California Pictures

Okay, so I thought about doing a slide show, but then I decided that I wanted to write about some pictures so here goes.

This picture was on Sunday while we were walking at Venice Beach. It is a great picture because you can see how very cold it was. Despite the freezing temps there were still some muscle guys who thought that it would be super cool to work out at muscle beach and show off their big muscles...Thank goodness Papa and Daddy got Shelby and JP hats and gloves at the CVS.

I just love this picture of Shelby and JP. This is from our visit to the aquarium. JP called every fish Nemo. That is his new infatuation. Everything is Nemo. We got him a little stuffed Nemo at Disneyland and he takes it with him everywhere he goes.

One day I walked into the kitchen and found JP a mess. He had yogurt all over him!!! When he saw me he took a big drink (yes..you read that right, he wasn't using a spoon) and said, "Its yummy mom." The twinkle in his eye was enough to melt your heart for all eternity.

Disneyland day was so much fun.....we can't wait to make a trip to Disney World with the kids, maybe next year or so...Here is a group shot...Granddaddy, grandmother, papa, grammie, daddy, Shelby and JP. It was great to have all the grandparents with us to help out and since granddaddy and grandmother had little scooter thingys we got to go to the front of all the lines!!!

Another cold day, but Pratt and Patricio decided that it was a perfect morning to try surfing. Just to give you an idea...the air temp was around 41 and the water temp was around 56. Crazy, crazy, crazy!!!!


Pratt waiting for the "perfect" wave....
You did it honey!!! Way to go!!!
When Pratt finally drug his body out of the water (he was only in there for a few minutes) his feet were almost purple from the cold and he could hardly feel his limbs.

Christmas Card Disclaimer

Since we were out of town all week last week I am terribly behind in some of my normal Chrismas activities. I tried to get everything done before we left and realized after we got back how I failed quite miserably, so, please forgive me if I didn't get your Christmas card out this year. You all are very dear to us and we hope that you have a wonderful Christmas holiday. Jesus is the reason for the season and I pray that you discover his love and joy this year.

California: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

What would a family trip be with the good, the bad, and the ugly?? Actually, we did have a good time in California despite all that tried to take our fun away. The trip there was very eventful to say the least, but we made it safe. The house we stayed in was perfect. It was literally right on the beach!!! We got to see the sunset almost every night, and for all you Pirates of the Caribbean fans out there, there really is a little green flash when the sun finally dips below the horizon. It was one of the neatest things I have ever seen!!! So, here goes...our trip (disclaimer: this may be a long post as a lot happened and I want to try to remember everything)

Saturday: We arrive...it was freezing!!!! Seriously, Southern California is supposed to be all sunny and warm. When we got to the house we walked out back for about 3 seconds and then decided that it was way to cold and way to windy to be on the beach so we spent most of the afternoon in the house.
Sunday: Despite keeping the Shelby and JP up late the night before (in hopes that they would sleep in), JP was up bright and early...3:30am to be exact and Shelby followed shortly behind. They were hungry, after all, their internal clocks said it was 6:30am. Thank goodness Pratt and I went to bed at 8:00 the night before. We decided to brave the cold and head out to do some exploring. We walked down Venice Beach. It was good to say that we did it, but afterward, Pratt and I decided that we really love living in our wonderful little bubble called Bluffton, SC. There are some different people out there and Shelby was shaking like a leaf most of the time we were there from being cold and from being scared of a creepy old clown and some weird guy, well, acting weird. After that we loaded up the cars and headed to Santa Monica. Unfortunately it was way to cold to think about walking down the pier so we walked down the Promenade until Shelby and JP couldn't stand it any longer. Pratt and I walked back to the car and headed home. If you would have asked me what time I thought it was when we made it back to the car I would have said atleast 8:00pm, but it wasn't even close...5:30 to be exact. Oh man were we tired.
Monday: Up again at 3:30am!! I can't remember 100% what happened that day, but I think that it rained a lot of it. Pratt and I decided to that it would be a good day to go to the aquarium since there wasn't much appeal to being outside. It was fun and we got to drive through Long Beach which was a really neat little place. That afternoon I went out with the girls and Shelby and JP slept for nearly 4 1/2 hours.
Tuesday: We got to sleep in...until 4:00am!!!! This was one of the best days by far!! DISNEYLAND!!!! All the way there Shelby definitely wasn't convinced that this was a good idea. She even started to cry and begged us to take her home when we parked the car and started to get unloaded. "I want to go home, please. I don't want to see all the people." she would say. After the initial panic of it and once we got her in the park, she had a great time. Of course we avoided all characters and princesses at all costs. We even walked around the castle as she was deathly afraid of it. We rode several rides. The teacups and "Its a small world" were the biggest hits. At the end of the day, JP passed out in the stroller and Shelby talked and talked about how much fun she had. It was a very successful day! That night Pratt went to the Lakers/Nicks basketball game with the guys. They had a great time and got to see all sorts of celebrities....even Zach Efron and Vanessa!!!! I have to say, I was so jealous!!!!
Wednesday: Up again at 3:30am....this by far was the nastiest day there. It poured the whole day and I promise you the temperature never got above 45. Meanwhile, I heard that the weather here was beautiful...go figure. I actually went back to bed at 9:00 and slept for a few hours this day because I was so exhausted. Pratt woke me up around 11:00 and we got ready to meet my Uncle Bill and Aunt Kathy for lunch. We spent the rest of the day at the house.
Thursday: Another 3:30am wake up call...I really thought that the kids would be used to the new time of things in California by then, but they weren't so we made the best of it. I guess the good thing about being up that early was that we got to see the sunrise every morning, well sort of...we were facing west so we didn't see it rise over the horizon, but we were up to greet it...ummmmm...okay, mental block, I can't remember much of anything from that day. Oh, we went to Long Beach for lunch, we ate at PF Changs. It was really good. Oh yeah...the best part of that day happened about 8:30am. Pratt and Patricio decided to test out their surfing skills. Let me start by saying that it was only 41 degrees out!!! I was laughing so hard at them that I could hardly take pictures. Everything was cold, the air, the sand, and especially the water and to see those two crazy kids in wetsuits....oh, it was hilarious!!! This day the weather started to get nicer. In the afternoon I was sitting in the window watching the water and saw one of the most amazing things...dolphin playing in the waves. You could see them through the water surfing the waves. It was just amazing. Then they would jump out and do all kinds of tricks. It was like they knew that we were watching them and they were putting on a show for us. I can't tell you how cool it was. That night was Jake's graduation party, since Shelby, JP and myself were coming down with some kind of cold we decided that only Pratt would go and I would stay back.
Friday: They finally get it....both kids slept until 7:00am. I felt like a new woman!! Also, it finally started to warm up. I think that the temperature was in the high 50's and the sun was shining!!! We went back to Long Beach and had lunch a great little mexican type place. Friday night was Jake's graduation. It was great. Lee Strobel was the commencement speaker and I wish that I could have heard him talk. He wrote The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith, The Case for the Creator, etc.
Saturday: Up at 6:00 and then we had to wake the children at 6:30 to head to the airport. Thankfully our trip home was without complication and the flight from California to Atlanta was only 3 1/2 hours instead of the 5 hours that it took us to get out there. It was great touch down in Savannah and know that we would be sleeping in our own beds that night. A super special thanks to Rob for picking us up and going grocery shopping with Pratt that night!!

