Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving! Shelby's preschool put on a Thanksgiving luncheon where the parents could attend. It was really cute to see all the little kids and get to know the other Mom's. Then we headed to Oklahoma for the holidays and had a great time with family. Shelby & I went up a few days early to get some extra Nana & Papa time in. Shelby & Mason had a lot of fun playing together, building train sets & playing with Thomas trains, chasing each other and of course doing some spinning. We also played outside a few times when it was warm enough. It was pretty chilly up there! We ended up having our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday as that's just how scheduling worked out, but it was all good the same. The fried turkeys were AWESOME (way to go Uncle Russ)!! And of course we enjoyed Nana's stuffing & sweet potato crunch. Aunt Kellie made a coca-cola cake this year and I believe this will now have to be a holiday tradition for dessert. It was really good and went fast. As Shelby said "I like this cake! It is yummy!" I'm hoping she'll be making it again at Christmas. Uncle Russ spoiled us with good breakfasts too, biscuits & gravy one morning and then these pancake puff pastries the next. If you've seen that little cooking skillet with the round pancake holes, that's what he used. They were great!! I think I will have to start working out as the pants feel a little snug after all that eating! We thoroughly enjoyed all the college football games because of Nana & Papa's new flat screen plasma tv ~ 50 inches!! Man, watching football at home is a real bummer now after seeing it on that! The picture was amazing and no matter what angle you sat at, you could see the screen crystal clear. And of course we were totally psyched watching our Boomer Sooners beat Oklahoma State Sat. night, a great game that could've gone either way. OSU played really well as we knew they would and it was definitely a classic game. Can't wait for this Sat. to play Missouri ~ but it won't be near as much fun to watch on our TV. May just have to run up I-35 to Nana & Papa's again!! :) Hope everyone had a nice holiday, enjoy the pics! (I also just tried out updating the background using a cool site I got from Cindy's blog - how neat & so easy!)

Say cheese! I actually got a smile!

Turkey hat & placemat made at Preschool.


Some more crafts made at school ~ thought it was cute how she had her foot turned in.



One of our several cooking mishaps ~ our pumpkin pie defrosted a little TOO much in the fridge. No problem though, Russ salvaged it and just poured it out of the box & back in the pan. :)

Mom & Shelby on Thanksgiving Day ~ last pic before I cut my hair!

Vroom, vroom! Shelby really liked this car ~ she called it the "Sally Car" after Sally on the Cars movie, who is her favorite character/toy these days.

Mason cracks me up! What a smile!!

Mom, I think I'm ready for my Harley now.

Is there anything better than watching Cars in Nana & Papa's big bed?

Playing trains.....they did this for a long time. I know what Shelby's getting for Christmas!

Santa Baby, too cute! Here's my short hair, quite a difference!

Mason helping Nana unpack Christmas stuff by wearing it.

It is so hard to believe that Thanksgiving is already upon us ~ where did October go?? Time really does fly these days. We had a great visit in Tulsa with Uncle Russ. We spent Saturday at the BBQ Competition, which was really fun. And they came in 2nd place, so we were super excited! Shelby enjoyed running around the whole time and looking at the water (it was on the riverwalk in Jenks, OK). Skee's daughter Bailey (9) was VERY helpful with chasing Shelby down. I was really glad she was there AND that she wanted to help so much with Shelby ~ made things a little easier for me!
Shelby has really been cracking us up these days with her antics. Whenever I am doing laundry, she loves to try and put on my underwear or another pair of her pants over what she already has on. I don't really wish for my child to be putting on my undies, so I get her a pair of my old boxer shorts I used to sleep in and she is satisfied w/using those. Ha! She is still really into cars and trains these days ~ we recently got her a Sally car and she LOVES it. Carries it around all the time, when she doesn't have it she'll ask "Where Sally go?" and then we hunt it down and she tells me "Sally was hiding". She & Abby also LOVE to listen to the Cars soundtrack ~ Route 66 by John Mayer being their favorite. They dance around and just really enjoy it. It's so cute. Last night we were playing w/play-doh after dinner and for some reason us rolling it into a ball & tossing it around the table was hysterical to her. I don't know why really, but she was giggling so hard. She told me "You make me giggle". Couldn't help but laugh at that, I know I've said that to her, but for her to say it back & in the right context, we just thought that was too funny. I thought to myself that it's those little moments, when they are sweet or say funny things that are worth the temper tantrums and rough days. When they do or say things that just make you laugh or melt your heart, then it's all worth it.
Shelby's had some big boo-boos lately, with 3 head injuries in a 2-week span. The worst was falling on the driveway and hitting her head pretty hard ~ Drew said she was really stunned at first, then the tears flowed. They came in and she told me "I need ice". We had used ice the previous 2 injuries, and now it seems everytime she bonks her head, even a little one, she will tell me she needs ice. Or she will tell us "Kiss it". :)
Her napping has been a bit better lately ~ still skips a nap 1-2 times/week, but we just have rest time on those days, reading books in her bed and quietly playing. She has been wanting to sleep on the futon in her room and use it as a big girl bed ~ we tried a few weeks ago, but she came out several times to see us and kept getting up to play. We put her back in the crib and told her she wasn't ready. Well, she was asking again this week and so we tried it last night. She actually did go to sleep, didn't come out to see us or get up (as far as we could tell from the monitor) and slept there all night. I tried it today for naptime, but it didn't work. We'll see again tonight ~ she's probably getting close, I can imagine though how exciting that must feel, to have that freedom.
Well that's about it from our house ~ looking forward to the holidays coming up & spending time w/family.

