Shelby's Bedroom Rules

Translation:
No jumping
No hitting
No eating things
No spitting at people
No talking bad
No throwing
No burping
No lying
No bathroom talk
No kicking
No standing up
No dirt
No talking back

Thankful Thoughts

I always try to put pictures with all my posts, but then sometimes that prevents me from posting just random thoughts so today may or may not be a pictureless day; we'll just have to see how it goes....

Lately, and by lately I don't mean 100% consistent, but more time spent than not, I have found myself on the not focusing on myself end of thought life and more on the look how great things are side. I just always love it when I let go of me and allow God to reveal all that He is and all that He has blessed me with. It always leads to a more happy, content, joyful me. And to celebrate this current state I decided to write down some thoughts about what I am thankful for. Sometimes when I think about all that God has done for me when I have done absolutely nothing, I mean absolutely nothing, to deserve even a smile from Him my socks are totally blown off...wait, look, there they go.

First of all lately I am moved to tears sometimes when I think about my wonderful husband. Despite popular belief, I am not the easiest person to be married to; but yet, I have this wonderful guy who knows me so well and chooses to be with me anyway. And remember folks, we didn't get married on a whim; oh no, we dated and dated and dated (6 years to be exact) before we got married so there really weren't any surprises going into it and he married me anyway. On top of that, he pretty much gives me whatever I want and does for me whatever I want. I mean really, I am totally spoiled. He washes dishes, he cooks, he cleans windows, he takes care of the children, he works crazy hard so I can stay home and pretend like I am the perfect housewife when in fact there are more days where I spend more time watching ESPNU than doing what I should be and then he patiently listens to me complain about how I can't get everything done in a timely manner.

Also, I am so thankful for my children. They have definitely challenged me in so many ways and the Lord uses them constantly to reveal weakness in me and to refine me to be more like Him. Isn't it funny? No one ever goes into having children and thinks, oh I can't wait to be challenged and changed and walk through fire to refine my spirit and character. Yet, that is totally what happens. You realize so much about yourself. I love my children! The other night as I was reading to Shelby she just kept kissing me on my check. I love that! I am thankful for their unconditional love for me and their faith that I can be a good mom and guide them safely through the early years of life.

Another thing that I have been completely blessed by is a wonderful family. Now, my family, we have an unusual sense of humor, but it makes me laugh and I am thankful for that. My mom and dad are still my mom and dad even though I have been married for 11 years and have two children of my own. I am thankful that I can call them anytime of day and ask for advice on stuff and they listen and either give me advice or say, "Good luck kid, we'll pray for you." Lately I have been into running and I am thankful that they are willing to get up early on Saturday mornings despite the fact that they both still work and drive out to Bluffton to watch my children so I can run in a race. I am thankful that they never over spoiled me and that they raised me in a church. I am thankful that they prayed for me everyday and continue to pray for me everyday; I mean where would I be without them...probably not born since I came from them, but whatever. I am thankful that they raised my sister, brother and I to love each other and care for one another. They always made sure to impress on us how important family was and didn't allow sibling rivalry to rule our relationships. They never compared us to each other, but allowed us to be the individuals that God made us to be and then praised us for our differences and encouraged us to look at each other like that.

I am also thankful for a great neighborhood and wonderful neighbors and friends who love the Lord. Sometimes you can feel so lonely in this world and that no one believes what you believe or is raising their children how you are raising yours, but we are surrounded by people who love God and are raising their children under His guidance. Wow!!! I mean, how awesome is that. I am thankful that they love us, love our children, encourage us daily to stay the course, gently rebuke us when we stray and help us get back on our way. Just yesterday as I was cleaning around the house, my ears were filled with the sounds of children laughing and playing and my heart just leaped for joy over the thought that my children were playing and having a great time with their friends.

Finally, right now I am totally thankful for the 5-0 start that my Clemson Tigers have acheived this season!!! I have waited a long time for this and I know at any moment the bottom can drop out (any true Clemson fan knows that it isn't over and nothing is guarenteed until the final second of the last game of the season ticks off the clock) so for now I rejoice and entertain thoughts of ACC Championships and National Championships. Thank you Lord!!!!

PS-of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg of things I am thankful for, there are tons and tons more, but I have to run and actually do something to make it look like I was productive around the house today before I go pick up the children from school:)

Fresh Home Grown Veggies Anyone?

Why yes; I think I'll have some. Well, that is what we hope to be saying in a few months once our veggies are ready.

