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:

Shay's Dream's Come True!

Shay, bless her little heart, has wanted to be a ballerina for the majority of her life (or at least the part of it that involves her having verbal skills). Her Grammy bought her a DVD for her birthday last year that came with a ballet barre and instructs her on the proper positions, etc. that any ballerina should know. Since that time, she has danced religiously and has talked constantly about being in a ballet class. So, as her (early) birthday present from us, we enrolled her in a bona-fide dance class. This class is at a dance studio near our house (which ironically is where I not-so-gracefully took ballet classes when I was little) and she will be going there once a week for a combination class of ballet, tap, and acrobatics. Although the picture is not that great, Shay is the tall one, fourth from the left.

The Ballerina and the (unhappy) Frog

The original idea for Halloween was for Shay to be a princess (her request for the 3rd year in a row) and for Ethan to be a frog. However, Shay, at the last minute decided that she wanted to be a ballerina instead. That suited us fine for the simple fact that all of the past Halloween pictures of Shay were suspiciously similar, so a change, even though very slight, was welcome!

The beautiful ballerina:

The unhappy frog: