Our Blessed Life

Summer!

2011-06-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

Summer is here! One of my favorite times of year! We had have a lot going on already and still have a lot ahead of us! So far we have gone swimming, gone to the zoo, and taken a trip to Texas.

Last weekend Andrew went to his brother's bachelor party so we decided to have a girl's weekend at my sister-in-laws. Our boys had lost of fun together!! We took them to Rainforest Cafe at Grapevine Mills. They were a little overwhelmed I think. Cannon wanted to pet the elephants (robotic) and as soon as he went to touch it is moved and made a noise and it FREAKED Cannon out. He was done after that. I couldn't even get him to take a picture by them. Caeden held on to his mommy the whole time. Madison freaked out anytime the monkeys and gorillas started going wild. Aleia, she wasn't phased by any of it! :) Here are a couple pictures. ( Don't know why I didn't get pics of our cute girls!)

We finally have a contract on our house! YEA! Praise the LORD! I am hoping all goes well. If so we close on July 12th. We will be taking a another trip at the end of June to meet with the movers, etc. We will also be traveling to Austin the 4th of July weekend for Andrew's brother's wedding.

Madison has taken a few steps here and there, but as soon as she knows I saw her she sits down. I don't understand why she does that! I think she would love walking and chasing her brother so much better that way! She loves to be in the water. She loves baths and swimming pools. She throws a fit whenever we take her out. She hates sitting in floats though. I have to hold her the whole time. She would love for me to just let her down but I don't think that would turn out so well!

Cannon is being a great big brother trying to teach her how to walk. (I don't think she pays much attention.) He is pretty cute to watch though. He is really enjoying the water a lot! He wants to go swim all the time.

Today we walked over to park that is across the street. I decided I need the exercise and Cannon could use some time outside. He ran non-stop the whole time we were there. Madison had a blast on the swings but wasn't so sure about the big toy. Here are a couple cute pics and a video of Madison.

So here is a catch-up on what is happening in our lives!

For Bequita

2011-05-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

My dear mother-in-law has had her heart ripped out by Andrew and I. She and Travis gracioulsy opened their home to us for 8 months while we tried to sell our house in Dallas. Then one day Andrew got a call, out of the blue, from a company in Tulsa,Oklahoma. They offered him a great job and he took it. Thus, the part of ripping Bequita's heart out, we moved to Oklahoma the first week of May. It is nice to be back "home." I have been living away from my family for the last 4 years. It is so nice to be back to hang out with all of them. Anyway, Bequita made me promise that I would start writing my blog again so she could keep up with our life now that we aren't there everyday. :) So this is for you Bequita!

We had had a busy week our first week here. Madison Jane turned 1 on May 4th. We celebrated her birthday on April 30th. I will post more on that later. We also had unpacking to do...YUCK! The bad part is we are only here for 3 months, then we do it all over again. His company provided a furnished apartment for us for 3 months so we could find where we want to live. Problem is we still have our house to sell. :(

Here are a few pictures of our current apartment. (please excuse the mess. I wasn't going to take pictures until it was all in order, but that never seemed to happen so I did the best I could!)

This is our building. The porch and one car garage is ours. This is also our balcony above the garage.

This is the entry way. When you come in from the garage or front porch you have to walk up the stairs to get to the living area. It is nice because the only thing underneath us is garages. I don't have to worry about people below us getting mad at all the jumping going on. Cannon is not suited for apartment living. :)

This is at the top of the stairs. It is, as you can see, our computer area.

The lovely kitchen.

The living area. That is the door to the balcony. It is safe for the kids to be out on too.

The kids room. Nice and compact! (And unorganized at this point!)

The hallway bathroom.

Our lovely decorated bedroom. I am going a little crazy not having any decorative things around. I love for my living space to be pretty. :( I keep telling myself, It's only 3 months!

Our bathroom has a nice big garden tub.

It really is a nice place to live, especially for free! I am grateful for God providing us with this opportunity as well. Hopefully in the next three months something will happen with our house and we will be able to find a new place of our own. :)

Oops I Did It Again....

2011-02-07T19:47:00.000-08:00

Once again I have been horrible at blogging. I am trying to decide if it is worth my time to keep going. I only know of one person who notices when I don't update and keeps telling me to write a new one. But, I do have good reason for not blogging. I have had a house full of sickies again. It all started a few weeks ago with Cannon. He was acting calmer than usual at church and his teacher asked me if he wasn't feeling good. He told me no so I got his Nana to come sit with him while I finished working in the nursery. Well right before we left to head home he started throwing up multiple times. Poor Nana got the brunt of that. By the time we got home Cannon was shirtless wrapped in my cardigan and I was in a tank top in 30 degree weather. I just figured he had a little stomach bug. My parents were due to come the flowing day so I was hoping that was all it was. He laid around all the next day and perked up a little when his Grammy and Granddaddy came. We thought for sure he was good. The next morning things looked good but it only lasted an hour or so. He was running a temp. anywhere from 101 to 103. I knew something wasn't right so we took him in to the doc. They decided to do a chest x-ray and guess what...He had pneumonia. The poor guy was miserable. I felt so bad for him. I also hated that the whole time Grammy and Granddaddy were there he felt puny. Madison got some good bonding time with them though. A few days after Cannon got diagnosed with pneumonia I heard Madison getting a yucky cough like Cannon's. I immediately made her an appointment on Monday to get her checked out. We take her in and they say she has RSV. When it gets to the point that she is having trouble breathing you can bring her in and we will give her meds. Booo. I didn't like that answer. I thought I was doing good by bringing her in BEFORE it got to that point, but I understand they don't want to give babies medication unless they absolutely need it. So anyway by the end of the week she was sounding horrible and just laying around not wanting to play or be put down. I took her back to the doctor and she had bronchitis. We then started breathing treatments, which she hated, and giving her antibiotics. I am happy to report that they are both back to normal now and FULL of energy!

