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Daddy Daughter Dance
12 years ago
February 2008
I'm sure all of you probably have a sweet Grandma but I'm pretty sure that mine takes the cake. I have some of the most incredible memories of my Grandma. She can make any flower grow and has such a love for gardening (I think that's why I enjoy it so much now). She can cook and bake like no one I've ever met. I learned a lot from my Grandma, not by a formal lesson, but just in watching how she loved and served her family. It was always her greatest joy to cook a huge meal and have her family come over and share it with her. As a little girl my favorite thing was to spend the night at my Grandma and Grandpa's and and wake up the next morning to the smell of coffee brewing, breakfast cooking and Grandpa listening to the agriculture report on the radio. When it was your turn to spend the night Grandma always made your favorite breakfast, mine was biscuits and gravy, and of course you always got hot chocolate with whip cream! It was heaven! My Grandma is the ultimate hostess and servant.
As I love and serve my family today I realize how much my Grandma really taught me.
My Grandma, who my kids call "Nanny", has been sick a lot this winter. She is 82 years old and such a blessing to us all. It has made me really sad to see her not feeling well. In February the Flannery Fun Team made a special trip to see Nanny in West Plains, Missouri. She had been put in a nursing home and we wanted to go and let her know how much we love and appreciate her. While the boys and Tim played in the hotel pool Caitlyn and I got to go over and visit Nanny for a little while by ourselves.
February 2009
I started that post last February and just couldn't finish it. She was so sick all the rest of the year and my sweet Grandma finally went home to be with Jesus in August of 2009. My family and I spent most of last summer going back and forth to Missouri to spend as much time as we could with her. She was the sweetest lady in the whole world. I know that when I get to heaven Grandma will have my favorite dinner and dessert waiting for me. I praise God for her and am so thankful that she got to meet each of my children.
This is our last picture with Nanny before she got to go home to be with her Heavenly Daddy.
Tim is the best husband and Dad in the whole world. I don't know how he does it some days. We had snow a couple of weeks ago while he was on a trip and the boys couldn't wait for him to get home to take them sledding. So this is what my sweet husband did for his boys: He got up at 3 a.m. (Eastern Time) flew all day, then operated the flight into Oklahoma City got home around 6:30 p.m., ate dinner then at 8 p.m. (after it was dark and freezing cold) bundled himself and the boys up to go sledding in our neighborhood. Did I mention that he had to get up at 4 a.m. the next morning to operate the flight back to Detroit?
Tim is my warrior, my hero and just the kind of Dad that I prayed my kids would have! I'm so thankful that he fights for our family everyday. He always puts us first. He can come home dog tired but when he comes into our home he is ready to be on! He is daddy first and you'd never even know he was tired.
Thank you Tim for being such an incredible Man! Our children are so blessed to grow up under your guidance and protection. You model Christ's love to them and to me everyday. We praise God for you!
Love,
Shawna
The truth of the matter is that there isn't a name I'd rather be called than Mommy! Thank you Coopie, Cade and Caitlyn for making me, just Mommy! My heart sings everytime you say it.
Love,
Shawna
Sweet Caitlyn Grace had to go to the emergency room last night. Coopie accidently closed her finger in the bathroom door. When I heard her cry I knew instantly that something was wrong. He had managed to close the door with her pinky finger at the back part of the door near the hinge. When I opened the door and got her finger out it was so mangled looking I was just sure that she was going to loose at least part of it. I screamed, blood was dripping and Cade was screaming. It was an intense few minutes as I tried to gather my thoughts and decide what must be done first. Tim, unfortunately, was out of town so I was "flying" solo. I called Mike and Judy left a message for them and then got my sweet neighbor Tammy and her daughter Becca to come over and stay with the kids while I took Caitlyn to the ER at Children's Hospital.
As we were headed out I called my sweet friend Candice who is a Plastics resident at OU to ask her what I should do if she needed surgery. She was so awesome and calming she called the person who was on call that night for me and even left a wedding she was attending to meet us at the ER and make sure everything was taken care of. She was incredible!!! My sweet friend Peggy and her husband Todd also came up to the hospital to make sure everything was okay. Peggy even traded out cell phone batteries with me since mine died halfway into the ordeal. God is so good to me! Instead of being alone at the ER God brought just the right people to help me navigate the situation. Thank you Lord.
