I will keep this post short and sweet.....and get to the pictures.....

Since I last posted, Shay has lost a tooth and turned FIVE!!!! Ethan is growing like a weed and says a lot of different things now, but he is persistently sick. We are taking him to an Ear, nose, and throat doctor so see about ear tubes, which is scary but if it makes him feel better, then it will be worth it.

  This past Saturday we celebrated the marriage of my cousin Jonathan to his new bride Anita(Congratulations!) and Shay had quite the full dance card.  All of the little boys took a turn dancing with her, and, much to her Daddy's demise, she got kissed on the cheek!  She had such a good time!

On Sunday, as a surprise for Shay's birthday,we visited Disney World. Both of the kids (and the adults) had a blast! My mom and dad, my sister Becca, my brother Ty, and my cousin Tomi went with us.  Here are a few pictures from the wedding and from Disney....

Where has the time gone?!?

We have been busy little bees lately and I can't even remember what we did last week, much less a month ago (this 'lack-of-memory' trait is wonderful....thanks Mom!).  Shay is still enjoying school and recently started taking Spanish lessons.  Her teacher felt that she was ahead of the rest of the class, so Spanish seemed like a good supplement.  She knows all of her greetings, and can say most of the alphabet already!  So smart she is....I have a feeling this is not going to be good later on in life (haha).  Ethan is still plugging along....climbing on the furniture, sitting on top of the easel, attempting to remove himself from his crib....you know, the usual.  It amazes us how different boys are than girls and how he just knows what boys are supposed to do.  He also collects David's tools and tries to 'fix' things! 

Our county fair was a couple weeks ago and Shay showed another Daisy in the pee-wee showmanship contest.  (Side note: For those of you that do not know....Shay calls all of the calves "Daisy", no matter how big or small, what color, or breed.  And, she does understand that we eat cows, and she is OK with that as long as the meat that we eat does not come from "Daisy." )  They did not place them, but I thought that she did really well! She didn't need my help at all and maintained control of her "Daisy"!

 So, she got a blue ribbon and was as happy as could be about that! Another wonderful thing that came home with us from the fair was pink eye.  Poor little Ethan was miserable for a day or so, but seems to be feeling much better now. 

I don't have any new pictures of Ethan (sorry), but I will get some soon and put them up. 

On another note....

Shay will be turning 5 this year (how this happened, I just don't know) and we will be taking her to Disney World on December 5.  She does not know this, of course, but wanted to let anyone know that they are welcome to come (we will not be having a party for her).  Until next time....

Ethan is walking!! For some of you this is not new news, I know, but he started walking one day after my last post and I didn't want to put anyone into shock by posting too soon after that (haha).  This news, of course, means that he is in to everything....you know.... the toilet, the refrigerator, and pretty much anything that he can little paws on (much to his sister's dismay).  Yesterday he took all of Shay's barbie dolls out of the bin, chucked them in the bath tub (atleast it wasn't the toilet) and proceeded to climb in to the bin. Needless to say, he got stuck and was so mad! Sad to say, but it was hilarious!  He is also talking up a storm....adding the words tractor, hot dog, thank you (although not in the right context) and tattoo to the mix. 

Shay is doing really well in school, so much so that her teacher complimented how well behaved and well-mannered she is. That is always nice to hear and also lets me know that the countless hours spent reminding her to say 'yes ma'am and yes sir' are not a complete waste of time.  She is also still loving her dance class, and is becoming much less awkward than she once was (maybe she is less like me that I thought, haha).  Another surprising change in Shay is how much she has begun to love animals....particularly farm animals. Although she did show a dairy heifer (female calf) at last year's Strawberry Festival, she has never been overly excited about cows or horses. She has recently decided however, that she loves cows (which have all been named Daisy) and has helped my mom feed them a couple times. She has now made it her mission to practice showing the Daisy's as often as she can convince me to take her and has also convinced Myo (my mom) to give her a calf of her own. She will be showing at the county fair and the Strawberry Festival when the time comes.

Until next time....

