The Gaston Gang

Lillie's Field Trip to the Fair

2011-10-19T00:21:00.004-05:00

The turkey!

watching them milk the cow!

The first week of preschool we took at field trip to the Saline County Fair to see the animals. So fun! I made here stand close to the turkey cage for a picture and I think it almost gobbled her up. Poor girl was done with the animals after that!

4 Yr Old Preschool

2011-10-19T00:09:00.002-05:00

Miss Lillie started back to preschool in September. This is our 4th yr in a row to have Mrs. Shannon and it is going to be sad next year when I no longer have a kid there.

1st Day of the First Grade!!

2011-10-18T23:52:00.003-05:00

Evan started the 1st grade this year. The pics are a little out of order. The first pic is in is room. The two pics of him in the green shirt are from the last day of Kindergarten and then the last one is the 1st day of 1st grade. I am amazed at how much he has changed. He looks so grown up. That last little bit of baby face is slowly disappearing. I love listening to him read to me and how he will sound out words. It is precious! Although it makes me sad to see his little life flying by, I am also so thankful to see him grow and learn new things.

The Ducks

2011-10-18T23:48:00.003-05:00

This summer we had a little family of ducks that would hang out at the lakehouse. The kids loved seeing them swim up. I was shocked at how the momma duck would let her babies swim right up to us and let them eat out of our hands.

Summer Time

2011-10-18T23:27:00.004-05:00

We spent most of our summer at the lake house. The kids would go over on Thursday night and would stay through Mon. They both are little water bugs and we spend every minute in the lake or in the neighborhood pool. They have amazed me with their swimming this summer. Evan is fearless and all he wants to do at the pool is be in the deep end. He wants to dive down in 11 ft of water just to touch the bottom. He has been jumping off the high diving board all summer. Lillie started off a little timid in the water but by the end of the summer she was swimming all over the pool floatie free. Toward the end of the summer they closed the small diving board. Lille really wanted to jump so I told her to jump off of the big board. She climbed up and I figured that she would just climb back down but she actually jumped! I was shocked and she loved it so from that point on I had to make her take breaks from jumping.

Time again for an Update!!

2011-05-29T18:15:00.005-05:00

So I am a terrible blogger these days! I guess I will start doing marathon post every 6 months!! Ha! We have had a lot going on and since I have started back to work full time, it is hard to find time to do any kind of update. So check out the post below for a little update as to what has been going on in our little world!

Lillie's Preschool Picnic

2011-05-29T18:08:00.003-05:00

Well 3 year old preschool is officially over with for Miss Lillie. We celebrated the last day at our house with a picnic. We had lots of yummy food and all of the kids had a blast riding all of their toys around outside. This year has flown and I know that Lillie will miss all of her friends this summer.

Jungle Party Tonight!

2011-05-29T17:48:00.006-05:00

His buddy Koen

Mrs. Byrd!

His friend Trevor, he was a parrot also!

Evan's kindergarten play was last week. It was so cute! The kids got to pick what they wanted to be in the play. We had just been to see Rio so he of coarse wanted to be a blue parrot like Blue from the movie. So thankfully, I have a crafty mom and together we made his costume! It was so funny! I have to say that his class has some very creative moms cause they had some super cute costumes in the play! Evan was picked for a speaking part. This was so funny because all of the kids put their mouths so close to the microphone and talked so fast that you could not understand a word that anyone said! But we had a fun party in the jungle, they performed two times during the day for the entire school and one time that night for parents and family. After the second daytime performance they had a celebration for all of the kids. I can't believe that he is down to his final days of kindergarten!

Field Day 2011

2011-05-29T17:41:00.003-05:00

Evan had field day at his school last week. They had different little games set up all over the playground, face painting, temporary tattoos and a concession stand. He had a blast!

Welcome to the Copa Cabana!

2011-05-29T16:53:00.004-05:00

Mrs. Brooke
Mrs. Lindsey

Lillie and Hope

Her Angel pose!

Bikini Bottom!

Hope and Lillie they were freezing backstage!

rehearsal

practicing tap

I love dance recitals! This year was so much fun with Lillie. First of all, I decided to change studios and it was the best decision for her. She has loved it this year. She has looked forward to going every week which made me so happy! Her recital this year was at Robinson Center Music Hall. Lillie thought she was hot stuff getting ready in the dressing rooms backstage and getting to wear lots of make-up! Her tap dance was called Bikini Bottom and her ballet was Angel of Mine. Loved both of her costumes! This girl loves the stage and everytime she finished a dance all she wanted to know was when she got to go back up and dance again! Her teacher Mrs. Brooke has asked her to be apart of the BAM! Dance Company, which is the competative dance team. So this fall she will start taking an extra night a week to get ready for competitions!

Uncle Drew's Wedding

2011-05-29T15:40:00.007-05:00

Lounge funiture by the dance floor

tea bar

Brides Cake

Groom's Cake

Drew's Brew!

Dance floor

The paper crane's

Their favorite things

Mr. and Mrs. Lott

Easter weekend my brother Drew got married!!! We are so excited to have Britton join our family! I must say that Evan and Lillie adore her!!!!! They had a private ceremony in her Aunt's backyard. It was just parent's, grandparents, sibling's and niece's and nephew's and then they had a huge reception at Pavilion in the Park. There was lots of yummy food, two amazing cakes and lots of amazing details. Here are just a few of my favorite details from the reception. They had a table set up for favors with their favorite things. They had candles, jelly beans, cigars and a few more things that were things they loved. They both are big hot tea drinkers so at one end they had a hot tea and coffee bar. On the other end there was a bar set up with a sign that said "Drew's Brew" were they served all of my brother's favorite beers. At Britton's showers she had pieces of paper that the guest could write notes to her and Drew. Her florist made paper cranes and then they hung them above the dance floor. My favorite was their band! They were so fun. At the beginning of the reception they all started out on tuxedo's like any normal wedding band would. They played for a bit then took a quick break and when they came back they were decked out in mullet wigs and funky clothes! It was so funny and a shocker to all the guest.

Lillie's Valentine's Party

2011-05-29T15:26:00.004-05:00

For Lillie's Valentine's day party we had an ice cream sundae party. The kids always get tons of goodies at their parties. I made the valentine boxes for the kids. They were a lot of fun to make. I used oatmeal containers and then decoupaged them with Valentine paper. The kids are so fun to watch digging into all of their cards and goodies. I think they were all on an overload of sugar after all the ice cream and candy they had that morning!

Evan's Valentine's Party

2011-05-29T14:58:00.002-05:00

Sadly these are the only two pics I have from Evan's party. I guess when they get to grade school the parties become small and simple. Instead of doing Valentine bags or boxes they made Valentine books. This was such a neat idea because all of the cards from his classmates are glued to their own little page in his book. But his party was simple, just ice cream cookies and chips to eat and then everyone played and looked at their cards from their friends, then it was over! Short and sweet!