X-rays revealed that Caitlyn had broken the tip of her finger (not crushed) and they were able to fix her finger in the ER with two stitches. One stitch for the open gash and one to try and get the nail, which was ripped from the nail bed, to stay put under the skin. Dr. Smith was the Ortho doctor on call and he did a great job.
Caitlyn and I left the ER at about 3 a.m. thankful for incredible care and the Lord's provision and protection once again for the Fun Team. Did I also mention that our car didn't get towed, which was a miracle because I was parked illegally from about 8:30 p.m. until 3 a.m. Again, Thank you Lord! When I got home I found Grandma Judy in her cute pink jammies settling in for the night! I'm so thankful for Mike and Judy I don't know what I'd do without them.
Caitlyn did great today. She is such an angel baby! The thick bandages on her arm never even phased her. She is crawling around like a champ and acting like nothing is wrong at all. Kids are so resilient. It is amazing how when you have a hurt child nothing else in the world matters. It really does give you great perspective as to what is most important in life. As long as we love Jesus and have our families everything else is insignificant.
Hug your kids tighter tonight!
Love, Shawna
Caitlyn did great today. She is such an angel baby! The thick bandages on her arm never even phased her. She is crawling around like a champ and acting like nothing is wrong at all. Kids are so resilient. It is amazing how when you have a hurt child nothing else in the world matters. It really does give you great perspective as to what is most important in life. As long as we love Jesus and have our families everything else is insignificant.
Hug your kids tighter tonight!
Love, Shawna
We have a giant live stuffed animal that lives at our house his name is Barley! Our kids love him. He is adored by all small people in our family. Cooper usually uses him as his personal pillow when watching TV. He is a dog though and sometimes his stinky body just has to have a bath and the boys take great delight in helping their Dad bathe the beast! Barley is so patient with his bath he just stands there while he is rinsed and soaped and rinsed again. I think he just likes the extra petting. Barley is almost 14yrs old, he was my college graduation present from Tim, and we really can't imagine life without him. We are trying to prepare ourselves for the fact that he may not be with us forever, I hate this for the kids, he has been such a great dog. He limps everywhere he goes but he still lights up for a treat and he may not smell as well as he used to but he still manages to find all the tidbits the kids drop on the floor. We have been blessed to have him as part of our family and we will continue to enjoy him for as long as the Lord allows.
Cade did ask me the other day if we could get a new puppy when Barley goes to Heaven. Let's pray about that one! That kid is to smart!
Love,
Shawna
Cade did ask me the other day if we could get a new puppy when Barley goes to Heaven. Let's pray about that one! That kid is to smart!
Love,
Shawna
The beauty of the adventure was that tons of fun was had by all, everyone was exhausted by the time we got home and so everyone loved going to sleep in their own beds with all of their favorite stuffed animals. There is nothing sweeter than three little angels asleep in their beds after a fun day of adventure and excitement.
Shawna
Caitlyn's Mi Mi is amazing! She made this awesome dress for her and a matching doll! It is so cute! I can't imagine how many hours she spent working on it but we will enjoy every stitch! My girl is clearly getting to big!Love,Shawna
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After the rodeo experience poor Tim has spent more time as a Bucking Bronco than he ever thought possible. Notice Cade's outfit. He even made me put a number on his back like the other cowboys. He noticed every detail at the rodeo. The clip of Coopie praying is just so cute. He is such a sweetie!
Love,
Shawna
I can't believe that Caitlyn is already nine months old! Time is going by way to fast! She just decided this week that she was no longer content with sitting, she wants to stand. She is pulling up on everything in site. She is fast and rather unsteady, which is not a good combination. I foresee a lot of tears from falling in our future.
She loves her daddy, her big brothers and paper! She can spot paper a mile away and can crawl to it at lightning speed! She is wearing a beautiful tutu that her MiMi made for her at Christmas in some of the pictures. I take every opportunity that I can to dress her up now because I know that chances are with two big brothers she will probably end up being a tomboy. That's okay I think we're going to keep her locked up until she's about 30 anyway.
This little princess is amazing! Thank you Lord for blessing us with sweet Caitlyn Grace!
Shawna
Coopie's favorite present this year was the tiger that Santa brought him. He loves it! He sleeps with it and drags it around with him. When he saw it on Christmas morning her ran over and hugged his neck and said, " I wub you tiger, I wub you!" He showed the tiger all of his presents and said, "look Mr. Tiger".