This is the sad pitiful boy I had to look at. Break my heart!

Grammy and Granddaddy

Little miss sickie Madison. Look at her poor sweet eyes.

We are still waiting for the right family to come along to buy our house. I am sure with all the snow in the area it will be a while before people are out looking again. Andrew is now in Bahrain on business. I have found that I am completely lost without him. I was on the computer last night and when I looked down at the time I realized it was 12:30AM. Oops! I hardly ever stay up that late. But when I don't have him to come to bed to it is just not that appealing I suppose. :) I am anxiously awaiting his return on Thursday. I told him I researched and found that Bahrain was know for it's pearls, so I expected him to bring me some home!
Here is a map to show exactly where he is. Great place to be right now huh!?!? Actually they say it is relatively safe there. :)

Madison turned 9 months old last Friday!!! Can you believe it! She is crawling around full speed and now she is able to pull herself up using the furniture. It is only a matter of time before she takes off walking! No teeth yet, but I think they will pop up anytime with the way she is chewing of things. Plans for her 1st birthday party are underway!!!

Okay so now do me a favor please. If you feel like it leave me a message or something so I can see who is reading and if it is worth my time to keep this blog up. Thanks!

Got My Gun...

2011-01-26T19:09:00.000-08:00

Cannon came in this morning and said, "Momma, if that man trys to broke into our house, I got my gun. I will kill him. See I got it right here." He turns around and has some of his trio blocks connected to form a gun, which was stuck in the back of his pants. He then says, "And if I see any animals, I will kill them too!"

Really, where is he getting this? I don't let him sit and watch shows were people shoot each other or anything like that. Nonetheless it was still hilarious coming out of his mouth!

This is short and sweet but I got a house full of sickos! :)

The Art of Shaving

2011-01-14T05:50:00.000-08:00

For Christmas we got Cannon a Toy Story 3 Bathtime Shave kit. He saw it at Target one day and really wanted it. He wanted to "be like Daddy." He loves to do what Daddy does so much now. He loves it so much! He wants to shave all the time now. That is sometimes the leverage we use to get him into the bath. Andrew took the time to teach Cannon and our nephew Caeden the art of shaving. They both had a lot of fun and it was so cute to watch. Cannon will defintely need to perfect his shaving techniques because if you remember the ski picture, you can see from his Daddy and Papa that he will have lots of facial hair!

Speaking of Cannon being like Daddy. Every day when he gets home from school or church he
thinks he needs to change clothes. He gets that because as soon as Andrew comes in from work he changes out of his dress clothes into something more comfortable for the evening. Well Cannon has been watching and now he thinks he needs to do the same thing. Yesterday he was wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt and some athletic pants. He said "Momma, I need to change out of my school clothes." I told him "No, those are play clothes and they are comfortable enough to keep on." He said, "No Mom, these are my school clothes!" I tried to explain that those were comfortable though and nothing he would change into would be more comfortable than those. He just knew that those were the clothes he wore to "work" and he wanted to change as soon as he got home just like Daddy! :) I am so glad that God blessed Cannon with an amazing father. He looks up to his Daddy so much and I know that if he keeps watching he will turn into a wonderful young man. He has an awesome Daddy to be just like!

Annual Mileur Ski Trip

2011-01-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

We have started a tradition in the Mileur Family of taking a ski vacation around the Christmas holiday. We have gone to Durango,CO for the past 3 years but this year I convinced everyone to try out Angelfire, NM. I found that it was cheaper and about 4 hours closer than Durango. As it got closer to the time we headed to Angelfire things weren't looking great weather wise. Colorado was being dumped with snow while New Mexico was having an unusually "dry" season. I started to worry. I was wishing that I just kept my mouth shut and we went to Colorado like usual. I was going to feel horrible if we got there and the skiing was bad because of the lack of snow. The resort had artificial snow blowers, but still you have to have at least a little snow to make the machine of any use. There were only a few runs open as well. So we loaded up and headed to Angelfire on Tuesday Dec. 28th. When we got there, there was a dusting of snow on the ground. But God blessed our ski trip and the next three days it snowed. We got several inches of snow and a lot of happy skiers. The first day of skiing I only made it a half day because the wind was blowing and I was miserably cold. The second day I completely skipped because it was -18 on the mountain. I decided the fire looked SOOOO much better. The third day was perfect. The sun was out, the snow was coming to a stop and it was perfect conditions for skiing. We all had a great time. Cannon loved being in the snow too. We took some skis that use to belong to Andrew's cousins with us. They were the perfect size for Cannon. There was a little hill behind our cabin that we took Cannon out to. Here is how he did:

He is a natural! We also took him tubing. It was a lot of fun and Cannon didn't want to stop. I was afraid once he got to the top he wouldn't want to go down, but nope! He couldn't wait to do it over and over!

