September 21...

New Beginnings

Well, there has been progress! We are moving this blog over to another spot... I will do my best to email everyone, too. However, the new blog address is:

http://chastainfamily.wordpress.com/

Go over there for new pics and updates!

Sorta behind

May 15th was our last post here? Almost two months? Are you kidding me?

Well, I am making some changes tonight and gonna start updating plenty of things that have happened, including pictures over the last couple of months!

Stay tuned, I promise there are some updates coming...

Testing, Testing, 1 - 2 - 3...

Just wanna see if this little movie clip shows up for everyone...

Download nitenitepapi.mov

Let's see what happens!

April showers...

April has brought the rain. Yes, we are only two days into it but the Chastain house is TIRED of the rain! We are trying to get out as much as possible. For example, we went to Breakfast/Lunch with the Barre's on Sunday. CrackerBarrel. It was a hoot. Soah was rockin the conductor hat.

She ate more than Petrea - I don't know where she put it, but it was hilarious that she just kept eating! A cup of grits, two biscuits, almost two pancakes and a couple bites of eggs! If that doesn't help put weight on her...

The duo have been warming up to each other more, too. Soah doesn't just automatically start wincing and crying when PT enters the room. I consider that a good sign! They even posed for a picture together - FINALLY!

I can't wait for it to get warm so me and PT can get outside and try her new glove! We have been playing "catch" in the kitchen As soon as we get to go outside, she is going to HAVE to have a tee and a bat. She loves baseball!

Funny one to leave you with - the other day we picked PT up from school and she had had an accident at some point during the day. Autumn asked PT if she peepeed in her pants and PT's reply was, "Well, maybe just a little bit!" Priceless...

Easter!

I can't believe how active Soah has become in only the last two months. It is amazing and a blessing every day to watch her move more and smile more and talk more reach out and even tuck her head into my neck when she wants to be shy... I can't wait to see what she does tomorrow - I know there is something new that is going to amaze us. So, we will keep taking pictures and sharing...

Now, Easter was awesome. We went to Little Rock to stay at Brandon and Kristin's house with Ashton and Bubba. The kids had a ball and we got most of it on film. Well, not really on film, but you know what I mean!
 

On Saturday, we made the trip to Firefly Studios in Little Rock to paint some Easter goodies and a really cool Mother's Day platter for Gran. The kids had a blast. The ceramics, however, didn't fare so well. Poor bunny...

Easter Sunday brought fantastic weather and we all got outside and soaked up some of the sunshine! Petrea found a baseball glove and a bat and started swinging. She caught the ball when we threw it to her and even hit the ball a couple of times! We were amazed - and can't wait to get PT her own baseball glove and bat and tee to get her some practice.
 

After the baseball show, Uncle Charles, Uncle Brandon, Uncle T and me played some basketball. Now, I haven't played basketball like that in years, but we had a blast. It was even better that we had such a great cheering section!

It was Baby Braden's first Easter. he is so awesome!

Petrea jamming on the piano. I am sure the Easter Bunny was really upset that he missed it. I think she was rocking "I'm a Little Teapot" in this picture.

Little Story: The other night, I was putting PT down for bed. It's not that she doesn't like going to bed, she just doesn't like actually going to sleep. So, it is usually a chore to get her to close her eyes and turn off the party. So, again, I was putting her down and she wouldn't go to sleep - just kept playing and playing. After repeated attempts to get her to close her eyes, she just wouldn't so I threatened her with a spanking. She kept pushing so I had to follow through and smacked her bottom. She got very quiet and I could see that bottom lip poked waaayy out there. Maybe a minute passed and I hear this very pitiful, sad voice say, "Daddy, that huwt my bottom!" I was crushed and immediately felt exactly the way I should have - like an ass. She needs her sleep, sure - but right in front of me was this opportunity. She wanted to play with me and spend time with me and I was more interested in getting her to sleep so I could get downstairs and do some of the things that I didn't get done that day. What was really more important than spending that time with my kid?

Bunny time...