Some additional thoughts: Shelby and JP shared a room the whole week!! I was a little bit anxious about this because Shelby likes to sleep with the light on, but she did great with just a little night light and JP only got out of his bed once...yes, he slept in a big bed. We requested a crib/pack-n-play, but when we got there it wasn't there and the rental company told us that we wouldn't get it until later so we just put JP in the bed, surrounded him with pillows and crossed our fingers. The house was amazing. It was on the beach in Sunset Beach, I mean literally right on the beach. I spent most of the day in a chair looking out on the water. There were oil rigs right there, some of them so close that it looked like you could swim out to them. There were also oil pumps in the middle of neighborhoods. Growing up we went to Wyoming a lot of visit my grandparents so I know what oil pumps look like, you see them all over there, but in the desert. It was just wild to see them in the midst of houses and such. The beaches were awesome. They have tons of public parking, garbage cans every 500 ft., volleyball courts all down the beach, board walks, etc. I can't imagine how much fun it would be in the summer. Shelby and JP were such troopers. We really pushed them well beyond their limits and they responded well and went with the flow most of the time.

All in all it was a fun trip. I think that nearly everyone ended up with a cold, but we had fun and the memories will last a life time. While at this point I am not too eager to make the trek again, I know that one day we will be back and I can't wait.

Pictures to follow shortly.

We Made It!

Well, while it is fresh on my mind, I thought that I would post about our most adventurous flight out here.  I am not usually one to complain to much about flying because I really like it and I always try to go with an open mind that things probably won't go as planned and there are probably going to be delays.  Can I just say that despite my willingness to be open-minded about travel, yesterday was almost enough to make me want to rent a car and drive home!!! Truthfully, it really wasn't that bad and so I am blaming part of the day on just being tired.  Everything from Savannah to Atlanta went great.  Once we got to Atlanta, they changed our gate two times, despite that, we did leave on time. When we got on the plane I was expecting a four hour flight, but I quickly figured out that it was actually a 5 hour flight!!!  No big deal, I thought to myself.  So we took off and things got underway.  They passed out menus for lunch...there are no more freebies when you fly.  Pratt and I talked about what to get the kids and then we waited.  By the time they got to us to see what we wanted, they were out of food!!! All they had was peanuts and cookies!!!  I had some snack food for the kids, but they were hungry.  Poor Shelby kept saying, "Mommy, I am so hungry!  Mommy, I am starving!"  The thing that was so frustrating was they knew before they started doing lunch that we were back there with two children because a couple of times they said something to us about them being in their seats etc.  And one flight attendant came over and told us to turn off the dvd player because "not everyone wanted to enjoy that lovely movie."  Now, I am all for sarcasm, but really only when it comes from friends and is meant to be funny.  Pratt decided to go up to first class to see if his dad and Sandi had anything that we could give the kids and the flight attendant up there told him that it was against the rules to allow anyone in coach to have food from first class!!!  The thing is, we weren't looking for food for us, were we hungry? yes, but really we just wanted to feed our children!!!  Oh the joys of flying!!  I remember when they used to give everyone great meals and all children got wings and if you asked they would give you a deck of playing cards.  What happened to all that great customer service??