Evan's 6th Birthday-Super Mario Style!

2011-05-29T14:15:00.006-05:00

Little Mario's

Sweet Friends!

My sweet little 6 year old!

Mushroom cupcakes

Cupcake Stand!

Back in February my sweet little boy turned 6! We celebrated with a Super Mario Brothers party at the movies. This was such a fun party to plan. For some reason Evan always picks a theme that is off the wall! So I searched the internet for ideas for his party. I stumbled on a website called coolpartyblog.com. This is where I got the idea for the Yoshi goody bags. I made the little cupcake stand and my wonderful mom made all the cupcakes! I found a few other Mario goodies for the goody bags and my mom found the stick on mustaches for all the kids to wear. So cute! We went to see Gnomeo and Juliet in 3D and we did cake and presents in the party room before the movie started. I think that birthday boy had a blast with all of his friends!

Remember Us?

2011-02-02T22:23:00.002-06:00

I really think that it may be time for an update! Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. I did a marathon of posting below so keep scrolling down to see what has happened in our little world since August! Yelp that is right August! I am so ashamed of myself! I really have a good excuse and it is called Touchdown Sally's! And now thankfully it is out of my life! We sold it back in December and it was like the world had been lifted. Just in case you are wondering the world of the restaurant business is crazy and so much work. Part of owning your own business is that you do not get a break from it ever. We were lucky to have an awesome partner. But I am happy to be done with that part of my life. I didn't want it to begin with and so letting it go was so easy for me! We owned it for 15 months and it honestly felt like we had owned it for 15 years! So now onto new chapters in our lives. I have gone back to work full time and am still trying to decide what to do about Whimsy Tin. I love to paint but last year I painted so much that it became more of a chore for me. I got to a point where I just packed my paint brushes away because I really didn't have any desire to ever paint again. I am back to a point where I want to paint again and have done a few things recently. But hopefully I will be a better blogger. Evan is about to turn 6! Crazy! So will have his birthday to blog about here pretty soon!

Christmas 2010

2011-02-02T22:08:00.004-06:00

I have to say Christmas this year was so fun! The kids are really into Santa and watching them get so excited with every present that they opened was priceless! They both got lots of goodies. The holidays this year were hard since it was the first without my Granny. For 33 years I have gone to her house for Christmas Eve we all looked forward to her yummy ham that she cooked every year! My mom did her best with our ham this year but you know it is not ever the same! I guess we look forward to new traditions! We have started to have Christmas with my parents at the lake! We all spend the night. Dad cooks steak for dinner and then a huge breakfast the next morning. It is fun to all be together there!

Uncle Drew is getting married!

2011-02-02T22:03:00.002-06:00

We are so excited that Drew proposed to Britton around Thanksgiving! Evan and Lillie love her and already call her Aunt Britton. They are getting married in April so we are about to be busy with all the wedding fun!

Thanksgiving Feast!

2011-02-02T21:58:00.003-06:00

The kindergarten class gets to have a Thanksgiving feast for their snack time the week of Thanksgiving. All the kids made outfits to dress up in and each class brings their own snack to share for the feast!

Christmas in Branson

2011-02-02T21:49:00.003-06:00

My mom and I took the kids to Branson at the beginning of November. We went to Silver Dollar City for a day and then spent a day shopping and riding the Polar Express. The kids had a blast and mom and I did too!

Halloween 2010!

2011-02-02T21:43:00.004-06:00

Here are a few pics from Halloween! Evan was Ironman and Lillie was a rock star. Lillie had a party at preschool and then the entire preschool goes trick or treating to some of the downtown businesses. For Halloween night we trick or treated with our good friends in their neighborhood. We go on a hayride around the neighborhood trick or treating with a bunch of our friends and it is always lots of fun for the kids and the adults!

Pumpkin Patch Trips!

2011-02-02T21:26:00.006-06:00

Both of the kids went on their first class field trips to a pumpkin patch. Lillie's class went to Mary's pumpkin patch in our hometown. It is small but really neat. They had lots of stuff for the kids to play on and they have a little town in the woods that has a maze and a huge tree house.

Evan was super excited about his field trip because it was his first time to get to ride the school bus!! In fact I really think that most of the kids were more excited about riding the school bus than the actually pumpkin patch! The pumpkin patch that Evan went to was at Family Farm in Malvern and I have to say it will be a place that we will go to every year. They had tons of stuff for the kids and Mrs. May the owner told the kids about pilgrims and Indians out by the giant tee pee! Such a neat place!

Soccer 2010!

2011-02-02T21:15:00.003-06:00

This fall both of the kids got to play soccer. This is the only year that they will ever get to play on a team together and it was so nice to have them on the same team! This is the same team that Evan played on last year and I am amazed at how much all of the little players have improved. Their coaches were awesome and were so patient with Lillie! Our team won every game and I think that Evan even came away knowing a bit about how to actually play the game!

Lillie's 1st day of Preschool!

2011-02-02T21:11:00.005-06:00

Lillie started preschool back in the fall! So sad that my last little baby is old enough to be in preschool. Sadly this is the only picture that I had of her from her first day. She has the same teacher that Evan had for the past two years. So her first day she walked right and started playing with her new friends.

Lillie is 4!!!!

2011-02-02T20:56:00.004-06:00

Way back on September 13th my sweet baby girl turned 4! We had a very small birthday for her over at my parent's lakehouse. It was so much fun! We invited our closest friends to come celebrate with us for her special day. Lillie wanted a mermaid party so that is what she had. My wonderfriend Anita from A Piece of Pope made her invitations and the little thank you tags! We grilled burgers and hot dogs and had some yummy cake that my mom made for the special little

girl!

First Day of School!

2010-08-26T22:06:00.003-05:00

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!

2010-08-26T21:16:00.007-05:00

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!

Preschool Graduation!

2010-05-27T23:06:00.005-05:00

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!

2010-05-27T22:15:00.008-05:00

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!

Evan's Fifth Birthday Party!

2010-02-13T22:17:00.001-06:00

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!

Evan's Valentine's Party!

2010-02-13T21:58:00.005-06:00

Here are a few pics from Evan's valentine's party. Sadly these are the only three that I took! I was the party mom so I got a little preoccupied with everything. We had ice cream sundaes, all the kids took turns putting their valentine's in all the mailboxes! Remember the snow day? I spent that day decoupaging all of those paint cans for all of his little classmates! I saw some of these in a scrapbook magazine that a friend had and had so much fun making them that I will probably be doing some more in the future!

Lillie and her Babies!

