Schouest Party of Six

What we know...

2012-01-12T18:12:00.001-05:00

We got some SHOCKING news today! Ethan came to us last night after using the restroom and said that something strange happened to his pee. First it was yellow, then orange, then red. Peyton and I didn't know what to do right then so we told him not to flush the toilet the next time he went. He did go again and called Peyton in to look. He came out and said that we needed to get him to the hospital. Rather than hastily going to the ER, he got on the computer and did a little "research". It was sounding like a urinary tract infection (UTI). According to the internet, it's not life-threatening so we opted to make him an appointment for today. Peyton took him in this morning and they asked for a urine sample, which Ethan gave and they determined it was definitely a UTI. They also drew some blood. Because of the amount of blood in his sample they sent him to Summerville Medical Center to have a renal ultrasound to check his kidney function. On the way to that appointment Ethan threw up in the truck. So needless to say, had nothing in his system for an accurate ultrasound of his bladder. They did however get a good look at his kidneys. In fact, we found out today that he has only ONE kidney. His right, and it is enlarged, which is common for those with only one. The hospital then sent him back to our primary care doctor where the girls and I met them to talk with the doctor about where to go from here.

What we know: It looks like only one enlarged kidney. There is a possibility that he has the other but that it is not in the "right" spot. As of now, they're saying just one though.
His blood work came back that he has normal kidney function but is slightly anemic.
He is on antibiotics for the UTI.
We have a follow-up urinalysis on Monday and they're sending the sample from today to run a culture.
We have an appointment with a urologist at MUSC on Wednesday. After that appointment we'll definitely know more.

Please pray that Ethan doesn't get worse and that the antibiotic does it's job and knocks out the infection. He's only complaining of mild back pain and a queasy stomach. He says it doesn't hurt to urinate, which is great!!

I had numerous ultrasounds while I was pregnant and apparently never drew suspicion of him missing a kidney. Ethan was also hospitalized for 5 days when he was 5 weeks old and they never found anything then either. While I'm glad that we found out, it's just still such new news that we can't do anything but pray that everything else is normal and that Ethan will lead a normal life with one functioning kidney. The doctor today said that we'll monitor him closely from this point out.

Simplify

2012-01-05T09:18:00.000-05:00

Every year I read the blogs that say "pick a word for the year". I've never really given it much thought until this year. Those of you who know me, know that I hold on to everything that I've ever been given. My own mother even told me that she thinks I'm a hoarder. I completely agree!! I've done a little psychology on myself and think that it stems from moving so often. It didn't matter where we were, I could still surround myself with familiar "things" even when I was surrounded by the unfamiliar. It doesn't make it ok though. Peyton and I vowed together to simplify things in our house. Simplify everything from the amount of toys the kids have, to dinner preparations, to our finances. I can't even begin to tell you the weight I feel I've lost just from the thought process. It's almost like I'm living in a computer simulated sense. I can walk into a room and see it as it will be once we go through all of the drawers and cabinets and bins and closets. My system needs a bit of tweaking, but with Peyton and the kids agreeing to be on this journey with me, I'm hoping to see some real progress by the end of January!! Please pray for me! I know that I will fight with myself about letting some things go, but I need to concentrate on the end product; a simplified, well balanced home. I'll try to post photos of my progress. Maybe not the before pictures(yikes), but definitely the during and after pictures!! The room I've chosen first is Riley and Caroline's. We're almost done with organizing the toys that they're keeping and have a nice donation bin started. I've rearranged their furniture and downsized from 2 twins to a daybed and mattress underneath. They now have so much room to play! Now to just keep telling myself to keep up the good work!

What I thought was bad timing

2011-04-20T08:50:00.000-04:00

I'm gonna get a little personal with you here so bear with me. A year ago I had an appointment with my GYN. I had my IUD taken out the previous August because I kept getting ovarian cysts that would develop and rupture every six weeks like clock work. We were hoping that by getting that out of my system that my hormones would regulate themselves and the cysts would stop. Well, that wasn't the case. I went to the doctor in hopes that the cyst I currently had had shrunk. Again, not the case. I was given an ultimatum by my PA; either go back on low estrogen birth control pills or have my ovaries removed. Not wanting to be on hormone replacement before I even turned 30, pills were my only option. She gave me some samples and told me to start taking them the Sunday of my next cycle. I remember being so heartbroken. We were unofficially trying to have another baby. We'd never "tried" before. The other 3 were all complete surprises and I was getting very disheartened that I wasn't pregnant already. I went to see a friend after my appointment and broke down. I remember telling her "how badly is God trying to knock in my head that it's not time to have a baby, birth control or lose my ovaries, neither one of these says it's the ideal time to have a baby." She consoled me and told me that it must not be the right time. I resolved myself to believe that. In God's timing. He knows what's best and right no matter how badly we might want something right now. I started to accept the fact that we might never have a 4th child and I was ok with that after a week or so. Peyton wasn't quite sure how to console me, but also just accepted it for what it was, bad timing.

I had been tracking my cycle ever since I had the IUD removed and it was coming up on my next cycle being due 16 days after my appointment. On day 14, which happened to be a Thursday, I opened up a drawer in my bathroom and found a couple of pregnancy tests. Just for kicks, I took one, thinking that if I was pregnant by some crazy chance that it would show up now. I wasn't expecting for the little pink line to register as quickly as it did. I just stared at it in complete astonishment!!

I walked into Peyton's office holding it. He was on a conference call and I just held it up and he whispered, "is it positive?" I nodded yes and then broke down in tears and left the room. He probably thought I'd lost my mind. After he was off the call he came into our bedroom and asked me if I was ok. I told him I was beyond happy, but wasn't expecting it to be positive. I wasn't expecting to get pregnant again, I wasn't expecting to be expecting! I started thinking at that point that it was God's timing, but I think he wanted me to want it bad enough, but be willing to accept that it might not happen. That 14 days of thinking it wouldn't happen really set me up for being completely ready and more excited just because I wasn't expecting it. I guess it was God's way of telling me that it didn't matter how hard I tried, He was in control. So baby number 4 was also a surprise, just like the other 3.

And just in case I was a little slow and needed it spelled out for me, I took another test the next day.

What a difference a year makes!!

2011-03-01T13:44:00.000-05:00

You wouldn't think that too much could happen in one year! But, as I'm sitting here at my computer with a 2 month old baby girl sleeping on my chest, it just goes to show how much it can! Scarlett Adelyn is the most precious gift that we received in 2010. But her story will have to be a whole post in itself. She is truly a gift from God brought to fruition through lots of prayer! As far as updating on the rest of life up until I found out I was pregnant there wasn't too much going on. We just celebrated Riley's 6th birthday and were gearing up for Ethan's 7th birthday. The kids think it's funny and cool that they're the same age for 2 weeks. They like throwing people off when they ask how old they are and they both say the same age. Then the person comes back with "so you're twins" and they giggle and say "nope", which gets some really confused looks. Then I get to explain that they're Irish Twins, born within a year of each other, which gets another look of its own. And yes, I know how babies are made! ;)

I was into a pretty regular class schedule with teaching at Scrappin' Happily Ever After. If you're friends with me on Facebook or follow my crafty blog you got to see the class projects. I also joined "the club", the Cricut Expression Owner's club that is. Can't pass up a good deal on HSN!

I attended my first coupon workshop thanks to K'Cee Lee. I still have yet to really get into it, even with every intention, it's just not happening. I think I need a refresher course.

I was and still am dealing with migraines and vertigo, which reminds me, I need to schedule a follow-up with my neurologist. Ha!

Peyton and I started doing P90x together. Well, that lasted all of about 2 months. Peyton did it a little bit longer, but then took a break until, well, he's still on break. Love you baby!!

We bought season tickets to Disney World and actually got to go 3 times. We're hoping to plan one last hurrah before our passes expire. Disney is our favorite family place. When we're there we just feel so connected as a family, no schedule, no obligations, just pure fun!

That pretty much brings us up to May. I know this post is all over the place and hopefully I don't let the blog go this long again without an update. Coming up next, our road to Scarlett.

And now for some photos of the aforementioned events. LOL

Making it a Home!

2010-02-28T10:55:00.002-05:00

We're getting close to the 2 year mark in our home in Summerville. We're really starting to make it our own and getting some color and texture up. Here are a few before and afters of the new painting job that Peyton did in the kitchen. He did an awesome job and we've already had so many compliments on it! Peyton's getting much better at seeing what I see and helping me get the look I want.

The China Cabinet used to just blend in to the cream walls, now it stands out!

I've always wanted to be a teacher

2010-01-21T14:05:00.000-05:00

Ever since I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher. I used to play school with Jeff and Lindsey and make them learn to spell ridiculously long words like encyclopedia. I never thought about the fact that there are so many different types of teachers. I never thought that one day I'd actually be a teacher. Being a mom doesn't count, you automatically become a teacher when you become a mom. I never thought I'd be teaching others, especially something so near and dear to my heart. I posted a while ago about the best job in the world, but I know now that I have the best job in the world. Being able to share a little of my creativity with other people is so much fun and rewarding for me.

New PJ's!

2009-12-24T21:18:00.000-05:00

One of our traditions is to open one gift on Christmas Eve. The kids cracked me up tonight wondering what it was when it's always the same thing, New Pajamas! They were all so excited though which was definitely a good thing! We laid out cookies and milk for Santa, and another plate of cookies for the elves that come and prep for Santa. I thank the new movie Prep and Landing for that one, but hey, what's one more plate of cookies? ;) We read The Night Before Christmas and then I gave each of the kids a handful of oats to go sprinkle on the yard to draw Santa's reindeer to the house. They had a blast with that, although Riley told me that it needed to have glitter in it so that they can see it, I told her that that probably won't taste very good and that the smell of the oats will do it's job to get the reindeer to our house. They're all tucked in now and should be sleeping here shortly and I'm off to bed myself. Merry Christmas!

