Noah Man!

Today, Addy and I went to visit Noah, for those of you that don't know, Noah has been the hospital for a couple of days and they have finally figured out that he has bacterial pneumonia, although he does not look very good at all, he is doing a little better and all we can pray for is that he gets all better soon!

I have to say being there is not what I expected, I just expected to walk in and see the happy Noah that he always is and together both Addy and I were quite suprised as well as sad! The saddest part to me was just the way that he laid on your chest and just acted as if all he wanted was to love you, now don't get me wrong, I think me and all of my family would just love it if he would do that all of the time, but it just didn't seem like the same old Noah and that was when I really struggled with as close as it could be for me to have my own child sick, I give my sister and Chad courage and stength to be strong for little Noah!

For Christmas I got one of the Acapella Cd's which I am crazy about and just two days ago I had heard this song for the first time and I kept on telling Kellie that she had to listen to this one song and after today this song meant so much more to me and to be honest I am lucky I didn't end up in the hospital myself because of the crying on the way home, that makes it a little hard to see. So little Noah, you know that we all love you and you are going to be good as new in a few days!

The video that you see on here, your probably going to wonder why we have a card held up to his face. That is the card that Addy got her cousin Noah and we thought when we picked it out that it even kind of looked like him, when Addy gave that Balloon and Card to him, it was so cute to see his response, he was so happy to see his cousin!

Ok, so I am going to copy in the words of this song, but hearing it in person makes it so much better, it is so pretty!

Born with Heaven in their eyes~God sent, innocent, the promise of life~Born into this mess we've made~
Holding the future and hope of better days~Cause there is nothing more beautiful and wild~Than the dreams that grow in the heart of every child~

They are the roses~They are the lights that shine~They are the waves that roll in the ocean tide~They are angels~They are souls in flight~They are the hope that everything is going to be alright~They are the roses~

Imagine a place~Filled with happy sounds of playgrounds where every child is safe~Where people join hands~Pray our children will all have a chance~In every family, in every tribe, in every town~We're the keepers of this garden and we can't let them down~

They are the roses~They are the lights that shine~They are the waves that roll in the ocean tide~They are our future~They are our doctors~They are our preachers~They are our teachers~Let's not forget them~Have compassion on our children~They are~

Well, we all had a really good Christmas except for the fact that Addy was extremely to spoiled! Our couch is still full of all of her toys, we have to clean out her playroom now before we can move all the new ones in. This is just a few pictures of us during the holidays.

Addy and I at my mom's house
Addy on Christmas Day!
Cameryn and Addy
My Dad and Addy at his house!

If anyone is wondering where all the decorations came from in my house, and why I am so into the Christmas spirit, then by looking at this picture of my mothers house, you will realize! Yesterday Kellie and my mom decorated all day and I thought the house looked beautiful!

This was at my mother and step fathers house the other day, the whole family decided to get together and make Christmas cookies. The scrooge out of the bunch (my stepfather) did not want to let us turn on the Christmas music. Needless to say we talked him into it and then when I looked over I realized that they were dancing together. Very cute, but not something we really wanted to watch, so both the girls ended up dancing with them and it ended up being very cute!

So this was our family Thanksgiving fun!! Our family has played a game called Pit for as long as I can remember but unfortunatley we don't get to get together enough to play it. When you play this video, you are going to think "This family is crazy!" but let me tell you, this game is so fun. Just to let you know, it is kind of like a stock exchange game and everyone has to get 9 of the same card in their hand so you have to exchange cards with someone that wants to exchange the same amount as you want to. The catch to it all is that there is a card that is "The Bear" and you do not want to get that card! This is just a clip of the game we played the other night. It was so much fun!

