3 month old Ethne & Big Sister

Here the girls are from the 27th. We had to get some pictures before fall set in & all Gigi's beautiful flowers are all gone!. These sailor suits are just so cute to me. My mom has always loved sailor outfits on kiddos. I think Gigi use to make them for us when we were kiddos. She said seeing them on the girls almost tempted her to start sewing little kids clothing again. (I said ALMOST!) So, our plans for the weekend aren't too big. . Saturday Will is going for a 5 mile hike up off the Old Columbia River Hwy, pretty near the bed & breakfast we stayed in right before Ethne was born. He's going with a couple of guy friends & I'm sure will have a blast, the only downfall is having to get up early on a Saturday morning! On Sunday we're having some people over to 'launch' a new program we're starting at church called Suppers 8. We were involved in it at a different church we went to & it was a lot of fun as well as a great way to get to know people you don't know so well. I had to come up with the announcement & the insert for the bulletin, but I'm not sure how well my wording explained it on either! Basically a group of 8 people takes turns having people into their homes for a meal. You meet 1 time a month in a different person/couple's home from the group. Anyway, I hope all of you have a fun weekend planned. Isn't that the saddest picture, by the way, of Lilyanah touching Ethne's head & Ethne crying? I hope you enjoy the pictures. I have got to start scrapbooking the girls baby books!!! If you had an extra 4 hours in the day with no distractions, what would you choose to do with your time? Love you all! ~Wendy.

The Office Season Premiere Party

So, my cousin Katie inspired this party, simply from having hosted an Oscar party in the past. But what fun! I loved every one's costumes. I'm not in the picture because I was off tending to Ethne, but I can't tell you how much I was impressed by every one's costumes!!! We all dressed like a character from the office. The funny thing is that none of the girls dressed like the same character while 4 of the 6 guys dressed as Dwight! If you don't watch The Office I guess you don't know who I'm talking about. We gathered around 7pm at our house & we watched the last two shows from last season (from our ipod). That took us up to the 9pm season premiere. I made some snacks that certain characters are known for & we just laughed together. Hopefully everyone enjoyed the gathering as much as Will & I did.
Meet Evan & Cori Campbell. Cori brought a YUMMY pumpkin spice cake, I LOVE pumpkin. When I was a kid the Dairy Queen use to have pumpkin ice cream starting in October & going through Thanksgiving. It was DELICIOUS & I looked forward to it every year. They don't do it anymore instead they do some sort of blizzard thing with pumpkin. Don't get me wrong I still like it but the pumpkin ice cream was my FAVORITE!
Here are Nick & Abby Mears, they work out at Camp Yamhill & have been married somewhere around 5 months. So much fun, these two. I want to write more about everyone but it's REALLY late & I'm INCREDIBLY tired so the rest of this will be short.
Meet Jared & Jenny Mears (yep Jared is Nick's older brother). Such a sweet, creative couple.
Ben Stutzman, just an amazing young man that I just happen to babysit in my younger years. If there had been a prize for the best costume Ben would have won it.
Michael & Lori Morris. What can I say we know a lot of sweet people, these two are no exception.
I had to put a picture of 'The Dwight's' on here. PRICELESS!
From left to right we came as, Angela, Phylis, Pam, Kelly & I came as Karen. Again that means nothing to you if you don't watch The Office. . . To defend my costume, I did have a different shirt on earlier, but Ethne needed a resting place so I had to change into one that would be more comfortable for her to rest her cheek on. Good excuse! I hope you all have been enjoying your favorite shows premieres! Love you all, I'm going to bed!!! ~Wendy. (p.s. Ethne turned 3 months today, but I can't post any pics cause the camera I used won't load them on my computer, I'll try to get them up soon!)

What's a good night sleep like?