Gearing up for Christmas!

2009-12-24T19:52:00.000-05:00

Peyton's got the kids in the bath and I'm downstairs finalizing Christmas Eve preparations. The kids will be down shortly to open their one gift, pajamas. They'll put out milk and cookies for Santa, we'll go out and spread the Reindeer Food and then curl up together and read the Christmas Story and The Night Before Christmas. Tomorrow I'll upload pictures of everything. Merry Christmas Eve!

Riley's Gingerbread girl

2009-12-06T20:41:00.003-05:00

Riley brought home a naked gingerbread person that she had to decorate and of course she wanted it covered in pink and purple. I think it turned out really cute!

New Job!

2009-12-02T09:18:00.004-05:00

Not exactly, but I start teaching at my LSS (local scrapbook store) on Sunday, December 6th. I'm so excited! Ivy over at Scrappin' Happily Ever After did a nice write-up of me and my class. Click here to check it out.

Let's play a little game of catch up!

2009-11-19T15:34:00.007-05:00

Little Miss Caroline turned 3, but if you ask her how old she is she'll tell you 14.
I only got a handful of pictures of her on her birthday, the rest are videos.
Sorry about that!

Also, I have no idea why my words are underlined now. Still trying to figure out blogger on my new iMac. It's not the same as my HP laptop.

We celebrated Halloween just 2 days after Caroline's Birthday.

The kids' October craft was making these cute little ghosts to hang from the tree in the front yard. We made them with foam balls, a white plastic table cloth and some fishing line.

Caroline was a "titty tat"! LOL

Riley was a spooky witch!

and Ethan was Luke Skywalker

I know it's not a lot, but I had to get something on here. I'm hoping to start updating at least weekly again. See you soon!

Locks of Love!

2009-10-01T20:01:00.007-04:00

Riley decided that she wanted a haircut. Her first real haircut did take off about 6 inches, but this time she wanted something different. So we decided to go short and to donate it to Locks of Love. After showing her what to expect by finding some info online, she thought it was a good idea.

11 inches of hair!

Always being crazy!

Before

After

Car Conversation

2009-09-12T20:19:00.003-04:00

Riley: Mama, how do you spell piffle?

Me: Piffle is not a word.

Riley: yes it is

Me: Do you mean pickle?

Riley: No

Me: Can you use it in a sentence?

Riley: What does that mean?

Me: For example, I put a pickle on my hamburger.

Riley: Oh, ok. HOW DO YOU SPELL PIFFLE?

Crazy kid?!?!?!

Brickyard Craft and Vendor Fair

2009-07-16T08:50:00.002-04:00

I'm doing my first craft fair on Saturday. I'm excited and a little nervous. I don't have a huge amount of items to sell, but I'm going with what I have. I'm not breaking my back making things and chancing them not selling. I'm hoping to book some workshops and get some orders at the show. We'll see. I've been going round and round about keeping my demonstratorship. I think I've been thinking too hard. I'm not working it as hard as I can or should, so here's to hoping that Saturday brings me some more customers. Wish me luck!

The Strawberry Patch

2009-04-22T08:13:00.004-04:00

Peyton and I saw a painted wooden sign that said "Strawberry Patch" on the way to our favorite Mexican Restaurant. We thought it would be fun to take the kids and let them pick strawberries. After we went to Frankie's Fun Park during Spring Break, we went straight to the patch. Caroline fell asleep, so for the first part of picking I was holding her while trying to take pictures of everybody else.

They got right to it, they were old pros!

Show me whatcha got! (and try not to look at the camera:)

Ethan started with this little basket

then upgraded to the bigger one because "it holds more!"

Look how huge this one is!

Caroline woke up and got right to work. I asked her to show me what she had and she took a huge bite and said "my bite".

I think we ended up with about 20 pounds of strawberries. We filled up 4 of those baskets full!

They keep asking me when we're going back to pick strawberries. That might have to be on the agend for this weekend.

Frankie's Fun Park

2009-04-20T10:39:00.012-04:00

The Friday of Ethan's Spring Break we took a trip to Frankie's Fun Park. We didn't do much over Spring Break so I wanted to make sure we did something memorable. There is so much to do there. We started with lunch and then hit the park. The first thing the kids wanted to do was go on the big slide. Ethan took his time going up, you can see through the steps, but he made it up no problem. Peyton had to go down with Caroline.

Ready, Set, Slide!

Next, it was off to play Putt Putt. I thought it would be funny if Ethan stuck his head in the alligator's mouth for a picture. Caroline wasn't sure what he was doing and had to check it out for herself.

This was Caroline's first time playing and Peyton was giving her a crash course in putting and proper form :) She drug her putter around the course until she got tired of it, then I got to carry it.

It was such a pretty course and there were lots of places for photo ops.

Ethan and Riley were old pros! I love Riley's hand on hip pose! She's so prissy!

Here they are under the waterfall. I couldn't get Caroline to cooperate for most of the pictures. Oh well!

Ethan accidentally hit his ball in the water and Caroline thought that was really cool, so she did it on purpose. Peyton was able to save it the first time, but when she hit it in the pond, it was a lost cause. Note to self: grab a few extra balls next time!

Off to the bumper boats. Ethan drove a boat by himself and Riley rode with Peyton. Caroline didn't get to ride and it broke her heart. Life's just not fair when you're a tiny little thing! She cried the whole time they were out there.

Everybody got pretty wet. Their boats bumped and Peyton's tipped forward and water splashed up in the boat. He got pretty wet. Ethan's behind was soaked! Both kids agreed "that was sooooo much fun!"

Next was the go carts. Caroline was still upset about the boat incident and wanted a drink, so Peyton took her inside to get something and left me with Ethan and Riley. Here's Ethan getting ready to drive. Poor baby has short legs and had to have a booster put behind him so he could reach the pedals. He was so excited to drive by himself.

Riley was equally as excited, at first! She was a little apprehensive in this picture.

And they're off!

This is one of the only pictures I got of them at the same time. I think this was Ethan's third go round. Still Riley's first! She was going so slow, she would press on the gas and then just coast, and then press the gas and coast. Ethan was constantly looking beside himself, not in front and bumped her.

Speed Demon!

Slow Poke!

She's had enough at this point. She started crying really LOUD! She drove to one end of the track and just stopped. The guy had to go out and bring her in. When she got to me I asked her why she was crying. She said she was going too fast. I couldn't help but laugh!

I think we managed to pack a week's worth of fun into 3 hours. The kids had a blast for the most part. But it wouldn't be a day out with my family without some drama. They can't wait to go back.

Stavros Flatley

2009-04-17T10:30:00.002-04:00

You may have seen the youtube video of web sensation Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent. While watching her video I noticed a couple of other videos from the show. I was quite intrigued by one titled "Stavros Flatley-Dancers". When I think of Flatley of course my mind goes to Michael Flatley from Riverdance. I LOVE RIVERDANCE! I went to see it with Carrie and Aunt Janet in Denver. I was filling out my Top Fives of live concerts on Facebook last night and asked Peyton if I could count Riverdance as a Live Band Concert I've attended and he said a very emphatic "NO!". Oh well! So all that to say that I clicked on the video and since embedding from youtube has been disabled for this video here's the link. I won't say anything else except that you should go check it out. And as one of the judges said, "that came completely out of left field" I loved it!

A thought from Peyton

2009-04-16T09:04:00.003-04:00

Some of you may know that I've been thinking that I want another baby. 4 will make it even, one child on each hand for me and Peyton. But, Peyton gave me a little perspective the other day with his deep insight into our children. Ethan was the perfect child, still is for the most part. He would wait in his bed for us to come get him in the morning, even when he was in his big boy bed. Sweet boy! The worst thing that he ever got into was he used to pull all of my tupperware off of the baker's rack and play with it, but he stacked it or lined it up, and if asked, he would put it all away, starting at 9 months. At Jenny and Papa's house, he liked to unload their spice cabinet and line up all the spices in the kitchen floor. He got hold of a pen and wrote all over himself when he was 1, but I blame that on Peyton for not watching him;) The only other thing that he did was he scraped out a whole pack of watercolor wonder fingerpaints and wiped it all over himself. That stuff is like Vaseline if you're not familiar with it. I had to pull out the Dawn to get it completely off of him. But that's it. Riley came along and got into a little more than Ethan did. She got into my lipstick and put it all over her face and then painted her clothes with it. Whenever she found a pen, crayon, pencil, anything that she could write with, she did, all over the walls. She once held a crayon to the wall while she walked down the stairs, ALL THE WAY DOWN the stairs. We were in Colorado for Easter in 2007 and I scheduled the kids to get their Easter pictures taken and she cut her bangs all the way up to her hairline the night before. She said she didn't want bangs anymore. I had to explain to her that you have to grow them out, you don't cut them off. She took all of her curlies out of the very organized containers in her bathroom closet and put them on all of her stuffed animals and Barbies. I'm not very organized, but this was a low blow, it was about the only thing in the house I had organized when we first moved in. I'm still finding them and this was 6 months ago. And then came Caroline. Our tiny child. At 2 1/2 she's the size of an 18 month old, but she's a little pistol. I call her my little menace. She doesn't just mess with things in plain sight, she goes looking for trouble. Refer to this post or this post. Peyton blames Jon & Kate Plus 8 for the chocolate baby. She loves that show, and there was an episode where they painted themselves with pudding. Just last week she pushed a stool over the counter and opened the sugar canister, then got a spoon out of the drawer and scooped sugar all over the counter and into every dish and item on the counter. Yesterday, she found Ethan's chocolate bunny from Easter, and after being told she couldn't have it, managed to get the box open and eat half of it, well, 1/4 of it was melted in her hands and smeared all over her face before I caught her (sue me for taking a shower). I bring up another baby occasionally to Peyton and he came back with "every child we have gets progressively worse, do you really want to chance that?" So true! Then last weekend he asks me, "Do you think if we just keep having kids that we'll get our own TV show?" LOL! Probably not, we'd have to have multiples or more than 18, those families already have shows. But, maybe if we move into a tent and completely sustain ourselves from the ocean we might get our own show!

