Christmas Fun

I couldn't decide which pictures I wanted to include and which ones to leave out so I just made a slide show to maximize the number of pictures from Christmas I could show. We had a wonderful Christmas and hope that you all did too. May the Lord fill your hearts and bless you this coming year.

The Deer

Today while we were out driving we saw a poor little deer who didn't make it across Bluffton Parkway fast enough and Shelby was pretty grossed out by it and at the same time intrigued by it; so a pretty long conversation followed about how the dead animals get to the side of the road if they were hit where the cars drive and why weren't the buzzards there already eating the deer. All the sudden in the middle of the conversation JP pipes in and says, "That deer is going to Heaven with Jesus." To which Shelby replied, "No its not. It is going in the buzzard's belly."

Pimpering and Hookers

Over the years a lot of Shelby's vocabulary has matured and grown, but there is one word that she still hangs onto and I know that it will be a very sad day when she finally says "print" right. I think that I blogged about this before, but it has to be noted again. Anytime Shelby wants me to print something off of the computer for her she asks me if I can pimper out a piece of paper for her. It makes me laugh on the inside every time.

And now, we have pimpering and hookers in the house.....

Last night JP was playing with some of his construction toys. He had this one thing that has a hook on it towing the dump truck around. Everything was going great until all the sudden the hook came loose and he said, "All my hookers keep falling off."

Pratt and I died laughing and Pratt looked at me and said, "Wow, we have pimpers and hookers in this house."

Family Fun Days

Starting on Sunday we have had tons of family time and I just love it. At night when we have been sitting around the dinner table I feel like we are a picture of what family life is supposed to be. Those times I truly treasure up and try to soak it all in, but lets start with Sunday morning.

The children's choir at church did a little Christmas show at church on Sunday morning and it was so incredibly cute! I just love it when they sing. At the end of the blog is the video of the performance. At the rehearsal Shelby stood tall and sang loud, but once it was show time, a little stage fright set in and she just kind of stood there and moved her lips. She is so funny!

After church we met Aunt Suzy, Uncle Patricio, Sebastian, Grammie and Papa John at the clubhouse for Brunch with Santa. We knew that this would be tricky as Shelby has an extreme fear of the man in the red suit, but we were hopeful that it could be pulled off. Well, it didn't go to well and it took nearly 10 minutes just to get her in the clubhouse and then once we were in she hid behind a chair in the corner down the hall from the room that Santa was in. We had to ask to be moved to a different table because they had us set up in a room right next to the room that Santa was in, but it all worked out and after many talks and reassurances, we were able to enjoy brunch. JP went to meet Santa, but wouldn't sit on his lap or talk to him. He whispered in my ear to tell Santa what he wanted.

We enjoyed a really fun evening and dinner at home, just us and then went to bed. Around midnight JP got sick and that ended my night of sleep. Poor little guy was really sick...but, why does that always happen in the middle of the night. My children never get sick, have bloody noses, or anything like that during the day, it is always in the middle of the night....so weird!

Monday we took it easy around the house and by the time evening can around JP was as good as gold and we had another really great family dinner. After dinner we decided to decorate the gingerbread house and gingerbread train that the children picked out from Target. They had so much fun and JP ate more candy than he put on his train. His favorite thing was the candy cane. Here is a picture of Daisy getting in on the family fun.

JP and his train

Shelby and I with her house

I don't know if you knew, but Monday night/Tuesday morning we had a meteor shower. Pratt came up with the idea to get up early to watch it because they said that they best time to view the shower was at 6. So we set the alarm to get up at 5:50 to lay out some mats and blankets for us and then got the children up and bundled up to go out in the f-r-e-e-z-i-n-g cold!!! We saw about 5-8 shooting stars and had so much fun. Shelby didn't really care about what was going on in the sky; she was way to concerned about every little noise she heard and didn't want any animals to come get us. JP thought is was a great adventure and I think that he really did see some of the shooting stars. At about 6:30 we all came inside and had hot chocolate at the table together before we started the race of getting ready for school.

JP, Shelby and I watching for shooting stars

Here is the video from the Christmas performance at church.....

Okay, so after waiting for 4 hours for the video to upload it didn't...I will work on it and hopefully post it under a separate blog.