What a great weekend!!! I love getting things done around the house!!! Saturday morning Will woke up with the girls so I could sleep in a little bit, (so sweet!) He took a little nap when I got up & when he woke up again he set to work on ripping out the front door. Installing doors is quite a project! But Dad came over & between him & Will I am pleased to say that 2 of the 3 new doors we bought for the house have been installed!!! Mom took care of the girls so I could work on painting projects. The trim around the windows & the color of all the doors has been a medium/light green, the trim is now black. I have to say I like it a lot more!!! You can pretty much see what I've been doing by the before & after pictures. I got one of the last plants in the front planter planted. . . It was a fruitful weekend!
Cute Lilyanah story, though I sometimes think you really have to be there to fully appreciate it! I was up at 5 this morning taking care of Ethne & as it was an especially cold morning & being that Lilyanah was wearing cotton pajamas (vs. the really thick blanket pjs)I decided to check & make sure she had her blanket covering her. BIG MISTAKE!!! She wasn't covered, she was curled up with her head on the mattress & her backside sticking up in the air. Of course a moment after I opened the door she started to stir & not the kind where I could still turn back. She got to her feet & said 'down peas' which of course means 'up please'. I picked her up & sat in the rocking chair with her for a couple of minutes, she was still somewhat asleep but I knew she'd wake herself up more if I put her down in her crib & cry for an hour. So, I opted to lay her in Ethne's bassinet next to our bed. Ethne was laying in our bed (as I had just taken care of her) so it was perfect. I explained to Lilyanah that it was the bassinet or her crib so she laid down nicely to avoid going back to her crib. I crawled in bed & not 2 minutes later Lilyanah started to sing the theme song to Veggie Tales. That's her subtle way of asking to watch it. I just stayed quiet. After a couple of minutes of singing she said something & laughed at herself. Then Titus (our fawn colored pug) started to snore & Lilyanah started laughing again. It was so cute just hearing her little reactions & I think it's so cute when she sings Veggie Tales cause' I definitely know what's going through that precious little head of hers!!! Oh & by the way, she didn't go back to sleep. I hope you all are getting more sleep than I am! Love you all!!! ~Wendy.

Have I ever told you that I do not like trying to come up with entry titles? It's not a gift of mine.

I think I'm doing so good & then I fall behind again. The first picture is from August 24th when our good friend Matt was visiting from Oklahoma. Laura made dinner for all of us & we had a good time going through her pictures from our 'childhood.' I just wanted to get that in there! I have been keeping busy; the weather is turning & I'm trying to get the things done outside that I won't be as glad or able to do when it gets colder. I do have to say that I love the fall. I love it when the air is cool & crisp & the sun is shining. Isn't it so refreshing? Of course the cold weather also brings memories of a very cold house, not something I'd like to repeat. So to make sure it doesn't, Will & I came up with a little game plan & went shopping at Home Depot to get things to make our home more energy efficient.I love getting things for the house but wow, it can be TOTALLY exhausting! We were in a rush because Will had some guys coming over to play poker. (Don't go to Home Depot with only a couple of hours & more than 10 things on your "to get" list.) We did get just about everything we needed though.
One thing we got was a new front door--yippee! I spent some of Lilyanah's naptime yesterday painting the outside surface. It's red, of course. Will said a guy at work told him that in some culture somewhere (don't you love how I absorbed the details?!) people would paint their door red when their home was paid off. Nothing like a red light, as my dad pointed out. Dad did say that may be how the people who painted their doors red paid their home off.
Onto another subject, the girls had a doctor appointment on Tuesday. It's funny how it worked out, Ethne was exactly half Lilyanah's weight at the time they weighed them. Lilyanah is 20 months old & weighs 24 lbs 8 oz. Ethne thus is 2 3/4 months & weighs 12lbs 4oz. Lilyanah is 33" long (so close to 3 feet!!!!) & Ethne is 23" long. In less than 3 months she's already grown almost 5"!!!!!! So you see I'm not crazy sentimental when I say she's growing up way too fast!!!!! I just know they'll both be taller than me before they finish jr. high! I can't complain though, I always wanted to be taller. 5'7 1/2" was my goal height, which I occasionally achieved with some of the shoes I chose to wear. That goal also accounted for the height of the majority of my crushes growing up, which was usually in the 6' range. I think the tallest guy I liked measured in at a whopping 6'5", he may have been taller. Will is 6'2" so you see I'm getting what I deserve, children who are taller than me. The other pictures are from 2 Friday's ago. I put Ethne in the little doll stroller that Mema got for Lilyanah & Lilyanah had a blast pushing her around. She stopped about every 5 feet to bend over & give Ethne a kiss on her head. I thought it was precious & ran & grabbed my camera! Love you all!!! ~Wendy.

Houses, sailors. . . . oh my stars!