A great new resource!

2009-04-15T09:25:00.003-04:00

I was reading through one of the blogs I follow this morning and she had a link to a website called Productive Parenting. I couldn't help but check it out. I set up an account on the spot. They give you a daily (if you choose daily) activity to try with your child(ren). It's recommended for children up to age 5, so really Caroline is the only one to fall into this category, but I know Riley will enjoy the activities too. I try to do some activities with the kids every day, but sometimes it's nice to have them planned for you.

Try It Tuesday

2009-04-14T09:25:00.004-04:00

I really need to update my blog more often! This week's try it is not something that I've tried personally, it's something that Peyton did. And it's not really a Try It, it's more poking fun at him, but he's so cute and resourceful! He let his Dad borrow his safety goggles while they were cutting wood for our built-ins in the kitchen (picture to come). Since he loaned his glasses he threw on his Snow Goggles. They're not just for snowboarding people, they are all around eye protection!

So cute! His "just kill me now" face! I believe his exact words were, "just take the picture already woman!". LOL

Paw Paw Marvin, measuring twice, cutting once, or at least that's what's supposed to happen! Thanks for helping with our projects!

Try It Tuesday

2009-04-07T10:29:00.005-04:00

This week's feature is my favorite vacuum, the Dyson. I have 2 Dyson Vacuums. One upstairs and one downstairs. Upstairs I have the Animal DC17. It works great on carpets and bare floors. We have 4 bedrooms, a loft, and 3 bathrooms upstairs and this one covers it all. I have the DC25 Ball downstairs. I only have 2 rooms with carpet downstairs and everything else is wood and a tiled bathroom. This vacuum is great for bare floors. I've had vacuums that just spit stuff out the side, but this one doesn't do that. It sucks everything up in one pass. Trust me, it sucked up baking soda that Caroline "sprinkled", rather Dumped all over the kitchen. You're probably wondering why someone would need 2 vacuums cleaners. Well, when we had the movers come to our house in Lugoff, Peyton didn't have them load the vacuum cleaner (we only had the Animal at the time) and instead he took it to my friend Cynthia's to store with our household cleaners in her garage until we moved into the new house in Summerville. Well, we're at the new house and if you've ever had new carpet, you know it sheds, so I told Peyton that I'm glad our vacuum was coming with the movers. That's when he told me he took it to Cynthia's. He claimed he told me, but I don't recall him telling me or we would have picked it up before we moved in. So I told him that now we'll just have to go buy a new one. I believe my exact words were "it sure would be nice to have 2 vacuums so I don't have to lug this one up and down the stairs." He agreed and now we have 2.

Animal DC17 DC25 Ball

Sick, Sick, Sick

2009-04-03T08:51:00.002-04:00

That's what's been going on around my house for going on 3 weeks. Someone has been sick nonstop. Only now, it's me! Allergies are rampant right now. My ENT doctor said that Oak pollen is drifting around and that most people's allergies stem from that. YUCK! On top of having allergy issues, I've had nonstop headaches. Migraines if you will, just not severe enough to keep me in bed. Haven't had one of those in almost 3 months. Spring Break officially starts at 2:10 today. We're going on a Stay-cation. Staying home, but getting out to explore our own town. I'm hoping to take the kids to the aquarium, maybe to the beach if it's not too cold. No water play, but I'll bring all the sand toys. There's a lot to do in the Charleston area, it's just up to seeing how brave I am about taking the kids by myself. We haven't been to the Children's Museum yet, so that's probably going to hit the list too. For now, have a good one, I'm going to take some Claritin!

Happy Birthday Granddad!

2009-03-25T08:41:00.003-04:00

Me, Peyton and the kids want to send out special birthday wishes to Granddad!

Try It Tuesday

2009-03-23T20:23:00.003-04:00

I'm going to start something that I'm calling Try It Tuesday. Any of you that know me know that I love gadgets and I'm a sucker for infomercials. I'm going to start posting my likes and dislikes on Tuesdays. I'm not saying that I'm going to buy something new to try every week, I'll post some of my oldies but goodies (or baddies, if that's even a word). I'm going to start this with something that I did buy in the "as seen on tv" section at Target last week. All I have to say, Smooth Away(ste) of money! You've probably seen the smooth away thing on tv. All you do is rub it on your skin and voila, instantly smooth skin. This was definitely not the case with my first (and last) go with the smooth away pads. I'm probably giving you TMI (too much information) but I have coarse, dark hair and you're supposed to rub it 3 times in a circle clockwise and then 3 times counter clockwise in the same area until all the hair has been removed. If I had kept this up I would have rubbed the top layer of epidermis right off my legs. I only did it 6 times total and felt like I had razor burn, I'd rather shave. Which is where I'm headed next. I've found the best recipe for super smooth shaved legs. I use an exfoliator first (I use St. Ives Apricot scrub) and rub it into your legs (even works on your underarms) then rinse. Instead of shaving cream I use Caress Daily Silk body wash. (I gave up shaving cream years ago. It gave me worse razor burn and nicks than just using soap.) If you have any sure fire tips or tricks or want me to try something that you're not brave enough to try yet, let me know.

7 Years Ago!

2009-03-07T11:36:00.004-05:00

7 Years ago today I met the man of my dreams at the Atlanta Airport. Peyton and I were on the same flight from Denver to Atlanta. I noticed him before we left, he was wearing brown cargo pants and a navy blue T-Shirt. The thing that I noticed the most was the ginormous computer book he was holding. I didn't see where he was sitting on the plane and didn't really think anything else about him. Our flight was late taking off because they had to de-ice the wings. That put us getting into Atlanta late. When I got off the plane I headed straight for the tram to get to another concourse and hope that I didn't miss my connecting flight. When I got to the tram he was waiting too. I approached him and asked him where he was headed? He said Columbus. I told him that's where I was headed too. Only he was going to Columbus, Georgia and me, Columbus, Mississippi. We started talking on the tram and realized we were both from Denver. We were about to get off of the tram and he asked if he could call me after he got back from skydiving in Florida. I gave him my business card and said sure. I honestly didn't think I'd ever hear from him again. Well, we know how the story ends and here I am 7 years later thinking about the day that we met and I'm so grateful that he called me. I'd always told Lindsey that I wanted to have a story to tell about how I met my husband. I definitely have that! I love you Peyton!

Happy 6th Birthday Ethan!

2009-03-03T18:48:00.006-05:00

You will always be my baby boy! Even though you're 6 years old now, you'll always be my baby! I can't believe how fast it's gone by. I've always been told to relish each moment because it goes by fast, but I didn't realize it would go by this fast!
You came into this world on March 4, 2003 at 10:07 AM weighing 7 lbs 3 oz and 20 1/2 inches long.

My sweet little newborn baby boy in your coming home outfit!

My 2 guys. You came out looking just like your Daddy and look more and more like him everyday.

Here you are at 2. You were so obsessed with your paci. You were rarely without it and sometimes had one in your mouth and one in your hand.

3 years old and eating ice cream cake!
Your 4th birthday and your first set of legos. You've come to love playing with them now!

5 years old!

Here you are today! 6 years old. It's hard to believe. You were so excited to get to school because you get to wear the birthday hat today. We picked out some cupcakes for your class and brought them in this morning and I hope that you and your classmates enjoy them. You're such a sweet boy and I can't wait to see how you grow over the next 6 years! I love you buddy.

Happy 5th Birthday Riley Mae!

2009-02-19T10:08:00.010-05:00

I can't believe that you're 5 today!! Time really flies. Here are a few pictures of you from your previous birthdays. You've changed so much and have become quite a nice young lady. Just don't grow up too fast. Daddy and I love you very much!

On February 19, 2004, we welcomed Riley Mae into the world at 3:25 AM. I went to the hospital at 11:30 on Feb.18th, thinking that my water broke only to find out that my contractions were 1 1/2 minutes apart. You were ready for us to meet you 10 days early. Your due date was Leap Day, Feb. 29. You came into this world at 7 lbs 4 oz, 20.5 inches long, and a head full of red hair.

Here you are at 1. You were quite the pudge! You were enamored with anything you could dump out or get into, notice the items on the floor in my bathroom, a-hem.

Here you are at 2. I have some pretty good pictures of you completely covering your clothes in red lipstick, coloring on the walls and still getting into everything.

We always knew you were destined to be a princess. You definitely played the part at your 3rd birthday party. You realized that your favorite color was in fact pink and that you only liked to wear dresses. Some things never change I guess!

At 4 you were definitely embracing your "character" side. You crack us up with the stories you tell. You've got quite an imagination at this point too! Another thing that has just grown even more as you're growing.

My big 5 year old! Here's what we've learned so far. You're favorite color is still pink, you still love to wear dresses and you still get into everything. I can't wait to see what else this year holds! I love you!

It's all in my head

2009-02-13T10:03:00.002-05:00

The answer to the staining on Caroline's hands is this. I went to the doctor yesterday and found out that I have vertigo. I'm glad that it's something, but now I have to go to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to have my crystals reset. I didn't know we had crystals in our heads, but from what I understand they're what keep us steady and keeps our equilibrium, well, equal I guess. Balanced would be a better word. Peyton had to drive me to my appointment and on the way there he was telling me that I didn't have any issues when we got married. He didn't know he was "getting a defective model". HA HA!