2010-02-13T21:41:00.003-06:00

I have to say that Lillie has always loved her baby dolls. She plays with them all day. Lately she has been making nap mats all over the house. She will disappear into her room and when I go check on her she has every pillow and blanket on the floor with all babies on each of them taking naps! These pictures are from the snow day of her and a few of her babies!

Snow Day 2010!!!

2010-02-13T20:26:00.003-06:00

Here are some pics of the kids from the snow days this past week. Evan loves playing out in it but Miss Lillie, not so much! She kind of just hangs around in the garage and watches Evan! I have to say that I now know why my mom hated days when we got snowed in! The kids made snow ice cream, hung out by the fire played and played and played while I worked on all the goodies for Evan's preschool party and his birthday party! Brad went in to the restaurant for a bit and when he came home him and Evan built a snowman while Lillie watched from the front porch!!!

Five Years!!!

2010-01-30T22:11:00.006-06:00

A week from today our little Evan will turn five! I am a mixture of emotions about it. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful little boy. I think that here lately I have been thinking back over the last five years of his life and realizing just how quickly they have gone by. Lately I have wanted to go back to when he was an infant and enjoy so many things that I feel like I kind of wished away. I found a picture of me feeding him a bottle and remembered how I was so ready to get out of that phase of his life because I thought it would just be easier. Oh how I would give anything to feel him snuggled up in my arms like that again. I miss that chubby little baby boy that loved to hold my hands when he was tired or upset. I can remember driving in the car and he would be cranky and all I would have to do is twist my arm back there so he could hold my hand and he would be so happy and content! I miss those days but I look forward to all the days and years ahead as we get to watch him grow and become the amazing person that I know he will be one day!!!! Maybe next week on his actually birthday I will share the story of his big entrance into this world. After all he was a Super baby that was born early on Super Bowl Sunday!!!! Hope you enjoy the pictures, I could have posted a million of him but I narrowed it down to just a few!!!!

Our Christmas Tree!

2009-12-31T08:34:00.002-06:00

Seriously the cutest face!

Wanted to share a pic of our Christmas tree this year. I had two cute little elf's that helped me this year! Well I guess you could say four if you count Lillie and Evan!

Christmas 2009!

2009-12-29T07:32:00.006-06:00

Evan got a shaving kit from Gee and Grandad!
Uncle Drew and Ryan playing the Princess Piano!

Evan and one of his many new toys!

Lillie tearing in to her gifts!

Gee and Grandad's Gang

Lillie showing off her cute tree shirt!

This picture cracks me up! Lillie was not happy about having her pic made with Evan!

The Gaston Gang!

Evan talking on his new Walkie Talkie's

A Zhu Zhu Pet!

Lillie got one too!

The kids in their Shrek ears that Uncle Drew and Britton brought them!

I have to say that Christmas this year was so much fun! My Mom bought the kids the Elf on the Shelf so Tinsel has been hiding all over our house watching the kids! Every morning it was so much fun to watch the kids run around the house looking for him! So fun!!! We started out our Christmas festivities by going to my Granny's house on Christmas Eve. We had soup and salad and waited for my Aunt to get in. Uncle Drew and Britton were out there and the kids had the best time playing with them! They went to NYC earlier this month and so they brought the kids some Shrek ears that they got when they went to see Shrek the musical! This year was the first year that both of the kids really understood the whole Santa thing so Christmas morning was sooooo much fun with them. All Evan really wanted this year was the big Bumblebee and some Ninja Turtles so that is what he got, plus a few extra things! Miss Lillie wanted the Bitty Baby baby bed and baby stroller, and a black baby, so that is what she got! They had so much fun playing with all their new toys. Gee, Grandad and Uncle Drew all came down to have breakfast with us and play with the new toys. After they left we loaded up and headed to the Lake house to have Christmas with my parents, brother, and cousin Ryan. We had steak and bake potato's, so yummy! Then we opened up presents again, played with all the toys (this is Uncle Drew and Ryan's favorite part!) then we all stayed at the lake house that night. So fun! On Saturday we headed to my Granny's house for Christmas with her and my Aunt and her family. The kids always have fun out there playing with their cousins!!

Evan's Preshool Party

2009-12-29T07:19:00.002-06:00

Here are a few pics from Evan's party at school. He had so much fun. They made foam stockings, Santa came to visit with gifts and we ate lots of yummy food!!!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T21:54:00.003-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Gaston Gang!!!! Here is our Christmas card from this year. So I have been a little busy with buckets so if you have not received one from me yet, don't worry I cause I have not mailed very many of them!!! I have been so busy with Whimsy Tin orders so my sweet momma helped me by mailing them to all the people who sent us cards so now I have to mail the rest! So they are a little late but better late than never!! Ha! And of coarse our card was made by the Fabulous Anita over at A Piece of Pope!!!

Trip to Branson

2009-11-30T21:47:00.007-06:00

Evan loved the lazy river

the kiddie pool area

Lillie finally crashed at SDC

seeing Santa!

Bryson was making out with the gingerbread girl while we waited to see Santa!

While Lillie was loving on this reindeer

Decorating some yummy sugar cookies!

Riding the frogs!

Lillie loving on Bryson

Thank goodness for Jena, cause I get a little sickly on some rides!!

Trying to get a group picture!

So a few weekends ago we took a little trip to Branson. Brad was working a basketball tournament in Springfield all weekend so the kids and I tagged along! I was happy that our friends Jena and Jamie decided to make the trip as well! We stayed at Castle Rock. The kids loved it with their own little nook that had bunk beds, but most of all they loved the indoor water park!!! We got there on Thursday afternoon and had the whole place to ourselves and it was pretty much like that all weekend long! On Friday we did a little shopping in the morning then headed out to Silver Dollar City! So glad that Jena and Jamie were there since Brad had to work. This was the kids first trip to SDC and they both loved it! Evan is my little thrill seeker and wanted to ride everything! The kids all got a little tired so we headed back to the hotel to play at the water park and to meet up with our friends The Kissengers!!! On Saturday we headed back to Silver Dollar City to do everything we missed out on the day before. Evan was determined to ride a roller coaster so the two of us stood in line forever to ride one. I probably asked him 100 times if he was sure he wanted to ride it and he kept saying yes so we did it and he loved it! After that we headed to meet up with everyone to play in the balls and then we found a spot to watch the parade! So sad that Brad ended up having to work the entire time so he missed out on all of the fun!

Update!

2009-11-16T22:33:00.005-06:00

Sorry it has been awhile since I last posted! We have been crazy busy around here. I have started working at the restaurant during the day doing book keeping stuff and Whimsy Tin has been keeping me busy most nights! So its all been a good busy! Evan has finished soccer and I have to say it was fun but I will not miss the 8:30am games every Saturday!! He really seemed to enjoy it and loved playing the goalie. Lillie also started dance back in Sept. I just keep forgetting to take my camera with me to get some pictures. So I took a few last week finally!! Those who know me know that I have looked forward to the day she could start dance since the day I found out she was a girl!! She loves it! I am not sure if she is learning much but the girl has got some moves that can make you laugh!!

