The Mathews Family

Who thinks I should bring back my family blog??

2009-05-19T12:19:00.001-04:00

Since I'm so busy these days, I never have time to scrapbook. But I still want to capture my family memories in the form of pictures and ramblings on my blog. I want to be able to make a digital scrapbook and use my blog as my journaling to go along with the pics I post. I will still have my KMP blog of course and on there I'll still include some family/personal posts, but I miss being able to blog about just stupid/mundane family life..haha. I want to post silly things and outfits that Anthony does/wears. Sooo...should I bring back the family blog?!? Leave me a comment with your "vote." :)

And I never do a post without a picture so here's the bouquet of flowers that my husband put together for me on Mother's Day!! He used the flowers and berries from the yard that he has worked to make so nice. I was so surprised! I always tell him that the gift(s) he makes for me our the best....

Good bye....

2008-11-03T23:48:00.001-05:00

I think most of you know, but I'm saying good bye to this blog. Instead of trying to keep up more than one blog, I'm just using my KMP blog and am incorporating personal stuff into it along with my photography sessions. It's much easier and I think anybody who is reading this blog, reads that one anyways.....soooo.... c'mon over there..

Katie Mathews Photography blog

Also, my sister in law, Jenny and I are working on a brand new blog - which I can't wait to reveal. It's going to be awesome....so stay tuned for that.

I hate to make a post without a pic.....so I'll share one of my new favs of Tony..... some of you may have seen it on my facebook page....but it's worth sharing here too :)

Vote!

2008-10-02T12:52:00.001-04:00

Check this out! It's a PSA that a lot of celebrities have been a part of encouraging people to vote (and to register to vote). I'm sure you are all registered, right? But it's still pretty cute and it has a few funny parts.

Grandma Judy

2008-09-25T22:25:00.002-04:00

Grandma Judy has started her own blog. She started it awhile back but didn't want to share with the world until she added lots of stuff. I'm so proud of her....she's come a long way in the world of computers/internet!! Go check it out and leave her a message...oh and feel free to add a link to her blog on yours...you'll see she has done that for a lot of my blog readers :)
http://ju-jucomspeco.blogspot.com

For Jenny...

2008-09-25T16:28:00.001-04:00

After reading Jenny's comment wondering where my funny pic was...I had to stop what I was doing and do some self portraits....which do you like better?

Your laugh for the day....

2008-09-25T11:23:00.001-04:00

I have a big wedding coming up this weekend and decided to rent a couple of lenses.....I cannot wait to purchase a fish eye lens, but in the meantime, I rent them on occasion and LOVE to annoy my husband with it. You have to get super close to your subject to get a pic like this so imagine how annoying I was to my husband, in his face, for about 10 minutes....funny stuff. Then I had to grab one of T in the tub..... (yes, I'm being too lazy to put my watermark on these, cuz they are not edited and I'm working on a project)....

Show me the money!

2008-09-15T12:54:00.001-04:00

As everyone knows...this economy kinda stinks right now....gas prices are ridiculous and groceries are up as well. I've been working really hard to save money at the grocery store by using coupons. I've also been using a website called "The Grocery Game" It is awesome! It tells you what stuff is on sale at each store (advertised and unadvertised) and then it tells you which week to use your coupons to get the very best deal. I got all kinds of free stuff this week because the item would be on sale for 2 for $2.00 ...I'd buy one and then I had a .50 off coupon (the store I was at doubles coupons up to .99) so the item was free. I buy cleaning supplies, toiletries etc at the grocery store because it ends up being cheaper than walmart/target etc if you get it at the right time with the right coupons. The idea is to stockpile what your family will use in a 3 month period and continue to replenish only at the rock bottom prices. So it takes about 3 months to get the max savings. I've only been doing it about a month, but today I did my shopping and spent $165.47 at 5 stores. My total value was $377.87!!! I saved $212.40 for a savings percentage of 62%...woo hoo! One of the stores I went to I only paid .78 for almost 20 bucks worth of stuff. Fun! Anyways, it sounds like a lot of work and I'm not lying, it does take a bit of time to get yourself organized (the way it works best for you), but to think I spent about 4 hours last night to prepare for my shopping trip and saved over 200 bucks...so that's like getting paid 50 bucks an hour to clip coupons - I'll take it. Ok, I hope this all made sense...I'm super excited and had fun this a.m. after dropping Anthony off at school. I felt like I was on a shopping spree..lol. I thought I'd take some pics too....(they are terrible technically, but that's ok)...

Here's a portion of my loot from today - a lot of it I already put away in the fridge and freezer....

Here's a peek in the freezer.....stock full of a lot of things (I think we are going to need to get a chest freezer soon)....lots of meat, veggies and other goodies...

Now for a peek into the refrigerator....lots of stuff.....

Finally...we don't have a lot of storage space in our house, but we have this closet in the hall that we have turned into a pantry. Pretty soon, we're going to buy some plastic rubbermaid bins to put under the beds, in other closets etc. (It's worth it to get these rock bottom savings)...

Here's a close up of the bottom of the closet.....to save space for storing items I open any of the individually packaged snacks, granola bars etc and put them in the baskets....makes them easy to grab too :)

Also...this is a good time to ask any of our family and friends to please save "Box Tops for Education" on a ton of packaged foods you probably have/eat on a regular basis. They are on a lot of cereals and other "dry items".....also campbells soup labels. Since Anthony goes to a Catholic/Private school, they rely heavily on fundraising for a lot of things and they earn a lot of money from these items....so if you don't mind sending them, we'd really appreciate it!! :)

Labor Day Picnic

2008-09-09T10:51:00.001-04:00

Hi all! It's been awhile since I posted (although I have plenty to say..lol), so I thought I'd post a few pics from labor day weekend. Our friend Janet and her girls, invited us to their farm for a picnic/bbq. Her youngest daughter recently got a horse (Darlin)! So, after we ate, Dad took a ride...apparently he used to ride horses (but hadn't in 20+ years). Then Brian decided to give it a try. He has NEVER ridden a horse. He did good. The boys went swimming with the girls (I love the pic of Anthony with the 3 girls) and later in the afternoon, Brian & Anthony went down the road a little ways to the creek to go fishing. Anthony had never been fishing, so of course I had to tag along for a few pictures. It was a great day with lots of food, fun and friends :) Oh, and it was HOT!

Where has the time gone??

2008-08-21T22:27:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it. The time has come for my baby to go to Kindergarten. He will start on Monday, August 25th at 8:05am at St Mark Catholic School. Tonight, we went to the Open House where he got to meet his teacher, bring all of his school supplies in, do a scavenger hunt in the classroom (and get a sucker), have ice cream at the ice cream social for the whole school and then we stayed for the new family meeting. Anthony will be in a class of 19 students and his teacher is Ms. Nolan. There is also a full time aid/assistant and her name is Ms. Gateau. They are both super nice and I'm so excited for them to be teaching my little boy. When we met Ms. Nolan, I told her that I was a professional photographer and I would love to help out any time she wants pictures taken in her class - for any projects, etc. Her eyes got big with excitement and she said.."Do you want to come on Monday?!?" So Mommy will be going to Anthony's 1st day of school too. So there will be plenty of pictures from that day. He goes half days next week and they start full days on Tuesday, Sept 2nd. We have been so blessed spiritually and financially and I'm so glad Anthony will get a great education at SMCS where it's ok to talk about God in the classroom! I didn't take many pics tonight, but here's a few....

Here he is with Miss Nolan...

Here he is with Ms. Gateau...she said the kids will just call her Ms. G

Here's a peek at the classroom. I love how there are so many bright colors...

My Mommy

2008-08-20T14:34:00.001-04:00

Last night, Mom, Dad & Anthony went with me to a photo shoot at the beach for our friend Carolyn and her family (a sneak peek will be on my KMP blog in a few days). So after we were done with the "official" pics....I got Mom to let me take a few pics of her (and then her and Dad..I'll post those in a day or two). So here is my Mommy, looking sassy!

Mom, I'm so proud of you for becoming "Healthy Grandma" over the last year! I love you so much. You look maaahvelous darling!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

2008-08-12T10:26:00.001-04:00

I found this collage the other day that I had made as Christmas gifts for family a million years ago. I made an original and then made photo copies (how nice huh? ) and then put them in Walmart frames and woo hoo....a gift. Anyways....apparently I made too many because 3 of them were in an old suitcase that we had up in the attic. When Brian got suitcases down for us to use for our trip...these were in one of them. It cracked me up so I thought I'd share. Keep in mind the quality kinda sucks because 1 - it was photocopied and 2 - I scanned it for the purpose of posting it here. Enjoy!

Haircut, Missing Tooth and a Lemonade Stand, Oh My!

2008-08-11T17:19:00.001-04:00

Anthony had a busy weekend. On Saturday, I was doing some work and Daddy wanted to get out of the house, so he and Anthony decided to have a lemonade stand. I of course couldn't miss an opportunity for pictures, so I took a break and walked down the street with them. For those of you that don't know, we live on a dead end off of a really busy street. We also have a gas station at the end of the street. So Anthony set up shop across from the Gas Station (we're friends with the owner and she got a kick out of it) and a lot of strangers stopped. It was so cute. His friend Daniel came and helped too and they were out of lemonade in just under 30 minutes (Thank God - it was hot!) They made 7 bucks! Not bad. After paying his friend for helping....he came home with a pocketful of money. He wanted to do another one yesterday but we told him he can only do it once in awhile.

Later that afternoon, Anthony let me play with the really loose front tooth he had. Just like the other teeth he's lost...I yanked it out. I couldn't help myself..it was just dangling there..hee hee.

Then yesterday, we took him to get his hair cut. Dad had a coupon and the barber shop he usually goes to is closed for the week because an 80+ year old woman drove through the front of it last week!

So check out the pics from Anthony's busy weekend below.

Also, keep in mind our Aunt Hazel. I mentioned her in the last post and most of you know her anyways...but she fell this weekend and broke her hip (or maybe broke her hip and fell..not sure). She had to have surgery yesterday and she's in a lot of pain and quite miserable. Please pray for her. I know God is in control and He will bring Hazel home when it is time, but I sure do hate knowing she is suffering.

Have a good week, everyone!

We're Baaaack....

2008-08-08T22:12:00.001-04:00

Are you ready for the longest blog post EVER? If so...then grab a cup of coffee, water, diet dr pepper or whatever you like and settle in for a great read....a summary of our trip to Minnesota....I certainly don't have the writing talent in the family, so hopefully you'll keep reading :)

Tuesday, July 29th

I finished working in the a.m. and then packed for our trip. Around 3pm, Brian, Anthony & I left to go downtown to say goodbye to Pappy and to pick up Grandma and say goodbye to Diana. Then it was on to the airport. We flew to Cincinnati and once we found our gate, we stopped to grab a bite to eat. After dinner I realized I had left my Ipod on the plane!!! Long story short....I got it back. I was lucky though because the plane was getting ready to leave pretty soon. Anyways....we left around 9pm EST and headed for MSP...Anthony was really good on the plane and we enjoyed seeing MSP as we got close. Dave and Jenny picked us up at the airport in her parents Jimmy because we had so much stuff - one of their cars wouldn't have worked. After the 20 min car ride home, we stayed up chatting for awhile and then headed to bed.

Wednesday, July 30th

We got up early (around 7:15ish), got showers and packed up the car. We went to breakfast at Perkins with Dave & Jenny before they had to go to work. Anthony had some yummy pancakes and bacon.

After breakfast, Jenny went to work and Dave took us out to the airport to pick up our rental car. We got a good deal on the car by using Priceline. As soon as we got to the car, my darling child threw open his car door and dented the rental car (OMG!!!). Luckily it wasn't too noticeable because the car already had quite a few dings and dents..whew!

