Happy 3rd Birthday Jordan!

Jordan turned 3 on July 12th. We had a birthday party for him at the park. It was a lot of fun and a bit crazy. We grilled hotdogs and had some cake and opened some presents and oh yeah did I mention there were 12 kids there?! We had Spencer's brother Jon and his wife Bri there with their 5 kids, plus our 3 kids, plus Spencer's sister Tiffany had her 1 plus her "non-boyfriend's" 3. We had plenty of adults there so it was all good. Jordan had a lot of fun. Sadly we bought an ice cream cake but we didn't get to it fast enough so when we opened it all the ice cream starting oozing all over the place so we had to make a quick run to Smiths to get a sheet cake. Jordan was totally stoked to get a bike just like Sissy! He doesn't quite get the concept of peddling but he'll learn. It was really fun to have all the cousins there. They're all about the same ages so it works out well! We even got a picture of all of them together except for the two babies, Ashton and Adelyn. Cousin picture from left to right: in front we have Gage (2), Jordan (3). in the back we have Kaisa (3), Kaleb (6), Kaydance (7), Kaitlyn (6), Pyper (6) .

Happy 1st Birthday Ashton!

Ashton turned 1 on the 4th of July. We had a party at one park and then went to another park to see the fireworks. It was fun to watch him eat this HUGE cupcake! He didn't want it at first so I put some icing on his lip and then he was all for it! He is such a cutie and just so small. He has been walking for about 4 months now but it looks funny cause he's so tiny. We put him in the playpin with his 7 month old cousin and they're about the same size. We also got pictures of all the kids that were there. From left to right: Gage(2), Jordan(2), Kaisa(3), Pyper(6), Kaitlyn(6), Kaydance(7).

Evelyn Christley Whorley Faulkner Reeves

Monday, May 11, 2009 was a sad day for my family. My grandmother passed away at the age of 78. Evelyn Christley was born in November 1930 to Lonnie H. Christley and Onie Gilley Christley. She was the first of four born to them. She grew up in a poverty stricken family and really never escaped that kind of life. Evelyn married three times during her life. She had three children with her first husband, Nadra, Doug, and Claud. They divorced and she got remarried some time later to my grandfather, Kenneth Faulkner. Together they had Sandra, Donna (my mommy), and Taffy. Kenneth died in 1969 in a swimming accident. Evelyn later married again and got divorced again. Some of my best memories from my early childhood are of my grandma. My mom was a single mom when I was born so we lived with my grandma. She would watch me while my mom was at work and later she also watched Angie. My grandma was a very very spunky person. My grandma's favorite things were her smokes, her beer, and her boyfriends. Grandma liked to drink occasionally which got her into a whole lot of trouble. She was known for her bar fights. My grandma loved spending time with her grand kids but she refused to be called grandma for the longest time....we had to call her mom. So my mom was "mommy" and my grandma was "mom". She insisted that she was too young to be called grandma or anything like that. I remember going grocery shopping, camping, doing laundry, cleaning, watching tv, playing games, and laughing with my grandma. She always wanted to know what was going on in my life and I could literally tell her everything because I knew that she wouldn't judge me. Her approach to life was, "shit happens so deal with it!" I take the same approach. In 1997 my grandma began having stokes but no one knew about it until she had one at a bad time and a bad place. She was walking home from the grocery store, pushing a cart, approaching rail road tracks...apparently having a seize of some sort. All the cars that were stopped for the train were beeping at her and yelling at her to stop for the train but she didn't so the train came by, knocked her off balance, and next thing ya know she's in the Blue Ash Nursing Home. She kept asking if she could go home but she could not live by herself anymore so she had to stay there. She began to slowly deteriorate over time. I saw her for the last time when I was there for my dad's funeral at the beginning of April. I love her and I will miss her tons. She was like a second mom to me.

Happy 6th Birthday Pyper!

So I have been quite the slacker when it comes to updating my blog. I've been all sorts of crazy busy at work that I'm pretty much useless when I come home and my brain claims sanctuary on the weekends (not sure where it goes). Pyper's birthday was on the 27th of April and we had a small party for her at out place. It had been raining everyday so the park was not an option. Pyper had a ton of fun and was so super stoked to find out that she got a bike and "brain bucket" for her birthday. The sad part is that it rained for two weeks straight after her birthday too so she didn't actually get to ride it for quite a while. Here are some pictures from her party. I loved her cake. Jordan decided that he wanted the car off the cake so he and Pyper fought over it until it mysteriously disappeared!