Hasley Hogwash

The Return

2012-01-22T19:01:00.002-06:00

Yes, it is true! It is me. I am here! You may be asking, "What happened to you?" And I am here to say, "3 kids." I don't know how it took a year for the full chaos of three kids to hit our house, but it has officially hit. I tell you, I have not been able to stay on top of anything lately. The worst part about it is I have not been too concerned either. So. not. like. me!

Christmas cards would be one of the things that has suffered in the chaos. I had good intentions, and it just never happened. I then decided I would do New Year's cards. Yea! Didn't happen either. Somewhere along the line the new year came and went without a hitch while I am standing here scratching my head. We do still love you! We haven't forgotten about you! On the contrary, we have actually been thinking about all of you lots here lately. We will do better! Since I didn't get cards out, I am at least showing you what the picture was supposed to be. These pictures are still at the photographer.

We unfortunately have not fully left the survival mode we were in for all of 2011. We are working our way out and are starting to see things return to as close to normal (for us) as possible. Greg is enjoying his new job. He is so glad to be out of the office and back on the road. He has already had some very interesting stories from the people he has met. I think I have had the hardest time adjusting and keeping up with everything, but I am getting there.

The kiddos are growing like weeds...Way Too Fast! John Reagan was elected to represent his class at the school homecoming this year. He had lots of fun (even though he won't admit it). I had lots of fun getting things together for him.
More pictures of homecoming will follow. He did have to escort a little girl. She was all about John Reagan while sitting in the chairs waiting for the festivities to start. She kept scooting closer and closer to him until they were both sitting in his chair. At one point she started fixing his hair, then she had her hand on his leg. Let's just say she was having lots of fun too. I was trying to video all of this taking place, but they noticed when I had my phone pointing toward them. I still got some funny footage.
Averi has been battling ear infections since August. Three weeks of preventive antibiotics did not help, followed by 10 days of stronger antibiotics to get rid of the newest ear infections, and we still have a sick baby. We are headed to the ENT tomorrow. Thankfully for us, Averi is a great baby even when sick. She is clingy but not fussy.
Evie is just Evie. There is not much more to say about that. She likes her space. She needs her space. And she is very vocal when she doesn't get enough space. She loves school when she gets there. On the way there is another story. She told me Thursday when I asked her what she was thinking about as we are pulling into school..."All the time you make me go to school. I am mad at you because all the time you make me go to school." When I picked her up she wouldn't come out of class and couldn't stop talking about the day. And by the way, this "all the time" is 2 days a week. Oh Lord! Lots of fun in store.
We are playing catch up with blogs and emails and touching base with everyone again. Hope to hear from all of you soon.
Love,
The Hasleys

Yep

2011-12-07T20:21:00.004-06:00

We went to Wal-Mart about 3 weeks ago. As we are falling out of the car (is there any other way with three kids), Greg looks over and sees...

Do you think the Lord is trying to tell us something?

The funniest part about this license plate is not that it is a TN one or that it says "yep." It is the fact that it is this combination in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Jonesboro, La of all places. I mean really, "C'Mon!" A town of 5000 people (a town that if you are not from the surrounding area you don't know it exists, even if you live in Louisiana), and we see this. All I can say is: "Yep"
This has to be at the top of the "TN Inundation" List.

Birthday Fun!

2011-11-09T20:18:00.008-06:00

Greg's Handi-Work:

The Birthday Counterparts:

Waiting for Cake:

Birthday Girl First:

Then the Birthday Boy:

So Dainty:

Worn Out:

Later that night watching LSU ball:

Happy Birthday to Greg and Averi!

Festivus

2011-10-19T10:51:00.002-05:00

"It's a Festivus Miracle!"

We finally got our computer fixed. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Ha-le-lu-jah! I don't even know how long it has been, but I'm thinking around 8 months. The best part is it only cost us $35. Woohoo! The not so fun part is we went ahead and got it wiped clean, so we are starting from scratch and having to change everything back. Oh well! We are just so excited to have our very own computer back.

Couple that with the fact that we finally got our new camera, and I even have the software downloaded. Yay! That means I might actually keep up. For now I will hit the highlights with minimal pictures.

Another Festivus Miracle in our house is the fact that a Hasley child actually walked before he/she was fifteen months old. We officially have a toddler on our hands. She is still a little shakey and wants assistance on a regular basis, but she can and does take anywhere from 5-8 steps on her own. She is really working at it, which is more than I can say about the other two when it came time to walk. Averi wants so badly to keep up with John Reagan and Evie.

I should also mention that Averi turned 1 in September. I will be nice and not say how old Greg is now, but I will have a picture for you. Greg thought he would get out of having parties when Averi was born on his birthday, but that didn't happen. I figure I have until the time Averi turns 5 before I have to start with the "Averi Only" party, so I took full advantage this year. We had lots of fun celebrating!
We can even mention that we are finally getting into fall weather. Last week as I was taking John Reagan to school, I was really enjoying the fall colors on the trees and the wind blowing thinking about how wonderful fall is and how we love this time of year in our household, and I was quickly blown back to reality by the air conditioner. It looked like fall outside but didn't feel like it. The high Monday was 90. Thankfully the rain came yesterday, and we are in the 50s today. John Reagan talks a lot about Tennessee this time of year in preparation for snow. Poor baby still hasn't grasped that we don't get much of that powdery white stuff down here.

For now, we are enjoying Fall.

Randomness

2011-10-05T10:48:00.004-05:00

Proverbs 16:9

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps."

I feel I am living this verse daily, and not necessarily in a good way. I plan and plan and see no fruit from the course I take. I know that daily the Lord is directing my steps; however, I wish to see the manifestation in the physical. I feel as though my world is in chaos and I am powerless to bring order. And I cry HELP! I do not know where to go from here except to wait. Unfortunately for me, I do not do well with waiting on the Lord patiently.

In the meantime we will keep on keeping on and enjoying what is around us and who is around us. Back in August we went to my dad's one Sunday for a fish fry and family time. My aunt and uncle were in from Tennessee. Of course we cannot go to Pawpaw Donnie's without going to see the horses.

Evie was not the least bit afraid. She waltzed right up to Shorty like she was the boss and in control of everything. We had a hard time getting her off.
John Reagan on the other hand was a little apprehensive. He wouldn't get any closer than this.

And this is results of three little boys and an exercise machine...

They had more fun playing on it than anything.

That was our fun-filled big trip in August since Pawpaw Donnie lives an hour away and school started mid-month.

To start off September John Reagan was full fledged into a stomach virus. We had 2 parties planned over Labor Day Weekend and had to skip both then cancel our Monday plans. Evie missed her first official day of school because John Reagan was nice enough to share his germs. Evie goes to school 2 days a week: Tuesday and Thursday, and she loves it. Here is her first day of school.

She was so excited! She is on and off about liking school. The night before she is supposed to go, she will say, "I don't want to go to school. I don't like Mrs. Sarah (her teacher). She told me to sit down." By the day of school she is ready to go see her "frands" (as she calls them). I thought we were going to have our first official breakdown on the way to school yesterday; however, Evie saw one of her "frands" as soon as we pulled up. She promptly jumped out and walked as fast as she could down the hallway to class. Averi and I couldn't keep up. We have a lot of fun listening to her about "school."

We hit mid-September in full force with a campfire. Our kids LOVE campfires, and they had been on daddy to get one going. Unfortunately Averi and I were contained inside because the stomach bug had now spread to her. Joy! So here is the fun John Reagan and Evie had...

Don't you just love the fun of childhood days!

Now that we officially have a new camera I will be able to finally catch up if I will just get the new software downloaded. When the day hits and I so desperately want to get started, it is the one thing that gets pushed to the back burner. I do still love you even when I put you off. Lots of love from the Hasley's! I know we haven't been spreading it enough lately.

The Joys of Childhood

2011-09-05T12:41:00.022-05:00

I think the pictures say it all...

What Averi did while brother and sister played in the rain...

John Reagan's Handiwork

Evie's Handiwork

Thankfully Averi has not entered the inventiveness stage yet!

Happy Belated Birthdays

2011-08-29T09:53:00.007-05:00

Happy Belated Birthday to John Reagan & Evie!

Unfortunately I am so far behind that I am just now wishing John Reagan a Happy 5th Birthday on the blog. He would be ecstatic that I am this far behind if he thought it meant getting to celebrate his birthday all over again. He already has his 6th birthday planned out, and we still have 9 months to go.

We had his birthday party at one of the local fire stations. He had a great time and got some special treatment.

John Reagan and his only 2 boy cousins.

I don't know if this is nationwide, but in the state of Louisiana you can have birthday parties at the fire stations for FREE! Awesome! You get to tour the fire station and everything. I would highly recommend it.

And now for Evie's Happy Belated Birthday! She turned 3 this year and wanted a Toy Story birthday party. I should say she wanted a Jessie party.

She had lots of fun celebrating! The little box in the left corner of this picture: Aunt Paula was nice enough to buy a LIVE turtle for Evie. Joy Joy for Mommy and Daddy!

As for Averi, she had a blast celebrating both parties:

Party #1

Party #2

This last picture does not do the chocolate justice!

Cakes:

I included these 2 pictures because I had to make the cakes for both parties. If you know me well you know I would rather pay for a cake than spend the time making them. Yet there I was on both birthdays having to make cakes so the kiddos could have what they wanted. Evie wanted a "Jessie and Slinky" cake and would have it no other way. I tried to convince Greg to let me get a family friend to make Evie's. He really didn't want to do that. He has since discovered how long it takes and has no problem with me getting our family friend to make his and Averi's. Yay for me!

Growing Up: Part 2

2011-08-23T09:52:00.003-05:00

This is what is going on at our house!

Oh boy! The REAL fun is about to begin. When we turn on the bath water, Averi appears out of nowhere in a matter of seconds. She has been trying to climb in with brother and sister. I asked John Reagan last night what he and Evie were going to do when Averi started chasing them around. He said, "Run!"
The volume level is rising by the day.

Growing Up!

2011-08-21T22:17:00.002-05:00

My little buddy is growing up!

Sniff, sniff.

John Reagan had his first official day of Kindergarten on Friday.

We were rushed in our picture taking thinking we were running behind, but it turned out we were just fine. And if you are wondering, yes they have to wear "uniforms" down here.

John Reagan did great! He was very excited about his first day, and he seemed to like his teacher very much. He even gave her a hug when we picked him up.

Evie on the other hand was a different story. I did fine until we left him. On the way home I wanted to fall apart but couldn't because Evie girl was on the verge of falling apart. She was so upset that her brother was at school and not at home with her. She had crocodile tears that she was fighting to keep in. Needless to say they played very well together when brother got home. As soon as we got in the car when picking John Reagan up, Evie quickly told him she missed him. I love their relationship, even though we are at the "brother irritates the mess out of sister" stage.
I am thankful for healthy children who are growing like they are supposed to, but it is sad to me that we have hit the school years. I feel like we are already sending him off into the world. The past five years have flown by.

More, You Say!

2011-08-13T11:01:00.004-05:00

Oh yes, we are still playing catch-up! The sad part about this is that I still have at least 3 more posts of catching up. I really don't know where I have been or how I got this far behind. What can I say?

I guess I will say Happy Mother's Day 3 months late! We celebrated in true Louisiana fashion.

Yes, yes! That is delicious crawfish. I know they aren't so delicious looking just yet, but they do get there. My tummy could testify to that.

Evie wasn't so sure about a live crawfish, but John Reagan loved it.

Averi could have cared less as long as she was being held. Since the crawfish boil included my sister, parents, cousins, aunt, and Grandma, there were plenty of women around to accommodate her.

And what is a May crawfish boil without a little swimming afterwards.
As you can see Evie is well taken care of.

Between my two cousins, there are three girls from 8-14. They love to take care of Evie, and I love for them to. I always get a break when they are around. As a matter of fact, we hardly see Evie when they are around.
We are thankful the crawfish boil took place in early May. We have had around 35 days straight of 100+ degree heat. This includes the heat index getting as high as 120. As everyone is saying down here, it is just about too hot to even go swimming. Hope all of you are staying cool!

Catching Up: Stage 2

2011-07-27T19:25:00.004-05:00

I figured I better hurry up and get John Reagan's Pre-K Graduation pictures on here before he starts kindergarten.

We will start with his school picture!

And his "school" graduation picture!
I just love these two pictures!

Now for the big night!

I am putting the below picture in for you to see Mrs. Steffanie, who is so very shockingly from Tennessee. I say that with sarcasm because we are confronted with something that says Tennessee or Nashville or oddly enough Rutherford on almost a daily basis. I think I have mentioned this before, but just in case...the funniest part about this is that in Tennessee his favorite nursery teacher was Ms. Stephannie from Thibodaux, Louisiana.

The kids quoted a few bible verses, sang songs, told us what they wanted to be when they grow up, got diplomas and medals, and had cake afterwards. We had a great time! John Reagan said he wanted to be Batman when he grew up. We aren't really sure why he said this. He has never seen Batman or heard much about Batman. He is a big Ironman fan though. All we can figure is he got the idea from his Batman umbrella that Nana bought him or he watched the movie somewhere and we weren't told about it. Who knows with him!

What a great experience his Pre-K year was. His last day of school they sent a binder home with alphabet artwork that the kids had worked on all year. It also included pictures of John Reagan throughout the year along with his height and weight at the start of school and the end of school. They really did a great job with everything.

I have been having a hard time with the idea of my little buddy starting kindergarten this year. I am not prepared for it. I would say wish John Reagan luck, but I am the one who needs it, not him.

The Journey

2011-07-20T14:18:00.003-05:00

I have not forgotten about catching up on everything, but I must stray away today for something on my mind.

As I was sitting in church Sunday I began to pray for our preacher. He was saying that Sunday was one of the days when he didn't "feel" the power of the message in him, and he was talking about how we cannot live by our feelings. In the midst of my prayer the Holy Spirit quickened me that what the preacher was struggling with was necessary for the day as part of his current journey. This led me to begin thinking about the journey he and his family are on. It is a long story that involves LOTS of information. To keep the story simple, they are serving as interim pastors at our church and are having to step out in faith to bring about some necessary change.

The Holy Spirit then led me to thinking about how serving God is a journey...in everything we do, everywhere we go, in every mountaintop experience, and in the valley. Daily we are on a journey to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14)" that is set before us. I am guilty of letting daily life get in the way and cause me to lose focus on what has been set before me. Every aspect of our past, the valleys and the mountains, have brought us to where we are and who we are. And every aspect of the current moment we are in is preparing us for what is ahead and what God desires of us. As I was sitting there reminiscing and allowing all of this to sink in, I was flooded with such joy. The realization that our joy is in the journey brought such freedom. It is not about surviving. It is not about just getting through. It is about the journey.

We are at a point in our lives right now where if we lose focus even for a moment the struggle immediately appears, and we begin to sink. To be able to step out of what is right now and look at the whole journey brings freedom. Our joy is in the journey and not what our feelings are.

I tell you, this is something I need today!

The title "The Journey" sends my thoughts to a young lady who is truly on a journey. Her whole blog is entitled "The Journey." I know many of you know about Katie, but for those of you who don't, check her blog out: http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/. She is a young lady from Brentwood, TN whose journey is taking place in Uganda, Africa where she is running a ministry to feed and provide schooling for as many children as possible. She is also the mother of 14 Ugandan girls. If you do check her blog out, I encourage you to go through the archives and read from the beginning. What a story she has! What a journey she is on!

T-Ball

2011-06-27T21:49:00.004-05:00

Let the catching up begin...

Stage 1: T-Ball

T-Ball got started a little later than normal, which means it lasted a little longer than normal. One word to describe it...HOT! By June 1st it was in the 100's here with heat advisories out and humidity like crazy. You can imagine.

John Reagan was SO ready. He started asking us about it well before Christmas. We could really see a lot of improvement in him this year. We ALL had lots of fun.

We loved John Reagan's coaches. They were absolutely great and have coached baseball on many different levels. They were great about being "hands on" during the game and explaining the process every step of the way.

John Reagan hit at least 90% of the time without the tee. He even grounded several balls and threw to first. Let's just say Daddy was very proud this year. And I think Daddy had more fun than John Reagan. He was a lot more hands on himself. They got out and practiced a good bit this year.

The fun has begun for Daddy!

Averi girl enjoyed watching brother play. I have no idea why so many of the pictures are blurry.

We would have a picture of Evie girl participating in the t-ball festivities as well except for the fact that she was too busy socializing. She is normally our quiet one who hides from everyone, but she came out of her shell at the games. The grandmother of one of the boy's on the team was at quite a bit of games. Evie heard him call her grandma and decided she was her grandma as well. She was telling her, "Grandma, come sit," and was patting the bench beside her. It was too funny! Of course "Grandma" was eating it up. Evie even wanted to go home with her and talked about her the entire next week. It was very out of character. She did this with the coach's wife too. Needless to say she had a blast during t-ball herself.

The highlight for John Reagan was getting his second trophy. He instructed me to sit it beside his trophy from last year as soon as we got home. He is very proud of the "trophies!" He had them both down the other day saying to Evie, "Look Evie, I have two trophies because I played two years." I just love his enthusiasm and positive spirit.

We are happy to be back indoors now though. The only outdoor activity we get excited about at this point is swimming.

The Three Amigos

2011-06-22T11:47:00.003-05:00

As I look over our pictures we finally got downloaded, I realize we had a very busy May. T-Ball started, Pre-K graduation, Crawfish Boil, and Birthday Party. All of this is to come, but for now I will stick with my Three Amigos!

Sorry about the blurry picture. There were lots more options, but I love this one. It is Evie to a tee.