While we didn't bring home any fish from Crystal River (see previous post) we did manage to bring home a lovely cold...one for everyone!! Shay thought that we needed to make some chicken noodle soup, so we made what we lovingly call 'spoon noodles.'  These are hand-made noodles (for lack of a better term) which are pretty much little balls of dough that are dropped into a pot of boiling chicken broth.  They are a tradition on my mom's side of the family and are an old Polish recipe (again, for lack of a better term) that really has no set ingredient list or amounts. My Grandma (my mom's mom) always just said to mix them until they 'look right.'  I am sure that saying was passed down just as the recipe was.  Shay did a really good job and was super proud of herself!

We all got better in a timely fashion.....thanks to Shay's spectacular soup, of course!

Ethan turned 1 on August 10 (my how time flies!) and we had his party on August 15th.  We had a wonderful time and appreciate everyone that was able to come and missed those that couldn't.  Lesson learned: we need a much larger house that is somewhere cold, say Alaska, because it was miserably hot!!

Ethan preferred the wrapping paper over the cake!! Hahahaha....

Another exciting event that happened (at least for some...because for me it was rather sad) was that Shay started VPK.  She was so pumped about this that all she talked about for a whole week prior was what she was going to wear, how we should fix her hair, what she was going to wear, what she was going to do at school, what she was going to wear, what her teacher was like...and did I mention what she was going to wear? She is such a priss and I am just not sure how that happened.....David??  Needless to say, she has figured out how this school thing works and is loving every minute!

Eating breakfast before school....lovely hair, huh?

In her classroom!

Until next time.....

Change of Plans

After much deliberation, waiting, rushing around trying to get everything in order, waiting some more, and riding the "go or stay" roller coaster (did I mention waiting?).....we are not moving to Georgia.  We definitely have mixed feelings about this, as we were both sad and excited at the same time. Ultimately, however, everything happens for a reason and after all of the waiting and not knowing if David was going to have to leave immediately, just knowing something was such a relief. Although it is a long, drawn-out story, the reader's digest version is something along the lines of the lovely railroad, CSX, not having all of their paperwork in order, making any transfer for David impossible until near the end of the year. Because David is a union employee, seniority is everything and waiting that long to move would not be a good thing. Therefore....we are staying in Florida.

On another note.....

Shay has continued her dance class, and she is loving it! She loves it so much that I think she may have forgotten how to walk, because all she does is prance everywhere she goes. Ethan loves to watch her prance, and almost as if he knows that little brothers are supposed to irritate their big sisters, he laughs and tries to get in her way.  He is such a typical boy and it amazes me how much of a sense of humor he has at one year old!  Even though they love to irritate and annoy one another, they adore each other....every night before bed Shay gives Ethan a hug and kiss, and amazingly he gives her one back, it is the sweetest thing! 

We had David's Aunt Karen take family pictures with Lamar and Laurie (David's daddy and step-mom), as the last picture that they had of the whole family together was when Cory (David's youngest brother) was a baby (he is now almost 16!). Those turned out very nice and I know it must have been frustrating to get 13 people, 4 of them children under 5, to cooperate with one another long enough to get a good picture, but she was able to. If anyone would like, they can check those out at www.impressionographybykarencason.com, click 'enter site', then 'gallery' on the left, followed by 'client galleries' then 'Cason". 

Up next, we are going to Crystal River this coming weekend with the Hamilton's (my Dad's side of the family), which should be a blast! Next weekend we are having Ethan's first birthday party (hard to believe!).  I will graduate on August 16 (super exciting!) and am avidly looking for a job that pays better. I have a few prospects....but we will see how they pan out.

Until next time....

Moving on up....

Once again, it has been almost two months and once again I will apologize. I would say that it wont happen again, but obviously we all know that wont be the case (haha).

A reader's digest version of what's going on with Shay and Ethan:

Shay has finished her dance season and will be moving up to the next level when she starts back....way to go Shay! She will also begin pre-K at the beginning of next school year which is both exciting and scary! Within the last few weeks she has really begun to mature, picking up her toys the first time she is asked and feeding her brother, just to be helpful. While she does occasionally need an 'attitude adjustment' (as my Daddy always called it) she is still turning out to be a well-mannered, well-behaved little person.

