Snow Days!

Oh yes! My second installment is here tonight. If I don't get this in tonight, I may never get it in. I should have explained the 2 posts in one day in this post because it is the one you will be reading first. But I told you (in the earlier one of course) I am working on low brain steam here. I didn't think that far in advance.

Oh yes! I did FINALLY get family pictures on here too. Yea! Aren't you proud? I am sure you thought they would never get here, but they HAVE arrived. Halelujah!

And oh yes! I have started completely off track. You know that is so unusual for me. So back to it...or I should say...Let's get to it!

We had our first big snow in Tennessee on Thursday. Marla, too bad you don't live up here. You could have had some snow on your anniversary instead of 2 boys and a husband sick. We were all so excited. We ventured out around 3:30-4:00 in the pouring rain to run some errands. Yes, we are crazy! I'm sure you already knew that though. After about 20 minutes, the rain started to turn into sleet. It was only about 34 degrees at the time, so we weren't expecting the snow. To our surprise, the temperature dropped more than 2 degrees in about an hours time. I guess it was around 6:00-6:30 or so, Greg went into the grocery store. It was only snowing a little, but by the time he came out everything was covered in a blanket of snow. John Reagan and I were about to bust out of the vehicle and start playing right there in the Publix parking lot. We refrained ourselves though. Since we aren't morning people in this house, we went ahead and got the camera out Thursday night.

John Reagan was having so much fun just standing in the snow. He didn't even have to play in it to get excited. Nana, where are those gloves you said you bought? We needed them this night.

Man, I could not believe how fast it accumulated.

The snowflakes were so big!

We live on a circle street, and this is the center of our circle. It sure made a pretty picture covered in white.



This picture isn't quite as good. I know I am stating the obvious, but I put it on here to show more snowflakes. Can you tell how excited we were?

Max had a blast running around in it. We did have to coax him out there at first. Max can be a baby sometimes about the cold weather. He prefers the garage in the winter. Duchess usually ventures out in the snow and plays around in it, but she decided that it was too cold. She likes to go out in the day time, so she missed out on her blog time.

Some family snow pictures for good measure. Since I have been so behind recently, I thought I might get to put some snowy pictures on our Christmas cards this year, but I liked the ones I had already planned for better.

John Reagan cracks me up!

John Reagan is so excited in the mornings when Evie wakes up. He loves to get in her face and talk to her saying, "Good mornin' sister." It is so cute! He has been on this kick here lately where he has been wanting to hold Evie again. She is as big as his lap now, so we usually just sit her right beside him. That seems to make him happy enough.

John Reagan has already had a sucker! Can you tell by the blue tongue?

I figured I would put the full body shot on here to give you an idea of the ever shrinking lap space. I sure hope John Reagan is always this loving with Evie. He is already a good big brother, but if he keeps this up, he is going to be an excellent big brother, especially for mommy and daddy when the boys start coming around.

Since you have waited so long for the family pictures, I decided to put a couple of extra on here. We have lots of really good ones, but some are not in the right format. Seeing as how I am running on low steam and it is late, I didn't want to tackle that situation. So you only get these 2 extras.

This will probably be my last blog for 2008! We will be leaving Saturday for Christmas in Louisiana, and blogging down there with that internet connection...NO WAY! Unless something EXTREMELY (and I mean extremely) exciting happens between now and Saturday, I will not be posting. But hey, with the way things have been going here lately, I wouldn't put it past us just yet. So, here is my final 2008 greeting to you (unless I see you in person before the new year)...hope your holidays are merry and bright. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I should have put this in the previous blog since you will most likely be reading it last, but hey! What can I say?

Our Trip to Louisiana

In an attempt to not overload your senses, I decided to spread out all that I wanted to add on here into 2 blogs instead of my usual extremely LONG post. This is also for my sanity because I was afraid I would overload my already frail (because of exhaustion) brain and send it into oblivion. It really isn't that bad, but it is. We have not gotten back on our schedule since returning home. We are all very tired. I never realize that we do have a decent schedule until we are away from home and out of it.

Anyway, for those of you who didn't know (I don't know who that would be) we were recently in LA for a week. My dad had bypass surgery on the 5th. He ended up having 5 bypasses...I don't have a clue what that is called. He is doing extremely well, and thank you for all your prayers.