Brother and Sister had one of their "we want to hold Averi" moments recently.

Thankfully Averi had lots of fun!

Evie cracks me up. She is unintentionally funny, which makes everything even more funny.

I don't know what was going on here to cause these two to be so loving to each other. They play very well together, but here lately they have needed a mediator more so than normal. Stress levels have been high here.

I love how children keep us grounded, especially in the times when we need it the most.

Do You Remeber This?

2011-06-12T22:29:00.004-05:00

October 2008...

...has expanded to look like this.

How do you like the "looks" on Greg's face? And the naked baby?

It's a good thing Greg never looks at the blog, since his face is hilarious in both pictures.

I had to add this one for good measure because she was not being cooperative in the family photo. She kept covering her face with the bowl.

Proverbs 27:17

2011-06-07T20:50:00.002-05:00

"As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."

We have been asked many, many times why we love Tennessee so much, and we have never been able to communicate the fullness of our hearts on the matter. However, a friend summed it all up in an email the other day. I hope this friend does not mind me sharing a little piece of their story that has been such a blessing to our family. This particular set of friends have been on a journey to adopt not one, but two children from Rwanda. They traveled in May to bring their children home to their forever family. Their homecoming proved to be a great blessing to them, and this is a piece of the email we received the following day:

"Just wanted to let you all know that your kindness and generosity has blessed us greatly. The welcoming crowd was amazing and we certainly appreciated seeing so many familiar faces after a long tough journey emotionally and physically. Our home and car were professionally cleaned, our refrigerator/freezer and cabinets were fully stocked. We had diapers, wipes, pull-ups, clothes, toys, beds, car seat, booster seat, high chair, baby gates, strollers (2 doubles) swim diapers, baby monitors, swim suits, picture frames and a beautifully painted canvas with our names on it and so much more not only at our house but set up. Our yard was mowed and our flower beds mulched. I had new candles waiting to burn (i love candles) and new sugar scrub and lotion... no detail was left undone or not thought of. I am still very tired and not sure I have processed it all but it was overwhelming in good way, we felt the love that was poured out and know that was the love that Christ gives so freely. We have meals set up for 4 weeks 3 time a week... amazing friends. The process of cleaning our pool was started and all the chemicals purchased. We truly have been blessed beyond belief. We want to and will thank each of you personally but wanted to just let you know that you efforts and sacrifices were a true gift that are appreciated."

After reading the email, Greg's exact words were, "The next time someone asks us why we love Tennessee so much and would love to move back, we need to show them this email."

"As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend."

There is no better way to say it. When you are daily sharpened and lifted up by the friends that surround you, it makes life a little easier and lots more enjoyable. What our friends came home to was a collective effort of friends and family alike. We do not know all of the people who helped and contributed, but we are blessed to call many of these people friends. And they live this type of servanthood daily, not occasionally.

What a privilege it is for us to call you friends. We love you all and want to say thank you for the blessings you are to our lives and family.

Frustration

2011-05-17T16:06:00.003-05:00

No pictures for today. Our computer has been graced with a virus, and we have to send it to the beloved computer doctor one day soon. We cannot open any program besides Internet Explorer directly. We have been able to "back door" programs except of course any type of security or system restore. Joy! Joy!

We have been busy bees lately. John Reagan had his Pre-K graduation last week. I can't wait to post a few pictures from that. It was a fun and very sad time. We cannot believe our little boy will be turning 5 in two weeks. T-ball is also in full swing, so we are running the roads. We are supposed to be keeping up with cousin's/nephew's games too. We have failed at that task so far.

Evie and Averi are happy to follow along in tow. As long as they can go and check everything out, they are happy. Averi FINALLY has 2 teeth now. She will be 8 months old next week. She has fallen right in line with John Reagan and Evie. I have to say I am quite surprised she is not crawling by now. From the first time she watched them play, she has been anxious to join in. Those will be the "interesting" days.

Our minds have been a little boggled for the past several months, and we have not done a good job of keeping up with everyone and everything. We are hopeful we are moving out of this season of our lives VERY soon! Shoot us a "catch-up" email. We would love to hear from all of you!

A Few of My Favorite Things

2011-04-27T17:18:00.018-05:00

These are a "few" of my favorite photos over the past 3 months.

John Reagan is my helper in the bunch. He was a big help getting leaves up this year. His make shift wheelbarrow!

He wanted his golf clubs and his bike, and he decided he could have both.
This is John Reagan and Evie to a tee. He told her, "Evie, scratch my back." And she did. How funny! She is even getting instructions.
Evie girl loves the outdoors, and now that she has figured out how fun the trampoline is she stays on it. This was a cold day in February!

Our day at Jimmie Davis State Park.

And Miss Averi...
This is her favorite place to sit and her favorite way to sit.

Her favorite seat! Her favorite activity...working that tongue.
After bath time is just as much fun as bath time.

Whew! I am finally caught up. Now to stay on top of it!

A side note...I HATE when blogger decides to have a mind of its own.

Something Old, Something New, and In Between

2011-04-21T13:56:00.008-05:00

Since I am so behind on some of the Hasley Happenings I will be condensing today. You faithful blog readers know what that means. Yep: long and lots of pictures. We will start with some of the old.

First of all, something old! I cannot believe I forgot to put this in our "Family Additions" post, but I sure did. A piano...new to us, old in every other aspect. I have always said I would like a piano; however, it had to be the right piano. I ran upon that back in June. We were at my Grandmother's church, where my mom grew up. The piano has been there for umpteen years, but it caught my eye this time around. Of course I haven't been in the back of the church in umpteen years myself. So I asked my grandmother what they planned to do with the piano because they haven't used it in years. How convenient for me that they were wanting to get rid of it. Woohoo! We picked it up at the beginning of last month. After emailing a man with the serial number I have found out it was made in 1915. And yes it does work and sounds very good. This particular brand was and is known for its sweetness of sound and tone.

Now the something old happening that I should be ashamed of for not already having on here. Averi's baby dedication was March 6th. She is the only child of ours that had family other than my parents at her dedication. The whole thing was very sweet, and we enjoyed sharing it with church family who have been church family for decades.

This is not the best picture but one of the few with the whole gown.

The In Between:

I would say this is a tired little girl.

This is not the best looking picture overall, but I just love the look that Averi has here. She is getting so big. I look at her and am in awe at how big she looks, and the funny part is that she is our smallest baby at this point. So then I think, "Wow, how big the other two were!"

We went to the "local" State Park one day and grilled hot dogs and had lots of fun together.

We have come to discover this is a baby blue heron. This particular area on the way into the park is a bird watchers hot spot known for the eagles' nests. We were very surprised to catch the baby heron peeking out of the nest because we had no clue that they normally nested this far above the ground.

The kiddos enjoyed being outside and playing around.

And finally the something new:
Yesterday John Reagan had his school Easter party at the director's house. He got to have Mommy and Daddy all to himself for a couple of hours. Pawcaw and Nana came over to watch the girls. We had lots of fun watching him with his friends and watching him take it all in.
He even got to take a picture with the Easter Bunny!

We have been busy running the roads and anything and everything else. T-Ball has officially started, so the pace has picked up even more. We are happy for the opportunity to slow down and celebrate Jesus and his Resurrection. Hope all of you have a wonderful Easter!

Changing Times

2011-03-14T19:10:00.002-05:00

We have been through several changes this year already. Details can't be discussed at this time on our blog, but one of these days we will be able to divulge. As for now we covet your prayers over all that has taken place and for all the changes that are still ahead. We are very excited to see what becomes of this year in the Hasley Household.

Now for the post:

Our Twins...

Bahahaha! I COULD NOT resist. And now a prayer to follow it up that I have learned from experience is necessary...Lord, PLEASE do not let me be speaking something on myself here, AMEN! I have to say I have never seen a two yolk egg before and had to take a picture.

We do seriously have 2 new additions to our household. Actually one has been around for a while, and my forgetfulness has kept him off the blog. He recently acquired a sister. They are known in our house as Dixie and Cash.
Yes, we have a true Louisiana girl on our hands. While out shopping one day Evie discovered an alligator, and we bought it for her. Recently we had to bribe her with a treat to go to the doctor. She HATES the doctor. The treat she asked for was another alligator. How funny is that! She loves Dixie and Cash. Yes she picked the names. Dixie and Cash take baths, get fed, play all the time, and recently became the driver and passenger in brother's horse truck. They have lots of adventures together.

Our other two babies...

I can't believe John Reagan will be 5 in May. He is getting so big, not just in size. He is such his daddy's child. It is funny and scary at the same time. His favorite activity right now (before baseball starts) is to quote the movie "Elf."

And Averi girl will be 6 months old in just 2 weeks. She is such a delight and loves John Reagan and Evie. She sits in the saucer watching every move they make dreaming of the day she joins in. John Reagan and Evie are great about playing with her.

We have been enjoying them and trying to take it all in knowing how quickly it is going. We would love to hear from all of you. Been missing everyone a great deal here lately.

We Love You!

Fashion-ista!

2011-02-21T12:53:00.003-06:00

My sweet little Evie Girl!

She has a mind and attitude all her own, which can be quite funny. She likes things VERY MUCH the way she wants them, and this does not stop when it comes to her clothes. If she had it her way ALL the time she would be in jeans and a plain shirt. Of course she has all these cute, fashionable outfits that her Fifi, Nana, and MaeMae have bought her. And Mommy being as stubborn as Evie results in "issues" over the clothing. I know, I know...we mothers are supposed to pick our battles. My motto on this is: When she is old enough to go shopping and pick out ALL of her clothes then this battle will be one less that I fight. That is of course as long as the clothes she picks are modest/appropriate for her age, covering her fully. As long as people are buying her clothes then my philosophy is she has to wear it at least once. Unfortunately this philosophy results in AT-TI-TUDE!

The pictures below are of outfits that pictures became necessary because I didn't think I would get them back on her. I am quite surprised by how many of these pictures she is smiling in.

The pants don't go with the dress, but after church we reached a compromise and traded the tights for the pants. The three things Evie hates: dress, tights, and dress shoes. She had all three on this day for church.

This picture has been thrown in for good measure. Evie's hair is curly in the back and straight on the sides, so we were attempting to roll the sides here. Naturally she didn't leave the rollers in long enough to serve their purpose.

This is her "favorite" shirt and "muddy" boots.

Surprisingly she loves the boots!

For good measure I had to throw in a picture of my other little fashionista. Isn't she adorable? I am partial of course.

I am hoping I don't have these same problems with little Miss Averi. When I don't think Evie will wear an outfit again I find solace in the fact that hopefully Averi will. How funny!

Frozen Tundra

2011-02-07T18:32:00.002-06:00

For all of you Tennessee Folk...

We have been watching in envy as you have had snowfall after snowfall dumped upon you. We know that some of you are pretty sick of it understandably and are ready for warmer weather. And we have to say we are not the least bit shocked that you have gotten more snow than normal either. I mean after all we moved, so the snow felt like it could return in full force. But, we are here to tell you...Be Thankful for the snow! You could be like us and just get drenched with freezing rain that really isn't even frozen. It just makes you cold all the way down to your bones.

Of course they have been calling for snow on and off around here. Our usual response to that has been in full form, "We will believe it when we see it." We do still feel this way after the miraculous snow we received last March. In true fashion snow was predicted for the middle of this last week. They were closing schools around here even before it was raining. In their defense everything freezes around here and you have to deal with ice and ice and more ice. The roads can be very tricky.

I must admit I do love to see bare hardwoods covered in ice. It is a beautiful site. And even though John Reagan repeatedly asks about snow, he has been enjoying breaking the icicles off and eating them. We do make sure they come off clean things...i.e. We don't break them off the house and let him eat roof run-off. Lol!

To get to the point...FINALLY! We woke up to frozen tundra the other morning.

Literally! It was a FROZEN Tundra!
Bahahahahahaha!
Disclaimer: To all of you who know Greg and me very personally KNOW this blog was Greg's idea. With that said, Happy Winter from Greg!

Happy Birthday!

2011-01-24T11:28:00.004-06:00

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Mom!

She turned 60 on Saturday! Party planning has been in full swing around our house and my sister's house.

We had pictures up around the house from each of the decades between 1951 and 2001. Since we are so early in 2011 we left that one out. We also had "fact" sheets by the pictures that included little tidbits about things that came out those years, advertisements, prices of items, etc. An example: the sharpie pen was first introduced in 1961. I think my sister had the most fun finding out all of the information in her search. If you are wondering, it's the light shining above her lip that is messing up the picture.
Naturally we had "60s" decorations all over the house. We couldn't let her forget how old she is. When I went to get pictures for her invitations she told me, "Don't be throwing me a party. There is nothing great about turning 60." I thought that was so funny because I had already decided to put on her invitation, "Turning 60 is Great. Please Come Help Us Celebrate!"

We bought a scrapbook for keepsakes from the party, and we decided to put a picture of everyone who came and let them write her a note. Her older sister who lives in Virginia sent a note for her to read aloud. It was about "The Way We Were" and "The Way We Are." Mom had fun reading it and telling the stories from past and present that went along with the note. We sure missed you Aunt Diane.

Mom had lots of help blowing out candles. I couldn't get ALL of the kiddos in the picture from where I was standing.

Then the most fun part of opening presents.

And one of the party favors for everyone to take home!

We hope you had a great birthday, Mom. We had lots of fun with the planning!

Instructions?

2011-01-14T18:24:00.007-06:00

Instructions? Who needs instructions? Surely the three of us can figure this out on our own!

John Reagan and Evie got a trampoline for Christmas. It was not put together for Christmas morning, and John Reagan had to stare at the box for a week. When my dad came to visit on New Year's Day, Uncle Brad, Greg, and Pawpaw Donnie put the trampoline together. And according to Greg they HAD to use the instructions. The above picture was actually them getting their game plan together.

When the pieces started going together Evie had to do some womanly supervising. She was out there, "Pawpaw Donnie! Pawpaw Donnie!" She was more concerned with Pawpaw Donnie's attention than the trampoline.

Too bad this is not a close up. Just thought I would let you see Greg with a beard. The beard is gone now and so is the gotee. That is a story in itself that we will have to tell you about later.

Evie could have cared less about the trampoline, but the 3 boys were anxiously awaiting the finished product. Bless their hearts as soon as the men got the trampoline together we had to run off to Monroe.

This is the best picture I have of the finishing details. I still haven't gotten a picture of John Reagan jumping on it. Naturally after it got put together the weather around here decided to act like "real" winter weather. It has been too cold to worry about the trampoline.

Evie jumped on it once or twice. She was not a fan. John Reagan has enjoyed it as much as he can in the winter time mixed with stitches in his "boy parts" as he and Evie would call them.

The fun of parenting a boy and a girl are starting to begin. We have already separated bath time, but Evie is now on this kick of, "See my "burl parts (girl parts)!" Joy! Joy! Greg is freaking out about it. I wish I could have gotten a video of the discussion between her and Daddy about her "burl parts" the other night. Let's just say I was sitting in the chair cracking up while Greg was trying to be as serious as possible.

Good times are ahead!

Happy New Year!

2011-01-04T20:13:00.002-06:00

In an attempt to start the new year off better than I ended the last one, I am actually blogging 4 days into the new year.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and were as blessed as us at Christmas time.

We are excited about the new year and know that many changes are in store. We pray blessings for all of you in 2011!

Averi-3 months

John Reagan-4 1/2

Evie-2 1/2

I feel like I should be catching you up on the happenings around here but can't think of what all that might be. We are back to the daily grind, and things seem to be back to as normal as they are going to be for now. So...

Happy New Year from the Hasley's!

Surgery Update

2010-12-20T16:09:00.003-06:00

We thought you all might like an update on how John Reagan's surgery went.

First, he is doing extremely well. Since Friday we have had a hard time keeping him at bay. He was jumping and running and acting like nothing had ever happened. After a busy weekend, he did get a little sore and is "attempting" rest today.

He did absolutely wonderful! The morning of the surgery, you wouldn't have known he was having anything done. He was having a lot of fun in the hospital coloring, playing, watching everyone in Pre-Op, and visiting with the Child Life Specialist. He was about as relaxed as he could be. Of course after surgery he was in a good bit of pain, but after he slept off the anesthesia and got some food in his tummy he did very well on Thursday.

His right testicle was in his abdomen, still fully formed. The doctor said it was a little smaller than normal. The left one was in his groin and as normal as it could be. Both are in the appropriate place now. John Reagan has 4 incisions and seems to be fascinated by them. Of course being the "picker" that he is he wants to pick at them but hasn't been as bad about that as we thought he would be.

There is no reason to believe he will have any problems having children. The chance of him having problems is slightly higher than someone who didn't have this problem but not enough to worry about. We go back in 2-3 weeks for his follow-up, and we will have this behind us for good. Praise God!

Thank You for all of your prayers! We very much appreciate them. Since I didn't have any pictures for you last time, here is one each of the three.

John Reagan and Daddy were headed to the woods this day!

After church John Reagan and Evie decided they needed to make pallets on the floor and veg out!

And Little Miss Priss resting with her new hat on. Love, love this hat! Check out http://theroseyposey.blogspot.com to see some more of Mrs. Arlene's creations.

I can't believe Averi will be 3 months old in a week! I need things to slow down a bit.

Our house has been in disarray since John Reagan's surgery. EVERYONE has been exhausted and not handling anything well. So needless to say, we all need a day of rest and a break from stress. We are ready for the hustle and bustle of the holidays to be past us.

Please in be prayer for a dear family we know from here, The Wyatt's and The Henderson's. They lost their 29 year old daughter/sister/wife to cancer last night. Many of you have prayed for her in the past in small group. Her name was Autumn!

