Boca Raton

Last week Pratt got a phone call from a friend in Boca asking him to come down to play golf with him so on Sunday we decided we would go and Tuesday we packed up the kids and the car and made our way down to the Sunshine state. Let me tell you...this was a huge God thing. We really needed to get away, but didn't realize it until the opportunity had come for us to have a little family vacation. He always knows just what we need when we need it!!!

The trip down was great. We left about 8:30am and it took us about 8 hours to get there. Shelby and JP did wonderfully!!! I really wasn't sure what we would get with those two, but they were so patient and good!!! It was great.

(Shelby and JP at the Miami Seaquarium outside the area where the original Flipper show was filmed)

Boca was beautiful. The weather was 80s and sunny the whole time we were there...sure did make coming home to 50s and cloudy hard:) On Wednesday we drove down to Miami and took Shelby and JP to the Miami Seaquarium. It was awesome. We saw a dolphin show, a killer whale show and all kinds of animals. Shelby and JP had a great time. The only time it was questionable was at the killer whale show. We thought that we sat high enough to avoid the splash, but we were just on the edge. I mean hardly any water got on us, but the little bit that did was enough for Shelby to decided that she was done. For the rest of the show she kept asking me, "In one minute, can we go home? I am ready to go home." Of course, at the end she really had a wonderful time. Thursday Cheri and I took her children and mine to Chuck E. Cheese. And oh wow!!! They had the best time!!! Shelby can't wait to go back...except she does express that she doesn't want to see that mouse again. Friday we got up and came home. On the way home we stopped at Daytona for lunch and ate at Cracker Barrel right out side the race track. It is amazing to me how much Shelby remembers and processes these days because when the race came on on Sunday we flipped it on for a minute to see what was happening and Shelby totally got into it. She said that was where we had lunch and when Pratt tried to change the channel she asked us to put it back and continued asking questions about why they were doing whatever they were doing. It was hilarious. I only hope that this isn't some new fascination with her as I don't particularly care to watch NASCAR too much.

Pratt, Shelby and JP waiting for the killer whale show to start...we should have sat one more row back.

JP, Christian, Shelby and Savannah

Shelby, JP, Gabby and Christian

Pictures!

I realize I haven't posted many pictures lately and the truth is, I really haven't been taking many pictures lately. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed at how far behind I am at getting pictures developed and in a photo album that I go on a sort of picture strike. Anyway, here are a few pictures from the last few weeks or so.....

Last weekend we went to a birthday party at Island Gymnastics. What a cool place!!! Here is a picture of JP crawling over these block things. He did a really great job. I was completely shocked because they were all different sizes and shapes.

This is Shelby in the foam pit. They had two little runways with trampolines on the end that you could jump off into a huge foam pit. I wanted to try it so bad, but they had strick rules about parents getting on the apparatus. Surprisingly Shelby loved it. I think that it was good that I was late getting there. She went ahead with our neighbors and I came after JP's nap. Being there by herself gave her time to figure things out without mama around. She always seems to be so timid when I am around, but a little bit more bold when I am not.

We recently had our first pizza and movie night. Pratt and I thought that the kids are getting old enough to be able to sit through a movie. This was taken at the very beginning...I think that the beginning credits were still rolling. I have to give Shelby and JP credit, they made it through a good chunk of the movie, but definitely didn't make through the whole movie. All in all it was a great success and I can't wait for our next one.

This is just a silly picture of Shelby and JP playing. They love to play in this bag and pull each other around the house. I am so thankful that they play so well together. It is getting to a point where I kind of can get in the way if I try to play with them. Most times they want to play together without me, but they still like to have me in the room with them.

Our recent big adventure is that Shelby started a little ballet class this week. Last week I was talking with a friend and she told me of this class so I asked Shelby if she wanted to take ballet with Emily (one of her little friends). She said yes, but after we got home later that day she came up to me and said that she didn't want to take the class. Apparently she was really thinking about this since I had mentioned it because I never said anything else about it or really gave it a second thought, but she certainly did. Well, I decided to sign her up for it anyway...the girl needs to try some new things and spread her wings a little bit. Yesterday when she woke up from her nap I went into her room and said that we needed to get ready for ballet class...if you could have heard her carry on. It was like I told her I was taking her to a torture chamber where she would be tortured endlessly for no reason at all. She pitched the biggest fit and begged me not to take her. Trying to think quickly I told her that we would just go watch and that wasn't the right thing to say, she cried even louder and protested even more. Eventually I did get her to agree to go and just watch, but of course once we got there and she saw all of her little friends she immediately became excited. When I picked her up after the class she was smiling from ear to ear and telling me all about it (this is a really great sign because this girl never tells me anything about anything). After we got home she told Pratt all about it and told him that she did so much ballet that she got sweaty. Anyway, today we went and bought our first little ballet outfit. This is a huge victory for me that she actually tried something new and is totally excited about it!!!

