Madelyn is finally here!!

Madelyn Taylor Westbrook made her grand entrance into this world tonight, Nov. 20, around 6PM. She weighed 8 lbs 2 ozs. and is 19 1/2 inches long. This little angel belongs to Amanda and Max Westbrook.

Here are a few pictures from the first hour of her precious life. Just look at how beautiful that baby is.

I'm not so sure she appreciated that nurse messing with her.
I bet she was thinking "Finally, maybe now they will leave me alone".
Nothing like a nice warm incubator to make a baby happy.

Look I think she is smiling for her Aunt Leenie. She just knew she would be the subject of my next post.

I didn't get a picture of her mama, I really don't know that she was up for photographs but I did get one of her daddy. Here is Max. Max was hanging in there strong for Amanda all day. He does look a little tired in this picture, don't you think?

Sylvia is the proudest grandmother in the world. Just look how happy she is.

Can't forget Jon, the proudest grandaddy in the world. See that smile?

And the proudest GREAT-grandparents, Frank and Jane. I just don't know how Frank and Jane can be any more proud of that great-grandbaby than they are of their grandchildren. They do love those kids!

I love this picture. Me and my BFF. Sylvia has been one of my very BEST friends for a long time. I can't tell you all the fun we have had together (probable wouldn't tell you everything anyway.lol) Her entire family is so very special to me. I have always considered Amanda, Clinton, and Colton my other children. Wow, I remember when Sylvia was trying to get Amanda to stop taking a bottle and a pacifier and now Amanda is a mother. Time does fly.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to spend this special moment with her and Jon. It is kind of cool to be there with your friend when her first grandchild is born.

Amanda and Madelyn are both doing great. I saw Amanda before I left the hospital and she looked so pretty. I think motherhood is going to agree with her. Now I just want to get over there and get my hands on that baby. I have a big ol' kiss just waiting for the top of that sweet little head.

Charlene

Shea got a haircut

Shea has been wanting her hair cut for a long time. Her daddy and I were not crazy about the idea. She would come home from school and tell me about some little girl getting her hair cut and she would ask when she could get hers cut. Well, finally I decided to let her do it. Her daddy still was not sold on the idea but agreed.

My cousin, Sylvia, (you remember her from an earlier post) has a daughter that works at Studio Salon in Magnolia, AR so I decided it would be cool to let Jessica give Shea her first real haircut. Ms. Amy has trimmed it before but nothing like this.

As you can see in the pictures below her hair was really long. I figured if she was going to get that much cut off she might as well do something good with it, so I told Shea about Locks of Love. It is an organization that uses real human hair to make wigs for kids that have lost their hair because of cancer treatment or some other illness. For the hair to be accepted it has to be at least 10 inches long and Shea definitely had that much she wanted cut. She thought it was a good idea and was all for it.

Here is Jessica getting her hair ready to cut. It had to be put in a pony tail before it was cut.

And there goes the hair. Shea was really excited but I was kind of sad to see it go.

After the ponytail was cut off Jessica gave her the cutest haircut. I must say Jessica was quite patient with her. If she told her once she told her 50 times to hold her head still. For those of you who know Shea, you know that getting her to sit still is an accomplishment in itself.

And look at the finished product. Don't you just love it? This is the ponytail Jessica sent to Locks of Love to make the wig. How cool would it be if Shea could find out who got the wig that was made from her hair.

Shea absolutely loves her new haircut and I must admit I really like it too. Grant even likes it but I think he might prefer it long. Oh Daddy, it will grow back. As a matter of fact everyone that has seen it likes it. They all say it makes her look older.

Here is a picture of Shea and Jessica. Shea has just added another person to the list of her best buddies. Jessica, if you are reading this, thank you so much for cutting Shea's hair. You did a fantastic job.

Don't forget to go donate to Team Jake (http://www.believeteamjake.com/).