My big boo-boo on forehead ~ this one hurt the worst thus far!

Wearing Mommy's boxers!

Wearing Mommy's shoes & going shopping!

A busy couple of months!!

Well, I am WAY overdue for a blog update, the past 2 months have been crazy busy. After coming home from our extended stay in OKC, we had a 2nd birthday celebration with Daddy at home. I made chocolate cupcakes that Shelby very much enjoyed....as did Daddy & I. Oh the sacrifices we'll make for our children. :) We did a little birthday shopping with gift cards & money she received and bought her a slide for the house. She LOVES this thing and calls it her "happy birthday slide". She & Abby have had a ton of fun on it. She also got a baby stroller from Abby, which she LOVES. She loads it up with as many stuffed animals, dolls, and blankets that she can and pushes it all over the house. It's really quite funny because animals will fall off it and she'll look at them like "hey, where do you think you're going?"; then picks them right back up and shoves them back in the stroller. I always think of the movie "Toy Story" and wonder if her animals & dolls complain at night when she's asleep about how she treats them. HA!
At her 2-year checkup in August, she was still on the high end of the charts! She was 32.6 lbs and almost 37 inches tall. She got a flu shot and one finger prick, but didn't cry. I was so surprised! I expected at least a few tears, but she just took it and moved on. I bought her some Lightning McQueen stickers afterwards as a reward. I went away for a scrapbooking weekend retreat and after a weekend with Daddy, came home to find my daughter all about Lightning McQueen and Thomas the Train. HA! Drew is determined to make her a car chick yet! Drew also took her to the zoo that weekend on the DART rail ~ I thought that was very ambitious of him to take her by himself. They had a lot of fun and she enjoyed petting stingrays and running all over the place. Daddy was pretty tired. :)

In September, Shelby started preschool at our church. She did well, no tears just a tight hug around Mom's neck. She settled in quickly and after just a couple of weeks was running into the class and just leaving me behind at the door. She talks about her teacher a lot and wakes up most days saying "go to school". She seems to be enjoying it and I am working at making it a productive use of my time as well ~ I've been able to do a few things for my church, take care of appts. and my bible study time. Need to get motivated to do some house projects, but that hasn't happened yet. Maybe soon. :) We also went to California to visit Drew's family and go to his cousin's wedding. Shelby was the flower girl and had a great time participating. We were pretty hesitant about it, we thought she was just too young. (I think kids under 5 are risky!! Never know what they might do!) But we got there early enough to practice with her a few times and she walked down the aisle with Dawn's nephew, Richard, who was 9,so he guided her along. It was funny though when she would drop some of the petals out of her basket, she'd stop to pick them back up. She stood up front with the bridesmaids and was still the whole time. We breathed big sighs of relief afterwards! Shelby also loved the ocean ~ she thought the waves were so fun! We also went back to Oklahoma last month to visit everyone and enjoy "A Day out with Thomas". Oh my goodness, were Shelby & Mason excited. They had SO much fun. Shelby got a Thomas tattoo and we checked out all the booths (they had storytelling, DVDs showing, etc.). Nana bought them each a t-shirt and a few other souvenirs. Then we went on a real train ride ~ They had Thomas hooked up to the OKC railway cars. It was a really fun day, well worth it.

