Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Wow!!! What an amazing last few weeks we have had...so much has happened and I can't pick out just a few pictures to post so I am going to tell stories in one post and then do pictures in another. Here we go.....

Shelby's Christmas program at school was so wonderful. It started out with the Elementary students singing a few songs and then playing "Joy to the World" on their flutaphones (not quite sure on the spelling of that one). Then they brought out the primary classes and Shelby looked so cute, so little, yet so big all at once up there on the stage. I am sure that I was literally radiating with love and joy over watching her sing. It makes me tear up when I think that next year she will be in kindergarten!!!

Christmas is always a very busy time of year for us and this year proved to be the norm, but we did enjoy a little more down time than usual because many of our friends were traveling and there also weren't the 600 parties to go to that we usually attend. The week of Christmas we drove down to see Dove Street lights and that trip rated right up there with the trip to Charleston two years ago to see the lights...it was, well, how can I put this a nice as possible...it was filled with lots of noisy, and not the pleasant kind of noise that makes you smile. At any rate, we survived and have decided that next year we are going to try to combine it with having dinner with my family or something.

We had a lovely Christmas Eve celebrating the birth of our Savior. We started out the day by taking the children to the movies with our neighbors. It was so much fun! This was only Shelby's second movie ever and JP's first. Pratt and I were a little skeptical about how they would do, but both of them sat through the entire movie and really enjoyed it. At 5:00 we went to the candlelight service at our church and it was by far one of the best ones they have had that I can remember. The church was almost full and the music was beautiful. We sang lots of traditional Christmas hymns and then there was a short sermon. After that we sang "Silent Night." They dimmed the lights and we all held lit candles. It was just beautiful. Shelby and JP looked like little angels holding their candles. After church we went to Papa and Grammie's house for a fun get together. Shelby was so excited to see Uncle Jake!! She latched onto him and didn't let go the entire night. It was so cute...I just love watching her! JP kind of wandered around the house and enjoyed all the attention he was getting. The Cranston family joined us and it was great to see them. Pastor Jeff was such a trooper. He preached 4 services by the time he got to the house. He looked a bit on the tired side when he walked in, but for some reason JP really took to him and it wasn't but 10 seconds that he sat down and then JP started whacking him with a pool noodle. Thankfully Pastor Jeff is a fun guy and before we knew it he had JP doing those deep belly laughs that got us all tickled. Dinner was sooooo good and what a feast!!! By the time we left and got home it was almost 9:00.

Traditionally we let the children open a small gift of Christmas pjs on Christmas Eve. Shelby called it out before she even opened hers. It was kind of funny, but also kind of sad to realize that she is getting so big now that her memory goes beyond what happened just a few minutes ago. We also gave them sleeping bags this year and told them that they could sleep in them together in Shelby's room. JP was all over that, but Shelby wasn't too sure. It didn't take her long to decide that she preferred the softness of her bed over the hardness of sleeping on the floor. JP lasted a little longer, but eventually (around 11:00) he ended up in his bed as well. We will try that again next year and maybe they will be able to handle sharing a bed together.

What a day Christmas Day was for us!!! We had the best time seeing all of our family and celebrating with everyone. Our day started at 7:30 with JP waking up so we went on ahead and got Shelby up. They had a wonderful time opening all their presents and with each gift JP got he would get more and more excited. At 9:00 we went to Aunt Suzy and Uncle Patricio's house to see them, baby Sebastian, Meme and Christina. Meme made her famous monkey bread and country ham biscuits. Again, the children had so much fun opening gifts and playing with their cousin. At 11:00 we packed up, made a quick stop at home to unload and get some things, then headed over to Papa and Grammie's. JP took one look at the tree and kind of just walked around all confused and excited about all the presents that were there. I mean, you could hardly walk into the living room because there was so much and he just stood there in awe. At one point he could hardly take it any more and after he had opened a tool set to go with his new tractor he just threw his hands up in the air in total disbelief that things just kept getting better and better. Once all the presents were open we sat down to eat lunch and relax for a bit. At 2:30 we came home for some rest! We were up and at 'em again at 5:00 and made the trip to the island to see my family. We opened presents with them, relaxed, enjoyed some dessert and played. Shelby and JP had such a good time all day and despite how tired they were and how much we dragged them around all day they were great little troopers and very well behaved the whole day!!!

Since then we have been trying to get things back to normal before our trip to Belize this weekend. The house looks like a toy bomb exploded and trying to find places to put everything is going to be a challenge....thank goodness we were proactive and did a sweep through all the toys before Christmas. We are also making an effort to get Shelby and JP to bed on time after a week of staying up late. Everynight we put them to bed JP says, "I want to hide." So we pull the covers up over his head and say good night. As we walk out the door he says, "Mommy, mommy, wait." And I turn around and say, "Yes buddy." Then he peeks his little head out of his covers and says, with the biggest smile, "Merry Christmas." It is so cute and makes me laugh every time.

Merry Christmas to all!!! We pray that you all will know the peace that comes with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!!!!

So, what have we been doing?

Well, this blog is going to go in reverse chronological order....I never have been able to figure out how to arrange my pictures how I want...oh well!

This is my sweet Shelby sporting her new haircut from Daddy. After weeks and weeks of threatening her that we were going to cut it if she kept giving us a hard time about brushing it, we finally did it. We probably cut off about 3 inches or so and it made such a huge difference. She looks so much older and thankfully there aren't the knots to contend with each morning when we brush it. The next day at school one of her teachers told her that she really like her hair cut and Shelby said, "My daddy cut it, but it looks better when it is wet." I really have no idea where she came up with that one, but apparently she likes her hair better when it is wet!

On Tuesday JP had his little class Christmas performance at school. The children sang "Jingle Bells" and "10 Little Angels". As soon as JP walked out the door and saw all those parents he instantly became shy and stayed in his teachers arms the entire time. He didn't even mouth the words. After it was over and we started walking to the car he decided to sing. It was so cute!!! Since then he has been singing "10 Little Angels" all around the house. He usually skips from 3 little angels to 10 and then says, "wasn't that a band, Wissmus Morning...." I have a video so you can see!

One night after Thanksgiving we treated the children to come cookies since they had such a good day of making good choices. Shelby instantly wanted to put on her apron and she made Pratt put his on. Since JP doesn't have one we made one for him out of a dish towel and a chip clip. It was so much fun to see them so excited over their aprons. They ran around the house until bedtime with them on laughing and giggling!! Just love those two little sweets!!!

And a little bit before Thanksgiving...I know, that was a long time ago...JP sporting his Indian Headdress from his teachers at school. He was definitely attached to it for a while and wore it everywhere.

The weekend before Thanksgiving Pratt took over the children so that I could go with some girlfriends to Atlanta for a weekend of shopping and relaxing. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard and so much as I did on this trip!! We had the most wonderful time. We went to the North Georgia Premium Outlets, we saw the Rockettes Christmas Show in the Fox Theater and then we also had the pleasure of meeting Dante and his crew at Dante's Down the Hatch. I would love to be able to tell some stories so that you could understand just how bizarre this place was, but I have tried and no one quite gets it, so here is a picture (sorry it is a little blurry) of all of us at Dante's. I can't wait to see what happens on our next girls getaway!!!

JP singing "10 Little Angels".

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."