Madison had a great time as well. She is more like me and enjoyed being inside by the warm fire but she enjoyed our little sled ride. I am not sure what we will do next year but I know that no matter what as long as we are all together a good time will be had!

And the Bad Blogger Award goes too....

2011-01-11T07:58:00.000-08:00

MEGAN MILEUR!!!! Yeah, I know, I made some promises that I didn't keep. I know I left you all waiting on the edge of your seat to see my projects and never showed them. I know all of you have had horrible days because you don't get to hurry to the computer in the morning to find a new blog about my cute children. I know, and I am sorry! But I am here to tell you that as my New Years Resolution I plan to blog more "regularly." Hahaha...and we all know how long those resolutions last at, best maybe a couple months. I have not been one that makes New Years Resolutions. I personally think they are silly. The things on the list are mainly things we should be doing anyway. I have heard of a few that were interesting but most of them are lose weight, workout, eat better, do more quiet time with God. I feel these are things that shouldn't have to have a special occasion to make us start. Those can be done at anytime of the year. Plus, I learned a long time ago that as soon as I make the list and say them aloud to someone, they remember and hang it over my head every time they see I am not adhering to one of my resolutions. I hate that. I get defensive and want to say "Hey, Buddy! Mind your own business! Those are my resolutions to make or break OKAY!" My hubby will be the first to tell you I don't appreciate my short comings being noticed. So I have decided if I don't tell people them then no one knows what to watch for. Smart huh?!?!

Okay, so about the projects! I made Madison and Aleia the cutest Christmas outfits. I got the idea from seeing several Christmas outfits and then making my own from what I liked. Here is the outcome.

I also made the boys reindeer shirts. It was a lot of fun too. The boys LOVED them!

My other project was a bow board and message board. I completely forgot to take a picture of those though. I will try to get one of them to send me a picture. I loved how they turned out too.

We had a great Christmas and New Years. We traveled A LOT! My next post I will tell you about our ski trip! I have great pictures and even a couple of great videos! So please don't give up on me, there are great things to come....

More funny talks with Cannon

2010-12-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday as we were leaving Cannon's school he should me a picture of Mary, Joesph and baby Jesus. He got excited and said, "Hey mom! Madison can be baby Jesus, you can be Mary, and I can be....I was fully expecting him to say Joesph, but nope, he said, and I can be GOD!" Hahaha, where did that come from. Love the way their little brains work.

Then the other day I was on the phone with Andrew. Cannon was standing at the top of the stairs and yells "Hey mom watch!" I looked up and heard he say "To infinity and beyoooooonnnd!" My heart leaped out of my chest and I screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" When he says that phrase he is usually jumping off a chair or some other piece of furniture that is close to the ground. I saw an image flash in my head of him jumping and then tumbling head first down the stairs! Well my son was fortunately smarted that that. He was just making his Buzz figurine fly down the stairs. This momma about had a heart attack!

Another funny conversation I over heard my son saying was when he was playing by himself one day. He was just playing with some toys caring on a conversation. (This incident happened after the day he called me an idiot. So he knew about inappropriate words.) So suddenly I hear him say something like, "Are you kidding me you jerk!" I quickly said, "Cannon! What did I just hear you say?" He replied just as fast, "No, no, mom, no, I was just talking to myself, I wasn't calling anyone that!" Like that makes it SOOOO much better! Seriously, where is he learning these words!

Plays, Projects, and Parties!

2010-12-13T08:22:00.000-08:00

We have had a lot of fun this month preparing for Christmas and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Cannon attends a Mother's Day Out school at the Baptist church. They put on a little Christmas play that was one of the cutest, funniest things I have watched in a while. Cannon was asked to be a narrator for the program. I was a little worried about him having to remember lines and then get up there and actually say it, but....He did amazing! Here is a video of him saying his lines. The video quality on my camera is sooooo poor, you can barely make him out but he is the one on the left that steps up after another little boy finishes his line:

His line was: "The man looked at Mary, she looked tired. And the baby would be born very soon."

3 to 5 year olds are hilarious! We heard lots of funny things yelled from the stage, such as I need to go potty! Love it! Can't wait until next year!

Do you remember the projects I told you I would be sharing??? Yeah well I need three of them done by this weekend, and guess what?! I haven't even started! But I work best under pressure so hopefully they will turn out wonderful! I will share them once I finish them. I am really excited about them too!

And finally Cannon will have his first school Christmas party this Thursday. He is so excited. We got gifts for each of his classmates and they have a gift exchange. I get to help with the party so it should be loads of fun! I am working on Andrew to get me a better camera. I don't know what the deal is but my pictures and videos are not up to par. For me that is unacceptable. I am missing out and messing up so many great memories with my kiddos!

