November 2009

November seemed to be jam pack too. The first week of November I did a Kids Market show to sell Scentsy. It went really well, but was long. Thankfully my parents came down to help me out. My dad kept the kids for the most part and mom and I were at the show all day. It was a fun visit though. They also bought us our Christmas present while they were here. A new camera!!! It is so nice. All the pictures from this month are from it. I just go around snapping pictures all the time. It is a Nikon D-40. I am so excited to figure it all out. The first place I got to take it was to Kelsey's open house at her preschool. Her class sang a song then we headed to her classroom to see all the projects they had been doing.




















Next, my bible study has an end of semester brunch and the kids come sing a couple of songs. Kelsey knew every word and every motion to each song. It was so cute. Unfortunately Harrison's class didn't get to do it. Maybe next semester.











Our plans changed last minute on Thanksgiving and we decided to stay home. It ended up being a really nice meal and day. It was very stress free (except for all the cooking). We were all in our pj's most of the morning and we ended up having to keep a 3 month old that my neighbor is fostering. She had to go to the emergency room and ended up having H1N1. But he was great and we had fun with him. Shawn fried a delicious turkey and veggies and I made stuffing, deviled eggs, and 2 pies. Don't feel to sorry for us we were stuffed.






































Last weekend Shawn and I (mostly Shawn) put up Christmas lights on our house. It's the first time he had ever done it himself. It was a little hairy in some places (as you can see in the picture below) but it turned out like a professional had done it! Next year will definitely be easier since we know what we're doing know.











The day before Thanksgiving we put up some Christmas decorations. The kids had a blast going through it all. We are going to put up the tree this weekend.











This morning, Black Friday, I got up at 5:30 am and hit a couple of stores before Shawn went to work. This was my first time to ever do that. I must say it's kinda fun and invigorating to get all those great deals, but WOW the people. I wish I had time to hit more but I had to get home so Shawn could make money to pay for all that stuff. Oh well....

These are just some cute pictures that I took with our new camera.

October 2009

Well, I decided to catch up by months on my blog because I haven't been good at all about keeping up with it lately. This post is for October so I will try to recap what I can for you. October went by really fast. I had a ton of Scentsy parties and things. Yeah! Kelsey had her 4 year check up. She did great. She passed all the eye and hearing exams. She did get the flu mist and did sooo much better than last year. Harrison got the flu shot and after it was over he said "oh, that hurts" and that was it. He's such a tough guy.

Kelsey's class went to a pumpkin patch that had pig races and a petting zoo. It was really neat. Shawn and Harrison got to come so we all had a great time. Below are some pictures of Kelsey on the hay ride and Harrison petting the animals and Kelsey and Harrison on the hay ride.
































For Halloween Kelsey and Harrison went as Mickey and Minnie Mouse. They got to were their costumes several times and had so much fun in them. We went to our neighborhood Halloween Carnival and to a near by church carnival that is huge. After that we went trick or treating. Harrison was very into the trick or treating. He loved getting candy. He actually ended up with about twice as much as Kelsey because he kept taking candy out of the poor peoples bowl. Oh well, maybe next year he will get down proper trick or treating etiquette.






















And that was our October.....oh yeah, I turned 31...blah blah blah.

September 2009

Click here to view these pictures larger

Here are pictures from Kelsey's birthday party (and some from the rest of September). She had a princess party with our neighbors. She said it was the "best party ever"! She's pretty easy to please these days. I'm sure that will change next year! Thank you to everyone for the great gifts. She loved everything!

(If you can't see the pictures here you can go to my shutterfly page. Click on the link to the right)

Uh Oh! We are sooo in for it!

I went to get Harrison from his nap today and he was in the middle of climbing out of his crib! He acted like he had done it a thousand times. It's like it just clicked and now he can do it. I put him back in to get this video and as you can see he had no problem doing it again. He is now working on getting into his bed by himself too!

Kelsey's First Day of Preschool

I can't believe it, but I sent her off to school today. It was only for three hours, but it was still school! She had a great day and loves her teachers. They went to music today, read stories in circle time, and had cheerios for a snack.....that was all I could get out of her. She had lots of fun and is ready to go back on Friday!!