I knew that I never liked cleaning house, but after cleaning anything for the past year everytime I cleaned, I ended up so nauseous that it was awful. The vertigo explains that too. Fun Fun, I guess I have no excuse for not keeping the house clean now. I'm already impressed with the medicine, I cleaned the living room ceiling to floor and no signs of nausea and dizziness. It's a miracle little blue pill. Well, now on to tackle the kitchen, my least favorite room to clean in the house, I'd rather clean bathrooms than the kitchen.

Can you guess?

2009-02-04T16:39:00.003-05:00

Can you guess what a 2 year old can get into that stains her hands like this? It's probably not what you're thinking.

Here she is admiring her handiwork. It took a lot of soap and water over 2 days to finally come off. She's such a mess!

Terrific Kid

2009-02-01T19:32:00.003-05:00

Here's my Terrific Kid. Ethan was chosen as the Terrific Kid of the Month for January by his teacher. We went to the award ceremony on Monday at his school. The month's award was for a child that exhibited self control in class. For Ethan to get this award was a huge step in the right direction. He had a tough time adjusting at the beginning of the school year. Ethan doesn't do well with change and moving and changing schools took its toll on him. But since then he's really thriving in school and doing very well. He's as smart as a whip and continues to amaze me with the things he's doing now. He's writing complete sentences and already has spelling tests and has aced them all so far. I've been working with Ethan and Riley to learn our phone number and address. One day Ethan was reciting it to me and then added, "wouldn't it be silly if I thought our phone number was" and started spouting out numbers. I didn't think anything of it until I realized that the numbers sounded familiar. He had recited our phone number backwards. What kid does that, especially at 5. I thought I'd test him a little further and asked him to spell his and Riley's names backwards and he spelled them almost as fast backwards as forward. I think we have a gifted child on our hands, but then again I'm a little biased.
As a reward, Peyton took him to pick out something, of course he picked out a video game, and a cooking one at that, and we let him pick where we went for dinner on Friday night. His first choice was Chuck E. Cheese. We had to turn him down on that one, we don't venture to Chuck E. Cheese on a weekend night, it's pretty crazy. His next choice was McDonald's and he wanted to go inside. I was quite surprised at our Mickey D's. Their indoor playground was cleaner and more convenient than Chick-fil-A. I prefer Chick-fil-A's food, but the kids loved the playground.
He was so proud! So were we!Me and my Terrific Kid

And Daddy

And Ethan and his Terrific Sisters, he might not agree with me on this one.

We're so proud of you buddy, keep up the good work!

Riley's first "Real" Haircut

2009-01-30T15:26:00.003-05:00

Before

After She didn't want to get her hair cut at first but then she was very excited that I was taking her to the salon where I get my hair cut. She thought she was hot stuff.

Trying to get her to sit still was a feat, the clip kept sliding out when she moved her head.
Here's her Cousin It style.

Seeing her new do for the first time, I just missed the giant smile across her face when she looked in the mirror. This was her wow face. Right after this she looked at me and said "I love it!"

Look at that smile! She was apprehensive about getting her hair cut, but then she said she was so happy about her new hair. I was a little sad that all of her curls were cut off, but I guess that's part of growing up.

You can see some of her hair on the floor, I have 2 little baggies of her curls.

I think I'll be back for the instant exfoliation at my next appointment.

Aquarium

2009-01-11T21:06:00.003-05:00

This is about as close at it gets to a professional family picture for us. We went to the South Carolina Aquarium in Downtown Charleston today. We have a season pass and usually don't stop for the picture, but I just got my hair cut yesterday and we haven't taken a family picture yet this year, so, what the heck, let's do it. We had a really good time, we always see something new every time we go. Ethan was especially funny. We went into one area and he exclaimed "LOOK FISHIES". I had to remind him, "yes honey, we're at the aquarium." We stopped for a snack at the Sea Turtle cafe and a guy came out holding a baby alligator. The kids got to pet him. I took pictures, but I'll have to post those tomorrow. Riley told us about a new field of work she wants to enter when she grows up. She wants to be a toy giver-outer at the museum. Where she got the museum idea from, I have no idea. So, it was a good day and really relaxed. We should really go more often than we do.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T19:33:00.006-05:00

This is what we did last night!! We went to an early dinner at Carraba's to beat the rush and then got home just in time for Peyton to park it in front of the TV to watch LSU play Georgia Tech in the Chick-fil-A bowl. Ethan was on the computer watching videos, so the girls and I decided to take some pictures. Riley took a few and then I took a few and then the girls wanted a photo shoot of themselves. We had fun!Caroline wanted me to take a picture of her hand,and then her armand her mouth. She's such a goof, she keeps us on our toes!Then she wanted a picture of her ball and the side of her head. I told her to smile and this is the face we got. Riley wanted everyone to see how long her hair has gotten, and Caroline had to get it on it too. Their hair has gotten so long. It's a daily battle with Riley with all the crying that goes along with having to brush long hair. I keep telling her that if she cries I'm going to cut it off myself, but then she boohoos even more because then she won't have hair as long as Rapunzel's. That's her goal. We'll see, I think that where it is right now is long enough.

Doodleberry Scrumptious

2008-12-30T17:37:00.004-05:00

Nice title huh!! This is what Ethan named his latest "dish". The kid cracks me up! He and Peyton were having a cookoff this afternoon and this was his creation. I was the judge. Unlike most kids, when Ethan gets on the computer, he doesn't go straight to games. About a month ago, he was on the computer and I heard a familiar voice coming from the speakers. It was Paula Deen!! He was watching videos of her cooking on foodnetwork.com. How he got there in the first place, I don't know. But every day, he gets on and watches different cooking shows. But I know Paula's his favorite, he said he wants to cook with her. So Paula, if you're reading this, wink wink!

Here are the ingredients (according to Ethan)

Tomatoes

Apples

Hot dog

Hot dog bun

French Fries

1 egg

Lettuce

2 sausages

Pasta

Garlic

Strawberries

Grapes

Smooshed Up Dead Bees

Yes you read that right. He said it so nonchalantly too, like it was a very common thing. He had me in stitches.

Here's a close-up of the smooshed up dead bees!

As the saying goes, Kids say the darndest things!

Merry Day after Christmas

2008-12-26T16:59:00.005-05:00

I tried all day yesterday to post a video from Christmas Eve. It won't upload. I'm going to have to edit it and then try to upload it again. So instead of a video, I'll post some pictures from our Christmas. I'll post the pictures of the presents that the kids picked out for me and Peyton later on. Today we haven't even gotten out of our pajamas. Just taking it easy and playing with new toys and games.

Merry Christmas Eve

2008-12-25T12:15:00.006-05:00

Here's a little snippet of our Christmas Eve. We let the kids get the cookies and milk for Santa and this year started a new tradition of leaving something out for his reindeer too. You'll want to scroll down to the bottom of the page and turn off the music first.

Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

I started this post yesterday, but it wasn't uploading because it was too big, so I had to reformat the video.

Giant Grizzly Bear

2008-12-17T19:20:00.003-05:00

"Maybe it's a giant grizzly bear scratching his back on our house."

This is how my day started out. Around 7:40 the house started shaking, so hard that after it settled the strings on the blinds were swinging. Riley came running into my room and asked what happened. I told her I thought it was an earthquake but didn't really think it was, and she came up with the above quote. The child has some serious imagination. I think she's watched Jungle Book one too many times. Turns out, it was a 3.6 magnitude earthquake. I didn't know we had earthquakes in South Carolina, but apparently it was on the same fault line of one that hit in 1886 at 7.3 that killed over 100 people. Now I have to check into earthquake insurance. It's crazy all the policies we need to carry to live here, we already have flood, because we need coverage IF a hurricane hits, and now we need earthquake, IF a bad earthquake hits. No wonder the insurance companies make so much money, they feed off of the what-if's in life. We even got On Star for my car for IF we have an accident and I can't get to my cell phone and of course car insurance for IF we get in a wreck, and then the additional coverage for IF the other driver doesn't have insurance. I really don't want to do the math on how much we're spending on the what-if's in life. I might pass out.

Caroline's Birthday Videos

2008-12-13T14:16:00.004-05:00

Here are 2 videos that I forgot I shot on Caroline's Birthday. I know that her birthday was in October, but you can hear how well she's starting to talk now, so I had to post them.

All Dolled Up

2008-12-11T08:31:00.002-05:00

Here's me and Sheena all dressed up and ready to go! This was taken at The Brown's before we headed to the Champagne Palace for Sheena and Lonnie's wedding. Aren't we pretty! I loved Sheena's dress. A little non-traditional with the red detailing, but it was very stunning and looked great with our black dresses. I love this color scheme. I loved our dresses too, you can't go wrong with black, in fact this was the 3rd wedding I was in where the bridesmaids wore black dresses, but I think this one has to be my favorite dress!! Congrats Sheena and Lonnie and many happy years of wedded bliss ;)

Stampin' Up! Retired List

2008-12-09T15:10:00.003-05:00

Stampin' Up! has just released the retired list for the current Fall-Winter Idea Book and Catalog. The retired stamp sets are 10% off until December 23 and there's FREE SHIPPING on orders of $70 or more. If you're interested head over to my other blog, http://www.stampwithbethany.blogspot.com/ for more details.

Dinner Conversation

2008-12-05T18:36:00.002-05:00

I don't usually post twice in the same day, but tonight I'll make an exception. We're sitting at the table having dinner (spaghetti) and Peyton is looking at a magazine, I think it's called Game Informer. Ethan gets finished eating and goes over by Peyton to look at the magazine with him. The conversation begins.

Ethan: what's that game
Peyton: it's for the Wii
Me: Do you want Santa to bring it to you for Christmas?
Ethan: No
Me: Ok then, what game is it?
Peyton: Mini Golf
Me: I want Santa to bring that to me for Christmas

Ethan: I like that game (pointing to a shoot-em up army type game)
Peyton: You like those games, do you want to be a soldier when you grow up?
Ethan: NOOOOO (saying it silly)
Peyton: Good
Me: Daddy used to be a soldier
Ethan: No he didn't
Me: Yes he did, I have pictures of Daddy holding you in his uniform
Ethan: Daddy was a unicorn?!?!