The Valley

2010-12-11T16:37:00.006-06:00

"How long Oh Lord!"

This is what keeps going through my head. "How long Oh Lord will I continue on the same path?" Several years ago we read a letter from Creflo Dollar where he defined insanity as doing the same thing but expecting different results. This has stuck with Greg and me. Needless to say, we are at a point of dissatisfaction. God has been revealing to us how we keep going down the same path, walking the same steps everyday, all while waiting for something different to happen. We have been living in insanity and have been complacent with it. You would think after our move and the struggles we have had as a result of it that we would start doing things differently. We even talked about what we wanted to do differently before we moved (not just spiritually, but even in the daily aspects of life); yet, daily we have failed at the task. Really? How long Oh Lord will we continue on this same path?

The funny part: when I checked our blog last week to see how long it had been since I did a post, the blog started witnessing to me on this matter of "change." This blog has witnessed to me in the past. It is so funny the tools God can and does use to get our attention sometimes. Just before we moved back to Louisiana, I was getting ready to do a blog post and not feeling particularly happy about our situation. When I pulled up the blog I immediately saw the verse Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you."

http://thehasleyhousehold.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

Do you know what the verses prior to Jeremiah 29:11 say? As you have probably guessed I am about to tell you, but first I must lead you into the story. When I started our blog and put the header "The Best is Yet to Be," something about the saying didn't strike me well. It sounded too new age to me or something. So I thought, "Well I will put a verse on here to back that up spiritually." I began to pray about it, and a few weeks later I went to put on a bracelet I have. Of course the bracelet has Jeremiah 29:11 on it. I thought how befitting and couldn't believe I hadn't already thought of the verse. Thus the story of how God led me to put the verse on our blog. I didn't realize then how He would use it to work on us. The whole time we were living with my parents after the move, neither of us were hearing from God nor were we doing our part to hear. As soon as we got settled into our semi-own place we started hearing from God again. He was revealing lots of things to us...some very painful. But we were at the point we were so thankful to be hearing again that we felt we were ready to begin working on changing. One day as I sat to read my bible, God led me to Jeremiah 29. I tried to shrug it off because I knew the great, encouraging verse that was in the chapter. But let me tell you, I didn't know what was before it.

Jeremiah 29:4-10..."The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, sends this message to all the captives he has "exiled" (my emphasis) to Babylon from Jerusalem: 'Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food you produce. Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them, and have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! And work for the peace and prosperity of Babylon. Pray to the Lord for that city where you are held captive, for if Babylon has peace, so will you.' The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says, 'Do not let the prophets and mediums who are there in Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams because they prophesy lies in my name. I have not sent them,' says the Lord. 'The truth is that you will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again."

(New Living Translation)

I couldn't believe what I was reading because "exiled" was the perfect word to describe how Greg and I felt. We can't explain why we felt that way, but we did. I just laughed and thought, "Wow, if I would have known all that beforehand, I probably would not have put Jeremiah 29:11 on our blog." I mean really, did I speak something on us that we weren't prepared for? I have to answer no to this question because the only way God could get our attention was to take us out of our comfort zone and put us right into the very thing we had feared. What we humans do to ourselves sometimes is so unnecessary if we would just humble ourselves before the Lord. And I am preaching to myself here. A free leason for everyone comes out of this: read all the verses before you use the one.

Just a note here to let you in on what God has been dealing with us on. Sorry there are no pictures. As usual the Internet was giving me grief. The good news is we will have our very own Internet next week. We will no longer be bumming off the free wi-fi floating around here.

I did want to update on John Reagan...his surgery is scheduled for this coming Wednesday, the 15th. We have started telling him about it and preparing for it. Please be praying for him for everything to go smoothly with no complications and for Greg and me for peace.

Pumpkin Patch Pictures

2010-11-01T10:03:00.003-05:00

What a mouthful the title of this post is!

John Reagan went on his first field trip in the middle of October. His class went to one of the many pumpkin patch's around here. Mommy didn't get to go because of little Averi, but Nana went with John Reagan. We have yet to decide who had more fun out of the two. Nana got TONS of pictures. We just haven't taken her a cd to download them on yet. Shameful I know! We also did family pictures at another Pumpkin Patch with Justin and Meredith Bufkin. Justin is Jon Bufkin's brother for those of you who don't know Justin. He and Meredith are doing a "picture campaign" (for lack of better wording that eludes me right now) as fundraising to bring home their baby girl from Ethiopia. Their campaign title is "One Smile Closer." If you would like to follow them on their journey and check out all the great pictures Justin has already taken along the way, you can find them at http://onedaycloseradoption.blogspot.com/.

Little Averi was a week old here.

We think Justin did a GREAT job. We love all the pictures! If you live around here and are thinking about family pictures in the near future, I highly recommend Justin. If you live in Tennessee and need family pictures, Jon and Kelsey are helping out by giving all their "picture proceeds" toward Justin and Meredith's adoption. What a great brother and sister (in-law)!

I have to give a shout out to Kristin too! She took our family picture and designed our Christmas card for us this year. I so desperately want to give you a sneak peek because I LOVE the work she did. But I cannot ruin the surprise. All I have to say is I highly recommend her if you want a new design for your Christmas card this year. She does a great job. You can check her work out at http://afhphotos.blogspot.com/.

I think I should have given this blog a title that has to do with sales. Do I get commission if I send someone your way? Lol! We are so thankful for friends that we can call/email for pictures and cards and whatever else we need or want. We love all of you!!

In My Absence

2010-10-25T14:25:00.019-05:00

Dear Blog,
Please forgive me!

I am not purposely neglecting you. I think about you often. Unfortunately, fifty thousand other things come up before I get to you. Okay, maybe fifty thousand is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. I am sorry that you are the one who gets put off until everything else is caught up. I really do appreciate you even if it doesn't show.

Fortunately for you I am about as stubborn as can be. I stuck with the troublesome Internet today instead of putting you off for yet another day. The ironing will be mad at me later for it.

I am also sorry for what I have neglected to write on your illuminating screen. I totally forgot to mention that Evie is potty-trained and has been for 2 months now. How could I forget something as wonderful as that, especially when it means only one set of diapers. And the angels sing, "Hallelujah!"

I forgot to write about all the fun John Reagan had when we finally did our backyard campfire for him at the first of the month. Or was it Evie who had more fun stealing the chocolate that was supposed to be for the s'mores?

With little Averi, she seems to change everyday, and everyone is enjoying every minute of her. I can't leave off how sweet it is when Evie says, "baby sister!" It never ceases to amaze me how time flies, and it is even more evident with a baby in the house. Little Averi will be a month old in 2 days. I know, oh blog, you completely understand how time flies as you sit and wait on me.

Of course Evie thinks whatever is Averi's is hers as well. Naturally that is okay. Do you remember, dear blog, how 2 years ago we were writing/publishing about John Reagan thinking everything of Evie's was his? Now he has passed the torch on to Evie. What a good big brother!

Since I have neglected you so I am inundating you with pictures, my faithful blog. On the way to Grandmother's house we go. Of course this day was to great-grandmother's house. Brother and Evie wanted to wear their hats so they could be like Daddy!

Naturally the silliness of brother and sister does not fail even when I fail to write about it. The fun they have together now is so precious. I love to hear their laughter as they play together. And when brother and sister are all smiles the house runs so much more smoothly. Thank you Lord for siblings who get along so well and who actually do appreciate one another. Evie never fails in her excitement to go pick "brudder" up at school and loves to tell him, "I missed you, Brudder." Got to love these two!

I wish, my dear blog, I could promise to be more faithful, but I cannot at this time. I do, however, already have a list of 2 blogs I need to post after this, which means as I find the time I will be here to write on your wall. Please forgive me! Please do not leave me! I will be here.

Birthday Wishes!

2010-10-03T16:31:00.003-05:00

Happy 34th Birthday to Daddy! He got the best present he could have ever asked for.

Miss Averi Roxanne Hasley made her appearance at 1:41 p.m. September 27, 2010 on Daddy's birthday. She weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and is 21 inches long. Our biggest baby yet!

Even the doctor was shocked by how big she was. Neither John Reagan nor Evie broke 7 lbs., so none of us ever expected Averi to be so big, especially since my original due date (which was Sept. 27th) was moved back a week because Miss Priss was measuring a week behind.

She is so precious! We forgot how much we love having a baby in the house, and she is such a good baby.

She really liked her bath time and must think lotion is great. She was so relaxed while I put lotion on her and was looking at me like, "Wow! What is that?"

She is definitely a snuggler! Mommy loves this even though it makes getting things done difficult sometimes (like blogging).

Averi is doing great! We all are enjoying her very much, even Evie. Evie says to her, "Hey baby sister," all the time. And yes, John Reagan is constantly in her face like he was with Evie. The adjustment process has went well so far. Evie has thrown a few fits but is taking her frustrations out on Mommy and Daddy while loving on "baby sister." Thank God she is taking it out on us and not Averi! Daddy goes back to work tomorrow, so we will see how it all goes this week. Something about the number 3 is a little overwhelming. Hopefully like with the last 2 we will fall right in line and not know any different after a week or so.

We look forward to the day we can share our newest family member in person with all of you. Hope everyone is well!

Happy Anniversary!

2010-09-24T16:53:00.002-05:00

As has been the case around here lately, I am 4 days behind on this post. However, I still wanted to say Happy 7th Anniversary to my wonderful husband! Sorry you don't get a picture, but with all the baby preparations going on I didn't have time to break out the scanner. Since it has been 7 years, I don't have a picture handy on the computer. I promise you a picture on the 10th Anniversary...if you are still keeping up with me by then. Lol!

One thing is for sure, our 7 years have not been uneventful. Just living with Greg is eventful in itself; besides that though we have:

Moved 5 times-2 of which were out of state

Buried 7 family members

Been through 4 pregnancies-one of which resulted in a miscarriage

I have had 3 surgeries (0 prior to marriage if that tells you anything)

Painted 3 houses (ceilings and all)

Bought a house and sold it

Been through the stress of open heart surgery with my dad and 2 stints with Greg's dad

Lived with my parents for 9 months

and impatiently awaiting the birth of baby girl #2 (will she ever come)

The best part about our 7 years aside from the fact that we have spent them together is all the absolutely, wonderful friends we have made along the way. We would not be who we are today without being totally blessed by all of you. We love you and miss you greatly.

We thought we might spend our 7th anniversary in the hospital, but that obviously didn't happen. Induction is still set for Monday, which is Greg's birthday. I have been hoping Averi would make her appearance early, but as it stands she seems perfectly content. We can't wait to share our newest family member with you soon.

John Reagan

2010-09-16T10:15:00.002-05:00

It only took me a few days to sit down and get started, but here I am. Lots has been going on in the Hasley Household this past week, and most of it has centered around John Reagan.

Our little buddy started Pre-K last Tuesday. He was so excited! We didn't have any problems getting him up and going. Can you believe how big he looks? I can't!

Wasn't it just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital? Back on track...John Reagan only goes to school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. It is enough for him though. By Thursday he was wanting to know how many more days before he could stay home. Here is our big boy headed out on Tuesday.

He has a friend at Pre-K from last year's Mother's Day Out, Eli. He has been so ready to go play with Eli all summer. The great thing about Eli is that I went to school with his daddy, and we know that we very much approve of Eli and know that he comes from a good Christian background.

After our first week of school, Mommy and John Reagan both had doctor's appointments on Monday. Several of you know that when John Reagan was born, his right testicle was undecended. We went to Vanderbilt for it, and they wanted to do surgery at 4 months old. Of course we were like "No Way!" Now at 4 years old we had to go to the Pediatric Urologist again because it is getting time to take care of the situation. According to the Urologist here his left testicle is also undecended, just not to the extent of the right. Surgery is scheduled for December 15th. However, we are asking you to pray that God will heal this problem and that it will be so evident that we will have to visit the doctor again before our scheduled surgery. We are also asking that you pray this will not cause any problems with infertility for John Reagan as an adult. It shouldn't because he is still young enough if we fix it now, but we don't want there to be any question of infertility ever.

On our way home from Shreveport on Monday, John Reagan was trying his hardest to stay awake,which always involves a great deal of talking. Out of the blue he said, "Momma, one time I prayed to Jesus about moving back to Tennessee and he said yes. I miss our yellow house." To which I responded, "He did!" What is there to say to that? While Daddy and I were looking at each other going "Okay?" John Reagan promptly asks, "How long does it take to get to Jesus' house?" Greg and Me: "Ummmm?" Greg said something to the extent of Jesus living in heaven but also living in our hearts. I followed up with something about having to live a lifetime before you go to Jesus' house. John Reagan got really quiet, so we thought he was asleep. I started telling Greg what we should have said. Thankfully for us little ears were listening. John Reagan piped up, "I'm not asleep!" So we talked a little more about Jesus' house and Jesus always being right beside us even when we can't see him. Hew! All I have to say is please pray for Greg and me to have God's words fill our mouths in times like these and for God to help us be quick on our toes. We are only given windows of opportunities with these questions, and we NEED to have the appropriate answer.

One last laugh from John Reagan-he informed me yesterday on the way home...
"Daddy speeds faster than a woman!"

Baby Update:
I am dilated a centimeter, and the doctor scheduled the induction for Sept. 27th, Greg's Birthday! I go back Monday, the 2oth (Our Anniversary), and he said that he hopes my cervix is favorable enough to move the induction date up to sometime next week. I would prefer to go Monday and him say let's do it today or to go ahead and go into labor before then. I am so ready to have this baby and be done with this pregnancy. Hopefully our next blog will be introducing Miss Averi!

Kindred Spirits

2010-09-07T09:34:00.003-05:00

We have all heard the saying "Like Father, Like Son." However, there is a statement that we sometimes neglect..."Like Mother, Like Daughter."

The other night I was in the living room, and I hear Greg, "Oh My God!" As I am walking toward John Reagan's room, Greg peeks his head out the door and says, "She is just like her mother." I walk in to find:

I am a very organized person. In our house, everything has its place and everything needs to be in its place. This is how I feel about things. I believe it goes without saying that Evie believes the same way. She had all of her's and John Reagan's little horses and dinosaurs and whatever else in critters and she was putting them in their place. At this particular moment the place happened to be the 18-wheeler with the dividers for all of John Reagan's cars.

This is not unusual behavior for Evie. Before she discovered the 18-wheeler, she would line the animals up on the window seal or the mini trampoline or where ever she felt the need. Since we have been in the house and she has discovered all of the stuffed animals, she likes to take her favorites and line them up on Mommy and Daddy's bed. That way we have a little extra work before bedtime...putting up the stuffed animals.

I have to say I do rather enjoy having a kindred spirit in the house. My hope is this will continue in the room cleanliness, etc., etc. I also like it because I have been living with 2 of Greg for 4 years now. I needed someone to be on my side of the fence post occasionally. This is not to say that there is not some of me in John Reagan and some of Greg in Evie. Lord knows that is not the case, and thankfully so. They need a good balance. I should say, WE need a good balance. I am just thankful I am not the only organized person in the house. Before Evie girl that was the case. Watch out men, that is no longer! Hallelujah!

Learning to Share

2010-08-28T22:52:00.007-05:00

You know as parents we occasionally have to learn a few lessons along the way from our dear children. Isn't it wonderful? I will answer for you...not really!

Learning to share can sometimes be one of those lessons. Although I really don't think it is fair to say us mothers have to learn this lesson. We are pretty much thrown into sharing regardless of how we feel about it. I always say I don't know how I can have problems losing weight because I have to share every meal and snack and drink I have (sometimes with 3 people instead of the usual 2). Sometimes it would be nice to eat in peace, but I have to say when I get that sweet little "Tank You Mommy," or that cute little grin it is all worth it.

When Evie was a baby, John Reagan and I started getting a slice of pizza and coke when we would go to Sam's. We would sit down and have a good mother/son time. Evie was always with us, but she would be in her car seat in the cart. As she grew she joined us at the table, and we began to split our pizza 3 ways. Sometimes Daddy would join us. This habit quickly became a fun family time. This family time has not been happening much here lately. We live about 35-40 minutes from the nearest Sam's, and Mommy has been making the usual trip while out for my doctor visits. Needless to say, the kiddos have been missing out.

While we were in Tennessee, we had to go to Sam's for something, and we made a point to have our family pizza and coke time. As is typical of our trips to Sam's this is what happened to Mommy and Daddy's cokes when we got in the vehicle.

Needless to say, we were experiencing the valuable lesson of sharing. Aren't our kids the ones supposed to be learning this lesson? I guess we don't have to share, but it is so much easier when it means keeping the peace. I am sure you understand. Sharing is well worth the peace that follows.

Of course this next picture is a few days later when we were on our way home, but this is a good example of why sharing is worth it most of the time. I just love the grin on John Reagan's face. Of course Evie is thinking, "Really, do we have to have our picture taken right now."

I know that one day I will miss sharing my time and meals with my precious children, so I am thankful for the time I have with them. They grow way too fast. At least my usual sharing experiences only involve a possible tummy growl but usually not. You know how kids are: like us they only want the GOOD stuff...chocolate and coke.

Tennessee

2010-08-23T17:35:00.002-05:00

YAY...pictures up from our trip to Tennessee. We had so much visiting everyone and catching up. As usual with our friends, it felt like we had never left. Even riding around town felt like we were home and it was a normal day. If we missed you this visit, we are so sorry. Wish we could have fit everyone in. One thing we realized after our visit is we are going to have to do it more often. We have let life get in the way this year. Of course I can go through the list of why our trip was put off so long, but those things do not matter. We definitely need to learn when to slow down and take time with our friends. We miss all of you greatly.

