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:

Food!

The time has come for Ethan to eat some real food. We decided this because we were all sitting at the dinner table enjoying our dinner while Ethan was in his swing next to the table. Have you ever gotten the feeling that you are being stared at? As if someone was about to attack you only to get to your food? Well, that was Ethan.....giving us all the evil eye and anxiously following our forks with his eyes. So, we mixed up some rice cereal with formula and he devoured it as if there was nothing he could have wanted more.

Pictures, Pumpkins and Playhouses!

So, we had our pictures taken by David's aunt (as I mentioned in the last post) and she has them on her website if anyone would like to see them. Her website is http://www.impressionographybykarencason.com/ (Just click the link and it will take you there; look for us in the gallery section). She did such a great job and we are really happy with the pictures! And, yes, for those of you that are thinking "Am I going to get a picture?," we will be getting some for everyone so just be patient (although I know that is hard and a bit of the pot calling the kettle black). :)

Onto the pumpkins....

We carved pumpkins with Shay and Ethan (though Ethan didn't care too much) and little Steven and Lily (Shay and Ethan's cousins) this past Wednesday. David and his brother big Steve did the honors and they turned out great! Lily and little Steve had such a good time, though I can't say the same for Shay. She was terrified of the pumpkin guts, in her typical 'sissified' fashion. Nonethless, she enjoyed the end result. Papa and Grandma (David's Daddy and step-mom) along with Tomi (my cousin), Alicia (David's sister), Cory (David's brother), and Christy (Steve and Lily's mom) came to enjoy the festivities, as well.

Uncle Steve gutting the pumpkins with little Steve (left) and Lily (right). Little Steve was great about putting the guts into the trash and Lily was only interested in eating them.

Shay's oh-so-lovely reaction to the pumpkin guts (Lily trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with Shay) and David working diligently on the pumpkin.

Ethan not having a care in the world relaxing with Aunt Alicia.

The finished pumpkins! The guys did a great job!

And now, onto playhouses....

T.J. (one of David's other brothers) was thoughtful enough to build a playhouse for Shay in one of his classes at school. He did a great job building and, with the help of Grammy (David's mom), Poppie (David's step-dad)and Ashley (T.J.'s girlfriend), managed to paint some beautiful flowers and animals on the sides.

Smile!

Ethan has been smiling for a few weeks now, but mostly just because he passed gas. Lately, however, he has been smiling at people (especially his sister) and even laughing a little bit. The laugh pretty much sounds like a donkey, but, being his parents, we think it is adorable ! Shay thinks it is hilarious! We have been trying like crazy to get the smile on camera....and alas we have! Ethan's first smile (on camera)!

On another note, I went back to work this past week. It was really hard leaving Ethan, but we have a great lady named Peggy that has kept Shay and is now keeping Ethan, too. That makes it much easier to leave him. He did great all week and Shay especially enjoys her brother being there with her. We are so thankful to have her!

We also had our pictures taken last week by David's aunt who is working on starting her own photography business. We went to Eureka Springs Park which has some beautiful plants and landscaping. I think that she got some great photos so as soon as she gets those put together, we will share! And (sales pitch) if anyone wants pictures taken, let me know and I will give you her info!