Me & Spencer

2008-12-05T15:06:00.003-05:00

Isn't he just the cutest. Here I am with little Spencer (Lindsey's son) at my cousin Sheena's wedding in New Orleans in October. She just uploaded these pics to her myspace and I stole this one to post here. He's such a drool bucket, you pass off the cloth diaper when you pass off the baby. I think I look pretty nice here too! He's a really good dancer too, he didn't care that I led.

We second-lined together. I honestly don't know if I spelled that right, but it's where the bride carries an umbrella/parisol and everyone follows the couple around waving a handkerchief, or as at Sheena's wedding, a cloth diaper. Hey, you gotta work with what you have. For those of you who still have no idea what I'm trying to describe, it's kinda like follow the leader or the conga, only without touching.

Happy Birthday!

2008-12-01T15:14:00.002-05:00

So, yesterday was Peyton's birthday. I didn't have a chance to post anything yesterday, we had a fun-filled day. Peyton and the kids got up and he fed them and played with them and let me sleep until 10:30, on his birthday! We got the kids dressed and headed out for the day. First was lunch, Peyton picked Logan's. Then off to the movies, Madagascar 2. The older kids loved it, Caroline had more fun walking up and down the aisle, hanging on the chairs in front of us, and spilling skittles all over the floor. She wanted to sit in a chair all by herself, so I put her in it and she got stuck when it folded on her. She was YELLING, "I tuck, I tuck" It was pretty funny. She figured out how to get it to fold back down and then it became a baby ab lounge, fold, open, fold, open. I think she worked out her abs pretty good. After the movie, Peyton and Ethan were heading to get their hair cut and the girls and I headed to Target, for the 3rd time since Thanksgiving. I always manage to forget a major item and then we have to keep going back, the time before this was diapers and wipes. Kinda important stuff. So the line at Sport Clips was way long, so Ethan and Peyton joined us at Target where we picked out slippers for us and stuff for the dog, and still managed not to forget what we went for. Thank goodness!! We came home, unloaded the truck and then settled in to watch America's Funniest Videos, or as the kids call it, "the funny show". They look forward to that show every week. We put the kids to bed and then settled in our bed to watch the Sunday night lineup. (BTW, I hate how 60 minutes keeps running into the Amazing Race and then all the shows are 30 minutes behind. UGH!) Amazing Race, Cold Case and Peyton's favorite show The Unit! Pretty packed day, but really fun!
Happy 34th Birthday Baby!! I love you!

A Rite of Passage

2008-11-24T11:22:00.006-05:00

I guess it's just something kids do. At least my kids. Caroline has gotten so pen and crayon happy, there's not a room in the house that hasn't been drawn on. Literally every room has some of Caroline's "art". I thought it was kinda funny when I was looking through pictures the other day, that every one of my kids has colored on themselves. I don't remember Ethan coloring on the walls, but he definitely colored on himself, with black pen. Peyton was supposed to be watching him!

Riley drew on walls, as well as herself. She held a crayon to the wall while she was walking down the stairs in our old house, that was a pretty picture. Here, she colored on her nose with a green and purple marker. This was the best picture I got of her. She was ashamed that she did it after I caught her, and she was covering her nose for most of the pictures.

Caroline is our resident artist right now. She loves to color on herself. I don't know why. I guess for her it's because she knows she's not supposed to, and she loves to do everything she knows she's not supposed to do. She's really testing us right now. I love how she put on her pouty face for this picture. She was smiling until I pulled out the camera and then she put on that face. She always keeps us laughing, even when we should be stern.

Halloween

2008-11-01T07:13:00.006-04:00

Warning- Lots of pictures ahead

Here are the kiddos in their Halloween Clothes, they didn't cooperate very well for pictures today. Caroline kept looking away from the camera, so I asked her where her pretty face was, this was her answer, "wite heya" translation right here.

Ethan and Riley look so nice and Caroline has her little demon face going on.Here are the girls in Peyton's new truck on the way to McAlister's for dinner before trick-or-treating. I took a picture of Ethan too, but his eyes were closed. Caroline was so foul, she hadn't had a nap all day. She fell asleep in the truck on the way there. New truck you ask, I'll post about that tomorrow. Ethan and Riley standing nicely for a picture before going to get some candy. We only went to 2 houses. First off, our neighborhood still hasn't really filled in yet, and second, it was cold! We went to the model home to see the realtor before we left for dinner.All 3 standing pretty nicely for pictures!
Ethan the Bat! Isn't he cute! He had fun flying around the house scaring the girls.
Riley is a Princess Fairy, I mean Fairy Princess. There's a difference people! She corrected me real fast when I said Princess Fairy. She pranced around all night in her costume.
"I'm a fairy princess and I like to do ballet!"

Caroline is Little Red Riding Hood. Apparently the hood gave her super speed, she started running as soon as I put it on her, she ran to the model home and all around our house. I told her she was Little Red Running Hood. I could barely get her to stand still long enough to get a picture. She looks so innocent in this picture, oh if you only knew!

Since we didn't hit a lot of houses, you can imagine that the kids didn't have very much candy in their baskets, so Peyton had the wise idea to run to Walgreen's and get some candy. He came out with 2 huge bags full of bags of candy, I think we now have enough candy to last us until next Halloween!

2 years ago Today

2008-10-29T08:25:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday Little Princess!!

You actually slept all the way through the night in your big girl bed 9:30-7:30. This is a first for you, I hope it becomes a regular routine. You came downstairs and got lots of hugs and happy birthday songs. I also decided to put a candle in your oatmeal, you thought that was pretty cool! I can't wait for what the rest of the day holds for you, I think you'll be excited!

Here you are at your 1st Birthday party, I can't believe how much you've grown in just one year. You're still a little peanut, a tiny little thing, with a whole lot of attitude!

Eat cake!

On October 29, 2006 at 10:13 AM you came into this world. You were a lot smaller than they told me you were going to be, they told me to expect an 8 pounder and here you are at a tiny

5 lbs 12 oz and 18 inches long. I was in labor for almost 12 hours with you, not a fast labor like with Ethan and Riley, but you were definitely worth the wait. Just looking at these old pictures makes me a little teary eyed because I realize how fast you're growing up right before my eyes. I look forward to many more birthdays, but don't grow up too fast!

I love you!

Tomorrow

2008-10-28T08:48:00.002-04:00

I can't believe that Caroline turns 2 tomorrow! My baby is growing up so fast. I remember when I was pregnant with her and now she's almost another year older. She's coming into her own, she's got quite a personality and by personality I mean attitude. She wouldn't go to sleep in her bed last night. Every time I put her in her bed she would stay for about 5 minutes and then come back in our room. Finally, around 1:30 I just put her in bed with me, it was the only hope of getting any sleep myself. I'm dragging this morning. I might have more than one cup of coffee today just to keep going.
In other news, Ethan has decided that he wanted to have a tray lunch at school. I was a little hesitant at first, but I checked out the menu and asked him if he would eat it and he said yes. After I picked him up yesterday I asked him about his lunch. He was so excited that he had salad, he didn't remember what else he ate, so that must have been some salad. They also only serve milk to drink and Ethan is NOT a milk drinker. I asked him if he had milk, he said "there was plenty of it". I asked if he drank it, and he said he did a little. We'll see how today's lunch goes and if he still wants to keep it up. It's a whole lot easier on me and Peyton not to have to pack his lunch and it's actually cheaper than buying stuff for his lunch, so we'll see how much longer he wants to keep it up.
To add a little about Riley, she's really not up to anything these days. She still goes to ballet once a week and loves it, but lately she's been moping around the house and telling me she's bored. I've been trying my hardest to find things for her and Caroline to do. I took the girls for a walk around the neighborhood (well, down the street and back) last Sunday and Riley rode her princess bike the whole way. She had a blast and now that she's had a little taste of it, she wants to do it everyday. I would love to get them out to walk every day, but there's one little problem. There is so much construction going on, and the workers drive down our street like it's a race track, it makes me nervous to think of us on the street and the sidewalks are only finished in front of the houses that are done and that's not very many. I'm looking forward to the neighborhood filling out and less construction going on.

