Pictures

I have been meaning to get this up here, but seem to always have something else I need to do...go figure. It's been a while, but things are pretty much the same around here....super busy! Hope you enjoy the pics of the Girls!


Shelby's Spring Concert

Jordan Easter Egg hunt


Kids @ Daycare with the Chicks-Gotta love Alexis's face-she doesn't touch them.


Shelby Lynn


Both girls before the concert-sisterly love


Alexis found her basket


Wondering what she is supposed to do


Shelby checking out her loot


Dying Easter Eggs-we forgot pics while they were doing them


Good thing the eggs weren't in there


Alexis Joy and Shelby Lynn
AND....Shelby does have undies on in this pic :-)

Heat Wave

I can't believe it...it is 41* out right now. It seems like swimming suit weather. The sun is shining, but the wind is blowing like crazy since last night. However, with the warmer weather, the snow is melting, causing lots of mud and water to run...right into our basement. Brad thought we had fixed it all last year, but not so much. He has some ideas of what to do next, but in the mean time we will be using the Shop n Vac to suck all the water up. Fun times.

Alexis went back to the local PA on Tuesday last week...she was running a 102* temp and her left ear had nasty snotty type stuff draining out. I just figured the tube was doing its job, but when the fever got so high, we decided we better get in (especially after calling the ENT). Not surprising, she has another infection in that ear...said it was really gummed up, but seemed like it was doing its job. It was just taking a bit more time. I HATE antibiotics since her MRSA stuff, but we didn't have a choice. The PA called the ENT and they decided together that we would skip the drops (we had already finished the ones from surgery) and hit it with some omnicef. As of today it doesn't seem to be draining and she is in a good mood...no fevers since last Wednesday. I will take her back into the PA tomorrow morning at 10 to make sure it is truly clearing up. (fingers crossed)

After her appointment I will be heading to Great Falls then onto Helena on Tuesday for the week. It is our Spring Convention and during Legislative years we meet in Helena. I'm looking forward to it, but the girls are staying home with Daddy and I am going to miss them terribly. Shelby has school M-W then on Friday they will be home with Daddy. I will be staying with Beck and Kyle on Monday night, then Friday after we get adjourned I will head to the ranch. Will be nice to get out of town for a bit, but it is still hard to leave the girls.

I better get going and check on the basement since Alexis is taking a cat nap with Brad in the chair. Hope everyone is doing well.

Super Bowl Sunday

Well....the day is here...SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!! Shelby is only excited because this is the last football game for a while. She doesn't seem to like to watch like we do. :-) Brad and Alexis are currently napping to be ready and I have my laundry almost all done. I'm cheering for the Packers...I can't stand Big Ben so I really hope he goes down! Could get interesting in this house...Brad wants the Steelers to win.

Things have been a little less stressful--the ear tube surgery went very well for Alexis. She has done great (doesn't like the ear drops we have to put in though-her face is priceless however) She is still rather jumpy by loud noises and seems to notice things a lot better. She seems to be sleeping better, but she still has a runny nose. We will know in about 5-6 weeks how things are doing with her ears....she babbles a lot, but she did before as well.
When we got home on Tuesday, Shelby came around the corner of the living room and Alexis ran to her as fast as her little legs would go and gave her a huge hug. It was priceless. :-)

Things are going to start picking up here in the next couple of weeks with work. Will be in Helena for a week, but this time the girls will be staying home with Daddy. Then just busy work stuff with State Testing, Spelling Bee, Spring Fever, etc. Brad's been keeping busy doing different things here and there. Shelby is enjoying school....she is upset that I will miss her Parents Day on Wednesday (Brad and Alexis are going to go though) cause I have 2 meetings in Miles City that day and 1 of them is only quarterly and I missed the last one. I told her there will be other days and may just have to surprise her and go over for lunch one of these days. The kids go crazy when you go over to eat with them.

I hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!

**here is a SHORT snowman Shelby made on Friday afternoon...she used the blue koolaid to color him. She made him inside the little fence so Tar and Daisy wouldn't destroy him like they did last time--they ate all the oreos and carrots last time and she was rather upset. Seems to have learned from that one. We had to take the scarf, gloves and hat off as it was raining when we finished the pictures. Shelby's butt was cold since she was sitting on the snow a bit. LOL**

