We have a 2 Year-old!

I believe Shelden had a wonderful 2nd birthday. He had been saying "no" to everything to do with a birthday... e.i. "Shelden, you are going to be 2 this week!" "No" "Your going to get to have a birthday party!" "No,No"... But, when he woke up on his birthday and saw the decorations I think he finally decided a birthday might be nice after all. :) 

His favorite part of the cake "Mama" made may just have been the "Crucks" which he had been begging for since he had seen them the day before... although he did seemed to enjoy eating his cake too. ;)

I believe another little highlight for him was the slideshow I made for his birthday, he has enjoyed watching it over and over, he even figured out how to get it to repeat himself , so he could keep watching it :) (if you haven't seen it, you can in the post below).

He also enjoyed having little friends over to play with. :) Here are a few pictures from the day.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Shelden!

Coffee and some Blogging

Since both kids are asleep right now. I deiced to pause in my Thanksgiving baking/cooking to sit, have a cup of coffee and do some blogging.
...Oh, you want to know what I am making, so kind of you to ask. :) So far I have made 2 Syrup-less Pecan pies, 2 Pumpkin pie and a Sweet Potato casserole... I still need to finish my Black-eyed-pea salad and hope to make a Veg-all casserole and a Pumpkin Nut Roll. Does it meet with your approval  Yes? Mine to ;)
It is hard to believe that 2 years ago on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving I wasn't doing any baking... I was in labor with our sweet Little Man. How the time has flown! We will be doing him a little party on Saturday (his birthday) so stay tuned for pictures from that as well as a special birthday post!
But, now back to what I got on here to blog about in the fist place, I guess I am bunny trailing this morning... but, not as much as I could... I could go in to detail about another reason I am paused in my baking while I run the self clean on my oven, You see... Oh, sorry! Let's where was I? Oh, yes! I have been waiting to tell all of you my great many readers (3 of you?) :) about a cleaning schedule that has really helped me this year... I have already ordered mine for next year too. This lady is so thorough at having you clean and yet has it set up so easy and simple that you never have a pile of work to do in an one day. Who is she? The Confident Mom, check her out here. I have only tried her cleaning schedule but she has a bunch of other stuff too. Anyway, I just want to share as it might help someone, like it as been helpful to me! :)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

The Pumpkin Patch and Hopefully a Tradition

Last Monday the kids and I went to the pumpkin patch with my mom. We had been wanting to go with Daddy but since it seemed things keep happening on Saturdays, Daddy said it was fine if we went without him. :) Shelden and Jenae seemed to have fun riding in the wagon and picking out their own little pumpkins. It was very sunny and windy, so trying to get a good shot of them looking at the camera was hard, especially with our little Southern Bell seemed to melt in the sun.
They got to wear their little matching Fall shirts I had painted them. I had made one for Shelden last year and had so much fun that I decided to do it again. I put scarecrows with pumpkins and a hay bale on this year making Girly's scarecrow look girly ;) while keeping Little Man's more boyish. I guess we will see if I can continue the tradition I now have started...

The Occasional News

I have had so many posts I have wanted to write, but before I get  around to it, it is old news. We said in our Christmas letter "for breaking news" that you could keep up with us here... Well, maybe we should have said for occasional news :)
We have been having a great summer and enjoying our two precious little ones. We are so blessed! Time has continued to fly by; it is hard for me to believe my Little Man is going to be 20 months old tomorrow and Baby Girl will be 5 months on the 26th!
Shelden is such a great big brother to Jenae and he in return is the light of her world. In the picture below I tried to capture how sweetly Shelden was telling "Naenae" a story, Big Brother looked up just as I took the picture, but I love how it caught her looking up at him listening.

I have been enjoying rearranging furniture the last week. We bought both an entertainment cabinet and a china cabinet on Craigslist for $290! I was so excited to finally be able to display my china.

With getting the entertainment cabinet I was able to fix Shelden more of an actual play room ( just before Jenae was born we had moved his play area out from between the couches to give him more room to play). In doing so you could see toys as soon as you walked in the front door, leaving me feeling like my living room was in the toy room instead of the toy room being in the living room.  I moved my rocker back by his toys so that could sit and nurse Jenae and be near him too. I also moved the baby swing down the wall a little bit, to more the middle of the room so that when Jenae was swinging she could be a part of whatever was going on in the "toy room" or the living room. All in all I am very pleased with how it all turned out!

Mother's Day

My sweet Little Blessings who, make me a Mommy, did such a great job (with a lot of help from my wonderful husband) making me feel extra special on Mother's Day.
Daniel wrote the cutest "letter" with comments from the kids about my gift, that I had to share, this is the letter below...