Let the Fun Begin

The title of this post has two meanings....one, the holiday season is upon us. Next to Easter where we celebrate the resurrection of our savior, Christmas is my favorite time of year. How much fun to celebrate the birth of our savior with so many friends and family....second, we are slowly testing the waters of the wonderful world of potty training a little boy. Today during church I found my mind wondering to the thought of if we should train JP standing up or sitting down.

He has gone tee-tee in the potty twice now. The first time was earlier this week. Every time we put him in the bath the first thing he does is christen it so I thought, you know, we need to see if he will sit on the potty and go in there. Sure enough after much wiggling around and me admitting defeat in the whole process before it really ever got started, he did it!!! I truly couldn't believe that when I put him in the tub and looked back to see if there were any surprises, there actually was tee-tee in there. We got all excited and JP just looked at us like we were a bunch of chickens running around with our heads cut off. So this morning, same thing...sat him down on the potty before going into the bath and he actually sat still this time....I don't know, maybe we have already made great strides because he didn't move at all until he was done.

Since about a week before Thanksgiving we have been so busy. Sometimes I just can't believe that here we are at the end of another year and I feel like I still have so much to accomplish before it all comes to an end. Oh well, what will be, will be. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, thanks to my super creative friend, Erin, we had a wonderful mini Thanksgiving feast complete with the Mayflower and a Tee pee. Of course one of the things I am most thankful about is my wonderful family and friends, but not to far behind that is the fact that Clemson beat South Carolina again!!!! It was great. Thanks to our wonderful family, Pratt and I got a night away and went to the game. We had such a wonderful time. It was nice to be husband and wife for a while without having to put on the mom and dad hats at all. We get bragging rights again and what really makes it great is that our super-fabulous new head coach who had no head coaching experience until about 6 weeks before that game beat the heck out of their seasoned, Heisman winning, national champ winning head coach. Nothing better than that!!!!

Since then I have been frantically trying to tie up all Christmas to dos before we got out of town next week. We are heading to CA to celebrate with Jake that he has made it through his college career!!! YAY JAKE!!! We are so proud of you. In between all that running around, we made an Advent wreath to celebrate the Advent season at home as well as in church, we have built a gingerbread house (actually Pratt and JP built it because Shelby refused to go in the room as there was a slight possibility that Santa would be there...poor little girl shook like a leaf for about 30 minutes and wouldn't let me make a peep because she didn't want Santa to hear us hiding in the corner of the other room), gone to a super fun dance party in which Pratt actually danced the entire time, went to the Bluffton Christmas parade (Thanks Rob-a-Dob and Aunt Lala for all your help with that), and celebrated my dad's 65th birhtday!!! It is just amazing all that one can cram into a day!!! Here are some pictures that we have taken along the way.

Housekeeping and Such

Shelby Story: Last night while we were sitting around the table eating Shelby got the hiccups. We were all chuckling over that and Pratt all the sudden faced her and yelled, "Roar!!!!!!" really loud. It scared her so much that she tooted three times. We all fell on the floor laughing!!! Oh, and it solved the hiccups too.


JP is talking so much!!!! Here are some of his favorites...
See datty, mom, see datty. (See Daddy mom, See Daddy)
Hane ou mom, hane ou (which if I don't respond with a your welcome gets louder and louder)
Bane, mom, bane (plane)
Helby (Shelby)
Datty funny, mom, datty funny
Doe, mom, Doe ("go mom go"-he says this everytime the car stops or slows down and gets louder and louder until I go)
Pretty much everything he says is followed by "mom" and then repeated.

Add Farmer To My Resume...

Yesterday afternoon I decided to get all cozy in a pair of overalls that Pratt so kindly pointed out to me that I have had since college. When I walked out of the room to check on the kids the first thing Shelby said to me was, "Mom, you look like a farmer!" She had the funniest little smirk on her face. To me, the fact that she made that connection was funny!!! I tell you, these kids grow so fast!!!

We have been running all around lately. Last weekend I took the children up to Clemson for our annual mini family reunion/homecoming trip. It was a blast. Shelby and JP sat through the game right up to the middle of the 4th quarter. It was great. The three of us shared a hotel room, which really made me nervous, but of course proved to be wonderful. I can't tell you how great they did.

Unfortunately, I was a bad mom and didn't take any pictures, but they were cute as buttons. Shelby actually wore her orange Clemson sweatshirt!! I couldn't believe it. Of course, it was so cold that she probably would have worn anything that day.

Halloween Pictures...Finally.

So, did you vote today? I hope so, because you know what they say...if you don't vote you can't complain....I don't know who they really are, but after only 45 minutes in line I was done. Shelby and JP did such a great job. They both sat patiently in the stroller and were really very good. Of course, I did entice them with lollipops so maybe that had something to do with it. Anyway, onto Halloween.....