After saying goodbye to Dave, we had some time before we were going to leave for Rochester so we decided to go to the Mall of America. I got some GREAT deals on some clothes which I desperately needed and Anthony got a pair of PJs too. Anthony was so patient while we shopped so we took him to the park in the center of the mall so Anthony could go on a ride and of course we had to stop at Legoland for a bit.

After leaving the mall, we made the 90 minute drive to Rochester. We arrived at Grandma's around 3:45pm and Ann, Grandma and Minnie (Ann's dog) were waiting. Mom & Ann had made plans to go to a 4pm Weight Watcher meeting, so Mom barely had time to pee and she and Ann left. We stayed and played with Minnie and visited with Grandma.

After having dinner with Grandma, Ann & Joe....Emily & Jim came over. Emily had just returned from Europe about 2 weeks ago, so she had tons of pictures to show us....plenty of stories to tell and she also had her senior pictures taken at the beginning of June so she showed us those. I didn't get any pics because I was too busy looking at pics and we were pretty tired. So after they left, we headed to bed.

Thursday, July 31st

My Great Aunt Hazel lives in Chatfield and in the last few months has really taken a turn for the worse. She has suffered numerous strokes, has fallen many times and is suffering from a bit of dementia. One of the main reasons for taking this trip to Minnesota was so that we could go visit her. She is in the nursing home now in Chatfield and it was really hard to see her. Just last year when we visited, she was "running" around her apartment and even went to Rochester with us for our cousin Jana's graduation party. This time, we could hardly understand her because she spoke very very softly and didn't always make sense. In any case, I'm so glad we were able to visit and we took a few pictures. It was really hard to say goodbye to her, not knowing if we will ever see her again in this life.

Ohh...also...we ended up going to Chatfield kind of late because there was a really bad storm when we got up. I wish I would've taken some pics of the sky because it was soo so dark and I love a good storm! But I was still kind of groggy. Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a morning person.

Anyways, after our visit with Hazel (Grandma and Ann went with us), we went to the house in Chatfield which is over 100 years old and we always love to go there. Most everything is gone from the house now, but it was still fun to stop in there one more time. After that, we headed back to Rochester (about 25 miles away) and met Megan at Culvers for lunch - yum! We then made a stop at Walmart for various things including ingredients for the fruit salad I was making to go with dinner. When we got back to Grandma's house it was about 4:30ish and I was exhausted (I guess it's because I was finally taking a break from work)...I made the fruit salad and then I decided to take a little rest. Mom, Ann, Anthony & Megan went to the Rochester Athletic Club (RAC) where Ann & Megan are members. They have a couple of indoor pools and an outdoor pool with a big slide. Anthony managed to get Mom to go on the big slide! Then we had dinner at Grandma's with Joe and we just hung out the rest of the evening and visited until almost 10:30pm.

Friday, August 1st

Wow, it's August. Really?!? How did that happen? That means my baby is starting school in 25 days! Ok, I'm done crying now....on with the rest of the story....

We had kind of a slow start because I didn't want to leave the house...I was enjoying sitting around at Grandma's, Anthony was watching tv...I was just being a bum....but we headed out a little after 10 to go to the RAC with Ann & Megan. The slide sure looked like fun and I figured if Mom could do it, I could, so up I went - it was fun!! I went down a couple more times and then I got to spend some time just lounging on the chairs outside the pool and reading my book. The weather was gorgeous!!! Not much humidity at all and a nice breeze.

Our time at the pool came to an end rather quickly - time flies when you're having fun right? It was time to meet Grandma and Joe for lunch (at 12:45pm) We went to a restaurant called "Noodles" that Megan works at. For some reason I was thinking it would be something like Macaroni Grill or Olive Garden, but it was more like fast food. You order and then sit down and they bring the food to you. It was soo so yummy!! No wonder Megan likes it. I don't think you could get anything there that tastes bad because I took a few bites from everyone else's plates and it was divine - especially the Mac n Cheese!

After lunch, we all took a ride (in 2 cars) down to Stockton, MN. You might remember last year when there was really bad flooding in Southern MN...houses were swept down the river and the whole town was covered with water (unless you lived up on a big hill like John). Ann's boyfriend John lives in Stockton on a beautiful piece of land. I had never been there, but had heard great things about it. When we got there, we lounged underneath a big weeping willow tree. John had a picnic table there already and we had a bunch of lawn chairs to sit in. The weather was still gorgeous, especially in the shade of the tree. We watched Anthony and Minnie play and I took pics (Shocker!) I eventually ended up laying down on the grass and we took some silly pics, because down here, the grass kinda sucks. It's mostly dirt down here...so it was nice to sit on cushy green grass.

After a while, it was time to make the hike up the ginormous hill. John has some beautiful gardens, but the trip up the hill is a bit treacherous. Especially for somebody with a bum ankle and wearing flip flops. But I did it and it was so fun! Along the way, John picked fresh raspberries for us. Once we got to the top, we had John's friend Dean take a pic of us. We were pretty hot by then, because the sun was beating down pretty good at that time of day.

After the hike up the hill, we hiked down the hill and John got out the old tractor for the trek down to the gardens that had yummy food in them :) Corn, peppers, cucumbers, etc. Anthony didn't want to ride on the tractor when it was moving, but he did sit on it for a bit for a picture. We had the corn 2 days later at a picnic (which you'll read about soon) and it was so good!!! Thanks John!

We left the farm around 6:30pm and we were hungry, so we stopped on the way back at Subway. We ended up just eating our sandwiches in the car on the ride back because the Subway didn't have AC - well, I think they did, but it wasn't working...it was hot n stuffy in there! Also, we were racing back to Rochester because Mom had promised Anthony that we could go back to the RAC! So back we went. Unfortunately, by the time we got there they had already turned off the water for the big slide, so we decided to swim inside (it had also cooled off quite a bit by then). After a dip at the RAC, Mom, Anthony & I, met Ann & Megan over at Fed Ex. Mom wanted to ship some stuff back to herself. On the way out of the RAC parking lot (which is in the middle of the city of Rochester)...I saw all of these cows across the street. It struck me as kind of funny to see cows in the city, so I made mom stop the car so I could grab my camera from the trunk. Then I continued to play paparazzi as we drove through Rochester at dusk and then again when we were waiting in the parking lot at Fed Ex.

Here's Anthony walking like an Egyptian in the parking lot at Fedex, lol!

After Fed Ex, we all headed over to Kohls for their late night hours....(yes, it was a long day..haha). We called Grandma and told her she could head to bed and that we'd be quiet when we got home. We didn't have much luck at Kohls, but it was still fun to look around. After a quick stop at the golden arches on the way home (Anthony didn't eat much earlier at Subway), we headed home to bed!

Saturday, August 2nd

We woke up early and packed our stuff (again). Ann & Megan met us at Grandma's and Megan rode in our car, while Ann & Grandma went and picked up Joe. We drove to River Falls, Wisconsin for the Duane Family Reunion. My grandma was a Duane before she got married, so that's how we are all a part of that. We drove through Red Wing on the way - a city where my Dad spent a lot of time when he was growing up.

When we got to River Falls, we went to the hotel where most of the family members were staying (a lot of them lived close by so only came for the day like we did). We saw the rest of the Heydon's there (my Mom's maiden name) and then we went with the Kansas Duanes to a town called Prescott, WI (about 10 miles down the road). We went to a restaurant called Muddy Waters. It was kind of a biker bar I think, because there were lots of bikers and "their women" there. It struck me as funny to take my 86 year old Grandma to a Biker Bar, but she seemed to enjoy it just fine. We sat outside and they had big fans that had hoses hooked up to them that blew mist on us....it was actually kind of nice. Dave & Jenny met us there after a late start in the Cities because Jenny ran a 5K and Dave was helping with the water stations and was also there for work.

After lunch, we all went to look at the St Croix river and I got everyone to let me take a group picture....

Here's the back side of the restaurant - you could enter from the front or back. The food was really good!

After lunch, we went back to the hotel where more of the family members had arrived (or had come back from other outings). While Mom visited, I took Anthony swimming with our cousins. He loved that - and I didn't mind hanging out in the hot tub!

Around 4:15ish....we went up to the rooms and got showers and got changed for church. The whole family/reunion went to Mass at St Bridgets and then we had dinner at the local supper club. It is tradition to get a group picture after dinner.

After dinner (it was around 9pm)...we had to go back to the hotel for "a few minutes" to get something....a few minutes turned into an hour! Finally, we were on our way back to Dave & Jenny's hotel, I mean house :) where we would be staying for the remainder of our trip. (They live about 45 min away from River Falls so it wasn't too bad). When we got home we hung out for a little bit and just enjoyed relaxing and talking with each other and then headed to bed.

Sunday, August 3rd

We were so lucky that my brother and his wonderful wife decided to have a BBQ for us when we were there. Over 40 people stopped by throughout the day to see us! In the morning we all helped get things ready and Mom and I ran to Walmart and the gas station for some last minute supplies/food. The first guests arrived around 11am. We had lots of yummy food...Dave cooked brats on the grill, after soaking them in beer....he cooked the corn that was from John's garden and people brought lots of desserts and other things to share. We could definitely feel the love people had for us....some people drove over 2 hours from Duluth and many stayed for 4-5 hours! Anthony played Twister for the first time with the flower girls (from DJ & Jenny's wedding) - their nieces Emily & Amanda. Anytime we go to MN, he usually gets to play with them at some point. There was also usually a concert going on in the living room thanks to "Rock Band." Anthony got a hold of the microphone anytime he could and sang "I am a rockstar," over and over and over for the duration of the song! Jenny's Dad got a kick out of the game too so I had to take a picture for her Mom (she's in the background laughing).

The weather couldn't have been any better. It was overcast all day and had a wonderful breeze. People were probably sick of me saying over and over how wonderful the weather was. It was about 75 or 80, low humidity...oh it was so great! Anyway, a few of us took the kids swimming around 3pm at the pool in their neighborhood. There was only one other group of 3 there so we definitely didn't have to fight the crowds.

Later in the day, we took a few pictures with Grandma before she left. It's always hard when we have to say our goodbyes especially when we don't have specific plans for when we will see each other next. Dave & Jenny are going to hopefully come down for Christmas, but we don't know when we'll see the rest of the family. I love living in Wilmington, but I hate being more than a 24 hour drive/plane ride away from the rest of the family. That's what makes it even more special when we do get to see each other.

Around 6pm...everybody had left, except for Dave & Jenny (of course), Mom, Anthony, me and my cousin Megan (who was staying over night). We got everything cleaned up and then around 8pm, some more people got there! Two of the Dobos from Duluth (Dianne & Katrina) and Bryan and Andrea Reese (used to be Dobo) came over. We visited for a bit all together and then Mom & Dianne went for a walk around the neighborhood and the rest of us played "Apples to Apples." I had never played it before, but it was a lot of fun!! Anthony "played" too....if you've ever played the game before, then you know why it's so funny for a 5yr old to play. We had a lot of laughs and Katrina won the game!

They left a little after 11pm. Now that is love! Katrina and Dianne still had a 2.5 hour drive home and Dianne had to be up around 6? to do daycare all day! The party had lasted 12 hours!!! After they left, we were all exhausted and headed to bed. I slept on the couch....Megan slept on an air mattress on the floor in the living room...Mom had the guest room and Anthony slept on a couch in the loft.

Monday, August 4th

None of us had set an alarm clock and apparently we were all a wee bit tired because I woke up about 9:15am and the rest of them woke up soon after! That's the latest we had slept in so far on our trip. Dave & Jenny had the day off because we went to VALLEYFAIR!!! I hadn't been there since I was in high school, so I was super excited to go back and take my son. I was probably acting more obnoxious when we got there than Anthony...I kept saying how excited I was..lol. The park opened at 10am and it's only about 3 miles from Dave & Jenny's house, but it took us a while to get going, get our stuff packed, stop on the way to get cash, etc. So we got there close to noon. The very first ride we went on was the Antique Autos (if you've been there, you know what I'm talking about). The next ride was called the "monster." Guess who went on it? Megan, Jenny and ANTHONY! Yup, my son wanted to go on big boy rides. This thing moves clockwise while the cars move up and down in a counter clockwise direction. Jenny said that she asked him if he wanted her to put her arm around him (before it started) and he said no. As soon as that thing started, he said "Aunt Jenny, you can put your arm around me now!" haha He did good though and he said he liked it.

