Fun Pictures

Shelby getting her swim on. She is turning into a fish. We had a day at the pool with Uncle Matt last week and she floated/swam around the lazy river all by herself (she had her swim vest on of course). I would like to thank all of our friends who have so diligently placed their children in swimming lessons for the time, money, and effort because it is their children who have been teaching mine how to swim.
I had to sneak this picture of JP. The other day I noticed all the sudden that he was being extra quiet. When I went on my search for him I found him quietly playing in his room with his pirate ship. Totally amazed at his ability to entertain himself and also can't stop wondering about what kind of scenario was going through his head.

Pratt and I got a real kick out of this picture. We were busy getting ourselves ready for church one Sunday and came out to find JP resting on the blanket on the floor. Poor little guy was tired and the day hadn't even gotten started yet. If only he would sleep in!!!

Sometimes I don't know where they come up with the idea to do the things that they do....JP came running out of our room holding this beach ball in his mouth by the place where you blow it up. It was hilarious because he knew he was doing something amazing and he had to share it with us.

Notice Shelby's red face round the eyes in this picture?? I promise you it is not sunburn. After beating myself up for letting her get burnt, I realized that her eyes were red and slightly puffy from opening her eyes under the water. We did buy her some goggles and we will see what happens from there. I have learned that even when Shelby completely insists on doing something and we start to go through with it, she promptly backs out.

Lake, Father's Day, and Anniversary

It has been busy this past week. We left Friday afternoon for another fun filled weekend at the Lakehouse, we celebrated Father's day, and we celebrated our 8th anniversary. And in between all that we laughed and laughed at all the funny things the kids are up to these days. I really don't even know where to start. I am kind of overwhelmed right now as I just downloaded and went through 225 pictures from my camera that were taken over the course of 5 days. That is just really too much.

We had such a wonderful time at the lakehouse. It was so relaxing and Shelby and JP had a great time. By the end of our visit JP was trying so hard to sneak down the dock to the boat. By far, the boat rides were his favorite. And Shelby, well, she just amazed me. She was jumping off of the back of the boat and then swimming to daddy. There really wasn't a time that she wasn't in the water. Her skin is still a little pruney from all that water.

Friday through Sunday we had the Shell family with us. Shelby, Owen, JP and Lucy played so well together. I really can't recall one time when they were fighting or being disagreeable. Sunday was Father's day, of course BJ and Pratt wouldn't let us forget. We started out the morning with a little swim then loaded up the boat to go to the Goat for a little buffet. Then back to watch the US Open and have a little r and r while the kids napped.

Yesterday we got up, cleaned up, loaded up and headed home. It was our 8 year anniversary and Pratt and I had a date that we didn't want to be late for. It was a wonderful evening and JP and Shelby had so much fun with Grandmother. I can't elaborate too much on what went on with grandmother because I wasn't there, but Pratt and I really enjoyed our quiet evening of dining and talking. I can't believe that 8 years have already passed!!! The total of how long we have been together (14 years) is nearly half my life!!! Incredible, I know!!

And some other things.....

About two weeks ago we went to lunch with my family after church for an early Father's day celebration because my sister was home. After we were done eating my mom and Shelby took a little walk. They saw a big stuffed bear in a window in one of the stores and my mom said, "Look Shelby, there is the Cinnamon Bear. He is waving hi to us. Can you say hi back?" So Shelby said hi and they continued walking a little further. All the sudden Shelby kind of stopped and looked up at my mom and said, "Is he following me?"

Last week Shelby hurt herself and while I was tending to her I asked JP to go into the other room to get her froggy. He promptly left and came back with froggy and gave it right to her. It is just amazing how much he can follow direction. Also, JP doesn't walk anywhere anymore; he just runs and he is about to eat us out of house and home. It sure is going to be hard to keep up with him as he gets older.

Last night in the car on the way to mom and dad's Shelby said, "Mom, I want you to drive." I said, "Really, why?" To which Shelby replied, "Because your the greatest mommy in the world."

JP is trying to say all sorts of things these days. He says all done whenever he is done with anything. One morning at the Lakehouse he woke up saying, "Dada, dada, ahh dunn, ahh dunn."

Monkey or Chicken

I don't have any pictures of this just yet because Pratt has been using the camera, but today JP started doing this thing and I am not sure if he is mimicking a monkey or a chicken or nothing. We were at lunch and while we were waiting for our food all the sudden JP pulls his hands up to his underarms, sticks out his elbows and starts waving them up and down while saying, "Ba ba ba ba." I nearly fell out of my chair laughing and I am sure the whole restaurant got a kick out of Shelby and I copying until JP did it again so that we were all flapping our elbows and making strange noises together. Oh, good times:)

No Mother of the Year award for me

Can you believe that it is Friday already?? Where does the time go?

After forgetting on two separate occasions to feed JP (and I mean literally forgetting to feed him...couldn't figure out why in the world he was so fussy and put him down for a nap, letting him cry it out and then realizing after 30 minutes or so that I forgot to nurse him and you nursing moms out there know what I mean), I almost made a come back to be in the running for the Mother of the Year award; some redeeming moments: catching Shelby's chocolate vomit in my hands, kissing countless boo boos, potty training Shelby, nursing JP for a full year after claiming everyday as my last for the first 3 months, pulling countless all nighters with a screaming baby, well, if you are a mother you know the list. But then this week, on Thursday to be exact, Shelby got her first sunburn!!!! What a low moment to me...where did I go wrong, what did I miss?? As Angelique is my witness, I put sunscreen (or sunscream as Shelby likes to call it) on her 3 times throughout the day, but by the end of our fun in the sun her little cheeks were definitely red, and not that cute rosy red, but that shiny red that only a sunburn could make. The only thing that I can figure is that since Shelby has suddenly lost all fear of the water and spends 75% of the time with her head under it, the sunscreen just washed off. Who knows!!! So today before we went to the pool I put 50 on her face at home and then once we got to the pool I put on 30 and about an hour after that I put on more 30; and much to my dismay her face seems redder to me. Oh well, maybe next year:)

Back to Shelby's swimming...seriously, I don't know what happened to her in the last two weeks, but she is like a different child. Before, she hated having water on her head, even washing her hair was a battle, but now, she loves to do the deadman's float face down (I have to do a double take every time I see her like that), lay herself on the floor of the pool completely submerged in water, float on her back, etc. It is just amazing to me. Maybe I have a future Olympic swimmer or diver or synchronized swimmer on my hands.