We did have a fun trip despite the reason we were there. John Reagan and Evie got to spend a good bit of time with Breyden and Kenden (their cousins). We had all 4 of them lined up to get a picture together, but Greg wouldn't get up from where he was sitting to get a descent picture. Therefore, we have them spread out into 2 pictures instead of one.

This is Breyden and Evie before we got all of them down there.

John Reagan and Breyden

Our first attempt was all of them lined up, but we later put John Reagan on Breyden's lap. They both thought that was great! I think Breyden is being silly here, but you never know with him. He could have been giving Uncle Greg a hard time.

Kenden and Evie
Kenden is 11 months old, and he is one big boy. He has actually lost weight and only weighs 25 pounds now instead of the 30 he was weighing.

I thought they were too cute, so I put another one of them. Plus, you have to be super fast to get Evie while she is looking right at you. As you can see, we didn't succeed at that feat.

Isn't Kenden's adorable in his hat? This was once John Reagan's hat, and we always loved it...still do!

When we were at the hospital ALL day and night Friday, mom was brave and kept all three boys. We took Evie so she wouldn't be too overwhelmed, and Evie was a good distraction for everyone. Anyway, mom sure lucked up because all 3 boys fell asleep at the same time and slept for 1 1/2-2 hours. This was amazing considering Breyden and John Reagan don't really take naps anymore. God was smiling down on here that day.

Saturday, mom made a red velvet cake for a bake sale. John Reagan got the bowl.

As you can see, he got it all over his cheek. Surprisingly his shirt is not covered. I am sure this is thanks to Fifi for helping him.

So you can get the full effect of the bowl!



I have gotten good at capturing this image here lately. Evie was the one who was supposed to be taking the nap, not daddy.
The funny part about this picture is...the whole time Greg was sleeping, John Reagan was at his feet eating out of the cake bowl. Greg never even knew it. He had to look at the pictures on the camera after it was all said and done because he didn't believe me when I told him.

While we were so close to Natchitoches, we hopped on over (on the interstate) to check out the Christmas lights. Every year we say we are going to go while we are home for Christmas but never do. Because we were in Alexandria visiting Daddy, we were closer than usual. We decided to take John Reagan and Evie to check it out.
The night setting on our camera has a delay, so we were having trouble getting pictures that weren't blurry. That's why there are so few here.

For those of you who don't live in Louisiana, the setting for the lights is the bank of the Cane River. It is very pretty.


Here's you a blurry on for good measure.

Back at Fifi's house...you know, Fifi's house is a lot of fun for little boys. If you know John Reagan well, you know he likes to color...with markers, crayons, pens, whatever he can get his hands on. You also know that any surface is fair game to him. I can honestly say that I have scrubbed EVERY wall in this house. Fifi is obviously a little smarter than mommy. She keeps huge sheets of paper around (where she gets them from, I don't know).

John Reagan had lots of fun coloring. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Greg down there with him. We have 2 portrait souvenirs of Daddy's drawing time with John Reagan...one of Evie and one of John Reagan. They are adorable. I might have to put them on here for you to see because they make me laugh just thinking about them.

So this was our Louisiana trip in a nutshell (minus our time at the hospital). I took my camera for the sole purpose of getting pictures of Daddy and Evie because this was the first time he saw her. Needless to say, I didn't get any. Shame on me! But they will be coming! They will be coming soon because we are leaving Saturday to head back down there. Yippee! John Reagan isn't going to remember life before all this time with grandparents. We have seen all of them on and off at different times since the first of November. That's going to be something fun to look forward to in the new year...getting John Reagan back to normalcy. I am excited. Can't you tell?

Giving Thanks for Cowboy Boots!

I am going to start off a little side tracked. Can you believe that? I never get side tracked...yeah right! Hope you like the Christmas music. At Greg's request we had to stick with the Louisiana/Hogwash theme and give you a little Harry Connick, Jr.

Now back on track...

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving this year!

Pawcaw and Nana came up for their first Thanksgiving in Tennessee. They even brought Aunt Tiffany (Greg's younger sister) and Uncle Ray. John Reagan had lots of fun and went full blast until company left Saturday morning.