Next was the Ferris Wheel and we all went on it together. I've never been particularly fond of them and Mom definitely isn't either, but we braved it and it was a blast :) Luckily all 6 of us could fit in the same bucket.

The view from the Ferris Wheel....

Don't worry....I'm not going to give you the play by play of every single ride we went on....but one of the next ones worth mentioning was The Foam Ball Factory. I had never been in anything like this. It was a 2 story building (in the kiddie area) and the bottom floor had foam balls EVERYWHERE....there were all kinds of contraptions/toys to play with that used the foam balls. Foam balls were flying everywhere. On the 2nd floor, it was basically a deck that went around the perimeter and had guns built into the railing and you could shoot foam balls out of them. That was Dave's favorite (of course, Mr Army Man)

I don't EVER go on roller coasters anymore...I'm a big wimp. But my baby wanted me to go on it and it was a 4 seater car, so I had to. Megan, Jenny, Anthony and I went on the Mad Mouse. That sucker was FAST and jerked us all around. It was fun though! Oh, by the way...all of these Valley Fair pics were taken using Mom's camera, so various people took the pictures. I just think they look better with the frame, and I tweaked a few in photoshop so I might as well put my logo on there :)

Hmm...let's see...oh...we went and had some lunch and I remembered why we had seen people in the parking lot having picnics at their cars. Cuz it's expensive to eat in the park! A fairly nasty hamburger....some mushy fries and a mountain dew (with no refills of course) set me back $13.80!!! Crazy. Anyways...after lunch, Jenny & Megan saw that the line wasn't too long for the Extreme Swing, so naturally after filling your belly, you should go on this ride, NOT!

We went on a lot of other rides including Thunder Canyon. I don't have a pic of it, but it's the ride that Anthony was trying to grow taller for, all summer. He needed to be 46 inches and was only 45 inches. The guy was being super picky too, but we basically hid Anthony between us and managed to get him on the ride ...woo hoo! One of our other favorite rides was called "The Wave." From the name, you can guess that you might get wet. Uh yea. You cannot go on that ride and not get drenched right down to your undies. Then you go over a bridge to get back to "land" and you have to walk over the ride/wave and you get soaked again. Since we were already drenched, we decided to go on it like 3 times and stand on the bridge about 4 times...lol. While we were doing that, Anthony got to get his cotton candy.

While Anthony was having his cotton candy with Aunt Jenny and the rest of us were on the Wave, Dave went out to the car to get our swimsuits/towels/etc to go into the water park section of Valleyfair. (You'd think we already were in the water park based on the last ride..haha). Anyways....we all went on the lazy river together. It was veeerrry lazy. Then we went down some water slides (Anthony wasn't tall enough so he had to go in the kiddie part with Grandma). Dave & Jenny went on some speed slides. They pretty much went down at a 90 degree angle...I can't believe they did it. Then Dave, Jenny, Megan and I decided to go on "Hurricane Falls." My first warning to not go on this ride was that we had to go up 97 steps to get there! On this whole trip, I did a TON more walking than at home, because of my leg/back but I really pushed myself. Well these 97 stairs were a major hurdle for me and I made it up there and kept up with the rest of them. My heart was ready to jump out of my chest, but whatever. I made it. We waited for our turn and then got into our 4 person raft which starts at 70 feet up. It then shot us through the ride and we took high-banked turns and sudden drops and then exited into 18 inches of water. I was so freakin scared! I thought the raft was either going to fly over the edge or flip over. We were pretty close to the weight limit so we went faster and flew in the air further. OMG. That's all I can say. We didn't take the camera in the water park, but here's a pic I found online to give you an idea. You see in the picture that these people were going up on the edge and their raft wasn't going above the edge. Yeah about 1/3 of our raft was over the edge. My butt flew up in the air numerous times and I had to have been 12-18 inches off the ground and I landed on my raft buddies; at some point, somebody landed on me too. It was crrrrazy.

Around 8pm, we finally left the park and headed back to Dave & Jenny's. We were all so tired, but in a good way. Poor Megan had to drive home to Rochester (90 min away) and go to work at 11pm at the hospital/labor and delivery tech. She lucked out though and they sent her home at 5am. Jenny & Mom went and got Chipotle takeout for us for dinner. I sat on the couch with ice on my ankle and took a vicodin while Anthony played a video game and Dave went to get stuff to make home made ice cream (he tried hard, but it didn't work). Around 11ish (I think) we all went to bed.

Tuesday, August 5th

Are you still with me? Really? Dave had to go to work at 8:30am. I was sleeping so good and then my phone rang at 9am....Pappy called to say hi. He felt bad he woke me and told me to go back to sleep but I was already awake. So I read the end of my really good book and enjoyed an hour of quiet time before everybody else woke up. Then I checked email and read a few blogs...we took showers and then we went to a place called Murphy's Landing in Shakopee. Jenny got us a pass at the library (we drove there before going to ML) so we got in free (that's my kind of price!) To explain what it was, I took this little blurb from their web site:

"Experience life in Minnesota from the 1840s through 1890 with a visit to The Landing, a recreated living history museum nestled along the beautiful Minnesota River Valley near Shakopee. Costumed interpreters and authentic buildings show how 19th-century Minnesotans established their lives on the frontier, farmstead and in villages."

We had a tour guide and there was us and 2 other families that went on the tour. It was really cool to walk through all of the houses, the general store, the churches etc and to hear the history and see the way things were "back then." As we got closer to the turn of the century houses, we started recognizing things that were in Hazel and Alta's house (in Chatfield). This place was on the Minnesota River, so we took some pics there after the tour. It was sunny with a nice breeze, but it was pretty hot! Did I mention we had to walk a mile from the visitor center down to the houses and then a mile back? Not to mention walking around the area with the houses. We definitely got our exercise in!

After going to Murphy's Landing, we went to McDonalds for a late lunch. Anthony told us that he was an international spy and we had to go to McDonalds to get another spy toy in his Happy meal. We humored him. We were up for a cheap/quick lunch. After lunch, we went to the post office to mail Grandma her sweater she had left at Dave & Jenny's and then we went to see Dave at Gold's Gym where he is a sales person. He gave us the tour and we met his boss (who gave us free water...woo hoo). They have a really nice gym - I liked the pool (I wish our Gold's had one) and the movie room (they have exercise equipment in a "movie theatre" and it's dark in there while you exercise). After that, we took a drive out to Jenny's sister and brother in law's house (about 30 min away). I took a few pics of her nieces, but it was a short photo shoot because the girls weren't in the mood for pics and it was National Night Out and Becky & Steven were hosting a get together for their neighborhood at 6pm (and it was almost 6pm).

And here's the thermometer in their backyard to show you..it really was hot!

We headed back to Dave & Jenny's to wait for Dave to get off of work. I wanted to do a photo shoot with Dave & Jenny and the weather was kinda crappy on Sunday evening when we had originally planned to do it, so we did it on Tuesday night. We headed to a local park (close to Jenny's parents house) and did some pics...we had to hurry because the sun was going down fast. After doing pics of the 2 of them, I took some pics of Jenny in her wedding dress. We thought it would be fun and then I could also use 1 or 2 of them on my website. We had a blast. There was a National Night Out gathering going on at the park and Jenny changed her clothes kind of in the woods so it looked pretty funny when she came out wearing her dress. All the little girls wanted their picture taken with the princess. (I'm not posting any of them here because I don't have permission from the parents, although Mom got their info for me so I can get it, so I'll post it eventually hopefully).

We finished with pics around 9pm and we hadn't eaten dinner yet, so Mom took us all to DQ - it's one of the ones where you can sit in there and they have food and ice cream. After that we had to run to Walmart to get Famous Dave's BBQ sauce and Gedney pickles to take home...and finally we went back to Dave & Jenny's to pack for our trip home. We hadn't gotten a chance to take pictures of Dave and Jenny and the dogs so I took a couple of quick ones in their dining room at about 11pm!

We said our goodbyes to Dave & Jenny (always hard) and tried to get some sleep. None of us really succeeded at that. First I couldn't fall asleep and when I did, I kept waking up to see what time it was. We had to get up at 3am to get to the airport and return our car and get checked in and ready for our 5:30am flight to Atlanta. About 20 min into the flight....I took some pics of the sunrise.

Anthony conked out for about an hour....I couldn't sleep so I just read....mom rested a tiny bit and then we were in Atlanta. We had a 2 hour layover and then headed home to Wilmington. We got in at 12:39pm. Daddy picked us up and Papa and Grandma Judy came too. Pappy even stopped over on his lunch hour and surprised us with a hug and a kiss before he headed back to work. We had a quick lunch at Wendy's and then Daddy dropped us off and he went back to work. It was such a great trip. I pushed myself harder than I have in a long time - physically and mentally. I've been home 2.5 days and I just feel incredible. I feel like I can do anything. My injuries have held me back for awhile, but no more! I'm excited to get back in shape and get healthy again. Anthony starts kindergarten in a little over 2 weeks and that same day I drop him off I'll be heading to the gym - I can't wait. I'll probably post my progress on here to keep me accountable too. Anyway, here's one last picture of my baby on the plane ride home. He was so tired. Look at those eyes. If you've gotten to the end with me - thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it :)

Edwin learns Peekaboo

2008-07-21T21:49:00.001-04:00

I have the cutest nephew EVER! Tonight we all went out to dinner with some friends because I was going to take a few pics of our friend Katie who is expecting in January and I'm going to follow her pregnancy including the delivery (hopefully).

When we were waiting for our food to get there...we were teaching Edwin how to do peekaboo...I was sitting there thinking...oh how cute. Then I remembered...duh...I have my camera!! So here's a few cute pics.....I love this little boy so much!! :)

Wordle

2008-07-19T10:46:00.001-04:00

I saw this on another blog and thought I'd try it out. Go to wordle.net to make your own. Big surprise that my biggest word from my blog would be Anthony! :)

The Cowboys

2008-07-08T14:20:00.001-04:00

I figured my blog readers needed some entertainment today..... so here's a peak at Cowboy Anthony and Cowboy Daniel from this a.m.....

A Day in the Life of the Mathews Family

2008-07-06T23:16:00.001-04:00

Well it's not quite a whole day, but just for fun I wanted to document (in pictures) a regular ole day around here. I hope you don't mind a little picture overload because I was having fun taking pictures just for me (and my family) instead of for other families. I definitely wan to do this again soon.

It was the first Saturday of the month, so that meant going to Home Depot for the Kids Workshop. This month was a bird house. We haven't been in almost 6 months and Anthony had definitely missed it. He insisted that he could do it all by himself, but Daddy ended up helping some.

Check out his tongue - when he concentrates real hard, that tongue hangs out....too funny.

All done!

After Home Depot, It was time to get something to eat. We went to Hibachi Express. It's Japanese food that is oh so yummy! (Look close and you can see me too!)

Here's my child showing you the food he's chewing..lol

Then he didn't want me to take his picture, so he thought if he laid down I wouldn't be able to see him....WRONG..

Next it was time to go to Lowes foods (I didn't tell you our day was super exciting..haha...but we enjoyed it). We had to get stuff for dinner. Grandma and Pappy were coming over for Ribs, Corn on the Cob and Stewed Apples that my wonderful hubby made - soooo good!

You should've seen all the people that were looking at me funny because I was taking so many pictures - but I didn't care...I enjoyed it!

Anthony insisted on weighing his bananas...they were 7 pounds! I guess it's cuz he was putting some of his weight on it, huh?