Aunt Gwynn provided the entertainment for the evening with a really cool pair of bunny ears - THANKS AUNT GWYNN!

Hop, Hop, Hop!

Soah was cheesing for the camera, so I took advantage of it...

It was even a chance for PT to sit still and NOT look at the TV long enough for a "group" shot.

PT likes to get in the kitchen and "Pin around! Pin around!" Here some action shots of it - she is awesome...

Braden is here!

William Braden Davis is here! He was born Monday, March 17. He was 6 lbs. 11 oz. Candace is doing very well. Terry seems to look good, too! I did not have time, or a free hand, to take pictures; however, I will be able to take some pictures this weekend at Easter. So, send the Davis family some love...

Neglect is an appropriate term...

No, we haven't been neglecting our kids but this blog... Obvious, isn't it. Last post was in November? Wow...

So, here we go to start trying to catch folks up on what we have been doing and how much the girls are growing and being so totally awesome! We left off in November... Did I mention I finished an Ironman? If you didn't get that, please refer to the last post. So, the next big thing was Thanksgiving, which I didn't take any pictures of. I don't know how that happened, but it did so we will skip right on to Christmas. We tried to get the girls to take some Christmas card pictures. They didn't cooperate together so they just turned out to be some fun pictures.

We went to Gran and Pops and got some pics there, too. A good one with all the cousins with Gran and Pops, than a really great one with Mom and Soah! Papi got to come over and spend some quality time with his girls, too. PT really liked her presents and really liked her Papi being here.

Also in December, we got to go over to Fayetteville and go to Lainey's Hannah Montana birthday party. Here is a picture of all the cousins and Lainey blowing out the candles. It was an awesome time and PT loved getting to hang and play with her cousins...

PT had her first Christmas show at school. She had fun learning Jingle Bells and Silent Night. She sang Jingle Bells for ,like, six days straight. The show was great, Soah LOVED all the music and, needless to say from seeing the picture, I didn't have a good seat! Once they were finished and the sanctuary cleared out, PT went back in for more. Solo, anyone?

Once January got here, things settled down a bit. HA! But we did still take some pictures so we could one day put them here for you to see...

Here, PT went to the grocery store with me. Schnuck's has really cut back on all the DUI's in store, but they haven't done much about drivers falling asleep behind the wheel. Luckily, PT was strapped in...

The weather can't decide what it wants to do, but when it is the least bit warm - I can make up our minds. Off the couch and to Shelby Farms! PT got in her first big girl swing, Soah had a ball watching everyone and even got in a swing for a little bit, herself.

The weather then turns cold and yucky again and we are stuck inside for a bit. This usually makes for good opportunities for pics, though. Here are a few that I thought would be good to share...

PT and Mom having a hug!

Soah playing to the camera.

Petrea helping her sister play with the soundstage.

Soah ready to go!

Soah Hayes

Spaghetti, really?

Then, of course, it snows and the gloves come out and everybody is ready to play. Except Soah - probably not a good idea to have a nine month old out in the snow, so we refrained from getting her outside. But she did love watching the snow fall. Petrea, on the other hand... Did NOT want to make a snowman. Every time I tried to get one going, she would stomp through it. That was pretty fun, too. Oh, she wouldn't make her own snowballs to throw. So, I had to make ammo for her to hit me with. Thank goodness her aim is still not all that great!

I have shared these with some, but I will post them and the story here so everyone gets to see it... PT had a Prince/Princess party on Saturday. The kids were to come as their favorite royal character. Instead of the princess PT, well, we thought it would be more fun to send her in a different costume...

She doesn't breathe fire, but is still pretty cool!

This morning, PT and Soah were having a ball together watching TV and playing. I had to get some pics of the terrible two as I can show them that, at some point, you sat together and played in one space...

Here, I think Petrea is introducing Soah to the "evils" of Noggin. "Go ahead, Soah. Let go. Let Jack's Big Music Show just take over..."

I just can't stop laughing at this one... "I have this many teeth!"