He is our animal lover! As many of you know his favorite thing is to go to the Zoo (mommy may have influenced this) and his favorite animal at the Zoo is Wooly the hippo. Well now all he talks about is the tiger at the Zoo (complete with roaring sounds) and Wooly the hippo. Poor Wooly he has a little competition now.
Coopie, My sweet little tiger boy, I wub you the whole sky!
Shawna
There are moments in your life that you will remember forever, we've all had them, and they are often magical. Cade had one of those moments a couple of days ago when he got his first Cap Gun! He is on cloud nine! He hasn't gone anywhere without his six shooter, boots and hat! He's also shot through 300 rounds of ammunition in two days. This is the big time we didn't just get the paper caps these are the "bullet" caps! Wow!
My little boys steal my heart everyday. They are my "wild men". John Eldridge says in his awesome book, Wild at Heart, that boys are born knowing how to shoot guns! He is so right on. Watching Cade over the last few days I've been amazed at how, without ever having watched a western, he knows how to play "cowboy". He is capturing bad guys and protecting his family. He told me today that he would take care of me. Some people may say that guns are bad and your kids shouldn't play with them, I disagree. I think that my sweet boy is learning an incredible life lesson. He is learning that God made men to fight for what is right. To be brave. To overcome evil and protect your family at all cost. He's becoming a "man". Who knew that a cap gun would be used for an awesome life lesson.
Lord I pray that my little cowboys would spend the next few years catching the bad guy, playing in the dirt, wrestling, running, playing baseball and football and hugging their mommy and daddy. That is what the childhood of a little boy should be!
In October we went to a pumpkin farm to pick our our favorite pumpkins. While there we got to go for pony rides, hay ride, sit on a tractor and go through a maze. It was so much fun! The weather was beautiful. It was a little sad for Coopie because he lost his last pacie at the farm and thus began his journey without a pacie. We knew it had to happen sometime it is just always a little sad when it finally happens.
Daddy came up with the neatest idea for decorating the pumpkins. He asked for a little assistance from our friend Mr. Potato Head and the results were so fun! The boys were so proud of their pumpkins!
If you're looking for a creative way to decorate your pumpkin next year the Fun Team suggests Mr. Potato Head!
Shawna
What a day! We crammed so much fun into one day I almost don't know where to start. I'll try to do it justice for you-
8 a.m. Donuts and Haircuts, our once a month tradition.
9:30 a.m. Bike Ride around the neighborhood and random garage sales
11 a.m. Daddy, Cade and Dragon Boy are watching monster truck rallies on the computer, they are all enjoying the crashes a little to much. It's amazing that they all get the same crash gene from birth.
12:30 Lunch
1:00 Daddy and Cade meet the Jones's for a little skeet shooting! Did I hear a rumor that Tim out shot Stan? Who was keeping count for Tim? If it was Cade we may need a recount.
2:00 Cooper, Mommy and Caitlyn take a snooze--Thank you Lord!
5:30 Dinner-Hot dog roasting and S'Mores! Wow does it get any better than this?
6:30 Play outside until dark
7:30 Great sadness-the Boys and Daddy feed Caitlyn cereal for the first time. They were all very excited- I'm not sure if Caitlyn was as excited to eat it. Mommy is not excited because my sweet little princess is growing up so fast. Where have the last 5 1/2 months gone? If the cereal helps her sleep through the night I won't be quite as sad. I guess we all have our price-right now mine is a full nights sleep.
9:30 Finally, it was time for bed in the tent! Cade and Daddy's first camp out-Priceless!!
God is Good all the Time and all the Time God is Good! Thank you Lord for your blessings! I wouldn't trade my life for anything!!!
Love,
Shawna
You know that fall is here when Football starts! There is just something magical about a cool crisp night and high school football games. Tim was out of town but the kids and I got to go to a Davis Wolves football game on Friday night and it was amazing! Our favorite family in Oklahoma, the Jones Family, are diehard football fans. Now they don't like just any football they are CRAZY for their hometown team, the Davis-Wolves. You need to understand that Davis has a population of about 100 but on game nights in the fall their could easily be 5,000 people for a home game! Each of those 5,000 people also bring their air horns, cow bells and the loudest screaming voices you've ever heard. Its AWESOME!!! Football games were made for my loud, crazy boys-- they thought they had died and gone to heaven. They got right into the mix and we're cheering for the team and ringing the cow bells. Miss Caitlyn wasn't sure what to think, except that she had never been someplace so loud. Between watching the game my boys played their own game of football on the sidelines, wrestled with Hunter and tackled anyone who got to close. It was a little boys dream night!