Costumes and a day out

2008-10-27T10:16:00.002-04:00

So on Saturday, Riley and I had a day out, just the 2 of us. We went to Panera for lunch and then hit the outlet mall. We're all in need of some fall clothes. I headed straight for Ann Taylor Loft and got some cute shirts and new jeans, my jeans are so big now that I can pull them off without unbuttoning them. Next we headed to Old Navy, I was looking for some long sleeved shirts for Peyton, I couldn't even think once we walked through the door, there were so many people and so much stuff strewn everywhere. I did notice their rack of Halloween costumes with a big $5 sign above them. I found Ethan a bat costume. The kids has such a hard time deciding things, so I called Peyton to ask him to ask him if that was ok, he said it was and seemed pretty excited about it. Next we hit Gymboree, only bad thing about the Gymboree outlet is that they have last season's clothes and the girls already had almost everything in the store, so I got Ethan a couple of long sleeved shirts. After that we headed to Target. I stopped and got her some popcorn first, we've started doing that just about every time we go now, it's the best $1.50, it keeps the kids busy and helps me get my shopping done faster. I was in search of costumes for the girls. I knew that I wanted Caroline to be Little Red Riding Hood, it's such a cute costume and she's adorable in it. Riley had the hardest time picking out a costume. She wanted to be a fairy. There were 2 fairy costumes, Wood Fairy and Sherbet Fairy. She wanted to know why the wood fairy was called Wood Fairy, I told her it was because the costume was brown, I don't know! We left the Halloween area and went to the dress-up area of the toys. I was trying my hardest to get her to be a ballerina, she has everything at home already, we could just buy her a pretty tutu and be done with it, but she wasn't having that. She didn't find what she wanted in the toy section so we went back to the costume section and she decided on the Sherbet Fairy, but surprise, it's pink, purple and green and all sparkly unlike the brown wood fairy. We had to run to AC Moore after that to get some adhesive and then we headed home. Peyton and the kids were watching the football game when we got home. I was trying my clothes on to show him and came to one outfit that I saw in the window and just had to have. I put it on and he looked at me and said "wow, 80s". After that comment, the outfit will be going back this week. Just goes to show you how much the salespeople want to sell their stuff, none of them mentioned that I looked like I stepped out of an 80's exercise tape. I got a pink and gray striped short sleeve sweater and black leggings. Honestly now that I'm typing this "what was I thinking" and to add more on top, Peyton asked "where are your leg warmers." LOL

Chocolate Baby

2008-10-25T09:27:00.003-04:00

This is what happens when Daddy sits Caroline at the dining room table with chocolate pudding, while I'm making pancakes for dinner, and then walks back into the living room to finish playing his game on his playstation. He came around the corner and just yelled, "Oh no". I knew she had done something, and he told me to come see. She was standing in her chair, looking straight ahead. She wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. We just started laughing. He snatched her up and I ran to grab the camera, definitely have to document this one. Up to the bath right after this! She's not even officially 2 yet. I might need some medication to get through her 2s if it's already starting like this.

Hurricane Caroline

2008-10-18T08:36:00.002-04:00

Oh My Word! Yesterday was quite an experience. Caroline managed, in a few short hours, to terrorize our whole house. I was on a cleaning spree yesterday and most of it was cleaning up behind her. I started the day cleaning Peyton's office. She brought me a bandaid, she calls them bams. I was wondering where she got it from and walked into the kitchen and she dumped the whole box on the floor, it was one of the HUGE boxes from Sam's with every size imaginable. Next she had a capri sun and was squeezing it on the floor just so she could soak it up with a paper towel. Then she moved on to the living room. She grabbed a box of crackers, one that was almost completely eaten, so all that was left were crumbs, and dumped them on the carpet and then stepped all over them. So I lugged the vacuum from the office to the LR to clean that up and then decided to clean out the couch cushions while I was in there and there was a pen between the cushions. While I'm vacuuming I turn to look at her and she has said pen and is writing all over herself. UGH! Next she decided to fill the dog's water bowl with his food and managed to spill the food all over the pantry in the process. After the dog ate all the food out of his bowl I took him outside to relieve himself and turned to check on Caroline on the porch and she's standing in his outside water bowl. She brought a cup outside and was filling up the cup and pouring it on my table and chairs outside and all over the floor and herself. Then she dipped a big cupful and took a big swig, I just about gagged. So I had to bring her inside and strip her down and redress her. In the time that it took for me to get a new diaper and the wipes she peed on the floor. Then we had lunch, fairly uneventful, and about an hour break from messes. After we picked Ethan up from school the kids went upstairs to play and Caroline came downstairs soaking wet from the chest down and the tips of her hair were wet. I ran upstairs to find out how she got wet and Riley informs me that she was in their sink with the water on, she took a stuffed animal with her and he's soaking wet too. So I strip her again, repeat earlier today, she peed on the floor again, only this time it was in the playroom. I locked all the doors to any room that had access to a bathroom and put the dog's food up on the top shelf in the pantry. Here's hoping that today is a little calmer.

Nix the previous statement, she just pushed the panic button on the alarm system and ADT just called us. She's turning 2 in 11 days, I hope this is not a preview of what's to come, I hope she gets it out of her system by the time she turns 2.

Ethan's First Fish

2008-10-07T14:46:00.002-04:00

Aren't they cute!!

My Husband, the Genius

2008-10-06T20:03:00.002-04:00

So, we just got back from a week in Louisiana. We left Friday night, stayed the night in Montgomery and were at Peyton's parents' on Saturday. We left the kids with his mom and sister. Peyton and his dad, brother and cousin were headed to the LSU football game, and I was headed to New Orleans for Sheena's bachelorette party. LSU won, and I had a night out without the kids, it was a win win. We stayed with his family until Thursday morning and then headed to New Orleans for Sheena's wedding weekend. My family was flying in and Sheena and I were picking them up from the airport. We had the rehearsal dinner that night. We went downtown on Friday night to Pat O'Brien's so Peyton could get a hurricane glass to replace the one he broke when we were moving. That was the one thing on his list to get done while we were down there.
Saturday, the girls headed to Aunt Cheryl's shop to get our hair done and Peyton, Ethan, Kevin, Little Kevin and Uncle Mike went fishing. Ethan and L. Kevin caught a fish. I'll have to post the pic later, it's so cute. The wedding was beautiful, the ceremony was short and sweet, the food was good, and it's always great when we get to see family that we haven't seen in months, and even years in some cases. We headed back on Sunday morning, 13 hours in the car, the kids did really well considering. We got in around 11:30 PM. Ok, here's where the post title comes in. I was very meticulous about deleting enough old shows off of the DVR so that we could record all of our shows and watch them when we got back. I even went to the extent of recording certain shows that I watch separately downstairs and the ones we both watch upstairs. So we come into the bedroom and I notice the tv says that it's acquiring satellite connection and then downloading. It didn't dawn on me until I hit the list button to see how we were going to plan this week to catch up on our shows and watch the new ones that if the DVR was refreshing that we lost power. I asked Peyton about it and he said that he unplugged everything before we left so that it would be ok if we got struck by lightning or who knows what else can happen to a tv while you're on vacation. I slowly told him that since he did that, it didn't record any of the shows that I set up. He got a blank, I can't believe I did that, look on his face. I believe his exact words were "I'm an idiot". Then he looks at me and says, "NOOO, it didn't record The Unit."

My Prima Ballerina

2008-09-10T14:37:00.003-04:00

Riley started ballet last Tuesday. She was so excited to get dressed up in her pink leotard, tights and ballet shoes. She loved having her hair up in a bun, she was pretty amazed that it all fit into a little ball on top of her head. She's so cute!! In class they're learning the basic stretches and starting on positions. They're also practicing their skipping. I'm so proud of her, she's one of only about 4 girls in her class that can actually skip. At yesterday's class, the teacher, Ms. Shields, was telling the parents to take notice that the 5 years olds get it when it comes to skipping and the 4 year olds just need more practice. Riley announced "I'm 4 and I can skip." She was so proud!! Her teacher also informed me that skipping is a sign of intelligence, something about the coordination that it takes to skip. She has yet to learn her ABC's by sight, but she can skip, she's one smart cookie :)!! She asks everyday if she has ballet, she wants to go more than once a week.

Stampin' Up! Online Ordering

2008-09-10T14:35:00.001-04:00

Just in case you haven't made your way over to my crafty blog, just wanted to let you know that as of yesterday, online ordering is officially up. Just go to my Stampin' Up! website www.bethanyschouest.stampinup.net and look for the buy now button in the upper right hand corner and there you go.

A crafty blog!

2008-09-09T08:21:00.003-04:00

I just started a new blog specific for my Stampin' Up! business and other crafty endeavours. You can see it at http://stampwithBethany.blogspot.com. I'm going to try and keep it updated daily, but probably more realistically several times a week.

Busy Busy Busy

2008-09-02T19:22:00.003-04:00

I finally get a chance to stop and take a breath. Today has been crazy. Why does it seem like we lose time when we have a long weekend? Anyway, we had a great Labor Day weekend. Reggie and Fran came in from Columbus. Peyton and Reggie played golf with some of Peyton's coworkers on Saturday morning. Reggie, Fran, me and the girls went to the outlet mall on Saturday afternoon and did a little shopping. Sunday we went to the beach. We were only there for a little over an hour and me and the kids managed to get sunburned, Ouch!! Monday, Reggie and Fran took off on their own to explore downtown and then we went to Olive Garden for dinner. This morning started off with getting Ethan ready for school. Reggie and Fran went with me to drop him off so they could see his school and meet his teacher. Peyton took off today, not feeling up to par, and I got some mums for the yard and dog stuff for Brody. Then picked Ethan up from school. Riley started ballet today. Her first class was from 4-4:45 and she wanted me and Peyton to go with her, so we all loaded up and went to ballet with her. I took some pictures that I'll upload tomorrow. She's such a cute little ballerina. Tonight was support your school night at Chick-fil-A for Ethan's school so we headed there after ballet. Riley was so funny, we asked the kids if they wanted to go there for dinner and Riley said "yes, this ballerina sure is hungry." She's so animated. Now we're home and getting ready to head outside now that it's cooled down to plant some flowers. I can't wait to crash in my bed. Here's to staying in my jammies until 10 tomorrow!!!!

A whole lot of nothin'

2008-08-23T19:05:00.003-04:00

Today has been a lazy day. We still woke up early, but have spent the day just laying around spending time together. We laid in our bed, all 5 of us, with 2 pints of ice cream and watched Enchanted. It started out nicely, but everyone started wrestling at one point. Peyton even managed to take a nap. I really needed to do some laundry and get my craft area cleaned up, but doing nothing was really nice. There's always tomorrow.