As soon as she got in her room she started playing.

After we dropped Kelsey off, Harrison and I ran some errands and then went to look for him a backpack. This was about the age Kelsey got her first backpack and it was great. We will use Harrison's for church and my bible study on Tuesday's. He was super excited! Isn't it cute?

Labor Day Crazy

Yesterday, since we both had off for Labor Day, Shawn and I decided to go to Pinnacle Mountain with the kids. It is a state park here and has a playground, arboretum, walking and hiking trail, and more. It is only about 10 minutes from our house, but we had never been. It's a big thing to do here. So we thought we would climb up the mountain with the kids to the summit. It's not like it's Everest or anything so we though, "why not"!

The kids were excited and full of energy. But little did we know what we were in for.

A few pictures and we were on our way. At first we thought, uh oh what have we done. The whole first half was man made step and rocks. Harrison could do some, but had to be carried most of it.

Cute picture, right! Everyone took a break on some rocks to rest and have a drink. Right, except this next picture is what we had ahead of us!!!!!

Yup that's right. This was the second half of the climb up the mountain! But did we stop and turn around.......NOOOO! We kept going. We took turns carrying the kids up these rocks. Kelsey did a lot of it herself, thank goodness. All I kept thinking was, "we have to do this on the way back down too". We finally got to the top about 1 hour and 15 minutes later. It was worth it, I guess. Here is one of the views from the top....

It was a pretty rough hike by yourself much less with two little ones with you. It was fun though. Kelsey kept saying, "this is fun". But when I asked her if she wanted to do it again she quickly said NO. We were all worn out the rest of the day, but had a good time. Did we go crazy or what?

August 2009

Most of these pictures are from Harrison's 2nd birthday party. There are a ton more on my shutterfly website. He had so much fun with all his friends. There were a couple of special guests that got to attend. Shawn's dad, Bill, and his uncle, Glen, were here. Also, Brent, Lauren, Cole, and Jace Vaut suprised us with a visit. We were so grateful to have our fabulous Little Rock friends along with friends and family from Texas. The day before Harrison's party, we went to the zoo (surprise, surprise) with Shawn's dad and uncle. It was the first time Harrison got to ride the train there. After that, it's all he could talk about. Needless to say he had a train themed birthday party. I carried on the tradition of making his birthday cake (after the Mickey Mouse disaster of '08). I can't believe my baby is 2. He had his 2 year check up today and he was doing fantastic. He weighs 28 lbs and is 34 1/2 inches tall. He grew an inch and gained 3 lbs since March. Wow!

Road Trip

On July 9th, the four of us left for a big road trip! First, we stopped in Masfield to visit Jason, Melissa and Baby Claire. We had a great visit and Claire is just beautiful and a great baby.

Then, the kids and I headed to Lubbock and Shawn flew home to work. We got to visit Mimi and Papa, Memaw and Papaw, Joy and Brian, Rhonda, and Kim, Eric, Kenzie, and their sweet new babies Kylie and Carson. Everyone had a great time. I even got a day to myself to shop! The kids got to play at a park, play at McDonald's, play at Mimi's, play at Kenzie's (see a pattern). They had a blast.

Next, we headed to Seminole to visit Emmy, Pappy, Aaron, Misty, and Tessa. The kids had a blast playing in Emmy and Pappy's backyard. They have a nice (BIG) new playhouse, a swing set, a trampoline, and lots of room to run and explore(for Harrison). They were outside almost everytime they were awake.

We then moved on to Frisco. We stayed the night with Matt and Julie. The kids loved catching up. They are all getting so big! We appreciated Matt and Julie for opening their house to us and letting us crash for the night. In the morning, we let the kids play a little, but we had to get on the road. Before we left Frisco we stopped by Mike and Tonia's for a short, but good visit. Then, we were on our way home on July 20th. It was a great trip, but it was time to get back to normal. Thanks to everyone for making our trip so fabulous....and thanks to the kids for being good in the car!