The fun continues at the (Sams Club) gas station. Any time Brian gets out of the car (to run into the store or to pump gas etc) Anthony always climbs into Brian's seat and "hides." Then when Daddy gets in the car he pretends to scare him and Daddy pretends to sit on him - hey..it's their thing. So one of my favorite pictures of Anthony a year ago was one that I took when he was in the front seat hiding from Daddy so I took another one today. It'll do. haha

Yuck - $41.00 and that didn't even fill our Doge half way....

Next we had to go to Sams Club. When we looked at the Ribs at Lowes Foods they were kind of expensive and Brian insisted they would be cheaper at Sams (they weren't)....so we went over there. On the way, I told Brian it would be cool if we ran into somebody we knew so I could take their picture for my little project. We had only been in the store about 3 minutes when we ran into our good friends Betsy and her daughter Bonnie (her son Tommy was around there somewhere). So I told them what we were up to and said to say CHEESE!

Then Anthony needed to go to the restroom - big surprise (he always has to go..lol). So I went and browsed the book section and picked up a couple. I love reading for education and for fun and I don't do it nearly enough.

I met up with the boys and then we got the ribs (they weren't cheap - oh well - they were really really really good, so they were worth it!)

Last stop - our favorite smoothie place - Smoothie King. Like everything else, prices have gone up on smoothies too so it's a real treat to get one.

So when we got home we unpacked the stuff we had picked up...Anthony went to Papa and Grandma's house for a bit and Brian went in the garage....so I folded some laundry (booooring). Then my ankle starting hurting pretty bad (because I had been walking most of the day so far and then standing to fold laundry) so I decided to sit down and read my awesome new book. I ended up doing that most of the afternoon (I rarely take any "me" time these days because I'm always working) so I savored every moment of it. Mom and Dad came over for dinner and then I folded more laundry last night and started watching Weeds on DVD (I've never seen it). Next time I do this little project, I'll take pics at home during the rest of the day, but I got a little lazy. Besides...there's already over 25 here...lol. That's enough for now :)

I encourage any of you to do this sometime too - it was really fun (I think I mentioned that about 5,000 times already).

Time for bed and back to work tomorrow. It was a really nice/relaxing weekend. I hope everyone has a great week!!

Time with Grandma

2008-07-03T00:08:00.001-04:00

Anthony is so lucky to have both sets of his grandparents in his life and close by... the last 3 nights, we have hung out with my parents. I blogged about Monday night already...last night we had dinner and then Grandma, Anthony and Brian went for a bike ride (I've got pics but hopefully those will go up tomorrow). Mom hasn't had a new bike in 50 years! So this was a big deal! Then tonight we had dinner together and Mom and Anthony came with me to the beach for a photo shoot. While we were waiting for the family to get there, I took a couple pics of Anthony and Grandma.

Family Time

2008-07-01T13:47:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite things to do in the summer is have the family over for dinner and/or go in the pool. So yesterday it had been in the 90s....and we invited Mom, Dad, Diana & Edwin to come over to go for a dip in the pool and then we grilled out some steaks. It was so much fun. The weather was so perfect...there was a breeze that kicked up and the humidity started dropping and it was just so awesome. We went in the pool first, then had dinner....then we played with Anthony and Edwin in the yard....then Ed got done with work so he came over for a steak and while he was eating and working on installing his new car stereo (not at the same time..haha)...Diana, Mom, Anthony, Edwin and I took a stroll down the road and ran into Grandma Judy. We stopped and looked at the pics from their week long cruise a couple of weeks ago and then we came home to shoot off a couple of fireworks (to see what Edwin thought of them in preparation for Friday) and then everyone headed home. I can't even explain what a great night it was even though it was so simple. I just feel so blessed to have such an awesome family and nights like these are just priceless. So I've been swamped with work but I took some time to take some pics for ME - which I miss....so here's a few....ok a bunch....trying to catch up from being a bad blogger..haah

Here's my son and his ho...seriously.

Eddie crusing the yard in his diaper..so cute.

Not sure what Eddie was doing here but it was funny...

Anthony & Edwin playing ball....

Edwin kept wanting to go up our front steps so Grandma sat there trying to block him...it didn't really work...lol

And then Edwin's Daddy got home and he was soo happy...

Grandma got a bike a couple of weeks ago and our street is just a little bit safer to ride it on so it stays here...last night Ed took Edwin for a mini cruise on it..

Then Ed decided to show us his tricks...

Finally...my handsome boy...outside playing in the yard..being a boy...

The 21/2 inch high Mathews Family

2008-06-29T15:07:00.001-04:00

So Handsome

2008-06-29T15:01:00.001-04:00

I took a very quick break from editing pics to see if I could figure out this "making the pics bigger on blogger" thing. I think I've got it...maybe..haha. So I thought I'd share this pic I took a while back of my handsome fella. He and Daddy are out bowling right now. I wish I could've gone with them but I'm under a time crunch. Anyways...let's see how this pic turns out :)

Oops

2008-06-27T11:29:00.001-04:00

Guess I have some work to do on those pics..lol

Testing testing

2008-06-27T11:28:00.001-04:00

So I just downloaded windows live writer to try to make my blog posting a little easier...especially when it comes to inserting pics...on blogger they are kind of a pain...so here's my test picture from back in April :)

The tooth fairy is going broke at our house...

2008-06-20T15:16:00.002-04:00

He lost another one today! Since it's a top front one, it really shows when he smiles so I had to take a couple of pics. I played with them and made them a little funky, cuz I can :)

Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately, but my other blog (photog business) is usually updated fairly regularly..I hope you all are checking in there too!

Have a great weekend! I'm hoping to take some new pics of Edwin & Anthony this weekend..hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate.

It's a bird, it's a plane...it's Anthony!

2008-05-22T16:20:00.003-04:00

Here is my baby, flying through the air (ok, so it's a little dramatic, but he did so good!) Today at the end of swimming class they got to jump off the diving boards. We'll see if he'll go off the big one tomorrow. So once again, excuse the crappy, grainy pics....

Swimming Lessons

2008-05-20T13:58:00.003-04:00

Living at the Ocean...I have always wanted Anthony to get swimming lessons, but either lack of money or time prevented it before now..... but a couple of months ago, Papa Jimmy brought these lessons to my attention. They have them for 2 weeks in the summer...you go every day for an hour over at UNCW. Papa treated and I've been taking him - they started yesterday. Anthony has 3 other 5 year old boys in his "class"....and his teacher/coaches name is Brian..he's a red head (kinda funny). Yesterday they started out in the "regular" pool with everyone else and by the end, they had moved up to the big pool - my baby swam in 15 feet deep water!! Without any floaties or anything...but the teacher was of course nearby. Today there were only 3 kids and 2 coaches, so they were in the water almost the entire time...so now Anthony is resting...he's got to be tired! Anyways..here's a few pics from today...they are HORRIBLE quality wise, but they will be fine for his scrapbook. The lighting was awful and I was up in the spectator seats..lol.

Also, I know I have been a very bad blogger lately (on this blog), but business has been booming - it has been insane. I am so unbelievably blessed with the amount of sessions I've been hired to do, weddings, potential weddings, etc. I have been working 65-70 hour weeks and I love my job, but I haven't had a lot of time for personal stuff (i.e. this blog)...so the swimming lessons have forced me to at least sit still for an hour and watch my little man....

It's that time of year again....

2008-05-07T22:38:00.003-04:00

My favorite time to go to the beach is when it's warm all day and then in the late evening (about an hour before sunset)...the beach gets fairly quiet and the wind blows in your hair...you hear the waves..it's just gorgeous. Tonight was one of those nights. I actually had a photo shoot with Brian's cousin and his family - "Baby" Donnie (they call him that because he is the baby of all the Donnies in the family). It's an ironic nickname when you see how tall he is. So here are a few pics from tonight....Anthony and his cousin Joey had fun playing in the water (after the shoot)...and then one of Brian and Donnie - Brian looks so small!

In a day or two, check my KMP blog to see a sneak peek from their session.

Happy Birthday Jenny!!!!

2008-05-07T09:00:00.001-04:00

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my wonderful sister in law Jenny!

We love you! Have a great day!

One less tooth...

2008-05-05T16:31:00.003-04:00

We are one less tooth around this household....Anthony lost (pulled) his first tooth on Saturday night....it was a pretty big deal! It was bitter sweet of course because it means my baby is growing up! Edwin's are just starting to come in and Anthony is losing his...geez..time flies by quick...

The tooth fairy came and left him 5 bucks! (That's all the tooth fairy had in cash...lol)

Of course...here are a couple of pics...

What a stud!

2008-05-04T21:09:00.000-04:00

Look at my handsome boy....how did he get so big?!?

I swear..I did not dress him like this for the sake of my blog...lol

2008-04-21T12:01:00.003-04:00

This morning my son had a perfectly normal outfit on...shorts and a tshirt....

I was working in my office while he was playing and watching some cartoons and then Anthony came to ask me if he could go outside...

Apparently the outfit I had chosen for him was not appropriate for playing outside, but this one is....hmmmm...

We have dress pants, rain boots, a wiiild print shirt and a hat, worn wrong and with the tag sticking out. Yup...he's got style..haha

(Ashley, your comment yesterday cracked me up so I thought of you when posting this one today)

My 100th post

2008-04-19T14:29:00.003-04:00

And what a doozy it is..lol. It's Saturday afternoon and what is my son doing? Terrorizing the cat (his enemy)....in this outfit....nice huh?

He's also built a "fort" using an umbrella and lots of pillows and blankets....these pics are technically HORRIBLE...but they'll be great for the scrapbook!

I've got tons of pics n stuff to blog about...so hopefully I'll get caught up on that this weekend...stay tuned.

From Top to Bottom...

2008-04-07T22:00:00.003-04:00

Well it's official...my mom has spoiled my son. Not that that's a bad thing..haha. When Anthony got out of the tub tonight he brought me some baby lotion (for Edwin) and said, "mommy, can you rub my feet like Grandma does?" How could I turn that down? Ever since Anthony was a baby, he routinely would take baths at Grandma's house and she would lotion him up afterwards. When he was a tiny tiny baby, she would always give him foot rubs...well apparently he still likes it! Then when I was rubbing his feet he said, "How come you're not doing it like Grandma does it?" Well, I don't know how Grandma does it...so Grandma....I think when we come to your house for dinner tomorrow night you get foot rub duty...I'll be sure to bring some pjs so he can get a bath and be nice and clean...:) (He was in the tub for about an hour so that's why his feet are so wrinkly!)

Then since I had the camera out, I just thought I'd take a pic of his gorgeous eye lashes...how did he get so lucky???

Well I'm super excited...tomorrow a.m. I have a shoot w/a 1yr old (although he's pretty fast!) and then tomorrow afternoon I'm doing my first senior shoot! I called our friend Carmen who I have known since she was 10 (and is now a senior)....and asked her if I could take her to lunch and then go around town and take some pics of her to use as examples on my website....I told her I'd give her some prints and she was all for it. She's also an Azalea Belle this year....Wilmington is the home of the NC Azalea festival every year and so she'll get to wear a big poofy pretty dress, so we're going to take some pics of her in that too....there will be some pics on my blog tomorrow night of both sessions....fun fun fun...I love my life!!!!!!!! Thank you God for giving me this opportunity!!

Oh to be 5....

2008-04-06T19:30:00.003-04:00

Does anybody else find this as freakin hillarious as I do?

Anthony had worn shorts today and it cooled off around dinner time, so when he was going to go back out to play, Brian told him to put some pants on. Apparently he should've specified to put jeans on, because anthony put on pajama pants and then a few other accessories (there's a scarf on underneath the jacket too that you can't see). Brian and I just sat there and laughed...

Our New Puppy

2008-04-03T20:47:00.001-04:00

As Anthony does every night...he took his bath and then had to wear his puppy towel...he then proceeds to "turn into a puppy"...it's rather funny...enjoy!

a one, a two, a one, two, three, four

2008-04-02T19:25:00.001-04:00

Ok let's try this again from You tube....