Our Brody Boy

2008-08-22T08:24:00.002-04:00

We went to the SPCA a couple of weeks ago hoping to rescue a puppy for the kids, but they had no puppies. At that point, Peyton had it in his head that he really wanted the kids to have a dog. He got online and started looking. I wanted a small dog this time around like a maltese, but Peyton wanted another big dog, so we took it to the kids and they wanted a big dog. We were looking for either a golden retriever or a lab. We found a breeder here in Charleston. She had 2 yellow labs, boy and a girl. We went to look at them and fell in love with the little boy and decided we should bring him home. He took to Riley right away, laying on her and giving her kisses. Caroline took a little while to get warmed up to him, but now she gives him kisses on his mouth. Ethan's still warming up to him, everytime he comes into the room, Ethan runs and jumps on the first piece of furniture that he knows the dog can't get up on.
The name was the hardest to agree on, I wanted to name him Sawyer, but Peyton wasn't too keen on the idea, he said I just wanted to name him Sawyer after the character on Lost, well yeah I did. Then I said how bout Jack. Peyton decided at that point he wouldn't have a name after any character on TV. Peyton liked Body, but kept calling him Cody, as in Cody, my friend Cynthia's little boy. We decided on Brody. We had some friends over last weekend (the Boland's) and she asked if I watched The Hills. I was a little confused and then realized that Brody Jenner is on that show, as in Bruce Jenner's son. Oh well for not naming him after someone on TV, but it doesn't really count, Brody Jenner plays himself, not a character, unless they really are acting and it's not reality TV.
Other than peeing in the house EVERYDAY, he's a really good dog, very laid back.

A Good Day!!

2008-08-21T16:18:00.002-04:00

I left to pick up Ethan at 1:45 and we didn't get home until 2:45, his school is literally 2 minutes from our house, we sat in the car-rider line for an hour. The girls were getting antsy, but I managed to keep them entertained. We listened to the Jungle Book soundtrack over and over and over and over again.
I asked Ethan how his day was and he said "Great". I asked him what he did and he said "I don't know". Alrighty then, when Peyton gets home he'll probably go on and on about what he did, for some reason he doesn't tell me what he tells Peyton.
I took Riley to have her testing done today. We should know whether or not they have a spot for her by Monday. So much is going on!!
My new Stampin' Up! catalog stuff is out for delivery right now, but it probably won't get here until after 6:00. I'm so excited to see all the new stuff, and I'm ready to start a club or have a workshop, I'm feeling a need to do something creative and I need some scrappy friends!!
We're taking Ethan out for dinner, he hasn't decided where he wants to go yet, surprise surprise. He has the hardest time making a decision.
Til tomorrow!

My baby boy is growing up!!!

2008-08-21T10:07:00.003-04:00

Ethan's first day of kindergarten is today. Peyton went to wake him up around 6:30.
P: Good morning buddy
E: It's not morning yet
P: yes it is
E: not all the way
He's such a funny kid. He jumped in the shower with Peyton, brushed his teeth and then came downstairs for breakfast, strawberry yogurt, which I noticed after dropping him off the he must have been really excited because he didn't finish it. I packed his lunch while Peyton helped him get dressed, we got him some new tennis shoes yesterday, so he was excited about that. I got some pictures of him getting ready, and then we were off to school. I walked him in. I got a picture of him with his teacher and his cubby and then at his table. Surprisingly, I didn't cry. I'm excited that he's excited and I was so proud of him for just going right in like it was no big deal.
Riley's going for testing for the 4K program today at noon and then we're back to school to pick up Ethan. Here's to hoping he has a good day.

Lists

2008-08-20T10:45:00.002-04:00

So we met Ethan's teacher last nigth. I think I'm really going to like her. His classroom is HUGE. I think he's going to have a good time. He had a blast walking around the room looking for his name in different areas, his cubby, the name board, the tables, his group area.
I'm going to be one of those moms that walks their child in on the first day taking pictures of every step, I'll definitely be posting those tomorrow.
Now I'm listmaking. I like the idea of lists, it gets everything in one place, I don't always stick to them, but the concept is there. I made a list of what he wants in his lunch, a list of the school supplies that need to go in his backpack tomorrow, and then non-school lists, a chore list separated by daily and weekly chores, my wish list for the new Stampin' Up! catalog stuff (that list is going to be expensive;). I've got a lot going on today and I hope that I get everything done. I still can't believe that my baby boy is starting school tomorrow. I told him today at breakfast that I'm going to miss him at home during the day, he gave me a look like "why". But I made sure to tell him that he's going to have a great time at his new school. I'm probably going to cry tomorrow after I drop him off, but I'm hoping not to do it in front of him.

Kindergarten

2008-08-19T10:21:00.003-04:00

Tonight is meet the teacher at Ethan's school. I can't believe my baby boy is starting school. His first day is on Thursday and I'm sure I'll be taking plenty of pictures, I'm contemplating taking my camera tonight. I told Ethan we were taking a special trip to the grocery store today for him to pick out what he wants in his new lunch box. He said he just wants apples and pears, I'm going to see if I can steer him toward a sandwich or something. I think he's most disappointed that he can't take a Dr. Pepper in his lunch, I told him he could have one when he gets home, but that it might get shaken up at school and spray everywhere. I think he understands. Funny kid, probably bad of me to let him have a coke everyday. Well, we're off the the store.

The New House

2008-08-18T22:10:00.002-04:00

Just realized that I haven't posted any pics of the new house in Summerville, well here are a few.

Are we so quick to cast blame?

2008-08-17T19:45:00.002-04:00

Here's the scenario: Me,Peyton and the kids in the car on the way to lunch and then to Target. I took Brody to the vet on Friday and the kennel is still in the back of the burb.
me: The kennel is still in the back
P: OK
me: we're going to Target, if we buy anything, it won't fit
P: sure it will
me: By the way, why did you put the door on backwards on the kennel, it opens the wrong way now, I couldn't even shut it after I put Brody in after his appointment.
P: what are you talking about? I haven't taken it apart.
me: you had to have, I didn't do it
P: I really haven't taken it apart!
me: then why is it on the wrong way?
P: did you think maybe you put it in upside down
me: doh!! you're right (shamefully starts laughing)
P: why are you always trying to blame me?
me: I'm sorry
Sometimes it's so much easier and makes you feel better to blame things on other people when they don't go your way or you're just in a bad mood, which was my case today. I had a terrible migraine yesterday and was in bed almost all day, which led me to be extremely grumpy and short-tempered today.
Honey, I'm sorry and thank you for putting up with me when I'm grumpy!!!
I LOVE YOU!!!
By the way, we bought rods for my new window treatments for the living and dining rooms. I'll post pics when we're done.

Lego Boys

2008-08-15T16:04:00.002-04:00

I really need to put some pictures on here and I came across these of ethan, Jeff and Jeremiah playing with ethan's new Lego set. They never grow up do they?!?

Adding a bit of craftiness!!

2008-08-15T15:30:00.002-04:00

I've been a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator since March and have become hopelessly addicted to some other demo's blogs, so I thought I'd start adding some of my projects to my blog. Hope they inspire you to be creative!! Oh, and starting soon you can order right off my website. I'll be uploading some pics later today or tomorrow.

Look Mommy it's the good guys!!

2008-07-09T16:02:00.002-04:00

In an effort the get the blog up to date, I remembered a few things about the plane trip home from Colorado. I got the kids their own rolling backpacks so that they could be in charge of their own snacks and toys on the plane and they thought that was a great idea and gave them quite a sense of pride that they were independent. Ethan's was the Wiggles, Riley's, of course, Disney Princesses, and Caroline's was Dora. The trip started off on a bad foot, the curbside check-in guy couldn't find us in the system for the flight, but did find it and we got to the gate just in time. Once we touched down in Dallas we had time to get some dinner and just walk around for a bit before the flight to Charlotte. Ethan and Riley were so cute walking through the airport with their backpacks in tow behind them, Caroline was in the stroller and we kept getting looks for other travelers, one lady even told me that there should be an award for mothers that travel with young kids by themselves and manage to keep them well-mannered. Of course that made me feel good that the kids were behaving themselves, for the most part. We found the food court and got some dinner and were headed to the gate to wait for boarding when Ethan and Riley spotted some soldiers in uniform. Ethan was mesmerized and looked up at them and then over at me and said, "Mommy, look, it's the good guys!" I'm not sure if the soldiers heard him, but it almost put tears in my eyes and does right now as I'm writing this. I affirmed to him that those are the good guys and Riley adds, "yeah, they shoot the bad guys." Doh, I think Peyton's been playing too much Call of Duty in front of them. I explained to them that they only use their guns to keep us safe and that they don't always shoot them. I probably should have come up with something more explanatory, but I was at a loss for words. So now we've found our gate and the flight's been delayed so of course Riley makes friends with a guy and his wife and daughter that are sitting behind us and tells him her whole life story and thank goodness they were accomodating, the guy acted as if he was really interested and Riley got a kick out of that. So we get on the plane and the kids are already asking when they get Coke. That became their thing, as soon as we got on any of the planes Ethan and Riley got excited that they get to drink Coke out of big cups with no lids. Whatever makes them happy and gives them something to look forward to, I'm all for it. About half-way into the flight we start hearing some whistling coming from the back of the plane, we're sitting just 2 rows behind first class, so I really don't know how far back it was, but we kept hearing it, I honestly thought there was a mentally impaired person on the plane and then looked toward the back and there were about 4 men standing over a section of seats, I still don't have a clue what's going on though and Ethan asked the flight attendant who was whistling and she said she didn't know, at the time I didn't think anything of it, but I'm glad that she didn't really answer him, first off, I don't really know how she could have explained it to a 5 year old. As we were coming in for landing one of the flight attendants came over the intercom and requested that after landing and after we get to the gate they would like everyone to remain in their seats. I still didn't think anything of it because they always ask that you stay in your seats. As we were headed toward the gate after landing the pilot came over and said the same thing as the flight attendant, but added that there has been a person on the flight that has caused quite a disturbance and that we need to stay in our seats so that airport security can come on and escort the guy off. Turns out, a guy had gotten completely drunk, that was the whistling we were hearing and thank goodness we were sitting up front because according to some of the other passengers he was yelling obsenities. So we got to the gate and 4 officers came on and "helped" him off the plane. The kids were asking me what was going on and I explained that there was a guy on the plane that was not being nice and so the policemen had to take him off of the airplane to ask him some questions. Ethan then asked me, is that the guy that was whistling and I told him it was and he said, "Oh, so you don't whistle on an airplane or the policemen might have to come and take you off." Not quite buddy, but I didn't go into details with him. I don't know the whole story, but the guy was on the flight with his wife, son and daughter. The wife and kids got off the plane first and the son, maybe 10 or 11 was in tears, that alone made me angry at the guy for being drunk and moreover, what kind of example does that set for your kids. I hope and pray that my children will never have to question my judgment or be ashamed of anything that I do.