Alexis

I thought I would update those of you that still read this once in a while. :-)
We took Alexis to an ENT yesterday to have her ears checked....she isn't talking very well at all and the teacher in me is quite concerned plus she has been having repeat ear infections since the end of October and of course last spring she had 3 consecutive ones also. I had wanted tubes then, but we waited (wish I hadn't now), but finally got the referral in and he said she definitely needs them. She has severe hearing loss in both ears at this point-she failed the test pretty bad for being so young. He didn't even really have to look in her ears to know for sure, but Lo and Behold she has an infection in her left ear still (even after taking her meds for her sore). He wished he could have done it yesterday, but there was no way to get into surgery. So, we are going in on Monday morning for surgery. They want us to stay overnight, but we are hoping and praying it helps her hearing. He wants to do a 6 week check and it sounds like it is standard to do 6 month checks afterward until the tubes come out or are ready to come out--way different this go round than Shelby's was, but that was 5 years ago. LOL We will go back in March for another Audiology Test and a checkup--hopefully her hearing has improved by then or we will possibly have to look at other things. It's been very stressful, but I am so glad that someone finally listened and agrees that tubes were needed long ago. We are just using Tylenol to keep her pain down, but we didn't realize she still had an infection...she gets fussy once in a while, but no fever...she was tugging at her ears, but she does that normally anyways. We shall see and I will keep you posted on how things go next week. Shelby is rather upset that she can't go, but Brad has to work next week and since we have done this before I told him to stay home plus Shelby won't miss anymore school. We will go up on Sunday night and stay til Tuesday....may find a cheap hotel to stay at so we can just veg and she can rest afterward....I remember Shelby was really sleepy all day before we came home...then again they aren't alike in most ways, so Alexis could be a total bear about it all, or even better...want to go shopping. LOL
Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. THANKS!

Happy New Year

I hope your 2011 is off to a wonderful start! We have been busy in the House of McWilliams...Shelby officially turned 6 on Saturday...I am starting to feel kind of old now. We did a party with her friends from school on Sunday and she had a BLAST. She was pretty worn out, but it was the BEST party we have done and I wasn't nearly stressed either! I didn't get many pictures....Brad gave the kids rides in the sleds behind the snowmobile, but it was really cold with the wind and my camera kept freezing on me. They all came in for Hot Chocolate, we did cake/cupcake cones and opened presents. Then they had a hayday playing upstairs. It was wonderful. Alexis was rather cranky and didn't know what to do with all the people...she takes awhile to warm up to people.
Christmas was wonderful this **last** year. We did Christmas in Billings the weekend before..was really nice and the girls didn't get sick while we were there--seems to be our luck for that to happen. Then we did the Christmas weekend at the Ranch....I was happy to remember it all since my back wasn't hurting this year (Thank God). It was just an easy laid back weekend. Then for New Year's we just hung out...I think I was in bed by 10:00 (sad I know!) We had done Shelby's party with Papa, Grandma, Auntie and Uncle Kyle while in Great Falls, so they didn't come to Jordan this year. Then of course the party this weekend. I am so grateful that the Girls' birthdays are spread out....wears a person out getting everything ready. I hope you enjoy the pics and that the New Year is a wonderful one for you!
Love N Hugs

Happy Holidays

I can't believe Christmas is upon us already...where did this year go??? We have been busy as usual, but I am hoping things calm down a bit after the holidays and I can feel sane again. LOL
Shelby had her 1st Christmas program last night. She was adorable....a friend went to Miles City on Tuesday night and was able to purchase a Christmas dress for us--Shelby didn't think at Thanksgiving time that they were supposed to, so I thought I would wait. Well plans had changed a bit, and I didn't make it to Miles before the program. They did a play on diversity for the K-8 group. She got to be a Monkey...I was so proud of her. She even remembered to sit like a "lady" and not show her underwear--she was of course in the front row of the Kindergarteners (that is also why I picked white ones to wear also. Gotta think ahead) We were running slightly late (imagine that), so I totally spaced grabbing my camera-it worked out though since we sat on the wrong side and I wouldn't have been able to get very good pictures anyways. Shelby saw us in the balcony and waved several times....was pretty cute. She was pretty nervous as we were going to her classroom, but really got into the songs...she loves music. Thank goodness Alexis likes music too...she got into it by the end and was dancing a bit, but that was after the Choir and other bands before Big Sis got to go. She got antsy and she doesn't sit still for a minute unless she is sleeping, so it was interesting. Messed her whole schedule up though....we are used to eating supper between 6:30-7:00 with showers/baths right after, then cuddle time with Daddy for the night. Yeah...she was rather tired by the end. In fact we got in the house afterwards and she went straight to the fridge for her milk, then to the couch to get her pjs on....no fighting her at all..she was on a mission! She zonked right away too. I did manage to get a couple of pics when we got home of Shelby, but next year I will be putting the camera in my shoes so I don't forget it again! :-)
We are planning on heading up the the Ranch to see my folks for Christmas...as long as the weather holds out. I am really looking forward to it...we haven't done the actual Christmas Holiday with them in years.....but we may be changing things up next year as well and starting our own traditions-Shelby mentioned this year that she would like Santa to come to her house while we are there. She is smarter than I give her credit for sometimes. She is so excited to go to Papa and Grandma's though...she loves the Ranch. Then the little twerp will be turning 6 on me not long after that...my gosh! I think I will end this there, now I feel old. LOL
Hope you enjoy the pictures....just some recent ones.