Let's see, other than all our activities, we have been spending time at home enjoying football, playing outside (it's such perfect weather now!) and just adjusting to these phases that come with age 2! I can see it is going to be a challenging year, but also really fun. I so enjoy Shelby talking and the funny things she'll say & do. About 2 weeks ago, she woke up early on a Fri. I tried laying her in bed with me but she didn't go back to sleep; just read a few books, then went to the kitchen and climbed in her high chair. I got up and asked if she could have some cheerios in a snack cup and come back to bed, just for a few minutes. She cocked her head to the side, looked up at me and said "How about breakfast." Very emphatic and sounded like a teenager telling her Mom "Whatever". I had to laugh though, and realized that nope, she was up and she wanted breakfast, so I'd better get with it.....and just get the coffee going. :) She still repeats much of what we say, and lately has started asking actual questions. "Who is that?, Where is Abby going?" She is also singing songs, which is so sweet to hear. She sings 'Jesue Loves Me', 'Wheels on the Bus', 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star' and her ABC's. She gets all the letters from Q-Z, but up to Q is a little mixed up. But as I've learned thus far with every age/stage, with all the fun & joys, there come the challenges & frustrations too. You Moms know of what I am speaking about. Shelby's napping is pretty inconsistent these days ~ in fact, many days she is just not sleeping during naptime. She usually sleeps at school, but when at home, it just depends. I still put her down for rest time, and if she sleeps, she sleeps; otherwise, she just plays in there or looks at her books. As long as she's not crying, I just let her be. I hope she will get back to sleeping consistently because you can tell she still needs it ~ the days she doesn't sleep, she is pretty cranky by evening time and usually ends up going to bed early (7-7:30). We're also seeing more of the acting out when she doesn't get what she wants, saying "mine" all the time, very possessive with certain toys. She's been in some timeouts lately for discipline; the first couple of times she didn't quite get it, in fact didn't seem phased by it. But now she does, she knows what it means and she doesn't like it. Her Dr. gave me some good guidelines on discipline, so we're trying it where needed. I will say, being a mother is by far more difficult than my previous job. Negotiating with a 2-year old is much harder than with developers and business people that are unhappy with the project. :)

Well that is just about it for us here ~ we are looking forward to the OU/TX game this weekend and going to Tulsa in a couple of weeks to cheer on Uncle Russ at his bbq competition. Other than that, we're just waiting on the fall weather and enjoying the gorgeous sunshine we have now. Hope everyone is doing well!!

Petting stingrays @ the zoo w/Daddy.

1st day of preschool ~ would NOT look at the camera of course.


Swimming in the ocean in Carlsbad, CA.




I'd better just look under here, make sure everything's ok.

Gettin' my Thomas tattoo!

There's Thomas!!!


I took several pictures and this was the only one where they both were looking at me.

It is SO hard to get them to be still for a picture!!
Wearing their "Thomas" shirts. Aren't Mason's boots too cute??! He is a real country boy! :)

Returned home from OKC

Shelby & I have returned from OKC where we've been the past few weeks visiting & helping care for Papa post knee replacement surgery. Shelby had a great time playing with Mason, they really seem to enjoy each other's company, chasing each other and spinning around being silly. She also loved spending time with Granny & checking in on Papa, sometimes going over and holding his hand (which he thought was very sweet). Dad is doing great with his recovery, so we headed back home this week. While we were there, Shelby had her 2nd birthday. I took her & Mason to a water park for some fun, and then on that Sat. we celebrated, opening presents & having some "Happy Birthday Cake" as Shelby would say. She really liked the cake this year, in fact ate all of Uncle Russ' piece so he had to get a whole new one! We thought she'd just scam a bite or two, but oh no, she ate the WHOLE thing by herself. Then she was on a sugar high for the next hour; needless to say we went to bed a bit later that night, but she went down easily, she was one tired little girl. We celebrated again this week with Daddy when we got home; he couldn't be in OK for her birthday, so darn we had do it again and have more cake. The sacrifices she'll make for us. :) We also had her 2-yr pictures made while we were there; Kellie has a friend who just opened her own studio. I've posted a ton of pictures to catch up, enjoy!!

Could someone tell Shelby to stop squeezing me so tight?!?!

Mason trying to push down the water; he was laughing so much!

Oh, I think water got all in my eye!!

After cousin John Matt's wedding ~ goldfish are a good bribe to be still. :)

Take a BIG bite!!

Hmmm, chocolate cake is yummy-yum!

Checkin' out my new chair from Granny ~ perfect for football watching!

Going grocery shopping in my robe!

Playin' in my tent from Papa! I love getting in it & watching some Olympics!