The Cat

The moment you have all been waiting for is here!

Pictures of Midnight. I know you have been dieing to see what the little guy looks like. It's best if you go ahead and admit it.

(Insert: hilarious laughter)

I will keep you waiting no longer...

"I am tiger. Here me roar."
Things have changed a tad in our house since Midnight arrived. One change is that Duchess is jealous of Midnight. I can't get over how funny it is that little whitey is jealous of the cat. Anytime Midnight lays down by Greg, Duchess either has to join the party, or she waits till Midnight gets up then takes his place. She only does it with Greg though. At least I haven't noticed her doing it with me. She stays on guard with what is going on with Midnight. She doesn't want the love extended without it hitting her too. We have salt and pepper surrounding Daddy. Maybe we should change their names to Salt and Pepper. Better yet, Salt N' Peppa. Then we could maybe make some money off their singing.

One thing Duchess is happy about is the fact that John Reagan no longer hounds her 24/7. She actually gets a break now. When Midnight is inside, John Reagan is by his side. John Reagan stands right beside Midnight the whole time he is eating and stares him down. Anywhere Midnight goes, John Reagan goes.
Our biggest change...

Midnight has gas. And when I say gas, I mean GAS. I can't even begin to explain. He toots ALL the time. It IS very STINKY. I think that is all that needs to be said about this picture.

Greg told my mom he had one complaint about Midnight. That would be the gas. We thought it might be the change in food, but Fifi quickly informed us that was not the problem. She thought it was quite funny. We don't find the humor in the situation.

It has been fun so far though. I might think differently if Midnight was in the house more. He only stays in 2-3 hours throughout the entire day. The only way he can take a nap inside is if he sneaks in undetected by John Reagan. All in all, it has been a positive experience. However, we are only 2 weeks into this.

John Reagan sure loves his "catty."

A side note: We obviously aren't superstitious!

THE SHOES

I have been wanting to get Evie a pair of Crocs for about a month now. She needs a pair for the summer, and I know they are the only shoe that will fit her foot at this point in her light. The girl has the fattest feet. What is so funny about her feet is that they look dainty because they are so short. The reason I haven't already bought her a pair of Crocs is because I can't bring myself to pay $29.99 for a shoe so small that will be worn for such a short time. If it were John Reagan, I wouldn't have a problem because he would wear his out.

We went into CVS today to pick something up. Lo and Behold they had some CVS brand Crocs. They were so adorable. When I saw them on the rack, I thought, "There is no way. That is way too small for her." No! They aren't. They are a tad long in the length, but we can't put the band down in the back because her fat foot won't go in. The height in the back is tall enough that they will still work with the band in the front.

I had to share this awesome picture with you. They are the most adorable things. To give you an idea of the size, the picture was taken on a sheet of paper. To blow your mind even more, I cropped out some of the paper to get a close up.

Aren't they adorable? Shopping for babies is so much fun!

Birthday Party #2

We got to have Birthday Party Numero Dos with Pawpaw and Fifi the second weekend of May. On Wednesday, May 13th, I got a call from Pawpaw asking what I was doing. I was a little suspicious because this was out of the ordinary. Then Fifi breaks the news that they were on their way to our house. What a surprise! We were excited though because we were a little worried that they wouldn't make it, whether for John Reagan's birthday party or before then. Fifi got a new "part-time" job. Seeing as how the job is with the state of Louisiana, you never know what is going on until just a few hours before. Fifi decided she better come up while she had the chance.

We celebrated on Friday with brownies and presents. John Reagan couldn't stop thinking about the icing long enough to do anything else.

The presents were the reason we did the party when we did. We decided Friday morning that John Reagan needed to open his rain boots, raincoat, and umbrella since rain was in the forecast.

John Reagan was still thinking about the icing. He wouldn't allow himself to get overly excited about all his new stuff. Of course, the big birthday present he saw the very moment Pawpaw and Fifi came up...the cat! Yes, we acquired a cat against our will. Pawpaw and Fifi's toy schnauzer is a Momma Hen! She brings up stray cats and dogs. Last time we were in Louisiana, Velvet (the dog) decided to bring a stray kitty up the day before we left. Pawpaw tried to get us to bring the kitty home then, but we wouldn't. So they brought the kitty to us. He is solid black, and his name is Midnight Climber. He stays outside most of the time...even potty's outside. He comes in to eat and play, that's it. The very next morning John Reagan was asking, "Where's my catty?"