A Boy and His Dog

As you know, we got a dog. Her name is Daisy and we have been very blessed by her. She was a great dog from the start, catching on quickly to the crate training and potty training thing. She is also quickly becoming JP's best pal. They play together constantly. She follows him every where with a toy in her mouth begging him to get down and wrestle with her. It really is something so cute to watch.....

And in other news....we have been having a great time doing all kinds of things and enjoying every minute of life. Pratt had shoulder surgery right before Thanksgiving and then Thanksgiving night Shelby, JP and I all came down with strep throat. For a family that is rarely sick or injured, we hit the big whammie!!! But, thankfully we all survived and Pratt's shoulder is getting better and better with each passing moment. He has full range of motion and about 7 weeks left with a strict order of no lifting from the doctor.

We decided to take it easy on Thanksgiving this year. In years passed we have tried to cram in all of our families and we end up running around like chickens with our heads cut off. It was a great relaxing day. I ran the Turkey Chase first thing and then we just chilled with our neighbors for the rest of the day until it was time to go to Papa and Grammie's for dinner.

Shelby is doing great. Next week is her last week of gymnastics and she is really getting so good. Her handstands and cartwheels have come along nicely and she always has so much fun. So naturally I assumed that she would want to sign up for another session, but she has decided that she wants to take tennis. We will see how this goes. She is growing so much and is learning like mad at school. This week she was able to bring home books from school to practice reading at home. This is huge and she loves to read to us while we are sitting on the couch. She is also moving along in her math work. She finished the pink cabinet which is the addition cabinet. She learned how to add all numbers and also did binomials; which is to help her get ready for algebra. Now she is in the blue cabinet which is the take aways. I still can't get over how big she is getting and how much she is growing up!!!

JP is doing great in school too. He is learning his letters and numbers and all sorts of other things. He really enjoyed learning about the solar system and space and would come home every day with some sort of fact about the planets, sun, etc. He is my talker and tells me everything that is going on and I love it. We did have a dental issue this fall. He had two cavities in is front top teeth. The first attempt to fill one was a huge failure. He did great with the little mickey mouse nose and was totally chill, but as soon as the dentist tried to work in his mouth he went ballistic!! So the dentist decided that we should try again and this time give him a Valium before the procedure. It was so funny to watch this drug slowly take effect and listen to all he had to say. When it was his turn he went back without a fuss, laid back in the chair, put the nitrous oxide nose on, crossed his legs and was one chillen dude. I thought that this would be a piece of cake, but once again when they tried to work in his mouth he went nuts; so, we ended up having to strap him down and then myself and the receptionist had to lay on him while the dental assistant held his head and the dentist worked in his mouth. For some reason I got totally tickled by the fact that it took 4 of us to hold him down....I mean, he is really strong and used every ounce of his energy to fight getting that filling. We were only able to get one cavity filled and for the time being the other one is being watched.

Earth Shattering

Did you feel it? It was hard to miss, the Earth shook this weekend! No really, I promise it did...well, something must have happened...here is why....

Pratt was out of town for a golf trip this weekend and when he leaves I usually try to do as much as I can away from the house and not venture into a world of the unknown, but something was different this weekend and while my house is dirty, the laundry basket is overflowing with dirty clothes, and my sink has a few dirty dishes in it; I feel quit accomplished right now.

Saturday started dark and early when JP decided at 4:45 that he need his fingernails cut and refused to go back to sleep. By the time 7:00 hit we were ready to go so after some tv time I got the children loaded up and we went to B-town Donuts-YUMMY!!!! Then, not wanting to return home just yet, it was only 9:35 after all, I got an idea to go to Micheal's (yes, the craft store). We picked up some craft stuff while we were there and when we got home we did a craft.

Shelby picked out this kit that came with paints, stickers and a wooden picture frame. She decorated it beautifully.

The finished Frame

JP picked out this little kit that has supplies in it to make 3 snowmen necklaces and 3 reindeer necklaces. He needed some hands on help, but we got it made and he wore a lot of the day.

JP's reindeer necklace

Then today, when we got home from church I needed to make some banana pudding for our church's annual Thanksgiving dinner. This is one of my favorite things to do with our church: there is food, fellowship, and fun-how can you not like that, especially the food part. Anyway, in an effort to be a less control freakish mom and more of a relaxed, let the children get involved and who cares if they make a mess mom I let them help with the stirring parts to making this delicious pudding. Everything actually went really well and there was no big mess to clean in the end!