We had a wonderful time on the hayride through the neighborhood. Shelby really shocked me with how she ran up to the houses for trick-or-treating. There was only one house that I had to walk up with her because she wasn't so sure of the skeleton on the porch. Here is a picture of Shelby, aka: Ariel, and JP, aka: Coach Swinney, on the hayride. The funniest part about Shelby's costume, well, there are two funny things...the purple part which is supposed to be Ariel's bathing suit, Shelby kept calling her braids and then she also insisted on having the one side hanging off of her shoulder. Everytime I tried to fix it she would put it back and give me a stern, "that is how it is supposed to be mommy!!!" with a look and hand gestures to go with it.

I couldn't do a post on Halloween and not show you the artistic ability of my husband. This was the first year that we carved a pumpkin. All the years we have been married we have always bought pumpkins, but we never did anything with them. I was so excited to carve a pumpkin this year. The children loved watching and they both even touched the "guts", although, I don't think either one of them really enjoyed that too much.

This final picture I had to include. Lately, JP has been falling asleep while we are in the carpool line waiting for Shelby to get dismissed from school. This is a classic JP picture right now. It really sums up a lot about him. First, notice the hair twirling, yes, he even does it in his sleep. Second, notice the death grip on the box of raisins. This is by far his favorite food right now. The dentist is going to love me!!! Finally, notice his mouth. It is kind of hard to tell, but he is sucking on a mouth full of raisins. He packs his mouth full of raisins and then sucks on them. Thankfully he hasn't choked yet and hopefully he never will.

I can't believe it is alreay November

So, apparently I slept through the month of October because I have absolutely no idea where it went. We are a busy family, but not so busy that a whole month can slip by just like that.

Let's see....since my last post...we have been to two pumpkin patches, a church fall festival and a trick-o-treating hay ride.

The first pumpkin patch was at Cahill's Market. We did our annual family trip to see the pumpkins and pick out the perfect pumpkin to grace our door step. As you can tell by the picture it was warm and we had a great time. Shelby and JP found a beautiful pumpkin with a great stem on it. JP wasn't too sure about the hay in this picture, but who can blame him...he had shorts on and we made him sit on it.

The second pumpkin patch we went to was at Hampton Lake. They had a really fun Saturday planned. They put 500 pumpkins in a field and asked that you make a minimum of $3 donation for each pumpkin you took. It was amazing, I mean, these were really nice pumpkins. All the donations went to the Bluffton Fire Department. They were on hand for the event with a firetruck and their dog mascot. Shelby was scared to death of that firetruck. We almost didn't make it to the pumpkin patch because we had to walk by the firetruck to get there.

I will have to leave you hanging with that as my camera is down stairs with the pictures from the church fall festival and the hay ride. Hopefully I will get those pictures up this week as there are some really cute ones...well, I am a little biased; they are my kids after all.

Shelby can write her name...

I really have too much to do right now, but I couldn't go on without first posting this picture of the first time that Pratt and I have seen Shelby write her own name. She wrote it with a marker (long story to that) on our driveway...here is the picture:

JP Climbing

This video is of JP climbing a wall at the playground in the mountains. We already knew how much he loves climbing up on anything he can, but after we saw him do this I think we really realized how much trouble we are in for with this one.

Pictures from the Mountains

These two pictures were taken at the playground that we went to. Shelby's favorite thing about that trip was the playground. She thought is was really funny when her, Meme and JP all slid down the slide together.
Here is a picture of the sun setting over the mountains. Shelby and JP were so well behaved. There were several times that we just let the play on the back porch and watched them through the windows. Isn't this just beautiful??? And people say there is no God, I just don't get it.
Here we are on the train. At this point we were just waiting because they were working on something on the train. We sat like this for about 15-20 min before we got started and then once we got started she rode the rest of the way like this.This is a picture from the top of the mountain looking back over the swinging bridge. Shelby had no problem climbing up there with her daddy or walking across that bridge.

Mountain Weekend

So two weeks ago (I know that I am a little, well, a lot behind on this, but better late than never) we went to the mountains with Meme, Aunt Suzy and Uncle Patricio for a little family weekend getaway. What a wonderful and relaxing time!!! We went to Boone, NC and it was just beautiful up there. It was my first time and I really look forward to visiting there again.

While we were there we ate, watched tv, looked at the mountains, ate, went to Tweetsie Railroad, slept, ate, climbed Grandfather Mountain, played at a fabulous playground, ate, oh and did I mention that we ate??

Unfortunately since it has been so long since the trip I can't remember too much of anything funny that the kids did even though I know that they did plenty of funny things. There is one little story about Shelby that I am still trying to figure out. Maybe you can help me with this one...The first full day we were there we took the children to Tweetsie Railroad. It is like a little theme park for children. They have a real steam engine train to ride, a carousel, a farris wheel, and other little rides like that. Thankfully JP is kind of still to little to protest much and I made him ride the carousel with me; Shelby, on the other hand, would have nothing to do with any of it. Finally just as we were about to leave we picked her up and before she had time to protest got her on the train for a quick ride before we left. She rode the whole time with her hands covering her ears cuddled up in her daddy's lap. She really is a very cautious child and doesn't explore too much and prefers to watch alot of times over participating. Here comes the baffling part. The next day we went to Grandfather Mountain. It was so beautiful. They had a little animal exhibit with bears, cougars, eagles, deer, etc. We walked around that a bit and then went up to the top of the mountain. At the top they have a swinging bridge that you can cross and then this rocky ledge that you can climb up to get a little higher and have a wonderful view for miles and miles (on a very clear day you can see the Charlotte Skyline). Anyway, we get up there and Shelby doesn't even think twice about walking across that bridge and climbing out on those rocks!!! Seriously, I couldn't believe it. I thought that I was going to have a panic attack walking across the bridge and she did like she was walking down the sidewalk in our neighborhood. Go figure....