Well here's to a busy week!

Photo Catch-up!

2010-12-07T08:57:00.000-08:00

Oh Be Careful Little Ears What You Hear...

2010-12-06T08:20:00.000-08:00

Saturday afternoon we were all laying around relaxing. Andrew and I were snuggled in a chair looking at our two adorable children. Cannon decided to come over and chat with us a bit. We were laughing and playing with him, when the incident occurred. I was talking to him about his pants and that he had put on ones that were too short for him. He quickly replied in a chipper voice, "No they aren't you IDIOT!" Say WHAT?!?!?! What were the words that just escaped my sweet little boys mouth! My son, who is 4 years old, used in the proper context, called me an idiot! How on earth did he learn this?? I still can not figure out were this was put into his head but it makes me remember how impressionable their precious minds are. Of course, I handled the situation totally wrong. I turned my head and laughed, hard, while my husband took charge and reprimanded Cannon. The poor child was so embarrassed. He didn't really understand the complete meaning of the word, he just repeated something he had heard elsewhere, but he thought it was something we would laugh at, not spank him for saying. Well, I guess I didn't let him down! I am the world's worst at laughing when he says inappropriate things. Andrew keeps telling me I need to work on that! :)

I monitor the shows he watches but he has watched the occasional Sponge Bob and I know that there is a bit of rudeness in that show. Therefore, that show is officially ban from our household. But I really don't know if it was TV or just out in his everyday world where he picked up the words. I will have to be more diligent in guarding his precious ears, eyes, and heart.

Family Time!

2010-11-20T09:01:00.000-08:00

The next three days will be family fun time with my family. I am looking forward to spending as much time with my Okie family as possible. They are all so excited to love on my babies and spoil them rotten. It is nice because I get a nice break while they do all the lovin' and feedin', and playin'. I am so blessed to have people who love me and my children so much. Today we are having a yummy Thanksgiving meal with my Daddy's family, then tonight I will go spend time with my mom and sisters. Eating and talking, two of my favorite things! I will post pictures later!

Fed Up!

2010-11-19T05:54:00.000-08:00

This post is not like my usual. It is not one that is light hearted and full of funny stories. It is one that is personal and the cry of my heart for my God.

I have read about a certain church in the news lately. You know the one that protests at soldier's funerals and such. This infuriated me. I am so sick of these so called "Christians" getting media attention. The words these people speak about my God, my Father, my sweet Savior is a total lie. I am so ashamed that they even speak and portray God the way the do. There are two quotes that just shake my soul. They are quoted as saying "the Lord curses them by killing Oklahoma's children and casting them to hell." and "Thank God for more dead children in Oklahoma." This my friends is not the GOD I serve. My God is loving, compassionate, loyal. He is definitely a God that disciplines those that He loves, but not is such ways that these people claim. Hebrews 12:5-7 " My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his Father?" Now if those people claim that that is how God disciplines disobedience I would hate to be their child! God does discipline but it is not done to harm us. He gently and maybe not so gently at times shows us the repercussions of of actions only to show us that HE know what is best and we need to rely on Him.

I am so sick of radical "Christians" being portrayed on movies and TV shows. I am tired of the radical "Christians" being given media spot lights when there are several wonderful true Christian organizations doing such good things but get little notice. I see on shows like "Secret Life of the American Teenager" portraying their "Christian" character in a way that is insulting to me. I was one, as well as many of my friends in high school, who strived for purity in our relationships with boyfriends. The way they made that character look was a mockery of what I, who let True Love Wait, did. Of course that show has gone way down hill since then with that character.

I just want to be the voice of a true Christian. I want people to know of God's love and compassion and not get blinded by the media of what harshness they proclaim God to show. Those people give Christians a bad name. No wonder foreign countries don't want anything to do with Christ, because their first impressions are those of God killing and punishing people. Let us true Christians or rather those who Stand on the Solid Rock be the ones who persevere and stand up. Rise with me to bring people to The Light, The God we know and love.

Lord,

I pray for these people who say they speak in Your precious name. Lord, may the media stop giving them the attention they want. I pray that you use me and anyone who is willing to show YOU truly. There are so many wonderful Christians who are doing your work but are not getting the spotlight because that is not what doing your works are about. Lord, you are an amazing God. You love endlessly, provide ceaselessly and have compassion beyond understanding. Please let your wondrous ways be known. I love you Father, thank you for allowing me to be your child. I am forever grateful.

In Christ's precious name I pray, Amen!

This is the God I serve!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-DNlvXPfU4

Skininator

2010-11-17T10:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Cannon told me he wanted an apple so I was getting one for him. I was asking him if he wanted me to peel it or leave it like it was. He said "yeah mom get the skininator!" I was like, What??? He replied, "You know the skininator, the thing that goes roun' and roun' and takes the skin off." This of course was referring to our apple peeler. If any of you watch Phineas and Ferb on Disney you know where this comes from, but for those of you who don't, the "evil" villain on the show Doofenshmirtz makes several inventions that are "inators" for example "Naughty-inator or Even-bigger-inator." So Cannon decided to give it a try with the apple peeler. Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to the Skininator!