Since you all have waited so patiently for a picture of our house I thought I would finally appease the crowd. It's not the greatest picture but at least it's something, right? If you can zoom in you'll see Lilyanah playing with a toy on the steps & Will's hand forming the "I love you" sign through one of the windows. He was sitting on the couch inside holding Ethne. Of course I know all of that is there & can't see it so I don't expect you'll be able to! I was actually taking the picture because we're trying to figure out how we want to 'update' the look of the house & I wanted to print a picture off so I could play with a couple of ideas. We both love the colonial style & some federal style homes. I'm super big on not going with fads & making things 'timeless'. I wish I'd have adopted that theory in high school. Looking back on some pictures all I can say is YIKES! I have a printer attached to our computer now that has a scanner so I may be able to get some older pictures on future blog entries I also have a hilarious video of Will that I'd like to post but I'm not sure how to do that. Any of you have suggestions or know how?
The next few pictures are from church on Sunday the 26th of August. Mom bought the girls these adorable sailor outfits & although Ethne's is WAY too big on her we couldn't resist having them wear them. We took a picture after church outside of the building & can I just say that I love it when Gigi wears polka dots! She loves polka dots & I always think of her when I see them so I love that she's wearing one of her polka dot dresses in this picture.
After we got home from church Will was holding Ethne & was so sweet. He whispered in such a gentle voice for me to hurry over to see Ethne. He said, "I'm sure you see this all the time, but isn't she precious!?" I had grabbed my camera so I snapped a picture. Again, I couldn't resist! We Mathias girls are so blessed with such a sweet, gentle, rock of a man that we are blessed to get to call husband & daddy.
The next picture is Lilyanah in a dress that I am wearing in the picture behind her. In this picture we are both 19 months & 9 days old. For me that was June 10th, 1978 (Will wasn't even born yet!)& for Lilyanah it was August 26th, 2007.
The last picture is of my most recent attempt at creativity. Have any of you seen 'The Holiday'? It came out last winter, I think I saw it in the theatre 3 times!!! So, obviously I'm a fan. Anyway, there's a scene it in where there is a tent with hanging stars that I thought was so cool. I always loved stars growing up. I can still remember looking out my bedroom window reciting 'star light, star bright'. I'm going to get WAY off track here, but I remember there came a point, probably when I started high school that the only thing I could think to wish for was 'God's will.' Now I love that because I got my wish, "God's Will". About the same time I put glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling above my bed placed like the big dipper that I looked at every night. I did that all the way through college, I used it as a reminder to pray. So, now back on track, all of that contributed to me wanting to put stars over Lilyanah's head. I want to hang some glow-in-the-dark ones too but one thing at a time! Speaking of, it's lunch time so I hope you all have a GREAT weekend! Love you all!~Wendy.

Reaching Back to July 28th

Corey's birthday just happened to be the same day as the Newberg Old Fashioned Festival parade. Neither of the girls had ever been to a parade so while the guys chilled at home Mom & packed the girls up & walked over to my uncle Rick & aunt Mona's house. The parade route goes right by their house every year making it the ideal spot to sit & watch. Ideal because it's pretty close to the beginning of the route so the people in the parade are still smiling & still have candy to throw & stuff. Lilyanah was somewhat impressed but mostly just wanted to run out into the street so Mom kept a tight rein on her. I let her do all the running while I held sleeping little Ethne. Nothing really eventful happened during the parade but I wanted to show you a pic of something that made me laugh. About 20 feet away in the neighbors front yard there was this dog just standing there barking. Not funny in and of itself but the fact that he had unknowingly slipped out of his collar was hilarious. He was going crazy barking for a couple of minutes but wouldn't move from his spot because he thought he was still tied up! I could draw some serious spiritual parallels but I'll let you draw your own. I'm in a wonderful predicament of having too many adorable pictures of the girls so I'll just throw some in every once in awhile. One day when we Mathias girls were over at mom & dad's we put the girls together in the crib & here they are. I just love that Lilyanah's first instinct almost every time that she is close to Ethne is to lean over & give her a kiss on the head. The last couple pictures we took over at Jeremy's house. There's a little water feature/pond in his back yard that he's filled up with plants & even took a couple of koi from Dad's pond. It looks beautiful & I thought it was a perfect time to get some pictures of Lilyanah while she was playing around it. I also had the whole group get together to take a picture with the beautiful cloud & sky in the background. It was a fun day, Lilyanah always loves to visit with her uncle Jeremy. He always has something new to teach her & she's a willing student! Love you all! ~Wendy.

The BEAUTIFUL couple

This picture of Corey & Kelsey is too beautiful not to post! Congratulations you two on completing your first year of marriage! We love you!

Corey & Kelsey...1 year down!

So this is my first official blog!! My wonderful sister-in-law, Wendy, informed me that this was the Craig/Mathias blog and well...I am a Craig so I can rightfully blog! So I will be providing your entertainment for the evening! This is Kelsey by the way (Corey’s wife).

Corey and I have been married a little over a year. We celebrated our anniversary on Sunday August 12th. Crazy how fast the year flew by. I guess we aren't newlyweds anymore!

We spent the weekend of our anniversary in Newport at my grandparent's condo. We had a relaxing weekend including nice dinners and JEWELRY as you can see below! Corey got me a gorgeous diamond heart necklace and a beautiful pair of diamond earrings! I don't tell him to spoil me, he just does! And he is sooo good at it!!





Wendy is right when she brags about how awesome her little brother is! He has been the sweetest most amazing husband this past year and it seems to be getting better and better. I truly felt like I couldn't possibly love him more than I did on our wedding day, but it's so apparent to me now that what I felt that day doesn't compare to what I feel now. I'm confident it will only grow from this point on!

I could write for hours about him, but I will spare you the mushy details! Thank you for reading! :) Cheers for year 2!