Addy had her first dentist appointment yesterday! I can not even explain to you what a big girl she was, the dentist was amazed with the fact that she was so good! Ok, so that was the good news, now to the bad! My daughter had.....are you ready for this? SEVEN cavities, talk about feeling like a failure of a mom? I was completley shocked, I told him "I can not say that we are the absolute best with brushing but I can tell you what, we do it alot more than most kids would!" Obviously, we need to do it more! He said that it had nothing to do with hygine and had everything to do with the fact that for the first 3 years of Addy's life she slept with a sippy cup of milk next to her at night time, infact she would wake up about 3 times a night and ask for her milk! No one ever wanted to keep her for that reason, that she would wake you up in the middle of the night and whine for her milk. Anyway, when we went through the whole potty training thing, it was the end of the milk thing at night time or else she would make mistakes! So now because of the fact that we allowed that we are paying for it, and I mean REALLY paying for it!! She goes back to three different appointments to get these taken care of and she even has to get a shot in her mouth! We or I guess that I should say "I" was wanting to take her to a pedidontist to where they would knock her out to fill all of these because that is alot of shots in the mouth that she is going to need! But.....the dentisit said that he did not think Addy would have any trouble at all being that she was so good! The only probelm is, that I can't be in the room! They don't allow the parents in the room when they are doing something like that because they say it makes it harder on the dentist, so I expect that I will probably be in the waiting room crying by myself.

So.....the moral of the story is......anyone that is around my daughter, please don't give her candy!!

Christmas Already....

Ok, so I know it is not even Thanksgiving yet, but if anyone reading this knows my mom, then you would know exactly why I have my decorations up already! Even though sometimes I hate to admit it, we all become our mother! No offense mom! So let me tell you about a few things with the decorations, again if you guys know me, you all know that Kellie is the decision maker when it comes to decorating the house, so.....our house is, what....right over 1,000 square foot and we have two Christmas trees in our house, I can say that I am able to make some decisions, because if it was Kellie's choice then we would have a tree in every room, including my bathroom!

The only other comment I will make is about the big Santa on the wall, now I love this Santa, but some people would consider me weird! Now one of my good friends, Amber was over and complimented on everything that was done in the house but looked at me and said "Everything looks great, but that Santa has to go, he is ugly and scary!"

So what she said spiked my curiosity a little, I want to hear it what you guys think about the Santa? No lying, you can even hide your identity!

Christmas Tree # 1- Front Room
Hutch in dining room
The scary Santa
Christmas Tree # 2 Dining room

Amber stayed the weekend with us because Clint was hunting all weekend, which Addy just loved! I told her that we would have to have her over more often to have girls night. Sunday night, us girls just hung out all night long. We played pictionary, and although Addy is not a great drawer we let her play and it was very cute! This is a little clip of the fun we had playing.

The girls had a Slumber Party at my house tonight, which may have been the wrong night to choose because they had way too much Candy and they were really hyper. They always have a good time together!

Tonight was Halloween, Addy was a Spider Princess, Noah was a froggy, and Cameryn which I do not have a picture of and I am not sure why was a "Native American" (that is what she called herself) We had alot of fun just trick or treating the family and then this year we actually went around the neighborhood, which was the first year for the girls and they just had so much fun! They got way too much Candy, which is not good for two reasons. My childs teeth are going to rot out if she keeps on eating all the junk and also now that there is candy in the house, guess who will be eating it? Me!!

These are pictures that I took yesterday of Addy right before she left to go to McDonalds with her Nana and Papa. I was really proud of her because she did so well in dealing with all my hyper activity and cooperating with me while I made her do every pose you could think of. I thought these ended up really cute so I just wanted to share!!

I was looking through old pictures of Addy's first halloween, and being that it is that time of year it just made me think that this is her 4th halloween already. I am not sure why the letters on the pumpkin are backwards because they are not like that on the picture but if you can't read it, it says "Aydan's 1st pumpkin"

The bottom one is the apartment that we lived in until Addy was about 8 months old.

Ok, so these things won't let me settle down, so while I was going through all sorts of things I ran into a picture of me. Addy said, "Mommy, there is me!" I said, "No, but that does look like you, that is mommy when she was little." Everyone tells me that she is a spitting image of her father but in this picture I would have to say that I disagree. I know that it is really small but if you double click on it, you can see it larger. Incase anyone cannot tell, I am on the left and Addy is on the right. Let me know what you guys think.

Thank you!

