Matt, 26, Dayton Ohio

Today is "Show us your singles" on Kelly's Korner. I've done this once before for my brother Matt and he is once again available so we're going to give it another shot. 

Matt is 26 years old, he and our brother Steve are twins. He graduated from Wright State University with a degree in computer engineering and currently works as a system administrator overseeing a collection of computer servers assisting with data transactions. 

This picture is over four years old. Imagine him a little bulkier from weight lifting and with a little less hair. When he and our brother were born our uncle gifted them each with a big, stuffed, while lion. Matt carried on the tradition when I became pregnant with my oldest daughter. That's right ladies...he's sentimental.

He is looking for a woman who considers others before herself, knows and appreciates the value of open ears, is kind, gentle, and empathizes well. He is hoping for a long term relationship that will one day lead to marriage and a family. 

Matt is on the far left. Having babies in this family is a big event and everyone is on hand. 

He loves to eat, laugh, play computer and video games, and enjoys spending time at the gym. His gym time is a time for personal reflection to keep his mind and body healthy. 

He is just as content to sit at home sharing a pizza and watching a movie as he is going out to a nice restaurant and catching the latest movie. 

A girl that would enjoy taking in some WWE with our brother and sister-in-law just as much as she would a play would be a major plus. A woman who is just as comfortable in jeans and no make-up as she is with heels and and an up-do and who isn't afraid to get her hands dirty. A woman that loves animals, especially large dogs is a plus. 

He is always spending time with our brother and his wife and he currently shares an apartment with our baby sister and her boyfriend so a woman who values and appreciates family is a requirement. 

Us four kids. I'm on the far right and Matt is standing next to me. 

He dislikes this cold weather, don't we all...lol. He also dislikes people who are deceitful, tardy, and who are selfish. 

Matt can come across as shy and reserved at first but once he warms up and is comfortable with the people he is around he livens up. A women with a sense of humor, dry or otherwise, would be a great fit for him and he would also appreciate a woman that he can have a meaningful conversation with.

As my brother I guess I can be pretty biased about him but as the mother of his two nieces I can honestly say that I would love for my daughters to one day come home and tell me that they've met the man of their dreams and that he has similar qualities as their uncle Matt. He is loving, generous (he offered to buy us a dog for Christmas), and is not prejudice or hold grudges. He is self sufficient but doesn't spend extravagantly. We were born and raised Catholic and of the four of us kids he is the most religious. While being Catholic isn't a requirement, loving our Lord and believing in prayer is.

If you are interested in making a connection with my brother please contact me at buttercup2746@gmail.com and I'll pass along your info to him. 

Guess what's getting close??

The Ladies birthday's.

Yes, we're about a month out from birthday's in our house. I know there is going to come a day when the ladies aren't going to be thrilled with having a joint birthday party but until then I'm going to enjoy every minute of planning a joint birthday party for them.

Each year I try to stick with a theme that is familiar with their interests of the past year or is relevant to them somehow. 

Addison's first birthday party revolved around a barn yard theme because her nursery had the same theme. There was lots of pale yellow, sage green, and light pink and those were the colors we focused on. 

Her second birthday party also meant it was her baby sisters first birthday and the first of many joint parties. That years theme was a circus theme. There was lots of hot dogs, popcorn, candy, and primary colors and decorations. That was also the first year that I had them both a birthday shirt made. I love etsy.com and I always manage to find a precious shirt fitting with the theme that states their name and new age. 

Last year was the 3rd and 2nd birthday party for them and we went with a Mickey and Minnie Mouse theme since they were obsessed with Mickey Mouse Club House.We had Minnie's Bow Tie Pasta Salad, Donald's Dippers, and "Club" Sandwiches just to name a few. I wish I could find the few pictures I took that day but it was pure chaos and not many were taken.

And now we're knocking on the 4th and 3rd birthday party. When did that happen? I swear I feel like I just had them both and now here we are. 

My original theme for this year was going to revolve around Disney Princesses. They love Ariel and enjoy dressing up in all of their Princess dresses that they've accumulated over the past year. But then Christmas break happened and we took them to only their second movie in a theater and we saw Frozen.

O.M.G. I can't even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed that movie. Even my 26 year old brother enjoyed the movie and as I sit here typing this post all I can think about is how much I want to see it again. I haven't bought a Disney DVD in awhile but I guarantee this movie will be in my possession as soon as humanly possible. 

Frozen caused a light bulb to go off in my brain. For those that haven't seen the movie it revolves around a pair of sisters and lots of snow. I have two girls, born in the same week of February, a year apart and both during snow storms. I mean how appropriate a theme could this be for crying out loud? I'm so excited and I've been a pinning fool on pinterest trying to get all of these ideas for their party. My excitement is so out of control that I've already had their invitation made. 

Invitation created by Dsacreations on etsy.com.

I think I'm going to order a sub tray from a sandwich shop and have chips but we're going to have lots of snowflake shaped sugar cookies, a blizzard punch which I'm still working on, and lots of gum balls and candy in whites, light blues, and light pink. I plan on decorating with balloons and lots of snowflakes. I can't wait until I can share pictures from the actual party and we are even more excited for the mini vacation we're taking the weekend before to the Great Wolf Lodge in Mason. 

