A HISTORY LESSON

On Friday we went to the Hermitage, Andrew Jackson’s house. It was built in the 1819 and remodeled in the 1830's with 14 roomsDid you know that his wife died before he was president and she never got to be the first lady, and he never remarried. AND He was the only President in American History to pay off the national debt.We also took a self-guided tour of the grounds, they gave us hand sets and head phones and each landmark had a # and you punched it in and listened to the story about it. It was really cool and nice to go at our own pace with Chasen.
His wife Rachel was burried in the garden because she loved it so much and spent so much time on itIt would have been beautiful in the spring, but we still enjoyed the 60 degree weather! Ean really loved it and wants to tour all of the presidents homes.

On saturday we went to the Belle Meade Plantation. It was built in 1853 (3 years before our house was built!)It was owned/built by the Harding Family and later owned by the Jackson family, who made their living on horse racing!! Mr. Harding was married twice his first wife died after the birth of their 5th child and his second wife had 9 children. Out of 14children only 3 lived to be adults. I guess that was really common, back then. I thought it was crazy and sad.They owned a horse racing stud(I don’t remember his full name, Bonnie something) and 1/3rd of the race horses today can have their lineage traced to him and 28 of the Kentucky Derby winners as well can be traced back to him!
One of the battles of the civil war was fought thereand you can still see the bullet holes!
There was also a beautiful gardenIt was cool to tour the house and see some of the same wood work that is in our own home. Our wood floors upstairs looked exactly like the ones in this house which makes me think they are the original floor. Our floors downstairs have been replace though.
After our tour we enjoyed some wine tasting and even brought home a couple bottles:)

St. Louis To Nashville

We started our first family vacation Wed. night and drove the 5 hours to St. Louis, MO he loved the hotel!
We woke up on Thursday and went to a Train Museum in St. Louis.thought it was just going to be a museum that was kinda boring,and it was, but cool, BUT they had an imagination station for kids and Chasen had a blast!He also really enjoyed the museum part too, with all the trains.this is the largest tanker in the world!!
Then we went to Anheuser Busch, which was all free!We took a mini tour, just to he stables
and back to the tasting room.
Chasen sat at a different table then us and it worked out nice because he was quiet and smiling because he thought he was getting away with doing something naughty!
Then it was back on the road for 5 more hours to Nashville, TN.
Our final destination.
But first, we stopped in Metropolis to see
SUPERMAN!!!We arrived in Nashville around 6pm. I was driving and it was a lil stressful so many cars, and lanes and exits, and going from 70mph to 0mph to 45mph to 25mph to 60mph, ahhhh!!
We got checked in and then went downtown to the wild horse saloon. It's a large resturant with a dance floor for line dancing and a stage for concerts.
we got to see both line dancing and a concert! Best resturant ever to take a 2 year old!!
they also had horses on the ceiling.






chasen was in awe of the "cow boy" and his guitar! He loved it!!



On a funny note, we were driving and I saw a sign for Chattanooga and I said "Chattanooga" and Chasen goes "we dont say that mama"
guess it sounded like a bad word:)


Today was fun too, but Im to tired to post about it now. we are snuggling and watching TV!

(|) or (-)

That's what I see EVERY TIME I take a pregnancy test.
but never this (|| )or this (+).
And its getting really old.
If I never see another pregnancy test again I'll be happy.

I just don't understand.

looks like ill be drinking allot of Tennessee Whiskey and Jack Daniels this weekend!

Was it Professor Plum in the Library With the Candle Stick?

or was it
Chasen
in the bathroom sink
with lots of water




Woody was not happy.

Country Life

I love living in the country!
if for no other reason then views like this,

and this

and summer sunsets like this

Adding to the litter

While we were in Nebraska we took home a stray cat!

not just any ol' cat. But a big kitty that my mom found in the camper that the boy scouts park on her land.

he's a big pretty cat!

he tolorated the 4 hour car ride really well, only meowing every once in a while. we had some food that we kept giving him in his cat carrier.
It was quite the scene, us in the jetta, Kev on one side, chasen in the middle and the cat on the other side.

We are not sure of its gender but are calling him Raymond, or big ray for short. or baby ray.
If it turns out to be a girl we will call her barbara.

Here is Ray next to Chong for a size comparison.
The kids seem to be getting along well. All of them, Cheech, Chong, Anaranjado and Ray are on the back porch with a heater and cat door.

We still have 4 mama goats pregnant and are just waiting for more babies!
Hopefully they wait until its warmer because right now its beyond cold here in the frozen Land O' Iowa.

Good Night Chasen

Bed time is getting more and more interesting with this kid.
We send him upstairs at 8pm and let him watch Woody (toy story), Chuggington, Caillou, or Up! and every night when we go to bed around 9:30 or 10:00 he is still awake and ready to go!
It used to be that we would turn on one of our "boring" shows and he would fall asleep. But the past 2 nights he has wanted to sleep with us and by 11 we are both so tired we just let him in bed until he fell asleep (which was pretty quick on the first night)
The first night I rolled over and told him I was going to sleep and he better shut his eyes.
Next thing I know I feel his sticky, clammy little hand around my neck and he kisses my cheek and says "good night mama"
talk about melt your heart! OMG I could just eat him up!
Last night same thing he gets in bed with us except this time he wouldn't stay still.
So I asked him to tell me a bed time story.
He thought for a moment and came up with
"story and the dell a story and the dell hi ho da darrie O da story an the dell"
(to the tune farm and the dell of course)
what a smart clever little dude!
Then he sang me Rudolph and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
After that I told him I was going to bed and rolled over.
Next thing I know I feel his sticky, clammy little hand around my neck and he kisses my cheek and says "sweet dreams"
Ean and I almost died.
He sure knows how to melt my heart:)
Unfortunately after that he would not lay still and I had to put him in his bed where he cried for a few minutes.
It didn't seem fair after all the sweet pillow talk and serenading!