2009-09-24T21:14:00.003-05:00

Here is Lillie's birthday invitation! Thanks to my fabulous friend Anita!! She makes some super cute stuff check out A Piece of Pope over on my sidebar to see what all she can do!!!

Lillie is Three!!!!!

2009-09-24T15:13:00.005-05:00

Singing Happy Birthday!
This is how Lillie does 3

Lillie and her little girlfriends!

Uncle Drew and Mr Kyle the snow cone makers!

Ty, Blake and Evan

Jumping in the Castle

Lillie with her cake and her poodle skirt

Poodle Cake!

Pink Poodle cupcakes

Party favor bags!

Oh my I can't believe my baby is three!!! Our little Lillie turned 3 on the 13Th! On her actually birthday she got her favorite breakfast, McDonald's pancakes and she got a Fancy Nancy doll! She is the only doll in our house that still has all her clothes on!! (Lillie is in a phase of stripping her babies to make them naked jaybirds!!!) On Friday we had her actually party, a Pink Poodle Party! It was a lot of fun. G made her a pink poodle skirt to wear but it was a little big and hot so we took it off. G also has been taking a cake decorating class and so she made her Poodle cake and cupcakes with a little help from me!! Thanks G!!! We rented a bounce castle and told the kids to bring ride on toys. It was so much fun and the kids all had a blast running around outside and jumping in the castle. Uncle Drew came and brought his new snow cone machine and him and Mr. Kyle made snow cones for all the kids, another hit and I think that now Uncle Drew may have a small side business going with snow cones!! At the end we came in for some cake and presents then let the kids run wild! It was a lot of fun and thank you to everyone for coming and making her party extra special!!!

First Day of Preschool

2009-09-24T11:10:00.003-05:00

Evan officially started back to preschool at the beginning of the month. He was so excited this year that I really didn't get very many pictures of him because he just walked right in to his class with all his friends and started playing with all the new toys! The first week we also went on his first field trip of the year to the fair to see all of those lovely animals!!!

Touchdown Sally's

2009-08-19T19:47:00.002-05:00

Well in case you have not heard Brad is opening up a restaurant here in Benton. It is going to be called Touchdown Sally's. It is going to be in the old Weng's restaurant. They have gone in a totally redone everything. It really looks like a completely different place in there!! They plan on opening up sometime in September. So for all of you Benton folks I hope that you will come out and support us!!

Trip to NWA!

2009-08-19T19:31:00.004-05:00

Sweet little Sawyer!

My of my favorite college roomies, Leslie and Jo Ann!
(JoAnne you are on of my favs also!!)

Sara, Keri (she was my lil sis), me, Leslie, and Jo Ann

A few weeks ago I took a little trip to NWA to have a girls weekend. My wonderful friend Leslie let me invade her house for the weekend! It seems like every time we get together we have our kids and so we have a hard time actually getting to carry on a conversation! On Friday we meet up with some of our fellow DZ sisters that also live there to have dinner. On Saturday I got to go see Jo Ann's new baby boy Sawyer and love on him for a little bit!! The rest of the time I think Leslie and I spent just shopping and eating!!

We're Back!!!!!!!

2009-08-06T17:18:00.009-05:00

So it has been so long since my last post I really do not know where to start! So here are some pics of what we have been up to since April!!!

Preschool Party

Uncle Chris and Grandma at the lake Memorial Day weekend

Grandad and Grandpa

Oh so sweet!!

Evan in the fountains in Downtown LR

Ty, Blake and Evan

Lillie and her friend Addison playing in the fountains!

And the lakehouse is always the most fun when Uncle Drew is around!

We helped Grandad celebrate his birthday!

Uncle Drew bought a slip and slide for the lake house!

Floating on her back!

Going down the slide!

Lillie practicing her kicks!

They tried to teach Evan how to dive this summer. Here is his version of a dive!!

Evan sliding down the slide on the last day of swim lessons

Riding in Grandad's RTV at the lake.

Spending most every weekend at my parents new lake house!!

Lillie sleeping in her new big girl bed!! I know she is almost 3 and it was so hard to see that crib missing from her room. But I felt it was finally time to change her over!! (I tried to keep her a baby as long as I could) I will post some pictures of her "new" room when I get it finished!

Well so there is our summer in pictures! We have spent almost every weekend at the lake house. I have to say it is wonderful over there!! The kids love it and want to go all the time. Other than that we really haven't done much. Evan finished up his three year old preschool and tee ball at the beginning of the summer. We have stayed busy with play dates with our friends. I honestly can't think of anything else that we have done this summer. I am sorry that I have not been keeping the blog up lately. I have been staying busy with Whimsy Tin and other projects! I promise that I will try to be better and not go so long without an update!!!

Happy Seven Years!

2009-04-19T08:09:00.005-05:00

Monday will be our seventh wedding anniversary! I know that seven years is really not that long but it just amazes me how quickly the time does go by. I feel like it was just a year or two ago! Above are a few of my favorite pictures from our big day!!! My absolute favorite is the one of us leaving to the golf club salute! Brad's groomsmen came up with this without anyone else knowing! They told the photographer so that she would be ready to get a picture of it. So after they pronounced us husband and wife, they lined up on each side and did the golf club salute for us to walk under. It was priceless, Brad and I both were sooo surprised (just enlarge the pic to see Brad's face)!

Easter 2009

2009-04-18T14:48:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pics from Easter! We had a great day. Both of the kids got lots of goodies from the Easter Bunny. We all went to the church that I grew up in and then headed out to my Granny's house for Easter lunch. We just wish that the weather would have been better for some egg hunts!!

Our New Ducks

2009-04-18T13:39:00.002-05:00

Here are some of those famous Beyond Photography ducks that have come to live with us for a little while. We are going to take them to the lake house when they get a little bigger.

Evan's 1st Tee Ball Game

2009-04-11T17:44:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pictures from Evan's first ball game! I had to miss it since I was in Vegas with work. I was so sad. From what I hear it involved all the kids running after the ball and dog piling each other! One little boy from our team dog piled the other team instead of running the bases. Anyway I finally got to see him play the other night and it is a lot of fun to watch. In this league all of the kids play the field and everyone gets to bat each inning. And they only play two innings!!

Tee Ball

2009-03-11T17:39:00.002-05:00

Here are a few picture of Evan at Tee Ball practice. I can't wait till his first game! At practice all of the boys had on their helmets and were chasing each other around!! It was so funny to watch them all run the bases, some would get a little detoured and head to the outfield or the pitchers mound. It is going to be a fun season and hopefully he may learn a little about the game.