Gearing Up For the Holidays!

2010-11-15T08:44:00.001-08:00

My Kiddos with their cousins

With the holidays fast approaching a lot of excitement is in the air! We have already done our Thanksgiving shopping so we didn't have to fight the grocery store crowds the week of! Plus Bequita and I are headed to Oklahoma this week. We are going to have an early Thanksgiving with my family. I am so excited to see everyone. It was August the last time I got to see everyone, which was at Jane-Jane's funeral, so hopefully this will be a better visit. I know it is still going to be hard though because this will be our first get together without her. I know there will be tears but in the Dees family one thing is for sure, LAUGHTER! We always have great stories to share and fun times to remember to keep the day up beat! For that I am very grateful. Everyone is so excited to see Miss Mady Jane because she has grown so much since they have seen her. And of course their little Cannonball too!

Cannon has been seeing a lot of toy commercials lately. Let me tell you, those advertisers are good! He knows exactly what toys are boy toys and which are meant for girls. He tells me when barbies are on the tv that those are my toys I can get, then a commercial for some fighting zhu zhu pets is on and he tells me those are for boys. He also wants EVERY SINGLE TOY he determines is a boy toy. He will come tell me daily what toys he wants for Christmas. Stinky the Garbage Truck tops his list. I have no idea what this Stinky does but he LOVES it! One thing my Child doesn't need is more toys though. How do you handle this?? He has a large toy room FULL of toys. He doesn't want for anything but yet on Christmas I can't bear to think of him not receiving a toy that he really likes. I don't know what to do because since we have Madison she will begin to receive a ton of toys too. I try to go through periodically and get rid of toys he no longer uses (or that I would rather not listen to anymore! ;-) )

I am also trying to figure out what to get Miss Madison. She has a lot of baby toys that were Cannon's that she uses now. There are so many cute little girl baby toys though. A few of Cannon's don't work anymore so I am thinking she should get a few new ones. And of course, CLOTHES! :)

I have been working on a few projects lately and I will share them with everyone soon. I am just hoping they turn out like I picture them in my head! I am using ideas I have seen else where and trying to recreate without any pattern. Yikes, could be scary! On second thought, maybe I won't be sharing! You will just have to keep checking back to see...

Convos with Cannon

2010-11-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

Here are a few cute conversations I have had with Cannon lately:

Cannon: Mom, umm we are out of shape.

Me: Yeah I know.

Cannon: Yeah, mom, you really need to start working out!

Me: Thanks.

Cannon: Here is your workout video.

Me: (Thinking to myself) Wow, I look that bad, that my child has to make me workout! Yikes! :)

Convo #2

Cannon: Mom, I want to give daddy a good bye hug.

Me: Okay well he is already gone but I thought you gave him a hug already.

Cannon: Yeah, that was just a regular hug, I want to give him a GOOD goodbye hug.

Me: Oh, well when he gets home you can give him a welcome home hug.

Cannon: Yeah, not just a regular one.

Convo #3

At Target buying things for a little boy for Operation Christmas Child.

Me: Okay Cannon which car do you think he would like.

Cannon: Umm... I want this one.

Me: No Cannon, this is not for you it is for a little boy who doesn't have very many toys.

Cannon:Oh, yeah. Well why does he not have toys?

Me: Well some kids aren't lucky like you who get to have tons of toys. This little boy probably only has one or maybe two toys! What do you think about that!

Cannon: Yeah, he should probably have about 5.

Convo #4

Bequita was telling me about when Andrew was little he would complain about his legs hurting. She took him to the doctor and found out he had a lot of hairline fractures from growing so fast. Cannon overheard this conversation and this was a product of that:

Me: Come on Cannon lets go inside this store.

Cannon: I can't walk mommy. My legs are hurting.

Me: Oh no! I am so sorry! What is wrong with them?

Cannon: They are broke mommy. I got a bunch of hair in them.

Bequita and I were rolling!

Cannon's one liners:

That helicopter was freakin' me out!

Keep your eyes peeled Papa!

Ahhh, that Madison Janey, she's a silly girl!

Man I love that sweet, sweet boy!

Our Days these Days...

2010-10-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

It seems that since we have moved life has become more hectic. It isn't like we have added a lot more to our schedule but it seems like I am always going, going, going. Cannon has started wee school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and now we attend church on Wednesday and Sunday nights. That is all we are doing different but let me tell you, it seems like we have added about a hundred new things to our schedule! I guess when you are use to staying at home all day with no schedule and then switching to having a schedule it makes a big difference.

We are loving life in Longview so far. We love the beautiful tall pine trees that are EVERYWHERE! It is like living in a forest compared to Dallas! We have gotten involved in Andrew's families church. This is the church he grew up in. It is a lot smaller than what we were use to but we decided we would give it a try. I love it! I was raised in a smaller church and something about this church reminded me of that. The closeness there is, the love and support, and the fact that if you are a new face you are going to get noticed! The first time there I had several people come up and ask me if I was new because they didn't recognize me. I think that is so great. We had been at our church in Wylie for a year and never met anyone or were noticed as new people. It wasn't until we plugged in to a Sunday school class that we met people. There is nothing wrong with that either. We LOVED our church in Wylie, but it is just so big that unless you get involved you could there for a while without ever meeting anyone. So we are enjoying the small church for a change.

