Thursday, August 26, 2010

First Day of School!


At his new desk!

I can't believe it is time for all of this! Last Thursday Evan started Kindergarten. He was so excited about this and honestly he had been counting down the months! As soon as August arrived He was so excited and started counting down the days. I am glad that he was excited about this huge step in his life. Thankfully his teacher is one of my friends so I think that made it easier for me to leave him that first day. I did so good keeping it together for him while I was there but as soon as I drove off the tears started falling. I watched the clock all day because I was so excited to go pick him up so I could hear all about his day! He is in class with one of his best friends from preschool so I think that made things a little easier for him! Everyday I ask him what he learned and today he said, "We learned about the letter L, the teacher really likes that letter because that is all she talks about!" It was too funny, I guess since preschool you only go 2-3 times a week you really do not get as bored with one letter as you do in Kindergarten!
Stay tuned Lillie will be starting her first day of Preschool here in a few weeks!

Our Summer!

At the lake with the Matyja's





Silver Dollar City!








At our hotel waterpark











Uncle Drew's Pool!

Endless Snow Cones!











So maybe I should just start doing an update every couple of months, since that is how often I update these days! We have spent every weekend at my parents lake house. I really think that my kids would live there these days. They love it and both have turned into little water bugs. They get so upset when we leave and if they are with my parents anytime during the week they are begging to go to the lake! There is a neighborhood pool at the lake and so we have enjoyed many days of swimming there as well. Evan has started jumping off the high diving board and Miss Lillie finally jumped off the little one! Once they start I have to make them stop and rest! So fun, I love every minute of watching them! And do not forget Uncle Drew's house! That is always fun. Especially for me because the kids are all over him and I actually get to lay on a raft and relax! He also had a really nice snow cone maker and lots fun flavors! What could be better than a fun day with Uncle Drew at his pool with unlimited snow cones! Oh and I forgot to mention that Evan learned how to knee board and water ski this summer! He begged to do it on Fourth of July weekend but I wouldn't let him since the lake was so busy. So one quiet weekend we let him. He got up first try in skiing, it was so cute to see him behind the boat. I think that he was a little scared so he didn't last long! My mom took picture so I will post them when I get them from her!


On a sad note back in June we lost my sweet Granny. It was such a sad time, especially since she was my last grandparent. She had been in and out of the nursing home since Jan. She came home and was home for a about two weeks then it just all went down hill from there. I can only imagine the amazing reunion that took place in Heaven that day when she was reunited with my sweet Grandpa! I think the hardest part of all of this was trying to explain everything to the kids and knowing that really they do not understand everything. Evan of coarse asked a ton of questions. After her funeral we had been at her house and were on our way home and Lillie said, "Make Great-Gran come back, s0 I can give her some love" it was the sweetest and the saddest thing all at the same time. It has been hard but we are all slowly starting to heal.

Now on to happier times! At the beginning of July my good friend Jena and I decided that we would take our 5 kids to Branson for a few days! I know we are crazy considering we had two 5 year olds, two 3 year olds and a two year old! I think that a few people may have asked us if we were in the right frame of mind when we decided to make the trip! But all that mattered is that the kids had the best time together and they loved every minute of it!
Also this summer we discovered that Lillie has a food allergy. It was very scary and it happened while we were at the lake. She had been eating some peanuts and cashews with my mom and immediately said that the back of her tongue felt funny and that she was scratchy. We noticed that her stomach had welps all over it and that she was getting them around her mouth. Thankfully I have a doctor friend so I called her to see what to do. We gave her some benedryl (makes Lillie super hyper!) and she was fine. She went back to playing in the lake and around the yard. After she had her bath I put her in the bed and she fell asleep in no time. About an hour after she went to sleep I heard her coughing so I went to check on her and noticed her eyes were a little swollen and then they just continued to swell. I called my friend again and she said to get her to the ER as soon as possible because she was having a rebound reaction. So I made a mad dash to the ER where they decided to keep her and monitor her since she had already rebounded they were scared that she would do it again and the next time would be worse. It was so sad to see my baby get an IV and to be put on oxygen. Very scary and now after allergy testing we have discovered that she is allergic to cashews so that means that she had to stay away from all tree nuts! Poor girl after being hospitalized and then going for the allergy testing (yelp the back pricks and drawing blood) when she goes to the doctor now first thing she said is am I going to get a shot. Poor girl!
Well I guess that sums up our summer!

