Friday, March 27, 2009

Happy 2nd Birthday Matthew!!!


Hard to believe 2 years ago today I was laying in a hospital room waiting for the "real" labor to begin. It was about this time that things got moving. I was nervous because I had never been through an induction before, but we made it didn't we little guy?
Happy Birthday Lil Man- Mommy loves you!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Happy Birthday......


Caroline! Hope its a great one! Miss you and love you girlie!

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 10

His spunk. I don't know what it is about our boys, but they both have had rough things happen to them. Is it a boy thing? I have no clue. But he comes through it like a trooper, nothing keeps him down for long.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Ten Days of Matthew-Day 9

He loves people- we'll be driving down the road and he's in the backseat waving at people in other cars. 'Hi!" It cracks me up, but you know what? It puts a smile on the faces of the people who notice him.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 8

I love that he gives people nick names. Its one of his newest things, he just randomly picks a name and thats what a person is called. We've had "Nani" and "Ana", and "Nina" and "LeeLee"
Which are NO where near these people's actual names- well except for LeeLee.

Monday, March 23, 2009

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 7


His laugh. Have you ever heard this boy really truly laugh? You can't help but laugh along with him. Its infectious!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Party Pics Slideshow

GONE....OK?

Matthew has something new. It started when I let him have the rest of my drink one day. The other kids swarmed around him asking for a drink, and even though there was some left, he hugged it to his body looked at them and said "dink GONE.....Ok?" then proceeded to polish it off. I think its his way of saying 'this is mine, you aren't getting it, now back off!'
We let him open his gifts at Connor's party since Aaron's parents aren't going to be able to come up two weeks in a row. When he opened the movie from us, he got excited, then noticed all the other kids getting excited. He gripped that movie, and in no uncertain terms "Wadee GONE...Ok?"

Have you ever seen...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHQ5ZQY98X0



This episode of Friends? Where Chandler can't smile?


Maybe we should have named Matthew, Chandler. This seems to be almost all I get these days, unless he's unaware I'm taking his picture.





Party On....


More of Connor's birthday party highlight pics soon to come. It was a blast, we all had a ton of fun. We missed all our old friends though. First birthday party away from home felt odd.

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 6

Well he loves to eat. And I love that about him. I never have to worry about him turning up his nose at dinner. Or worry that he's not getting enough nutrition. He'll eat anything and everything!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Ten days of Matthew- Day 5

That voice. Oh that voice. He learns a new word every day and his little voice is absolutely precious. I love listening to him talk.

Friday, March 20, 2009

My Poor Sadie


My poor Sadie has been so ill. It started Tuesday after lunch she got a splitting headache and asked to go lay in our bed. So I sent her in there, because its the coolest, darkest room in the house. A little while later I checked on her and she was asleep. She slept all afternoon, and most of the night. She woke up around 1:30am and I could tell she was running a fever so I dosed her with meds and moved her to the couch. After Aaron left for work Wednesday morning she came in crying saying she was dizzy, she could hardly walk, so instead of sending her back to bed I let her lay in bed with me, where she just cried, because even laying down she was dizzy. Her fever at that point was a little over 103. She never moved from my bed on Wednesday. She continued to complain of her head, and neck hurting. Around lunch time her fever spiked to over 105 and I called the doctor. Explained what was going on and they recommend I take her to the ER. So Aaron headed home, I started gathering things up to take her. We got to Children's hospital in Dallas around 2, and were checked in quickly. Her fever had lowered back down to the 103 range after I medicated her at home. They did a rapid strep and rapid flu tests, both of which came back negative. The doctor explained that they have been seeing a lot of false negatives on the rapid flu tests this year. Told me to treat her symptoms and sent us home. By the time we made it home (which included dealing with rush hour traffic on 35 by downtown- I'm a true city girl now- didn't bother me in the least) Her fever had spiked back up to 105.7. It has continued like that the past couple of days. She woke up feeling ok yesterday, but by afternoon was back down again, with the high fever and pain, adding in chills to round out my suspicion that it really is the flu. Again, she woke up today feeling better, but as I type this, the fever is back, and she is laying in my bed asleep. She is so ill, and it pains me to se her so. Its frustrating to watch her suffer, and not be able to really do anything for it. She has taken to sleeping on the couch since her and Grace share a bed, and we're trying to contain this as much as possible.
So if you think of it, say a prayer for our Doodle-Bug.

Connor's Birthday Card
















I appologize if this are out of order, but I promised to post pics of the card I made Connor yesterday. :)





Ten Days of Matthew- Day 4

His humor. I know I mentioned this with Connor too- but Matthew has the silliest sense of humor. Even at this young age, he gets so silly and starts to laugh uncontrollably at himself.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 3


Those eyes. He has his daddy's eyes- which I love so much. When I look at him I see Aaron, which is never a bad thing. :)

Happy 7th Birthday Connor!!




