Baby Shower!!

My sister's baby shower was in October, and we had a great time! She got tons of things for the baby, and we had a nice cake, and the kiddos there played all over the place. This is how my family is...very "family friendly". i know of a lot of showers (some I've been to) where kids and spouses are not invited, it's just "the girls"...i find that ODD! I guess it's weird to me because my family always uses any celebration as an excuse to get together and have fun! :P

Me, My BIL Jeff, My sis Callie, and My Grandmother

So everyone was welcomed to this shower! Mine were like that too. I was assigned the task of writing every gift down in her baby book. Boy there was a ton of stuff, and my poor hand was so tired after it was all said and done. LOL. There was tons of pink of course, and then a few of Jeff's friends (Jeff is my brother-in-law) thought it would be funny to give Jeff and Callie (Callie is my sister) a few "just in case" gifts...ya know just in case the baby turns out to be a boy instead. LOL it was hilarious. They had so many

gifts that we had to load up their car and others to get it all back to their house. I really enjoyed seeing my sissy. The last time she was pregnant i lived in Oklahoma and never got to see her during her pregnancy, i hated that. My sissy has been having some pretty strong braxton-hicks contractions over the last 2 weeks now. Just last night she texted me saying that she was having good contractions every 10mins or so....but they eventually went away. I think she's getting close!! She's due on Nov 21st. (the day after my bff's bday too!) but i think she might go into full blown labor next week/weekend!!!! I cannot wait to see my new little niece! I'm so excited, and I'm hoping for another little redhead! :) We need another little redheaded girl in the family. haha.

Jaesus.

Dinosaur Valley Park Trip

We had SO much fun! We took the kids to the Dinosaur Valley Park two weeks ago. It was awesome. The park is beautiful, full of hiking and walking trails and even biking and horse trails too. There is camping and fishing and a playground, and of course, the fossilized footprints in the riverbed! The kids were fascinated by it all. I was in heaven! I'm such a huge dino nerd!

Kevin and I paked a cooler with lunch meats and snacks and drinks and we had a great picnic lunch at the park. Then the kids played on the playground for a bit before we hiked through the park and made our way down to the riverbed. The kids had so much fun finding all the footprints

in the riverbed. We also spotted some little bitty frogs along the river and the kids chased them into the river. We hiked all the way down the riverbed and hunted tracks and the kids talked about how they thought they got there or what the dinosaurs thought about the mud squishing between their toes! :P It was pretty hot though!

We were all feeling the heat of the day once we got down on that dry riverbed. I really want to go back again too! There is this place right before you get to the park...it's a huge building with tons of life sized dinosaur replicas. We wanted to go there but we were all so tired. So I think this fall we might go back just to go to this place (and maybe a quick walk at the park). It's called "DinoWorld"...HAHA! I can't wait to go back! Now I'll rap this up by posting a couple of pics of the prints and things...OH! and we stopped at my PapPa and MeeMaw's house on the way home (since they live right off the highway to get to the park), and took them out to dinner.

They were so surprised, and I was very happy to spend some time with them. The place we went to eat was an old gas station/convenicnce store that was converted inside. It was CRAZY. The outside looked like a run down gas station, and then you walk in and it's a WHOLE different world. It was really nice inside, the costomer service was great and the food was insanely good! I love going to see my MeeMaw and PapPa. When we fist got there they weren't home, so I was afraid we'd missed them or something.

So we got out and walked around to stretch our legs. We went and pet the horses and the mules, saw a few new baby horses and mules in the pasture with their mommas. And then saw the peacocks and chickens, the pigs and the ratty 'ol dog that my grandparent still have out on the front porch. I love going to their house. It's an oasis to me. A peaceful country home. It's a special place to me. I spent a lot of my childhood out there. Finally we ended up back in the car after walking around and then just as we were about to pull out of the long driveway...here comes my MeeMaw and PapPa up the drive! We helped them unload a new recliner for my PapPa and put that together then we headed to town for dinner.

My MeeMaw was so thrilled to see us, and we talked up a storm during dinner. She told me something so cool too! We all know that my great-granny (my MeeMaw's mother) was half Native American, but she has one sister (My great Aunt Ann- sorta the black sheep of the family and a racist bitch), denies it, and hates the idea of her mom being a "half-breed" as she disgustingly puts it! Well my MeeMaw and some of her brothers are having my Great Granny's DNA tested. Her mother (my great-great grandmother was Comanche Indian). And my Great Aunt Ann is having a COW over it! I'm excited! I love learning about my family history.