Charlene

Friday Night in the "Big" Town

It is always good to start your weekend off with a fun Friday night. Friday night our friends from Searcy came back to Homer for the weekend. Chris and Syble moved to Searcy several years ago. That was a sad day for me and Grant. (We helped them pack up but I didn't really want to). If you have ever had a really good friend move away you know what I mean. Fortunately because they have family still living in Homer (and because they like us too), we get to see them fairly often. We all like to go camping, so they bring their camper down and we spend time at the lake. We always play some sort of card game when we are with them. Friday night we played Rummikub. If you have never played you should try it.



Here is a picture of Chris and Syble getting their tiles ready.

Grant trying to figure out what tile to play.


And here is Chris waiting his turn. It probable takes us a lot longer to play the game than most people. We play a little and talk a lot. We have even been know to forget whose turn it is because the conversation got in the way of the game.

Yea, Zach was with his ol' mom and dad Friday night. He loves it when Mr. Chris and Ms. Syble come down, he always has a good time too. Although I'm sure given the choice he would have rather had Kacie there with him. But you see his mom didn't give him that choice this weekend. Did you ever hate the weekend after report cards came out? Oh well, that's another story.

Ms. Syble always, and I mean always, has Shea some kind of project to do. She bought her these pictures to color. You should see some of the crafts she and Ms. Syble do together.

And the finished product. She is such the artist, don't you think?

Here is another reason Shea loves to see Ms. Syble and Mr. Chris, little Smidge. Shea just loves this dog and she has no clue that Smidge would rather just sit across the room and look pretty instead of being held by a seven year old. Smidge is always a good sport though, but she is happy when someone rescues her from all that love.

I can't wait to tell you what we did Saturday. That will have to wait though. I'm going to try to get that posted later today or maybe tonight.

Charlene

Let me introduce you to:

Hello all, I'm back. I know I haven't posted in awhile but I have been checking my blog and I see none of you people have left me comment. Don't worry though I am not taking it personally, yet.

Let me introduce my family to those of you that may not know them. First, this is my husband Grant. We have been married 19 years. I like to joke with him and tell him I have been happily married for 15 to 17 years. Just kidding though, I wouldn't trade him for the world.

This a better picture, but I just can't resist those silly pictures.

Grant and I have two wonderful children. Zach turned 16 in July and Shea turned 7 in September.

This one of Zach was taken last year in Arkansas.

This was taken in April before the prom. These pictures were not even a year apart but he looks so much younger in the first one. He will be graduating high school next year, really hard for me to believe. Look how handsome that boy is.

Here is Shea in Arkansas last year.

And one from last month. We were at Bonnie and Clyde Trade Days and she just had to have her face painted. Looks cute, don't you think? Shea is in first grade this year. I guess next thing I now she will be in high school.

Here are two more members of our family, almost as rotten as my kids. This is Penny. I know this picture is kind of scary but she is so sweet. We have no idea what kind of dog she is, just a stray a friend of Grant's found by his deer stand. She was probable only a couple of weeks old when we got her in Nov. 2004.


Then we have a new puppy, Ginger. Shea ask her daddy if she could have a dog and of course he said yes (I bet he was thinking "anything you want you little doll"). Yea, she has him wrapped, and I mean tight, around her finger. Nothing wrong with that. Ginger is 4 months old and a wild little ball of fur. She is a Doxie Doodle. To me that is a fancy way of saying the poodle got in the pen with the weenie dog. She named her Ginger because she said she was the color of gingerbread, pretty clever I thought. Anyway, Shea got her dog and she is on to wanting something else now.

And of course I can't leave out the other "member" of our family. Meet Kacie, Zach's girlfriend. She has become a regular around here. She is a sweet, and most importantly, christian girl.

As you can see on her t-shirt she is a Tulane fan. oh, well, I guess it could be worse. (Just kidding with you Kacie.)

That is the Killgore family. I hope you have enjoyed seeing pictures of my family and remember I do accept comments.

Until next time, Charlene