will come back clear and that he will be cancer free!!!!

Be sure to check below because I did lots of post today!!!! Oh and the picture up above, Brad and I loved it of the kids. They got these masks from Grace and Olivia and had the best time wearing them around the house. I told Brad that Evan looked like a racoon in his because his eyes were so big they filled up the holes!!!!! Lillie of coarse had to be like her big brother!!

Visitors!!!!

We have had a few visitors over the past few weeks. Grandpa and Uncle Chris both came to town. The kids had lots of fun with them. Lillie had her 2 year checkup one day so Grandpa and Uncle Chris took Evan out for pancakes. He was so excited to go by himself with them for some guy time! Also our friend Olivia Grace was in town so they came over to play. The kids had lots of fun together running around the house. These two girls would not move their cups for us to get a good picture!!

First Field Trip

At the beginning of the month Evan had his first field trip to the Pumpkin Patch. We had a lot of fun. They had pig races, a hayride, a petting zoo and tons of hay to play on. Evan got to pick out his own little pumpkin to bring home.

Lillie Two year checkup! (one month late!)

Our little 8 month old cutie!

Well I have been a bad blogger so now I am going to play catch up!! Lillie had her two year check a few weeks ago and I am posting so that I will remember all of this one day when I am 80 years old and working on her scrapbook!!!!

I have to say her little personality has really exploded in the past few months. She was moved up to the 2 year old class in Kids Day Out and now no longer cries at drop off!! (I mean she has been there a year it was time for the tears to stop flowing!) She is also learning all kinds of new songs which she loves to sing at the top of her lungs all the time, just ask anyone who has seen us at Target and they have probably heard her all the way on the other side of the store! She also loves to dance around and so she is quite the little performer these days!! She is also talking up a storm and we can understand most of what she says. At her check up they were impressed by how much they could understand. One little funny thing she does is call me Jaime! I always hear of kids calling their dads by their names but rarely do I hear this about the mommy. But Lillie calls me Jaime, a lot! I always remind her that my name is actually mommy and she says no, Jaime! And best of all if you point at Evan and say who is this she says Boy! Yes this is his name, I realize that Evan is hard for her to say but she makes no effort at it he is just simply boy. (Sometimes he gets called brother) She is very much still a mommy's girl but loves her daddy time that she gets after bath when she takes him every book and gets him to read her a bedtime story. I have to say she can be very sassy but there is a super sweet side to her as well. It melts my heart when she looks at me with her arms open wide and say big hug and I give you a kiss! She still loves to be held by anybody who is willing to hold her unless of coarse we are crossing the street and then she insists on walking.

When we went for her 2 year check up everything looked great! She was 35 inches tall (89%) and weighed in at 25lbs (29%). She said looks like she may be tall and slim. I remind you that this is the little girl who was always in the 90-100% in height and weight for forever!!! (Take a look at the above picture of those rolls on her arms). Little miss has also decided that she wants to go pee pee in the potty. Of coarse she only does it for kids day out teachers. We have started working on it here at the house so hopefully we will be a diaper free household here soon!!!!!

Lillies favorite songs

Twinkle Twinkle little Star

Itsy Bitsy Spider

ABC song (thanks to boy for teaching her this song)

Oh Lone Stranger (from Moe and the Big Exit)

Trip to see Thomas (again)!

We made the trip back to Oklahoma City last weekend to ride Thomas. It was lots of fun of coarse!! We headed out on Saturday after lunch in hopes that we would have some nice car naps. We were wrong the kids were not even the least bit tired!! We stayed at the same hotel that we did last year. It has a cute dental office next door to it called the dental depot. It has the green train that the kids got to play on. We woke up early that Sun to go ride Thomas. The kids were both excited to see him this year. We rode on Annie (she is the car that is directly behind Thomas). Last year I forgot to get tickets early so we had to ride on the open car and I have to say that it was more fun. So if we go a third time we will go back on the open train! But overall it was a fun trip the kids were silly in the car on the way there and back. It was lots of fun and I am sure that we will be doing it again next year!!