Ethan has graduated from the army crawl into a 25mph hand and knee crawl. He may as well be a bull-dozier because he plows right through and over anything that gets in his way. He is always so happy, except of course if you take his food away or don't give him food the second that he decides he wants it (he is related to me, so this is slightly expected).

We have been taking out our pontoon boat more often lately and that makes for some relaxing and fun times, as well as two little coppertone kids (even with 70 spf!?!?). Also, we made a trip to Georgia for Memorial Day Weekend and stayed with my sister Becca in Tifton. That Saturday we made the excessively long drive to Savannah and enjoyed looking at all of the old buildings, the railroad museum and we ate at The Lady and Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant). We all had a great time and got to spend time with Tomi and Alicia and my Mom and Dad and brother, Ty.

Georgia leads me to my next point.....
Our trip there gave us the fever to live somewhere a little quieter and a lot more laid back. After much discussion and investigation, we decided to 'check into' moving. The city of Waycross, Ga has a large train yard that David can transfer to and as I will be graduating in August, have a whole other field of jobs that I can look into. Another plus is that the land is ridiculously cheap and what we want out of life seems more tangible. So the 'checking into' quickly became a 'we are going to' when David's job said he would be transferred within the next few weeks! So, we are beginning an adventure and don't really know a whole heck of a lot about what exactly we are doing. What we do know is that we are all excited and know that everything happens for a reason. To use my (stolen/borrowed) life motto: It is what it is.

I will keep everyone updated and will post some new pictures sometime soon. Until then....

Crawling Easter Bunnies!?!

Easter has come and gone, but not without a lot of egg hunting and a ton of family time! We celebrated Easter on Saturday with the Casons at Laurie and Lamar's house (David's Daddy and Step-Mom) and had the annual grown-up kid (if you can call us that) egg hunt. This consists of the older folks hiding eggs, and by hiding I mean making the eggs disappear, and laughing at all of us trying to find them. Every so often we take a count and as is the fashion, there are always missing eggs because those old-folks can't remember where they hid all of the eggs! Alicia (David's sister) and I decided that next year we need to hide the eggs for the old-folks so that we can laugh at them trying to find them hahaha.
On Easter Sunday, Shay and I watched church on the Catholic channel because I did not set the alarm for the right time (shame on me). However, I must say that I think sometimes Shay is channeling my Grammy (who passed away almost 2 years ago) because as did my Grammy, Shay could not get enough of that Catholic channel and she eats ketchup on everything. For lunch we headed to my grandparents, B & Papa Pat's house in Bushnell and got to visit with them and my parents, Becca (my sister), my Aunt Deb and Uncle Dale (my dad's brother), my cousins Kylee, Case, Justin and Jonathan and his fiance Anita. And of course, this was rounded out with the customary easter egg hunt which Shay thoroughly enjoyed! When we left Bushnell, we made our way to David's Mom and Step-Dad's house for a wonderful supper and, you guessed it, another egg hunt. Shay said that while she did enjoy hunting eggs, she was 'pooped out.' Ethan didn't seem to mind any of the festivities one bit because he got to be held the majority of the day by all of his loving family :).

Tomi (my cousin) also snapped a few pictures of a mostly uncooperative Shay and a mostly happy Ethan. Nonetheless, they turned out wonderful:

Besides Easter, it seems like so much goes on in our lives and we are so blessed to have a wonderful and supportive family! Ethan is techincally crawling, although crawl is not the optimum word to describe what it is that he does. He sort-of 'army crawls' and it is hilarious...his modified crawl certainly does not keep him from going places. Shay is still enrolled in dance class and loves every minute of it. She is not the most graceful ballerina (sad to say I think she might have inherited that from me) but what she does not have in grace she certainly makes up for it with perseverance. She is determined to do everything perfectly!

On another note, I have been trying to finish my college education for a while now and am down to two more classes! I will graduate in August and I cannot wait! I was also inducted into the Alpha Sigma Lambda Honors Society and am very proud to say that I will graduate with a 4.0 (that is if I make A'a in my next two classes)!

Until next time.....

3 months later....

