Shelby says...

A conversation in the car after CBS today while on our way to Moes....

Shelby: "I am so tired. Today at nap time I am going to sleep."
Me: "Shelby, I am tired too. I think I am going to sleep during nap time."
Shelby: "No your not mom. You are going to do your job."

Jingle Bells

Thought this little video might bring a little laughter to your day....enjoy!

First Official Daddy/Daughter Date and other things

It seems like every time I catch myself thinking, "Gosh, life just can't get more busy than it is." the next thing I know we are more busy than we were when I thought that. No matter how hard I try to make lists and stay focused something always comes up, plans change and I find myself having to go with the flow. Oh well, I guess that our children will be very flexible adults:)

Last night was Shelby and Pratt's first official Daddy/Daughter date ever. It is hard to say who was more excited, Pratt or Shelby. Last week Pratt printed out a beautiful little invitation that he stuck in the door inviting Shelby to dinner and the Nutcracker. At first I could tell that she really didn't know what was going on, but as the time got closer and we talked more about it she got more and more excited. Last night when Pratt got home from work they got all dressed up and ready to go...a small miracle in itself that we didn't suffer through any pre-date melt downs as Shelby usually despises dressing up in anything more than a little cotton dress. I had been preparing myself all day for the battle that I was going to face getting her to put on a fancy dress, tights and pretty shoes. But God is faithful and gave us a wonderful evening of getting ready. Shelby got to pick where they went for dinner and at first she said that she wanted to go to Moe's (I know, no surprises there. That girl loves her Moe's), but I gentle reminded her that we already ate there for lunch (and not to mention that we ate there Sunday after church) and suggested that they go some place else. So she settled for Zaxby's, but Pratt said when they got in the car she pulled an audible and they ended up dinning at the ever fancy Chik-fil-A.

Once they got to the playhouse Shelby went through her normal, I don't want to....routine, but Pratt was able to coax her in. As the ballet started Shelby sat back in her chair with her hands in her hears, but as the performance went on she got more and more excited and by the end of the first act Pratt said she was standing up against the chair in front of her watching with every bit of her being.

Here are two pictures from the evening. I know that this is going to be something that Shelby looks forward to every year. Maybe I will let Pratt make a post from his perspective because I am sure that there are a lot of funny little details I am leaving out.

And on to other news.....on Sunday Pratt and I played our first ever golf round together in a little couples scramble. Since it had been probably close to 8 or 9 years since I really attempted to play golf I didn't have too high of expectation going into this. As we were warming up on the range I found that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and ended up getting pretty excited about having an afternoon out on the links with my hubby and dear friends/neighbors. We teamed up with Rob and Jessie to form "Team Sac." I have to say that we were a force to be reckoned with. Pratt and Jessie played golf in high school and Rob and I had some natural athletic ability to contribute and even though no one collected scores at the end of the day we knew that we won.

And real quick, I have to brag on myself, the last hole was a short little par 3 were you had to hit over some little marsh or something like that. Now, never ever in my very short golf career have I ever been able to get over the mental block of hitting over a hazard. Well, today was the day. I got up on the tee box, relaxed and hit that ball over the hazard, landed on the green and the ball rolled to about a 1 foot from the hole!!!! HOLY COW!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it and then I sank the putt for a true birdie!!! Watch out LPGA!!!! Here I come!!! Okay, maybe I should stick to my day job, but it really was so much fun and I can't wait to have an opportunity to play with Pratt again.

The men looking ever so intimidating....

And the ladies added some fashion and beauty to the course.....

This is kind of in a random spot, but I am having a hard time figuring out how to move pictures around. I couldn't not include this picture from Sunday morning before church. JP looked so handsome, still baby, but also so grown up at the same time.

Saturday Pratt went to Clemson for the game (which, just in case you were wondering we knocked the socks off of Florida State!!!!!) so my mom and I took the children to see Nemo on Ice. JP was so excited he could hardly stand it. The whole week he walked around saying, "I go see Nemo on Ice." over and over again. He sat in my lap at full attention the whole show and barely moved except to eat his popcorn and flash his Nemo light. It was such a fun time and I love doing things like this with the children. Of course Shelby wasn't too thrilled at first, but she warmed up to in and by the end was clapping.

Here they are in the car on the way home holding up their Nemo light toys....thanks so much Grandmother for such a fun day!!! JP is still talking about it.