Cannon is in Cubbies on Wednesday night and he is sooo cute in his vest! He is loving wee school too. Yesterday when I picked him up he said "Mommy, I love this place!" He has already made lots of friends being the social boy he is. He continues to drive his sister crazy and me as well. He is such a silly boy sometimes. He is great at making Madison laugh. She will crack up when he is dancing around or sometimes just talking. She thinks he is just hilarious! That is until he lays on top of her or hits her, etc. :) Cannon the other night at dinner was telling us he didn't want to eat his broccoli because he didn't like it. I told him that he had to eat it any way. Well he finally ate some and said, "Hey! I like broccoli after all!" It was the way he said it that made us all crack up! He has become quite the comedian lately too. Here is Cannon's new joke he tells all the time!

Madison is able to sit up now. She can do it without any support for a little bit but if I put the boppy behind her she is great for a while. She has tried all the stage one foods now. She doesn't care for squash and peas much. She loves to talk to me while I am fixing dinner. I place her in the bumbo and she will just squeal and jabber away. She is also getting more fascinated with toys. I got the tub of all of Cannon's old baby toys and brought them back for her to play with. Cannon has loved showing her how they all work. I was thinking the other day how happy I am that I have a daughter. I love dressing her and thinking about all the fun things we will get to do when she gets older!

Time for an Update!

2010-09-29T06:10:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I have posted. I have heard some of you have given up reading because I don't post often enough. Sorry! (Dana) :) Life has been crazy busy this last month. We have finally made our move to Longview. The transition has been quite easy. I have wonderful in-laws that have made it easy to adjust to our new living situation. Bequita and I have a nice deal going where she does all the laundry and I do all the cooking. To me that is a GREAT trade off! I H-A-T-E doing laundry. My husband is enjoying having clean clothes weekly instead of monthly! :) Oh and his mommy fixes him breakfast in the morning too. So I guess she does that cooking. My husband might just want to move back in with his parents for good! Hopefully he will buy me and the kiddos somewhere to stay...

Cannon has started MDO. He loves going. He tells me all the time that he can't play right now because he has homework to do. How cute it that?! Just wait until he actually has homework and we will see which he decides to do then! I am not sure what all he is learning though. Every time I pick him up I ask what he has learned that day. He just tells me about the playground. One thing he has told me is that he needs to climb with his toes or he will fall and bust his head. I guess he learned that one on the playground. :) He also said during nap time his teacher said, "Cannon, are we suppose to be laughing right now? Go back to sleep!" Sounds about right.

Madison had her 4 month check-up at the beginning of September. She weighs 13 lbs 9.5 oz and 24 1/4". She is already fitting into 6-9 month clothes. This is so funny to me because Cannon was such a little baby compared to her. He always wore his clothes a couple of seasons because he was so skinny. Now he is finally changing though. I am having to buy him 5T clothes because he is so long-legged! Mady Jane is a chubby girl! I am having SOOOO much fun buying clothes for her! I need someone to stop me though! She has started eating rice cereal and I have introduced bananas and apples to her. She is still not to sure of the fruit so I have decided to hold off a little long then try again. She is laughing a lot now. She has discovered her toes and loves to hold on to them. She also is becoming pretty vocal. She likes to make all kinds of noises during the day, especially if she isn't getting the attention she wants. She is such a sweet girl and so fun to play with right now. I love how if I just talk to her she gets the biggest grin on her face. Precious!

Both kiddos are enjoying the love and attention they are getting daily. Cannon likes that when one of us ignore him or don't want to do what he wants he just goes to the next person. He eventually finds someone who will play his games with him! :) We are all being spoiled by living here. I don't know what we will do when life gets back to "normal" for us!

Love You Forever Jane-Jane

2010-09-01T13:51:00.000-07:00

The day we all knew was coming finally came. Jane-Jane went to Heaven to be completely healed by God. On August 21st at around 9:15 pm I held Jane-Jane's hand as she passed. It was one of the hardest moments in my life. She is the dearest person I have ever lost. I had no intention of being there in her final moments because I knew it would be way too hard. Unfortunately it happened rather quickly and I had no choice but to be there. I am now glad that I was. I held her hand the last three hours she spent on Earth and then as she went to meet our Savior. She was such an amazing Jane-Jane. I am so blessed to have had the time with her I did. Some of you might wonder why we call her Jane-Jane instead of Grandma or Nana or whatever "typical" name is given to a Grandmother. Well she decided when her sons started having children she was way too young to be called Grandma. She actually was pretty young so instead she decided Jane-Jane would be what she was called. It has been the perfect name for her. She once told us when we were older that we could call her Grandma because she felt she was old enough at that point. We just laughed at her and said "No way! You will always be Jane-Jane!" It bothered me so much at her funeral when she was called Grandma or Grandmother because that isn't her. She is Jane-Jane. No other name or reference will do! I told my Papa to make sure her headstone said Jane-Jane on it. He assured me it would because she would roll over in her grave if he put Grandma on there! :)

I have been so loved by such a wonderful women. She always made me and my sister feel as if we were the most important, beautiful, and smartest girls in the world. She cherished us. She will never know just how much we cherished her as well. I have inherited so many wonderful things from her. Some objects to remember her by such as her wedding ring, some clothes, and some really cute shoes. But also some physical characteristics. I have her beautiful green eyes and her beautiful finger nails and apparently her foot size too! :) I will always cherish the gifts she has given me. The best is the happiness she filled my heart with. I will forever miss her until the day I get to meet my Savior and see her standing there too. Beautiful as ever, healed, and happy! Love you Jane-Jane!