Harrison's Rash

Poor guy! I noticed Harrison had a rash at the pool on Friday morning and really didn't think anything of it. Maybe it was just heat rash or the new sunscreen I put on him. By Friday night, we were starting to get a little worried, so I called the after hours nurse. Since he also had a little fever she said to go ahead and bring him in on Saturday. So we went to the doctor Saturday morning and he said Harrison had Roseola. I looked it up and it's kind of like Fifth's Disease. It's just a virus and has to work it's way out, it just looks horrible. Today, he looks much better. The rash is still on his legs a little, but has pretty much disappeared from the rest of his body. Hopefully, we are at the end of the sick season.

Funny Video of Harrison

Harrison and Kelsey love to jump from the coffee table to the couch. This video is Harrison jumping, but the table was a little further than usual, I guess. I just thought it was cute and funny of him. Enjoy!

Shawn's Promotion!

Shawn got some good news while he was in New Orleans the past couple of days. He is taking over another cemetery in addition to the one he already has!! Last month, all the sales managers in Shawn's region had a competition and Shawn won the whole thing (actually, he crushed the competition)!! I know most of you are not surprised if you know Shawn very well....all they had to say was the word competition and he was all over it. So I guess with the success of his current cemetery and the big win, they thought he could handle another cemetery. Not only did they trust him with another cemetery, but he was also approved to hire 5 more sales people and plans were approved to build a huge mausoleum at his current cemetery! He has only been at this company a year and is moving right on up!!! The kids and I are so proud of him and are behind him 100%!!!

Mimi and Kenzie come to visit!

Mimi and Kenzie came to visit us this past weekend. We had a lot of fun and not much rest. Friday, after we pick them up from the airport, the girls played outside on the swing set and in the frog pool. That night they slept on Kelsey's floor on a pallet. Saturday, the girls woke up extremely early (6:10!) ready to start playing. Shawn took them to Krispie Kream not to long after they woke up to get donuts. They played a little more, then we hit up Play Time Pizza where we ate, played games, and got some junk. They had a blast. We came home for some much needed nap time and then went to the pool to swim in the icy water. It was really hot outside so it wasn't so bad. Kelsey wouldn't get out of the water, but Kenzie thought it was too cold. When we got back, Shawn grilled us some delicious steaks. The girls didn't sleep together that night. We thought they need a good nights rest. Sunday, we woke up and got to the zoo by about 9:30 am. We had a good time watching the animals, riding the carousel, and having a picnic. We left about 1:00 pm, just in time for naps! After naps, the kids played and played and played. The girls slept in Kelsey's bed that night. They did great and woke up at a normal time! It was a good time and we are so thankful that Mimi and Kenzie got to come visit us in Arkansas.

Kelsey's last day of Little Gym

Kelsey finished up this semester of Little Gym. On their last day they have "Show Day" and all the kids show their parents what they learned. It was really cute. They all got medals at the end (which was a big hit). Harrison finally got to play in the gym too!

I'm Back!

I know....it's been a while since I've updated. Working 5 days a week doesn't leave me much discretionary time. I am actually taking at least one day, maybe two days a week off now. What a difference!

In the last month or so we have done some fun stuff. Shawn and I took a little getaway to New Orleans at the first of May. He was there on business and I met him down there. I had a day to myself while Shawn finished up his meetings and then we had a couple of days to eat, walk, and have fun in the Big Easy. This picture is taken from our hotel room. Behind us is the French Quarter.

We also got a new swing set. I think this may have been the best investment EVER! The kids are always on it. Harrison still needs help getting on the swing. When he wants to swing he says, "Supa high" meaning super high. Kelsey likes us to push her so she can go "super high".

Kelsey can swing really high by herself now. When we first got the swing set she really didn't know how to swing herself. She has had lots of practice!!

All the neighborhood kids like the swing set, too. They have all had so much fun. The only negative for me is that I have to pick up dog poop EVERYDAY!

Harrison is still a mess. I gave the kids lunch one day and then ran get the mail and came back and Harrison looked like this............

It's been great month. It went really fast! We are excited to see many of you in the coming months. I will try hard to update this more often.......I promise.