I just love this group picture. It is the epitome of how things are when we are able to spend time with everyone. Kelsey and Kristin, I don't know what happened to you two swapping during pictures so we could get both of you in. At least I did get some separate ones of you Kelsey.

When it came to the kid's pictures, there were so many with the kids spread out everywhere till I decided to spare you.

I had to put this one in because John Reagan had so much fun. When we got in the car to leave, Greg asked him if he had fun with all his old friends. He said, "Their not old friends Daddy, their new (whatever that means)." All I know is we have heard non-stop about how he remembers doing this or that in Tennessee. While we were there he wanted to know why we were going to "our" Sam's and "our" grocery store. He started in about remembering something last night. I said, "Buddy, you miss Tennessee, don't you?" His response: "Yea I do, I'm ready to move back there." Of course he thinks we will go back to the same house and everything. Sometimes I wish there was a video reel of what goes on in his mind. It would be interesting.

We also got individual pictures of everyone, but I just have to pick on 2 of them. These 2 pictures are like the group picture...Kristin and John to a tee. Love them! And love you 2 too!

Thanks to the Koffman's for putting up with us for 4 days and nights, and thanks everyone for coming out to see us. Again, if we missed you, we will definitely catch up with you next time. And if we saw you but didn't get to visit much, we will make up for that too. We love all of you and consider ourselves greatly blessed to call you friends.

An Unexpected Visitor

2010-08-11T13:39:00.004-05:00

John Reagan was outside the other day supposedly picking up his toys when he started hollering at me that there was a bird by his golf club. Me being used to the hollering scenario responds with something like, "That's good," while I go about my business. I know all of you moms have been there before. John Reagan being the way he is kept on and kept on until I decided to go check it out. Sure enough he was right, and this is what I found.

A baby hummingbird.

At least I think he/she is a baby. I have seen a hummingbird nest before, and I am pretty sure the little guy here wouldn't fit in it anymore. But he still didn't have a lot of color to him besides a line of green down his back. So the assumption remains...a baby. I left him alone for a little while until I got to thinking about the cats around the neighborhood, including our own. I decided to take him to the hummingbird feeder in the backyard hoping his mommy would find him there.

We do have a frequent visitor to the feeder, but he is a male. The male did show up later in the afternoon, and the two had some type of discussion no doubt about baby invading his space. We don't know what became of baby, but he was gone by the next morning. After reading a little about hummingbirds, we are hopeful mommy reunited with baby. He was nowhere to be found.

John Reagan really enjoyed him while he was around. As a matter of fact, it brought his nurturing side out even more. The next day he found a cricket in the house. We had to make cricket a nest to sleep in, and cricket slept on Daddy's nightstand. Thankfully for Daddy John Reagan had already played with cricket enough till his legs no longer worked. I am sure you get my drift. We put cricket in the backyard the next morning.

Evie pays a little bit of attention to all this nurturing going on, but she would just as soon go about her own business. We bought John Reagan (ahem...Daddy) a Wii not too long ago since we still haven't gotten the television hooked up. Daddy and Brother have been busy bees playing around. Evie as usual could care less about all the excitement going on. As a matter of fact, the same night we found birdie, she said she had had enough of all the excitement. She got Daddy's pillow, laid it smack dab in the middle of Daddy and Brother and proceeded to pass out. Daddy looked down to find this.

Unfortunately for us she took it as only cat nap time. Fun times!

If you are a Tennessean, the next time you will be hearing from us will hopefully be face to face. Yay! We leave tomorrow and are looking forward to seeing all of you. The excitement runneth over in the Hasley House. See you soon!

Daily Happenings

2010-07-30T14:00:00.003-05:00

I figured I better get in another post before the end of July since I left you hanging for so long the last time. I can't believe we are already headed into August. How crazy?

We have gotten settled into the house for the most part. The carport still looks like a mess, but we are working on that. Daddy has needed some playtime with the kiddos, so we have slacked off the work a tad. We had to strip all the paint in the front bathroom. We did that I think 2 weekends ago, and it still looks the same. Lol! We are at a point of being overwhelmed and don't know where to go next, so we have stopped. Not good with a baby 9 weeks away. Oh well!

We've just been keeping up with the daily routines of life lately, trying to enjoy it. Nothing much going on. We did head over to Jackson this past Saturday to spend the day with the Rutledge's. We had lots of fun and were so glad to get to visit for a while. I of course left the camera behind...shame, shame! I told myself the night before to put it in the bag and somewhere along the lines actually thought I got it in the bag. Lordy, Lordy, bring back the sanity. Thanks Rusty and Elizabeth for inviting us over. We really had a great time and can't wait to catch up again.

As for John Reagan and Evie, they have been up to their usual. John Reagan is ready to start back to "school." He's been talking about it a great deal lately. Evie girl just likes to do her own thing. They had been spending their time fighting over a fold out chair John Reagan has, so I broke out the Lightning McQueen chair to ease the frustration. Instead of getting their own chairs, this is how I found them.

This is where I say, "Oh well, at least they aren't screaming at each other." John Reagan likes to get in Evie's face and get onto her. Being someone who likes my space, it frustrates me to no end, especially when screaming ensues from Evie. Needless to say, sister likes her space too and when brother doesn't back off the arms start flailing. Not good, not good! The joy of parenthood.

Thankfully bedtime brings out the sweetness in them. I am pretty sure they know their time of just 2 is short because they both have been wanting snuggle time with Mommy. We have had to work out the every other night routine and learn to share Mommy. I do get occasional freedom like this night.

They do love on each other at least as much as they fight if not more. Makes it all worth while when they are being sweet to each other. It looks like the sweet times are the only ones I capture on camera. I guess that is because all other times I am too busy playing referee...lol.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have been the favored lunch item lately. That can be good and bad. It was bad for Daddy this day because the peanut butter ended up on his pillow. We haven't figured it out yet, but Evie loves to drag Daddy's pillow around. It apparently works as a good lunch stop.

And for John Reagan's inventiveness...the speaker for the surround sound makes a good drink stop.

I tell you the things I find sometimes.
The grand news is we have settled on dates for a visit to Tennessee. Yay, can't tell you how excited I am. We will be in the weekend of August 14th-15th. Yes we will be there more than these 2 days. We just haven't said exactly what day we are headed up there and what day to head back. We will probably come in that Thursday and head out Tuesday or Wednesday...not 100 percent sure. So I can end with, we will see you soon! Yay!

I'M BAAACK!

2010-07-14T10:50:00.008-05:00

I am finally back to blogging. Did you think I was never going to return? I can't believe it has been 2 months since I sat down to update the blog. My how time flies!

We have been super busy, mostly celebrating birthdays. Since the last post, John Reagan turned 4, I turned 30, and Evie girl turned 2. We like to pile them all on at once. Not only that, but as most of you know we have moved.

The house situation is only temporary, but what a relief to be settled somewhere and give my parents space. Of course the past 3 years have been temporary for us. Our rent house in TN was 2 years temporary and living with my parents was 9 months temporary. I think we probably need to redefine the word "temporary" in this household. Now that we all have a little bit of our own space, Mommy and Daddy really need to spend some extra time in our prayer closets. We have no clue what God wants from us past the point of baby #3 arriving. And the word we keep hearing is, "Wait patiently on the Lord!" Is that scary or what? I can give a million reasons why God needs to be on our time table, but I am pretty sure He will ignore me on those matters. So I guess you will find me here attempting to "wait patiently" to the best of my ability along with a little help from the Lord. I might should say "a LOT of help."

I will leave the waiting at that and move on to the celebrating. John Reagan got a bicycle for his birthday. My parents driveway is a slight hill, and Daddy must have not been thinking about buddy only having his bicycle for a day. Greg sent John Reagan down the hill while walking behind him. The problem...the bicycle picked up way more speed than Greg, and John Reagan FROZE! He wouldn't put on the brakes. Needless to say, John Reagan and the bicycle jumped the road at the end of the driveway and jumped the ditch then landed in the barbed wire fence across the road. A side note, it is a small country road...no cars around. Thankfully John Reagan missed the barbed wire, but he nailed the center of the fence post. This was the result...

The fence is there for the neighbor's horse. She heard John Reagan screaming and came running to check on him. She was a lot further away than Daddy, but she beat Daddy to John Reagan. Another blessing because John Reagan loved the idea of that and she helped calm him down. He did get on his bicycle and ride back to the house. It was a very traumatic experience for Daddy. He was freaked out and stressed out way more than John Reagan just from watching it. Of course I can get a laugh out of it because I didn't have to see it. I was tucked away inside the house. John Reagan recouped quickly though.

Memorial Day fell on John Reagan's birthday this year, so we were able to party on the exact day. We have very few pictures of the actual day because our camera battery went dead on us. I got fussed at about it of course, but the grand part about it was I was not the last one to use the camera, which means I got to turn the tables. Don't you just love when it works out that way?

We broke out the slip-n-slide and water balloons and let the kiddos go to town. These pictures were from the day before the party when the battery was being run down...lol!

I was smart enough to get a picture of the cake as soon as it was finished because by party time the next day, it had MANY fingerprints in it from John Reagan and Evie digging in the icing.

Jumping ahead 2 weeks, everyone in the family had lots of fun giving me a hard time about turning 30, as you can see by the cake. Sorry for you but no direct pictures of the pregnant lady. Greg was sure to have the battery fully charged at this point and was nice enough to get mostly side shots.

Evie had lots of fun at Mommy's birthday party. She loves to get her toenails and fingernails painted and the painting process is her and MaeMae's (Auntie Marla) bonding activity. It is Fifi and Evie's bonding activity too. Evie walked up to MaeMae and said "Paint." She even knows where the polish is at MaeMae's house. She went and got it and brought it to MaeMae.

A few weeks after this picture, MaeMae and I went to get a pedicure. We took Evie with us, and she was absolutely fascinated by the whole process. She sat perfectly still and watched every move the workers made. It was so cute! She might be quoting Abby in a few years, Kristin...not able to wear open toe sandals without her toenails being painted.

Our final birthday celebration was Sunday. Evie girl was not the least bit concerned with the activity in the house preparing for her party. We figured she would care less by the time the party arrived. She surprised us though. Sunday morning she said "Party!" Her excitement grew as everyone arrived, but when the cake got here, she was ready!

This is her while we were singing "Happy Birthday." She was cutting up big time. She has been watching and mocking brother way too much here lately.

We didn't think she would blow the candle out by herself or that she even knew how, but she didn't have a problem taking care of business.

Sporting her birthday hat and pajamas. So funny! A shout out to brother who took this picture of sister.

We do have a break from the festivities until Daddy's birthday in September. Of course sister girl #2 is due a week later, so Daddy might be celebrating in the hospital. Daddy has good birthdays. He spent his 27th birthday in Tahiti on his honeymoon. Now he might get to spend his 34th with a new baby girl.

At this point we are all anticipating little Averi Roxanne's arrival. Every time I go to the doctor, John Reagan asks, "Did sister come out?" How hilarious! He just doesn't understand the time frame of "around Daddy's birthday." I officially begin 2 week visits on July 26th, so the countdown has started now. The plan is to make a visit to TN before Labor Day, and hopefully we will be able to follow thru with this plan. Please be in prayer for our sakes that we do make it up for a visit before Averi decides to make her appearance. All 4 of us are in great need of some visiting time with all of you. We miss you bunches! I promise to do better with the blogging now that we are settled. Hallelujah!

It's Another...

2010-05-19T22:27:00.002-05:00

I am officially halfway through this pregnancy, which means we found out Monday what we are having. The beauty of having a boy and a girl is that I can title this blog something like, "It's Another..." and still not give the secret away. Lol!

I promise I will not torture you any longer. We are having another girl! Yes, you read that right...a girl! Poor John Reagan!

During the ultrasound the doctor said, "Well I can tell you what I think it is!" Miss Priss was being less than cooperative on showing her little girl parts. My response was (somewhat hysterical from thinking of John Reagan), "It looks like a girl!" Of course he agreed, and Greg and I just looked at each other like, "Oh My God! What are we going to tell John Reagan?" I just kept waiting and thinking "please let the boy part show any minute, please!" Needless to say that did not happen.

Moving ahead a few hours...

As soon as we walked in the door John Reagan said, "Is it a brother? Is it a sister?" When I told him it is a sister, he started crying. He said through the tears, "I wanted a brother." He cried for about 5 minutes and somewhat came around to the idea of a sister.

Skipping ahead 2 days...

He has completely warmed up to the idea of another sister; however, he has not let go of the idea of a brother. We had to tell him that after sister gets here and things settle down he can pray for a brother just to get him to settle down. He is much better now.

On our way home from the doctor, I kept patting my tummy and saying to Miss Priss #2, "We do love you," because we were in total shock. John Reagan had convinced us he was having a brother. With everyday that passes we get more and more excited about a little girl. It always gets more personal once we know what we are having and give the baby a name. Now the fun really begins!

As usual, I will leave you with a few snapshots of what has been going on around here.

She is being silly by "acting" like she is laughing.

Sister snuggled up to brother to go to sleep, in Mommy and Daddy's bed of course!

No news on the house deal. We have put in several offers but for different reasons things have not panned out on any of them. Such a story that gets ridiculous at times. I told Greg tonight I am starting to wonder if we are supposed to have a house of our own. It's hard to keep it together when you don't have your own space. I know Greg would insert here that I haven't kept it together. What can I say at this point?

Swing Batter-Batter!

2010-05-02T20:09:00.005-05:00

John Reagan had his very first t-ball game last Monday night, April 26th. What fun he had, and what fun we had watching him. He plays third base, and he is not very aggressive in his defense. He is far more interested in all his family there watching him. During the game the ball was hit in his direction once. He took off to the ball to stop it, then he realized I was trying to get a picture of him. So he stopped dead in his tracks, stood up, and smiled to ensure I got a good picture. So funny!

He is the youngest and smallest player on his team. For the Dixie League, the children are supposed to be 4 before April 30th. Lincoln Little League is a little more lenient on the age, so John Reagan was able to start this year. Down here they are more concerned with the children starting at an early age so they don't get behind.

For our first game, we were the home team. We took the field first, and like some innate, built-in sports knowledge John Reagan knew from the first day of practice the appropriate stance when on defense.

For batting whatever number is on your shirt is where you fall in the batting order. Of course John Reagan is #1, so our little buddy got to bat first. He didn't know to run to first base as soon as he hit the ball, so he just stood there. Poor buddy got out. He could have cared less.

Here is John Reagan with his coach getting ready for his first at-bat. FYI: the bat is the smallest we could find. They actually make a 10.5 oz bat, but we could only find the 11.5 oz. I told Greg it was so light I didn't think I could even do any damage with it. He got a good laugh out of that.

As you can see John Reagan is too busy looking at me taking pictures to be worried about what to do after he hits that ball.

Breyden and Kenden came to John Reagan's first game. Breyden actually had a game right after at another baseball complex, so they didn't get to stay too long. They had fun checking it out though, and they were big supporters for John Reagan. They knew how to cheer him on.

Evie on the other hand was too busy playing with Annie's toys. Annie is cousin on Daddy's side of the family.

It can be hard waiting for the ball to come your way. The coach pitches 3 balls to the players first, and if they don't hit one of those then the tee comes out. John Reagan prefers to wait for the tee. He did swing at the ball. He just swung WAY to early.

His first time on base. He even knows how to stand on base like a "real" baseball player.

Running to home plate!

Made it home! Back to the dugout now!

It is as much fun for us to watch the coach interact with John Reagan. He is so sweet and so gentle with John Reagan and pays him special attention because he is the littlest. A funny story about the coach...we noticed one night before practice that he has a UT sticker on the back of his vehicle. You know Greg can't stand to let that pass without saying something. We love everything Tennessee EXCEPT UT. Anyway, the coach is from Louisiana, but he did his graduate work at UT. So he is a big fan of them even though he teaches at Louisiana Tech. Unless you have followed ladies' college basketball for years, you don't know anything about the rivalry between the Lady Vols and the Lady Techsters. However, I come from a long line of La Tech Alumni, so I know all about it. There is not a bone in my body that can bring me to cheer for UT in any sport even when it is for the good of the SEC, as Greg says. I think I might have put this story about the coach in the last blog post. If I am repeating myself I am so sorry...just blame it on the pregnancy and house situation. We very much like the coach though and think he does a great job with the kids. So far our t-ball experience has been wonderful.

We have called and talked to a few of you Tennessean's since the weather has been so wild up there. We hope you aren't floating away and don't have any water damage to tackle. We have been keeping a close eye on what is going on up your way. Let us know how you are doing, please! We like to know how you all are doing.

By the way, can you tell we got our new camera lens in just in time for the game?

Springtime

2010-04-25T14:08:00.004-05:00

Spring has sprung, and summer is coming!

We have had a few days that have been pretty warm and humid. We are trying to mentally prepare ourselves for our first full Louisiana summer in 7 years, but I don't know that we can do that. Greg and Brad took the 3 cousins fishing the other day. John Reagan told Greg, "Daddy, today is a nice summer day." Greg's reply was, "Buddy, in Tennessee this is a nice summer day, but in Louisiana this is a nice spring day." Brad just cracked up laughing. This will be the first time I will be pregnant through the month of August, so needless to say I am fretting.

Spring doesn't last long around here. We have talked a lot about how we will miss the four seasons of Tennessee. You get 3 seasons here...winter and summer then spring and fall classify for 1/2 a season each. John Reagan's t-ball coach did his graduate work at UT, and he said the other day he misses the 4 seasons of TN. So glad to know we aren't the only ones that understand this fact.

