Ashlyn

Ashlyn Grace is our middle child.  She is an expert negotiator, the family sibling peacemaker, hysterically funny, an exceptional artist, and really one of the sweetest children I have ever met.  She loves to paint, and draw and color and basically do anything with art.  She really seems to have a talent for it as well.  She is also an amazing "cuddler," loves the Magic Treehouse books, and has a great interest in cupcakes.  I can't believe she's 8, but I'm loving every stage.  I'm excited to see what kind of girl she has yet to become.  Ashlyn is very forthright and doesn't hold anything back, but like her dad, she has a way of telling you the blunt truth without hurting your feelings.  Jay and I always laugh at how she can tell Quinn to stop doing something annoying and he will immediately stop and say, "ok Ashlyn."  But, if anyone else tells him the same thing he puts up a fight.  Ashlyn definitely has a charm about her that makes her irresistible.

Ashlyn, Age 8

Favorite TV Shows--Phineas and Ferb, Cupcake Wars, Wipeout
Favorite Toys--persons, legos, stuffed animals
Favorite Food--broccoli alfredo
Favorite Pastime--painting
Favorite School Subject--Math
Favorie Song--Home, Phillip Phillips
Dream Vacation--Paris, France
Career Ambition--Artist

Quinn

So my baby boy Quinn Thomas turns 6 years old today.  It's such a cliche to say how quickly time goes by, but it's so true.  Quinn may have started off the first two weeks of his life in the NICU but he has certainly grown by leaps and bounds since his early arrival.  Quinn is smart (freakishly so), funny, already a talented musician, an amazing little brother, and a sweet and kind son.  I hope he never loses that sweetness about him, but I'm sure if he does, his charm and good looks will carry him through...hahahah.

Quinn's Favorites, Age 6

Favorite TV show---Busytown Mysteries (though, I have to say he rarely watches TV...it's odd.  There have been times when I've begged him to watch television so I could get a break, but he prefers playing or reading over tv...I'm not complaining, I just find it strange.

Favorite Toys--persons (which are basically all of his character toys that don't belong to a particular group...squishy animals, fast food toys, robots all fall into that category), Legos, Matchbox cars.

Favorite Food--strawberries, chicken, and broccoli alfredo

Favorite Pastime--"screen time"...this kid loves time on the Ipad and computer.  He plays Smurfs Village on the Ipad and some of his favorite websites are Webkinz, Club Penguin, and Animal Jam

Favorite School Subject---Science

Favorite Songs--Moon, Moon, Moon--The Laurie Berkner Band, Little Lion Man--Mumford and Sons, Movces Like Jagger--Maroon 5

Dream Vacation--Outer Banks...I asked him to pick a place he's never been, but would like to go, but he still insisted that the Outer Banks would always be his favorite...I couldn't agree more

Guilty Pleasure---eating paper 

Career Ambition---Roller Coaster Designer...He is serious about this one as well as unwavering..

Other random things Quinn takes great interest in--Maps, Lighthouses, Combs

This Quilt

I started working on this quilt for my friends Katelyn and Drew a while ago.  I've only ever made one quilt before and it was only a sample size (about the size of a crib blanket).  This was my first "throw-sized" quilt...I think it turned out nicely.  I love the fabrics I picked.  I really have no idea how to quilt and I'm not lying when I say that if I can make a quilt ANYONE can.  I took a basic quilting class about 8 years ago (WOW!) but I never even finished the course.  So anyway, here's the finished product....

hahaha Jay holding up the quilt

I want this to stay on this rocking chair

Picture Proof The Crazy Mom Exists

I saw this blog come though this morning and it really touched my heart and spoke to me.  In this article the female writer, a mother, talks about how she is this super-involved mom (like most of us are) but photographically speaking there is little evidence that she exists in her childrens' lives.  I can completely and totally relate to that and in fact, was JUST talking to Jason about the same subject just last week.  Why are we moms so busy documenting the lives of our kids that we don't take a minute or two to actually pose in pictures with them?  I know my reason..insecurity.  My children literally stretched, disfigured, and tore my body apart in the chaos that it takes in having them (again, and again and again in my case), using my body to feed them, and running around just trying to keep up with these little people who are waay smaller than us, but oh-so-much more crafty-- I just didn't have the time or energy to take care of myself.  Heck, there were days when my kids were babies that I was lucky if I even had on clean clothes...much less combed hair and a matching outfit on.  There was NO WAY I was going to pose for pictures with my kids when all I ever really wanted to do was blend into the background and go through life un-noticed in this stage of my existence.  A nap would have been great...a mass-marathon photo session ala Jay's family????...a nightmare, people!  Like the woman that wrote this blog, there are very few pictures of me with my kids when they were very little.  I know this for a fact because:

The surgery to remove my thyroid was scheduled for early February 2009 (about one week before Valentines Day).  As the surgery date got closer I panicked.  Everyone told me how routine this surgery was and that I would be fine, but I was still scared.  I decided to make these small Valentine's Day scrapbooks for each of the kids in case I died on the operating table (morbid, but true....I was freaking out).  Now, those of you who know our family, know we take a TON of pictures...Surely, there would be lots of photos of me and the kids to sort through and choose for these little scrapbooks I was making for each one of them.  Well, I started looking over the past year and I had a hard time finding pictures of me and individual kids.  I found a TON of pictures of Jay and the kids, lots of photos of just the kids, quite a few pictures of my kids with my sister-in-law, but I was hard-pressed to find any pictures of me and Quinn, or me and Ashlyn, or me and Stella.  And I freaked out.  It made me sad and I decided on that day that if I made it through this surgery I would never let myself NOT be photographed again.  I managed to assemble the scrapbooks for the kids with the few pictures I was able to find and my surgery came out fine and my life went on...I did make an effort to be in more family photos, but I started noticing when life wasn't going my way, when things got tough, when things were sad, hard, confusing, or just plain unfair, I avoided the camera. Despite the unfairness of life..well, life continues...birthday parties, anniversaries, holidays...they all continue..no matter where I am health wise, mood-wise, weight-wise, life goes on.  BUT I don't want my kids looking back on their lives and not be able to find any photographic proof that they had a mother....Memories are nice, but photographs are physical proof that I exist.  And I may be overweight, or disheveled, or weary eyed, or downright crazy looking, but everytime I pose for a picture with my kids I have to remember that it's not just about me...it's about physically preserving history.   It's about giving my kids, and their kids to come, and all the generations that follow proof that I exist..And maybe one day, generations from now, my children's children's children will  be looking through old family photos and someone will see a picture of me and say, "Wow! Who is this CRAZY woman?" and some other distant family member will respond, "Well that's Donna Doak...She sure was crazy."  And the other person may reply..."Yeah, She looked it..."  And everyone will have a laugh and if nothing better comes from a photo of me and my children than a laugh?  Well, I'm ok with that.