We are hoping that through DNA we can find my Great-Granny's relatives and family from her mother's side because we know nothing about her mother, other than that she was a Native American (probably Comanche Indian) and that she had 5 children before she died and her husband remarried. She died in child birth with her youngest son, and he died with her. My Great-Granny was 2 at the time of her death and her father remarried an Irish woman shortly afterwards. My Great-Granny's father was Scottish, as was my Great-Papa (my Great-Granny's Husband). My family is mostly Scottish, some Irish, and I would love to learn more about my Great-great granny! This was a cool thing to learn about so I'm really glad we stopped to visit with my MeeMaw and PapPa. :)

~Jaesus

Crazy crazy

Oh wow...I've not updated my blog in a long long time. I'm sorry about that. I've been so busy with the kids this summer and all the crazy things that's happened. Okay where to start. Well let's finish up May. We spent a ton of time at my bff's house. Nicole and Bob have been going through a lot. They've done a lot of fertility treatments trying to have a baby, and it's been so difficult for them. May was a hectic month for them. The medications and shots and doctor appointments 5 hours away in San Antonio, and on top of that, she's also a Yorkie and Pomeranian breeder. So she had two litters of puppies while all this was going on. I was there at her house all the time helping w/the puppies and then taking care of them while she was out of town for doctor visits. In late May she had to spend two weeks in San Antonio to prepare for her first IVF treatment and so I was caring for a litter of puppies and her adult dogs while she was gone. One of her puppies (named Ethan) started looking sick and lethargic. Poor baby. His condition started to worry me, so I brought him over to my house to stay w/me over night. The next day he was worse so I took him to Nicole's vet and they said he was having trouble with hypoglycemia. I got him started on a calorie booster and we tried different foods. He perked up really good. I was giving him the calorie booster every 2 hours and an antibiotic every 4hours. It was a rough week, up every two hours to give meds and offer foods, but little Ethan pulled through. :) He bounced back and made a full

recovery. Such a sweet baby. Laney was so happy to have a puppy in the house and begged her daddy relentlessly to keep him. Nicole was very grateful for my help, and offered me a future discount price on a puppy. :) I'll definitely think about it. Maybe with a male yorkie or a male yorkeranian (a mix of the yorkie and Pomeranian). Ethan is a mix. He was such a cutie, and I was so glad he pulled through. He was the runt of the litter. So sweet, and cuddly and I think even Kevin learned to really love him. Ethan sure loved Kevin and I think that helped melt his heart a bit. haha. Evil I know but I am so ready to start my own breeding program. I will be breeding Havanese (and eventually Coton de Telear). Well...one day right? *sigh* At the moment 4 dogs is about all this little house can handle. In June several things went down. 1st my dad went through his second back surgery and then some dental work. He works SO hard and I wish he would slow down a bit, but that's just not in the "Shaw DNA". He's a hard working good 'ol boy and will be till the end. He was back at work 2 weeks after surgery, which I found amazing! He's my hero, always will be. I am such a daddy's girl. I never was as a teenager, but being grown up and living life sure changes your views on things. He is a strong and caring man, someone who I know that I can always depend on and who will always be there for me. Around the first part of June my grandmother went through some dental surgery as well. My grandmother is a tough tough lady. 80 years old and just as feisty as can be! LOL I love my grandmother's no nonsense attitude, and tell-it-like-it-is way of speaking. She's tough as nails, but a dear sweet woman at the same time. Her health is declining, and it saddens me terribly so, but I know that she's lived a fabulously long life and is such a great person. I am SO grateful that she is still here, in my life and the lives of my children! It's not many people that can say they knew their great-grandmother well, but my kids are lucky enough to be able to say it. In mid June we went to my Family reunion, (my dad's side of the family). We had a BLAST! The kids swam all day and we visited and had our family auction (to raise funds for next year) and then had great BBQ.



My PapPa, Great Aunt Ann, Great Aunt Mary Alice, and my MeeMaw.

It was great to see all my family again. It had been such a long time since I got to see everyone. Kevin was overseas last year so we didn't get to go to the reunion like I wanted to. It's so difficult to travel with 4 kiddos by myself. The boys got to see some of their favorite cousins again and the little ones got to meet some new baby cousins and Laney was over the moon about that. She just loves babies! The 4th of July was pretty anticlimactic. They didn't shoot the fireworks up high enough so people that weren't parked RIGHT on the lake couldn't see them. It sucked....big ones! We left half way through because the kids just didn't seem interested. Instead, we went to the store and got ice cream, popcorn, some candy, sodas and a ton of rented movies and had a movie night all night long! We put out sleeping bags on the living room floor and just camped out all night together. It was awesome! I'll rap this up now. I've got two more posts to put up to update you to the present. :) One on our trip to the Dinosaur Valley Park, and another about a health concern for me that some people on FS are asking me about but I've yet to answer. People I'm closest to  on FS know what's going on, but I've never really answered direct questions so I've been getting this curious question due to some of my vague answers on other questions. okay well....hope all is well with everyone and everyone is enjoying the last few weeks of their summer. :) 

-Jaesus

Lions and Tigers and Darth Pandas?