Chocolate and Golf

Unlike his older sister, JP has taken to chocolate like I had hoped Shelby would when she was littler. We had some chocolate cake for dessert on Sunday after dinner. Not really thinking it through, I put down a piece of cake in front of Shelby and one in front of JP. Shelby proceed to eat just the icing and leave the cake while JP decided to have a chocolate cake facial. Clearly I was lacking sleep and concentration when I put a plate of chocolate cake down in front of JP and walked away to clean the kitchen. The results made for some great pictures and memories though.

It has been so warm here. I just love it! Yesterday after dinner we went outside to play for a little bit. After about 2 minutes we were all sweating bullets, but we were having so much fun. JP would push the lawnmower while Shelby hit around with her golf clubs and then JP would come over and try to take Shelby's golf clubs. Pratt and I would step in to calm the fighting. Shelby would take over the lawnmower and JP would play with the golf clubs, etc. I think that we are going to have to get JP some golf clubs soon because those are what he and Shelby fight over the most now. Pratt loves it, that both of his kiddos are crazy over golf. JP will be making waves soon enough, watch out Tiger Woods.

Check out that backswing!

The look of determination.

Today has been a very nice day. Pratt had yesterday and today off. Usually we spend that time together at the pool, but today we decided to go to the library and the outlets. It was fun. Shelby signed up for the summer reading program and JP tried to destroy the place. Thankfully Pratt and I were there together to prevent any actions that might get us kicked out. Disaster was avoided and we made it out with a bag full of books. They have a lot of great programs throughout the summer. It should be a lot of fun. The outlets were great. Since it was the middle of the week and a really nice day there weren't too many people there. I know that everyone thought that we were tourists, which kind of bothered me...I don't know why, but it did. Every time someone looked at me I just wanted to shout out that we lived here...weird, huh? Anyway, a lot of the stores are having great sales right now so we bought some stuff, mostly for the kids and Pratt and then came home.

Can't believe that it is already Tuesday afternoon!!! This week will go by so fast.

"I so stylish"

Today Shelby decided that she was going to be a trend setter. When I got home from taking JP to the doctor (more on that later) Shelby had taken most of her hair ties and put them on her wrists and ankles. After I commented on how cute she looked she proceeded to tell me, "I so stylish". It was so funny and so we went about the rest of our morning until nap time with her new fashion statement.

And other news from the week....not only is Shelby "so stylish", she is also pretty smart, well, I am her mom aren't I:) Anyway, we got her a big 24 piece jigsaw puzzle from the zoo a couple of weeks ago and decided to open it on Sunday before church. Now, keep in mind that this is the first time that it was opened. She instructed Pratt to put the top of the box where she could look at the picture and then put the whole puzzle together by herself. I know, she is smart, isn't she.

So yesterday as we were getting our day started I noticed that JP was not walking and every time he tried he would fall down with a little whimpering. As I took note and watched closely, every time he went to put pressure on his leg he would fall and you could tell that it was hurting. Thankfully I was able to get him into the doctor at 9:30 in the morning and they ran some tests on him to try to determine what was wrong. They pricked his little finger for a blood test. He did not like that one bit and by the time I walked into the next office for his x-rays he somehow managed to get the band-aid off and the next thing I know I have blood all over my shirt. So we went back to the pediatrician's office to get another band-aid which we were able to get on more securely this time and then went back into the x-ray reception room to wait for him to be called. Unfortunately this wasn't the first time that we had been in the spot for x-rays, back in October we thought he might have swallowed something and had a chest x-ray done. While he was cooperative the first go around, this time he was less than pleased to be laying down on a cold, hard table while someone took pictures of his hips. After his pictures were done we went back to the doctor's office where they said everything came back fine and to watch him through the afternoon. His follow up appointment was today and they think that he was just having some side affects from an infection that he had a few weeks ago. The good news is that by late afternoon yesterday he was starting to walk again, he was limping, but at least he was putting weight on his left leg and today he is getting around really well. And that is our drama for the week.

Half-Nudist

Everytime we come home from where ever we have been Shelby immediately starts to get undressed. She runs right into her room takes of her shoes and socks and then her pants. If at any point after that she has to go potty, she takes of her panties and doesn't want to put them back on. It is a little strange, but I am hoping with time that things will change. Anyway, when we have guests over we always make her wear her pants and panties so the other night Rob was over and Pratt took Shelby to the potty. The conversation went something like this...

Pratt: "Okay Shelby, let's get dressed and wash our hands."
Shelby: "Why?" (this is currently her new favorite word, everything is followed by a why even if that isn't a proper response to what was said."
Pratt: "Because we have guest over and we have to be dressed when we have a guest."
Shelby: "Who is our guest?"
Pratt: "Rob."
Shelby: "He's not guest, he's family."

Anyway, Pratt did manage to convince her to get dressed and we had a nice visit with Rob.