The Banana Pudding (I know you are drooling right now and I totally get it because if you could taste this pudding you would freak out over how good it is)

You are probably thinking that there can't be more, but wait, there is!!! We usually do a thankful turkey this time of year where we add feathers to the turkey throughout the month of November with things we are thankful for written on them; well, up until this weekend I have been kind of a slacker mom on somethings so I got this great idea. While at Micheal's I got a roll of paper, some paint and some paint brushes. And this is what we have this year.....

So through out the remainder of the month I am going to write what we are thankful for on this little poster and I think that this is one we will keep because it has the children's hand prints on it. This poster may replace the thankful turkey as it will be fun to have a little timeline of how the children are growing through their hand prints each year.

And now, I am exhausted!!! I think I used all my brain power on this one weekend....time to recharge my batteries:) Hopefully by Christmas the creative juices will start flowing again.

Introducing Daisy

We have adopted a dog! It started with puppy fever when we saw the cutest puppies ever at the Bluffton Arts and Seafood Festival and ended up with this endearing 8 month old mix of a dog. She is fairly well trained and super sweet!!

I just really like this picture because for some reason it seemed like a scene out of a movie to me when I watched the sequence unfold. Probably doesn't mean much to you, but hey, this is my blog so I get to do what I want:)

Underwear

Me: "JP, where is your underwear?"
JP: "They got lost."
Me: "Where did they get lost? Did you take them off at school?"
JP: "No, they just fell off while I was sitting."
Me: "What? They fell off. Do you want to put some new ones on?"
JP: "No, this is good."

A Month in Review in Pictures

I had full intentions every week of sitting down and updating the blog because I really wanted to keep it up to date through the month of October as I knew that we had a lot going on, but good intentions didn't get me very far. So I am just going to do a review in pictures and throw in a few stories here and there.

We had a very busy month with something planned every weekend. The first weekend was Clemson Homecoming, the second weekend I went to UNC with two friends to watch CU vs UNC which was tons of fun, the third week Pratt was in DC for most of the week and we had a wedding that weekend, the fourth week was the Arts and Seafood Festival in Bluffton, and then we had Halloween this weekend!!! Whew, that kind of makes me tired just thinking about all the fun we packed into one month.

Our pictures start with the Arts and Seafood Festival Weekend.....much to our great surprise, Pratt had that Saturday off so we started the morning with a little family trip to Cahill's for a pumpkin hunt. After some fun running around in the hay maze and time of contemplating the perfect pumpkin, we made our purchase and headed out to run some errands before heading to downtown B-town for the festival.

Check out the pose-you can tell they just had school pictures

A little love goes a long way

The festival was a lot of fun and we had a great time. Shelby and JP's school did a little carnival for the children and we spent most of our time there.

Shelby doing a puppet show for me

Pratt multi-tasking

Monday night we carved our pumpkin. Pratt did a great job, don't you think?

JP and Campbell swinging on the swings at Hampton Lake

Friday some friends on mine had their parent-teacher conferences so I agreed to watch their children. After I realized that I would be outnumbered 6 to 1 I got a little panicky, but it ended up being great! All the children played so well together and the older ones did great including the younger ones and watching out for them. We ended staying at the playground for 3 hours.

Saturday was a very busy day. The morning started out really early for Pratt as he got up to go to the store to buy the ingredients for his chili that he was making for the ever-so-competitive chili cook-off at our church's fall festival. Then we went to Hampton Lake for the Tiger Bass 5k. This year they were raising money for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. Some of my friends and I all wore purple for the race in honor of my mom and Johnny Ussery. It was my first run and it was sooo much fun!! Katie and Erin were great running partners. They really challenged me to keep up and thanks to them I stunned my husband by finishing the race in just over 27 minutes.

Later that day we went to the fall festival at our church. It was a great time and there was a huge turnout. There were all sorts of games for the children to play, bounce houses, a fire truck and ambulance, a performance by the Bluffton School of Dance, two cake walks, and a chili cook off. I am sure that there are some things I am missing, but it truly was the best fall festival yet!! We had planned on not staying the whole time, but the children were having so much fun that we ended up staying the whole time, plus Pratt couldn't leave without knowing how his chili did.