Okay, for some reason I can't upload pictures right now so I am going to try that in a separate post.

The Silent Treatment

I can think of a million things (well, maybe that is exaggerating a little) that I need to be doing right now, but of course here I am on the computer.....it is all for your benefit:)

So, what have we been up to? Maybe a more fitting question would be what haven't we been up to. There is so much going on right now that it is just crazy. The weeks fly by...here it is days from October and I still am not sure what to do about Halloween for the children. Most of the time during the week is spent doing "mommy" things: ie-taking Shelby to school, picking up Shelby from school, grocery shopping, cleaning dishes, making lunches and sometimes dinner (props to me and Pratt for going on week three of eating in!!!), doing laundry, trying to keep the house clean, paying bills, CBS, changing diapers, chasing JP down from where ever he has climbed up, etc. It is so much fun!!! I really do love being at home with them. Oh, we also have to throw in buying presents and going to birthday parties. In one weekend we went to three parties and that just about wore me out to the point of no return, but is was great.

JP is trying so hard to talk. People often ask me how many words he is saying or what words he is saying and that is just such a hard question to answer. He is saying words, but many words anyone outside of Pratt or me wouldn't understand...does that count as saying a word? I don't know. Every time the air comes on in the house he goes, "Uh, uh! Plane, plane" and points up. It is so funny. He loves to see and hear the planes flying around and any noise that comes from the general up direction must be a plane. Of course he still loves to climb. About two weeks ago we were at a birthday party at a petting zoo...yes, I couldn't believe it either, but we have a petting zoo here!!! JP just took off looking at all the animals and feeding them. At one point I looked up and he was about to rocket himself over the top of a fence that was probably about 5 feet tall. And instead of rushing over there like a normal thinking mom would do I found Pratt so that he could see and then we started taking pictures...good news is that he didn't fall. Another new thing that has just started is he loves, loves, loves to sing!! Every time we are in the car he "sings" all the songs. It is so cute and my heart just melts every time.

Shelby is doing great. She loves school, at least I think she does. Here is how our conversations go when I pick her up.....

Mommy: "Hi sweetie!! How was your day?"

Shelby:

Mommy: "Did you have fun today?"

Shelby:

Mommy: "What did you do today?"

Shelby:

Mommy: "What friends were at school today?"

Shelby:

At about this point I usually give up and we ride home in complete silence. One day I was asking her questions about her day and I did finally get an answer, but she said, "Mommy, I don't want to talk about it." WHAT!!!! I didn't think that kind of response came until the teenage years!!!!

Memory Verse

Here is a cute little video of Shelby singing her memory verse from CBS. I just love it!!

Pratt Rocks!!!

He really does!! Last night I got called out shortly after dinner to go spend some time with a friend. I literally hung up the phone and kissed the family good-bye and walked out the door without much explanation as to where I was going or why. During the time that I was out, Pratt bathed both kids, washed all the dishes, lowered Shelby's mattress (we are trying to get her to sleep in panties at night), cut both kids hair, and cut his own hair (I didn't even ask him to do any of it). Some of you may be wondering how long I was gone, and it really wasn't too long...probably a little over 2 hours and he got all that done!!! Amazing, I know!!

Here are some pictures of JP's new hair do. Shelby was 3 before she got her first hair cut so it has been a little sad for me that JP is already getting his hair cut. To me it is like a right of passage from baby to childhood....sigh:( It is amazing what a hair cut can do. Shelby looks a little bit more sophisticated to me (that is probably because her hair doesn't look like she is some kind of wild child) and JP really does look older.

So Happy Together

A friend of ours recently asked Pratt if we high fived each other every morning when we get up because of how awesome our children are and that got me thinking about how truly wonderfully blessed we are to have our children. As any proud parent would say, I think that ours are the best. It also got me thinking about how often I take for granted these precious gifts from God and challenged me to be a better mother towards them and a better wife towards my husband. Isn't it amazing how one little comment can really change your outlook every morning?!?!?!?!

Anyway, on to the kiddos. They are great. One of my favorite things about them is how much they love playing together. It is great to listen to them talk and laugh together, and it is so much fun to see them playing and enjoying each other. Two days ago when JP woke up from his nap he wasn't ready to get out of the crib so Shelby brought him so toys and asked me to put her in there with him. I am telling you, they literally played in that crib together for 15 minutes!! It was great. I took that time to sit down for a few minutes and recuperate a little from our hectic weekend before starting dinner and just enjoy their sweetness. It was precious moments and times like these that will stick with me forever. Oh, another instance, we were at the playground the other day and I just love watching Shelby and JP on the swings. They get this distinctive sparkle in their eyes and they just laugh. It is amazing to watch them enjoy life so much. It really gives you a whole new perspective on what God must feel when he watches his children enjoying his creation in the manner that it was intended. Wow, what an amazing thought!!!