These are all older pictures, but my main reason for posting these is to show everyone the people that are very important in mylife! As most of you know, I have been going through some struggles latley and without the help of mt family I am not sure how I could have made it through, I am not going to go into everything because the people I am sure know how appreciative that I am. This one on the top is my father as a little boy and I am so grateful that I got a hold of this piture because I just love it. The next one is my mom and stepdad at Mandy's wedding, I am so fortunate to have the greatest step dad, he is such a wonderful man! Down below is my dad and Addy taking a snooze! Next to that one is Kellie and I when we were little at my Gandma Bayer's house. I just want each and everyone of you to know that you have helped me beyond words can say and although I might not always show my gratitude, I want you guys to know that I love you all! Dad, Janice, I love you guys so much!! Mom, Joel you guys have done so much for me and I know with the support of all of you guys, I will be fine and make it through this hard time that I am going through right now! Can I say it just one more time? "I love you guys so much!!"

Ok, so after looking at the post when it was all completed, I realized that the picture are all out of order and I am too lazy to go back and change them, I think everyone will understand it though, It is now midnight and these darn steroids will not let me go to sleep, but Addy will be waking me up early so I have to atleast try. Love you guys!

Can anyone guess who is who of Kellie and I, because I would like to know myself......

Busch Race

Last Saturday, I went to my first Nascar race. I was actaully very excited for this event being that I am not all into watching the race on TV. I had always heard though that if you go the the actual race you will have a blast! Everyone was right! We had so much fun. Not only the race itself which I must say is amazing just to see how fast those cars go and how fast they move when they go to change a tire or something but also the atmosphere around you, there are so many things going on! Needless to say, I am now ready for the next one! I am not sure that I will be able to go to one for awhile cause you are just lucky if you come across tickets unless you are wanting to spend a fortune!

All of us (Amber, Clint, Kellie, Jason, Troy and I) had alot of fun!!

Kearney Football!

Kearney had their game last night against Lee Summit West which was expected to be a very hard game. Even though Kearney ended up losing, they put up a fight! The final score ended up being 21-13. Although, I am not much into football, this game was pretty intense and interesting! My mom went and made shirts that have a #12 and say "Woolf" on the back. Even though my brother, Taylor is not playing varsity in the bigger games, especially this one, we where there supporting him. I got made fun of by my family, but I said, I can't wait until next year when Taylor becomes activly involved in the varsity games because we will be right there cheering him on!! These are a few pictures of last night, the girls just looked adorable in their cheerleading outfits, and they really had a good time! My mom made a shirt for Noah that read "I want to be a bulldog just like my daddy" and on the back it had Chad's number and "Shanks"

As if he is not enough of his dad already he looked so cute!! The mohawk just makes him that much cuter too!!

The Lord's Prayer

So, thankfully to my older sister, Mandy, Addy is now attending a church service directed just around younger childer on Wednesday nights now. Last night was her first night and she enjoyed it very much! We decided that we were going to read together what she made last night when we laid down. So we did, and the first time she was not recorded, but it ended up being so stinkin cute that I told Kellie to get the camera. Of course the second go around never ends up being as cute, but she did alright. It was so funny, the first time some of the longer words or the harder ones I guess you could say she had such a hard time pernouncing! Addy and I are going to try and do this every night in hopes that she gets really good at it!

Mandy's Birthday

It was my sister, Mandy's golden birthday yesterday, and I guess the sentimental side got the best of me yesterday or I was just bored at work, but I wrote her a letter (don't birthdays stink as you age) and everything that was said in this letter comes straight from my heart, infact I made Mandy read this with me there even though she did not want to so that she knew I said all of this not only because it was her birthday but because she means the world to me! After reading this letter, I can say that I was touched not just because I got to see her reaction from what was said but also because at that time my sister leaned over and gave me a hug! Now, I am not saying that my sister and I don't say the words "I love you" to each other, but do we really say it with meaning or in that matter does anybody? When she leaned over and gave me that hug, I felt that she cared! Like I say in the letter below, she really is an inspiration to have in my life! I love you Mandy!!







Mandy,



Well first let me say Happy Birthday! Happy Golden Birthday at that! Wow 27 you old woman! Looking back in life I would have never thought that we would be where we are now, both you and I and everyone else in our family has been through and conquered a lot of things! We have all had our hard times, but like you always say “God pulls you through” and I can agree and say that even though I hate going through tough times like that he does pull you through it and I become stronger!