Shelby as a cow

And the winner is........

Pratt won the cook-off!!!!

After that we raced home, bathed the children, put them to bed and got ready for a party that some friends of ours were having. I don't have a great picture of my partner in crime and I from the party, but Leslie and I dressed up as the first and second runners up from a beauty pageant. We wore pretty dresses, had a sash and crown and then smeared mascara down our face to make it look like we were crying because we lost....we looked great! (if I do say so myself)

I don't really know who Pratt was supposed to be, but everyone else did and that is all that matters.

Last night we had a great time with our neighborhood friends. Before trick or treating we had a pizza party and then loaded up the hay ride to make our rounds in the community. The children hit the mother load with candy and had so much fun. It was a blast watching Shelby and JP this year. They finally figured out the concept and went crazy running from house to house.

Me and my honey riding on the back of the golf cart

My limit was finally reached and I crashed into bed last night. What a fun month!!!!!

Two quick stories-Meme has purchased the children a really nice playground for the backyard and they are so excited. Shelby tells me repeatedly that when we get our playground she isn't going to watch tv anymore, she is just going to be outside all the time playing on the playground.

We got a puppy this month too. Both Shelby and JP are so excited. When we told them that we were getting a puppy Shelby asked me if we could go lay in her bed and talk about what we are going to do with the puppy. It was so much fun to see her excited about it because she isn't a huge fan of dogs, but hopefully she will take well to Daisy.

Little Eyes are Watching

One morning this past week Shelby came across one of Pratt's doodle pages. She was finished getting ready for school and was getting ready to watch some tv when she discovered it sitting near the remote control. This immediately sidetracked her and she came to me and said, "Mommy, what is this?" I told her that it was her daddy's doodle page and she said, "I am going to copy it." Without another word she found a piece of paper, a pen, and sat down to replicate what Pratt had drawn.

It is a great reminder that no matter what we do or what we say, our children are watching intently and ready to do anything we do. Kind of makes me stop......

The Bus Stop and Clemson Homecoming

We finally got it together this year and have an established carpool with two of our neighbors. It is one of the greatest things ever!! At first, I have to admit that I was a little hesitant about the idea...turns out, I am somewhat of a control freak and the thought of letting someone else be in charge of getting my children to school on time and picking them up on time was a lot for me to swallow; but after intense counseling and some mild drug therapy I was able to let it go...okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but it was hard.

Shelby and JP waiting for the bus

JP, Addi and Shelby waiting for the bus

The funny thing about that picture is that Addi's mom, Jessie, is the "bus" driver. She was the only one with a car big enough to fit all 5 children in so she drives the children to school in the morning. Addi sometimes runs over to our house to catch the bus with Shelby and JP.

Friday after we picked up Shelby from school we headed up to Clemson for our annual unofficial family reunion. This year Pratt got to go with us and we were so excited to have him!! Friday night we enjoyed our traditional dinner at Don Pablos complete with queso dip and then headed to the hotel to get some good z's for the fun day ahead. The first night Shelby and Pratt shared a bed because I thought that she would sleep pretty still and Pratt would be able to get some good sleep, and JP and I shared a bed because I knew that anyone sleeping with him wouldn't really sleep at all as he is pretty wild in his sleep. Well, turns out that neither Pratt nor I got much sleep that night because when you put someone in bed with Shelby she has to have her feet on you the entire night. She also had a bloody nose during the night because the air was so dry. Both children were wide awake and excited for the day at 6:30 so we got up and got going. After a brief meet up at Matt's apartment we went downtown to get parking and make our way to the stadium. Along the way we stopped at Bowman Field to check out the floats.

Jennifer, Shelby and Lauren in the mouth of the Tiger

JP and Shelby at the Taylor's tailgate

All JP wanted to see that day was the band. He kept talking about it and talking it about it all day. Finally the hour had arrived that the Tiger Band made it's march through campus so we ran to get a good spot when we heard them coming. I wish you could have seen JP's face. It was a mix between wonderment, awe, and terror. I don't think that he anticipated that it would be so loud. When all was said and done he said, "I only like the drums. All the rest was too loud."