I must be the only moron...

2008-04-02T18:47:00.004-04:00

...who cannot upload a video successfully to blogger. Seriously. I have been trying for waaaaay longer than I care to admit and every time I think I've got it, I go to "view blog" and there's a big fat x there instead of my video...whaaaaah.... what am I doing wrong?!??!?!?!??!?!?!?! I'm getting so annoyed. Ok so I'm going to try ONE more time....and well, if it doesn't work..y'all are out of luck... Here's what my original title was.. a one, a two, a one, two, three, four... And my post said... Anthony came in my office today singing, so I asked him if he'd let me record it to send to Auntie Jenny...so here's your laugh for the day... So now let's try this video thing again...

Mommy, I'm dressed....

2008-03-28T10:23:00.002-04:00

So anybody that knows my son, knows that the child does not like to wear clothes. Seriously. He would be happy living in a nudist colony..lol. At night....it's a fight I don't care to have to get him to wear PJs...so most of the time he sleeps in his birthday suit, which means that when he gets up in the a.m. and comes out of his room to watch tv or go to school...he's just hanging out naked. Well, this a.m. I heard him in his room getting up, but next thing I know...he came out and said..."Mommy, I'm dressed." I couldn't help but laugh at the outfit he picked out, considering it's supposed to be almost 80 degrees today. Check it out.....

(Sorry for the crappy pic...the P&S camera was closest and T really didn't want his pic taken, so I had to move fast)...

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T10:48:00.005-04:00

This a.m. we went to church at 7:30am...whew..that's early. Anthony slept almost the whole time...he rarely sleeps during the day but he fought going to bed last night so this a.m. he was paying for it. But I enjoyed that he actually let me hold him while he was sleeping...so I'll take what I can get..haha. We went to Boodles after church (it's kind of like a Perkins, but way better and way more fun because we have gotten to know the staff and they are all so nice..they give us hugs when we come in!) In a little bit we'll leave to go to Brian's family gathering where they will have the annual Easter Egg Hunt - I always enjoy watching it and taking pics, of course. Then at 4:30pm we are having thanksgiving dinner on easter..haha. We wanted Turkey dinner instead of ham and it'll be nice because our whole family (except for Dave & Jenny) will be there. Mom also invited a friend from work to join us. Ok, enough rambling..here are a few pics from dying easter eggs the other night...diana wanted edwin to give it a try...it lasted about 30 seconds..he kept trying to eat it of course! Then Diana & anthony dyed the rest. (Click on the storyboard of Edwin to see it bigger)

A few cute pics....

2008-03-20T20:36:00.005-04:00

I haven't updated for awhile so I thought I'd post a funny pic from tonight...and a cute pic (well, they're both cute). I rented a fisheye lens for a wedding that I am shooting this weekend and it is way fun...I wish I could keep it..lol. Obviously, as you can see, it distorts the image and makes it look like you're looking in a side view mirror.....you wouldn't usually use it for portraits up close like I did this one...a lot of times it is used for big group shots or if you're trying to get a whole room in a picture....

Then...I had to try out another lens that I just got...this one I get to keep :) I sold another lens and used money from some of my sessions (and the wedding) to get this bad boy...look how sharp and beautiful his eyes look...I didn't do any editing to his eyes...they looked like this straight out of the camera...

On another note....I'm excited to announce that God has given me the opportunity to do my photography full time...so you'll be seeing lots more posts (on my other blog, which I still need to combine) of upcoming sessions....it's a bit scary financially, so we would appreciate any prayers...but I think this is going to be a wonderful change.

Well that's it for now...time to go edit some pics..I'll try to blog again with some Easter pics sunday :)

I love it...

2008-03-05T21:23:00.002-05:00

I love to take pictures...did ya know that? Just thought I'd post here that I posted on my Photography Blog. I photographed the cutest baby tonight and the best part was, it only took an hour....the other newborns I have done have taken 2 or 3 hours...that's tough...so anyways...here's one pic..the others are on my other blog...

Come One, Come All to the Backyard Carnival...

2008-03-02T22:11:00.006-05:00

I thought I'd share just one or two pics from today....but I don't know how to do just 1 or 2..haha....so here's like 10...

I'll post more pics and detail later....right now I'm beat!!!

Happy Birthday Anthony!!!

2008-03-02T20:37:00.003-05:00

I don't know where the time went, but my little tiny baby turned 5 today! I don't know what it is about 5, but I found myself tearing up in the shower this a.m. thinking about how much I love my baby. He is such a sweet boy...so polite and so very funny...he's a joy to be around and 99% of the time, very well behaved. Brian and I were really blessed when God gave us our sweet angel.

Since it's T's birthday..I thought it would be fun to post "the" picture from his birthday (this is the picture that Uncle Dave saw all the way in Iraq by the news crew that introduced his nephew to him - awesome!) and also his birth story. Some of you may remember the website I had for Anthony when he was first born (and for about 2 years)......I copied and pasted what I had written on there about his birth....(that's why it "sounds like" anthony was writing it)...

I'll be back later tonight or tomorrow w/a few pics from the Carnival today - it was a huge success!

My Birth Story

Mommy was having contractions all day on Saturday, March 1, 2003. They weren't painful, just uncomfortable. She went to bed at around 1a.m. early Sunday morning, March 2, 2003. She woke up at 4:30pm having more painful contractions. She got up and timed the contractions..they were about 3-5 minutes apart. Around 8am she woke up Daddy and said they should go to the hospital. They arrived at 9:30am and Mommy was 2-3cm dilated (remember 10cm is the magic number). After walking around Labor & Delivery for about an hour they checked Mommy again at 11am and she was 3cm. They decided to admit her. At about 11:15am Mommy's doctor came to her room and checked her again. She was 4cm. The doctor decided to break her water. Mommy was having contractions up until this point but they were not very painful. After they broke her water and started Pitocin the pain started....the contractions were every 2 minutes and lasted about 1min and 30 sec each (which means there was really only 30 sec to "relax" in between). At 12:30, Mommy was in soooo much pain that the nurse checked her again and she was 5cm, it was time for an epidural. The nurse came back and gave Mommy the bad news that the doctor was 25 minutes away. The pain continued...At 1:00pm the first epidural was put in. When the doctor tested it with some saline, there was a block in it, so they had to take that one out and put in a new one. At 1:50pm the medicine had finally kicked in and Mommy was much happier. At 2:00pm the nurse checked Mommy and found she was 8cm dilated!!! I was coming quickly and Grandma and Grandpa Mathews weren't there yet (from Wilmington). At 3:10pm Mommy said she was feeling a lot of pressure so the nurse checked her again and she was fully dilated (10cm). By the time the doctor got there it was almost 3:45pm. Mommy pushed a few times and I was born at 3:52pm. By the way, Grandma and Grandpa Mathews made it in time..they got there about 5-10 minutes before I was born.

30 more minutes...

2008-02-29T16:15:00.002-05:00

And then I'm leaving to meet the girls at Cheeseburger in Paradise!! Yea!!

Kinda Sucks But Getting Over It....

2008-02-29T08:14:00.003-05:00

So some of you know that on Wed I got a phone call from my disability company in the late afternoon and after a few additional phone calls, I found out around 5pm that my short term disability was over and I had to go back to work yesterday morning! I had originally been told (by my doc office) I would be OOTO at least until my follow up appt on March 11th...but that is not the case, so it was quite a shock. I'm not sure why there was a change and I can't seem to get anybody to give me a straight answer at the doc office. Unfortunately the injection they gave me on Monday that was supposed to help the pain has actually made it worse, and because it is a steroid, I have been having major trouble sleeping (and due to increased pain). Apparently, my work will be getting me some kind of a sit/stand desk station because my doc orders are to sit for 15 min and stand for 5 min...

So this just sucks! But I'm trying to make the best of it...even though (did I mention?) it sucks!!!!

This weekend is also Myrtle Beach Retreat weekend - a whole bunch of us women (around 80) get together and scrapbook at a hotel in Myrtle Beach for the weekend - my upline organizes it. Today is the day...I'm excited to go, but I'm bummed because it starts at 10am this a.m. and I have to work til 5 :-( and then drive down there. Diana and our friend Rebecca are already on their way and so is another friend from work. So it sucks (notice a theme? haha) but I'm trying to get over it and just look forward to the time I'll have when I get there tonight and all day tomorrow.

Here's a pic of where we're going this year and a pic of the tables etc last year...

Then on Sunday is the Backyard Carnival Bday Party - Anthony will be 5...so I'll have plenty of pics to share next week!

That's it...back to work...

Whah Whah Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

2008-02-26T15:51:00.001-05:00

This is my sad face this afternoon.....I am in so much freakin frackin pain....the drugs aren't helping and I'm having some kind of a reaction to the steroids (my face isn't usually so freakin red!!) I called the doc office...they said to hang in there and call back tomorrow if it's still bad...for now I am just supposed to take advil along w/my regular pain drugs...but they're not working....so here's my virtual whah whah cry....

Ok I feel better now (not really..lol)...

Update on Brian....he's still super nauseous...but at least he's taking it easy today and playing video games...

Update on Anthony..he started his new preschool today and did really well when we dropped him off....I called around 1pm and they said he was doing good..yea :)

My turn...

2008-02-25T21:57:00.003-05:00

Well today was my turn with the doctor...I had an epidural injection in my lower back. They injected cortisone to help with the inflamation of the nerve that is causing a lot of my problems/pain. Some people experience relief immediately...for some people it takes 7-10 days for relief..and some lucky people experience increased pain...guess which one I got? Yup....the increased pain! This has been a rough afternoon/evening...when mom and dad came over to get us for dinner (since neither of us could drive today) I was white as a sheet.....now I'm heading to bed and maybe I'll wake up in the a.m. and a miracle will have taken place..maybe?!? I go back to the doc on March 11th and then they will determine if I need another injection..they'll also determine my possible go back to work date at that time.

Brian is doing well...he's being very very very stubborn and isn't listening to the doc orders and he's overdoing it...as I thought he would..I really hope that he will stop. He's upset about not being able to go to work too....does the man not know how to relax for a few days??!?

Anthony starts his new preschool tomorrow. I think some of you know that last week, his school shut down w/out any real notice to the parents...apparently the IRS shut them down (nice huh?) So he will be starting at Edwin's school tomorrow and will continue to just go on tuesdays and thursdays.

Ok time to go to bed...thanks for all of the thoughts & prayers....we'll get back to good health one day around here (i Hope)

Home Sweet Home...

2008-02-24T20:07:00.002-05:00

This update will be short and sweet cuz we're all exhausted...
Brian was discharged a little after 1pm today....we arrived home safely at about 5:30....(we had to go to the grocery store, get his pain meds filled etc). I went and picked up takeout and now we're just hanging out on the couch w/our laptops...ahh..life is good. Brian still has pain in his chest, but nothing too severe..they said it may last a couple of weeks. Basically the sac around his heart was irritated from the procedure. They kept him just to be on the safe side (and we're glad they did).

Now it's my turn...I was put on short term disability again last week because of my back and leg....tomorrow Mom will be taking me to my appointment to get an epidural injection in my back. Hopefully I'll be feeling some pain relief soon.

Thanks everyone for all of your prayers...they were definitely felt!

Love, Katie, Brian & Anthony

Hi Ho Hi Ho ...It's off to Wilmington We go (I HOPE)

2008-02-24T09:06:00.002-05:00

Hopefully I'm not jinxing us by posting this, but most likely I won't get a chance to get on the computer again until we get back to Wilmington. Brian called me around 9am...he said he had seen the doctor and they were going to check his bloodwork, but he will probably be discharged between 10 and 11am today! This is great news!! I'll post again once we actually get home...and then Brian is stuck at home for a week...he's not happy about it...but he'll get over it. His boss even told me to turn off and hide his pager - I love her!! :)

Alright..time for a shower and packing up our stuff at the hotel and then off to the hospital.....pray we have a safe trip home :)

Yet another update...