Hard to believe that 7 years ago you were just a teeny 8lb baby boy. I love you so much, and hope you have a great 7th year!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 2


This was pretty much all I saw of him for about 10 hours after he was born- pictures like this on the back of our camera. I love what a miracle he is. I love that when I look at him I see a physical manifestation of answered prayers. I realize that things could have been so much worse, but our God answers prayers.

Ten Days of Connor- Day 10


His Special Needs- I know it may be silly to love that he has AD/HD, OCD and Anxiety disorder, but these things make him who he is. And I love everything about him.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St Patricks Day!

See a few more Pics of Matthew from today here

Ten Days of Matthew- Day 1

When I think of Matthew's birth I think about how awful I felt, how sick I was, and the scary situation we found ourselves in. Then I look at his grin, and realize it was all worth it and I would do it over again in a heartbeat. In the days following, we'll look at the reasons why I love Matthew.

Ten Days of Connor- day 9


That Hair, Those Eyes. :) Enough Said.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Ten Days of Connor- Day 8

His Creativity always astounds me! The he can create the most unique things out of what other people would view as trash. That he sees the usefulness of everything is another thing I love about my oldest son.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Ok Kids Pics up

www.mandyhowephotography.blogspot.com

New Pics of Me.






I think my hubby is getting pretty good with the camera myself. :) We went to downtown Dallas today to grab some birthday pics of the boys, got several good ones of Connor, but not as many of Matthew. I asked Aaron to grab some of me as well, and he did a pretty good job.

Ten Days of Connor- day 7


His strength. The poor guy has been through so much in his short life, and its never gotten him down. He pulls through every time, meets every challenge head on and comes out stronger in the end.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Ten days of Connor- Day 6


His brains. :) He's so smart, and learns so quickly. He retains information like crazy- he's going to go far, and I love that about him. He can do anything he puts his mind to and never ceases to amaze me with what he knows.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Ten days of Connor- day 5

His humor- he loves to make people laugh- and is good at it. :)

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Ten Days of Connor- day 4


I love the love he has for God. He loves Sunday school, and loves to learn more about our Savior.

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Ten Days of Connor- Day 3


His smile- oh how I love that boy's smile. When he grins it lights up a room, and just melts my heart.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Ten days of Connor- Day 2

I love Connor's heart. He is very empathetic and loves his friends and family with abandon.

Monday, March 09, 2009

Ten Days of Connor- Day 1

Sorry for the poor quality- its a scanned pic.
I normally post blast from the past pictures on the day of the kids' birthdays. This year I thought I'd do something different. Connor's birthday is exactly 10 days from today. Each day I will post one thing I love about Connor, with a picture from the past 7 years. (Can you believe it?!?)
I'll be doing the same thing for each of the kids- so Matthew and Connor will overlap a bit. :)

Without further ado: Day 1

I love Connor's mind. He has such an inquisitive spirit. I love watching him figure things out, or the excitement in his voice when he "invents" something.

Saturday, March 07, 2009

Total Relaxation...

Connor doing the Sudoku and crossword puzzles in the paper.
Aaron and I with our "Himself" and "herself" coffee cups that GiGi and Papa J brought us from Ireland. Forgive the lack of makeup and puffy face. lol
How I found Cass last night. Talk about relaxed!!!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Friday, March 06, 2009

Report Card Day

Connor:
Lang Comp: 91
Reading: 100
Math:97
Science/Health: 88
Social Studies: 90
PE: 99
Art: 99
Music: 100

He has been doing much better since starting his medication, and beginning GT. He is being challenged in GT which is what I was hoping for. His homework for today included researching the city of Dublin online and finding what country, continent, labeling it on a map, and then also finding what ocean it is closest to. He really enjoyed it and I have to admit I enjoyed helping him ;) I'm so proud of him and how he is doing in school.

Sadie

Lang Comp: 85
Reading: 96 (up almost 7 points since last 6 weeks)
Math: 92 (up 10 points)
Science/Health: 80
Social Studies: 87
PE: 100
Art: 99
Music:97

Sadie made Mavericks Club and Pricipals Honor roll. She has pulled most of her grades up, and a couple she pulled up significantly. They had TAKS test on Tuesday, which because of her personality she stressed over, and is still stressing over. I hate that they inflict so much stress on these kids about a standardized test. Aaron and I tried to explain to her that she makes good grades, and she will do fine on the test. And I'm sure she did do fine.
She has been participating in an after school club on Mondays where she is learning to play chess. Its something she is really enjoying. Some of the school subjects don't come as easily to her as they do for Connor, but I am so proud of how hard she is working, and how that work is reflecting in her grades.

I know I'm biased, but I think I have awesome kids. ;)

Sunday, March 01, 2009

Forgot to Post

Sadie recieved her first Valentine this year. She came home from school the Friday before Valentines (which is when they had their parties) with the little stuffed dog (which had a heart with Candy in it) and the rose (which lights up) They were given to her by a little boy in her class who's mom is actually a Preschool teacher at the same school as well. She was all giggly and blushy but I think its cute. :) He also asked her to the Valentines dance "as friends" but we had company come in that night, so she was unable to go.