Brad

2009-03-02T23:12:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Brad saw his doctor today to get his results from his PET Scan. Once again something is in his nose. He will go in the morning to an ENT to have this looked at again. The nose is a very sensitive area in PET Scan's but they still have to make sure it is all clear. Please pray that it is clear.

Also I mentioned a year ago that a very good friend was diagnosed with skin cancer. She has now gone through a long year of treatment for this. She had a chest x-ray done recently and they found something on it. She is going for a PET Scan on Thursday morning and will find out results the week following. Please pray for her that her scan will be clear and that she will be cancer free!!!

Evan Update

2009-02-22T19:05:00.003-06:00

Thanks to everyone who has emailed or called to check on Evan. He is doing okay, he has had some good days and some bad. From what everyone says it is just a roller coaster ride with the pain. Saturday was by far his worst day. He looked so pale and his little eyes were so tired. He finally crashed at about 6:00 and slept until 8:00 this morning. Today he has been a little better but still a little pale looking. It has been a long week! I hope that this next week he feels better!

Chloe's Closet

2009-02-22T18:27:00.003-06:00

Saturday Lillie's friend Chloe had her third birthday. It was so cute, it was a dress up party. Her mommy is the best birthday party planner. They had every costume that you could imagine to dress up in! Lillie didn't want to dress up she was just in the mood to push a baby around in a shopping cart. But boy did the other little girls have fun times!! After playing dress up the kids got to decorate their own magic wand cookie then we had cake and lots of yummy food!! Lillie got some new dress up clothes for her party favor and the most fabulous hat that she has been sporting around!!

Valentine Party

2009-02-22T18:08:00.003-06:00

Here are just a few pictures from Evan's preschool party. I really didn't get many pictures but it was a lot of fun. We had ice cream sunday's and lots of other yummy food. I think all the kids were just interested in eating their candy!!

**the monkey boxes are from Oriental Trading. They turned out so cute but just a note to everyone they are a pain to put together!!!!! My friend Lindsey and I decided that paying $7 for the foamie mailboxes would have been worth every penny!!!!

Evan's 4th Birthday

2009-02-22T17:17:00.006-06:00

Here are a few pictures from Evan's fourth birthday. We had a dino dig at our house. I think that all the kids had lots of fun. Here is just a brief run down of the party so that when I am 85 and scrap booking it I can remember what all happened!!! When the kids arrived we had buckets and shovels that they got to decorate with dinosaur foamies. When all of the kids arrived we headed out to the garage to dig for fossils and dinosaur eggs. After all the kids found their goodies we came inside to do cake. Evan had volcano cake (which he requested) and we also had cupcakes with dinosaurs on them. After cake and ice cream Evan got to open gifts. (Chaos with all the kids helping!!!) After that we let the kids play in the playroom. For party favors the kids got the buckets they decorated as well as the shovels. The eggs that they found and the fossils. Last I spent three days making paper mache dinosaur eggs for all the kids. They were a big hit for everyone. I basically did paper mache over a balloon, then popped the balloons cut a little slit in the bottom and filled it with candy and other goodies then taped it back up, painted them all white with orange polka dots. They were a lot of work but parents told me that their kids loved digging in to them when they got home!

Prayers Please

2009-02-15T19:52:00.002-06:00

Just wanted to let you know that Evan is having his tonsils and adenoids removed in the morning. He is scheduled for 12:30. If you think about it in the morning please say a little prayer for him. I know that this is a very common procedure but it still scares me to death.

We will be home for the next two weeks so hopefully I can get caught up on the blog!! He recently had a big birthday that I need to post about!!!

Lillie's Shirt!

2009-01-10T16:38:00.005-06:00

Her #1 Referee

First of all for those who don't know Brad is a college basketball official. He has been doing this for years. Before we had Evan I would go to as many games with Brad as I could. It has allowed us to go to lots of fun places such as Chicago, Orlando, San Antonio, and Hawaii just to name a few!! Every time I would go to a game I usually would sit with fans from the visiting team. They would always ask which player was my boyfriend, and I would tell them I was actually there watching my husband, the referee!! Sometime I would just sit in random places and by the person that disliked Brad the most!! So anyway when we decided to go on a road trip with Brad to his game I wanted to get something cute for Lillie to wear. Lucky for me I know someone who has just started making some super cute shirts!!! I tried to get a picture of her in it but she would not stay still long enough for me to snap one of her since she was busy dancing to the band!! It says I cheer for the referee! It is so cute and Brad loved it when he saw it. It was funny to see people's reaction to it at the game when they read the bottom of it! The family behind us saw it and asked which one was him so that they wouldn't boo him in front of his kids!

Click here to Check out Amber's website and a better picture of Lillie's shirt

Trip to Springfield!

2009-01-06T21:10:00.005-06:00

This past weekend we took a little family road trip to Springfield MO to watch Brad referee! We headed out Friday night in hopes that the kids would sleep most of the way there, Evan had other plans! On Sat we slept in then headed over to Bass Pro Shop. All of the big wild life exhibits were closed but the kids had fun seeing all the stuffed animals and the huge fish tanks! After all that fun Brad and the kids headed back to the hotel and I did a little shopping by myself!!!! That night we headed to the game to watch Brad work. Evan had been so excited about the basketball game and asked every five minutes if it was time to go to the game. I was worn out by the time it was over, thank goodness that one of his partners brought his wife and she helped me out! Sunday we slept in again then headed to Branson to eat at Joe's Crab Shack and then headed home! It was a fun little trip and hopefully as the kids get a little older we can go to more games with daddy!

Brad Update

2009-01-01T20:21:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Brad started radiation on Monday. He had been on the fence about doing it. When the doctors told him all the side effects that could come from him doing this we were really unsure about him going through with this. I know some of you may think that this is crazy and I would have thought the same thing if it wasn't my husband going through this right now. Well anyway we have both prayed for God to just give us a sign as to what he should do. If he should just move forward with radiation or if he should skip it since his PET Scan was clear. I won't go into the whole story but Brad got his answer at work on Friday from a lady in is office whose husband had recently gone through the same type of cancer. Brad said that he felt like she was placed in his office that day for a reason and so he decided to go ahead with the radiation. He is suppose to have 5 weeks but they said they may only do 3 and a half. Please keep him in your prayer over the next few weeks as he goes through these treatments.

(The pictures above were taken on Saturday. I just so happened to look out the window to see the brightest rainbow I have ever seen! I went out side to take some pictures of it and realized that we could see the entire bow from out back yard and that it was a double rainbow! What a beautiful picture that the Lord painted that day!)