A little update

2008-07-07T15:59:00.003-04:00

Quick updateFamily: We've moved to Charleston, SC, sold our house in Lugoff in ONE DAY, got a new one outside of Charleston in Summerville, SC, we closed on June 30th and are slowly but surely setting up home.Peyton passed his CCIE, got a new job, started on May 5 - loves itBethany became a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator, spent a month in Colorado with the kiddos while waiting for the new house to be finished, became an Aunt on May 6, Lindsey had a little boy, Spencer Wylie.A whole lot has happened since my last entry, but I think the above pretty much sums it up. I'll have to be a lot better about updating the blog from now on.

Scrapbooking and a test

2008-03-07T20:39:00.002-05:00

I'm so excited, Peyton installed my cabinets and countertop for my new scrapping area in the bonus room, I'll post pictures later. I have yet to put anything in the drawers yet, but I have great aspirations. I spent about half an hour organizing buttons the other day, I felt very productive and realized that I have a huge love of buttons, that might be my next obsession!! Peyton is going to take his CCIE lab again on Monday, he's a little stressed, but I think he's really ready this time. I hope and pray that he passes this time!! I'm tired of being a study widow, and I want to scrapbook and I can't do that while he's upstairs studying. Bringing the kids upstairs is just not an option, they want his undivided attention. I'll update once we know something, til then, here's to Peyton passing his lab and to me getting my scrap on!!!

since when?

2008-02-07T13:50:00.001-05:00

I don't understand the big deal about football. I know that it's a guy thing, and I am a total football widow, but since when did it get so all consuming. Peyton went to LSU, Geaux Tigers, and hence our whole neighborhood needs to know this since we live in SC Gamecock country. So we have the mailbox cover, a lovely cover, the purple and gold really accents our craggy mountain brick house with neutral shutters and trim, the flag, which just recently made it's way back inside because the threads are coming loose and it's so faded, so apparently we now have to replace it with a new Nat'l championship version, and the football shaped front door rug, which is the first thing anybody sees and they seem to think that I am also a fan, I don't really care much for football, but visitors, ie the lawn guy, the UPS guy, the mail lady, everybody says, "so you're an LSU fan, huh" to which I usually reply, not really, I went to Mississippi State, to which I get the response "Oh, ok" and they usually have really blank looks on their faces. Hey people, from what I did watch this year, MSU had a good season. So I guess I do care a little, but not to the extent that I plan my whole season around what games are on. I guess I'm more ranting than anything, but I just don't get it.

Hangin' Tough

2008-02-02T22:20:00.000-05:00

Did you hear? The NKOTB might be getting back together. I'm so excited, I remember going to their concert, I think it was 4th grade. Jon pushed Jordan off the stage and we were right there, up front, I saw him face to face, he touched Heather and she vowed she would never wash her hand again. I had everything NKOTB, sleeping bag, slippers, nightgown, lunch box, every single tape (and CD when those came out), the Joey doll (he was my favorite). I was telling Peyton about the reunion and he said "don't expect me to go to a concert with you" I was like, I don't want to go with you, I'm going with my girlfriends. WooHoo.

cancelled

2008-02-02T18:47:00.000-05:00

So my doctor's appointment for Friday got cancelled so I go in next Friday. I woke up this morning with the most awful headache, I guess it was a migraine, I hope that I don't start having them more often, the pain is somewhat unbearable.

At least I have my health

2008-01-31T15:11:00.001-05:00

Or maybe not. A couple of weeks ago I was on the way home from the pediatrician with the kids, Ethan has strep throat, and I lost partial vision in my left eye and my left arm went all funky. So I drove the rest of the way home and called my nurse line and told her what was going on and she said "from the information that you have given me I am required to tell you to call 911." I was like WTH are you talking about, you were supposed to tell me it was nothing, just take a tylenol and take it easy. But that wasn't the case. I was freaking out, so I called my friend Cynthia to see if she would come get me and take me to the ER. I wasn't really thinking straight. The nurse called me back and asked if I'd called yet. She told me I could have them just come out the house and assess me here so I did. Called my friend and asked her to come sit with the kids. And to make things better, Peyton was in Dallas at a class that week. I was frantically calling his cell phone. I finally left a message and he called me back and he was worried and kept telling me to just sit down and don't do anything, so I had my cell phone on one ear and my home phone with the nurse on the other and kept having to talk back and forth until the EMTs got here. I went to get the door, I had Caroline on my right hip and couldn't get my left hand to reach for the doorknob much less turn it. I was really freaking out then. They took my vitals and BGL and everything was fine, right about then Cynthia got there and the EMTs said they needed to take me on the ER. So they loaded me up in the ambulance and started and IV and hooked me up to the EKG thingy, he put so many of those electrode stickers on me, I had them everywhere. I was wearing a bra and a cami with a built-in bra and the poor guy had the hardest time getting up through the layers, I had to laugh a little. He kept asking if something was causing me anxiety or if I was overly exhausted, and I was like I have 3 kids under 5 so I'm constantly exhausted and strung out but not any more today than any other day. Got to the ER and the doc came in and told me they were gonna do some labs and a cat scan. He told me I might have had a mini stroke. All the labs came back fine and the cat scan showed that I had a sinus infection. I had an MRI the next day, that too was fine. Tomorrow I'm going in for a carotid ultrasound and an echo. They're trying to rule out any heart issues. Caroline has VSD, a little hole in her heart, that causes her to have a murmur and the doc said that it can be hereditary so they're checking everything. So we'll see how it goes. My doctor said that one thing he can pretty much rule in is that I have ocular migraines, he said it explains the vision impairment and sudden headache, which I've had since that day even with the meds they gave me. So we'll see how tomorrow goes.

It's a Boy!!

2008-01-08T21:37:00.000-05:00

Lindsey's having a boy!! Spencer's coming soon. Congrats!!!

Mahna Mahna

2008-01-07T19:36:00.000-05:00

The youtube video below is Ethan's favorite song. He calls it his ba na na na song. He wanted me to share it with everybody.

Muppets - Mahna Mahna

2008-01-07T19:33:00.001-05:00

Back on Track

2008-01-07T18:53:00.000-05:00

Ethan and Riley started back to preschool today. I found myself saying "I can't wait til they go back to school" about 2 weeks into winter break. They were both very excited and ended up both sleeping in Ethan's bed last night. They woke up all anxious and ready to go. We were walking down the hall to their classrooms and one of the daycare workers poked her head in and said Happy Birthday to Mrs. Parker (aka Ms. Pahkah), Riley's teacher. She didn't put her birthday on the calendar so I had no clue. I asked her if I heard correctly and why she didn't put it on there and she said that she didn't want it on there. I told her she was sneaky. I told Cynthia after we were out of the classroom and we decided to get a cake and some cupcakes for the kids and come back and surprise her. Cynthia picked them up and we went back to school early, asked that they come in early from the playground and had all the kids sing her Happy Birthday. I think she was pleasantly surprised. She's a very shy person so I understand her not wanting to be the center of attention, but she makes it a point to make the kids feel special on their birthday, she deserved the same.
I signed up to do a challenge on a scrapbooking website to do a complete page layout every day for the month of January and I'm going to see if I can figure out how to upload them here on the blog, some of them are turning out really nice. It's really making me work quickly instead of taking 3 hours on a layout, I can whip one out in less than an hour. I'm doing some of them digitally which is fun and that's even faster and a lot less messy. I've gotten Cynthia hooked on it too, she's done her first page and is ambitious about doing many more and is even making some handmade gifts with all the stuff she's bought.
The National Championship Game is tonight, please cross your fingers that LSU wins or Peyton will be a bear for the next couple of days.
Lindsey is going to the doctor tomorrow to find out the sex of the baby. I'm excited to find out so I can get started on making some stuff for the little one.
Well, I need to get going and I should probably get some pictures uploaded so you can see some new ones of the kids.
Have a great week!!!

Wow!!

2008-01-03T10:59:00.000-05:00

This year has really gotten off to a running start. It's already the 3rd. Not a whole lot to report, I got an email from a high school classmate about starting to plan our reunion, 10 years, I can't believe it's been that long. I feel old, but not as old as Peyton, his was 4 years ago. I'm thinking of planning a trip to Columbus to meet up with them. I also got an email from Kala, she left her phone number and yesterday we were on the phone for almost 2 hours just catching up. She has 2 little girls, one just turned 7 and the other is almost 2. The crazy thing is her younger daughter's middle name is Karoline, just crazy. The other crazy thing is that she and Eric were in San Antonio the same time we were. I wish we would have known that, it might have made that time in my life more bearable. Anyway, just wanted to say Hi and if something else interesting happens it will definitely be posted.

Here we go!!!

2007-12-30T22:00:00.000-05:00

Peyton and I have been trying to figure out a way to keep friends and family up to date with info and pictures of our daily goings-on and finally I decided that we'd just start a blog. With little help from the kids and Peyton we decided on a name and an address, so here goes to keeping ya'll up to date. I wanted to call it ShoeWest, but Peyton didn't find the humor in that so here's to kinda boring Schouest Party of Five, although fitting since we hear that a lot from all the eating out we do.