Things have been busy around here since Easter. We have been doing lots of house hunting, but that is a story for another blog...a very LONG story. John Reagan has started playing t-ball, so we have been practicing a good bit and just running the roads in general. I have FINALLY purchased a new camera lens, so no more blurry pictures. Hallelujah! Of course there are a few more pictures I will post before I get to explore the new lens. But I will have it in time for John Reagan's first t-ball game. Aside from the house hunting story, this pretty much catches you up on the past month.

I do have my ultrasound scheduled for May 17th, so we will be finding out in 3 weeks if John Reagan is really having a brother or not. I had to buy a baby gift for one of Greg's best friends yesterday. I KNOW Greg told me they had a little boy, so I picked out a cute little outfit. When I got home Greg said, "Brandi, they had a girl!" I was like "WHAT? No they didn't, you told me a boy." So I am wondering if I bought us a baby gift early. Greg's friend's name is John, so when I said something about Mr. John, John Reagan thought we were buying something for Caleb. Everything he picked up he said, "Momma, will this fit Caleb." He was picking up 12 month outfits. I kept telling him he would have to go up on sizes, but he wasn't listening.

A funny story...

John Reagan wanted to know the other day if we were going to give Evie back when his brother got here. So funny! I am still not sure if he was worried about having to give Evie back or if he wanted to give her back. They have been playing so well together here lately. We have had lots of fun sitting back watching them chasing each other while laughing and screaming. They have so much fun together. It is going to be interesting when another one enters the mix.

Back to Easter, John Reagan enjoyed dying Easter eggs this year. I tried to keep it as simple as possible.

John Reagan all dressed up Easter morning. For some reason he and Breyden are fascinated with ties, so we bought him one for Easter. It stayed on up to halfway through the service.

I wasn't able to get a full length picture of Evie's dress. As you can see she was not a happy camper on this morning.

The only picture with her hat on. She did keep it on herself, but the wind kept blowing it off. Evie is not a morning person, like her mommy.

John Reagan really got into hunting Easter eggs this year. We hid them at least 5 times, and he had to hide them a few times for us to find.

Evie, in true form, could have cared less about hunting Easter eggs. In her defense, she did just wake up from a nap.

John Reagan and Evie got crayons, markers, and watercolor paint in their Easter baskets along with rolls of coloring sheets. I made John Reagan go outside to paint, and he had to sit in the grass because we didn't have a table out there. I decided to go buy them a picnic table, and it is all the rage around here now. The first day we had it, they ate outside on it 3 times that day. How do you like the fact that they are still in their pj's?

I just love that hair blowing in the wind. Evie loves to play outside.

It's snack time now!

For John Reagan's first day of school, I bought him a lunchable. I don't know why, but the child absolutely loves them. He wants to eat them all the time. As a matter of fact, I had to stop buying them because he would eat them 2 and 3 times a day, and by the time school rolled around again I wouldn't have anything for his lunchbox. Now I roll up pieces of turkey to keep from having to buy the lunchables. He is such a character!

I have finally got my head on straight enough to remember to take pictures again. I have a few stored up which means I will be blogging a little more often, hopefully! I will also let you know soon about the house situation. Sorry if you have a hard time keeping up with me today. I am sure from my rabbit trailing you can tell I am a little out of it today. So on that note I will say bye for now. Hope all is well with all of you!

Pictures

2010-03-27T21:35:00.008-05:00

Our March blog posts look like our camera...very sparse. The camera probably thinks it has disappeared into the abyss. I picked it up last night for the first time in over a month. You know we have had our minds in overload when we haven't taken any pictures.

Needless to say, the pictures below are a month or so old, but the kiddos haven't changed that much in that time frame. I can't believe I haven't already posted these on here. Can you help me find my mind? A silly boy! He acts too much like his daddy. It is scary sometimes, and all I can think is, "Oh Lord, what am I going to do as John Reagan gets older and I have 2 of them to tend with?" As I have said many times, it must be the name John. If you are wondering why I say that, it is because Greg is also a John...John Gregory!

Evie girl is getting so big. She is really starting to talk A LOT! And she LOVES to scream! Some days it is hard to keep my sanity because brother loves to scream with her.

This is when they are the sweetest. Here and in the morning when they want to love all over me. I just love those times!

Do I need to say anything about this one? Except maybe to say, we do clean his face on a regular basis.

I just love this picture. She has this look on her face regularly, especially if someone is around she isn't too sure about.

This is "The Face." If you ask her to show you her face, this is it. She used to do it all the time, but I guess she thinks she is getting too big for it now. Greg asked her last night to show the face, and she promptly replied, "Nooo!" (a word she has grown quite fond of).

And brother's favorite! John Reagan and Evie have gotten to where they will fight over sitting in the car seat when it isn't in the car, especially if both car seats aren't out. That won't last too much longer. John Reagan is quickly growing into a booster.

I can't believe how quickly they are growing up. I know all of you understand what I mean. Where does the time go?

Milestones: Part 3

2010-03-24T10:43:00.002-05:00

I realized the other day that I have left you hanging on the house information. I teased you then left you. How nice is that? I can't believe it has been over a month since we started working on this particular milestone. Unfortunately the news is grim.

The Explanation:

Before we found some land we started exploring our options. We discussed building a garage apartment to live in for a year or so then building what we wanted (before we found out about Baby #3). We discussed purchasing an old house and moving it onto the property (something we were looking at even before we moved). We discussed building a smaller house and adding on over the years.

Then we found some land...5 acres outside the city limits at an outstanding price. We got a buyer/seller agreement signed and in hand. We talked with my brother-in-law and his dad because they are contractors. The garage apartment would be the most costly up front, building a small house would be hard space and time wise plus more expensive. Moving a house would have been the least expensive, but we would have been stuck with the exterior look to a point whether we liked it or not. Over the years, it would probably end up costing more and still not being what we wanted. It finally dawned on us to do a "manufactured" home (my sister's words). We could get the space we needed at the note we needed and in 2 years get rid of it and build what we wanted.

So started the search for a trailer. We found one we liked, but the salesman hem-hawed around for about 3 weeks before we said enough. We went Monday, found one, and were prepared to get the process rolling until the guy with the land backed out on us. The buyer/seller agreement had expired, and we believe (don't know for a fact) that he has someone pressuring him on the land because he had 6 acres right beside it that he had already sold and the guy that bought it was wanting the 5.

The End Result:

We are back at square one. As has been the case for the past 3 years, we have to pick ourselves up and start ALL over again. We don't even know where to go from here. Acreage in Ruston is extremely hard to come by. Acreage at an afforable price without site build restrictions is almost impossible to come by. As has not been the case for the past 3 years, we are now on a time frame. We have GOT to have a house before this baby gets here. Our stress levels are out the roof. Greg said Monday he just wanted to lay prostrate on the floor and say, "Here I am God," and not move until he heard something.

Please pray for us. We need some type of direction...clear direction. We have come to the point of questioning. We have both somewhat questioned already if we did the right thing in moving or if we totally missed God and mostly because of the way things have gone. Up to about 2 months ago, on a daily basis something about Tennessee would be in our faces. Now it is just about a weekly occurrence. And it is odd things, things that are out of the ordinary. We are at a loss and don't have a clue what is going on or what to do next. We need help!

Inquiery

2010-02-20T21:07:00.007-06:00

Questions of a 3 year old:

"Is my brother ready for bed in your belly?

Is my brother going to take a bath with you in your belly?

What's my brother doing in your belly?" To which I responded, "Resting and growing!" The reply, "No, I don't think so. I think he's hiding toys in your belly."

Is my brother gonna grow up like me?

Is he gonna be this tall (One hand at the top of his head, the other at his waste)?

When is my brother gonna grow up?

How old is my brother?

Is he this many (holding up 1 finger)?

When my brother gets little will he be this many (still holding up 1 finger)?

When is my brother coming out?

Notice a theme here: John Reagan is adamant about a brother. When we ask him, "What if it's a girl?" he either doesn't respond or says he wants a brother, not a sister. When Pawpaw asked him tonight how he knew it was a brother, he said, "I just know!" He was telling Pawpaw tonight about how he was going to teach his brother to fish and hunt and all kinds of things.

Needless to say, for John Reagan's sake we are hoping for a boy. We would be perfectly happy with a girl but don't want total devastation to hit John Reagan on baby's birthday.

Milestones: Part II

2010-02-17T12:13:00.002-06:00

Milestone #2 was supposed to be about our housing situation. Since the lady at the bank is new to her department and doesn't know what she is doing, house information is getting pushed back to Milestone #3. I know you are completely shocked by things being changed up on you.

So our new #2...

We are expecting Baby #3 to arrive in the Hasley Family around October 5th. I think it goes without saying, considering our situation, this was quite a shock to us. We have been walking around with dazed looks on our faces thinking, "Oh My!"

I really don't think the full reality of it all has hit us yet. It is amazing all the little things you forget about having a baby. We have always said we wanted our babies fairly close together, and Baby #3 will be the same age difference from Evie as Evie is from John Reagan. It works out well; it would just be nice if our current living/money situation was a tad bit better.

Oh well, we all know that God's timing is not our timing. Thank God he sees beyond what we see. We know he has a plan and purpose for this time in our lives. We would just prefer if he would indulge us with his plan.

We know John Reagan and Evie will be a great big brother and big sister...just like they are great siblings now.

Aren't they so sweet? Most of the time. As with everyone, we have our moments.

As for the baby, the doctor said everything looks great. According to the pregnancy calender, I should be 8 weeks today which would have put the baby's due date on Greg's birthday, September 27th. But the ultrasound showed the baby measuring 7 weeks which pushed the due date back to October 5th. The doctor did comment that Greg now has a better chance of the baby being born on his birthday with the due date at Oct. 5th. We half expect the due date to change somewhere along the way. John Reagan measured a week behind at one point in the pregnancy but caught up by the next visit. However, he was 4 days late.

I have been feeling well, not any real sickness. If I don't eat on a regular basis I feel sick to my stomach and sometimes when I lay down at night I get sick to my stomach. Other than that, I have been really tired. At least twice a day I want to lay down and take a nap. That doesn't happen though, unfortunately for me.

The hard part so far was finding a doctor. There was not a doctor within a 50 mile radius of us that would do a vaginal delivery after a C-section, despite the fact that I have already had one. I have to go to Shreveport, which is normally about a hour to a hour and a half away for those of you who aren't from Louisiana. The good part is Pawcaw and Nana's house is in between here and Shreveport, so I can drop the kiddos off. The rest of the bad part...I left 3 hours before my appointment on Monday and still got there late. I had to go pick Greg up from work, then get a bite to eat, then drop the kids off, then figure out where we were going, but still...3 hours. And I don't like being late. Greg is freaking out already about the drive when in labor. This could be a very interesting 8 months ahead of us.

An informative side note: I found out yesterday that you can write off mileage to and from a doctor's appointment on your taxes. So start keeping up with your mileage for that.

We are all excited! John Reagan seems to grasp what is going on for the most part. He says he wants a brother, NOT a sister. He also says, "When is he coming out?" The questions we get this time around could be really funny. He did ask me the other day, "Mommy, why is your belly so fat?" Fortunately for me there is a baby in there and I could use that as my excuse to him. Unfortunately for me, the baby is not the real reason for that answer. I now have to lose any complex I have about weight thanks to children and their understanding. Boy, am I ready for this?

Evie understands to the extent of she is clingy. She wants Mommy ALL the time now. Lots of changes are in store! Something about the #3 sounds so scary. We know that when the time comes we will dive in head first and within a week or two won't know any different. We just need our freak-out moments until then.

Fun Times Are Ahead...ready or not!

Snow Day!

2010-02-14T13:57:00.012-06:00

I think February must be the season of miracles for the state of Louisiana. In the span of a week we have seen 2 miracles...the Saints winning the Super Bowl and snow that actually stuck to the ground. I can't tell you how much everyone around here is celebrating. I am sure it is all still a little surreal for some...lol!

Usually when the weatherman forecasts snow, we all roll our eyes and say we will believe it when we see it. We had high hopes this week though still riding on the excitement of the Saints victory. The snow delivered in full form too. It started Thursday morning and snowed all day. It didn't start sticking until around 3:00 p.m. though.

When I went to pick John Reagan up from "school" a couple of hours early, it was so strange because we could here the snow/freezing rain hit the windshield but there weren't any drops on the windshield. It was dry as a bone. You would have thought the roads were covered in black ice the way everyone was driving.

It snowed through the night and a little on Friday morning. John Reagan couldn't wait until Friday to go out and play, so Daddy wrapped him up and took him out Thursday night. He had a blast. He was used to our time in Tn. Every time it would snow we would run out and play in it in the fear that it would be gone by the time we got up the next morning.

We enjoyed ourselves Friday morning. Evie wasn't too sure about it all, but she endured. She and John Reagan tasted the snow for the first time and thought it was great eating the snow. We didn't get around to building a snowman. Evie wouldn't let me sit her down long enough to help John Reagan, but he didn't care because he got to make snowballs and throw them at Mommy. He has been anticipating snow all winter because he has been talking about how him and Daddy used to throw snowballs at Mommy at "our yellow house" in Tn.

There were many things we loved about Tn, but one was the fact that John Reagan and Evie always got to see at least one snowfall a year. That was not the case for us growing up in La. We would always hope for snow and very rarely get it. As a matter of fact, growing up the main snow that we heard about was when I was 2 years old, and the snow came up to my knees. That was my fondest memory of snow, and it came from pictures. What a shame! We sure hope it won't be that way for our children..."Remember our last big snowfall, John Reagan was 3 and Evie was 1." We might have to do some winter traveling to where it snows. We are believing this will become a regular occurrence though.

Thank You Lord for the snow!

A side note...Part 2 of our milestones will hopefully come this week. We were supposed to know for sure this week, but that didn't happen. We are hopeful that we will know this coming week.

WHAT!?!?!

2010-02-08T21:39:00.003-06:00

Even though I don't know his name, for the sake of not plagiarizing I will say...

To quote a local sports broadcaster,

"Pigs have flown, and hell has frozen over."

Not only did the New Orleans Saints make their first Super Bowl appearance in franchise history (44 years), but they WON!

THE SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL!

How amazing is that? If you don't follow football or don't know anything about the Saints or aren't from Louisiana, you may not get the full impact of how amazing it is. I am here to tell you, the people of Louisiana have been waiting a long time to see this event. The fans have shown the Saints much love over the years, including their taxpayer dollars being used to keep the Saints franchise in the state, and they are celebrating BIG TIME!

So we say to all of you present and past Louisianans and fans of the Saints. "Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez...

Let the Good Times Roll!"

Way to go Saints!

Milestones

2010-01-17T18:37:00.006-06:00

Most everyone believes the new year means a new beginning. I never really thought much on this philosophy until this year. I think it finally hit home with me this new year. I am usually not so slow, but I tell you here lately I feel my mind can't keep up. However, this philosophy does bother me a little. As a believer in Jesus, we can have a new beginning every day. A new beginning is not set aside just for the new year. Thank God for that! I have definitely been in need of a new beginning on a daily basis.

We do have a couple of milestones ahead of us to look forward to. I should say I have a couple of milestones to look forward to. Greg has been plunging forward from day 1 of the move. Being a man he says God told us to move and that's that. No worries, no sorrows, just move on. Why can't women be like occasionally. Notice "occasionally."

This will Part 1 of a 3 part series on our milestones ahead. I can tell you that Part 2 will come next week because we should know absolutely 100% by then what we will be doing about a house. Yea! It is about time. We are 14 days shy of being at my parents for 5 months. Can you believe it? Five months! It doesn't feel like it has been that long.

Part 3 should follow the week after, but I am giving NO hints on the matter.

Part 1:

John Reagan started Mommy's Day Out Thursday. It is more like a 2-day-a-week preschool because they work on letters, numbers, cutting, manners, opposites, and everything you can imagine along with bible verses and songs. I knew he would cry when we dropped him off but once he got into it he would be fine. Well, it was horrible. He just kept clinging to Greg and me and crying and wanting us to stay. Of course when I went to pick him up his teacher said he did great. He talked all about it and said he had lots of fun and has been saying he is ready to go back. We call it school because he has been wanting to go to school like big cousin Breyden.

Mommy is having the hardest time with it. I always knew I loved having my baby here with me, but now I am feeling the full effect of it. I can't believe he is old enough to be going to school, and starting preschool in August. Didn't we just bring him home? Where does the time go? I am NOT ready for what is ahead. Lord, prepare me!

Now, for the grand news...Hallelujah! My mother got Hughes Net the other day...satellite internet along with a wireless router. I can actually blog whenever I want, on my own computer, without having to go to someone else's house. How amazing! Can you tell I am excited? I have been having FUN playing on the internet for the past day. More like catching up!

Jumping tracks on you, I think my pictures are all out of order below, but I know you don't care.

I just love this picture. Cracks me up! Definitely their favorite activity if you look through our photo album.

We were trying Evie's new hair barrettes one night, and John Reagan wanted to try one in his hair.

Wild Hair, Momma! She woke up like this one morning.

John Reagan's first LSU hat!

Silly Boy!

Again with the favorite activity!

Sitting in the middle of Pawpaw and Fifi's breakfast table.

By the way, we are jealous of all the snow you Tennesseans got. Of course it waits till we move to drop down 6-7 inches. We know you all thoroughly enjoyed it!

One last note in case you are wondering...

this blog is being posted on February 6th; however, because I downloaded the pictures in January, the date on the blog says January. Blogger needs to fix that.

At Last!