August 9th, 2007

So, this was a first for me. I've always wanted to be a gardener, but have never taken the time to try to learn exactly how to become one. Well, our dear Meme who passed away 3 years ago was actually a Master Gardener (that's a real title for all of you who don't know much about gardening). She would volunteer time at the botanical gardens in Ft. Worth & had her own little green house in the back yard. Talk about a green thumb. Some of it rubbed off on Grandad & Lynn so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity while they were here to learn a little from them & for Lilyanah to get to play in the dirt. We spent hours the day after they got into town at Al's nursery in Sherwood looking for the perfect plants. I wished Will had been there with me to help pick but he sweetly said he trusted me so I was on my own. Grandad sat with Ethne at one of the outdoor tables they were selling & Lynn entertained Lilyanah, who loved the fountains. I think she would live in water if she could. She wore her new shoes from her mema that squeak whenever she puts pressure on the heel. It was nice to know where she was at all times without even having to look up! I'm not sure how much everyone around us liked them but they're pretty cute!
The sales people were very friendly & I was able to find plants that would do well in lots of sunlight & that wouldn't lose their leaves (evergreens). The crazy thing is I am NOT a fan of purple. I don't own a single piece of clothing with the color purple on it & don't buy any for the girls or Will (obviously). But the plants that I loved the most had purple flowers that grow on them. Most are a variation of Hebe. . . though I did get some heather & one lavender plant. I love dark, interesting leaves. . I still have to get 1 more plant but I'm not sure what I want yet so there's just a hole where a plant should be. And, I obviously still have some weeds to pull, good times. I can't say that Lilyanah was the most helpful but she had fun & that was the most important thing. On the way home from Al's we stopped at a local store to see if they had any gardening gloves Lilyanah sized. I had to get some groceries for dinner so Lynn & I went our separate ways. We came back together at the checkout line & her cart was full of gardening toys for Lilyanah. She got a little shovel & rake & a wheel barrel & one of those pads you kneel down on so you don't hurt your knees. . . have I mentioned that her mema spoils her!? But that's what grandparents are for, right?! The soil was rock hard so we had to saturate it with water & let it soak while we had lunch. Grandad did all the muscle work & dug the holes while we took turns planting & hauling away the dirt. Unfortunately we have lots of small holes hiding in the grass in the back yard that need to be filled in, so fortunately we were able to put the dirt we were digging up to use. Thank you Lynn & Grandad for coming to visit & helping us plant some pretty flowerbeds & for being so great! We really enjoyed the planting process & now we just have to make sure we don't kill our pretty plants! Slowly, but surely I will catch up & posts won't be about something that happened weeks ago! Love you all! ~Wendy.

On Saturday, August 4th, after we got back from the hospital Mom & Dad went to her 35-year Newberg High School class reunion! There were 65 people there, 40 of whom were classmates (out of a class of 210+. It was a very low-key, "no-host" gathering, and she really enjoyed it. (Note: the next weekend, August 10-11, was Dad's 35-year class reunion in Prineville. Dad and Mom also went to that and Dad found out some of his classmates memories about their friendship were decidedly different than his memory.)

Wednesday, August 8th was the day for guests~ My mother & granddad-in-law flew in from Oklahoma, my cousin, his wife & their son flew in from Mass. & my aunt's father & sister-in-law flew in from Missouri. I assume they flew. CRAZY! Unfortunately they also all left on the same day a week later! Anyway, it was the first time Grandad had been out to Oregon since Will & I got married almost 5 years ago! We had such a nice time, Lilyanah instantly took to her Mema who SHOWERED both the girls with gifts. But it was playing with Mema that Lilyanah loved the most. That's mostly what we did. We spent the afternoon on Thursday at a local nursery called Al's looking for the perfect plants to grow in our planter box & flower bed in front of the house. I have lots of pictures from that so that will be a separate post. On Friday Will picked up his sister, Michelle from the airport. She flew in from Texas & once she got there the games began!Will's family, like mine loves to play card games. Unlike mine, they stay up until the wee hours of the night playing. Something I'm not quite as good at since having children. But we always have such a good time. We played a lot of Round House Rummy & Hand & Foot. And I must say we women got stomped at both games, every single time. The visit ended way too quickly, we were just so glad that they made the trip to come see us. As parents we know it's mostly about the kids now. Isn't it funny how we're the main attraction to our parents until our kiddos come & then we become sidekicks!? Of course we don't mind, we love our kids more than life & love that they are loved by others too. We are so blessed that our girls are so loved by our entire family, we couldn't ask for a bigger blessing! The night before Lynn & Grandad left (early early in the morning), we took a couple of pictures of the girls with their only great-grandparents! What a treasure these pictures are to have! I had to include the one too of just Ethne & Grandad it looks like he has her smiling! Love you all! ~Wendy.