Halloween

It's been a while, and it's been a tough road since June, but more so since the end of August. Seems like when it rains it pours, but it is getting a little better each day....needless to say, I definitely don't take things for granted and tell my Girls EVERYDAY how much I love them!!! I've taken several steps back and realized a lot of things...about me and Brad and life in general. Why does it take a major life changing chain of events to open a person's eyes?? Seems like it should be easier to do, but sometimes it isn't. (Miss you tons Kari!!)

Yesterday was the Bazaar at the VFW...Shelby and I had been looking forward to it all week. (Sad I know, we have no life-LOL) She bought a couple of BEAUTIFUL hair things that a local
Craftster made (she does an awesome job)...one a headband with a flower on it and the other a ponytail holder with a flower on it. She even spent her own money (even thought I paid for half of it too for her, but she wanted to pay for it "with my own money!!") I ended up buying a new purse (gasp...so hard to believe isn't it-LOL) and a new wallet to go with it...I figured it would be my Christmas present to myself. We had a good time--Shelby really liked the Chicken Noodle Soup, but the Pumpkin pie was the best she said. Alexis was in her stroller since I knew I wouldn't be able to contain her for very long....she was rather upset by the end that she wasn't able to walk around like Big Sis was, especially after lunch.
Then, last night we went Trick-or-Treating in town...we started out a little after 5:00 since it is a school night for Shelby and they would both need baths at night. We were ALL wiped out by 8:00 and headed home. Alexis was getting really tired and Shelby was getting cold. We didn't hit every place that we had wanted to, but the Girls still got a bunch of candy. Alexis even managed to get a Hershey's bar opened and sucked out some chocolate.....she ended up being the "mad cow" as Brad put it and Shelby and I realized she must be a "mad chocolate cow" at one point....it was fun! Here are a couple of pictures of our Girls...we had a wonderful time!

My Smiling Vampire

My Little Cow

What Goof Balls

Look at the Sisterly Love--a RARE moment

Got them BOTH looking!!

Thanks for looking....hopefully I can keep up with the Blog a little more, but no guarantees. LOL

Alexis turns 1!!!

I can't believe it has been a year already that our Bug-a-Boo was born in the back of the van. Time flies by way too fast!! We had her party on the 21st in the afternoon. Of course it had to be the HOTTEST day of the entire summer. I sent out cute little bumble bee invitations and did a yellow/bumble bee theme. She doesn't take to the heat very well at all. We thought she was sunburned once she turned red, but we had the sunscreen on and she wasn't on the swing but for 2 minutes. Come to find out, she was just really hot and was a ton better later on. Poor thing looks miserable. Shelby was disappointed that more people didn't come (we tend to make a big deal about Birthdays), so may need to rethink some logistics of things, but Alexis had a wonderful time!

Her Cake and Cupcakes Cones (Brad requested the mile marker sign cake)

Digging into her cake...she loved it (I had made her a little cupcake for her own, but the cat got it while I was taking a shower that day)

Daddy and Alexis (with her cute ponytail)


Making a mess



Loving that cake though (she is super red)

She wanted more! We didn't break out the ice cream...it would have melted on contact!



Getting ready to open presents--with Sissy's help



Shelby kept wanting to help...Alexis wasn't moving fast enough I guess



Having a drink of Tang....MMMMM!

It was a great day and I can't believe we are moving on to the second year with her!! On her actual birthday she was reliving her birth I think. She was up around 2:30 really restless, by 3:00 she had a new diaper, 3 oz. of milk and was getting ready to snuggle with Mommy in her bed. Finally by 4:00 she was asleep again, but was raring to go at 6:00 AM! The timeline fit with her birthday....2:00-2:30 were the gas pains, 3:00 the water broke and at about 4:00 she was born. LOL....I just hope it isn't an every year kind of thing, even though I thought it was pretty special to me.

1st day of Kindergarten

I can't believe my baby is in school already. She is such a big girl!!
Shelby started Kindergarten on Monday and had a wonderful time. She will be going all day long on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. There are 11 kids in her class with 5 being boys and 6 girls. It's a pretty even class, but they are ALL very strong willed personalities. I took the following pictures Monday morning. I was going to take some this AM too, but it was Picture Day at school and we had Alexis do her pics too, so it was a rush this morning. I hope you enjoy the pictures. On another note....This Momma didn't cry when she left her, but it was a very tough day, especially when you can hear them at recess outside my window.

Pics

I have been a slacker, but here are some pics of the Girls. Hope you Enjoy!
PS....the most recent are first...I always forget that when I post pics! SORRY!!