Oh, and not to leave the post without any commentary, but I fond this picture last night and read a blog post and some comments somewhere about a St. arbucks cup. It made me think about what music Petrea and Soah hear on a daily basis.

"Let’s do a better job of exposing the children to our rich musical history, so they know more than hip-hop samples of artists like Curtis Mayfield, Jackie Wilson and Billy Preston. Help them appreciate Duke Ellington and his peers, like Count Basie, for being more than lyrics in a “back in the day” Stevie Wonder song."  - Sam Moore

I think it is a crime that an art form as unapologetically amazing as jazz was invented right here in America but no one can really be bothered to listen to it. Jazz just doesn't work with our nanosecond attention spans and, of course, isn't performed by sex symbol teenagers in $250 jeans. I don't ever really hear anybody these days giving props to the people who INVENTED individuality and were the pioneers of "doing your own thing." Listen to some of Coltrane's live stuff - you wanna talk about putting your heart out there on your sleeve. Sure, it helped that he was a genius, but he played it like it was supposed to be played. Compare some of Miles' early stuff to his stuff on Bitches Brew. Simply amazing that music can come from a human being. Give your kids a chance to appreciate what it means to be "beat your own drum." Let 'em listen to a Charlie Parker, or Thelonius Monk album now and again...

Alright, off my soapbox. Have a great day!

A little more now...

Well, there are tons of pictures to post so I will get to it...

We never did post pics of Soah and Petrea's first trip to the beach. It was so much fun. I didn't get the least bit burned. Yeah, you read that right. I had just been out so much training... We built sand castles and Petrea actually got out in the water with me.

 

Of course, we had to get some Papi and Gigi lovin' in. Papi even got the Harley out for Petrea!

Right after that, Petrea got to go spend some time at Camp Cloud Nine with Gran and Pops. She found out that she likes motocross and lipstick...

Jumping around a bit, we also celebrated Petrea's second birthday here at the house by bringing the farm to us! Petrea was not conspicuous as a cowgirl at all! Cousin Ashton got to come over for the party and was the only one to get Petrea to ride the horse with no "adult supervision!"

Soah really enjoyed the attention she got from Gran and Pops while everyone else was watching PT.

Speaking of Soah, let's take a Soah break... Here is a pretty recent picture of Soah ready to go out on tour with her
loud band." She will be a punk rocker if she keeps this up!

She also recently started sucking her thumb. This was just so freakin' cute!

Then these two... Just good stuffings from the newest girl.

As much as we try and keep Petrea off of Soah, for Soah's oxygen purposes, we still are able to get some pictures of them together. I do think they like each other, although, Soah had no interest at all in the pumpkin patch this year.

This was just a cute one of PT...

Best friends at the zoo - Nealy and PT. Lots more of these in the years to come!

 

In Mom and Dad news, we actually posed for a picture together and I thought I would include it for those who are tired of looking at PT and Soah (as if that actually happens!).

In other Mom and Dad news, I finished my first Ironman. You can probably see the look of "Holy Crap!" in my eyes in the first picture with Mom and Dad. If you can't, believe me, it was there. Then, the swim start. 1900 of my closest friends getting into the water at the same time to swim 2.4 miles. Yes, I was kicked and swam over and, yes, I kicked people and swam over them. I did not stop to apologize.

Best motivation ever...
The girls in their Hog shirts. Autumn held this up for me during the marathon. I started running again! BTW, that is a finishers medal around my neck!

Catching up...

Jo, Danny and Ava came to see us.

We had a BLAST getting to finally meet Ava. She is awesome. We drove over to Gran and Pops house over on Lake Ouachita and, of course, took lots of pictures.

       (I don't know what is happening here...)

          

Kevin came over while they were in town to get some pics like only he can. I stood around and took pictures of the circus trying to get all the kids together for a group shot... We did get some really cute ones, though!

   

Soah didn't know really what to think about all the pictures and craziness. Of course, PT was there to kiss her and give some reassuring!

      

Soah Chillin' In the Summertime...