(Thanks Erin for the super cool Clemson football outfit!!! I am sure that the reason Clemson beat FSU is because JP wore it on Saturday.)

October

Wow!! Can it be?? Is it really possible?!?!? Certianly October isn't over yet?!?! Oh, but yes it is. I seriously can't believe that it is already November. My sweet children are growing older faster with each passing month and sometimes I just really want to stop time so that they can stay my babies for a little while longer. Anyway, since I was totally slack all month with posting anything, here is a quick picture overview of what we did......

In a first time for me, earlier in October we took Shelby and JP to Pinckney Island for a morning of roaming around. I really had no idea how incredibly big that place was. I thought that we would go walk around for a bit, find a nice place for a picnic, eat lunch and head home. Boy am I ever glad that at the last minute we decided to bring the stroller. It ends up, you have to walk almost a mile before you get to the first place of interest. Shelby and JP had a lot of fun and it was such a beautiful day. We didn't see too much wildlife, but it was really just nice being out as a family exploring and enjoying God's beautiful creation!!! Here is a picture of Shelby and JP looking at the water.

What October would be complete without shopping for Halloween costumes??? Well, ours was almost an October without them, but Meme made sure that we were taken care of. Since we had plans to be in Clemson for Halloween I had kind of decided not to buy costumes because we wouldn't be trick-or-treating, but Meme thought that it would be fun to have some anyway so she took me and the children to find some costumes. It was such a wonderful afternoon!!! Shelby had so much fun wandering down the aisle looking at all the different costumes and she found a butterfly fairy princess. JP was not so easy to find something for. We asked him if he wanted to be nearly everything had for his size and each time he said, "No." So we decided to head to another store and as we rounded the corner of the costume aisle he burst out with excitement, "I want to be a dinosaur!!!" The very first costume he saw in that store was the one he knew all along he wanted. Aren't they sooo cute?!?!?!

One weekend several of our husbands were either working or out of town so some of us got together and drove over to Ridgeland to visit a pumpkin patch there. It was the craziest thing because you literally drive up and park in these people's yard, walk around to their backyard and they had it all set up. They had a bouncy house, cornhole, horseshoes, rope a calf, John Deere tricycle race track, a rubber duckie race track, a petting zoo, and tons of other stuff. Children were $6 each and adults were $7 for the hayride that took you to this little make shift pumpkin patch were you could pick out and take home whatever pumpkin you liked. Of course Shelby had to find one of the biggest ones there and JP found one that was just right for his size. It was a great time!!! Here is a quick picture of an attempt to get all the older children to sit down for a group shot.

The weekend before Halloween our church had their annual Fall Festival. It really was such a great time. They had all sorts of little games and activities for the children to play and a chili cook off for the adults to participate in. JP was so sick that weekend so he had to miss out; but thanks to Grammie and Papa for coming over to watch him, Pratt and I got to enjoy being there with Shelby.

And now on to last weekend!!! Clemson Homecoming!!! Wow! What a fun weekend for our family! My mom, dad, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, and a cousin all get together and just really have a great time. This was the first time that Shelby, JP and I would share a room together where we were all in beds. Shelby got to have her own bed and JP and I shared a bed. They slept a little and I didn't sleep at all, but it was all good because they really behaved very well the entire trip. Unfortunately the weather did not behave while we were there and we got really wet at the game on Saturday!!! But, once again, Shelby and JP were such troopers they sat through almost the entire first two quaters in the rain before they determined that enough fun had been had. We were soaked to the bone; well, they weren't that wet because they were covered up better than I, but anyway.

Shelby wore her Clemson jersey the night before. I was totally shocked when she put it on and then wore it the rest of the night. This girl has a mind of her own. I can't tell you how many times I have tried and tried to get her to wear it and then she just goes and does it. JP had on a super cute clemson football outfit, courtsey of my friend Erin, but of course I didn't get a single picture of him in it:(

Here is me, Matt and Lauren at the bottom of the hill waiting for the marching band to come. It was so much fun and I always love going to Clemson, but I have to say that I was really ready to get home and sleep in my own bed after this trip:)

And a random story to close....there was this sweet little black kitten that Pratt had been feeding at work for nearly a week now and he finally caught it. He brought it home in a little cage for the night so he could bring it to the humane society on Monday morning. JP and Shelby instantly fell in love with this cute little ball of fur. While they were in the laundry room looking at him JP told Pratt, "Kitty name is Swan." Who knows were that came from, but they really fell instantly in love with this cat. I so wish that we could have kept it just because it brought so much joy to my sweet children, but I am so allergic to cats that there was just no way. So Monday morning came and Pratt took the cat to the doctor and when JP came home from school that day he came running up to me and asked, "Mommy, where kitty baby kitty cat?" On man, it nearly killed me to tell him that the cat was at the doctor so that they could find a place for him to live.