2008-02-23T21:54:00.002-05:00

Whew..almost 10pm...another long day. Apparently people are actually checking my blog (although only my blog stalkers are commenting..haha)...so I thought I'd post another update. It looks like Brian will go home tomorrow. They pretty much just kept him for observation tonight. Jimmy, Judy and I went to the hospital around 10am this a.m.....we spent the a.m. with him and then a little after 1, Jimmy & Judy went back to the hotel to rest for a while...I stayed and surfed the internet...chatted with Brian and read a magazine...it was nice to just chill out and Brian lucked out and got a nice room (who knew there were nice(r) rooms in a hospital?!?) Around 3pm Brian got quite a surprise....(I had known since 10 this a.m..) Anthony & my Mom made the trip up here to see Brian. I hadn't told Brian or J&J. It definitely made the rest of the day go by quickly since Anthony is such great entertainment. We were all happy to see him and of course I was thrilled to have my mommy there. J&J came back to the hospital around 5ish and found ANthony & Mom there....we got dinner and then left Brian for the evening to rest (he was definitely ready for it). We ran to Kohls and got some swim trunks for Jimmy & Anthony and came back to the hotel for a dip...and now we're settling down. I'm beat...and I'm rambling....so I'm going to bed....I'll post more tomorrow...but for tonight, just know that the prayers have been answered and Brian is doing well and is not in too much pain.

Thank you for all of the thoughts and prayers...
Luv, Katie

Another update from Duke...

2008-02-23T11:14:00.003-05:00

Well, we're sitting in the hospital room with Brian again...they are actually doing an echocardiogram on him as I type this. They have decided to keep him another night for observation. He's in less pain, but they are still a bit concerned about some possible fluid around the heart. He's in a pretty good mood today and looks a lot better. He especially perked up when I brought in his favorite juice (Nantucket Nectar apple juice) and 2 krispe kreme donuts from the cafeteria (they have good food here!) So now we sit and wait....at least the room is comfy...we're just watching tv and hanging out...

I'll post more when I know more...

Oh and obviously I didn't take these pictures...my camera is at home...

Latest update from Duke...

2008-02-22T19:17:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been quite a day. It's a little after 7pm here and Jimmy, Judy and I are sitting in Brian's hospital room. Brian is doped up on a bunch of morphine but unfortunately is still suffering from chest pain. The good news is, the tests they have done on his heart are showing that everythign is fine. The bad news is, he's still in pain and is miserable. It's so hard to see him hurting. About an hour ago, they did a chest xray. We are waiting to hear on the results from that. We guess he will go home tomorrow, but only time will tell.

Please keep Brian in your prayers....I'll post more when I know more....

Waiting...and waiting...and waiting....

2008-02-22T12:42:00.001-05:00

So we're sitting at Duke....Brian's in surgery...so far so good....he got rolled off to surgery around 7:45am...we got a call from the nurse around 11am and things were going well...they said they have found the problem (yea!)

They said they'd call us in a few more hours...so that's all I know for now. Obviously, the hospital has internet access (Yippee) so I'll update more when I know more....

Thanks for the prayers...

Clownin' Around

2008-02-20T22:39:00.004-05:00

Tonight we took some pics at mom and dad's house for Anthony's birthday invitation. We are having a backyard carnival next weekend - I'm so excited...we rented one of those big huge blow up slides....we'll have a fish pond, face painting and a few other games/booths.....Binky the clown will be making an appearance and we'll even have a ticket booth....I'll have plenty of pics to share!

Here's a pic of Mr Edwin trying on the big party hat...cute huh?? Check out Diana's blog sometime tomorrow for some new about what else l'il Edwin did tonight..it was very exciting!!

Music & Pics

2008-02-17T15:11:00.009-05:00

So, I'm editing a ton of sessions today and was getting a little bored...not with the pictures, but just because I was bored with my music. I got some new speakers the other day for my computer, which I loooooove (the other ones have been dead for a few months and I love to work while listening to music)....

So spur of the moment...I just bought these 2 albums on I-Tunes..Madonna and Michael Jacson...does that make me a dork? haha

I'm pretty sure I bought this Madonna album about 15+ years ago, but I think Diana ended up with it..lol

And this one is People Magazines fault...they had an article in there about Thriller's 25th anniversary CD....so I looked to see what was on it and I wasn't thrilled about all of the songs, but then found this album...it's got every awesome MJ song on it....

Diana & Edwin and Mom & I took a short trip downtown yesterday to take some fun pics...unfortunately the weather was not cooperating..it was cold and VEEERRRY windy, but we still managed to get a few. I had been wanting some for my website and Diana just wanted to book me because I'm getting so darn popular :) I can't wait to take a saturday afternoon and go out w/just my sis and find some cool new locations....soooooon I hope!!!

Here's one of my favorite pics from our short little session...Diana says it doesn't look like her without her glasses but I think it is GORGEOUS!! Hot mama!

Here's my other favorite because it looks like she's just hangin out and of course, wearing her glasses :)

Ok...here's a couple of me....Diana did a great job...I'm working on training her to be my assistant photographer....so that eventually we can do this full time (wouldn't that be awesome??) She is really good at posing people and she's catching on quick to the technical stuff too....I'm definitely much more comfortable behind the camera, but these don't look half bad :) Oh and notice the colors on my jacket? Do they remind you of anything....like.......my logo colors?!? Smart eh?

And finally...one pic of Edwin and Diana (sort of)....it was way too cold for him so we only took him out of the stroller this one time...

I'll let Diana share some of the other pics....

Now I'm off to proof some more sessions before Edwin gets here....Diana and Ed are going on a date tonight and we get to keep little man over night...fun!

ETA: Ok I am a definitely a dork...I was looking to see if anybody had commented (thank you Jenny :)) and realized I hadn't posted the 2nd picture of me...I thought I uploaded it but maybe I didn't...so here ya go...

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T14:00:00.003-05:00

Hey...this is Diana. I'm posting for Katie because she and Brian had to go to Duke for Brian's pre-op testing. I just talked to her and everything went just fine. Here's the Valentine we made together of our boys. So cute!! Check out my blog (TheBosoFamily) to see some more adorable pictures.

It's almost heart day...

2008-02-13T12:30:00.003-05:00

My dear sister in law Jenny asked me to update my blog before Brian and I leave for Duke today.

For those of you that don't know...next friday, my hubby has to have a procedure done on his heart at Duke (kind of like the "Mayo Clinic" of the South). It's a long story and I don't quite know how to explain it but in April before I broke my leg, Brian was hospitalized for his heart (rythym problems)...they tried to do a procedure to fix the problem, but when they went in to do it, they realized he high risk (one of very few people that have this "extra problem") so they treated it w/meds for the last 2 years instead of fixing it (cuz it was too risky - if they nick the thing that is too close to the thing they have to fix, he'll have to get a pace maker). Unfortunately it started acting up again (racing heart beat, slow heart beat...very tiring), so we will go to Duke for them to do the procedure again and the director of this specialty will do it. Today we will drive up there (2.5 hrs away) and then tomorrow we have pre-op doc appointments etc. Then next friday is the big day...6:30am on Feb 22nd...so keep Brian in your prayers...he's a little worried, but I'm sure things will be fine.

So in honor of Brian's heart and valentine's day tomorrow...here's a few more pics from our little photo shoot w/the boys from this weekend...enjoy and leave comments...i love comments :)

Cooperation

2008-02-10T10:32:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd make a post on this blog to let you know we're still alive....I hope you've all been checking out my photography (business) blog because I've been updating that fairly regularly. Over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to create just one blog and post family and photography stuff on there ...most of the photographer's blogs I read do that too...and it will be much easier to keep up with...

Now on to some fun stuff... Yesterday, Diana and I decided to do a little valentine's photo shoot with the boys...we bought the coordinating outfits....the weather was gorgeous....we had a few cute props....we were good to go. All we needed was some cooperation from the boys. Well Edwin did great.....but my son needed some serious bribing and he still was being a bit of a pain....but we still ended up getting some greaaaaaat pictures....so here's a sneak peek.....from my child, the photographer's son (can you tell?!?)

Just a quick note

2008-01-27T22:44:00.001-05:00

I finally posted on my business blog w/some pics from a session today....go over there and take a peek if you get a second...I haven't decided if I'm going to combine the blogs into one yet...so for now they are separate...

(I made a link to my business blog on the right)

A little fun with editing...

2008-01-26T21:25:00.000-05:00

One of the girls on the 2Peas board gave away some free presets that she made for Lightroom (a program that I use for editing my pics)....I played around with this picture of Edwin so I thought I'd post them here...

Here is the original...

This one is "acid wash vignette"

This one is "retro vignette"

This one is "warm honey vignette"

And finally..."White Chocolate"

Just playing around....

2008-01-24T13:30:00.001-05:00

Last night, Anthony decided to bring all of his stuffed animals into the living room....not quite sure why...but when I saw them laying there today I knew I had to try to get a picture...I've seen ones like this before and just thought it would be fun....can you find Anthony? (haha...it's real tough, right?)

There's not much to report...I've been a blog slacker...I'm going to try to get back in the habit..I was doing really good for a couple of weeks there....but we've all been sick here....I've been dealing w/the back pain issue and some work stress...so at night I just want to hang out on the couch with my boys and watch tv....

A Quick Update...

2008-01-10T20:46:00.000-05:00

I've been neglecting this blog a little bit lately..but I hope you are all still checking out my POTD blog...I've been trying to keep that one up daily and am doing pretty good so far....

Things here are good....every spare minute I have I've been working on my photography..either working on stuff for my business, or reading books on how to use my new software or editing/proofing pics etc etc....I have a few edits to make to my website and then I'm going to send out the big email to all of my friends, family, co-workers etc announcing my site is live....I'm already booked for January..how cool is that?!? I have 6 sessions over 2 weekends...I can't wait..they're going to be so much fun...

Just thought I'd share a couple of pics from tonight....we met Mom, Dad, diana and edwin at the mall for dinner and then I brought Edwin home for a bath while Diana ran a couple of errands...I got him some new jammies today so after bath time I put him in his new pjs and then took a few pics....then he had his bottle and fell asleep...so sweet....

Now I'm settling in to watch Grey's Anatomy...hopefully those darn writers will go back to work soon or it's gonna be a long couple of months w/out any good shows...

It's Live!!!

2008-01-07T10:18:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited...my photography website is live....

There are a few kinks to work out such as the contact me email isn't working right now, and I'm going to be doing at least 6 portfolio building sessions this month so the pics will be changing some, but please take a look and let me know what you think...

Let me know if there are any typos or things you would change...

I would LOOOOVE some comments!!

Also...keep in mind that there is music, so turn your speakers down if need be.....and to view it the best, I would click "view in this window"..
http://www.katiemathewsphotography.com

So Lucky...

2008-01-04T21:20:00.000-05:00

I am so lucky to have such a great family....I am so lucky that my great family lives close by (well, some of them :0) I am so lucky that we get to spend so much time together....and I'm so lucky that I get to kiss this little boy to pieces and play with him (on the days I see him)...he's so happy and his laugh/smile are infectious....

Baby It's Cold Outside...

2008-01-03T20:44:00.000-05:00

Today it was mighty chilly in Wilmington....the windchill was in the teens on the way to work....now I know some of you in Minnesota are reading this and are thinking..umm..that sounds like a heat wave...but this is the coldest it's been in Wilmington this year (and possibly the last 2 years)....

Anyways...I'm doing a picture of the day challenge with a group of photographers on a photography/scrapbooking website I'm on....the challenge is to take a picture of the day for a whole year....although most people just do it once or twice a week...the purpose is to get you to pick up your camera and use it on a regular basis and hopefully improve your photography...in case you didn't know..I'm a bit obsessed w/my photography....it's my passsssion!!

