My Treasure

Mommy-Shelby, please get your finger out of your nose.

Shelby-No, I am not. I am getting my treasure out of there.

Conversation with an almost 4 year old

This morning is rained like cats and dogs for a bit....

Shelby-Mommy, why did God make it rain?
Mommy-I am not sure, honey, maybe because he thought the earth needed some water.
Shelby-Oh.

I am glad that answer was good enough. She likes to ask the tough ones...

After CBS we continued on this conversation....
Shelby-Mommy, why did God make the rain stop?
Mommy-I am not sure, honey, maybe God thought that we got all the rain we needed for right now.
Shelby-Oh. I think God is cleaning up.
Mommy-Really, what do you think God is using to clean up? A mop?
Shelby-No, He is sweeping. Do you want to hear my new memory song at CBS?
Mommy-Yes! I would love to.
Shelby-For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only, only son. For God so loved the world. Now you sing mommy.
Mommy-For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world, that He gave his one and only son. For God so loved the world.
Shelby-No, no, mommy, you didn't sing it right. It goes like this....

I wish that you could hear her sweet little voice and watch her mannerisms in these conversations. They are priceless.

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.