2010-01-17T18:23:00.004-06:00

Woohoo! I am back, FINALLY! Who knew it would take this long to get a blog done. I was so proud of myself the last time I did computer work at Pawcaw and Nana's. I didn't have time to do a blog, but I had enough foresight to download pictures and save them. That way all I had to do at Mom's was type in my notes. Then I realized the other day it doesn't do any good to download pictures if I forget all about the typing and posting. Real Good, Brandi!

I am a little ashamed to be posting Christmas pictures at the end of January (when the weather here feels like a spring day), but Hey! I am just glad to finally get to this. We had a fairly spread out Christmas this year. Christmas at Pawcaw and Nana's on the 23rd, Pawpaw and Fifi's on the 24th, and Santa gifts on the 25th. By the time Christmas day came around John Reagan was so overwhelmed he didn't know what to think. Every year I think we don't buy enough because we try to keep it simple and not make too big a deal out of the presents, and every year I am so glad we didn't buy more and actually wish we did less. They get so many gifts from aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, till it all runs together and overflows. We found ourselves this year realizing it is time to do some serious discussion and research and decide what to do about the whole Santa deal. We definitely don't want John Reagan and Evie thinking Santa is all there is to Christmas. Please feel free to share any ideas. It is always fun hearing what others do.

John Reagan likes dressing up as Santa though. He kept asking, "Where's my other presents?" He had more fun opening the presents than he did seeing what was inside. As a matter of fact, he had more fun putting out cookies for Santa than anything. Christmas morning he ran right past the presents and straight to the cookie plate to see if it was empty. It was so cute. Evie could have cared less either way. She was having more fun playing in my make-up.

Did we tell you that Evie finally decided to walk. She was only 17 months old before she decided it was worth while. And we thought John Reagan waited late at 15 months. What can we say? They are laid back. Thank God!
Evie got a motorized 4-wheeler for Christmas from Pawpaw and Fifi, but as you can see, she didn't get the first loop. I believe John Reagan and Breyden are a little big for it. John Reagan likes riding the 4-wheeler instead of his Arctic Cat. Silly Boy!

We always swap Christmas PJ's with Breyden and Kenden. That's every one's Christmas present from each other...with a toy of course. We couldn't get all 4 of them to take a picture together this year. They were all too busy.

Christmas Morning!

Christmas Afternoon!

We had a good Christmas this year, and it was nice to not have to rent a U-Haul to drag it all back to Tennessee. You know what is scary...I have actually missed the drive to Tennessee. Who misses a 9 hour drive? I might be a little loopy!

The good news is half of us are Louisiana residents now. Greg's truck has Louisiana license and I have a La Driver's License. We still haven't gotten Greg's license deal cleared up, and I have to have a copy of my vehicle title to get myself legal. Long story for another day. Our confession: we both said it made us sick to see the Louisiana license plate on Greg's truck. Oh well!

I do have more pictures downloaded. Hopefully I won't forget to get on in a few days with updates.

Anything?

2010-01-08T19:52:00.006-06:00

Tonight I am being brave. I am venturing out. I usually write our post when I go to my sister's house or at Greg's parents house. BUT tonight I am at my parent's...on DIAL-UP. Did you know that people still have to fight with dial-up? In 2010? The idea is crazy to me. What is even crazier is the fact that all you are going to get out of this post is...That's All Folks!

No pictures, no long explanation, no anything. I thought I was going to get on and be successful in downloading picutres and catching you up on what has been happening around here no matter how long it took. Not so. This bleeping dial-up is not worth the pennies spent on it. All I keep getting is error messages. Oh how hard it is to go from broadband to this. The sacrifices we make...lol! Not really! Since this is a failure, I don't know when you will get the next update. I can say the serious house hunting has started. That really doesn't mean anything though because Greg has been checking the classifieds everyday this week and not a smidge of hope yet. We have decided to get a rent house and start the building process in 6 months or so. Hopefully sooner than later. That means when we move to Ruston we can get better internet service which in turn means I can blog anytime I want. How exciting! So for now, Happy New Year to all of you.

Time Flies

2009-12-08T17:08:00.002-06:00

Time flies when you're having fun. Time flies when you're not having fun. Time flies PERIOD. When I went to download pictures for this post, I couldn't even remember where I ended on the last pictures. My mind has been filled to overflowing since then. I can't believe we are already 8 days into December. Wasn't it just January 8th the other day? Wow!

We have been busy bees with family Thanksgivings and catching up with friends. We were able to go to the Christmas Parade in town the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The small town we are from does BIG TIME Christmas lights. It used to be around 1 million or so...maybe more. It has gone down hill a little since we last lived here, but even still there are lots of lights. The Christmas Parade of course kicks off the lighting of the town. I should have saved my Culture Shock post until after the parade. We forgot how people think it is fun to enter their 4-wheelers in the town parade...no decorations or anything. They just ride their 4-wheeler to show it off. This year everyone got a real treat. Two guys entered the parade for the sole purpose of dancing. They had a 1980's beaten up car following them with the stereo blaring, and they danced. I wish I had a video for you to see. Absolutely Hilarious!

We even got to have a seafood Thanksgiving with the Amaro's. They were in town, and we met them at a restaurant to visit. Lots of fun! We were so glad to see them, and we left missing Murfreesboro even more than normal. I can't believe I didn't get any pictures, but I am sure if I would have broken out the camera I would have caught some flak from a certain someone. I will not mention her name. We have had the privilege of meeting friends on 2 different occasions since we have moved. What a blessing! The other day I was getting John Reagan and Evie ready to meet Greg for supper in Ruston. We were going to go out and eat and spend some time together just the 4 of us. When I was telling John Reagan what we were doing he said, "Is Andrew going to be there?" I think we have been out to eat a total of 4 times since we moved and 2 of those were to meet friends. So he thinks if we are going to eat we are meeting someone. It was so cute and so sweet and so sad all in one. He was used to eating out once or twice a week, not a month. Too funny! I just laughed and said not this time.

Aside from preparing for the holidays, that's about all the excitement in our lives right now. One thing is for sure, they know how to celebrate the holidays down here. Because we are always home for Christmas it doesn't feel like we have moved. I keep thinking we are going to pack up and head home when it's all over with. It will be nice to pack up and head to our own house when we finally get one.

Now for the usual pictures...

Evie just loves to pet Max, and he loves it too.

The nightly fussing and shoving over the DVD player. It is so funny when these 2 get started.

Isn't she COOL?

I was taking a picture of John Reagan to send to a friend while I was babysitting our nephews. The boys decided they wanted in the picture with John Reagan.

We stayed with my sister and brother-in-law for the few days I babysat. She got to fix Evie's hair for the first time, and she was like a little kid at Christmas. Evie's first ponytail from Auntie Marla.

In Fifi's Bathtub, AGAIN!

Evie is a nosey girl. She wants to know what is going on all the time.

She is totally posing! What a ham!

We hope all is well with you. Drop us an email sometime. We love to catch-up whether through face to face visits or email.

Love you!

The Hasley's

The Great State of Louisiana

2009-11-23T14:33:00.004-06:00

Anyone who has ever lived in the state of Louisiana or has ever had to deal with any type of state department in Louisiana can detect the tone of sarcasm in the title. There are some days I literally ask God, "Really?"

We have been through some serious culture shock since we moved. "How," I ask, "do you go through culture shock when you have lived in this same place for most of your life?" I do not know the answer to this question, but I know culture shock. Greg and I both have experienced several separate occasions of this. The first time I stopped at a gas station, and I was standing in line listening to the two men in front of me...their pants: camo, their shirts: raggedy old t-shirts, their purchase: each a case of beer. I stood there listening to them talk about "them there deer" they were preparing to hunt. I was in complete awe of the situation thinking, "Seriously, OMG!" As all of you in Tennessee know, I am used to "On the Run, Exxon" where you stand in line (not for very long because they have more than one cashier) and you don't talk to anyone because you don't know them. And if you are listening to the people in front of you, they aren't talking in the most country tone you have ever heard about "them there deer." Are you getting my drift? The worst part about the whole experience: these men reminded me of my dad and uncle. They were always in line buying their beer with their cowboy hats on talking about some country something that was going on around town. I just had to laugh and wonder...? I will leave it at that.

Greg's first real culture shock was when he went to Wal-Mart as hunting season opened. He came back and said he forgot how much camouflage was a fashion statement in these parts. I about fell off the couch laughing as soon as he said it. Greg had a few comments about that, but we will leave them left unsaid.

One last culture shock moment...I was driving to Ruston several weeks ago in the middle of the week, the middle of the day. I was on a stretch of 4-lane when I looked around and realized there was not a single car behind me and only 1 in front of me AND only 1 on the other side of the road. This went on for at least 5 miles. I about freaked out. Where was all the traffic? I'm not used to no traffic. As a matter of fact, we were coming home from my sister's one night, and John Reagan said, "Mommy, those lights are in my eyes. I can't see." I cracked up. He sits on the left side so he sees the lights of all the oncoming traffic. I just said, "I know buddy, it isn't like Murfreesboro where there are street lights everywhere." We actually get to use our bright lights around here. Seriously!

Now on to the REAL soap box of this story...

Greg went to get his Louisiana Driver's License the other day. He called me so mad saying, "I hate the state of Louisiana. I just told God if He ever gives me the open door to move, we are leaving as fast as we can." I of course am cracking up thinking, "Yea, you finally understand!" There was a flag on his license from 6 years ago. Basically, because we cancelled our insurance when we moved out of state they flagged our license. Yes, that means mine too. We cannot get a Louisiana Driver's License until we prove that we registered our 2 vehicles in the state of Tennessee. The worst part...we don't even own those vehicles anymore, AND Tennessee no longer handles this type of situation over the phone. We have to send them a letter with the make, model, and year of the car, the vin number, and the name and address the car was initially registered in. Then we sit back and wait. All of this happened 2 days before our insurance expired. We couldn't get it renewed with our Tennessee provider because we no longer live there, and we couldn't get it with Farm Bureau here without a Louisiana driver's license and vehicle license. Progressive wanted to charge us more than double what we already pay. We did finally get insurance and will be able to swap over to who we want to use once we get all the other mess straightened out. I had to wait a week to write this blog, so I wouldn't have to bleep myself from all the frustration. Trust me when I say this blog is very light-hearted compared to what I really want to say.

I will leave my soap box for some pictures now.

Evie's hair is growing so fast. Her pig-tails are filling out.

John Reagan helping Pawcaw fry fish, apron and all.

John Reagan holding Annie and getting some love at the same time.
Evie has discovered the portable DVD player. She LOVES it!

John Reagan in a mountain of bubbles.

This picture is for you Kristin. Rooting for LSU! Too bad they completely and totally screwed up this past weekend.

Evie is still not walking on her own. She has taken A step, but that's it. She will walk behind her little walker, and she will walk holding on to 1 of our fingers. But not on her own. For some reason when she gets tired of crawling on her knees or when her dress won't allow her to crawl, this is her method of getting around.

Daddy walking his little girl.

FYI: The beard is gone, and he's back to the usual looking Greg. Thank God!

Through this move I have seen the boxes we place around ourselves. I sit back and watch people who have no clue about life outside of their immediate surroundings and situation. We have had several people tell us we were coming back home as missionaries, but my question is, "How is that possible?" I can't seem to push myself out of the little box I have placed around myself with our current situation. I allow frustration and emotion and even fear to rule my every moment instead of looking beyond me to the needs of others. What other boxes do I live in that I don't see? What about the boxes you live in?

Catching Up

2009-11-03T13:26:00.016-06:00

Are you ready for this?

I think the title speaks for itself, and all of you faithful followers know how long my blogs can be. I will try to keep it short and sweet for you...minimal talking, tons of pictures. The goods news is the camera has not been in as much use as is typical for it. This is where you pause, raise your hands, and say Hallelujah!

On with the show...

The weekend before we moved we visited with my Aunt Mary and Uncle Gordon in Bellevue. In an attempt to lessen the load for you I only put my FAVORITE picture on here from that visit. I just love it because it is typical of my boys...silliness.

My grandmother wasn't able to make the Friday visit, so we went to see her on Sunday. It was kind of sad because when we went to leave she kept hugging me. She hugged me and the kiddos as much as she could as if to say this might be the last time we see her. I am sure we will see her again, but I think she was worried we would do like her sons and not make it back up to Tennessee. Can't wait to head up there to see her again. John Reagan has been missing her.
On to Louisiana...
My mom has a large whirlpool bathtub, and John Reagan loves taking a bath in it. Poor Mom, I know she will be glad when we move out, so she can take a bath in peace.

Our first big laundry day John Reagan found a pair of Greg's ankle socks. Seeing as how we had just been shopping with Breyden for his soccer sheen guards, John Reagan decided to get creative. He put Greg's socks on, pulled them up as far as they would go, and said he was ready to play soccer.

When we go to Auntie Marla's, Evie has her own special booster chair. She thinks it is great fun, and this is how we found her one night. She sure looks comfortable with still only 8 teeth. When is the child going to get more teeth?

On our way to visit Uncle Brad, Kenden and Evie caught their cat naps. I couldn't get a picture of Breyden and John Reagan piled up in the back.

The great thing about our move is John Reagan has been able to spend a great deal of time with his cousins, Breyden and Kenden. They have had lots of fun, and all three sleep like logs when the day is done. Here is John Reagan and Breyden in their matching Christmas pj's from last year. Cowboy Up!

We have had the privilege of seeing Tennessee friends already. Rusty and Elizabeth had a trip planned to Mississippi about 3 weeks after we moved. What a double blessing for us since they brought a load of things to us that we had to leave behind. I have already blocked that move out of my mind. What a mess! Back on track...what a blessing to see them so quickly. We were ready and glad to see them too.

Rusty bought cookies for the whole bunch, and let me tell you...the kids had fun eating the X-LARGE cookies.

If you are wondering, Rusty and Elizabeth traded a child with Rusty's brother. Aubrey wanted to stay and play with her cousin.

Evie before the total cookie mess.

Pawpaw and Fifi have a cat named Clyde. He loves to sleep in Pawpaw's sock drawer. One night Pawpaw called everyone in to come see 'ole Clyde chilling. John Reagan and Evie thought it was great. Later on that night Evie disappeared. The next thing I know my mom was telling us to come look. This is what we saw.

Everyone has been getting in bed late since the kiddos are a little confused about what is going on. This really is nothing new with John Reagan unfortunately. LATE one night I went to take a bath, and when I came out this is what I found.

I told Greg I was going to start taking my baths like that all the time so he could get the kids to sleep while I relaxed. Lol! I wish!

Visiting Pawcaw & Nana...Evie, Annie, and John Reagan. We have quickly discovered that Evie loves babies as much as John Reagan. This is a good thing since John Reagan has been talking a good bit here lately about his "little brother." He says he wants a brother, not another sister. We are a little scared!

When mom gets in from work, she gives John Reagan and Evie some type of treat every NIGHT! This night they got Tootsie Roll Pops (the small ones). Evie had a good 'ole time sucking on hers while sitting in her belated birthday rocker.

John Reagan wasted no time eating his while doing one of his usual activities...watching the "DV player" (in his words).

John Reagan gets to watch his cartoons in Pawpaw and Fifi's bedroom so Pawpaw can watch his shows on the big TV. Pawpaw decided last night that he needed to nap after supper. He didn't bother John Reagan one bit.

Despite my reluctance and frustration with this move, we have had lots of fun. At least once a week we get a call from Auntie Marla wanting to know if we will come over and let the boys play. Of course Evie gets all up in the mix, and it is going to be an interesting dynamic when she gets a little bigger...lots of fun to watch.

Hope I haven't overloaded you too much. Now I better get to snapping some pictures because I just used them all up on you. Check out our picture site sometime... http://thehasleyhullabaloo.shutterfly.com. If you do get the opportunity and want to look at it, email me so I can send you the password.

Love and Hugs from the Hasley's!

Pictures

2009-10-24T21:00:00.004-05:00

FINALLY,

I am getting pictures up for you. I know you have some idea of how behind I am on this blog, but just to make sure...these pictures are from Sept. 18th. Yes, before we moved. I cannot believe it is 5 weeks tomorrow that we drove out of Murfreesboro.

Here is John Reagan making sure everything is going as it needs to during the moving process. He is an "excellent supervisor."

Evie loves any type of animal, especially cats. She had a blast at the Rutledge's playing with their kittens.
Aubrey is such a sweetie and is always aware of what is going on with the smaller children around her. She is going to be a great babysitter one day. Too bad we won't be in Murfreesboro to take advantage of that.
The boys were having lots of fun swinging.

I couldn't resist putting this picture on here. I know it is blurry, but it is still so cute. Like father like son! When I showed my mom our picture book that Janet put together for us, she immediately said Caleb looked just like his daddy. By the way, I know you will be happy to here that mine and Greg's Christmas this year is new camera lenses (plural).

Last but not least, John Reagan loves to pick on ANYTHING. He will pick a scab so fast your head will spin. He has problems with hang nails on his toes, and he is always saying he's got a bleed. That's what he calls it because the first time I yanked a hang nail it bled. He was very naive about the whole deal back then. The next time around he wouldn't let me do it, so I convinced him if he pulled it out himself it wouldn't hurt as bad. He got the tweezers and went to work. He discovered that my philosophy on the matter was correct. He officially picks his own bleeds. Here he is working on one. He is so serious about it too.

Too funny! Thankfully for me I haven't been wild and crazy with the camera here lately, so I should be able to catch up on the pictures fairly quickly. I will start doing better with posts; at least, I hope to.