Our trip to Austin was tons of fun. We did a lot, and visited with family. The kids had a blast. One little trip we made was to one of the malls in Ceder Park. We went to the Build-a-Bear store and the kids got to pick and make their own stuffed animals. :) FUN!!! Brandon even got in on the fun. Laney picked a Hello Kitty doll, and of course dressed her up like a princess. She picked out a cute little purple

and pink dress with matching princess shoes and a cute little Hello Kitty purse. She named her new doll...Kitty of course. She's just too cute. Next she picked a sound to put in her Kitty. You guessed it, a meow sound. And we also put in a heart button that when pressed makes a heartbeat sound. Hayden picked his out next. He looked at each and every choice twice....thought about it very hard and settled on a pink teddy bear. Yes I know some people might have a knee jerk reaction to their little boy picking out a pink...anything....but I honestly wasn't surprised or freaked by it. He likes pink....so what? So the morons that gave me dirty looks for letting my son have a pink teddy bear can just shove it! The bear is adorable. He picked out a UT (University of Texas) basketball uniform, complete w/basketball socks, shoes, and a basket ball. It's just adorable, and Hayden loves his bear. He named his bear

Pinkie. I added the last name McDribble. Pinkie McDribble is the cutest little thing. That bear is SOFT too, and fluffy! The shoes look a bit alien on him...they are huge! Hayden picked out the "I love you" sound and he got a heart inside his bear too. Hayden smiled from ear to ear for hours! Brandon decided to get in on the fun as well and he picked out a panda bear. Brandon of course had to 'cool him out' by picking the Star Wars sound for his panda, and (giggles) dressing him up as Darth Vadar! This is the funniest damn thing I've seen in a

in a long time! It comes complete with Darth Vadar's outfit, cape, and boots...and even a bear sized lightsabar! I mean how adorable is that? The funny thing...that you can't see in the picture is that because it's a panda bear, his ears poking out of the helmet are black, but his tail is white. It's just SO funny pokin' out through the tail hole. ~~In a galaxy far, far away....a Panda rose in the ranks to become the new master of the evil empire. His name was Anakin Skypanda, but he is now known as Darth Panda!~~ [cue Star Wars theme here]. Yes we had TONS of fun. :) I really enjoy hanging out with my family, with my kids, with my hubs. We always have a blast. I hope to go back to Austin again this summer. Next time I want a Build-a-Bear of my own! Maybe a puppy....or a tie-dye bunny with huge floppy ears, or one of their fancy ones like the 'real' looking wolf, or bear, or owl. Who knows! I think a puppy, dressed as a rocker, or a biker! LOL I love that store, and I'll be getting little outfits for the kiddos to change their dolls into and play and make up all kinds of fun stories and adventures! Hope everyone has a great rest-of-spring-break!

Jaesus.

Vlog!! What's going on!

Here are the pics from Kyle's 15th bday! :) I cannot believe he's 15! that's nuts.
Jaesus.

The Poker Game.

So every now and then me, Shaggy and our good friend Mcclenny get together to shoot the shit, drink some beer and play some poker. :) It's always fun. I'm usually at the

the top of my game, but alas this night I was not. Shags wiped the floor with me and Mcclenny was absolutely no help whatsoever! I had the best hand of the night...so I thought. I bet high and kept my cool. Watching as Shags eyes shifted back to his cards then to his chips. I was thinking..."I GOT THIS!", but it turned out that Shags was being a little sneaky ninja and he pulled out the big guns!

He clobbered me, took most of my chips, including my "lucky ante" (the one with the cute little hole in the middle). I was sad. :*( And after that came my downfall! I couldn't win a hand at all. I caught no break. I would get ahead and then *WHAM* Shags would knock me down again, or Mcclenny would run a sneak attack and capture a huge pot of chips. It was so bad I had to start using runts candies as substitute chips! *hangs head in shame*- I will never live this one down. I'm usually the card shark, but not this night! WOE IS ME! I got my ass beat by a bunch of amateurs! Oh the humiliations of it all! Oh the shame!

After Shags cleaned me out I watched as he and Mcclenny battled it out. Back and forth the stacks would go and I thought for sure we'd have a rematch, but in the end Mcclenny finally managed to break Shags' winning streak and he cleaned him out! Total time to victory: 3 hours! And so we toasted to the next round! May we meet again soon and may I gut you boys to death the next time! ARGH! :)

Jaesus.                                                                           

Happy Birthday Dear Laney...