About the name...obviously Midnight is because he is black. Climber is because while at Pawpaw and Fifi's he would climb the walls and anything else there was with any height. Pawpaw named him. Enough said if you know Pawpaw. I do have to say, we haven't experienced the climbing. Halelujah! We will have a picture of Midnight for you soon.

While Pawpaw and Fifi were here, John Reagan got a much needed hair cut. He is such a good boy when it comes time to get his hair cut. He sits perfectly still, and he got a treat from Fifi for being such a big boy. Evie is in the corner checking out this hair cutting process thinking, "Stay away! I don't want my hair cut."

This next picture is too funny. John Reagan got off schedule one day. I don't know if he colored all over himself or what, but he needed a bath before we even thought about leaving the house. Evie's pink towel was already out, so I grabbed it. I had to go to the living room for something, and John Reagan followed. The front door was open and before I knew what was going on, John Reagan was outside butt-naked with a pink towel on him. Just to give you an idea of what is really going on...this towel is way to small for him and DOES NOT close around him in the front. Any neighbors that were out got an eye full.

I couldn't finish my post without adding an adorable picture of little Evie girl. I wouldn't want her to feel left out, as if she would know.

This picture is going in the favorites pile. I love it! She wants to know if she is going to get 3 parties for her birthday. We will have to explain that you get a party for every year of your age...lol! John Reagan is headed that way. For his second birthday he had 2 parties. Pawcaw and Nana couldn't make it up last year for his birthday, so they came early and had a separate one. We are in so much trouble if we keep this up.

The ER

Yesterday we had to take John Reagan to the Emergency Room. After everything was all said and done, Greg told me I needed to get on here and say that we made it to almost 3 years old before we had to go to the ER. I had to remind him otherwise. However, this was our first trip for a somewhat major accident.

Greg was swinging John Reagan yesterday, and John Reagan dropped his flip flop. Heaven forbid! In mid air he decided it was best to let go of the swing and check on his flip flop. As a result, he flip flopped...right on the crown of his head, jarring his neck and back. He cried for about 3 minutes then decided he wanted to take a nap. The nap part worried me the most. He didn't complain about anything hurting. We've had many head bangs before and knew that if his pupils were uneven we needed to call the doctor. When we got to checking him out, his pupils were unevenly dilated. Greg didn't get the whole story out before the nurse said, "Go to the Emergency Room." Three hours and a CT scan later, they confirmed what we knew. He was fine! Since he talked non-stop on the way to the hospital, we figured he would survive no problems. He had a grass stain and a little strawberry to commemorate his war wound. A day later...the bump and strawberry are gone, the grass stain remains.

Poor thing has been to the hospital so many times in his life, he gets excited over the whole process. Anytime we go by a hospital or to a hospital, he starts talking about either going to the hospital with Pawpaw, Fifi, and Momma or coming to visit Momma in the hospital. He remembers vividly when Evie was born AND when I had my gallbladder removed. Too funny! He is perfectly fine though. Praise God!

During the whole process, I was perfectly calm, thinking nothing about the situation. A couple of hours after we got home, I started realizing how bad it could have been and about fell apart. Every time he would walk by me with his cute little smile, I would have to hold back tears thinking about how thankful I was that he was okay. I think God created us to be a little naive in the mist of things as a defense to falling apart. At least that's the way I work.

If you are wondering, I'm not going to leave you hanging on the other ER visits. When John Reagan was almost 3 months old, we went looking at travel trailers. Most of the ones we checked out were winterized, and we could hardly walk to the door without our eyes burning. After the first walk-thru, we didn't take John Reagan into anymore, but that night after his bath, he looked really blue around his lips. When we called the nurse, she consulted with the doctor who thought we should bring him in just because we had looked at the winterized travel trailers. Needless to say, by the time we got there he was hardly blue around the mouth and perfectly fine.