2014 Redo

The start of my 2014 hasn't gone as well as I expected. Sadly, it seems to be a trend for a lot of people.

After a lengthy battle with renal failure, my mammaw Ison went to be with the Lord on January 4th. We knew her days were numbered but she wanted so badly to be present when my neice gives birth to her first child this spring. Mammaw wanted to be able to take a five generation photograph with the new baby so that this child would have something with her great mammaw. After having complications during her dialysis the Friday before her death she decided that she couldn't go on and made everyone aware that she no longer wanted to be resuscitated.

Geneva Lou Ison

She took her last breath very early Saturday morning. The Ison family is a very tight knit family and mammaws death has hit us all very hard. We are comforted in the fact that this Godly woman is now in the presence of our Lord.

As if burying my mammaw wasn't difficult enough, my uncle Dan was rushed to the hospital this past Sunday afternoon. If you have read my blog for very long you will know my feelings for my uncle Dan. I love this man like I love my own father and step-father. He has been in declining health for the past ten years or so and we found out that he had double pneumonia middle of last week. His condition kept worsening but he refused to go to the hospital.

Well, my cousin Heather and I were having none of that and we both headed to him on Sunday afternoon where after about an hour of pleading with him to go the hospital the decision was made to call 911. We finally got him to agree to the hospital but we became well aware that there was no way we were going to be able to get him out to the Yukon by ourselves. I don't think any of us truly knew how bad he was until the paramedics arrived. He went from bad to worse in just the few minutes it took to call 911 and for them to arrive.

He was in critical condition and crashed en route to the hospital so they had to detour and take him to a closer hospital. He is still in critical condition at the hospital with a 50/50 chance of recovery and without going into a lot of details he has a long road of recovery ahead of him if he does pull through. The more prayers he can receive the better. As you can imagine, our family is very upset as he is a vital part of our lives My aunt Robin and my cousin Heather are distraught.

Also, I had yet another colonoscopy yesterday because of some issues that I've been having. My GI was concerned that my Crohns was starting to return. It hasn't!!

Daddy's First Surgery

This past June Daniel underwent his very first surgery. It was a minor surgery just removing his gall bladder but he was a tad on the nervous side as anyone would be. I felt completely out of place not being the patient for once and I hope that my suggestions and real life experience with surgery helped him a little bit. He arrived at the hospital very early that morning and it was a family event for us. The girls got a kick out of "riding" his hospital bed and eating lunch in the cafeteria.

His surgery was outpatient so we got to take him home that afternoon where the ladies and I took care of him and he was back to work within a week. I'm proud to be married to such a hardworking man always doing what he can to support his family. I would have soaked up as much time on the couch as possible. I never can because he always manages to get called out of town for work the week I come home from the hospital...lol. This past surgery I had no help taking care of the girls, house, and animals and we wonder why I have a massive hernia at the site of one of my incisions, hmmm.

Anyway, here are some pictures of his big day in the hospital.

Hey there sexy man...lol.

I love Cadence's pose in this picture. We had just gotten there and she apparently had had enough already.

Out like a light on her mammaw.

Daddy was kind enough to let Addie watch cartoons while we waited for the surgeon to arrive.

Daddy was out of surgery and she was out for the count again.

Paging Dr. Addison! 

After he was in recovery and we were allowed back to see him mammaw left and took sleeping beauty with her. Addison refused to leave her mommy and daddy so she stuck around which was when the above picture was taken. If she doesn't grow up to become a nurse or doctor I will really be shocked.

First Trip to the Bowling Alley

I am playing catch up on the blog so please excuse the out of order posts. I want to make sure I post all of these events to have for the future.

This past summer I enrolled the girls in a free summer bowling program at our local bowling alley. I thought it would be fun to get out of the house and the best part was that it was free with the exception of their shoe rental. They have fun during that first game but by the time we would start on the second game we would lose them and it was time to head to mammaws house for lunch.

"Mom said something about our balls coming out of this hole."

Poor Cadence had to wear socks with skids on the bottom because they didn't have shoes small enough for her.

Getting ready to drop and roll.

Score.

My baby and her cute pig tails. 

Cadence needed assistance from mammaw. 

And of course Addison was available for assistance as well.

My cute Addison Grace.

I love getting out and about and doing fun stuff like this for the girls. It's always a big plus when the stuff is free...lol. I also love that my mother-in-law loves the girls and I so much that she is always ready and willing to join in on the fun. We have the best times together and I'm sure not many women can say that about spending time with their mother-in-law.

First Trip to the Dentist

The ladies got to visit their pediatric dentist for the first time this past November. I knew Addison wouldn't have any problems but I was concerned with how Cadence would handle having tools in her mouth and people hovering over her head. She flips out whenever their pediatrician checks her throat and ears so I was prepared for a battle at the dentist. The girls asked if their mammaw could come with us and she happily obliged them.

They both did so well that we were amazed. They had planned on just brushing Cadence's teeth and not using their tool to clean them but I encouraged them to go ahead without the tooth brush and see how she did.

Addison was up first.

"This may tickle a little."

Look at those pearly whites.

Next up, Cadence. We were all saying prayers. 

"This isn't so bad."

Open wide. 

She did just fine and both ladies got a clean bill of dental health and loved that they got light up toothbrushes on their way out.

Next up, taking them to get their eyes checked. This should be interesting...lol.