Ean is going to finish our room this weekend so this will be our last week(i really hope) all in the same room.
Thant just means Chasen will wander into our room in the middle of the night *sigh*
maybe this is why he can't sleep at night! It kinda creeps me out!

Let's Wrestle

They are so cute and look alot alike in this photo

we went home this past weekend and got to watch my brother wrestle!
Chasen loved it he didnt throw a fit once and we were there for about 3 hours
chasen just had fun watching and hanging with uncle jaxie and his friends


Chasen even got to wrestle on the mats at intermission!

after the meet we stayed at my Aunt and sisters house. We (my aunt) cooked an amazing meal and then we played this fun card game where one card says killer and the other cards say victum. You pick a card (no one can see it) and if you are the killer you kill people by winking at them and once you get winked at you have to die in a very loud fashion! That night Chasen stayed up until midnight with us! we didnt bring the crib so he slept on an air matress with aunt Lissy and it seemed to go pretty well.
while we played the "killer game" chasen played the harmonica!
at the very end of the video you can hear someone dying!

The next day we went out for sushi!
and I ate so much I thought I was going to be sick! It was so good and it had been so long since I had had sushi. YUM!
chasen ate some rice and then played with his chop sticks and then put his car in the soy sauce. Good times!

I still dont know if Im pregnant.
I've kinda blah lately because Im trying really hard not to think about it and the what if's and trying to stay on the positive but not too positive.
and I really dont want to talk about it either. Ill let everyone know when I know whats going on!:)
Capiche!!

Lily & Chasen

Over Christmas we went to the nursing home to visit great great grandma and Chasen and Lily sang Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer!


and I go in tomorrow morning for the IUI :)
Surprisingly I don't have any negative thoughts about it, I'm not really anxious about the procedure. Im just anxious for the next few weeks to pass to I can take a PT.
Which it works out perfect that we are going to Nashville the last weekend of Jan. right when I can test so the week leading up to that Ill be pretty busy with cleaning and packing and hopefully wont have time to think about weather Im pregnant or not!

Exhausted

You would think being at home all weekend would be relaxing.
but 3 people with 3 or more meals at home create alto of dishes and as soon as I clean one thing up Ean and Chasen mess up another!

But the most exhausting was today.
We went to church, that's always tough with Chasen. He wasn't awful but definitely a hand full.
Then we went out to eat at CiCi's pizza. Chasen jumped in the booth the whole time yelling "there's sponge bob" (there was a man who looked pretty similar to my uncle Bob and Chasen likes to call him sponge bob)
Then we went to lowes to get paint because...
EAN FINISHED THE ELECTRICAL AND PATCHING THE WALLS IN OUR BEDROOM!!!!!
and by that time it was nap time and Chasen was screaming his way through the store.
If you want to pick paint colors in a hurry take a toddler with you. At least I have had about a year to mull over paint colors so I knew what I wanted.
Then we got home and chasen was asleep so I decided I would unload the car.
well,
I walked in the door and Kevin started having a seizure. Ean came in and saw us both on the floor and helped hold him while I went to get chasen.
Thank God Chase stayed asleep.
Well one seizure turned into 2 which is pretty normal. He hasn't had one in about 2 months so I wasnt to worried. That one ended and Ean went upstairs to start painting.
Kevin was panting pretty good but he had definitely came out of the seizure but then he tried to stand up and started seizing again so I yelled for Ean and he came downstairs. We were debating weather we should take him to the ER Vet Clinic or not.
Its really expensive and frustrating because usually by the time we get there he isn't doing anything abnormal. So we waited for it to end.
It ended he came out of it and was a lil shaky but okay, then he tried to stand again and started seizing for a 4th time. this had been going on for an hour and 15min so I decided it was time to call and take him in. I cleared out the back of the suburban, Ean carried Kev to the suburban while I grabbed Chasen and off we went.
I rode in the back with Kevin, he didn't seize anymore but was having tremors.
Ean carried him straight back to procedure room and they monitored him there for a while. Actually we were there with chasen for 2 1/2 hours, which was pure hell!! thank god I keep toys in the car, but even that got old after about an hour.
He kept asking for his "tevy" finally they came back and told us that we need to start him on an anti seizure med for the rest of his life. he will have to get his blood checked once a month or so, i dont remember gotta call the Doc. in the morning.
Oh, and to top it all off, we got out to the suburban and had left one of hte doors ajar so it was dead and someone had to help us jump it!
ahhh!!
Kevin is acting completely normal now so that's good!! I just hope this medicine isn't awful for him:( poor Kevy.
so, maybe someday we will have our own bedroom. But not this week!
Here are a few new phrases chasen likes to say.
"I wanna talk to you sumpting"
"I Don't know"
"You love me!"
"Lets play shootball(football)" "you stand right here" "blue 32" then he has you pitch the ball to him and he runs around the house until he yells "touch down" or falls and says "ahhhhh got tackled"
He has also picked up his old habbit of lining up the shoes.
and the calf is doing good!

it was a good weekend though just didn't have a good ending.
Time to go snuggle in bed with Kevey:)

Date Night

Tonight all three of us went on a date to the bijou theater in mount vernon!
We saw the chronicles of narnia!
Its a small theater about 1/4th the size of a regular theater!
Chasen got in free and out tickets were $4. You bring your own containers for popcorn and pop and you get if half off!
Chasen did a really good job manning the popcorn. after about an hour he got antsy and we had to get some skittles!
I think he would really enjoy an animated movie like toy story or something!
we will definitely be going back:)