Our daily life has been very busy. We are definitely in full fall swing. Shelby loves, loves, loves school. JP is still adjusting to mornings without her. It is sweet to watch him search the house for her. You can just tell that his little mind is working so hard to figure out what is going on. CBS is going great. We are studying Genesis this year and it is just wonderful! We are learning way more than I could have ever imagined. Pratt is working so diligently and we are so proud of him.

In closing, here are two of my favorite pictures of the kiddos from the last few days. It just makes me so happy to see them together!

First day of School and other things

Hello everyone! Let's get caught up....so last week was Shelby's first week of practice school. She went everyday for the whole week and she had such a blast. By the time the weekend rolled around she was one tired tike, but even after all that she was still a ray of sunshine. Here are some pictures that she drew during her first week. One look and I wanted to laugh and cry at how adorable they were and it really made me realize how much she is growing up. No more little scribbles on a page, now she is drawing pictures!!!

I mean, she even gave her little heads necks. How cute is that!!!

Over the weekend my mom and dad kept the kids while Pratt and I went to the Clemson football game. We had great seats and a wonderful time hanging out with some of our friends. As an extra special surprise, we actually ran into some friends of ours from Atlanta at a restaurant. We hadn't seen them in 2 years and it was great to catch up with all that was going on. And that is all that I am going to say about that.....(those of you who watched the game understand why:(

Today was Shelby's first day of real school. Yesterday in preparation for her first day she and Daddy went shopping to by her first day of school outfit. Before they left I asked Shelby if JP and I could go with her and daddy; and her reply, "No. I need to spend some time just daddy and me." How could I argue with that???? So this morning went off pretty well. Here are the pictures from this morning....

Oh My Heavens

I have definitely fallen off of the blogging wagon. Most days I just can't get those creative juices going to write anything witty and funny to convey what has been going on in our lives; plus, every time I come upstairs I forget the camera.

Anyway, to give you a glimpse of what has been going on. Two weekends ago we went to the lake house because Uncle Jake was in town. We had a blast. Shelby, JP and I shared a room for the first time and I have to say that while the first night was just plain terrible, the second night was wonderful with both children sleeping somewhat peacefully through the night. Shelby slept with only a nightlight (usually she sleeps with the lamp on) and she was very good about being quiet so that JP wouldn't wake up. They also took naps together and that went great. It was wonderful to spend time with Uncle Jake. Shelby was his little shadow and I have the cutest picture of them holding hands in the parking lot (you will have to wait to see that as my camera is downstairs).

Last week we rested up from the weekend at the Lake house. Most of the week was spent hanging around the house and enjoying all the rainy days. It was nice that it rained because then you didn't feel like you "had" to get all those errands done. We had parent orientation at Shelby's school and got to meet her new teacher this year. Micki, a friend of mine since Montessori, and her son, Parker, were in town so we went to Hampton Lake for lunch and sometime on the playground. It was so much fun to catch up and to watch our children who are the age that we were when we first met play together on the playground. It was almost surreal to think that we were that old even though we really aren't that old. Meme had her 60th birthday; which I got to go to a wonderful brunch in her honor without the kiddos and it was so nice!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEME!!! WE LOVE YOU! Then Saturday night we had our annual Practice Tailgate Party. It was a great time.

Shelby and JP are growing up so fast (I know I say that all the time, but it is so true and I just can't get over it.) Today was Shelby's first day of practice school (aka-orientation). She goes all week this week from 8:30 to 11:30. She had a great day today and I could tell that she really enjoyed it!!

A couple of things:
JP is talking like crazy. For the most part you still can't understand what he is saying, but some things are very clear. He loves to tell us when it is raining..."It's raining" is what he says. He runs to the back door, points out and says, "It's raining." Then he runs to the front door and does the same thing. It is so cute.

Funny Shelby story: One day Shelby is probably going to want to kill me for telling this, but Sunday we went to Hampton Lake for lunch. It just wouldn't be a meal if Shelby didn't ask to go potty right when the food arrived, so as soon as the food got there Shelby asked to go potty. While she was going she decided that she needed privacy (a common request when she goes #2). So I put myself in the opposite corner facing the wall and told her that would have to do. Next thing I hear is her staining saying, "Oh my heavens, oh my heavens." (Just for all you out there who think she picked that up from someone in her family, I can assure you that is not the case!!!) After which I heard a little plop followed by "That was a big one!" Oh my gosh!! It took everything in me to not burst out into hysterical laughter.

That is about it, that I can remember right now.

Once Upon a Potty

Every week we try to make it to the library to return old books and pick out a few new books. Our typical visit goes something like this....