Before I get into the story good, let me explain where "Pawcaw" came from for all of you who are wondering. Pawcaw and Nana took about a year and a half to decide what they wanted John Reagan to call them. They wanted him to come up with his own name for them. The problem was...he never called them anything because he didn't know what he was supposed to call them. So we told them they had to make a decision. They decided on Grandpa and Nana. Then when they came to visit in May, John Reagan kept getting Pawpaw and Grandpa confused, and it came out Pawcaw. Of course Pawcaw loved it, hence the name.

Getting back on track again...

When Pawcaw and Nana arrived Wednesday around 11:00, Daddy and John Reagan were at the store. As soon as John Reagan entered the door, the hard work for Pawcaw and Nana began.

First thing Pawcaw had to do was let John Reagan ride the "bull." Pawcaw and Nana start a lot of things that Mommy and Daddy don't want to follow-up with when they leave.

Then they had to get their play time in with both John Reagan and Evie. This was later Wednesday night. Pawcaw and Nana do do a good job wearing the kiddos down, as you can tell by this next picture.

I don't know which one fell asleep first. All I know is neither Nana's nor my flash woke Pawcaw up.



Turkey Day is Here!

This is just to show you how much hard work goes into frying a turkey. You can soon look forward to Greg's first post..."The Anatomy of Turkey Frying!" Yes, I am going to be brave and unleash him on the blog. Scary!
The next couple of pictures entail what takes place while Daddy is frying the turkey!

This is one of my favorite pictures of John Reagan! He was having fun running around the backyard doing whatever pleased him until Pawcaw joined the fun.

Pawcaw has lots more muscles than he did when he arrived. He spent many hours outside swinging John Reagan.

Now for the Turkey Carving!
It took 3 generations of Hasley men to get this one right...lol!
I will get a comment from Greg on that one.

We had The Amaro's for our Thanksgiving guests also. John Reagan and Abby play so well together, and they are a lot of fun to watch. After lunch, John Reagan wanted to go for a ride in Pawcaw's truck. So Pawcaw, Nana, John Reagan, and Abby took off. They were gone for quite a while, which we later found out was because they ended up at Wal-Mart. That is no shocker if you know Nana. And for those of you who know John Reagan, you know he likes horses and bull riding, so he and Abby got cowboy hats out of the whole Wal-Mart deal. It started out with John Reagan wanting the black hat and Abby wanting the red hat. By the time they got home, it had reversed.

Here are the two cuties sporting their new look! They even had the horse to go along with the look!

And here are Greg and Mike sporting the great new look. Sorry Kristen, you weren't getting cropped out of this picture because it's the only one I got of you.

On "Black Friday" I usually stay home. I hate shopping in crowds, so it is not the day for me. Since we had company, I didn't have much of a choice, and it was because of the men, not the women. We had to make a trip to Bass Pro Shops. For Greg and whatever men are here for Thanksgiving, this is nothing new. They usually go out while the women stay home and decorate. I don't know why we decided differently this year, but we did. So this is where the cowboy boots come in. Since John Reagan finally got his cowboy hat, Pawcaw and Nana had to go by him some cowboy boots to go with it.

Here John Reagan is waiting on us to leave. Sometimes when Greg and I don't get out of the house fast enough for John Reagan, he goes and sits on this overhang by the step waiting for us. Well with 6 adults and 2 children, we weren't fast enough for him this day.

We had a great time shopping for boots in spite of the crowd.

When we got home Friday night, John Reagan was nice enough to share his hat (temporarily) with Evie.

We have a picture of John Reagan putting the hat on her, but this was the better picture of Evie. Isn't she a cutie?

John Reagan is taking some much needed R & R here on Daddy's back. They were watching "Elf." It's tough being a kid, don't you think?

The R & R didn't last long though. He was too excited over those cowboy boots. He kept putting them on, taking them off, and putting them on and taking them off. As a matter of fact, when Pawcaw and Nana bought his boots, they had to buy a pair of long socks too because John Reagan wouldn't take them off. What can I say? He's our little cowboy...for now.

After Pawcaw and Nana left Saturday, John Reagan wanted to catch up on some Max time. We could NOT convince him to wear another pair of shoes outside so he wouldn't get his new cowboy boots dirty. He WANTED the boots...and of course the hat! Can't forget the hat. On a side note, we have not left the house without the hat since Pawcaw and Nana bought it. Yeah for Max. He has now had his first cameo appearance on the blog to go along with Duchess.