Sunday May 13, 2012 (Also known to some as Mother’s Day)

Shelden James: GOOD MORNING!!

Jenae Danielle: Hi, mommy.

SJ: Daddy told us that today was a special day for you, and that we should probably get you a card.

JD: We aren’t too good at writing yet and so daddy agreed to hit the keys on the computer, and he said that you could read what we were saying.

SJ: I wanted to do this job, but daddy said no.

JD: That’s because you hit them too hard, and pull them off, and mommy can’t read it.

SJ: Oh. Well daddy said I could help make breakfast, and I’d rather do that anyway.

JD: We had a hard time deciding what to get you, but finally decided to get you a box.

SJ: Daddy said that a guy would drop it off at the door. I like seeing the big brown trucks that do this.

JD: Daddy said that it would be an orange and blue truck, and he told him not to come until after Mother’s Day.

SJ: That’s because even though I can unlock the door and carry things, daddy said it was too big, and mommy would know what it was before I could hide it.

JD: oh no, mommy can’t see it yet or it wouldn’t be a surprise! Can we tell mommy what it is now?

SJ: OK. Well, all the time we hear mommy ask dad to rub her feet, because they always feel so bad.

JD: That’s because she has to carry us around a lot.

SJ: Daddy never seems to find the place because she says “over hear, over there, try under, now over.”

JD: Daddy has to try lots of places to make mommy’s feet feel better.

SJ: So we thought that we could get something that could rub everywhere at once, and make mommy feel really good.

JD: Yeah! What is it?

SJ: Daddy says that it is a brand new 2012 quality foot calf and ankle massager, but I don’t know what that is.

JD: I wonder if I can try it, or are my feet too small?

SJ: It probably won’t do as good of a job as daddy but mommy can use it when daddy’s not here.

JD: Can we call the truck now and tell him to bring it since its Mother’s Day?

SJ: Let’s get daddy to. He’s good at calling trucks to come out here, but sometimes it takes a while for them to come when he calls.

JD:SJ:DE HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!!

 This was what Baby Girl brought to Mommy with the cutest grin and look for all the world like she had done it all herself :)

Little Man brought me a yummy breakfast!

My beautiful flowers... Shelden picked them out himself

My Little Joys and I

My gift that arrived today... Ahh...

A Post From Daddy

Now that my little daughter has completed her first month in life, she has gained enough life experience for my first documentation.

Jenae Danielle, our little “Gift from God” was born on February 26th. If I can dare say it, as opposed to her mother’s opinion, I was hoping for a leap day baby. While it was politically incorrect to openly wish for a baby who was born almost a week past her due date to hold out for another three days against her mother’s wishes, it was not to be. Jenae may have minded the skipped celebrations, but just think of the cost savings! Well, I may digress, but maybe a child to be will be so fortunate in 2016. I hear they even have a leap day society for those 1:1,500 humans.

God’s timing is always best, and we now best enjoy our time with God’s blessing, and that she is! She is well worth the lack of sleep, the dirty diapers, and the little lively lungs. Thinking back about nine months ago, we didn’t think that we would have this time at all as a miscarriage appeared inevitable on two different occasions. Later I also caught the CMV virus that can be detrimental to unborn lives. God has sustained her little life up to this point! With an excitable doting big brother, this sustenance is a necessity to endure his head hugs, face pats, and attempted bottle feedings. She is going to be a tough kid! It is exciting to see the potential packed into a little life, and the reasons unfold for the purposes that God has for her (and for us through her).

I pray that this little life will bring a blessing to many, as she has already begun to do. I only trust that we can train her well. Go with God, girl!

Daniel

Our Remodel

As some of you know we started a remodel project this past fall...

We had a little half bath that connected to our guest bedroom and a back storage room behind that that could only be accessed from the outside.

Well, we tore out the half bath,made a hallway going to the back room and took some of the room and made it into a full bath. Giving us a master suit, as we switched rooms and made our old room into Jenae's nursery/guest bedroom. The rest of the back room will be Daniel's office when it is finished.

Daniel did such a wonderful job! Thanks as well to the brothers and my father-in law for all you did. Thomas thank you for being so careful with learning how to lay the tile in the shower, you did a great job!

Before... But after the half bath had been gutted.

Our gorgeous bath..

Our bedroom

Shelden's New Toy

Saturday I needed to do some shopping and Daniel needed to buy a wheelbarrow. So we packed everyone up and headed out, Jenae and I got dropped off and the guys went to Lowe's. The result when they came back to get us was a wheelbarrow for Daddy and a cute little one for Sheldy, who had a ton of fun helping Daddy once we got home...

Baby girl turned a month old on the 26th and continues to bring us joy like her big brother.

Long Overdue Pictures of Jenae's Nursery