What is a Christian?

Last night it was Pratt's turn to put Shelby to bed and as our routine goes, they brushed teeth, went potty, got dressed, read and did a little devotion. The special thing about last night came at the end of devotion time and the conversation went something like this...

Daddy: "God wants us to show love to our Christian brothers and sisters."
Shelby: "Daddy, what is a Christian?"
Daddy: "A Christian is someone who believes that Jesus is the son of God, sent to earth by God to die for our sins and was raised to life again by God."
Shelby: "I believe that. I want to be a Christian."
Daddy: "Okay, all you have to do is ask Jesus to come live in your heart."
At that Shelby folded her little hands, closed her little eyes and said, "Jesus, please come live in my heart. Amen."

Two Weeks in Review

I know, I know...it has been a while since we have talked and I am so sorry. Life just gets busy sometimes and let me tell you, we have had a lot going on. Shelby and JP had their first day of school, then we left for Tennessee for almost a week and then I had a lot to catch up on from being gone for so long. This blog may be long, but it won't be because of all that I have to say, it will mostly be because of the pictures.

Shelby and JP started school on September 8th. Late, I know. Their school always starts after Labor Day and since Labor Day was a little late this year so was their first day of school. We had such a fun morning getting ready for school that day. JP was on cloud nine since he got to go to school with Shelby this year. We let them pick out what they wanted for breakfast and they settled on cinnamon rolls and ham/egg/cheese sandwiches. This was their first experience with cinnamon rolls and they ate the mess out of them!!! Great job on us...hop them up on sugar and then send them off to school!!!

Here are two pictures from that day....we have tons of pictures and I tried to pick out two good ones...

Shelby and JP showing the love.

Shelby and JP sporting their awesome school bags.

The children started school on Tuesday. We had CBS on Wednesday morning and then at 11:30 we met Pratt at home, loaded up the car and headed up the road to Tennessee. Grandmother hosts a golf tournament, The Katie P. Reed Classic, every year at the local course to raise money for her senior citizen center. This year, Pratt, John, Jake and Sandi teamed up to show all those people from TN how we play golf down here in the lowcountry. It was a wonderful trip!!! We had so much fun visiting with his family. Steve and Catherine were gracious to us and opened their home to us. It worked out great because Shelby and JP had a great time playing with Reed and Grant.

Pratt first meal at the adult table. On Thursday night Grandmother had everyone over for some her fabulous home cookin'. Let me tell you, this is some of the best food that will ever go in your mouth and what made it even better this time was that Pratt finally got to set at the adult table. I guess 9 years of marriage and two children was enough to move him on up.

I just love this picture of Granddaddy and JP, don't you!?!? JP was so excited to get to see Granddaddy's tractor and he even sat on it for a brief second.

Jake, Shelby, Papa, and Pratt....Saturday night, after the golf tournament, we all got together at Steve and Catherine's for a little grill-out and football. It was so much fun...there was target practice going on, the children running around, great weather, wonderful food, and some pretty good football that day. Shelby had a lot of fun that night playing with Uncle Jake and Papa. I just love it when she gets that belly laugh going and this night she really laughed a ton!!!

All good things must come to an end...so after church on Sunday and one more round of Grandmother's cream corn and mac-n-cheese it was time to load the car up and make the journey home. Shelby and JP really did a wonderful job in the car on the way there and on the way home. It was so much fun and I am really looking forward to the next time we can visit with our family up there again. Thanks to everyone for such a wonderful trip!!!

So, like I said, last week was spent catching up on all that there is when one has been away for so long...bills, laundry, grocery shopping, just getting back into the routine of life and getting rested from being off routine for so long. Shelby and JP jumped right back into school and are still working on catching up on sleep.