Leslie and I have taken it to the next level and are attempting to grow some vegetables in a garden in her back yard. Now those of you who are laughing at me right now because you know everything I touch dies, stop! I did manage to take care of my mother-in-law's flowers this summer on two separate occasions and they flourished and thrived under my care. So maybe with the help of a good friend I might not actually kill anything.....oh, I hope!!!

Home Made from a Tube Cookies

Any day that ends with home-made from a tube cookies is a great day even if the day isn't all that great to begin with, be it an ordinary day or a day filled with discipline and testing.

Saturday, September 10th started out as a day filled with excited anticipation for all that we had planned that day. Pratt was out of town and so I had tried to fill the day with fun plans. Shelby and I were scheduled to go to a Princess Tea Party for lunch and grandmother was going to come over to play with JP. I think that JP was more excited about having time with grandmother than Shelby and I were about the Tea Party which is pretty amazing because we were really excited.

Grandmother arrived and we left. By the time Shelby and I got to the party grandmother called; JP was having one of his famous and notorious breakdowns over nothing. "Oh joy" I thought, "now we are going to have to go home". Of course grandmother said not to worry, she is a mother too after all and she could handle it. So I got off the phone whispered a prayer for her and Shelby and I walked into the party.

It was more beautiful than I can say. The room really looked all princessy and on each table they had beautiful flower arrangements, placecards, a menu of what was being served and the 10 Rules a Princess Must Always Follow.



The Salt Marsh Fairy was on hand to give the young princesses the rules and instruct them on how to walk, talk, sit, etc. It was sooo cute and all those little girls were precious.



When we got home grandmother gave the run down on what had happened with JP and since the outburst involved going to the pool and someone who shall remain nameless (yes, me) leaving the house with the pool bag I told JP that if he would rest quietly for a bit that we would go to the pool for a late afternoon swim. It was one of the best things we could have done! The children were excellent!!! They listened extremely well and even said Yes ma'am and No ma'am without being prompted. It was definitely a proud momma moment for me as an older couple sitting next to me commented on how impressive it was that they said yes and no ma'am (whew, they would have been saying something totally different had they been at the pool the day that I carried JP away kicking and screaming).

Normally Shelby and JP stick to the pool, but this day they took to the splash deck as well. It was so enjoyable to watch them running through the water. They both looked so free and happy.



Sometimes it is good the reward for good behavior in order to encourage and this moment was just that; I mean perfect strangers said how good they were, I couldn't let that go unnoticed or unrewarded. So on the way home I told the children what they couple had said and how they did such a good job so we were going to make home-made from a tube cookies. You would have thought they won the lottery the way the responded.

After we got cleaned up from dinner and had our bathes we pulled out the dough, rolled it and then they got to pick which shapes they wanted. It was so much fun!!!

Once the cookies were in the oven I told them it would take about 12 minutes and that they could go play, but they prefered to sit in front of the oven and watch them for the whole 12 minutes. Every once in a while they would shout out the status of the cookies. "Look mom, they are getting bigger." "Look, they are getting brown, are they done yet?"



After the cookies cooled they each got to pick one to decorate with whatever they wanted. Look at the concentration going on here....



And the finished products. JP ate is cookie in no time flat. Shelby took her time and eventually decided she didn't want to eat any more. She isn't that big of an icing fan and she put a ton of icing on her cookie so I may have had a bite or two before I threw it in the trash (hey, no sense in throwing away a perfectly good cookie)

Baby It's Cold Outside?!?!?!

So exactly how hot was it this summer??? Well, apparently hot enough that this morning when it was 70 out my children ran around in our driveway telling the neighbors that it was freezing out. JP walked out, turned around and looked at me and said, "Mommy, it is so cold out that it is going to snow!!!" Then he ran in the house got his jacket, put on his hood and went to school. Oh will we be in trouble if the Lord ever calls us to move to an area where it actually is cold:)

A Day of Firsts

Last Tuesday was a day of firsts in our house. It was the first day in a very long time that I set my alarm to rise before the children in the morning for the only reason of getting things started early; it was the first day of JP's orientation week; it was the first day that our first child was going to first grade (tear); and it was the first day that both children would start tennis lessons.

Shelby is so excited to be in first grade!!! It is so cute to see her get up every morning and put on her little uniform and get ready. She has usually favored the hair down look but now that she is in first grade she has changed that up a bit. Now she goes for the pony tail look with a headband to match whatever she is wearing. It is so fun to see how her likes/dislikes change, but sometimes it catches me off guard at how all the sudden without warning something changes and then I try to remember exactly when did that happen. Like the whole hair thing....

Our annual fisrt day of school pictures....