I don't know if Pawcaw wore John Reagan out more or if John Reagan wore Pawcaw out more. One thing I do know is Evie slept all day Saturday. From about 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., I think she was up for a total of 3 hours, and I am being liberal with that amount. She loves company and doesn't sleep as well when we do have company.

I have to add here...there are a few things I have learned about myself since I started this blog. One is that I know a good bit more about computers than I thought and I have learned a lot more about them since. Two is I need to take more focused pictures (more of family and company instead of ALL my pictures being of the kids). And three, I am a lot more long winded than I ever imagined. I think this helps me get all of my words out that I am supposed to use in a day. I can't use them all on Greg or he would tell me to shut up.

One last note for those of you who I haven't emailed. Please pray for my dad as he undergoes quadruple bypass surgery this week. Since we will be in LA this week, I won't be posting anything for several days. You know what that means...another long one when I do get back.

Hope you are having Happy Holidays so far.

Brandi

What's Evie's is John Reagan's

From the moment we started bringing baby things in the house for Evie, we knew she would only know the life of sharing. I have said from Day 1 that until she has some seriously girly toys (and even then possibly), she will never know what it is to have her own toy or anything for that matter, except clothes. John Reagan has never worn her pink stuff.
So I am devoting this blog to the things that Evie has to share with John Reagan, starting with the bouncy seat.

Don't they look comfortable?

The carseat!

You would think John Reagan wouldn't be able to sit in her carseat. Think Again! Thank God John Reagan thinks his big boy carseat is better.

The bumbo!

I don't know how John Reagan gets into this thing, but his legs look long in it. In this picture he is watching "the big tv" and "the dv payer" at the same time. How do you like those skills? This was Evie's first time to sit in her bumbo. In John Reagan's defense, it was his first, then we passed it to Kenden, and now back to Evie.

Finally, the swing!

I can't believe the only picture I have of Evie in her swing is her first baby food. It took me a while to get John Reagan, but about a month ago, he was screaming "Dad, Dad!" Greg ran down the stairs to find John Reagan in the swing. He had locked himself in and needed help getting out. He even likes for us to turn it on so he can swing from side to side.

I sure am glad Pawcaw and Nana are coming up for Thanksgiving. They can swing John Reagan outside on his swing set till his heart's content.

I thought I would add a few more of my favorite pictures from the past few days. I used to think I didn't take enough pictures; however, since I have started this blog, I have decided I take too many pictures. The problem is we never get any pictures of us or other family because we are too busy getting ones of John Reagan and Evie. My holiday picture collection is lacking. We are usually too busy eating or opening presents.

On that note, John Reagan hasn't cared much about holding Evie since she was about a month old. He used to say everyday "see Evie" which meant he wanted to hold Evie. I guess it was Friday when I was sitting on the couch holding Evie and loving on her when John Reagan climbed up beside me and said "See Evie." At this point, she is almost too big for his lap. I let him try to hold her anyway. It wasn't as easy as when she was a few weeks old.

Greg was upstairs working, so I had to help John Reagan hold Evie and try to get a picture at the same time. I couldn't pass on the picture though because he was being so sweet loving on her. If you can't tell, John Reagan hadn't been up for long, hence the hair sticking out.

John Reagan is such a sweet big brother. He always wants to check on Evie, and he is constantly in her face. She doesn't know the definition of personal space.

Greg was trying to take care of Evie here when John Reagan and Duchess decided he needed some help. Good thing we only have 2 kids. Another one wouldn't fit in his lap. Good thing Max is outside too. That would make for an interesting picture, along with an interesting night.

We decided we needed to give Evie some more bumbo time during the day because she loves to sit up. Here was our first attempt at that. She did great. She stayed in it for quite a while, and she had some good entertainment too.

I love this look on John Reagan's face. He cracks me up.

They both like them some Blue's Clues!

On a picture note, 2 weeks and family pictures will be in. Then the pig's rear will lose top status. I needed something besides a blank face for the blog follower picture.

Jon, I am afraid to hand over the username and password to the blog. Once we unleash Greg, there is no telling what he will do.
Brandi