Anyways....the theme this week is "Hats.....off to 2008"...so I had Anthony put on his "toboggan" (yes they call winter hats that down here in the south) and his scarf....this pic was kind of cool so I thought I'd convert it to BW and post here..look at those eyes of my little baby doll..so sweeeet...

Oh by the way...if you want to see my pics of the day...I have a separate blog I post them on..(with different pics usually)...I'd love your opinions.....the link is on the right hand side of this page...

Yeaa...tomorrow is Friday....woo hooo......

And the Winner Is.....

2008-01-02T20:52:00.000-05:00

I belong to an awesome website for photography (and scrapbooking) called twopeasinabucket.com. One of the ladies over there was kind enough to tweak my logo design a bit for me and I loooove it!

So thank you Trisha Robertson (if anybody needs any logo/design work done, she is awesome)!!!

What do you think?!?

I need your help...please vote!

2008-01-01T18:46:00.000-05:00

***EDITED***

I'm getting things together for my photography business (so exciting!!) So today I have been messing around with making some possible logos...I've never made one before so it was a bit of a challenge - but fun.

Please look at the samples below and vote for which one you like best. If you have any suggestions for any changes - colors, fonts, or whatever...please please let me know...I'm open to suggestions...

Thanks for looking (and voting)...

NUMBER 1NUMBER 2

NUMBER 3

NUMBER 4

One of the ladies on one of the forums I'm on made a suggestion for a font change...so here is choice NUMBER 5

I'm so excited...

2007-12-31T15:44:00.000-05:00

I bought a website template for my photography business.....so I'll be working on that over the next few weeks...and in addition to that I will be starting another blog specifically for my photography where I will post sneak peeks of sessions I have done as well as any news/updates etc...

All I ever wanted in life is to be happy and taking pictures makes me so happy...Katie Mathews Photography is becoming a reality and I feel so blessed to be able to use my God given talent to make a little money for my family and to make others happy with my storytelling images...

Happy New Year everyone!!

This one is for Ed....

2007-12-30T21:54:00.000-05:00

I sent this adorable picture to Diana tonight and Ed said..."doesn't she ever take pics with their clothes on?"

He was giving me grief of course because my son never wears shirts (and at night you can rarely find him with much on..he loves to be in his bday suit)....but tonight at Grandma's...the boys took a bath together....so this is a very tasteful pic that I think is cute as can be..what do you think? :)

I did chuckle as I looked through my last few blog posts though....my son isn't wearing a shirt in a few of them...lol

Four Generations

2007-12-29T20:35:00.000-05:00

This week we are lucky enough to have my Grandma, Aunt Ann and her boyfriend John visiting from Minnesota.....we had a gorgeous day today - it was almost 80 degrees!! This afternoon we went to the beach to take a few pictures, but most importantly, we wanted a 4 generations picture....Anthony & Edwin, Diana & I, Mom and Ann, and Grandma.....we are so blessed that we are all alive and well :) Thanks to Dad for taking the pics..here are a couple to share....

New Toy(s)!!!

2007-12-27T23:05:00.000-05:00

I got lots of new camera toys for Christmas...I'm spoiled rotten...so I made Anthony be my model tonight....whatcha think? (The colors in the background of the one pic are the lights from the Christmas Tree).... I'll post Christmas pics this weekend...this was just a quickie post before bed...

It's Christmas Eve.....

2007-12-24T10:27:00.000-05:00

And my little man is sick :-(

He has a bad ear infection and he's coughing and sniffling and he's downright miserable...but I think some presents will help make him feel better...good thing it's Christmas Eve! Tonight we will go to the Mathews Family Celebration...it's always a fun time...Mom, Dad, Diana and Edwin will be joining us too and we're all going to go to the Children's Mass at 4pm...a great way to start the 2 day celebration....tomorrow we will go to Jimmy and Judy's for breakfast in the morning and exchange gifts and then tomorrow afternoon we will go to Diana and Ed's to exchange gifts and have dinner with the rest of the family..unfortunately Ed has to work today and tomorrow (the life of a Chef...) and Grandma, Ann and John will be arriving in Raleigh (from Minnesota) around 3:30pm tomorrow so we will have a late dinner and gifts...but that's ok....it'll stretch out our time together....

Well time to go finish wrapping a few gifts....I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and stay safe..I wish we could be with all of our family and friends at this time of year, but since we can't..know that I am thinking of you today...

Love to all..
The Mathews Family

P.S. Here's another funny "out-take" from our Christmas card shoot...just cracked me up!

It's almost time....

2007-12-23T20:40:00.001-05:00

I don't know who is more excited...Anthony or ME!!! Only one more day until Christmas Eve...wooo hooooo.....

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Look what I got!

2007-12-17T12:40:00.001-05:00

My hubby sent me this beautiful Chrismas arrangement at work today - what a surprise! It smells so yummy....Diana just happened to have her camera with her so we took a couple of quick pics...

Some Ramblings

2007-12-14T10:08:00.000-05:00

Wow...things have been busy lately....I've done 3 photoshoots in the last month and have had to proof/edit the pics....then I took pics last weekend at our work 5K so I've been on the computer a lot but no spare time for blogging....

I also haven't taken any recent pics of my son...crazy huh? But I'm planning to take some this weekend so I will post them soon....

I hope everyone is enjoying the Holiday Season and isn't getting too bogged down by the hustle and bustle..I'm trying my hardest to not try to do everything, but that's easier said than done.....

This weekend we will be doing our annual Gingerbread house so I'll be sure to post some pics of that...I think we might do a gingerbread tree too....Brian and Anthony always do the fun stuff and I take the pics...this year I want to play too :)

well that's it for now....just wanted to say helllooooo out there!

My turn for celebrity look alikes...

2007-12-06T14:47:00.000-05:00

Diana and Jenny did this awhile back..today I saw Jody Dobo did one so I figured I'd give it a try....one of mine was Gerald Ford but I couldn't bring myself to leave that on there....what's up with that?? lol

Kids Say the Darndest Things....

2007-12-05T20:36:00.000-05:00

Here's the conversation between my son and I tonight...completely out of the blue..

Anthony: Mommy, are you going to have another baby?
Me: Maybe, why? Do you want me to?
Anthony: Yes, I want you to have 2 girls
Me: You do?
Anthony: yup

Fast forward 10 minutes.....we're now in the house (we were in the car before)
Me: So, Anthony....you want me to have 2 babies?
Anthony: Yup
Me: Last night you said you wanted me to have 3 baby girls
Anthony: I changed my mind
Me: Oh, ok - well, you'll have to tell Daddy
Anthony: Ok......well how are you going to make those babies?
Brian & I: Ummm...well....umm....when 2 people love each other a lot....they kiss n stuff and God gives you a baby
Anthony: Well, do it right now!
Me: Umm....hey....it's Bath Time!!! Let's go get in the tub...

hahahahha

Why I live in NC...and not Duluth, MN

2007-12-03T09:10:00.000-05:00

Ho Ho Ho

2007-11-29T22:17:00.000-05:00

Last Friday night, Mom treated all of us to "Enchanted Airlie"....

Airlie's ancient gardens are transformed into a visually stunning wonderland of theatrically illuminated large oaks, small native trees, and elegant displays. What could be more enchanting than a glittering landscape of lighted oaks and twinkling displays in a post-Victorian garden setting? Enchanted Airlie promises an evening of simple pleasures for all ages. Leisurely nighttime strolls through 30 acres of tastefully decorated gardens are enhanced by live entertainment. Santa greeted the children and listened to their holiday requests in the North Pole tent.

Anthony & Edwin loved seeing Santa....Anthony got shy and didn't have much to say...Edwin just kept staring at him.....here's one pic of the 3 of them....(I'll post some more later)....

O Christmas Tree...

2007-11-28T21:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a few pics from our little trip to pick out a Christmas Tree....as usual, Anthony ran around and wouldn't let me take his picture (except for this Power Ranger stance)...
We picked out a nice tree (on Sunday) and came home and decorated it...when I get through those pics I'll post some...but for now...here's some from the tree lot...
Also...on Saturday, Diana, Jenny and I went through some of Anthony's old clothes and this cute overall outfit is one of Anthony's old ones and so are the boots..notice the scuff marks...so cuuuute!

Testing, 1, 2, 3

2007-11-28T19:31:00.000-05:00

Hey...So I'm playing around in Photoshop tonight and wanted to upload this cutie patootie picture of Josh - the newest Mathew's Family member...he belongs to Brian's cousin Tammy and her husband....I took this on Turkey Day....more pics and blogging to follow soon...hopefully still tonight....

Still here....

2007-11-13T10:12:00.000-05:00

Hey all...
I've been a blog slacker but I'm still here....I don't like to post if I don't have a pic to include, but I haven't picked up my camera in over a week.....I'm still battling tremendous pain...mostly in my back....I've been to the pain mgmt doctor/back institute..I had to have an MRI last week and I'm still waiting to hear the results.....the back pain has been bad enough that I ended up staying home from work on Friday and I've been working from home every afternoon for the last few days...so I've just been too drugged up and miserable to care about blogging...sorry...

My boys are doing good....Brian is excited to get the Christmas decorations put up....how is it almost time for Christmas already? I just can't believe it....!! Anthony was going through the Walmart Christmas Wish Book last night and picking out everything he wants....he wants everything...haha...well that makes shopping easy....

Next week Dave and Jenny are coming for Thanksgiving...we're so excited to see them....again..I can't believe it's time for Thanksgiving already....but I'm so looking forward to it...I get almost a whole week off from work and get to spend time with 2 of my favorite people (and the rest of my favorite people)....

I'll try to take a pic or two tonight...in case you forgot what Anthony looks like..haha.....

L'il T

2007-11-01T21:51:00.000-04:00

Last night I was editing some pics from Anthony's Tball games and trying to get the rest of the pics posted to the site for the parents and coaches....I ran across this one of my sweet little boy and thought I'd share it....

I usually watch 30 min of the game in the stands and the other 30 min I go in the dugout with the team and take pics from the doorway to the field...Anthony always gets a little shy and serious around the other kids.....and every once in awhile he poses for me (on his own)...

Today is Friday...wooo hoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

Trick or Treat...

2007-11-01T07:46:00.000-04:00

We had a great time Trick or Treating last night in our neighborhood....Anthony and Daniel (neighbor) are both 4 (almost 5) and it was so cute to see them go from house to house with no fear....last year they still wanted Mom & Dad close by....

We also had little Mr Pumpkin Head join us for his first Halloween...he looked absolutely adorable....his suit was so soft and fuzzy and he actually left the hood up...

After trick or treating in our neighborhood, Diana & Mom took Edwin to Trunk or Treat...I was too beat by then and we hadn't had any dinner, so they went on without us..sounds like they had a good time...we had dinner and called it an early night...

Enjoy the pics...these were just my favorites...I have about 75 more..haha...gotta love digital!!

Happy Halloween!!

2007-10-31T07:40:00.000-04:00

It's that time again...halloween!! On Saturday, we went to the annual Sun Coast Cruisers Cruise In at Arbys.....Brian won best costume 3 years in a row.....!! My husband is quite impressive with a few boxes....he came up with this idea on Friday night...we went and got some boxes and within an hour or two he had this made!

The next picture is of Anthony...he is the Blue Power Ranger...it's very important to get the "blue" in there...apparently the blue PR is the leader...Anthony refused to let me take his picture on Saturday night so I was glad to find that Brian brought home the polaroid pic that they took of Anthony at the fall festival at his preschool on Friday night....he won 2nd place in the costume contest!

And last but not least...there is Pappy...a.k.a. the Sun GHOST Cruiser....cute huh?

Tonight we're going to do some trick or treating in the neighborhood and then I think we might go with Diana to a Trunk or Treat at her church...

Tball ended last night - it was so much fun and such a great season, but I think we're all glad it's over and we get our evenings back again...(to post blog entries?!?)

