First Week of School

Mary started K3 this year!!!  She is technically not 3 just yet, but they made an exception for her since she will be 3 soon, and she has reached or exceeded all the developmental milestones they require for the preschool progam.  Also she cannot participate in the 2 year old program because it is only half-day and I work all day.  I love having her at school with me.  I love that I can peak in on her if I want, but I have restrained myself because I don't want to disrupt her class or distract her.  I have seen her in passing on a few instances and she seemed to be fitting in well with her classmates!  Here is her picture taken with her daddy on the first day of school:

Summer 2011 - time flies when you are having fun!

I cannot believe I haven't updated my blog in so long.  Actually I can.  This summer has flown by and we have been crazy busy!  I have worked at school quite a bit all summer, and we have taken a few small trips.  Here is what we have been up to since my last post! 

Fourth of July fun with the Chancellors and cousin Katie. 



Swinging in Janie and Babo's swing with cousins.

Mid-July, Kevin and I drove to Houston for a followup with his doctor to discuss how successful the radiation he had in February and March was.  According to their lab work and in the doctor's words, " Looks like we got it all!!!"  Those six words pretty much were the best words we have ever heard!!!  We will follow up on both the kidney and prostate cancer again in December, but as for now we are CANCER FREE!!!

 The first doctor we ever met at MD Anderson told us that we should hope for the best and that luckily in a year we could pop a bottle and celebrate.  So we did! (can't ignore medical advice)

We also had fun at home playing in the backyard, seeing Barney with good friends, learning how to ride a bike...

We attended Kevin's best friend's wedding in Vegas, where Kevin served as Best Man.  It was a great trip, we lost money, met good friends from Midland for dinner one night, and overall had a blast!!!

Brian and Kevin

The newlyweds

another happy couple :)

My big win!

We arrived home from Vegas Monday night, ready to see the kids.  However this week has been less than great.  After our presenter for teacher inservice this week canceled I was forced to scramble to come up with replacement material, Mary had strep throat, and Ashlin had an ear infection.  Both girls are on antibiotics now, and my mother helped me pull all my stuff together for inservice.  Excited about going back to work tomorrow, but wishing I could have a few more weeks at home!

Other fun pics from Ireland

Mary and Grandad Jack

Where Kevin took a bath as a baby

We love our Uncle Colm

And our cousins!

Ashlin aslo loves her Uncle Liam

We don't love driving on the wrong side of the road

Playing with our cousin

Ashlin likes the Irish toys

Yummy Thai curry

Kevin and Ashlin, Portmarnock Beach

Mary loved playing in the freezing water!

Christening and Anniversary Celebration

Sunday, the 19th, we had a mass to celebrate Kevin's parents marriage and to baptize Ashlin. Father Nolan, who married us and baptized Mary, officiated and it was a great service.  As part of the service Kevin and his siblings each brought up items that had significance in the life of their family.  Here were a few of the items:  a teapot, for all the shared cups of tea they had drank (and boy do they drink tea); Kevin's mother's, first cane (she has MS), for all the hard times and bumps one goes through in life; a rose plant, for his parents' love of gardening; a birth certificate for Kevin's sister who passed away shortly after birth; Holy Water from Lourdes, a place of significance in the Brown family; and bread and wine, for the body and blood of Christ.  I am so lucky that I married into such a wonderful family!  Below are pictures from the Christening and the dinner and party afterwards. 

Mary before the Christening

Ashlin's bib really does take away from her Christening gown

Our Family

Seating Chart and table arrangements

Kevin's parents with grandchildren (minus one)

cakes

The lovely couple!

Ireland, Christenings, and 50th Anniversary Celebrations

We traveled to Ireland this month, our first trip in 2 years.  We went to have Ashlin christened, celebrate Kevin's parents 50th anniversary, and see our family we never get to see :(.  Our trip there went smoothly, except for a few molars that decided to peek through Ashlin's gums.  However, she did pretty well,  and Mary slept the whole way!  I also stressed about taking our stroller (Airline recently changed the rule about how big they can be) but the guy at the airport pitied us and let us slide 3 lbs above the weight limit. 
We were met by many cousins and Kevin's parents with signs welcoming us to Ireland.  Our week and a half was filled to the top with spending time with cousins, a trip to the zoo, karyoke, and just enjoying being with family.  Here are some pics from our trip!

Dancing with the cousins

Reading on the steps. Not too happy mom interrupted us to take our pic.

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo... You can come too, too, too...

Lots of monkeys

Man this looking at animal stuff is tiring :)

Mommy's gorgeous girl

Awesome slide

We had a picnic, complete with wine and plasict wine cups

Kevin and Ashlin

Ashlin and her Godmother (Kevin's Goddaughter)

Kevin and two brothers and nephew

In front to the rhinos and giraffes

Mary didn't want to sit with us in the wishing chair!

Uncle Dermot bought them all masks.  Now they are pretending to be in the Savannah stalking their prey!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I find I keep waiting for things to slow down, but they never do!  I thought once school was out, I'd have more time on my hands to "get stuff done" but it seems my days just fly by faster!  One of the things I haven't been able to do is blog.  I like blogging for several reasons, but mostly because it is a sort of journal writing.  I also like being able to print it off in a book and add it to my photo albums.  Anyway here is a list of things we have been up to in the last 2 months:
1.  Ashlin turned 1 (officially). At her well check she weighed 23lbs. and was 28 in. long.  They were a bit worried that she hadn't grown much since 9 months, but she passed all the other benchmarks.  She is babbling non-stop, and lots of what she says sounds like real words.  She currently is stuck on daddy, which she calls Kevin, me, and male we pass, and a variety of other objects.  She also will drop stuff and say "uh-oh, gettio."  She is never still and is constantly walking loops around the house talking to herself.  She loves her sister, wants to do everything that Mary is doing, and has even managed to get on Mary's nerves a time or two.  She is covered in bruises from where she walks into, falls, or bumps into things, but she is a tough girl and goes right on with whatever she was doing. 
2.  I went to a reading conference in Orlando, Florida.  It was fantastic, but I missed being away from my family for so many days.  I did get to read several good books, and I learned some great things to use in the classroom next year! 
3.  My aunt (recently diagnosed with breast cancer) had surgery to remove the tumor, and will have to have chemo, but they caught it early and her prognosis is good. 
4.  We finished school, yet I have continued to send the kids to daycare, while I have continued to work at school getting my classroom ready and books entered into a new library software (boring I know).
5.  We went to Ireland!!!  I will post pics in another post later. 

Now we are busy planning for the rest of the summer.  July 7 will be our 7th anniversary (and the 1 year anniversary of Kevin's diagnosis of prostate cancer).  July 14 we will follow up with Kevin's doctors in Houston to find out how successful radiation therapy has been (we are keeping our fingers crossed, praying constantly, and hoping for a clean bill of health).  We will be going to Vegas at the beginning of August for a dear friends wedding.  And then school starts.  It is all going by too fast! 

Ashlin's First Birthday

Ashlin doesn't technically turn 1 until Thursday, but I am going to be out of town next weekend, so we decided to have her a small, family birthday party this weekend. My Aunt Kathy was nice to lend us use of her house and pool, and we dined on hot dogs, cupcakes, and ice cream sundaes!

My niece Katie

Katie, Mary and our friend Maddie

Birthday Girl

Ashlin and Babo making the same face!

I got this walking thing down!