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Preschool Graduation!





























Mr. Evan officially graduated from Preschool on Wed! It was happy and sad all at the same time! We hosted the party at our house and all the kids brought their ride on toys and had a blast riding and playing all over the yard! We grilled out and had a little picnic. Mrs. Shannon did a graduation ceremony for the kids and gave them their diploma! They sang a song about kindergarten and then they moved their tassels and threw their hats just like in any other graduation! Evan is soooooo excited about going to kindergarten! We took him to register back in April and he got the chance to see where he would be going and to meet some of the teachers. His school makes a neat little DVD for them to watch that shows them around the school and what their day is going to be like. I think that I am just in disbelief that he is done with preschool. I had to fight back the tears the other day but so happy and thankful for this new adventure that we are about to take! And Miss Lillie will start preschool in the fall with Mrs. Shannon and she is super excited. Right now when I drop off Evan she cries to go be with Mrs. Shannon so I am hoping that her transition there will be easy!

It's Time for a Post!

Sweet Sister!
JoAnn, Me, Heather, and Leslie

My old roomies!


Sweet Annalyse




Evan up to bat!





Out in the field!







Lillie wanted us to take a picture of her eyeshadow!



Getting her flowers after her dance!









I am officially long overdue for a post! So I am going to play catch up for the last 3 months of our lives! Back in February I took a quick trip to NWA to visit a dear friend and meet her new baby girl! It was a fun trip and was nice to get away even though it was only for a day! I got to see some other college friends while I was there but best of all I got to hold and love one of the sweetest baby girls all day long! I admit I was a baby hog and loved every minute of it! Of coarse anytime between then and Easter Sunday is a complete blur for me since I painted over 100 buckets this year! Crazy I know and I am still in disbelief how that all happened. Lots of long nights here at the Gaston household! Also I had some pics from Easter Sunday but I think that I had a bad card for my camera and it erased a ton of pictures that I had. So moving along! Evan played baseball again this year. He moved up to the pitching machine. A little scary at first but he caught on and actually has been hitting it off the pitching machine! Lillie has been taking dance this year and a few weeks ago she had her recital! Oh how I have dreamed of this day forever! I was a little worried about her at rehearsal because she just stood there for the entire dance! She is the youngest in her class so I figured this might happen. So that day I begged her to do her dance when she got on stage and the little girl hammed it up and I really think that she found a love for being on stage! It was fun and she got flowers at the end and just thought she was hot stuff! That is the highlights of our last three months hopefully I will be a better blogger in the future!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Evan's Fifth Birthday Party!










He wore the mask the entire party!










Yesterday was Evan's birthday party. We had a pizza party at Larry's Pizza. He wanted a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle party so it was a fit since those turtles love their pizza! It was such an easy party for me since they do just about everything for you! My wonderful mom found him a TMNT cake pan so that she could make his cake for him. She stayed up til 1:30am working on it! Thanks again Gee!!!! When my brother and I were little she made all of our birthday cakes for us so it is so nice that she continues to do that for my kids! He loved playing with all of his friends at the party. He got lots of new goodies that he played with all night long!! My wonderful friend Anita at A Piece of Pope made his invitations! Thanks to her we always have super cute invitations! For party favors all the kids got a pizza box filled with TMNT goodies and candy. On the top of the box it said, "It's totally awesome you came to my party Dude!" Another little something designed by Anita to match his invitation!! Thank you to everyone who came to help celebrate our little mans birthday!