Our second trip to the ER was in Louisiana. John Reagan was 15 months old, and we were home for 2 weeks for Greg's grandma. John Reagan got sick and just couldn't seem to shake it. He started running fever after several days and was breathing very shallow. Greg was a little worried and wanted to take him to the ER to be on the safe side. Thank God! John Reagan ended up with a 36 hour stay in the hospital for pneumonia...in July. Craziness!

I had to let Greg know yesterday that we didn't have the best track record. We pretty much have an ER visit for every year of John Reagan's life. Of course for Greg that is a great track record. By the time he was three his parents probably had to take him to the ER 1o times. I'm sure that is a little bit of an exaggeration but not too bad of one...lol!

To end on a lighter note, I thought I would share these two pictures with you. I just love them. They are too sweet! I can't say the boys are napping because Duchess decided to join them. Now if it was Max instead of Duchess...that would make for an interesting picture.

Birthday Party #1

Oh yes! You did read right. Birthday Party Numero Uno! "Well how many birthday parties is this kid having," you may ask yourself. To be exact...three. To answer your next question...no, we aren't in the business of spoiling on birthdays. The grandparents are, but we aren't.

"The story?" Pawcaw and Nana couldn't make it for John Reagan's birthday this year, so they came a little early and had their "own very" birthday party with John Reagan. We had lots of fun too!

John Reagan loves to fish, and the boys had a fishing trip planned while Pawcaw was here. Needless to say, it rained EVERY day they were here. So we decided to combine birthday and fishing in one. On Sunday, this would be May 3rd, we went down to the park off Jefferson Pike on the lake. I think the name of it is Jefferson Park or Jefferson Springs Park or something like that. We set up camp. Daddy got the hot dogs started while Momma and Nana unpacked and set up. Pawcaw and John Reagan went fishing.

They are casting in the water. I failed to get that part in the picture.
Evie says, "Let's get this party started. I don't care about fishing. I want CAKE!"
John Reagan's other love...blowing out candles. We had to light the candles twice because he blew the first round out before anybody was ready.
C-O-O-K-I-E!
Evie is no longer concerned with what is going on around her.

Yum, Cake!

If you can't tell, our kids love junk food. What can I say, they get it honest.

On to presents...

John Reagan loves birthday partying, and he has it down pat. Last year's birthday is in-grained in his memory. As a matter of fact, yesterday he found a piece to the cake topper from last year's birthday, and he said, "That's from my birthday cake." The child knows how to party. I hope we aren't setting a precedent for next year's birthday. He is going to think the whole month of May is his birthday...lol! Oh Lord! Start praying for us now.

One last picture for you. It was raining for the party too. Can you imagine? Rain? What is that? We haven't seen enough of it this year. John Reagan said forget about fishing when he discovered the joy of playing in the rain. To be almost 3...what fun!

A Little Extra

Woohoo! I am catching up. I see the light...the light at the end of the tunnel. I am actually going to finish out the month of April with this post. Yay me!

So if you haven't heard yet, John Reagan loves to play in my make-up and hair stuff. I have some hair bands (don't have a clue what they are really called) that he likes to put on all the time. Here is the classic with the gum in his mouth. I have lots of pictures like this but can never resist taking another when he puts it in his hair. Cracks me up every time.

John Reagan has been doing great with his potty training, and we told him if he poo-pooed in the potty, he could get Lady. Lady is from "Thomas the Train," and she is electric. When Daddy took John Reagan to get Lady, Wal-Mart was out. What a shock! On their way through the toy aisles, John Reagan spotted some foam swords. Thanks to "Peter Pan" he decided the swords would do the job. Needless to say, he has had a blast with them, and we got off cheaper with them. I tried to take a picture that wasn't blurry. FYI...he ATTACKS Daddy and anyone in his way for that matter.
Still on John Reagan...he is at such a fun age. He occasionally wants us to put Evie in his lap. Here is the most recent of these occurrences. She looks as big as him. Her one leg is as big as his 2 put together. Maybe not, but almost!
Finally something about Evie...her hair has been long enough for rollers for about 6 months now. It took me that long to work up the incentive to pay for them even though I knew I would get my money's worth. Evie girl sure does look cute with her rollers in her hair and even cuter when we take them out.

Thought you might like to see a little of the face.