I also want to say a big THANK YOU to all of you for everything you did for us during our move from parties to help packing to help with meals. I have been bad about not getting to my thank you notes, but we haven't forgotten all that you did for us. Thank you so much. We love all of you dearly.

The Aftermath!

2009-10-23T19:35:00.002-05:00

Still no pictures! I know it is not right to have a blog and not post pictures, but I wanted everyone to know we are still alive and making it. The whole picture thing is a problem because Greg takes the computer to work, and it is just a pain to download my personal pictures on someone else's computer. Greg keeps reassuring me I will have the computer back as soon as he gets done with his catalog checks. The problem with that...he is covering the entire United States. Okay, so when do you think I might get the computer back? In my defense, I attempted the picture thing. I put them on a USB to bring to my sister's. Yea, her USB ports are all in the back. I love you guys but right now I refuse to pull this computer out and tackle that mess. I have come to the conclusion that once a week I am going to have to meet Greg in Ruston after work and go to a free wi-fi spot to get my computer work done. What a pain!

The title of this blog should really be something along the lines of "Where Is Normalcy?" I figured that since my normalcy is on vacation due to the move that "The Aftermath" would be the better title. Did you know...there is absolutely no part of my life right now that even resembles what it was before this move. No part of my life has any normalcy or security right now. Every part of me is screaming for normalcy to return. "Oh God, please return." I long for the day. Greg and I have not had any alone time since we got here. The only time we have family time between just us 4 is in the vehicle going somewhere...usually an errand to Wal-Mart because I usually meet Greg in Ruston. Suffice to say, we don't talk much. This is very difficult seeing as how we went from just us 4 all the time doing what we want when we want to a whole slew of family around. OMG! Please normalcy return.

The sad part is nothing will be right until we find a house. How is that going you may ask. Who knows is my answer. We have tried 3 times to fax the loan paperwork to a local bank. Three times it has not gone through. Once was because I had the paper turned wrong. Once was faxed from Tennessee. Needless to say, Greg is dropping the paperwork off Monday. If he doesn't, I will probably pull ALL of my hair out along with his. I think it might be time for us to step back and reevaluate this whole process. Is God trying to tell us something? The most likely answer to this question is yes. But what is He trying to tell us? Anyone know that answer.

It would be nice to turn around and head back to Tennessee and have things go back to the way they were before that fateful day in July. I will NEVER forget the day Greg told me the news. It stresses me out now thinking about it. Isn't that sad? The sad part is I know it can't go back to the normal we knew before. I know that this transition we are in is necessary and only temporary. What scares me is how long is "temporary?" Can you hear me screaming?

The living situation has not been bad at all. It has gone very well. Everyone has gotten along well, but John Reagan and Evie still aren't sleeping good. Everyday John Reagan asks about our yellow house in Tennessee. The other day he asked me, "Are we going to stay here a while then go back to our yellow house?" It breaks my heart. I know he is at the best age possible to make such a move, but it still isn't easy. He finally absolutely loved his time at church, every time we went. He had several great friends. He has been talking about the last time my aunt and uncle babysat him, which was probably the end of January. When does it get better? How long will it be before we all adjust completely? Will we ever adjust completely? I don't even want to go visit churches because I know it will make this move final. That is just down right wrong! Hopefully we will tackle that hurtle this weekend. I cringe when I say "hopefully" there. I really do want to find a place for us as a family to worship and get involved. I'm just not sure about the finality of this whole deal. I have realized through this move how much I HATE change.

Sorry if this blog sounds like all doom and gloom. Please be praying for us. We really are doing fairly well. I promise pictures will come soon. Maybe I can even get to it this weekend while we are running all around. I tell you, I long for the day we can spend a quiet Saturday at our own house playing with our children just relaxing and having fun. Soon! Very soon! Love you all! Please pardon any spelling mistakes. I am not proofing since I am at my sister's and supposed to be visiting.

Safely Home!

2009-09-26T13:16:00.002-05:00

Hello All! Thought I would drop in with a quick post and let you know we made it. I am sure you have figured out by now that we are here since we have been here right at a week now. Really? A week? Wow! I can't believe it. So much has happened since we have been here, but most of it is not the best blog material hanging out there for the world to read. I will have to shoot you an email, which will probably be another day or two in the making. Just a sneak peak on the info, it does include 2 trips to the ER...back to back nights. Fun stuff!

Our heads are spinning and our children still aren't quite sure what is going on. Poor John Reagan doesn't know where home is anymore. He keeps telling everyone he is going to have a new house. The problem with that is, we don't have a clue when that might be. We haven't had the time to spend even a minute working towards that goal.

I don't know about Greg, but I will speak for myself. I very much miss Murfreesboro and all of you very dear friends. When we hit Vicksburg the other night, I felt such a weight of depression come over me, and it only increased as we crossed the Louisiana state line. Reality had hit. Let me tell you, after 11 hours of driving at that point, I could have turned that vehicle around and headed right back to Murfreesboro without a second thought. I would have only made it to Jackson or Meridian before I would have had to stop and rest but just having my vehicle turned in the direction of Tennessee would have been enough for me.

I am better now. It is clear after our first week here that we are very much in the will of God and are needed here.

As far as our trip, 13 hours. Yes, you read that right...13 hours. We had to get a Uhaul trailer along with the van thanks to the many things we have. Our 9 hour trip turned into 13 because we couldn't drive over 60 miles an hour thanks to the Uhaul. Long story! Long drive! We survived and arrived at 3:30 a.m. Of course the kiddos slept a good bit of the way, so they were ready to play. You can imagine how mommy and daddy felt about that.

Be on the look-out for your informative email, and we will be seeing you all soon. We will let you know when we plan our first trip up there. We love you all and miss you very much.

Going Green

2009-09-18T09:07:00.002-05:00

I know what you are thinking. You are worried that I am about to go on a rant about what we need to do to save our environment. Although I do recycle and believe in doing my part (on some things), you don't have to worry. I will NEVER preach to you on the state of our environment. This is about the state of my plants.

So let me take you back...all the way to May. At John Reagan's birthday party I had an avocado seed in some water rooting and I had the top of a pineapple in water rooting. Two particular friends (you know who you are...lol) thought I might have set the seed and top out trying to mess with them. They didn't believe me when I explained what was going on. I took pictures back in May to show the progress of my plantlings. I thought I had posted the beginning of this process on here but after looking back over the blog apparently did not do that. For some reason at the time I decided it wasn't worthy of the blog.

Enter the middle of the process...the pineapple loves where it currently is. He/She has sprouted big time.

I wish I still had the beginning stage so you could see just how much she has grown.

The avocado seed has sprouted into a little tree. I can't believe it has grown this much since the end of May when it was nothing but a seed with a tiny root coming out of the bottom.

The avocado is a little hard to see. Should have photoshopped it for you, but that is Kristin's specialty, not mine (not yet anyway).

The overall picture.

That is ivy to the left. The avocado is hard to see at the bottom.
I am excited about my plantlings and can't wait to see them fully grown.

A little extra for you...we have arrived at moving weekend. We will be packing the van, or whatever you want to call it, tomorrow and leaving Sunday. How sad! We have found out as of Tuesday morning through a series of things happening with our families that we are needed at home though. It has made this a little easier. We are going to miss all of you Tennesseans greatly and are already looking forward to our first visit back. We love all of you very much.

Safety 1st

2009-09-04T22:27:00.003-05:00

Every so often I have to pull the car seats out of the car and strip them down to threads for a good washing. This motivation is few and far between because I absolutely hate having to take those dang seats out and then latch them back in. When you have one seat, that's fine. It's not so bad. But when you have 2! Two that are practically on top of each other and are rather large. You almost have to be double jointed just to get your hand in there and unlatch them. You with car seats understand the latch system. It's great for the security of the seat but a pain in the (insert bleep) when you need to take them out.

I decided this week that ever so often had arrived. I had cleaned the seats with wipes as many times as I could. It was time for the deep down clean that only the good old washer brings. This decision came mainly because Evie's shoulder straps needed to come up, and since I had to take her seat out to do that I figured I might as well go ahead and take them both out and wash them. I could have lived with the filth just a little while longer to spare myself the headache.

Anyhoo, for some unknown reason, John Reagan LOVES to sit in his car seat when it is the living room and I have gotten all the pieces back together. He always has. I guess he thinks it is his own personal "leather recliner" for TV watching. He is such a man (in the making).

If you are wondering, that is peanut butter on his cheeks. He had just eaten his daily peanut butter fold over, in his words.

With this round of washing, I discovered it must not be just a man thing. While I was taking Evie's car seat apart, she crawled over and was all over me trying to see what was going on. As soon as I got the seat back together, she came over and immediately started trying to climb in it. So I helped her out.
Yes, she LOVED it. What is up with my children? I discovered the very next day that Evie did not need my help getting into the car seat when John Reagan started screaming, "Mommy, she's gonna fall." Evie had climbed the first 3 stairs in the house. The child doesn't even walk yet. She is working on the cruising part, but shouldn't she be able to walk before she climbs stairs? I am a little confused.
Back on track, John Reagan and Evie looked so cute in their car seats, I had to sit them side by side.
You should know by now what is taking place here. You guessed it. Watching TV! What can I say? My children are learning early that practicing safety first really pays off. You never know what can happen while sitting in your living room. It never hurts to be prepared.

Overcoming!

2009-08-27T16:14:00.005-05:00

Before I start with the pictures, I have tell you that this blog is preaching to me. Most of you know that I have not been practicing any type of humility with this whole moving business. As a matter of fact, I have been in a bit of tug-a-war with God about the situation. When I came to the blog the first thing I saw..."For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Well well, who knew that when He gave me that verse to put on here He would actually use it to my benefit. Hum!

On with the story...

we have been busy bees visiting with friends before we leave. I am ashamed to say we have been spending more time with friends since we found out we were moving than before. We should have been doing this visiting all along. It's funny how something live moving puts things in perspective for us. The downfall is that after some time passes, we quickly forget the perspective we just learned and go back to our old ways. I hope this will not be the case for us once we get settled in Louisiana. We both would like for our life pace to slow down a bit.

We recently had dinner with several friends enjoying every one's company and catching up with friends who moved away a couple of years ago. My how our families have grown in just 2 years.

Every time Elizabeth would put the camera in Evie's face, she would either start posing or make a face. I just love this one. Cracks me up!

John Reagan of course was either too busy choking down his ice cream or running around like a mad man. He was having so much fun.
A couple of days later, we celebrated Caleb's 1st birthday with him. It was a little early, but when you have a sister who was due to arrive any day, you got to do what you got to do. As you can see, the kiddos got to spend some time in the water playing.
Evie and Samantha are just too cute!
I think John Reagan is probably being silly. He could be a little chilly though.

We were getting ready for our Small Group Social the other night, and we had to do something with Evie's hair. It is getting so long coupled with the fact that it constantly curls into her face instead of away from it, and we can't keep it out of her eyes. I decided to do piggy tails again. Of course she laid down and messed them up then wouldn't let me fix them, so she ended up partying with the hair in her eyes anyway.

"Why is the wash rag in the floor?" you ask. Who knows is my response...it must have been time for laundry day.

If you are a regular blog reader, you know my children can watch television...a good thing and a bad thing. They were completely engrossed in some Backyardigan's yesterday. Couldn't pass up this shot!

Today as I was downloading pictures for the blog, John Reagan was wanting me to set up his Lincoln Logs train tracks but he didn't want Evie to play with them. He began to take toys and trash bags and any item he could find and proceeded to build a barrier from the wall to the desk so Evie couldn't get to his train tracks.

You know I couldn't pass up on this one. He only played with it for 5 minutes then decided he would break apart the barrier and share with Evie. Hilarious! These two keep me on my toes. Of course he is now telling me all about how she messed up his choo-choo tracks. Fun stuff!

Now that I am on the path to overcoming after my preaching, I will let you go. I am hopeful I will continue to keep a regular post on here in the midst of everything going on. You might be short on the picture viewing though. Half of the pictures on here today were taken by friends then emailed to me. Man, I have been slacking.

Bye for now,

Brandi

Partyin' & Potty Trainin'

2009-08-20T17:41:00.004-05:00

Life has been heading down the fast lane in the Hasley House over the past few weeks. I can't believe it has already been over a week since my last post. Crazy where the time goes! Where is it that time goes anyhow?

We have been running the roads trying to get in as many visits as possible with as many friends and family as possible. We went to visit my grandmother, aunt, and uncle the first weekend of the month. John Reagan and Evie have 2 great-grandmothers still living, and I try to get as many pictures as possible with the kiddos and great-grands, so we can have as many memories as possible. I didn't get as many pictures with Grandma Annie Rai as I should have, but I did get this one and a few more.

This isn't the best picture, but it is the full body picture. As you can see, Evie is almost as big as Grandma who is 5 feet and about 80 pounds. It is always so cute to me to see Grandma holding her.

We also took John Reagan and Evie to bull riding this past weekend. The PBR (Professional Bull Riding) was in town, and this was the second time we took John Reagan. He loves it. We weren't too sure how Evie would do, but she had a blast. Too bad I didn't get any pictures. You know things are crazy around here when I don't have a selection of 50 pictures to show you.

With all this running around we have been doing, we have been glad that we are officially potty trained. Well Greg and I have been potty trained for quite a lengthy amount of time now, but John Reagan is the newest member of the potty trained gang. Hallelujah! Do you hear the angels singing? Oh wait, that's just me. I wouldn't say we have been working on the potty training. Since John Reagan was a little younger than 2, we have let him work at the pottying at his own pace. About a month and half ago I told a friend that I could probably say he was officially potty trained but that he was using his pull-ups (from here on out known as Cars) as a crutch. Just before I said it I thought to myself, "As soon as you say this out loud it is going to back fire on you." Sure enough for the next 2 weeks he wouldn't even go in the potty. Then he finally started back but still wanted his "Cars" on. The humor in this story is what finally pushed him over the hump. I am here to tell you that according to Auntie Marla, John Reagan has a "ghetto" booty. From day 1 we moved up in diaper sizes super fast. We even had to buy the bigger size in pull-ups to cover the rear end. Well, his "cars" were known for riding up. He would walk around with one butt cheek hanging out, and he would go up to Greg, turn around, and say, "What's wrong with these things daddy." John Reagan's translation: get them out of my booty. One day he was all mad about his "cars" not working right, so I finally told him that if he didn't want them doing that he would have to wear big boy underwear because the cars didn't fit anymore. OMG! If I would have known that all it was going to take to rid us of the cars was that statement, I would have said it a LONG time ago. We are on a month now of big boy underwear, and he has only asked for cars twice. I explain to him that they don't fit and that they ride up. That's the end of it. "What? Really? That's it?" is what goes through my mind every time.

So here is John Reagan, Conqueror of the Potty!

I can say that potty training was not much of a headache for us. We just took our usual "whatever" attitude and let it happen at John Reagan's pace. I envy you mother's who can do the potty training boot camp or just work and work with your children and have them potty trained in a week or so. I absolutely would not have any hair left if I had to do that. I don't have the patience or the ability to not get extremely frustrated and fight with my child over the situation to take that approach. We will see what I decide to do with Evie.

Just a head's up, I don't know how much blogging I will get to right now with the packing, but hopefully I will still be able to keep you somewhat informed.

Our Big Decision

2009-08-11T21:32:00.005-05:00

Are you mad at me yet for making you wait this long on our news?

I had no intention of it taking this long to get back to the blog, but it took a little longer than expected to finalize things. Add in the fact that the blog hasn't been on my mind much here lately, and you the reader get a 3 week vacation. That is if you haven't been pulling your hair out because I teased you.

When I started this blog, it was for the purpose of keeping family in Louisiana updated with what was going on here in The Hasley House. I quickly discovered that very few of those family members took the time to sit down and look at the pictures of the kiddos, much less read what was going on. I was surprised by all the friends who were keeping up with us through the blog. The great thing about a blog is you get to let everyone know about the little things that you would never think of telling them otherwise.

Needless to say, I never dreamed the blog would turn into our life line to Tennessee. We are moving! Not only are we moving, but we are moving 9 hours and 600 miles back to Louisiana. This was not on our radar at all. We were and have always been perfectly content here in Murfreesboro and wanted to raise our children here. However, Greg was offered an opportunity he couldn't turn down, and we will be close to all of our family.

This transition is bittersweet for us because we have the greatest friends anyone could ask for here. Murfreesboro has been our home for 6 years and will always hold a place in our hearts. This is where I have to leave the news at this for a while until I can gather my thoughts and hold back the tears a little more. We love all of you here in Murfreesboro and are going to miss you deeply. Just a note: we have already started discussing our first visit.

As is typical of me, I am leaving you with a few pictures.

Louisiana is where he first layed eyes on her. He had to ride. He loved her!

One evening in July we had some of the prettiest skies. I thought I would share a couple of the pictures we took. Several days in a row the sky looked like this. You could turn from North to South, East to West and get a different view and different selection of colors. We enjoyed sitting outside and taking it all in.

I will do better in the writing department next time.
We love you all,

Brandi

Back at Last

2009-07-21T18:50:00.004-05:00

We finally made it back to Tennessee. Woohoo! We weren't gone THAT long, but it sure did feel like it. We ended up staying an extra day to give the kiddos a day to rest. I think we needed the extra day to rest ourselves.

Let me tell you, out of 10 days there, we did some sort of traveling 8 of those days. The point of this story is not how much time we spent on the road, but how many pictures we managed to take despite the time we spent on the road. 196 pictures. Yes! You read that right...196. "How?" you might ask. I haven't the foggiest idea. Between Greg and me, we spent at the least 56 hours driving to, from, and while there. And we still managed to take that many pictures. Crazy! We only got about 4 pictures while in Texas too. Even more crazy! I think our camera needs as much rest as we do.