Group Shot (mom, we can photo shop you in)

JP was so tired on the way back to the hotel

It was a really fast weekend, but it was super fun. The children did great and were on their best behavior. It is a special weekend for us because we know that every year we get see Aunt Sally and Uncle Jack. We also always have a wonderful time visiting with Uncle Matt, his roommates and their families!!! Can't wait for next year!!!!

This last picture has not much to do with the title of this blog, but I thought it was too cute. JP is really loving school this year and is learning so much. His teacher is really into healthy eating and the environment so he is eating a lot of food that he wouldn't touch with me and he is learning about rain forests and all sorts of other things in addition to his work that he is doing. Today he came home and made a rain forest for him and Pratt to go in and here it is......

His teacher is growing a rain garden next to their classroom and I am sure that they have been talking about it at school. It is so much fun to watch him and see him be so excited about school and talk about what he is learning.

Boys vs. Dirls (girls)

At lunch today I was asking JP about his day and who he played with on the playground and it went something like this:

Mom-"Hey JP, who did you play with on the playground today?"
JP-"I played with new friends." (This was a nice thing to hear since everyday until today he has told me that he plays by himself because he doesn't like anyone in his class)
Mom-"That's great! What did you play?"
JP-blank stare
Mom-"Did you play with your buddy Cassidy?"
JP-"Mom, Tassidy isn't a buddy because she's a dirl (girl). Boys are buddys and dirls are (pause), dirls are dirls."

Pictures from the Lakehouse and Tennessee

In order to get adequately caught up on the blog I am just going to post some pictures from our trip to the lakehouse and to Tennessee during the month of September. We had such a wonderful time on both of these trips and it is hard to believe that it was nearly a month ago that we took them.

Shelby and JP are totally in love with their cousins Reed and Grant. They had a dance party on Saturday night and during the day on Saturday they threw a surprise birthday party for JP.

Papa John, JP, Grant and Shelby at the Dance Party

Grant and JP waiting for the surprise birthday party

Reed and JP at the surprise birthday party

And the pictures from the Lakehouse. Shelby decided to choreograph a dance for Grammie and I to watch. She took Papa, Pratt, JP and Gracie into the other room, showed them what to do and then started the show. It was so cute. She stood at the door and told each one when it was there turn. It was a big hit and I am sure we will see a rendition on Broadway one day.

The Show

Shelby in deep thought at The Goat

JP not in deep thought at The Goat

That's my girl!

I love that smile

Reality Check

Today I had a moment. I was at the gym working out with my gym buddies and at the end took a moment to myself to finish up my workout when, wham!!! all the sudden it hit me...I am getting old! I have a house, a real house with a mortgage payment. I have two children; two children, not babies or just one child, but two children who are growing up and are in school 5 days a week! I am not in my twenties anymore, I am 31! Did I mention that I have a real house with a mortgage payment?!?!?! Oh my goodness, when did that happen? I must have lost track at some point because I don't remember it or maybe this is all a dream and tomorrow I will wake up 17 again.

Truth is, the time has gone by so fast because I love my life!! There are times where it is challenging and there are times where I want to act like a 3 year old by throwing a hissy fit because I am not getting my way about something, but all in all, I truly love my life!!! I love my husband more than the day I married him and I love my children. I love my friends and my community! What a blessed life I have!

Still Life by Shelby

About a week before Labor Day weekend Pratt was looking at his work schedule and discovered that he had the weekend off so we decided to take advantage of this rarity and head up to the lakehouse for one final swim of the summer. It was a great trip and we of course had a blast, and I will post more pictures about that later. Right now I want to take this opportunity to explore Shelby's fascination and love of photography. It started while we were in Belize earlier this year. She wanted to take pictures of everything so we let her use the camera a few times while we were there. For her birthday she got a children's digital camera and has been taking pictures ever since.

One day while we were hanging around in side for a little break from the sun and water she asked if she could use my camera to take some pictures. Later that night I decided to look through to see what she captured and was tickled at the amount of pictures she had taken and what she deemed worthy of picture taking. These are just a few of what captured her eye; there are probably about 20 more, but I couldn't fit them all in.

I may have to give her my camera and get a new one:)