Christmas 2008

2009-01-01T18:56:00.006-06:00

We had a great Christmas this year!! It is so much fun now that Evan is getting the hang of the whole Santa thing!! (I think that sometimes I get more excited then they do) But anyway both of the kids were so excited to see what Santa had left for both of them. Lillie didn't make it past Evan's stuff to see what Santa brought her until we showed her her new twin stroller and babies. Evan was super excited when he saw his Uncle Chris that morning, I think that he thought that Santa had dropped him off as well! Evan's big gift this year was a Spiderman bike and Lillie got a pink trike. After we did the Santa gifts we exchanged gifts with Brad's mom and brother then had some yummy breakfast. Christmas night we all headed out to my Granny's to have time with all of them. Evan and Lillie always have fun out there spending time with their cousins. Brad's mom and brother stayed with us through the weekend so we had some more yummy meals during their stay. The kids and I also put together a gingerbread house this year. It was difficult with them both trying to eat all the candy decorations. On Sunday we headed over to my parents lake house to do Christmas with them. This was our first Christmas at the lake! They got the kids big wheels that they rode all around the screened in porch. They got lots of other goodies there as well! We had steak, shrimp and baked potato's for lunch which was a nice change from all the traditional foods. Brad and I had a great Christmas this year as well. On Christmas Eve he surprised me with a new camera (I saw this as a positive from the break in) !!! I was shocked because I thought that we would just wait until we got our insurance money but he knew how special pictures are to me so he wanted me to have it for Christmas! I think he is happy with his purchase as well because he has used it just as much as I have!

(Sorry that the pictures are all out of order)!

Preschool Party

2008-12-29T09:48:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-29T09:41:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-29T09:28:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-29T09:10:00.001-06:00

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...

2008-12-29T08:48:00.002-06:00

what Uncle Drew did to me!!!

Thanksgiving Pictures

2008-12-29T08:19:00.004-06:00

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!

2008-12-25T11:05:00.002-06:00

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.....

2008-12-02T20:30:00.006-06:00

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

2008-11-15T09:03:00.002-06:00

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)

2008-11-15T07:14:00.004-06:00

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

News about Brad!

2008-11-04T22:30:00.003-06:00

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!

2008-10-15T18:18:00.003-05:00

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!!!!

2008-10-15T17:53:00.002-05:00

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

2008-10-15T17:31:00.003-05:00

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!)

2008-10-15T16:37:00.003-05:00

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)!

2008-10-04T20:08:00.004-05:00

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!!

Here's the "Scoop" on Lillie's Second Birthday!!

2008-09-26T20:56:00.004-05:00

Okay here goes!!! Lillie's birthday party was on Sept 13 (her actual birthday!). We decided to do an ice cream theme since the girl loves it!! She can eat her weight in ice cream! We had the ice cream cone cupcakes for the kids and tons of candy and sprinkles for them to decorate them with. I made some hot fudge cupcakes for the adults. My mom also got Lillie the cake because she felt that she needed one to blow out her candles! I had a table with all the decorations for the kids and just let them put whatever they wanted on their cupcakes. I made aprons for the kids to wear so that they would not get too messy! I think that my floor was the only thing that really needed an apron!!! After they decorated we let them play for a little while then we did presents. Lillie got lots of wonderful gifts. She got the Rose Cottage which she loves. Some babies, clothes, books, and bathtub stuff!! We got her her first Cabbage Patch Doll. It is one of the 25th anniversary dolls and she looks just like my first CPD! We had a lot of fun with all of her friends. My mom made the ice cream soda party favors for the kids. She made these for birthday parties for me and Drew when we were little. I also made the kids little bags of ice cream goodies and the girls got an ice cream bow just like the one Lillie had on that day!

Halfway Through!!!!!!!

2008-09-26T19:54:00.003-05:00

Look he still has his hair!!!

Well, Brad is officially halfway through with chemo! Hooray!!!!! It has been a ruff week for him. When he went on Tues his white blood cell count was very low and the doctor thought about cancelling his treatment for the day. She let him go ahead and get it but in return he had to go back Wed, Thurs and today for shots. I really do not know what they call the shots but the medicine just gets into his bones very quickly causing him to have constant pain. Thankfully he has done alot better with the chemo this time around. He has been feeling a little sickly but not has bad as he did the last time. Please pray that the kids and I can stay well over the next 4 weeks since he is at such a high risk of infection. We just want to keep him as well as possible!!!!

Lillie is Two!!!

2008-09-14T09:36:00.002-05:00

Saturday Lillie turned two!!! We had a little birthday party for her here at the house. It was an ice cream party since the girl loves ice cream!!! I will post more about everything when I get all the pictures. A friend came to take pictures for me so that I would not have to stress about that. She is going to get all the pictures to me on Mon so look for more party pics next week!!

Happy Birthday Sweet Lillie!!! We love you so much!

Brad Update

2008-09-14T09:24:00.003-05:00

(First of all sorry for not updated sooner and thank you to everyone who has emailed me to check on him since I have not posted anything yet.)

Brad had his first round of chemo on Tues. He was there forever (8:00-1:30). He was fine the first night. On Wednesday he went to work for a little while then had his followup appointment with the surgeon that placed his port. On Thurs he really started feeling bad. He said that he just has a nauseous feeling all the time. They have given him medicine to help with this but it is not really working that well. Today (Sunday), he is finally starting to feel alot better.

As far as the mohawkpics sorry he went to work for a little while that day but was not feeling that great so he came home. I did shave his hair off the next day I will post some pics of he buzz cut later!!

He will have chemo every other week for the next two months. Please pray that at the end of the chemo the infection will be gone and he will not have to have radiation.

Thanks again for all of the support. We could never get through this without every one's support and prayers!!!!

Thank You!

2008-09-14T09:17:00.002-05:00

Like my new blog makeover? Thanks to my friend Anita she designed this one and my header over on Whimsy Tin. She has a business of her own called A Piece of Pope. She holiday cards, birth announcements and stationary. Check out her business when you have a free moment!

Monkey See, Monkey Do!

2008-09-04T20:21:00.003-05:00

This seems to be what we say around our house all the time these days!! Lillie has to do everything that Evan does! It is so funny. I am not joking when I say that she says everything he does, wants what he is eating, wants what he is playing with, and so on. He has a constant shadow! It is so sweet to see them together, they are the best of friends! I remember when I came home from the hospital with Lillie to my 19 month old baby and thought what have I done! I am so happy that I had them so close in age! They are built in playmates and do everything together.

Lillie she is so smart, when they were swinging she wil lift her little feet making Evan do all the work. She also does this when they ride in their cozy coupes together she will ride everywhere with him with her feet up making him do all the hard labor!!! Smart girl!

Evan starts Preschool!

2008-09-04T20:12:00.003-05:00

Evan and his friend Ross Anthony

Evan started Preschool on Tues! He was so excited about going. I have to say I could feel the tears forming as I dropped him off but I held them back so he would not be embarrassed by his mom!! His teacher is Mrs Shannon who used to work with Brad before we got married!! She gave all the moms a sweet little poem about the first day of school. As I drove off and started to read it I had to stop because the tears started flowing!!! I was so excited to go and pick him up to hear all about his day! Today he was the snack boy so he was excited that he got to be the leader and help the teacher.