Let’s go back through memory lane for a little bit…..remember growing up at Pennington Lane and all the childish things we did, like make our supper for the evening be “pickles” those yellow little flowers! How did we not get sick from eating all of those? Or the 10 kids that were famous for their Snickerdoodles or the homemade pizza? Wow, how did we eat anything that came from that house? Or going over to Lucy Quinn’s house and being so naïve to not know exactly what was happening there. Or what about playing Nintendo and you beating the ever living crud out of us because you didn’t play as well as you wanted to, although I think still to this day if someone was next to you while playing that, you would beat the crud out of them! We had some good times in Blue Springs but wow, am I glad that we now live in Kearney!! Although, Kellie and I did not want to leave (remember Kellie banging her head against the wall, and then mom giving her a beer to calm down) I would never take anything back. I am so glad that you made that decision to get out of Blue Springs for fear of maybe getting beat up or something, cause we all know you are the chicken of all chickens!! Now, going through High School I can say were not our greatest of times and that is what I mean by saying that I never thought we would be where we are at right now. I remember admiring the fact that you were so happy to be in Kearney while Kellie and I had such a hard time adjusting and thinking, “I wish that I could have the personality that she has, it seems so easy for her to get along with everyone and get friends” Although, I hate to admit it……..you have some people out there that have admiration for you and also think, I wish I could have the personality of Mandy Shanks! I won’t bring up the real memories that I have of you while living in Kearney because we all know that we all three girls made some mistakes, but now we have learnt from those! All I can say wrapped up together is that even though we had some rough times, even better ones have followed! I have told you as well as some other people that I am very blessed with everything that I have, and that includes the things that surround me. You and your family are such wonderful people and positive people to have in someone’s life. I have always said, if I could strive to be anyone it would be my sister, she has made some big accomplishments in her life and she also likes to go out and have a good time! If I could map out my marriage and plan it just the way that I want it (which we all know does not happen) it would be to have a marriage like my sister. Even though there have been struggles and battles to fight along the way, look at you guys! You love each other so much!! I know that we are talking about you being that it is your birthday and everything, but the other day when I called to see if Chad would come over while Steve was here, I realized how important that you guys are to me and how lucky I am. He was so concerned and I could hear it in his voice. He doesn’t have to be like that, and just any brother-in-law isn’t, but Chad sincerely cares! And then for you to come over and not only comfort me and smoke ciggys with me, but also start cleaning my house was great! You didn’t know that day and you will never know how much that meant! I think after you left, I just wanted to cry more, not because of my problems but because I was so touched by it all!

All in all, I am very lucky to have you in my life, I could not ask God for a better sister, and not only a sister but now what I would consider a best friend! You are my real hero and please never forget that. I love you so much! Happy Birthday!


Love,

Stacie

About a year ago our family started having a dinner every Monday night, this has become something that I think everyone looks forward to! I can say that I would always like to keep this tradition going and I think that it is a good thing for any family! Although, I would have to say that our family can be a little disfunctional sometimes and we can have topics of conversation at the dinner table that most people would not normally have, we always have a good time and I can say all in all it has brought all of us much closer to each other.

Thank you mom for all the work that you put into this so we can all be together at least once a week!

Paddy Cake!

This was Addy and I last night, we were playing paddy cake and she didn't want to play it right, she was hystrically laughing before we got the camera out and then of course by the time we got it out she was laughing just a little but it ended up being cute anyway.

Jesse James Dance

These pictures did not turn out great because the lighting was not very good, but this was at the dance last night which was alot of fun! It is always fun to go to because you get to see people that you haven't seen in forever. This man tried to teach me how to swing dance but he did nothing but make me sick!

Mud Volley Ball!

So, mud volley ball was this weekend at the festival, and to say the least we were not very good at all!! We lost both games pretty bad which wasn't too bad because I needed a nap and so that is what I did right after a SHOWER! Even though we did not win, we had alot of fun! These are girls that all work at the hair salon Kellie works for but unfortunatley Kellie did not get to play because she just went to the doctor and found out that she has pnemonia. These pictures just show where my daughter gets her clumsiness from! Go Deja Do Divas!!

"Little Miss Jesse James"

Addy was in the "Little Miss Jesse James" contest this weekend at our festival. Although she did not place and was very upset, I told her that we would just try again next year! She did a really good job though and I thought that she looked really cute! She got to ride in the parade afterwards and just loved it! Here are some pictures of her dressed up.