Get out of car.
Make sure that Shelby and JP don't get run over in the parking lot.
Climb up on brick wall and walk on it instead of the sidewalk.
Enter library.
Shelby places a few books in the return door and the JP puts the rest in.
Chase JP and Shelby down as they race to the children's section.
Run after JP telling him not to touch anything (he likes to pull all the books off of the shelves) while Shelby picks out a few books.
Corral kids to the check-out desk.
Wait anxiously and as patiently as possible while librarian checks out the books, usually taking her time.
Tell Shelby and JP to follow me out.
Climb up on brick wall and walk down to the end, jump off.
Make sure that Shelby and JP don't get run over in the parking lot.
Put kids in car.

Really, that isn't the whole point of the blog, but it was fun to type....anyway, in the midst of the chasing JP and protecting the library from a tornado, Shelby quietly and calmly walks amongst the shelves, picks out books, and puts them into our bag. I never really get to good of a look.

So fast forward to bedtime...Shelby is allowed to pick out two/three books to read and usually what ever books she picks out the first night with the new books are the books that we read every night for the rest of the week. She is going through her books and picks out Once Upon a Potty. I start reading the book and quickly figure out that this is the little boys version of the book. Thankfully the little light is on so it is very hard to see the pictures and I have become quite good at skipping pages without her knowing. I also make up words sometimes.

The next night I knew that she was going to want to read that book again so before I brought in the bag for her to pick her books from I took that book out and prayed that she wouldn't notice. Well, she did. She asked for and asked for it. I told her that I didn't know where the potty book was but that we would look for it tomorrow.

Of course she found it the next day and so from now until we make it to the library again I am going to be reading her that book every night.

Long Night

So, last night...by far one of the longest nights I have had since JP hit the one year mark. Yes, he still isn't sleeping through the night on a regular basis. We will have a few days of glorious sleep for 7 hours straight and then a night like last night. Pratt and I hit the sack around 10:00, by 12:30 I was up for the first go around with JP. Back in bed around 1:00. Up again around 3:15 and never went back to sleep after that. It was crazy!!! What am I to do??? We have already done the whole cry it out thing and I thought that worked, but well, who knows; it is like "they" say, "Every child is different." At about 5:30 I even tried to get JP to lie down with me and that I one of those rules that I really hate to even consider bending a little and that didn't even work. So by 6:00am JP and I made our way upstairs where I kept the lights off and he played in the dark until 6:30. Of course, by the time we got up and made our way to the pool this morning he was passed out in the car. Surprisingly he transferred into the stroller and slept for about 30-45 minutes while we were at the pool. Check out this picture.....

Shelby is really becoming quite the little fish. She spends more time with her face in the water than with it out. Thankfully while I was on my trip Pratt was able to get her to start wearing her goggles and now she loves them!!! She just swims around and looks at the pool floor. One of her favorite things from today was pretending to rescue daddy. He would sink to the bottom and she would jump in, grab his fingers and pull him up to safety. It was so cute to watch!!!

Bahamas '08

As most of you know, last week I went on my first girls trip in quite sometime. Myself and 4 other girls banded together and hit the Bahamas with style for 4 nights and I am sure that Atlantis will never be the same!! Can I just say that I had the best time ever!!! We danced the night away every night and spent the days out in the sun soaking up rays and drinking yummy girly drinks by the beach. Who could ask for more and it is definitely going to be a trip that we repeat again and again.

We left very early on Thursday morning...I was picked up at 4:15am. We were out on the beach by 3:30 with drinks in hand. You know, so much happened and we just had so much fun that I really don't know what to say.

Atlantis was AWESOME!!!!! The rooms were nice and the service was great. It was kind of expensive, but it was definitely worth every last penny!!! There was so much to do. Some of us had spa treatments, some of us swam with dolphins, we all braved the water slides, and some us hit the casino (I won $65 dollars on roulette!!!!). At night we had great food and then hit this little lounge/bar that had a dj and we danced past 1:00am every night. Also, I might add that we were the most beautiful girls there and every night had to fend off the men who were always shocked and dismayed when they found out that we were all married with children. Yeah....we still got it:)

Anyway, here are some pictures to get you drooling with envy over us!!

Erin and me...We went to get drinks after dinner at Cafe Martinique at an outdoor bar type place and all the sudden this huge dance party erupted on the street. A local told us that it was a mini version of this huge parade that they have to celebrate Johncanoe (it is supposed to be one word). It was amazing!!! Very ornate costumes and loud music.

Leslie, Britt, Erin, me and Amy. This is were we stayed while we were there. We were on the tenth floor and had an awesome view of the beach.

View from our room....it was beautiful!!

Leslie and Britt getting the party started at our nightly dancing spot.

On our second night we decided to really take over our dance spot, move some furniture around and have our own little catwalk. Amy is showing us all up with her sensational moves!!

Us just being silly!!

Last Night

Last night we had such a wonderful family night. We didn't do anything but hang out around the house. Hamburgers and baked beans were on the menu and the kids ate them up. Literally, JP did not make a peep until his plate was clean and he wanted more. Shelby ate two helpings of baked beans and all of her hamburger. It was just one of those nights were you sit back at the end and think to yourself, "That is what it is all about!!! Everything, all the trials and tantrums, are worth it." Anyway, after Shelby finished her plate the second time Pratt and I started cheering for her and shouting her name while punching our fists into the air. JP joined in on the fun and actually said Shelby's name...well, it was more like, elby, but it was close. We were so excited and so the cheer continued on for a good five minutes.