Friday night we made dinner early for the children and then had family movie night upstairs. We popped popcorn for them, sprinkled in some m&ms and watch Veggie Tales: Dave and the Giant Pickle. What a cute little movie!! I love all the Veggie Tales stuff. It is short, sweet, funny, and loaded with good lessons from the Bible. This is a picture of our little makeshift movie theater. Shelby and JP loved having their own bowl of popcorn and sat pretty well through the whole movie. They even laughed at the funny parts!!!

After we got them down for the night Pratt and I had one of our in house date nights. We had made our own little "Corks" cheese trays complete with apples and honey for dipping, and a great bottle of wine. Since I was out on Thursday night for Dana's birthday we used this time to watch some of our Thursday night shows which we are so glad to have back on the air. The Office was a little disappointing I have to say, but that new show, Community, was so stinkin' funny!!!

This last picture was just too cute to not include. Shelby and JP got all cuddly in my bed on Saturday to watch cartoons while we watched some football. Pratt and I are so blessed with these two cuties!! They are great children and they love playing together. I could just sit and listen to them all day!!!

A potty training update-we have had a break through....if JP is naked he has no problem going potty on the potty, both number 1 and number 2; in fact, he goes all by himself and then yells at you from the bathroom that he went potty, but as soon as there is something on that little rear of his you can bet that he will make a mess of it...

The other day he called to me from the bathroom and said that he made a battleship (number 2) and so I came running to help him and when I got there he said, "I made three battleships! No, that one is a fishy, that one is a turtle and that one is the battleship."

Practice School and Boiled Peanuts

This past week was "practice school" for Shelby and JP. They both loved it so much!!! Whew! I was a little concerned with how JP would handle it, but he hopped right out of the car the first day with Shelby and then never really wanted to come home....that's my boy, loving school so much that he doesn't want to come home!! Anyway, yesterday Shelby had practice school, but JP didn't so I left him at home with Pratt while I dropped her off. It is going to be a very interesting morning the first time I drop Shelby off and he has to stay in the car.

One of the neatest things for me was to look at Shelby's work that she brought home yesterday and compare it to what she brought home the first week of school last year. What an amazing transformation in it!!! It was just really cool to see all the progress that she has made from the last year and even over the summer while we were at home. One work that she did on the easel (which currently is her favorite thing to do, yes, she is also talking a little bit more after her day then she did last year!!!) was a picture of a stick person (a girl I believe as she had on a dress), a sunshine, some grass, and a flower. She also wrote her name, my name and JP's name; then she crossed them out because she didn't want to leave out her daddy and she couldn't remember how to write his name. When she was showing Pratt her work she said, "Daddy, are you sad that your name isn't on there because I couldn't remember how to write it?" Of course he said no and that he was proud of her work; but isn't that so sweet!!! It just melted my heart that she was that concerned over hurting her dad's feelings, maybe we are doing something right after all with her:)

These are just a few pictures from the last few weeks that I couldn't resist....this is JP walking around in his daddy's shoes. We are still potty training and having good days mixed with bad. Hopefully the good days will start to out weigh the bad soon.Of course you know I can go on much longer without saying something about Clemson Football!!!! We are only a short 7 days away from kick-off!!!! Can you believe it? I know that you are all just as excited as I am!!! So in honor of our fun filled fall approaching, here is a picture of JP sporting his Clemson shirt. My family got it for him when they were visiting Matt this summer. It is kind of hard to read, but the shirt says, "Hold on Tigers....I'm coming." and it has a little tiger dressed up in a football uniform. I just love it, love it, love it!!!

And then, last but not least. Last spring we joined a CSA (community supported agriculture) Farm. It was great. Every Friday we would get a delivery of fresh, picked that morning fruits and vegetables from a farm in South Carolina. Let me tell you, those were some of the best fruits and vegetables I have ever eaten!!! The farm (Pinkney's Produce) breaks for the summer and yesterday we picked up our first delivery for the fall season. We got peanuts, zucchini, squash, corn, field peas, banana peppers, green peppers, etc. As soon as I brought that box in, Pratt started making some boiled peanuts with our peanuts. He let them boil for at least 2 hours and then soak for at least another hour after that. Once we got the children all bathed and ready for bed we sat down together on the couch and ate a bowl of boiled peanuts together. It was a great way to end a very busy week for us....just being together as a family. One of Shelby's favoritest things on earth is boiled peanuts and I think she ate the most out of all of us.