I was thinking back to Sept 1, 2004 and this is the day that we found out we were having a little boy!! It amazes me how four years has flashed before our eyes. It seems just like yesterday that we were at Baby Views hearing the news. I still can't believe he is in preschool. But he loves it and I knew he would. He was so ready to go back today.

Happy News

2008-09-04T10:17:00.003-05:00

We finally got Brad's bone marrow results back and it was all clear!! We also got his biopsy results back which showed he had the most common type of Hodgkin's. So his official diagnosis is Stage Two Classic Nodular Hodgkin's Lymphoma. (He is stage two because he has infection in both his chest and neck). So we now are just waiting to see when he starts his chemo which hopefully will be next week. Stayed tuned because tomorrow Brad is going BALD! He is the branch manager at Regions in Bryant and his tellers are going to first give him a Mohawk then shave it all off!!! I will of coarse be there to take pictures so I will post as soon as possible!!

Our little man started preschool on Tues so check back for more post! We lost power and have finally been turned back on!!!

Just some pics!

2008-09-02T22:09:00.003-05:00

Here are just a few random pics of the kids (and Bailey) that I have been meaning to post! First of all Bailey is such a good sport! I heard the kids in my room laughing and saying, "Silly Bear" I went to check on them and I found poor Bailey sporting some shades!! She is so good with them but I do think sometimes she thinks why me!!!! Lillie is such a little momma these days. A few of

my good friends have had babies and she thinks that they all belong to her! In the picture above she is giving Baby Bryce a love pat! He too is a good sport with her poking his eyes and pointing out all of his other body parts! And the the last pic just a sweet moment that I interrupted with the camera of the kids reading to each other.

Halloween buckets

2008-08-27T17:25:00.004-05:00

I have posted Halloween bucket over on Whimsy Tin! I know some people who are checking on Brad have said they wanted to see them so just wanted to let everyone know they are there. There is a link to Whimsy Tin on my side bar above the picture of the kids!!

Biopsy Brad

2008-08-27T17:13:00.002-05:00

Brad's biopsy and port placement went well this morning. We still have not heard any results from his bone marrow biopsy and have been told that it could take a week for those results. Hopefully he will start chemo in the next week or so. I know the holiday weekend may push us back a week. He said that he is going to go ahead and shave his head in the next few days so that he doesn't have to deal with it when it starts to fall out. I will have to post a pic of my little baldy!! The doctor also said that his port placement when great and they tested it and it was working just fine. We are now just playing the waiting game to see what is next. Please pray as we wait to here results that we will get the best possible news about these. That it has not spread to his bone marrow and that the biopsy today's will show he has the most common form of Hodgkin's. I will keep everyone posted when we find out what is next.

Thanks to everyone who is praying with us during this time. We will never be able to say thank you enough to everyone. We are so lucky to have so many wonderful and amazing friends!!

Brad Update

2008-08-26T20:47:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that Brad will be having another biopsy in the morning. His doctor is needing a bigger piece of the lymph node so that she can tell exactly what type of Hodgkin's lymphoma he has. He will also be having his port placed so that he will be ready to start Chemo. Please keep him in your prayers, he will be sedated for all of this so he will not feel a thing! Hopefully he will be starting chemo next week!

Weekend with the Kissenger's

2008-08-25T19:09:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago our good friends, the Kissengers, came down to spend a weekend at the lake with us. We had so much fun! The lake house had just passed inspection the day before so we had zero furniture. It was like we had a camp out in a very nice house!!!! We have so much fun with this family we just hate that they live so far away from us. Evan cried for Rece and Brooks after they left and said that he wanted to go to Nebraska with them. Lillie loved those boys also and all she wanted to do was kiss Cal! He was not so into this and so she got her feelings hurt. I know one day will come when he will want to kiss her and when that day comes Brad won't let him near her!!!!!! We are counting down till next year when we make the trip to Nebraska!!! Evan can't wait!

Update

2008-08-20T20:47:00.003-05:00

Brad had his first appointment with the oncologist today. It was very last minute since we got called after they had a cancellation. He is seeing Dr. Harrington and I have to say she was wonderful. She was the same oncologist that my Aunt Marilyn saw so her and her nurse know my mom very well! But I think that it put both of us at ease. When we got the news on Monday we were both just in shock. Reality hit me yesterday and I had a few moments of tears. I think today was the reality moment for Brad as he learned more about what was going to be happening in the weeks ahead.

First of all we know that he has Hodgkin's Lymphoma but there are 4 different types of this cancer. There is one that she sees alot and the others she said that she very rarely sees. So in order to tell exactly what type of Hodgkin's he has she is needing another biopsy and she needs a larger piece of the lymph node. He will be having this mini surgery next Wednesday and at the same time they will also be placing a port into his chest so that he can receive his chemo through this port.

Also she is needing to see if the cancer cells are in his bone marrow. So he will be having a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy this Friday. Also on Friday he is having a MUGA Scan. This scan will test the strength of his heart muscle to make sure that he can handle on of the drugs that she wants to give him. Please say lots of prayers for Brad on this day. I hear that the bone marrow aspiration and biopsy are pretty painful procedures and he will be awake with some sedation and a local to numb his hip where they will take this from.

Right now she said that with all she has she would consider him a stage 2 since the disease is in both his chest and neck. If it comes back showing in his bone marrow then he will be a stage 4. After all of the results come back he will start Chemo which he will get to do in Benton at her office she comes to on Tues and Thurs. She said that he will have two months of chemo each round will take about 3.5 hours. (I will post more on this when that time comes.) She said to be prepared to become a baldy because of one of the drugs he will be given. Brad is okay with this and hopes that his hair will come back long and blond!! After he has chemo she will then determine if he will have to have radiation.

I really like Dr Harrington she said that she was going to get him cured and once he is considered cured there is a very tiny chance that it will come back!!!

I must also say a thank you to everyone that has emailed, called left comments on the blog. We feel so blessed to have so many people standing behind us and praying with us during this time. I am sorry if I have not called you back or responded to your emails but please know that I have received them and I am forever grateful for your thoughts and prayers at this time.

Thanks for checking in on him!

*************************************************************************************
Just for those that are interested here is some info I found on a website. It may help you better understand what he has and what is about to go through.

Hodgkin lymphoma is one of the most curable forms of cancer. It is most likely to be diagnosed in people in their twenties or thirties. It is less common in middle age and becomes more common again after age 60.
Hodgkin lymphoma is distinguished from other types of lymphoma by the presence of the Reed-Sternberg cell (named for the scientists who first identified it). Although they are found within the lymph nodes, Reed-Sternberg cells may not be lymphocytes. Other related cells associated with the disease are called "Hodgkin cells."