Today Laney turned 5. I cannot BELIEVE how fast time went by! Five!!!! OMG! *sigh* my little girl is getting so big. We had a busy day today. We got all dressed and ready to go and took off to Kyle's school to check him out early for the day to celebrate Laney's birthday. We went to McAlister's

for lunch. Laney had mac-n-cheese w/Cheetos...(cheese overload?!), Hayden had a peanut butter sandwich with Cheetos, Kyle had a grilled chicken salad and so did I and Kevin had the classic pot roast. It was YUMS and the kids had a blast. We goofed around and took pics while we chatted about going to the park and the birthday part that was to come later that day. Laney was so excited she was nearly pinging off the walls of the place. :) Laney and I ended up having a huge giggle fit over some silly noise that

Hayden made. It was a fun afternoon. We went to the park after that and played for a couple of hours before we went home. Laney and Hayden watched a movie while I decorated and got everything ready for her party. It was awesome. She was a true little princess for her party too. :) I will leave you now with some pics from the day.  

Jaesus.                                                                        

Just Another Day in Paradise.



Hayden sporting his fire Cheetos face.



Today was a normal day. A pretty lazy day really. Did laundry and hung out with Laney and Hayden watching movies. Kevin went and got us some snacks (yums). :) Hayden enjoyed his fire Cheetos and Laney had gummy worms. We watched about every Pixar film known to man. Well maybe not 'every' film, but pretty close. I love hanging out with my kiddos. They make the day so very interesting. The funny things they say, the faces they make, hugs, snuggles and giggles. I love it. Kyle didn't feel very well after he got home from school. This is the 4th time he's come home with an upset stomach. If this keeps up I think I'll have to see a doctor about it. I'm not too worried, but I do find it odd that this has been happening quite frequently lately. I will never again let anything just 'roll off' about the kids' health. Not after the mess and run around the morons (jokingly called doctors) on base kept telling me "It's nothing" when Laney had her hernia. I cannot believe a person who wears a name tag w/DOCTOR on it didn't realize she had a hernia. It took the specialist 2 seconds to say -hernia, she needs surgery-. So I'll make sure they don't do the same bull to Kyle. Laney tried to help make Kyle feel better by rubbing his back and saying "It be okay Bubba, it be okay." She's a sweetheart. I tried to get a picture of that but she kept sticking her little finger in my lens. Laney sure is a stinker. She's a bit bossy. I have no idea where she gets that from at all [end sarcasm]. I think this weekend I'll take them to see a movie, or the park and a picnic if it's not too cold. I'm not sure yet. I guess we'll see how the weather is. It was a long day for sure. 

No Mommy, you can't take my picture.

Later we played outside for a bit with the dogs. I think we wore them out actually. Laney and Hayden ran back and forth around the backyard till the dogs got dizzy. Then the sat on the porch and giggled as they watched Shaggy toss the ball around for Angel and Patch to chase after. Peggy made herself at home right between Laney and Hayden on the porch, and just watched. Dodger...I'm not really sure where he was or what the heck he was doing at the time. I think he might have been nosing around somewhere for bugs. Lord knows that dog loves to kill things and leave me nicely stacked little piles of dead bodies on the back porch. He's proud of his work. After we came back inside the kiddos helped me put away about a thousand pounds of laundry and then we got dinner- left over s'ghetti (as they call it). It was yums. The kids were pretty tired after that and just about crashed, but we managed to keep them up long enough to not disrupt normal bedtime. The kids crashed and Shags and I watched some old Eddie Murphy specials (Raw and Delirious). I've not watched those in forever! If you've not seen them you have to. Classic.

Hope this is as good as it looks

I think I love those two specials so much because my best friend from HS and I used to watch those two specials all the time. We were always over at her grandmother's house on the weekends, and she would make us cheeseburgers, homemade fries and chocolate shakes and we'd spend the whole night watching Eddie Murphy movies and his comedy specials and laugh for hours and hours. I probably know both of those specials word for word. hmm...I'm sure that drove Shags a bit bonkers, because I cannot help but blurt out some of the lines with Eddie. Well he didn't seem to mind, just shook his head and giggled at me. We decided to stay up late and ended up getting chips and salsa and a movie from Red Box. :P Well...Shags is back w/the chips, salsa and movie so I'm off. Oh the movie- I've been waiting for it to be released to Red Box- it's called RED. Retired hit-men, kind of a dark comedy action movie. Let'cha know if it's any good. :) Night all.


Jaesus.