My boys may never play professional football but on Friday night they thought they had made the big leagues! I also just love the Jones's! They have the most amazing kids in the whole world. I hope that my boys will grow up to have the compassion, gift of encouragement, and servant heart that Hunter Jones has. He is an amazing boy who will be an incredible Godly man! He is a warrior!!!
Love,
Shawna
Can we just say, "We LOVE Missouri"!!! We went last weekend and we had so much fun! We were hosted by our most favorite people in the whole world, the Kilbournes!!! The barnhouse is amazing (no matter what you think Nat) and it is our favorite place to hang out! All of the cousins, including Carver, got to hang out and go to Jump Mania! I think that Nat and Tim and I had just as much fun as the kids! Then it was off to Silver Dollar City for fun with MiMi, PaPa and more cousins then back just in time for dinner with our other favorite family the Brawners! While the adults were upstairs Maddie took Cade downstairs and dressed him up like a princess/cheerleader the scary part was he didn't seem to mind. On Sunday we had a chance to go to Fellowhip Bible for church before we headed home, it was so much fun to see so many of our sweet friends. God is so good to us! Then we finished up with lunch with the Brawners, Kilbournes and Ulrichs! Caitlyn Grace was able to get a little snuggle time with her much loved Aunt Sarahbeth! It was a tremendous adventure and just reinforced the fact that we love and miss our family and friends in Missouri!
If we didn't have to have jobs we'd be back in Springfield in a heartbeat!
Love,
Shawna
Every once in a while I see glimpses that my sweet boys are going to be great friends. It makes my heart sing when I see their kindness to one another. Tim, caught this sweet moment the other day. They actually enjoyed sharing their popsicles with each other. I think that Coopie enjoyed it a little more than Cade. The picture of Caitlyn is just thrown in because we couldn't leave her out!
I think the whole world would be a better place if we all stopped and had a popsicle together!
Love,
Shawna
Thought of the Day: We only have so many summer days to enjoy with our families so we better make to most of each one!
Shawna
Having kids is a true adventure! You know that as a parent you are going to have to intervene at times and you even anticipate some challenging moments but I've been struck recently with the hilarious things I have found myself saying lately. Things that I never thought I would say. For example: "don't brush the dogs teeth with your toothbrush", "please don't suck on the toothpaste tube", and "no you can not brush your teeth again (my kids are really into good oral hygiene)". But today really took the cake! As most of you know we have a wonderful Golden Retriever, Barley, who sheds a lot and I'm not known for my vacuuming abilities. So today, after lunch, Cade and Cooper both got a sucker and after a few minutes I look into the living room to see what their doing and I see Coopie rubbing his sucker on the CARPET! GROSS! So I yell across the room at him, "Coopie please don't rub your sucker on the carpet!" Too late! The pictures tell the rest of the story. Who would have ever guessed!
Thought of the Day: Keep your suckers away from my carpet-unless you need a little extra fiber in your diet!
Shawna
I have to brag on my sweet husband he did such a great job of painting and creating a wonderful pink wonderland for Miss Caitlyn. I gave him a little direction but he picked all of the paint colors himself and really got into the decorating. I think that having a little girl has really helped him to get in touch with his femine side! I have to admit he outdid himself this time. When he was done it was even better than I imagined! What an awesome Daddy!
Today was Farmer day at Cade's school. He was so excited because he actually got to dress up like a Farmer! He has talked about this day since the first day of school when his teacher mentioned that they would do this unit. It is so fun to watch him be so excited. What we didn't know was that they were going to have a baby pig come and visit their class today! I was at work so Tim went to pick him up and was able to get a few pictures with the prized pig! His sweet friend Tatum is also in his class. I love her pink "farmer" hat. She's a girl after my own heart!
Coopie is now sleeping on the bottom bunk! Wow!
Today we playedoutside with the sidewalk chalk in our jammies, if
you haven't doneit I highly recommend it. Look at the third
picture I think Cade must have told Coopie to kiss his bunnies
and Coopie took him literaly! We also set up our own fun
waterslide in the backyard and finished the evening with a
little baseball!
Flannery Fun Team Adventures continues.
We started out with the boys cooking breakfast. Then we saved a life today!