JP's 2 year Check Up

Here are the stats from JP's two year check up:
Height: 34 inches (25-50%)
Weight: 28lbs 11 oz (25%)

He checked out great with all the milestones they look for and everything went smoothly. Thankfully at the 2 year check up there generally aren't shots and I was so relieved, but as the dr. was looking at his chart she noticed that he didn't have the flu shot let. I kind of thought that I had missed all that and was thinking that we would be able to avoid that shot all together this year, but the dr. quickly pointed out that we are just starting to get into the thick of flu season and it would be most beneficial for JP to have the shot. After that she asked if I would like him to get it...well, who can say no to that???? So JP got his flu shot. Having your child get a shot is something you have to mentally prepare for and I was not prepared. Boy was I glad that before JP could even get the scream out that the shot was done and he stopped midstream and nothing came out, not a peep, nada!!! The only reaction we had was a big open mouth ready for a yell, but then nothing!!! Whew!!! That was close.

First Casualty of War

It is hard to believe that we have made it nearly four years with atleast one child with no casualties, but today is the day where our streak has come to an end. There aren't too many details as I wasn't around when the tragedy occurred, but I regret to tell you that our beautiful Clemson Snowglobe is no more (sigh). So apparently here is what happened....

This morning Pratt had some time off so he volunteered to keep JP while I went to the gym. He also said that when I got back from picking Shelby up from school he would have lunch ready for us. I am sure that the morning went on as usual with those two (JP and Pratt). They played upstairs, watched some tv, and danced to some Tiger Rag. After a bit Pratt decided that he would start getting lunch fixed so that it would be ready and we could sit down for lunch together before he left for Chicago. Sometime during the food preparation all the sudden he heard some banging and glass shattering. When he went over to see what the commotion was he saw a chair where it wasn't before and the snowglobe, well, looking not so snowy...imagine, water, glitter, and teeny tiny shards of glass everywhere. Being the quick thinking father that he is, he scooped JP up and put him in his jumper and tried to clean up as best he could.

When I got home Pratt was sitting on the fireplace not moving because after he started the clean up process he realized he was standing in a glass mine field with no shoes on and JP could be heard in our bedroom playing in his jumper (thank goodness he still kind of can fit in it). Thankfully no one was hurt, but the table in our entry way looks a little empty now without the presence of the snowglobe.

Happy Birthday JP...a day late...

I meant to make a post yesterday about JP's birthday since that is the actual day that he turned 2, but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to it. I think that I am going through a different form of baby blues right now....baby blues that I have no more babies!!! How did this happen? Today at CBS there was a mom with her four week old and I just found myself staring at this precious baby and I wanted to shake the mom and make sure that she complete understood how fast he would grow up. Of course, this was her second baby and she is well aware of that fact, but baby #2 goes so much faster...too fast for sure!!!

I can't believe that my sweet JP was once this little. This was taken the day after he was born, so really 2 years ago today. Look at how little he was. The only thing that he could do at this point was cry, poop, pee, and sort of nurse.

Now look at him in this picture. This was on his birthday last year. We had such a fun trip to the mountains. He was just barely walking, wasn't really talking and he couldn't feed himself. Thank goodness by this point he was sleeping through the night:)

And now here we are in the present....He is doing more than I could have ever imagined him doing at the point. He has mastered climbing nearly everything in our house, he speaks in pretty clear sentences, makes his desires known, tells you he loves you, pretend plays with Shelby, sings ever chance he gets, loves to pose for the camera and then look at himself, etc...the list goes on and on and on.

We have had a fun week so far celebrating this little guys birthday. I just love how our family has mastered the art of dragging out celebrations for days, including Christmas, Thanksgiving and Birthdays. It just makes it so much more fun!!!

Here is a picture of the cake that I made for our little family celebration. I just had to show it off because as you all know I have many gifts, but creativity and artsy stuff definitely isn't one of them. JP's current love is Nemo. He has one that he sleeps with and he talks about him all the time. There isn't a 30 minute time period that goes by during the day that he doesn't say something about Nemo. So, I thought, what would JP really love for this cake to be? Nemo was the first thing that came to my head. Thankfully I just happen to have a bag of orange and black m&ms and that was that.....Now, I know you all are going to want me to bake cakes for all your celebrations from now on, but I am going to have to respectfully decline that honor as I don't want to put all those bakeries out of business who have hard working employees that count on their paychecks to feed their families.

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.