Gotta Love it!

2010-08-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick post with Madison's newest thing. She has started making cute noises and we love it! Excuse my silly voice but if I wanted her to smile I had to talk to her. :) Enjoy!

PS. I will try to do another update soon!

3 Months Old

2010-08-09T06:10:00.001-07:00

Madison is already 3 months! How in the world does it go by so fast! I want to keep her in this cuddley baby stage forever. Once they figure out how to crawl it seems like the baby stage is over with. They don't want to just sit and rock with mommy, they want down so they can explore! I will cherish these next few months with her. Mady has started sleeping through the night! YEA! I am starting to feel so much better getting straight sleep. It usually is about 8 or 9 hours. Amazing, I know! She is getting plumper and plumper each day. I love all her baby rolls. Andrew was making a comment on how chubby her thighs were. I promptly told him to leave her alone, that this was the only time in her life that she is able to get away with it! Men, they are picking on us about our weight from day ONE! We are slowly getting more giggles out of Mady Jane as well. She is going to be ticklish. We have found a couple tickle spots that get a laugh out of her. Cannon is going to have so much fun making her laugh. I can't wait.

Cannon is currently in Oklahoma with Grammy and Granddaddy. He will spend a few days with them and then he heads to Mimi's house. I feel pretty guilty because I use to have the hardest time letting him leave me for a week. Now, not so much. I love that boy beyond the moon but it is so nice to have some "down" time. He is full of so much energy. He wears me out trying to keep him busy all day long. Grammy and G-Daddy have a pool so he uses all his energy in the pool during the day. In a couple of week Cannon is going to start Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays. I am really looking forward to it. I know he will enjoy it because he loves to learn and is such a people person. He is going to be 4 years old in a month! How is that possible! My sweet boy is getting SOOOO big!

Finally, over the weekend my sister-in-law had her baby! IT'S A GIRL!!! They kept it a surprise until the baby was born. It was so exciting finally knowing that a sweet baby girl would be added to our family. It is really cool because Andrew and his brother now have a boy and a girl each. Also it is great because Madison and Aleia are only 3 months apart. That will be so great to watch them grow together and become great friends. Cannon and Caeden are about 2 years apart and they are just now getting to where they play good together. So 3 months difference will be great. So here is a picture of Nana with her two sweet granddaughters.

And the Daddy's with their baby girls. I know they will both have these guys wrapped around their little fingers. Madison already has Andrew!

Smiles and Toy Story 3

2010-07-23T06:03:00.000-07:00

The smiles of my children feel my heart with such happiness! I can remember the fun Andrew and I had trying to make Cannon smile for the first time and now we get to do it again with Madison. Of course we make our selves look like fools but hey, the smile we get in return is well worth it! Madison has started to smile at us a lot now. She has the biggest, prettiest grin I have even seen! She likes to stick her tongue out when she smiles too. It is the cutest thing. She is on the brink of giggling. We have gotten her to make a slight laugh sound but she hasn't let it out quite yet. I can't wait! Babies laughs are so contagious! Madison is getting so big. She can do everything she is suppose to be doing at this stage plus a little more. Her neck is very strong. We tried her out in the bumbo already but she didn't like it yet. I am ready for her to have more activities to do because she loves for me to hold her, therefore I am not getting as much done during the day as I would like. I realize though that this time is short and precious, so I just need to enjoy it while it lasts.

As for Cannonball, well he is a wee bit obsessed with all things Toy Story! He wants everything there is to do with Buzz Lightyear. His Aunt Daney bought him some Buzz Lightyear pj's and he would wear them every night if he could. His birthday is in a couple months so I asked him what he wanted the theme to be, of course it was BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!! I was at Target the other day and ran across the perfect birthday present for him and it was on clearance!! It is a Buzz Lightyear costume!
How perfect is that! I can already see trips to the store with my little Buzz Lightyear because I know once I give it to him that is ALL he will ever want to wear! I am just preparing myself. I have this thing about never letting him leave the house in clothes I don't find socially acceptable. I want him to look nice and put together when we are out in public. Well, I know I am just going to have to suck it up and let him leave the house in this outfit a few times. That's okay though, that is what being a kid is all about! I can't wait for September 11th to get here so I can give it to him! :)

Lately...

2010-06-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

Things have been pretty hectic lately. I feel as if the last few weeks have been packed full of things I had to do. Doctors appointments, visits with family and friends, etc. I loved having my BFF Candice here with me for a weekend. She and her cute son Cooper came to see Madison Jane. It was great having my best friend to hang out with and go shopping with again. We live way too far apart!