Hodgkin lymphoma can be cured in about 86 percent of all patients. The cure rate in younger patients is about 90 percent.

Treatment includes chemotherapy or chemotherapy and involved field radiation therapy, which targets the Hodgkin lymphoma masses. Other parts of the body are protected to prevent harm. Chemotherapy is used with radiation to kill nearby lymphoma cells.
Four or more drugs may be used together. Drugs may be injected, given through a catheter or taken by mouth.

Bad News/Good News

2008-08-18T20:44:00.002-05:00

Today we got the news that Brad has Hodgkin's Lymphoma. I think that we are both still kind of in shock about everything. The good news about all of this is that there are high cure rates for this type of cancer. So we are very thankful for this. Now we are waiting to get a referral to an oncologist to see what type of treatments he will have to have.

We can not tell everyone how much we appreciate them for the support they have given us during this time. Please keep praying for him!!

Biopsy

2008-08-15T14:31:00.003-05:00

Brad had his biopsy this morning and everything went well. They said that we should have some results in a few days. Keep praying that it will be okay!!!

Update

2008-08-14T11:37:00.002-05:00

Just to let everyone know Brad's PET Scan got moved up and he went yesterday to have it done. Unfortunately we did not get the greatest news and he is going in early tomorrow to have on of the masses removed from his chest. Just keep him in your prayers tomorrow please!!

P.S. I promise to update the blog with happy post about the kids and our fun weekend with the Kissinger Family!

Also I have started a blog for my buckets! It is whimsytin.blogspot.com go check it out. I have been making lots of buckets here lately so will be posting some new ones. I also will be posting Halloween buckets sometime next week!!!

A Day full of Doctors!

2008-08-05T20:05:00.003-05:00

Today Brad had his appointment with the cardiovascular surgeon and still really no answers as to what is going on with him. He is scheduled for a PET Scan next Friday the 15th. The doctor talked to the radiologist before he came into see us and they have actually found 3 more places in his chest that they are concerned about. After Brad has his scan we will hopefully hear from the doctor on Mon to see where we go from here. He said that if the numbers come back fine then he will just want to watch him over the next few months but if they come back weird then he will do a biopsy on one of the areas. So please just keep praying that everything will be okay! Thank you to those who have called or emailed sorry if I have not responded but it is just hard to get back to everyone! I will continue to update on the blog so please check back!

I also had to take Evan to Children's today to have his check-up for his tubes. Anyone who has to go to Children's for appointments knows what a fun trip this is! I usually take a stroller but when I got there I realized that my stroller wheels were messed up so we had to walk or should I say hike to his appointment. Poor Lillie was running trying to keep up, she finally gave in and let me carry her the rest of the way!!!!

Also be watching the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. I took the kids to eat at the Purple Cow for lunch and someone from the paper took pictures of us eating because they are doing a story on family dining! I am sure the pics will be lovely because she wanted action shots of us stuffing our faces!!!!

Brad Update

2008-07-29T16:13:00.002-05:00

Well we just got home from Brad's appointment. The surgeon we saw today is actually referring him to a chest surgeon. He has an appointment next Tues so please keep him in your prayers! The doctor today sounded hopeful! I just hate this waiting game and we are just ready to see what is going on with him.

Thank you to everyone who has called, emailed, posted a comment. Sorry if I have not returned your phone call or email it has just been a crazy week. I will continue to post updates about him here as we find out more. It seems to be the easiest way to get to everyone!! Thanks again for all the prayers!!! Keep them coming!!!

Please Pray

2008-07-22T21:50:00.002-05:00

Please keep Brad in your prayer over the next couple of weeks. He has recently found some bumps in his lower neck. He went to the doctor on Monday and they found a mass in his chest. We are going to a surgeon on Tuesday. He will decide what to do from there as far as a biopsy of his lymph nodes. Just please pray for him that this will not be anything serious and that he will be fine.

Busted!

2008-07-22T21:41:00.004-05:00

One the same day that I picked up Lillie with the fractured wrist Evan had a busted Lip. It must have been a dangerous day at KDO. It healed and his lip was back to normal for a few days when this happened. We went swimming at Uncle Drew's and someone likes to run around the pool and now I think he has figured out why he should mind mommy when she yells no running. This time it is much worse and he also got the lovely scrap on his chin.

The Munchkins Playdate

2008-07-22T21:29:00.004-05:00

Ty, Will and Lillie

Lillie and her man Ty!

Jenny and Will are in town for her sister-in-laws wedding so we got to have a get together with all the kids. I have to say the older they all get the harder it is for us to get them to take a group picture! So here are the attempts I made. Sadly our little friend Elle was not in the pics because she was not happy her mommy was holding baby Bryson! We all met at Dale's for donuts to get them all sugared up for the day. Then we headed to Rock Creek to play in their play tubes. It was alot of fun! It is hard to believe that we were all big preggers two years ago with these babies.

An Update Finally!

2008-07-22T20:58:00.003-05:00

Getting ready for fireworks!
She was so excited!
To cute not to share
Our new friend Gretchen
Cousin Will

I have been the worst blogger lately but we have been busy around here and have had a few visitors at our house!! But here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

For the 4Th we didn't have big plans since Lillie was in the cast so we went to Dicky Stephens Park with Grandad, Gee and Ryan to watch the fireworks. It was a lot of fun and nice to no be in such a big crowd over at the river.

We have also had some friends in town. First some friends from Chicago came into town. The adults did dinner one night and the next night Ken came to our house with their daughter Gretchen to play with our kids. Her mom had a big night at Frankie's Cafe! (I laugh because she is originally from here and she loves that place) and her big brother Griffin was busy playing with his older cousin. Gretchen turned 2 in the spring so the kids had the best time with her!

Later that same week Brad's cousin Will was in town on business and came down for dinner at our house. He sat out on the deck with the kids and blew bubbles for them so he was an instant hit with them.

Last week we had VBS and sadly I forgot to take my camera to get any pictures. I was a recreation leader and Evan was in the 3 year old class. He had lots of fun. I also had fun playing games with all of the preschool age kids!! Lillie was there as well but in the nursery with all of her friends. She also got her cast off on Thursday. She did so good and everything is healed. The ladies in the office all commented on how well she did with the cutting of the cast. She really didn't cry although she tried so hard to get those fake ones out!!! And yes we kept the cast!

A Bloggy Makeover!

2008-07-08T15:38:00.002-05:00

Well I finally gave my blog a little makeover!!! It is something I have been saying I was going to do for forever now. Special thanks to my friend Melissa how taught me how to change everything so I could break away from my boring old blog!! I am still wanting to work on a new header but will get to that later.