Mr. Turtle needed a little help across the road. And my Boys
were there to help. Coopie mastered the slides. He did them
all by himself!! Chick-fil-a was our lunch stop. We made
brownies for DADDY. And of course the best part of the day
was our DADDY COMING HOME!!!! We have adopted a new pet
unfortunately it is a Black Widow Spider.
It was another wild and crazy day that has left me to exhausted to even tell you about it. The short version includes: The Library, PaPa mowing, homemade shakes, a walk in the neighborhood and the bouncy toy at our friends house! What a blessing of a day. Hope you guys had a good day to.
Oh yes you may be wondering about the pool--- The Lord had mercy on me it rained! I can wait on the swimsuit for another day.
Today we went to the Free movies to see the Veggie Tales Movie "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything"! Great movie and Cooper actually sat through it this time! After nap time we headed to the Zoo for a little animal adventures! My sweet friend Peggy and her new baby met us there and we closed the zoo down. Baths have to follow a day at the zoo and then a little snuggling in bed, watch a movie and of course POPCORN! Coopies friend Emmie came down to visit and he shared his popcorn with her.
It was an awesome day! Mommy is worn clean out and can't wait to get up and do it again tomorrow! Stay tuned because tomorrow we're headed to the pool. Do not expect to see any pictures of Mommy in a swimsuit! You know I really love my kids because I'm willing to get into a bathing suit so that they can have fun even though I just had a baby! Wow, that's true sacrifice.
The Flannery Fun Team continues to rock the summer with exciting and often dangerous (not really) adventures! Although you never know when even the simplest of fun can turn dangerous. Coopie lives in danger everyday he never quite knows what Cade is going to do to him! Today we started out with a visit to our favorite Doctor, Dr. Bowen. We thought Caitlyn might have an ear infection, but she didn't. Dr. Bowen was sweet enough to pose for a picture! We then had a picnic in the playroom with our sweet friend Becca followed by a "bus trip" in the van to Sonic for a special cold treat! Grandma Judy was a lifesaver as usual and helped us out a ton! After naps we took PaPa Mike some home made banana bread and Cade and Coopie played baseball when we got home (I'm the pitcher but I'm not that good)! The biggest treat of our day was when our friends the Jones's came to visit. Their oldest daughter Rachel is going to stay with us for a couple of days (Thank you Lord!). It seems like only yesterday their kids were my kids size!!!!
We are living in the moment and I am embracing every crazy hectic minute that the Lord has given me with my precious kiddos. I wouldn't trade it for anything!! In a blink I know they'll be big and then my house will be clean and I'll be wishing for messiness once again.
We had an incredible day going to the gym (Caitlyn's first time), making banana bread (to send to our Daddy because we're "bananas" over him), going for a walk in our neighborhood (which included a stop at a jumping inflatable toy and playing with the neighbors new puppy) and playing baseball! It was more fun than one family should have. Please notice Cade's baseball attire! Believe it or not he picked it out himself! Cooper is an animal lover! That poor puppy was glad to see us leave! The nice thing about those jumping toys is that you have a great time while you're there and your really ready for bed when you get home!
Hope you guys are enjoying your summer half as much as the Flannery Fun Team!
The Flannery Fun Team adventures continue! Today we went to the local Fire Station and got to see the big trucks! It was a lot of fun! Even Caitlyn liked it!
Wow! The Flannery Fun Team had an awesome adventure today! God is so Good! The boys and Caitlyn were awesome and the weather couldn't have been better. Who says your crazy to take three small children to the Zoo by yourself? It's a breeze ( not really but we'll just go with that for now). The only way it could have been better is if we had gone with our Daddy and our Aunt Nat! The adventure was followed up by a cherry slush at Sonic and naps all around!
We are getting ready to eat one of the delicious meals that Nat brought, potato chip chicken (which I'm sure is low in fat), followed by sprinkler time in the front yard with the neighbors and some homemade chocolate chip cookies! This is my dream life! It has been so much fun to hang out with my precious blessings everyday!
P.S. Did I mention that sweet Becca from across the street is helping me tonight! She is worth her weight in gold!
Today we went to a local Clysdale farm to pet the horses!
It was so much fun but I think my boys favorite part was the John Deere Gator
Tractor and the cat of course. When you guys come to visit we'll
take you all out to the farm for some fun!
Jenna and Carver,
Here are some fun pictures from when I came to visit you! You are so
sweet to me! I am also sending you pictures of my new cool bunk beds!
I love you and miss you! See you in a couple of weeks!
Love,
Cader Tater
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