The camera broke loose of the black bag as soon as we arrived in Louisiana. Uncle Brad, Aunt Marla, Breyden, and Kenden came to see us at Pawpaw and Fifi's. They broke out the Slip 'N Slide, and the boys had a blast.

In our defense on the number of pictures, Evie had her 1st birthday while we were home. So you know right there was half of the pictures because in true Hasley form, she had 2 parties. Wednesday night we went to Pawcaw and Nana's to celebrate Evie's birthday. Evie even got a special birthday dress from Pawcaw and Nana to wear for the big event. She loved sitting in the rocking chair. She looks like a little lady.
Pawcaw was glad to have some helping hands in the garden. John Reagan had a blast exploring the garden, but the real fun for him was riding on the lawn mower which he calls a tractor. Like cousin Breyden, the boy loves tractors.

I am sure John Reagan is getting the full run down on corn right about now.

While in Louisiana, we all finally got to meet our first little niece, Annie Ray. John Reagan calls her Auntie Ray. It is so cute how he says it. I don't know if you have deduced yet that John Reagan loves babies, so I will go ahead and tell you, John Reagan loves babies. He held Annie more than Greg and me. He was kissing all over her face and hands. When anybody was holding her, John Reagan would run up, grab her hand, and start kissing on it.

After playing dress up with Evie and all the fun of gardening and new baby, we finally got to the festivities. Evie had a blast checking out all her presents.

It took a while to go through all the gifts, and she had had just about enough by this point. I can hear her saying, "Get this out of my face."

She was ready for her cake. A girl can only take so many presents before she needs some sugar. Since Aunt Tiffany made the cake and she LOVES icing, she loaded Evie up with the icing.

We did get a couple of days at Pawpaw and Fifi's where we were able to lay around and enjoy a little freedom. John Reagan followed Pawpaw's every move, even down to watering the plants. Seeing as how John Reagan loves the water, he started telling Pawpaw to spray him down. Needless to say, he went from fully clothed to this before the plants were watered.

Party #2 was on Sunday. Pawpaw's birthday is the day before Evie's, so we had one big birthday bash for Pawpaw and Evie with lots of family. We had a mini family reunion and birthday party all in one.

This would be Cake #2. She had the system down pat by this one.

The party wore John Reagan out. He played hard with all his first, second, and third cousins. About 7:00 that afternoon, he asked for some cookies. That would be John Reagan terminology for Nilla Wafers. After about 2 cookies, this is what happened.

To round out our trip, we rode down to Lake Conroe in Texas on Monday to have a mini reunion with Greg's family. This would be the time we didn't get the pictures we should have. We did get this picture though.

We discovered that Evie loves babies as much as John Reagan. She tried to get Annie Ray and hold her herself. It was too cute. Annie found out about personal space while we were there. After we got home, John Reagan informed us that he wanted a baby. Greg asked him if he wanted a brother or another sister like Evie, and he said, "I do." At least we know both of our children will be fascinated with a baby if nothing else.

I am going to give you a little teaser now...

Stay tuned for some big news coming in a few days to a week.

And NO, it is NOT baby news.

Celebrating the 4th

2009-07-05T14:04:00.003-05:00

We were able to celebrate the 4th of July two nights in row this year. Friday night we went to some friends house and had a bonfire. John Reagan had so much fun playing woofle ball, basketball, running around, and just having a blast.

Last night we went to my aunt's and uncle's house in Bellevue and spent most of the night visiting with family. John Reagan got to run around and play with 2 of his cousins. We usually only get to see them once a year, if then, and it is usually the 4th.

We ate very well...grilled chicken and ribs, potato salad, baked beans, fried rice, bread, and I don't even know what else. The best part was the homemade ice cream. Evie would definitely agree with that statement. John Reagan would say the best part was the sparklers. I don't know how many Michael and Cynthia bought on their way in from Ohio, but let me tell you, the sparklers seemed to be never ending.

John Reagan was as fascinated with them not lit as he was with them lit.

Morgan, Meagan, and John Reagan.
Michael giving John Reagan a light. I sure am glad the only time I will be saying this is over fireworks.

I tried so hard to get John Reagan and the girls lined up where you could see them all well, but John Reagan was taking his space. Probably a good thing. I wouldn't have wanted him poking them with sparklers.

The funniest part about the night was what John Reagan learned. There was a concrete post close to where John Reagan was doing his sparklers, so every time a sparkler would finish up, Greg would take the tip and put it out on the pole. After about 2 or 3 times John Reagan decided he could do it. He would put the ember out then pass the stick to Greg. Too funny!

We had a little flip-flop in the kiddos too. We were shocked when we got there and our shy little boy took off ready to play with the girls. Greg did have to go downstairs with him a minute or two, but not long. We were even more shocked when our little miss social Evie was being shy and whiny. She did finally warm up and start talking. Must have been that little unexpected, unneeded nap she caught on the way.

We had a great time visiting and always enjoy our time with Uncle Gordon and Aunt Mary.

We were sad to hear the news about Steve McNair's passing but even more sad that his tragedy overshadowed the celebration of our nation here in the Nashville area. It is a shame that many families across the nation were mourning the loss of loved ones on what should be a great day of rest and celebration. Hope you all had a very wonderful, very blessed day with family and/or friends.

We will be headed to Louisiana Tuesday, so I will be out of commission for a week or so. Will be seeing some of you while on our blog hiatus. For those of you we won't see, talk to you when we get back.

Summer Fun!

2009-07-03T15:20:00.006-05:00

Hi all! This is Brandi here. You know, Brandi Hasley, the keeper of this blog. The one who has been playing the disappearing act for the past 2 1/2 weeks now. Summer time is in full swing in case you haven't noticed with all the heat. In all the busyness, you the readers have been the ones being neglected. Sorry for that! As a result, you are about to experience what is known as "Information Overload." Prepare yourselves because in one quick slip you are about to span the scope of 2 weeks along with some forgotten photos.

To start...I am going against my grain and starting with the most recent photos, which would be today. John Reagan and I went to the zoo with some friends today. We left Evie and Daddy home. We had lots of fun and are very thankful for the invite.

The boys had lots of fun together.

The diving duck! His booty is sticking up under the log...kind of hard to see.

I think climbing/propping up on everything was the most fun for them.

I just love this picture. They were being silly, but it turned out to be so cute!

Here is where the story gets funny! We (as in the fam-Mom, Dad, John Reagan, and Evie) went to the zoo about 2 weeks ago before Daddy had to really dive into some work. We enjoyed the time we had there...until the storm clouds moved in. Everyone filed into the house for the snakes, spiders, frogs, and anything else kept inside. It was so overcrowded. The rain slacked off enough that Greg decided we should make a break for the vehicle. Seeing as how we had only been through half of the zoo, I was almost to the point of begging him to wait out the rain. I kept telling him it wouldn't last long. For some reason he was bent on getting home. The worse of the storm was toward home, so I didn't understand that logic. The rain did stop, and Greg still hasn't heard the end of that one. Anyway, I was thankful I had 2 white shirts on instead of one. That could have been interesting.

Here are the few tidbits we did enjoy.
The Elephants!

John Reagan telling Daddy all about the giraffes.

Evie checking everything but the animals out along with snacking.

One of the storks (I think).

We were headed toward the zebras when we saw the clouds coming. The good news is John Reagan got to see the rest of the zoo animals today. I was happy about that as is Greg I am sure because he no longer has to hear about leaving too early last time. Our first trip to the zoo was on a Tuesday. The Monday after that we decided to head to the greenway here in town to get a good walk in and give John Reagan and Evie some stroller ride time. I think we need to purchase a weather radio for our vehicle because halfway into our walk it started raining on us. Yes, that means twice in one week we got wet very unintentionally. John Reagan and Evie loved the rain. Evie kept sticking her head out of the stroller so she could get wet. It was too funny and too cute!

To finish off our two weeks I wanted to show you a few tidbits of the fun. I don't usually put bath tub pictures on here but couldn't pass this one up. They both had bubble beards; although, you can't really see Evie's.

Evie has discovered that she likes water. The best part about the water to her is sticking her hand in the glass, which would be our glasses. Only Daddy lets her do that. She was having so much fun! You can actually see the top teeth too. She finally got her third bottom tooth in a week ago. We are up to 7 teeth now.

She couldn't hang on any longer.

John Reagan doesn't know how to leave Midnight alone. He follows the cat outside just about every time he goes. He doesn't have a problem getting on Midnight's level no matter where that might be.

I don't remember what was going on here, but I couldn't pass it up. I am pretty sure he is telling me something "very important" though.

John Reagan has discovered the joy of taking pictures. He is always wanting the camera to take pictures all by himself. He is like his Daddy...he isn't going to miss a thing with the camera even if that means 20 pictures in 10 seconds. This picture is from Daddy helping him. I thought it turned out very sweet!

I added these last two in just because I love them. Before the beetles decided to devour my roses, I got a few pictures.

I hope you still have a few brain cells left. I will go ahead and prepare you now...the next blog will come Sunday. We are headed to Louisiana on Tuesday, so you know that means you will get a break for at the least a week. Talk to you Sunday.

Love,

Brandi

Sleep Study!

2009-06-18T15:29:00.002-05:00

I am on a mission...a mission to see how many pictures I can get of the kiddos with or without Daddy sleeping in a months time. As I started downloading pictures, I realized there were several I had already posted. I also began remembering all the ones I have missed. Like this morning for instance. By 6:30 both kids were in our bed with us. It was the cutest thing though because they were laying the same way. If I could have convinced myself to fall out of bed for a minimal 2 minutes, I would have gotten the picture. I think you know how that turned out. So here are a few pictures of the sleepy heads over the last month.

This is Evie at our Small Group Social in May.

John Reagan and Daddy had been fishing this day. He couldn't hang on!
This is one of my favorite and the epitome of this household.

This was John Reagan after his birthday party. This would be birthday party #3. He was sitting in his "movie chair" watching Cars, and he kept falling over asleep. Greg was afraid he was going to fall out of the chair. When Greg moved him, he tried to put up a fight but didn't last.

John Reagan and Evie both can be extremely hard to get to sleep. They will fight till they can't fight anymore. As a matter of fact, John Reagan stopped taking naps when he was about 18 months old because I got so tired of sitting around for 2 hours trying to get him to sleep. The good news about this is that when they do fall out, they will sleep anywhere. That certainly is a blessing.

I thought I would give you a little update on Midnight. He falls into this sleep study too. He loves Evie, and when she is on the floor he will stay around her as long as John Reagan isn't hounding him. He decided to curl up in her lap one night.

She of course loves it.

As you can see, John Reagan had to join the fun. Why on earth he is pulling on her skirt with his teeth, I do not know. Poor Evie looks like she is thinking, "Help me, Momma."
Fun Stuff!

Forgetfulness

2009-06-14T13:02:00.004-05:00

A few things I have forgotten to put in posts along the way!

I think this is my 3rd post about things I have forgotten since I started this blog. My track record is not looking too good.

John Reagan got a set of golf clubs for his birthday. One Saturday he wore his daddy out playing golf, so Greg got to researching. He loves to research. He discovered that Dick's Sporting Goods had their children's golf clubs on sale. Needless to say, John Reagan got a set before his birthday. We couldn't exactly hide them from him. He was a proud little boy.

John Reagan, like most kids I am sure, loves to play in any adult's shoes. The only two times he fell down our stairs was when he was trying to walk down them in Fifi's shoes. When Pawpaw and Fifi were up celebrating birthday, John Reagan decided to take a short walk in Pawpaw's cowboy boots.

At my baby shower for Evie, a friend gave us an over-sized towel that Evie could grow into. I absolutely love the towel, and it is by far my favorite thing right now because it is the only thing that Evie still looks like a baby in. And finally...the long awaited picture of Evie in her awesome shoes. The shoes could be rather big and you still wouldn't notice because of the size of those thighs.

Her legs are so big!

The bad news is that Evie's foot has gotten fatter since I bought these shoes, so I have to pry them on now. And they don't stay on very well. Guess I will head back to CVS and buy the next size up. Don't you just hate how quickly babies/kids grow out of their clothes and shoes.

The Big Finale!

2009-06-11T11:50:00.008-05:00

We finally finished celebrating John Reagan's birthday. I am a little late on the post and know you have been looking forward to the big finale! Since neither set of grandparents could make the big bash this year, John Reagan got to have friends come to his party for the first time. We went small though. We invited the children from Small Group who were close to his age. Only 2 were able to make it, and they were the 2 girls. I thought it was the funniest thing that little man got to celebrate his 3rd birthday with girls. One day soon, he will think that's just wrong and be saying, "Ugh, G-I-R-L-S!" which will quickly change to, "Oooohhh, GIRLS!" Oh Lord, help me now! John Reagan did ask specifically for one friend, but by that time it was too late. He had LOTS of fun though.

He wanted a "Cars" birthday this year. This was the first time he picked his own theme. As you can see, he is admiring the cake waiting for his friends to get here. We got the cake Friday evening. All night Friday and all morning Saturday he was running around screaming, "My friends are coming, my friends are coming. Let's have cake."
Blowing out the candles! He LOVES to blow out candles.

Evie checking everything and everyone out. Aunt Mary and Uncle Gordon took care of her.

The gang digging in! Hannah was too busy checking out "baby" and playing to eat her cake.

"Yum! This car sure does taste good." Abby is thinking John Reagan is a little silly. She told me that we could wash the icing off the bottom of the car in the sink. Too cute!

Helpers! What is up with the tongues? It must take a lot of work checking out presents.

Thank you Grandma Annie Rai for the John Deere!

John Reagan doesn't have a problem digging into presents.

Hannah wants to know what is in there.

Evie after her cake! I think she liked it. What do you think?

Playtime! I think John Reagan had as much fun watching the girls as he did playing with them.

Evie tuckered out. She couldn't hang on any longer.

I didn't put any pictures on here of the parents visiting because I didn't want to catch any flank from 2 certain women. You can thank me later...lol! We had lots of fun celebrating John Reagan's birthday this year. As with all kids, John Reagan loves birthdays. Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate whether it was Party #1, #2, or #3.

Is It Blog Worthy?

2009-06-01T12:41:00.004-05:00

When I started this blog, I had it all planned out. I would post when the kiddos did something adorable and when I had pictures that showed what was going on with them. I would talk about trips to LA and our times when company came to visit...things like that. I never really think beyond those points in my head. As I am writing this, there are several things that come to mind that I could have put on here but never thought about.

So my question to you is, "What is blog worthy?"

Apparently I need to let Greg in on the planning a little more. Twice in the past week he has said to me, "You need to put that on the blog." "Okay, I probably should put that on there," is what goes through my mind. The first suggestion: our ER visit. The second suggestion came Friday night.

John Reagan has been doing extremely well with potty training. He has the tee-tee part down pat. When he needs to go, he heads to his potty, pulls his "cars" (pull-up) down, potties, then decides whether he wants his big boy underwear on or a "cars" back on. He then goes and gets what piece of under"clothing" he wants and brings to us. Mind you, all this usually takes place without us even knowing. He runs up to us, "I tee-teed in the potty. I need a M & M now." He has even done #2 in the potty 3 times this past week. Yay! We are so excited. We aren't 100% there but almost.

One night he wanted to wear his big boy underwear to bed. We said, "That's fine!" He's been waking up with his pull-up dry every morning for a while now. At 1:00 a.m. he is standing in the hallway with wet underwear. No big deal, he can come to bed with us, and we'll wash the sheets in the morning. Well, Friday night he decided he wanted to try the big boy underwear at bedtime again. He fell asleep in my lap, and I held him a little while before I took him to his bed. All of a sudden, I feel a warming sensation going down my leg. Oh yes! The child peed all over me and the couch. As I am gasping at the realization of what is taking place, Greg is over there laughing. Two seconds later he says, "You need to put that on the blog!" Of course he thinks that. He's not the one who got peed on. If it would have been him, I probably wouldn't have thought anything about it, and he never would have suggested it. On another note, I am glad Evie is still in diapers because I am little gun shy about getting tinkled on now. I was holding her last night and felt the warming again. I immediately started feeling of my leg before I came to my senses and realized the diaper caught it. The joys of potty training. Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful for potty training. I just wish it would all land in the potty.

By now you know me, and you know I can't end a blog without leaving you something to look at. Here are a few random pictures of John Reagan and Evie playing outside.

We have FINALLY convinced him it is better to use the pedals.

John Reagan wanted some Daddy time. Who cares if Daddy is reading!

I sure hope you at least got a good smile at my expense. Maybe some laughter.

I just remembered something else about the potty training that I know you will love. Probably Tuesday or Wednesday night, John Reagan poo-pooed in his "cars," and he ran to the potty. He pulled his "cars" off, dumped most of the poo-poo in the potty, went and got a wipe, and decided to try and wipe himself. I am sure you can guess how that went. He had it all over his hand and rear. Mommy got the privilege of cleaning that up. I would complain a little more about this potty business if Greg didn't always clean up what comes out of the other end. Since he cleans up the furniture and carpet when John Reagan is sick, I think I can handle the rest. I would RATHER handle the rest.

Have you had your share of Too Much Information yet, or do I need to continue? Is this blog worthy or are you better off not hearing this?

The Cat

2009-05-29T19:15:00.004-05:00

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

2009-05-27T16:56:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-26T14:27:00.005-05:00

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

2009-05-24T20:21:00.003-05:00

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

2009-05-20T10:41:00.005-05:00

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

2009-05-05T16:47:00.004-05:00

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.