The future Mr. and Mrs. McCuistion??? :)

Candice with Miss Mady Jane

All our cute kiddos together

Andrew had a last minute trip to the Dominican Republic for work last week. I know, tough job huh! While they do spend most of their day at the refineries they get to enjoy lavish dinners at night. The first night he told me they went to a historic downtown restaurant and ate across the street from Christopher Columbus' house and the first cathedral built in the Western Hemisphere was down the street. Of course, he didn't have a camera with him to share the amazing sites with all of us! Oh yeah, to make matters even worse, his hotel room had an ocean view! Man, I think I will trade him jobs. :) Just kidding, I love being able to stay home with my kiddos even if I don't get to take business trips. My sweet mom in law just happened to be coming in town so I bribed her to come stay with me and help out with the kiddos. She took a lot of bribing before she said yes though! ;) I think it was like 2 seconds after I asked she agreed! She loves her some grandbaby time.

This Friday I will be headed to Oklahoma for my cousin's wedding. I will then get to stay the rest of the week in Oklahoma with my family. I am so looking forward to spending time with my family, just not the 4 hour drive it takes to get there! I am extra excited to spend some time with my Jane-Jane, which is my grandmother. She has been in and out of the hospital these last few months and is dying to meet little miss Madison Jane. I can't wait to get a picture of them together. Madison will also get to meet the rest of my family for the first time. It is going to be fun! Keep us in your prayers for safe travel!! And our sanity! :)

Fun With My Girl!

2010-06-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

I couldn't wait to have Madison so that I could play dress up with my own real life baby doll!! It has been so much fun buying her cute outfits, bows, etc. Sadly, having a little boy doesn't allow as much fun in this department, so I was THRILLED when they told me she was a she! One thing I knew for sure I wanted for her was a tutu. What little girl can live a full happy life if she doesn't have at least ONE tutu in her life! I planned on having her take some pictures at her newborn photo session but it didn't happen, so I decided to put my photography skills to work. They definitely aren't professional quality but hey, the baby girl makes them look amazing! :) Cannon didn't like that I was giving Madison so much attention so he tried to block her out or cut in as many photos as he could until I finally had to make him leave the room. Poor kid. He doesn't know how to share the spotlight.

Cannon trying to show me he is just as cute to take a picture of!

Sweet Girl

This is her "I can get anything I want from Daddy" face.

One of my biggest mommy freak out moments happened this past week. I had Madison laying on my bed while I was getting dressed. Cannon had come in the room and got up on the bed with her. I told him to just let her lay there and not to mess with her. I had had her propped up on a pillow for tummy time and she rolled over. Cannon thought that was the coolest thing that she could roll over and do "tricks" as he referred to it. I guess while I was in the closet he decided to teach her some more tricks. I came out of the closet, probably about 2 seconds later, to find Madison dangling head first from the bed! OMG! I went crazy. I ran and grabbed her and started yelling at Cannon that he is to never touch his sister again!!! Yeah, I know, pretty harsh, but hey I saw my helpless baby's life flash before my eyes! I would of done the same thing for him. So now I have learned that I have to really watch him around her. I know he is trying to just play with her but he is going to have to learn a little more baby friendly games.

2 Weeks In And We Are Sending Her Back!

2010-05-24T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well we all knew this day would come but we just didn't know when. The inevitable has happened...Cannon made his request for Madison Jane to be sent back.

Sunday afternoon when our new little family of four was sitting on the couch enjoying each other's company, Cannon decided he wanted his Mommy. The only problem at the time was Madison needed her Mommy a little more because it was eatin' time. I told Cannon that he would have to wait. He didn't like that and started acting out. He kept "patting" Madison rather roughly on her head, then grabbing her ears, then jumping on my back. Andrew stepped in and told Cannon to stop and leave Mommy and Madison alone while she is eating. This, of course, crushed poor Cannon. He was Mommy's boy and Mommy always paid him attention. I guess he finally put two and two together because he said "Mommy, I want you to send Madison back!" I asked him why and all he said was "because!" Then we asked him where she was suppose to go back to, and he looked at us like we were dumb and said "Uh, Mommy's belly!" Yeah, sorry child, that is NOT happening!

We have had some interesting experiences with Cannon since Madison has joined us. I think the adjustment of a new sibling is taking its toll on the poor kid. He doesn't understand why Madison gets to sleep in Mommy and Daddy's room and he can't. He also doesn't understand why he gets to take a nap and Madison gets to stay up! So not fair!

My favorite moment so far has been while I was nursing Madison one day. Cannon climbed up in the chair and saw what was going on. He was like "Mommy, what are you doing, put that away!" I said to him that that was how Madison ate right now. She needs to drink Mommy's special milk." He decided that was a good enough answer and then promptly said (while pointing to each side of my chest) "Oh so that one is mine and that one is Madison's!" Umm...no sorry baby boy, you already had your share of Mommy's special milk! :)

I am sure I will have tons more funny stories to share so stay tuned. I will warn you though, the post maybe few and far between the next few weeks. I am trying to adjust myself to this new mother of two game!