It was just the first day of practice school for JP and he actually has this week off. I think that we are all ready for him to be in school. He misses his little buddies so much and we all are looking forward to a little more rythmn and routine to our days. On his first official day he will be going for a whole day with lunch box and all. He can't wait!

Shelby, is that a yawn I see??? She was so excited about her first day that she really had a very hard time sleeping the night before. I just love her enthusiasm for school. She has been known to exclaim to her friends, "Isn't first grade so fun!! We get to do home work and have spelling tests!!!" Oh, now I know she truly is my child:)



There is this tennis program called Quick Start and they have recently started it in our area. It is a great little program that starts with the basics of hand-eye coordination and foot work. This will be Shelby's 3rd session and JP's first. After much discussion and trying to figure out what activity the children would want to participate in we settled on this and it is the perfect fit for us. Both Shelby and JP had so much fun!! You know when you are sitting there watching your children do something and you can just tell that they are truly, 100% enjoying every aspect of what they are doing? Well, that is what watching them last Tuesday was like. You could just tell that they were 100% enjoying everything that they were doing.

JP and Coach Jackie working on bouncing the ball once and catching it while moving down the court



Shelby and Coach Jackie working on hitting the ball after one bounce

Final Trip

Summer is finally winding down and right now I would say we, in our house, are in the dog days of summer; but before I got into that here is what we have been up to since the middle of July....

On July 10th Pratt left with some men from our church to go do missions work in Ringold, GA. This sweet little town was nearly wiped off the map when the Tornado Outbreak of April 2011 occurred. They had a wonderful trip and accomplished a ton on the little house they were helping rebuild.

Pratt got home on the 13th and then had his inaugural guys golf weekend tournament. While the guys were busy playing golf and watching golf (there was some big tournament on that weekend) myself and some of the other moms loaded up our children and went to the lake house. It was a blast!!! The children had so much fun and the moms enjoyed some qt in the evenings when the children went down.

We had a whole week at home together as a family and then on the 27th I hit the road for my annual girls trip. This year was a lot more subdued than in the past, but it was just perfect. We all got tons of rest and relaxation and came back rejuvenated and ready to get school prep started.

And now on to our final trip....I got home Monday from my girls weekend and then on Friday we packed up the car and made our way down to Boca to visit some dear family friends. Shelby and JP had so much fun visiting with their friends and we all are looking forward to going down again.

The four little ones enjoying an afternoon swimming in the pool. I have to admit, it was soooo nice to have a pool right there in the yard. Cheri and I hung out in the nice cool air conditioning while the kids swam. We had a perfect view of them from the dinning room table.



An afternoon of swimming will definitely wear you out so a little rest time was in order on the most comfortable lazy boy couch in the world.



And now to what brought us to Florida in the first place...Pratt had a sales training conference to go to in Orlando so we turned it into a mini vacay that started with our trip to Boca and ended with Orlando. We had such a great time, but missed Daddy like crazy.

Since Pratt was going to be in a conference all day I decided to be a brave mommy and take the children to Sea World by myself. Yes, there was a little bit of insanity in that decision, but my children are now to the age that once you mention something you have to follow through because they will hold you to it. So, Tuesday morning we got up and made our way to Sea World. Of course, we are talking about Florida in the summer; as soon as I bought our tickets the skies grew dark and the rain started falling:( We looked like a family of cookie monsters walking around in our blue ponchos all day; every time I looked at JP or Shelby I just laughed to myself.



Sea World was great!! We were fortunate enough to catch all the shows before they officially closed the park due to weather. Shelby especially loved watching the shows. She couldn't even stay in her seat she was so enthralled with it all. I just loved it!

The next day we had to check out of the hotel, but Pratt still had a full day of conferences ahead. I had hoped to take the children swimming at least in the morning, but the weather had other plans and it rained again:( So, being as resourceful as I could I decided to take the children to this fabulous mall called Mall of the Millenia. It is a super cool mall and if Pratt and I lived in Orlando we would definitely have to become a credit card free family as I know that we would not be able to control ourselves.



After a quick picture in front of the fountains we continued straight to the escalator. This by far excited Shelby and JP the most so we spent the morning walking from one end of the mall to the other and going up and down the escalators until it was lunch time.

After lunch we went back to the hotel, packed up the car and made our way to Downtown Disney. It was so much fun to go back there and just walk around. It made me super excited for our next family trip to Disney. There is no telling when that will be, but I know that we will have tons of fun.



We finally got home Wednesday night around 9 and I was so glad to know that we are going to be here for a while. I love, love, love traveling with my family. The children always do so well and it is great to have that family time.