Greg has had some motorcycle helmets in the garage for at least 2 1/2 years now. Thank you MTA. (In case you didn't catch it, I am being a tad sarcastic.) While the tornado was jumping our house, he thought about the helmets and how they would be good to keep around for John Reagan and Evie in the event of another tornado. You know the statistics say most people die from head injuries in bad weather. Needless to say, Greg got one of the helmets out the other day and put it on John Reagan. Too cute! John Reagan thought he was such a big boy walking around with it on his head.

Children are the greatest entertainment.

Now that I have gotten this done, I am back on top of things. Hallelujah!! I hate being behind on something.

Even though blogging can be a hassle sometimes, I feel it is worth my while when I get it done because I would never write these things down in a book. At least John Reagan and Evie will know more about the things that went on when they were growing up, and I don't have to tell the same story over a hundred times. That calls for another Hallelujah!

One last thing about Evie, she has 6 teeth now...4 on top, 2 on bottom. Be sure not to stick your finger in her mouth.

Eggs-tra Fun Easter!

I am finally getting Easter pictures up. All my friends had their Easter pictures on their blogs or Facebook the day of or at least the day after Easter. It's been 3 weeks, and I am just now getting mine on here. How do you like that? I am so on top of things it's scary. (This is where I would insert a smiley face if they had that option on here.)

If you have cheated and scrolled down a little, you are wondering what the picture of Max and Evie have to do with Easter. I am here to tell you absolutely nothing except they were taken the day before Easter when we were getting mentally prepared to dye eggs. We hadn't even boiled the eggs by this point, but we were working our way up to that.

Isn't Max a sweetie? He was actually trying to steal some goldfish, but he is fascinated with Evie. He loves to check her over then sit right in front of her and entertain her.

As you can see, Max loves John Reagan too. John Reagan very much loves Max and knows how to wear him down.
How sweet! Max is a good babysitter.
We did get around to dying Easter eggs...at 9:00 at night. Shameful! This was John Reagan's first time dying Easter eggs. He had lots of fun playing in the dye.

Daddy was a big helper. I think he had as much fun as John Reagan. I know I did!

I always help serve lunch after the Sunday morning Easter service, so Daddy and the kiddos are on their own for about an hour. Seeing as how we aren't morning people and getting up on a Sunday morning (can you believe) is a stretch for us, we never get pictures of outfits before church. Side note here, we go to Saturday night church. We don't just skip out every Sunday. Anyway, I instructed Daddy to get pictures of John Reagan and Evie in their Easter outfits, and what you see below is the result.

I know you can't tell a whole lot about Evie's outfit and can only tell a little regarding John Reagan's. But we have to cut Daddy a little slack. John Reagan had a break down after church because he had to leave Mommy behind. By the time they left the parking lot, the break down continued because of something else. He was so tired. Needless to say, the story I heard was that screaming and battling went on for an hour. I have to consider myself blessed that Daddy got these 2 pictures.
After Mommy got done with helping, we headed over to some friends house. There are a few of us families in small group that do not have family living around here, so we all got together for Easter lunch. We had lots of fun, and I have to say THANK YOU to Nicole for such a great job on Easter lunch and for the invite. John Reagan went on his first Easter Egg Hunt this year too. No, we don't deprive our children. He was too young up to this point, and it is a lot of work to get eggs dyed, hidden, and hunted for only 1 child. Greg said after the Easter Egg Hunt that it was quite interesting. Daddy and Abby pointed out all of his eggs to him because he didn't know what he was doing.

I know Auntie Marla is loving these two pictures since she is the one who gave him this Easter basket.

Here are the 3 little chicks after their Easter Eggstravaganza! John Reagan, Abby, and Matthew...aren't they adorable?

Abby was so cute helping John Reagan look for his eggs.

Since Evie didn't get to join in the Easter Egg Hunt, I figured I would leave you with an adorable picture of her. Kristin, I was going to put the picture of you and Evie on here but decided to cut you some slack. I remembered all the flack I caught for the Thanksgiving picture.

Evie wasn't all alone at Easter. Big man Caleb was there to entertain her, and they had lots of fun together. We might have to watch those 2 a little closer when they get older.

We hope you all had a great Easter.

Thanks again to the Wards, Amaro's, and Koffman's for enhancing our Easter celebration this year.