Here are some pictures and little video of JP.

Messiah

I took this video in the car today. Shelby was singing to her CD from Vacation Bible School and it always makes my heart soar when I hear her singing songs about Jesus. There is just something about her sweet little innocent voice.....

Daddy/Daughter Date Morning

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Shelby and her daddy from today, but today was one of the best days for Shelby. She and her daddy had a date morning. Shelby literally couldn't sleep last night because she was so excited. At 10:00pm she was still wide awake and every time I went in to "check" on her (ie-tell her that she needed to go to sleep) she would ask me to tell her what she was going to do when she woke up. The look on her face each time was priceless!!!

So this morning when she got up she was ready to go. There was a distinct bounce in her step and she even let us get her dressed and ready without a fight which is really becoming unusual. There was no holding her back. She was out the door with daddy in tow. They went to Chik-fil-A for breakfast. This is her new favorite breakfast place. I took her there twice last week on the way to Vacation Bible School and now she is hooked; which of course is fine by me as I have always said that they have the best breakfast in the world...can I get a holler for the chicken biscuit!!!

After they were done with breakfast Shelby and Daddy headed to the library where they laid on the animal pillows and read a few stories.

They were only gone for about an hour and a half, but to her it was an eternity of time. She came bounding into the bathroom when they got home with a great big "surprise" for me and really the best thing was the look on her face. She was truly very happy and I could tell that hour and a half was the best hour and a half she has ever had.

It is going to be fun exploring this new stage with her. I am sure she is plotting her next date with daddy right now!!!

The Last 16 Days

So, some of you may be wondering what we have been up to the last 16 days....well, here it goes.




4th of July was so much fun! On Wednesday afternoon I loaded up the kiddos and all of our stuff to head to the lakehouse with Papa and Grammie. Shelby and JP had so much fun. Sometimes I just sit back in awe over how much both of the children have changed over the last year and that long weekend was one of them. Last year I was getting up with JP 2-3 times a night at the lakehouse and he couldn't even sit up. I remember one day Grammie trying to give him a bottle because at that point I still was thinking that he would get the hang of it (which he never did!!!!). Shelby didn't like the water at all and really didn't enjoy the boat too much. This year....JP is sleeping through the night (well, most of the time:) and we can't even get Shelby out of the water to eat! She puts on her swim vest and off she goes. About the only thing we can get her out of the water for is a boat ride. Just amazing what a difference a year makes. Anyway, it was a great time of family, fun, sun and of course, what trip to the lake would be complete without food that is bad for you and drinks that are icy cold!

JP helping Papa clean the sticks and shells off of the beach.

Papa showing Shelby how to cast her princess fishing pole.

Grammie and JP cooling off in the lake.

We came home on Saturday and Pratt played in the Player's Amateur the following week. That week went by so fast. On Friday I got to walk most of his round with him and it was such a wonderful time. Thankfully Ellie, our fabulous babysitter, was available and kept Shelby and JP for me. I caught up with Pratt on his 4th hole and followed him until the 16th. It was a beautiful day and just really neat to get to watch Pratt playing a game that he loves almost more than life. I also can't talk about that week without mentioning Rob. If it weren't for him I don't know what Pratt would have done. You know you have a great friend when they carry your golf bag with all it's stuff and walk 18 holes all the while making sure that you are staying hydrated and focused in 95+ degree weather.

Suddenly we are at the end of this week. I can't believe that we are nearly at the end of July!!! This past week we have been extremely busy. Monday was JP's 18 month check up. He did great!!! He weighs 25 lbs (25-50%) and he is 31 3/4 in (25-50%). Everything checked out great. He is hitting all of his milestones and even doing somethings that are a little bit ahead of his time...like putting words together to make short sentences. I just love watching him and listening to him talk!!! Thursday was a visit to the dentist for both kids. Thank goodness Pratt had the day off and was there to help. There is absolutely no way, I mean no way, that we would have ever made it through that whole experience without him. JP went back first and cried and cried and cried. As they were finishing him up Shelby came back and cried and cried and cried. I am sure that the whole office was ready for a mid-day cocktail by the time we left that place. Good news-no cavities!!!! Bad news-we have to repeat in 6 months. Hopefully by then Shelby will be more excited and compliant and JP will have gotten over the trauma of it all.


You may be wondering what we did Tuesday, Wednesday and today...well, it was Vacation Bible School at our church this week so Shelby participated in that and I kept the nursery for all the volunteers' babies. It was so much fun. Let me tell you....VBS has come a long way from what it was back in the day that I went. They had this whole Hawaiian Island theme going and decorated the entire church to match. It was great and the best part was the Shelby asked everyday to go and wants to go back. I told her that it was over because it is only one week, but she didn't really like that answer too much! Thanks to Gina and everyone else who made this week so much fun!!! Everything from the crafts to the snacks couldn't have been more perfect and we can't wait for next year!!!


Well, that about brings us up to date! The countdown is officially on for my Bahamas trip....1 week and 6 days to go!!!