Love to you all and stay safe on this spoooooky Halloween!!

So cute...

2007-10-21T21:44:00.000-04:00

I was just looking through some pics I took today and I just love this one...I hope Diana & Ed like it too :)

Another weekend...another pumpkin patch

2007-10-21T21:21:00.001-04:00

Just a quick picture from the Pumpkin Patch today...this is the one we usually go to....it's at a church close to our house and they always have lots n lots of pumpkins (unlike the one last weekend where they were all spread out)....Anthony insisted on holding Edwin a couple of different times...

We have tball tomorrow night and tuesday night and it's Mom's bday tomorrow so I probably won't get to post again until the middle of the week...I know I've been a bit of a blog slacker lately but it's because I've been extremely busy with a big event at work (I'll post more about that later)....

Have a great week everyone and Happy Birthday, Mom!

Our Day at the Farm....

2007-10-14T21:05:00.000-04:00

So yesterday we went to this place called Mike's Farm...it's about an hour away in the country....they have a restaurant (the old farm house)....gift shop, petting zoo, an old barn where "cowboy earl" sang songs to the kids....there was a hayride out to the pumpkin patch....it was really fun. Diana and Edwin went along w/Brian, Anthony & I....we got there at about 2pm because earlier in the day we went to Aunt Kathy & Uncle Donnie's (Uncle Donnie had to look at Diana's car for her - he saved Diana about $500 so that started the day off great)... Ginger was in town so we got to see her and her little preggo belly and Angie and Harry were there too. We haven't been over there for a while so it was nice to see them and they loved seeing Edwin & Anthony....
At the farm we had a great day..the weather was gorgeous and on the way back from the pumpkin patch (on the hay ride)....Edwin fell asleep on me....I of course loved it! We went to Jacksonville to Red Lobster for dinner after the farm (we don't have Red Lob in Wilmington)...and we got home around 7:30pm last night....a long day but it was great...I'm so glad that Diana (and her boys) live here....I can't imagine life without them close by....I wish Mom and Dad had been able to go but we'll hit the local "pumpkin patch" one day this week....
Now we just need Jenny & Dave to move down here and life will be perfect :)

Here's a few of the pics from our day....

Fun Weekend

2007-10-14T20:59:00.001-04:00

We had a great weekend....Mom and Dad went out of town for a wedding (in Hickory), so after work on Friday we went with Diana and Edwin to eat and then we went to Michaels for a little bit...I love friday nights because I actually relax a little bit knowing I have 2 whole days off before going back to work....

Before we went to dinner, Diana wanted to have me take a picture of Edwin in this cute little track suit from Aunt Annie....before we knew it..it turned into a little impromptu photo shoot...here are some of my favorites....(how could any of them be bad...look at the subject..haha)

Fall is Here!!

2007-10-13T21:50:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited that fall is finally here....we had a beautiful day here today....right at about 73 degrees...we took a little road trip about an hour away to a place called Mike's Farm (out in the country). We took a hay ride to the pumpkin patch - it was so fun. I'll write more later and add more pics, but here's a couple from our day.

Back to the ball park....

2007-10-09T08:20:00.000-04:00

Last night we had another T-ball game. So far they had won all of their games and their scrimmage….not last night….they got beat by the Yankees! They don’t keep official score in T-ball, but you can still count the runs and we definitely didn’t have as many as the other team….oh well…can’t win them all! The kids just weren’t feelin it last night….

Diana had a hair appointment after work (long story….most likely she’ll have it on her blog w/her new ‘do’ sometime today)….so I picked Edwin up from daycare after work and brought him to the ballgame with us, where we met Brian, Anthony, Mom & Dad. After the game (Diana still wasn’t back)…we went to our house for some yummy roast beef, potatoes, carrots & onions….brian put them in the crockpot at 8am so it was nice and tender by 7pm…Edwin made sure that he got some food too….if you’re eating and he’s not, he’s not pleased, so he has some carrots..after dinner Diana still wasn’t back so we gave Edwin a bath and there weren’t any PJs in Edwin’s diaper bag so I went out to the storage building and found some of Anthony’s old ones….so cute…..so we dressed him in jimmies..gave him a bottle and he was out….Diana got home a little after 9….we chatted for a little bit while she ate and then they left….I edited a couple pics and then it was time for bed and now I’m back at work..oh joy!

The above are a couple pics of my handsome boy from last night!

We love Tball!

2007-10-07T08:30:00.000-04:00

Tball_Oct_4_2007

Our little beach vacation

2007-10-01T20:21:00.000-04:00

Hi!
Gotta make this quick because I have work waiting for me and it's almost 9pm....uggh....

We took a little vacation down to Carolina Beach (yes that's like 10 miles away...haha) but the family that owns Brian's work has a condo down there that they let us use for the weekend....on Thursday we took the day off and kept Edwin because Ed was out of town and on Friday we went to the condo.....we went to the beach and went swimming and out to dinner and then watched "Flushed Away".....

On Saturday....Mom and Dad came down and we took the Ferry to Southport where we met Diana and Edwin at Provisions for a late lunch (YUM)....after lunch we went to get ice cream and Edwin had his first taste...he loved it.....then Diana had to go down to Myrtle Beach to help out Ed at work and attend the wedding reception for a coworker so Edwin went home w/us on the ferry (Grandma & Grandpa kept him over night for her).....we all went swimming at the condo - including Edwin!! Another first for him......then we went out for pizza that night...watched another movie and came home Sunday...back to work today..

Well gotta run..but here's a few pics....

We won!

2007-10-01T20:13:00.000-04:00

Well, I wasn't actually out there playing...but Anthony's team, the Cardinals won their game tonight....they did so great!! Anthony is so lucky to have such great coaches and the kids on his team are all so cute....we love baseball nights...we have another game this Thursday. The Grandparents came out so I took the opportunity to get a pic......

Laughter is the best medicine....

2007-09-24T20:19:00.000-04:00

These boys sure keep us laughing......the first 2 pics were yesterday morning when we babysat Edwin....first I couldn't get Anthony to quit sticking his tongue out and the next thing you know, Edwin has his tongue hanging out.

The next few were from tonight...Diana and Edwin came over for dinner and he needed a bath so we plunked him in the sink...he loved it and of course we had to get a few pics...

After dinner we got Edwin dressed in his jammies and then Diana and I were just playing w/him on my bed....Brian and Anthony came in there after a few minutes and they got a box of halloween decorations out (they can't wait).....they were decorations that Diana and I had bought together way back when in our single days (haha) when we had costume parties at our apartment.....we found this rubber hand and Diana in her "infinite wisdom" (her words) decided to give Edwin the rubber hand.....of course...he started chewing on it...he's a baby...they chew on everything..Diana and I could not stop laughing.....we had tears streaming down our faces and I think Diana almost peed her pants..haha...

Finally, after all that..we look outside and Anthony is helping Brian decorate the yard .....in his tshirt and one sock and shoes...and that's it..no pants...no underwear....huh?!?!

A little bit crappy but ended good...

2007-09-18T20:42:00.000-04:00

My day was kind of crappy at work....but my evening was good....my boys and I went out to dinner and now I'm watching the Biggest Loser while I edit a few pics...here's some of my favorites from the last week...the 1st one is T-ball on Saturday....the 2 of Edwin are at T-ball when it was 90 degrees and he sat up in his stroller for the first time - he loved it! The ones of Brian and Anthony I took on Sunday I think and the bath ones were from tonight...Anthony and I were playin around when I washed his hair.....

Where does the time go?!?

2007-09-17T16:20:00.000-04:00

I hate blogging without having a picture to accompany it...but it will be at least another 24 hours before that is possible so I figured I'd at least post an update...

I had to just pull up my blog to see what I had posted last...geez...what a blog slacker....ok let's see....last time I updated was last Tuesday.....on Wed, Mom & I went to a thing at church that lasted until 8:30....so by the time I got home I was worn out.... On Thursday we went out to eat with Mom & Dad after work and then ran a couple of errands...I also went to the doctor..finally. Some of you probably know that my low back has been bothering me for the last 6+ weeks....I kept thinking it would go away but it kept getting worse....so to make a long story short...my leg problems have now created a low back problem (from limping etc), so they gave me some muscle relaxers for the muscle spasms and I start physical therapy again tomorrow. If it's not better in a month they'll do an MRI. Hopefully it will get better quickly....because I'll have to go to PT 2-3 times a week which means leaving work early.....which means working through my lunch hour..which means...missing my gym time :-( On Friday Anthony has T-ball practice at 6pm....when we got there we found out they were actually having a scrimmage....they did so good!! We had been practicing with Anthony during the week at home and he did so much better. He even scored a run! Such a proud mommy moment. On Saturday, Diana had to work OT for a few hours so Edwin spent the day with us...we went to Boodles w/Mom and Dad and then went to the mall for a while before T-ball practice at 3....Diana met us over there...it was HOT.....in the sun it was probably 90 degrees....so today we were happy to wake up to 60 degrees...woo hooo....although I think it's about 75 right now (but that is heaven compared to the last 2 months)....yesterday a.m. we took care of Edwin again (love it!) and then relaxed.....and finally, the reason I can't post tonight is because Brian and I have to work the concessions at the baseball park....parents have to do it once a season...tonight's the first night of the season so at least we'll get ours out of the way first. Anthony's first game is this Thursday - can't wait.

That's it for now....only 30 min left of work..yippeee.....hopefully I'll get some pics posted tomorrow night....

Catching Up...again...

2007-09-11T20:59:00.001-04:00

Oh my gosh...my freakin blog took 2 hours to get updated....because of various computer issues....and now Brian needs it again...arrrrghh..

Ok quick recap from the weekend....Friday night Anthony was sick so he didn't go to T-ball...by saturday he was feeling better so here's a pic of him at practice on Saturday....we've been practicing at home with him this week, so hopefully by this Friday it will make a difference...he's finally starting to understand the offence but doesn't quite understand defense and getting outs.....anyways...

On Saturday night....Brian and I, along with Diana and Ed and Mom and Dad went on a boat cruise for PPD......Mom wanted a pic of all 6 of us; it's not the best since it was almost 9pm and pretty dark on the boat but at least it's all 6 of us and you can see Ed's face (in the other 10 pics he was hiding behind Diana). It was nice to go out for an adult evening...the weather was beautiful and I got some Sunset pics....after the boat cruise Ed & Diana wanted to go out and I wanted to keep Edwin, so he stayed over night......and then I kept him all morning on Sunday....it was really funny because Edwin was laying on the floor playing and Brian was watching tv (I was in the other room folding some laundry)...Brian yelled to me.."hey katie...I think something is wrong with Edwin" so of course I run in there and then I started laughing because he was sound asleep but he had the blanket over his head and Brian was worried....so I grabbed my camera...snapped a shot for the blog and then removed it and he kept on sleeping..

Ok my husband is sighing and I have to get off of here...so I'll write more tomorrow..bye!

Back to Work...

2007-09-11T12:25:00.000-04:00

Anthony has been sick so I stayed home with him yesterday…it was kind of nice…not that he was sick…but the staying home…I miss my time with him during the day..just the 2 of us….

I have been a little it anti-computer lately….sometimes I get on it at night and then before I know it the night is over because I was on there for so long…so the past few days I’ve been making myself just relax..watch tv…read a book/magazine on commercials and not worry about the computer or my blog or editing pictures or organizing pics or…..well you get the picture….

I only took a few pictures over the weekend….I’ll try to post one or two tonight…Anthony had t-ball on Saturday in the 90 degree heat…uggh….Brian and I have been practicing at home w/him the last few nights and he’s getting better…I’ll be curious to see how he does on Friday night at practice…

Well that’s it for now…I’ll try to post more tonight….

It's down...

2007-09-06T12:08:00.000-04:00

Hey-
My computer at home is down at the moment...hopefully Brian will have it back up later tonight and then I can post again.....:)