Well, it has been a while, but better late than never for updating our blog. So much has happened....Shay and Ethan have changed tremendously since I last blogged, I don't even know where to begin. Shorthly after the new year, we visited Gainesville to eat a birthday lunch for my Dad's 50th! My sister, Becca, met us halfway (she lives in Tifton, Ga) and we were joined by my Uncle Drue (my Dad's brother) and Aunt Lisa (Drue's wife), as well as my Grandma B (my Dad's mom). Since we were in Gainesville, Shay insisted that we visit Albert the Alligator (Bonus: Albert was holding hands with Alberta!!)

In February, we had the opportunity to go to the Ocala Super Pull which is a modified tractor and truck show. Basically, high performance tractors pull a sled on a track. It was really awesome however it was also awesomely loud! We have been to hundreds of tractor pulls, but this was the first that was inside and I don't recommend taking a baby to that (poor Ethan cried the whole time and David and I had to take turns taking him outside). Shay thought it was great, though! Our friends Cassie and Jason, with their sons Dalton (who Shay says she is going to marry) and Landon, our friends Jason and Keith, David's sister Alicia, my cousin Tomi, David's brother TJ and his girlfriend Ashley, and my sister Becca all went with us. The best, and most 'redneck', part of the whole deal was they were using airboats as fans. Redneck ingenuity at its' best!

Ethan before the noise (looking mighty cute in his beanie):

At the end of February, David finally got weekends off! It is so exciting to get to do things as a family now! Now on Saturdays and Sundays every time David walks out the door Shay has to make sure he's not leaving her.

The Strawberry Festival began this last week and Shay (with her new-found interest in cows) got to participate in the Pee-Wee Showmanship contest. She got 4th place (out of 19)! I grew up showing cows so it makes me happy that she enjoys it. If she continues to show interest, we will get her her own calf to show in the years to come. For now, she borrowed a little holstein heifer calf from Myo (my mom) and named her Daisy.

 

I promise to not make it another 3 months before I update again.

New Years Tooth!

New Years was quite an eventful day.....Ethan's fever and fussiness finally produced something besides frustration. Although it is hard to see, he has a TOOTH! As of today, he has TWO TEETH! So exciting!

On New Years Eve, we went to Papa Cason's house for a cookout...we had ribs, chicken, and my favorite, pork loin. Everything was delicious and we got to see a lot of people that we only get to see once a year. After Papa's, we came back to our part of town and had a massive bonfire in the pasture. Although the picture doesn't do it justice, David would be mighty proud that I shared his pyro-junkie accomplishment of a fire (haha).

Turkey Day, Birthday and Shay's Photo Montage of Christmas

While I have not updated our blog recently (sorry), there have been a lot of happenings since I last posted. Thanksgiving for us was wonderful....we had lunch at Lamar and Laurie's house (David's daddy and step-mom) and dinner at our house with my parents, Dane and Karen, and David's mom and step dad, Lisa and Terry. It was great spending time with our brothers and sisters!

The weekend after Turkey Day was Shay's birthday party. She had a great time with all of her friends and received many wonderful gifts! A sidenote: Shay has been obsessed with taking pictures lately and highjacked the camera at her party. Following is a picture that she took at her party, which is actually a neat picture....a different viewpoint than we are used to.

Christmas was another wonderful holiday....both of my sisters were able to be home for Christmas and David's cousin Bobby was able to be here for two weeks, as well. Before Christmas, David's Grandma Phyllis was able to come down to visit, also. It was great seeing everyone!

We spent Christmas Eve at my grandparents, B & Papa Pat's house for lunch, followed by dinner at David's Papa Cason's house. Santa came to visit everyone at Papa Cason's and Shay could not have been more excited! Steve and Lilly, Shay's cousins, and Ethan, could not have been more terrified! It was definitely a memorable experience!

The next day was Christmas Day! Unfortunately, Ethan was very sick....he was absolutely pitiful! He had to be put on a nebulizer to breathe, but he was still his happy-go-lucky self. Shay and Ethan both got a tremendous amount of presents! Santa brought Shay her very own digital camera, of which she has not put down since opening! Here are a couple pictures that I took:

And Shay's photo montage: